US exit World Cup despite Trump's intervention

Summary

Global News Podcast – July 7, 2026

Episode Theme:
This episode focuses on the US's dramatic exit from the 2026 FIFA World Cup amid political controversy involving President Trump's intervention, alongside major global news: Russia’s detention of Ukrainians, Iran’s public mourning for its late supreme leader, a Venezuelan earthquake survivor, new advances and controversy in weight-loss drugs, astronomical discoveries, and the realities of China's falling birth rate.

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1. Main Story: US Exits World Cup Amid Trump-FIFA Row

Timestamp: 01:00–05:06

Overview

• Event: The US men’s national team, co-hosts of the World Cup, are knocked out after a 4-1 defeat to Belgium.
• Controversy: Star striker Folarin Balogun played after FIFA suspended his red-card ban—a move controversially linked to a lobbying call from President Trump.
• Reactions:
  • Outrage at alleged political interference; UEFA accuses FIFA of breaching tournament integrity.
  • The precedent raises questions for future red-card appeals.
  • If the US had advanced, their victory would have been seen as tainted.

Key Analysis

“Of all 189 other players sent off in World Cup history, only once has a player escaped a suspension—and that was 1962, before automatic bans. That too was controversial, linked to political interference.” —Pete Ross, BBC Football Correspondent, (02:59)

• England’s manager Thomas Tuchel points out this decision opens floodgates for further appeals (03:43).
• Ultimately, US inclusion of Balogun made no difference to the outcome.

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2. Investigative Report: Ukrainian Civilians Detained in Russia

Timestamp: 05:46–11:00

Overview

• BBC Investigation: Confirms 195 Russian-run detention centers, including in occupied Ukraine—locations shrouded in secrecy and linked to systematic torture and sexual violence.
• Personal Story: Lyudmila Husseinova, a former detainee, describes three years of horrific abuse, including rape, torture, and forced consumption of garbage.

Notable Quotes

“We are talking about rape, sexual slavery, torture...not accidental acts of violence, but a clearly organized policy which Russia uses as a tool of war.” —Lyudmila Husseinova, former detainee, (06:48)

“Our youngest victim was four years old; the oldest was eighty-two. There is little difference in numbers between male and female survivors.” —Anna Sossonska, General Prosecutor, (09:27)

• Russian embassy insists it investigates war crime allegations.
• Lyudmila campaigns for her abusers to face justice—not vengeance but legal recognition of their crimes (10:34).

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3. Venezuela Earthquake: A Child’s Story of Survival

Timestamp: 11:00–13:01

Overview

• Disaster Update: Twin earthquakes in Venezuela leave at least 3,500 dead.
• Human Story: 12-year-old Fabiana survives 32 hours trapped under rubble, a story widely shared and celebrated across the country as hope amid tragedy.

Notable Moments

“That smile...was because after so many hours of being shut in, I heard voices and realized I was going to survive.” —Fabiana, earthquake survivor, (12:45)

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4. Iran: Public Mourning and Political Messaging

Timestamp: 13:01–16:41

Overview

• Aftermath: Millions mourn Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, killed in US-Israeli airstrikes.
• Procession: Tehran’s streets are filled with flags and overt calls for revenge; the official narrative is one of unity and defiance.

Key Quotes

“Red is the loudest color of these crowds; religious flags symbolizing blood and revenge, singling out President Trump as their target.” —Lyse Doucet, Chief International Correspondent, (13:56)

“Very soon you will see the sign of revenge at the top of the White House. And soon the color of the White House will change, the same as the color of my flag.” —Speaker at funeral procession, reported by Alex Ritson, (15:08)

• Lyse Doucet notes private dissent persists even amidst the official spectacle (15:21).

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5. Science & Health: Advances and Challenges

A. Weight-Loss Drug Market & Health Impact

Timestamp: 19:39–23:38

Overview

• Breakthrough: The weight-loss drug Wegovy is now available as a daily pill in the UK.
• Market Impact: Weight-loss drugs are the world’s best sellers, with Eli Lilly’s Mountjara (Zepbound) earning $1 billion per week.
• Risks: Side effects include nausea and rare but serious complications; concerns arise about non-medically necessary use.

Notable Quote

“If you do not need a medication, if you’re just doing it for cosmetic reasons, you really shouldn’t take it... The problem is, these are drugs for life.” —Fergus Walsh, BBC Medical Editor, (23:02)

B. Astronomy: Oldest Quasars Found

Timestamp: 23:38–26:31

Overview

• Discovery: Two oldest quasars ever recorded, from just 600 million years post-Big Bang, found with the Euclid telescope.
• Significance: Challenges understanding of how supermassive black holes grew so quickly after the universe’s birth.

Notable Moment

“Every step further back in time makes this puzzle... harder, but also providing more valuable clues to all these questions.” —Daming Yang, Study Author, (24:59)

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6. China’s Falling Fertility and Population Future

Timestamp: 26:31–30:42

Overview

• Population Decline: China faces rapid demographic contraction after decades of the one-child policy.
• Government Response: Financial incentives, relaxed birth limits, and social campaigns have failed to reverse the trend.
• Societal Factors:
  • High living costs deter childbearing (including poignant stories of single and working mothers).
  • Cultural normalization of small families.

Notable Quotes

“One child was an abnormal norm imposed by the government... The only children growing up, they felt, ‘it’s fine, I’m the only child. I don’t need two children.’” —Professor Wang Feng, University of California Irvine, (28:17)

“China’s population will get smaller and smaller. We are looking at a new technological revolution—AI, automation, robotics—to sustain economic growth.” —Professor Wang Feng, (30:03)

Implications

• Hundreds of millions fewer people by century’s end, with wide-reaching economic and geopolitical impacts.

