Global News Podcast - Western powers issue a joint rebuke to Israel

Episode Date: August 21, 2026

Britain, Canada, Germany and others call on Israel to stop bids from construction firms to build homes in a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank that would, in the words of an Israeli minister, "bury the idea of a Palestinian state". Also, Pakistan's former prime minister, Imran Khan, returns to prison after a short visit to hospital which was allowed following a ruling by the country's Supreme Court. The World Health Organisation is sending 70,000 doses of an Ebola vaccine to try to contain the outbreak. New economic sanctions are being imposed on Cuba by the United States. And a trial hearing about the death of the Argentinian football legend, Diego Maradona, has been adjourned because a mix-up meant that doctors had presented medical evidence from his father rather than the footballer.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] Description: Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and a woman hold a map that shows the long-frozen E1 settlement scheme, August 14, 2025​​ Credit: Ronen Zvulun, Reuters

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This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritson, and in the early hours of Friday the 21st of August, these are our main stories. Key Western leaders, not including the US, jointly condemn Israel's settlement project that would cut off the Palestinian West Bank from East Jerusalem. Reports from Pakistan say the former Prime Minister Imran Khan has been returned to jail after a court-ordered visit to hospital. And the World Health Organization says it's sending 70,000 vaccine doses to help tackle. the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Also in this podcast, the US powers pressure on Cuba by slapping it with yet more sanctions and... I don't think it's helpful for people to think that they have to slog on with something they're not enjoying. I think it'd be better to move on to something else and think that reading should just be a pleasure. The debate about whether it's okay to not finish reading books. Not for the first time. Major Western powers have come together to issue a stern rebuke to Israel over Jewish settlement activity in the occupied West Bank. They're demanding that Israel immediately stop a bidding process to build around 1200 homes in the settlement called E1, which would cut off occupied East Jerusalem from the West Bank. Israel's far-right finance minister, Bezal Smotrich, previously said that E1 would bury the idea of a Palestinian state.

Israel's closest ally, the United States, isn't one of the Western powers condemning Israel. Our diplomatic correspondent Caroline Hawley told me which ones were. It's the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada and Norway. They have voiced grave concerns. They say privately and publicly about this E1 project. They say it would drive a wedge through the West Bank and undermine the prospect for a two-state solution. That is a state for the Palestinians as well as Israel. They say that under international law, it is clear that settlements in the West Bank are illegal.

They say this comes at a time of unprecedented violence by settlers in the West Bank. And they urge Israel to retract. And they say that these plans further undermine its international standing. Now, very interestingly as well, I think, they also have a warning to construction companies. And I'm going to quote, they say businesses should not consider bidding for construction tenders. they should be aware of legal and reputational consequences, including the risk of involving themselves in serious breaches of international law. So it's a strong statement.

The Israeli government presumably unmoved. Well, there's been no comments so far from the Israeli government, but there has been strong criticism from Britain that came before this joint statement. And the Israeli Charger de Fair was called in to hear of Britain's profound objection to the E1 plans and these construction tenders. And there was a response from the Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar, who said it was absurd for the UK to lecture the Jewish people on where they can live. Is this statement likely to make any difference at all?

This is a difficult question. I think statements alone will not make a difference. Ed Miliband, the British Foreign Secretary, has said that in the coming weeks there will be further measures, including sanctions. But it's interesting. I was just looking at a statement from the Israeli group, peace now, which is opposed to settlements. And it says that the bidding period closes a week

before the Israeli elections in October. So we're in an election period. And it goes on to say that the current Israeli government is trying to sign contracts with contractors before the elections so that it'll be much harder for the next government to cancel the construction. So that's their viewpoint. What position of other nations taken? Well, I think interesting, not on the list of the country's signing of this joint statement is the US, of course, because it has the greatest sway. But you have had the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who is a supporter of settlements being very, very critical of recent violence that we've seen being metered out by settlers against Palestinians. Caroline Hawley.

Pakistan's former Prime Minister and one-time legendary cricketer Imran Khan has been in jail for three years on what he says are politically motivated corruption charges. Earlier this morning, he was moved to hospital for health checkups on the orders of the Supreme Court. His families say his health is failing. The government, though, isn't convinced and tried to keep him behind bars. And now, after only a few hours in hospital, reports from Pakistan say Imran Khan has been taken back to prison. Pakistan correspondent Carrie Davis told me more about the background to the latest move. That movement has prompted lots of people

to start speculating here in Islamabad. Quite often when there are decisions that are being made by the courts that go against Mr Khan, his party will talk about this being politically motivated. However, in this particular case where it seems to have gone in his favour, they have not commented on those speculation

that there could be political manoeuvrings going on behind the scenes. What is incredibly difficult to say from where we're standing is what is actually going on behind the scenes. Is this entirely to do with Mr. health. Certainly his family have not seen him for months. They want to make sure that his health is fine and they want to have that reassurance by his own personal physician.

