Global News Podcast - Hundreds of medical clinics shut in Afghanistan after US aid cut

Episode Date: September 15, 2025

BBC report finds tragic accounts of Afghan maternity deaths after US-backed clinics shut. More than 400 medical facilities closed down in the country after the Trump administration cut nearly all US aid earlier this year, in a drastic and abrupt move following the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The Trump administration has justified withdrawing aid, saying there were "credible and longstanding concerns that funding was benefiting terrorist groups, including... the Taliban", who govern the country. Also, major anti government protests in Turkey, and who's won what at the Emmys? 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]

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Your idea of banking that's personal happens here. RBC, ideas happen here. America is changing, and so is the world. But what's happening in America isn't just a cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere. I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, D.C. I'm Tristan Redman in London, and this is the global story. Every weekday will bring you a story from this intersection, where the world,

and America meet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Jean-Uleat and at Five Hours GMT on Monday the 15th of September. These are our main stories. The BBC goes to Afghanistan to look at what impact the Trump administration's aid cuts have had on maternal deaths. Brazil's President Lula pushes back against Donald Trump's tariffs,

saying his country's democracy and sovereignty are non-negotiable. We'll tell you which TV shows won big at this year's Emmy Awards. Also in this podcast... If the ocean had not absorbed so much heat from 1970 to the present, the land would be about 35 degrees Celsius warmer than it is now. This shows how important the ocean is for the global climate. general. Scientists warn that even the deepest seas are being affected by climate change with potentially devastating consequences for us. This year has seen US aid to Afghanistan all cut off

and it's having devastating consequences for people already struggling to survive in one of the poorest countries in the world. In 2024, US funds made up nearly half of all aid coming into the country. But the Trump administration says it has evidence that millions of dollars ended up in the hands of the Taliban. So what now? The BBC has had rare access to Afghanistan and has gathered first-hand evidence of the impact on maternal mortality in the northeastern province of Badakshan. Yagita Limoye reports. Badakshan is one of Afghanistan's most best. picturesque provinces.

It's got beautiful, big, brown mountains. We're on our way to a district where we know that a clinic that had midwives and other services for malnourished children shut down following the U.S. 8 cuts. We're literally driving through a riverbed. And that tells you that if, clinics in those remote places close down. People in those areas are left with almost nothing. It is extremely difficult to make these journeys to the capital

or to another health centre that's open and also expensive. We've come to the district of Bharak to the village of Shashpul. We've come to meet Abdul Vakil. He's taking us to the grave of his brother. wife, Shahnaz, who died while giving birth to their baby just a few months ago. The baby also died and Abdul Vakil has been telling us how it all happened. My wife was very sick. She was in a lot of pain. So I rented a taxi to take her to the clinic. When we reached there, I saw that it was closed. I didn't know it has shut down. So we turned back. On the way,

We had to stop and my baby was born. My wife died shortly after, bleeding profusely. In the village, we've come to the closed medical facility. It's just a one-story, small house-like structure, paint peeling off its wall. But for the people in this village and eight other villages, this was their only lifeline, their only access to a medical service. More than 400 such facilities have closed down across Afghanistan and we're just going to meet now

the midwife who used to work here, Medina. We used to do 25 to 30 deliveries a month here. The closure has had a massive impact on the community. They can't make it to other clinics. Mothers are losing their lives during deliveries. As we've seen on the ground, aid cuts disproportionately affect the lives of women whose access to health services is already seriously hindered because of the brutal restrictions imposed on them by the Taliban government.

So all higher education for women, including medical education, is banned. In another crushing blow late last year, the Supreme Leader also banned training for midwives and female. nurses. I spoke to Taliban government official Suhail Shaheen over a video call and challenged him about their policies. You've said that humanitarian needs should not be politicized, but it is political decisions taken by your own leadership, which means that there are going to be no female doctors, midwives, nurses. You're denying the right to access health to half your population. Isn't that a bit hypocritical? It is our internal issue. How to handle them, how to take decisions. That is up to the leadership.

