The Global Story

The Global Story

Global perspectives on one big story. In-depth insights from the BBC, the world's most trusted international news provider. Make sense of the news with our experts around the world, every Monday to Friday. Episodes will be ready by 10:30 GMT. Host Katya Adler and our BBC teams guide you through one major global news story each episode. From Beijing to Boston, Baghdad to Bangalore, our unrivalled reach will take you beyond the headlines to help understand and explore what’s happening. The Global News Podcast brings you the latest updates and, on The Global Story, we will drill deep into a single story. From the climate emergency, to the burning questions around Artificial Intelligence, to the movements of money and markets, and the power of the ballot and the bullet. Katya Adler has been a BBC correspondent and editor for more than 25 years, covering conflicts in the Middle East, political and economic crises in Europe, and drug cartels in Mexico. The Global Story team would like to hear your stories and experiences on the issues that we’re covering on the podcast. Please get in touch: theglobalstory@bbc.com #TheGlobalStory and tell us your thoughts on what you would like us to talk about.

Episodes

July 11, 2025 25 mins

As Texas storms put Trump's weather agency cuts in the spotlight, Caitríona Perry, Sumi Somaskanda, and CBS’s Fin Gómez examine the president's climate policies. Plus: Musk’s third-party ambitions. Every weekend, we take a closer look at what’s happening in US politics and what’s going on behind the scenes at the White House and on Capitol Hill. If you'd like to get in touch, email us at theglobalstory@bbc.com.

Producer: Stefano Fas...

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Fewer people are crossing the US-Mexico border under President Trump. Caitríona Perry, Sumi Somaskanda and Bernd Debusmann chat about his immigration crackdown. Plus, Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’. Every weekend, we take a closer look at what’s happening in US politics and what’s going on behind the scenes at the White House and on Capitol Hill. If you'd like to get in touch, email us at theglobalstory@bbc.com.

Producer: Aisling Tay...

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May 3, 2025 25 mins

President Trump has ousted his national security advisor Mike Waltz. He had been under pressure since last month, when he inadvertently added a journalist to a Signal group chat where senior Trump officials were discussing military plans to strike Yemen. Caitríona Perry, Sumi Somaskanda, and Bernd Debusmann examine the implications of this decision and what it signals for the Trump administration. Plus, concerns about the US econom...

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April 25, 2025 25 mins

President Trump has been in office for nearly 100 days. Caitríona Perry, Sumi Somaskanda, and Bernd Debusmann discuss what voters think of his administration so far. Plus, we explore potential tariff and trade deals. Every weekend, we take a closer look at what’s happening in US politics and what’s going on behind the scenes at the White House and on Capitol Hill. If you'd like to get in touch, email us at theglobalstory@bbc.com.

Pr...

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Sumi Somaskanda and Bernd Debusmann are joined by Politico's Jack Blanchard to discuss the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case and Trump's meeting with El Salvador's president. While Republicans frame immigration as a winning issue, Democrats focus on the economy, with AOC and Bernie Sanders' "Fighting Oligarchy" tour drawing huge crowds in red states.

Producers: John Ringer and Jack Maclaren Editor: Sergi Forcada Freixas

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April 11, 2025 26 mins

President Trump's tariff policy has led to confusion on Capitol Hill, and in the markets. Caitríona Perry, Sumi Somaskanda and Bernd Debusmann chat about what comes next. Plus, are the Democrats trying to take a new approach to tackling Trump?

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Presidents Trump’s tariffs trigger the steepest US stocks drop since 2020. Caitríona Perry, Sumi Somaskanda and Bernd Debusmann chat about what comes next. Plus, Democrat Cory Booker’s record-breaking filibuster.

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March 29, 2025 26 mins

A journalist ended up in a top secret US military group chat. How did that happen? And how is Washington reacting? BBC's Caitríona Perry, Sumi Somaskanda and Bernd Debusmann chat about Signalgate. Plus, a look at the other executive orders signed by President Trump this week.

Producers: Aisling Taylor and Peter Goffin

Sound engineer: Mike Regaard

Editor: Sergi Forcada Freixas

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Ever since Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, his representatives have been following through on promises to slash federal spending. Their latest target is public media, and this week fierce Trump-loyalist Marjorie Taylor Greene led a hearing demanding that the bosses of NPR and PBS justify their government funding. Public broadcasting has been a longtime bugbear for many conservatives, who say it is tainted by a ...

