Global News Podcast - US military targets Islamic State group in Nigeria

Episode Date: December 26, 2025

Donald Trump says US air strikes have killed multiple Islamic State fighters in Nigeria. He described the group as "terrorist scum" who had persecuted innocent Christians. Also: as Russia considers the latest US-backed peace plan, Ukraine's President Zelensky hails "new ideas" to end the war; former Brazilian President, Jair Bolsonaro, endorses his son Flavio to effectively stand in for him in next year's elections; how neutral Switzerland tried to maintain an uneasy compromise during the Second World War; and how an unexpected knock at the door one Christmas led a homeless man making himself at home - for 45 years.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]

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This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Danny Cox, and in the early hours of Friday the 26th of December, these are our main stories. President Trump says U.S. forces have carried out a powerful and deadly strike on the Islamic State Group in Nigeria. Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he's had a long conversation with U.S. Envoys to find new ways to end the war against Russia. The former Brazilian leader Jaya Bolsonaro has endorsed his son Flavio's bit for the presidency in 2006. Also in this podcast,

I have a plan for the people of my country, for my country. An emotional return after 17 years in political exile. But what will Bangladesh look? like if Tarek Ruckman wins power. First, since he returned to the White House at the start of the year, President Trump has launched attacks against Iran and built up U.S. military presence in the Pacific and Caribbean seas, striking alleged Venezuelan drug smuggling boats,

as part of efforts to force the country's leader Nicholas Maduro to stand down. He's now entered a hotspot in Africa, Nigeria. Mr. Trump said that U.S. Air Strikes targeted the Islamic State Group in the northwest of the country, killing multiple IS members. He also said that he did so because the group, which he described as terrorist scum, had persecuted innocent Christians. Nigeria's foreign minister, Yusuf Tuggar, gave his reaction to the BBC. What I can confirm is a joint operation between Nigeria and the US that has targeted terrorists. It has nothing to do with a particular religion.

It is, as far as we're concerned, targeting terrorists that have been attacking Nigerians, period. I heard more from the BBC's David Waddell. These attacks were launched by U.S. Africa Command. It revealed it conducted a strike in Sokoto State. Crucially, the attack was launched in coordination with Nigerian authorities. and it follows a pledge by President Trump last month to send troops, as he put it, guns are blazing if Christians continue to be killed. The Nigerian government says Christians aren't being explicitly targeted and monitoring groups there say that roughly equal numbers of Christians and Muslims are being killed there. But it's a big concern for President Trump and it's a big security issue for the Nigerian government.

It's most unusual for the US to be involved in military action in this part of Africa. Why and why now? Because these attacks have been happening recently and because they had the authority, I suppose, from the Nigerian government, the coordination with Nigerian authorities to do this. Boko Haram and Islamic State have both been attacking Christian communities, but sectarian violence is a wider issue and has been for some time. There is, however, widespread banditry, including mass abductions, theft of livestock, village raids. It's a major internal security crisis for the Nigerian government. headache which it wants to put a lid on this ongoing crisis. President Trump came to power promising not to get involved in foreign wars, but he's bombed Iran, he's seizing ships off

Venezuela, now he's attacking Nigeria. Why is he being drawn into foreign conflicts? Well, he is also a very activist president. He's not afraid to stir things up, as we've seen from this year's trade war. In July, the US bombed some Iranian uranium enrichment facilities. In his first term, there was a targeted killing of IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2019 and General Soleimani, the commander of Iran's Quds Force in 2020, so he's not afraid of limited military action. It is true that he campaigned as a peacemaker as one who he wanted to stop wars, he said. He clearly feels that he needs to do that and wield a big stick.

David Waddell, as the latest US and Ukraine-backed peace plan arrived in Russia, President Volodymere Zelensky has spoken again to Washington and put out a message hailing new ideas to end the war. Today we spoke for almost an hour with the U.S. envoy, Steve Wickcoff and Jared Kushner, and it was a truly good conversation. We discussed good ideas in terms of formats, meeting and timing on how to bring real peace closer. But we still need to work on some sensitive issues

and the coming weeks may be intensive. President Zelensky once again thanked the United States and said that he'd passed along Christmas greetings to the entire Trump family. Meanwhile, the Kremlin has said it's analysing the 20-point peace plan brought back from the US by a Russian envoy. Despite what Mr. Zelensky called an active day for diplomacy, fighting is continuing on the ground. They've been reported drone attacks on both sides of the border. Our Kiev correspondent, James Waterhouse, has this assessment of the US-led efforts to end the war. Donald Trump has since said he wasn't being serious or literal when he claimed he'd end the war in Ukraine on day one of his return to office. The fact is, on day 339 of his second presidential term, Russia's invasion is no less attritional, and an end is seemingly no closer.

