Pressure mounts on Infantino to quit

Summary

Global News Podcast - "Pressure mounts on Infantino to quit"

Host: Ankur Desai, BBC World Service
Date: August 3, 2026
Duration: Approx. 32 min
Note: Ads, intros, and outros have been omitted

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Episode Overview

This episode of the Global News Podcast delivers a sweeping look at the day’s most significant global stories, with the headline focus on FIFA president Gianni Infantino facing mounting calls to resign after a controversial plan to sell stakes in football competitions. The podcast also covers pressing international events: wildfires in Greece, record-low water levels affecting Hungarian energy supplies, groundbreaking fetal surgery in the UK, the condition of Myanmar’s deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi, DR Congo’s Ebola crisis, a yen rescue by the US and Japan, and a tribute to the late “Horse Whisperer” Monty Roberts.

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1. Pressure Mounts on FIFA’s Gianni Infantino (01:07–08:00)

Key Points

• Gianni Infantino, FIFA president, is under increasing pressure after FA’s (England, Wales) withdraw support for his reelection; UEFA threatens legal action against his plan to sell World Cup stakes to private investors.
• The Confederation of African Football remains silent, possibly hoping for financial benefit.
• The immediate crisis follows a failed "sweetheart deal" criticized for its secrecy, haste, and undervaluation.

Notable Discussions and Quotes

David Bernstein, Former English FA Chair (03:22)

• On the abandoned deal:

  “It was a sweetheart deal. It was in secret. I think it was done as an undervaluation and it was done with a very tight timetable to try and squeeze it through. Totally unacceptable.” (03:25)

• On Infantino’s future:

  “I don’t think he can survive in place and he should not.” (03:22)

• Suggests radical reform:

  “I would think about listing [FIFA] on a stock exchange, probably in the USA. ... Fans could be encouraged to put out $100 or $1,000 or a million dollars… into FIFA.” (03:40) “Number one, it would be democratic. Number two, you get … a much higher value … And thirdly ... proper governance to FIFA.” (04:41)

Tarek Panja, NYT Sports Reporter with Rebecca Kesby (05:06)

• On transparency:

  “If you do a listing, you become a public company… you need to have a greater degree of transparency over your operations. The light is not something that this organization seems to enjoy.” (05:26)

• On FIFA’s resistance to reform:

  “To me, it seems like FIFA is impossible to reform from within. It will require outside bodies, perhaps governments, to now take a closer look at what FIFA is.” (05:50)

• On the football governance pyramid:

  “The entire football pyramid is full of little Fifas… organizations … riven with the same problems we are seeing here in much bigger scale with Infantino…” (06:38)

On Impact on Faith in Football (07:37)

• Tarek Panja:

  “The game is so strong, it’s so powerful… And that is why in a way, these people can get away with it because whatever they do to try and damage it, the sport has such a powerful hold over society that people just keep coming back for more.” (07:37–08:00)

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2. Wildfires Devastate Greece (08:00–10:57)

Key Points

• Wildfires rage west of Athens, hundreds of firefighters supported by water bombers.
• High winds have complicated aerial efforts; a fatal helicopter crash occurred.
• 220 separate fires reported in a single week; focus on arrests for arson and evacuation efforts.

Notable Quotes

Theodore Gennaros, Greek Meteorologist (08:44)

“We are now paying both for climate crisis, but also for the decisions we have made over the past decades in terms of land management.” (08:44)

Sarah Rainsford, BBC Europe Correspondent (09:17)

“Difficult to get helicopters and light aircraft up into the air to drop water onto the flames… The winds have died back… a big relief for the firefighters.” (09:17–09:55)

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3. Hungary’s Energy Crisis: Danube at Historic Low (10:57–12:22)

Key Points

• Record-low Danube water levels forced partial shutdown of the Paksh nuclear plant.
• Major electricity shortages possible, government asks public and industry to save power.
• Blackouts could occur if situation worsens.

Notable Quote

Nick Thorpe, Correspondent in Hungary (11:20)

“A large part of the energy supply … has been removed from the grid. ... there haven't been compulsory blackouts yet, though that could happen later in the week.” (11:20–12:22)

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4. Miracle Fetal Surgery in the UK (12:22–16:26)

Key Points

• Baby Theo, diagnosed in-utero with gastroschisis (intestines outside the body), undergoes pioneering surgery while in his mother's womb.
• Maisie Savage, Theo’s mother, traveled from London to Texas for experimental surgery—first British woman for this procedure and Theo only the third baby worldwide.
• The operation was successful; Theo was born healthy, with no scar.

Memorable Moments & Quotes

Maisie Savage, Mother (15:15)

“He’s completely fine… Everything they did just completely reversed what could have been a really horrible start to his life.” (15:15)

Dr. Michael Belfort, Texas Children's Hospital (14:07)

“We have chosen that 15% of babies with gastroschisis that have the worst prognosis…” (14:07) “The inside of the uterus is now a new surgical space for innovation … certain cardiac surgeries in utero, some lung surgeries in utero … it’s open for ethical experimentation.” (15:30)

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5. Update on Aung San Suu Kyi, Detained Myanmar Leader (19:02–22:54)

Key Points

• Aung San Suu Kyi saw a Red Cross delegate for the first time in 2.5 years.
• Son Kim Aris claims she is in good health, though solitary confinement continues to be mentally and emotionally taxing.
• Discussion on the complexities and criticisms surrounding her rule, calls for political prisoners’ release.

Notable Quotes

Kim Aris, Aung San Suu Kyi’s son

“She has been held in solitary confinement, essentially, and I’m sure that will be taking a toll. But … she seems well. ... she keeps a very strong routine ... meditation and exercise.” (20:37) “I still call on [the military] to release my mother and all political prisoners. After all, we all know that the charges are completely false.” (22:38) “I’d send her my love, as always, and say we’re always thinking of her and I hope to see her before long.” (22:54)

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6. Ebola Outbreak in DR Congo (23:01–26:26)

Key Points

• Over 3,600 confirmed Ebola cases, largest DRC outbreak to-date.
• Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove (WHO) stresses need for a “massive scale up” in clinical care, bed capacity, and community engagement.
• Global Ebola risk remains low, but regional risks are significant.

Notable Quotes

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO (23:27)

“The scale of the response is not where we need it to be. ... We are looking at a massive scale up of clinical care.” (23:27) “What we are asking for from the international community ... is a massive scale up across all of the pillars of the response.” (24:25) “The risk of Ebola globally is low. ... In the area that we're in, we are certainly seeing an intensification of transmission.” (25:43)

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7. US-Japan Team Up to Support the Yen (26:26–29:21)

Key Points

• Joint intervention by the US and Japan to stabilize the yen after a 40-year low.
• Coordinated purchase of yen aims to avoid further devaluation and prevent the sale of US treasuries by Japan.
• The move serves both countries’ interests—Japan as the largest US Treasury holder.

Notable Quotes

Maura Fogarty, Asia Business Editor (26:55)

“Both the US and Japan coordinated going in to support the Japanese yen from weakening even further.” (26:55) “There is a self interest here, right? The Japanese government is the biggest holder of US Treasuries...” (28:37)

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8. Tribute: Monty Roberts, the 'Horse Whisperer' (29:21–31:43)

Key Points

• Monty Roberts, 91, pioneered gentle, non-verbal horse training methods, avoiding coercion.
• Gained fame after working with Queen Elizabeth II, demonstrating techniques known as “Join-Up”.

Memorable Quotes

Monty Roberts, on his technique (29:44)

“I have fingers, so does a lion … No horse will approach you when you do [certain gestures] because the lion is on the track. ... There’s an element of my work called Join-Up, where the horse decides to be with you instead of away from you.” (29:44–30:48)

On meeting the Queen (30:52)

“I did 23 horses in five days. For her personally, she said, ‘it’s amazing. It’s a miracle.'” (30:52–31:43)

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Timestamps Overview

• 01:07–08:00 — FIFA/Infantino saga, expert perspectives
• 08:00–10:57 — Greece wildfires, climate impacts
• 10:57–12:22 — Hungary’s Danube crisis and power shortages
• 12:22–16:26 — Pioneering fetal surgery in the UK
• 19:02–22:54 — Aung San Suu Kyi Red Cross visit, in-depth family interview
• 23:01–26:26 — Ebola update from DRC
• 26:26–29:21 — US-Japan yen intervention
• 29:21–31:43 — Tribute to Monty Roberts (“Horse Whisperer”)

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This episode delivers both cutting-edge news analysis and human interest, balancing hard-hitting political coverage with stories of medical innovation, crisis response, and personal stories from around the globe.

Transcript

[Ankur Desai]

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the uk.

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[Ankur Desai]

This is the global news podcast from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Ankar desai and at 16 hours GMT on Monday 3rd August, these are our main stories. The head of world football, Gianni Infantino is coming under increasing pressure to quit after some governing bodies consider withdrawing support for his re election as head of FIFA. Water bombing planes are being used to help hundreds of firefighters in Greece battling wildfires on three fronts west of the capital Athens. Japan and the US say they took coordinated action to prop up the yen last week after the Japanese currency fell to a 40 year low. Also in this podcast, the family of the detained former leader of Myanmar, Aung San SUU Kyi, have welcomed her being allowed to meet a delegate from the Red Cross. And he's completely fine.

[Maisie Savage]

Yeah, he's amazing. Everything they did just completely reversed what could have been a really horrible start to his life.

[Ankur Desai]

The remarkable womb surgery which fixed a miracle baby with intestines outside its body. First, could the man in charge of world football soon lose his iron grip on the game? Two weeks ago, standing alongside Donald Trump in New Jersey, Gianni Infantino handed the World cup trophy to Spain after a lucrative and largely successful tournament. Since then, his position has weakened considerably after his plan to sell stakes in competitions like the World cup to private investors had to be abandoned following widespread condemnation from the world football community. Now UEFA, who govern the European game, have threatened legal action against that plan and the English and Welsh football associations have signaled their Withdrawal of support for Mr. Infantino and his re election due to take place next year. Only the Confederation of African Football has remained largely silent so far, believing that it could benefit financially. So where does this leave Gianni Infantino? Can he survive and should he stay in his post? David Bernstein, former chair of the English Football association, says he shouldn't.

[David Bernstein]

I don't think he can survive in place and he should not. Just to recap, this was a very, very bad deal. It was a sweetheart deal. It was in secret. I think it was done as an undervaluation and it was done with a very tight timetable to try and squeeze it through. Totally unacceptable. So the answer is it was excessively negative, that deal and he has to go. What I would consider, and this is absolutely radical and I have to say I haven't seen anybody else come up with this idea yet is FIFA is of huge value and I say it could be worth $50 billion. I would think about listing it on a stock exchange, probably in the usa. In other words, Flutix is a public company. You could attract hundreds of thousands of fans as shareholders. Fans could be encouraged to put out $100 or $1,000 or a million dollars or anywhere in between into the FIFA become shareholders as you would do in Apple or Microsoft and so on. And by doing so, a, you would empower, to some extent, certainly get involved with the worldwide fan base of football to invest in FIFA. Anybody I've spoken to about this, by the way? Oh, yes, I would love the opportunity to invest in FIFA. And then you get regular reports and accounts from them and so on. So number one, it would be democratic. Number two, you get, I think, a much higher value, which means that the countries you're talking about could get much more money than they were going to get under this deal. And thirdly, and not the least important, it would bring proper governance to FIFA. They would be subject to the sort of governance that you would get in a public company.

[Ankur Desai]

Tarek Panja is global sports correspondent at the New York Times. Rebecca Kesby asked him what he thought of David Bernstein's idea to put FIFA on the New York Stock Exchange.

