Global News Podcast - UN condemns attack on key Sudanese city

Episode Date: October 30, 2025

The UN’s top humanitarian official has said there must be accountability for those carrying out the killings and sexual violence in Sudan's El-Fasher. Tom Fletcher said people who wanted to leave the city, which was seized by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces at the weekend, must be allowed to do so safely, and those who remained must be protected. The leader of Sudan's paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has declared an investigation into what he called violations committed by his soldiers, but denies accusations they massacred hundreds of civilians at a hospital in El-Fasher on Tuesday. Also: Jamaica counts the cost of Hurricane Melissa; five more suspects are being questioned by police in Paris after they were arrested in connection with this month's robbery at the Louvre museum in the French capital; the Netherlands swings to the centre in elections at the expense of the far-right Freedom party; and Universal Music Group has struck an unprecedented licensing deal with an artificial intelligence music generation startup to launch an AI creation platform.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 on Thursday the 30th of October, these are our main stories. The leader of Sudan's paramilitary RSF promises an investigation after acknowledging abuses by his forces in El Fasher. The US-China trade war appears to be de-escalating after what President Trump said was an amazing meeting with President Xi in South Korea, and new arrests in France over the audacious jewel high. at the Louvre in Paris. Also in this podcast. Hospitals destroyed, libraries, police station, courthouses.

So the south-east, south-western end of the island has had serious devastation. Jamaica counts the cost of Hurricane Melissa. Civilians who fled El Fasha in Western Sudan have said that children were killed in front of their parents. His bodies lay in the streets and families hid in trenches when the paramilitary rapid support forces took control of the city on Sunday. The RSF captured the Sudanese army's last stronghold in the region of Darfur. Caroline Buvar, the Sudan country director of the aid group Solidarity International, told the BBC that some people have fled to the nearby town of Tawila.

They're highly malnourished, highly dehydrated. Many of them are sick or injured, and they're clearly traumatized with what they've seen, either in the city or on the road. And we believe that actually many people are stuck currently in different locations between Tewila and El Fasher and unable to move forward, either because of the physical condition or because of the insecurity on the road where militias are unfortunately attacking people who are trying to find safe haven't. Tom Fletcher is the head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Speaking at an emergency session of the UN Security Council in New York,

He said that he'd been in contact with Tasees, which is an alliance of Sudanese anti-government political factions and paramilitary forces. Mr Fletcher made this plea. Those who want to leave Alfacer must be able to do so safely. Those who remain must be protected. There must be accountability for those carrying out the killing and the sexual violence, for those giving the orders, and those providing the weapons should consider their responsibilities. Just an hour ago, I spoke to the senior representative of the Tassiz Coalition. who informed me that the RSF has launched an investigation into ongoing violations

and that arrests have been made. He also assured me of their commitment to protection of civilians. It remains difficult for now to identify this commitment amidst the appalling news that continues to come out of North Darfur. The RSF has denied accusations of killing more than 400 people at a hospital in Elfashire. A spokesman said that civilians had fled and no hospitals were operational when the RSF seized the city.

But it has admitted abuses, as I heard from our global affairs reporter Richard Kagoi. The RSF leader, General Hamdan, Daghalo, say that he does acknowledge reports that the abuses that are committed by his troops during the takeover of Elfasha. What he said is that he's forming a committee that is going to investigate the atrocities that are committed by his forces. And I think this is really because of a lot of pressure that has been coming internationally about the wide-scale attacks that were committed against civilian populations that were trout within Elfasha and those that were fleeing to the town of Tawila, which is just about 60 kilometres west of Elfasha. What is the latest on the ground in Elfasha? It's very difficult really just to get like up to the minute update in terms of what's really happening there because of a communication docade. But what we are hearing is that the humanitarian situation has become worse. A lot of people have been fleeing in their thousands to that town which I did mention is called Tawila.