The US-led peace efforts nevertheless are continuing, with senior American representatives meeting their Ukrainian and Russian counterparts separately in either Florida, Europe, Moscow, but not Kiev. A once-28-point peace plan has now morphed into one with 20, but the key questions of territorial concessions and, in the words of Volodymy Zelensky, what the US will do, if Russia invades again, remain unanswered. There is talk of the freezing of the front lines, which are currently being eroded through costly Russian assaults.

Whether Ukrainians fight to keep hold of frontline cities like Prokhovsk, Constantinivka and Kupyansk, they are being reduced to rubble regardless. It is why Ukraine believes Russia is merely playing for time with these negotiations devoid of progress, and why Moscow is yet to climb down from its continued maximalist demands in return for a pause in fighting. Now, he's currently serving a 27-year prison sentence in Brazil for plotting a coup and is forbidden for standing for public office, but that's not prevented the country's former president. President Jaya Bolsonaro from endorsing his son Flavio to effectively stand in for him in next year's elections. Speaking outside the hospital where Mr. Bolsonaro is receiving medical treatment,

Flavio Bolsonaro said he wanted to consolidate his father's conservative legacy. I asked our Latin America online editor, Vanessa Bush-Luta, to tell us a little bit more about the son of the former president. Flavio is the oldest son of Jayao, and he is a senator. and there had been rumours that he may run instead of his father. His father has been banned from standing for public office. And, of course, he's also been convicted for plotting a coup after he lost the 2022 election against his left-wing rival, Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva. And like I said, have been rumours that Flavia would be the one to stand in for his father,

although there had been many people who had been backing a regional governor who they say is more experienced than Senator Flavio Bolsonaro. But Thursday, it transpired that Jaya Bolsonaro had in fact thrown his weight behind his son. That was revealed in a letter that was handwritten by Jayaed Bolsonaro and read out by his son, Flavio, who went to hospital where his father was being treated for a hernia. How popular is Flavio in the country? There are many people who back him because they see him as having his father's ear and Jayao Bolsonaro still has the support of many people and Flavio said that he would continue the political project that his father launched and so many people see him as exactly that somebody who can stand him for his father and do

exactly what his father wants. What will this endorsement do for Flavio? It has really given him more Gravitas because the regional governor had the backing of a wider tranche of Brazilian society, I would argue. But having that clear endorsement, it has to be said that Flavio had already announced that he would run earlier this month. But back then, it wasn't very clear whether his father approved of this idea or whether it was just Flavio launching his political career in that way. But now having that firm endorsement will definitely get him more of the hard. hardcore Bolsonaro-Jar-Jar-Bosanaro supporters, and for those to really throw their weight behind Flavio. All the talk today is about Flavio. Who will he be up against?

He will be up against the incumbent, Luis Inaccio Lula da Silva. Originally, President Lula, when he was elected three years ago, had said that this would be his last term in office. But he has since changed his mind and said that he will run again. Vanessa Bush-Luter. To Bangladesh next, where it's a huge moment. for the country's future. Last year, massive protests saw the then Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina ousted. She's now living in exile in India and has been sentenced to death. Now the man hoping to take power has returned to Bangladesh after he was in exile in London for 17 years.

Cheering crowds lined the streets of the capital Daka to welcome Terek Rachman home ahead of the general election scheduled for February. Among his support, was this activist. It's impossible to put into words the feeling of seeing him in person after a long 17 years. We are overwhelmed with emotion. You can see everyone has come out to the field with placards, banners and caps. The criminal investigations that forced Mr. Rukman from Bangladesh were dropped after Sheikh Hasina fled the country.

The BBC's South Asia specialist and Barrasanne Etirajan told my colleague Will Chalk, more about the significance of Mr. Rachman's return. There is a political turmoil in Bangladesh for the last 14 months and during the interim government's period. So people are hoping that return of Tharik Rahman would fill this political vacuum. Why? Because his party is the biggest political party at the moment. The country is going through a rise in religious extremism, mob violence and also worsening relations with India. Now, in the elections in February, the party is expected to win. and that's why he's considered a front-runner.

So when he landed in Dhaka, there were hundreds of thousands of people holding placards, flowers, to waiting for him for the last 17 years. So it's a big political moment for his supporters, as well as for him, and that's why during his address, he got very emotional talking to people.

