Global News Podcast - US and Iran trade fire for first time in a month

Episode Date: August 31, 2026

The US has bombed Iranian launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz - the first known attack in weeks. Tehran has launched retaliatory strikes against American bases in Jordan. Also: rescue efforts intensify after Nepal-Tibet flood; Russia is accused of targeting cultural sites in Ukraine; NASA launches its space telescope; a zoo reopens in Gaza's Khan Younis; and the best movies of the summer. The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight.Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories.Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment.Get in touch: [e-mail]: Ships and boats on the Strait of Hormuz, Oman, 29th April 2026 Credit: Reuters

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ad-free with an Amazon music subscription. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Charlotte Gallagher, and in the early hours of Monday, the 31st of August, these are our main stories. The US launches strikes on an Iranian island in the Strait of Hormuz, the first attacks since July. How Russia is targeting Ukraine's culture and identity, one schoolbook at a time, and the zoo that has managed to reopen in the Gaza Strip. Also in this podcast. They came and told me a big flood was coming. I'm here to take my daughter.

Parents don't just rush in without good reason, so I realised I shouldn't waste a second and must evacuate the children. The teacher who saved hundreds of children from the devastating floods in Nepal. Iran and the US are once again facing off in the Strait of Hormuz, after Washington struck two rocket launchers on Iran's Lirac Island, saying it was dear to. with an imminent threat. Iran's Revolutionary Guards say several fighters and civilians were killed and wounded in the attack and vowed to retaliate, later firing ballistic missiles at two US-operated air bases in Jordan, which were intercepted. Commercial shipping through the strait remained severely disrupted after six months of conflict. Peter Bowes, our correspondent in the US, gave Nick Miles

more details, starting with that original strike from the US, which was confirmed. by officials. This would be the first known American strikes on Iran since late July. The official added that Islamic Revolutionary Guard core forces were observed preparing to launch rockets with sea mines into the Strait of Hormuz. We do have confirmation from both sides that this has happened. Iran's state news agency reported that the US carried out a drone strike and Iran's Revolutionary Guards have said that the attack killed and wounded several soldiers and citizens and would be met with a response and punishment. And the context for this attack is what Donald Trump was saying just a few days ago about mines in that particular area. Yes, Donald Trump was

saying that all mines had been detonated or removed from the Strait of Hormuz, these crucially vital international waters, and that Iran had been. been told that any ship or boat placing new mines would be destroyed, which would appear, at least on the surface from what we're hearing, to have been what's happened in the last few hours. It seems as far as the United States has been concerned over the last week or so that they have moved away, or at least had moved away from military action, preferring to look at economic sanctions, but this does once again an attack has been launched and Iran is promising retaliation. It's quite hard to say at this stage, isn't it, Peter, quite how significant an uptick in the violence this may well be.

Yes, and for that reason, perhaps we don't want to overplay this, because during the course of this war, which has gone on now for many months, there were times when it would appear that the negotiations had been making some progress, and then there would be a few skirmishes, but even as they were happening, oftentimes certainly President Trump would say that it wasn't necessarily spoiling the negotiations, process. That appeared to continue behind the scenes. Now, negotiations, as we understand it, are not happening. So I think maybe quite a lot of people on both sides of this will be holding their breath to see whether this potentially escalates. And any escalation of violence will be met

with dismay, I imagine, by many Americans, right? Well, yes, and dismay from many Americans ever since this war started. As it has gone on, people being hit by high fuel prices, high petrol prices. And of course, there is a political element to this now as we get closer to the midterm elections, just over two months away at the beginning of November. And many polls here suggest that certainly Donald Trump and the Republicans across the board are going to pay the price of this very unpopular war. Peter Bowes. As we record this podcast, it's five days since flash floods ripped through the Nepal-Tibet border. 3,000 people are missing. 300 of them children.

Their families say they're losing hope of hearing good news. Hospital walls across the region have been plastered with posters of their faces as rescue efforts continue. Hundreds of those being searched for are believed to be employees trapped inside the tunnels of Nepal's hydroelectric plants. Many residents near the disaster zone don't have power and health workers have warned that supplies are running low, with enough food remaining for a day or two. Amid the loss and devastation, though, there have also been inspiring stories of survival. The BBC has spoken to Regenda Duwadi,

a head teacher who saved 900 students, telling them to run to higher ground, minutes before the flood hit his school. They came and told me, a big flood was coming. I'm here to take my daughter. Parents don't just rush in without good reason, so I realised I shouldn't waste a second. and must evacuate the children.

