Where the world and America meet, with episodes each weekday. The world is changing. Decisions made in the US and by the second Trump administration are accelerating that change. But they are also a symptom of it. With Asma Khalid in DC, Tristan Redman in London, and the backing of the BBC’s international newsroom, The Global Story brings clarity to politics, business and foreign policy in a time of connection and disruption.
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Sep 30, 2026 · 26:42
Fifteen years ago, the film The Social Network told the story of Facebook’s rise to global prominence. As Meta faces growing scrutiny from regulators and pours billions into AI,…
Sep 29, 2026 · 27:07
In the early hours of Sunday morning, three vans were spotted near a British military base used by the United States for its bombing operations in Iran. A huge police operation…
Sep 28, 2026 · 27:02
Climate scientists have put out a dire warning about this year’s El Niño; that it will likely be the worst in recorded history. And if previous ‘super’ El Niños are anything to…
Sep 25, 2026 · 27:03
What happens when K-pop’s gruelling formula meets the American music industry? The global girl group Katseye has gone from a reality-show experiment to a global phenomenon. With…
Sep 24, 2026 · 27:10
Last week, President Donald Trump barred CNN, Politico and MS NOW from the White House, accusing them of spreading "fake news". After their reporters had their press passes…
Sep 23, 2026 · 26:50
China’s President Xi returns to the White House on Thursday for the first time in over a decade. A priority for both leaders will be to discuss AI. The two countries are…
Sep 22, 2026 · 26:47
The United States is one of the few wealthy countries where commercial surrogacy remains legal. Bans elsewhere in the world, combined with a largely free-market approach at home,…
Sep 21, 2026 · 26:56
While Russia’s president continues to insist that his, “special military operation” in Ukraine is succeeding, the estimated number of Russian soldiers killed and wounded in this…
Sep 18, 2026 · 26:52
As the midterm elections in America approach, the economy is one of the deciding factors for how people will vote. Before his second term started, President Trump promised to…
Sep 17, 2026 · 26:55
One of the most successful songwriters of all time is facing the biggest controversy of his nearly two decades in the public eye. Where does pop star Ed Sheeran go from here? On…
Sep 16, 2026 · 27:01
Over the last week, the Houthis - an Iran-backed militant group in Yemen - have captured two strategic islands along the Red Sea coast, consolidating its control of a key…
Sep 15, 2026 · 26:37
As Canada continues to wage a trade war with the US, an internal battle is being fought over the country’s identity. Next month, voters in Alberta, the country’s wealthiest…
Sep 14, 2026 · 26:57
China’s President Xi Jinping will meet Donald Trump later this month with the issue of AI governance high on the agenda. In recent weeks there has been increasing concern around…
Sep 11, 2026 · 27:04
Why can’t America quit the Middle East? September 11 marked a shift in the American psyche, and altered the way the United States saw its place in the world. Shortly after the…
Sep 10, 2026 · 27:06
For the first time since World War Two, a far-right party has made a significant win in Germany – taking almost 44% of the vote in Saxony-Anhalt. The Alternative for Germany…
Sep 9, 2026 · 27:04
On Tuesday, the government of the United Kingdom announced sweeping sanctions against Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and accused settlers of ‘ethnic cleansing.’ Soon…
Sep 8, 2026 · 27:07
As the summer holiday season draws to a close, foreigners travelling to and from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates are facing delays, cancellations and severe travel warnings.…
Sep 7, 2026 · 27:29
Twenty-five years on from the deadliest terror attack in history, thousands of grieving families are still fighting for answers. In early 2000, two young Saudis arrived in San…
Sep 4, 2026 · 26:39
Lindsay Clancy faces first-degree murder charges over the deaths of her three young children. But if her case had happened elsewhere, the charges might have looked very…
Sep 3, 2026 · 26:40
Accusations of foreign interference have been making headlines this week. Elon Musk’s X alleges that China has been stirring up a backlash against American data centres. Israel…
Sep 2, 2026 · 27:03
America’s national debt recently hit a new milestone of $40 trillion. It is estimated that interest payments on the national debt are now the second largest expense in the US…
Sep 1, 2026 · 27:21
As the world watches the aftermath of devastating floods in Nepal, journalist Anup Kaphle has been asking a difficult question: When does coverage of a natural disaster cross…
Aug 31, 2026 · 26:50
Five years after the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, the Taliban’s near-total crackdown on the rights of women and girls has made the country ‘a global outlier with no…
Aug 28, 2026 · 27:14
The Netflix show Emily in Paris has been lauded by French President Emmanuel Macron, who presented its creator, Darren Star, with the prestigious Légion d’Honneur last year. “You…
Aug 27, 2026 · 26:47
There have been a lot of sanctions programmes against Iran. But this week US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Operation Economic Outcast, which promises to go further…
Aug 26, 2026 · 27:14
What are the costs of standing up to your biggest trading partner? Canada recently walked away from trade talks with the US hours before Trump's deadline to impose major tariffs…
Aug 25, 2026 · 26:39
A new personalised vaccine given in combination with a drug has stopped skin cancer returning in patients during a trial, representing a potentially watershed moment in cancer…
Aug 24, 2026 · 27:07
Last week Ukraine's popular ex-defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov called for wartime elections, in what is widely seen as the biggest challenge to Volodymyr Zelensky's presidency…
Aug 21, 2026 · 26:59
The Duke of Sussex told the BBC last year that he, “can't see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back.” So what’s changed? Prince Harry and his wife, the…
Aug 20, 2026 · 26:46
How did a prominent Cambridge professor come to embody the fault lines around DEI in higher education? Three years ago, Jason Arday was celebrated as the youngest black professor…
Aug 19, 2026 · 26:51
President Trump took to Truth Social last weekend to announce that the US will "substantially reduce" joint military exercises with South Korea. He cited his "very good…
Aug 18, 2026 · 26:49
Two Palestinian families in the village of Qusra in the West Bank have been under siege by Israeli settlers for over a week. The Palestinian-American owner of one of the homes…
Aug 17, 2026 · 27:14
Benjamin Netanyahu has been a major figure in Israeli politics for a long time. You could have just turned 30 years old and never known a time when he wasn’t either prime…
Aug 14, 2026 · 27:06
Wearing loose cotton boxer shorts. Icing your testicles. Doing blood transfusions to ‘clean’ your body of microplastics. Eating raw garlic. These are all unproven methods to…
Aug 13, 2026 · 27:06
Last month, President Trump secretly swapped planes via a catering truck as he left a Nato summit in Turkey. The elaborate ruse, first reported by the Washington Post, was in…
Aug 12, 2026 · 26:44
The Trump administration is embroiled in a diplomatic standoff after Brazilian President Lula da Silva accused the US of sending officials to “meddle in Brazil’s elections”, an…
Aug 11, 2026 · 27:03
For decades, the Chinese Communist Party has had a distinct economic bargain with its people — obedience in exchange for economic prosperity. China continues to lead the world in…
Aug 10, 2026 · 26:43
In the last few weeks, three separate tech companies - OpenAI, Anthropic, and Meta - have all disclosed that their AI models went rogue and hacked into another company during…
Aug 7, 2026 · 26:29
Ariana Grande’s appearance in a new music video has sparked speculation, commentary and intense debate over the question of when — if ever — the public should weigh in on a…
Aug 6, 2026 · 27:01
It has been a week since President Trump announced that the Board of Peace had reached an, "historic agreement” in Gaza for the, “complete disarmament” of Hamas. But in the days…
Aug 5, 2026 · 26:41
A group of prominent, controversial influencers made a visit to Russia this summer. They included Andrew Tate, Candace Owens and British far-right anti-Islam activist Tommy…
Aug 4, 2026 · 26:48
Why did tens of thousands of migrants from Morocco suddenly attempt to cross into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta by sea last week? In the days since the sudden border crisis left…
Aug 3, 2026 · 27:03
On February 28th, in the opening hours of the first day of the US-Israel war against Iran, an attack on a school in the southern city of Minab killed 156 people, including 120…
Jul 31, 2026 · 26:41
IVF is responsible for about 2% of all births in the United States each year. The revolutionary technology has not only reshaped society's beliefs about fertility, but enabled…
Jul 30, 2026 · 26:44
Senator Lindsey Graham spent decades as one of Washington’s most prominent foreign policy hawks - a fierce opponent of Russia, relentless advocate for Israel and supporter of…
Jul 29, 2026 · 26:31
This episode contains details of alleged sexual offences and misconduct. In an exclusive BBC investigation, four women have accused Oscar-winning actor and Thirty Seconds to Mars…
Jul 28, 2026 · 26:33
When the Trump administration announced last week that it had signed a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia, the agreement was held up by US Energy Secretary Chris Wright as evidence…
Jul 27, 2026 · 27:00
“Cuba’s assault on the United States was never, at root, a quarrel over economic policy or sovereignty or even ownership of a particular territory,” reads the US Department of…
Jul 24, 2026 · 26:58
Venezuelans are still searching through the rubble a month after two devastating earthquakes, which left thousands dead and tens of thousands more still missing. The disaster…
Jul 23, 2026 · 27:06
President Trump has announced a new round of tariffs against a range of Canadian goods, including hockey sticks and cement. Trump says the tariffs are in retaliation for what he…
Jul 22, 2026 · 27:35
The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is a mainstay of the US political calendar, a barometer of the Republican party mood, and has become, in recent years, a…
Jul 22, 2026 · 27:07
The US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth faced senators on Tuesday as the White House asked for tens of billions of dollars more to help fund the Iran war. It comes after over a…
Jul 20, 2026 · 27:25
Marco Rubio’s State Department has unveiled plans to dismantle the International Criminal Court, a tribunal that prosecutes individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity…
Jul 17, 2026 · 26:49
Spain or Argentina? These two teams will face each other in the 2026 World Cup final. Only one team can emerge eternal. For the rest, it’s over. But this tournament’s not just…
Jul 16, 2026 · 26:52
On Thursday in Washington DC, Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, will host an international summit on the threat posed by "the resurgence of transnational far-left terrorism.”…
Jul 15, 2026 · 26:19
In an exclusive investigation, a whistleblower has told the BBC how he unearthed evidence suggesting that US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick failed to disclose a business…
Jul 14, 2026 · 27:27
According to a recent financial disclosure, President Trump made more than $1.4 billion last year from business dealings in cryptocurrency. Though the White House has denied…
Jul 13, 2026 · 27:06
A series of record-breaking heatwaves in Europe this summer has led to a surge in demand for air conditioning units. As Europeans search for a way to stay cool, attitudes and…
Jul 11, 2026 · 47:33
Will co-hosting the World Cup take men’s soccer to another level in the United States? From More than the Score - the global sports podcast that follows the stories behind the…
Jul 10, 2026 · 26:57
The coffin of Ali Khamenei, Iran’s former supreme leader, killed by Israel in February, has been on a procession tour this week of holy sites in Iraq and Iran. Huge crowds…
Jul 9, 2026 · 26:38
Citizen Vigilante is a low-budget action thriller starring actor Armie Hammer as a vigilante who hunts down migrant criminals in Europe. The movie faced a muted reception - until…
Jul 8, 2026 · 26:57
World leaders are gathering in Ankara, Turkey for a Nato summit, despite tensions between Donald Trump and Nato allies over financial contributions and the Iran war. The US…
Jul 7, 2026 · 26:46
Donald Trump has revealed that he personally called Gianni Infantino, the head of Fifa, to ask him to review the red card given to United States' star player Folarin Balogun. The…
Jul 6, 2026 · 27:15
President Trump will be attending a NATO summit in Turkey this week, where he’s likely to hear one consistent message from European leaders: the tide is shifting against Russia…
Jul 3, 2026 · 27:14
As the United States celebrates 250 years since its founding, this week The Global Story has been exploring the surprising and often hidden ways the US has shaped the modern…
Jul 2, 2026 · 27:00
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, all this week The Global Story is exploring the surprising and often hidden ways the US has shaped the modern world. For…
Jul 1, 2026 · 26:47
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, The Global Story is this week exploring the surprising and often hidden ways the US has shaped the modern world. President…
Jun 30, 2026 · 32:06
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, all this week The Global Story is exploring the surprising and often hidden ways the US has shaped the modern world. One of…
Jun 29, 2026 · 27:03
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, all this week The Global Story is exploring the surprising and often hidden ways the US has shaped the modern world. Today,…
Jun 26, 2026 · 2:52
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, The Global Story is launching a landmark series exploring the surprising and often hidden ways the United States has shaped…
Jun 26, 2026 · 27:23
For two decades, PEPFAR, the US program to curb AIDS/HIV, enjoyed support and financial backing from both Republicans and Democrats, saving an estimated 26 million lives in what…
Jun 25, 2026 · 27:09
The United States has been a staunch ally of Israel for decades, and Americans used to be steadfast in their support for the country. But in recent years - and recent weeks - the…
Jun 24, 2026 · 27:07
Growing concerns over young people using anti-aging products, have prompted industry regulators in Italy to investigate claims that some brands are using young influencers to…
Jun 23, 2026 · 27:38
Britain has had six prime ministers in the past decade. It’s about to get a seventh after Keir Starmer announced his resignation on Monday. The country used to be seen as a…
Jun 22, 2026 · 26:29
During the pandemic, for the first time in most of our living memories, the balance of power shifted from employer to employee. By 2021, the percentage of people in the US…
