Outrage over Israel's treatment of Gaza flotilla activists

Summary

Global News Podcast — Outrage over Israel’s Treatment of Gaza Flotilla Activists
BBC World Service | May 21, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode zeroes in on the international outrage triggered by Israel’s treatment of Gaza flotilla activists, following the circulation of a video showing the activists being taunted and manhandled by Israeli forces. The episode also covers evolving diplomatic efforts in the Middle East, a high-profile manhunt in the Philippines, a landmark court ruling against Airbus and Air France, India’s viral Cockroach People’s Party, advances in space observation tech, the rise of Asian cinema at Cannes, and a story of how Aston Villa Football Club unites a Ghanaian village.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. International Outcry: Israel and Gaza Flotilla Activists

• Background:
  Israel intercepted a flotilla of boats carrying pro-Palestinian activists aiming to deliver aid to Gaza. A video by Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir shared scenes of activists being taunted and roughly handled, provoking international condemnation.

• Global Condemnation:

  • Over 20 nations, including Italy and the UK, condemned Israel’s actions, with calls for EU sanctions against Ben Gvir.
  • Italian Foreign Minister advocated for sanctions; the UK, which already sanctions Ben Gvir for West Bank actions, issued a strong statement.
  • "We see these totally disgraceful scenes in this video shared by Israeli Cabinet Minister Ben Gvir, which shows a total disrespect and violation of basic standards of human dignity in the way that people were being treated."
    — Emma Jones, [02:54]

• Firsthand Account:

  • Anita Wittenberg, mother of detained activist Sebastian Tao, expressed distress:
    • "I only saw part of it. I found it difficult to watch…That is why my son…decided to go and to use his body to defend and to say that I want to bring aid to the people of Gaza who are suffering."
      — Anita Wittenberg, [03:18]

• Treatment of Activists:

  • All 430 activists, from 45+ countries, have been deported, primarily via Turkey.
  • Israeli NGO lawyers reported seeing “systematic and severe violence” during detention, with some activists suffering broken ribs and injuries requiring hospitalization.
  • "They said they had seen systematic and severe violence…goes much beyond the humiliation in the video, but actually real serious allegations of physical violence too."
    — Reporter, [04:37]

• International Response:

  • Diplomatic summoning of Israeli ambassadors across Europe.
  • Criticism has shifted the focus from Gaza’s humanitarian crisis to concerns over Israel’s far-right politics.

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2. Middle East Diplomacy: Iran, Pakistan, and the US

[06:16–09:45]

• Pakistan’s Role:

  • Pakistani military chief’s visit to Tehran, aimed at reviving peace talks between Iran and the US.
  • US demands Iran halt uranium enrichment and allow enriched uranium to be exported, which Iran’s Supreme Leader refuses.
  • Iran asserts control over the Strait of Hormuz, requiring ships to coordinate transit.

• Diplomatic Stalemate:

  • "What I am hearing from inside Iran, I don’t think the gap is closing, but…it is widening."
    — Correspondent Jia Gol, [08:23]

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3. Philippines: ICC Warrant and Political Drama

[09:45–13:17]

• Case of Ronald de la Rosa:
  • Ex-police chief, wanted by the ICC for overseeing thousands of drug war deaths, evaded arrest after a dramatic armed standoff in the Senate building.
  • Supports keeping the trial in Philippine courts; government has now ordered arrest.
  • "This manhunt is underway, but it’s a huge political issue in the country. We saw it first of all with Rodrigo Duterte. Now it’s back and it’s not, not going away."
    — Joanna Keane, [12:44]

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4. Legal Landmark: Air France & Airbus Convicted

[13:17–16:14]

• Details:
  • French court convicts Air France and Airbus of corporate manslaughter over the 2009 crash that killed 228.
  • Years-long investigation traced crash to confusion during a minor technical failure, compounded by pilot error.
  • "A minor technical failure led to confusion on the flight deck, resulting in an aerodynamic stall…"
    — Theo Leggett, [14:27]
  • The case may still go to France’s highest court.

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5. Indian Youth & The ‘Cockroach People’s Party’

[18:29–21:17]

• Origins:

  • Satirical response to an insulting comparison by India’s Chief Justice toward activist youth, the party rapidly crossed 10 million followers—surpassing the ruling BJP.
  • Describes itself as the “voice of the lazy and unemployed.”

