The Global Story

As war continues in Gaza, a cultural row is flaring on the other side of the world over Israel’s involvement in the 2024 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. The country’s act was initially blocked from entering the world's largest music competition as its proposed lyrics were deemed too political, but they have since been cleared to compete. This has outraged many on social media, with some fa...

Hollywood’s big night is upon us, and the studios have spent millions of dollars to make sure their favourite contenders win. Are the Academy Awards really about honouring cinematic achievement? Or does it all come down to campaigns and connections? Presenter James Reynolds speaks to film journalist Tom Brook, who has covered every Oscars since 1982, and Leila Latif, a journalist who has worked on...

How big money is chasing a tiny number of voters. It’s (almost) official: Joe Biden will face Donald Trump in November. Both men did well enough on Super Tuesday to look ahead to the general election. Now, it gets interesting. The campaigns need to find the few Americans still unsure who should be president and get in their heads. James Reynolds talks to the BBC’s Special US correspondent, Katty K...

The disappearance of flight MH370 is the greatest unsolved mystery in aviation. Ten years after the plane vanished from radar with 239 passengers and crew on board, only a few traces have been found. Could a new radio technology finally help locate the missing aircraft and give families the answers they desperately need? James Reynolds assesses the latest evidence about what happened to MH370 with...

Young people around the world are having less sex than older generations. It had been assumed that coming of age in an era of dating apps would mean that Gen Z were more sexually active, but that is not the case. In this episode, Katya Adler speaks with Kaye Wellings, Professor of Sexual and Reproductive Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and BBC journalist Anoushka Mut...

The rise of defending world, European and Premier League champions Manchester City has been as rapid as it has been controversial. From allegations of sportswashing against its Emirati ownership, to the no less than 115 charges it is facing for alleged violations of football’s financial rules, headlines about the club’s off-field conduct are eclipsed perhaps only by their sustained on-field domina...

His tricky campaign balancing act. A surprise court ruling in Alabama that found frozen embryos to be children has put reproductive rights back on the national agenda. Donald Trump has called himself “the most pro-life president” in US history, but some of his socially conservative supporters want him to go further and back a national ban. Mr Trump is not keen, but Democrats are delighted. They be...

The United States has just returned to the Moon for the first time in 50 years. But they are not the only country in the world with their sights set on space exploration. Why are countries like India, China, Japan and Saudi Arabia trying to complete their own lunar landings? Katya Adler speaks with Dr Kevin Fong, presenter of the BBC podcast 13 Minutes to the Moon and Jonathan Amos the BBC’s scien...

The city the world is watching. Overflowing with hungry refugees and facing a lethal showdown between Hamas and Israeli forces, Rafah is at the heart of an urgent push for peace. Children are scavenging for food even as aid trucks line up over the border in Egypt and diplomats try to avert a further humanitarian catastrophe. President Biden is positive a deal can be reached. But Israel says its ho...

In countries across the world women are deciding to delay motherhood. Increased access to education, more career opportunities and less financial stability means that more and more women are having children later in life. But fewer babies now, could mean more economic pressures on the rest of us in the future. We explore this complex topic with the BBC's population correspondent Stephanie Hegarty...

Sweden is struggling to contain the gang wars that are spilling out onto the streets. Innocent people are being caught in the crossfire while child soldiers carry out dangerous shoot-to-kill missions for leaders who live abroad. The Swedish government has even recruited the army to help stop the violence. But is it too late? We explain how the peaceful nation has turned into a European hotspot for...

At least three million people died in the Bengal Famine of 1943 in British India. It was one of the largest losses of civilian life on the Allied side. But there is no memorial to them anywhere in the world. A new BBC documentary series, 'Three Million', examines the devastating impact of the Bengal famine during the Second World War. Katya speaks to presenter Kavita Puri about why so little atten...

