Where the world and America meet. Every weekday, this is The Global Story.
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.
Where the world and America meet. Every weekday, this is The Global Story.
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.
On Thursday, Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping of China held a closed-door meeting in South Korea. The subjects of negotiation ran the gamut — from rare earth minerals, to fentanyl, to computer chips — and, according to President Trump’s subsequent news conference, the two parties reached a long-awaited deal. But exactly what did the world’s two most powerful men agree to? The BBC’s China Correspondent, Laura Bicker, joins us to discuss.
Producers: Hannah Moore and Xandra Ellin
Executive Producer: Annie Brown
Senior News Editor: China Collins
Mix: Travis Evans IMAGE: U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping as they hold a bilateral meeting at Gimhae International Airport, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, in Busan, South Korea, October 30, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein.
The Trump administration has centred on Tren de Aragua – a Venezuelan prison gang – as a justification for cracking down on Venezuelan immigrants, and for several attacks on boats in the Caribbean Sea.
When President Trump designated the gang a Foreign Terror Organisation, and invoked a 1798 law that allows presidents to swiftly deport citizens of enemy countries, civil rights groups accused his government of using these measures as a way to deport Venezuelans without due process. Trump has argued he’s acting to "eliminate the presence of all foreign gangs and criminal networks bringing devastating crime to US soil".
We speak to Jonathan Blitzer, staff writer at the New Yorker, who has been reporting on how Tren de Aragua became a major focus of Trump’s domestic and foreign policy.
Producers: Viv Jones and Aron Keller Executive producer: James Shield Mix: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China Collins
Image: An alleged member of the Tren de Aragua in detention. Reuters.
After months of tense negotiations, President Trump has announced that he has terminated trade talks with Canada. The reason: a new Canadian TV commercial featuring an anti-tariff message from an old Ronald Reagan speech. The ad played during a World Series game and ran on various US cable channels, angering President Trump.
The ad is just the latest skirmish between the US and its neighbour to the north. We speak to the BBC’s senior Canada reporter, Nadine Yousif, about how we got here and what the future has in store for the relationship between the two countries.
Producers: Valerio Esposito and Xandra Ellin Executive producer: Annie Brown and James Shield Sound engineer: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China Collins
(Photo: US President Donald Trump (R) meets Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney (L) in the Oval Office at the White House, Washington DC,7 October, 2025. Credit: Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)
The controversial right-wing podcaster Candace Owens is being sued by the French president and his wife in a US court. The Macrons are accusing Owens of spreading a conspiracy theory that Brigitte Macron was born a man. So where has this theory come from?
We speak to the BBC’s Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty, host of the Fame Under Fire podcast, about what the Macrons are risking by filing the lawsuit – and whether it’s only adding more fuel to the flames.
Producers: Sam Chantarasak and Lucy Pawle
Executive producer: Annie Brown
Senior news editor: China Collins
Mix: Travis Evans
Image: Candace Owens. Rebecca Cook/Reuters.
President Trump is in Asia this week to strike deals with several countries, including with China. One of the big questions overshadowing the trip is Taiwan’s future. China has long vowed to "reunify" with self-governing Taiwan and has not ruled out the use of force. On Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the US wouldn’t abandon the island in exchange for a favourable deal with China. But a tug of war has been playing out inside the Trump administration over whether a military battle for Taiwan – if China did try to seize it – would be in America’s best interests. We speak to writer and analyst James Crabtree about what to expect from Trump’s visit to Asia and where Taiwan goes from here. Producers: Viv Jones and Xandra Ellin
Executive producer: James Shield
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
Image: Taiwanese people observe the changing of honor guards in Liberty Square in Taipei. Ritchie B Tongo/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock.
Giorgia Meloni is Italy’s first female Prime Minister, and her political star has risen rapidly - from working class roots in Rome, to becoming one of the most important and divisive leaders in Europe. A populist whose party has roots in Italian fascism, and who takes a hard right stance on migration and family values, she has formed a kinship with Donald Trump, who this month alone has promoted her autobiography and her speeches online, and called her “beautiful” on stage. In today’s episode, journalist Barbara Serra joins us to discuss Meloni’s increasingly crucial role in US-European relations. Producers: Hannah Moore and Valerio Esposito Executive producer: James Shield Mix: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China Collins
Photo: YOAN VALAT/POOL/EPA/Shutterstock
Since the Taliban takeover in 2021, the US has contributed billions of dollars in aid to Afghanistan for food and medical care – a lifeline in a country ravaged by two decades of war.
But earlier this year, following deep cuts to USAID under the Trump administration, more than 400 USAID-backed medical clinics have closed, and for pregnant women in desperate need of care, the impacts are devastating.
The BBC’s South Asia and Afghanistan correspondent, Yogita Limaye, tells us about the families she met on her recent reporting trip, and the lives lost because women did not get the care they needed.
Producer: Hannah Moore
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
Picture: Taliban bans female medical education, Afghan female doctors and midwives face setback, Kabul, Afghanistan, 24 Dec 2024. Samiullah Popal/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
***This episode contains themes of sexual abuse and grooming*** The memoir of Virginia Giuffre, one of Jeffrey Epstein's most well-known accusers, was published posthumously this week, repeating allegations against Epstein as well as Prince Andrew. The revelations come as Prince Andrew gave up his royal titles, amongst renewed and increasing scrutiny over his relationship with the convicted sex offender Epstein. Prince Andrew continues to vigorously deny all the allegations, but the loss of his titles is a big symbolic moment that allows the rest of the Royal Family to distance themselves from him.
His downfall was accelerated by a disastrous 2019 interview with the BBC. We speak to the interviewer Emily Maitlis, now host of the News Agents podcast, about that day, and how Prince Andrew’s story gives us an insight into the ways in which Jeffrey Epstein functioned.
Producers: Sam Chantarasak, Lucy Pawle and Xandra Ellin
Executive producer: China Collins
Sound engineer: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
(Photo: Prince Andrew. Credit: Toby Melville/Reuters)
The Louvre Museum in Paris was closed for 2 days as the police investigated a brazen heist which resulted in the theft of France's “priceless” crown jewels. Thieves wielding power tools broke into the world's most visited museum in broad daylight, before escaping on scooters with eight items of jewelry of great historical significance.
Erin Thompson, Professor of Art Crime at The City University of New York, tells us about the crime that has stunned France - and the rest of the world.
Producers: Viv Jones, Aron Keller, Valerio Esposito and Cat Farnsworth
Executive producer: Annie Brown
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
Image: A security employee near the glass Pyramid of the Louvre Museum, Paris. Benoît Tessier/Reuters
AI companies are seeing a monumental surge in investment – but some experts are now warning of the risks of an economic bubble.
Could AI be the biggest market bubble since the dot-com crash? Or is it a genuinely transformative technology that’s simply taking time to deliver? We speak to the BBC’s Evan Davis.
Producers: Aron Keller and Xandra Ellin
Executive Producer: James Shield
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
On Wednesday, President Trump confirmed that he has authorised the CIA to take covert lethal action in Venezuela. The revelation came off the back of a series of US strikes on Venezuelan boats accused of transporting drugs in the Caribbean Sea, which resulted in the death of 27 people in what some human rights experts are calling "extrajudicial executions". The US military operation has the region on edge, leaving analysts wondering whether this is just part of a new war on drugs, or a push to bring down the Maduro regime. The BBC's Will Grant briefs us on these latest developments, and the CIA's history in Latin America.
Producers: Viv Jones and Valerio Esposito
Editor: Annie Brown and James Shield
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
Image: Miguel Gutierrez/Shutterstock
Reporting on the war in Gaza has only been possible because of the work of Palestinian journalists, because the Israeli government will not let foreign broadcasters – including the BBC – inside the territory to report freely, even now a ceasefire is in place.
One month ago, freelance journalist Ghada Al-Kurd began sharing voice notes with us, talking about her life, her family, and her days reporting in Gaza City. Her job is dangerous – almost 200 journalists have been killed in Gaza in the past two years – and even with a ceasefire in place, safety is far from reach.
Ghada has continued to report for us through her displacements, sharing her treasured memories of pre-war Gaza, and her fears and hopes for its future.
Producer: Hannah Moore.
Executive producer: James Shield.
Mix: Travis Evans.
Senior news editor: China Collins.
Image: Ghada Al Kurd
“If there’s a fight, we’ll fight to the end”, a Chinese commerce ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday, of the increasingly fierce trade war playing out between the US and China.
As President Donald Trump threatens imposing 100% tariffs on goods coming from China, his counterpart, President Xi Jinping, has restricted US access to its rare earth minerals – which are vital to producing everything from smartphones to fighter jets.
With the two leaders due to meet in South Korea later this month, can they break the stalemate, or will they plunge the world’s two biggest economies into a global trade war? BBC China correspondent Stephen McDonnell joins us to discuss how the world’s two largest economies got locked in stalemate – and what it could mean for the cost of the goods we all buy.
Producers: Cat Farnsworth and Hannah Moore Mix: Travis Evan Senior news editor: China Collins Image: Russian Matryoshka wooden dolls, depicting US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Yuri Kochetkov/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
President Trump’s administration may have frozen foreign aid but this week it’s giving Argentina a $20 billion lifeline. It's a move his critics are suggesting is more about politics than sound economics. Argentina’s president, the chainsaw-wielding Javier Milei, is a friend and close ally of Trump’s. On on Tuesday, Milei will visit the White House to discuss the details of this new rescue plan. We ask the BBC’s South America correspondent, Ione Wells, whether Trump is ditching ‘America First’ economics to bail out Argentina, or whether this is a financial gamble that could pay off.
