Iran says it's stopping strikes against Israel

Summary

Global News Podcast — “Iran says it's stopping strikes against Israel”

BBC World Service | Host: Celia Hatton | Date: June 8, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode covers a rapidly changing Middle Eastern crisis, as Iran declares an end to its strikes against Israel—conditional on Israel halting attacks in Lebanon. Other major stories include Pope Leo’s remarks on clerical sexual abuse in Spain, the UK’s new push to block explicit image-sharing among children, Xi Jinping’s visit to North Korea, the unveiling of a new Leonardo da Vinci digital archive, rare footage of a great white shark in the Mediterranean, and a debate about whether a humanoid robot magician can join the UK’s Magic Circle. Throughout, correspondents provide firsthand analysis, reactions, and context.

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Key Stories, Analysis & Moments

1. Iran–Israel Escalation: A Fragile Pause

• [01:10–08:12]
• Summary:
  • After renewed hostilities between Iran and Israel—triggered by Israeli strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iranian missile responses—Tehran announces a halt in attacks if Israel stops striking Lebanon. President Trump intervenes via social media, urging de-escalation.
• Insights:
  • Siavash Ardalan (Tehran):
    • Israel targeted not just Tehran but multiple Iranian military sites.
    • Reports of air defense activation; details are scarce due to increased caution by Iranian citizens in sharing attack footage.
    • Notable reciprocal targeting of petrochemical industries by both nations, affecting both civilian and military infrastructure.
    • “Iranians this time have been much more cautious in taking videos and publishing videos…very much similar to the discipline showed in Arab countries in the region.” (03:02)
  • Yolande Nell (Jerusalem):
    • No official Israeli response yet; security cabinet convening.
    • Suggests “a lot of mediation” behind the scenes; ongoing strikes in southern Lebanon despite Iran’s announcement.
    • 32 Iranian ballistic missiles launched; air raid sirens in Jerusalem for the first time in two months.
    • “This was definitely the most serious escalation since the ceasefire came into effect two months ago.” (05:35)
    • Military censorship limits clarity on casualties or damage.
  • Lise Doucet (Chief International Correspondent):
    • Iran’s new assertiveness marks a departure from “strategic patience.”
    • Offensive action aligns with Iranian hardliners now leading state policy.
    • Hezbollah’s central role for Iran—“not just a bargaining chip”—is emphasized.
    • “Iran is making it clear, and the message doesn’t seem to have got through to President Trump, that for Iran, Hezbollah is not just a bargaining chip. The ties…are personal, political, religious, institutional.” (07:32)

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2. Pope Leo’s Remarks on Clerical Abuse in Spain

• [08:12–10:34]
• Summary:
  • On his visit to Spain, Pope Leo directly addresses clerical sexual abuse and endorses the Spanish Church’s agreement to provide reparations.
• Insights:
  • Calls for a “culture of care” and “an ever more determined commitment to prevention.”
  • Stresses confessional secrecy, a stance seen as controversial amid global debates on mandatory reporting.
  • “The Church’s response to this problem should be to respond with listening, truth, justice and reparation.” (08:42)

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3. UK vs. Tech: Blocking Explicit Images for Children

• [10:34–13:44]
• Summary:
  • Prime Minister Keir Starmer gives tech giants three months to make it impossible for children under 16 to share or view naked images online, threatening legal action.
• Key Details:
  • The challenge may require advanced AI and device-level controls.
  • Google expresses commitment to protecting children; Apple highlights age verification.
  • Some see Starmer’s move as a potential legacy play amid political instability.
• Quote:
  • Dirk Remons: “I’m calling on tech companies operating in this country to introduce device controls that prevent children from sending and receiving sexually explicit images because this is not an impossible challenge.” (11:00)

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4. China–North Korea Relations: Xi Jinping’s Visit

• [15:01–18:41]
• Summary:
  • Xi Jinping visits Pyongyang for the first time in seven years, intending to reinforce China’s influence and address North Korea’s growing ties with Russia and increasing military assertiveness.
• Jake Kwon (Seoul):
  • North Korea’s deepening alignment with Russia concerns China, which relies on Pyongyang as a strategic buffer.
  • Experts increasingly regard North Korea as a de facto nuclear state, unlikely ever to relinquish its arsenal.
  • “China is both a buffer state and also a bit of a burden. They want to keep a close leash on Pyongyang.” (16:03)
  • North Korea’s economic and technological dependence on China remains critical.