[Tariq Panja]

He's not the first person to say this, and this isn't the first scandal FIFA has had. And what David was saying just takes me back to May 2015, when the Swiss authorities, acting on behalf of the Department of Justice, dragged the previous group of FIFA leaders out of luxury hotel bedrooms in in Switzerland and replaced them with what we've had now with Jan Infantino and company. And there was Talk then of this. And the reason we won't have this is because if you do a listing, you become a public company. Guess what? You need to have a greater degree of transparency over your operations. And as we've seen here from these people, whether it's Sepp Blatter's period, Joao Avalanche before him and now Jenny Infantino, the light is not something that this organization seems to enjoy. To me, it seems like FIFA is impossible to reform from within. It will require outside bodies, perhaps governments, to now take a closer look at what FIFA is.

[Rebecca Kesby]

One idea that has been doing the rounds as well, Tariq, is that maybe there could be a rotating presidency, rather in the way that you have in, in some political bodies, like the eu, for example, whereby a country or a football association would take over the presidency for a four or five year period, I guess, to get through the next World Cup. Is that a good idea?

[Tariq Panja]

Yeah, that's something that been speaking about with people at the moment. You have people at FIFA who think they are in a battle and they are commercially with the confederations, for example, looking for television revenue or sponsors against UEFA, for example. Whereas UEFA is also sat as a. You know, Alexander Sheffield in the president is also a vice president of FIFA. It's kind of not fit for purpose, this system, but I think it's much bigger than all of this, really. So we're talking about FIFA today, but the entire football pyramid is full of little Fifas. Whether it is the confederations, the ones that we're, you know, really celebrating here for, for standing up to this, or whether it is a lot of the football associations around the world, a lot of these organizations are riven with the same problems we are seeing here in the much bigger scale with Infantino and what he's doing with this scheme. What should be happening is a bigger conversation perhaps of how this most popular of sports, this engine of the global sports economy, is actually run, whether at a regional level or at the FIFA level, because you change something at FIFA. But you know, the UEFA model is almost exactly the same.

[Rebecca Kesby]

And I mean, briefly, we hear that UEFA's threatening legal action as well. Now, are fans losing faith in the game because of all of this?

[Tariq Panja]

No, I think what we've seen is the game is so strong, it's so powerful. And because we've just had this World cup and the passions that it's the. The billions of people that watched either all over the world and the millions that came to the stadiums. And that is why in a way, these people can get away with it because whatever they do to try and damage it, the sport has such a powerful hold over society that people just

[Ankur Desai]

keep coming back for more Tariq Panja there. And we have more on Gianni Infantino's chances of survival on our YouTube channel. Search for BBC News on YouTube and you'll find Global News Podcast. In the podcast section. There's a new story available every weekday. There are moments when nature and the intensity of weather surpass any human planning or operational capability. The the words of the prime minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in a social media post describing the wildfires which are burning west of the capital Athens. Theodore Gennaros, who is a meteorologist and researcher at the National Observatory of Athens, says the risks are increasing and governments need to act quickly.

[David Bernstein]

The broad picture is that we are seeing the price we are now paying both for climate crisis, but also for the decisions we have made over the past decades in terms of land management. On the one hand, we have climate crisis that creates an environment that is much more conducive to fire than ever before. But on the other hand are decisions in the field of land management, the abandonment of rural areas, the lack of forest management. All these decisions have led us to the point we are standing today.

[Ankur Desai]

Our Europe correspondent, Sarah Rainsford gave us this update.

[Sarah Rainsford]

It's quite an uneven picture. So in some areas the fires have been contained and suppressed. In some areas they're reigniting. So there's a particular focus area to the northwest of Athens where the biggest fires were raging over the past few days and where the very high winds, in some cases gale force winds, were causing real problems, particularly because it was very difficult to get helicopters and light aircraft up into the air to drop water onto the flames, which of course is a key part of any attempt to suppress these wildfires. And indeed, we saw a collision, a crash, a fatal crash of two helicopters yesterday as they tried to douse the flames. Now the winds have died back quite a lot. So that is a big relief for the firefighters who had been talking about the grueling conditions that they were facing. So it does seem that the worst of the fires have been contained, but still there are attempts to suppress them completely because they do keep reigniting. The wind is still a factor and of course, it is still extremely hot and the ground is extremely dry.

