NewsHour

Hundreds of thousands of young Catholics, including many social media influencers, have gathered for a vigil and Mass celebrated by Pope Leo XIV.

Also in the programme: the former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina faces a criminal trial; Russia’s Krasheninnikov volcano in Kamchatka erupts for the first time in hundreds of years; and the enduring appeal of Thomas the Tank Engine.

(Picture: Pope Leo XIV waves to the faithful during a Holy Mass on the occasion of the Jubilee of Youth, in Rome, Italy. Credit: Photo by ANGELO CARCONI/EPA/Shutterstock)

Hamas releases a shocking video of an emaciated Israeli hostage as the US special envoy says they are determined to push for a deal to end this war rather than reach a temporary ceasefire.

We speak to one of the Israeli hostage families who met US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff in Tel Aviv.

Also on the programme: a court in southern India has sentenced a prominent politician to life in prison for raping one of his domestic staff; and would you use an app allowing guests to buy a seat at your wedding for €150?

(Photo: Steve Witkoff meets with Israeli hostage family members on August 2, 2025. Credit: The Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters)

Russian media have dismissed Donald Trump's announcement that he will deploy nuclear submarines closer to Russia. Mr Trump said his decision was prompted by “provocative comments” on social media by the former Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev. Mr Medvedev said in a post on X on Monday that President Trump was playing "the ultimatum game" with Russia, and that such an approach could lead to a war involving the United States.

Also in the programme: The world's first legislation to control artificial intelligence starts coming into force in the EU today; and from Gaza, the sixteen-year-old with a dream to become a great violinist.

(Photo: Dmitry Medvedev was Russia's president in 2008-12. Credit: Reuters)

President Trump says he wants to help the people of Gaza to live, following a visit by his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, to a controversial US and Israeli- backed aid site in the territory. Plus, the BBC investigates the cases of 160 children shot dead inside the Gaza Strip.

Also in the programme: Malawi hits its UN development goals for HIV and AIDS ahead of its targets; radioactive injections aimed at saving South Africa's rhinos; and we follow the market reaction to Donald Trump's global tariff deals -- and new US job figures.

(Photo credit: US government)

The BBC World Service has pieced together the story of two-year-old Layan al-Majdalawi, who was killed in Gaza in areas where the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) was operating. Layan is just one of more than 160 cases of children shot in the war in Gaza, for whom we have gathered accounts. The IDF told us they are examining the case, and that: "Intentional harm to civilians, especially children, is strictly prohibited."

Also the programme: President Trump announces he is imposing higher tax rates on imports to America from dozens of countries who've failed to reach a trade deal with him; and Chinese schoolgirl Yu Zidi becomes the youngest swimmer in history to win a medal at the World Aquatics Championships.

(Picture: Layan al-Majdalawi, two, killed in Gaza in November 2023. Credit: Majdalawi family).

The US special envoy Steve Witkoff is to visit Gaza on Friday. We hear from American medics working in the south and centre of the strip calling on him to include hospitals in his tour, and on their government to take action to end the suffering.

Also in the programme: Ukraine’s parliament votes to reverse anti-corruption legislation that was heavily criticised both inside and outside the country; and the stunning tattoos of a 2,500 year old mummy.

(IMAGE: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets the US President's special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, in Mr Netanyahu's office in Jerusalem, Israel, amid warnings of a famine in Gaza. 31st July 2025 / CREDIT: Kobi Gideon / GPO / Prime Minister's Office)

Donald Trump has stepped up his diplomatic assault on the government of Brazil's left- wing president, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva. He's signed an executive order which brings total tariffs on Brazilian goods to fifty percent. At the same time, the US Treasury has imposed financial sanctions on the senior Brazilian judge overseeing the criminal case for coup plotting against Brazil's former leader, Jair Bolsonaro. We speak to Brazilian ambassador to London, Antonio Patriota.

Also, we speak to Yehuda Cohen - the father of an Israeli soldier taken hostage on October 7th -- who tells us he thinks the recognition of a Palestinian state will help pressure his government to get his son home.

And the actor Stephen Fry on playing a formidable aristocratic woman in Oscar Wilde's most famous play, the Importance of Being Earnest.

(Photo: President Trump and Brazilian then-President Bolsonaro at Mar-a-Lago in 2020. Credit: Getty Images)

Developments in the Middle East have come thick and fast this week. On Tuesday the IPC - a UN-backed monitor group - warned that the "worst-case scenario of famine" is unfolding in the Gaza Strip. Britain, meanwhile, warned that unless Israel met a number of conditions before the UN General Assembly convenes next month, it would join France in recognising a State of Palestine.

Meanwhile, the Israeli occupied West Bank has received little international attention since the war in Gaza began. Attacks by Jewish settlers on Palestinians living there are on the rise - up by 13 percent over the past year, says the UN. We examine attacks in one village and a town.

Also in the programme: Why is Greece detaining all migrants arriving from North Africa? And the English city of Birmingham says goodbye to Black Sabbath's Ozzy Osbourne.

(Photo: Locals inspect a burnt car in the Palestinian Christian village of Taybeh near the West Bank city of Ramallah, 28 July 2025. According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, Israeli settlers attacked the village of Taybeh and set two vehicles on fire and spray-painted racist slurs on walls. Credit: Alaa Badarneeh/EPA/Shutterstock)

The UK will recognise a Palestinian state in September unless Israel takes "substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza", its prime minister Keir Starmer has said.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the move "rewards Hamas's monstrous terrorism".

Also in the programme: As tsunami waves reach the US west coast after Russian earthquake, we'll look at what's behind the earthquake and tsunamis; and the UK gets its first female astronomer royal in 350 years.

(Photo shows Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking during a press conference in Jerusalem, Israel on 21 May 2025. Credit: Ronen Zvulun/Reuters)

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UK will recognise Palestinian state in September unless Israel agrees to a Gaza ceasefire and other conditions. Israel says the move rewards Hams.

Also in the programme: Ex-Colombian president Álvaro Uribe has been found guilty of witness-tampering; and an Australian woman - Joan Anderson - who went largely uncredited for her leading role in the creation of the hula hoop has died at the age of 101.

(Photo: UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer making a statement in Downing Street, London, following a Cabinet meeting to discuss the situation in Gaza. The UK will recognise the state of Palestine in September before the UN General Assembly, unless the Israeli government takes steps to end the "appalling situation" in Gaza, the Prime Minister has told the Cabinet. 29 July 2025. Credit: Toby Melville/PA Wire)