This 16-year-old described running up a narrow and muddy route with other students. My friends and I only made it by 10 seconds, the floods came all of a sudden. I couldn't walk fast and my friends helped me to climb uphill. Within no time, the bazaar was swept away in front of my eyes. But many did not manage to escape. Nearly 800 people are now known to have died in the disaster. authorities are collecting DNA samples from unidentified bodies and preparing mass burial sites. The Nepali journalist Badrashama has been to the worst affected areas.

The local authorities have been struggling to manage the dead bodies because they are not identified and they have already started to decompose. Some of the rescuers told me they have started to vomit because of Paris milk. Even the army personally carrying those bodies are feeling difficult to transport from one place to other places. The issue is that some of the bodies are not even intact. The rescuers have been recovering arm or leg or head, this sort of part of the body. I went to the hospital as well. I saw naked bodies there because their clothes were already wiped out during the flood. They have lost everything, you know. Being an experience on this, I have covered the 2015 South Kuwait and the deadly

ablances in Everest. I covered everything in Nepal in last two decades or so. But this time, the situation is more depressing there. While journalists are free to report from Nepal, information from across the border in Tibet, which is controlled by China, has been limited. I asked our Beijing correspondent Laura Bicker about the latest that. We've heard from Chinese authorities that 16 people are confirmed to have died. More than 540 people are still missing.

261 of them are said to be foreign nationals. Now, remember, one of the worst hit areas was that area called Geyrong Port. It's the main land border between Nepal and Tibet. It was completely destroyed in those floods. What we've seen from Chinese state media footage is rescuers walking 10 kilometres through various parts, of the Himalayan landscape, including scaling mountains, including crossing torrents of river, they're now going step by step through the mud and debris calling out for survivors. What they've said through Chinese state media is that so far they've yet to find any survivors,

those rescue operations had to be temporarily halted because there's been yet another landslide in the area which has formed a lake. Now, they've set up observation points, so sentries to try to give an early warning system, to try to ensure. sure that rescuers on the ground are really not swept away in further flooding. And we were talking the other day about you as a foreign journalist in China. It's nigh on impossible for you to go to that region. So you're having to rely on information that's coming out of Chinese state media. Everything we're telling you comes from Chinese state media. As a foreign journalist, I really can't go to Tibet. You need government permission to travel there,

and that has not been granted. I think when it comes to this area, it's one of the most carefully controlled areas in China. So I think it's worth remembering that this is carefully controlled state media. And does it seem like Nepal and China are working together a bit more after this? Well, we have heard, yes,

that there's been a phone call between the two foreign ministers, between the Chinese and Nepali foreign ministers. And what they're discussing is trying to find ways to share more hydrological and glacial data about the Himalayas. Because given the current climate, given that we know that global warming is going to perhaps make this kind of tragedy more either

frequent or a risk, they have to find ways of avoiding it. That was Laura Biccett in Beijing. A series of Russian attacks has hit publishing houses and printing presses across Ukraine, destroying around 12 million books and leaving some schools short of textbooks for the new term. It's not the first time Russia has been accused of targeting artistic and cultural sites in an attempt to damage symbols of Ukrainian heritage. Prior to the full-scale invasion four and a half years ago, Vladimir Putin questioned the legitimacy of an independent Ukrainian state and culture. Our Ukraine correspondent, Dan Johnson, reports from some of the

places now feeling the impact of the war. On the edge of Ukraine's capital, the Convi Publishing House bears the imprint of Russia's latest attacks. It's bombed out remains, testament to a dark new chapter of this war. The printing press has been almost completely destroyed. It's burned, the roof has collapsed here, you can still smell the aftermath and there are piles of charred books and then some others that have sort of survived but they've suffered water damage. These are actually English textbooks that should have been destined for schools.

It says, I'm William and I'm from the UK. My dad is Ukrainian but my mum is British. My grandmother lives in Nottingham. It's a beautiful city. This means there's going to be a textbook shortage now for the start of the new term. The company's commercial director, Victoria Haidai, tells me the strike came, just as they were ramping up, to print 1.3 million textbooks. I believe it is deliberate on the part of the Russian Federation.

