Global News Podcast - Suicide bomber blamed for deadly attack in Islamabad

Episode Date: November 11, 2025

Pakistan's interior minister says a suicide attack has killed 12 people and injured many more near a crowded courthouse in the capital, Islamabad. Mohsin Naqvi says the authorities were not treating this as "just another bombing". Also: India hunts those involved in Monday's car explosion in a crowded street in the capital Delhi which killed eight people. COP30 looks at how to help poorer countries adapt to the impact of climate change as extreme weather takes an ever bigger toll. Evidence that speaking more than one language can delay the ageing process. Britain aims to phase out animal testing in medical and scientific research. And the Portuguese football superstar, Ronaldo, says next year's World Cup will be his last.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 Nick Myers, and at 16 hours GMT on Tuesday, the 11th of November, these are our main stories. The authorities in Pakistan say at least 12 people have been killed in an explosion near a crowded courthouse in Islamabad. Indian officials say at least eight have been killed as a result of Monday's car explosion in Delhi. Thailand has suspended its ceasefire agreement with Cambodia. Also in this podcast, as the UK plans to phase out experiments on animals, we look at the alternatives. There's a real opportunity because of things like data, AI, the ability to make organs grow in 3D structures to really reduce the use of animals. And we look at evidence that the ability to speak more than one language can delay the ageing process.

We begin with the impact of two deadly explosions at the heart of the capitals of India and Pakistan, explosions that happened within 24 hours of each other. In a moment, you'll hear the latest on the investigation on Monday's car blast in Delhi, which killed eight people. But first, to Islamabad, where officials say a suicide bomber killed at least 12 people near a crowded courthouse. Our Pakistan correspondent, Caroline Davis, has been to the judicial complex in Islamabad where the bombing took place. This explosion happened at around lunchtime when there would have been lawyers, there would have been journalists, there would have been defendants milling around here outside the court's area when this explosion happened. The police have cordoned off this area, but you can just about make out between the partitions the chassis of a burnt out vehicle of a burnt out car.

There's also still a fire engine in place. obviously police tape too, and there are still some emergency ambulance vehicles here on the site. Now, despite the fact that this area has been corded off with barbed wire, we can make out that there are bloodstains on the road from those who were caught up in the explosion. The Interior Minister of Pakistan has already visited this site and spoken to local journalists. He has claimed that this was a suicide bombing and said that the suicide bomber was attempting to try to get inside the judicial complex, but was unable to and instead targeted a police vehicle outside of the complex. We know that people have died in this explosion

and that people have been injured who are being cared for at a nearby hospital, but we are still waiting for more information from the authorities. I asked our global affairs reporter Sanjay Dasgupta, what more we've learned about this blast. What we know is what we have from the authorities. The Pakistani Interior Minister Mohashin Nagvi says 12 people have died, 27 are injured. Pakistani media are quoting hospital sources as saying,

Some of the injuries are very serious. The Pakistani Interior Minister has also said, interestingly, that he thinks this is not just another bombing. I quote him, Verbatim. And it was being investigated from different angles, he said. And Sanjay, this is the first such bombing in Islamabad for a number of years, isn't it? This is the first such bombing in the capital in about six years, yes. And this is what is particularly worried.

the authorities, I think the Pakistani Interior Minister actually mentioned that, that this is in the heart of the capital. Hence, not just another bombing, as he says. And briefly, there are clearly a number of militant groups that have carried out attacks in the capital before. What will the authorities be looking at in terms of a group that's responsible? I am sure the authorities will be trying to look at, you know, what has caused this. Already there are straws in the wind, shall we say. The Pakistani media is quoting their Prime Minister, Shahbas Sharif, as blaming neighbouring India without providing any evidence.

