Newshour

Belarus has freed 123 prisoners, including prominent opposition activist Maria Kolesnikova and Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski, after the US agreed to lift sanctions on the country. Also on the programme, Cambodia has shut its border crossings with Thailand, as fighting continues despite US President Donald Trump earlier saying they had agreed to a ceasefire; and, how the British novelist Charles Dickens is being celebrated this Christmas in a small Dutch town.

(Belarus released over 100 political prisoners form prison, Vilnius, Lithuania - 13 Dec 2025. VALDA KALNINA/EPA/Shutterstock)

After more clashes on the Thai-Cambodian border, we ask a Cambodian official whether the dispute will escalate.

Also in the programme: four months ahead of the elections in Hungary, why has child protection become such a key issue? And as Israel plans to build a new road and barrier in the occupied West Bank, we hear from the head of the UN’s Human Rights Office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

(IMAGE: A handout photo made available by Agence Kampuchea Presse (AKP) shows a bridge destroyed by Thai F-16 fighter jets in Pursat Province, Cambodia, 13 December 2025 / CREDIT: Handout /EPA/Shutterstock)

Interviews, news and analysis of the day’s global events.

According to the UN's humanitarian affairs agency, more than 800,000 displaced Gazans could be affected by flooding, as a winter storm surges along the coast. Most of them are living in tents.

The Trump administration is ramping up its efforts to derail the government of President Nicolas Maduro, which he has accused of turning Venezuela into a "drug-running regime". The leader of the country's opposition, Maria Corina Machado, travelled to Norway in secret to collect her Nobel Peace Prize. We ask if her influence could wane now that she is out of the country.

Also in the programme: intense rain is wreaking havoc on thousands of Gazans living in displacement camps; and UNESCO declares Swiss yodelling a form of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

(Photo: Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado attends the opening of the official Peace Prize exhibition at the Nobel Peace Center, in Oslo. Credit: Lise Åserud / NTB)

The Nobel Peace Prize winner arrives in Oslo after a clandestine journey from her hiding place in Venezuela. We hear the inside story of how she slipped out of the country.

Also in the programme: French police's crackdown on drug gangs in Marseilles, and a rare public display for Mary Queen of Scots' final letter before execution.

(Photo: Maria Corina Machado waving at her supporters from a balcony in Oslo. Credits: Lise Aserud/EPA/Shutterstock)

President Trump has said the US has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela - an operation reported to have been led by the US Coastguard. The seizure is certain to increase tensions between the United States and Venezuela, which is already being threatened by the deployment of a US fleet. Oil futures rose following news of the seizure.

Also in the programme: tourists from more than forty countries may have to provide a five-year social media history as a condition of entry to the US under a new proposal; and new evidence suggests humans made fire much earlier than previously thought.

(Photo: US President Donald J Trump makes remarks in a roundtable with high-tech business executives in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, 10 December 2025. Credit: AARON SCHWARTZ/POOL/EPA/Shutterstock)

A sperm donor who unknowingly harboured a genetic mutation that dramatically raises the risk of cancer has fathered at least 197 children across Europe, a major investigation has revealed. Also on the programme, 5alf a million people have been forced from their homes in Thailand and Cambodia as their deadly border conflict escalates; and, the politics of typeface fonts.

(Photo: Getty)

In a wide-ranging interview with the Politico news website, President Trump said "decaying" European countries had failed to control migration or take decisive action to end Ukraine's war with Russia, accusing them of letting Kyiv fight "until they drop". We hear from a German parliamentarian and envoy.

Also in the programme: A revolutionary gene therapy has successfully treated patients with previously incurable blood cancers; and we look at the life of pioneering zoologist and elephant conservationist Iain Douglas-Hamilton.

(Photo: U.S. President Donald Trump attends a roundtable discussion on the day he announced an aid package for farmers, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., December 8, 2025. Credit: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)

The Thai military said there were clashes in five border provinces, and three of its soldiers had been killed since hostilities resumed. Cambodia says Thai attacks have killed seven civilians. We explain why this has happened.

Also on the programme: in Australia, the law banning children under 16 years from social media has come into effect - one of the most dramatic moves so far by a government against the tech companies that own the platforms. And the revolutionary new cancer treatment, which uses DNA editing, to save the lives of patients with previously incurable blood cancers.

(Picture: Thai soldiers on patrol at the border with Cambodia. Credit: Reuters)