Global News Podcast - Italian officials found guilty over deadly bridge collapse

Episode Date: July 16, 2026

The former head of Italy's motorway operator has been given a 12-year prison sentence over the collapse of Genoa's Morandi bridge in August 2018. 43 people died when the bridge running through the city came down in a rain storm during the summer season, sending cars and lorries plummeting to the ground. The ex-chief executive of Autostrade per l'Italia Giovanni Castellucci was accused of delaying planned maintenance of the structure. More than 30 others were found guilty in connection with the disaster. Also, as Washington continues to strike sites across Iran; we hear from voices inside Iran. Reports emerge of two boats carrying more than 500 Rohingya migrants have capsized off the coast of Myanmar. How 'Bluey', the beloved children's cartoon series featuring a Blue Heeler puppy will now be available in an Australian Indigenous language. And how singing and learning to play instruments is helping to give orphans and young people displaced by war in Gaza hope. 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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How did the United States build the largest soft power empire in the world with the help of some tiny metal objects? I'm Tristan Redmond, one of the hosts of the global story podcasts from the BBC. To mark 250 years of the United States, we speak to Roman Mars of 99% invisible. This soft power, this influence, was an incredible invention. For more, listen to The Global Story on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Andrew Peach and at 15 hours GMT on Thursday the 16th of July. These are our main stories.

The former head of Italian roads is jailed for 12 years for a deadly bridge collapse that killed 43 people. Pakistan urges the US and Iran to stop attacks and start talking again. and protests in Ukraine against the surprise removal of the Defence Minister. Also in this podcast, the healing music helping the children in the ruins of Gaza. Giovanni Castellucci is sentenced to 12 years imprisonment. Micheli Donferi Mitelli, a sentence of 11 years imprisonment. Marizio Cheneri and Emmanueli Di Angeles to a sentence of 10 years imprisonment. That was the moment to judge sentenced several executives and engineers

for their role in one of the country's most devastating modern infrastructure disasters eight years ago. More than 30 people, including the former head of motorway operator Autostrada, were found guilty following the collapse of Genoa's Mirandi Bridge. The tragedy killed 43 people, including several children. Ahead of the sentencing, Eglé Pissetti, the head of the Victims' Memorial Committee, revealed what a guilty verdict would mean to those who lost their lives and their families. We believe these convictions will bring a sense of accountability to how things are managed, more justice and more safety. We believe that failing to secure convictions would represent a major failure, particularly for future preventative measures.

Our reporter in Rome, Davide Gilione, explained the significance of today's verdict. The most important decision today is the 12-year sentence for the former Sea of Atlantea, Giovanni Costa. Lutsu, who's identified as the main responsible for what happened. Obviously, we know that it was a very lengthy trial. It took 284 hearings before reaching this verdict, which is very important for the families of the victim because they were left almost in limbo for the last few years because on the one hand you had the prosecutor saying that happened

due to the lack of proper maintenance. answer, but the lawyers were also say, no, that's not true. It's no one's fault. It's just a tragedy essentially to simplify that, because obviously there were a lot of technical details. There was like a damaged cable, which was, according to the lawyers, impossible to see because it was covered in concrete. So a lot of technical details, but the important thing is that this verdict is finally, you know, giving the families some sort of hope and some sort of peace. I was talking to some of the relatives the last couple of days. They were feeling really, really anxious before the verdict was read this morning by the three judges.

And this afternoon, they were relieved. The sister, one of the victims, she messaged me on WhatsApp saying that she was feeling much better now. Okay. And what's been said publicly since we heard the verdict in the last couple of hours? There will still be a press conference much later today. The families will be talking shortly. the new CEO of the company in charge of the bridge actually apologised yesterday for the first time to the families of the victims

and now there will be the appeal, almost certainly, but this is a very important indication on what the three judges were thinking. David, what's it been like covering this huge story today when you were very much at the centre of the events in question yourself years ago? It's always difficult for journalists to cover natural disasters, war,

