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BBC World Service

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.

The Global Story

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 

Sound engineer: Travis Evans 

Senior news editor: China Collins 

Image: Miguel Gutierrez/Shutterstock

Why has Trump authorised CIA action in Venezuela?

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

A Gazan journalist’s diary

“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 Evans
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

Is the US-China trade war back on?

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. 

Further reading: "How Milei's 'Thatcherite' economics divided his nation - but won over Trump" https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9865l8540eo 

Producer: Viv Jones. 
Executive producer: James Shield. 
Mix: Neil Churchill. 
Senior news editor: China Collins. 
Photo:Reuters/Al Drago

Trump is bailing out Argentina. What happened to ‘America first’?

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.

Why Hamas agreed to a ceasefire – but isn’t disarming yet

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

Will the Gaza ceasefire hold?

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

Australia’s mushroom killer trial

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)

Trump’s ‘CEO of everything’

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

One man's quest to get his brothers released from Gaza

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

Is Trump on the brink of achieving peace in Gaza?

Taylor Swift is the world’s biggest pop star and an economic powerhouse. She has become so popular that allies of the likely Republican nominee Donald Trump are worried about her political influence if she publicly endorses Joe Biden. But does the singer really have the sway to decide the outcome of the US election? The BBC's North America Business Correspondent Erin Delmore looks at the evidence.

The Global Story brings you trusted insights from BBC experts around the world, with Katya Adler. We’re keen to hear from you, wherever you are in the world. #TheGlobalStory We want your ideas, stories and experiences to help us understand and tell The Global Story. Email us at theglobalstory@bbc.com You can also message us or leave a voice note on WhatsApp on +44 330 123 9480. 

Today’s podcast was made by Alice Aylett Roberts, Richard Moran and Emilia Jansson. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The assistant editor is Sergi Forcada Freixas and the senior news editor is Jonathan Aspinwall.

Could Taylor Swift swing the US election?

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