Global News Podcast

The US Senate's longest-serving Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, has announced he's stepping down from his leadership position in November. Also: US reacts to breakaway region of Transnistria asking Russia for "protection from Moldova", and the scientist who produced an award-winning music video to illustrate his PhD on kangaroos.

Other aid deliveries into the territory have already been suspended because of looting. Also: France's Nato allies reject idea of sending Western troops to Ukraine, and the owners of a wonky public house in England have been ordered to rebuild it.

The leader of one of Europe's most feared drug gangs, Ridouan Taghi, is jailed for life in the biggest criminal trial in Dutch history. Also: US President Biden says progress is being made over agreeing a ceasefire in Gaza, and the married couple who spent over 100 days stranded at sea.

After repeated delays, the Hungarian parliament approved Sweden's accession as the organisation's 32nd member. Also, the US Supreme Court hears arguments about social media companies that could transform the way we use the internet, and the woman who was in a love triangle with the musicians George Harrison and Eric Clapton is selling their letters to her.

The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, criticises the Security Council for its 'inadequate' response to the Gaza conflict. Also: Farmers block the streets in Brussels protesting against EU policies, and there's a welcome sign of life from a stricken Japanese lunar lander.

The former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro denies allegations that he plotted a coup after losing the 2022 election. Also: Nikki Haley suffers a fourth consecutive defeat to Donald Trump in the contest to become the US Republican nominee, and Japan's naked festival allows women for the first time.

A bonus episode from The Global Story podcast. Bengal famine: The WWii trajgedy the world forgot. The Global Story brings you one big story every weekday, making sense of the news with our experts around the world. Insights you can trust, from the BBC, with Katya Adler. For more, go to bbcworldservice.com/globalstory or search for The Global Story wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

Visiting Western leaders have pledged their solidarity, but Kyiv say more weapons are what's really needed. The body of the Kremlin critic, Alexei Navalny, is handed to his mother after a battle with Russian authorities, and the video of a professional female golfer being mansplained to by a stranger about how to improve her swing that's gone viral.

This week, we hear from Africa's first bobsleigh champion. Also: the Spanish football club doing its bit to make the beautiful game greener. And how foxes are providing therapy in the Florida Keys.

A spokesperson for Alexei Navalny's mother says she was given an ultimatum on whether to choose this or accept a secret funeral without mourners. Also: The EU unblocks $150 billion of funding for Poland, originally frozen over a rule-of-law dispute with the former conservative government, and the discovery in China of a 'dragon like' fossil that predates dinosaurs.

For two years, the Russian president Vladimir Putin has been waging a brutal conflict in Ukraine - the bloodiest in Europe since the Second World War. But after tens of thousands of deaths on both sides who has the upper hand? What is life like in Ukraine, and Russia, today? And when will the killing end? The Global News Podcast and Ukrainecast have come together to answer your questions.

The measures include export restrictions on firms and individuals. Also, firefighters in Spain work to gain access to a burned out apartment building to search for people still missing and, the funeral of the athlete Kelvin Kiptum takes place in Kenya.

Mrs Navalnaya finally saw his remains on Wednesday after investigators secretly took her to a morgue outside the remote prison in Russia where he collapsed and died. Also: Firefighters in the Spanish city of Valencia have been trying to rescue people from a 14-storey building that's gone up in flames, and scientists finally work out the mystery surrounding why some of the largest whales in the ocean produce their haunting and complex songs.

A Russian official confirmed that a strike took place but described the reports as 'grossly exaggerated'. Also: Israel's parliament overwhelmingly backs a resolution by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejecting any unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state, and why young women are key to creating new words.

UN doctors were granted access to the hospital in southern Gaza, days after it was raided by Israeli forces. Also: Pakistan political parties reach formal coalition agreement, and does exercise have the same benefits for both men and women?

The draft resolution was proposed at the UN Security Council. Also, countries address the International Court of Justice on the legality of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories, and the Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, makes another attempt to halt his extradition to the US.

Brazil recalled its ambassador after a row developed following President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's controversial statements about Israel's military operation in Gaza. Also: Navalny's grieving widow vows to continue his work, and British Museum's social media flooded with calls regarding return of Easter Island statues.

This week, the eight-year-old boy who sang in front of tens of thousands of people at a rugby international. Also: the campaign encouraging appreciation of the people who do the vital job of waste picking in India. And how a penguin helps out his short-sighted friend.

This week, the French model-maker celebrating a world record that he nearly missed out on due to a technicality. Also: a guide to the Lunar New Year celebrations. And can you tell the mood of a chicken by its cluck?

Why are millions of apartments in China sitting empty? How has the country managed to produce as much cement in two years as the US did in the last century? For a special edition celebrating the Lunar New Year, the BBC's Asia Pacific editor Celia Hatton looks at the significance of eight numbers representing different aspects of modern China. Celia teams up with some of the BBC's China correspondents and analysts to look at topics ranging from China's marriage rates to its zodiac calendar.