The Global Story

The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is a mainstay of the US political calendar, a barometer of the Republican party mood, and has become, in recent years, a pro-Trump event, with a big budget and crowds in the thousands.
Its first outing to the United Kingdom last week brought less of the bombast, but much the same flavour of politics, as figures from across the hard right assembled for debates on topics including migration, race, British identity and cryptocurrency, under the slogan ‘Save Britain. Save The West’.
One of our producers, Hannah Moore, attended the conference to find a conservative movement reckoning with its identity, and divided on whether importing MAGA-style politics can unite the right.
Producers: Aron Keller and Hannah Moore
Executive producer: James Shield
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
Photo: Reform UK leader Nigel Farage speaks at the CPAC GB conference in London, Britain, 17 July 2026. Credit: EPA/Shutterstock

Marco Rubio’s State Department has unveiled plans to dismantle the International Criminal Court, a tribunal that prosecutes individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. In a video, Rubio calls the ICC, "a global tribunal staffed by unelected globalist bureaucrats who claim their power is almost unlimited.”
The United States is not, nor has it ever been, a party to the ICC, which was established during the presidency of Democrat Bill Clinton. But could the ICC investigate and indict Americans anyway? Today, we hear the view from within the world of international criminal law, with human rights lawyer, writer, and international law professor Philippe Sands.
Producer: Xandra Ellin
Executive producer: James Shield
Mix: Travis Evans
Digital producer: Matt Pintus
Studio manager: Mike Regaard
Senior news editor: China Collins
Photo: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
This episode was updated on Monday 20 July to reflect new comments from the mayor of New York City.

Spain or Argentina? These two teams will face each other in the 2026 World Cup final. Only one team can emerge eternal. For the rest, it’s over.
But this tournament’s not just been about victory.
For this special episode, we’ve been speaking with people across the US to hear about their tournament experiences, and asking what trace the World Cup will leave behind.
We hear from: Roger Bennett, founder of the Men in Blazers media company; from the BBC’s sports editor Dan Roan; from the co-host of Morning Joe on MS NOW Jonathan Lemire; from Ruth DeWitt, director of community relations at Lawrence’s tourism bureau in Kansas; and from life long US soccer fan Marcus Cranston.

Producers: Lucy Pawle and Cat Farnsworth
Executive producer: Bridget Harney
Mix: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins
Photo: USA fans cheer ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026 group stage match Turkey against USA, in Los Angeles, 25 June 2026. Credit: Christopher Torres/EPA/Shutterstock

On Thursday in Washington DC, Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, will host an international summit on the threat posed by "the resurgence of transnational far-left terrorism.” There will be a particular focus on the loosely composed group the Trump administration calls Antifa.

What is this group? Is it a significant threat? Or is there something motivating the DC summit? BBC journalist Mike Wendling joins us to discuss whether the Trump administration is right to worry about far-left groups like Antifa.
(Photo: Anti-fascist demonstrators wave an Antifa flag, which is green and has an orange, green and white circular logo in the middle, in the UK, 2016. Credit: Gareth Fuller/Press Association)
Producers: Cat Farnsworth, Aron Keller and Hannah Moore
Executive producer: James Shield
Sound engineer: Travis Evans
Senior news editor: China Collins

In an exclusive investigation, a whistleblower has told the BBC how he unearthed evidence suggesting that US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick failed to disclose a business relationship with the paedophile financier, Jeffrey Epstein.
Simon Andriesz was a trader at one of Lutnick’s Wall Street firms, but it wasn’t until the Epstein files were released earlier this year that he says he confirmed a longstanding suspicion that his boss was misrepresenting his relationship with Epstein.
BBC financial investigations correspondent Andy Verity joins us to unpack the new investigation.
Listen to Andy’s full report on File on 4 Investigates: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002yx47

Read more about Andy’s investigation: www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9q28dlyxrzo
Producers: Sam Chantarasak and Xandra Ellin
Executive producer: James Shield
Mix: Travis Evans
Digital producer: Tom Bage
Senior news editor: China Collins
Photo: US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick sits to testify before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing to examine a review of broadband deployment funding at the Department of Commerce, February 10, 2026. Credit: Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters.