Ghislaine Maxwell, the Epstein Files, and the scandal that won’t go away
**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
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The hostage negotiator’s guide to making deals with Putin’s Russia
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
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Why is Trump threatening to sue the 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)
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Is social media dead?
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
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Why Trump is threatening to go 'guns a-blazing' into Nigeria
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)
Where the world and America meet, with episodes each weekday. 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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