Author: BBC World Service

The United States has imposed travel restrictions on members of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organisation, accusing them of undermining peace efforts with Israel. The US State Department said those targeted continued to support terrorism and were internationalising the conflict, for example through the International Criminal Court. Washington's special envoy Steve Witkoff, who's in Israel trying to salvage Gaza ceasefire talks, will travel to the territory on Friday where he will inspect aid distribution sites. Also: In another blow to the Pakistan opposition leader, Imran Khan, senior members of his party have been jailed for up to ten years, and scientists exploring the Pacific Ocean say they've discovered entire ecosystems of marine life at depths of over eight kilometres.

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

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)

Many people have been killed in Russian airstrikes on Kyiv, including a six-year-old boy and his mother. Ukrainian officials say the attacks also brought down an apartment block. It happened despite Donald Trump imposing a new deadline on President Putin to agree to a ceasefire or face fresh US sanctions. Also: Washington's envoy, Steve Witkoff, is meeting the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to try to salvage ceasefire talks and help improve the dire conditions in Gaza, and what archaeologists are learning from tattoos found on a two-and-a-half-thousand year-old mummy.

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

What began as a three-day strike by taxi drivers against rising petrol prices in Angola, has escalated into one of the most widespread and disruptive waves of protest the country has seen in recent years. What has life been like in the capital Luanda, against the background of the unrest?

Why do fewer than a quarter of South Africans trust their police service? A new survey shows only 22% of South Africans have any confidence in the institution.

And we meet the Nigerian film maker, Joel Kachi Benson, who won an Emmy for a film he made about the young boy dancing in the rain who thrilled the world in a viral video a few years ago.

Presenter: Audrey Brown Producers: Blessing Aderogba in Lagos. Tom Kavanagh and Nyasha Michelle in London Technical Producer: Jonathan Greer Senior Producers: Patricia Whitehorne and Karnie Sharp Editors: Andre Lombard and Alice Muthengi

What began as a three-day strike by taxi drivers against rising petrol prices in Angola, has escalated into one of the most widespread and disruptive waves of protest the country has seen in recent years. What has life been like in the capital Luanda, against the background of the unrest?

Why do fewer than a quarter of South Africans trust their police service? A new survey shows only 22% of South Africans have any confidence in the institution.

And we meet the Nigerian film maker, Joel Kachi Benson, who won an Emmy for a film he made about the young boy dancing in the rain who thrilled the world in a viral video a few years ago.

Presenter: Audrey Brown Producers: Blessing Aderogba in Lagos. Tom Kavanagh and Nyasha Michelle in London Technical Producer: Jonathan Greer Senior Producers: Patricia Whitehorne and Karnie Sharp Editors: Andre Lombard and Alice Muthengi

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)

The Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has said Canada plans to recognise a Palestinian state in September, becoming the third G7 nation to make such an announcement in recent days. Mr Carney said such a move would depend on democratic reforms, including the Palestinian Authority holding elections next year without Hamas. His remarks come a day after the UK announced it would recognise a Palestinian state in September unless Israel agreed to a ceasefire and other conditions and a week after France made a similar announcement. Israel has condemned the moves, calling them a reward for terrorism.

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

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)

Kidnappers in Nigeria have killed at least 35 people from Zamfara state despite ransoms being paid for their release. Why is the kidnapping menace in Nigeria not only growing but changing as well ?

Why fibroids are particularly a problem for  black women

And Ghanaian students abroad facing deportation because the government failed to pay their fees

Presenter: Audrey Brown Producers: Blessing Aderogba in Lagos, Charles Gitonga in Nairobi with Patricia Whitehorne and Yvette Twagiramariya in London Technical Producer: Jonathan Greer Senior Producer: Paul Bakibinga Editors: Andre Lombard and Alice Muthengi