There is, as you've just said, there was a similar blast in the Indian capital, Delhi, Monday afternoon, just 24 hours ago. There is as yet nothing, absolutely nothing, to link the two. other than the blood of completely innocent people in two different capitals, where two different governments sit, eyeing each other with hostility and suspicion. Sanjay Dasgupta. We go now to Delhi, where a high-level security meeting has been held to try and establish the cause of the car explosion outside the red fort on Monday night, one of the city's prime

tourist destinations. Officials say eight people were killed. The country's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said the nation stands with the victims and that those behind the attack will be brought to justice. This is how Indian TV news networks have been covering the attack. News coming in of an explosion in a car near Delhi's Red Fort. The Delhi police team is on the spot. We'll are live and continuing coverage of the events that have unfolded since the tragic explosion last evening outside Delhi's Red Fort,

which has left multiple injuries and multiple questions. as far as investigators are concerned. If what the Delhi police say is true, this is shocking. This is shocking to say the least that they're plotting the murder of innocent Indians living in India, studying in India. Our correspondent Davina Gupta is in Delhi and gave us the latest on the investigation.

I'm at the site right now where the explosion happened and I have seen multiple security agency teams going in and out of this place. It's still heavily barricaded. And when I was here last evening, I could see cars and motor-driven rickshows that were reduced to charred husks and they are still at the same spot. What we've been given to understand is that the investigators are now trying to trace the route of the car where the explosion had taken place. They are scanning CCTV footage around the area at this place and also in the adjacent state of Uttar Pradesh from where they believe the car travelled from.

The police have also confirmed that no sharpeningle has been found at this site. But a case has been registered under the country's main anti-terror law, the UAPA. And we've seen security agencies repeating that they're exploring all possibilities at this moment if this is a terror act or not. What if any arrests have been made at this stage? There haven't been any arrests directly linked with this case that have been confirmed by security agencies. There are, however, local media reports of another conspiracy that the media has been covering about a terror module that originated from Indian administered, Kashmir is what they believe, and they have been conducting multiple raids around the country and arresting people in that regard.

But there is no official confirmation linking that with this incident. But what we do know is that at least six bodies have been identified so far. There were health officials who were saying that there are several body parts, that were also found at the spot, unfortunately, and they were trying to give information about them and trying to piece it together. But so far, out of the six who've been identified, it is the families have been informed.

Someone is a bus conductor who had just finished his shift and was going back to work. There was an e-rickshaw driver who had come to Delhi to earn money for his family. And there was also a businessman who was visiting this area. So these are people who were just in this location. going about their everyday business and now their families are mourning not only their loss

but are also demanding answers about what exactly has happened. Davina Gupta, speaking to Julian Waraka. The latest United Nations Climate Change Summit, COP 30, is underway in the Brazilian city of Belém. The talks aim to deliver concrete action on cutting global emissions. One of the big issues facing negotiators is how to help people adapt to the impacts of rising temperatures Long seen as less important than cutting emissions of carbon.

Adapting to climate change is becoming more and more critical for people, especially in Africa and Asia, as extreme weather events linked to climate change take an ever bigger toll. Our environment correspondent Matt McGraw has been speaking to Patrick the Coyne from the Global Centre for Adaptation. Between now and 2050, 620 million young Africa come to the labor markets. $620 million between now and 2050.

We also know that African nations, on average, lose 3% of GDP because of climate shocks today. They also lose 3% on average of GDP on paying back their debt. So that's 6% of GDP already gone. These young folks come to the labor market. The economy is not resilient to the climate shocks. Where do you think those folks are going to? Obviously, at some point, they may migrate up north.

So it's not just a climate story. It's not just economic story. It's a migration story. How is that landing with the leaders that are here? I mean, we had some leaders come last week. We have some, you know, we have negotiators here, but they're dealing with a multiple mosaic of problems in the climate world. And you want them to say, look, guys, adaptation.

Up at the top because that turns the whole thing on its head in some ways. So basically my central message is you're missing the point, right? If you just ignore adaptation finance, because it's adaptation finance is about jobs, it's about growth, is about health, is about economic prosperity. You cannot, well, you can, you can build new highways and airports and what have you. But if they're being washed away by the upcoming floods, it's not really a smart development, so to say, right? So you need this resilient development.

And that's, unlocks the jobs for the future. How do you think that's going? I mean, you've got a couple of weeks here. Do you think there will be sufficient in the end result of whatever kind of a deal or not deal we get here? That will send that kind of signal to the markets and we'll say, actually, you know what, we're really taking adaptation seriously now. We're putting more money into it. We are hearing the argument. Yeah.