I have a plan for the people of my country, for my country. The main address focused on bringing peace, to the country because it was divided. He wanted to bring the country together people from all walks of life, all ethnic and religious groups.

And second, he was also talking about how to revive the economy. And so it was basically giving confidence, sending out a clear message to his supporters and all those who are watching Bangladesh from outside. You talk about a message of peace though. And as we've heard, you know, welcomed home by some as a hero, but he himself has faced, through his career,

huge allegations of corruption, cronyism, political violence. So how do his supporters level that? Well, he had a difficult past during the previous administration of Bangladesh Nationalist Party when his mother, Begham Khaled Azjana, the towering political personality was the Prime Minister. He was accused of corruption and money laundering that was between 2001 and 6. And when the military-backed cat-acre government took over in 2007, there was investigation. He was put in jail and various cases were filed against him. Now, after Sheikh Asina took over in 2008, these cases continued, and he was given jail sentences of varying length.

After their uprising, all these cases have been dropped or he was acquitted. And he always maintained that there was all political persecution. So his supporters also believe that it was Ms. Hasina who was carrying out this political vendetta against him. And given that, there is a lack of leadership. Ms. Asina is in exile in India. So there is a real expectation among his supporters that he can. and unify the nation. And Barrasan Etirajan.

Still to come in this podcast. There's a man standing in the darkness. In his right hand, he's got a black plastic bag with all his worldly possessions, and he left out of frozen chicken. He arrived as a stranger for Christmas dinner and stayed for 45 years. New Year's Resolution.

Own how you show up online. It's easy with a domain and matching email from GoDaddy. Now just 99 cents per month for new customers their first year. Ring in 2026 with a domain and matching email at goaddy.com slash new year. That's goaddy.com slash new year to own how you show up online. This is the day. the global news podcast. Pope Leo has given his first Christmas message from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica since he became the leader of the Catholic Church. He urged people not to be

indifferent towards those who suffer, such as Palestinians in Gaza and refugees fleeing their homes. Here, the Bishop of London and the next leader of the Anglican Church, Sarah Malawi, who will become Archbishop of Canterbury in 2026, used her Christmas sermon to address the issue of immigration in Britain. Our religion editor Alim MacBool has this report. For the first time in more than 30 years, the Pope reinstated a Christmas Day papal mass having already celebrated midnight mass.

In today's homily, he talked of Jesus' birth showing that God chose to live among the most vulnerable. How can we need? not think of the tents in Gaza, exposed for weeks to the rain, wind and cold, and of those of so many other refugees and displaced persons on every continent, or of the makeshift shelters of thousands of homeless people in our own cities. He followed Mass with a drive-about to Greek crowds before appearing on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica to deliver a message very much focused on ending hostilities, mentioning, as he did, numerous conflicts around the

world, including Ukraine and the Middle East, but far beyond that too. Very much in keeping with a theme of building bridges that's been the cornerstone of his papacy so far. At St Paul's Cathedral, Dame Sarah Malawi, has led her final Christmas service ahead of being installed as Archbishop of Canterbury in the spring. The word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory. She talked very directly about some of the most divisive issues in the country today. Many feel the weight of economic pressure. Some feel pushed to the margins. Our national conversations about immigration continue to divide us when our common humanity should unite us. In Bethlehem itself, Christmas celebrations have returned after having been cancelled for the past two years because of war. Huge problems remain for Palestinians there, but prayers were said. for a Christmas of light. Alim MacBool.

Along with Christian leaders, King Charles also delivered his annual Christmas message to the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. Our senior royal correspondent, Danielle Relff, was listening. Kindness, compassion and hope were recurring themes in this year's Christmas message from the King. He delivered the speech from the Lady Chapel of Westminster Abbey, The second year running, he's opted for a location outside of a royal residence.

In a year that has marked the 80th anniversary of VE and VJ Day, the King said there was much to learn from the wartime generation. The courage and sacrifice of our servicemen and women and the way communities came together in the face of such great challenge carry a timeless message for us all. These are the values which have shaped our country and the Commonwealth. As we hear of division, both at home and abroad, they are the values of which we must never lose sight.

The King spoke of getting to know your neighbours, of respecting one another. He paid tribute to what he called displays of spontaneous bravery, referencing the Manchester Synagogue and Bondi Beach attacks. and he stressed the power of unity over conflict. As I meet people of different faiths, I find it enormously encouraging to hear how much we have in common, a shared longing for peace and a deep respect for all life. If we can find time in our journey through life

to think on these virtues, we can all make the future more hopeful. And that message of hope is hope also came from the songs for Ukraine chorus who ended the king's annual message. Many of the choir were displaced when Russia invaded. It was a symbolic show of support from a king who has not wavered in his backing of the Ukrainian community. Daniela Ralph with that report. In the 1970s, the Khmer Rouge, killed millions of people in Cambodia. In the first few years after their fall, it looked like the country could become a fully functioning democracy.

But over the last decade, people's rights there have been severely eroded by the long-serving former Prime Minister Han Sen and the man who followed him two years ago, his son, Han Manette. A recent UN report said Cambodia had been taken over by a clique. Opposition voices have been crushed. But Cambodians outside the country are still agitating for change. as Mickey Bristow reports. Musa Kaur was once a government minister in Cambodia

and then a senior opposition figure. She fled the Southeast Asian country eight years ago with a small, hastily packed suitcase after a tip-off that she was about to be arrested. But she's not given up on politics. She's president of the Khmer Movement for Democracy, a US-registered organisation that connects the estimated 2 million Cambodians who live abroad

to push for political change, back home. She recently visited London to meet Cambodians living in Britain. It is important that we are active because we can express ourselves. In Cambodia, you cannot have any comment against the regime or you be in jail. So expressing, talking, hoping, dreaming out loud on social media, but with a message for change of hope for this generation. She also visited the UK's parliament. And posted a commentary about her trip on social media

to promote the idea that people with different political views can exist in the same system. We have to go back to Cambodia and build this type of multi-party democracy where opposition can live and work and fight with the ruling party and then win. You win today, next day, we'll win. be my turn to govern the country, and that's not happening in Cambodia.

The Khmer Movement for Democracy says the 1993 election in Cambodia was the country's first and last fully democratic vote. A recent UN report criticised the human rights situation in Cambodia under Hun Manette, although of course he defends his government's record. The UN said a new law to revoke the citizenship of exiles was clearly intended to intimidate dissidents abroad. People like Mu Sakora, she's undeterred. You know the Cambodian people survive genocide,

survived many years of armed conflicts, survive poverty. It's a life that we don't take for granted. It is this struggle that will bring us together and help us rebuild Cambodia, a Cambodia that our children can be proud of. Sukor is convinced that she can help make Cambodia more free, although she's aware that not everyone shares her optimism. Mickey Bristow, Switzerland wasn't invaded by Nazi Germany during the Second World War and remained neutral, but that wasn't an easy position to maintain. While it helped the

allies, it was also a haven for gold and art looted by the Nazis and sold weapons. A new exhibition called top-secret espionage and resistance in Switzerland and Europe in Mojong Lake Geneva sheds light on its wartime past. Our correspondent Imogen folks paid a visit. I invite you to discover the fascinating world of espionage during the Second World War. Follow museum curator Gudren Berger through a door disguised as a bookcase and you're transported back to Switzerland in 1940 as this small neutral country watched its neighbours

violently subsumed into the Third Reich. Hitler's plans for the Swiss are on display. Here we have part of a plan, an invasion plan of Switzerland. Most well known is Tannenbaum, of course, but there were four other plans at least. They had to survive, so on one side they had to make economic concerns. to the Third Reich because there were a small country. They needed call for the industry.

They needed to stabilise their currency. They also needed to make sure that they weren't perceived as the enemy. At the same time, they were aligning with the Allies. So while the Swiss provided Germany with useful banking arrangements, including looking after looted golden art, they also offered the Allies a safe place from which to run spirings right across occupied Europe. Escape devices were very popular. There are exhibits here that would make James Bond's cue proud,

tiny compasses embedded in cufflicks, exploding pens, maps disguised as playing cards, propaganda leaflets designed to demoralize the German people, all of them printed right here in Switzerland. The Swiss, as historian Yussie Hanny Mackie explains, knew all about it. The Swiss know what's going on, but the Swiss don't know. necessarily tell everything to the Americans or the Brits or the French or whoever might be interested. Keeping that knowledge or sharing that knowledge when it seems useful. It's also part of this espionage game that in which Switzerland is a place where there's a nest of spies

from almost everywhere. This is a transmitter concealed in a typewriter and it transmitted information via Morse code. network around Lake Geneva, and they received some very crucial information about their positions from Berlin, which was sent from Geneva to Moscow. And these information were so important that it gave the Russian Red Army some strategic advantages during the Battle of Stalingrad. The Swiss police shut down that spiring and seized the transmitter, but not before the crucial information had been sent.

