Global News Podcast - Hurricane Helene heads to US state of Georgia after hitting Florida

Episode Date: September 27, 2024

Hurricane Helene heads to US state of Georgia after hitting Florida. Also: Japan has a new prime minister; actress Maggie Smith dies.

Hello, this is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service, with reports and analysis from across the world. The latest news seven days a week. BBC World Service podcasts are supported by advertising. Life and death were two very realistic co-existing possibilities in my life. I didn't even think I'd make it to like my 16th birthday, to be honest. I grew up being scared of who I was. Any one of us at any time can be affected by mental health and addictions. Just taking that first step makes a big difference.

It's the hardest step. But CAMH was there from the beginning. Everyone deserves better mental health care. To hear more stories of recovery, visit camh.ca. If you're hearing this, you're probably already listening to BBC's award-winning news podcasts. But did you know that you can listen to them without ads? Get current affairs podcasts like Global News, AmeriCast and The Global Story, plus other great BBC podcasts from history to comedy to true crime, all ad-free.

Simply subscribe to BBC Podcast Premium on Apple Podcasts or listen to Amazon Music with a Prime membership. Spend less time on ads and more time with BBC Podcasts. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Valerie Sanderson and at 1300 hours GMT on Friday the 27th of September, these are our main stories. Hurricane Helene heads to the US state of Georgia after hitting Florida. It was very scary. You know, all the water came rushing into the house. So grabbed the dogs and ran as quickly as we could with just what we had and our dogs, and that was it.

Japan has a new prime minister. On a trip to Belgium, Pope Francis laments the forced adoption of babies and again apologizes for the treatment of some children within the Roman Catholic Church. Child abuse, which is a scourge that the church is addressing affirmatively and decisively. Also in this podcast, how AI-generated clones are being used to defraud companies. Only need a few seconds, apparently, of speech to work with, and they pick up the mannerisms, they pick up the kind of way in the language and the way it's used,

and actually quite believable. Helene, which made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in Florida, has now weakened to a tropical storm as it moves more inland. The storm is barrelling across Georgia towards Tennessee and the Carolinas after devastating Florida with fierce winds of up to 225 km per hour and flash flooding. Three people have died and nearly two million Florida homes are without power. Brianna Garnier lives in the coastal city of Holmes Beach. It was very scary. You know, it was coming in very, very fast,

but steady across the island. And then all of a sudden, you know, it was outside. We had sandbags and we had prepared, but we heard a big bang in the garage door, you know, kind of caved in and all the water came rushing into the house like a giant stream. So grabbed the dogs and ran as quickly as we could with just what we had and our dogs and that was it.

Officials put in place mandatory evacuation orders for those in the path of the storm and warned those who decided to shelter at home to stay put. Alex Harris is a hurricane and climate change reporter at Florida's Miami Herald newspaper. The officials always want people to leave when a storm comes. It's the safest way to be is just to get out of the way of that storm. Most people do evacuate and the sheriffs of those communities have asked anyone who does remain to write their name, their address and their social security number on their body in marker so that they can be identified if necessary after. 17 different counties are under mandatory evacuation order. That's millions of people driving inland, driving to other states, trying

to get out of the way. We've seen thousands of people in shelters up and down the coast, most of them who lived in areas that were very low-lying, very close to the coast, or even in mobile homes or manufactured facilities that really just needed to get out of the way. 55 million people across the southern United States are expected to feel the effects of Helene. Sarah-Kythe Lucas from BBC Weather told me more. Well, so far we've seen those extremely strong winds

we've been talking about, 225 kilometres an hour. So it's not just been the power of the wind, of course, that's knocked out power as well, but the storm surge has been really significant, over nine feet. So in places around the Florida Big Bend, that's a record-breaking storm surge. So that huge body of water just piling inland. I think now the attention is certainly going to be turning to the intensity and the duration of the rainfall that we're going to see as well. It started off as a category four storm. It's been downgraded. What does that mean? Well, it means that the wind speeds have reduced. So we're currently seeing

winds around about 110 kilometres an hour. So the wind won't be such a problem. But even though it's a tropical storm, not a hurricane, it doesn't mean the rain is any less in intensity. In fact, we're going to see really, really heavy rain, particularly pushing across parts of Kentucky and Tennessee around the southern Appalachians as well, because that's where the storm is going to become quite slow moving over the next few days. So where it bumps into the higher ground of the Appalachians, it's going to dump close to 20 inches of rainfall across the region, leading to flash flooding, especially so for urban areas. So although it's moving through, it's weakening, it's certainly not going anywhere.

So it's going up the south, isn't it? It started off in Florida, you mentioned Kentucky. I mean, how closely can it be tracked? Well, forecasters use various things to track these storms. They use what's going on with the weather at the moment, where the winds are steering the storm, and they also feed all that data into computer models. So there's a fairly accurate track. We think the storm's going to go northwards or northeastwards through Georgia, as it's moving at the moment, into parts of Tennessee, Kentucky as well.

But there's always a bit of a cone of uncertainty. So it could be a little bit further east, a little bit further west, especially a few days down the line from now. That's when the forecast becomes a little bit more uncertain. But at the moment, certainly for the next 24 hours or so, we're fairly certain that storm is going to continue its path northeastwards. And I suppose the big $64,000 question, what causes these storms of this intensity? Oh, yes, this is a particularly powerful, quite rare major category four storm that's made landfall. So, of course, this part of the world, no stranger to hurricanes.

We are in the middle of peak hurricane season now. So the things that cause them initially, well, the spin of the earth. So the Coriolis effect creates that spin for hurricanes that we see. But hurricanes also need a couple of things. They need warmth and they need moisture. So the very warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico are producing the fuel, really. And as the climate continues to warm, sea surface temperatures continue to increase as well. That means we're going to see storms like this, I think, becoming more intense in the future.

Sarah Keith-Lucas. Japan has found out who its next prime minister will be. Shigeru Ishiba, a former defence minister, has won the ruling party's leadership election after a second round of voting. He's taking over from the current Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, who's become unpopular because of a series of party scandals and rising prices. In a brief speech after his victory was announced, Mr Ishiba pledged to be honest with the country. I will do my utmost to believe in the people, to speak the truth with courage and sincerity, and to make this country a safe and secure place where everyone can live with a smile on their faces once again.

Our correspondent in Tokyo, Shama Khalil, told me more about him. Ishiguro Ishiba has been on the political scene for decades now. He is a veteran. He is a former defence minister. He is a former LDP secretary general. So he's very experienced on security issues. But he also like it is, his candor, while it ruffles feathers within the party. He's recently, for example, been criticizing the prime minister, well, the outgoing prime minister, Fumio Kishida, which is a rarity in Japanese politics. This candor holds him in good stead with the public. And one of the reasons some observers were saying that he was chosen was to essentially appeal to the public. Here's a man that says it like it is, you know, he doesn't do political talk, he speaks the truth. And hopefully that would appeal to a public that has been very angry at the LDP because of recent scandals. So he provides a safe pair of

hands, he provides stability at a turbulent time for the party. So he provides a safe pair of hands. He provides stability at a turbulent time for the party. What he doesn't offer, I think, is a fresh face for the LDP. It is desperate to reinvent itself. It is desperate to regain public trust, especially in the fallout of the political funding financial scandal. And while he will appeal to the public, expect a lot of, we've learned our lesson, we've changed, we're going to address the economy. Don't expect a big shake up in the LDP. It's still the same old party, albeit humbled by the recent scandals. Because there is an election looming, isn't there? That's true. The election as it stands is going to be in 2025. So next year,