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5. Global Culture: Leonardo da Vinci’s Digital Archive

• [18:41–22:10]
• Summary:
  • The launch of “Leonardo Tecca” brings together 4,000 pages of da Vinci’s manuscripts, digitized from collections across Italy and the UK, providing unprecedented access for scholars and the public.
• Roberto Ferrari (Museo Galileo):
  • Emphasizes the importance of da Vinci’s lesser-known scientific and engineering writings.
  • The new resource bridges fragmented archives and invites new scholarship.
  • “Beyond the 20 paintings attributed to him, we do have nearly 4,000 manuscript pages. And this written legacy is so much less known than the pictorial one. This…is a remarkable opportunity.” (19:16)
  • Historical tidbit: Some manuscripts entered the UK’s royal collection as a gift to Charles II. (21:20)

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6. Nature: Great White Shark Filmed in the Mediterranean

• [22:10–23:33]
• Summary:
  • Divers capture rare footage of a critically endangered great white shark, sparking hopes for stronger marine protections in the Mediterranean.
• Notable moment:
  • Dirk Remons (diver): “My fingers were trembling when I was trying to get the camera operating. But my biggest fear was that I couldn’t get the camera running.” (23:02)

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7. Debate: Can a Robot Join the Magic Circle?

• [23:42–27:01]
• Summary:
  • Daryl, an AI-powered humanoid magician, is denied membership in the prestigious Magic Circle due to a perceived lack of genuine “human touch.”
• Key Quotes:
  • David Penn (Daryl’s owner):
    • “He’s on stage, he’s performing as a magician, he’s moving people emotionally, he’s amazing them with magic…If that isn’t a magician, genuinely, I don’t know what is.” (24:30)
  • Marvin Burglass (Magic Circle president):
    • “For me, magic’s more than simply fooling people…for the moment…creating a shared experience of astonishment, I think they still need the human heartbeat behind it.” (25:33)
  • David Penn:
    • “Technology will never replace wonder. Of course, I acknowledge that, but it certainly does amplify it…” (26:08)

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “Iranians…have been much more cautious in taking videos and publishing videos…very much similar to the discipline showed in Arab countries in the region.”
  — Siavash Ardalan, [03:02]

• “This was definitely the most serious escalation since the ceasefire came into effect two months ago.”
  — Yolande Nell, [05:35]

• “Iran is making it clear…that for Iran, Hezbollah is not just a bargaining chip. The ties…are personal, political, religious, institutional.”
  — Lise Doucet, [07:32]

• “The Church’s response…should be to respond with listening, truth, justice and reparation.”
  — Pope Leo commentary, [08:42]

• “I’m calling on tech companies…to introduce device controls…because this is not an impossible challenge.”
  — Dirk Remons, [11:00]

• “Beyond the 20 paintings attributed to him, we do have nearly 4,000 manuscript pages…a remarkable opportunity.”
  — Roberto Ferrari, [19:16]

• “He’s on stage, he’s performing as a magician…If that isn’t a magician, genuinely, I don’t know what is.”
  — David Penn, [24:30]

• “For me, magic’s more than simply fooling people…but for the moment…they still need the human heartbeat behind it.”
  — Marvin Burglass, [25:33]

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Summary Table of Contents

1. Iran–Israel Crisis: Conditional Halt to Strikes
2. Pope Leo: Reckoning with Clergy Abuse
3. UK’s Tech Ultimatum: Stop Explicit Images for Kids
4. Xi Jinping’s Visit to North Korea
5. Leonardo da Vinci Online Archive
6. Great White Shark Sighting in the Mediterranean
7. Robot Magician Denied by Magic Circle

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This concise and detailed summary brings you the major events, analysis, and debates from a news-packed BBC Global News Podcast episode on June 8, 2026.

Transcript

[BBC Podcast Announcer]

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[Celia Hatton]

This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Celia Hatton and it's 16 hours GMT on Monday 8th June. These are our main stories. Iran and Israel engage in a series of aerial attacks Tehran said it will stop for now, but it will resume if Israeli forces attack Lebanon. On a visit to Spain, the Pope has been speaking about child abuse carried out by members of the Catholic Church and the UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer gives tech companies a three month deadline to stop children from seeing or sending explicit images. Also in this podcast, a new online collection of the drawings and notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci has been launched.

[Roberto Ferrari]

A remarkable opportunity to explore this artistic and scientific culture of the renaissance through one of his most extraordinary figures.

[Celia Hatton]

First to our top story. Things move fast in the Middle East. In our last podcast we were reporting the first major breach of the ceasefire between Iran and Israel in two months after Israel attacked Iranian backed Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. Over the week, Iran responded by firing on Israel. Then Israel retaliated and there was a back and forth of attacks, including an Israeli assault on a large petrochemical complex. But now Iran has announced an end of military operations against Israel as long as they stop attacking Lebanon. That from Tehran after a call from President Trump on social media for both sides to stop shooting before Iran's brief announcement it would stop. I spoke to Siavash Ardalan from BBC Persian about the latest attacks by Israel in the capital Tehran and beyond.

[Siavash Ardalan]

What we've been hearing has been just limited to news that the air defenses have been activated. We don't know exactly which parts of Tehran have taken a hit after other strikes that Israel carried out hours before in Tehran and the areas surrounding it. Unlike the previous round, Iranians this time have been much more cautious in taking videos and publishing videos of points of impact or where Israel or in that case, the US has struck. Very much similar to the discipline showed in Arab countries in the region. But from what we've been hearing, it's not just been Tehran, but other major cities as well. Isfahan, Tabriz, these were not urban areas, but apparently military bases. The only place where could be considered civilian is Israel's targeting of Iran's petrochemical industry in the city of Marshad in Khuzestan. Now, that was an area where Iran responded in kind by saying that it targeted the petrochemical installations in the city of Haifa.

[Celia Hatton]

Cvash Ardalan I asked our correspondent in Jerusalem, Yoland Nell, whether there'd been any response from Israel to Iran's announcement it was ending military operations.

[Yolande Nell]

There's been no official response yet from the Israelis. The Israeli Security Cabinet is expected to meet later tonight. But before this announcement from Iran's armed forces, both Israel and Iran had said that they were preparing for fighting to go on, at least for days. So clearly there was a lot of mediation in the region that was going on behind the scenes. President Trump also came out with that truth social post telling both sides to immediately stop shooting. He must have seen his efforts really to kind of get a full peace deal over the line potentially lying in ruins. There have been some reports I've seen in the Israeli media suggesting that there was a call between Mr. Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. We know, of course, that these two leaders speak to each other regularly and we're seeking confirmation about that. But when it comes to strikes on Lebanon and Iran saying there'll be more devastating attacks if Israel resumes those strikes, well, Israeli strikes have continued in southern Lebanon in and apparently even since that announcement from under arms Armed forces came

[Celia Hatton]

out, you've been telling us about the diplomacy that's been going back and forth, but you're on the ground. Can you tell us about the scale of the attacks we've seen in the last 24 hours?

[Yolande Nell]

Well, this was definitely the most serious escalation that there's been since the ceasefire came into effect two months ago. And, you know, we had several rounds of rockets fired in this direction by the Iranians. And the Houthis also fired one or two missiles at Israel. According to Israeli defense officials, about 32 ballistic missiles came this way in total. And you know, that was extremely alarming for people, although it was on the cards. And, you know, it was the first time in two months that people here in Jerusalem heard the sirens going off and had to run to their air raid shelters. We don't know at the moment full details of any damage that might have been caused. We know there have been interceptions of these missiles, but Israel operates rules of military censorship, so we don't always have full details immediately. We're not hearing at the moment any Israeli reports of casualties as a result of all these attacks.

[Celia Hatton]

Yolande, NELL well, staying with this story, with more analysis on how things have unfolded over the last 24 hours, here's our chief international correspondent, Lise Doucet.

