Global News Podcast - Prepare for a more intense El Niño, UN warns

Episode Date: June 2, 2026

The Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, says the world must treat the new phase of the weather pattern, El Niño, as an urgent climate warning. He said it would pour fuel on the fire of a warming globe. The World Meteorological Organisation says preparations are needed for a potentially strong El Niño event with an eighty percent chance of conditions developing in the next few months. Also: Israeli forces have continued hitting targets in southern Lebanon after an agreement backed by President Trump stopped them from striking the capital, Beirut. Two people have died in Kenya during protests against plans to establish a US-backed Ebola isolation centre. A British man could become the first astronaut with a disability to live and work in space; and Tom Hanks and Tim Allen are back as Woody and Buzz in Toy Story 5, as they try to make sense of a world dominated by technology. Photo credit: Photo by ANDREW KASUKU/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock (14248301d) A man rides a motorcycle on a flooded road in Chamwanamuma village, Tana Delta region, in Kenya, 07 December 2023. 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]

This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritson, and at 16 hours GMT on Tuesday the 2nd of June, these are our main stories. The UN Secretary General says the predicted super El Nino weather system will pour fuel on a warming globe. Israeli strikes in the south of Lebanon have continued, despite a US-brokered partial ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. Two people have died in central Kenya during protests against plans to establish a US-backed Ebola isolation center. Also in this podcast, I would be frank with you, we feel abandoned. We will continue to fight for us. It's existential. But I think the world really should step in and stop this suffering and stop these killings.

Ukraine remains defiant after one of the deadliest Russian attacks. of recent months. And our arts correspondent speaks to actors Tom Hanks and Tim Allen ahead of their fifth outing as Woody and Buzz. A new phase of the natural Ennio weather pattern could begin in the next few months the UN has warned boosting temperatures on the planet already under strain from climate change. The World Meteorological Organization says this El Nino is likely to strengthen over the rest of 2026, driving more extreme. weather events around much of the globe. Several forecasts from national weather agencies suggest it could end up as one of the strongest ever recorded, a possible so-called super El Nino.

Here's the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres. I thank the World Meteorological Organization for this vital new update. The science is clear. El Nino is arriving on our doorstep in the coming months with 90% certainty. The world must treat it as the urgent climate warning it is. El Nino conditions will pour fuel on the fire of a warming world. Impacts will it even harder, travel even further, and cross borders with devastating speed. I heard more about El Nino from our climate editor just enrol it.

It's a change in the pattern of winds in the central, the tropical Pacific Ocean. So the trade winds that normally blow east to west, either stop or reverse direction. And that means that affects the currents of water under the ocean. So the ocean collects heat from the atmosphere. And instead of that heat traveling towards the west, it begins to travel towards the east. And we've got a series of satellites. There are moored boys. There are floating boys in the Pacific that measure water temperatures.

and scientists can see this kind of, you know, a kind of wave of undersea heat developing and moving steadily across the ocean towards the west coast of South America where it up wells and that raises surface temperatures. So the undersea, this water under the water, is up to 6 degrees Celsius higher than you'd expect at this time of year.

That's a really significant increase in temperature when it gets to the surface off the coast of South America in the autumn towards the winter, we're expecting surface temperatures to be 2 degrees Celsius or more than you would normally expect them to be. That is a huge increase in temperature and that heat obviously is radiated out into the atmosphere and that's where you get the kind of ripple of consequences on weather patterns around the world. The weather is really all about the transfer of heat from the oceans into the atmosphere and then around the globe and the more heat you have it changes weather patterns.

So, for example, we can expect to see things like droughts and wildfires in places like the Amazon, Australia, and then into Southeast Asia, even into India, so it can affect the Indian monsoon with huge consequences there and indeed around the world. Justin Rowlett. Listening to that was our global affairs reporter, Anbarasan Etirajan. So what impact could this have in South Asia and further afield? As Justin was mentioning, the monsoon is going to have an impact because the Indian weather forecasters are saying India's likely to receive the lowest monsoon rainfall in 11 years. Now, why this is important? Because nearly 70% of water resources in India, they get their

water mainly from this monsoon rain. And given that more than 50% of India's farmlands don't have proper irrigation facility that depend on rainwater. So if there is any deficiency in rain, that is going to have an impact on food production. In the previous years, for a example, India, when they faced this elinio condition, food production went down, the prices shot up as a result, they stopped grain exports, for example, non-Basmati rice. So India is the largest exporter of rice in the world. So if India stops exporting, then the global prices go up. And also India is one of the biggest producers of sugar. So it can have an impact, but then again, it can also increase inflation within India as well. And this has real consequence.

