Global News Podcast - The men's football World Cup kicks off in Mexico

Episode Date: June 12, 2026

After months of waiting the World Cup is finally underway with the first match held in Mexico where the co-hosts played South Africa following an opening ceremony that featured a performance from Shakira. The United States and Canada will also be home to football's biggest competition which the organisers hope will be a focus for sport rather than politics and controversy. Also, President Trump cancels an attack on Iran and claims that a deal to end the war is not only imminent but has the backing of the Islamic Republic's Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei. But Tehran said this was all "speculation". One year on from the Air India crash in Ahmedabad our correspondent reports on the discovery that some human remains were wrongly identified. Thailand's Princess Bajrakitiyabha dies more than three years after she fell into a coma, Brussels will ban public e-scooters and the kill switch on iPhones which could deter thieves in London from stealing them.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] Photo: Mexico fans Caramelo and Caramelo Junior are seen inside the stadium before the match. Credit: REUTERS/Hannah Mckay

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This is the global global world. Woo News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritson, and in the early hours of Friday the 12th of June, these are our main stories. The FIFA World Cup kicks off in Mexico City with a star-studded ceremony and dramatic opening match. And President Trump says he's called off-planned US attacks on Iran, claiming they're close to a peace deal, but Tehran says it hasn't reached a final decision. Also in this podcast, I was inside the mortuary ward trying to identify the bodies,

trying to find the child and my loved ones. The bodies I saw still keep spinning in my head. I can't sleep. We returned to Ahmedabad on the anniversary of the Air India plane crash, and Brussels hits the brakes on e-scooters. With three host nations, 48 teams, and 104 matches. It's the biggest World Cup ever, and likely one of the most controversial with rouse over ticket prices, the ongoing war between the US and Iran, as well as visa

issues for fans, and even a prominent referee. Despite all that, the tournament got underway in Mexico City with great fanfare and a colourful opening ceremony featuring Shakira. Performers wore indigenous clothing, while others held giant golden footballs above their heads. 80,000 fans, clad in Mexican and South African national colours, streamed towards the grounds for the opening match. As you can hear, there are a lot more Mexico supporters than South African, but that's to be expected in one of the host countries. Many there said the World Cup being played on Mexican soil was an honour.

Oh my God, it's honestly my dream come through. I've been dreaming with going to a World Cup for all my life, and now that it's in my country, amazing experience. You know, I was expecting this basically my whole life for a Mexico City opportunity for a World Cup, so I'm super excited. I remember the first match I watched was South Africa against Mexico. 16 years ago, I was nine years old, and I felt that emotion being Mexican, the goal that Rafa Marcus scored, and now to have it here in my country is really an honor. Those fans were no doubt thrilled when Mexico beat South Africa 2-0 in a dramatic

opener that saw three players sent off. Our sports reporter Adam Wilde was watching. It's been a long build-up to this one, hasn't it? So much discussion and controversy, but we are now officially underway on the pitch. A real carnival atmosphere, as you were hearing some of the sounds there at the legendary Azteca Stadium. The first stadium to hold matches for three separate World Cup tournaments, a real display of colour, of sounds, of music, and Mexican and Latin American culture. The first of three opening ceremonies, remember as you say there, the tournament being played across Mexico, the United States and Canada. So each host country getting their own ceremony, this being Mexico's day.

More than 80,000 there watching, as you say, the likes of Shakira and Burnaboy performing before the parade of all 48 team flags at this newly expanded tournament. That was what was going on inside the stadium. It's perhaps important to acknowledge what was happening outside as well because there was a huge security operation going on in and around Mexico. city to counter the threat of protests. And indeed in the last couple of hours there's been a statement from the Secretariat of Citizen Security in Mexico saying that there was a situation involving nearly 200, what they call, hooded individuals, breaking away from a group of around 800 protesters.

But that situation says this statement was brought under control by police. But certainly inside the stadium and at the enormous fan park there in the Mexican capital, seems of real excitement, of national pride. A huge moment to have the World Cup back in the country for a third time. Yeah, and what a match to kick off the tournament. More red cards than goals. Yeah, plenty of talking points. Mexico winning 2-0 against South Africa. There were heavy favourites going into what was a repeat of the opening game of the 2010 finals, actually where South Africa were, of course, the hosts. That's actually the last time South Africa were involved in a World Cup. It's a match, as you say, probably be remembered for the three red cards.