but some of the candidates, including some of his rivals, like Shinjiro Koizumi, for example, he said that it was going to be as soon as this year. We don't know if this is something that Mr. Ishiba is now going to decide. There will be a lot of back and forth within party members. I think what they want to do is not wait too long to be scrutinized by the public. And he'll also want to do it sooner rather than later to cement his position. And what about the challenges facing

the country? You've mentioned the economy. What else? I think top of his priorities and his challenges is the economic woes. Remember, the public has been suffering from a stagnant economy, wages that haven't moved in three decades. They've been struggling to make ends meet. So that's one big thing. But I think also Japan's aging and shrinking population, the leader will have to deal with how to reinvent the labour market and maybe rethink policies on immigration. Shaima Khalil. Lebanese media say Israeli airstrikes are still targeting the south of the country as frantic diplomatic efforts continue to try to stop an all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah. Pressure is growing on the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire in southern Lebanon.

U.S. officials say Mr. Netanyahu gave his backing for a truce only to change his mind under pressure from extremists in his government. But the Israeli leader says negotiations will continue. We'll have more on his position in a moment. But first, Lebanon itself has made an impassioned plea at the UN for a pause in the fighting. Abdallah Bouhabib is the Lebanese foreign minister, and his words are spoken by a translator. Mr. President, Lebanon is currently enduring a crisis which is threatening its very existence. The future of our people and our prosperity are imperiled.

This is a situation that requires international intervention on an urgent basis before the situation spirals out of control with a domino effect. So, with pressure for a ceasefire, what are we hearing from Hezbollah? I asked our correspondent Hugo Bacheca, who's in Beirut in Lebanon. Well, we haven't heard anything yet from Hezbollah. Obviously, you know, the conversations, the discussions that happen with Hezbollah, these are indirect conversations because Western countries consider Hezbollah a terrorist organization. So there's no direct contact between Western powers involved in these

negotiations for a ceasefire and Hezbollah. But again, I think it is very difficult to see how Hezbollah can at this stage accept a deal. They remain defiant. They say that these attacks on Israel are going to continue. They say that this is in support of Palestinians in Gaza and that these attacks are going to continue until there is a ceasefire in Gaza. So it's very difficult to see how they're going to detach themselves from the situation in Gaza without being seen as abandoning its allies, Hamas in Gaza. And, you know, one of the main points of its existence, which is the resistance against Israel. So very difficult to see how we can see a de-escalation at the moment. And what about those in Lebanon who are not supporters of Hezbollah, but who are

coming under bombardment in these airstrikes? What are they saying? Yeah, what is happening in the country is that people are coming together regardless of their political affiliations, religion affiliations. They believe that the country is under attack. There's a lot of pressure on services. So people are trying to help each other as these attacks continue. You know, widespread attacks, thousands of people have been displaced, hundreds of people have been killed. So obviously, a lot of people here dislike Hezbollah, but they dislike Israel more. I think, you know, given the scale of what's happening here, we haven't heard strong criticism from people who oppose Hezbollah. But I think it's fair to say that perhaps

some people wouldn't be unhappy to see a degraded Hezbollah, a weakened Hezbollah, because this is a group that many say acts as a state within the state. Many people have been accusing Hezbollah of dragging Lebanon into a conflict with Israel that is not in the country's interest. But up until now, we're seeing unity and we're seeing people coming together to help those who've been affected by the conflict. Hugo Bechega in Beirut. Pope Francis has again apologised and expressed shame over

child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. He's in Belgium, where he'll meet some of the survivors of that abuse. He's also expressed sorrow over the practice of forced adoption. I've been speaking to our Europe regional editor, Danny Eberhard. Well, this is a major problem for the Catholic Church globally. Obviously, you think of countries like Ireland, Spain, Poland, these sort of places, but also in Belgium. So there's been a couple of parliamentary inquiries already in Belgium into the issue, and there may well be a third one. So the Pope acknowledged and spoke in a very heartfelt way about the shame of the issue and acknowledging that the church had to take responsibility for it. But he did say that the church was taking action to address the issue.