for real people, including a lot of very poor people? First of all, the heat itself is causing a lot of damage. What we have seeing is 45, 46, even up to 47 degrees. A lot of farm laborers and day-to-day workers, migrant workers working in the heat. You know, you usually see thousands of deaths because of the heat stroke and other things. Well, people are feeling the heat more. But I also have to mention about this, you know, heavy rains, a month-long rain coming in within three days, for example,

what we saw in Sri Lanka last year. that was attributed to the changing weather pattern. And in countries like in Indonesia, wildfires, that is the main concern, because the last time in 2023, in L'INEA effect, they had 1.16 million hectares of forest cover. It was burned down because of wildfires. That is a big concern for Indonesia and also in Australia.

So the drought, they extended that the prolonged drought can cause, a huge impact on the environment in Southeast Asia as well. And Barasan Etirajan. Despite Israel and Hezbollah accepting a US plan to implement a partial ceasefire, fighting continued in southern Lebanon. But there have been no fresh Israeli attacks on the capital Beirut. President Trump said he had spoken to both sides, and they had agreed that all shooting will stop, his words,

after Iran warned Israeli military actions in Lebanon were a threat to the current US Iran ceasefire. Lena Sinjab is in Beirut. These talks really saved Beirut an attack, saved Dachia an attack, which is the southern part of Beirut, southern suburb, a Hezbollah stronghold, that has been targeted in 2024 and continued to be targeted. It's been really a very tense day yesterday with thousands of people fleeing for their safety from Dahlia neighborhood who are still stranded. The morning started with an imminent strike expected on Dahlia, but it didn't happen.

And that's because of these kind of round of talks. that mainly the U.S. President done after Iranian pressure to include Lebanon in a ceasefire deal. This is the first time that the U.S. President talks even indirectly to Hezbollah, which is an organization designated as a terror one, but that spared Beirut a strike. Hezbollah agreed not to target northern Israel, and Israel agreed not to target Beirut. But in between these two, the South is out of the equation where, bombardment and airstrikes continued yesterday with more than 20 people killed, including an attack on a hospital in the city of Tear.

What do Lebanese people think about these promises from the White House and Israel? I think people are really holding hopes to any thing that could stop the violence in Lebanon, even though Beirut is spared this attack, but many parts of Dahi are destroyed. They've been destroyed since 2024 war. and now more destruction. Displaced people are scattered in the country, in Beirut, in the north, in the mountains, in shelters, in schools, but even in tents, they're still staying intent. The great fear is that the South is now sacrificed, that the Israelis have boots on the ground. They occupy big swathes of land, including a strategic castle, the Beaufort Castle, that dates back to 900 years old. and they feel that this is the Israeli tactics in South Lebanon are similar to Gaza, destruction and occupation.

Briefly, is there a way for? Diplomatic pressure, but we've seen what the diplomatic pressure done to Gaza. There are still attacks in Gaza, there are still daily killing in Gaza, big swath destroyed and the Israelis want to expand more, and the fear is that south of Lebanon is going to be the same. Sinjab in Beirut. In many parts of Ukraine, a huge cleanup is underway after what was one of the deadliest Russian attacks in recent months. The eastern cities of Nipro and Kharkiv were targeted by hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles, as was the capital. Emergency crews have been out in

almost all districts of Keev, with teams searching for people feared, trapped beneath rubble. As we record this podcast, at least 21 are known to have died, including two children, dozens were injured. Russia said the strikes had been a response to previous Ukrainian attacks and all their objectives had been achieved. The Ukrainian MP Alexei Goncherenko said the world is distracted by other conflicts and his country was suffering as a result. United States now definitely completely observed by what's going on in the Middle East and in reality the negotiations which were started by President Trump for last year they have no result for the moment.

I would be frank with you, we feel abandoned. We still, we will continue to fight for us. It's existential. But I think the world really should step in and stop this suffering and stop these killings and stop this next escalation, which is happening right now. The world has means to do this, but unfortunately it looks like it doesn't have the will to do this,

at least for the moment. The Kremlin says the war in the UK, Ukraine has entered a different paradigm because of what it called inhumane acts of terror carried out by Ukraine. I got this assessment from our diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams. I mean, there seems to be a reference to the Ukrainian attack on eastern Ukraine on a Russian facility in Stara Bilsk back in towards the end of May. The Russians said that 21 students were killed in a dormitory. The Ukrainians said it was being used as a headquarters for a drone unit. There's no independent verification either way, but it does seem to have triggered a very strong Russian response.