Over the past two months, some of the largest publishing houses have lost their warehouses, where very large quantities of books were stored. The Russians are also destroying printing houses in an attack. to erase Ukraine as the nation, but frankly, they will not succeed. Keeves-Pochina second-hand book market was also hit, burning down hundreds of stalls and destroying countless treasured books. In the smoldering ruins, I met Lillia Velika, a book blogger determined to salvage something from the ashes.

Books are saving us, and losing this is like losing our hearts. It's not only books, museums, art galleries, opera house, and a film studio have been damaged. Symbols of collective identity Ukrainians believe are being targeted to undermine their sense of national belonging. And a Russian drone hit the golden domes of Kiev-Pachersklavra, a cultural and spiritual icon

and the UNESCO World Heritage Site. The decoration in here is incredibly ornate. There's gold leaf everywhere. It's seriously impressive with really detailed images and murals. There are fans running to try to drive this cathedral out because of the water damage and I can still smell the impact of the fire that tore through the roof.

UNESCO Director General Khalid El Anani visited on the monastery's 975th anniversary. I was deeply sadden to see today the significant damage caused by June attacks. UNESCO firmly condemns them and all attacks against culture property protected under international law. Russia denied targeting the Purchaseklavera and claimed to only attack sites with military links. Ukraine's culture minister, Tatiana Borezhna,

dismisses that. This is existential war, so Russia wants to destroy us as a nation, to erase assassination like Ukrainians do not exist and have never existed. That's why Russia targets our arms. cultural heritage, the symbols of our presence here for a lot of time, they understand that it's very important for us, because we protect our identity, we protect our culture,

and Russia wants to ruin everything that it cannot appropriate. She says digitization can protect art and literature, and ensure children can learn even without physical books. But back at Convi Publishing, Victoria Haidai captures the depth these attacks strike at. In the beginning was the word. The word is everything. It is our development, our culture and our historical heritage that has passed down from generation to generation. The word is born in a book and the book is born in a printing house. Vladimir Putin has denied the existence of a distinct Ukrainian culture,

but the site of burning books means his war is only hardening determination here to ensure it survives. Dan Johnson, now to Cape Canaveral in Florida. T-minus 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, ignition, and lift off. Go, Falcon Heavy, and go Roman Space Telescope. That's the sound of NASA's powerful next-generation space telescope, taking off successfully. Named after the space agency's first woman chief of astronomy, the Nancy Graeme, Roman Space Telescope has a five-year mission to map more than a billion galaxies. It's set to provide larger, clearer images of stars and planets and help us in our understanding

of the mysterious components of dark energy and dark matter. Michael Strauss is a professor of astrophysical sciences at Princeton University. My colleague, Sean Lay, spoke to him about what happens next in the mission. For the next three months, the spacecraft and the telescope will be making its journey to the so-called Lagrange 2 point, which is a stable point in orbit around the Earth and the sun, about a million miles from Earth. In three months from now, it will be able to open up its cameras and take its first images of the celestial sky. Is it just the case that this telescope has bigger cameras and therefore will generate bigger images? Or is it going to be able to do something different?

Well, just bigger cameras is a big deal in our field. Instead of looking at some tiny piece of sky at once, it can image vast swaths of the universe. Much of what we do in astronomy is driven by mapping the universe. And this is a mapper in the sense that it can obtain data over a very large field of view. And thus, learn in some detail about the full statistical properties of galaxies and stars and how they're distributed in space. And those questions lead directly to our understanding of the structure of our own Milky Way galaxy and the structure of the universe as a whole.

What about the role of dark matter? There's been some talk about it playing a part in the expansion of the universe. Could this telescope help us explain that part? Absolutely. And that is one of the design goals for this mission. Dark matter is a material whose physical nature we do not understand, Only about 4% of the universe, as we understand, is made up of ordinary matter of the type that we're familiar with. Another roughly 25% is dark matter.

There's another component, the accelerated expansion of the universe is driven by something that we call dark energy, dark matter and dark energy. Do we understand what these things are and exactly how they work? No, and this is what one of the key goals of the Roman Space Telescope. Michael Strauss. Still to come in this podcast. We knew that's going to be an experience and we had to show up and be the first to see it. I'm super excited. I've been waiting literally a year for this movie.