He was the most famous man in Pakistan by a very long way. He was the Prime Minister. He was a major sportsman. If he did get out of jail more permanently, is he still a political contender? Mr Khan is probably one of the most famous sons of Pakistan. He is still incredibly popular. even though he has not been in public view for the course of the last three years, his party have tried as much as they can to keep him in the public consciousness. The fact that they have been able to keep his sort of social media following going. He obviously has a huge number of supporters as well around the world, as well, of course, his family who have been repeatedly talking about the fact that he is still in prison.

So he has not totally drifted from public consciousness. I think he is still politically popular. He is still certainly someone that enters the public and the person. political consciousness here in Pakistan. It's obviously difficult to say exactly how popular he'd be in an election at this exact moment, but I would not certainly say that he's been written off by the fact that he's been imprisoned for the course of the last few years, far from it. Carrie Davis in Islamabad.

The World Health Organisation has announced that the Democratic Republic of Congo will receive 70,000 doses of a vaccine that will help it contain the Ebola outbreak. The Avibo vaccine has proved effective against the Zaire, of the virus, but it's not known whether it will protect against the Bundibudia species behind the current outbreak, which is the fastest spreading on record. The BBC's Africa correspondent Thomas Macuana reports. Director General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Gabriesses, say that the vaccine had shown some effectiveness in trials against the rare budi-bidivoges, which is spreading in DIA Congo, 20,000 doses being sent to the country

are for clinical trials, with the rest for frontline workers. Two separate vaccines specifically designed against the implicated strain are also entering human trials for the first time. So far, 2,378 people are confirmed to have died due to Ebola in DR Congo, with 5,021 confirmed cases. Dr. Ted Ross previously told the Global Bodies Emergency Health Committee that the disease is far from being under control. Thomas McQuana reporting.

So what's happening on the ground in the DRC? Trish Newport is the emergency and medical coordinator for the aid charity Medicines San Frontier in Bunia, a city in the northeast of the DRC, which is worst affected by the outbreak. She's been sharing her thoughts on how they're treating people in very challenging circumstances. Today was a very busy day. We have a proger that was there even before Ebola in a place called Fetaki. And we work in a displacement camp. It is the most horrific humanitarian situation I have seen in a very, very long time.

80,000 people living in very cramped, horrible conditions, and then Ebola started. And so we built this eight-bed Ebola treatment center about an hour away from the camp. And in the last few weeks, the numbers have just exploded. So we just scaled up to 20 beds, but it's difficult to actually do, because then you have to find all of those stuff, and then we need to be training them, making sure that they can work in a safe environment. Because an Ebola treatment center doesn't just work on its own.

You actually need to have surveillance. You need to have contact tracing. You need to be able to decontaminate the homes that people are coming from, have ambulance referrals, and not forget the absolute humanitarian disaster in the Plencebo camp. And then something a bit more joyous, We have an Ebola treatment center in Mongulhu, where the outbreak actually started. Now we have 95 people that have survived Ebola from Mongulu.

And so we spent time thinking about how to celebrate the day that we actually have 100 survivors and how to celebrate with the community, because this is really big news for them. Trish Newport from Medesan San Frontier. One of the problems in tackling the outbreak in the DRC is the relative invisibility of the crisis. Devi Shredaar is a professor of global public health at the University of Edinburgh. She's written extensively about what's happening and Paul Henley asked her why she thought this outbreak of Ebola was getting so much less international attention than the previous one in West Africa in 2014. Yeah, it's really puzzling because actually like I think back to working on the 2014 outbreak and Ebola was, I think, the most Googled news term in the world that year, almost every day. newspaper headlines, magazine covers, and this outbreak is on track to be possibly the second

worst or the worst on par with that. And yeah, I think it's because everyone's just tired of disease, possibly after the pandemic, maybe COVID-19 fatigue. So possibly now, no one really wants to hear about infectious diseases. And that maybe drives also the producers to think, actually, should we cover this or should we maybe cover something else? The public health effort isn't to the coordinated international one that it was in 2014. though, is it? Yeah. So if I think back to 2014, you know, you had real leadership from the United States, from the UK, the French governments, they came together with the World Health Organization to say, like, how do we stop this? And they brought, you know, military-like coordination,

the resources, trained personnel to basically say, we need to stop this and actually get on top of it. Today, you have, you know, a United States, which is no longer part of the WHO, doing a go-alone response where they are making efforts on Ebola, but very much in the context of defunding foreign aid, the closure of USAID, the UK is facing its own challenges since Brexit with domestic issues and the war in Ukraine. I mean, we're in a completely different political environment right now, which makes it very hard to get that collective action globally to make this a priority and try to get the necessary resources in. Devi Shreda, speaking to Paul Henley. Now to a tragic communication error in Australia.

Imagine hearing the news that after being missing for more than a week, your loved one has been found alive. But nine minutes later, you're told they're actually dead. That's what happened to the family of Lily Hooper, an Australian teenager who disappeared while hiking in the state of New South Wales. Helena Burke reports. The search continues for a teenager who disappeared while hiking alone.

Police believe 18-year-old Lily Hooper could still be found alive. The Bush Walker hasn't been in contact with friends or family since Wednesday. For more than a week, Australia held its breath as rescuers tried to fire. Lili Hooper. The 18-year-old went missing while hiking alone in the forest on August 12. A large-scale search operation was launched with rescuers braving freezing temperatures, thick bushland and steep terrain. Eight days in, news broke that everyone had been hoping for. Lily had been found alive. The Premier of New South Wales, Chris Minns, interrupted a parliamentary hearing to relay the good news.

Got some fantastic news, Mr Chair. Lily Hooper has been found alive. I just saw that. found in the bush with half a bottle of water with her. So that's fantastic news. Videos showed Lily's family cheering, hugging and crying tears of joy. But as media outlets across Australia reported the news, it suddenly became apparent that there had been a terrible mistake. I've got some terrible news and I apologise to the committee

but it seems as if the early advice was wrong. Can we stop the clock? And Lily's body's been found and she's been found deceased. I made the earlier advice and I'm very sure. sorry for that. Joseph Kassar from New South Wales Police said there had been a communication error with the search teams. The area is thick, dense terrain. We've got hundreds of searches out there. They're carrying handheld communication devices and as you can appreciate, sometimes the communication is a challenge. Police say it was about nine minutes between Lily's family being told

she was alive and then being told she was in fact dead. The head of New South Wales Police, Malnanyan, has apologised for the mix-up. Sadly this morning there was a miscommunication when Lily's body was recovered. That miscommunication, I unashamedly apologise for any additional trauma that may have caused Lily's family, but certainly for the embarrassment and confusion that caused. There will now be an investigation into how the miscommunication occurred. A report is also being prepared for the coroner to determine Lily's cause of death.

Helena Burke. Here in the UK, speculation is rife as, to what Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, will do when they return to the country from the US where they've been living for the last six years. The couple don't carry out any official duties for the British royal family, and they no longer act as representatives for Prince Harry's father, King Charles. In recent years, Megan has earned millions of dollars

with a lifestyle and cooking series for Netflix. But this has been cancelled. So what could be next for her? Here's our royal correspondent, Daniela Ralph. In all the speculation around why Harry and Megan are coming back to the UK, could Megan be about to return to acting? There are reports that she has a role in a new UK-based entertainment project, and that is one of the reasons why the family is leaving America.

Harry and Megan's team has not denied the story, but aren't giving any details at this stage of what Megan's new role is. Her acting career has pretty much been on hold since her marriage to Harry. Her most famous role was in the US-based legal drama suits, where for seven seasons she played the lawyer Rachel Zane. A return to acting could be lucrative for Megan. There will be huge interest in whatever she does in this space, as the Sussex's UK return continues to grab attention.

Daniela Ralph. Still to come in this podcast. Now, this whole line of inquiry has now been undermined by the news, that the kidney being studied was not that of Diego Armando Maradona. It was that of his father. The trial over the death of football legend Maradonna is halted following a kidney test mix up. Your sales order says one thing. Your inventory says another.

Your spreadsheet says, good luck. Odu brings your business together on a single platform, from sales and accounting to inventory and marketing. Visit Odu.com to book a demo. It's O'DO.com. This is the Global News podcast. The Trump administration is ramping up the pressure on Cuba with a new raft of sanctions targeting various individuals and organizations.

The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the new restrictions on Thursday. Cuba's UN representative, Ernesto Soberon Guzman, denounced the sanctions and warned that any US military action against the Caribbean island would have serious repercussions. Once a military adventure against Cuba is launched, the consequences will be immeasurable. It will not only affect Cuba and the US, but also jeopardize peace, security and stability in the Western Hemisphere and even the entire world. The US has already imposed many sanctions on Cuba. I asked Lewis Fahado from BBC monitoring if these new ones would make any difference.

