This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.

I'm Andrew Peach and at 13 hours GMT on Thursday the 18th of July.

These are our main stories.

Ursula von der Leyen is re-elected for another five years as head of the European Commission,

promising the EU a bigger role in defence and ambitious green measures.

This is the continent's leaders gather at a stately home in England for a summit at which the British

Prime Minister Kia Starmer is hoping to reset relations with the EU.

Also today ahead of Donald Trump's speech, the Republican National Convention, we hear from the man he's

chosen as his running mate.

Also in this podcast, the team's set up to represent the world's refugees at the Paris Olympics, a step in the right direction for gay rights in South Korea, and...

You've seen that I figure skaters, when they're very tight and they spin around and they're very narrow and they stand up straight

they go really fast. When they sort of crouch down they slow down. It's exactly the same thing that's happening there.

An all too familiar problem how getting a bit fat around the middle is slowing down the

Earth's rotation. Members of the European Parliament have voted to hand

Ursula von the line a second term as European Commission President. of efforts to shore up her support right to the end the outcome of the vote wasn't

certain in her final pitch to lawmakers miss von der Leyen pledged to prioritise

defense and security and to lead Europe through a period of change Europe

Europe cannot control dictators and Democrats and to lead Europe through a period of change.

Europe cannot control dictators and demagogues across the world,

but it can choose to protect its own democracy.

Europe cannot determine elections across the world, but it can choose to

invest in the security and defense of this continent. Europe cannot stop change, but it can choose to embrace it and invest in a new age of

...