• Youth Frustration as Political Force:

  • "In the next few years, you will see that the youth of this country will demand a change…now that youth wants to change the political discourse of India…"
    — Cockroach People’s Party Spokesperson, [20:20]
  • Government pressures led to social media restrictions, but the party’s momentum continues.

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6. Space Science: The Roman Space Telescope

[21:17–25:21]

• Technology Leap:

  • NASA’s new Roman Space Telescope will image vast regions of space, outpacing Hubble/James Webb in sky coverage and data scale.
  • "The biggest thing about Roman is that…[it] covers more of the sky in one image than 100 to 200 different images from Hubble or James Webb."
    — Missy Vess, [22:34]

• Mission Goals:

  • Survey exoplanets, investigate dark matter/energy, and provide open access to its massive data output.
  • Launch anticipated in September from Kennedy Space Center.

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7. Cannes Film Festival: Asian Cinema Takes Center Stage

[25:21–29:01]

• Hollywood’s Absence, Asia’s Spotlight:

  • With US studios absent, Asian directors and international casts dominate.
  • Korean film Hope and Japanese director Hirokazu Koreida attract Western talent.

• Globalization of Cinema:

  • "I felt that now filmmaking has really gone beyond just being made in one country. It’s really globalized."
    — So In Sung, actor, [26:52]
  • Actor Will Sharp reflects on cross-cultural storytelling:
    • "Any story that allows itself specificity weirdly sort of opens itself out to being universally relatable…"
      — Will Sharp, [28:29]

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8. Aston Villa’s Victory Celebrated in Ghana

[29:01–30:55]

• Football’s Global Bonds:
  • In Jabi, Ghana, thousands celebrate Aston Villa’s European win with parades and communal gatherings—a tradition started by connections with Birmingham decades ago.
  • "Everybody was very, very happy. That’s why I poured the powder on my head. It signifies victory…Every week we follow the boys in claret and blue."
    — Awusu Amando, [30:23]

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Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• "Total disrespect and violation of basic standards of human dignity…"
  — Emma Jones, [03:02]
• "I only saw part of it. I found it difficult to watch…"
  — Anita Wittenberg, [03:18]
• "Systematic and severe violence…goes much beyond the humiliation in the video…"
  — Jerusalem Correspondent, [04:37]
• "It is an anger of the youth…40% of under 25 graduates are unemployed."
  — Ambarasan Itharajan, [19:01]
• "We will be launching in early September."
  — Missy Vess, NASA, [25:09]
• "If Villa is playing around 2pm, we are all going to meet and watch the game."
  — Awusu Amando, [29:34]

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Important Timestamps

• [02:18] Outrage & international response to Gaza flotilla video
• [03:18] Mother of detained activist speaks
• [04:37] Details from legal observers on activists’ treatment
• [06:16] Pakistan-Iran-US diplomatic efforts
• [09:45] Philippines: ICC manhunt and political fallout
• [13:43] Air France & Airbus verdict and crash explanation
• [19:01] Cockroach People’s Party in India
• [21:54] NASA’s Roman Space Telescope overview
• [25:48] Cannes: Asian cinema steps into limelight
• [29:34] Ghanaian village celebrates Aston Villa win

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Tone and Language

Throughout, correspondents maintain a measured, analytical tone, mixing human accounts with expert commentary and breaking news updates. Reported speech and interviews add emotional resonance, particularly regarding the flotilla activists and grassroots stories from India and Ghana.

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This summary captures the main news, depth of discussion, and notable voices from the episode, offering a coherent guide to listeners and non-listeners alike.

Transcript

[James Menendez]

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[Engineer/Missy Vess]

Mastercano foreign.

[Ankur Desai]

This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Ankur Desai and at 16 GMT on Thursday 21st May, these are our main stories. More than 20 countries have now condemned Israel over its rough treatment of detained Gaza flotilla activists. Italy has called for EU sanctions against the Security minister, Itama Ben gvir. The activists have been deported elsewhere. A search is on in the Philippines for a fugitive senator and former police chief wanted by the International Criminal Court over his deadly crackdown on drugs. And Air France and Airbus have been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter over an airline disaster in 2009. Also in this podcast, the powerful head of the Pakistani military, a key ally of Donald Trump is is expected in Tehran today to add momentum to peace talks with the US And a new political party in India is standing up to the establishment.

[Cockroach People's Party Member]

You should be lazy, just as the CGI said unemployed. You should be chronically online. So whatever words he used to insult the youth, we made that the criteria to be a member of this party.

[Ankur Desai]

More on the Cockroach People's Party coming up. First, there's been an international outcry over a video shared by Israel's National Security Minister, Itama Ben gvir, in which activists on boats are taunted and manhandled after their flotilla was intercepted in international waters. The president of the European Council, Antonio Costa, has said he was appalled by the treatment. And Italy has called for EU sanctions against Mr. Gevr. The British Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper, condemned the video.

[Emma Jones]

I mean, we see these totally disgraceful scenes in this video shared by Israeli

[Engineer/Missy Vess]

Cabinet Minister Ben Gavir, which shows a

[Emma Jones]

total disrespect and violation of basic standards of human dignity in the way that people were being treated.

[Ankur Desai]

Sebastian Tao was on board one of the boats. His mother, Anita Wittenberg, spoke to the BBC.

[Advertisement Voice]

I only saw part of it. I found it difficult to watch. I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised by the brutality of this regime. That is why my son, who is a 24 year old recent university graduate with a heart for justice, decided to go and to use his body to defend and to say that I want to bring aid to the people of

[Engineer/Missy Vess]

Gaza who are suffering.

[Ankur Desai]

The more than 400 activists taken from boats raided in international waters by Israeli forces have now been deported from Israel. A correspondent in Jerusalem, Emir Nada, killed, gave us this update to James Menendez.

[Reporter/Correspondent]

We've just had a confirmation from the Israeli Foreign Ministry that the roughly 430 activists who were detained and were seen in those video, in that shocking video, they have been deported from Israel. We understand the majority left on two or three Turkish planes. So they'll go first to Turkey and then onwards to their various countries. The activists were coming from around 45 different countries. So there are many activists from Europe and elsewhere. And then the other latest bit of information we've been getting is from a legal team who were from an Israeli ngo, but were representing some of those activists who were detained. And they managed to see about 200 of the activists during the detention and said it was some of the hardest and harshest treatment they've ever seen of these detentions compared to previous flotillas that have reached Israel. They said they had seen systematic and severe violence. One doctor who was with them reported numerous cases of broken ribs and there were three individuals who were hospitalized. So what we're hearing there actually goes much beyond the treatment that we see we've seen in the video and the humiliation in the video, but actually real serious allegations of physical violence too.

[James Menendez]

But it was that video that brought about that, the first international criticism. I think more than 20 countries have condemned it. I mean, what form has that taken?

[Reporter/Correspondent]

That's right. And you've seen a number of European countries summoning the Israeli ambassadors in their country, asking for an explanation, condemning what was seen in those videos. You've had the Italian foreign Minister calling on the EU to sanction Ben gvir, this hardline minister. The UK for its part, already sanctions Ben GVIR for incitement of violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. And they've issued a very strong condemnation saying the scenes violated the basic dignity of the detained, but also said that the flotilla underlines and their attempt to deliver aid underlines the real severity of the humanitarian situation in Gaza, which of course was always the point of the flotilla. However, what turned out instead was really a discussion and an exposure of this hardline far right politics that is very much part of the government in Israel too.

[Ankur Desai]

Emineda there reporting from Jerusalem. Next reports on Iran's state. Media have said that Pakistan's military chief is visiting Tehran later today in a bid to mediate peace efforts between Iran and the US On Wednesday, President Trump warned that negotiations to end the war were borderline and said that he would wait a few more days for Iran to agree a deal. A ceasefire agreed last month has halted the fighting, but the Strait of Hormuz has not reopened, although some ships are able to pass through. Our correspondent Jia Gol told us more.

[Advertisement Voice]

Despite the argument and also threatening one another on social media, it seems diplomacy is alive and Pakistani are making a lot of effort to mediate and close the gap between two sides. In the past week, twice Pakistan Interior minister as a matter of fact a Shia which is Iranians say they are Shia so you can trust them. Is interesting Pakistan choosing interior minister go to Tehran talk about negotiation and I've obviously today as you just mentioned Asim Munir, Pakistan army chief has been reported that he may go to Iran. It depends on Iran response. Iranians say they are reviewing US proposal but just an hour ago Reuters citing two sources within Iran and said Iran's supreme leader Mustafa Khamenei has been issuing directive to negotiator that the enriched uranium which is weapon grade uranium should not leave the country. That was one of the sticking points for United State. They say that uranium should be taken to the United States or taken out of Iran and also Iran must halt its uranium enrichment at least for 20 years. This is something which in the past the US has rejected. It seems Iran is again insisting on that and on top of it today an entity just Iranian has created on X itself. Official account on exit published a map that says this is the region in the Strait of Hormuz. Any ships passing through this in the future must coordinate with this institution Iranian body and get a permission. So this also one thing Iranians were demanding the US must recognize Iran's sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz. It was rejected by the US What I'm hearing from inside Iran I don't think the gap is closing but in my opinion what we are hearing from Iranian official it is widening.

