BBC

The former US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, will testify in the congressional investigation into late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Her husband, the former president, Bill Clinton, will testify on Friday.

Also on the programme: a third round of talks between Iranian and American officials are being held in Geneva; and a new study that discovered the key to staying mentally sharp in old age.

(Photo: Hillary Clinton attends the Mumbai Climate Week in Mumbai, India on February 18, 2026. Credit: Reuters)

Also, Nolan talks MLA pay

Misha Glenny and guests discuss the countless venues across the Roman Empire which for over five hundred years drew the biggest crowds both in the Republic and under the Emperors. The shows there delighted the masses who knew, no matter how low their place in society, they were much better off than the gladiators about to fight or the beasts to be slaughtered. Some of the Roman elites were disgusted, seeing this popular entertainment as morally corrupting and un-Roman. Moral degradation was a less immediate concern though than the overspill of violence. There was a constant threat of gladiators being used as a private army and while those of the elite wealthy enough to stage the shows hoped to win great prestige, they risked disappointing a crowd which could quickly become a mob and turn on them.

With

Kathleen Coleman

James Loeb Professor of the Classics at Harvard University

John Pearce

Reader in Archaeology at King’s College London

And

Matthew Nicholls

Fellow and Senior Tutor at St John’s College, Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson

Reading list:

C. A. Barton, The Sorrows of the Ancient Romans: The Gladiator and the Monster (Princeton University Press, 1993)

Roger Dunkle, Gladiators: Violence and Spectacle in Ancient Rome (Pearson, 2008)

Garrett G. Fagan, The Lure of the Arena: Social Psychology and the Crowd at the Roman Games (Cambridge University Press, 2011)

A. Futrell, Blood in the Arena: The Spectacle of Roman Power (University of Texas Press, 1997)

A. Futrell, The Roman Games: A Sourcebook (Blackwell Publishing, 2006)

Keith Hopkins and Mary Beard, The Colosseum (Profile, 2005)

Luciana Jacobelli, Gladiators at Pompeii (The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2003)

Eckart Köhne and Cornelia Ewigleben (eds.), Gladiators and Caesars: The Power of Spectacle in Ancient Rome (University of California Press, 2000)

Donald Kyle, Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome (Routledge, 1998)

F. Meijer, The Gladiators: History’s Most Deadly Sport (Souvenir, 2004)

Jerry Toner, The Day Commodus killed a Rhino: Understanding the Roman Games (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014)

K. Welch, The Roman Amphitheatre from its Origins to the Colosseum (Cambridge University Press, 2007)

T. Wiedemann, Emperors and Gladiators (Routledge, 1992)

In Our Time is a BBC Studios Production

We hear from a Mexican city in Sinaloa state where one of the big drug cartels is locked in its own civil war. Our correspondent Quentin Sommerville visited the state capital, Culiacán, where he witnessed scenes of brutal violence that have brought pain and terror to residents. Also: Cuba says its coastguard has killed four people on board a US-registered speedboat, in an exchange of fire off the Cuban coast. It said those on the boat were Cubans, living in the US, with a history of violent activity - and "terrorist" intentions. The American Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, called the shootout "highly unusual" and said the US would conduct its own investigation into the incident and not rely on the Cuban version of events. A British clinical trial on more than 500 people across 15 countries found that a new tablet to treat HIV - which combines two current treatments - is highly effective at keeping the virus suppressed. A BBC Eye investigation has revealed that Nepal’s top police officer gave the order allowing the use of live fire during last year’s deadly crackdown on Gen Z protests - one of the worst in the country's history. And the robot that conducted Denmark's National Symphony Orchestra. We have the verdict on its performance.

The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight.

Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment.

Get in touch: [email protected]

We hear from a Mexican city in Sinaloa state where one of the big drug cartels is locked in its own civil war. Our correspondent Quentin Sommerville visited the state capital, Culiacán, where he witnessed scenes of brutal violence that have brought pain and terror to residents. Also: Cuba says its coastguard has killed four people on board a US-registered speedboat, in an exchange of fire off the Cuban coast. It said those on the boat were Cubans, living in the US, with a history of violent activity - and "terrorist" intentions. The American Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, called the shootout "highly unusual" and said the US would conduct its own investigation into the incident and not rely on the Cuban version of events. A British clinical trial on more than 500 people across 15 countries found that a new tablet to treat HIV - which combines two current treatments - is highly effective at keeping the virus suppressed. A BBC Eye investigation has revealed that Nepal’s top police officer gave the order allowing the use of live fire during last year’s deadly crackdown on Gen Z protests - one of the worst in the country's history. And the robot that conducted Denmark's National Symphony Orchestra. We have the verdict on its performance.

The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight.

Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment.

Get in touch: [email protected]

This week marks four years since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the largest and deadliest conflict in Europe since WW2.

Ukraine has put its official losses at 55,000 soldiers, and the BBC has verified the deaths of more than 180,000 on the Russian side, although the true toll is likely to be much higher. Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed or wounded, and millions have been displaced.

In today’s episode, the BBC’s international editor Jeremy Bowen, travels through Ukraine, speaking to people living on the front line, to soldiers, and to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, about what they would concede – if anything - for a peace deal with Russia.

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.

The United States says it will ease restrictions on Venezuelan oil exports to Cuba's private sector as Washington's blockade leads to a worsening crisis on the Caribbean island.

Former US treasury secretary and onetime Harvard president Larry Summers retires from his roles at the university.

Elsewhere in Milan, Gucci is facing a backlash after using AI to make images to promote its forthcoming show at Milan Fashion Week. Critics have questioned how using AI instead of human models and photographers is in keeping with the fashion giant's values.

The government has said it is not pausing legislation that would see the Chagos Islands transferred to Mauritius. That's despite Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer telling Parliament that the process would be paused "for discussions with our American counterparts". A government spokesperson said Falconer had "misspoken".

Also on the programme: as more shops use facial recognition technology to deter shoplifters, we find out what it’s like to be falsely accused.

And new research uncovers clues to the origin of the organ that gave Charles Darwin a "cold shudder": the eye.

The United States is ending its health programmes in Zimbabwe, including HIV treatment for one point two million people. The US embassy said Harare had pulled out of negotiations over a new health aid agreement which would have provided 367 million dollars over five years. The US has been renegotiating aid to Africa following the abolition of USAID by President Trump.

 

Also on the programme: The influential economist, Larry Summers, resigns from Harvard over the Epstein files and the Microsoft co-founder, Bill Gates, apologises to staff about his links with the convicted sex offender; and we'll hear why Emperor penguins are facing the threat of extinction.

 

(Photo shows a health official opening a rapid HIV test during the launch of Lenacapavir, a long‑acting HIV prevention injection outside Harare, Zimbabwe on 19 February 2026.Credit: Philimon Bulawayo/Reuters)

Chelsea follows Susan’s advice, and Brian is grateful to Rex.