The wind is at our back, but at the same time, the wind is also at the back of increasing temperatures. So it's like we're in a sprint, right? I mean, I'm accelerating as an adaptation agenda, but the emissions and the temperature is also accelerating. I'll be catching up in that sprint. And that is the question. At the moment, we're not, right? I mean, the climate impacts are escalating.

The climate adaptation agenda is indeed sort of, is progressing, but not fast enough and not at the scale enough. That is the lip mustaels for Berlin. Patrick Vakoyen. Thailand has announced the suspension of a ceasefire agreement with neighbouring Cambodia, signed last month with President Trump in attendance. The announcement follows a landmine explosion on Monday that injured four Thai soldiers. Jonathan Head reports.

It's little more than two weeks since President Trump congratulated the leaders of Thailand and Cambodia for signing what he called a historic agreement to end differences over their border. That deal, one of eight wars the US President said he had ended, is now teetering on the edge of collapse. after Thailand accused Cambodia of laying new landmines, resulting in injuries to four of its soldiers. Cambodia has denied the charge. The Thai Prime Minister has now ordered a halt to the various confidence-building measures in the deal, including a return of 18 Cambodian soldiers captured during their five-day conflict in July.

He also warned communities near the border to prepare to evacuate in case hostilities resume. Cambodia says it's still committed to the deal. The new Thai government is under pressure from nationalists and its own military not to make concessions. The previous government collapsed after a leaked phone call suggested a willingness to compromise with Cambodia. With all political opposition crushed and no independent media, the Cambodian government does not have this problem. Jonathan Head. Still to come in this point. Broadcast, Ronaldo, one of the most famous footballers of all time, says he's going to hang up his boots.

But not until after next year's World Cup at the Earlist. To Sudan now, and the BBC has spoken to a doctor and a patient from El Fasher's main hospital, who fled the site shortly before one of the worst alleged RSFF. massacres as the city fell. The UN has condemned what it says was the mass killing of around 500 patients and staff at the Saudi hospital. As the paramilitarist seized the city last month, a medic and a patient who fled to Tawila tell the stories of their escape and reflect on the horror at the hospital. As the Sudan Doctors Network tell us a number of senior doctors remain missing and one has been executed by the RSF.

Our Africa correspondent, Barbara Bledarsha, has sent this report. Mohameda Abdu Thia was in hospital the day Al-Fasher fell to paramilitary troops. He'd been injured by shelling. Yet even with a broken leg, he managed to flee the city on foot, eventually making it to the town of Toila, stopped by the RSF, but not detained like many others. They didn't beat me, but they questioned me a lot because of my injury, I think. They said, we know you're a soldier, but you're finished.

You will die on the road anyway. So just go. But many who stayed at the Saudi hospital did not survive. This video was filmed by RSA fighters at a university building nearby that doctors say was used to treat patients. Bodies cover the floor. Those still living are shot dead. Abdu Rabu Ahmed is a lab technician who worked at the hospital.

He fled towards Tawila shortly before the RSF arrived. Right now, I feel extremely hopeless. I've lost my colleagues, the people whose faces I used to see smiling. There is no happiness anymore. It feels as if you've lost a big part of your body or your soul. The RSF denies the massacre, disputing the claims by filming this video inside the hospital grounds, showing female volunteers tending to patients. And at a different location, a man stands next to others dressed in hospital scrubs,

saying doctors are now available to treat people in Alfashir. All these medical personnel and cadres, they are not hostages. They are not hostages. We are not taking them. They are free to practice medicine. We need them. Doctors groups dismiss these videos as propaganda. Mohamed al-Sheikh is the spokesperson for the Sudan Doctors Network. He says several senior medics from the Saudi hospital remain missing.