[Lise Doucet]

It seems to have been a momentary spiral, all calm now, but with a warning from all sides that it could resume again. I think we're seeing yet more evidence of a new security doctrine among the leaders leadership which has emerged in Iran through this war. You may remember in years past under the former Ayatollah, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, we used to talk about Iran's strategic patience, playing the long game, exercising restraint, not attacking immediately, doing it at a time of their choosing. That is now done. This is one of the first times that is that Iran has attacked first against Israel, making it clear that it will go on the offensive. Although it's interesting, the Foreign Ministry is calling it defensive, the army is calling it offensive, making it clear that it will not sit back because the hardliners used to criticize the moderates who were in power, saying you're showing restraint is a sign of weakness. Now they are the ones calling the shot. And this is doubly significant because it's also doing it on behalf of an ally. This is understood to be the first time as well, that Iran has struck Israel because it believes, it continues to emphasize that the ceasefire must include the Lebanese front, must include Hezbollah. Iran is making it clear, and the message doesn't seem to have got through to President Trump, that for Iran, Hezbollah is not just a bargaining chip. The ties between Hezbollah and Iran go back many years. They are personal, they are political, they are religious, they are institutional. And Iran will not simply cast aside its support for Hezbollah.

[Celia Hatton]

Our chief international correspondent, Lise Doucet, now to Spain, where Pope Leo is. On the third day of a visit, in a meeting with bishops, he spoke about what he described as the scourge of sexual violence by Catholic clergy and called for a culture of care in the Church. Spain's National Ombudsman has estimated that around 200,000 children have suffered sexual abuse by clergy in Spain dating back to 1940. Our correspondent Guy Hedgco is in Madrid and gave us this update.

[BBC Podcast Announcer]

He gave a half hour address to lawmakers in the Spanish parliament in which he talked about a range of issues. And then straight after that, he spoke to Spanish bishops. And that was when he made explicit comments about the issue of sexual abuse in the church. And he basically talked about the need to face up to it head on. He said that the Church's response to this problem should be to respond with listening, truth, justice and reparation. And he called for an ever more determined commitment to prevention and a culture of care. Now, recently, the Catholic Church in Spain has reached an agreement with the Spanish government to provide reparations for victims of abuse. So these comments by the Pope certainly look like an endorsement of the agreement, the agreement that has been reached there.

[Celia Hatton]

The Pope also said that disclosures by clergy within the confessional should not be revealed. How will that be received by critics of the Church?

[BBC Podcast Announcer]

Yes, that's right. I mean, he said that confession preserves a sacred space of inner freedom where the believer can open his or her soul before God. Now, a number of countries, for example France, have debated recently whether to force priests to report sexual abuse that is disclosed during confession. So this is quite a live issue in a number of countries. And clearly the Pope doesn't want to see a change there. I think as far as critics go, I think there might be people who, who would see this as evidence that the Pope or the Church is not willing to follow through necessarily when it comes to issues of wanting to ensure that responding in the right way in terms of sexual abuse and so on. So I think there will be ammunition there for critics of the Church, certainly.

[Celia Hatton]

Guy Hedgco. And now to news that the UK says it will become the first country in the world where it'll be impossible for children to take share or view naked pictures online. Prime Minister Keir Starmer says it's now up to big tech companies like Apple and Google to solve this problem in three months or face legal consequences. And he says there are no excuses for those companies not to deliver. Deliver.

[Dirk Remons]

I'm calling on tech companies operating in this country to introduce device controls that prevent children from sending and receiving sexually explicit images because this is not an impossible challenge. These are the sum of the most innovative companies in the world and I believe they can solve it.

[Celia Hatton]

Our correspondent Rob Watson told us more.

[Rob Watson]

We know what the ambition is as we heard it there and that is for Britain to become the country which stops Celia children, that is those under 16 from as you say, say either sharing, taking or sending sexually explicit images. I mean I think we're a bit less clear on how that will work and that's what we'll be looking out for. But, but I think what the government is pointing us towards and why they say they believe that the tech companies are capable of this, and by this they mean really Apple and Google is that you would possibly use AI to, to deal with the sharing issue. That is I would know what was being shared and then it would maybe possibly require software updates for the came on your, on your device to know what to ban an image if you were the person taking. It was a certain age but you know, obviously not straightforward Celia, but that's the ambition.