Producer: Viv Jones. Executive producer: James Shield. Mix: Neil Churchill. Senior news editor: China Collins.
Photo:Reuters/Al Drago
Donald Trump is in Israel today on a victory lap after securing what he claims is the beginning of lasting peace in the Middle East. The Gaza ceasefire – and with it, the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners – follows weeks of intense talks brokered by American negotiators. Some of the hostage families have credited the US president with achieving the ceasefire, but his team has more experience in the New York real estate world than in diplomacy. So how exactly did they achieve a deal? And will Hamas really agree to its next phase – disarming and having no role in Gaza’s future? Guest: Lyse Doucet, chief international correspondent. Producers: Lucy Pawle and Sam Chantarasak. Executive producer: James Shield. Mix: Travis Evans. Senior news editor: China Collins. Image: A member of the internal security forces loyal to the Palestinian group Hamas, mans a checkpoint in the Gaza Strip. Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP via Getty Images.
Israel and Hamas have approved President Trump’s plan for a ceasefire and approved a framework including the release of all the hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from parts of Gaza. It is being described as the first phase of a wider agreement, but is the deal secure enough to last?
We speak to Liran Berman, whose brothers Gali and Ziv are amongst the last hostages, Laila Ezzat Al Shana, a mother in Gaza, and the BBC’s state department correspondent, Tom Bateman.
Producers: Sam Chantarasak and Aron Keller Executive producer: James Shield Senior news editor: China Collins Mix: Travis Evans
Image: Reactions in Gaza after President Trump announced that Israel and Hamas agreed on the first phase of a Gaza ceasefire. Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters
It’s been called ‘Australia's trial of the century’. Erin Patterson, the mushroom murderer, was sentenced last month and given a life sentence, but that wasn’t the end of the story. Both the prosecution and the defence are lodging competing appeals. Patterson wants her conviction overturned, and if her appeal succeeds there could be a retrial. Her prosecutors, however, say her 33 year sentence is ‘manifestly inadequate’ and they want to see her receive longer jail time.
These are the latest developments in a story that has launched a flurry of true crime podcasts, books and documentaries. A TV drama is in production, and one of Australia's most eminent writers has announced she’s writing a book about it.
The BBC’s Katy Watson talks us through how this suburban triple-murder story became the focus of the increasingly voracious true-crime industry.
Producers: Viv Jones, Xandra Ellin and Valerio Esposito Executive producer: Annie Brown Mix: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China Collins
Image: Erin Patterson. AAP/James Ross via REUTERS
The billionaire Larry Ellison could soon control huge portions of America’s AI, attention economy and legacy media. He already owns swathes of AI infrastructure and is preparing to takeover TikTok, whilst his son, whose company already owns Paramount, is preparing a deal to buy Warner Bros. Discovery. So who is this ‘CEO of everything’, and how is his family dynasty becoming the 21st Century’s Rockerfellers?
Producers: Sam Chantarasak and Aron Keller Executive producer: Annie Brown Sound engineer: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China Collins
(Photo: Rupert Murdoch and Larry Ellison look on, at the White House, in Washington, US, 3 February, 2025. Credit: Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters)
On October 7 2023 Hamas attacked Israel, taking 251 people hostage. Gali and Ziv Berman were among them – twin brothers who lived on a kibbutz near the Gaza border. They were 24 years old. Now, after 2 years they are among the remaining hostages still being held in captivity. But in the last few days the prospect of ending the war in Gaza and releasing the remaining hostages seems closer than ever. That possibility gives Gali and Ziv’s older brother Liran Berman cautious hope. Liran speaks to Asma at length about his memories of October 7th, his quest to get his little brothers out of Gaza, and who he will give credit to if the peace deal succeeds. Producers: Valerio Esposito, Lucy Pawle and Cat Farnsworth Editor: Annie Brown Mix: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China Collins Image: Liran Berman by Valerio Esposito
Mediators for Hamas and Israel are set to meet in Egypt on Monday for indirect talks, after Hamas agreed to a US peace plan.
It’s a stunning diplomatic breakthrough for Donald Trump, whose plan proposes an immediate end to fighting and the release within 72 hours of 20 living Israeli hostages held by Hamas.
Today we discuss with the BBC’s State Department correspondent, Tom Bateman, how President Trump reached such a significant breakthrough with Israel and Hamas, and whether his approach to deal making could actually pay off. Producers: Cat Farnsworth and Aron Keller Mix: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China Collins
Image: Gaza City on Sunday 5th October, 2025. Mahmoud Issa/Reuters