After a blockbuster summer for movies, is the industry having an epic comeback. Growing businesses deal with the same problem, too many tools, too much back and forth, and not enough time. Odu helps bring it all together. It's an all-in-one. business management platform, fully integrated from sales and accounting to inventory and marketing,

so your team can spend less time chasing information and focus on growth. Whether you're in retail, manufacturing or service, Odu gives you one place to manage your business. Visit Odu.com to book a demo. It's ODbb-O.com. Get more with BBC podcasts, wherever you listen. Be the first to listen to your favorite shows, like Evil Genius, Good, Bad Billionaire, and You're Dead to Me, with a subscription to BBC Podcasts Premium on Apple Podcasts. You can also enjoy a range of our podcasts ad-free with an Amazon music subscription. This is the Global News Podcast. As the Trump administration continues to push to increase deportations,

the Haitian community in the US is now facing uncertainty after its protected status was cancelled. There are around 350,000 Haitians in the US. and Washington is working to send them back to Haiti, where gang violence and lawlessness are part of daily life. On Sunday, mourners gathered in a hillside community, near the capital, Porter Prince, after 47 people were killed, reportedly by gangs inside a church. Vise Dorsenville is a Haitian migrant who fled five years ago

and has since set up a new life in Springfield, Ohio. He spoke to Gary O'Donohue. I was not surprised because we have been at the heart of the situation since after the presidential campaign in 2024. And, you know, there was that type of conspiracy theory of Haitians eating people, cats and dogs. Because I should say you're in Ohio in Springfield where that was all meant to suppose to be happening, though there was no evidence of any of it, right? Yeah, so when the Supreme Court took the decision to terminate the TPS, it was like they validated every racial slur that was said against the Haitian community in Springfield. So, I mean, how scared are you of being deported right now?

I am so scared, I am so fearful, but, you know, I just use. my voice for the voiceless because the Haitian community in Springfield, they are so much vulnerable. I mean, there's some talk about people having to wear ankle bracelets as well. What circumstances would that have to happen? It has been so humiliating. They send them a checking letters and they ask them to report to ICE Facility Center. And when they get after interviewing them, they are being outfitted with this ankle monitor. We call it a shackle because it is, it symbolizes the shackle that the slaves used to wear during slavery time. It brings all type of humiliation to the folks. Some of them are not eating. Some of them are expressing themselves by saying words that has to do with the suicide.

It's saying that if it were not because of my kids, I would have killed myself. Raif Tomasar Joseph is a Haitian-born journalist for an independent non-profit newsroom dedicated to reporting with and for immigrant communities. He explained what has been lost. It's a humanitarian program. The Congress created in 1990s. So basically, it gives people from certain countries who are already in the United States and cannot safely return home due to ongoing armed conflict

environmental disaster, epidemics, or other extraordinary circumstances, you know, they offer these people temporary conditions. So basically, they have a work permit and they can remain in the country legally until they can return safely home. That's the thing. What do you make of the U.S. government saying it's okay to go back now? From what I've heard from many advocates, from many organization, they say that the Trump administration contradicts itself because they have many core arguments and those arguments have been presented in different amicus briefs. For example, the U.S. Department of States maintains a level four do not travel advisory for Haiti, which is the highest travel warning level. So the advisory urges U.S. citizen not to travel to Haiti.

and advises those in the country to live as soon as it's safe to do so. So the federal aviation administration extended restriction bearing U.S. commercial aircraft from flying below 10,000 feet over parts of Haiti. And now we have 1.5 million displaced people because of the gang violence. And the gangs control 80% of Haiti's capital port of rents and many other areas in the country, even this week, there have been in massacres. Rafe, Thomasa, Joseph. To Gaza now, where after nearly three years of war and with Israeli strikes continuing,

a zoo has reopened there. It's in Khan Yunus in the southern part of the strip and has animals like monkeys, turtles, peacocks and parrots. Imad Kudiyah, who's a journalist in Gaza, went to visit the zoo. He asked the owner, Musa Abu Jama, how he started caring for the animals. We started looking after a small number of animals and birds in a shelter at home for over 20 years. Then in 2023, we took a big step and opened a zoo, bringing in bigger animals for the first time. The war began a few months later and everything was destroyed. It affected everyone,

people and animals. The losses were devastating. We were forced to leave the area and try to come back several times. When we returned, we found none of the animals had survived. This year, we began rebuilding from scratch, gathering whatever resources we could to create the zoo. One of the biggest challenges we've had is replacing the animals we'd lost. Buying animals is really expensive now, but we're determined to rebuild. Why did you decide to reopen an animal zoo in this area? The main reason we opened is because there's a lack of recreation. spaces for children and families, particularly in the southern Gaza Strip. Also, we love animals and birds.