[Ankur Desai]

And Sarah, how are the authorities reacting and what are the measures that they having to adopt?

[Sarah Rainsford]

Well, the main focus is, is on trying to get planes and helicopters up into the air to be able to use them in this fight against the fire. I mean, lots of officials have been stressing how difficult it's been. They've said that there have been 220 separate fires recorded in the last week alone. They're also focusing on how those fires are started. So we know that there have been more than 30 people arrested for starting fires, either through negligence or in some cases, suspected arson. So they're focusing on. On that. They're also focusing, of course, on evacuating people still when and if they come into any danger.

[Ankur Desai]

Well, in Hungary, high temperatures and low rainfall are putting extreme pressure on waterways. The Danube river has fallen to its lowest levels in 30 years, leading to the temporary shutdown of parts of the country's largest nuclear power plant. Paksh water from the Danube is used as a coolant. A correspondent in Hungary, Nick Thorpe, is following the situation.

[Nick Thorpe]

We've been getting mixed signals about PoK. It turns out now that only three quarters or four fifths of the reactors have had to be closed down so far. We were told earlier that at dawn today, the fourth and final reactor had been closed down. These are 500 megawatt reactors. We've heard from the Prime Minister that the fourth and final reactor, they've closed down three. One of them is still functioning, but only at half capacity, I think, generating 240megawatts. What that means, though, is that a large part of the energy supply, the electricity supply that Hungary depends on, has been removed from the grid. So we are facing major energy shortages here. There have been major attempts by the government, appeals from the government to companies, to industry and to the public to close down, not to use any excess energy. Just on Saturday, the public and the companies managed to reduce their use by 700 megawatts. So thanks to that, there haven't been compulsory blackouts yet, though that could happen later in the week.

[Ankur Desai]

Nick Thorpe reporting. Next to the remarkable story of baby Theo, who was operated on while in his mother's womb to correct a birth defect which meant that his intestines developed outside his body. His mother, Maisie Savage from London, was the first British woman to be operated on. She was 26 weeks pregnant. Theo was the third baby in the world to benefit from the new clinical trial. This report from Camilla Horrocks.

[Camilla Horrocks]

Maisie was 20 weeks pregnant when she and her partner Josh, discovered there was a major problem with their baby Theo.

[Maisie Savage]

We went in for just a usual scan check. Everything was okay. And the sonographer noticed that something wasn't quite right.

[Camilla Horrocks]

Theo had a condition called gastroschisis, which affects around one in 3,000 unborn babies in the UK each year, essentially, a

[Maisie Savage]

lot of his bowel and intestines and his appendix were all growing on the outside.

[Camilla Horrocks]

The belly button doesn't develop properly, leaving the intestines to grow externally.

[Maisie Savage]

It was terrifying, wasn't it?

[Ankur Desai]

Yeah, incredibly scary.

[Camilla Horrocks]

Specialists at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London found that Theo had complex gastroschisis, which would have required multiple surgeries after birth, months in intensive care and potential lifelong complications.

[Maisie Savage]

And then one Tuesday evening, we got a call.

[David Bernstein]

We had a little girl come from Mexico.

[Camilla Horrocks]

This is Dr. Michael Belfort, a pioneering surgeon from Texas Children's Hospital who's been trialing experimental surgery for patients just like Maisie and Theo in the United States.

[David Bernstein]

We have chosen that 15% of babies with gastroschisis that have the worst prognosis.

[Camilla Horrocks]

Theo's parents were told they qualified for

[Maisie Savage]

the trial, but the catch was that it was in Texas and that we would have to go there pretty much right away and we'd have to stay there for the remainder of the pregnancy.

[Camilla Horrocks]

At a hospital in Belgium, Maisie was given a Botox injection through her womb and into Theo's abdominal wall to relax the muscles to make the repair easier. Then the family flew to Texas, where the operation was performed. 26 weeks into the pregnancy, Maisie's womb was partially exposed. The amniotic fluid was drained and replaced with CO2 gas to expand the operating space. Then, using keyhole surgery, Theo's organs were gently pushed back inside his abdomen, which was then stitched closed. The operation was a total success. Maisie went on to carry Theo to term. He was born by natural delivery, a perfectly healthy baby boy with no scar.