Jun 19, 2026 · 26:57
On Wednesday, President Trump met with Iranian leaders to sign an initial memorandum of understanding towards ending the months-long war. In a press conference after the signing,…
Jun 18, 2026 · 27:34
On Sunday, Colombia will elect a new president. A Trump-endorsed outsider, Abelardo de la Espriella, nicknamed ‘The Tiger,’ is now ahead in the polls, and within striking…
Jun 17, 2026 · 26:56
Global fertility rates are at record lows globally, and governments around the world are urging couples to grow their families. Under Viktor Orbán’s leadership, Hungary…
Jun 15, 2026 · 26:56
The US and Iran have agreed a deal to end the war, which – if all goes to plan – will be signed at a ceremony in Switzerland on Friday. But the agreement remains shrouded in…
Jun 15, 2026 · 27:02
In the centre of Albania's capital, Tirana, thousands have been taking to the streets. The target of the protests are not just the government, but also Donald’s Trump daughter,…
Jun 12, 2026 · 27:50
The 2026 World Cup kicked off last night in Mexico, after a series of controversies in the lead up, including over visas for foreign teams, fans, media and officials hoping to go…
Jun 11, 2026 · 27:54
As a Florida senator, Marco Rubio seemed to hold an opposing world view to Donald Trump; on Russia-Ukraine, on China, on USAID, and more. He notably called Trump a “con man”, and…
Jun 10, 2026 · 26:39
The Fifa World Cup kicks off this week. Beginning Thursday, football - or soccer - matches, depending on your preference, will be played in the US, Mexico, and Canada, with a…
Jun 9, 2026 · 27:11
A British immigrant backed by President Trump is running to be the next governor of California. Once a senior advisor to former prime minister David Cameron, Steve Hilton has…
Jun 8, 2026 · 26:58
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un has announced plans to expand the country's nuclear arsenal at ‘an exponential rate’, according to state media reports. His announcement comes as…
Jun 5, 2026 · 27:08
Scientists warn that a “super” El Niño could be on its way which, combined with the effects of human-caused climate change, could result in 2027 being the warmest year on record.…
Jun 4, 2026 · 28:41
Casting is finally underway for a new James Bond. But why has it taken five years to even begin the search? Since Daniel Craig retired as Bond in 2021, there have been reports of…
Jun 3, 2026 · 27:00
On Sunday, two prominent left-wing political commentators in the US — Hasan Piker and his uncle, Cenk Uygur – said they had been barred from visiting the UK. Both men were due to…
Jun 2, 2026 · 26:49
***This episode includes details of alleged sexual offences and misconduct and includes descriptions which some listeners might find distressing*** Married at First Sight UK is…
Jun 1, 2026 · 26:29
On prediction markets such as Polymarket people are placing sometimes huge wagers on questions ranging from the sublime (‘will Jesus Christ return by the end of the year?’) to…
May 29, 2026 · 26:55
At the Vatican on Monday, Pope Leo XIV issued his first encyclical, a letter issued to the world’s bishops. In it, he criticised artificial intelligence and what he called the…
May 28, 2026 · 29:05
Politics, power and money have always been part of international sporting competitions, and football (or soccer) is no exception. However, this year’s World Cup faces new…
May 27, 2026 · 26:57
This week President Trump and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio have said negotiations with Iran are going well and suggested a deal could be days away. Iran has disputed this.…
May 26, 2026 · 28:48
In 2025, the Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD overtook Tesla as the world’s biggest seller of electric vehicles. As conflict in the Middle East pushes up fuel prices and boosts…
May 25, 2026 · 27:06
An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda has been declared a public health emergency of international concern by the World Health Organization. The latest…
May 22, 2026 · 26:51
US Secretary of State Marco Rubia has said Cuba poses a "national security threat" to the US and the likelihood of a peaceful agreement is "not high". His comments come days…
May 21, 2026 · 27:06
At the inaugural Enhanced Games this weekend, something unprecedented is taking place; professional athletes from around the world will be encouraged to swim, lift, and sprint…
May 20, 2026 · 26:47
In the decade since Britain voted to leave the European Union, the country has cycled through six prime ministers, victims of both their own decisions, and global pressures. Now,…
May 19, 2026 · 27:04
President Donald Trump has warned Iran the "clock is ticking" as talks to bring their war to an end have stalled. "They better get moving, FAST, or there won't be anything left…
May 18, 2026 · 26:56
The mayor of the Californian city of Arcadia has agreed to plead guilty to charges she acted as an illegal agent for China. Prosecutors say Eileen Wang was directly co-ordinating…
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