[Ankur Desai]

That's interesting as well because you talk about the fact that there seems to be diplomacy happening. You touched upon the Strait of Hormuz as well. How crucial is it that there is more access? Because at the moment, only some ships have been able to pass through that crucial waterway.

[Advertisement Voice]

Iran is insisting that the strait is not closed, but any countries and ships coordinate, those companies coordinate with Iran. They can pass through it. As we talk, two supertanker carrying 4 million barrel of oil Chinese one just left yesterday and one South Korean carrying 2 million crude oil from Kuwait is passing through the Strait of Hormones. It seems Iran trying to impose its control over it. But the reality is many hardliners in Iran said it is a weapon in their hand. It's a lethal weapon. They could use it for their advance.

[Ankur Desai]

J. Gol reporting next to the Philippines and the story of Ronald de la Rosa. He's the man wanted by the International Criminal Court for his role in ex President Rodrigo Duterte's deadly drugs crackdown. He's been on the run since last week when the ICC unsealed an arrest warrant against him. There were then dramatic scenes as troops tried and failed to track him down in the Philippine Senate. Now, officials have not revealed who fired the shots, but Mr. De la Rosa escaped. He since tried to persuade authorities in his own country to give him sanctuary from the icc, but it looks like he's failed. The Philippine government has now ordered police to arrest him. He denies the charges against him. Our global affairs correspondent Joanna Keane told me more.

[Joanna Keane]

Well, de la Rosa, who is also known as Bato, he was actually the country's police chief and he oversaw a deadly war on drugs which was enforced by the former President Rodrigo Duterte. Now it was known as Operation Double Barrel. Police officers and hitmen were used to allegedly kill thousands of people who were branded as criminals. Drug dealers, but also users. Now, Rodrigo Duterte was detained in Manila a year ago. He was extradited to the Hague and he's now in detention there awaiting trial. But earlier this month, as you said, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Dela Rosa. Now he's accused of killing at least 32 people. That's between 2016 and 18. A part, part of this campaign I was just talking about.

[Ankur Desai]

And there are still lots of unanswered questions about what happened last week.

[Joanna Keane]

Oh, absolutely. I mean, we're really looking at confusion here. So early this month, just hours before the ICC unsealed this warrant for his arrest, he took refuge inside the Senate. He was pictured later Sort of fleeing into the building as officers chased up the steps after him. Police later said they wouldn't arrest him while he was in the custody of the Senate, but soldiers were seen entering the building. There were rumors he was about to be seized. Really dramatic scenes that we heard there with this armed standoff. Senators and journalists had to run for cover as the building went into lockdown and those shots were heard. But there's such confusion now. The President, Ferdinand Marcos, has said officials will get to the bottom of what happened, but we don't even know who fired the shots or who ordered this military operation. Government forces saying it wasn't them. Now, in the following days, De la Rosa is then said to have left the building. His lawyers won't say where he is. Interestingly, they've denied that this shootout was actually staged to provide a diversion so that he could escape.

[Ankur Desai]

Okay, just in 30 seconds. How is he thought of in the Philippines? Is this the end of the road for him? And how much of a political issue is there?

[Joanna Keane]

Well, supporters have gathered outside the Senate. At the time, he was urging them keep vigil. And he said, look, if there are charges, it should be in a local court, not in what he calls a foreign one. Others have called for his arrest. And it does look like things are closing in, doesn't it? On Wednesday, we had the Supreme Court refusing to grant him interim relief to today, the police have ordered his arrest. So this manhunt is underway, but it's a huge political issue in the country. We saw it first of all with Rodrigo Duterte. Now it's back and it's not, not going away.