[Maisie Savage]

He's completely fine.

[Sarah Rainsford]

Great.

[Maisie Savage]

He's. Yeah, he's amazing. Everything they did just completely reversed what could have been a really horrible start to his life.

[David Bernstein]

The majority of pediatric surgeons, Dr. Belfort,

[Camilla Horrocks]

is already looking ahead to what he can do next.

[David Bernstein]

The inside of the uterus is now a new surgical space for innovation. Certain cardiac surgeries in utero, and I think we can do some lung surgeries in utero, so, you know, it's open for ethical experimentation.

[Camilla Horrocks]

This technique is undergoing clinical trials in the US involving 10 babies. Baby Theo is one of the lucky ones. His future has been completely turned around. His mum and dad, Maisie and Josh, feel incredible, incredibly grateful and are now finally enjoying parenthood.

[Ankur Desai]

The impact that they've had on us as a family is incredible.

[Tariq Panja]

The level of care was amazing.

[Ankur Desai]

They made a very traumatic time of

[Tariq Panja]

our lives so much easier and We've

[Ankur Desai]

got this little man and we couldn't be happier.

[Maisie Savage]

He is a little miracle, isn't he?

[Rebecca Kesby]

He is.

[Ankur Desai]

Camilla Horrocks reporting. Still to come in this podcast, we look back at the unusual techni of the man known as the Horse whisperer, who's died aged 91.

[Monty Roberts]

Well, what I watched was the horses communicating with the lions, the bears, the wolves. I'm more on that side of it, am I not? Horse decides to be with you instead of away from you.

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[Ankur Desai]

This is the global news podcast. The detained former leader of Myanmar, Aung San SUU Kyi, has been allowed to meet a delegate from the International Committee of the Red Cross, her first confirmed contact with the outside world for two and a half years. Ms. Suu Kyi, who's 81, has been in detention since her government was overthrown by the military five years ago. Rebecca Kesby spoke to Ms. Suu Kyi's son, Kim AES, following the reports that she'd met the Red Cross official.

I spoke with that delegate earlier today. He confirmed that and that my mother does appear to be in good health.

[Rebecca Kesby]

What else was he able to tell you about how she is?

[Ankur Desai]

I'm afraid very little. They're kind of bound by various agreements with the military, so they can't reveal too much. I believe that the pictures which have been released are real on this occasion.

[Rebecca Kesby]

And when was the last time you had any contact with your mother?

[Ankur Desai]

The last communication I had from her was at the beginning of 25, I believe it was. I received one letter and that's the only communication I've had over the last five years. It's been tough, I must say. I've had to contend with being separated from my mother for many years. After all, she was under house arrest for 15 years. But the last five years have been different because we haven't known where she is or how she is or been allowed any communication, basically.

[Rebecca Kesby]

Has it been possible to assess how she might be doing from a mental health perspective or an emotional health perspective? Because she's very isolated?

[Ankur Desai]

I think she is. And from what I've been able to gather, you know, over the last five years, she has been held in solitary confinement, essentially, and I'm sure that will be taking a toll. But to all appearances, she seems well. I know that she keeps a very strong routine in her life, and that includes meditation and exercise. I think that's managed to see her through a lot of hard times.

[Rebecca Kesby]

And in terms of you and the rest of the family, how do you cope with it?

[Ankur Desai]

I've had to deal with this for many years. After all, I was 12 years old, I think, when she was first put under house arrest, and I was actually with her at that time. So whilst I can't say that my situation is normal in any way, it has become kind of what I'm used to over the years.

[Rebecca Kesby]

Your family has got a very long political history, hasn't it? Some people listening may not be familiar with it, but are there any moments that you sort of question your mother's sort of devotion to that and whether she's made decisions which have been actually quite difficult to live with.

