Friedrich Merz says the decisive win in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt by the far-right Alternative for Germany, AfD, signals the need for a major reckoning. The AfD's national co-leader, Alice Weidel, says it's aiming to win at least forty per cent in the next general election. Also: the funeral of the Bosnian Serb war criminal, General Ratko Mladić, has gone ahead in the Serbian capital, Belgrade, where some people consider him a national hero. The Lebanese president, Joseph Aoun, has warned of a "dangerous escalation" by Israel after women and children were killed in an air strike on a residential building in southern Lebanon. A new film about the most important weather forecast in British history, which gave the go-ahead for D-Day on the sixth June 1944, is released in the UK. And the BBC speaks to the 13-year-old who has written a symphony warning about the challenges posed by artificial intelligence.

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: [email protected]

Photo: Description: German Chancellor and Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party leader Friedrich Merz attends a press conference the day after the Saxony-Anhalt state elections in Berlin, Germany, September 7, 2026.

Credit: REUTERS/Axel Schmidt

Germany's Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is heading for a dramatic victory in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt, far ahead of its mainstream rivals. Although it is projected to fall short of a majority, the AfD says it has won a mandate to govern. Commentators and political opponents speak of the outcome as a watershed and break with the past. No far-right party has won control of a German state since World War Two.

Also: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky says he expects the war with Russia to continue into the winter, following talks with Donald Trump's top envoys in Kyiv. The BBC investigates the claim that individuals working for the Saudi government may have been involved in the 9/11 attacks. Iran warns of "a faster, heavier, and more painful response" to US attacks, as hostilities between the two sides escalate. At least five people have been killed and five others injured after a cargo plane sped off a runway at Miami International Airport. Portugal gives festival-goers wristbands that can instantly detect the date-rape drug GHB. We look at how Nigeria's problems with mass abductions from schools are affecting children's access to education. A volcanic eruption in Indonesia disrupts thousands of flights, and how sleep tracking can actually make your sleep worse.

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: [email protected] Photo: Ulrich Siegmund during a far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) election party following Saxony-Anhalt state election, in Magdeburg, Germany, 06 September 2026. Credit: EPA/Shutterstock

The US is bringing a "proposal to end the war" to Russia and Ukraine - but hopes for progress towards peace are not high. President Trump's top envoys are visiting Kyiv after a "constructive" meeting with Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Also: evidence grows of Sudanese army using chemical weapons in civil war against RSF; the US ambassador to Israel visits Palestinian-Americans in the occupied West Bank; the White House releases retro arcade games with MAGA agenda; how habitat loss forces animals into our homes instead; Oman's bagpipers showcase their musical heritage; and gravediggers dig deep for world championship.

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: [email protected] Photo: Russian President Vladimir Putin meets US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law, at the Kremlin in Moscow. Credit: Mikhail Metzel/Reuters

After a week of deliberation, jurors have failed to reach a unanimous verdict in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother accused of murdering her three young children. The 12-person jury was made up of nine women and three men and was reportedly split 11 to one. Ms Clancy doesn’t deny killing her children but says she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time. The court will reconvene at the end of the month to decide what happens next. Also: a Russian drone has struck the headquarters of Ukraine’s security service, the SBU, in central Kyiv; OpenAI hijacks a German website, raising questions around AI safety; the UN General Assembly passes a resolution to replace the traditional world map with one that more accurately reflects the size of Africa; Houthi fighters and pro-government forces in Yemen battle each other in some of the worst clashes in years; Naomi Osaka has urged social media influencers attending the US Open to respect tennis "etiquette"; and as Giorgia Meloni celebrates her government becoming the longest-serving in Italy's postwar history, we hear why she has outlasted her predecessors.

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: [email protected] Photo: Lindsay Clancy listening to testimony at her trial, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, US, August 26, 2026. Credit: Greg Derr/Pool via REUTERS

A man in the US has survived for a record nine months with a kidney from a genetically modified pig, bringing hope to transplant patients across the world. 66-year-old Tim Andrews went on to receive a human donor kidney and is doing well. We hear from Dr Leonardo Riella who led the team. Plus, the rare flightless parrot that's been brought back from the brink of extinction. The kakapo are the world's heaviest parrot. Also in this edition, meet Ari Miller, the DJ making music with strangers on the streets of New York. The new display showing the world famous Bayeux Tapestry as it's never been seen before and the composer turning the world's underground trains into melodies. Our weekly collection of inspiring, uplifting and happy news from around the world.

Picture: Patient Tim Andrews (centre) with Dr Tatsuo Kawai (left) and Dr Leonardo Riella (right). Credit: Kate Flock/Massachusetts General Hospital.

Presenter: Holly Gibbs. Music composed by Iona Hampson

Rescue crews in Nepal have freed two workers from a blocked hydropower tunnel, nine days after they were trapped by debris from flash floods that devastated an area on the border with Tibet. Shortly after the two survivors were lifted out of the tunnel, the body of a third person was found. About forty people are still thought to be inside the tunnel. Across Nepal thousands remain missing and in Tibet, tightly controlled by China, the official death toll remains low at 20 with around 500 missing. Also, New Zealand becomes the second country, after Australia, to treat trauma patients with the active ingredient used in ecstasy. Britain's anti-immigration party faces another funding scandal. VW cuts a further 50,000 jobs, and the Scottish eagle called Kinky, because of a crooked wing, flies high against the odds.

