Newshour

The top adviser to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has resigned after anti-corruption investigators raided his home in the capital Kyiv. Andriy Yermak was the president's chief of staff and headed the Ukrainian delegation at talks about ending the war with Russia. Also in the programme: Airbus says it's ordering immediate modifications to six thousand of its aircraft after finding a fault that could affect flight controls; and eight more people have been arrested over Wednesday's fire in a group of Hong Kong tower blocks that killed at least 128 people. (File photo: Andriy Yermak, former adviser to President Zelensky, pictured on January 22, 2024. Credit: REUTERS/Gleb Garanich/File Photo)

Interviews, news and analysis of the day’s global events.

The authorities in Hong Kong say more than 80 deaths have now been confirmed after the city's worst fire in decades. Officials think that number will grow, with more than 200 people still missing. It's unclear what caused the fire but the eight residential blocks were undergoing renovations. The contractor is reported to have breached safety requirements on multiple occasions during construction projects. We speak to a former firefighter who is an expert in tower fires. Also on the programme: How Israel's offensive on Lebanon has continued, despite a ceasefire; and a scientific study casts new light on how cats came to be domesticated and part of the daily life of so many human beings. (Photo: Smoke billows from an apartment fire in the Tai Po district of Hong Kong, China, 27 November 2025. Credit: Leung Man Hei/ EPA Shutterstock)

Emergency teams in Hong Kong are still working to extinguish fires at a giant housing complex a day after the blaze broke out. Sixty- five people have now been confirmed dead. Over two hundred are still missing. Also in the programme: Hamas has urged mediators to pressure Israel to grant safe passage for dozens of its fighters holed up in tunnels in southern Gaza; the Australian fifteen year-olds taking their government to court over its social media ban for kids; and John Lennon's son on why his father's political activism still hits home today. (Photo: One 51-year-old resident - with the surname Wan - tells Reuters she bought her apartment in Wang Fuk Court over 20 years ago. Credit: Reuters)

At least 36 people have been killed in a huge fire that has engulfed multiple high-rise buildings in Hong Kong's Tai Po district. Also on the programme, three people, including two soldiers from the US National Guard, have been shot in Washington, a few blocks from the White House; and, how noise in the ocean is affecting marine life. (Photo:Fire burns bamboo scaffolding across multiple buildings at Wang Fuk Court housing estate, in Tai Po, Hong Kong, China, November 26, 2025. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu)

Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te has announced a plan to spend an extra $40 billion dollars on the military over the next eight years to resist Chinese aggression. Also on the programme: at least 13 people have died in a fire in a tower block complex in Hong Kong; and the new "Russian cultural code” from fashion to music, aiming to define what it means to be Russian. (Photo: Taiwan President Lai Ching-te gestures as he delivers a speech during National Day celebrations in Taipei on October 10, 2025. Credit: Reuters)

Ukraine's President Zelensky says he's ready to meet President Trump to discuss the most sensitive points of US- drafted peace agreement with Russia. But he said his country's European allies should also join the meeting. Mr Zelensky was addressing a gathering of the Coalition of the Willing - a group of nations which supports Kyiv. We will hear from an Ukrainian MP who is in London to meet with British lawmakers. Also in the programme: Scientists in the UK have established that the brain ages through five distinct stages over its lifetime; and Los Angeles' most famous modernist-styled house goes on sale for the first time. (Picture: Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a Russian strike on a nine-storey residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine on 25 November, 2025. Credit: MAXYM MARUSENKO/EPA/Shutterstock)

As American officials brief that they're making progress in peace negotiations over the Russia-Ukraine war, we get a view from Moscow on what kind of deal might be acceptable to Russia. Also in the programme: why is femicide – the killing of women – especially by intimate partners or close relatives, still so common around the world? We hear from the UN about what needs to happen to bring the numbers down; and ash from a volcano in Ethiopia which has erupted after many dormant years forces flights out of India to re-route. (IMAGE: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks during a joint press conference with Belarusian Foreign Minister in Moscow, Russia, 25 November 2025 / CREDIT: Alexander Nemenov/AFP/POOL/EPA/Shutterstock)

President Zelensky has hailed what he called "important steps" in peace talks for Ukraine, but said making territorial concessions to Russia's leader would be rewarding him for theft. Also in the programme: A judge has dismissed charges against former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James; we meet the 3 year old with a deadly genetic disorder who's been treated with a pioneering new therapy; and Gaza food kitchens still missing essential products despite ceasefire. (Photo credit: Getty Images)

Negotiations on a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine are continuing after the United States said progress had been made on Sunday. Moscow says it's not been informed of changes to a draft widely seen as favouring Russia. Also on the programme: a three year old boy from California suffering from a rare, genetic disorder called Hunter syndrome, has become the first person in the world to be treated with a gene therapy developed in England; and Jimmy Cliff, the musician credited with introducing Jamaican reggae to the world, has died aged 81. (Photo: Russian missile and drone assaults on Ukraine continue as its leaders hold talks with the US on a potential peace deal. Credit: Reuters)