Julian Canones putting Mexico ahead inside 10 minutes in truth South Africa really threatened particularly after Yahya Sittoli was sent off early in the second half Mexico got their second through Raul Jimenez a terrific story really for the 35 year old who you may remember suffered that really horrific indeed life-threatening head injury whilst playing England a few years back. It's his fourth World Cup

but his first goal in the finals and he looked really close to tears during those celebrations really emotional all over as a conference. contest other than two further red cards, one for Tembers Vane of South Africa and a late dismissal of Mexico's Cesar Montes. And it's the red cards that you say may well get the headlines, but some terrific scenes, particularly for Jimenez. Adam Wilde. Though it is currently not too hot in Mexico City, much has been made about how this heat and potentially thunderstorms could affect this World Cup. There are fears that high temperatures could affect the health of players and fans,

but there's also a chance the weather could disrupt games. Simon King is the BBC's lead weather presenter. You're looking at Miami, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Monterey, where the temperature can be in excess of 30 degrees Celsius, but it's the humidity that when you add that in, it will feel more like about 40 degrees. But the players are actually elite athletes. It's the fans, I guess, in the stadium

who may have health conditions, who won't be a climatized to that heat, who may be impacted more so. The United States in particular is pretty volatile in the summer. It can have some serious thunderstorms. There's a very simple rule in the US that if there's a lightning strike or a storm within eight miles of a stadium, protocol is that for safety, the game has to be stopped.

You can't then go back onto the pitch. You can't play again for 30 minutes after the last lightning strike. So it's conceivable that we could see an hour or two hours delay when you get these storms. I think a lot of the teams have so far been aware of the heat and the humidity, so they've been training using heat chambers. I'm aware that they will be using these ice vests in some of the hottest cities to try and keep themselves cool as much as possible.

And of course, FIFA have introduced the mandatory hydration break. So that's the three minutes break within each half that will allow players to take on water. But I should probably stress that some scientists say that this isn't enough because some of the heat and stress that will be put on some other players is up into dangerous levels and perhaps the precautions being put in place may not be enough to counter that. Simon King and the weather is not the only issue. While that could be blamed on Mother Nature, FIFA and the hosts, specifically the US have been criticised for their handling of the World Cup, not least its hostile immigration policies

as well as fears of ice raids at games, probably not what, Americans imagined when they were told that the World Cup would be the equivalent of hosting 104 Super Bowls in a month. So will the tournament bring the promised financial boost? Oliver Conway asked our football issues correspondent Dale Johnson. Well, the American Hotel Association released a report a few weeks ago where they said that the hotel bookings were way below what they were anticipating. And they blamed a few things on that. One of them was FIFA for reserving far too many rooms. 70% of the block bookings, FIFA have made, have been cancelled.

And they said what this caused was the prices which were unjustified because it created demand which just wasn't there. And that just means that supporters have been put off travelling at this World Cup for two reasons. You've got the ticket prices and you've got the hotel prices. And you've also got the political backdrop in terms of just not feeling welcome in making the trip. So because of the whole situation around all those aspects, those international travellers aren't going to arrive and the local economies are not going to get the uplift

that FIFA said they were going to receive. Now, there have been controversial World Cups before, recently, Qatar, Russia, and once the games start, people tend to forget the controversies. Do you think it could be the same this time? I think there are two aspects to consider here. I think, firstly, we have not had a World Cup before where the administration in charge

seem to have been so unwilling to make concessions to make the tournament go smoothly. I think on this occasion we've seen so many things happen where you think despite the political talk beforehand, it's not going to turn around. For instance, we talked about ice, the fact that it's just not going to go away. There are going to be more stories that are going to be talked about in terms of how the government has handled this.

Dale Johnson, and as we record this podcast, South Korea, is taking on the Czech Republic. We'll continue to report on the World Cup action both on and off the pitch over the next five weeks. Still to come in this podcast, from smartphones to unusable bricks. This starts to take the profit out of criminal business.

If they can only be broken up for parts, if you start to make it harder for criminals, they will still fewer of them. Could a kill switch deter phone thieves? She's one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Rising to fame as a member of R&B group Destiny's Child before launching a solo career that's produced chart-topping hits in era-defining albums.

