The Global Story

Two Palestinian families in the village of Qusra in the West Bank have been under siege by Israeli settlers for over a week. The Palestinian-American owner of one of the homes traveled to the West Bank from Ohio on Monday, after asking for protection from the US embassy.
His visit comes after the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, called those involved “Israeli terrorists”, amid mounting international pressure on Israel’s government to deal with the situation.
We speak to the BBC’s Jon Donnison, who has been reporting from Qusra, and ask whether the West Bank is at a tipping point.

Producer: Sam Chantarasak
Executive producer: James Shield
Mix: Travis Evans
Digital producer: Matt Pintus
Senior news editor: China Collins
Photo: Palestinian-American Loui Ridi, whose home in the occupied West Bank has been encircled by militant settlers for more than a week, hangs a U.S. flag after gaining access to his besieged home in Qusra. August 17, 2026. Credit: Ammar Awad TPX/Reuters.

Benjamin Netanyahu has been a major figure in Israeli politics for a long time. You could have just turned 30 years old and never known a time when he wasn’t either prime minister or somewhere near the top of Israeli politics. But could that be about to change?
With less than three months until the Israeli general election, Netanyahu is struggling in some polls. His rival is a man who is little known outside of Israel – former Israeli military chief Gadi Eisenkot. In some international media, Eisenkot is being dubbed the ‘anti-Netanyahu’. But is that accurate?
We speak to David Remnick, the editor of The New Yorker, who has spent time with Eisenkot for a major profile piece.
Producer: Xandra Ellin
Executive producer: James Shield
Mix: Travis Evans
Digital producer: Tom Bage
Senior news editor: China Collins
Image: Israeli opposition leader and former Israeli military chief Gadi Eisenkot speaks on a phone outside a conference for his campaign ahead of Israeli elections, in Dimona, Israel, July 6, 2026. Reuters/Amir Cohen

Wearing loose cotton boxer shorts. Icing your testicles. Doing blood transfusions to ‘clean’ your body of microplastics. Eating raw garlic. These are all unproven methods to boost sperm count being promoted by wellness influencers.
On TikTok and Instagram, hashtags such as #malefertility, #semenanalysis and #sperm attract hundreds of millions of views, while, in the White House, US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr has claimed that men’s fertility is in drastic decline, partially due to unhealthy diets.
What scientific evidence is there to claims that the average sperm count and quality is falling? And how do these claims play into men’s anxieties about their masculinity? On today’s show, the BBC’s global health reporter, Jacqui Wakefield, speaks to men across the world concerned about their fertility, and to reproductive experts who help explain what’s really going on.
Read Jacqui’s article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8921982pgzo
Producers: Hannah Moore and Mhairi MacKenzie
Executive producer: Sam Bonham
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
Photo: Simon from Miami, who is trying to boost his sperm count by wearing ice packs in the sauna. Credit: BBC.

Last month, President Trump secretly swapped planes via a catering truck as he left a Nato summit in Turkey. The elaborate ruse, first reported by the Washington Post, was in response to a possible threat from Iran.
But how serious were the US administration’s fears of an assassination attempt? And does the Iranian regime have the capability to carry out such an operation beyond its borders?
We speak to Parham Ghobadi, a senior reporter at the BBC’s Persian Service, and Dan Lamothe of the Washington Post, to understand more about what transpired on Air Force One, the history of Iran’s alleged assassination plots, and why the Iranian regime’s prime target might be its own citizens.
Producers: Mhairi MacKenzie, Hannah Moore and Xandra Ellin
Executive producers: Martine Powers and James Shield
Mix: Travis Evans
Digital producer: Sam Gruet
Studio manager: Mike Regaard
Senior news editor: China Collins
Photo: A catering truck is parked on the other side of Air Force One, before U.S. President Donald Trump's departure from Ankara en route to Washington after his participation in the NATO leaders' summit, at Ankara Esenboga Airport in Ankara, Turkey, July 8, 2026. Credit: Reuters/ABC-TV/Pool/File Photo

The Trump administration is embroiled in a diplomatic standoff after Brazilian President Lula da Silva accused the US of sending officials to “meddle in Brazil’s elections”, an allegation the US called, "baseless".
Throughout its history, the US has been accused of trying to influence political events outside its borders – from offering subtle incentives for its preferred political outcome to secretly sponsoring coups against foreign governments. In recent years, President Trump has pursued a more overt strategy, publicly endorsing candidates who align with his politics. So are we seeing a new blueprint for US foreign policy?
We speak to BBC Brazil correspondent Leandro Prazeres about the US-Brazil fallout. We also hear from Politico correspondent Nahal Toosi about the long history of US interference in foreign elections, and how the Trump administration compares.
Producers: Xandra Ellin, Sam Chantarasak and Aron Keller
Executive producer: Martine Powers
Mix: Travis Evans
Digital producer: Sam Gruet
Senior news editor: China Collins
Photo: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, October 26, 2025. Credit: Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein