Newshour BBC Podcasts

Following a presumed Israeli retaliatory strike on Iran, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken joins renewed international calls for de-escalation. Israel has not commented on the attack, which saw projectiles reach deep into Iran.

Also on the programme: the US Congress moves closer to approving $60 billion of aid for Ukraine; in India voting begins in the world’s biggest election.

(Picture: Antony Blinken at the G7 foreign ministers meeting in Capri, Italy, April 19, 2024.Credit: REUTERS/Remo Casilli)

US officials say Israel hit Iran with a missile overnight on Friday, in what appears to be a retaliatory strike after weeks of escalating tensions between the two countries. There are competing claims about the scale of the attack on the Isfahan region and the extent of any damage, with Iranian state media downplaying its significance. It comes after weeks of soaring tensions between the regional rivals, which have already seen an Israeli attack on an Iranian compound in Syria, and Iran launch an unprecedented assault against Israel.
Also in the programme: we speak to Newshour's James Coomarasamy in Uttar Pradesh as voting has ended in the first phase of India's general election and we hear why so many of China's cities are sinking.
(Photo: Anti-Israel billboards in Tehran following explosions around central city of Isfahan, Iran- 19 Apr 2024. Credit: Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

Germany summons Russian ambassador over arrest of two men suspected of spying for Moscow. We’ll ask if Russian espionage activities are spreading across Europe.
Also in the programme, Washington reimposes partial sanctions on Venezuela; the animals in David Bowie’s music, but should nature get the royalties?
(Photo: Exterior of Russian embassy in Berlin; Credit: Shutterstock)

Qatar is reassessing its role as a mediator between Israel and Hamas, the country's prime minister has said. Qatar has had a key role - along with Egypt and the US - in trying to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the release of Israeli hostages. We also hear testimony from the ground in Gaza from Medical Aid for Palestinians and the experiences of an Israeli woman, Aviva Siegel who was taken hostage in October.
Also on the programme: Votes are counted in the Solomon Islands amid fears that some candidates are being influenced by Beijing; and the father and daughter who found the fossilised jawbone of what's thought to be the largest marine reptile ever to swim the seas.
(Picture: Palestinian women react as they sit on the rubble of a residential building housing their apartments, following an Israeli raid in the Gaza strip Credit: REUTERS/Doaa Rouqa)

As fighting continues between the Burmese military and rebels in Myanmar, young men are fleeing into Thailand to avoid the draft. We have a special report from the Thai border. And we ask why Myanmar's military government has moved the detained former leader Aung San Suu Kyi from prison to house arrest.
Also in the programme: the speaker of the US House of Representatives says legislators will hold a long-awaited vote on billions of dollars of aid to Ukraine on Saturday; and Ecuador is suffering from power-cuts because drought is affecting its hydroelectric power generation
Photo: Myanmar people arrive at the Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge checkpoint at the Thai-Myanmar border in Mae Sot district. Credit: RUNGROJ YONGRIT/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

The BBC has discovered that the body count was nearly 25% higher than in the first year of the war. This overall death toll is eight times higher than the only official public acknowledgement of fatality numbers ever given by Moscow in September 2022.
Also on the programme: the military regime in Myanmar has moved the jailed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from prison to house arrest; we ask why has Dubai suffered a years worth of rain in just a few hours? And we'll hear from actor Tom Hollander on what it's like to play the American writer Truman Capote.
(Picture: Mass grave for Russian soldiers near Mariupol. Credit: Reuters)