[Celia Hatton]

Okay, so that's the call from the government. What about this three month deadline though? Have, have we heard anything from the tech companies?

[Rob Watson]

We've heard from Google who say they are deeply committed, I'm sort of paraphrasing what they said. Deeply committed to protecting children online and that they are working constructively with UK partners. And what Apple has previous said is that it's already committed to age verification for its users. I mean exactly how the government and the tech companies are going to work on this I guess is what we'll be looking out for in the next three months. I mean, I don't think there's any doubt that the government's preference would be that this was done voluntarily. But what the government is threatening I believe is things like criminal liability and fines.

[Celia Hatton]

This all comes at a really interesting time in UK politics, doesn't it? I mean we know that governments around the world are increasingly worried about children's activities online and many are considering social media bans. But is Keir Starmer trying to seize a political moment here at a time when his position is under threat?

[Rob Watson]

I think the answer to that is possibly yes, Celia. And look, there is no doubt there is gossip at Westminster about this idea of a legacy for Keir Starmer and that's because there are many with inside the governing Labour Party who don't actually think he's going to be around for much longer as Prime Minister and leader and that perhaps his legacy could be Making it more difficult for children to see harmful material, whether sharing images or using social media accounts.

[Celia Hatton]

Rob Watson and we have more on this story on our YouTube channel. Search for BBC News on YouTube and you'll find the Global News podcast in the podcast section. There's a new story available every weekday. Still to come in this podcast, he's

[David Penn]

performing as a magician. He's moving people emotionally. He's amazing them with magic. And if that isn't a magician, genuinely, I don't know what is.

[Celia Hatton]

An AI humanoid robot is refused entry to the Magic Circle, the Members association for magicians in Britain.

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[Carter Sherman]

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[Celia Hatton]

Next to North Korea's capital and the sounds of China's leader Xi Jinping being welcomed as he enters Kim Il Sung Square, right in the heart of Pyongyang. Mr. Xi has arrived for a two day visit. It's his first visit to see his neighbor in seven years. The two nations have a long history, often describing their relationship as forged in blood. That's a reference to the Korean War, which happened more than seven decades ago when China had just gone through its communist revolution. But in the last few years, things have changed. North Korea is now developing close and very lucrative ties with Russia. And Pyongyang is also a growing military power. SE's visit is happening just after North Korea unveiled a new nuclear material facility last week. North Korea's Kim Jong Un has been calling for an exponential expansion of the country's nuclear arsenal. Our Seoul correspondent Jay Kwon told us more.

[Jake Kwon]

I think Xi Jinping is seeing how North Korea, this traditional ally and probably very much one of its closest ally, start to leave China's sphere of influence. We saw Pyongyang getting really chummy with Moscow. We saw Kim Jong Un sending thousands of troops to Ukraine war and there were more and more kind of trade in oil, fuel and other supply weapons between those two countries. And for China, North Korea is both a buffer state and it's also a bit of a burden. They want to keep a close control, close leash on Pyongyang. So when North Korea start deciding things for their own and also when they step up weapons tests, for example, what they're afraid of is a scenario where America and other Western countries start stepping up an arms race in Asia and bringing more and more troops or strategic weapons to China's neighborhood. So what Xi Jinping wants to do is to affirm that. But again, North Korea is within their power and North Korea is one of its closest ally and they still have full control over North Korea.

[Celia Hatton]

Jake, you mentioned North Korea's military ambitions. You're speaking to me from just over the border in South Korea. Is the region really looking at North Korea as a de facto nuclear state now?

[Jake Kwon]

Well, here's the thing, I think when you speak to a lot of experts, a lot of them have been calling for more sober look at the situation. North Korea has been saying for years now that their nuclear weapons is not going away. We just heard last week Kim Jong Un saying that their nuclear weapons making capability is double the efficiency from years ago. Yesterday, Kim Jong Un's sister, Kim Yo Jong said that they're never, ever giving up nuclear weapons just on the eve of Xi Jinping coming to visit the country. So a lot of people are very skeptical whether North Korea could ever be, you know, push to give up on their nuclear weapons. And this is actually one of the things that we're watching in Xi Jinping's visit. Will he say something about North Korea's nuclear weapons program, which is something that China previously opposed?