A surgeon in a wheelchair, an indomitable grandmother, and a man taking care of eight cats in a bombed-out flat: just some of people the BBC’s Andrew Harding has met on repeat trips to Ukraine’s front lines. He and the BBC’s Olga Robinson, who has family in Russia and Ukraine, talk to Katya about the power of individual stories, two years since Russia’s full-scale invasion. The Global Story brings...

When #MeToo surfaced in October 2017, it was viewed as a time of change for the US and Hollywood. But in France – another country with a rich cinematic heritage – there was major backlash to allegations made against its own stars. Now though, a new wave of controversy, headlined by prolific actor Gerard Depardieu, has reignited media debate. Katya is joined by journalists Catherine Guilyardi and N...

Hurricanes are among the most dramatic examples of extreme weather. And with climate change making tropical cyclones ever more intense, some scientists are arguing that the way we categorise them doesn’t sufficiently describe how dangerous these storms can be. They say the solution is to add a brand new ‘category 6’ to the system known as the Saffir-Simpson scale. On this episode, Katya is joined...

Demand for ‘Hollywood’ weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, has turned a once-niche Danish pharmaceutical firm into Europe’s most valuable company. As Novo Nordisk’s stock price skyrockets, it’s outsizing Denmark’s economy, and its growth has been credited with single-handedly staving off a national recession. James Reynolds examines how Novo is viewed by Danes, and what it’s doing to stay ahead...

Russia's most significant opposition leader for the past decade, Alexei Navalny, has died in an Arctic Circle jail, the prison service has said. What does that mean for the future of Russia, its opposition movement and its leader, Vladimir Putin? In this special episode of The Global Story, Gabriel Gatehouse speaks to the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet, Olga Ivshina from the B...

There is growing concern that a new wave of violent misogyny is becoming popular with young men. Many blame social media and online influencers like Andrew Tate for promoting extreme anti-feminist views. Gabriel Gatehouse speaks with BBC filmmaker Matt Shea and Cosmopolitan's Harriet Hall to explore what Gen Z think about sexism and if young people are becoming more polarised in their views. The G...

Javier Milei was sworn in as Argentina’s president in December. He's referred to as El Loco (the madman) by his critics and many supporters. His promise to take a chainsaw to government in an attempt to solve rampant inflation, won over voters who'd had enough of the status quo. But do they have the patience for his economic shock therapy, and the pain he said would be felt before any benefits? Th...

Nearly 40 years after the BBC brought famine in Ethiopia to the world's attention, there are fresh warnings that the tragedy could be repeated. James Landale, the BBC’s diplomatic correspondent has just returned from the northern state of Tigray, where officials say hunger could reach levels worse than in the 1980s. Kalkidan Yibeltal, our correspondent in Addis Ababa, tells how the region’s proble...

Access to Putin and Trump puts him in a powerful position, less than a year since losing his high-profile job with Fox News. His interview with the Russian president has him back at the centre of the global conversation. Donald Trump’s wife and son have reportedly floated Carlson’s name as a possible Republican vice-presidential candidate. But would he in fact have more influence as a pundit? Gabr...

Anxiety disorders are the world’s most common mental health condition, affecting over three hundred million people, but only one in four affected actually get treatment for them. Data shared with us by Google says that over the last decade, countries are searching the term more frequently. Ukraine, Ireland and the Philippines the top three countries searching the word anxiety. In this episode, we...

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....

Farmers’ protests have swept across France, Germany, Spain, Italy and beyond, and descended on the European Union headquarters in Brussels. They’re outraged over rising costs, EU red tape and cheap imports from Ukraine. And they say their elected leaders are ignoring them. That’s left the door open to the far-right, which is trying to position itself as a friend to the rural voter. To understand w...

As the US opioid crisis continues, politicians in Washington are blaming Mexico’s cartels. But what about Mexico itself? Our correspondent Will Grant says Fentanyl addiction was evident from the moment he arrived in the border town, Tijuana, to the moment he left, and death rates there are high. Until recently Mexico’s president Andrés Manuel López Obrador denied there was a fentanyl usage problem...