And with a business empire spanning hair care, whiskey and entertainment, it's fair to say she's more than just an artist, she's a global brand. Good Bad Billionaire is taking a closer look at the life and fortune of Beyonce. Good Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service. Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts. This is the Global News Podcast. For weeks now, Donald Trump has been claiming that a deal with Iran to turn the ceasefire into a durable peace is close to being signed. Now, the President says he's so sure an agreement is imminent that he's cancelled planned US strikes on the Islamic Republic.

At the White House, he told a reporter when he thought the deal would happen. It'll be soon, maybe this weekend. And has the Supreme Leader approved this deal, sir? I understand the answer is yes. And when the deal is signed, is the United States going to immediately lift the blockade? Yes, that's true. That's part of the deal. But has Iran committed to not pursuing a nuclear weapon, or will there be more negotiations on that down the line?

They will not have a nuclear weapon. They've agreed to that. There will be no, which is the whole reason, which is a big part of the reason. Is that going to be your agreement? They will not only not have, they will not purchase, develop in any way, any shape, in any way, shape, or form. a nuclear weapon. They will not have a nuclear weapon. Iran has always claimed that the aim of its nuclear program is solely for civilian purposes, and in the last few hours, Tehran said that it hadn't reached a final decision on a deal,

describing talk of one as speculation. Esmail Bakai, who speaks for Iran's foreign ministry, said that the U.S. and its ally Israel had behaved unreasonably. Regarding the negotiation, regarding the negotiation, The problem we face stemmed from the contradictory approaches of US officials. They have so far, on two occasions, carried out military aggression against Iran during negotiations and committed countless crimes when we have been in a ceasefire situation. They've repeatedly violated the ceasefire, both the United States and the Zionist regime,

through attacks on Lebanon. I got this update from our correspondent in Washington, Thomas Morgan. We've had two days of tit-for-tack strikes between the two states, ever since that US helicopter was downed on Monday. I think increasingly you got the sense from some of the messaging that Donald Trump was putting out on truth social media, that he was getting increasingly frustrated the deal had not been signed. I was telling Fox News reporters that, you know,

if it wasn't going to be signed soon, the level of the military action by his US forces was going to significantly increase. I think what's slightly different this time around is you get the sense from the Iranians. Although they say, you know, nothing has been finalised just yet, they also say that the majority of this memorandum or deal has been finalised. I think once again, what they're saying is there are still some excessive demands in the deal put forward by the US and they keep adding new requests. But I think for Mr Trump, it is key really that he gets this deal signed as soon as

possible because, you know, here in the US, I think public sentiment towards this conflict has never been high. It's lowering by the day. And I think, you know, with the rising cost of inflation and gas prices, I think he realizes he needs to bring this conflict to an end because if he were to carry out the threat that he has said a number of times of trying to take over the oil fields in Iran, that would require ground troops. And that is something I think the US public wouldn't be for at all. Do people believe Mr Trump this time? That's a difficult question, isn't it? Because, you know, you ask that question because it is a claim that he's put out several times over the last few days, last few weeks, that a deal is close.

I think he sounded incredibly bullish and confident in the Oval Office earlier. He was kind of saying that a deal was going to be signed with the next few days. You know, the Strait of Hormuz could be opened as early as Saturday in that J.D. Vance would probably be signing this agreement, probably in Europe at some point over the next few days. As I mentioned, I think the noise coming out of Iran is they don't want to, I guess, respond directly when President Trump says the deal is ready to be signed and say, yes, it's ready because they don't want to come off as if they're following his lead all the time. But I think, you know, the mood music is slightly changing, is the impression what we're getting.

Thomas Morgan in Washington. On the 12th of June last year, Air India Flight 1.7. was bound for London from Ahmedabad. But the plane crashed shortly after takeoff, killing 241 passengers and crew on board and 19 people on the ground. The BBC has been back to the crash site and spoken to one family whose grief has been compounded

by failures in the identification process as well as the discovery that some remains were wrongly identified. Our correspondent Azaday Mishiri sent this report from Ahmedabad. The planes that fly above are a reminder of how close this crash site is from the airport. It's about a kilometre and a half from the end of the runway. There are still cars, motorcycles and rickshaws that pass by this site. The rest of it, though, looks like it's suspended in time. Authorities seem to have removed the debris from the plane,

but the buildings themselves, the accommodation for the moment. medical students at the nearby government hospital look exactly the way they did a year ago. Chard walls, burnt metal, broken glass. Yorginda lives about five minutes away from here. And he still remembers that day. Here's videos where you can see him pulling bodies out of the rubble. He doesn't think anyone who tried to save survived. He said it felt like the bodies were disintegrating into his hands.

And the whole scene looks like it's in the middle of the night, even though it was the afternoon, because the smoke is just covering the skies. Those who were sitting inside drinking tea, they also died. It was very difficult to extract them. We couldn't get them out because the seatbelts had caught fire. So it was very challenging, but everyone helped out. The crash damaged multiple buildings,

but the impact stretches even further in suburb, villages outside of Ahmedabad, families have lost loved ones. We're traveling right now about an hour out of Ahmedabad where Roman Vara lost his aunt, his brother and his three-year-old niece. I was inside the mortuary ward trying to identify the bodies, trying to find the child and my loved ones. Through my contacts, I got permission to go inside the ward. The bodies I saw still keep spinning in my head. I can't sleep.

The condition those bodies were in, the ones I saw, I am never going to forget it until my time in breath. But the work of identifying the dead isn't over. Worse, some remains were wrongly identified. We're back at our hotel to call someone still fighting for answers. Four days after returning to London with his parents' remains, Mitten received a call from police. A CT scan of his mother's casket had revealed it also contained.

the remains of someone else. Further testing later on showed they were those of an unidentified man. We called Mittin from Mahmabad. Hi, Mittin, it's Azaday. How are you? Yeah, good. Not too good. Be emotional with this week, to be honest. One year, you know.

There is an unknown person in the UK mortuary. I want to be able to get that person reunited with their families. I don't think I know how to agree with more honest with you. And I don't want to let go of finding the answers because I don't want to let go of my mom and dad. A UK coroner has sent palm prints and DNA to Indian authorities, but they still have no confirmation of the man's identity. The BBC has reached out to the government of Gujarat, as well as the Indian Foreign Ministry, but received no response.

Last year, in a statement, the Foreign Ministry said it had been working closely with the UK from the moment these concerns were brought to their attention and that all remains were handled with utmost professionalism and with due regard for the dignity of the deceased. These words are no comfort, though, to families like mittens. Azaday Mishiri. Thailand's royal family has announced that Princess Pachara Kiti Yafar has died at the age of 47 after more than three years in a coma.

As the eldest child of the king and a former ambassador, she had become the inevitable topic of speculation for succeeding her father to the throne. I heard more from our correspondent in Bangkok, Jonathan Head. Because she was so close to King Wachar-Longhorn and such an important part of his operation, she was always seen with him, and because she was certainly the most visibly accomplished of all the royal family members, it was a great loss to him.

We don't know for sure, but we think he was just hoping against hope there might be some kind of medical breakthrough that could bring her back, but in fact her condition deteriorated in recent weeks and we were expecting her death to be announced. And it is a very big blow because, you know, she really stood out in the Tyroil family. Most of them tend to stick to just formal royal rituals. Of course, you know, the monarchy is surrounded by an awful lot of ritual of protection.

There's this very severe as majesty law, so it can't really be discussed. But, you know, she had gone out into the world. She trained as a lawyer. She had multiple post-grateful. graduate qualifications from the United States. She worked in government legal offices, and she was Thailand's ambassador to Austria for three years, and in that time, she became very close to the United Nations Office on drugs and crime, and that gave her a built-up a commitment in her to reform Thailand's criminal

justice system, and in particular, to advocate for the welfare of women in prison. Thailand has one of the world's largest population of women prisoners. So, you know, she was unusual as a royal, and seen as very... capable. And remember, although King Wajaronghorn has seven children, four of them, four boys, live in the United States and have been estranged from their father for the last 30, 35 years. So that leaves three. His youngest son, Deepangorn, is presumed to be the heir. It's up to the king to name an air, and he's not done that yet. But it was always expected that Princess Bacirabar would have played a big role in any royal succession. And the king himself is in his 70s. So, you know, that is something

that they do start to think about now. So in that sense, it really is a very significant loss. Jonathan Head. To Belgium now, where public e-scooters are set to be banned in the capital Brussels following a sharp rise in accidents. The licences of the two operators, Bolt and Dot, will be allowed to expire at the end of the year. It comes after several other major European cities,

including Paris, Madrid and Prague, have done the same. Our reporter Alfie Habeschen, Told me more. Chances are if you've been to any European city in the last couple of years, you have seen these. Two wheels, a platform to stand and zoom along on, tall handlebar. They're quite heavy to, and they're everywhere, whizzing past, lying on the street, piled over each other and stacked up outside bars, shops, train stations. They are very convenient, it's worth saying, and anyone who's ridden one will know they're pretty fast, tourists, delivery drivers, commuters, useful to anybody really in a bit of a rush. But the brussels,

regional government says it's taking this on because the accidents that they're causing have shot up by 25%. That's to over 600 people injured by them in the capital last year. It says that falling off them is very dangerous, especially when it comes to banging your head or facial injuries. And as well as that, there's been this mounting pressure from the justice system. The city's public prosecutor warned that they're increasingly being used by organized crime groups and drug traffickers as well. And the recent government statistics say e-scooters or public e-scooters at least were used in connection with 25 shootings recorded in Brussels last year. And the fact that they are also so convenient the government points out has made them a nuisance to people as well. You can pick them up anywhere, but of course they can just be put down anywhere.

The government says the way they're being haphazardly left lying around makes it difficult for people with mobility issues, parents with push chairs or the elderly, just to take a normal walk down the pavement. Presumably the scooter company is to agree? Yes, there has been a statement from bolts. That's one of the two providers in Brussels of e-scooters. It argues that this public debate that's kind of raging on in a lot of places about e- scooters tends to lump together the personal ones and the public ones. And it says that taking their shared e-scooters off the streets

will lead to people using personal ones more, which are, of course, unregulated, not traceable, and have no oversight. And as you say, this comes at a time when other capital cities are doing similar things. Is this popular? Well, there are certainly a lot of people who are against East scooters. You can see that on social media. It's definitely the case in London here too. But it's also worth noting that people are increasingly reliant on them in all these big capital cities

because they may be less able to afford to drive. In the case of Belgium, bikes and scooters have gone up in use by nearly 70% since the rising fuel costs caused by the latest conflict in the Middle East. So, of course, accidents are on the rise, but that may also be driven by the rising number of people using them too. Here in London, e-scooters have become the getaway vehicle of choice for phone snatchers, but the Met Police has been working with Apple to find a way to deter thefts. The tech giant has introduced a kill switch setting that locks stolen iPhones, as Richard Hamilton reports. Here you can see where her cheek is all rare, and she's got a black eye.

Nigel's 16-year-old daughter, Sienna, was attacked last week on the London Underground by someone who tried to steal her phone. She actually held onto her phone and lashed out and kicked them and they retaliated and struck her in the face and gave her a black eye and stuff and then left. But we were quite shocked and quite worried for her. London is widely regarded as the phone-snatching capital of Europe, with between 200 and 300 devices stolen every day.

In the UK alone, the market for stolen handsets is worth more than $65 million a year. Criminals have been using illegal software to return the phones to their factory settings so they can then be sold across the world. Now Apple has announced a global change to its security settings that allows stolen phones to be locked. The tech firm has made stolen phones.

stolen device protection, also known as a kill switch, a default setting for all users who report their phones as missing. The change makes these devices significantly harder to access, reset and resell. The move has been welcomed by the head of London's Metropolitan Police, Mark Rowley. It's going to make a massive difference because this starts to take the profit out of criminal business. We will keep doing our enforcement as we're doing our part of driving at the and I was out on some raids on some phone shops in North London. Yesterday, we're recovered hundreds of stolen phones and the way people going to prison there.

So we keep doing our job. But the more it takes the profit out of it, if they can only be broken up for parts, if you start to make it harder for criminals, they will steal fewer of them. Experts say criminal networks that had relied on reactivating and exporting stolen devices

to markets in China, Dubai and Hong Kong may now find their operations unviable. Mark Rowley is asking, other global phone producers to follow Apple's lead. The police believe the deterrent effect will grow if other manufacturers, such as Samsung and Google, implement similar measures, potentially eradicating much of the global trade.

Richard Hamilton. And that's all from us. For now, if you want to get in touch, you can email us at global podcast at BBC.com. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag global news pod. And don't forget our sibling 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 Zabi Hula Karush and the producer was Pete Ross.

The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Alex Ritson. Until next time, goodbye. She's one of the best-selling music artists of all time. Rising to fame as a member of R&B group Destiny's Child before launching a solo career that's produced chart-topping hits and era-defining albums. And with a business empire spanning hair care, whiskey and entertainment,

it's fair to say she's more than just an artist, she's a global brand. Good Bad Billionaire is taking a closer look at the life and fortune of Beyonce. Good Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service. Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts.