The Global Story

How did a prominent Cambridge professor come to embody the fault lines around DEI in higher education?
Three years ago, Jason Arday was celebrated as the youngest black professor ever appointed at the University of Cambridge. But recent questions about his academic work and his life story became the subject of fierce media scrutiny — scrutiny that only intensified after Arday was found dead at his South London home last week. Police have said his death was unexpected, but not believed to be suspicious.
Now, Arday’s personal narrative is raising broader questions about the responsibility of universities to vet high-profile hires, the media’s role in amplifying a firestorm of controversy, and the deepening cultural divide over diversity and inclusion in liberal institutions.
Asma Khalid of The Global Story speaks with BBC Education Editor Branwen Jeffreys and Tyler Austin Harper of The Atlantic about Arday’s story — and what it reveals about the limits of inclusion in higher education.
Producers: Lucy Pawle and Hannah Moore
Digital producer: Matt Pintus
Mix: Travis Evans
Editor: Martine Powers
Senior News Editor: China Collins
Photo: Jason Arday - a guest on the panel of BBC show Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg in 2025. Credit: Jeff Overs/BBC

President Trump took to Truth Social last weekend to announce that the US will "substantially reduce" joint military exercises with South Korea. He cited his "very good relationship" with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, but he also accused South Korea of failing to help the US in its war with Iran – comments that suggest major new cracks in the US’s relationship with a key ally.
To understand the reaction from South Korea, we speak to the BBC’s Seoul Correspondent Jake Kwon about whether Trump’s sidelining of South Korea is a major foreign policy shift for the US.
Producers: Aron Keller and Mhairi MacKenzie
Executive producer: Martine Powers
Mix: Travis Evans
Digital producer: Sam Gruet
Senior news editor: China Collins
Photo: A South Korean soldier stands next to a TV broadcasting a news report on a possible summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump, October 22, 2025. Credit: Reuters/Kim Hong-Ji

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.