I think the background to this is increasing Russian frustration at the glacial pace of the war and the Kremlin's inability to make significant gains in recent months. And more and more commentators are talking in terms of the war taking a turn now in Ukraine's favour. They see Russia's combat performance waning, Ukraine managing its manpower issues more effectively, a favorable casualty rate, favorable to Ukraine, that is, better tactics being deployed by the Ukrainians. Obviously, Russia still has an overwhelming advantage in manpower and has shown itself able to adapt. So I don't think anyone's predicting the immediate end of the war. But I think the massive use of drone and missile strikes show that that tactic really is proof that Moscow still believe,

that it can break Ukraine's will through the use of air power at a time when Ukraine's air defences are severely depleted. Yeah, but for all of that, we heard from the Ukrainian MP Alexei Gonjureenko saying the country feels abandoned. Is that true? What's the West doing to help? Well, you know, before the war with Iran, there were active negotiations going on to try and get a ceasefire in Ukraine. Those negotiations came to an abrupt end. Donald Trump is clearly distracted. Europe talks up its role as a supporter of Ukraine, but it doesn't represent a viable alternative as an interlocutor with Russia to try and get a ceasefire. And the Russians are certainly absolutely not interested in Europe performing that role. Europe can certainly support Ukraine. It's passed an enormous

90 billion euro loan to Ukraine. But, you know, it's passed an enormous 90 billion euro loan to Ukraine. But but it's no substitute in terms of brokering a ceasefire. Plus, of course, we have a lack of hardware. A lot of the hardware that Ukraine would want to use, to defend itself against aerial attacks, has been sucked into the conflict in the Gulf. You know, it's very, very good at shooting down drones, but when it comes to ballistic missiles,

you need patriot missiles, and only the Americans can supply those. Paul Adams. The world's largest trader in ships for recycling has told the BBC, see that hundreds of shadow fleet vessels are operating on the high seas beyond their design life with no legal route to be decommissioned. Industry figures warn this could lead to an environmental disaster. The US sanctions watchdog has now approved a special licence allowing four sanctioned ships to be sold for scrap. Here's our business reporter David Waddell. There could be 700 ships operating beyond their design life according to GMS which specialises in getting all ships

off the sea. This license covers four ships, so it's a drop in the ocean, if you like, but it's the first license of its kind issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control. That's an arm of the US Treasury. These are container ships going by the names of Rantan Plan, Bigley, Tiemann and Yogi, all about 20 years old. That's not too old. And all sanctioned for trading in Iranian goods. I spoke to Dr. Anil Sharma. He's the founder of GMS. He's been working for seven months to secure these licenses. So he's celebrating. But his firm's big focus is tankers.

When you remove a tanker from the trade, what are you doing? You're reducing that ship's ability to carry two million barrels of oil for trip. And so you're also limiting the ability for the sanctioned oil to move in a cost-effective manner. The old ships can really undercut the market. Safe ships would ask for a higher price, higher freight.

The sanctions are designed to sting anyone who deals with them. So many ports won't accept them. Insurance is hard to come by. GMS can't buy them and mainstream recycling facilities can't receive them. I've been told by the International Shipping Association, BIMCO, that in fact some are being recycled, but it's very much under the radar and in breach of the Hong Kong International Convention for the safe and environmentally sound recycling of ships,

which is a fairly recent convention. Here's Goodron Janssen's, the ship recycling lead for BIMCO. The sanction ships, the problem is that no one can really touch them. So the moment a recyclers enters into a deal that involves a sanctioned ship or a sanctioned company, there is a real risk for the recycler itself of being caught by the sanction regime as well. So what that means in practice is that more ships risk being abandoned or ending up in unsafe, subs standard ship recycling facilities.

She told me it's up from 85 in 2020 to over 400 abandoned vessels last year, and yet there are many hundreds of such ships still at sea. Let's look back to the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989. She ran aground on a reef off the coast of Alaska and spilled 37,000 tons of oil. It killed hundreds of thousands of seabirds and thousands of other sea creatures.

