Blockade of Hormuz is strangling global economy, UN chief says

Risk of global food shortage from Iran War

The interruption to supplies of fertiliser and its key ingredients due to the war in Iran could cost up to 10 billion meals a week globally and will hit poorest countries hardest, according to the boss of one of the world's biggest fertiliser producers. Svein Tore Holsether, chief executive of Yara, told the BBC that hostilities in the Gulf, which have blocked shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, are jeopardising global food production. Also in the programme: Ukraine has been stepping up its campaign against Russia's oil industry; and is fish fraud affecting one of Britain's national dishes? (Picture: Workers carry fertiliser bags to be mixed with water at a farm's irrigation centre. Credit: REUTERS/Rula Rouhana/File Photo)

Warnings that Iran war risks global food crisis

The head of one of the world's biggest fertiliser manufacturers has warned that the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz - as a result of the war on Iran - could cost the world up to ten billion meals a week. Svein Holsether, who runs Yara, said farmers in the poorest countries would be hit first by the interruption to production and supply caused by the ongoing hostilities. We hear from two countries particularly affected by the shortage in industrial fertiliser. Also in the programme: despair then relief for the Oscar winner who thought an airline had lost his award; and for the first time the nose of a mouse has been mapped showing us more about the way mammals smell. (Photo: Farmers in Aceh labour amid possible fertilizer shortage due to war in Middle East. Indonesia, 28 March 2026. Credit 2026 Shutterstock Editorial. EPA/Shutterstock )

Blockade of Hormuz is strangling global economy, UN chief says

The UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, has said the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is strangling the global economy. He said that even if the restrictions were lifted immediately, supply chains would take months to recover. We ask what options the US has now and what it's likely to cost. Also in the programme; two coins dating from the reign of English King Ethelred, known as the Unready for his failure to defend his country against the Vikings, come to light in Denmark; and why Saudi Arabia needs to cut its costs, by pulling out of LIV Golf. (Photo: A ship in the Strait of Hormuz, Oman Credit: REUTERS/Stringer)

Oil price hits highest since 2022

Following reports that President Trump is to be briefed on new plans for further strikes on Iran, Brent crude reached more than $126 a barrel. Also in the programme, an Australian inquiry has said a Jewish group warned of a 'terrorist attack' before last year's antisemitic mass shooting at Bondi Beach, and how barbaric were the Barbarians? (Photo: A display shows fuel prices in euro at a petrol station in Berlin, Germany, 30 April 2026. Credit: Filip Singer/EPA-EFE)

Man arrested after two Jewish men stabbed in London

A man's been arrested after two Jewish men were stabbed in London, in what the police are calling a terrorist attack. It's the latest in a series of violent antisemitic attacks in the UK. We hear some reaction from a local resident. Also in the programme: the US defense secretary faces questions on the cost of the war against Iran, when it'll end, and about the investigation into the bombing of a school; plus how filling the sticker album for this expanded World Cup might be expensive - but could pay dividends down the line. (IMAGE: Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Sir Mark Peter Rowley (C) gives a statement at the scene where two Jewish men are seriously injured after being stabbed in Golders Green, north London, Britain, 29 April 2026. / CREDIT: Photo by TOLGA AKMEN/EPA/Shutterstock (16851496bd))