Here's a new podcast you might like - this is episode 1 of Explosive Lies. All episodes are available now on Global Player, or search for 'Explosive Lies' wherever you get your podcasts.

Jim McCormick was a cocky English salesman with an outrageous claim: a black plastic gadget that could sniff out bombs using “electromagnetic energy.” The science was pure fiction. But in the panic after 9/11, governments bought the lie - paying up to $60,000 for a device that started life as a $20 novelty golf-ball finder.

McCormick sold hope to armies and security forces across the globe. But hope turned deadly. Behind the deals were fragmented friendships, betrayals, and a truth so dangerous it would take years to drag into the light.

Alice Levine uncovers the jaw-dropping story of a con that cost countless lives - and the unlikely people who stopped at nothing to uncover the truth.

Explosive Lies is a Global Original podcast, produced by Forest Sounds in partnership with Dentsu Entertainment.

Just a few months ago, historian and author Rutger Bregman found himself at the centre of a very British controversy. He had been asked to deliver a BBC Reith lecture. His theme was the decadence of the political elite and in his lecture, he made a throw away line about President Trump. But when the lecture was broadcast, that critical line had been taken out. What followed was a row about censorship, media power and truth.

This Friday, Rutger Bregman joins Lewis in the studio to talk about that controversy, why broadcasters must stand up to Trump, and our moral obligations in a divisive political society.

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

Hosts Morocco face Senegal in the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final on Sunday. At this AFCON almost 40% of players were born outside Africa, like the face of the tournament Ashraf Hakimi.

So where should teams be putting their money - improving recruitment from the diaspora or investing more at home? What needs to change to attract these players? And can Sadio Mane and Senegal stop the powerhouse of Morocco from winning their first AFCON in 50 years?

Gabby and Mark are joined by former Premier League defender and Sierra Leone captain, Steven Caulker, and The Athletic's Jay Harris.

Plus, we look back at the best bits of The Sports Agents this week, from the civil war in golf after Brooks Koepka's departure, to the unbelievable story of Macclesfield's rise from the ashes to pull off the greatest FA Cup upset ever against holders Crystal Palace.

📩 Got a question? Send it here: https://forms.gle/9SBbW1SYWqXLKnRT7

💭 Tell us your thoughts in our listener survey: https://forms.gle/YMUvajQktqBuimgh6

🖥️ Watch our full episodes on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SportsAgentsPod

📱Follow us on socials:

TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@thesportsagents

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thesportsagents/

X - https://x.com/sportsagentspod

📥 Email: thesportsagents@global.com

Executive Producer: Adonis Pratsides

Producer: Sophie Penney

Video Producer: Sam Trudgill

Social Media Editor: Calum Scotland

Tom Hughes is Editor for The News Agents podcast network

Vicky Etchells is the Commissioning Editor for Global

You can listen to this episode on Alexa - just say "Alexa, ask Global Player to play The Sports Agents".

👕 The Sports Agents have merch! You can buy yours now: https://store.global.com/collections/the-sports-agents

The politician who once complained of not seeing enough "white faces" in Birmingham probably had a very white one himself this morning.

Robert Jenrick's apparent imminent plot to defect to Reform was left in tatters when his party leader Kemi Badenoch uncovered the plan, sacked him and booted him out of the party, and announced it to the world on a polished video clip.

What happens now to the shadow justice secretary - as was - and to both the Tory party and Reform?

Emily and Lewis speak to theTory party anthropologist Paul Goodman.

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

The images coming out of Minneapolis since the killing of Renee Good are nothing short of dystopian. Day after day, Minnesotans dragged from their vehicles, off the streets, and out of their houses. Often, seemingly, for the crime of nothing other than their ethnicity.

Donald Trump took to Truth Social yesterday to tell Minnesota: "THE DAY OF RECKONING & RETRIBUTION IS COMING!". ICE and the Department of Homeland Security are flooding the streets with personnel. Joe Rogan has compared their tactics to the Gestapo - questioning whether this is the country America wants to become. Where does this all end?

Later, Lewis and Jon speak to Gabriel Pogrund, the Sunday Times Whitehall editor, who exposed the flaws in West Midlands Police decisions to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from their match with Aston Villa last November. The home secretary today has today called for the chief constable of the force to go.

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

"Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING - TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! ... HELP IS ON ITS WAY. MIGA!!!"

It was a characteristically Trumpian post from the American president on Truth Social (where else?) today which led to more fevered speculation that the US might be about to step in to topple the Iranian regime.

Protests across Iran are into their third week, and evidence of the slaughter of Iranian civilians is becoming clearer and clearer. One Iranian official told Reuters that some 2,000 protestors and security forces have now died in street clashes. Iranian media more critical of the regime says that police there have killed more than 12,000 demonstrators.

Donald Trump has already threatened to step in if the bloodshed doesn't stop - has he now made his mind up? And could America intervene without very messy, and unpredictable, consequences?

Jon and Lewis speak to Ali Hamedani, a British-Iranian journalist who is speaking to Iranians inside the country and was himself detained by the security forces in Iran, about the mood of the Iranian people and what happens next.

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/

Is the government about to stand up to Elon Musk? That now seems possible. Downing Street said today that they would support action from Ofcom - the media regulator - against his platforms if they deemed it necessary.

Ofcom has announced that it has launched an investigation into Musk's X platform over its AI tool Grok being used to create non-consensual sexualised images of women and children. Ministers have said they expect action within days.

After unveiling the lowest homicide figures in more than a decade, Jon and Lewis speak to Sir Sadiq Khan, the London Mayor - about how to confront the hard right claims that London is a 'hellhole', and what can be done about the misinformation on Musk's platforms.

Later, one-time Tory chancellor Nadhim Zahawi was unveiled today as the latest Reform defector. He's the biggest name to move over to Nigel Farage's party so far but, having pledged he would remain a Conservative for life, why has he done it?

We are barely a week into 2026, and already Donald Trump has toppled the president of Venezuela, threatened a NATO ally, labelled a protestor killed by ICE as a "professional agitator", and insisted his own morality is the only check on his otherwise total power.

It appears that America's president is entering the second year of his term more aggressively, more defiantly, and more viciously. What does that mean for the US, and the wider world? And when Trump dismisses legal constraints, threatens to tear up the constitution, and brands entire ethnic groups as suspicious and "garbage", at what point does his administration become fascistic?

That question has been on the mind of Mehdi Hasan longer than most. The British former MSNBC host has launched his own media company, Zeteo, and from Washington has become a leading voice on the Left of American politics.

He speaks to Lewis about why he started using the F word last year, about the dark path down which America is heading, and what happens after Trump.

He speaks to Lewis about why he started using the F word last year, about the dark path down which America is heading, and what happens after Trump.

The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/