Global News Podcast - Zelensky offers exchange of North Korean soldiers

Episode Date: January 13, 2025

The Ukrainian president says he is willing to hand over two captured North Korean soldiers in exchange for Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia. Also: Kenya investigates the metal structure that fell from the skies.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. I'm Nicola Cochlan and for BBC Radio 4, this is history's youngest heroes, rebellion, risk and the radical power of youth. She thought, right, I'll just do it. She thought about others rather than herself. 12 stories of extraordinary young people from across history. There's a real sense of urgency in them. That resistance has to be mounted, it has to be mounted now. Follow History's Youngest Heroes wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.

I'm Valerie Sanderson and in the early hours of Monday the 13th of January these are our main stories. Ukraine's President Zelensky has offered to return North Korean soldiers captured fighting for Russia in exchange for Ukrainian troops held in Russia. California has introduced emergency measures to cut red tape for fire victims in Los Angeles to help them rebuild their homes quickly and to prevent them from being scammed. Saudi Arabia's foreign minister has told a conference of top diplomats that sanctions imposed on Syria should be removed to help it recover from years of civil war.

Also in this podcast... I suddenly heard a loud sound like a bomb. That is when someone told me that something had fallen from the skies. An investigation is taking place in Kenya after a large metal ring structure landed in a village. So, was it from space? Was it from space? Ukraine's President Zelensky has offered to return two North Korean soldiers captured fighting for Russia in exchange for Ukrainian prisoners of war. Video footage posted online showed the men apparently injured. One said he didn't know that he was being sent to fight in a war and was told his unit was going on a training exercise.

President Zelensky said there may be other options, including the men being allowed to remain in Ukraine if they chose to, as he put it, spread the truth about the war. Last year, Ukraine and South Korea reported that North Korea had sent at least 10,000 troops to Russia. Our Eastern Europe correspondent Sarah Rainsford told us more about President Zelensky's proposal. He's offering to swap these two men from North Korea to hand them over to Pyongyang if North Korea can arrange for Ukrainian prisoners of war to be returned to Ukraine from Russia. So essentially a prisoner swap. But of course, this is with a country that doesn't acknowledge deploying its

troops to Russia to fight alongside Russian troops against Ukraine. And Russia also has not actually confirmed that North Korean troops are fighting and in fact, it looks pretty clear now that Ukraine's claim that these North Korean troops are being deployed with fake Russian military ID is actually true. When these two North Koreans were captured being deployed with fake Russian military ID is actually true. When these two North Koreans were captured, Ukraine presented a Russian military document and it was in the name of a Russian citizen born in Siberia. But watching a video of the two men who've been taken captive, they are speaking Korean and they do appear to confirm that they are North Korean

professional soldiers. So it does seem that Russia is trying to hide the fact that it's using foreign forces for its war with Ukraine. And is this this new video posted by Kyiv? That's right. I mean, we have to say, first of all, that this is a video that's been filmed by Ukraine's intelligence service. We can't speak to these people freely or independently. They are prisoners of war. One of them frankly looks terrified as he's speaking. He winces with pain as he's talking as well. But in that video, as I say, speaking under interrogation essentially and being filmed, this soldier says that he was involved in a military offensive on the 3rd of January, that he saw soldiers die and then he hid and a couple of days later he was taken captive.

He says he doesn't know where he is right now and when he's asked if he wants to go back to North Korea, he actually says no, he wants to stay in Ukraine and he's speaking all the time through an interpreter which Ukraine's intelligence agency says has been provided by South Korean intelligence. So rather difficult circumstances for anyone to be speaking in but that is what he has said so far. So interesting to see if there could be a deal if as you say you know North Korea and Russia have not admitted to deploying these soldiers? Yeah, and I think in a way that was kind of somewhat empty words from President Zelensky, it was more, I think, a political point he was trying to make, because of course, Ukraine already has a lot of Russian prisoners of war, and Russia and Ukraine do conduct swaps, exchanges of prisoners of

war every few weeks, every few months, fairly regularly. So I guess they don't necessarily need to swap the North Koreans in order to get the Ukrainian soldiers back. I think he was more making a point that he has these men and showing it as proof. And he was also, I think, trying to underline Ukraine's interpretation of the fact that Russia is using North Koreans. Ukraine is saying that this is a sign of weakness by Russia that is having to resort to using foreign forces to plug the gap in its own ranks, that it's not able to get enough Russian soldiers to fight this war. Because, of course, Ukraine has come under pressure a lot from its own allies, from the United States in particular, to find more soldiers here in Ukraine to fight. You know, Ukraine's struggling with a shortage of soldiers right now and low morale.