[Ankur Desai]

Not really. I've always realized that her path's not an easy one and that there always would be difficult choices to make and what have you. But I feel. I feel that the international media actually got it wrong on a number of points with my mother and that there was a very misleading narrative put forward surrounding her involvement with the Rohingya crisis. And that did a huge amount of damage, but I hope that that can still be rectified.

[Rebecca Kesby]

There was some criticism for the way that she handled that crisis when she was in power. What would you say?

[Ankur Desai]

People didn't really realize what she was contending with. It was a very fragile situation there. The democracy wasn't fully fledged. The military still had a huge amount of power, and they did not have to answer to my mother.

[Rebecca Kesby]

If you were able to address them, what would you say?

[Ankur Desai]

Well, I still call on them to release my mother and all political prisoners. After all, we all know that the charges are completely false and to stop bombing their own people.

[Rebecca Kesby]

And if your mother was able to hear this broadcast, what would you say to her?

[Ankur Desai]

I'd send her my love, as always, and say we're always thinking of her and I hope to see her before long.

Kim Aris There are Now more than 3,600 confirmed cases of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo, making it the biggest outbreak of the disease there. Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove is the director of the Department of Epidemic and Pandemic Management in the Health Emergencies Program of the who. She told Darshani David that a joint international effort was needed to deal with the outbreak.

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There is intense transmission that we're seeing in Ituri province and Bunya, where I'm currently sitting. And there's a number of factors. Right now this virus is in 49 health zones, and the scale of the response is not where we need it to be. We at WHO are working with a number of partners in response and in support of the government and having them lead this. But we're nowhere near where we need to be right now. We need a massive scale up, having enough beds. We have 900 beds right now, and we're scaling up to 3,000 at least. We're looking at a massive scale up of clinical care and having Ebola treatment centers in the areas where we know there's active transmission, but also in areas where we're seeing new cases. Community engagement is absolutely critical to Work with communities to first of all, come and seek care to understand what this virus is and so that we could protect them and their loved ones and have them work with us to protect them and their loved ones. So it's very, very complex.

[Rebecca Kesby]

What about the international community and the support you're getting from that? Some people have pointed to the dismantling of USAID in 2025 as being a factor in not being able to provide an adequate response.

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Well, there are a number of factors that are leading to this. As you know, in this area, it's a massive humanitarian challenge that we see with insecurity, with challenges of not only Ebola, but there's other infectious diseases that are circulating, there's hunger, there are active groups that are here, armed groups here. And yes, international partners are really critical in terms of supporting the community, not only for Ebola, but for all, all of these other challenges. Again, under the government's leadership. What we are asking for from the international community, we at WHO are here in the field, we're with many, many different partners. What we need to see right now is a massive scale up across all of the pillars of the response. And many partners are involved in this and we need all of the partners to scale up as well. There are significant challenges to this outbreak, but there are CONC solutions that we can work together to actually stop this outbreak. But it is going to take some time.

[Rebecca Kesby]

Yeah, we know that there are vaccines being worked on in Singapore and here in the UK as well. But in the meantime, what are the risks here? Because you say the pace of transmission is growing, what does that mean for the risks of transmission across the region and indeed globally as well?

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Well, the risk of Ebola globally is low. And that is something that we know in the area that we're in, we are certainly seeing an intensification of transmission, which is why we want this massive scale up that we've been talking about. But there are risks for spread. And so we are looking at the Ituri province, we're looking at North Kivu and South Kivu and other areas. And with our partners, we've actually mapped the risk of the provinces in the drc, but also in neighboring countries. So there are a number of activities we are working with with countries that are bordering the DRC in terms of readiness. And in fact, we're changing this word, readiness to actually active response because we want all of these countries on alert for potential cases to be identified.

[Ankur Desai]

Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove of the WHO, the falling value of the Japanese currency had not only the government in Tokyo worried, but also the Americans. That's why, as both sides have now confirmed, they introduced joint moves last week to stabilize the yen, which had fallen to a 40 year low. President Trump called the move a signal of friendship, which also benefited the US and the world economy. I spoke to our Asia Business editor, Maura Fogarty.