And what we're hearing is that those who have attempted to flee have been attacked by militants. They have been robbed and some of them have been sexually assaulted. others have been taken and the militants have demanded a ransom. So the situation really looks quite desperate. The fact that there's no access for humanitarian agencies to deliver critical assistance to the civilian population. A lot of them are hydrated and majority of them are really malnourished because really it's been a couple of weeks since the RSF encircled the city completely

and blocked all access routes into al-Fasha. So it's a very desperate situation. and we don't really know because the city was hosting nearly a quarter of a million people and slightly of 100,000 were children. What about these reports that the UAE, the United Arab Emirates, are arming the RSF? Yeah, that's really been the accusation from the Sudanese army. They're saying that the UAE has been backing the RSF by providing them with logistical and material support, and through that they have been able now to put up their defenses

and even carry out the military operations targeting the Sudanese. army. The RSF has denied these allegations and what the Sudanese army has said is simply because what the UAE is doing this is in return, you know, because of minerals that are extracted from the vast Darfur region in return. So that's really been the argument. But of course, the UAE has also vehemently denied those allegations. Richard Kegoy in Nairobi. President Trump has returned to the United States following his five-day trip to Asia. His visit culminated in a bilateral meeting with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea,

which focused on trying to resolve their trade war. They agreed that China would suspend export restrictions on vital rare earth minerals for one year. America would reduce tariffs on Chinese goods, which are linked to the supply of chemicals used in the production of the opioid fentanyl. The US has accused China of ignoring the illegal trade in the drug, which Beijing denies. Speaking on board Air Force One after leaving South Korea, Mr. Trump said agreement on rare earth minerals didn't just benefit China and the U.S. We have a deal. Now every year we'll renegotiate the deal, but I think the deal will go on for a long time.

Long beyond the year, we'll negotiate at the end of a year. But all of the rare earth has been settled, and that's for the world. I mean, you know, worldwide. I guess you could really say this was a worldwide situation, not just the U.S. situation. Also on board was the BBC's Anthony Zerker, who sent this report from a refueling stop in Anchorage, Alaska. Donald Trump came back to the press cabin on Air Force One within minutes of taking off from South Korea, having just concluded a nearly two-hour sit-down with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, his first since 2019. He was all smiles. He touted what he said was a really good meeting, rating it a 12 on a scale of 1 to 10.

He said agreements had been reached on, reducing fentanyl exports, resuming Chinese purchases of U.S. soybeans, and maintaining foreign access to Chinese critical mineral resources. In exchange, the U.S. was lowering his tariffs on China by 10%. He added that he was planning to visit Beijing in April, and Xi would travel to the U.S. at a later date. The day before his meeting with Xi, Trump had told me he was optimistic that the U.S. and China would resolve ongoing trade disputes that at times this year, had sent global stock markets reeling. As Trump met with his Chinese counterpart on Thursday,

Xi acknowledged that the U.S. and China do not always see eye to eye, but that it's normal for the world's largest economies to have frictions now and then. That was a sunnier view of what has been a somewhat tumultuous period of relations between the two nations, a period that was triggered by Trump's attempts to impose high tariffs on Chinese goods and by China's resistance and willingness to cause America its own political and economic pain. Now it appears there may be progress towards something more stable, a de-escalation on both the American and Chinese sides in the face of what could have been mutually assured economic distress.

Anthony Zerker, President Trump's trip took in Malaysia for the ASEAN summit, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Amid an ongoing trade war with the US, Canada's Prime Minister, Mark Carney, used the event to pitch his country's energy exports to the Asian market. But with nearly all of Canada's oil and natural gas historically going south of the border, can Canada really become an energy superpower? From the port of Vancouver, Sam Gruet, has been finding out. It's a real hive of activity here. There are forklifts whizzing around, giant orange cranes, lifting and stacking shipping containers.

In the distance, those big cargo ships, several hundred of which leave from here every year, carrying lumber, grain and minerals. But increasingly, what's fueling this port and the country's ambitions is energy. We will be up to 50 million tonnes annually of LNG by the end of this decade. In July, Canada's first cargo exports of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, left the West Coast bound for Asia. It's cooled to a liquid and shipped rather than transported as gas via pipelines. We have the LNG Canada Terminal now operating, now shipping across Asia. We have two other LNG terminals currently under construction

and two other very significant LNG terminals that have received approval from both the British Columbia and the Canadian governments. And now we're looking for a final investment decision, hoping to secure those long-term contracts with those Asian allies. For Heather Exner-Perrault from Canadian Think Tank, the MacDonald Laurier Institute, expanding LNG exports by targeting orders from Asia is a no-brainer amid U.S. trade tensions. There's not a lot of bright spots in the Canadian economy these days,

but LNG and investment and natural gas is one of those where you're really seeing growth and you're really seeing foreign interest. And the obvious answer to that is Asia. Some environmentalists oppose LNG and see any increase in natural gas production as harmful for long-term climate goals. Others like conservative operations, opposition leader Pierre Poliev, want to see an expansion of Canada's oil exports, something supported by Deborah Yedlin, president of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce in the oil-rich province of Alberta. From an economic standpoint, this is a very, very important part of our economic opportunity. And so why not pull that lever and increase the access to new markets

via pipeline? But more oil could be a hard sell for Prime Minister Carney, as Reuters Canada energy reporter Amanda Stevenson explains. Oil pipelines are not unanimously supported in Canada, far from it. So I think that Mark Carney, if he is interested in such a proposal, he's going to have to, you know, kind of balance the interests of environmentalists and the economy. And I'm not sure, you know, how easy that's going to be. This balance, Amanda says, will be a hurdle in whether Canada can become an energy superpower. What is clear is that Canada has abundant energy resources and the potential to tap those resources even further.

Energy demand globally continues to rise. However, there are climate concerns. There are political concerns. So whether or not Canada can truly become an energy superpower, that remains to be seen. Sam Groot reporting there. And to hear more about Canada's energy ambitions, search for business. Daily, wherever you get your podcasts. Five more suspects are being questioned by police in Paris after they were arrested in

connection with this month's robbery at the Louvre Museum in the French capital. Two other men have partially confessed to stealing priceless jewels. Hugh Schofield is in Paris. What we know is that last night, in addition to the two who were arrested on Saturday, five more people have been arrested. Now, one of these people is believed to have been in the gang, in the group of four who carried out the robbery on, you know, nearly two weeks ago now. And it was DNA again, which exposed him and led the investigators to finding him last night. The other four, we don't know what their

role is. All the prosecutors' officers said is that they may help to provide information in understanding how it all took place. Now, remember, these are arrests, they're not charges, and it's possible that the four others who've been brought in may not in the end face charges, but they can be held for a period of four days and it's hope that their interrogation will lead to information as to the whereabouts of the hall and other facts. So that's where we're at

and certainly an impression that things are accelerating and a good morale booster for the investigation. Hughes Gofield. Coming up in this podcast. This is an historic election result because we've shown not only to the Netherlands

but also to the world that it is possible to beat populist and extreme right movements. The Netherlands swings to the centre in elections at the expense of the far-right Freedom Party. As we've been hearing for much of this week, Hurricane Melissa has devastated parts of Jamaica before battering Cuba and Haiti. Dozens of people have died and the scale of the damage is still emerging.

The United States has said that it's sending disaster relief teams to the region. Our correspondent Ned Atorfic is in Miami and reports on the impact the hurricane has had on Jamaicans. After living through the most powerful hurricane to ever hit their homeland, Jamaican spent the day surveying the full extent of the damage. But with three quarters of the country still without power and roadways blocked by fallen debris, it's been no easy task.

Most of the island has been spared the worst. though several deaths have been confirmed. Jamaica's Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, did an aerial and ground tour of the most affected area in the southwest of the island, St. Elizabeth Parish and the town of Black River. Dramatic footage shows buildings underwater in some places. Other parts completely flattened, roofs ripped from homes

and down utility lines. Very, very, the most terrifying experience in all my life. On social media, his office posted his interactions with medical staff at Black River Hospital, where dozens of patients had to be evacuated after the facility lost power and its roof. At one point, you would think that you have some missiles just letting go in the glass. Afterward, he spoke to the BBC about what he saw. In particular, one town, Black River has been, you could literally say totally destroyed. I would say about 80 to 90% of roofs were destroyed.

Hospitals destroyed libraries, police station, fort houses. So the southeast, southwestern end of the island has had serious devastation. Many are still just hearing news from loved ones and friends. One of my best friends just told me that he's okay. Wow. Thank God. God is good. Jason Henzel evacuated Treasure Beach where his family who came to Jamaica from England in the 1920s owns Jake's hotel. With roads impassable, he plans to take a helicopter to survey the damage. But already, he said his staff have broken down with a motion describing the impact of Hurricane

Melissa. Treasure Beach, I'm looking at about a three-month repair. So I think we're going to open in stages. The sad part about it is, you know, we have like the Anglican parish church in Black River, which was like, you know, the beautiful old church, which is like the center of the town, and that is completely and totally demolished. It was built from stone. It's probably 250, 300 years old, and it's leveled. So we're losing a big piece of our historical heritage and culture, and that's hard to see. I don't have money in the bank to start building one kitchen much less build back home. I don't have that. Harmony, Wedderburn Rose, learned from her neighbor that her home in Savannah Lamar is completely destroyed.

She evacuated with her five-year-old daughter, but her mother stayed behind. Harmony last heard from her mother Tuesday morning, but got word that she's safe. I've heard from someone that my house is totally destroyed as well as many others from where I live. I'm not sure how affected my mom is because she has a partially concrete structure, but I had a board It's not good down there. The hospital is damaged. The clinic is damaged. Many houses are damaged. The shelters are damaged. And gas stations, flattened, police station ruined. While Jamaica's two and a half million residents are just starting to tally the needed repairs, the storm barrels on. It lashed Cuba with 125 mile per hour winds and battered significantly less developed Haiti

where more than 20 people died. Downgraded to a storm, it is now heading. towards Bermuda. Nedatorfik. A general election in the Netherlands has shown that it's deeply divided with D66, a social liberal party founded in the 1960s, expected to form the next government ahead of the anti-Islam freedom party led by Heert Wilders. Rob Yetan, the leader of D66, who is set to become the Netherlands youngest ever prime minister,

said that Dutch voters had rejected the politics of hate. This is an historic election. because we've shown not only to the Netherlands, but also to the world that it is possible to beat populist and extreme right movements. And I'm very eager to cooperate with other parties to start an ambitious coalition as soon as possible. D66 made huge gains with promises on housing, education and a commitment to deal with concerns about immigration in order to take votes from Mr. Wilders. A final result isn't expected until Monday evening. Our correspondent Anna Holligan is in The Hague. It's fascinating because these two characters, both in terms of personality but also their politics,

are a polar opposite sides of the political spectrum. So Rob Yetten, at 38 years old, he's clean-cut, charismatic. And throughout the campaign had used this motto, Camvel, it is possible, which obviously has generated a likeness to Obama. And he has talked about this kind of reclaiming of the... the Dutch flag, which was turned upside down during farmers' protests, and which was used by Chirt Wilders as a symbol of nationalism, populism. And now we have Chirot Vilders, one of the longest serving politicians in the Netherlands, who has always had this anti-migration,

anti-Islam, rhetoric, divisive. But when Rob Jettin says this is an optimistic vision for the future of the Netherlands, it's important to note that they are neck-in-neck. So while 17% of the vote have supported Rob Yeton. 17 have also supported Kirtvilders. So this is a deeply polarised society. Yeah, a D66 isn't even part of the current coalition that governs the Netherlands. But from what you're saying,

it's really tapped into some major issues. Rapid rise to prominence. And that's partly down to Rob Yetton. They used to call him robot yet in here because critics said he was so robotic in the way he spoke. It was almost like he was a candle. But he's really kind of mastered. this public persona. He's worked out how to speak to the media, how to speak in public. And so

it's partly testament to his campaign, the support around him, the network. But it's also that people I'm speaking to here in the Netherlands, they're frustrated with the stagnation and the lack of progress over the last few years with the government kind of odds over how to deal with these really complex problems of the overflowing asylum system, 400,000, two few homes, various other issues. So the fact that he's performed so well, his parties performed so well, suggests that he will have first dibs trying to form the next governing coalition because most other parties, mainstream parties, have ruled out going into coalition with Heert Wilders again, because he collapsed the last government and also because some of his policies, they say, are unconstitutional. And so if

that's the case, it could be quite a sea change for this country and also within Europe that they appear to have chosen a direction that is more progressive. more left-leaning, more green, more pro-EU. And, of course, they will be hoping that others across Europe will follow. Anna Holligan, there's anger in Lebanon after reports that Israeli soldiers have invaded the border town of Belida. Lebanese state media said the troops opened fire on the town hall, killing a municipal employee who was asleep. It comes as Israel has intensified its attacks on targets.

It said will link to Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran. Our Middle East correspondent Hugo Bershega is in Beirut. The Lebanese state agency said Israeli troops entered this town of Bleda overnight. After 1 o'clock in the morning, they stormed the town hall and killed this worker, a man who has been identified as Ibrahim Salamah, who was sleeping there. And troops withdrew about two and a half hours later. Now, there has been a furious reaction here in Lebanon, and I think the most significant reaction came from the president,

Josefon, who has now instructed the army commander to confront any Israeli incursion. And this would mark a significant shift in how the army has been dealing with this situation because it has avoided any kind of confrontation with the Israeli military. You know, Israeli soldiers have continued to carry out air attacks, also ground operations inside Lebanon. But up until now, this has been a conflict between Israel and Hezbollah without any involvement of the Lebanese national. army. So this could mark a significant shift in terms of how the government is responding to what it has described as Israeli aggression. Now, there has been a statement by the Israeli military

confirming that, you know, its forces had operated in this town. It said this building had been used by Hezbollah, that troops had identified a suspect during this operation that happened overnight. The statement described this person as a threat. Israeli forces then open fire. The Israeli military said the incident was under investigation, but there has been no evidence to support the claims that this building, you know, the local authority building was being used by Hezbollah. Hugo Bershege in Lebanon. Meanwhile, back in Israel, there's growing discontent on another matter. Ultra-Orthodox Jewish students enrolled at religious schools, yeshivas have always been exempt from military conscription. But now, because of the war in Gaza,

there are demands for them to play a bigger role. Ultra-Orthodox Israelis are protesting against any changes to the legal exemption, as Sebastian Usher reports. Roads in and around Jerusalem have been shut down due to one of the biggest anti-conscription protests by ultra-Orthodox Israelis in years. It's bringing together disparate elements of the community, which makes up about 14% of the Israeli population. What's uniting them is their opposition not only,

to moves to enforce conscription for more of their community, but also anger at hundreds of arrests in recent months of ultra-Orthodox men avoiding the draft. The Haredi believe that their age-old way of life could be under threat. With learning in the Yeshiva, learning Torah, they let him to learn. He shouldn't have to go to the army, because the army is not a place for Jews, for people who would keep Torah and mitzvahs. Right now, people who refuse to go to the army, they take them to military prison.

It's not so bad. We're a Jewish country. You can't fight against Judaism in a Jewish country. It doesn't work. This is us. This is the way we are. You can't change us. You can't force people to do otherwise. It's no good.

The many in Israel feel they haven't shared their fair burden in the war. Bringing them into the military would help with a shortfall in manpower. But there are also concerns in the idea that if too many ultra-Orthodox were to be conscripted, it could also have negative effects with special dispensual. needed to permit the Haredi to continue to adhere to the strict code of their religious beliefs. Sebastian Usher in Jerusalem. Universal Music Group has struck an unprecedented licensing deal with an artificial intelligence music generation startup to launch an AI creation platform. The company said the platform would be trained on authorised music. Composers and artists have

long feared their work may be replaced by AI models, while rights holders have wanted guarantees that their revenue will be protected. But Universal has insisted its tie up with UDO shows the way towards what it called a healthy commercial AI ecosystem, which it says will allow everyone to flourish. I heard more from Charlotte Gallagher. So UDio is an AI platform and it's online and you go on, you say, I would like a song about a radio presenter, for example, and then it says, do you want us to write the lyrics? Yes, I do please. And then it says, what kind of music would you like? Do you want rock? Do you want romantic? do you want pop? And then it makes a song for you. And it's really good, is it? It's really

good. These songs, you can hear them on TikTok. They use quite a lot. And it's a fun thing for people to do. People like myself who have no musical talent could go on there and make a song. However, some musicians say, we're not happy about this. And Universal had been suing Udio because it said it used universal music artists to train the AI software to make these songs. Now, however, they've reached a settlement. They've come to a deal, which means that Udio and Universal will be partnering. And they're going to launch a new platform that will use Universal artists in Universal says a more respectful, a legal way, so people will be compensated. Yeah, but lots of people, as you've sort of indicated in the industry, are still really worried about this.

They are. And lots of really big names have spoken up about AI. So you've had Will I Am, Billy Island. the weekend, Drake, Elton John saying they're concerned that their copyright is being taken from them, they're not being compensated properly, and they're losing creative control of their own music, their own creations. Universal says they are doing the right thing by the artist. Some of those artists that I've just mentioned are Universal. Taylor Swift, for example, is Universal as well, the biggest artist in the world. They say they're doing right by them. They need to diversify,

embrace new business models, and this will be good for their artists. However, These are big artists, but you have to think about the ones lower down the pyramid, who are going to go, what about us? Session musicians, sound recordists. There are so many people involved in making one song. And if you take that away from them, they're not going to have a livelihood. So, of course, those people will be really worries. Charlotte Gallica. And that's all from us for now.

But there'll be a new edition of the Global News podcast later. 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. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag Global NewsPod. This edition was mixed by Stephen Bailey and the producers were Muzaffa Shakir and Daniel Mann. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Alex Ritson.

Until next time, goodbye. Thank you.