We meet the woman sending hugs from Texas in the form of a quilt. Connie Kortz set up a network of volunteer quilters, who make them for people who are in need. Called 'Hugs from Texas' -- the group donated quilted blankets to the families affected by the devastating floods earlier this year.
Also, find out about the traditional ceremony that takes place for the first time a baby laughs. We go to the football match between Dulwich Hamlet FC and Altonaer which is celebrating 100 years of friendship.
The Happy Pod is our weekly collection of inspiring, uplifting and happy news from around the world.
The World Health Organization says a resurgence of cholera in a number of African countries is putting more strain on already stretched health services. The WHO says more than 400,000 cases and nearly 5,000 deaths have been recorded worldwide this year, fuelled by conflict, poverty and flooding. Also: President Trump cancels Secret Service protection for the former US Vice-President Kamala Harris, and why more Germans are opting for non-alcoholic beer.
The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight.
Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment.
Israel's military has declared Gaza City a combat zone, as it prepares to seize the territory's largest population zone. The military said that humanitarian pauses in fighting were being halted.
Also on the programme: a Thai opposition leader says he's got enough support to form the next government after the constitutional court sacked yet another prime minister; and we hear about a new version of the band Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody by South Africa's Ndlovu's Youth Choir - in isiZulu.
(Picture: Israeli missile strike on Gaza City. Credit: Reuters)
What will remain of us hundreds of millions of years from now? And how can we be so certain that we are the first technologically advanced species on Earth?
These unsettling questions have been haunting listener Steve. If fossils can be lost to deep time through erosion and subduction into the Earth’s mantle, how would anyone — or anything — ever know that we had been here? And if an earlier species had built a civilization that rose and fell, would we even be able to find traces of it?
To investigate, CrowdScience presenter Caroline Steel speaks to the scientists trying to answer these questions, while producer Sam Baker goes fossil hunting on the Jurassic Coast in the UK.
Caroline speaks with astrophysicist Adam Frank at the University of Rochester in the US, who along with NASA scientist Gavin Schmidt developed the Silurian hypothesis – the idea that if an advanced species had existed deep in Earth’s past, they might have vanished without leaving a trace.
But palaeontologists Jan Zalasiewicz and Sarah Gabbott from the University of Leicester in the UK argue that humans are already leaving an indelible mark in the form the chemical and material fingerprints we’re pressing into Earth’s crust. They contend that the ‘technofossils’ we are producing will last a very long time indeed.
Along the way, Caroline and producer Sam discover just how rare fossils really are, how even the tiniest particles of pollution will give us away to far-future explorers, and why car parks might be our ultimate legacy. What they find is at once unsettling and oddly comforting: humanity could be fleeting, but our impact probably won’t be.
Could we really have missed evidence of an ancient civilization? And what strange clues will we leave behind for whoever, or whatever, comes next? We explore Earth’s geological memory to find out.
Presenter: Caroline Steel
Producer: Sam Baker
Editor: Ben Motley
(Photo: Old phone embedded in concrete layer with defocused landscape background Credit: Petra Richli Via Getty Images)
Thailand's prime minister has been removed by the constitutional court, plunging politics into turmoil and dealing a blow to Thailand's most powerful political dynasty. Paetongtarn Shinawatra was dismissed for violating ethics in a leaked June phone call, where she could be heard calling Cambodia's former leader Hun Sen 'uncle', and criticising the Thai army, amid worsening border tensions with Cambodia. We’ll also get the latest from Gaza, where the Israeli military has recovered the body of a hostage; we’ll hear about the dangerous conditions in El-Fasher in Sudan; and the aftermath of deadly strikes on Kyiv in Ukraine. In Pakistan, the government of Punjab launches large flood rescue operations; the Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni expresses outrage after a website posted pornographic and altered images of women including herself; in the United States, new trade tariffs begin on packages coming from abroad; the BBC speaks to Rohingya refugees deported from India. Also: how studying an 800-year-old oak tree could help save tomorrow's forests, and South Korea’s new approach to tackling crime, using hologram police officers.
The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight.
Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment.
Get in touch: globalpodcast@bbc.co.uk
Nigeria has banned for six months exports of shea nuts used for beauty products to help boost the local economy
More about Malawi's health boat that provides a lifeline for locals on a remote island
And we find out why African made prom dresses are a hit among American teenagers
Presenter: Audrey Brown
Producers: Makuochi Okafor and Ayuba Iliya in Lagos. Alfonso Daniels, Stefania Okereke and Yvette Twagriyamariya in London and Madina Maishanu in Abuja.
Senior Producer: Paul Bakibinga
Technical Producer: Francesca Dunne
Editors: Maryam Abdalla, Andre Lombard and Alice Muthengi.
Thailand's Constitutional Court has removed the prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, over her handling of a border dispute with Cambodia. We hear reaction from her party, and also ask what the news tells us about the country's turbulent politics.
Also in the programme: why many small businesses around the world are now unable to send parcels to the US; and we report on how a group of Rohingya refugees were deported and left in the sea by the Indian authorities.
(IMAGE: Thailand's Paetongtarn Shinawatra leaves following a press conference after the Constitutional Court ruled to remove her from office in a high-profile ethics case, following a leaked phone conversation between her and Cambodia's former leader Hun Sen, at Government House in Bangkok, Thailand, August 29, 2025 / CREDIT: REUTERS/Chalinee Thirasupa)
It’s August, and in the northern hemisphere, many people are hitting the beach to escape the summer heat. And that inspired us to investigate bucketloads of beach-based science.
First up, we find out about the forces that build and shape the seaside.
Next, we discover that the waves from the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption reached the atmosphere.
Speaking of waves, we’re joined by Dr Edward Hurme from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour, who tells us about his research into surfing bats.
And why are beaches disappearing?
All that, plus many more Unexpected Elements.
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton, with Tristan Ahtone and Phillys Mwatee
Producers: Alice Lipscombe-Southwell, with Imaan Moin, Robbie Wojciechowski and Lucy Davies
Twenty years on, Americans remember Hurricane Katrina, which killed nearly 1,800 people and caused $125bn in damage to the city of New Orleans. Also: the battle over control of the US's public health agency, and the hunt in New Zealand for a partner for a rare snail.
The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight.
Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment.
Get in touch: globalpodcast@bbc.co.uk
European leaders express outrage after Russian strikes kill 21 and damage EU's HQ. The EU's ambassador to Kyiv, Katarina Mathernova says "Putin has zero interest in peace".
Also in the programme: EU triggers sanctions snap-back on Iran; and a new exhibition of GGonzo artist Ralph Steadman's drawings.
(Image: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivers a speech following the latest Russian attacks on Kyiv. Credit: EPA)
