Newshour

The United States is imposing an extra twenty-five percent tariff on imports from India because Delhi continues to buy Russian oil. President Trump is using this to increase pressure for a ceasefire in Ukraine. Delhi's called it 'unfair'. The executive order came after the US envoy Steve Witkoff met Vladimir Putin in Moscow.Also on the programme: As dozens are injured and killed in Gaza when four aid trucks tipped over, we take a look at how the crisis is being reported in Israel and whether public opinion is changing; Italy plans the longest suspension bridge in the world; and the new research that shows how female gorillas form strong friendships with each other that last years. (Photo: Russian President Putin meets U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow Credit: Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/via REUTERS)

The US Health Secretary has stopped about $500m worth of funding for the development of mRNA vaccines against viruses that cause illnesses such as flu and Covid-19. Robert F. Kennedy - a vaccine sceptic - claims they pose many risks. Newshour hears from vaccinology professor Dr. Paul Offit who says Mr Kennedy's decision is not based on science.Also in the programme: we hear from a Hiroshima survivor; and the gorilla sisterhood.(Picture: A nurse prepares a booster dose of the Moderna mRNA Covid-19 vaccine, Spikevax, at a vaccination centre in Berlin, Germany, January 1, 2022. Credit: Reuters)

The UN's food agency has warned that families trapped within the besieged Sudanese city of el-Fasher face starvation. Also on the programme, an investigation into the gangs running illegal migration from France to Britain; we speak to 93 year-old Nobel prize winner Setsuko Thurlow about surviving the Hiroshima nuclear bomb.(Photo: Houda Ali Mohammed, 32, a displaced Sudanese mother of four, prepares food at a camp shelter amid the ongoing conflict between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese army, in Tawila, North Darfur, Sudan, July 30, 2025. REUTERS/Mohamed Jamal/File Photo)

Israel has authorised the gradual re-entry of goods including food supplies to Gaza via private traders for the first time in ten months. How does food distribution operate at the moment, and how often can it be a case of survival of the fittest?Also in the programme: as the final push for a global plastics treaty begins in Geneva, we hear from the head of the United Nations Environment Programme on why it needs to happen; and we report from a camp for Ukrainian children trying to cope with the trauma of parents missing because of the war with Russia; plus why Dolly Parton has been given the status of global icon.

The former head of the Israeli internal security agency Shin Bet, Ami Ayalon, tells Newshour why he thinks Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu needs to end the Gaza war. Meanwhile, reports suggest that the prime minister may order the Israeli Defence Forces to seize and hold the entire Gaza Strip.Also in the programme: the family of a Hiroshima atom bomb survivor reflect as the 80th anniversary of the bomb approaches; the devastation plastic pollution is wreaking on human health; and why Indian cricket fans have been ecstatic over today's game in London.(Photo: Protest outside Israeli PM Netanyahu's office in Jerusalem. Credit: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun)

The Israeli prime minister is reportedly planning to expand military operations in Gaza. It comes as hundreds of retired Israeli security officials have written to President Trump, urging him to pressurise their government to end the war. They say Hamas is no longer a threat and the war is no longer just. We speak to one of signatories of the letter Ami Ayalon, a former director of Shin Bet, Israel's domestic secret service agency.Also in the programme: More than 70 migrants have died in a shipwreck in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen; why Texan Democrats are running away from a vote; and Sir David Attenborough's latest BBC One series documents how parents from across the animal kingdom sacrifice everything in order to raise their young.(Photo: Protest outside Israeli PM Netanyahu's office in Jerusalem. Credit: Reuters)

Pope Leo XIV has implored a million young Catholics from around the world to aspire to great things and not settle for less at a special Jubilee celebration in Rome. We have a report on the Catholic social media influencers who spread the gospel online. Also on the programme: Arab nations have condemned a visit to the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem by Israel's far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir; and Kim Kardashian's new facial wrap you wear while sleeping generates much online chatter. (Photo: Pope Leo XIV presides over Holy Mass on the occasion of the Jubilee of Youth, at Tor Vergata in Rome, Italy, 03 August 2025. Credit: EPA/Shutterstock)

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) )

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)