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says a “tremendous amount of progress” has been made in talks to finalise a Ukraine peace deal. Talks in Geneva between Ukrainian, US and European officials are focusing on a 28-point draft plan and will continue on Monday. Kyiv and its European allies have raised concerns about the proposals, saying they mirror Russia’s demands, and that more work is needed to reflect Ukraine and Europe’s needs. Also in the programme: we speak to the UN’s climate chief on the deal passed at the COP30 summit; and the animated musical phenomenon KPop Demon Hunters hits Europe. (Photo: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the press following talks to finalise a Ukraine peace deal in Geneva, Switzerland. Credit: MARTIAL TREZZINI/EPA/Shutterstock)

The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has insisted that President Trump's 28 point plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war was drawn up by the US -- contradicting senators who said he told them it was a Russian "wish list". We look into that suggestion. Also in the programme: What do the bandits kidnapping schoolchildren in Nigeria really want? How a celebrated Argentinian writer discovered that her nanny was a KGB agent; and the BBC's climate correspondent shares some reflections as the COP climate talks come to an end. (Photo: Ukrainian rescuers work at the site of a Russian strike on a high-rise residential building in Ternopil, western Ukraine, 21 November 2025. Credit: Maxym Marusenko EPA/Shutterstock)

Nearly 200 nations agree on a compromise deal on tackling climate change at the COP30 summit in Brazil - but without any commitment to phase out fossil fuels. We speak to Sierra Leone Minister of The Environment and Climate Change Jiwoh Abdulai, who represented the Least Developed Countries group on finance and transition talks. Also in the programme: All educational institutions in Niger state have been ordered to close following a mass abduction on Friday of more than three hundred children and staff from a Catholic boarding school; and we reflect on the lasting cultural relevance of beloved Pixar film series Toy Story. (Pictured: André Corrêa do Lago, COP30 president, sits as Simon Stiell, United Nations climate chief, left, speaks with other U.N. officials during a plenary session at the COP30 U.N. Climate Summit. Credit: AP Photo/Andre Penner)

US and Ukrainian talks set to take place in Switzerland, but will Ukrainian public opinion accept the proposals? Also in the programme: Key MAGA figure Marjorie Taylor Green to quit Congress after falling out with President Trump; and Rosalia, the multilingual Spanish singer on her new album. (Photo: Zelensky and his wife place wheat sheaves at statue. Credit: EPA/Shutterstock)

Interviews, news and analysis of the day’s global events.

The US has presented Kyiv with a draft peace plan that appears to favour many of Russia's demands over those of the Ukrainians. The widely-leaked US plan includes proposals that the Ukrainian government had previously ruled out, such as ceding areas of the eastern Donetsk region that it still controls. Will Ukraine and Europe accept it? Also in the programme: Why some South African women are training to use guns; the latest controversy around this year's Miss Universe; and we'll talk about Frida Kahlo's art and the pop-culture phenomenon the Mexican artist has become. (Photo shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a joint press conference in Ankara, Turkey, on 19 November 2025. Credit: Umit Bektas/Reuters)

US President Donald Trump has accused Democratic legislators who urged members of the armed forces to disobey unlawful orders of sedition and suggested they should face the death penalty. Also on the programme: a journalist who has followed the Epstein story for years tells us what might be in the files to be released; and American filmmaker Wes Anderson on the pros and cons of AI in the movies. (Photo: President Trump gestures after speaking during a meeting of senior military leaders at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Quantico, Virginia on September 30, 2025. Credit: Reuters)

Senior EU politicians say Kyiv and Europe must be involved in any peace plan for Ukraine, as the US pushes for proposals that reportedly echo Russian demands. Some of the reported plans being discussed involve Ukraine giving up territory and dramatically shrinking its military. Also in the programme: We'll hear about the Filipino mayor busted as a human trafficker and online scammer; one of the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's sex-trafficking network on the promised major release of new information; and social media networks are turned off for Australia's under-16s. (Photo shows A Russian flag waving in front of a US flag at the US Embassy in Moscow. Credit: Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA)

Interviews, news and analysis of the day’s global events.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told US President Donald Trump that he wants Riyadh to join the Abraham Accords, the framework for the normalisation of ties between Israel and several Muslim states, but also wants to secure a “clear path” to Palestinian statehood. Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader was speaking during a visit the White House, his first since the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which occurred inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Also in the programme: Europe’s uneasy standoff with Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet”; and we hear from one of the scientists behind a new study which traces the origins of kissing back more than 21 million years... Photo: Donald Trump speaking at black-tie dinner. Credit: REUTERS/Tom Brenner