I refer to the tragic instances of child abuse, which is a scourge that the church is addressing firmly and decisively by listening to and accompanying those who have been wounded and by implementing a prevention programme throughout the world. firmly and decisively, by listening to and accompanying those who have been wounded, and by implementing a prevention programme throughout the world. Brothers and sisters, this is a shame, the abuse of minors. He also talked about forced adoption, didn't he? Yeah, and this is a problem that exists, obviously, in wider societies, not just the Catholic Church, but obviously Catholic Church institutions were heavily involved in this.

One news site estimated about 30,000 children in Belgium were taken from their mothers between 1945 and the 1980s. So from institutions, for example, run by nuns. And this is what Pope Francis had to say about this issue. I was saddened to learn about the practice of forced adoption that also took place here in Belgium between the 1950s and the 1970s. In those poignant stories, we see how the bitter fruit of wrongdoing and criminality was mixed in with what was unfortunately the prevailing view in all parts of society at that time. So he said it was a problem

that was justified as being in the interest of both the mother and the child, and many in society saw that it was protecting them from stigma of giving birth or being an illegitimate child. But obviously there's much greater knowledge now of the massive trauma and injustice done both to mothers and children on that. So the idea that people may have been acting in good conscience at the time, the society's view of that has radically transformed. And the Pope is meeting survivors, isn't he, but is being pushed to do more? Yes. So what was interesting, Val, was that the King Philippe, the King of the Belgians, was also at this audience and spoke in unusually direct terms about this, as did Prime Minister Alexander de Croix. So the King spoke of the fact that the Catholic Church had taken

far too long to address these scandals. Alexander de Croix, the Prime Minister, said that words were not enough and concrete measures must be taken. He also underlined the fact that both of these scandals, child abuse and forced adoption, had badly damaged the trust between the church and Belgian society. And the meeting this afternoon between the victims and the Pope will last about an hour. A lot of victims have been calling for justice, obviously, but also for reparations as part of that. And of course, what's happened in Belgium happened, as you said, across the world. The Catholic Church has already paid out massive sums in places like the US

for this sort of abuse. The Pope has made it one of the prime objectives of his papacy to tackle it. But critics say he was very slow in getting that ball rolling. Danny Eberhard. The actress Dame Maggie Smith has died at the age of 89. Katie Razzell looks back at her life.

Little girls, I am in the business of putting old heads on young shoulders. Maggie Smith in the prime of Miss Jean Brodie. I am dedicated to you in my prime. She won an Oscar for her portrayal of a maverick teacher in 1930s Edinburgh, though with typical wry humour, she claimed it did her little good. It's had absolutely no effect on my career whatsoever, I have to say, because when I did get it for Best Actress, I didn't think I worked again in films for years. In fact, she appeared in five films over the next ten years and won another Oscar for California Suite,

playing an actress who has been nominated for an Academy Award. Maggie Smith had already become a star as a classical actress on the stage and on TV, in roles such as Portia in The Merchant of Venice. If he lose, he makes a swan-like end, fading in music. She was versatile, even singing and dancing in Oh What a Lovely War. But on Saturday I'm willing, if you'll only take the shilling, to make a man of anyone. But she had a particular genius for comedy.

I prefer acting in straight plays, but I find that comedy is much easier for me personally. For Maggie Smith, serious acting and comedy weren't so far apart. Here she is in Alan Bennett's Talking Heads, playing the quietly desperate wife of a vicar. The sermon was about sex. I didn't actually nod off, though I'd heard it before. She played some of her best-loved characters in her 70s, including Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter films. Now, today we will be transforming animals into water goblets. And in Downton Abbey, she was the Dowager Countess of Grantham, mistress of the devastating Putdown.

When I'm with her, I'm reminded of the virtues of the English. But isn't she American? Exactly. Dame Maggie Smith, who has died at the age of 89. We learn what we can expect from a meeting between Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump. Life and death were two very realistic coexisting possibilities in my life. I didn't even think I'd make it to like my 16th birthday, to be honest.

I grew up being scared of who I was. Any one of us at any time can be affected by mental health and addictions. Just taking that first step makes a big difference. It's the hardest step. But CAMH was there from the beginning. Everyone deserves better mental health care. To hear more stories of recovery, visit CAMH.ca. If you're hearing this, you're probably already listening

to BBC's award-winning news podcasts. But did you know that you can listen to them without ads? Get current affairs podcasts like Global News, AmeriCast and The Global Story, plus other great BBC podcasts from trip to Omdurban, part of Sudan's capital and one of the battlefields of the country's civil war. The army pushed the paramilitary rapid support forces out of key areas in months of fierce fighting earlier this year, and now it's launched a new offensive to take back Khartoum. Civilians are suffering from regular shelling and those living in RSF held areas, particularly women, have described lives

of almost unbearable hardship. Barbara Pletasha sent us this report from the city. I'm on the outskirts of Amdermund at a transit point for people who are coming out of RSF-held territory into an area that is controlled by the army. Some of them are walking, some of them are coming on donkey carts. Some of them are fleeing permanently to a safer area. Others are crossing the line so that they can go to a market and buy goods more cheaply and then go back to their homes. And we have been hearing

horrific stories about what life is like under the RSF. So what was it like coming here? What was your journey like? Very difficult, these women tell me. At every RSF checkpoint we had to pay, they say. They walked for four hours to buy food. Their husbands can't leave the house for fear of being beaten or detained. What about the women? Are the women safe or unsafe? The chorus of voices died down until one woman burst out. There are so many women here who've been raped, but they don't talk about it.

What difference would it make anyway? Some girls, the RSF makes them lie in the streets at night. If they come back late from this market, the RSF keeps them for five or six days. As she spoke, her mother sat with head in hand, sobbing. Other women around her also started crying. You and your world, if your child went out, would you leave her? Wouldn't you go look for her? What can we do?

Nothing is in our hands. No one cares for us. We are cut off. I asked them why they didn't leave. We're too poor, they told me. We have nowhere else to go. The capital is still an active war zone, but it's sexual violence that's become a defining characteristic of the conflict.

Both sides are accused of war crimes, but the RSF more so than the army, especially when it comes to rape. They deny the charges. One woman tells us her own story. She now works at a tea stall in the market at the transit point. But at the beginning of the war, she says, armed men broke into her house demanding to rape her two daughters. The youngest was 10 years old.

We've chosen to protect her identity for her safety. I told the girls to stay behind me and I said to the RSF, if you want to rape anyone, it has to be me. They hit me and told me to take off my clothes. Before I took them off, I told my girls to leave and they jumped over the fence. Then one of the men laid on me. The other women we met are gathering now to begin the trek back home. For as long as this war goes on, they have no choice but to return to its horrors. Barbara Pletushe. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky is due to meet Donald Trump on Friday at Trump Tower in New York. In talks at the White House, President Biden promised him unwavering support

for Ukraine and stressed the importance of strengthening its position on the battlefield. But Mr Trump has become increasingly critical of continued US funding for the conflict and in recent days has sharpened his attacks against Mr Zelensky. Here's our North America correspondent, David Willis. President Zelensky's meeting with Donald Trump could prove the most significant of his current US tour. Shortly after President Biden and his deputy Kamala Harris had separately restated their continued unwavering support for Ukraine, and Mr Biden had announced a new military aid package valued at nearly $8 billion, came word that a meeting with Ms Harris's presidential rival would be taking place after all.