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification has said what it calls "the worse case scenario of famine" is now unfolding in Gaza. The UN's World Food Programme says that the unfolding disaster is reminiscent of famines seen in Ethiopia and Biafra, Nigeria, in the last century. Also in the programme: Google launches a new AI search tool in the UK; and as England's women's football squad celebrates its triumph at the Euros with an open-top bus parade in central London, we'll look at how the game is growing commercially around the world.(Photo: Palestinians gather to receive food from a charity kitchen. CREDIT: REUTERS/Khamis Al-Rifi)

President Trump said there is 'real starvation' in Gaza that cannot be ‘faked', contradicting claims by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that reports starvation in the territory was exaggerated. We hear from the Doctors Without Borders on the ground in Gaza city, and one of the first Israeli rights groups to label Israel's campaign in Gaza 'genocide'.Also in the program: Thailand and Cambodia announce an immediate ceasefire after days of border clashes, and the Shaolin Temple's chief monk is stripped of his position after accusations of embezzlement and breaking his vows of celibacy.Picture: A Palestinian child suffering from malnutrition receives treatment at a healthcare center, amid widespread hunger, as the conflict between Israel and Hamas continues, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip March 4, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

More aid trucks have been seen crossing into Gaza where Israel has eased its blockade and military operations under intense international pressure, but humanitarian organisations have warned that the supplies are nowhere near enough to ease the hunger crisis gripping the Palestinian territory.Also in the programme: as France describes the European Union's trade deal with the US as "submission", the EU's top negotiator tries to make the case for the deal; and Google admits its earthquake warning system failed to alert millions of people in Turkey before the devastation of 2023.(Photo shows trucks carrying aid lining up near the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip on 28 July 2025. Credit: Reuters)

Desperately needed aid has been trickling into Gaza after international outrage over starving Palestinians led to Israel easing its blockade and military operations. We will hear from a former Israeli Prime Minister - and talking to an Israeli philosopher about the impact of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza on Israeli public opinion.Also in the programme: The US and EU have agreed a trade deal which will see a blanket US tariff of 15 percent on imports from the bloc; England have retained the Women's European Championship title after a nail biting penalty victory over Spain in the final; and concern in the fashion industry after an advert in Vogue uses AI models. (Photo: Internally displaced Palestinians carry bags of flour near a food distribution point in Zikim, northern Gaza Strip, 27 July 2025. Credit: Mohammed Saber / EPA / Shutterstock)

Israel says it's opening limited aid corridors to allow in food and medicine, as Gazan medical officials say at least nine people were killed in Israeli fire while awaiting an aid convoy. We hear from a humanitarian worker in the north of the strip. Also on the programme: Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces announce they're forming a government; and Spain faces England in the final of the women's Euro 2025 soccer.(Photo: Egyptian Red Crescent lorries with humanitarian aid, bound for the Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, at the Rafah border crossing, in Egypt, in this handout image released July 27, 2025. Credit: Egyptian Red Crescent/Handout via REUTERS)

Israel says it will allow aid drops into Gaza by air, saying Jordan and the United Arab Emirates could facilitate. This comes as at least 5 people are reported to have died from malnutrition in the last day, bringing the total to 127 since the beginning of the war. Also on the programme, Iran is tackling a severe water crisis; and, one of Lebanon's most celebrated composers, Ziad Rahbani, has died.(Photo: Palestinians wait to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 26, 2025. REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa)

Cross-border battles between Thailand and Cambodia have spread to new areas as fighting between the southeast Asian neighbours continues for a third day. We hear from both sides of the boundary. Also on the programme: President Trump arrives in Scotland; and the matcha mania putting pressure on tea suppliers. (Photo: A Cambodian military personnel stands on a BM-21 Grad multiple rocket launcher, around 40 km (24 miles) from the disputed Ta Moan Thom temple, Cambodia, July 25, 2025. Credit: REUTERS/Soveit Yarn)

A US military veteran who worked for the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has told the BBC he's never seen such brutality as that shown by Israeli soldiers and American contractors against starving civilians.And Israel's ambassador to France tells Newshour a French decision to recognise a Palestinian state will damage international relations. We'll also hear from the Palestinian ambassador to the UN. Also on the programme: some of Donald Trump's supporters, in Florida, answer questions about the president's links to Jeffrey Epstein; and a study of vast amounts of data showing strong links between air pollution and dementia.(Photo: A child eats as displaced Palestinians gather outside the Sokar Charity Kitchen to receive limited food rations in Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, 21 May 2025. Credit: EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)

