Global News Podcast - Getting ready for solar eclipse

Episode Date: August 12, 2026

People across the world are eagerly awaiting a solar eclipse, with the Moon set to block out our view of the Sun. The BBC's science correspondent reports from northern Spain - one of the areas expecting a rare total eclipse. Also: rescue efforts continue after the earthquake in Colombia; a Syrian court sentences the ousted president, Bashar al-Assad, to death for crimes against humanity; Donald Trump defends swapping planes due to a reported security threat, despite anger from journalists left on Air Force One; the Winter Olympics sport of curling finds new fans in sunny Italy; and the American TV channel Hallmark celebrates its 25th anniversary.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: [e-mail]: Solar eclipse viewing preparations in the Netherlands. A woman wears eclipse glasses in Almelo. 11 August 2026. Credit: Vincent Jannink. EPA/Shutterstock

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Your sales order says one thing. Your inventory says another. Your spreadsheet says, good luck. Odu brings your business together on a single platform, from sales and accounting to inventory and marketing. Visit Odo.com to book a demo. It's ODbolo.com. The U.S. has long been suspected of trying to sway elections in other countries, but is something more brazen going on these days? I'm Asma Khalid, and I'm one of the hosts of the Global Story podcast from the BBC.

Brazil has accused the U.S. of meddling in its upcoming vote. The U.S. has dismissed the allegation. But how do these claims fit into the long legacy of American electoral interventions? Check out the global story on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Paul Moss and in the early hours of Wednesday the 12th of August, these are our main stories. Skywatchers prepare for an eclipse of the sun, with some set to be treated to that rare spectacle of a total solar blackout. And desperate efforts continue to rescue survivors of Colombia's earthquake as the number of dead rises.

Also in this podcast, what to do with empty offices when so many now were. from home and Stick with me, kid, I'll show you around. Well, I'm clamour on, huh? Merry Christmas, Jack. Oh, Merry Christmas, Lucy. It's happy birthday to the happy ever afterworld of Hallmark TV. It's time for the daytime sky to go dark, the temperature to suddenly drop,

and for millions of people to gaze up at the sky and marvel at that rare phenomenon, a total eclipse. Across large parts of Europe, including Spain and Iceland, the sun will be. completely blocked out by the moon. Here in the UK, there'll be a partial eclipse, and also in northwest Africa and parts of the US, with Alaska seeing about a third of the sun cut off. Our science correspondent Palab Ghosh

is in the northern Spanish city of Burgos to witness the event. The cathedral bells of the picturesque medieval city of Burgos called the faithful to prayer. It's done so for centuries, but now it's a magnet for pilgrims of a different sort. Visitors are flocking here to witness a total solar eclipse. I've traveled from Canada to Cups City eclipse.

Last time there was an eclipse in Mourou is it was in 1905. So we've been waiting for this for 121 years. Very excited to see it. I've seen one. It was beautiful. It was amazing. And I'm so happy to have the chance to see one again. In a total eclipse, the moon completely covers the sun's bright disc, revealing its shimmering atmosphere.

It hangs in the sky, like a gigantic, shimmering black pearl. For a few moments, day turns to night and reality into a dream as we witness the sun's hidden beauty. It's quite magical. It's very otherworldly. Once people have seen one, many follow them all over the world, such as Paul and Julie Lee, who've travelled here from Henley-on-Thames in southern England.

This one is in a beautiful country in the middle of the summer, what's not to like. It's going to be a very different, Eclipse, I think, from the ones that I've seen before, because it's very low on the horizon. The shared experience part of it is truly remarkable, and I think people who don't get underneath the totality don't ever appreciate that. Eclipse glasses are essential when looking at the sun. Dr Martin Griffiths, an astronomer-turned-Eclips guide, briefs his party on the risks.

