Global News Podcast - Gunmen attack South African house party

Episode Date: September 23, 2026

Gunmen kill 11 people after storming a house in KwaMakhutha township near Durban in South Africa. Police are investigating links to a feud between rival groups, as the nation grapples with sky-high murder rates and violence. Also: the IMF warns that record global debt requires urgent fiscal action, urging economies such as the US and UK to reduce borrowing. China's plans for the future of AI. The family feud over Dolly Parton's estate involving the country music star's nephew Bryan Seaver. Astronomers discover the youngest planet on record, Elias 2-24 b, about 450 light years from Earth. And could the lost hidden tomb of Egyptian queen Nefertiti finally be found?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]: Mass shooting in KwaMakhutha, South Africa, Durban - 23 Sep 2026 Credit: EPA

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Visit BBC.com forward slash subscribe. to find out more. This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. We're recording this at 14 hours GMT on Wednesday the 23rd of September. Gunmen kill 11 people at a House Party near Durban and South Africa struggles to combat violent crime. Fears of a return to civil war in Ethiopia

is de Gryon fighters battle government forces. And the head of the IMF warns advanced economies to reduce their debt burdens. Also in this podcast, China is growing. We are now leading the world. This is no longer the China from the 1960s. No sign of a slowdown on AI in China. We report on the new data centres being built in remote areas. And the archaeologists hoping to search for the tomb of Egyptian Queen Nefertiti. South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world with around 60 people killed every day. In one particularly deadly incident on Tuesday night,

gunmen attacked a house party in a township outside Durban, killing 11 people, including a pregnant woman. I heard more from our correspondent in Johannesburg, Pumza Fichlani. The police have said, Oliver, that it's still very early in their investigation, but they are also following a lead where some of the victims, they say, had been on their crime watch list. They are saying this may mean that there was a rival feud involved that was behind the killing.

It's something that's not that widely common in South Africa, mass shootings. Although the murder rate is high, it is something that does still shock a lot of people in this country to see mass shootings happen anywhere. But Kaysa and Nkosurna-tel, the area where that happened in, there's just another insights that's important to share there. It's a place where murder for hire is rife, the police have said. So they're also looking at whether that was behind the motive, whether somebody paid these gunmen to carry out.

the shooting last night. Yeah, and tell us more about the high levels of violent crime that are affecting South Africa at the moment. Certainly, it's one of the highest across violent crime in the world with the murder rate continuing to be something that's very difficult for the authorities from the government to the police to get a handle on. It's something that South Africans are widely concerned about, and that persecution rate, they've said, isn't as high as it can be. It takes very long for cases to get through the courts and some instances for even arrests to happen. But it is something that is front of mind for a lot of South Africans because of how prevalent it is and just how widespread. There isn't

one specific area, Oliver, that you can zero in on and say, if we solve it here, it goes away everywhere. It happens in each province and for various reasons. But the police have said that they're trying their level best in terms of renewing their training and getting as much resources as needed so they can get a handle on the situation. Yeah, the government even sent in the army earlier this year. Is there anything more they can do? See, that should tell you how serious of a problem it is. We don't see the army on the streets of South Africa often.

They only are ever called in when there's been a spike, really. And they're there to help the police effect arrests. So they don't affect arrests themselves. But they're there as extra backup because there are certain parts of a country where even the police themselves cannot just willingly go in. They need that added support in terms of gunfire. And we see in areas where that does happen, there is temporarily a reduction of violent crime.

Kumsa Fihlani in Johannesburg. The head of the International Monetary Fund has warned advanced economies to cut their borrowing. Kristallina Giorgiyeva said debt levels had been pushed up by global shocks, but governments hadn't done enough to tackle the spiraling cost of interest. She spoke to our economics editor, Faisal Islam, at the UN General Assembly. Our message to everybody is you cannot control exogenous factors, but you have control over your domestic policies. So make sure you stay ahead of inflation, keep inflation back, and to governments get on top of your debt issue.

I have seen shock after shock pushing debt levels up like a stanker. stay in case not to heaven and no action to contain the debt service costs. So time to take that action. You are the world's financial and fiscal watchdog. You mark the homework, if you like, of entire governments, especially at times like this. There's been a government bond market, borrowing market shock, frankly, over the summer affecting the biggest nations in the world. The Policy advice you're saying quite clearly is to respond to this shock with lower borrowing, potentially lower spending, potentially tax rises? So there are these two things that must be done. Bring debt levels down, put fiscal consolidation

as a priority and make sure that the central banks deliver on their mandate for price stability. IMF boss, Kristolina Gorgeva. Listening to that was our business reporter Ijoma Ndukwe. I asked her first why debt costs were so high at the moment. The war in Iran has certainly exacerbated this issue because it's disrupted the supply of oil. Of course, you've been hearing so much about the strait of Hormuz and its blockade.

And because it's restricted the flow of oil that's reaching the international markets, that in turn has fuelled inflation, which means government borrowing costs have gone up as, you know, the government uses tools to bring down inflation. And one key tool to bring down inflation is raising interest rates. And that makes it more expensive to borrow. And that in turn makes it more expensive for governments to service their debt. So here in the UK, for example, the interest on government debt in August,

it was the highest figure since monthly records began in 1997. And just looking at the US, another advanced economy, their borrowing costs pushed up debt to more than $40 trillion, which has doubled in the space of a decade. Okay. So a lot of interests that has to be paid. How can governments bring that down and will they take action? I think one of the things that Ms. Gorgiave alluded to is this difficulty politically with trying to cut spending. I mean, what do governments cut? Here in the UK, we're expecting Prime Minister Andy Burnham's first budget next month, and speculation is already building over his tax policy and what spending policies will be. I mean, the key thing here is that governments need to bring down their debt levels, and to do that, they have to cut government spending.

She also talked about central banks stabilising prices, which could mean raising interest even further, which isn't popular. That means mortgage rates going up even more. Another mechanism is policy reform that encourages the private sector to come in and invest because governments simply don't have the cash to boost economic growth. The IMF boss also warned about AI, the huge amounts of investments going in, the possible disruption it can cause. How worried should we be that a possible AI bubble could burst? There are still concerns that companies might not, you know, investors might not really,

realize the returns expected from investment in artificial intelligence, because we've been seeing so much money funneled into developing the infrastructure, building things like data centres. So there are concerns that perhaps the industry has exaggerated their abilities to boost their performance and profit. That's something we'll have to wait and see. Business reporter Ijoma Undukwe. Well, AI is one of the issues likely to be on the agenda when the US and Chinese presidents meet at the White House on Thursday. There have been calls from inside the industry for a slowdown,

but both Donald Trump and Xi Jinping are keen to push on. The US president says, whoever wins AI wins overall, while China is investing heavily to build the computing power it needs to compete in the AI race. Much of that construction is far from China's major cities, as Laura Bicker now reports. I'm wondering through the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, this is a land of extraordinary scale in front of me.

I have towering wind turbines, endless rows of solar panels, and of course beautiful horses rambling beneath them. To build the infrastructure that is desperately needed for AI in Mongolia is key because it has vast amounts of wind and solar resources. And that's why China has chosen to build its AI data centres here. at remarkable speed. Buildings have risen out of the farmland in a matter of months.

This country has fewer data centres than the US for now, but this hub is a way of catching up. If China is going to lead the world in artificial intelligence development, this is where it is building the engine room that will drive that change. Just a few months ago, this corner of Inner Mongolia was farmland. Now, thousands of data centres have sprung up for the likes of Huawei and others. There is no sign that China is slowing down on this technology. Across China, AI is becoming part of everyday life.

From programming robot deliveries to aiding police on patrol, it's all part of Beijing's ambition to embed AI in its economy. Officials have bristled at any mention of a slowdown. Jingyang is Asia Bureau Chief of the Business and Tech media outlet, the information. The S4 country really have knee-capped China's AI development in the last several years. And in spite of that, Chinese labs have managed to catch up. Why would China be incentivized to collaborate with America, which in Beijing's view has been knee-capping China's technological development,

unless there's something that Washington can offer to threaten the deal? But others do see the urgency. David Finclosdown from the Centre for Naval Analysis told a defence forum in Beijing that it was time for the two leaders to talk. I'm not sure they're going to come to any agreements anytime soon, but there's a lot of motivation to talk about these things. The use of AI and command and control and warfare,

who's using it in their nuclear chain of command? This is scary stuff. Back in Inner Mongolia, the building work continues while farm workers gather up rows of plump, for market. There has been little opposition to data centers here, unlike in the West, but there are still some quiet skeptics. If they demolish the village for a data center, it won't be good. I prefer living by the farmland. Away from the microphones, perhaps fearing reprisals, a few farmers told us they saw no benefits and feared for their land and their way of life.

