1,204 episodes

The day’s top stories from BBC News. Delivered twice a day on weekdays, daily at weekends.

Global News Podcast BBC Podcasts

    • News
    • 4.2 • 1.2K Ratings

Listen on Apple Podcasts
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The day’s top stories from BBC News. Delivered twice a day on weekdays, daily at weekends.

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

    Russian reshuffle: Putin replaces defence minister

    Russian reshuffle: Putin replaces defence minister

    Russian President Vladimir Putin is replacing his long-standing ally Sergei Shoigu as defence minister. Mr Shoigu, who has played a key role in the war in Ukraine, is to be appointed the head of Russia's Security Council. Also: The government crackdown on dissent in Tunisia, and the geologist who claims to have solved the mystery of where the Mona Lisa was painted.

    • 28 min
    EU condemns Israel’s Rafah evacuation orders

    EU condemns Israel’s Rafah evacuation orders

    Israel is planning an assault on Hamas fighters in Rafah and orders tens of thousands more Palestinians to leave. Also: Switzerland wins the Eurovision Song Contest while Israel came fifth, and mass demonstrations in Georgia over a controversial proposed law.

    • 28 min
    The Happy Pod: From pollution to paradise

    The Happy Pod: From pollution to paradise

    The volunteers restoring the beautiful beaches of Bali and beyond by clearing plastic pollution from Indonesia's rivers, and upcycling it into chairs. The profits are used to fund more river clean ups.
    The deaf toddler who has near normal hearing after groundbreaking gene therapy.
    Why are hundreds of sea lions gathering at Pier 39 in San Francisco?
    After seagull boy, we bring you lion girl - the five year old whose amazing lion roar has been viewed millions of times.
    We chat to two old friends who reconnected -- and then studied why old friends find it hard to reconnect.
    And we meet the football fan who moved to a new country to support his team in the English Premier League.
    Our weekly collection of the happiest stories in the world.

    • 27 min
    UN assembly urges Palestine membership after vote

    UN assembly urges Palestine membership after vote

    The United Nations General Assembly has enhanced Palestine's rights within the organisation and called for it to be accepted as a member. Also: India court grants bail to jailed opposition leader Arvind Kejriwal, and how important is it to read the small print?

    • 28 min
    Ukraine war: Russia launches 'surprise' attack

    Ukraine war: Russia launches 'surprise' attack

    President Zelenskyy says a fierce battle is underway and people are being evacuated in the Kharkiv region. Also: tensions grow between the US and Israel over the war in Gaza and Israel's offensive on Rafah, the BBC tracks down one of Europe's biggest people smugglers, and is there a future for the African penguin?

    • 28 min
    Netanyahu defiant after US threat to stop weapons

    Netanyahu defiant after US threat to stop weapons

    The Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his country will "stand alone" and "fight with its fingernails", after the US warned it could halt arms shipments if Israel ordered a full-scale invasion of Rafah in Gaza. Also: Israel heads to Eurovision final despite protests; and the tech company Apple faces a backlash over the destruction of musical instruments and books in an iPad advert.

    • 33 min

Customer Reviews

4.2 out of 5
1.2K Ratings

1.2K Ratings

Listener 0017 ,

Generally Unbiased

Excellent unbiased reporting on world affairs. Sometimes skews to the left on Climate and UK Politics stories. Random stories and the Happy Pod and generally irrelevant and have no bearing on world news.

SF classic fan ,

Public broadcaster puts up paywall.

Shameful practice of locking out information to lower income people. Making news and nuanced perspective the purview of the privileged is corrosive and leads to the disintegration of an informed public. That BBC paywalls the information like this is a disgrace to its core mission of public broadcasting.

Nicollfamily ,

A Long Tradition of Careful, Thorough and Balanced Reporting

All news from professional journalistic sources once aspired to the caliber of reporting the BBC World Service routinely delivers still. The value of thorough, neutral fact finding from experienced and talented professional journalists cannot be overstated in the current “news” marketplace. The Global News Podcast is one of my most trusted sources for news and information. I rarely miss an installment. I choose to subscribe specifically because I want the BBC to realize your listeners value what you provide. Don’t tell the higher-ups, but I would pay more.

Do tell them, however, it is critical that you continue. Every western public broadcaster is periodically asked to make cuts. Please don’t cut this podcast when the next request comes. Remind those higher-ups that one of your American competitors has the mast-head slogan: “Democracy Dies in Darkness”. And while you could once be forgiven for thinking that a tad melodramatic and self-important, as I once did, I do so no longer. The January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol in Washington shocked advocates of the rule of law and the democracies it underpins. The malignancy allowed to grow into that attack is a darkness of sorts, certainly, one with its roots in the real “fake news”.

This podcast, your BBC colleagues and the select few around the globe that adhere to the same standards of journalistic excellence, are the best protection democracies have against the spread of anti-democratic extremism around the world. Look no further than the number of democracies electing and re-electing authoritarian leaders. Without the understanding your journalistic rigor brings, ignorance and its progeny extremism, will spread. Remind those higher-ups of this, right after you extend to them my thanks for helping to push back that darkness.

Scott Nicoll
Vancouver, BC Canada

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