It's so bright, so strong that you could end up damaging your eyesight. But he tells me the glasses can be taken off once the moon completely covers the sun's bright disc. So wait until totality to look at it with a naked eye. But also remember that there are lots and lots of astronomical societies across Spain, across the UK, who are putting on shows so that people can come along and see things properly through properly filtered telescopes and, of course, they'll all have eclipse glasses as well. The total eclipse begins over northern Siberia at sunrise, crosses the Arctic Ocean,

Greenland, Iceland, and then sweeps across the... the North Atlantic and the northern half of Spain, clipping a corner of Portugal, before ending near the Balearic Islands at sunset. But many others in Europe, including the UK, will see a partial eclipse, where the moon covers more than 90% of the sun, according to Dr Tim Revel, who's executive editor of new scientist. So with a partial eclipse, it begins with the moon slowly starting to move in front of the sun. And over the course of about an hour or so, it will take progress.

progressively bigger chunks out of the sun as it slowly moves across. And you'll notice the sky starts to get a bit darker. You start to see crescent shadows on the floor. And eventually it will reach the maximum. And then the same thing will happen in the reverse again over the course of an hour. And you'll see the skies go darker. It might become a little bit colder. The birds might become a little bit quieter.

And then that will be the kind of full experience of the partial eclipse. Those gathered here will witness one of the great natural wonders of the universe, whether it's total or partial. It's a moment that moves us all, reminding us of the wonder of the universe and our place in it. Palab Ghosh with that report. A rescue worker in the Colombian city of Kali

described the scene there succinctly. It is, he said, like the end of the world. And you could see what he meant. Not just buildings collapsed around him with people buried alive, but the chaos which so often follows this kind of natural disaster. People trying desperately to retrieve survivors from the rubble when just reaching the afflicted areas is a challenge.

Regional airports near the earthquake are being forced to close. Water and electricity supplies have been disrupted, meaning that coordination of the rescue effort becomes a logistical nightmare. The BBC's Jose Carlos Quetto Lopez has been on the ground in Kali. Daybreak in Kali. One of the hardest areas hit by yesterday's 7.4 magnitude quake. Residents and rescue teams are working together around the clock, searching collapsed buildings and flattened homes for survivors.

Local resident Sao Ossk spoke of the devastation that took place close to his home. This community was formed by several blocks of houses. This was blocky here. All houses were destroyed. This is a total loss. Thank God so many people managed to leave before the houses collapsed. Children and teachers fade full. falling debris as they made it down the stairwell of this school.

Luckily, no one was badly hurt. Emergency workers made this dramatic rescue of a woman who was trapped on the rubble of a semi-collapsed building, lifting her to safety. Behind me, there is a totally collapsed building with the rescue teams hoping to find survivors. It's a picture of Amelia where I am just south of Cali, which is one of the worst hit areas in this disaster.

Colombia's new president, who has only been in the job since Friday, has declared a state of emergency. However, he now faces up to leading the country through his worst earthquake in a decade. Jose Carlos Quito-Lopez. It may be a challenge, but Colombia's new president has chosen to make it a personal one,

announcing he was taking personal charge of the rescue. Ebolado de la Esprea has been to sea rescue efforts in one of the worst affected areas, Pereira. But according to Annie Correa, America correspondent for the New York Times. The days ahead will be a challenge for a man with such limited experience of governing, as she told my colleague Paul Henley. He was a criminal justice lawyer working from Colombia and from Miami, and he ran businesses, launched brands, had a piano bar, had a gelato shop. Now he's at the helm of a very large country and of managing a disaster that has

spanned a huge swath of that country. So I think he's going to be tested in the sense of his ability to manage the response. He has said that he is personally taking the lead. And he immediately flew to the worst hit areas to speak with people to get an assessment of damage from local authorities. and he has actually made a tour of some of the cities that have seen the worst damage, just like going from one to the next. It almost seems like he's still campaigning as he visits these places. His wife has gone with him. And he really seems to be sending a message of confidence and competence that he has got this,

that he's going to be able to do it. It's a big test, isn't it, of his diplomatic strategy? He does have a friend in President Trump, and that surely will prove useful. He has made inroads not just with President Trump, but with the U.S. State Department, with Pentagon officials. One of the main promises of Abelardo de Lesbrias' campaign was to come down hard on criminals and on armed trafficking groups. So with that promise, it's music to Trump's ears.