But Ukraine's saying, look, Russia's having problems too. They're having to ask North Korea to help. Sarah Rainsford, next to the US state of California, where firefighters are battling the huge wildfires in Los Angeles, and the state's governor has introduced emergency measures to help victims. Gavin Newsom has brought in tougher penalties for price gouging and cut red tape for people to rebuild their homes. The authorities are also having to deal with the constant threat of looters. LA County Sheriff Robert Luna said one suspected looter was even dressed as a firefighter.

When I was out there in the Malibu area I saw a gentleman that looked like a firefighter and I asked him if he was okay because he was sitting down. I didn't realise we had him in handcuffs. We were turning him over to LAPD because he was dressed like a fireman and he was not. He just got caught burglarising a home. Our correspondent Emma Vardy is in the Altadena neighborhood at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. It's there that NASA's famed Jet Propulsion Laboratory is situated and where firefighters are struggling to contain the blaze.

It's burning on both sides of us, up the hill and down into the valley too. There's helicopters flying just above us, just dropping water now, trying to keep those flames at bay. But right here, there's this real sense of urgency because down that way, there's a huge NASA facility that the flames have been moving towards so they're trying really hard

to protect that and as well as trying to put these fires out with water and with fire retardant what they're doing now they're actually trying to clear lots of this dry vegetation just trying to soar it down so that the fire has less to rip through. This is normally a beautiful area. I've been hiking to amazing waterfalls up in these hills, but right now it looks so different. Well, so far at least 16 people are known to have been killed. The total number of residents under evacuation orders has dropped to around 100,000, from a peak of almost 180,000. Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump has repeated criticism of the officials in charge of tackling the fires, calling them incompetent. A correspondent in Los Angeles, Peter Bose, has been covering the crisis since it started last Tuesday.

There is some more positive news and some quite negative information that we've just heard at that news conference. On the positive front, the biggest fires that are still burning are becoming contained, not entirely contained, far from it. But firefighters are making some progress. They've been helped by the calmer weather conditions over the last 48 hours. Sadly, that isn't going to last and the winds are whipping up again as I speak and getting stronger probably peaking Monday or Tuesday so

that's going to mean several more days of really difficult conditions for the firefighters especially those in the air the fixed-wing aircraft the helicopters that douse the flames with the fire retardant chemicals and water that we've seen in the last few days can be quite effective. So things are moving but slowly in the right direction in terms of the firefighting effort right now. In terms of negative things where you just mentioned the looting and we can talk about that, that's really shocking to so many people around this state and this city.

And how serious a problem is looting? It is serious and the authorities are taking it very seriously saying that the full weight of the law will come down on those who are found guilty of breaking into people's homes after the owners or the residents of those homes have evacuated for fear of fire engulfing their neighbourhoods. But that's the reality that there are tens of thousands of people who are already evacuated, many more with the possibility that it could happen and the authorities say they've arrested several people intent on burglarising those homes.

And we've heard about the small number of individuals who officials say were wearing fire suits, they were wearing the uniforms of firefighters to disguise themselves in an attempt to carry out these crimes. The Fire Chief talking about seeing one sitting by the side of the road, mistaking him for a firefighter and then realising he was in handcuffs. And has there been reaction to President-elect Donald Trump's comments criticising the firefighting effort? Well, we've heard from Gavin Newsom. We haven't actually heard in detail what President-elect Trump is claiming. He's simply said that he's highlighted what he sees as the

incompetence of local officials in fighting this fire. But Gavin Newsom has said that spreading misinformation, disinformation isn't doing anyone any good. But clearly the reality is that he and Donald Trump will have to work together in the aftermath of this disaster. And they've of course long been at loggerheads, these two politicians, especially over environmental policy. And one fear has been that the president-elect may make good on his threats to withhold disaster aid from the state after his inauguration. Peter Bows. disaster-age from the state after his inauguration. Peter Bose. For the first time since Syria's President Bashar al-Assad was toppled on the 8th December,

Syria's new interim rulers have been meeting top Western diplomats at a conference in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. Their aim is to get sanctions on Damascus lifted. Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Faham supports their demands. In this context I stressed the importance of lifting unilateral and international sanctions imposed on Syria as their continuation hinders the aspirations of the Syrian people to achieve development and reconstruction. But Germany's foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said it wouldn't be wise to remove all sanctions immediately.

Sanctions against Assad's henchmen who committed serious crimes during the civil war must remain in place. But Germany proposes to take a smart approach to sanctions providing repeat relief for the Syrian population. Syrians now need a quick dividend from the transition of power. And we continue to help those in Syria who have nothing. Our Middle East regional editor Mike Thompson told me how the sanctions have affected the lives of ordinary Syrians. The UN estimates that around half the population are struggling to feed themselves. The infrastructure of the country has been wrecked after years of war. Huge numbers of displaced people both inside and outside the country. Winter colds starting to bite, little fuel for heating

and cooking. Overall, desperate situations. And of course, the rulers themselves, they can't rebuild the country if these sanctions stay in place. So how much support is there, do you think, among Western leaders to lift sanctions? I mean, we heard there from Germany's foreign minister, what do other Western allies think? Well, I think her view sums up that of a lot of Western leaders. It's pretty much like encouraged by some of the comments, the promises that have been made by HTS's new de facto leader Ahmed Al-Shara. He's promised an inclusive and a tolerant government, but they want to see evidence

that he's actually going to keep his word. That's the biggest thing here. And I think if they start to see that, and maybe even actually, possibly slightly before, we could see these sanctions being lifted. Already, some have, the US has eaten some on humanitarian services and those affecting energy and sanitation and the EU's to discuss this issue at the end of this month. Well you say that Tessera's new rulers are promising an inclusive and tolerant government. I mean have they given any reassurances about women's

rights and human rights? That's a very good question Valerie. I mean, have they given any reassurances about women's rights and human rights? That's a very good question, Valerie. I mean, there's been very little real clarity on this particular issue, quite a lot about religious minorities, not so much about women. And we even had a comment last month by a senior HTS official saying that women's biological and psychological nature made them unfit for some government jobs. Now that of course sparked widespread alarm. And so since then, there's been a lot of sort of careful words by the new government and no obvious enforcement of Islamic dress codes. But of course, there are requirements here that sanctions can't be lifted without respect for women's rights and some fear that with some extreme members

in the makeup of this new government that perhaps leopards can't change their spots. Mike Thompson. Staying in Syria and the population there are facing an unprecedented threat from millions of mines and other discarded munitions as they return to their homes. Children are particularly at risk according to a demining charity, the Halo Trust. It says more than 80 people have been killed in the country since President Assad was toppled in late November due to landmines and explosives left in the ground.

Last week, two civilians were killed and ten others injured after several mines exploded in the northern provinces of Idlib and Aleppo. Julian Warraker spoke toO's Syria operations manager, Muad Al-Nufali, and asked him how big an issue clearing landmines is at the moment. A lot of people are crossing the lands or using the roads and there is a huge amount of mines and unexploded ornaments. And unfortunately, a lot of people lost their lives since the

Assad fell. How many people? Do we know the numbers? Hello, already with others recorded over 80 civilians deaths, including 20 children by unexploded ammunition. Tragically, there have been more cases of entire families being whipped out. And this is simply because these things can't be spotted, you don't know where you are putting your feet as you walk across the land. Exactly, my friend. The problem here is the people, they are excited to return to their

homes with their loved ones. They are not aware of the dangerous areas where the fighting took place, leaving thousands of thousands of unexploded weapons and ordnance. So what's your priority now in trying to ease this situation? HALO is used to rapid expansion and training. For example, in Ukraine, we had 400 deminers in the Donbass in February 2022. We had to expand quickly and respond to the Russian invasion. We are having over 1,500 deminers of all Ukraine. This was due to the massive uplift of funding for governments and international donors and the private donors as well. We are asking for a huge international effort once again to help the Syrian people recover their country.