The Thai prime minister has warned that clashes between Thailand and Cambodia, which have killed at least 16 people and displaced tens of thousands in both countries, could "move towards war". Also in the programme: The photographer in Gaza who took a powerful image of a mother and her malnourished baby; and on news of the death of US musician Chuck Mangione, we celebrate his beloved flugelhorn. (Photo: People flee Cambodia due to the armed border conflict with Thailand, Oddar Meanchey Province 25 Jul 2025. Credit: Photo by Kith Serey/EPA/Shutterstock)

The medical charity, Medecins Sans Frontieres, has told the BBC that cases of sexual violence in Haiti have tripled in the last four years. One in five victims are under the age of eighteen. With gangs now controlling nearly all of the capital, Port au Prince, violence and insecurity are worsening. So far this year, more than four thousand people have been killed. A BBC team talking to survivors in the capital found women and children were the most affected by systematic rape, murder and arson.Also in the programme: an American university agrees to a settlement with the Trump administration; and the death of a global wrestling icon.(Photo: A damaged house stands after gangs torched homes in a residential area in Furcy, Haiti. CREDIT: REUTERS/Jean Feguens Regala)

The BBC has gained rare access to the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, where gangs now control 90% of the city. The police there are outnumbered and outgunned, government authority has all but collapsed, and ordinary Haitians are trapped in a daily struggle for survival. In the past six months, more than 4,000 people have been killed. We have a special report. Also on the programme: Thailand and Cambodia trade airstrikes and artillery fire in a deadly escalation of a border dispute; and do you really need to do 10,000 steps a day to be healthy? (Photo: Gang members on the streets of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. Credit: BBC/ Phil Pendlebury)

The World Health Organisation's chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has demanded full access for aid into Gaza as well as a ceasefire, describing the situation there as "man-made mass starvation". We speak to a doctor in Gaza City and to a spokesperson for the Israeli prime minister's office.Also in the programme: the International Court of Justice clears the way for countries to sue each other over climate change; and what's behind the rise in bars dedicated to women's sport?(Picture: Gazans react as they ask for food at a charity kitchen in Gaza City, July 14, 2025. Credit: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa)

Interviews, news and analysis of the day's global events.

Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says more than 30 people have died of starvation in the past two days, as Israel continues an offensive in the centre of the territory. Newshour hears form a resident of Gaza City.Also in the programme: Prince of Darkness Ozzy Osborne dies; and mining for lithium in Chile's salt flats.(Picture: Smoke rises in the aftermath of an Israeli military operation in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip. Credit: Reuters)

The World Health Organization says Israel's offensive in central Gaza has compromised its efforts to continue working, after its facilities came under attack. Also on the programme, we speak to the Kenyan human rights activist who was arrested on suspicion of terror offences; and Australia's pristine waters off its south coast have been inundated by a toxic algal bloom.(Photo: Smoke rises during Israeli strikes amid the Israeli military operation in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, July 21, 2025. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled)

Israel has launched a ground offensive against the town of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. It comes as 25 countries, including two permanent members of the Security Council, have called for an immediate end to the fighting. Newshour speaks to Norwegian foreign minister Espen Barth Eide.Also in the programme: the stolen painting returned to Italy after 52 years; Venus Williams is back on court.(Picture: Smoke rises during Israeli strikes amid the Israeli military operation in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, July 21, 2025. Credit: Reuters)

The Israeli military has launched a ground and air assault on Deir al-Balah in central Gaza just hours after Israel issued evacuation warnings for several parts of the town. Also on the programme, Ecuador's most notorious gang boss is extradited to the United States; and, a musical which tells the stories of two Iranian women who feel compelled to leave Iran and make dangerous journeys to Europe.(Photo: Smoke rises during Israeli strikes amid the Israeli military operation in Deir Al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, July 21, 2025. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled)

