The Global Story

We are away for Christmas, so this is a repeat of a previous episode. Are we living through the slow death of reading - replaced by an addictive screen culture that fragments our attention and floods us with trivial or unreliable information? Writer and voracious reader James Marriott believes we are entering a post-literate age with profoundly negative consequences for education, culture and democracy itself. In today's episode, James traces how an 18th century ‘reading revolution’ shaped the modern-world - and what might follow its sudden decline. Producers: Aron Keller and Sam Chantarasak Editor: James Shield Mix: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China Collins Photo: The al-Nahda al-Arabiya library (Arab Renaissance Library) in central Baghdad. AHMED JALIL/EPA.

We are away for Christmas, so this is a repeat of a previous episode. Donald Trump has spent this year trying to negotiate a deal to end the war in Ukraine. So far, Vladimir Putin doesn’t seem interested in the US’ proposals. One man who has experience successfully negotiating with Russia – and many other American adversaries – is Roger Carstens, former Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs. From 2020 to 2025 he worked to free dozens of US citizens taken hostage and wrongfully detained around the world, including Russia. Securing their release often required complex deals that took years to put together. What does it take to successfully negotiate with Vladimir Putin’s Russia? Producer: Lucy Pawle Executive producer: James Shield Senior news editor: China Collins Mix: Travis Evans Photo: Roger Carstens. Credit: BBC

We are away for Christmas, so this is a repeat of a previous episode. AI companies are seeing a monumental surge in investment – but some experts are now warning of the risks of an economic bubble. Could AI be the biggest market bubble since the dot-com crash? Or is it a genuinely transformative technology that’s simply taking time to deliver? We speak to the BBC’s Evan Davis. Producers: Aron Keller and Xandra Ellin Executive Producer: James Shield Mix: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China Collins Photo: Artificial Intelligence mobile apps. Hannibal Hanschke/EPA/Shutterstock

We are away for Christmas, so this is a repeat of a previous episode. In 1994, Ukraine surrendered the world's third-largest nuclear arsenal, inherited from the collapsed Soviet Union, in exchange for security assurances from the US, Russia, and the UK. Ukraine’s denuclearisation is often considered a huge success story in nuclear non-proliferation, but in retrospect, it may have paved the way for Putin's 2022 invasion. As talk of US-European security guarantees for Ukraine resurfaces in the context of tentative Russia-Ukraine peace talks, we speak with BBC Paris correspondent Andrew Harding about the history of the 1994 agreement, and consider whether Ukraine would ever again believe promises made to protect it. Producers: Sam Chantarasak and Xandra Ellin Executive producer: Annie Brown Mix: Travis Evans Senior news editor: China Collins Photo: France's President Emmanuel Macron and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky. Ludovic Marin/ Getty

We are away for Christmas, so this is a repeat of a previous episode. Apple is promising to make more products in the US, backed by a $600bn investment over the next four years. But after decades of relying on Chinese manufacturing that promise is going to be tough to keep. Today we’re joined by journalist and author Patrick McGee to discuss whether Apple can navigate the demands of Donald Trump’s America First agenda and disentangle itself from a made-in-China business model. Producers: Hannah Moore and Aron Keller Executive producers: James Shield and Annie Brown Mix: Nicky Edwards and Travis Evans Senior news editor: China Collins Photo: Apple CEO Tim Cook. Manuel Orbegozo/Reuters