Global News Podcast - Sudan's hospitals deliberately targeted by RSF fighters

Episode Date: October 23, 2026

A BBC investigation has found evidence that Sudanese paramilitary fighters systematically destroyed El-Fasher's healthcare system during their long siege and subsequent takeover of the city in Darfur a year ago. UN human rights chief Volker Türk called the findings "deeply disturbing", saying multiple attacks by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on civilian infrastructure, including health facilities, were serious violations of international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes. Also: the Israeli military says two soldiers were killed in an attack by Palestinian gunmen in the occupied West Bank. The two suspected attackers were shot dead by the IDF. Ukrainian defence officials say there are still restrictions on their use of the Starshield satellite network, despite President Trump saying it was operating normally. And, the brave little octopus who escapes death after venturing from her normal underwater habitat.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]: A makeshift hospital in El Fasher lies in ruins after being targeted by RSF fighters. Credit: BBC News

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We report from Sudan that RSF, paramilitary fighters, attacked hospitals and health staff during their capture of the city of El Fasher. The Israeli military say that two soldiers were killed in an attack by Palestinian gunmen in the occupied West Bank. Controversial FIFA President Gianni Infantino thanks the head of the Asian Football Confederation for his backing. Also in this podcast, The personalisation is a next step up.

It's really exciting. It's fabulous technology. The question is, you know, how much can we actually demonstrate its worth? And this trial is its first sort of proof of principle, really. The new personalised skin cancer vaccine that's reducing the risk of the disease returning. In Sudan, a BBC investigation has found evidence

that paramilitary fighters from the RSF systematically destroyed El Fasha's healthcare system during their brutal siege and final takeover of the city a year ago. The fall of El Fashah is one of the darkest chapters of the civil war between Sudan's national army and the rapid support forces, or RSF, now in its fourth year. The UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk has called the investigation's findings deeply disturbing.

BBC's Barbara Petasher reports. Paramilitary RSF fighters celebrate the takeover of a main hospital in Alfashar, standing at one of the gates surrounded by sounds of war. But it wasn't just this one. During their 18-month seat, the city's entire healthcare system was dismantled. This video. shows a clinic waiting room after a direct hit. There's a big hole in the roof and the floor is littered with debris.

The BBC compiled a list of more than 40 such attacks, illegal under international law. Often health facilities were struck multiple times, sometimes with precision drones. When medical services were moved to alternative sites, these were also attacked. We spoke to this surgeon, Dr. Mohamed Suleiman, and other doctors who were in Alfashire, during the siege. They believe the RSF was trying to force people out of the city so it could take over. So the RSF is starting to hit these areas. So the city has no longer any way to stay there because there is no medicine being provided. So it was intense, it was deliberate. It is not random. And suddenly they beat me on my back and I fallen down.

Another surgeon, Azadin Ahmad Dahl, says the paramilitaries beat him when they raided his hospital. so he played dead to survive. They raised my hand, I leave it falling down, and the other hand I leave it falling down. They put their hand on my chest and I stopped breathing. And they said that, leave him, leave him. The rubbish died died. Leave him.

They left me. Then after that, I escaped outside the hospital. Dr. Ezzedin told us the building where he did his operations had been hit several times while he was in surgery. He also said drones followed people taking the injured to hospital and bombed them. We put our findings to the UN Human Rights Chief, Volker Turk. He called them deeply disturbing

and said the repeated RSF attacks on Alfasher's health facilities could amount to war crimes. RSF officials say they're restoring health care in Alfacer in videos they publish, this one showing women in military fatigues attending to patients. They dismissed our evidence as lies, propaganda from the army and its allies. The RSF's health minister, Dr. Alauddin Noggi,

told me civilian hospitals had been legitimate targets because they were used as military bases. We found no independent evidence of that. These people used these health facilities or most of them as a military base. Why? To get this misconception of people targeting the hospitals. Did you see missile launchers and military equipment in the South Hospital and in the Saudi hospital, the two main hospitals? Did you see that personally? I went to Al-Fashir.

What did you see in those hospitals? Did you see military equipment there? And I saw and I met the people who were there. The health minister did go to El Fasher right after the city fell. A video the RSF released of that visit shows him surrounded by medical workers, who he said he was liberating. But we spoke to a doctor standing next to him at the time, al-Haj-Mohamed Ahmed, who said he was a prisoner.

