Reducing reliance on China’s rare earth metals Jonathan Josephs speaks to Philippe Kehren, CEO of chemical multinational company Solvay. His firm sits at the forefront of Europe’s efforts to diversify its supply of rare earth metals. These elements are essential to much of modern technology, from mobile phones to medical equipment, car batteries and renewable energy. Currently their supply is heavily dependent on China, which mines around 70% of all rare earth metals, and refines around 90%. Sol...
Jun 29, 2025•23 min
James Copnall, presenter of BBC Newsday, speaks to Andrius Kubilius, EU Commissioner for Defence and Space, about the need for Europe to be able to defend itself. In an interview recorded before the Nato summit on 24/25 June 2025, Mr Kubilius, a former Prime Minister of Lithuania, says peace in Europe cannot be taken for granted and that Europe can no longer rely on American military backing. Therefore, defence readiness must be a priority, meaning increased spending commitments from Nato member...
Jun 24, 2025•23 min
Amol Rajan speaks to Martina Navratilova, one of the greatest-ever tennis players, about her life and career. The story of her rise to the top of the game is as remarkable as the number of tournaments she managed to win. Born behind the Iron Curtain in Czechoslovakia in 1956, she was 11-years-old when she watched Soviet tanks roll in to the country as Moscow sought to reassert control and quash political reform. Navratilova, who played in her first tennis tournament when she was eight, rose to b...
Jun 22, 2025•23 min
Rajini Vaidyanathan, BBC News presenter and correspondent, speaks to Muhammad Yunus, interim leader of Bangladesh. The 84-year-old is perhaps one of the world’s best-known Bangladeshis. Described as the banker to the world’s poor, he gained international recognition as a Nobel prize-winning economist, who founded the Grameen microfinance bank, which delivered small loans to economically deprived people. It was a model applauded by many and is one which now operates across more than 100 countries...
Jun 17, 2025•23 min
James Copnall, presenter of the BBC’s Newsday, speaks to Yoshua Bengio, the world-renowned computer scientist often described as one of the godfathers of artificial intelligence, or AI. Bengio is a professor at the University of Montreal in Canada, founder of the Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute - and recipient of an A.M. Turing Award, “the Nobel Prize of Computing”. AI allows computers to operate in a way that can seem human, by using programmes that learn vast amounts of data and follo...
Jun 15, 2025•23 min
James Coomarasamy, presenter of the BBC’s Newshour and The World Tonight, speaks to Mike Huckabee, US Ambassador to Israel. Confirmed in the post two months ago, Mr Huckabee is the former Republican Governor of Arkansas and two-time Republican presidential nominee. He’s an Evangelical Christian, who has backed the presence of Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories, which are considered illegal under international law - although Israel rejects this. Some opposition politicians in the U...
Jun 11, 2025•23 min
Waihiga Mwaura, presenter of the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme, speaks to Microsoft co-founder and global philanthropist, Bill Gates. Mr. Gates, who is 69 years old, announced last month that he plans to give away 99% of his vast fortune over the next 20 years, predominately through his Gates Foundation. The foundation has already given over 100 billion dollars since being established 25 years ago. He built his vast personal wealth through the software giant Microsoft, which he co-founded back...
Jun 08, 2025•23 min
Frank Gardner, BBC Security Correspondent, speaks to Carsten Breuer, the German chief of defence. General Carsten Breuer gives his assessment of the threat that Russia poses to the Western alliance Nato. He says that Russia is building up its forces to an "enormous extent" and says that members of the alliance need to prepare for a possible attack from Russia within the next four years, according to assessments from defence analysts. He cites recent attacks on undersea cables in the Baltic Sea, ...
Jun 03, 2025•23 min
Tom Fletcher, Chief of Humanitarian Affairs for the United Nations, tells Fergal Keane, the BBC’s special correspondent, that Israel is subjecting Gaza to enforced starvation. Gaza faced an aid blockade of nearly three months - now, limited supplies of food, medicine and fuel are being allowed into the territory. But Israel argues Hamas is stealing food aid. Mr Fletcher has drawn criticism himself for some of the claims he has made about the impact of the blockade, which were retracted by the UN...
Jun 01, 2025•23 min
Simon Jack, the BBC’s business editor, speaks to Matt Garman, chief executive of Amazon Web Services - part of the retail giant Amazon, and the world’s largest cloud computing company. Mr Garman started his career at AWS as an intern, and has risen to oversee a global network of huge data centres, providing IT resources for businesses worldwide. In this conversation, he shares his vision for the future of big tech through cloud computing and artificial intelligence, and the potential for economi...
May 27, 2025•23 min
Tim Franks speaks to a British-Syrian Alawite who came under attack, along with her family, during the sectarian violence on Syria’s coast in March. The Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shia Islam and its followers make up around 10 per cent of Syria's population, which is majority Sunni. The recent violence came after fighters loyal to the country's overthrown former president, Bashar al-Assad, who is an Alawite himself, led deadly raids on the new government’s security forces. Those attacks resu...
May 25, 2025•23 min
BBC Defence Correspondent Jonathan Beale speaks to Dovilė Šakalienė, Lithuania’s Defence Minister. The Baltic nation, along with its neighbours Latvia and Estonia, share a border with Russia, and have nervously watched the invasion of Ukraine, fearing they could be next. All three countries have had turbulent relationships with their much larger neighbour, Russia. They were annexed by the Soviet Union during the Second World War, and were subject to decades of rule from Moscow up until the end o...
May 20, 2025•23 min
In an interview from the BBC’s This Cultural Life, presenter John Wilson speaks to the Colombian artist Doris Salcedo. Her work is a response to the devastation of war, and tells the stories of its victims - tales of loss, trauma and survival. She is recognised as one of the most important living artists, and her powerful sculptures and installations have been shown across the world. A childhood growing up amid the political violence of Colombia led to career dedicated to giving voice to the vic...
May 18, 2025•23 min
Kasia Madera speaks to Radosław Sikorski, the Foreign Minister of Poland. As a key, long-term ally to Ukraine, Poland has played a pivotal role in supporting its neighbour following the full-scale invasion by Russia in 2022. Mr Sikorski talks about the growing threat Poland, as well as Europe, faces from Russia, and follows his country’s decision to close the Russian consulate in Krakow. The move was made in response to a shopping centre fire in Warsaw last year, that Poland blames on Moscow. Th...
May 13, 2025•23 min
Nick Robinson speaks to Sir John Major, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It’s 80 years since VE day marked the end of WW2 in Europe - and Sir John reflects on the lessons that should be remembered from the conflict. He is the last British Prime Minister who was alive during the Second World War. Sir John warns democracy should not be taken for granted, and is in retreat in some parts of the world - where tyranny is instead taking its place. He sets out his belief in fighting for the ...
May 11, 2025•23 min
Nick Robinson, presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme and the Political Thinking podcast, speaks to former US President, Joe Biden. The pair met in Biden’s home state of Delaware, in a hotel where he had launched his political career more than half a century ago. In his first interview since leaving the White House, Biden talks about democracy under threat, Ukraine and the future of NATO, and America’s place in the world - all at a time when we commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE, or Vict...
May 08, 2025•23 min
Catherine Byaruhanga, presenter and correspondent for the BBC News Channel, speaks to Tidjane Thiam, the main opposition leader in the Ivory Coast. Mr Thiam is a former CEO of Credit Suisse, with a lengthy and successful career in the financial sector abroad. Now, he wishes to stand for the Ivory Coast presidency - but his candidacy has been blocked by an Ivorian court. It has ruled he cannot run as he was not an Ivorian citizen when he registered on the electoral roll. Tidjane Thiam says the de...
May 06, 2025•23 min
Nada Tawfik, North America correspondent, speaks to Prince Harry about reconciliation with the royal family after his loss in court over his security arrangements in the UK The Prince stepped down from his duties as a working royal in 2020 and moved to the United States with his wife, Meghan. After his tax-payer funded protection was downgraded, he said it was too dangerous to bring his family back to the UK without adequate police protection and took the government to court. The Interview bring...
May 03, 2025•23 min
James Copnall, presenter of Newsday, speaks to Emi Mahmoud, Sudanese activist and poet, about the war that has claimed more than 150,000 lives since it began two years ago. In what the United Nations has called the world's largest humanitarian crisis, about 12 million people have also been forced to flee their homes. Emi speaks about the pain of losing many members of her family, the brutality of the current conflict in the western region of Darfur which she believes to be genocide, and the traf...
Apr 29, 2025•23 min
David Brown, producer of the BBC TV’s Trump - The First 100 Days, speaks to Kurt Volker, former US ambassador to NATO, about the whirlwind start to President Trump’s second term in office. In this conversation, Ambassador Volker, who previously served as Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, shares his assessment of the president’s programme of change - and the extraordinary pace of reform. He gives the inside take on Trump - from that explosive White House press conference with Ukraine’s President,...
Apr 27, 2025•23 min
Dan Roan, the BBC’s sports editor, speaks to Sir Jim Ratcliffe, billionaire businessman and co-owner of Manchester United Football Club. In this conversation, Sir Jim discusses the changes he’s implementing both on and off the pitch, as well as his vision to transform the iconic club into one of the world’s most profitable businesses. Born into a modest family, he’s been a lifelong Manchester United supporter. After studying chemical engineering at university he set up his chemicals business, IN...
Apr 22, 2025•23 min
Victoria Uwonkunda, reporter and presenter for BBC News, speaks to Bobi Wine, the Ugandan opposition politician, as he reflects on the personal and political challenges he has faced as well as his determination to run again as President in the next election. Born in the slums of Kampala, Bobi Wine -birth name Robert Kyagulanyi - first entered the political arena in 2017 when he was elected to parliament with huge popular support, so much so that he became known as the ghetto president. He went o...
Apr 20, 2025•23 min
Mark Savage, the BBC’s music correspondent, speaks to Lady Gaga, American singer-songwriter and actress, as she reflects on the making of her new album, the joy of attracting a younger audience and finding happiness in love. Born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta in 1986, Lady Gaga has spent 18 years in the music industry and sold over 170 million records. She’s an actress as well as a musician and even has her own vegan cosmetic brand. In 2019, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influ...
Apr 15, 2025•23 min
Audrey Brown, Host of Focus on Africa, speaks to Akinwumi Adesina, the President of the African Development Bank, as he reflects on the achievements and challenges of the past 10 years in office. In his two terms he’s focused much of his time on advocacy, strategic positioning, and amplifying the continent’s voice on the global stage. We hear about his ‘High Fives’ framework, which includes getting power to the millions without electricity and improving the quality of life for African people. He...
Apr 13, 2025•23 min
BBC foreign correspondent in the Netherlands, Anna Holligan, speaks to David Van Weel, the Dutch justice minister as he calls on citizens to prepare a 72-hour emergency kit - to enable people to be self-sufficient for three days in case of a disaster. The kits should include enough food and water to survive for 72 hours - in case of war and other catastrophes. It's part of a European-wide strategy as geopolitical uncertainty spreads globally. He tells us the nature of the risks and where they’re...
Apr 08, 2025•23 min
Mpho Lakaje, presenter of the BBC’s Africa Daily podcast, speaks to Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, president of Namibia. The former freedom fighter is the country’s first female head of state - and only the second ever directly elected female leader in Africa. Namibia is celebrating thirty five years of independence this year - yet most of the country’s agricultural land remains in the hands of the white minority, and land reform is a key priority for President Nandi-Ndaitwah. Namibia’s former colonial...
Apr 06, 2025•23 min
BBC South America correspondent Ione Wells speaks to Daniel Noboa, President of Ecuador, ahead of the close-run presidential election. Since Mr Noboa came to power 16 months ago, he has taken an uncompromising stance on the violence gripping his country. With criminal gangs locked in a battle to control lucrative drug routes, President Noboa has militarised his country’s streets and prisons. Now he is calling on the United States and Europe to provide forces for back-up. Migrants fleeing Ecuador...
Apr 02, 2025•23 min
I forgive serial abuser John Smyth Laura Kuenssberg talks to Justin Welby, the former Archbishop of Canterbury. As the figurehead for the 85 million people in over 165 countries who call themselves Anglicans, he presided over some of the key events in the Commonwealth of the last ten years, including the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. But his tenure was clouded, and eventually ended, by an abuse scandal that shook the church. This interview is the first with Justin Welby since he resigned. The I...
Mar 31, 2025•23 min
Laura Kuenssberg introduces The Interview podcast. First episode Monday 31 March. Conversations with people shaping our world, from all around the globe. The best interviews from the BBC. The HARDtalk podcast has become The Interview. Listen to The Interview for the best conversations from the BBC, the world's most trusted international news provider. We hear from titans of business, politics, finance, sport and culture. Global leaders, decision-makers and cultural icons. Politicians, activists ...
Mar 29, 2025•1 min
A final look back at some of the encounters and moments that have encapsulated the programme’s commitment to rigorous, well-researched interviews with people in power.
Mar 28, 2025•23 min