and the U.S. is offering Colombia $1 billion in assistance for this security cooperation. And so when this disaster hit, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others immediately voiced their support for Colombia. Today, $15 million in emergency disaster relief were added to that sum. And the U.S. said that it was going to send a special team to help with disaster response. Not necessarily an advantage when he's in areas controlled by militias and armed gangs very briefly that he's the sworn enemy of at the moment. It's true. I think what's extraordinary is that while this disaster hit just yesterday morning, he has continued with his plans seemingly to come down on these groups, as he said with the wrath of God. Annie Corral speaking to Paul Henley. President Trump has confirmed reports that he was taken off his official plane

and transferred to another aircraft on his way home from a NATO summit in Turkey last month. A number of US media outlets said it was because of fears that Air Force One might be attacked by Iran. Here's what the president had to say at a noisy airbase in Maryland. Well, it's only up to secret service. I just follow what they'd like to do. They wanted me to go in a different flight, a different plane. They wanted me to do it, so I do it. I do what they say. The whole episode has left those who remained on board Air Force One rather angry, to put it mildly,

wondering whether they were in effect acting as decoys. Alex Brandon is a photographer for Associated Press who was covering Mr. Trump's visit. As a veteran of presidential flights, he says he knew immediately something odd was going on. as we arrive at Air Force One in the motorcade, and I look up and I see those catering trucks. I've been covering the president in Washington for 20 years, and presidents going back to Reagan for 20 years before that. I've never seen that before. I immediately started taking pictures, alerting my editors that this was unusual. That's real unusual for Air Force One.

We get to the plane, stop, get it out, and the president has already exited the limousine and is already up the stairs and on the aircraft. That happens. We typically go underneath the wing of the aircraft and photograph, and sometimes the journalists will shout questions and try to get the president to come over and talk to us. So that wasn't unusual that he was already on the plane. And then we bore the plane like normal. I get in my seat, which happens to be a window seat. I immediately lift the blind, which is shut, and a flight attendant, which is a U.S. Air Force enlisted officer, comes over and says, blinds have to be kept down. And I say, why? Why? And she said, Secret Service says so. And so, of course, I shut my blind. We've been told that we were switching from the Qatar donated Air Force One to the legacy original Air Force One. And so I thought maybe there was a little bit of enhanced security or something like that that they wanted to observe. That's the only indication I got whatsoever. One of my biggest concerns is if, God forbid, the plane that we are on is taken out of the sky. And the president continues on, The world thinks that the president is dead. And in that moment, the world needs an independent journalist to say, hey, I'm here, I'm with the president. Everything's fine.

It is critically important to have that independent verification. And that's why we do what we do. So that the world knows that, yes, the president is safe in this moment. Alex Brandon, you mentioned they're the secret service, the people responsible for U.S. president's safety. Although despite the name, they're not completely secret, as you're saying, see them on just about every public appearance he makes, usually wearing dark glasses and glancing around nervously to spot any potential attackers. Paul Eklough served as a Secret Service agent and says the decision to swap the president's flight raises many concerns, not least that this

strategy has now become public knowledge. Everyone is fascinated by the airplane, the catering truck, the alleged deception, which I can neither confirm nor deny that it occurred. I'm more interested in who benefits from revealing how the presidential protection division responds to a credible threat. Every disclosed detail potentially helps an adversary understand our capabilities, contingencies, and decision-making. There are two limousines in the motorcade. You don't know which one he's in or if he's even in one of those. When the president travels to war zones, there are frequently tactics and techniques

that are used to create doubt in an adversary of which aircraft or which movement he's going to make. What concerns me is if sensitive operational information and material, or disclosed by someone with privileged access, the Iranian threat may have ended a month ago when the president left Turkey, but the threat posed by someone willing to disclose how we protected him may have traveled home with him. Threats to Air Force One have been persisted. They even changed the call sign many years ago after Air Force One when intelligence revealed that adversaries knew the call sign for Air Force One. If the reporting is accurate, those journalists weren't left sitting in an

unprotected airplane somewhere. They were aboard Air Force One, one of the most sophisticated and protected aircraft in the world. Paul Eklough. Now we go from one flight story to another, this one involving what should have been a routine plane trip between the Canadian cities of Victoria and Toronto. But that wasn't how it worked out. Our reporter in Seattle, Max Matzer, told us more about what happened

and why the flight was cancelled. This was a Porter Airlines flight. Their statement says that a young child was standing in their seat and would not secure their seat belt. Attempts by the accompanying parent and crew to address this were unsuccessful. The aircraft could not take off in this unsafe condition. So the crew decided to turn around and actually cancel the flight because at that point, it was after midnight and the runway was about to close.