Alex, it is one more step in, as you mentioned, the continued, intense economic pressure that the United States is putting on Cuba. This round of sanctions affects three officials who were involved in a more political role in an agency that the U.S. says was, quote-unquote, exporting communist subversion to other countries. And it also involves sanctions to nine agencies in things like the Ministry of Construction, a company involved in nickel mining, which traditionally has been important. important source of money for Cuba. So it is part of a continued effort by the US to weaken the Cuban economy on top of great restrictions, for example, on oil and fuel and all kinds of things that are causing a great deal of disruption in the Cuban economy. How are ordinary Cubans coping at the moment? They're facing a lot of disruption in their everyday life. Energy shortages are leading to big power outages, very frequent across the country.

shortages of basic goods and there's a sense of serious economic deterioration, inflation, all kinds of things. And besides a traditional escape valve for the island, which was immigration to the U.S., of course, it is much, much more restricted nowadays. So all in all, a very difficult situation for Cubans trying to withstand this economic pressure by the U.S. What's the U.S. trying to achieve? Well, the United States, particularly the Trump administration, has been saying that they want political change in the island. And specifically in Miami, where I am based, of course, many people think and hope that this time they would manage to do it.

There's been a lot of speculation in the media that the U.S. was trying to look for a Venezuelan-type scenario where someone in the Cuban administration would agree for a takeover with the U.S. and cooperate somehow with the U.S. This is a government that has been extremely resilient over the decades, many, many different US governments have tried to change the political situation in Cuba and have failed. So it is very difficult just to assume that this time they're going to be successful. I was going to say, is it going to be different this time?

People in Miami say that very few times Cuba has faced such a harsh economic crisis. But again, this is a government that has gone through a lot that has withstood a lot of pressure, and it is very hard to discount. Luis Fahado from BBC Monitoring. There's yet more drama. in the illegal wrangling over the death of Diego Maradona, and it's all down to kidneys. The Argentine football legend died in 2020, but since then, a case to determine if anyone's responsible has collapsed. Now, another trial has been put on hold after medical experts

admitted the information they analysed about his kidneys were actually those of his father, who died in 2015, and was also called Diego Maradona. The South American football expert, Tim Vickory told us more about this mix-up. Oh, it's an extraordinary story. It's every bit as meandering as the life of Maradonna himself. The first trial collapsed because one of the judges was collaborating with a documentary TV program, clearly had an editorial line that the defendants were guilty. But we had to dust ourselves down and do the whole thing over again.

The death of Maradonna in 2020, the accusation is from a medical board in Argentina that the treatment that Maradona received was inadequate, efficient and reckless. What they're saying is that the medical professionals, they were treating Maradona as if he had a mental problem there with addiction when there were far more pressing physical elements to be looked at that weren't looked at sufficiently enough. And part of this was Diego Maradona's kidneys. The liver specialist was giving testimony earlier this week when he said, look at the kidney, look at it. This is the kidney of someone who has stuppered the ravages of obesity, of hypertension, of cocaine use,

and no blood tests were being carried out. This is clear negligence. Now, this whole line of inquiry has now been undermined by the news that the kidney being studied was not that of Diego Amando Madel Madonna. It was that of his father. And it's no wonder that the kidney was in the advanced state because Diego Madadona's father was 33 years older than Diego Madadona. So they've been looking at the wrong kidney. How on earth has this happened?

There will be a full investigation of the medical facility concerned. The other question is, where on earth does this leave the trial? This would seem to undermine greatly the evidence given by this medical board. And so at the moment, we really don't know where the whole thing stands. Tim Vickory. Bangladesh, Uganda, Saudi Arabia and the Bahamas, these are just some of a number of countries where attempting suicide is against the law.

In Nigeria, trying to take your own life is punishable by up to a year in prison, a fine or both. But that will soon change. The Nigerian government has just approved plans to decriminalise it a significant shift in policy in a country where mental illness remains heavily stigmatized. Anko Dessai asked our Africa correspondent Simi Jolla Oso in Lagos why this decision had been taken. The Nigerian government's decision is essentially based on the argument that attempted suicide

should be treated as a mental health and public health emergency rather than as a criminal act. So the country's health minister, Professor Mohamed Ali Pate, called suicide a major public health concern and said that there are around 300,000 suicide attempts every year and at least 7,000 deaths. He said people who attempt suicide should be regarded as people who need care and support rather than prosecution. So his argument is that removing that threat of arrest could make it easier for people in crisis and their families to seek help

