Global News Podcast
Society & Culture
News
BBC World Service
The day’s top stories from BBC News, including the latest on the Middle East conflict – bringing you developments from Lebanon, Israel, Gaza and Iran. Delivered twice a day on weekdays, daily at weekends.
Total 237 episodes
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The Happy Pod: Finland named world's happiest country... again
The Happy Pod: Finland named world's happiest country... again
This week, Finland has been voted the happiest country in the world for the seventh year running, we find out why. Also: The mountain rescue team who survived a helicopter crash and saved a man stranded in a crevasse. And ding dong, who's there, a fish!
28:2723/03/2024
What keeps China’s president up at night?
What keeps China’s president up at night?
A bonus episode from The Global Story podcast. What keeps China’s president up at night? 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.
27:3717/03/2024
The Happy Pod: country star Jordan Davis wants more good news
The Happy Pod: country star Jordan Davis wants more good news
This week, the singer Jordan Davis tells us how the need for more positive and uplifting stories inspired his latest song, Good News Sold. Also: the school children surfing the web without internet access, and the birth of a rare, bright orange baby monkey.
27:1216/03/2024
Bonus: The Global Story
Bonus: The Global Story
A bonus episode from The Global Story podcast. Could just 100,000 people decide the US election? 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.
27:4310/03/2024
The Happy Pod: Sounds of the stars
The Happy Pod: Sounds of the stars
This week, how Nasa is harnessing the power of sound to help people visualise the universe. Also: we meet the man making bees whoop. And the woman making history in college basketball.
27:1809/03/2024
The Happy Pod: The billion dollar gift of education
The Happy Pod: The billion dollar gift of education
This week, a former professor donates $1 billion to the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Also: the felines and felons providing mutual support in Chile, and do apes have a sense of humour?
27:2902/03/2024
The Happy Pod: Hurtling into History
The Happy Pod: Hurtling into History
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.
27:3324/02/2024
Ukraine Two Years On – Your Questions Answered
Ukraine Two Years On – Your Questions Answered
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.
29:1123/02/2024
The Happy Pod: Eight-year-old steals the show at the Six Nations
The Happy Pod: Eight-year-old steals the show at the Six Nations
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.
27:1117/02/2024
The Happy Pod: Model Maker Outmatches Guinness World Records
The Happy Pod: Model Maker Outmatches Guinness World Records
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?
27:2311/02/2024
Special episode: Eight Numbers To Understand China
Special episode: Eight Numbers To Understand China
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.
34:1410/02/2024
The Happy Pod: Time's up for monkey on the run
The Happy Pod: Time's up for monkey on the run
This week, the adventures and safe recapture of a runaway monkey in Scotland. Also: how scientists tracked down four previously undiscovered penguin colonies. And, the "Motorbike Grandma" riding the length and breadth of China.
28:3503/02/2024
The Happy Pod: Pioneering ultrasound treatment for Alzheimer's and addiction
The Happy Pod: Pioneering ultrasound treatment for Alzheimer's and addiction
This week, pioneering work using ultrasound In the treatment of both Alzheimer's and addictions. Also: a water skiing world record, and how a chatbot for a parcel delivery service went rogue
27:1927/01/2024
The Happy Pod: Heroic teens save couple from drowning
The Happy Pod: Heroic teens save couple from drowning
This week, we meet the teen rescuers who saved a couple from drowning in Barbados. Also: the pioneering heart transplant for a newborn hailed as a success. And, ending homelessness the Finnish way.
27:2120/01/2024
The Happy Pod: Trapped tourists saved from flooded caves
The Happy Pod: Trapped tourists saved from flooded caves
Five people were rescued from a system of underground lakes in southern Slovenia. Also: scientists say they've decoded a baby's cry. And, the mouse that's been caught tidying up a garden shed.