Exxon Valdez was quite young and went on to operate until 2012, but some of these ships are well beyond their design life. Their hulls are fragile, and as a direct result of sanctions, their engines are often poorly maintained. Should one of these run aground, particularly a very large crude carry or supertanker, we could be looking at an environmental catastrophe. Our business reporter David Waddell.

Still to come in this podcast, first, a Paralympic medal for sprinting. Now, preparations for blast off. The reality is we don't know what it is like for someone with a disability. I'm a lower limb amputee. What it's going to be like for someone with a disability like mine living and working in space. This is the Global News podcast.

At least two people have been killed in Kenya amid protests against a new US-backed Ebola quarantine centre near the town of Nanyuki. Hundreds of demonstrators marched. through the streets on Monday, blocking roads and burning tires. Police fired tear gas to disperse them. The Kenyan government has defended the construction of the centre by citing a health treaty with the US.

The BBC's Thomas McWana sent this report from the scene. The community here says that they showed up on the streets yesterday peacefully to protest against the facility because there are schools, their children, there are people who work in the facility that go back into these communities and they're afraid that could spread the virus here. The protest started in the morning, and by around noon, 1 o'clock in the afternoon,

it descended into violence, and there's talk of riots that descended on the town of Nanyuki, on that other side, and the vandalism of a low court and also a few shocks. But police, we've seen a few police vehicles, full of anti-riot police officers and also back up from the base to try and stop this protest from happening today. But people still say that they will show up to voice the discontent into what's happening. But there's reports of aircraft showing up in the facility, aircrafts flying in big aircrafts that are supposed to construct this facility that is now barred by the courts.

It's still ongoing, and the President and the Ministry of Health looks firmly in control of what's happening, and they say that they're going to keep this up because it's good for the Kenyan public. But the people will show up again. Everything is safe today, but they are saying that they will show up protesters from more places outside. Manuki will come here to try and bolster the protests that will hopefully not stand violent, but they may occur today and we'll keep briefing you on what happens here. Mohamed Yaqqqqqqqq Janabi is the Africa Regional Director for the World Health Organization. He's just come back from visiting Bunya, the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

So what I saw on the ground was humbling and inspiring. I met with health workers, communities and religious leaders, partners, organizations, working day and night under very extreme difficult conditions. My message to those affected communities was very clear and direct. Ebola can be stopped, but only if we respond quickly together and with trust, because I saw the contact tracing is still around 45%. And for our WHO standards, at least 80% to reach 95. People they tell you, they've got their belief.

Some believe is poison, some believe is a curse, and it's a mining area that maybe is a blessing when more people die. One of the efforts, Director General Ted Ross and myself, when we were on the ground, was to engage the community. Because to me, any outbreak, including this one, there are three main things. One, to engage the community. Two, to protect your frontline health workers. And three, is a very rapid diagnosis, and you can't. get the diagnosis without tracing the people. Communities need a very clear, very accurate information in the languages they use and from

voices they trust. Local leaders, faith leaders, women's group, youth leaders. People must understand what is Ebola, how it is spread, the symptoms to look for, and why early care dramatically improved survival. We have discharged six of our health workers who contracted. in the early stages. The message should never be due, as we say, but rather let us work together to protect your family and your community. It's starting to get through. Community engagement is not an add-on. It's one of the most powerful tools. We have to stop transmission, especially when you are dealing with the bodibungia, which you don't have any validated therapeutics or any vaccine. So it's very important to educate. I'll give you a very important. I'll give you a

very living example. When my photos went to out there in the social media, a very close family member wrote me, why don't you wear a mask? You are there. This is not an airborne disease. This is a direct contact with a patient, not direct contact to people who are healthy. Direct contact with someone who is Ebola positive. Now, what brings even more challenges now is when borders are closed. When you close the borders, which the borders themselves, they are porous. People will just use illegal entry routes, which it will be very difficult to get the contact. Mohamed Yakub Jernabi from the World Health Organization. A British man, John McFaul, lost a leg at the age of 19. It has not held him back. He won a bronze in sprinting at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.

He's worked as an orthopedic surgeon and he can fly a plane. Now, an agreement has been signed by the UK government with the US commercial space industry known as VAST that could see him go to space. He told Justin Webb more about it. This particular agreement brings me one step closer to hopefully realising a world first, which is a professional astronaut in space

who happens to have a physical disability, living and working as a professional astronaut. The reality is we don't know what it is like for someone with a disability. I'm a lower limb amputee. What it's going to be like for someone with a disability like mine living and working in space. Is missing a leg going to be a hindrance? Is wearing a prosthesis going to be of benefit? What happens to the physiology of someone with a limb missing in space?