I was forced to be there. If I spoke out of line, they'd put a bullet through my head. One year on from the fall of Elfashir, attacks on health care in Sudan's conflict zones continue as part of a wider humanitarian crisis. Both sides are accused of war crimes. And the front lines have shifted elsewhere, with no signs of an end to the war. Barbara Pletasher. The Israeli military says that two soldiers have been killed in an attack by Palestinian gunmen

in the occupied West Bank. Three other Israelis were wounded, while the two suspected Palestinian gunmen were shot dead by soldiers near a military checkpoint in Hebron. The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says the IDF is planning to carry out a major operation in the West Bank, and that the neighborhood in Hebron, from which the gunmen came, will effectively be destroyed. Israel's far-right National Security Minister, Itima Ben Givir, spoke to reporters at the scene of the shooting. This is not an easy morning. We are at a very, very difficult scene. And I repeat what I have been saying for four years now

at every cabinet meeting and every security meeting. The Palestinian Authority must be dismantled. It is impossible, impossible for there to be a terrorist authority within Judea and Sumeria. I got more details from our Middle East analyst, Sebastian Asher. Vietak took place quite early in the morning. at one of the entrances into Hebron, which is a real flashpoint city in the occupied West Bank in the south. There's video footage. There is an account from the Israeli military, essentially saying,

and you can see in some of the video footage, two Palestinian militants, gunmen, who get out of a car and then start running towards trying to find targets, perhaps, because cars are going through this area. The Israeli military says, but they failed a mat and then they turned their weapons. on a nearby military checkpoint. There's quite a lengthy video from the vantage point of those soldiers showing their operation quite a number of those soldiers involved. In that, the two Palestinian government were shot dead.

It doesn't seem as if the Palestinian militants were able to attack civilians. You don't see any people around at that moment. So that would be the implication. So this is a serious incident as the Israeli Prime Minister of Major, Netanyahu has said. He's praised the soldiers for stopping what he called potentially a major attack. And he is promising a shutdown, isn't he, where we are with that? This is just a few days from the election, and there's no doubt that he's seizing on this. The far-right national security minister we just heard, Itima Bengavi has already been there,

already using very fiery language. Ms. Netanyahu has gone further than what he said about the lockdown, not just of Hebron, but of the West Bank in response to this, saying that Israel would destroy the neighbourhood in Hebron from which these Palestinian gunmen allegedly come from. So house by house, they'll be taking that apart. Similarly, he said to the way they've dealt with some of the refugee camps, that Israel regards as a hotbed of militancy amongst the Palestinians. They've done similar there.

But even beyond that, he said that Israel is preparing. He doesn't say when, but for a major military operation in the West Bank, the likes of which hasn't been seen since for six-day war. So the timing of this, just up before the election, election, Mr. Netanyahu, who is unlikely to win an outright majority there, he may even lose, is certainly seizing on this as a moment where he can portray himself, as he always has, as for defender of Israel's security. Sebastian Asher.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino's hopes of being re-elected for a fourth term have been given a major boost by an endorsement from the head of the Asian Football Confederation, Sheikh Salman al-Khalifa. He said Mr. Infantino enjoyed the first. full commitment of his group of 47 countries. Last week, Mr Infantino apologized for his plan to sell stakes in competitions, including the World Cup. But despite widespread criticism, he's refused to resign.

The deadline for candidates to confirm their standing against Mr. Infantino is the 18th of November, although none have yet filed and he could stand unopposed. Mr. Infantino thanked Sheikh Salmon and Asia for their support. on Asia, on a united Asia, on a strong Asia, as host, as participant, as contributor for everything you do. And you can always count on FIFA, on the FIFA president, and on our joint way of working and acting for football. Our sports editor is Dan Roe. Sheikh Salman's comments represent a significant U-turn just two months after he signed a joint letter with the heads of two other confederations, UEFA and Conkerkath,

strongly criticising Gianni Infantino over his failed plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors. The three confederation accused the FIFA president of breaking trust through deception over the scheme, which sparked a major backlash before being abandoned. However, speaking at the AFC Congress in Tokyo, at which Mr Infantino was present, Sheikh Salman said, as one Asian family, we are ready to move forward, united in your support, Shiani. Alongside Mr. Infantino's power base in Africa and South America, Sheikh Salman's endorsement could be crucial in ensuring the FIFA president secures a fourth and final term in March.

