Newshour

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told US President Donald Trump that he wants Riyadh to join the Abraham Accords, the framework for the normalisation of ties between Israel and several Muslim states, but also wants to secure a “clear path” to Palestinian statehood. Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader was speaking during a visit the White House, his first since the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which occurred inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Also in the programme: Europe’s uneasy standoff with Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet”; and we hear from one of the scientists behind a new study which traces the origins of kissing back more than 21 million years...

Photo: Donald Trump speaking at black-tie dinner. Credit: REUTERS/Tom Brenner

The Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed Bin Salman, has been welcomed to the White House by President Trump; it's his first visit to the US since the journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered by Saudi agents seven years ago.

(Photo credit: Getty Images)

If the artificial intelligence bubble were to burst, every company would be affected, the head of Google's parent firm Alphabet has told the BBC.

Sundar Pichai said, while the growth of AI investment had been an "extraordinary moment", there was some "irrationality" in the current AI boom. Is a bubble burst inevitable and would it be painful?

Also in the programme: the US hails UN security council backing for its Gaza peace plan; and does the world -- or the world's restaurants -- need a universal spice index?

(Photo shows Sundar Pichai during an interview at Google's California headquarters on 17 November 2025. Credit: BBC News)

Sheikh Hasina, in exile in India, was sentenced to death in absentia for crimes against humanity. The former Prime Minister was found guilty of ordering the use of lethal force against protesters, resulting in the deaths of around 1,400 people. Hasina denies the charges and her supporters say they are politically motivated.

Also on the programme: we ask what led to Donald Trump’s sudden U-turn on the Epstein files; and the discovery of two organ pieces by a teenaged Johann Sebastian Bach.

(PICTURE: Bangladeshi Attorney General Md Asaduzzaman addresses the media in Dhaka, 17 November 2025 CREDIT: MONIRUL ALAM/EPA/Shutterstock)

Bangladesh's former prime minister Sheikh Hasina has been sentenced to death for crimes against humanity in abstentia over her crackdown on student-led protests, which led to her ousting.

Sheikh Hasina was found guilty of allowing lethal force to be used against protesters, 1,400 of whom died during the unrest last year. Where does the verdict leave Bangladesh?

Also in the programme: Donald Trump u-turns on releasing the Epstein files; Chileans face a presidential choice - the hard-left or the far-right; and the rom-com hero now cast in bronze in London.

(Photo shows the then-Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina visiting New Delhi, India on 22 June 2024. Credit: Harish Tyagi/EPA)

The British government has set out plans for sweeping changes to its asylum system to address public concerns about uncontrolled immigration. Under the proposals, refugees granted asylum will have to wait twenty years before they can apply for permanent settlement instead of five years.

Also in the programme: a planned auction in Germany of artefacts from prisoners of Nazi concentration camps has been cancelled; people in Ecuador have been voting in a referendum on on whether to allow the return of foreign military bases to help combat organised crime; and we speak to writer Jana Bakunina on her new book The Good Russian: In Search of a Nation's Soul.

(File photo: A group of migrants on an inflatable dinghy leave the coast of northern France in an attempt to cross the English Channel on July 17, 2025. Credit: REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes)

Ecuador holds a referendum on whether or not to allow foreign military bases in the country again to help tackle drug trafficking. There was a US military base on the country’s Pacific coast until 2009, when President Rafael Correa ordered it closed.

Also in the programme: the UK government announces that most refugees granted asylum will have to wait twenty years before they can apply for permanent settlement, instead of five years; and we hear from a critic of the German auction house planning a sale of personal items from victims of the Nazi Holocaust.

(IMAGE: Ballots are placed on a table during a referendum to decide whether to allow the return of foreign military bases, which Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa says are central to fighting organized crime, and whether they back convening an assembly to rewrite the constitution, at a polling station in Quito, Ecuador November 16, 2025 / CREDIT: Reuters / Karen Toro)

Thousands of people have been marching through the streets of Belem to demand stronger action on tackling global warming, as the UN climate summit continues in the Brazilian city. Indigenous communities, youth groups, and climate activists from across the world were among those joining the rally to mark COP 30's half-way point. We speak to Panama's special representative on climate change Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez.

Also in the programme: President Trump has hit out at Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene who had been one of his closest allies; why Iceland's former Prime Minister is worried her native language is under threat; and as Pope Leo holds an audience with some of Hollywood's biggest stars, we speak to a nun who is also a film critic.

(Picture: People join the Global Climate March in Belem on 15 November, 2025. Credit: ANDRE BORGES/EPA/Shutterstock)

President Trump has said he'll sue the BBC for up to five billion dollars, despite the broadcaster's apology for misrepresenting the speech he gave before his supporters attacked the Capitol building.

Also in the programme: settler violence in the West bank; and 25 years of Daft Punk.

(Picture: The BBC logo outside the BBC Broadcasting House. Credit: REUTERS)

A court in Britain has ruled that the mining company BHP is legally responsible for the collapse of a dam in 2015 which caused one of Brazil's worst environmental disasters. The failure of the Mariana dam (in southeastern Brazil) unleashed a wave of toxic waste that killed nineteen people and polluted a major river. It was owned by a joint venture between the Brazilian firm, Vale, and BHP - which was headquartered in Britain at the time. Hundreds of thousands of Brazilian victims are seeking what could amount to billions of dollars in compensation. BHP says it intends to appeal.

Also in the programme: controversy in Turkish football; and we hear from a mystery person photographed during the Louvre heist.

(Photo: A view shows the BHP Group logo at their headquarters in Melbourne, Australia. CREDIT: REUTERS/Hollie Adams/File Photo)