Others were keen to praise the country's leadership. Of course the data center brings us benefits. It creates jobs. President Xi is raising living standards for the Chinese people. China is growing. We are now leading the world. This is no longer the China from the 1960s. President Xi has set the direction and will feel that in the long time, China can compete with the US on this technology. His government is focused on securing an AI-powered future,

even as some of its people wonder whether they'll be part of it. That report by our China correspondent, Laura Bicker. Barbie, Saltburn and Thelma and Louise, all successful films, all written by women. A study analysing almost 200,000 films across three decades, has found that productions with female screenwriters, made higher profits, and yet women remain underrepresented among filmmakers. Ella Bicknell has the details.

Frozen Avatar Wave the Water and Mamma Mia. Blockbuster films with one thing in common. They were written or directed by women. But such films remain a minority. Just 27% of those made over the past 30 years had a female director or screenwriter. Researchers at the University of Mainz in Germany analysed earnings from the internet movie database,

as IMDB and concluded there was no financial logic to the disparity. Among films with similar budgets, those written by women generated 34% higher median profit than those with all-male writing and directing teams. Greta Gerwig's Barbie is one example, taking almost $1.5 billion at the global box office, 2023's highest-grossing film. If I may be so honored to have all the female nominees in every category stand with me in this room tonight. The filmmakers, the producers. At the 2018 Oscars, Francis McDormand used her best actress speech to call for greater inclusion.

Look around, ladies and gentlemen, because we all have stories to tell and projects we need finance. The number of female directors and writers has grown in recent decades. But the researchers behind this latest analysis says risk-averse studio financing is enforcing is enforcing the status quo, even when there's more money to be made. Ele Bignol. Archaeologists are trying to get permission to drill into the rock next to the tomb of Tutankhamun. After new surveys suggested there may be other structures hidden behind it.

They hope the chambers may house the tomb of the Egyptian queen Nefertiti. When Tutankarmoon's tomb was found more than a century ago, it contained remarkable treasures. The archaeologist Howard Carter described the moment of discovery to the BBC. Light shone into the sarcophagus. A gospel of wonderment escaped our lips. So gorgeous was the sight

that met our eyes. This was, but the lid of a series of three coffin nested one within the other enclosing the mortal remains of the young King Dudank Amon. Howard Carter in 1936. Bettany Hughes is a historian

and author of a new book about Egypt called A History of Egypt in Seven Treasures. Sarah Montague asked her if she was excited about this new endeavour. I have to say I'm constantly excited when it comes to ancient Egypt. There is definitely something interesting going on here at the back of Tutankhamun's tomb. I really just want to qualify, we have no idea whether or not it's Queen Nefertiti. That was something that was posited around 10 years ago. It's not impossible, but what is more exciting is that, that it looks like there are chambers and corridors behind Tutankhamun's resting place.

And did we not know that before? No, we didn't. We didn't. I mean, this is as a result of lots of very cutting-edge techniques. So it's thermal imaging, ground penetrating radar, geological mapping, tomography. So that means that the team working in the tomb have worked out. It's not sheer breadrock behind the west wall of the tomb. But there is some kind of ancient structure there. And it's, it's, what's brilliant now is that because we can use all these new techniques, you can do this kind of work in a completely non-invasive way. So you're not like chiseling through the back of the, his, the beautiful decorations, you know, surrounding his

sarcophagus. So there is something interesting there, you know, should be, ultimately, you do need to sort of make a hole and go in. Not, you know, this is the genius area. You don't need to now. So we can now unwrap whole mummified bodies and look at the amulets left inside the bodies without raising a single bandage. So it's the polar opposite of dear Howard Carter and Lord Knavon when they did their, did their work 100 years ago, who basically kind of ripping it all apart. So no, no, no. We actually, that that is what's truly exciting. You've just been talking about artificial intelligence. And this is a way that, you know, we can use artificial intelligence to uncover ancestral intelligence in these tombs. So it really could be possible that.

that this is discovered completely remotely without moving a single brick. Okay. And you might think this is a bit cheap, but Tudun Karmuon's tomb didn't it have an enormous amount of gold treasures inside it? And aren't people going to be excited at that prospect? 100%. I mean, Tudan Karmine's tomb had, at the latest count, 5,398 treasures within it.

So there was exquisite gold. There were beautiful games. that he used to play with as a child incredibly touching his little socks with toes stitched in, duck lunch boxes in case he needed a snack on his way to the afterlife. So, I mean, it was, you know, it was the most astonishing find. And of course, if there is something new in the Valley of the Kings, it will be game-changing and history-making. We just don't know whether it's his, whether it's Nefertiti. Bethany Hughes talking to Sarah Montague.