We are asking about 40 million dollars per year. So you want a huge international finance effort to do something similar to the work you've done in Ukraine, is that what you're saying? Exactly. And that would involve demining experts doing that painstaking work which they have to do to clear whole areas? There is a lot of unacceptable and unnecessary death for people right now. HALO only has 40 D miners on the ground in north-west Syria, but we need at least 400 if we are going to stop these fatalities. We operate a hotline right now, but we simply

don't have enough staff to respond to everyone. What about training the D miners who might be able to do the work but aren't currently trained to do it? I mean, is there an effort on that front as well? When we have the fund, we can recruit people, we can train people, we can equip them with the right machines and the right equipment to start doing this. It will not take that much time. It might need like three to four months to establish our new expansion. But as a Hello Trust, we used to do that rapid expansion and training in different places around the world.

What about education work? Because clearly it's so important for people living there or returning there to know what they're looking for. The people are start going back or return back to their homes to be unitised with their families. We have right now a forest education team, they are delivering the safety messages for the communities but this number is not enough and as well we already started doing a digital campaign to send using the social media and TVs just to send the safety messages for the community and we want to increase that capacity at least 10 times in this period.

Because it's so difficult, isn't it? Especially for children. Children want to stray off the path, don't they? They want to go into the open land and play, and that's when they're most at risk. Exactly. Definitely. We are right now visiting the IDB camps for the people who want to return to their original cities. Our teams are sitting down with the children and explaining to them and we are visiting the schools as well. But the problem is that the capacity, we don't have enough staff to do that because this should be in a massive way. It's not like just four teams to work here and here. We

will not cover all the people. Maud Anafali, the Halo Trust's Syria operations manager. Iran says one of its nationals who was detained in Italy last month has returned home. Mohamed Abedini had been arrested on a US warrant accused of supplying drone parts to Iran's Revolutionary Guards, or IRGC. His release comes just days after an Italian journalist held in Tehran was freed. Tehran insists the two cases aren't connected. Our Europe Regional Editor Paul Moss explained more about the background to the case. The man released is Mohammed Abedini. He's described as an Iranian businessman. The United States says he supplied drone parts used by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, which is subject to sanctions. And they say these then were

used in an attack on US servicemen based in Jordan near the Syrian border. That happened last January and three American service personnel were killed. So the US had a warrant out for Mr. Aberdini's arrest. And indeed he was arrested by Italy when he arrived at Milan's Malpensa Airport. Iran was furious they said the evidence was fabricated but the United States wanted him extradited. And what about the Italian journalist held in Iran who's been freed? Cecilia Sala was in Iran making a podcast about Iranian life. She had accreditation but she was arrested last month for allegedly

violating the laws of the Islamic Republic. I'm not clear exactly what that was supposed to mean but she did have a terrible time. She was held in the notorious Evian prison, she slept on the floor, she was kept isolated, she says. But only a few days ago she was released and allowed to go home. And Iran is saying there's no connection between the two releases despite happening just days apart. Yeah, what can I say? I don't think there are many people who are going to believe that this is purely a coincidence. It certainly looks like a prisoner swap. Of course it suits Iran and Italy to deny the connection because neither wants to look

like they gave into pressure from the other. The trouble is of course if prisoners can be used as bargaining chips then there's an incentive for countries to you know randomly arrest foreigners and of course we've seen this with Russia there've been lots of swaps where you had Russians held in the United States and Europe for things like espionage they were released and then in return very openly either foreigners held in Russia or dissidents there were released. Now this does mean of course that people will think twice about visiting these countries if they could end up in jail effectively as a sort of diplomatic currency. POMOS. Still to come.

Flight is very relevant in New York because many folks in the neighborhoods of New York City and the metropolitan area don't have access to regular downcare. But will fluoride in water supplies in the US stop when a new Trump administration enters the White House? Lighthouse. I'm Nicola Cochlin and for BBC Radio 4 this is history's youngest heroes. Rebellion, risk and the radical power of youth. She thought right I'll just do it. She thought about others rather than herself. Twelve stories of extraordinary young people from across history. There's a real sense of urgency in them.

That resistance has to be mounted, it has to be mounted now. Follow History's Youngest Heroes wherever you get your podcasts. The Nobel Peace Prize winner, Malala Yousafafzai has told a summit of Muslim leaders that Afghanistan's Taliban rulers don't see women as human beings. The activist who campaigns for female education rights was shot in the face at the age of 15 by the Pakistani Taliban in 2012. Our Pakistan correspondent Azadeh Mushiri reports from Islamabad. She was hailed at the summit as the great daughter of Pakistan. Yet this is but one of a handful of trips Malala Yousafzai has made back to the country in nearly 13 years.