[Maura Fogarty]

This was a very rare move, Ankur. Both the US And Japan coordinated going in to support the Japanese yen from weakening even further. Now, we don't know the exact details of how they did this, but I will say that Reuters has a photograph of a notepad in front of U.S. treasury Secretary Scott Bessant during a Cabinet meeting on Friday in which it says to do by Japanese yen five to $10 billion. That's the signaling that we have from the US side. We know that from data from the bank of Japan show that they spent about US$59 billion on Thursday before the intervention, the joint intervention on Friday. So together, what they did was essentially try to buy Japanese yen in order to keep the yen at as high a level as they possibly can.

[Ankur Desai]

What's happened to the yen to make it so weak?

[Maura Fogarty]

There are several reasons for this. The biggest one being that many traders and investors around the world think that the bank of Japan is behind and has been slow to raise interest rates in Japan compared to other central banks around the world. So the differential that you get if you're putting your money into a Japanese bank, you're getting a 1% return. The benchmark rate I'm talking about, okay, not the actual bank rate in the US it's between three and a half to 3.75%. So because of that differential, who wants to put their money in Japanese yen? And it's that that's also causing speculators to come into the market and say, hey, you know what, we think there's more downside risk. We think the Japanese yen can weaken even further.

[Ankur Desai]

And how do the measures benefit the US Is not the first time actually that they've helped Japan out. I RECALL Back in 2011, they did the same thing.

[Maura Fogarty]

They did, and they also did it in 1998 as well for different reasons. In 2011, after the big earthquake and tsunami, they actually came in to help the Japanese government weaken the yen, but the last time they helped to prop up the yen was in 1998. There is a self interest here, right? The Japanese government is the biggest holder of U.S. treasuries. And if they had to do it on their own, how would they sell the US Dollar and buy Japanese yen. They would do that by selling U.S. treasuries. And so what the U.S. does not want to see is U.S. treasuries being sold. Because essentially what that means is it raises the cost of borrowing in the United States. It's not an act of charity. It helps out the US as well.

[Ankur Desai]

Moura Fogarty reporting from Singapore. The American horse trainer Monty Roberts, who developed a radical way of communicating with horses, has died, aged 91. Known as the Horse Whisperer, Monty believed that horses use a non verbal language which humans can replicate. He explained his methods to BBC Outlook's Joe Figion in 2017.

[Monty Roberts]

I don't have a long neck, I don't have long ears, I don't have twitchy ears. So how do I do it? Well, what I watched was the horses communicating with the lions, the bears, the wolves. I'm more on that side of it, am I not? I have fingers, so does a lion. I have a palm open to you right now, showing you my palm with the fingers open. No horse will approach you when you do that because the lion is on the track. Eyes on eyes mean go away. Square shoulders means go away. I am dangerous. And then if you reverse those procedures and you close your fingers down, if you turn then and put your shoulders on a 45 and drop this arm that where I had my hand open down across your body, then the cat's asleep and they'll come walking to you. It's a element of my work called Join up, where they the horse decides to be with you instead of away from you.

[Ankur Desai]

Monty's fame grew when he met Queen Elizabeth, who was an avid horsewoman.

[Monty Roberts]

She read about me in some magazines that were done in the United States. And she was mesmerized by what she read. There can't be. And she gave it to Sir John Miller, her equerry at the time, and said, read them and come back and give me a little thumbnail report on these two articles. And he came back and said, hogwash, it can't be done. And she said to this man, don't you have friends in California? He said, yes. And she said, I'll get you a ticket and you go to California and ask him to start some horses for you, work with some horses for you. And so he came over and watched me and then he said, what are you doing the first week in April? And I said, whatever you say. And I was at Windsor castle. I did 23 horses in five days. For her personally, she said, it's amazing. It's a miracle.

[Ankur Desai]

Monty Roberts, the cowboy who became friends with the queen. 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 globalnewsparter. And don't forget our sister podcast, the Global Story, which goes in depth and beyond the headlines on one big story. This edition of the Global News Podcast was mixed by Paul Mason and the producers were Judy Frankel and Paul Day. The editor is Karen Martin and I'm Ankur Desai. Until next time, Goodbye.

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