The deadline for candidates to confirm their standing against him is November 18th, although none of yet filed, and despite so much controversy, he could stand unopposed. Dan Rohn. A new personalised skin cancer vaccine has been found to reduce the risk of patients dying or their cancer returning by more than 40% in a global trial. The treatment was given alongside a widely used immunotherapy drug. Researchers say the results are a significant milestone in the fight against cancer. Other experts say longer-term studies are still needed. Our health reporter Jim Reid has been to meet one of those taking part in the trial here in the UK. When I came here, it was a bit of a jungle, as you can quite imagine. Tony Chapman back doing what he loves best, showing off his garden near Corby in the Midlands. Back in 2019, he first noticed a strange spot on his chest and had surgery to remove it. Three years ago, though, more bad news.

The cancer had returned, and he needed a second operation. What was your reaction when they told you the cancer had spread? I was shocked. and very frightened, actually. Tony was then given Ketruder, an established drug that helps the immune system finds and attack cancer cells. At the same time, he joined a major clinical trial, testing whether a brand new, personalized vaccine could boost that response.

Dr Pippa Kori was in charge of running this part of the trial in Cambridge. The personalisation is a next step up. It's really exciting. It's fabulous technology. The question is, you know, how much can we actually demonstrate its worth? And this trial is its first sort of proof of principle, really. The process starts with a sample of the patient's own tumour. Scientists then use the same MRNA technology found in COVID vaccines

to create a jab tailored to that individual cancer. In the trial Tony volunteered for it cut the risk of melanoma coming back by 42% over two years compared to existing treatments. This research has involved patients not just here in Cambridge, but at hospitals across the UK and around the world. Scientists hope if this personalised vaccine approach works for melanoma, it could open the door to similar treatments for other types of cancer. Life is an experiment, and this seemed like a really good example of moving science forward, as well as getting some benefit for yourself. So what's to lose? If the research findings hold up to independent scrutiny, then the treatment could be approved as soon as next year.

There are those still big questions over costs. A personalised cancer vaccine may sound futuristic, but providing it at scale could come with a significant price tag. Health reporter Jim Reid. Still to come in this podcast. There's so much wonderful, wonderful marine life. I mean, the ocean contains so much. many wonderful species. We've got some unexpected stories involving sharks and dugongs and mola mola and so many rich and wonderful characters. From polar waters to the tropics and out into the open oceans, the BBC series Blue Planet returns. The Hubble Space Telescape was designed

to peer deeper into the universe than ever before, unlocking some of its greatest secrets. But after launch, A devastating flaw emerged. The significant spherical aberration appears to be present in the optics. National disaster. Hubbell launched with flawed mirror. The BBC Space Podcast 13 Minutes is telling the inside story of how NASA rescued Hubble. The future of space astronomy depends on it. From the BBC World Service, 13 minutes, trouble with Hubble. Listen now on BBC.com, the BBC app, or wherever you get to your BBC podcast.

This is the Global News Podcast. To Nigeria now where for the past two weeks, health officials have been investigating the circumstances around the first reported Ebola case in the country. Now it's emerged that the patient in Nigeria is a Ugandan-born woman who's the wife of a Swiss diplomat. Nigeria's health minister, Mohammed Ali Patti, gave this update about her condition.

Thankfully, that individual is being taken care of and in fact is recovery. I spoke to the clinicians and I understand that her lab results are showing great improvement and there's a possibility that she would recover from this. The current outbreak is centred on the Democratic Republic of Congo, but cases have also been recorded in Kenya and Uganda. I spoke to our correspondent in Lagos, Simi Jala Ouso. We have been told by health authorities that she spent around two and a half weeks in Kampala in Uganda.

She was there from the 16th of September up to the 3rd of October, and then she returned to Abuja via Ethiopia, where she had a two-hour layover. It was only four days after she arrived in Abuja that she started to show symptoms. Authorities don't know where exactly she contracted Ebola. They are investigating whether she may have come into contact with Kenya's first Ebola case. They believe that he, too, had travelled through Uganda, through Uganda's. and Tebe International Airport on the 3rd of October, although no link between them has yet been established. Initially, Uganda previously said that she had traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the current outbreak began, but the World Health Organization and Nigeria's Ministry of Health

have all said that they have not received verified information confirming that she went to the DRC. So the theory that they are investigating at the moment is that she may have contrabanded. back to Ebola in Uganda. And of course, she has been in airports and public transport, so she will have been in contact with many people, won't she? Initially, the Nigerian Ministry of Health had said that they had identified 44 people that may have been in contact with her. Initially, they also said that they sort of cast the net widely in order to include people

who may have not been in such close proximity to her, just to stay safe. They said that they've told those 44 people to isolate. However, more people have been identified and discovered as potentially being exposed to the virus. We just heard there in Nigeria's health minister being quite upbeat about her condition. There are hopes she will recover.