In 2012, the Pakistani Taliban shot her on the school bus when she was just 15. She'd been targeted because she'd spoken out about the right of girls to learn. Now 27 years old, she urged Muslim leaders and scholars at a global summit to take action against the Taliban government in Afghanistan. Recognize the Taliban regime as perpetrators of gender apartheid. Do not legitimize them. Do not make compromises on our faith. The summit organizers, the Muslim World League and Pakistan's Education Minister have told the BBC that the Taliban government were invited but they did not attend. When asked about engaging with them directly, the head of the Muslim World League said they spoke to everyone.

They said there wasn't any solid religious evidence in Islam that girls shouldn't be educated. The Taliban government declined to comment. Azadeh Mashiri. The incumbent president of Croatia, Zoran Milanovic, has been re-elected in a landslide victory. Mr. Milanovic took three quarters of votes cast in a run-off election against his rival from the governing party, Dragan Primirac. Gajdan Ali reports. Victory for Zoran Milanovic didn't come as a surprise. After all, he won the first round with 49% of the vote, just short of the mark required to avoid a runoff. But the winning margin will certainly raise eyebrows.

The governing HDZ has been the dominant party since Croatia gained independence more than 30 years ago. And it chose Dragan Primima Rat as its representative. By rejecting him so decisively, the electorate have sent a strong message. Mr Milanovic has gained enormous popularity through his outspoken attacks on the HDZ and government corruption. Voters clearly want more of the same. Guy Delaney. A task force has been sent to Thailand by Hong Kong's government to try to discover what's happened to a number of people who've disappeared in South East Asia.

Criminal gangs have been luring people from Hong Kong to Myanmar, frequently via Thailand, to work on telecom fraud scams. Our Asia Pacific editor, Miki Bristo, told me more. Well, Hong Kong has decided to send a range of officials to Thailand to meet Thai immigration, judicial officials, police officers, in order to try and track down about two dozen or so cases in which Hong Kong residents have simply disappeared when going to Thailand. And it's suspected that they've been taken by criminal gangs up to the borderlands with Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia and they're employed somehow there in online scams, telephone scams which have really proliferated over recent years. Now this is about Hong Kong but all over China particularly and other countries have reported that a lot of their citizens

disappearing through Thailand to these Unknown border areas where they're getting lured to these areas in order to take part in these scams So it's more than Hong Kong. Why is it such a big problem now? well, it's been a big problem for some time and a big problem now? Well it's been a big problem for some time and for several years really lots of countries been warning about it but now it's a particular problem because essentially of the disintegration of law and order in Myanmar where there's essentially a civil war going on the government there occupies the BBC did a survey a few months ago found out that the government

there only occupies about a quarter of the land. The rest is controlled by ethnic groups, pro-democracy groups. This lawlessness has allowed mainly Chinese gangs to move in and set up these scam centres, not just scam centres, but also drug centres as well. So the production of drugs has increased in Myanmar over recent years since the lawlessness began. The UN worked out last year that Myanmar was now the biggest supply of opium.

So all kinds of criminal activity, including scam centers, is taking place in these border areas. And there's been a warning from the UN, hasn't there? There's been a warning for the UN about this, been a warning from the UN hasn't there? There's been a warning for the UN about this, been a warning from lots of embassies, just yesterday the Chinese Embassy in Bangkok issued a warning essentially saying to people if you get offered a job and it seems too good to be true, the pay is high, it doesn't require a lot of qualifications, then just ignore it. It's probably too good to be true. It probably doesn't exist. And indeed there was an interesting case which came to light

just last week of a Chinese actor who'd thought he was going to Thailand in order to take part in some kind of film. He got to Thailand, ended up being whisked away in a car to Myanmar, head shaved, movements restricted, involved in this online scam operations. Eventually there was an outcry about his disappearance and he was found and he's returned home. But that's just the kind of thing which is going on. Miki Bristow. Fluoride is a naturally occurring mineral that governments often add to water supplies including currently

in the United States. Experts insist the policy has contributed to vastly reducing cavities in teeth. But Robert F. Kennedy Jr., touted as the country's likely new health secretary, is strongly opposed. He wants to remove fluoride from US tap water, citing a wide range of potential health risks. So is he right? Our reporter Phoebe Hobson has been finding out. NYU Dental School in Manhattan trains around 10% of the country's dentists, and thousands of New Yorkers come for discounted treatment.

