Reuters World News - Bahrain’s prisoner challenge, reviving Indigenous languages in Australia and Taylor Swift heads for the Big Screen

Episode Date: September 1, 2023

A mass hunger strike by political prisoners in Bahrain marks the biggest challenge to the country’s ruling family for years. Grassroot efforts to revive and preserve Australia’s Indigenous languages are proving a hit in the classroom. Plus, Typhoon Saola heads for Hong Kong and Taylor Swift’s concert film set for October release in movie theaters. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt-out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, Hong Kong braces for Typhoon Saola. A mass hunger strike in Bahrain marks the biggest challenge to the country's rulers in years. The fight to preserve Australia's indigenous languages. And Taylor Swift's ERAs tour heads to movie theaters. It's Friday, September 1st. This is Reuters World News, with everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes. Every weekday. I'm Kim Vinal in London.

First, the headlines making news around the world. Two former leaders of the far-right proud boys have been sentenced to lengthy jail sentences for their roles in the January 6th assault on the capital. Joseph Biggs was given 17 years and his co-defendant Zachary Real 15 years, far lower than the 33-year and 30-year term sought by federal prosecutors. Typhoon Saola is barreling towards Hong Kong. packing winds of more than 125 miles per hour. Hundreds of flights have been cancelled

and schools, businesses and financial markets closed ahead of landfall, expected Friday night. Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmitro Kaleba, has a message for critics of the pace of Ukraine's counter-offensive. I would recommend all critics to shut up, come to Ukraine and try to liberate one square centimeter by themselves.

Burkina Faso's interim president, Ibrahim Traore, has discussed possible military cooperation with Russia. The junta-led West African countries' relations with Moscow have been in the spotlight since it booted out French troops in February. Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to an election interference case in Georgia. The plea means the former president will not appear in person in an Atlanta court next week. Trump has asked to be tried separately from some of his 18 co-defendants. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has defended his use of a Texas businessman's private jet. Justice Thomas cited increased security risks after the court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade to justify some of the private travel.

It's time now for markets with Carmel Crimmons and Carmel, China is ramping up support for the economy. That's right. Authorities have cut some reserve requirements for banks. And the country's top lenders are also paving the way for further cuts to lending rates. They're trying to relieve some of the pressure on the property market, which is weighing on the entire economy. Against the backdrop of all of this, you've got Country Garden, China's largest private property developer. It's trying to avoid a default, and a key part of that is persuading creditors to postpone payments on one of its bonds. A bondholder vote on postponing the payments was meant to conclude yesterday,

but the company has extended the deadline to 10pm Hong Kong time tonight. Political prisoners in Bahrain are extending a near-month-long hunger strike over jail conditions. It's the biggest showdown for years between political dissidents and Bahrain's Saudi-backed ruling family. Aziz Aliakubi is in Dubai. Aziz, how many prisoners are taking part in this protest? So several human rights organizations are talking about more than 800 prisoners. The movement started as a small protest, but it quickly. quickly swelled to hundreds of prisoners. However, the government disputes this figure, and

they said in a statement to Reuters that only 121 inmates are striking. So what are they seeking? So basically, the prisoners are demanding more outdoor time to amend the rules for the visitations. They want to remove the glass barriers between them and their relatives when they visit. They want an extended list for visitors or for relatives that have the right to visit. They want more medical care, more education. How has the government reacted? So the government this week, they made an offer. They proposed to increase the daily opening year time to double it to two hours from one hour to review the phone calls,

costs from the prison. They proposed a digital library. They kind of like make some concessions, but clearly it wasn't enough. So prisoners are committed to continue to extend their hunger strike. What are the risks for the government? So the risks for the government are very high. Many prisoners are very old and they have health issues. And if one or two prisoners die in this movement, that might revive the old protests and the old political turmoil.

The last time we saw major political turmoil in Bahrain was back in 2011 when Saudi Arabia sent troops to help the monarchy over there to crush the descent. It's September, which means back to school for a lot of children, including in war-torn Ukraine. Millions of Ukrainians fled after Moscow's invasion in February 2022. But many have since returned, fearing their kids are missing out on a Ukrainian education. 43-year-old mother, Karese Krichenko, is one of them. She came back in March and chose a school in Kyiv with a bomb shelter for her six-year-old son,

Claricea said that despite the she thought it was important that Ulaas got a Ukrainian education, so he would always feel ready to live back home. And Ulaas, he said he was just excited to make friends. But when he said he wanted to be in the military when he grew up, his mother just said, God forbid. Australians will vote next month on whether to change the constitution to recognise Indigenous people. Protecting Indigenous languages is one of the key issues for yes campaigners. Australia has one of the highest rates of language loss in the world,

from more than 250 when European colonisation started to 150 in 2021. Alistair Pal visited several schools in Australia trying to reverse that transition. So we visited multiple schools in Sydney teaching two different indigenous languages. And in those schools, you have a majority of children who are non-Indigenous. So it's more of a case of slowly introducing them to the language. Well, I think it's important as a proud Aboriginal girl to pass this beautiful language down to people who would look up to me or other Aboriginal people. That's Sheila Smith, a pupil at Lethbridge Park Public School in Western Sydney.

She's one of hundreds of pupils there learning the Darug language, which was one of the first to be heard by the British when they arrived in Australia in the late 18th century. One of the people helping to revive Darug is author and teacher Jasmine Seymour. She's also a descendant of Maria Locke, the first Aboriginal person to marry a European settler, and one of the first to be admitted to a school to learn English. We can't actually keep up with the demand for indigenous languages or for learning Dariq across Sydney. So we have more people who want to learn it and not enough people who can teach it. So we're scrambling to get those people ready to help deliver it.

In Coffs Harbour, a town about five-hour drive north of Sydney, the children are really immersed in the local languages. This is called Gambanagir. Even lessons like maths are done in the... the language, children are also going out into the local area, which is known as being on country. In Coffs Harbour, Clark Webb is an educator who founded the Gumbina Gigan Gana Freedom School. Just listen to our children and our teachers conversing in our language. It's very special.

Revitalising these indigenous languages is really also about improving that connection to country, improving that connection to place. It's more than just learning a language. it's very, very important to Indigenous culture as a whole. It was a cruel summer for fans trying to get tickets to Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. But shake it off, her concert film will soon be hitting the big screen. The documentary by Taylor Swift Productions will play in cinemas in North America starting October 13th. Providing theatre chains with a high-profile title to.

help fill gaps caused by Hollywood strikes. Adult tickets for Swift's documentary cost $19.89 each, a nod to Swift's 1989 album. That's it for today's episode of Reuters World News. We'll be back with a special weekend episode looking at what's ailing Germany. To make sure you know what's going on in the world, listen in for 10 minutes every weekday. And don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast player or download the Reuters app. Thank you.