Global News Podcast - Israel and Hezbollah continue to exchange fire

Episode Date: September 20, 2024

Israel and Hezbollah exchange fire across the Lebanese border, there are fears the situation could spiral out of control. Also: a warning Haiti situation is catastrophic, and fussy eaters can blame their parents.

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 Jackie Leonard and at 13 hours GMT on Friday the 20th of September, these are our main stories. Israel and Hezbollah have continued to exchange fire across the Lebanese border. There are fears that the situation in the Middle East is spiralling out of control. A warning from an independent UN expert that the situation in Haiti is catastrophic

and the government there doesn't have the tools to manage it. And more women from all over the world accuse the late Mohamed Al-Fayed, former owner of the luxury store Harrods, of sexual assault. Also in this podcast. One of a kind player. One of a kind season. Shohei Otani. The Japanese baseball star Shohei Otani has made history for the LA Dodgers

as the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a season. We start with the escalating crisis in the Middle East, where fears are growing of a major confrontation between Israel and the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah. The past three days have seen some of the most intense attacks in Lebanon since the war in Gaza started almost a year ago. Overnight, there was an intense wave of airstrikes as Israel targeted positions in southern Lebanon, a stronghold for the Iranian-backed militant Hezbollah group. A few hours later, Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel.

The Lebanese economy minister, Amim Salam, says the situation is escalating by the hour and having terrible consequences. From the security perspective, it's been really outrageous what happened. And this attack has hit a lot of civilians, including young people and women and children. On the same front, the economy is another dimension that is being deeply affected by this escalation. Now, this adds another layer that really stops growth, stops any flow of cash related to investment, stops any visits to Lebanon from tourists, and puts us in a very tough place now in the economy and on the security front. The past three months, I would say, that witnessed major escalations in Lebanon has really decreased the number of people visiting Lebanon, even the Lebanese diaspora, which is known to be the largest that really contributes to the economy. These latest bombardments came just hours after the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah

vowed to punish Israel, which he blamed for attacking the group's pagers and walkie-talkies in a coordinated attack which killed nearly 40 people and injured 3,000. We've been hearing reaction about the escalation of violence from frightened residents in Lebanon. This is Rafaela. What is going on here is terrifying. It's like if we were inside a horror movie, our long terrifying dream, we are hostages. Yes, we are hostages. People do not have the means to survive, neither materially or morally. And our politicians have failed us.

The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to return tens of thousands of residents evacuated from the northern border areas to their homes. Or Tal Be'eri is among them. Basically, I have two kids. My partner is in reserves. Then we live in a hotel room, which is around 21 meters square next to the Sea of Galilee. I was born on the border with Lebanon. My mother was born there. I have friends in Lebanon. They know that we don't want this war. None of us ask for it. Shortly before we recorded this podcast, we heard from our correspondent Yolanda Nell in Jerusalem.

What we're hearing from the north of Israel, about 150 rockets fired by Hezbollah, the Israeli military renewing its call for residents to stay close to bomb shelters. This is really after we've had in the past 24 hours some very serious exchanges of fire. And we've had overnight the Israeli military saying that it hit about 100 rocket launch sites in the south of Lebanon, that it took out 1,000 launch barrels ready to be fired at northern Israel, other Hezbollah infrastructure. And the reports are really that this was the strongest bombing that we've seen, the heaviest bombing of southern Lebanon

since the 7th of October last year. That's when Hezbollah really began its firing of rockets at Israel in support of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. So there has been fighting going on along this border in parallel to the war in Gaza. And what about the military buildup that we were hearing was happening in the north? Is that still going on? Well, interestingly, the Israeli military is not commenting too much openly on it. But as fighting in Gaza has slowed, we have seen that Israel has been strengthening its forces along the border with Lebanon. And we know that this week, there's been this powerful army division, the 98th division that took part in some of the heaviest fighting in Gaza moved up to northern Israel. And that is said to include thousands of

