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For International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (October 13th), we're finding out how technology can help prevent disasters, save lives and help rescuers. In Argentina, we’ll meet Franco Rodríguez Viau whose family friends lost their home in a fire, inspiring him to find a way of tracking wildfires. He was just a teenager when he began developing an app that combines NASA satellite imagery with...

When someone you love needs financial help, lending them money can seem like the easiest way to support them. And when you're the one facing financial difficulties, turning to someone close to you for a loan can feel like the most natural solution. Around 1 in 4 of us borrow from family and friends when times are tight according to a survey from the not for profit, Fair4All Finance. It found many...

President Macron holds an emergency meeting after more than a quarter of a million French people take part in fresh school protests. Although most gatherings were peaceful, there were sporadic clashes, with police using batons and tear gas to disperse crowds. Lawyers for Christa Pike, the American woman who survived a botched execution attempt last week, say she's regained consciousness and is abl...

Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets across France, as a wave of protests by high-school pupils spread to their parents, university students and unions. There was less violence than in previous days, though some protesters clashed with police, who responded with tear gas. We hear from Marseille and Paris and look behind the protests to the acute fiscal and political difficulti...

Paramount Skydance has officially taken over Warner Bros Discovery in a $110bn merger that is set to change the entertainment industry. We hear what this mean for cineme goers across the globe. As Lionel Messi prepares to play his final match for Argentina, we look at the extraordinary fortune the football superstar has built alongside his record-breaking career. And we will tell you why the price...

The French government has denied it ordered police repression against students, after hundreds of young people were injured in nationwide protests. The Interior Ministry said more than a quarter of a million people took part today. Also on the programme: our reporter meets Yemeni civilians determined to defeat the Houthis; and hundreds of items from the personal archive of the influential American...

There’s a complication at the vets, and Alan offers some comfort.

As fighting surges again in Yemen, government forces supported by Saudi Arabia say they've been making significant gains in an offensive against the Iran-backed Houthis. We hear how the conflict is affecting people in one of the key battlegrounds - the southwestern city of Taiz, which is surrounded by the Houthis. Also: protesters and police clash in several French cities, as students, parents and...

Mass protests and school blockades have swept across France as teenagers, teachers, and unions demand more investment in dilapidated classrooms and smaller class sizes. India says its trade talks with the United States have now reached a “plateau”, after Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal wrapped up negotiations in the US without the breakthrough many had hoped for. OpenAI’s chief strategy officer has...

Burkina Faso's military-led government has opened a gold refinery in a bid to tighten its grip on one of the country's most important industries. The $19 million facility known as Raffinor-BF is financed by the state, including through the National Precious Metals Company (Sonasp), in partnership with Burkina Faso's private sector. The plant will initially be capable of refining 164 tonnes of gold...

There have been clashes between protesters and police in several French cities, as demonstrators call for more investment in schools. Police fired teargas in the southern city of Toulouse, while in Lyon police say they responded when missiles were thrown at officers. The student protests - over a lack of teachers, overcrowded classrooms and run-down buildings - started last month in Paris then spr...

Nolan talks to comedian Paddy McDonnell, Belfast Telegraph's John Laverty and callers

I’ve got too many plans. I’m going to sack them off and just chill out this week! Learn how to use 'sack something off' in this programme with Georgie and Feifei. Get a free transcript for this episode here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/the-english-we-speak_2026/ep-261005 Have you signed up to our email newsletter yet? If not, what are you waiting for?! Get weekly tips fr...

Iran-backed Houthis claim they hit several targets in Saudi Arabia, including Riyadh Airport, while Saudi-led forces attacked Houthi military strongholds on the Red Sea coast. The Yemeni government has launched an offensive against the Houthi-held capital, Sanaa. Also: Student demonstrations intensify in France ahead of a national day of protests. The Nobel Prize in Medicine is awarded to Karl Dei...

British Psychiatrist Dr Gwen Adshead, who has spent a lifetime working with violence perpetrators, visits Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, the largest gang rehabilitation in the world. It offers, training, education, therapy and other services, was set up by a Jesuit Priest, Father Gregory Boyle. It was his response to the so-called “decade of death,” in the late 1980s, as his neighbourhood was...

Brazil's presidential election fails to return a frontrunner. This sets up a second-round runoff later this month between right-wing Senator Flávio Bolsonaro finishes and incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. There’s increasing concern about the pressures on airlines as fuel forces up costs. One airline, AirBaltic has announced more than 500 jobs losses And we look at the financial fallou...

Archer's publisher HarperCollins said the author died "suddenly and peacefully at home" on Monday between writing sessions. His fellow former Conservative MP and friend, Gyles Brandreth tells us he’ll be remembered as “a great storyteller”. Also in the programme: As President Trump says the US moved its bombers out of RAF Fairford because of "some threats" to the base, we ask the former head of th...

Downing Street says it won't comment on foreign nations' military operations - after the US removed twelve bombers from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire - which has been the subject of an investigation into a suspected terror plot. But officials insist the base is safe. Six men have been arrested by counter-terrorism police, but they've all been released on bail. The US Vice President JD Vance said...

What do you do when your childhood dream of becoming an astronaut is grounded at the final hurdle? If you’re physicist Ginger Kerrick, you go on to help run the missions instead. After failing the medical of her astronaut application process, Ginger went on to become Nasa’s first non-astronaut CAPCOM and its first Hispanic female Flight Director. Across a remarkable three-decade career, she helped...

Amber is touched by an unexpected gesture, and Eddie issues an invitation.

Investigators believe the co-pilot accused of trying to take over a Flydubai plane heading for Israel was a 'lone wolf' extremist who wanted to fly the aircraft into an airport or tower block. Also: why did the US military withdraw expensive bombers from a base in the UK? Oil exports from the Middle East are getting back to levels last achieved before the US began bombing Iran. Spain's prime minis...

Forces aligned to Ethiopia's national army have taken control of Mekelle, the capital of the northern Tigray region. This came after the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), a movement opposing the federal government, withdrew from the capital, days after they had seized control of its main airport. Mobile and banking services apppear to have resumed in some parts of the city after internet di...

Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez seeks new mandate after Parliament rejected housing reforms. The election will be held on November 29. More oil is leaving the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman than in the days before the US/Israel war on Iran began. Will oil prices start to fall? And workers in India from different sectors are being used to train robots of the future.

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

Nolan talks to TUV MP Jim Allister, commentator Chris Donnelly and callers.