Such a meeting appeared to have been put on ice amid growing anger on the part of senior Republicans over a visit by Mr. Zelensky earlier in the week to the swing state of Pennsylvania, which they deemed partisan, and by Donald Trump's increasingly personal criticism of the Ukrainian leader himself. As well as condemning Ukraine's failure to strike a deal with Russia to end the war, Mr Trump also characterised the Ukrainian leader as probably the greatest salesman on earth. Given the contrasting political views surrounding continued funding of the war in Ukraine from its biggest international donor, much clearly depends on the outcome of this year's US presidential election.

David Willis. Kenya's President William Ruto has announced that 600 more Kenyan security personnel will be deployed to Haiti by the end of the year to fight armed gangs and police the country. At home, his own police have been accused of firing on protesters while out of uniform. President Ruto, who's currently in New York for the UN General Assembly, has been speaking to Sumi Somaskanda. What has been achieved in 100 days is phenomenal. The palace is now safe, the airport is now safe, the hospital is now OK, the police academy has been recovered

and there are policemen now being trained. The port is fairly quiet. So the challenge we have is that we only have 400 security officers supporting the Haitian police. If we had the deployment of 2,500, we would be talking about a different story. And that is why I took the decision when I went to Haiti and realized the amount of progress that had been made on the ground and understood that the impediment is the numbers, because territory that has been recovered cannot be contained because there are fewer officers than are required. Therefore, I made the decision that next month we will send 300 security personnel. In November, we will send another 300. And I am going to work with all the other partner countries, the U.S., Canada, Caribbean, Burundi, Chad,

and all the other countries that have, including Benin, that have committed to deploying troops so that we can do this by January, because I believe that within a year, we should be able to complete that task and be able to— To stabilize the situation. Absolutely. So let me ask you this, because you're describing progress. The BBC has spoken to people on the ground who say many Haitians are very disillusioned with this deployment so far because they say gang violence and gangs have tightened their grip. Did you witness that?

Well, I think the people of Haiti are really entitled to feel that we aren't doing enough. And because of the desperate situation the people of Haiti have been subjected to for years, I am very confident this time around that looking at the situation, assessing, listening to the commanders, I think we have a real chance to stabilize Haiti. You will know that there has been criticism at home in Kenya as well over this deployment. And we saw Amnesty International in Kenya release a report recently about what happened during anti-government protests in your country. And they said on June 25th, Kenyan police out of uniform, with no official identification, fired live rounds at demonstrators.

Is that true? Well, that is the assertion of Amnesty International. The situation in Kenya is different, and there are assessments. We have an independent police oversight authority that investigates every allegation against the police. So you're saying this report is not true? That exercise is going on. In fact, the situation that you are discussing is under investigation in Kenya. I do not think anybody can arrive at a conclusion that this or that happened unless

and until an independent investigation is carried out. And if you arrive at that... As for criticism, you know, there were many pessimists. There were many critics. There were many people who never thought that this deployment would happen and that we would make any significant progress. I want to tell you that sentiment, even in Kenya, is changing because people are realizing there is progress being made on the ground. Just quickly, if your independent investigation comes to the conclusion that there was misconduct by the police, there will be consequences? Absolutely. I mean, that is why we have an independent institution. And Kenya is a functional democracy.

We are robustly democratic. And we have institutions. We have an independent judiciary. We have a parliament that works. We have an executive that is held accountable by all the agencies, including independent institutions like the Independent Police Oversight Authority. Kenya's President William Ruto. Companies are being warned about the increasing use of AI to carry out what's been called CEO fraud. More victims are coming forward with their stories

of being targeted using generative AI techniques. One case in Hong Kong reportedly saw an AI clone used during a video meeting to trick staff into losing $25 million. But while some fear the rise of AI clones, companies including Zoom say we should be excited about a future where your own clone can go to a meeting on your behalf. Cyber correspondent Joe Tidy and his clone reports. Hello, Joe. What is it that Joe Tidy likes to do for fun? I enjoy participating in triathlons, marathons and wild swimming. I also like golfing and I'm a movie geek. Did you spot the difference there? The first voice was me. The second was an AI clone of me.

