The Global Story

Is Washington leaving Saudi Arabia to fend for itself? Last week, Houthi rebels launched a series of missile strikes on Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital. Surveillance footage showed a fireball erupting as airport passengers ran for cover. At least 14 people have been killed and hundreds were injured.
The attack is the latest escalation in a decade-long war between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis in neighbouring Yemen. The Saudis have long relied on financial, military and intelligence support from the United States, particularly in their fight against the Houthis. But Washington so far has shown little appetite for direct involvement in the fighting.
So why is the United States holding back? And what does that mean for the people caught in the middle?
The BBC’s chief international investigations correspondent, Nawal al-Maghafi, recently reported from inside Yemen and joins The Global Story’s Asma Khalid to discuss why this conflict is escalating and what might happen next.
(Photo: Houthi supporters rally against Saudi Arabia in Sanaa, Yemen, 9 October 2026. Credit:Yahya Arhab / EPA / Shutterstock)
Producer: Cat Farnsworth and Mhairi MacKenzie
Sound engineer: Travis Evans
Executive producer: Martine Powers
Digital producer: Charlie Firth
Senior news editor: China Collins

This week tens of thousands of young people have taken to the streets of Delhi, India’s capital, demanding changes to the electoral system and the resignation of the country’s electoral commissioner. Thousands have been detained by police in the process.
They represent the ‘cockroach’ movement, a grassroots campaign group started by a Boston University graduate in protest at government policies and high youth unemployment. How did a movement that started as a meme capture the minds of India’s young people, and start to pose a challenge to its long-serving prime minister, Narendra Modi?
The BBC’s South Asia correspondent, Azadeh Moshiri, explains.
Producers: Hannah Moore and Lucy Pawle
Mix: Travis Evans
Executive producer: James Shield
Senior news editor: China Collins
Photo: A protester gestures while being detained by security personnel during a protest by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) seeking the resignation of India's Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, near the protest site in New Delhi, India, October 10, 2026. Credit: Reuters/Adnan Abidi

Since World War Two ended, most people living in the United States or Europe have generally upheld a consensus about its morality; that it was a just war fought against an evil Nazi regime, and the allies were right to fight it.
But in a viral podcast debate with the British conservative Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, Tucker Carlson seemed to disagree with that narrative, causing deep consternation within the wider conservative movement.
The Global Story’s Tristan Redman speaks to BBC Newscast’s Adam Fleming about Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg and the strand of British conservatism he represents. We also hear from the Conservative politician and Times of London columnist Lord Daniel Finkelstein - whose parents were survivors of a Nazi concentration camps and a Russian gulag - about why he thinks one of America’s most influential right-wing voices is casting doubt on World War Two history.
(Photo: Tucker Carlson speaks at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, US, 18 July, 2024. He has short brown hair with side parting. He gestures with both arms outstretched to the side as he speaks into a mic. He wears a dark blue jacket, a blue and white gingham shirt and a dark blue tie with yellow, diagonal stripes. Credit: Mike Segar/Reuters)
Producer: Aron Keller and Cat Farnsworth
Executive producer: James Shield
Digital producer: Sam Gruet
Sound engineer: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins

Politicians and commentators keep telling us we are living through unprecedented times. But how unusual is the world we are living in, really?
John Simpson has spent 60 years reporting for the BBC, witnessing some of the most consequential moments in modern history. He was on the plane that brought Ayatollah Khomeini back to Iran during the 1979 revolution. He watched the Berlin Wall come down. And he reported from Beijing during the protests in Tiananmen Square.
Those experiences have left Simpson with a perspective that is not entirely pessimistic. Having lived through the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of apartheid, Simpson has seen seemingly entrenched systems change in ways few thought possible.
Now, as wars rage and the global order shifts again, he joins The Global Story’s Asma Khalid to reflect on what those moments can tell us about the present and whether today’s conflicts are repeating familiar patterns.
(Photo: John Simpson enters Kabul, 2001)
Producer: Xandra Ellin and Mhairi MacKenzie
Executive producer: James Shield and Martine Powers
Digital producer: Charlie Firth
Sound engineer: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins

A plague scare in Siberia has become a Rorschach test for public health fears in a post-Covid world.
Russian officials are investigating the death of a worker at a plague research laboratory. They say she died of pneumonia. But speculation online has suggested she may have died from pneumonic plague.
Russian authorities deny this and say there is no risk of an outbreak. So why has the story sparked so much alarm? And how has the legacy of the Covid pandemic played into people's fears of another global health crisis?
The BBC’s health reporter, Jim Reed, joins The Global Story’s Tristan Redman to explain what we know about the case in Russia – and whether the world is prepared for a potential outbreak.
Producers: Hannah Moore and Cat Farnsworth
Executive producer: Martine Powers
Digital producer: Charlie Firth
Technical producer: Mike Regaard
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
Photo: Plague bacteria (Yersinia pestis), computer illustration. The bacterium causes bubonic plague. Credit: Getty Images.