The Global Story

The American lawyer, oil lobbyist and master strategist Don Pearlman is said to have chain-smoked his way through almost every UN climate gathering from the early 1990s until his death in 2005. Some of those who saw Pearlman operate in Kyoto, where the first legally binding international agreement on climate change was agreed in 1997, say he created the playbook for stalling climate talks. The Kyoto protocol was never ratified by the United States, and Pearlman is now the subject of a major play, Kyoto, which has just transferred from London to the Lincoln Center in New York. As the COP30 climate summit takes place in Brazil, we speak to BBC climate journalist Jordan Dunbar, who’s been trying to piece together the true story of the man once nicknamed ‘the high priest of the carbon club’. Producers: Aron Keller and Cat FarnsworthEexecutive producer: James Shield Mix: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China Collins Photo: Don Pearlman at the Kyoto summit / BBC.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – MBS – will be welcomed at the White House on his first visit to Washington since the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi led to global outrage. MBS has always denied involvement in Khashoggi’s murder. Nevertheless, both he and Saudi Arabia were ostracised after the killing. Tuesday’s meeting between President Trump and Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler will build on a relationship between the two leaders which has endured the scandal. But can both parties walk away from these strategic talks with what they want? On Trump’s part, some movement towards the Abraham Accords; and for MBS, a chunky defence package. We talk to BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner. Producers: Cat Farnsworth and Lucy Pawle Executive producer: James Shield Mix: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China Collins Photo: President Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Brian Snyder/Reuters

In the last 72 hours, comments from President Trump and his administration have sparked fresh debate about whether the US could – or should – resume the kind of nuclear weapons tests that were halted over 30 years ago.The current debate centres on whether Trump plans to test nuclear delivery systems, such as missiles, or nuclear warheads. The latter would be a major reversal of a long-standing policy, as the US has not tested a nuclear warhead since 1992, but it’s unclear what the plans involve.Today, Tristan speaks to Serhii Plokhy, a history professor at Harvard and author of The Nuclear Age, about what it would mean to return to an era of nuclear testing.Producers: Viv Jones, Xandra Ellin, Aron KellerExecutive producer: James ShieldMix: Travis EvansSenior news editor: China CollinsPhoto: Mushroom cloud rises during Operation Crossroads nuclear weapons test. Reuters

**This episode contains themes of sexual abuse and grooming** Calls to release all the Epstein files are growing, after Wednesday’s bombshell release of over 20,000 pages of documents related to the sex trafficking scandal. The private messages released by the estate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have increased scrutiny on what President Trump may have known about Epstein’s behaviour. The White House has told the BBC the documents ‘prove literally nothing’. The furore continues to intensify, but there is one woman who has all the answers: Epstein’s long-time associate Ghislaine Maxwell. So who is the disgraced British socialite and what is her role in the scandal? Today we talk to the BBC’s New York correspondent Nada Tawfik, who has covered the case for over a decade.Producers: Sam Chantarasak and Aron KellerExecutive producer and senior news editor: China CollinsMix: Travis EvansPhoto: Ghislaine Maxwell with Jeffrey Epstein. US Department of Justice/PA Wire

Donald Trump has spent this year trying to negotiate a deal to end the war in Ukraine. So far, Vladimir Putin doesn’t seem interested in the US’s proposals. One man who has successfully negotiated with Russia – and with many of America’s adversaries – is Roger Carstens, former Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs. From 2020 to 2025 he worked to free dozens of US citizens taken hostage and wrongfully detained around the world, including in Russia. Securing their release often required complex deals that took years to put together. What does it take to successfully negotiate with Putin’s Russia? Producer: Lucy Pawle Executive producer: James Shield Senior news editor: China Collins Mix: Travis Evans Photo: Roger Carstens. Credit: BBC

The BBC has this week been rocked by a series of controversies, leading its Director General and Head of News to resign, and President Donald Trump threatening to sue the corporation over an edit it made to his January 6th, 2021 speech in one of its programmes, which the BBC admits was misleading. How did the management of the world’s most trusted news broadcaster reach crisis point, and what does this tell us about today’s media landscape? BBC culture and media editor Katie Razzall explains. Producers: Viv Jones, Xandra Ellin and Hannah Moore Executive producer: James Shield Sound engineer: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China CollinsThis podcast was edited on 12 November 2025. We removed a reference to Donald Trump “threatening to remove BBC journalists’ access to his press conferences". This statement should have been attributed to a reported briefing by a senior White House official.(Photo: BBC headquarters in London. Credit: Andy Rain/EPA/Shutterstock)

For much of the 21st century, our social lives have been shaped, at least in part, on the internet. But in an age of influencers, generative AI, complex algorithms, and politically entangled technocrats, some users say social media is growing less, well, social. So, is social media dead? Or is it just becoming something else? We speak with New Yorker staff writer Kyle Chayka about what happened to social networks, and what their transformation suggests about the future of media.Producers: Xandra Ellin and Aron KellerExecutive Producer: James ShieldMix: Travis EvansSenior News Editor: China CollinsPhoto: Social media apps on a phone.Yui Mok/PA