The U.S. has justified the aid cuts saying that millions of dollars were actually being siphoned off and enriching your government. How do you respond to that allegation? That is not true. The aides were given to the United Nations. They identify who need them. And they distribute themselves, not the government. The government is not involved. Got between the Taliban's policies and staggering aid cuts, Afghanistan's women are facing a situation where their right to health and life itself is at risk. That report by Yulgita Lin-Maye from Afghanistan. Even as Brazil braces for yet more US sanctions,

its president has said his country's democracy and sovereignty are non-negotiable. President Luis Anasio Lula de Silva, writing in the New York Times, said the Brazilian Supreme Court had been right to find his predecessor, Jaya Bolsonaro, guilty last week of trying to stage a coup. Despite the Trump administration's attempts to stop the trial by imposing tariffs of 50% on many Brazilian goods. Mr Trump has labelled a trial a witch hunt, but Mr Lula rejected this,

saying he was, however, open to negotiations with the US. Our America's regional editor, Leonardo Russia, told me more. He is reaffirming his position that Brazil sovereignty won't be negotiated. He's referring, of course, to the tariffs, sanctions imposed by the United States over the trial of Shahi Bolsonaro, 50% tariffs on hundreds of Brazilian imports, calling it a unilateral wrong decision and unfair. But he said Brazil is willing to negotiate. The United States don't want to negotiate, and everyone will suffer with that.

But he said one thing we don't negotiate is our sovereignty and the country's, democracy. And Lula is also saying that these tariffs are illogical given that the US has a trade surplus with Brazil. But Mr. Trump has made it clear all along that these tariffs were political, that he's very angry over this trial in which his ally, Jaya Boltonaro, has now been found guilty. Where do we go from here? Because it's unlikely that Donald Trump will respond positively to this overture by Luis Nassio Lula de Silva. It's very unlikely. I mean, what many people have been saying here is that whatever Lula had done or said

wouldn't have changed anything because President Trump was determined to have a goal at the Brazilian government. Bolsonaro is only part of the story here. I think it's to do with the blockade or the sanctions that the Brazilian justice system did against Rumble, which is President Trump's company, and against Elon Musk's X the last year. I think it's very important also to notice a geopolitical aspect here. President Lula has been getting closer and closer to Russia, Iran, China,

and that is a big concern for the United States. And he keeps saying that the dollar shouldn't be the international currency and many things that are really going against everything that President Trump stands by. The United States hasn't yet appointed a number. ambassador to Brazil. There's no diplomacy. There's no interest on both sides. And what I think will come in the next few days, everyone believes that. There are more sanctions against Brazil and individual sanctions against the judges that voted to sentence President Bolsonaro. Well, given all that, what do Brazilians make of this guilty verdict with the former

President Jay Bolsonaro? Is Brazil as divided as the U.S. is? It's very divided. It's very split. There's a sort of disbelief in the Brazilian system. People on the left and people on the right are not talking to each other. And the economy is suffering with these sanctions. And I think initially the Lula government was saying, well, the presidential elections next year, we have the people behind us now because we have a clear foreign enemy. But they are seeing now that in a year's time,

people might not remember that this is President Trump's fault because the economy will suffer. And it's a big crisis. Leonardo Rocha. It's been the biggest night of the year for television, the Emmy Awards in Los Angeles, and 15-year-old Owen Cooper has become the youngest male actor to ever win the prestigious award. He took the best supporting actor in a limited series for his portrayal of a disturbed schoolboy, accused of murder in the drama adolescence. He spoke to David Willis on the red carpet before his historic win. Owen, how does it be here?

It's good, man. It's good to be here with my people, so yeah. It's my first big, big red carpet, so, yeah. And at 15 years old, there's quite a future ahead of you, I imagine. There's a few more of these to come, perhaps. I mean, hopefully. I mean, you know, I'd love to be here. I'd love speaking to these amazing people, so. And what would it mean to win tonight?