zones and it always has an impact on you but this time because I was on holiday I was visiting my parents and it's very much part of my background that city that bridge which I used to take to go to the beach with my parents when I was little and it was such a busy day as well because it was ahead of a public holiday I could have been hit so a few cars from me were actually smashed by huge blocks of concrete falling down so I was I think I was like the fourth car. It was very confusing when it happened. So I don't think I realized immediately what was going on because mainly due to the storm. But there was this huge, you know, a plume of smoke, and all of a sudden I was part of the story, but at the same time, I was also the journalist. I was already a journalist. So I was

the first journalist at the sea. It was crazy. It was hard. And that was my colleague, Davide Gileone, with me from Rome. Come back to the negotiating table is the message from Pakistan, to Tehran and Washington as the US and Iran continued their hostilities. Overnight, American forces struck a number of targets. Explosions were reported across Iran. Tehran said if the attacks continue, it will retaliate further and strike more regional infrastructure. There's little doubt the US strikes at taking their toll in Iran, which was already struggling economically before the war began.

People in Iran have sent us messages voiced up by our team. This woman is from Tehran. Everyone in Tehran is worried and upset. Yesterday at the supermarket, someone mentioned that Abidane had been hit. Everyone was distressed and exchanged silent glances. It was as if a lump had formed in everyone's throat. And this man is from southern Iran closer to the Strait of Hormuz at the heart of the conflict. The war in the South is just a label.

In reality, it is a war over oil. And the people of the South have never really factored into the equation. Both the Iranian and the American sides are fighting over oil. Here in the south, amidst 50-degree heat, they still cut off the electricity and the water, and every night passes filled with the sounds of explosions, fear and stress. The help guide is through the apparent contradiction of Titfat strikes and possible talks. I spoke to Siavash Ardalen from BBC Persian. Very much like the previous nights, you have a repeat of the pattern where US strikes,

military bases where it says facilities having to do with Iran's ability to target ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran in kind responds by targeting what it says are military bases of the U.S. in the region in Ordone, Kuwait, in Jordan, Kuwait, and Bahrain. So that's the tit for tat. The only difference, I guess, from the previous nights is that the U.S. expanded its targets from the southern parts of Iran to some ports in central Iran as well. And also we had that terrible news of an area close to a hospital in Afa's getting hit. This is a hospital dealing with cancer patients. So if anything, the hostages are escalating.

And yet we've got Pakistan trying to bring Washington and Tehran their representatives back to the negotiations. We have no word of whether Iranians have accepted or whether a date has been set for talks. Iran yesterday. The deputy foreign minister said that it's impossible for Iran to accept to engage in talks under conditions of duress. This is while President Trump is saying that Iranians every day are coming to him begging for talks. So we're not sure exactly what's going on behind the curtains, whether diplomacy has taken a backseat or whether behind all this escalation, there is something going on that will pave the way eventually for talks to begin. And one hint today that it might be the latter is Donald Trump on social media praising Iran for releasing a U.S. citizen. Just tell us what that story is all about. Well, we don't know who this dual citizen is in Iranian-American citizen who has been released.

Some names have been mentioned on social media from President Trump's post. We know that it's a woman. Much more than that, we don't know. But yes, because Donald Trump has praised Iran in the midst of these. confrontations, that's a good sign. And also it's impossible to imagine that Iran would not release a person in the midst of this war without having in mind of trying to make a gesture. So maybe that's a good sign. Who knows? That's Sivash Ardalen from BBC Persian. In our previous podcast, we brought you the news

of Ukraine's popular defense minister being removed from his post. That surprise dismissal has triggered rare protests in Kiev. Mikhailo Fedorov had led what many viewed as an ambitious drive to reform and modernize the military. But it seems there'd been substantial differences of opinion between him and Ukraine's military commander-in-chief, Olexander Searski. Asked about the row, President Zelensky acknowledged the two sides were barely on speaking terms, saying he'd made the change for the sake of unity. Our Eastern Europe correspondent Sarah Rainsford told us why Mr Federo's removal was so contentious.