Dr. Richard Valakovic is a clinical professor and executive director at the school's Center for Oral Health Policy. He says the busy operation runs at capacity, but it could overflow if Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has his way. Fluide is very relevant in New York because many folks in the neighborhoods of New York City and the metropolitan area don't have access to regular dental care. But if we were to eliminate fluoride it would have a dramatic impact and increase levels of cavities in particular that would make

it much more difficult for even our ability to respond to the issues. The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water has long been considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century by America's Center for Disease Control and Prevention. It started in the 1940s and is credited to a dramatic decline in cavities in the population. I think fluoride is a poison. But not everyone is convinced. I think fluoride is on the way up. I think the faster that it goes out the better.

RFK Junior posted on X that the naturally occurring mineral was associated with several health problems and the anti-fluoride movement in recent years has gained traction. The flame stoked when a federal judge in San Francisco ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to strengthen regulations, citing a study that linked the mineral to lower IQ levels in children. The attacks on it are, if anything, a red herring and are bringing up old conspiracy theories from the 1940s that just have no basis in reality. Diana Winters is the deputy director at the Resnick Centre for Food Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law.

None of the studies that have associated potentially lower IQ in children with fluoride intake have looked at the levels of fluoride that children are actually ingesting through drinking water or other sources. What they're looking at are levels of fluoride that are much higher than the actual levels that fluoride is being ingested. Among the plaintiffs in the San Francisco lawsuit was the Fluoride Action Network, a group that's against water fluoridation. Stuart Cooper is their executive director.

Fluoridation chemicals are the only chemical we add to the water supply that is intended to treat the consumer and does nothing for safety or potability of the drinking water. So it should have never been started just based on common sense. We shouldn't allow our politicians to use our public drinking water to mandate a medication or medical intervention." Back at NYU Dental School, there's a feeling that those opposing fluoride have forgotten how harmful cavities can be.

People need to appreciate that the impact, not just the teeth of cavities, but then the systemic impact of having teeth that have cavities that then result in dental pain, lost hours in school, lost hours of work, lost hours of sleep. The issues continue to face us. The decision to add fluoride is done at a community level and despite the anti-fluoride movement having become a mainstream debate, RFK Junior will have a hard job convincing the country's scientific bodies that the low levels in drinking water are posing any harm when many can't afford dental care.

Phoebe Hobson, people in central Kenya have been describing how a piece of space debris crashed into their village. An investigation is taking place into where the large metal ring structure came from, with some saying it was part of a European Ariane rocket. Jason Kaye reports. Residents of Makuku described hearing an eight-foot-wide metal ring weighing about half a ton crashing into farmland on the edge of their village just before the end of the year. I suddenly heard a loud sound like a bomb. That is when someone told me that something had fallen from the skies.

We found a big piece of metal that was very red. We waited for it to cool before people could approach it. Under the UN's Outer Space Treaty, states are liable for any damage caused by their space debris. This object is being examined now by the Kenya Space Agency. Its director, Brigadier Hilary Kipkosge, says it's too early to say exactly where it came from. It is a common item that is in many, many rockets and many space objects. So it is difficult to attribute it to a specific rocket. Some British space experts believe the ring could have come from a European Arian rocket that launched a satellite into space in 2008.

America's space agency NASA estimates there are more than 6,000 tonnes of debris currently in orbit around the Earth. No one was injured when this object fell from the sky but some villagers claim their properties were damaged and they've asked the Kenyan government for assurances that nothing like this can happen again. Jason Kay. And that's it from us for now but there will be a new edition of the Global News podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, send us an email. The address is globalpodcast.bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at Global News Pod.

This edition was mixed by Derek Clark. The producer was Liam McShephy. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Valerie Sanderson. Until next time, bye bye. Hello, I'm Katya Adler, host of the Global Story podcast from the BBC. Each weekday, we break down one big new story with fresh perspectives from journalists around the world. From artificial intelligence to divisive politics tearing our societies apart. From the movements of money and markets to the human stories that touch our lives, we

bring you in-depth insights from across the BBC and beyond. Listen to The Global Story wherever you get your BBC podcasts.