President Donald Trump has warned that he will target Nigeria if the government there "continues to allow the killing of Christians". For months, campaigners and politicians in Washington have been alleging that Islamist militants were systematically targeting Christians in Nigeria. But how true are the claims that there is a persecution – or even a genocide – of Christians in the West African country? And how does Nicki Minaj come to thank him for his intervention? We speak to the BBC’s global religion correspondent, Lebo Diseko. Producers: Xandra Ellin and Cat Farnsworth Executive producer: Annie Brown Mix: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China Collins (Photo: People walk along a street flanked by St. Joseph Catholic Church and Kano Road Central Mosque in Kaduna, Nigeria, 4 November, 2025. Credit: Marvellous Durowaiye/Reuters)

The man Donald Trump has called a "great leader", and who has long provoked admiration in MAGA circles, suddenly finds himself in an unusual position – at odds with the US president on an issue of critical importance. Viktor Orban, Hungary’s prime minister, is visiting the White House on Friday to try to resolve a dispute over Russian oil and gas. Orban wants to keep buying it, but Trump wants countries to wean themselves off Russian energy and help put the brakes on Russia’s war in Ukraine. Will Trump choose to keep an old friend close, or put pressure on Putin? We speak to Nick Thorpe, the BBC’s correspondent in Budapest, who has covered Orban since the 1980s. Producer: Viv Jones Executive producer: James Shield Senior news editor: China Collins Mix: Travis Evans Photo: U.S. President Donald Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Suzanne Plunkett, Reuters.

Even before Zohran Mamdani was elected as New York’s first Muslim mayor, his critics frequently cited London as a sort of cautionary tale, suggesting that New York under Mamdani could go “the way of London.” That’s because London already has a liberal, Muslim mayor - Sadiq Khan. But is that where the similarities end? We talk to Tim Donovan, a former BBC reporter who covered London politics for decades. And we ask Mr Khan himself what it’s like to be a local politician with an international profile - especially when your most persistent critic, is a tenacious man called Donald Trump? Producers: Xandra Ellin, Valerio Esposito and Cat Farnsworth Mix: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China Collins Image: New York City mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, waves to his supporters after winning the 2025 New York City Mayoral race. Jeenah Moon / Reuters

For years, Colombia has been one of the United States’ closest allies in the region – a key partner in the war on drugs. But now this relationship is coming under strain amidst a personal feud between President Trump, and Colombia’s president Gustavo Petro. In today’s episode, we speak to BBC Mundo’s William Marquez to examine the history of the US-Colombia alliance, and what might be at stake if it falls apart. Producer: Aron Keller Executive producer: James Shield Mix: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China Collins Photo: Colombian President Gustavo Petro. Credit: Reuters/Luisa Gonzalez

The Trump administration faces a Supreme Court challenge on Wednesday over its use of tariffs, an economic policy that has upended global trade.This case, which has been described by the President in epic terms, questions the legality of Trump’s signature economic policy - and poses one of the biggest existential threats to his second term so far. In today’s episode, we speak to small business owners across the US, and to BBC business reporter Natalie Sherman, who will be at the Supreme Court this week.Producers: Hannah Moore and Valerio EspositoExecutive producer: James ShieldMix: Travis EvansSenior news editor: China CollinsImage: US President Trump unveils new tariffs on so-called Liberation Day. Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Discussion of nuclear weapons has returned both to our news cycle and to the cultural conversation. Last week, President Donald Trump said that the US would resume testing nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, several recent films and books imagine a near future scenario where a nuclear attack is threatened or carried out. Tristan talks to Carlo Masala, professor of international relations at the Bundeswehr University Munich and author of If Russia Wins. His book imagines a scenario where Russia attacks a Nato country to see whether the alliance will respond, risking a nuclear confrontation. Masala believes Russia is already engaged in ‘hybrid warfare’ with Europe, and he wrote his book as a warning to the west. Producers: Viv Jones, Aron Keller, Xandra Ellin and Valerio Esposito Executive producer: James Shield Mix: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China CollinsImage: A photo published by Swedish armed forces that it says shows a Russian mig-31 fighter jet that took part in the violation of Estonian airspace. Swedish Armed Forces/ Reuters.Credits: The War Game (1965) / Dir: Peter Watkins / BBCDr Strangelove (1964) / Dir: Stanley Kubrick / Columbia Pictures A House of Dynamite (2025) / Dir: Kathryn Bigelow / Netflix

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 CollinsImage: 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.Presenter: Tristan RedmondProducer: Sam Chantarasak and Lucy Pawle Executive producer: Annie Brown Sound engineer: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China Collins (Photo: 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 CollinsPhoto: 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 CollinsPicture: Taliban bans female medical education, Afghan female doctors and midwives face setback, Kabul, Afghanistan, 24 Dec 2024. Samiullah Popal/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock