Interviews, news and analysis of the day’s global events.
Interviews, news and analysis of the day’s global events.
Ukraine says Russia carried out its biggest drone and missile attack on the capital yet, just two days after the US announced it was suspending the supply of some critical weapons to Kyiv, and hours after Presidents Trump and Putin spoke on the phone. We report from Kyiv.
Also in the programme: President Trump’s huge tax and spending bill squeaks through Congress – but will it be a vote-winner or loser at next year's midterm elections? We hear from a Republican pollster; and a security contractor for the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation tells the BBC they were instructed to shoot first and ask questions later.
(IMAGE: Smoke is seen from outskirts of the city, after a Russian drone and missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine July 4, 2025 / CREDIT: Alina Smutko / Reuters)
The US House of Representatives has narrowly approved President Trump's budget bill, despite the Democratic leader in the House delaying the vote for more than eight-and-a-half hours with a marathon speech. The bill aims to slash spending on social welfare programs while increasing funds for border-related operations. We hear from a former senior Immigration and Customs Enforcement official.
Also in the programme: Gaza doctor Marwan al-sultan is killed; and the interstellar comet moving through our solar system
(Picture: A view of the US Capitol Building at dawn, in Washington, DC, USA, 03 July 2025. Credit: EPA)
The UN's special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, has accused dozens of companies of being complicit in war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank in a UN report. They include arms producers, manufacturers whose vehicles are used to demolish homes, technology companies and banks. Israel rejects the charge of genocide and has called the report groundless, defamatory and a flagrant abuse of office. We'll hear from the report’s author Francesca Albanese. Also on the programme: President Trump's huge tax and spending bill is heading for a final vote in the US House of Representatives - we'll have the latest from Washington; and astronomers have discovered only the third known object to enter our solar system from interstellar space. (Photo: UN Special Rapporteur for the Occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, speaks during a press conference at the European headquarters of the UN in Geneva, Switzerland on 11 December, 2024. Credit: REUTERS/Pierre Albouygives)
The US rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs is awaiting a bail decision after being found guilty on prostitution charges relating to his sex parties. He was cleared of three more serious charges including sex trafficking and racketeering. The closely-followed trial in New York lasted almost two months, featuring sometimes emotional testimony from more than 30 witnesses including his ex-partners. The courtroom heard lurid details about Mr Combs' so-called "freak-off" hotel sex parties that involved women including his girlfriends, male escorts and copious drug taking. Also in the programme: Ukraine wants answers from America over a scaling back of military aid, warning the move will embolden Russia; and the composer who has written a piece of music based on the movements of moths. (File photo: Sean "Diddy" Combs arrives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala, New York City, 1 May, 2017. Credit: Reuters/Lucas Jackson/File Photo)
After being passed by the Senate, President Trump's bill returns to the House. We speak to rural healthcare provider Karen White on its possible impact on healthcare for poorer people.
Also in the programme, the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has confirmed that he will have a successor; renewed talk about a ceasefire in Gaza; and the composer who has written a piece of music based on the movements of moths.
(Photo: The U.S. Capitol building in Washington; Credit: REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz)
The US Senate has narrowly approved President Trump's major tax and spending bill. The chamber was evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, meaning the Vice President, JD Vance, cast the deciding vote. The legislation will now return to the House of Representatives.
Also, will the M23 militia "disarm and disengage" in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in line with the US brokered peace deal? We speak to Dr Massad Boulos, President Trump's Senior Advisor for Africa.
And the remarkable story of how a father and young daughter miraculously survived falling off a cruise ship.
(Photo: Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski supported the passage of the bill after intense negotiations. Credit: Getty Images)
New research has predicted that more than 14 million of the world's most vulnerable people, a third of them small children, could die because of the Trump administration's dismantling of US foreign aid.
Also on the programme: Thailand's constitutional court has suspended the prime minister over comments she made in a leaked phone conversation; and US Senate Republican leaders are struggling to secure the 50 votes needed to pass President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill”.
(Photo: People hold placards, as the USAID building sits closed to employees after a memo was issued advising agency personnel to work remotely, in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 3, 2025. Credit: Reuters)
Israel has carried out waves of airstrikes and artillery fire in Gaza, reportedly killing at least 60 people, some of them while queuing for aid. Medical officials say about 20 people were killed in an airstrike on a beachfront site in Gaza City. One eyewitness said women and children were present when a warplane fired. What is the strategy of Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, when it comes to the war in Gaza? Also in the programme: We get a rare glimpse of life in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, under Russian occupation for three years; and we hear from a Norwegian lottery winner who was a millionaire for 15 minutes. (File photo: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives a statement during a visit to the site of the Weizmann Institute of Science, which was hit by an Iranian missile barrage, in the central city of Rehovot, Israel June 20, 2025. Credit: Jack Guez/Pool via Reuters)
Prospects for negotiations between the United States and Iran on nuclear proliferation have dimmed significantly.
Just a few days ago, it seemed the two sides were ready to return to negotiations. But US President Donald Trump then said he was not speaking to Iran and was not offering Tehran anything. Iran's deputy foreign minister has told the BBC his country won't enter into talks on its nuclear programme.
Also in the programme: We'll get a rare glimpse at life inside the Ukrainian city of Mariupol after three years of Russian occupation; and after calling the shots for 148 years, tennis tournament Wimbledon says goodbye to human line judges.
(Photo: Iran's deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi in an interview with the BBC's Lyse Doucet. Credit: BBC)
Iran's deputy foreign minister has told the BBC it will not enter into talks on its nuclear programme unless America guarantees not to bomb the country again during the negotiations. The demand comes as the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, warns that Iran has the capacity to resume enriching uranium in a matter of months. Our chief international correspondent, Lyse Doucet, spoke to Majid Takht-Ravanchi - Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs.
Also in the programme: As summer temperatures soar in Europe, we ask why the continent is warming so quickly; an Iranian journalist on the aftermath of Israel's bombing of a notorious prison, in Tehran; and how Club World Cup footballers are struggling in the heat of the US summer.
(Photo: Majid Takht-Ravanchi - Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs. Credit: BBC)
Iran has the capacity to start enriching uranium again - for a possible bomb - in "a matter of months", Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has said. In an interview with CBS news, Mr Grossi also said the US strikes on three Iranian sites last weekend had caused severe but "not total" damage, contradicting President Trump's claim that Iran's nuclear facilities were "totally obliterated".
Also on the programme: one of Hong Kong's last remaining pro-democracy groups, the League of Social Democrats, has announced that it will disband; and we hear from The Who's Pete Townsend about the ballet version of the group's Quadrophenia album and film.
(Photo: IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi in Vienna, Austria on 25 June, 2025. Credit: REUTERS/Lisa Leutner)
Southern European countries have issued health and fire warnings as temperatures may exceed forty Celsius this weekend. Spanish emergency services are on standby for a surge in heatstroke cases, while Italian authorities are advising residents in several cities to stay indoors during the middle of the day. We hear from the UN Habitat's Global Heat Officer, Dr Eleni Myrivili.
Also in the programme: reportage from our Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet in Iran; a controversial smoking ban in France; and a high-profile wedding in Venice.
(Photo: People cool off in a fountain during a heatwave, in Rome, Italy, 28 June 2025. Credit: ANGELO CARCONI/EPA/Shutterstock)
Tehran stages a mass state funeral for senior Iranian military commanders and nuclear scientists killed in Israeli attacks. The BBC's Lyse Doucet reports from the scene, where large crowds have gathered on the streets.
Also in the programme: Christians in Damascus prepare to attend church services on Sunday despite the biggest sectarian attack on their community in a century last weekend; and as France brings in a ban on smoking at beaches, parks and other public spaces, we hear from one outraged smoker.
(IMAGE: People attend the funeral procession of Iranian military commanders, nuclear scientists and others killed in Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, June 28, 2025 / CREDIT: Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS)
Strikes by Israel and Iran continue as the conflict between the two countries intensifies and stretches into a third day. We’ll hear from the Israeli army, a former senior US envoy and a resident of Tehran.
Also on the programme: we speak to a senior US senator who was friends with the lawmakers killed in the Minnesota shootings; and the writer on writing about being unable, physically, to write.
The podcast version of this programme was edited on 15th June.
(Photo: Israelis take shelter at the side of a highway as siren sounds following missile attack from Iran on Israel, in central Israel June 15, 2025. Credit: Reuters)
The BBC World Service Debate considers the rapidly changing international landscape since Donald Trump returned to the White House.
The US President says his legacy will be as a peacemaker and unifier. So far he’s brought Putin to the negotiating table and made Europe take its security seriously in a way it hasn’t for decades. But his methods have horrified critics, who say his shock and awe approach to diplomacy is reckless and chaotic. The President’s unpredictability has rocked global alliances. Is Donald Trump making the world safer or more dangerous?
In front of a live audience in the BBC’s Radio Theatre in London, the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent, Lyse Doucet, is joined by:
KT McFarland, former US Deputy National Security Advisor to President Trump in his first term Brian Wong, Assistant Professor and Fellow at Centre on Contemporary China, University of Hong Kong Miguel Berger, German Ambassador to the UK Azadeh Moaveni, journalist, writer and Associate Professor at New York University
(Photo: U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on June 12, 2025. Credit: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein)
Nine people have been killed and many injured in a school shooting in the southern Austrian city of Graz. The shooter also killed himself, and has been identified as a former pupil.
Also, Donald Trump sends in the Marines as the president's crackdown on undocumented migrants clashes with California's policy as a Sanctuary State, Syria's jailers under President Assad speak to the BBC anonymously about what they did and those who suffered, plus good news for biodiversity and precious coral reefs in the Zanzibar archipelago, as two new Marine Protected Areas are announced.
(IMAGE: General view of the Dreierschutzengasse high school following a shooting in Graz, Austria, 10 June 2025 / CREDIT: Antonio Bat /EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)