The number of dead in the devastating floods and landslides on the Indonesian island of Sumatra has risen to more than 700. In addition, 500 people are still reported missing, with many feared buried under mud. Around one million people have been evacuated from their homes, with meaningful assistance still yet to reach hard-hit isolated areas. Newshour got through to one resident, a man called Lodewick Marpaung in north Sumatra. He pleaded for help. Also in the programme: US envoy Steve Witkoff is heading to the Kremlin - can he strike a deal on Ukraine? Also, Japan's new leader says she's giving up her own work-life balance - and everyone must 'work like a horse'. (Photo: A picture taken with a drone shows piles of wood that were swept away by the floodwaters in a flood-affected village in Sumatra, Indonesia, 1 December 2025. Floods and landslides triggered by Tropical Cyclone Senyar hit Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra provinces. Credit: Hotli Simanjuntak/ EPA/Shutterstock)

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

Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines are grappling with severe flooding, landslides and storm damage after torrential rain and vast cyclones hit the region over the past few days.Also, the presidential election in Honduras is too-close-to-call, and the Oxford English Dictionary releases its 'word of the year'.(Photo: A military rescue team vehicle makes its way through a flooded road after heavy rainfall in a suburb of Colombo, Sri Lanka, 30 November 2025. Credit: Chamila Karunarathne/EPA/Shutterstock)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked the country's president, Isaac Herzog, for a pardon over corruption cases he has been battling. We speak to an opposition member of the Israeli Knesset who opposes a potential pardon for Mr Netanyahu. Also on the programme: local media in Hong Kong report that police have arrested a university student who was part of a group petitioning for an independent inquiry into the huge, deadly fire at a housing complex; and the musical featuring Britain’s most beloved bear, Paddington. (Photo: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a meeting with US Vice President JD Vance at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, October 22, 2025. Credit: Reuters)

The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been facing a long-running corruption trial, has submitted an official request to the country's president to pardon him. Mr Netanyahu, who denies wrongdoing, released a two and a half minute video saying that a presidential pardon would advance much needed national reconciliation, but he added that he'd be happy to continue with the trial.Also in the programme: The extraordinary story of a woman who survived torture in Iraq; Nigerian troops have rescued twelve young women who were abducted from their homes in Borno State by suspected Islamic State fighters last week; and 'Paddington the musical' hits the stage in London's West End.(Photo: Netanyahu said a pardon would lead to national reconciliation in Israel. Credit: EPA)

Venezuela has condemned President Trump's warning that its airspace should be considered closed. It called it a colonialist threat and an unjustified aggression against the Venezuelan people. Mr Trump's post could lead to travel uncertainty and deter airlines from operating in the area. We hear from the capital Caracas.Also in the programme: Celebrated British playwright Tom Stoppard has died; and Ukraine's battle against Russia's "shadow fleet"(Picture: People shop at a market, after U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the airspace above and around Venezuela would be closed entirely, in Caracas, Venezuela. Credit:Reuters)

After the kidnapping of hundreds of children, we hear from a Nigerian minister about the difficulties that the government has in providing security to the Nigerian people. The government has declared a nationwide security emergency and ordered the recruitment of 20,000 more police.Also on the programme: President Trump has said he'll pardon the former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, who's serving a prison sentence in the United States on drugs and weapons charges; and an award winning children's programme about communist politics in Soviet era East Germany(Photo: Nana Aisha Shemsudeen teaches her younger siblings and neighbors at her parents' house in Minna following the closure of all government schools due to insecurity in Niger State, Nigeria Credit: Marvellous Durowaiye)

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)

President Trump has said he'll "permanently pause" immigration from what he called Third World countries, following the shooting of two young National Guard soldiers in Washington on Wednesday, allegedly by an Afghan gunman. In a strongly worded post on social media, he said immigration had eroded living conditions in the United States and that he would remove or denaturalise migrants who "undermine domestic tranquillity," as he put it. Also in the programme: a top Ukrainian official resigns; and Pope Leo XIV travels to Turkey. (Photo: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with members of the media on Thanksgiving, in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., November 27, 2025. CREDIT: REUTERS/Anna Rose Layden)

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)