RadCasts

President Trump has expressed renewed optimism about reaching a deal to end the war in Gaza, ahead of talks on Monday with the Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In a social media post, Mr Trump said there was a 'real chance for greatness in the Middle East'. He's subsequently said that he's received what he called a 'very good response' from Israel and Arab leaders to a new US proposal that he says is aimed not just at Gaza but at reaching a broader peace in the region.

Also in the programme: Misinformation has disrupted a vaccination programme in Pakistan against cervical cancer; we take a look at today's elections in Moldova; and we hear from a very bad tempered Ryder Cup!

(Photo: Residents of Gaza City are still evacuating as the fighting intensifies. Credit: Ali Jadallah/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Moldova's pro-EU president, Maia Sandu, has cast her ballot in the country’s parliamentary election, urging voters to join her because the country’s future is "in danger". Ms Sandu, police, and prosecutors say vote buying and disinformation are unprecedented in scale and linked directly to Russia. Moscow denies accusations of interference. Pro-Kremlin opposition parties have also dismissed talk of Russian meddling; they claim the government is making the case in advance for annulling the vote, should the liberal governing party (the PAS) lose its majority.

Also in the programme: With drones increasingly used in offensive military operations, how can you defend against them? Also today, the cricket clash between India and Pakistan; and why Elvis Presley is big in South Wales.

(Photo: Moldovan President Maia Sandu votes at a polling station during the country's parliamentary election in Chisinau, Moldova, September 28, 2025. Reuters/Vladislav Culiomza)

On Monday President Trump and the U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. held a press conference in which they made extraordinary new claims about autism. They suggested a potential link between the use of Tylenol during pregnancy and the development of autism. They also advocated spacing out childhood vaccinations.

The two men's interest in the link between vaccines and autism goes back decades but these claims did not originate in the US. They trace back to the UK in 1998, when disgraced former doctor Andrew Wakefield first published his now-debunked theory linking MMR vaccines to autism cases in children.

Today on the Global Story science journalist Adam Rutherford explains how the Wakefield vaccine conspiracy became the biggest medical disinformation disaster in recent history, and how these ideas found fertile ground in the Trump administration.

Every weekday, this is The Global Story. The world is changing. Decisions made in the US and by the second Trump administration are accelerating that change. But they are also a symptom of it. With Asma Khalid in DC, Tristan Redman in London, and the backing of the BBC’s international newsroom, The Global Story brings clarity to politics, business and foreign policy in a time of connection and disruption. For more episodes, just search 'The Global Story' wherever you get your BBC Podcasts.