NewsHour

China has vowed to protect its interests after the US announced plans to widen economic sanctions against Iran and its trading partners, which include Beijing. Will China scupper the squeeze on Iran?

Also in the programme: the UN and Red Cross call for urgent new laws to police fully autonomous weapons, an at-home test kit for cervical cancer. and can Australia keep AI out of music?

(Photo: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during a press conference to outline further sanctions against Iran,in Washington DC on 24 August 2026. Credit: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)

The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has unveiled a wave of sanctions aimed at isolating Iran's economy and says that other countries will be pressured to comply. But will the US deliver on its threats?

Also in the programme: a group of cricket legends urges Pakistan to give the former prime minister, Imran Khan, proper medical care; and the edible cookie made from plastic waste.

(Photo: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks during a press conference to outline further sanctions against Iran in Washington, August 24, 2026. Credit: Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein.)

The US treasury secretary has threatened Iran with "the single greatest financial offensive ever", claiming the US-Israel war with Iran was "entering its endgame".

Scott Bessent said the US would sever all economic ties with the country in "an economic D-Day" and that any nation partnering with Iran financially would also be isolated. Will it work?

Also in the programme: A blueprint for new weapons for Ukraine; the Taliban answers questions about its treatment of women; and the rare British bird on the rise.

(Photo shows US Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent speaks to reporters in Washington, DC, USA on 20 August 2026. Credit: Shawn Thew/EPA)

Iran’s currency, the rial, has hit a record low, trading at over 2 million rials to the dollar on unofficial markets. The devaluation comes a day before the United States is due to impose what US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant described as “the toughest sanctions in history” on Tehran. Iran was struggling financially even before the start of its ongoing conflict with the US and Israel, nearly six months ago.

Also in the programme: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warns against holding wartime elections, following repeated calls from his sacked defence minister to hold a nationwide vote; Syria’s foreign minister says he expects peace talks with Israel to resume soon; and we hear from the director of London’s Natural History Museum, where a gallery which has remained hidden from view since World War Two is about to reopen.

(Photo: Iranian woman buys vegetables at a street market in Tehran, Iran, 22 August 2026. Credit: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA/Shutterstock)

Ukraine's popular former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov tells the BBC he still wants nationwide elections, despite his country being at war. We hear a response from a supporter of President Zelensky.

Also in the programme: how the Trump White House has turned one of the US's big sporting occasions into a political event; and diplomatic conflict between the UK and Russia, as Moscow apparently withdraws its ambassador from London.

(IMAGE: Mykhailo Fedorov, who was at the time Ukraine's minister of defence, speaks at a press conference, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, July 1, 2026 / CREDIT: REUTERS/Alina Smutko/File Photo)

Canada's prime minister, Mark Carney, has confirmed he'll impose retaliatory tariffs on the United States next month, saying trade talks collapsed because Washington made unacceptable demands.

Also on the programme, the editor-in-chief and a reporter from the US military newspaper Stars and Stripes have been fired for 'insubordination', South Korea's first container ship to trial the much shorter and safer route to Europe via the Arctic has begun its journey, and a look at the event dubbed the "Robot Olympics".

Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks with the news media after he suspended trade negotiations with the United States, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada August 22, 2026. REUTERS/Chris Tanouye

Rescuers in the central city of Kryvyi Rih are continuing to search for survivors of Friday's daytime drone attack on a shopping centre. We hear from the EU ambassador to Ukraine, Katarina Mathernova, about what the EU can do following a week of Russian attacks. Also on the programme: we hear about how sharks are inhaling caffeine; and the music video maker Tim Pope on his life putting rock stars on film.

Weather experts are warning that a developing El Niño weather system could become the strongest since modern records began. The effects of El Niño on weather patterns are already being felt.

Also in the programme: Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan has been returned to prison after being in hospital; and a new book on the violent career of Carlos the Jackal.

(Picture: Firefighters work to extinguish a fire in Indonesia. A severe dry season, intensified by El Nino has fueled wildfires. Credit:

EPA/Shutterstock)

Weather experts describe the developing climate system as an unprecedented event. Temperatures in the Pacific Ocean could climb more than three degrees above normal.

Also in the programme: the Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen speaks to Newshour about the legal case against Facebook's parent company for improperly collecting and using children's personal data; and dramatising the colourful life of the British economist John Maynard Keynes.

(Photo: Displaced by El Nino, South American seabirds flock to Panama. Credit: Reuters/Enea Lebrun)

15 people were killed in a Russian strike on Kyiv today, and the Ukrainian government has made an urgent request for more interceptor missiles. We hear from the BBC’s correspondent on the ground in the capital.

Also on the programme: a new batch of 70,000 vaccines is being sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo to try to contain the fastest-spreading outbreak of Ebola on record.

And the 26-year-old car salesman who has been recognised as Belgian royalty after a DNA test proved he was the son of Prince Laurent.

(Image: Smoke rises in Kyiv during a Russian drone strike, August 20, 2026 Credit: REUTERS/Oleksandr Ratushniak)