The Global Story

Have you ever received a call from a stranger regarding student loans you don’t owe? An Amazon order you never placed? An unpaid parking ticket for a car you don’t own? If so, it’s possible that you’ve been the target of a scam orchestrated by a criminal syndicate thousands of miles away.
The so-called “scam centres” of Southeast Asia bring in billions of dollars a year, expertly swindling unsuspecting foreigners out of their savings. Today, BBC Southeast Asia correspondent Jonathan Head offers an inside look at these formidable hubs of corruption and human trafficking, and explains how governments around the world are working to intervene.
Producers: Xandra Ellin and Viv Jones
Executive producer: Bridget Harney
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
Photo: New high rises in the city of Shwe Kokko, Myanmar, visible from Thailand's border. Credit: Jonathan Head/BBC.

It has been almost a month since Israel and the US launched their war against Iran, and already there have been strikes in more than a dozen countries, with reports of over 2,000 people killed across the region. As the war drags on and more countries get involved, there are concerns this conflict could escalate into something truly global.
We speak to emeritus professor of International History at the University of Oxford, Margaret MacMillan, and explore how world wars start, how they end and what can be done to avoid them.
Producers: Chris Benderev and Lucy Pawle
Executive producer: James Shield
Sound engineer: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
(Photo: US Military aircraft perform 4th of July flyover past New York City and New Jersey, 4 July 2020. Credit: Mike Segar/Reuters)

Nicolas Maduro, the deposed president of Venezuela, is due to appear in court in New York this week alongside his wife, Cilia Flores. The pair face charges of cocaine trafficking and possession of machine guns, which they deny.
Meanwhile in their home country, the Trump-approved interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, has been making deals with the US government over Venezuela’s oil and critical minerals.
The BBC’s South America correspondent, Ione Wells, has been in Caracas to find out how much life has altered under Rodriguez’s leadership, and to what extend Donald Trump may see this regime change as a blueprint for US intervention elsewhere.
Producers: Sam Chantarasak, Valerio Esposito and Hannah Moore
Executive producers: Bridget Harney and James Shield
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
Photo: Venezuela's interim President Delcy Rodriguez. Credit: Reuters/Leonardo Fernandez Viloria

As the US and Israel war with Iran enters its fourth week, there are growing number of people in the United States calling for it end. But the military operations are increasing, not winding down.
This is a critical moment where the war could turn into a long drawn-out conflict. Or it could be a moment where Donald Trump dashes for a quick exit.
The BBC’s world affairs correspondent Joe Inwood and the BBC’s Persian service’s Ghoncheh Habibiazad discuss with Tristan where this could all go next?
Producers: Cat Farnsworth and Xandra Ellin
Sound engineer: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
Photo: U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as he steps from Air Force One, March 20, 2026. Credit: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters

Social media platforms this week have been flooded with a wild rumour: that Benjamin Netanyahu was dead (which he is not). Fake photos and videos of his body, coated with dust and debris, seemed to show that the Israeli prime minister had been killed in an Iranian air strike.
The rumour was false – Netanyahu had not died, nor been involved in a strike. The photos and videos were AI-generated. But when Netanyahu posted several videos of himself, debunking and mocking the rumour, some people on social media still refused to believe these were really him.
Today on the show, Thomas Copeland from BBC Verify explains how the economics of social media drive the creation of AI-generated fake videos – sometimes by people with no strong feelings about the war itself. And we speak to Peter Pomerantsev, author of Nothing Is True and Everything is Possible, who says the essential strategy behind wartime disinformation remains unchanged since ancient times.
Producers: Viv Jones, Valerio Esposito and Xandra Ellin
Executive producer: James Shield
Sound engineer: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
(Photo: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shows his hand as he speaks at a cafe Credit: Benjamin Netanyahu/Reuters)