And still to come on this podcast, This planet has literally just formed. We normally can't see planets until they're about 10 million years old. It tells us so much about planet formation. The youngest planet ever discovered. Welcome to the haunted library. Have you come in search of a tale? This podcast invites you to browse the shelves

and find stories that will linger long after you've left this place. From Gothic masterpieces to politely. to Pulpy Penny Dreadfuls. Join me, Colin Morgan, with new episodes twice a week. Find the haunted library wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Global News podcast. Reports from Ethiopia say local forces in the northern region of Tigray have seized the airport in the regional capital, Makele.

The Tigrayan rebels said they were combating an invasion by federal forces, raising fears of a resumption of the two-year civil war in the area, which left as many as 600,000 people dead. Catherine Biaru Hanger got the latest from our former Ethiopia correspondent, Calcadan Yibaldal. All flights to and from Tigran cities have been suspended. The flag carrier Ethiopian Airlines announced this morning that they have suspended all flights to the three major airports in the Tegu region.

And local sources and residents in the city told us that the grand forces have entered into the main airport in Makhlis City and then, you know, taking control of it. That airport had been under the control of a few federal police forces, and it's not clear what happened to these federal police forces. But this signals a major escalation, and it's coming in the backdrop of recent weeks of increasing tensions and increasing instances of drawn strikes in Tigray and around Tigray region. And also, it happens a few days after southern rebel and armed groups have announced that they're forming an alliance in an effort to try to overthrow the government of border. Prime Minister of Yamed. And just give us the context to this and why it's so worrying, because this comes some four years after the Civil War in Tigray, where hundreds of thousands of people

were killed. This was a brutal conflict. Yes, it was indeed a brutal conflict, and it's one of the most devastating and the deadliest conflicts this century anywhere. Some estimates put the number of people who were killed in the region of 600,000. That was the Civil War in Tigray between 2020 and 2022, but at late 22, there was a pistol signed between the ground forces and the government, the federal government, that silenced the guns. And, you know, normal

activities have resumed to the region, and it seems that things were returning back to normality. However, tensions remained, and there were so many unresolved issues. In other parts of Ethiopia, there are other conflicts, and it seems now that we're seeing all these are, you know, converging.

That the grand forces have repeatedly accused the federal government of breaching that peace deal, while the federal government says that they are the ones who are breaching the peace deal by trying to forge an alliance with other armed actors, as well as foreign countries, particularly the northern neighbour Eritrea. And that was, as you said, very devastating. The humanitarian crisis was very consequential. And if another war of a similar scale were to break out, it's going to be very destabilizing not only for Ethiopia, but for the Horn of Africa region, which, as you know, is still plagued by.

other conflicts including in neighbouring Sudan. A former Ethiopia correspondent Calcutan Yibeltal talking to Catherine Biaro Hanga. The civil war that Calcanan mentioned in Sudan has also affected South Sudan, which split off 15 years ago. But since it gained independence, South Sudan has also suffered its own civil conflict, as well as widespread corruption and high levels of hunger. Now there is a political row in South Sudan after President Salva Kyr dissolved the government and removed all the vice presidents ahead of the country's first ever elections.

His actions have been condemned by the opposition. South Sudan analyst, Daniel Akech Theong, spoke to James Copnell. We are watching July 2013 repeats of. At that time, the president dissolved the whole cabinet and within a few months exchanging hot words between him and his rivals, the country went into civil war.

The 2018 peace agreement was the only guerrille against the absolute presidential powers hidden in the transitional constitutions of 2011. So the parliament just stripped those garrels away and allowing the president to legally patch his rivals and install a categor of strict loyalties in a badly divided country. So is that the concern then, a return to outright war? Because there have been successive ways of conflict, power dynamics have shifted. You could argue that the rebels and others militarily.

strong as they were before and that people are fed up with fighting and the need for more conflict. You, though, seem to think that South Sudan could be heading back down that path. Yes, but that needs to be nuanced. First, it's that the caretaker trap we are seeing now. It's a brilliantly engineered trap. That's how the opposition and civil actors would look at it. With absolute control over the state of apparatus, the president's faction cannot lose, even if they go for elections. And I will say momentarily, like why that election might not be possible. And they will either push through

entirely control elections and win it. So that leaves no rooms for the oppositions and other groups that want to participate in the process and democratic process. They could also cite logistical failures which are known to everyone to indefinitely extend this new loyalist mandate. It is a win-win for the executive

and a disaster for the transitions because it would exacerbate and already conflicts that was already happening in the country or it could even get worse. So that could lead to a return to more violence. Daniel Akechtheong of the International Crisis Group. When Dolly Parton died last month at the age of 80, the news was announced by her nephew, Brian Siva.