and then for health professionals to intervene. And if we talk about Nigeria itself, mental illness is stigmatized in the country. Why is that? The stigma around mental illnesses in Nigeria is deeply rooted in a combination of cultural beliefs, religion, a lack of sort of mental health literacy, and the historical lack of accessible psychiatric care. In many Nigerian communities, mental illness can be interpreted as witchcraft or like a spiritual attack rather than as a medical condition. So there is essentially a lack of understanding about what mental illness actually. looks like and that it's not always physical. And couple that with the shortage of mental health services, that reinforces the problem. According to the Association of Psychiatrists in Nigeria,

there are fewer than 1,000 psychiatrists for a country with a population of more than 200 million people. The strongest research available does not show that countries with criminal penalties have consistently lower suicide rates. Many health organizations also argue that criminalization can actually increase stigma and discourage people from seeking help, which is what the Nigerian government is trying to work at here. The International Association for Suicide Prevention, they say it's an important stepping stone in suicide prevention,

but stress that it must be accompanied by wider measures such as accessible mental health services and national suicide. prevention strategies. The organisation also says that at least 23 countries still criminalised suicide, but it seems that soon Nigeria won't be one of them. Simi Jolla Oshou. And finally, when you start a book, do you always finish reading it, or if it doesn't immediately transport you, do you toss it aside? And crucially, if you do the latter, will you keep it a secret, fearing not finishing is a sign of intellectual failure on your part? Well, now, DNF, which stands for did not finish, is being used almost as a badge of honour.

Earlier this year, the world's biggest website for readers, Goodreads, introduced a DNF feature to sit alongside other categories relating to featured books, including Want to Read and Read. Cathy Rensenbrink is a memoirist and author of Dear Reader, The Comfort and Joy of Books. Alex Clark is a writer and literary critic. First to Kathy. Katie Razzle asked her if she always feels like she has to finish a book. No, I don't. And I actually think in general people don't have to finish books. I think the right book is out there for everyone. So even if somebody thinks they don't like reading, they just haven't met the right book yet. They probably put off by school. So I don't think it's helpful for people to think that they have to slog on with something they're not enjoying. I think it'd be better to move on to something else and think that reading should just be a beautiful. sumptuous, fantastic pleasure. Presumably you hope that your books are going to be a sumptuous pleasure for people. You don't want them tossing them aside.

Or are you relaxed about that too? Well, no, I do want them to be. I do want them to be pleasurable. And I think about the reader a lot. But I wrote a book about writing and near the beginning I said, like, look, if this book isn't for you, then just put it down and go find something else. But my editor wanted me to take that out. But again, I think that not everyone will be for everyone.

I wouldn't probably go for do not finish because it sounds a bit cruel. just go for Not My Bag. That's what I say when I don't like something. It's someone else's bag, but it's just not my bag. And Alex Clark, Not My Bag and toss it aside, or what do you think? I think it is perfectly fine to read or not read a book, put it aside, come back to it later, decide it's the worst thing that you've ever read, throw it away. What I am bemused by is this idea that you would need to publicly catalogue that. This is the DNF for Norman.

Exactly. It's sort of slightly bewildered as me. It's almost like kind of anti-gatekeeping. You know, it's people saying, don't worry, you don't have to read this, it's fine. It's the idea that you hang this albatross around the neck of a book that might be absolutely somebody else's bag. It seems less about reading

and more about the psychology of display and private life to me. And so you would never put DNF on any online site. I don't think I would want to tell anyone because I'd have that sort of fear that you were labelling something. It carries a need. negative connotation, even if you are firmly saying this isn't for me. And I think that is

absolutely fine. But I think it's also important to say that things are for people at different times. You vibe with books, don't vibe with them, find they've got something to say to you, feel very irritated by them, depending on what's happening in your life at the time, where your emotions are. And that's absolutely fine. Why you would need to tell anybody else about it is slightly beyond me, but perhaps I'm just old. Kathy, what do you think about the DNF phenomenon? Would you ever put it up beside a book? I might say that privately to a friend,

but I'd never put that online. Because I am a writer, so I know how horrible it is. I'm thinking right now, maybe someone's listening and thinking like, right, let's Google how many times people have said DNF about her rubbish books, and then they'll tell me about it. Definitely not. Everyone's wishing you well.

They're all going out to buy your book now, Kathy. Kathy, Rencent Brink and Alex Clarendon. Mark speaking to Katie Razzle. And that's all from us for now. If you want to get in touch, you can email us at global podcast at BBC.co.com. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag Global NewsPod. And don't forget our sister podcast, The Global Story,

which goes in-depth and beyond the headlines on one big story. This edition of the Global News Podcast, was mixed by Rosenwin Dorrell, and the producer was Emma Joseph. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Alex Ritson. Until next time, goodbye.