[Ankur Desai]

Joanna Keane reporting. A court in Paris has found the French plane manufacturer Airbus and the national carrier Air France guilty of corporate manslaughter. It relates to the 2009 Rio to Paris plane crash that killed 228 passengers and crew. It was France's wor air disaster ever. Our international business correspondent Theo Leggett spoke to James Menendez.

[Narrator/Reporter]

This was an infamous case, really. It was a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris back in June 2009. And about three hours into the flight, the aircraft crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing, as you say, all228 people on board. Now, some wreckage and some bodies were found. Within days of the accident, it was known that it had crashed, but the reasons the plane went down weren't known for a very long time. And that was because the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, all the evidence that investigated needed were thousands of meters underneath the surface of the Atlantic ocean. They were eventually found, which is remarkable in itself. And the data on those recorders was eventually read, but it took over two years, as I say, before the reasons why this plane crashed were known.

[James Menendez]

Yeah. So what were the circumstances then?

[Narrator/Reporter]

Basically, this was a perfectly serviceable aircraft that crashed because a minor technical failure led to confusion on the flight deck, resulting in an aerodynamic stall which wasn't corrected or even appreciated until it was far too late. Late. So what happened was the aircraft flew into a storm. It's thought that the pitot tubes, which are airspeed detection sensors, iced up. That starved the autopilot of data. So the autopilot switched off and the controls went into a backup mode, which made them more sensitive and removed many of the automatic safety systems that would normally apply. But this was still a serviceable aircraft. The problem was the captain wasn't on the flight deck, he was asleep. There were two co pilots there, one of them quite inexperienced, and they became confused and disorientated. They didn't communicate well with one another and they made contradictory movements on the controls which basically cancelled each other out. The captain did return to the flight deck quite late on. He appreciated what was happening, trying to sort the problem, but it was all too late.

[James Menendez]

And the significance of today's judgment, because this was by an appeals court, wasn't it, and it reverses an earlier decision, is that right?

[Narrator/Reporter]

That's right. And it's been a very long process. And that's partly because the investigation itself took an extremely long time. As I said, it was two years before the flight data recorded, the crucial evidence was even found. And after that you have an investigation going through the data in meticulous detail. The final report didn't appear until 2012 and then you had this legal marathon of trying to challenge Air France and Airbus for corporate manslaughter. That's very hard to prove. There wasn't a verdict until 2023 that went in the two companies favour. And that was when we had this case starting, which was an appeal which has finally seen them effectively convicted of corporate manslaughter. But this could still go further. It could still go to the highest court in France.

[Ankur Desai]

Theo Leggett speaking to James Menendez. Still to come in this podcast, the

[Reporter/Correspondent]

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[Ankur Desai]

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[Ankur Desai]

This is the global news podcast. If you were picking a mascot for your political party, a cockroach isn't an obvious choice, but it's seemingly working In India, a parody political party, the Cockroach People's Party, has now got more followers than the governing BJP on Instagram. The account appeared last week after India's chief justice allegedly compared young people drifting towards journalism and activism with cockroaches. Our global affairs correspondent Ambarasanethirajan can tell us more.

[Ambarasan Itharajan]

Well, sometimes jokes can be serious or some serious things can become joke, isn't it? So in that way, if you look at it the way they have grown on online in the past few days, reaching 10 million followers on Instagram and it is even surpassing the country's largest political party, BJP shows not only on the lighter side because you know they were just making fun or more of satire. What it describes itself as the voice of the lazy and unemployed while also claiming zero sponsors and one stubborn swamp. So basically it is an anger of the youth. If you look at India's on The serious side, 40% of under 25 graduates are unemployed. So this is a way they can explain themselves to talk about themselves online. And that's why it has become more popular.

[Ankur Desai]

Is this a sign that young people in India are rejecting the current governing party.

[Ambarasan Itharajan]

In a way, they're expressing their frustration. They want to talk about corruption, inequality, and also about politics and electoral transparency and accountability. And that is what they want to talk about. And Abjit Deepke is the one who started this. And it has attracted so much traction on online, we don't know how long this will survive. And this is what he had to say.

[Cockroach People's Party Member]

CJP is just the beginning. In the next few years, you will see that the youth of this country will demand a change. Because it has been 10 to 12 years, these youth have heard nothing except Hindu, Muslim, Hindu, Muslim discourse. And now that youth wants to change the political discourse of India, where we talk about how we can technologically advance, how we can generate employment and move forward and compete with the best countries in the world.

