The Global Story

As governments across the globe grapple with ways to tackle the climate crisis, seventeen critical elements known as rare earths are thought to be central to any future solution. These minerals are crucial to emerging technologies from consumer electronics to wind and solar energy production, making the market for them hyper-competitive. Katya speaks with BBC climate reporter Esme Stallard and vet...

It’s 20 years since Facebook was brought into the world by a group of Harvard University roommates. In the years since, millions of us have shared our photos, our memories, our lives…and our data. In the early days Facebook’s mantra was ‘move fast and break things’. By last week, CEO Mark Zuckerberg was facing a US Senate hearing and accusations that the company ‘has blood on its hands’.The BBC’s...

In 2017, Stuart McCormick survived the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in US history, while visiting Las Vegas. In the months that followed, his understanding of what happened that October night became twisted and distorted. The BBC's disinformation correspondent, Marianna Spring, has been speaking to Stuart for her new podcast series, Why Do You Hate Me. She explains that it is rare fo...

Elon Musk says Chinese electric vehicles could ‘demolish’ competition unless trade barriers are put in place. The Chinese company BYD sold more electric vehicles than Tesla in the last three months of 2023, challenging their global dominance. So does this spell trouble for Elon Musk? BBC Asia Business reporter Monica Miller, and electric car analyst Robert Llewellyn explain how China has invested...

The politics of growing anger from desperate relatives. Israel’s crushing military response to the Hamas mass murder and kidnapping on October 7th has failed to free all the hostages. It refuses to negotiate directly with Hamas, which it calls a terrorist organisation. Our reporter Anna Foster has spent months listening to the stories of those who saw their loved ones taken by gunmen. She explains...

Tehran’s Middle East strategy after a lethal attack on US troops. The risk of military escalation in an already volatile region is growing. President Biden has promised to respond after what he called “Iran-backed militants” killed three American soldiers and injured dozens at a base in Jordan. Iran denies it. But its proxies are active across a number of fronts, from Gaza to Lebanon, Yemen to Syr...

Germany is wrestling with the question of whether to ban the country’s second-most popular political party – Alternative für Deutschland – known as the AfD. The ever-more radical far-right party is soaring in the polls, but there is growing concern about the party's anti-immigration stance and links to neo-Nazi influencers. The Global Story delivers insights from BBC experts around the world, with...

Thousands of people from Georgia in Eastern Europe have found out that they were stolen from their parents at birth and sold. It’s believed the black market in baby trafficking operated for decades from the late 1970s up to the mid-2000s. We speak with BBC journalists and documentary makers Fay Nurse and Woody Morris. You can watch the full documentary, Betrayal at birth: Georgia’s Stolen Children...

Since President Putin’s full scale invasion of Ukraine, protests related to the conflict have been supressed inside Russia. But one group are publicly criticising the authorities. More than 300,000 reservists have been mobilised to fight in the conflict. The BBC’s Russia editor – Steve Rosenberg – has been speaking to the women in their lives, who are fighting to bring them home. The Global Story...

In the eight years since he entered office and three since he left it, Donald Trump has time to rethink his approach. Rousing at his rallies in 2016, and frustrated by Washington bureaucracy in his presidential term, the former US president now takes the counsel of trusted loyalists with serious republican campaigning credentials. Meanwhile the scratch team of big egos has moved to the periphery....

The inside story of a wave of assassinations in Yemen, led by former US Special Forces. An investigation by BBC Arabic has found evidence that the United Arab Emirates hired American mercenaries to train Emirati officers to assassinate political enemies in Yemen. It's triggered a wave of killings that continues today and demonstrates the complex role foreign powers are having in Yemen's civil war....

The politics of prayer at a divine but divisive site that’s shaped modern India: Ayodhya. The opening of the new temple is widely seen as the unofficial launch of Mr Modi’s re-election campaign. His ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been agitating for a temple here since the 1980s. For his supporters, now is a moment of triumph. For Muslims, it’s a moment of trepidation. In 1992, a Hindu mob...