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: [email protected] Photo: A man is carried by members of a search and rescue team after they rescued alive two people who had been trapped inside a tunnel in Nepal. Credit: Nepal Army/Handout via REUTERS.

Funerals have been held for two Palestinian teenagers killed by Israeli settlers and soldiers in the village of Al-Mughayyir in the occupied West Bank. Israel's military said its forces had fired at instigators of a "violent riot". The deaths come amid a recent surge in settler violence and mounting criticism of the IDF's role in attacks. Also: Argentina's President Milei threatens sanctions against oil companies working off the Falkland Islands or Las Malvinas. The UN warns of immense challenges reaching isolated Himalayan communties devastated by the Nepal-Tibet flash floods. A US jury is deadlocked in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial. The success of a genetically modified pig kidney transplant offers new hope to those on dialysis. And Amelia Dimoldenberg ends "Chicken Shop Date".

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: [email protected] Photo: Mourners attend the funeral of Khalil Abu Aliya and Omar Mohammed Naasan in the West Bank village of Al-Mughayyir Credit: Atef Safadi - EPA/Shutterstock.

Gloria Steinem, a leader of the women's liberation movement in the US, has died at the age of 92. During the 1960s and 1970s, she campaigned for women’s reproductive rights and equal pay laws. She also co-founded the Ms. magazine - one of the first feminist publications in the US - and advocated for the legalisation of same-sex marriage. Steinem died peacefully at her home in New York.

Also: the United Nations warns of a "supersized" El Niño as countries prepare for the impact of the severe weather event. Britain's Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, meets President Emmanuel Macron in London, with irregular migration high on the agenda. France is deploying a new team of police officers to its western beaches to try to stop migrants on large, overcrowded vessels from crossing the English Channel. Are we one step closer to discovering dark matter - the substance that binds galaxies together? And women's tennis world number one, Aryna Sabalenka, hits back at suggestions she had been attending 'lots of parties' in the build-up to the US Open.

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: [email protected]

Photo: Gloria Steinem speaks at a women's march in Washington, US., January 21, 2017. Credit: Reuters

The United States and Venezuela have welcomed a big energy deal which they have formally signed in Caracas, along with a series of agreements involving international oil firms. The US Energy Secretary, Chris Wright, said the deal would unlock tens of billions of dollars in investment and thousands of jobs. He said oil production would double in a decade. Critics say the deal hands Washington control of a fifth of Venezuela’s oil reserves and entrenches the current authoritarian government.

Also, New York's mayor, Zohran Mamdani, has announced an unprecedented one-year ban on students using artificial intelligence in public elementary and middle schools; Tens of thousands of people have demonstrated against the Spanish government's handling of the migrant crisis in the north African territory of Ceuta. They have been calling for the socialist Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, to resign; More than six decades on from the Sharpeville Massacre in South Africa, survivors and relatives of those killed are challenging an apartheid-era law they say has prevented them from seeking justice; And more than 900 years after it was made, King Charles and Queen Camilla have had a preview of the historic Bayeux Tapestry which has been loaned to the British Museum in London by France for a year. The tapestry tells the story of the Norman conquest of Saxon England in 1066, when the English king was defeated by the invaders from France.

(Photo: Venezuela's acting president Delcy Rodriguez. Credit: Getty Images)

Get in touch: [email protected]

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.

The heads of Nato and the European Commission have warned that Russia is growing increasingly reckless and vowed to respond to a "new normal". Moscow has accused Germany of planting evidence, after German authorities said Russia was behind an attempted drone attack at Leipzig airport. The Nato and EU chiefs said their support for Ukraine was unwavering amid rising hybrid threats, calling the Leipzig incident "part of a broader pattern of increasingly dangerous incidents".

Also, Iran and the US exchange air strikes as Tehran calls deaths at wedding celebration a war crime. Washington denies targeting civilians. The man accused of murdering conservative activist Charlie Kirk pleads not guilty, as judge clears way for death penalty trial. A simple at-home urine test can detect more than nine in 10 cases of bladder cancer, potentially sparing thousands of patients from invasive exams. American service members on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln arrive in Thailand after a record 250 days without a port stop. The prominent Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong pleads guilty to foreign collusion. Ariana Grande bids fans a tearful farewell at her final world tour show before stepping back from public life.

(Photo: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speaks during a press conference with Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte in Brussels Credit: Geert Vanden Wijngaert/Reuters)

Get in touch: [email protected]

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.

The Iranian Red Crescent says four people including a child were killed by US strikes on a wedding in southern Iran as fighting escalates. It said over 50 people were wounded when shrapnel hit a residence in Sirik county, which lies on the Strait of Hormuz. The US military said it was aware of the reports but that it never targeted civilians. Iran launched retaliatory attacks at US bases in the region, with strikes reported in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan. Also, President Putin accuses Germany's leader of trying to shore up his position by blaming Russia for a series of hybrid attacks on infrastructure. A new law in Austria that bans girls under the age of 14 from wearing an Islamic headscarf in schools comes into force. Why Chinese electric vehicles are so cheap. And the drone technology being used to save people from shark attacks.

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: [email protected]

Image description: A military aircraft ready to take off as US forces carry out strikes on Iranian military target. Credit: US Central Command via Reuters