He has a lot of fans in the country, and that's because of his sort of modern approach, his modern way of acting. He's only been in the job for six months, and he had become pretty popular to give you a description of him. He often wears a baseball cap. He's a big guy. I last saw him a week or so ago in Kiev at a big defense fair where he was on stage with loud music and lots of techy kind of displays behind him. So he loves tech. He's a kind of can-do sort of man who like to cut through red tape and get things done. I think he ruffled quite a few feathers in the defence ministry and with the military.

And in the end, what's happened is that President Zelensky was presented with a choice, either his general, General Searski, his commander-in-chief, or his defence minister. And his defence minister looks like the man who's got the chop. And he's come out and sort of said, I try to present my reforms. I try to change things. I try to make things better for our country, for the defence of our country. but all of my reforms were blocked. And he says, you know, it's time for Ukraine to think about where it's going and what it's doing.

But I think it does expose a really difficult moment for President Zelensky when he's now faced with the choice of who he openly sides with now that this has burst out into the open because the dispute between the general and the minister was rumoured and talked about but never as clear as it quite clearly is now. And that is a problem for President Zelensky. That's our correspondent Sarah Rainsford. And we have more on that story on our YouTube channel. Just search for BBC News on YouTube.

You'll find the Global News podcast there in the podcast section, and there's a news story available every weekday. Now, to something extraordinary going on in Gaza, despite the displacement of almost 2 million people by the war. The widespread destruction of homes, the daily struggle to get aid. Thousands of children are flocking to a small tent for music lessons. Gaza Bird Singing is a musical group for young displaced people and orphans. The group's founder,

Maud Mouin Abu Amshar believes that singing and learning to play instruments can offer a way to process the trauma of war and cope with the loss of loved ones. He's been speaking to my colleague Charlene Rodriguez in playing her some of his new song, humming from his collection, Songs from the Rubble. The sound of the drones is quite potent. What inspired your latest song? I will be honest. it's coming suddenly in my mind that I can't sleep. The first moment that I will fall asleep, the drone coming and the sound was annoying.

I'm trying to do for that sound I can't. I just wake up and sit out of my tent on the beach and how can I ignore that sound? Let's make a song. I just bring my guitar and compose a song, and the next day I record that song and it's a message to all people in the world that we are still suffering.

And you have produced, mixed, and put it all together in a tent. I only have my phone. I don't have a laptop. Everything is gone. You know, I'm a sound engineer, first of all, a music writer and, composer, I know how to deal with sound, okay?

Just I use my phone and a little bit of AI. And when I go to Bithanon in the Seasfire, I just find in the rubbles, on my house rubbles, only the hardware, the sound card is okay. I take it with me and I find a mic. And I take it and plug it and plug it to my phone. It's working. Instruments have been destroyed.

Your students and teachers have been displaced, but you have remained steadfast, the Gaza Birds singing group. The smile upon the faces of the kids, that would make me strong, that what make me continue on this project. We displaced 15 times from Bid Hanan to Raffa. The project comes when I was trying to heal myself. In the war, I just, my friend bring me a guitar and told me, Mr. Hamad, play. I play the guitar maybe 10 minutes. In these 10 minutes, I forget what I'm suffering. So I want to make this experience for the kids,

to let them forget what they suffer. And when I do that, the first time, I saw the happiness, the smiles. Their eyes is shining, hey, we want to sing. I feel that. That makes me strong. And I'm healing myself, healing the community, healing the kids.

That's what makes me continue in this project. Ahmed Mouin Abu Amshah, speaking to Charlene Rodriguez. And still to come in this podcast? You've got a lot of slow motion angles and replays, zooming in. Women have just said, no, this is enough. New guidelines on how female athletes can and can't be filmed and photographed. The United States is about to mark its 250th anniversary. And so on the Global Story podcast from the BBC, we're telling surprise.

rising tales of American influence on the world stage and in ordinary people's lives all across the globe. We have this ability to export our story and a lot of people have bought it. I feel like the American dream is alive but not well. From the BBC, it's the United States at 250. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. More than 500 people are feared dead off the coast of Myanmar after two boats capsized, according to a statement by the United Nations. The vessels reportedly departed from Rakhine State in late June, carrying mostly ethnic Rohingyas, including some from refugee camps in neighbouring Bangladesh.