One of them, his family managed to pay the ransom and he arrived safely to Tawila town. The other is being executed and the rest of the four remaining medical personnel. Until now, we have no information on updates about them. Nearly 90,000 people have fled Al-Fashar so far. Here, state TV shows the Sudanese army chief visiting some who've made it to safety. But there are fears that tens of thousands more remain trapped in the city. Back in Tohila, for those who escaped, like Abdurabu, there's relief, tempered by trauma. I do not see any hope of returning to Elfasha.

after everything that happened and everything I saw, even if there was a small hope, I remember what happened in front of me. The battle for El Fasher is over, but it has left lives in ruin, and Sudan's war continues elsewhere. Barbara Plet Usher reporting. Now, can the ability to speak more than one language

delay the ageing process? It's a question scientists have been trying to answer in a study of more than 80,000 people across 27 European countries. People aged in their 50s and above. Because of the numbers involved, the findings are seen as particularly significant, and they may encourage people to go out and learn a second language, or at least keep active, the one they already speak. Lucia Amoroso is the co-author of the study. She's based at the Basque Foundation for Science in Bilbao, Spain. So what have they discovered? She told Julian Warwick. There have been many studies before.

or showing some effects of protection triggered by bilingualism or multilingualism. But these studies were based on small sample sizes. And what we found here is that actually speaking more than one language can protect you not only right now, but also in the future. Because we were conducting not only cross-sectional analysis, but also longitudinal analysis, showing that being multilingual today is going to protect you in the future. So I think that this study is very robust. We replicate these findings in the cross-sectional and in the longitudinal analysis, and we run this across 27 European countries and more than 86,000 people.

Because, of course, we expect it to see some protection, but not something so robust across such. a large sample. And just on that word protect, when you say it will protect you, what does that mean? So elements of the aging process are what slowed down as a result? What we did basically was training a machine learning model with a lot of data from national surveys. These data were based on protective factors like for self-cognition or functional abilities, so how how independent you are in doing everyday activities, the years of education,

but also risk factors like cardiometabolic conditions or sensory impairments. So from all these data, the model learned to predict age, okay, the age of someone. But this age might match or not with your actual chronological age. So you might be, I don't know, 50 years old, but your brain and your cognitive profile may look like someone that is 40, right? So you look younger actually than you are. So basically what multilingualism is doing is delaying ageing. So it's protecting against this accelerated

decline. It's exercising our brains more. Is that the point? I mean, I don't think that there's just one mechanism, right? But one of the hypothesis is that, I mean, when you speak multiple languages, all these languages are active at the same time. So you need to inhibit the one that you don't want to use to communicate the other. So this is like fine-tuning or boosting, these networks that are the attentional control network, the executive networks that are the ones that actually decline with age. So multilingualism seems to be boosting. these very same networks in your brain. There are lots of factors in play, aren't there, about aging and what might slow it down

and they might be connected to health, to wealth, to the environment that you live in. Can you be sure that this can be isolated to the extent that you're doing here, that this is a key factor in all of this? In this study, we actually try to control for as many things as possible, and the effect was still there, strong and robust. There were some nuances. For instance, when you're speaking multiple languages, but you control for the immigration patterns,

the effect is actually disappearing. One reaction I've read to your study comes in the form of advice to people who are over 50 and maybe only speak one language, that they should still take the time to learn another one. Are you putting that forward now as a recommendation here? It's not just that. I mean, it's to stay mentally, socially and physically active. So learn new languages, but learn new things in the sense of challenge your routines and engage with others.

Multilingualism is a very effective way to combine all these dimensions. Lucia Amoruso from the Basque Federation for Science in Bilbao, Spain, speaking to Julian Warwick. No matter how much you care about animal rights, when it comes, to mainstream medicine. Avoiding animal-tested drugs is very difficult indeed. But here in the UK, there are plans to phase out experiments on animals, except in exceptional circumstances. The government wants companies to use things like lab-grown tissue or AI modelling instead. Here's the science minister, Patrick Valence. There's a real opportunity because of things like data, AI, the ability to make organs grow in

3D structures to really reduce the use of animals and still get the same effect of being able to invent new medicines, both for patients, human patients and for animals. I asked our science correspondent Palab Ghosh whether eliminating animal testing altogether would ever be possible. Well, that is the big question. Who knows? That's the stated aim of this government and this science minister, who incidentally was head of research for GSK, big pharmaceutical company before he took on this job. So when I asked him precisely that question, he surprisingly said, it is possible, but not for the foreseeable future, but should we try and do that? Yes, we should. So it is definitely a name, but the question is how far we can go