Health officials in Gaza say dozens of people have been killed and dozens more injured by Israeli fire as they waited for a UN aid delivery.The IDF has not previously sent ground troops into the neighbourhoods because it believes that Hamas is holding hostages there.Also in the proghramme: Syria's interior ministry says violence in the southern city of Sweida has "halted"; six months since Donald Trump returned to the White House. we'll check in with Trump supporters; and British men collect world relay gold medals 28 years late.(Photo shows people waiting at an aid point in Gaza on 20 July 2025. Credit: Ramadan Abed/Reuters)

There have been further clashes in Syria's Suweida province where gunmen from the Bedouin community have continued to target the Druze minority in defiance of a ceasefire. Also today: another twist in the complex relationship between Rupert Murdoch and Donald Trump; and a symphonic tribute to The Beatles.(Photo: Bedouin fighters stand in the back of a truck at an Internal Security Forces checkpoint working to prevent Bedouin fighters from advancing towards Suweida, following renewed fighting between Bedouin fighters and Druze gunmen, despite an announced truce, in Walgha, Suweida province, Syria July 19, 2025. Credit: REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi)

Syria's interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa has pledged to protect all of Syria's minorities as he sent security forces to the Druze heartland, after sectarian clashes left hundreds dead in Sweida.We hear from a Druze woman whose whole family was killed by what she claims were Syrian government forces. Also on the programme: Should Putin-aligned artists be welcomed at cultural events? And, a symphonic tribute to The Beatles. (Photo: Syria's interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Aleppo, Syria May 27, 2025. Credit: Reuters)

Renewed clashes between Bedouin tribesmen and members of the minority Druze Community have erupted in the south of Syria. A war monitoring group says there's been fighting and shelling in neighbourhoods of the mainly Druze city of Suweida. We'll hear from Damascus and get a US view of Israel's policy.Also, why President Trump and some of his most loyal supporters are at odds over the late, disgraced financier, Jeffrey Epstein.And some virtuoso piano playing from a performer born with only one hand.(Photo: Syria's interim president said government forces had expelled "outlaw groups" in Suweida. Credit: Reuters)

Three and a half years into Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, European Union countries have agreed to slap yet more sanctions on Moscow. Slovakia had been blocking the package over concerns regarding a separate EU proposal phasing out gas imports from Russia. This is the EU's 18th package of sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine.Also on the programme: we hear from a British surgeon working in Gaza about what he calls a concerning pattern of injuries in patients being brought to hospital from aid centres; and the North Korean defectors making their debut in a new K-pop boy band.(Photo: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a press point on 18th package of sanctions against Russia in Brussels, Belgium, June 10, 2025. Credit: REUTERS/Yves Herman)

Pope Leo XIV has renewed his call for a Gaza ceasefire after three people sheltering in the Catholic church in Gaza City were killed in an Israeli strike. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzabella gives us his reaction to the bombing. The Israeli military says the incident is under review.Also on the programme: We ask whether the Israeli bombing of targets in Syria complies with international law; and the sale of ROSEBUD, the wooden sledge that drove the plot of one of the greatest ever films: Citizen Kane.Photo: Mourners attend the funeral of Palestinian Christians Saad Salama and Foumia Ayyad, who were killed in a strike on the Holy Family Church, according to medics, at the Greek Orthodox Saint Porphyrius Church, in Gaza City, July 17, 2025. (Credit REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alka)

Syrian government forces have left the southern city of Sweida, where days of sectarian clashes involving the Druze minority have left hundreds dead. Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa made a call for unity in the middle of the night.Also in the programme: proof that a technique using genetic material from three people to create embryos is leading to children born free of incurable and devastating mitochondrial disease; and an interview with Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, who was detained for more than 100 days after taking part in pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus.

After sectarian clashes in southern Syria, Israel launches airstrikes on Syrian government targets, saying it needs to protect the Druze ethnic minority. We attempt to explain a complicated situation with defence expert Dr Robert Geist Pinfold, and hear from an eyewitness in the city of Sweida and an advisor to the Syrian foreign minister.Also in the programme: continuing controversy in the United States over the legacy of convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein; the plight of hundreds of thousands of Afghans who have been abruptly deported from Iran; and a plan to breathe new life into the Victorian glasshouses at London's Kew Gardens.(Photo: Damaged vehicles outside the Syrian Ministry of Defence building following an Israeli airstrike in Damascus; Credit: MOHAMMED AL RIFAI/EPA/Shutterstock)