American, Ukrainian and European negotiators met in Switzerland on Sunday to discuss a US-proposed peace plan to end the Russia-Ukraine war. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, was faced with a dilemma last week – either make concessions to Putin, or risk losing US support. But Zelensky said there were "signals that President Trump's team hears us", and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a "tremendous amount of progress" had been achieved. We’re joined by the Oscar-winning Ukrainian film-maker Mstyslav Chernov, and by BBC Ukraine correspondent James Waterhouse, to discuss how Ukrainians feel about the leaked peace plan. Producers: Cat Farnsworth and Lucy Pawle Executive producer: James Shield Mix: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China CollinsPhoto: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky sits inside a vehicle. Credit: Susana Vera/Reuters.
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Is there a genocide of white South Africans as Trump claims?
The US is essentially boycotting this weekend’s G20 summit in South Africa over accusations that the white Afrikaners are ‘being killed and slaughtered’ and that white farmers are having their land ‘illegally confiscated. The South African government say the claims are "widely discredited and unsupported by reliable evidence". Today we speak to BBC correspondent Andrew Harding, who lived and worked in South Africa for over a decade, to find out where these claims came from. Producers: Sam Chantarasak and Xandra EllinExecutive producer: China CollinsSenior news editor: China Collins Mix: Travis Evans Photo: Afrikaner farmers rally to show support for President Trump in Pretoria, South Africa. Credit: Kim Ludbrook/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock
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What is Sudan’s war really about?
** This episode contains some very distressing details, including of killings, sexual violence and the experiences of children in war** More than 150,000 people have been killed and about 12 million have been forced from their homes since Sudan's civil war began in 2023.
But more than two years on, the reasons for the conflict are still not clear. And there are questions about why the international community - including the United States - isn’t doing more to try and stop the supply of weapons to Sudan, and to bring the fighting to an end. On today’s episode, we are joined by BBC Africa correspondent Barbara Plett Usher, who has been reporting on Sudan since the 1990s, and Nawal Al-Maghafi, a senior investigations correspondent, whose recent reporting from Khartoum has brought to light the particular tragedy facing children in this war. Producer: Hannah Moore Executive producer: James Shield Mix: Travis Evans Senior News Editor: China CollinsPhoto: A child who lost his leg due to artillery shelling by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), stands at a displacement camp in Al-Dabbah, Sudan. Credit: El Tayeb Siddig/Reuters.
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The oil lobbyist who tried to sink the first big climate deal
The American lawyer, oil lobbyist and master strategist Don Pearlman is said to have chain-smoked his way through almost every UN climate gathering from the early 1990s until his death in 2005. Some of those who saw Pearlman operate in Kyoto, where the first legally binding international agreement on climate change was agreed in 1997, say he created the playbook for stalling climate talks. The Kyoto protocol was never ratified by the United States, and Pearlman is now the subject of a major play, Kyoto, which has just transferred from London to the Lincoln Center in New York. As the COP30 climate summit takes place in Brazil, we speak to BBC climate journalist Jordan Dunbar, who’s been trying to piece together the true story of the man once nicknamed ‘the high priest of the carbon club’. Producers: Aron Keller and Cat FarnsworthEexecutive producer: James Shield Mix: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China Collins Photo: Don Pearlman at the Kyoto summit / BBC.
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The Saudi prince's long road to rehabilitation
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – MBS – will be welcomed at the White House on his first visit to Washington since the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi led to global outrage. MBS has always denied involvement in Khashoggi’s murder. Nevertheless, both he and Saudi Arabia were ostracised after the killing.
Tuesday’s meeting between President Trump and Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler will build on a relationship between the two leaders which has endured the scandal. But can both parties walk away from these strategic talks with what they want? On Trump’s part, some movement towards the Abraham Accords; and for MBS, a chunky defence package.
We talk to BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner.
Producers: Cat Farnsworth and Lucy Pawle
Executive producer: James Shield
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
Photo: President Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Brian Snyder/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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