So all of those passengers had to depart the plane and stay in hotels or go back home and come back to the airport the following day. Just this summer, there's been three viral Reddit posts about really similar circumstances, except in those cases, the flights were only delayed. In this case, the flight was actually canceled, but that's because it got so late in the day, and after the passengers had to be removed from the plane, at that point it had gotten too late.

So this seems to be the only case that I could find of a flight actually being canceled because of a toddler refusing to sit. Mostly it's airline policy, according to the experts I talked to, that kids under two sit on their parents' laps. The kid is not strapped in. It's not only a danger to the child, but it's also a danger to other passengers because that kid, who is not restrained,

in the event of turbulence or any other kind of incident, they could become a projectile that bashes into other people on the plane. Same reason why you have to secure your luggage for takeoff and departure. This expert I was talking to, she's adamant that no child should be unrestrained on a plane, that it's very unsafe. In her opinion, anyone under seven years old should be in a car seat. If you use a car seat when you're in a car, you should use the same car seat when you're on a plane.

Max Matzer. Still to come in this podcast? The ones outside the Coliseum, they're 12 metres, so you're kind of throwing it a lot closer to the target, what we call the house. How the winter sport of curling is wowing fans in hot, sunny Rome. Growing businesses deal with the same problem. Too many tools, too much back and forth,

and not enough time. Odu helps bring it. all together. It's an all-in-one business management platform, fully integrated from sales and accounting to inventory and marketing, so your team can spend less time chasing information and focus on growth. Whether you're in retail, manufacturing, or service, Odu gives you one place to manage your business. Visit Odo.com to book a demo. It's O'Dbolo.com. The U.S. has long been suspected of trying to sway elections in other countries, but is something more brazen going on these days? I'm Asma Khalid, and I'm one of the hosts of the Global Story

podcast from the BBC. Brazil has accused the U.S. of meddling in its upcoming vote. The U.S. has dismissed the allegation. But how do these claims fit into the long legacy of American electoral interventions? Check out the global story on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Global News podcast. He was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. And Syria's ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad has been sentenced to death for these offences, committed during Syria's brutal civil war, which cost about half a million lives. It's the first conviction against Assad, who fled with his family to Russia after his regime was overthrown in 2024 and who remains there. But in court for the verdict was his cousin, who was also

sentenced to death. Attif Najib was the head of political security in southern Syria's Derar province. outside the courthouse, people chanted and celebrated the verdict. Celia Hatton got more reaction from Haber Offman, Damascus correspondent for the BBC's Arabic service. I was outside the Palace of Justice in Damascus when the court issued a death sentence against of a former Syrian regime, among them Bashar al-Assad and Mahir al-Assad and Ataxad, and Ataf Najib, the material cousin of Charles Asad,

and the former head of the political security branch in government. Outside the Palace of Justice in Damascus, I noticed a kind of joy and happiness among a number of victims' family who gathered to celebrate the verdicts, while some families were holding pictures of victims who died at the hands of the security branch personnel in Dara government. The families of victims commented on the role. as a new victory for the Syrian Revolution and as a victory for the transitional justice here in Syria.

Hebar, in the crowd was Neif Abidzad, who was detained by the Assad regime in 2011. He gave his reaction to the verdict. I was detained by the Assad regime. They took me from my school when I was 13 years old. Thank God Assad fell and his cousin, Atef, Najeeb, will be able. executed. And God willing, it will be Bashar Assad's turn to be executed. Hebar, Bashar al-Assad fled to Russia in 2024. How will these sentences, the sentence against him and also his younger brother, be implemented? The court also issued in absentia death sentence against Bashar al-Assad and

his brother on charges relating to committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. But I think this is something symbolic. I don't think that Mosco will hand over Bashar al-Assad to the new Syrian government. So this is something symbolic. They will only charge Atif Najib right now. Should we expect more sentences to be handed out? A death of sentence against Ataf Najib and Bashar al-Assad and Mahal-Assad. And many people from the last Syrian regime, it's enough to ensure the stability in whole Syria. During this month, also the fourth court here in Damascus, they will continue the trial of Ahmed Hassun, the last Mufti of Syria,

also was Sim al-Assad, the cousin of Bashar al-Assad, the last Syrian president. So they will continue the charges against many of the last former regime in this month. Hebaah Thurthman from the BBC's Arabic service in the Syrian capital, Damascus. New court documents show Donald Trump has amended his legal case against the BBC. The president is suing the corporation for $10 billion over a documentary, which sliced together two parts of a speech he made on the day of the Capitol Hill riots in 2021. Mr Trump's amended lawsuit now focuses on the harm he claims he suffered personally, as our media editor Katie Razell explains.

The Panorama program was, according to this latest court filing, a brazen attempt to influence the outcome of the 2024 election, and the BBC caused overwhelming reputational harm to the president personally, it says. But his legal team has removed claims made in previous documents that his business and professional interests have also suffered direct harm. The BBC had sought access to Mr Trump's financial records. It argued it needed evidence that his businesses and brands had suffered, but his team pushed back, saying disclosure would cause him,

harm. Now, the president's team has removed that element of its case. Mr. Trump is still suing the BBC for at least $10 billion. The document suggests it's reasonably certain the program could have been viewed in Florida where the president is bringing his case. The BBC has apologized for an editing error that it says gave the mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action. But it has previously said the program didn't meet the legal criteria for defamation and wasn't made available on US platforms. The next stage is for the BBC to respond to Donald Trump's latest legal filing, with the case due to come to court in February. Katie Razel. It's one of the more marked legacies of the COVID pandemic, people who were forced to

work from home, deciding they actually rather like avoiding the daily commute and have continued to stay away from the office. But that's left many offices partially or maybe largely empty. So what to do with all the unused space? Our reporter John Lawrenson has been investigating. I'm standing in the middle of Europe's biggest business district, La Defence, just west of Paris. I'm here with Pierre Ive Guise, the head of Paris La de France,

the public company that runs this district. The vacancy rate is around 14, 15% at the moment. Around 400,000 square metres of existing offices might have to be transformed in the next 5 to 2,000. 10 years into mostly housing, but also higher education facilities or entertainment facilities, shops, restaurants. So here you are in the office and there are desks and screen. Tomorrow you are in an apartment.

Roland Cubain, deputy CEO of the Group Harmer Real Estate Management Company, shows me around La Troie Diamon, the Diamond Tower, which has office space for 1,800 workers. He doesn't want it to disappear exactly, but he does want to come. converted. Here there will be two bedrooms. One of the challenges when you're converting office blocks into flats is the width of the buildings. Generally, they're much wider than residential ones, so you have a lot of window-less space in the middle that it's difficult to know what to do with. There won't be any rooms there. No. It's only the access. But even for the most suitable buildings, Roland Cubans says office-to-housing conversions are not going to happen at scale in France,

unless the authorities remove some obstacles. At the moment, as soon as you transform a building in a way that changes its function, it is classed not as an old building that's been changed, but as a new building with all the regulatory demands that go with new buildings regarding car parking spaces, wheelchair access, fire safety and so on. Is it economically viable to convert offices into housing? Ludovic Deles is CEO of the French arm of the Canadian Real Estate Services Company Colliers.

Yes, but in most cases, only on the condition that the building can be acquired at a low price. It's offered a better proposition economically to build hotels or student accommodation because you can be certain of the demand. For office conversions at scale, the best examples are in the United States, in New York and also Washington, D.C. They found it's generally easier to convert steel frame buildings than concrete ones, although the structural problems uncovered during the conversion of New York's former Pfizer headquarters are a reminder that such projects can involve significant engineering challenges.

John Lawrenson. The winter sport of curling is one of those which tends to capture people's attention, with the distinctive site of competitors frantically scrubbing at the ice to make sure the stone, as it's called, glides as close as possible to its target. Now, curling is obviously associated with colder climates, but would you believe it's become popular in Rome, though only by replacing the ice with a surface more suited to a city where temperatures regularly reach the mid-30s.

