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Nolan talks to DUP MLA Trevor Clarke, SDLP Cllr Carl Whyte and callers

French students set fire to bins and erected blockades outside schools, as they protest against overcrowded classrooms, teacher shortages and crumbling facilities. Hundreds of people have been arrested and dozens injured. Fires have broken out at some schools that are being blockaded. President Macron said concerns over funding and studying conditions were legitimate but do not justify violence. Also, from the US: the family of Renee Good, who was killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, is suing the Trump administration. The Tennessee prisoner who survived a botched execution, Christa Pike, is critically ill in hospital. New York's Attorney General Letitia James is appointed to investigate the alleged Cornell University gang rape. British scientists launch a clinical trial for a vaccine to protect against lung cancer. And Cristiano Ronaldo walks away from the Portugal football team. The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: [email protected] Photo: Clashes occur between riot police and demonstrators during a high school students' protest against education conditions in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, France, 01 October 2026. Credit: EPA/Shutterstock

The French town of Lourdes is a place of pilgrimage for Catholics – this year even welcoming the Pope. This shrine in the Pyrenees Mountains is the site of miracles and Christian fervour, where the young shepherdess Bernadette Soubirous saw 18 apparitions of the Virgin Mary and where many people believe they have been miraculously healed. The Feast of the Assumption is the most important date in the Lourdes calendar, when tens of thousands travel from all over the world, to drink and wash in the shrine’s water, and sing and pray in huge candle-lit processions behind the white statue of the Virgin Mary. John Laurenson has joined them to hear stories of the faithful, and to meet a woman whose job description is unique in the world. Dr Giana Monami investigates miracles. Her ‘Bureau de Constatation’ brings the cold analysis of science to claims of instant, otherwise-inexplicable, permanent healings. There have been 72 so far. Dr Monami talks about her investigations and the other miracles that happen here. Those that are healed in their hearts. That find God. That end addictions. And there is another Lourdes miracle: the extraordinary solidarity shown by the thousands of mostly-very young ‘hospitalier’ volunteers who help the sick and disabled people who come – also in their thousands – to turn their pain into joy and their suffering into hope

The plane plunged more than 17,000ft two hours into its journey on Wednesday, before passengers and crew overpowered the attacker and retook control to land safely. We hear from one of the passengers onboard during the attack and explore how pilots flying into Israeli airspace are vetted. Also on the programme: The couple swapping their journalism jobs to become farmers on an island where Manx shearwater birds outnumber humans by about 2,500-to-one. And as one former minister recommends work experience be made mandatory for 14- to 16-year-olds, do such placements really help students decide on a future career path?

One of the biggest names in world sport, Cristiano Ronaldo, has left the Portuguese national teams training camp, amidst speculation he could retire from international football. Ronaldo is the most famous Portuguese footballer of all time, the most well paid athlete in the world according to Forbes and his net worth is estimated at $1.2 billion. So how much is he worth on and off the pitch to the Portugal? Also, government borrowing costs are rising sharply around the world, led by a sell-off in US government bonds. What is behind the rise... And we look at Brazil economy amid a new presidential elections. (Picture: UEFA Nations League - Norway vs Portugal, Oslo - 27 Sep 2026, Credit: EPA/Shutterstock)