For more, I spoke to our Global Affairs reporter, and Barrison Etherajan. The UN says that these groups, they left in two batches, one in late June and also in the first week of July. The interesting thing is why they decided to leave now, even though thousands of Rohingya's refugees, especially from the camps in Bangladesh and also from Rakhine State in Myanmar, leaving for countries like Indonesia or Thailand and Malaysia in rickety boats and overcrowded boats. This is not the usual season for people to go.

This is also you have a torrential monsoon rain and rough seas. So they did not even reach very far from Myanmar. Now, what's happening in Rakhine state at the moment is, you know, there's a civil war going on in Myanmar. Our economy is controlling more than 40. of the 17 townships. So people are suffering under various conflicts. And the UN already describes the Rohingya's one of the most persecuted minorities in the world.

Over a period of time, the military crackdown in Myanmar was forcing them to flee into Bangladesh. I was going to ask you more about that. There's always an underlying story behind an incident like this. Tell us a bit more about why people are fleeing to the point that they're risking their lives to do it. Because the life is becoming unbearable, both in Rakhine's. and in the neighboring Bangladesh where the refugee camps, it's a crowd overcrowded. They don't have some of the basic facilities because of funding cuts. They are having a shortage of what they usually get from the UN agencies, from food and daily allowance.

And they want a better life because they have been driven out of the land, the villages, the homes have been taken over, their lands have been taken over. That's why they're taking this very risky journey seeking better life or safety in countries like Malaysia or in Thailand. And there is also another factor here that because of this desperate situation, that is where the human traffickers take advantage. They're charging them huge amount of money. Many people die on the way. They get thrown overboard if you raise your voice against them. And they ask more money on the way. There is also sexual violence against women were being taken on board these ships. And again, the UN points out that, you know, ongoing conflicts without the international community noticing the plight of these. communities will continue. And Barisan Etheridge and reporting.

For decades, female athletes have been subjected to potentially unflattering or sexualized images of themselves being broadcast on TV or online. Now the European Broadcasting Union has issued new guidelines advising broadcasters how to photograph female athletes using respectful camera angles to ensure shots and footage celebrate their sporting power and skill rather than undermining them. For more, my colleague Anita Rani has been talking to the sports documentary maker Danielle Selwood and also the president of UK athletics, Dame Denise Lewis. Definitely over the last few years that unsightly images of women competing in the height of their power,

particularly in the field events where you've got a lot of slow motion angles and replays, camera angles that are zooming in on very unflattering positions that women find themselves, in through the course of play. Women have just said, no, this is enough. We do not want to be reflected and demonstrated and seen in this way. And obviously the mental torture that some of these women have been going through, subject to social media, trolling and abuse online, because of these angles, have really come to a position where women are saying no.

Daniel, let me bring you in here. What are the camera angles that they've suggested are acceptable and what are not? and how easily is it to implement? Yeah, I think this is such an important piece of work. I mean, we've all been talking about this in the women's sports industry for decades. But I think what's particularly important about this is they've actually got very clear guidelines.

They've got imagery. They've got, you know, this is where you should put your camera for the long jump, for the high jump, for the pole vault. So it's very clear. It's not left for somebody to make a decision. It's got, you know, very clear where you shouldn't be positioned and where you should be positioned. How easy is it to follow these guidelines?

It's very easy. You know, there's guidelines that are downloadable, got images on. They've drawn. It's almost like a picture book of where to stand, where to have your camera angle, what to shoot, what not to shoot. Danielle Seward there talking to Anita Rani. Let's leave Earth for a moment and head into space. You might remember this moment from April this year.