Jan Dodds is a British medal-winning curler. She explained to Nick Eardley that Italy's newfound affection for the sports stems from the national team winning a medal of its own at the last winter Olympics. Italy obviously held the Olympics and they got a bronze medal in the mixed doubles and obviously winning

the gold in Beijing as well so they've had a lot of success and I think with success it breeds interest in the game curling is quite a long sport so you can dipping out of it as well and it's always on the TV so it's been really good for the sport

I think tell me a bit about the actual practicalities though because this isn't ice it's a synthetic surface it looks a bit like it's not proper curling. It's almost throwing mini stones in the hope that they land in the right place. Yeah, it's, let's say a shortened game.

So the ones outside the Coliseum, they're 12 metres. So you're kind of throwing it a lot closer to the target, what we call the house. It probably does make it a lot easier. If you can imagine, if you're trying to throw a ball at something, it's a lot easier when it's closer to you than further away. But they don't have sweepers or anything like because it's synthetic. it, the sweepings, I suspect, doesn't really do much. You still need to have the feel.

You still need to throw it into the rings, to the closest to the centre. But I would say on ice is still harder because you've got so many other things to think about. Obviously, you need to keep your balance. You've got the sweeping, and that affects the line of the curl as well. So I would say on ice is a lot harder.

But I think it gives a really good insight to what we do on ice. It's kind of a good beginner step, and I feel it can get people more interested in curling as well and it's more accessible. So it's a really good beginner step, I would say. Jan Dodds. A career-orientated woman from a big US city visits her small hometown over Christmas

and falls in love with a ruggedly handsome yet sensitive guy. That is the kind of tried and tested formula for Hallmark's TV movies which have charmed audiences over the years. The American Channel is celebrating its 25th anniversary. Here's a look back at some of its classic moments. You were there for all those crazy early Christmases, and you've been there ever since. And I always will be.

I'm going to show you that the story that Christmas had isn't over. It's kind of a different ending. I used to dream about a moment like this. I even asked for one just like it for Christmas. Rule number 56. Never let a mistletoe moment go to waste. Stick with me, kid. I'll show you around. Well, I'm planning on it.

Merry Christmas, Jack. Oh, Merry Christmas, Lucy. Merry Christmas, Lucy. Happy ever after endings all round. But with such predictable conclusions, what explains Hallmark movies' enduring appeal. Shavon Sinott is a film and television critic. She thinks she knows the answer.

When modern life seems loud, chaotic, overloaded, I think people crave something soft, predictable, and emotionally safe in the Hallmark films. You know there's not going to be any jump skis. There's not going to be any maniacs in a cupboard. There's no bleak twists. There's no existential dread. It's just gentle, romance, small-time charm

and somebody trying to save a bakery. To be fair to Hallmark, they have evolved. And part of that evolution has been pushed on by streaming services. Hallmark's looked at Netflix and Prime Video in Disney, crowding out particularly the holiday space and said, right, we're not competing on size, but we are competing on comfort. So there has been a strategic shift in Hallmark.

towards better cinematography, more polished sets, stronger casting, bigger location shoots. These films may still feel cosy, but they look less like they were shot in somebody's redecorated gift shop. And the storylines have also changed. I mean, yes, there is a lot of the templates are Big City Girl returning home or a royal romance with the prints in disguise, but we also see more LGBTQ plus storylines. We see more diversity in the more. in the storylines, both racially and in terms of religion. I mean, it's definitely afternoon viewing. But they are, I think, more self-aware now.

In a world of endless choice, homework strategy still works. Gives people something warm, gives people something familiar, gives people something that's easy to love. Shavon Sinott. That's all from us for now. If you want to get in touch, you can email us at Global Podcast at BBC.com. That is exactly what John Hammar from Shediak in New Brunswick, Canada did, describing the global news podcast as decisive, to the point, short and sweet, and his go-to news channel for the truth on world matters.

John, thank you very much. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag, hash global news pod. And don't forget our sister podcast, the global story, which goes in depth and beyond the headlines on one big story. This edition of the Global News Podcasts was mixed by Zabihullah Kurush, and the producer was Emma Joseph. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Paul Moss.

Until next time, goodbye. The U.S. has long been suspected of trying to sway elections in other countries, but is something more brazen going on these days? I'm Osama Khalid, and I'm one of the hosts of the Global Story podcast from the BBC. Brazil has accused the U.S. of meddling in its upcoming vote. The U.S. has dismissed the allegation. But how do these claims fit into the long legacy of American electoral interventions? Check out the global story on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.