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Malcolm and Simone Collins hope to have 10 children to help avoid what they see as a pending demographic collapse. They tell Lucy Hockings that as pronatalists they want to promote the dangers of falling fertility rates and encourage other people to have more children.

Whereas many people might see their lifestyle as extreme, pronatalism seems to be gaining support at the heart of the Trump administration. But some people worry that...

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The baby boomer generation has become the richest in history. In recent years there has been some degree of animosity between the boomer generation and their younger millennial counterparts. The millennial generation have been much less well off than their parents and are often stereotyped as living beyond their means. But this could all be about to change. Now younger people are expected to inherit billions from their parents. It’...

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London Heathrow saw all its flights cancelled on Friday after a fire at a local power supply station. The news led to rampant speculation online – rumours of foreign interference, accusations against executives, and angry questions about who was to blame. So why wasn’t there a contingency plan to keep such an essential transport hub running?

Caitríona Perry is joined by Theo Leggett, the BBC’s international business correspondent, t...

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March 24, 2025 27 mins

How sounds could be damaging your health. Long-term exposure to the noises of everyday city life has been linked to higher levels of stress, diabetes and heart disease. On this episode, presenter Jonny Dymond speaks to the BBC’s health and science correspondent James Gallagher about life in two of the world’s loudest cities – Barcelona in Spain and Dhaka in Bangladesh. And James puts his own body to the test, to find out how it res...

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This week, Donald Trump and his team are continuing the immigration squeeze. When 238 Venezuelans were deported from the US, a federal judge ordered the planes be stopped and turned around. The administration decided to proceed, setting up a fraught legal battle between the Trump team and the federal courts.

Caitríona Perry, Sumi Somaskanda and Bernd Debusmann offer insight and analysis on another whirlwind week in Washington DC.

Pro...

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March 21, 2025 26 mins

The mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, was arrested on Wednesday on corruption and terror charges he insists are politically motivated. Considered the leading candidate to face Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the next election, Mr Imamoglu's eligibility had been thrown into doubt after his university degree was annulled earlier this week. His detention is being compared to President Erdogan's own arrest when he was Istanb...

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March 20, 2025 26 mins

We spend around a third of our lives sleeping. But many people struggle with insomnia or have difficulty staying asleep, and research shows that bad sleep can increase the risk of multiple health conditions. How harmful is bad sleep to our health? And what can we do about it? Jonny Dymond speaks with Professor Russell Foster, Director of the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute at the University of Oxford, and author and slee...

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March 19, 2025 26 mins

On Tuesday night, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that combat against Hamas in Gaza had resumed in full force.

This followed several hours of early morning air strikes targeting Gaza, which killed more than 400 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, making it one of the deadliest days of the conflict so far.

Jonny Dymond speaks to the BBC’s Jon Donnison, who witnessed the strikes from the Israeli bo...

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March 18, 2025 26 mins

The Russian leader has been mulling a 30-day ceasefire proposal put forward by the US, ahead of talks with Donald Trump on Tuesday. Will Vladimir Putin accept a temporary pause in fighting, let alone a long-term deal? What are the pressures that could sway him toward peace, or cause him to drag out the war in Ukraine?

On this episode, presenter Jonny Dymond speaks to journalist Owen Matthews, author of the book “Overreach: The Insi...

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Argentina’s football star Diego Maradona is once again back in the spotlight as a long-delayed trial examining the circumstances around his death gets underway in Buenos Aires. When Diego Maradona died in 2020, Argentinians took to the streets, united in both grief and in the celebration of a soccer legend. But it didn’t take long before suspicions around his death started to circulate. In today’s episode, we look at the trial invo...

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This week President Trump's promises of tariffs became a reality, with universal levies on aluminium and steel imports becoming a reality. The EU responded with their own tariffs on items from bourbon to jeans and the mayor of Ontario threatened to turn of electricity supplies to the US.

Caitríona Perry, Sumi Somaskanda and Bernd Debusmann offer insight and analysis on another whirlwind week in Washington DC.

Producer: Aisling Tayl...

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