What's the latest on her and indeed her husband, who's also, we understand, in isolation? Both the Nigerian Minister of Health and the World Health Organization have confirmed that she is in a stable condition. They've said that she's showing signs of improvement. They said her husband is in isolation and has shown no symptoms. So there is a hope with regards to her case. The Minister of Health has also showed enthusiasm around Nigeria's preparedness for this outbreak. He has said that officials are taking the outbreak very seriously here. They've

stepped-up surveillance hospitals remain on high alert and have been told to report any suspected cases. They've strengthened screenings at airports as well. Simi Jolosu. In Tibet, 16 people are known to have died and 65 others injured after a powerful earthquake hit late on Thursday. That's according to Chinese state media. The authorities have declared the magnitude 7 quake an emergency as rescue teams search for survivors. It hit a sparsely populated and mountainous region of Tibet, northeast of the capital Larsa. A correspondent Laura Bicker in Beijing is following developments. Dozens of people have been injured. They're being treated in hospital. Those rescue teams have

arrived at the epicenter. They are trying to ensure that those who may be trapped in houses are found. There are over 300 homes said to have collapsed. Now it's worth mentioning the epicentre it itself is in Natchu, which is in a very, very sparsely populated steep mountainous valley in Tibet. It sits about 4,800 metres. So obviously when it comes to rescue efforts, that poses significant challenges. First of all, you know, oxygen deprivation. And secondly, altitude sickness. And then when it comes to the legs of the temperatures overnight, the temperatures have been freezing.

So they do need to make sure that those who do not have shelter at this time have shelter for the next few days at least. When it comes to this region, it is very prone to earthquakes. There was one in Shigatsu in Tibet in January 2024. And back then, emergency teams did also arrive quickly. So it does seem that when it comes to this kind of disaster, Chinese officials and Chinese rescue teams are able to get to the scene quickly and Chinese military drones are able to survey even the remote regions. However, we are still waiting for more information. and more updates. It's very, very difficult to get any information out of Tibet. We are entirely reliant on Chinese state media and that right now reporters have managed to make it to the scene

and are live streaming from there. President Xi himself has issued instructions that all-out efforts be made to ensure rescue efforts are done as quickly as possible. And they've also, the government here has also allocated funds, emergency funds, to the region of around $7 million. Laura Bicker, last week Ukraine's access to the Star Shield satellite network was restricted, making Ukrainian drones and interceptors powerless against Russian attacks. It came as President Trump put pressure on Ukraine's leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, to stop targeting Russian oil refineries. Star Shield is a military-grade satellite system created by Elon Musk. He's previously denied he was behind the slowdown, saying that was down to the U.S. military.

Now, Mr. Trump has said the satellite network is back in Ukraine and that Elon Musk had restored it. Well, I don't want to say, but I know it was a very interesting situation. So I don't want to comment one way or the other, but my relationship with Elon is a very good one. Yeah, I don't want to comment on it, you know, whether I called or whether somebody else called doesn't make any difference. guess the bottom line he put it back. While Ukraine's access of Star Shield was limited, Russia intensified its attacks on Ukrainian cities, including on the capital Kiev and the eastern city of Kharkiv.

Anastasia Perez Kavova lives in Kharkiv. I don't view United States as an ally and as a diplomatic agent that is working for anyone besides the Russians right now. And most of Ukrainians feel quite betrayed, by someone who we thought was our ally. We joke, actually, because we were like, well, before that, we were hoping that they will not stop aid to us,

but now we're hoping that they will not aid Russia instead. It's not yet clear if full access to Starshield for Ukraine has been restored, as our correspondent in Kiev, Dan Johnson, told me. The US president says so, but we've had a statement from the Ministry of Defense here in Ukraine, which says they are still experiencing this limitation. that there's no confirmation the system is fully back up and running, and that's despite even President Zelensky saying that he understood that things were improving.

They say the system is effectively still reporting problems, that it is in some places capped at about 100 miles an hour. So anything that's moving faster than that, which the drones they need to intercept what is incoming have to, they go offline. They effectively can't operate and either can't take off or, they lose control of them altogether. And there are thousands of drones in the sky at any one time.

The air defences around Keeve are actually in action right now. The air raid sirens have just sounded. Some of that is old-school artillery and munitions, machine guns. But increasingly, because of the jet-powered drones that Russia is firing, the Ukrainians have relied on drone interceptors, and they have to have Starlink or Star Shield connectivity in order to be coordinated, guided, and for communication to be maintained.