and how quickly we can go with using AI, using some of these lab grown tissues, because the context of it is that the UK had a huge surge in animal experimentation, 4.14 million procedures, that's experiments were taking place in 2015. That dropped dramatically to below 3 million in 2020, but then plateaued. And so what this government wants to do is to restore that downward trend using these new technologies as to whether it's going to get to near zero is an open question. Now, the United Kingdom really much is very much at the forefront of this, leading the way to a certain extent, but on a global scale that there are fears that it could lessen the UK's standing with pharma companies. Well, a number of pharma companies have either withdrawn

or paused funding from the UK, citing a lack of investment in the UK. And there are some scientists who feel that if this country is going to be pushed into unnecessarily stopping animal testing, then that will dissuade them further from investing in other countries such as China will benefit. And China, at the moment, along with many other countries, is not making this commitment, this pledge, to phase out animal testing the way that the UK is. The UK is very much a leader in this field, but it has to be said that there are some scientists that do work with animals that feel that having lab-grown chips and lab-grown organs is no substitute for using entire animals. Because how can you test the effect of a drug

on a cancer without testing the effect on the entire animal? Is their argument? Palabosh. Big news now for football fans. The Portuguese superstar Ronaldo says next year's World Cup will be his last and it's likely he'll retire from football altogether in the next year or two. Here's at BBC World Service football reporter George Addo. I think it's just one that we as football fans and maybe football connoisseurs we're definitely

looking out for. It's very close to that. He's 40 years at the moment. Surely at the next World Cup he'll be 41 and if he had any plans for the World Cup after the next year that's probably 45 so it just looked like definitely

he was getting to the end of his career. You look how what his contributions have been on the pitch. He's not as fast as he used to be before because at the age of 40, there's very little that you can do. But of course, he's been trying his best and scoring the goals as much as he can.

And it's also about giving himself maybe the final chance to see if he can win the trophy that he's not been able to win, which happens to be the World Cup. When you look at the statistics at Al Nasser in Saudi Arabia, clearly you see that he has he's on the end of scoring goals, doing more up front. But in terms of how he helps the team, all of that has come down.

It's good to see him still running around and playing football. But surely this was something that we have been expecting. And not too surprised, it's finally come out from him. So what's been the reaction to this news? Our Global Affairs reporter Mimi Swayby has been taking a look and spoke to Janak Jal. There's been sadness for many fans. He's played across four clubs now. So many clubs really see him as one of football's greats, but one of their own as well. And they've come out, the fans on social media saying they're very sad to see his kind of career start to slow down. And again, what George was hinting to, but it hasn't come at a surprise. Questions about retirement have been increasing over recent years.

And perhaps the way he's kind of dealt with the questions and in the circumstance, maybe people weren't expecting for him to announce a tourism forum in Saudi Arabia about this really big career moment, maybe that was going to come in the form of an on-pitch talk for many. That's what kind of they viewed this announcement to be like. So maybe the shock of how it came about as well, fans are kind of deliberating over and chatting about. But many happy moments are being remembered and shared and goals and things like that. But yeah, mainly happy, but with a tinge of sadness as well. Because Cristiano Ronaldo is about a lot more than football.

He's the most followed person on Instagram and his wife even has a Netflix show. Yes, and I am actually a big fan of that Netflix show. I am Georgina, I am Georgina, had three seasons on Netflix and was a huge success. She was the executive producer as well, which went down a storm with supporters. And the idea was to open up the life, the couple's life, but the life of Cristiano Ronaldo, this kind of superstar in football, but give a kind of insight into his personal life as well. And it has done really well. So it's kind of gone down as being the top.

one of the top shows in more than 45 countries that appeared in on Netflix. And that is just one aspect. So that is, you know, the kind of pop culture following for, sorry, Georgina, his non-gay and fiancé, but also as a footballer, he has a, you know, very successful modelling career. He has many things going for him. In Forbes recently, they said that on and off the pitch, his field earnings will be around $280 million. And that is more than double of his second place rival, Messi, for this.

upcoming season alone. So it gives you an idea of kind of the personality he is both on the football field but off it as well. And, you know, that's probably why he's become such a global icon as well. Mimi Swaby. And that's all from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the global news podcast later on. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email. The address is Global Podcast at BBC.co.com. UK. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag Global News Pot. This edition was mixed by Sid Dundon and the producers were Charles Sanctuary and Alice Adderley. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Nick Miles and until next time, goodbye.