troops. That's not something that has been confirmed by Israeli military officials but this is what is being widely reported and it's really you know clear too the military has said it staged a series of drills along the border. It wants to show that it is ready for what is what is called a new phase of the war. And we're hearing that there's going to be a probe into this video that's been online of soldiers throwing bodies from the roof of a building in the West Bank. Now, of course, under international law, respecting bodies of the dead, even if they're those of your enemies in a war situation, that is a requirement under international law. And that's why the Israeli military has come out saying that this is not

in accordance with its values and what it expects of its soldiers. The European Union is to lend Ukraine nearly $40 billion. President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested the money would go towards repairing Ukraine's energy infrastructure, which has been repeatedly struck by Russian drone and missile attacks, as well as crucial air defences and drone production. Jessica Parker has more details. The funds were announced by EU chief Ursula von der Leyen at a news conference alongside President Zelensky. This is part of an as yet unrealised scheme by wealthy G7 nations

to raise $50 billion for Ukraine from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets. Speaking on a visit to Kiev, Ms von der Leyen said she was absolutely confident that other nations would do their bit. The EU's aim is to start releasing its share of the money by the end of the year. Jessica Parker. It's difficult to get hold of official statistics about the number of people who have been killed fighting for Russia in Ukraine. But what researchers can do is look at such things as online obituaries posted by their families. Now the BBC, working with a Russian independent website, has identified more than 70,000 people who have died fighting in Russia's military

since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Olga Ifshina of BBC Russian has this report. The faces of Russian fighters killed in Ukraine are changing. Now more and more men in their 40s, 50s and even 60s are volunteering for the frontline. 62-year-old Rinat Khusniyarov was one of them. Before he volunteered, he had two jobs. Fighting for Russia, he earned seven times what he did before. Russian authorities have repeatedly increased sign-up bonuses to attract men like Rinat. He died in February this year.

We don't know where exactly, but thousands of kilometres away from his home in Russia. Last month, Russian forces faced a Ukrainian offensive in Kursk, the first on Russian territory. The Kremlin claims this attack has encouraged more volunteers to sign up to fight. There are no official figures on the numbers of Russians killed, so since the start of the war, the BBC and its partner MediaZona have been trying to build a picture of what's happening on the front lines. We have been using photos of graves, social media posts and news articles to uncover the scale of Russian losses. So far, we have managed to verify that 70,000 Russian troops have died since the start of the war. The recent figures also show that for the first time, the largest group of men dying are volunteers,

not regular soldiers or convicts, but men who have signed up after the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022. A study from the Russian Ministry of Defense, seen by the BBC, suggests that many of those deaths could be avoided with better first aid and medical care. Moscow continues to use so-called meat grinder tactics, trying to wear down Ukrainian forces. And volunteers now seem to be used at the most challenging parts of the front line. Our data shows that volunteers are now dying at a faster rate than in the first two years of the war. This spike in the number killed coincides with the Russian offense on Avdiivka in the east of Ukraine.

It was one of the deadliest confrontations in this war. Having lost thousands of troops, Russia was able to take ruins of Avdiivka in early 2024. As our count only includes deaths reported publicly, the true figure of losses is significantly higher. Asked for comment, the Russian government did not respond. Early this year, Ukraine acknowledged 31,000 soldiers had been killed, but estimates from the US intelligence suggest the number is higher. Moscow continues to push on, willing to exchange thousands of lives for small pieces of scattered land.

And that report was by Olga Ifshina. Now, some baseball for you. 1-2, Otani sendsani starts the 50-50 club. The Japanese player Shohei Otani has become the first US Major League player to achieve 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. Otani hit the record for the Los Angeles Dodgers with a seventh inning home run against the Marlins in Miami. Someone who is very excited about this is our business reporter Mariko Oi. She is Japanese and a baseball fan. So first, we asked her to explain this 50-50 club. I will try, Jackie, because I actually haven't actually talked about baseball in English. I only talk about baseball in Japanese. And every time I have to cover sport, you know, as you said, I'm a business journalist.

So every time I had to cover like rugby, I had to learn all the terminologies. But basically, stolen bases is when a player runs from one of the bases to the next one while the pitcher is throwing a ball. Does that make sense? I think so. And the hitter doesn't, you know, manage to hit. So the player actually steals their scream. Oh, my gosh, he's done it. But also what I thought was fascinating was after inventing that 50-50 club, he then hits another home run and then he steals another base. So it's now 51-51.

And MLB posted on Twitter slash X saying, oh, 51-51, LOL. So 60-60 next to anyone. So incredible achievement. Very excited. So tell us a little bit more about Shohei Otani. I mean, he's obviously been a baseball sensation. He's always been big in Japan. But obviously, he's signed that massive contract, record contract worth $700 million last year and joined the Los Angeles Dodgers. And since then, he's been doing incredibly well. And what's quite amazing about his achievement this time is that he's actually still recovering as a pitcher. He's got an injury and he had an operation.

So he's doing all sorts of rehabilitation as a pitcher. But as a hitter, he's been doing achieving so many different things. And that's that's what makes him amazing. But at the same time, you know, given I am a business journalist, I can also talk about numbers and money and the economic contribution that he's been making to L.A., but also to Japan. You know, the ticket sales, all the advertisement that Japanese companies have been spending millions of dollars to advertise against at stadium. An amazing baseball and also a great contributor to the economy. That was Mariko Oi and happy birthday to her daughter. Now, are you the parent of a fussy eater or perhaps you were that child who had a tantrum at the prospect of eating green vegetables. Well, scientists here in the UK

have found that fussy eaters are the way they are mainly because of their genes. So parents aren't to blame. Well, not directly anyway. My colleague Amol Rajan has been speaking to Dr. Claire Llewellyn, who is Professor of Psychology and Epidemiology at University College London and Senior Author of the study. We found that individual differences between children ranging from toddlerhood all the way to early adolescence and how they respond to the opportunity to try new foods and a range of different foods with textures and flavours, those individual differences have a strong genetic component to them. So the reason why some children are quite finicky with trying certain

sorts of foods and new foods and other children are really adventurous and they happily join in with family meals is largely down to genetic differences between children rather than parenting styles. Phew. So presumably you studied twins to ascertain this stuff. We did. So we studied fussy eating in a large population-based cohort of families of twins in England and Wales. And we measured fussy eating in toddlerhood, 16 months of age, three years, five years, seven years, and in early adolescence at 12 to 13 years. And we compared how similar identical twins are, who are 100% genetically the same,

with non-identical twins who share about 50% of their genes. And what we found was that the identical twins were much more similar at all of the different ages in their tendency to be a bit fussy around food. So this is going to make some parents feel less guilty, but those parents may also want some help. Did you find any evidence of what works in trying to get these little critters to eat your parsnip or whatever it might be? So that wasn't the focus of this particular study, but there has been a lot of other research into the sort of practical strategies that parents can use.

And there are three things that have a lot of evidence behind them. repeated exposure, which is offering your child that particular food that they reject very regularly without coercion in an environment where they feel quite calm, that doesn't have food meal time. And eventually children will often try the food and then they'll start to eat it more frequently. Continue to offer a wide variety of foods. So don't stop, don't give up just because your child eats a limited range of foods. And if you want your child to eat what you eat at family meals, sit down with your child as often as you can and eat with your child and try not to get too stressed. That was Dr Claire Llewellyn.

Still to come... We have received applications for a lot of marathon-based attempts at the longest time to hug a tree. The rise of obscure world record attempts in West Africa. Life and death were two very realistic coexisting possibilities in my life. I didn't even think I'd make it to 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 Podcasts Premium on Apple Podcasts or listen to Amazon Music with a Prime membership. Spend less time on ads and more time with BBC Podcasts. Now to what's being described as the catastrophic situation in Haiti. Gangs control most of the capital Port-au-Prince and their influence also stretches across much of the country. The ongoing violence has displaced more than half a million people in recent years.

A Kenyan-led multinational security force has been helping the Haitian police tackle the gangs. Some gang leaders have been rounded up, but the criminal organisations remain very powerful. There are plans for an election in two years, the first since 2016, but a UN official, William O'Neill, is warning that no election will be possible until the security situation is brought under control. Mr O'Neill has just returned from a 12-day fact-finding mission to Haiti and he spoke to the BBC. My impressions are the situation is catastrophic. It's worse than when I was here last year in October, November. The security situation is very bad. The situation

for the humanitarian issues like access to food, health care, water is much worse. I was in the southern peninsula which is totally cut off from the rest of the country by about a thousand gang members are holding about four million people hostage who live on the southern kind of branch of Haiti. There's no way to get out there other than by air that's safe and boats sometimes. But the gangs now hijack boats. And the one major road that leads out of the capital to the whole southern region is controlled by gangs and they've cut it off. When you say that things got worse since your last visit, how do you explain that?

I think a lot of it has to do with the crisis for about four months from late February into early June, when the gangs really did almost take over the whole city. And the former prime minister was never able to get back into the country. Time is against reform. Time works in the gang's favor. The gangs have used that time to replenish their arms and munitions, most of which come from the United States. I think it's a shocking failure on the part of the United States

to stop these weapons from getting here. And so they've been able to get stronger. The new government, which really started working in early, mid, late June, is still finding its way. They have a totally different approach, I have to say. I met with the previous prime minister. I met with the current prime minister, Gary Cooney. It's a totally different ballgame. Prime Minister Cooney is very committed to bringing change, to trying to get things right here. But it's complicated. It's hard. He doesn't have enough of anything. Nobody has enough of anything. That's the problem on the good guy's side, if I could use that term,

whereas the bad guys have lots of things. Unless you get the security situation under control, nothing else is possible here. They're talking about schools reopening on October 1st. They already delayed that by about a month. Five, six million people are food insecure on the verge of famine. Most of the hospitals in Port-au-Prince aren't working. So, you know, you can sense, I think, the frustration and anger in my voice. But it's outrageous as this has gotten to this point. The secretary general the other day made a very strong statement, I thought, saying, you know, Haiti shouldn't be this difficult. It's not that big. It's not Sudan. It's not Ukraine. And it's not that much money that's required both to fund the international force and to fund the humanitarian appeal, which is at a shockingly low.

About 20 percent has been pledged. And we're not talking about lots and lots of money on a national scale. It's peanuts, but it's not there. And that's a scandal, frankly. In these really atrocious, deplorable conditions that you depict so vividly, how do people survive? How do ordinary people get by? I ask myself that every day. We visited a displaced persons site in the city. People have been forced to flee their home, other part of Port-au-Prince.

The living conditions for them are unbelievably dire. Under tarps, when it rains, it's flooding. There's water, standing water. There's hard toilets. They don't get food. I honestly don't know how the average Haitian gets through one day, let alone day after day. That was William O'Neill, and he was talking to James Kopnell. Now, in this pod yesterday, we heard from the US special envoy to Sudan, Tom Perriello, and he told us that the Biden administration was maintaining pressure on warring parties to try to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Sudan. He said more aid was now getting in, but not enough.

So what is the situation right now? At least 12 million people are displaced. Close to 25 million people face acute hunger and need urgent help as famine looms. Some estimates suggest that 2.5 million people could die in Sudan before the end of the year. Amol Rajan spoke to Nathaniel Raymond, the executive director of the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab. He has been tracking the conflict in Sudan and particularly in Al-Fasher, where the UN says there's been an escalation in fighting. Al-Fasher is a crossroad city at the intersection of four roads in North Darfur. It is, before the current conflict, it was the last safe haven for Zagawa, for Nmasili, local African people who had

fled previous violence. And it was home to three of the largest internally displaced camps in Sudan, and arguably, in the case of Zamzam, one of the largest internally displaced camps in East Africa. And I know that using this high-resolution imagery, using open communication, you're able to monitor closely what's happening in areas like El Fasha. What are you seeing? Since Friday, we are seeing basically the eruption of what you can call a free-fire zone. Sudan armed forces have launched at least over 48 different airstrikes, if not more, primarily using ground strike fighters and attack helicopters. And right now, the Sudan armed forces basically have their back to the wall. They're stuck in a corner of the city. And now the question

is, is RSF breaking through? If they do, al-Fasher may fall soon. What is the overall humanitarian situation in this giant country, which of course was split in two with the creation of South Sudan a few years ago? It is several different disasters all happening at once. There's an outbreak of cholera that's killed at least, according to health officials, over 10,000. Khartoum and Omdurman, the twin cities of the capital, have been basically laid to waste. Think of Aleppo and Syria. And then in Darfur, there's been a series of massacres since the war started last year, including the El Janaina killings, which, according to the UN, may have killed as many as 15,000 maasalit. We're also seeing historically high floods, and that has complicated the ability of the UN to reach those desperately in need with supplies.

In the case of Zamzam and Al-Fasher, what is called Integrative Phase Classification 5, otherwise known as famine, has been declared, and those conditions are spreading throughout the country. And this is affecting, just so people understand, this is affecting well over 10 million people, many of them facing extreme malnutrition, many of those children. That's correct. And Sudan is now the largest displacement crisis in the world,

bigger than Gaza, bigger than Ukraine. Nathaniel Raymond. Here in the UK, lawyers representing some of the 37 women who have accused Mohamed El Fayed of rape and sexual assault have described the late Harrods owner as a monster whose behaviour was enabled by the luxury department store. Speaking at a news conference in London, one of his alleged victims, Natasha, explained what would happen when she was asked to attend a private meeting. And I should warn you that her account is disturbing. A forced kiss, his hands gripping your face to his lips or pulling you down on his lap where his hands were free to explore any part of your body that he wished.

These incidents lasted seconds, but the fear instilled left me paralysed. But I was always reminded not to mention them to anyone. He would know if I did. The legal teams said the billionaire, who died last year aged 94, had set up a system in which young women were recruited so he could assault them. One of the barristers representing the women, Maria Muller, says some of them were threatened by Mr Al-Fayed's security team to keep quiet. If they ever attempted to complain about the sexual assault, we know that they would receive threats along the lines of, you'll never work in London again.

I know where you and your family live. Frances Reid has been following developments. Mohamed Al-Fayed was not just a billionaire. He was a significant figure in British society as the boss of Harrods and then as the owner of Fulham Football Club. But allegations about his behaviour towards female staff at the department store, including sexual harassment and rape, are growing. Multiple women have contacted the BBC. In the news conference, their legal teams described Mohamed Al-Fayed as a monster and a predator who was enabled by those around him.

The lawyers said the luxury department store had full culpability for the abuse, also describing unnecessary and intrusive medical examinations for female employees. They compared the case to horrific cases that involved high-profile offenders such as Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein and Jimmy Savile and said their single aim was to seek justice for the survivors. The current owners of Harrods says it has a settlement process available to women who say they were attacked by Mr Al-Fayed, insisting the business is very different now. That was Frances Reid. For some, it represents a wonderfully pristine habitat for marine life. The waters around the Arctic play host to everything from whales and dolphins to strange-looking sea sponges,

as well as coral reefs. But under the seabed, there's something else. Vast supplies of minerals, including rare earth metals, which Norway wants to extract. And now the campaign group Greenpeace has warned that plans to do this risk causing permanent damage. Our Europe regional editor Paul Moss is following the story. The minerals that are there in the seabed are things like copper, nickel, cobalt and rare earth metals. Now these have always been valuable, but now more than ever. Why? Well, because we're trying to increase the number of electric cars in the world. These need batteries and these metals are needed for the batteries they put in electric cars

and in other industrial products that use renewable energy. But there's something else. Increasingly, countries are trying to ensure they have secure supplies of the resources they need. When Russia invaded Ukraine, it made a few countries sit up and go, hold on, we're dependent on Russia for huge amounts of our gas and we can't necessarily rely on it. A lot of these metals I'm talking about are actually there in China. And again, there's a fear of future conflict with China would mean you couldn't rely on supplies there. Also, Russia and China gaining influence in parts of Africa where these metals are found. Again, fear that they could then hold the world to ransom. So for proponents of sea mining, seabed mining, this is a win-win. There they are, the metals under the sea, close to home.

They also argue that sea mining is less damaging to the environment than digging up the land. I mean, there's another example. Indonesia currently supplies a lot of the world's nickel, but mining that has meant destroying vast tracts of rainforest. They say better to get it from under the sea. OK, so what's Greenpeace's objection then? Well, they say digging up the seabed, there may be less visible damage, but it's actually devastating nonetheless.

I mean, the more we learn about the sea and its other habitats, the more you understand that these are complex ecosystems, different species interacting with each other. If you go and destroy one part of it, you cause a cascade of problems which will destroy all marine life. They're also worried about accidents. We already dig up one mineral from the sea, under the sea, and that's oil. Look at all the oil rigs, they say, that go wrong. It could happen with this deep metal mining. And just finally, is Greenpeace alone in its objections?

No, not at all. In fact, Britain and France and some other countries have called for an international moratorium on all seabed mining. The European Parliament issued a warning to Norway saying don't do this, you could harm fisheries, for example. They also worry that if Norway goes ahead, that will encourage other countries around the world to start digging up their seabeds. We just don't understand the risks sufficiently, they say. That's Paul Moss. And finally, let's talk about cookathons, speechathons and skipathons. Because Guinness World Records says it's seeing a staggering increase in attempts to make and break new records from West Africa.

It really kicked off last year in Nigeria. At one point, the Guinness World Records social media account even humorously posted enough of the recordathons. But the mania is showing no signs of slowing down. Richard Hamilton reports on the activities with which people are trying to beat the world. In May last year, a young Nigerian chef, Hilda Bassey, smashed the world record for marathon cooking.

She spent 93 hours and 11 minutes preparing, frying, baking and roasting local dishes. Her attempt was supported by celebrities and politicians in Nigeria and attracted millions on social media. The Guinness World Records website even slowed down for days as thousands went online to follow her progress. The interest in West Africa specifically really blew up once Hilda Bassey had made her attempt for the longest cooking marathon and then ultimately being awarded with it. Mark McKinley is the Director of Central Record Services

at Guinness World Records. He says the engagement from West Africa has reached historic levels since the Bassi Cookathon. So we've seen many, many applications. So applications coming in for a variety of record titles and, excitingly, a number of applications actually becoming record holders so we're seeing more record holders from that region than we than we ever have we have received applications for a lot of marathon based attempts so we awarded the record

relatively recently for the longest time to hug a tree. There was three young men from Nigeria who did a variety of skipping records. So the most rope crossovers, skipping on one leg in 30 seconds. Between 2013 and 2022, there were about 7,000 applications from West Africa, representing 1% of the global tally. But since 2023, roughly the same number of applications have been received, or about 8% of the total. In the 1990s, the Guinness Book of Records, as it was known then, was popular in middle-class West African households. But Hilda Bassey has reintroduced it to the TikTok generation. The rise in West Africa is also partly because it's seen

as a shortcut to fame and riches in a region suffering from poverty and record unemployment. Although record breakers are not paid, Hilda Bassey received several endorsement deals. And the marathon genre has proved particularly popular, despite some health risks. A Cameroonian blogger went temporarily blind during a crying marathon, a Lagos masseuse collapsed in the middle of a massage endurance attempt, and the authorities in southwest Nigeria banned a kissing

marathon. Other unusual attempts include a 200-hour Cameroonian sex marathon. But surely the most talented Nigerian is Chinoncho Eche, who holds several records, including the most consecutive touches of a football in one minute while balancing another ball on his head, both sitting down and lying on his stomach. That report by Richard Hamilton. And that's it from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the Global News Podcast later. If you would like to comment on this edition or the topics covered in it,

do please 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 Nora Houle and the producer was Tracy Gordon. Our editor is Karen Martin. I'm Jackie Leonard and until next time, goodbye. Goodbye. 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.

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