We have a close connection and are committed to raising them. The most beautiful thing we see is the smiles of children, young people and girls, especially under difficult circumstances we are living through. Unfortunately, the attacks are still continuing despite the existence of a ceasefire. Strikes and attacks continue to affect all areas across the Gaza Strip. Because of this, we do our best to provide children with psychological support and emotional relief through play activities and interaction with animals. Our aim is to bring a smile to their faces, even if for a few moments.

When we see them smile and feel the joy in their hearts, that happiness is reflected in us as well. What do you hope exactly these animals is going to provide the local community with? I always hope to see the smiles and faces of Palestinian people. especially our children and young people, and to see them happy and full of joy. I also hope that they can overcome the painful moments they've experienced during the war, and even if only for a while, move beyond the suffering and tragedies that they've endured throughout this devastating conflict. God willing, the situation will improve, and everything will eventually be all right.

Musa Abu Jama. Finally, this summer has been a good one for Hollywood. Two films, Spider-Man, Brand New Day and The Odyssey, have been breaking audience records around the world. So are we witnessing a return to health for an industry that has struggled since COVID? As the lucrative summer season draws to a close, our film correspondent Tom Brooke has been looking at implications for cinema-going and the Hollywood studios. For many, the summer of 2026 will be remembered for the intense heat and for the movies. The Odyssey, based on an almost 3,000-year-old ancient Greek poem and the new Spider-Man Adventure brand-new day, have excited moviegoers around the world. We knew that's going to be an experience and we had to show up and be the first to see it. I'm super excited. I've been waiting

literally a year for this movie. In the U.S. alone, box office is now heading for its best post-pandemic year. Paul de Garabedian is head of marketplace trends at Rentrack in Los Angeles. Overall, to me this is maybe the most interesting dynamic and consequential summer I've ever seen in my 34 years of tracking and analyzing box office. The summer movie season got a huge boost in mid-July when the epic, The Odyssey, directed by Christopher Nolan, held its world premiere here in Leicester Square in London. Not only did it take off rapidly at the box office, but it created animated discussions both in the real world and online about its content, its casting, that piqued the interest of individuals who don't normally go to see movies.

The Odyssey was just one of several movies. BBC film critic Nicholas Barber saw this summer. To him, the Odyssey was more than just a movie. It's very rare for a film to become a cultural phenomenon where people are discussing the film, they're arguing about the film, there's Elon Musk getting upset about the film. So it's one that even if you haven't seen it, people are talking about it. I didn't know you could get that big.

Spider-Man brand new day was an even bigger commercial success. It brought in more than $2 billion globally in record time. Now. Together with the low-cost horror blockbuster's obsession and backrooms, made by YouTube filmmakers, moviegoing has most definitely picked up. But for many going to the cinema still remains a sporadic activity, and one that's seen as too expensive.

We won the war. If there's a lesson to be learned from the summer movie season, it's that originality can pay off. Help me go home. Nobody thought The Odyssey, a nearly three-hour epic with a restrictive rating based on an ancient poem, could become such a massive hit. Keep us straight!

A movie with an impact amplified by social media. Despite the excitement surrounding box office revenues, the fundamentals aren't so reassuring. By one estimate, the number of citizens, Cinema tickets bought in North America is down by 37% from pre-COVID times. But revenues are higher because of increases in ticket prices and the presence of premium formats such as IMAX, as was the case with The Odyssey. Tombrook reporting.

And that's all from us for now. If you want to get in touch, you can email us at globalpodcast at BBC.co.uk. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. use the hashtag Global NewsPod. And don't forget our sister podcast, The Global Story. This edition of the Global News Podcast was mixed by Rezenwin Dorrell and the producer was Alfie Habershon. The editor is Karen Martin and I'm Charlotte Gallagher.

Until next time, goodbye. Get more with BBC podcasts, wherever you listen. Be the first to listen to your favourite shows, like evil genius, good, bad billionaire and you're dead to me, with a subscription to BBC Podcasts Premium on Apple Podcasts. You can also enjoy a range of our podcasts ad-free with an Amazon music subscription.