Ever since Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7th, the BBC has been reporting on the ongoing Israeli response through air bombardment and ground offensives. Leading our coverage from the ground in Gaza was our correspondent Rushdi Abualouf, a Palestinian who has lived in the enclave his entire life. After being forced to leave their home in Gaza City, Rushdi and his family fled south...

The American Library Association says attempts to ban books have reached a record high. Most of the books targeted are by or about members of the LGBTQ community and other minorities. The main battleground is in schools, with parents and teachers arguing about what’s appropriate for children and what’s censorship. To explain this chapter of America’s culture wars, Katya speaks with the BBC’s Annie...

Poland's president, Andrzej Duda, and the country's new prime minister, Donald Tusk, are locked in a power struggle that’s testing the very foundations of the state. Poland has gone through turmoil as the new government reverses changes made by its predecessor. As tens of thousands flood the streets in protest, the situation captures the attention of Brussels, Washington, and Moscow. In this episo...

Over the past week prisoner escapes, hostage taking and violence in Ecuador has made headlines around the world. Many people were shocked by the chaos in a country that was previously among the most peaceful in a turbulent region. Will Grant, the BBC’s Central and Latin America correspondent tells us what he found on the ground in Ecuador in the days after the attacks. Ana Maria Roura, from BBC Mu...

We take a look behind the gilded gates of Mumbai’s one-percenters. The city is driving – and being transformed by – India’s incredible economic growth. The country is expected to be the world’s third largest economy by 2030. But can all Indians aspire to be part of Mumbai’s expanding mega rich? Teresa Watkins is executive producer of ‘Streets of Gold: Mumbai’, a BBC series that follows the super-r...

In this special edition of The Global Story, Katya Adler talks to the BBC’s security correspondent Frank Gardner about the strikes on Houthis and the strategy behind them. Who are the Houthis and how are they reacting? We hear how US and UK naval forces in the Red Sea have launched air strikes against Houthi targets across Yemen. They’re in response to repeated attacks by the Iran-backed group on...

The Danish Queen abdicates, taking her country by surprise. The oldest monarchy in Europe will now have a King, and so will all other monarchies in continental Europe. The Global Story talks to the US Special Correspondent for BBC Studios, Katty Kay. Katty has travelled from Denmark to Belgium to explore how European monarchies have survived in the 21st century. Katya also discusses the state of E...

Ketamine is licenced to be used as an anaesthetic and has a reputation as an illegal party drug. But after trials in the US and UK, many are calling for its wider use to treat depression. However, it is a powerful drug that can have dangerous side effects and was recently linked to the death of US actor Matthew Perry. Professor of Psychopharmacology at the University of Exeter, Celia Morgan joins...

The Islamic State group dominated headlines in the years after seizing large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq in 2014. The footage they shared of their brutal attacks and executions horrified the world, but attracted thousands of international recruits. Mina al-Lami from BBC Monitoring tells us that the groups fortunes fell in 2023, with them claiming far fewer attacks. And Josh Baker from T...

Jon Ronson on the origins of some of today’s most divisive issues. The acclaimed writer gives a peek into season two of his new BBC podcast series, Things Fell Apart. It details how seemingly random events, including an argument between a teenager and her mother and a misdiagnosis in a series of murders in Miami, came together in a few short weeks in May, 2020 to shake The United States and beyond...

The evangelical pastor TB Joshua amassed millions of followers around the world. Many thousands came to The Synagogue Church of All Nations in Nigeria to witness him perform miracles and heal the sick. Now, an investigation by BBC Africa Eye reveals allegations of systematic rape, physical abuse and forced abortion inside the church led by TB Joshua. Through first-hand accounts of the women who es...

Taiwan is going to the polls on January 13th to pick its new President and the island's future relationship with China is a key election issue. The opposition KMT wants closer ties with mainland China – the country that sees Taiwan as a breakaway province. But the ruling party, the DPP, wants to strengthen Taiwan's partnership with other countries. Both are concerned about military threats coming...

Kamala Harris made history in 2020, becoming the first woman, first Asian-American and first black vice-president in the history of the United States. She made it onto the Biden ticket despite struggling to make a positive impression on Democratic party voters during her own attempt to secure the nomination, eventually dropping out before the first primary contest. With her personal poll numbers s...