[Ambarasan Itharajan]

It has got a lot of traction. And at the same time, what they say is that Twitter page is not being seen within India because it has been blocked on some legal demand. So somebody is obviously worried about the growing popularity, but it is attracting more traction. But again, sometimes some social media phenomenon can die out after a few days. But sometimes it can also attract more attention. What we saw in countries like in Sri Lanka and in Nepal, how the youth movement galvanized so that for this cockroach party, Janata Party will have to wait and see.

[Ankur Desai]

Ambarasan Itharajan reporting. Now our ability to look into space and see what's out there has improved immeasurably over the past three decades. The Hubble telescope was a big step forward, but now NASA is set to launch a new space telescope that it says will be able to capture images of vast tracks of the universe and potentially unlock more of its secrets. And it's called roman, after one of the architects of the Hubble program, Nancy Grace Roman. James Menendez, spoke to one of Roman systems engineers, missy Vess, at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

[Engineer/Missy Vess]

We are in Greenbelt, Maryland, in NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. And I'm actually in the clean room right now with the Nancy Grace Room and Space Telescope.

[James Menendez]

What is a clean room?

[Engineer/Missy Vess]

The clean room is where we build up and do a lot of the testing for the observatory. And since this is an optical mission, it's very important to keep it as clean as possible. So we work in a room that continually circles air through it to keep things as clean as possible through filters. And everybody who works in here has to be gowned up head to foot and what we call bunny suits to make sure that the telescope does not get dirty.

[James Menendez]

So Tell us about the telescope. What can it do that others can't?

[Engineer/Missy Vess]

So the biggest thing about Roman is that we have what we call our wide field camera. It's a 300 megapixel camera. So we have 184000 by 4000 pixel detectors. And that covers more of the sky in one image than 100 to 200 different images from Hubble or James Webb. So we'll be able to truly tile more of the sky than we've ever been able to cover before.

[James Menendez]

And what are you looking for? Anything in particular or are you just going to be scanning and see what you can find?

[Engineer/Missy Vess]

So we have three main observations programs that we're looking to do. So one is a senses of exoplanets, so planets that are orbiting around neighboring stars because we, we just don't know what's out there in the, in the Milky Way and we don't really know who our neighbors are. So we're looking to, to discover as many different planets around other stars as possible. And then the other thing that we're looking to do is learn more information about dark energy and dark matter. So those are the things that are out there in the universe. They make up the majority of the universe, but we don't know much about them because we can't directly detect them. So we with, with Roman, we're going to be covering as much of the sky as we can over and over again to see how things change and how they evolve. And that will help glean information about what truly it is that dark energy and dark matter are.

[James Menendez]

So I mean, just briefly, what do you think it is for people who aren't familiar with it?

[Engineer/Missy Vess]

I mean, I'm just an engineer, so I leave the big questions to the astrophysicists. But dark energy is the force that we know is causing the expansion of the univers to accelerate. So beyond that we just don't know yet. And that's part of the beauty of this, this amazing observatory that we're going to be launching is that we'll be able to gather more data than we ever have before to try and answer those questions.

[James Menendez]

How are you going to cope with what presumably are vast amounts of data being sent back all the time?

[Engineer/Missy Vess]

Yeah, so we are bringing down data probably between 12 and 16 hours a day. We have more data coming down daily than about 100 times, at least what Hubble and James Webb do. But what's going to happen is it's going to go out onto the cloud and just anybody can access it. So it will be out there for anybody to pour through and come up with whatever findings might be out there. And so we're going to rely on not just the science community at NASA or the universities, but anybody, anyone across the world.

[James Menendez]

When is it going to be ready for launch?

[Engineer/Missy Vess]

So we will be launching in early September. Right now we are close to the point where we'll pack it up for shipment. It will go down to Kennedy Space center, and we will be launching in early September.

[Ankur Desai]

Missives from NASA, speaking to James Menendez now. It's not often this occurs, but this year Hollywood has stayed away from the Cannes Film Festival on the French Riviera. But instead, films by Asian directors are taking the spotlight. And after the global success of film and TV projects such as Parasite and Squid Game, they're attracting stars from the west to work on them. Emma Jones reports from Cannes.