Four, three, two, one, booster ignition. And lift off. The crew of Artemis 2 now bound for the moon. Humanity's next great voyage begins. That was the launch of the Artemis 2, Orion Capsule, which successfully took four astronauts to the far side of the moon. While the team behind the lunar exploration program are now ramping up their preparations for Artemis 3,

the astronaut launch in 27, and the head of science at NASA, Dr. Nikki Fox, told my colleague Rebecca Kesbby all about it. Right now, we are full steam ahead for Artemis 3, next year, which will be a low-earth orbit mission, a little bit different to the orbit of the International Space Station, but roughly the same distance from Earth. And there we're actually going to dock with the landers that will take us down to the surface with the next mission, test out the suits, the brand-new suits in space, and just get everything ready to be all eyes

on Artemus 4 and 5 in 2028 when we actually return astronauts to the moon surface. Right, so that still is the objective. We've already started stacking that rocket. Most of the components are at Kennedy Space Center. So Artemis 3 stacked, looking beautiful, you know, getting very close to being a complete rocket for launch next year. Again, so we can test everything before sending our astronauts to the surface. You have got another exciting mission on the way as well.

Now, this is going to help us with our observation of space. And this is the launch of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Tell us about that. Oh, could not be more excited. That is getting ready to launch. So the telescope itself, it's a big astrophysics telescope. It is in Florida at the launch site doing all of those final checks. All great.

It's actually going to go to the location very close to where the James Webb Space Telescope is. We call it the L2 point. And from there, it will look out into space. It will do a huge, like all-sky surveys. It will be looking for exoplanets, it will be looking for planets that could maybe have, you know, signatures of life out in the universe. With Nancy Grace Roman, we will, we've discovered right now, you know, about 6,000 planets in other sort of solar systems like ours. You know, we will discover billions of new galaxies, almost one galaxy for every person. Wow.

We will discover, you know, tens of thousands of new planets, tens of billions of new stars. I mean, that's what we're going to be doing, and we're going to be studying dark energy, which I realize sounds like what Earth is that. It's basically what powers our universe. It drives why the universe is continuing to expand, you know, why it hasn't stopped, why it is still expanding. That is the energy that literally powers the universe. We call it dark energy because it's very hard to detect,

but Nancy Grace Roman will be doing that. NASA's Dr. Nicky Fox there. If you have children, the chances are you will have come across the lovable and, shall we say, enthusiastic, six-year-old Blue Healer puppy who lives with mum, dad and little sister Bingo. I'm talking about Bluey, the award-winning Australian cartoon series. For the first time, it's been translated into Australian Indigenous language. Simon Atkinson spoke to the producers of these episodes,

Myattiki Marika and Will Porter, who hope the project will amplify First Nation voices when help with language preservation. What if Bluey spoke one of the world's oldest living languages? Well, for the first time, Bluey's been produced in Australian Indigenous language. There are now five episodes in Yungu Matta, which is a collection of dialects spoken in North East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. The five episodes that we chose really resonated because they spoke to our connection to country.

The voices, well, their local elders, musicians and children. We want to elevate and amplify the voices of First Nations Australia. And when it was shown for the first time, There was a few hundred kids there watching the episode, and they were losing their minds. Bluey's already been translated into over 20 languages. That global success has made it a lot of money, including for BBC Studios, which is the commercial arm of the BBC.

The producers know these episodes won't make a profit, but say perhaps it'll help keep a language alive. If one person turns on the TV and sees an episode, of Bluey in the First Nations Australian language, then who knows what inspiration, what seed can germinate and where we can go from there. That report was by Simon Atkinson. Now, you know we love hearing from you on the Global News podcast, so we were thrilled to get this email from Juliet, who says, I'm writing because I know you're doing a map of people who listen to the podcast. To my surprise, you said last week that Juliet from Luxembourg was listening.

It wasn't me, but I am also a Juliette from Luxembourg who listens to the podcast every day while working out. I thought it was funny to know there's a little community of Julietts around Luxembourg listening to the podcast. So maybe there are other Julietts. If there are, we might need a collective noun for you. Get in touch. Email, global podcast at BBC.com.com. And that's all from us for now. This edition of the Global News podcast was mixed by Vladimir Mazitschka. The producer was Guy Pitt. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Andrew Peach. Thanks for listening.

And until next time, goodbye. Is the American Dream still possible? I'm Asma Khaled, one of the hosts of the Global Story podcast from the BBC. One of the most successful exports to the United States has ever sold the world is the American Dream, that tantalizing promise of a better, freer, richer life. But is it still attainable? I feel like the American Dream is alive, but not well. more listen to The Global Story on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.