Because I have slightly less lower body volume to start with, i.e. missing a leg, will there be less fluid shift up towards my trunk and my head? And we know that fluid shift in living and working in microgravity can cause problems with the eyes. So might I be less susceptible to those conditions? There is an awful lot to learn. I mean, those are interesting questions. But the basic fact that you are medically fit to go has already been sorted out. You are, aren't you?

Yeah. I've met all the medical requirements to fly to space and technically met the operational requirements. And it's just a question of now realizing that opportunity, getting an opportunity to fly in space. and demonstrate actually that it is feasible and also learn an awful lot of when doing it. John McFaul. And from a hopeful astronaut looking for his place in the history books

to another who's already earned his place there, it's now more than 30 years since Buzz Lightyear appeared in the original Toy Story film and he's about to make a return in instalment number five. The animated series have become one of Hollywood's most successful franchises. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen are back as Woody and Buzz, but as our arts correspondent, David Silato, has been finding out when he spoke to the actors in London.

It's a double act where they only actually meet on the interview circuit. What, no dog? Let me see me, Tom, David. I just need help. Medical help after the dog. Wonder what just happened. Hey, hi. Look, it's a human. Boring clarages. And you're listening to a very bewildered. Tim Allen and Joe.

Cusack. I walk in there with the dog. Who've just been interviewed by a puppet. Joni Joan Jones, slap me forward. Blue Peter's Hacker Tea Dog. Have you talked to the dog yet? Huh? The dog.

What about the dog? Have you talked to the dog yet? Welcome to the bizarre world of conveyor bell journalism. The Junkett interview. This one promoting Toy Story 5. It's good to be back. Starring as always, Tom Hanks as Woody, the cowboy, and Tim Allen, the Space Ranger, Buzz Lighty.

It's been too long, Woody. But taking the lead in this story about female friendship is Joan Kuzak as Jesse. Bonnie still leads us. Our time ain't over yet. I'm kind of wondering what these two guys are doing because this is your film, isn't it? Joan. Oh, yeah. It is.

It's the Jesse story for the girls. I think Tom and I should take off. This is good because it's literally. We just back her up. Hi there, I'm Lily Pat. Let's play. And the villain? It's technology and how it's affecting both toys and day-to-day human interaction.

Bunny, screen time's over now. Okay. That disinterest of somebody looking down and they, what? My youngest, we've had this conversation. I had a little argument. We do dad-daughter movie things, and she's in a movie theater in the movie theater. I just caught her and go, by the way, that's a thing. I know.

I put the phone down there. Show used to seven second movies on Instagram that she actually looked at a motion picture and she goes, I get it. He's going to be the villain and they're going to do this. And I said, from now on, if we go to movie theaters, we watch the movie and then you can biotch about it afterwards. Hello?

And for Tom and Tim, it's a reprise of one of the movie world's most successful double acts. My ship has crashed landed here by mistake. Yes, it is a mistake because you see the bed here is my spot. And hours alone, doing the voiceovers? We don't record together. We have never recorded together. You have never been in the same recording booth together.

Here's the thing that we are at the cutting edge of all technology as far as movie making and they still have not figured out a way in order for us to be in the studio at the same time feeding off each other's energy. Toy Story 1 has a very rare 100% rating on the Rotten Tomatoes review aggregator. So too does Toy Story 2. Even Toy Story 4 is it a remarkable 97%. And these days that success means when Toy Story calls, Tom says yes. I haven't really read the full through script after Toy Story 2.

Because I just said, I trust you guys implicitly. What am I going to do? Give notes on what I think. No, it's not going to happen. Can I play you something? This is from 1995. All of which on this fifth outing led me to think, I want to remind Tim Allen of something you once said. And this is from the Junkard interview from 1995.

Okay. I've always loved animated films, and I've always wondered how the voices get done. And now that I know how they're done, I will never, ever do one of these again. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen talking to David Silateau. And that's all from us for now. If you want to get in touch, you can email us at global podcast at BBC.co.com.

You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag Global NewsPod. And don't forget our sister podcast, The Global Story, which goes in-depth and beyond the headlines on one big story. This edition of the Global News podcast was mixed by Rosenwin Daryl and the producers were Richard Hamilton, and Tam Patachako. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Alex Ritson. Until next time, goodbye.