[Emma Jones]

At Cannes, Asia is in the ascendancy. No new Hollywood studio films are showing this year at the world's most prestigious film festival in instead, the spotlight is on some of Asia's biggest stars and directors and the Hollywood stars working with them. Alicia Vikander, Michael Fassbender are in the Korean film Hope by director Na Hong Jin.

[Reporter/Correspondent]

The opportunity to go to Korea, film there, soak up the culture, work with him. And the Korean actors, you know, they're so wonderful because they're so committed. They really go for was just a real joy and a pleasure.

[Emma Jones]

It blends action, horror and sci fi as monsters seemingly terrorize a Korean village. Hope also features some of Korea's biggest actors, including Hoi Yeon, globally famous for the Korean TV series Squid Game. And so In Sung, who says there are now far less barriers to working internationally

[Ankur Desai]

from this experience.

[Emma Jones]

I felt that now filmmaking has really

[Ankur Desai]

gone beyond just being made in one country.

[Emma Jones]

It's really globalized.

[Advertisement Voice]

And if you can communicate in the language of cinema and then if you

[Ankur Desai]

have a good project, all the good talent will come to that.

[Advertisement Voice]

When is the time? Soon.

[Emma Jones]

Easter's met West a few times in filmmaking before this 2014 science fiction classic Snowpiercer by Korea's Bong Joon Ho had a diverse cast and was made in English. But it's a later film of this director's that finally handed Asian auteurs like himself the global stage. For me, the pivotal moment when I saw that Asian cinema could really appeal to Western audiences came in 2019 here at the Cannes Film Festival when Bong Joon Ho's Parasite took the top prize. It went on to win multiple Oscars and achieve commercial success, showing that a non English language film could have mass appeal. Now, British actor Eddie Redmayne has announced he'll produce and star in a new English language film by director Hirokazu Koreida, an Oscar nominee who's currently showing a Japanese language film, Sheep in the Box, at Cannes. An actor Will Sharp, known for the White Lotus, has presented an animation at the festival called In Waves, based upon the graphic novel. The story is set amongst Asian American families in California, but it was originally made in French. He says stories like this resonate with his own mixed heritage.

[Ankur Desai]

I'm half Japanese, half British and I feel like any, any story that allows itself specificity weirdly sort of opens itself out to being universally relatable because everybody sort of finds their own version of that.

[Emma Jones]

So few stars traveling from Hollywood to Cannes this year has allowed Asian auteurs to take centre stage at this annual celebration of world cinema. And if there is a practical language barrier in all this cross culture collaboration, they'll say cinema is a language all by itself.

[Ankur Desai]

Emma Jones reporting from Cannes. After a night of celebrations, thousands of Aston Villa football fans are set to line the streets of the English city of Birmingham for a parade to mark their team's victory in the Europa League final. But far, far away, a village in Ghana has been holding its own celebrations to mark the club's first major European trophy since 1982. One of them is Awusu Amando, whose granddad was introduced to the club many years ago by some people from Birmingham.

[Awusu Amando]

My name is Owusuba Amandu and this is Jabi. My village where we have more than thousand Aston Villa fans. We are the Ghana Lions Abdel Villa. So every Sunday morning we come together around 5 o' clock am in the morning and we'll be going to jogging around the town, making some noise. If Villa is playing around 2pm, we are all going to meet and watch the game. You know, my love for Aston Villa started because of my grandpa. His father got a chance to live with some of the whites and they were from Birmingham. So that was where it started.

[Advertisement Voice]

And the great escape Aston Villa stay up after a nervy one all draw at West Ham.

[Awusu Amando]

Everybody was very, very happy. Very, very happy. That's why I poured the powder on my head. It signifies victory. It was amazing. We were yelling with excitement. It's one of our best moments in life. What a day it was. Every week we follow the boys in Clarend blue. We've been conquered.

[Ankur Desai]

Ausu Armando there representing the Aston Villa supporters club, the Ghana Lions. And that's all from us for now. If you want to get in touch, do so you can email [e-mail] you can also find us on X@BBC World Service. Use the hashtag globalnewspod. And don't forget our sponsor sister podcast. It's called 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 Nick Randall and the producer was Charles Sanctuary. The editor is Karen Martin and I'm Ankur Desai. Until next time. Goodbye.

[James Menendez]

If you're into tech, you'll love this.

[Reporter/Correspondent]

TikTok is a live lab where users

[James Menendez]

post instant reviews of the latest trends. Download TikTok and check it out.