He worked as the singer's head of security for more than two decades, taking over from his father. But now Dolly Parton's long-time manager has requested a restraining order against him in a growing row over the estate. Our music correspondent, Mark Savage, told us more. These were court papers filed in Nashville yesterday, and they accuse Brian Siever, Dolly Parton's nephew, of what they call an intense and escalating campaign of threats against the estate.

There are emails and text messages included in the court papers, which appear to show him threatening the people who are looking after. Dolly Parton's legacy, he says he will launch a podcast dedicated to ruining Dolly's brand. He calls himself the hand of retribution for the Parton family, and he says everyone needs to be worried. Now, he has disputed his characterization in the lawsuit. He says that these messages were taken out of context, and nothing that he said was a threat in a statement to TMZ. He said a lot of the messages are two guys rage talking and crying on the phone together while they were grieving. So what happens next?

So Danny Nosell, who was Dolly Parton's manager for, more than 20 years, has asked for a civil restraining order against Brian Siver, her nephew. They've also requested a jury trial after the temporary restraining order is made in order to extend it. That is, of course, if the restraining order is made. And they say, you know, this has affected their business already. They have lost lawyers and other employees as a result of what they call Siever's threats. And they also say that some members of the company have had to take out private security because they're worried about their own safety.

And again, I would have to say that Brian Seaver does deny that he poses a threat to these people. Of course, there was a huge outpouring of emotion when Dolly Parton died. Is this at risk of souring her legacy somewhat? I mean, I think, you know, obviously everybody loved Dolly Parton because she was so serene and peaceful and generous. And the kind of ugliness of a family on an estate

fighting over her $450 million fortune is bound to sour people's opinions of those who are left to look after her legacy. But I don't think it will make people think any worse of her. I think, you know, when money comes into families, it often turns pretty nasty. But by all accounts, Dolly did leave her estate in such a way that there won't be a huge ongoing ride. She left a lot of her properties and a lot of her business interests and trusts, which makes the likelihood of legal action much, much less than if she had died in probate. BBC music correspondent Mark Savage.

Astronomers have discovered the youngest planet on record. 450 light years from Earth, Elias 2.24B is less than a million years old. Newborn planets can be difficult to find, as stars which provide the building materials are themselves born inside clouds of gas and dust. This one could give scientists a way of studying what our own solar system, and may have been like billions of years ago. Astronomer Sarah Casewell spoke to Rick Edwards. The original discovery of this planet was done through looking at the disc around this very young star.

It's got a big disc. And we looked at the disc and we saw there were gaps in the disc. And those gaps are likely to be caused by a planet that's forming. And now people have used a technique called coronography. They've covered up the star so they can see something that's very faint nearby. And they've seen the planet exactly where people predicted it to be. This planet has literally just formed. We normally can't see planets until they're about 10 million years old.

And all that disk has been got rid of. And it tells us so much about planet formation and our model, whether our models were right. How long does it take for a planet to kind of reach maturity? Is it fully developed at this point? Or is it still going to be evolving? At this point, it's still very hot and it possibly is still grabbing all the dust and gas that it can. And after about 10 million years,

the big disc around the star will disappear and we'll be left with the star and the planet. And just to give us a kind of a benchmark, what's the oldest planet that we've identified? Oh, my goodness, that's a question and a half. So most planets that we tend to look at, are about the same age as our sun, maybe a little bit older. So they're between 5 and 10 billion years old.

And does this help us then understand more about the early stages of planet formation? It really does. Finding objects within these gaps in the rings where we can see them really allows us to understand whether our theory of planet formation is correct. And in this case, it looks like this planet is doing exactly, what it should be doing at this age. All of why a lot of us do this is to understand how unique our solar system is and whether there are other solar systems out there that look like ours. And trying to understand the early stages of planet formation is a big part of that.

Sarah Casewell, astronomer and lecturer at Leicester University. And that is all from us for now. But if you want to get in touch, you can email us at Global Podcast at BBC.co.com. You can also watch our episodes in full by searching for the Global News Podcast on YouTube. This edition was mixed by Jack Wilfund and produced by Alice Adderley. Our editor is Karen Martin. I'm Oliver Conway. Until next time, goodbye.

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