Well, it would mean a lot to me, my family, my cast, like, all the cast, all the crew. So, yeah, it's, it mean the world to me. Adolescence was a big winner at the Emmys, picking up other top trophies. Severance and the Pitt also won multiple awards, but it was Seth Rogen's satirical take on Hollywood, the studio, that took home the most brassware. Our correspondent in L.A., Peter Bowes, told me more about all the highlights. The pit did well, and if there was a surprise of the night,

it was its success. I think a lot of people have been expecting the outstanding drama to go to Severance, the science fiction psychological thriller, but the medical drama, The Pitt, took that top prize. It also won for Noah Wiley lead actor in a drama series. I think it was always neck and neck between these two shows, but certainly I think in recent weeks I've noticed here in Los Angeles quite a momentum behind Pitt.

It has been a hugely successful series, and I think in large part it is yet another emergency room drama, but it melds into the storyline, some very current modern-day, that real health workers face. So that was one of the big winners. The other big winner in the comedy category was the studio. Seth Rogan, one for lead actor, also for directing and co-writing that series all about the behind-the-scenes going on at a fictitious Hollywood studio. But let's go back to where we started with adolescents. That really was the big winner of

the night, outstanding limited series, winning not only for Owen Cooper, but for it. producer and writer and lead star Stephen Graham, the British actor, as well as Erin Doherty, who won for Best Supporting Actress. She was only in one episode. As you say, adolescence did very well, but there were so many other great dramas, weren't there? Oh yeah, there were some great dramas, but I think the momentum this show was behind certainly these three shows that I've just mentioned. And it is, I think it illustrates that We're in a golden age as far as television is concerned, and it's the streaming services that are bringing us these extraordinary shows, of course, adolescents financed and distributed

by Netflix, albeit a British production in terms of the production companies behind the show. But yes, it's a good time for not only drama, good time for comedy as well. And there was a running gag about money being removed from a $100,000 charity donation. if acceptance speeches were too long. What was the final figure? Yes, well, this was Nate Bargettze's ploy to get the acceptance speeches shortened. The final figure was actually down in negative territory,

but at the end of the show, a little surprise at the end, he said he was going to contribute another $250,000. CBS would put in $100,000. So the final official figure, $350,000 for charity. Peter Bowes covering the Emmys in Los Angeles. A Fox News presenter has apologised on air for saying mentally ill homeless people should be executed. Brian Kilmead made the comments on an episode of Fox and Friends. Paddy Maguire reports.

The incident that prompted Brian Kilmead's suggestion was the murder last month of a Ukrainian woman on a commuter train in North Carolina. Graphic security video of Irina Zarutka being stabbed in an unprovoked attack quickly became another strand in the ongoing debate about crime in American cities. The man arrested for her killing was homeless and suffering from mental health issues and had an extensive criminal history. In a debate with his fellow hosts about whether such homeless people should simply be put behind bars, Mr Kilmead suggested that instead they should be killed by involuntary lethal injection. Paddy McGuire. Still to come in this podcast,

you're working for him. You are slave. The only choice you have is to go outside and sleep with them in. The BBC investigation exposes a former London bus driver running an illegal prostitution ring in Dubai, systematically exploiting young Ugandan women. America is changing, and so is the world. But what's happening in America isn't just a cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption. that's happening everywhere.

I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, D.C. I'm Tristan Redman in London, and this is the global story. Every weekday will bring you a story from this intersection, where the world and America meet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Tens of thousands of people

have protested in the Turkish capital anchorer, accusing President Recep Tay Berdawan of trying to undermine his political opponents. The demonstration comes ahead of a court hearing today that could oust the leader of Turkey's main opposition party, the CHP, over allegations of vote rigging. Ozor Ozel says the case against him is politically motivated. The hearing comes after a year-long crackdown on the centrist party, which has seen hundreds of its members jailed for alleged corruption and links to terrorism. Among them, the president's main rival, the popular mayor of Istanbul, Ekram Imamulu.