So that restriction the Ukrainians say is still causing them problems. And is it clear yet exactly who limited access? No, it's not. It's been confusing for 10 days now. There's been a real mystery surrounding this. Elon Musk owns the SpaceX system, the satellites, that this whole network relies on, but he maintained that the military version of its Star Shield

is actually under the control of the US government, the Department of Defense, which issued the contract for the Ukrainians to use that part of the system. So he was pointing the finger at them, saying any restriction must have been put in place by the US government. Donald Trump has said it's not us. Starlink, Star Shield, SpaceX, their commercial companies under the control of Elon Musk. But what he said last night indicated that it must have been Elon Musk because he didn't confirm this fully, but he said a call had been made, even though he wouldn't say who had made that call, Elon Musk had lifted the restriction.

So even if that has not actually had an effect on Ukraine's access to the system, yet the US President seems to be saying that this was a decision, a move made by Elon Musk. And it's not the first time that he's blown hot and cold with the technology that he makes available to Ukraine, the sort of technology they really rely on, but they know how unpredictable Elon Musk can be in his approach to some of these global issues. Dan Johnson. The Blue Planet, the first ever natural history,

series to give a comprehensive overview of the world's oceans was broadcast across the globe 25 years ago. In 2017, Blue Planet 2 galvanised a global movement to rid our oceans of single-use plastic and revolutionized our perception of life in the sea. Now, the BBC series is returning. Once again, narrated by David Attenborough, who celebrated his 100th birthday this year, Blue Planet 3 travels the world, from polar waters to the tropics and out into the open oceans. But the breakout star is a brave little octopus who does something no underwater animal should ever do, as our climate editor Justin Rowlett has been discovering. The octopus lives off the coast of a remote Japanese island.

This pool is her lifeline, providing the oxygen she needs to breathe. She's just a few months old, but has learned to do something extraordinary. She leaves the safety of her pool to hunt on land. Trying to catch fish trapped in rock pools. Got one. It took weeks for her and the other octopuses to get used to the BBC crew, says producer Joe Haley. They were definitely watching us out of the pools. They would poke their little eyes out of the rock pools.

and watch us, and the beginning they would just duck straight back down when they saw us, and then eventually they started crawling out of the pools. They filmed as the little female makes a potentially fatal error. She has strayed dangerously far inland. It took four and a half years and more than 2,000 filming days to make. In this new series, we venture even further. The goal to find stories that are new, not just to us the audience, but to Sir David himself. So what about our little female octopus out there in the midday sun?

The rock pools she relies on are evaporating. Low on oxygen, her skin starts to pale. She begins the long journey back to the sea. She's suffocating. Finally, a wave. Crashes over her safe at last I'm very glad about that Well Elizabeth White is the executive producer of Blue Planet 3

There's so much wonderful wonderful marine life I mean the ocean contains so many wonderful species And with this series we've really tried to go for sort of new and unexpected characters like that fabulous octopus We've got some unexpected stories involving sharks And dugongs and mola mola and the ocean offers so many rich and wonderful characters. But it's also, it feels a very timely series now

because it's 25 years since the Blue Planet and almost a decade since Blue Planet 2. And I think in that series we learned about the trouble the ocean was facing. But in this, we wanted to go back also with a sense of hope because the story is moving along and there's so many amazing people working to create a healthy future for our oceans. We see wonderful stories of recovery. For example, the fish, the men Hayden that used to be very plentiful off the coast of the United States, and they were fished to absolute oblivion.

And then fishing protections were put in. And over about 15 years, their numbers have rebounded. And now you've got sharks, you've got superpods of dolphins. And one of the most iconic shots from the series is a humpback whale breaching with the New York skyline in the background. And that's something you wouldn't imagine. could have been possible 20 years ago. But now there's a population of humpbacks literally next to one of our biggest megacities.

Elizabeth White. And that's it from us for now. If you want to get in touch, you can email us at Global Podcast at BBC.C.com.com. You can also now watch our episodes in full. Just search for the Global News Podcast on YouTube. This edition was mixed by Rezenwin Dorrell.

The producer was Rebecca Wood. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Valerie Sanderson. Until next time. Bye-bye. The Hubble Space Telescape was designed to peer deeper into the universe than ever before, unlocking some of its greatest secrets. But after launch, a devastating flaw emerged. The significant spherical aberration appears to be present in the optics. National disaster. Hubble launched with flawed mirror.

The BBC Space Podcast 30 Minutes is telling the inside story of how NASA rescued Hubble. The future of space astronomy depends on it. From the BBC World Service, 13 minutes, trouble with Hubble. Listen now on BBC.com, the BBC app, or wherever you get your BBC podcasts.