Why did Trump bring Tony Blair into the Gaza peace process?
On Monday, President Trump outlined his proposal for a peace deal in Gaza, a moment he described as ‘potentially one of the great days ever in civilisation’. In a press conference announcing the plan, the President name-dropped Sir Tony Blair and said the former UK Prime Minister would have a key role in the governance of post-war Gaza. Blair has been part of high-level talks with the US and other parties about ending the conflict. To many in the Middle East he remains a divisive figure who is remembered primarily for his role in the US-led invasion of Iraq. So how did Blair become a central figure in this latest plan to end the war in Gaza, and what does this tell us about diplomacy under Trump 2.0? Asma Khalid speaks to the BBC’s diplomatic correspondent James Landale, who charts the story of Blair’s involvement in the Middle East and his warm relationship with President Trump.Producers: Sam Chantarasak, Viv Jones
Senior news editor: China Collins
Mix: Travis Evans
Picture: Former Prime Minister Sir Tony Blair. Credit: Victoria Jones/PA Wire
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The rehabilitation of Syria’s ex-jihadist president
After getting the red-carpet treatment at the UN in New York last week, the former al-Qaeda fighter who now leads Syria is about to hold an election. But is Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, really about to transition the country into democracy? Or does he have other plans? The BBC's senior international correspondent Orla Guerin joins us from Damascus, where she’s been speaking to Syrians about the country’s future.
Producers: Cat Farnsworth and Valerio Esposito
Executive producer: James Shield
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior News Editor: China Collins
Image: Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Khalil Ashawi / Reuters
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Are conspiracy theories America’s biggest export?
Mistrust in science has never been higher. Fewer people are getting vaccinated, a known vaccine skeptic is leading the most powerful health agency in America and an outbreak of measels in Texas this year led to the first fatalities in almost a decade. Then, in August, a gunman opened fire on the headquarters of the Centre for Disease Control with many speculating he was fuelled by misinformation about health.Increasingly this misinformation is being exported around the world.Marianna Spring is the BBC’s Social Media Investigations Correspondent and tells the story of how suspicion of science in America helped radicalise a British mom with devastating consequences.Producers: Cat Farnsworth and Lucy Pawle
Executive producer: Annie Brown
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins Image: Martin Pope / Getty
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Why Netanyahu gets what he wants from the US
Israel’s Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu visits the White House later today, as details from the Trump administration’s 21-point plan to end the war were revealed over the weekend. As Israel continues its offensive in Gaza City, Netanyahu has vowed to ‘finish the job’ against Hamas and shows little sign of making concessions to end the war. Netanyahu has a proven history of getting what he wants from US presidents – so will the same happen at Monday's meeting?Today we speak to the BBC’s chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet who has reported on Netanyahu for three decades.Producers: Sam Chantarasak, Xandra Ellin, Aron Keller and Cat Farnsworth.
Executive producer: Annie Brown
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China CollinsImage: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at U.N. headquarters in New York City, U.S., September 26, 2025. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon
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The disgraced UK doctor behind autism misinformation
On Monday President Trump and the U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. held a press conference in which they made extraordinary new claims about autism. They suggested a potential link between the use of Tylenol during pregnancy and the development of autism. They also advocated spacing out childhood vaccinations.The two men's interest in the link between vaccines and autism goes back decades but these claims did not originate in the US. They trace back to the UK in 1998, when disgraced former doctor Andrew Wakefield first published his now-debunked theory linking MMR vaccines to autism cases in children.Today on the Global Story science journalist Adam Rutherford explains how the Wakefield vaccine conspiracy became the biggest medical disinformation disaster in recent history, and how these ideas found fertile ground in the Trump administration.Producers: Viv Jones, Valerio Esposito
Executive producer: Annie Brown, James Shield
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China CollinsImage: President Donald Trump, in front of U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., delivers remarks linking autism to childhood vaccines and to the use of popular pain medication Tylenol for pregnant women and children, claims which are not backed by decades of science, at the White House. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
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.
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