[Celia Hatton]

And how much does North Korea rely on China for support now?

[Jake Kwon]

Well, for North Korea, China has always been a lifeline. Trade with China is a good 80, 90% of North Korea's economy. And it really is depending hugely on China for investment or technology, smartphones, you name it. A lot of things come through the northern border. So for North Korea, China is an ally that they cannot lose.

[Celia Hatton]

Jake Kwon, the Italian Ministry of Culture has launched a new online collection of the drawings and notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, which have been brought together for the first time in nearly 500 years. The work had been divided up by a student of da Vinci's after his death. Now the online collection called Leonardo Tecca, unites digitized archives from Milan, Florence, and even the royal collection from Windsor Castle here in the uk Roberto Ferrari, the executive director of the Museo Galileo in Florence, has been speaking to Rebecca Kesbi.

[Roberto Ferrari]

When we think of Leonardo da Vinci, we immediately picture the paintings and Mona Lisa, the Last Supper. But the thing is that beyond the 20 paintings attributed to him, we do have nearly 4,000 manuscript pages for thousands. And this written Legacy is so much less known than the pictorial one. This is what the Leonardo Tecca, precisely what is about. It's a remarkable opportunity to explore this artistic and scientific culture of the Renaissance through one of his most extraordinary figures. Not just a painter, the thinker, the scientist, the engineer, the inventor, as he wrote and sketched his way through ideas.

[Rebecca Kesbi]

It is. It's so exciting. I mean, he died more than 500 years ago, but I mean, his technical ingenuity and creativity was so far ahead of its time, wasn't it? I mean, he was dreaming up things that then others actually made inventions of things. I mean, he's accredited with having an idea for a helicopter or some sort of flying machine, maybe the modern tank. And it was hundreds of years before anybody else actually made those things.

[David Penn]

Exactly.

[Roberto Ferrari]

And even when he didn't succeed. This is relevant for us. But the problem is that we would like also to encourage young scholars to engage with Leonardo's manuscripts. It is a genuinely difficult undertaking, made even harder by the fact that in the 16th century, a sculpture named Pompeo Leone physically cut up many of the pages and rearranged them. So the material itself comes to us already fragmented and disrupted. So the Leonardo Teca is here to help break down those barriers. Everything is at fingertips. Also, for those who are just curious,

[Rebecca Kesbi]

one of the collections is here, is under the Royal Collection. I think it's at Windsor Castle. How did that happen? How did the British monarchs get hold of this stuff?

[Roberto Ferrari]

The story starts when Leonardo dies and the manuscripts came into the possession of an Italian sculpture, Pompeo Leone, who dismounted and cut the folios, separating the materials into two albums, according to his own judgment. But what happened is that in the early 17th century, Leoni's son in law inherited the manuscripts and sold the most substantial album to Count Galeazzo Arconati, who donated it to the Veneranda biblioteca ambrosiana in 1637. The other album containing the figurative works was brought to England in the 1620s. And then to read the royal collection around 1670, probably as a gift to Charles II.

[Celia Hatton]

Roberto Ferrari speaking to Rebecca Kesbi. Divers have filmed rare underwater footage of a great white shark swimming in the Mediterranean Sea. Swimmers shouldn't worry. Conservationists hope this spotting will encourage protection efforts for the species. As Helen Briggs reports, the great white

[Helen Briggs]

shark is the largest predatory fish alive today. Known for its streamlined grey body, highly tuned senses and speed. They're typically found off the shores of South Africa and Australia. But a different population has lived in the Mediterranean for Half a million years or more. This top predator is critically endangered in the Med, and sightings are very rare. Dirk Remons was diving to a wreck between Sicily and the Tunisian coast to clear lost fishing nets when he came close to the huge great white. He says he was astonished.

[Dirk Remons]

We, as a team of three, saw this huge shark, swam away, turned around, came back towards us, and in fact, my fingers were trembling when I was trying to get the camera operating. But on the other hand, I think my biggest fear was that I couldn't get the camera running.

[Helen Briggs]

He says people shouldn't be afraid because a shark was many miles offshore. And scientists hope the sighting will encourage governments to create marine protected areas in Mediterranean waters to protect sharks, rare and other dwindling species.