Hilken Boran is from the BBC's Turkish service in Istanbul. It is being described as a turning point that may be the last nail in the coffin of multi-party democracy in the country as we know of it, according to opposition voices and experts that we've been talking to. Essentially, this case is weighing whether a 2023 Congress of the main opposition Republican People's Party should be annulled or not. If it is an old, the current leadership will be removed from their posts and the former chair will likely be appointed as a trustee instead. And this is only the latest chapter in a month's long crackdown against the CHP, in which scores of mayors and senior officials, including Istanbul mayor and presidential candidate Ekram Imamu, have been detained. So there's a great show of support today for the CHP. How good. greater threat does the opposition pose to President Erdogan's AK party? Well, the CHP claims that all these legal cases in the last year against them are a result of President Erdogan and his ruling party trying to, quote, unquote, redesign them into a more

compliant and less threatening political entity. But let's take a look at the numbers as well. The main opposition emerged as the frontrunner in last year's local elections, grabbing major provinces and crucial strongholds from President Erdogan's party. And opposition policy politicians frequently claim that they will emerge victorious in the next general election, which is scheduled for 2028. Some polls currently put jailed opposition candidate Imam aloha ahead of President Erdogan. The CHP claims that he was imprisoned because he was perceived as a threat by Erdogan himself, who is yet to lose an election during his 20-plus year tenure.

And what do you expect to happen next? I mean, is there such a swell of support that people will stay on the streets? We have seen major anti-government protests last year, this year, in March after Imam al-Lu and some senior officials in the Istanbul, mayor-majority have been detained and then subsequently arrested. But we don't know if we're going to be seeing the same level of support for CHP members during tomorrow's events. We will certainly be watching it closely.

And what we know so far is that there are possibly two outcomes. One is that the leadership gets purged and then the former chair is leading the party. And the other is that the party will go to an extraordinary Congress during which they will be electing new leadership. And if that will be the case, the current leadership is expected to stay because there has been tremendous support from within the party to the members of the opposition leadership. And what has President Erdogan said, if anything? And is there still a lot of support for him and his AK party?

Yeah, President Erdogan has denied that they have anything to do with the legal cases or what has been going on inside the CHP. And he has been describing this as an infighting that has been going on within the main opposition. frequently emphasizing that the reason that these legal cases have been opened was because certain members of the CHP have been going to the judiciary and have been asking for these cases to be opened against the main opposition party. And he refused, he denied any and all involvement in what could possibly be amounting to the biggest intervention in a political party in Turkey's modern multi-party history.

Hylken Boran speaking to Rachel Wright. A BBCI investigation has exposed a former London bus driver running an illegal prostitution ring in Dubai, systematically exploiting young Ugandan women. One of the women, 23-year-old Monica Karungi, fell to her death from a Dubai tower block. Her death went viral and she became the face of the disturbing Dubai porty-potty hashtag accused of willingly doing extreme sexual acts for money. But the internet got it wrong. BBCI producer reporter Renarko Selina has been investigating.

Hi, hi, can you hear me? Thank you for taking my call. When I reached out to Monica's family in Uganda, they were extremely distressed by how she had been shamed and humiliated in death and wanted to know what happened to her in Dubai. They say she had gone there on the promise of, a supermarket job. And her social media post showed her posing at the beach, skyscrapers behind her, and dancing in glitzy Dubai bars. But one of Monica's closest relatives, her niece

Rona, had concerns. If you focus on those videos, you can see sometimes she have crashes and she's walking like someone who have pain from somewhere. BBC I tracked down friends who lived with Monica in Dubai, who say they were tricked into traveling to the UAE. Speaking anonymously, they say they were forced to sleep with men to pay off debts to a man called Abbey, who told them it was for their travel, visa and Dubai living costs. We have identified this man as Charles Muesigua. If you go out and you don't come with money, he would slap you. He would tell you you're useless. He will beat you up. You're working for him. You're working for him. You are slave. The only choice you have is to go outside and sleep with the men.

We have also spoken to a whistleblower who says he was Charles's operation manager and knew Abbey Wow. He's like a computer. He doesn't rest. He's always online trying to see where money is. These girls are traumatized. They have no escape route. It doesn't matter what they go through as long as his rich men are happy. Reveals he is still running an illegal prostitution operation. An undercover reporter posed as an events organizer to meet Charles, who told him that he used to work as a bus driver in East London. I was a bus driver for 10 years.

