Newshour

There has been international condemnation of Israel's treatment of pro-Palestinian activists who were on board a Gaza-bound aid flotilla intercepted by Israeli naval forces.

Also on the programme: the first case of Ebola has been announced in the rebel-held territory in eastern Congo; and an online political group in India called The Cockroach Janta Party ‌has amassed nearly 15 million followers on Instagram in less than a week.
(Photo: Activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla, aiming to reach Gaza and break Israel’s naval blockade, gather at a port before their departure in the southern Turkish resort of Marmaris, Turkey on May 14, 2026. Credit: Reuters)

The US Justice Department has indicted Cuba's former leader, Raul Castro, on criminal charges. The allegations centre on a Cuban military offensive against US civilian aircraft in 1996. The planes were operated by an organisation called Brothers to the Rescue and were searching for people who wanted to leave the island, when they were shot down by the Cuban military, which was led by Castro at the time. We get the latest from the BBC’s Cuba correspondent.
Also on the programme: Israel's far-right security minister has been condemned for taunting handcuffed Gaza flotilla activists; and we hear from the winner of this year’s International Booker Prize. 
(Photo: Cuba's former President Raul Castro watches a May Day rally in Havana, Cuba 1st May, 2025. Credit: Reuters/Norlys Perez)

Why was the Ebola outbreak able to spread so quickly? We speak to the co-chair of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response about Ebola testing shortfalls in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Also on the programme: we examine the relationship between Russia and China as Vladimir Putin fails to reach a gas pipeline deal during a visit to Beijing. Plus, we hear why the Tyrannosaurus Rex had such short arms.
(Picture: A health worker takes the temperature of an M23 rebel in Goma, North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Credit: Arlette Bashizi/Reuters)

We hear from a journalist in eastern DR Congo on how situation is becoming more and more difficult for people in the city of Goma, a major transport hub - and we speak to Tom Frieden, a leading US scientist involved in fighting the last major Ebola outbreak.
Also on the programme: An interview with former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez, pardoned by Donald Trump, now in hiding in the US.
We have a rare report from inside Afghanistan.
And an age-old mystery at sea has been solved - we hear how biologists rumbled the whale.
(Photo: UNICEF staff receive medical supplies from an aircraft in Ituri province, Democratic Republic of Congo, May 19, 2026. Credit: REUTERS/Gradel Muyisa Mumbere)

The World Health Organisation has sent six tonnes of medical supplies to the Democratic Republic of Congo as it continues to sound the alarm over the scale of the Ebola outbreak in central Africa. We hear why the authorities are battling against the widespread local belief that symptoms are caused not by the Ebola virus, but witchcraft.
Also, a look ahead to today's primary contests in the United States with Kentucky becoming the most expensive race ever, and the former President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, tells our correspondent why he believes he was the victim of “lawfare” and “a witch-hunt” by a vindictive Biden Administration.
(Photo: Fatima Tafida, the Regional Supply Chain Lead for Emergencies at the World Health Organization's (WHO) Regional Office for Africa pastes stickers on shipment pallets as the WHO mobilises 4.7 tonnes of essential medical supplies and emergency kits to support the affected regions in response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 18 May, 2026. Credit: World Health Organization/Handout /Reuters)