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When popes get political Nov 28, 2025

Show notes

Pope Leo is on his first official visit abroad, and there are already signs he’s willing to use his position to speak out on controversial matters. His recent comments about abortion and the rights of migrants have created headlines in the United States, and raised eyebrows from some conservatives who see the first American pope challenging President Trump’s policies.

It wouldn't be the first time that a pope has weighed in on politics. From Nazism to communism and the Cold War, from refugees to climate change, popes have used their position to influence global affairs.

In this episode we speak to author and presenter Edward Stourton, who has covered religious affairs and the USA extensively for the BBC, about what power Pope Leo XIV has, and what lessons he can learn from his predecessors.

Producers: Lucy Pawle and Sam Chantarasak

Executive producers: James Shield and Bridget Harney

Senior news editor: China Collins

Mix: Travis Evans

Image: Pope Leo XIV visits Ankara, Turkey on 27 November. Vatican Media Handout/EPA/Shutterstock

Shein: How the fast fashion disruptor ran into real world problems Nov 27, 2025

Show notes

The backlash over the opening of Shein’s first brick and mortar store in Paris this month is just one in a series of controversies and complaints over the ultra-fast fashion retailer. As the company looks to go public, we explore whether its business model can withstand the world’s scrutiny.

Laura Bicker, the BBC’s China Correspondent, tells us what she found in the Guangzhou factories supplying Shein, and co-host Tristan Redman heads to the Paris store.

Producer: Hannah Moore

Executive producers: Bridget Harney and James Shield

Mix: Travis Evans

Senior news editor: China Collins

Photo: A customer shops at Shein in Paris, France. Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters

The international drama of Miss Universe Nov 26, 2025

Show notes

Miss Universe 2025 has been rocked by controversies and chaos, from stage falls and contestants storming out, to judges quitting and allegations of vote rigging – which the organisers deny.

The pageant – styled as a celebration of women of all backgrounds and nationalities – has suffered waning international attention in recent years, with many questioning the ideals of femininity it seems to espouse.

Could the drama of this year’s competition get people watching again?

BBC journalist and Miss Universe expert, William Lee Adams, joins us to discuss.

Producers: Xandra Ellin and Hannah Moore

Executive producer: James Shield

Mix: Travis Evans

Senior news editor: China Collins

Can Trump’s Gaza plan turn a ceasefire into permanent peace? Nov 25, 2025

Show notes

A ceasefire took effect in Gaza just over six weeks ago, and although both sides have accused the other of multiple violations of the agreement, there has not been the return to full-blown war that many feared. But the ceasefire agreement that was signed in early October was not a complete peace settlement. It left many issues still to be negotiated.

That ceasefire was part of the first phase of President Trump’s peace plan. Last week, that plan came a step closer to reality when a resolution endorsing it was adopted by the UN Security Council. Within that 20-point plan - which covers everything from how to disarm Hamas, to who should govern Gaza – there are many sticking points that are still unresolved.

We speak to Yolande Knell, the BBC's Middle East correspondent in Jerusalem, and ask whether Trump’s plan can still bring a permanent peace to Gaza. And what could happen if it fails?

Producer: Viv Jones

Executive producer: James Shield, China Collins

Mix: Travis Evans

Senior news editor: China Collins

Photo: Hamas militant in Gaza city. Reuters/Dawoud Abu Alkas

The decision facing Zelensky Nov 24, 2025

Show notes

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 Collins

Photo: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky sits inside a vehicle. Credit: Susana Vera/Reuters.

Is there a genocide of white South Africans as Trump claims? Nov 21, 2025

Show notes

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 Ellin

Executive producer: China Collins

Senior 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

What is Sudan’s war really about? Nov 20, 2025

Show notes

** 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 Collins

Photo: 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.

The oil lobbyist who tried to sink the first big climate deal Nov 19, 2025

Show notes

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 Farnsworth

Eexecutive producer: James Shield

Mix: Travis Evans

Senior news editor: China Collins

Photo: Don Pearlman at the Kyoto summit / BBC.

The Saudi prince's long road to rehabilitation Nov 18, 2025

Show notes

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

Is the world entering a new age of nuclear testing? Nov 17, 2025

Show notes

In the last 72 hours, comments from President Trump and his administration have sparked fresh debate about whether the US could – or should – resume the kind of nuclear weapons tests that were halted over 30 years ago.

The current debate centres on whether Trump plans to test nuclear delivery systems, such as missiles, or nuclear warheads. The latter would be a major reversal of a long-standing policy, as the US has not tested a nuclear warhead since 1992, but it’s unclear what the plans involve.

Today, Tristan speaks to Serhii Plokhy, a history professor at Harvard and author of The Nuclear Age, about what it would mean to return to an era of nuclear testing.

Producers: Viv Jones, Xandra Ellin, Aron Keller

Executive producer: James Shield

Mix: Travis Evans

Senior news editor: China Collins

Photo: Mushroom cloud rises during Operation Crossroads nuclear weapons test. Reuters

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