Until, on a trip to Dubai, he spotted an opportunity. They could be some kind of market for black girls. He offered our reporter, Girls, for sex, saying, you can pretty much do anything you want to them. We've got like 25,000. 25 bills? We've got two villas and that's where they sleep. And today, like, yeah, they'll do whatever?

Meaning I open my head. When I say open my head, I will sing you the craziest I have. The authorities in Dubai conclude, that Monica died by suicide. In Uganda, Monica's family gathered for a memorial service. They could not afford the repatriation costs from the UAE, so don't have her remains,

and desperately want to lay her to rest at the family farm. Her relative, we're calling Michael, also wants to prevent other families going through the same pain. This man holds many, many girls. in his custody. They have the mothers, like Monica, if we bring this man to justice, you can save these young girls.

We put these allegations to Mr Muesigua, who said they are all false. He said he only connects girls with landlords and they follow him to parties because he knows wealthy people in Dubai. He denied that Monica was indebted to him and said he hadn't. seen her for four or five weeks before her death.

That report by Renarko Celina. The UK and the US are expected to sign a deal, making it easier for companies to build nuclear power stations in each other's countries. The British government says the agreement to be signed during President Trump's state visit this week will attract billions of dollars in investment and help to reduce the use of carbon energy sources. Here's our business correspondent, Mark Ashtown. The UK imports nearly 40% of its energy, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine laid bare just how vulnerable Britain is to energy shocks caused by global instability. The government believes nuclear power is central to making the UK more self-sufficient. As part of President Trump's state visit this week, a major new deal is expected to be signed off,

paving the way to make it quicker and easier for companies to build more nuclear power stations in both nations. Ministers said at least five projects were in the pipeline. The Conservatives said they'd have gone bigger and quicker with investment in nuclear energy and a broken planning system made nuclear harder and price here to commission. Mark Ashtam, climate scientists have long warned that global warming is increasing ocean temperatures. But a team from Vienna set out to explore the deep sea has found that even at depths of 4,000 metres, climate change is having a significant impact. The deep sea is a very important climate regulation.

because it absorbs and stores a significant portion of man-made heat and gases. With more, here's Stephanie Prentice. Marine biologists from the University of Vienna set off in August, with a goal of looking deeper into exactly how global warming is affecting the ocean floor. Impacts on the deep sea are slow moving, but long-lasting and hard to reverse. Because it's so remote, changes. can go undetected and be difficult to track, but it's estimated that over the last 20 years,

temperatures at depth have risen by a tenth of a degree, which given the volume of water has a considerable impact. The research team collected samples at different times over 24-hour cycles, then took them back for lab analysis. The oceans absorb heat from the atmosphere through several physical processes, making them a crucial buffer for the. Earth's climate systems. Gerhard Hendel is head of the expedition.

If the ocean had not absorbed so much heat from 1970 to the present, the land would be about 35 degrees Celsius warmer than it is now. This shows how important the ocean is for the global climate in general. The team have a specialism in deep sea microbial life and say the warming temperatures are affecting microorganisms on the bottom of the sea, making them consume more, increase their metabolism and produce more carbon dioxide. Any warming of the ocean increases the respiratory activity of all organisms, and so it becomes a vicious circle. The samples are set to be evaluated further in the coming weeks, as marine biologists stress

the importance of a broader understanding of what's going on beneath the surface of climate change. Stephanie Prentice, and that's all from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the Global News podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast, you can send us an email. The address is Global Podcast at BBC.co.com. This edition was mixed by Caroline Driscoll. The producers were Arienne Kodchi and David Lewis. The editor is Karen Martin.

I'm Jeanette Jalil. Until next time, goodbye. America is changing, and so is the world. But what's happening in America isn't just a cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere. I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, D.C. I'm Tristan Redman in London, and this is the global story. Every weekday will bring you a story from this intersection, where the world and America meet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

Thank you. Thank you.