Broadcast timeline
Verified Live
Friday 18 September 2026 · 15:00 BST · 30m · 8 stories · 15 annotated moments · 25 of 30 min on news stories (85%)
Broadcast overview
An AI-generated overview based on this broadcast's transcript.
A preliminary report into last week's UK air traffic control failure identified a software defect that, combined with specific circumstances, corrupted data and caused systems to drop out, forcing manual operations and restrictions. The disruption led to more than 2,000 flight cancellations, delays or diversions over two days, affecting hundreds of thousands of passengers, with airlines arguing for compensation from NATS and the transport secretary urging answers about why the issue was not caught earlier. Meanwhile, Russia began three days of parliamentary elections, the first since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with critics saying the vote is neither free nor fair and the EU accusing the Kremlin of repression; anti-war candidates were barred, and the ruling United Russia party is expected to retain dominance. Former Russian diplomat Boris Bondarev, now in exile, described the election as a political ritual that does not reflect public opinion, adding that genuine opposition inside Russia is impossible and that the public largely wants to be left alone.
MI5 admitted for the first time that it gave evidence based on lies to three courts and that senior officers were repeatedly dishonest, in a case linked to a BBC investigation into an agent who abused a woman; the High Court is deciding whether to bring contempt proceedings. Separately, the family of Sikh activist Jagtar Singh Johal, held in India for nearly nine years without conviction, said he has been granted bail, though he remains in prison under conditions including surrendering his passport and not speaking to the media. A British woman kidnapped in Malawi nearly a week ago was rescued in a police operation that left four suspected kidnappers dead and a senior police officer injured; no motive has been given.
A BBC investigation found that at least 20 women had unnecessary mastectomies during cancer care under the County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, with more than 300 women harmed and up to 10,000 medical records to be reviewed; the trust apologised and police are investigating possible criminal offences. In north-western Pakistan, an explosion at a mosque killed at least 17 people, including five police officers, and wounded over 70, with police saying a vehicle loaded with explosives was rammed into the building; six attackers were reportedly killed. New rare footage of a humpback whale interacting with its stillborn calf off Australia's Gold Coast suggests the species may experience grief, according to scientists, who noted the behaviour resembles responses seen in other socially complex mammals.
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Charged quote Air traffic control failure triggers travel chaos and review
Live from London, this is BBC News. After the chaos of last week's air traffic control failure, a report confirms a software defect as the cause. Russians are voting in the first parliamentary election since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Critics say the vote is neither free nor transparent. We'll talk live on this programme and get the thoughts of a former Russian diplomat who quit his post after the invasion of Ukraine and now …
BBC News, Verified Live, 18 September 2026, 0:13-0:21
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Charged quote MI5 accepts it gave dishonest evidence to three courts
We'll talk live on this programme and get the thoughts of a former Russian diplomat who quit his post after the invasion of Ukraine and now lives in exile. The security service MI5 accepts for the first time it gave evidence based on lies to three courts and that its officers were repeatedly dishonest.
BBC News, Verified Live, 18 September 2026, 0:39-0:49
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Claim County Durham NHS trust to review 4,500 breast cancer cases
County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust admitted that 20 women had unnecessary mastectomies under its breast unit.
BBC News, Verified Live, 18 September 2026, 0:49-0:59
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Claim County Durham NHS trust to review 4,500 breast cancer cases
County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust admitted that 20 women had unnecessary mastectomies under its breast unit.
BBC News, Verified Live, 18 September 2026, 0:49-0:59
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Claim County Durham NHS trust to review 4,500 breast cancer cases
County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust admitted that 20 women had unnecessary mastectomies under its breast unit.
BBC News, Verified Live, 18 September 2026, 0:49-0:59
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Claim Air traffic control failure triggers travel chaos and review
NATS published a report confirming the incident was caused by a software issue.
BBC News, Verified Live, 18 September 2026, 1:34-1:51
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Charged quote Air traffic control failure triggers travel chaos and review
As you said, some were sleeping on airport floors, others were stranded in airports abroad. And now there's a lot of anger about that among travellers, among airlines. Airlines have in fact argued that they should get compensation from NATs and they should be told they should be given guarantees about future resilience.
BBC News, Verified Live, 18 September 2026, 3:09-3:13
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Claim Air traffic control failure triggers travel chaos and review
Michael O'Leary called for NATS boss Martin Rolfe to resign.
BBC News, Verified Live, 18 September 2026, 3:58-4:07
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Claim British woman kidnapped in Malawi rescued, four suspects killed
Nusrat Osman was rescued after a shootout between her captors and police, with four suspects killed and one police officer wounded.
BBC News, Verified Live, 18 September 2026, 16:53-17:04
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Charged quote British woman kidnapped in Malawi rescued, four suspects killed
And Barbara, tell us more about this rescue operation first of all. Well the kidnapping itself was quite terrifying and Nusrat Osman was heading back to home after she had dropped off her children. She has two children at school and then her car was blocked and she was dragged from the car and forced into another vehicle by four men.
BBC News, Verified Live, 18 September 2026, 17:20-17:27
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Charged quote British woman kidnapped in Malawi rescued, four suspects killed
She has two children at school and then her car was blocked and she was dragged from the car and forced into another vehicle by four men. And that was a week ago. Now we are being told by police that the rescue operation took place and that it sounds quite dramatic actually. There was a gun battle, the four suspected kidnappers were injured, they were taken to hospital where they died.
BBC News, Verified Live, 18 September 2026, 17:35-17:43
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Charged quote British woman kidnapped in Malawi rescued, four suspects killed
And Nusrat Osman herself also in hospital recovering from her ordeal. We don't have any details about her condition, but her brother has said that she was smiling and not too shaken, which is good news, miraculously so I think. He also said that the family had been deeply grateful to the police and he called the officer who was wounded a hero.
BBC News, Verified Live, 18 September 2026, 18:00-18:11
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Charged quote British woman kidnapped in Malawi rescued, four suspects killed
In terms of the basic kidnapping, do we know anything about the motives, whether it was targeted, whether it was random? Well you know it's quite perplexing because from what we understand there was no ransom demand, there was no communications from the kidnappers. Over the past week the authorities had put out a call for information offering a reward for information.
BBC News, Verified Live, 18 September 2026, 18:26-18:35
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Charged quote British woman kidnapped in Malawi rescued, four suspects killed
They've just said that they are investigating. But it is relatively uncommon for foreign nationals to be abducted in Malawi, so this has understandably shaken the foreign and business community that is living there. Nusrah Asman herself is from Leicester in the UK and she has been working as an auditor there.
BBC News, Verified Live, 18 September 2026, 19:00-19:10
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Claim Newly released footage shows humpback whale grieving stillborn calf
A humpback whale mother was observed with its stillborn calf, described as a rare example of grief in humpback whales, and such sightings are rare because newborn humpback whales tend to sink after death.
BBC News, Verified Live, 18 September 2026, 25:17-25:22
- 25:51 ~4 min without annotations
Source: BBC NEWS, "Verified Live", Friday 18 September 2026. Transcript excerpts and stills are shown only to support the analysis annotated alongside them. Search-result excerpts are distinct from the editorial annotations — see our copyright basis. The full broadcast is not reproduced.