Not just my voice, my face too, albeit a bit twitchy and with a lot of blinking. What are your thoughts on artificial intelligence? I believe artificial intelligence AI has immense transformative potential. It can revolutionise... Aside from the long delays, it works pretty well one-on-one. But what happens if I send my clone to a work meeting? Hi, team. Thank you very much. Sorry, I had to knit downstairs to do something. So, Joe, can you update us on what you're working on? Hey, how's it going?

Good, thank you. Oh, it is AI, isn't it? It's AI. It's definitely AI. I said it was AI to start with. The blinking was so weird. What's he saying? It's pretty fascinating stuff. By the way, my connection's been a bit dodgy today, so if I'm slow to respond, you know why. This AI clone was fooling no one then, but there's growing excitement about the tech. Zoom's CEO says we'll one day be able to send our clones to meetings on our behalf. But of course, criminals are experimenting too.

Police in Hong Kong are investigating after cyber fraudsters used some sort of AI face and voice cloning to trick an employee during a live work video meeting. $25 million was transferred in the fake deal in February, thought to be the first case of criminals using live cloning tools to carry out so-called CEO fraud. But voice cloning attacks are now far more common. Martin, upon seeing the NDI,

I will be able to furnish you with additional details to ensure the successful completion of this operation. In his central London office, Martin Greenfield, the CEO of security company Cube Orbis, shows me the voice notes that he thought were from his new boss. Yeah, I mean, they were quite lifelike. And actually, later on in the process, when I actually forwarded these to someone who's known him for years, he actually said, OK, well, that actually could be Marco. Martin was very nearly tricked into transferring £800,000 to the criminals. So presumably the criminals would have taken maybe even that video,

put it through a machine, then made your bespoke voicemails. Absolutely. Only need a few seconds, apparently, of speech to work with, and they pick up the mannerisms, they pick up the kind of way and the language and the way it's used, and actually quite, quite believable. Martin only spotted the scam after triple-checking an email address used by the scammers, pretending to be a lawyer. All the perils and positives of AI clones are coming at us fast. Great to see you back. What would you like to talk about today? MyClones creator, Suneh Linnarup from Friar AI, says there is real potential in this technology. There are differences in expectations.

If I'm telling you I have created a digital twin, it acts exactly like me, you would pretty soon tell me that, no, this is not you. On the other hand, if I say, hey, I have an assistant, it's an AI, you'd have a completely different set of expectations. Face swapping technology does cost a lot of money to do right. But again, everything gets cheaper and it happens so fast. Clearly, we're going to have to start working a lot harder to make sure we know who's on the other side of that screen. If you ever have more questions or want to chat again, feel free to reach out. Have a wonderful day.

Joe Tidy and his clone. No clones of presenters on the podcast yet. That's it from us for now, but there'll be a new edition of the Global the podcast yet. That's it from us for now, but there'll be a new edition of the Global News Podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, send us an email.

The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at Global News Pod. This edition was mixed by Chris Lovelock. The producer was Charlotte Gallagher. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Valerie Sanderson. Until next time, bye-bye. Life and death were two very realistic coexisting possibilities in my life.

I didn't even think I'd make it to like like, my 16th birthday, to be honest. I grew up being scared of who I was. Any one of us at any time can be affected by mental health and addictions. Just taking that first step makes a big difference. It's the hardest step. But CAMH was there from the beginning. Everyone deserves better mental health care. To hear more stories of recovery,

visit camh.ca. If you're hearing this, you're probably already listening to BBC's award-winning news podcasts. But did you know that you can listen to them without ads? Get current affairs podcasts like Global News, AmeriCast and The Global Story, plus other great BBC podcasts from history to comedy to true crime, all ad-free. Simply subscribe to BBC Podcast Premium on Apple Podcasts or listen to Amazon Music with a Prime membership. Spend less time on ads and more time with BBC Podcasts.