Germans defeated at Stalingrad. After the war, Winston Churchill described the Swiss as being largely on our side. Throughout the Cold War and up to today, spies do operate in Switzerland. For you see Hanimaki, it's less about choosing sides and more about accommodating all of them in the hope of self-preservation. You know, leave us alone politically and you can take advantage of our neutral position, whether it's for spies, whether it's for some kind of special trade relationship, you name it. It's not necessarily a very moral idea, of course, but then again, state craft and where does the line between morality and immorality lie?

That's the question. Imagine, folks, with that report. Finally, a Christmas story of generosity and compassion. It was just before the festive season in Wales in Britain 50 years ago, when Ulywood's Rob and Diane Parsons, preparing for their first Christmas together in Cardiff, answered an unexpected knock at the door. Standing outside was Ronnie Lockwood, who was homeless. They invited him in, and he never left. He lived with them for nearly half a century. Rob has written a book about that remarkable Christmas encounter, a knock at the door. Lewis Fawn Jones spoke to him. Dan and I had not been

married long. We didn't have kids of our own, and I think it's a cowl singer, and I go, then there's a man standing in the darkness. In his right hand, he's got a black... plastic bag with all his worldly possessions, and he left out of frozen chicken. And I half recognized him. He used to come to a little Sunday school where kids. He spent all his life in a care home. And he said to me, don't you recognize me? I said, it's Ronnie, isn't it? And I said, what's with the frozen chicken? He said, somebody gave it to me for Christmas. I said, well, come on and I'm sure that and we'll cook a few minutes. And the intention was he'd have a meal with us. And that meal turned into 45 years. Just tell us how does that happen?

Well, it was really my wife. She was incredible. At the end of the meal, she ushered me into another room and she said, what are we going to do? And I said, what you mean? She said, well, it's Christmas. He can't sleep rough tonight. I'll clear out the guest room. And I went into him. By now, we'd settled him in front of the television. And I said, Ronnie, would you like to stay with us tonight? And he said, fine. And then he stayed with us over Christmas. And Diane hurriedly wrapped some presents for him. And around the family table, some of our family were there for Christmas. He opened his presents. and he cried. He'd never had a family Christmas. And then afterwards, our church had a homeless centre, we went to ask them some advice. And they said, well, to get an address, he needs a job. To get a job, he needs an address. That's the catch 22 that most homeless people are in. And Dan said, why don't we have him with us for a month or two?

Why do you get a job? And he just went on. He never, ever left. In truth, we came to love him. He's been there longer than our kids. He was there before them, and he was there after they'd gone with kids of their own. That's absolutely remarkable And just tell us

What did he do When he was with you Well he got a job as a dustman And I was a lawyer And I used to drop him off at the dustyard Before I went into the law practice And I'd get home at night sometimes And he'd be smiling

And I'd say One of you're every night I get home you're giggling What amuses you so much He said Rob When you drop me off The other men say Who's that brings you the work

In the fancy car And I say well it's my solicitor But he was a dustman For 29 years And he he He paid his taxes. He helped in a homeless center. He worked in a church, putting the chairs out.

He had dignity. And I gather there was one time when you thought, well, maybe it's time for him to move into a place of his own. And you asked him and you broached it, just talk us how that went. Yeah, well, Diane said to me one day, well, darling, she said we've got a big house, we've only got one bathroom.

Katie was about 10 years old. She had Katie's growing up to a young woman. I think it may be time for money to find a little place. still be part of our family still come to us for meals and I was dispatched to go up to his room and break the news to him and I was about to tell him when Diane burst into the room and she said have you and I said no one and she dragged me downstairs and sat in a chair and burst into tears

and she said we can't do it I can't do it and I don't know whether he'd overheard us talking about the possibility of his leaving but a couple of nights later he knocked on our door and he came in and he said a phrase that was a hangover from his time in the care home He said, I haven't done a bad thing. I said, that's right, Ronnie, what is it? He said, we three are firm friends, aren't we? I said, yes, Ronnie, we three are firm friends.

And we'll be together forever, won't we? And honestly, his question hung in the air for far too long, and I looked across at Diane, and bless her heart, he gave me the slightest of nods. And I said, yes, Ronnie, we'll be together forever. He died five years ago in COVID, so we were. Rob Parsons on his remarkable friendship with Ronnie Lockwood. And that's all from us for now, but there'll be a new edition of the Global News Podcast later.

If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email. The address is Global Podcast at BBC.co.uk. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag Global NewsPod. This edition was mixed by Holly Smith. The producers were Daniel Mann and Mickey Bristow. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Danny Cox.

Until next time, goodbye. Bye.