[Celia Hatton]

And you can see Dirk Remmer's footage of the shark on the BBC news website. And finally, we end the program with a fierce debate in the world of magic.

[Carter Sherman]

David, can I ask you a question?

[Marvin Burglass]

Am I real?

[Celia Hatton]

Daryl, the AI humanoid robot, has been making a name for himself on stage with what reviewers describe as extraordinary performances. But it's not been enough for him to be granted permission to join the Magic Circle, the members association for magicians in Britain. It says that despite his impressive tricks, the robot lacks the human touch. Amal Rajan has been speaking to David Penn, who bought Daryl for $52,000 in China, and to Marvin Burglas, president of the Magic Circle, who turned down the request for the robot's membership. Amal started off by asking David on what grounds he submitted Daryl to join the elite group of magicians.

[David Penn]

On what grounds? Genuinely, I don't understand that question. Because he's on stage, he's performing as a magician, he's moving people emotionally, he's amazing them with magic, he's creating empathy. And when he leaves the stage, he's getting standing ovations. And if that isn't a magician, genuinely, I don't know what is.

[Amal Rajan]

Well, I know the man to ask. It's Marvin Burglass. What'd you say, Marvin?

[S]

Well, I've seen Daryl perform and he is absolutely extraordinary. The technology and ingenuity is genuinely impressive. But there's no doubt that advances in AI robotics and immersive technology are opening fascinating new doors for the art of magic. But for me, magic's more than simply fooling people. The very best magicians create wonder, tension, laughter and emotion. And it makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

[Amal Rajan]

Sounds like that's exactly what Daryl's doing. According to David. We just heard he's on stage, he's performing, he's generating empathy. He's moving people, standing ovations, mesmerizing people. Doesn't he satisfy all of the conditions you've just laid?

[S]

He satisfies most of them. And one day, I'm sure we will have robots as members. But for the moment, reading an audience and responding in the moment and creating a shared experience of astonishment, I think they still need the human heartbeat behind it.

[Amal Rajan]

So, David, the argument there from Marvin is that Daryl. It is a he, isn't it? Daryl is. Daryl has agenda. Yes. Or indeed a sex. The argument is that he can inspire people, move people, generate empathy, but he can't respond in the moment. And that inability to respond in the moment places some sort of a limitation on his ability to connect with other sapiens.

[David Penn]

Well, that's part of the illusion of the performance, that he does respond in the moment. I'd invite people to come and see it live. Marvin used the word wonder. It's a wonderful word, like astonishment that we use in the magic world all the time. Technology will never replace wonder. Of course, I acknowledge that, but it certainly does amplify it. And when you see Daryl performing live, when he asked the question, you played the sound bite. There's a part in my show where we have a monologue where he actually asked me if he is real, but it's the experience that he creates that is real. Daryl might not be real in and of himself, but the experience that he creates is real. And that experience is magic. Which is why I'm so disappointed that the Magic Circle have not acknowledged that on this occasion. I'm a proud member. I just wish Daryl could join me.

[Celia Hatton]

David Penn, Darryl the robot's biggest supporter, and Marvin Burglass, president of the Magic Circle. And that's all from us for now. If you want to get in touch, you can email [e-mail] you can also find us on X@BBC World Service. Use the hashtag globalnewspod. And don't forget our sister podcast, the Global Story, which goes in depth and beyond the headlines on One Big Story. Today, we explore the Chinese leader Xi Jinping's trip to North Korea. This edition of the Global News Podcast was mixed by Chris Ablaqua and the producer was Steven Jensen. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Celia Hatton. Until next time. Goodbye.

[Carter Sherman]

Bye.

[Kai Wright]

I'm Kai Wright.

[Carter Sherman]

I'm Carter Sherman. Welcome to Stateside with Kai and Carter. We're a new show from the Guardian.

[Kai Wright]

We're talking to Big thinkers and the best journalists just trying to understand the world through smart conversation and honest reporting.

[Carter Sherman]

We don't have billionaires telling us what to say.

[Kai Wright]

Stateside with Kyan Carter will come out three times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, starting May 13.

[Carter Sherman]

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