26:4813/01/2024
The Happy Pod: Art student's lost work recovered thousands of kilometres away
The Happy Pod: Art student's lost work recovered thousands of kilometres away
Grace Hart's artwork was accidentally thrown away, only to end up in the Pakistani city of Lahore. Also: the jewellery store owners in Hawaii helping to restore precious items damaged in wildfires. And, the teenage darts player, 'Luke the Nuke', taking the sport to new audiences.
28:0306/01/2024
The Happy Pod: Mobile coverage reaches remote Norwegian town
The Happy Pod: Mobile coverage reaches remote Norwegian town
Our weekly collection of the happiest stories in the world. This week, how a settlement in Norway is taking a unique approach to mobile phone etiquette, after getting signal for the first time. Also: the man who composes music on TikTok to tell short stories. And we look ahead at what's to come in the worlds of sport and music in 2024.
31:0530/12/2023
Happy News Review 2023
Happy News Review 2023
Our annual review of the happiest stories in the world. We look back on the successful rescue mission from a dangling cable car in Pakistan. Also: the children who survived forty days lost in the Colombian jungle. And a round-up of our favourite animal stories from around the world.
35:1125/12/2023
The Happy Pod: Cooking for togetherness
The Happy Pod: Cooking for togetherness
Our weekly collection of the happiest stories in the world. This week, how cooking is bringing generations together in the Netherlands. Also: how polar bear pawprints can help conservation efforts. And an unexpected visitor found in a Christmas tree.
26:3423/12/2023
The Happy Pod: Refugees share their stories of hope
The Happy Pod: Refugees share their stories of hope
Our weekly collection of the happiest stories in the world. This week, the Somalian man who has brought the power of books to children living in refugee camps. Also: how a fascination with electricity inspired a Congolese woman to create a robotic medical tool. And the cyclist who took to the Olympic track after fleeing Afghanistan.
26:4616/12/2023
The Happy Pod: The giant Christmas 'tree' made of trees
The Happy Pod: The giant Christmas 'tree' made of trees
Our weekly collection of the happiest stories in the world. This week, the Italian town of Gubbio lights its world record breaking Christmas Tree. Also: how a medical clinic in Borneo is helping to reduce deforestation. And the loneliest manatee, lonely no more.
27:3209/12/2023
The Happy Pod: India Tunnel Rescue Success
The Happy Pod: India Tunnel Rescue Success
Our weekly collection of the happiest stories in the world. This week, how hope and perseverance prevailed in the rescue of 41 workers trapped in a tunnel in India. Also: a set of earbuds that could revolutionise wheelchair mobility. And celebrating 100 years of Scottish dancing.
26:5402/12/2023
COP 28 special: Your climate questions answered
COP 28 special: Your climate questions answered
Our climate editor Justin Rowlatt and The Climate Question presenter Graihagh Jackson address issues including whether the oil-producing UAE is the right host for the meeting, what one thing we can all do to save the planet, and is a plant-based diet on the agenda?
28:3826/11/2023
The Happy Pod: It's never too late to graduate
The Happy Pod: It's never too late to graduate
Our weekly collection of the happiest stories in the world. This week, the war veteran from Texas who's graduated from high school 60 years after he left. Also: the comic book that is educating girls all over the world about periods and menstruation. And: the cat meowing her way to a Christmas hit.
28:2525/11/2023
The Happy Pod: Kenya's tree-planting holiday
The Happy Pod: Kenya's tree-planting holiday
Our weekly collection of the happiest stories in the world. This week, Kenya hands out 100 million saplings and calls a public holiday to plant them. Also: a new drug to treat two rare blood disorders, and a woman from Scotland who walked across Europe and met the Pope.
27:3018/11/2023
The Happy Pod: Protecting penguins in South America
The Happy Pod: Protecting penguins in South America
Our weekly collection of the happiest stories in the world. This week, the biologist who's dedicated his life to protecting penguins in South America. Also: the award-winning Frenchman they call the Michelangelo of tattooists. And Peanut, the world’s oldest chicken
28:1411/11/2023
The Happy Pod: The 'Bee' song creating a buzz
The Happy Pod: The 'Bee' song creating a buzz
Our weekly collection of the happiest stories in the world. This week, the Ukrainian musician whose bee-inspired song captured the hearts of millions. Also: the band pushing sustainability by walking 1400 kilometres between gigs. And, a new type of seal discovered in Greenland.
27:1404/11/2023
Israel-Gaza War: Your Questions Answered
Israel-Gaza War: Your Questions Answered
We've teamed up with The Conflict podcast to answer your questions. These include Russia's role, the reaction from Israel, and what we can all do to be part of the solution.
28:5727/10/2023
Gaza Special: Your Questions Answered
Gaza Special: Your Questions Answered
The build up to the Hamas attack, why now and what happens next? Is there any hope for peace between Israel and the Palestinians?
33:3213/10/2023
Special Edition - Artificial Intelligence - who cares?
Special Edition - Artificial Intelligence - who cares?
What is AI? What can it do and what are its current limitations? A tool for good - or should we be worried? Will we lose our jobs? Are we ready to be cared for by machines? Our Tech Editor, Zoe Kleinman, and a panel of international experts explore AI's impact on healthcare, the environment, the law and the arts in a special edition recorded at Science Gallery London.
51:5315/09/2023
Special episode: Abortion rights around the world
Special episode: Abortion rights around the world
In June, the US Supreme Court overruled Roe v Wade and ended the constitutional right to abortion in America. In a special episode, we investigate the changing dynamic of abortion rights globally in countries like Colombia, China and Ireland. We'll also be examining the restrictions still faced by women in Africa and places like Malta and El Salvador.Audio for this episode was updated on 4 July 2022, due to a factual error in an earlier version.
31:3801/07/2022
Young voices special
Young voices special
Is the nuclear threat real? What does Putin want? Who is winning the war in Ukraine? We took questions on the invasion from young people around the world and looked for answers from BBC correspondents.Jackie Leonard speaks to Martin Forster, a senior child psychologist with the healthcare company, Kry, in Sweden. Listeners' questions are tackled by Vitaliy Shevchenko, Paul Adams, Theo Leggett, Lyse Doucet and Mark Lowen.
35:2225/03/2022
Special: Global News Ukrainecast part 2
Special: Global News Ukrainecast part 2
A month since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we are collaborating with Ukrainecast again. We answer more of your questions.Jackie Leonard, presenter of the Global News Podcast, alongside Gabriel Gatehouse and Vitaliy Shevchenko from Ukrainecast, guide us through questions about civilian life in the country, military tactics, and the international response to the invasion. BBC chief international correspondent, Lyse Doucet, joins us from Kyiv to talk through what is happening on the ground there, and BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner, tells us the latest on the physical and information war. This episode was made by Chris Flynn. The studio director was Ash Taylor. The assistant editor was Sam Bonham.
32:4924/03/2022
Russia-Ukraine: On the brink of war?
Russia-Ukraine: On the brink of war?
Our experts in Moscow, Kyiv and London answer your questions about the crisis.
34:0228/01/2022
Omicron versus the world: Your questions answered
Omicron versus the world: Your questions answered
As the Omicron variant spreads around the world and cases surge, BBC correspondents tell us how Covid-19 is impacting our lives, our businesses and our economies.
33:3621/12/2021
Afghanistan Special: Your Questions Answered
Afghanistan Special: Your Questions Answered
BBC correspondents answer your questions about the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan. We ask how did the Taliban overthrow the Afghan government so quickly? What now for human rights, the economy and international relations?Photo:People on board an evacuation flight out of Kabul airport, August 21, 2021 Credit:MoD/PA Wire
35:1730/08/2021
Global News Brexitcast
Global News Brexitcast
We team up with the award-winning Brexitcast team to bring you a special update on what Britain leaving the EU means for you. You’ve sent us questions from around the world and Jackie Leonard puts them to the experts from the podcast that’s all about Brexit. There’s also cake, phew. Spread the word! #GlobalNewsPod #Brexitcast Find the Brexitcast podcast here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/brexitcast
50:3925/10/2019