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

• On political interference in sport:
  “Some suggested that President Trump's intervention also brings into question the credibility of the tournament.”
  —Pete Ross, (03:25)

• On trauma and war crimes:
  “For me, justice is not revenge… I want them to be punished by law.”
  —Lyudmila Husseinova, (10:34)

• On resilience in disaster:
  “After so many hours of being shut in, I heard voices and realized I was going to survive.”
  —Fabiana, (12:45)

• On Iran’s turmoil:
  “A reminder of a country now pulling in different directions… men now charting its future, trapped in talks to end this conflict with the country who killed their supreme leader.”
  —Lyse Doucet, (16:34)

• On the future of China:
  “In the future, China won’t be able to rely on its vast stock of people for wealth and power.”
  —Mickey Bristow, (30:21)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• US World Cup exit & Trump-FIFA controversy: 01:00–05:06
• Russian detention centers for Ukrainians: 05:46–11:00
• Venezuelan earthquake survivor’s story: 11:00–13:01
• Iran mourning and geopolitics: 13:01–16:41
• Weight-loss drugs' global boom and risks: 19:39–23:38
• Discovery of oldest quasars: 23:38–26:31
• China’s fertility crisis and consequences: 26:31–30:42

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Tone & Style

Throughout the episode, the BBC maintains its signature authoritative, factual tone, balancing empathetic storytelling with expert analysis.

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This summary captures the essential stories, context, and global significance from this edition of the Global News Podcast. It’s designed to bring listeners up to speed on the latest developments, controversies, and human stories shaping world affairs as reported on July 7, 2026.

Transcript

[BBC Podcast Announcer]

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[Alex Ritson]

this is the global news podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritson and in the early hours of Tuesday 7th July, these are our main stories. The United States crash out of the World cup losing to Belgium despite having one of their star footballers on the pitch after intervention from President Trump. A BBCI investigation finds evidence of detention centers for Ukrainians in in Russia and occupied Ukraine with allegations of torture and conflict related sexual violence. And we hear from a 12 year old girl in Venezuela who survived for 32 hours under the rubble following two devastating earthquakes. Also in this podcast, red is the

[Lee Stucette]

loudest color of these crowds. Religious flags symbolizing blood and revenge.

[Alex Ritson]

The coffin of the late Supreme Leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei is driven through Tehran streets filled with millions of people and we learn about how quasars light up the universe. We begin with football and the World Cup. The co hosts, the United States are out of the tournament after losing 41 to Belgium. For the Americans it was a disappointing end, particularly as they had played well and until this match it was an exciting game but overshadowed by a row that went before it. In the Americans previous match the US player Folarin Balogun received a red card and got an automatic one game ban. But football's governing global body FIFA then suspended that ban, meaning he was available for the game against Belgium. There was outrage when President Trump revealed that that he'd call FIFA to lobby on behalf of Balogun. The BBC's Pete Ross explained why this caused so much controversy.

[Pete Ross]

I think the reason this has grabbed so much attention Alex, is the sort of unprecedented nature in the way that FIFA has stepped in. To be clear, when a player gets a red card and is sent off during a game at the World cup, under the current laws, they are automatically suspended for the next match. Now, in the competition's 96 year history, 189 other players have been sent off. And of all of those, only once has a player escaped a suspension. That was in 1962. It was Brazil's Garrinxa, a great of the game. And that was actually before automatic bans were in place. And at the time that was also controversial and it was shrouded in allegations of political interference. And it's those questions of political interference in this case that I think grabbed so much attention. Europe's governing body, UEFA, in a fairly unprecedented intervention of its own in the middle of a tournament, accused FIFA of crossing a red line by making what it described as an incomprehensible and unjustifiable decision to rescind Baloghian's automatic one match ban. Some suggested that President Trump's intervention also brings into question the credibility of the tournament. And does it now actually perhaps set a precedent? The England manager, Thomas Tuchel, in England's last match, when they defeated Mexico to go into the quarter finals, one of the England players was sent off, Jaro Quinn Quansa. And he said in an interview that should perhaps England appeal that red card. And of course there'd be perhaps many coaches that would suggest the same. And finally some said that if the US had won, it might have, you know, tainted their victory. But of course that's not really an issue now because they have, as you said, gone out the World Cup. They lost it.

[Tim Frang]

Yeah.

[Alex Ritson]

In the end, the US strikers inclusion did not help.

[Lyudmila Husseinova]

No.

[Pete Ross]

Florin Balogan did not manage to help his team. It was a fairly comprehensive victory for Belgium. They won 41 in the end, they took an early lead. The US got back into the game with a quick equalizer, but it was only an even game for a couple of minutes. And then Belgium scored another goal and as we said, it ended up 4:1. So Baligan, not much help.

[Alex Ritson]

And the day's other knockout game, Spain and Portugal played earlier. What happened in that game? Many saying it's the end of the road for one of the all time greats, Ronaldo.

[Pete Ross]

Yeah, that's right. He was pictured almost in tears at the end of the game. His Portugal side went down 1 nil to 91 minute goal scored in the 91st minute by Spain. As you say, one of the games. Great, possibly some would say the greatest of all time. Lots of records. He's the only man in the history of the World cup to score in six consecutive tournaments. However, he didn't score in this game and that meant that his team went out.

[Alex Ritson]

Pete Ross A BBCI investigation has verified the existence of 195 detention centers across Russia and occupied Ukraine where Ukrainian civilians are being held. Prosecutors and survivors that torture and conflict related sexual violence is endemic. Since 2014, 16,000 have been detained or disappeared in Russian occupied areas. The I team has identified some of the perpetrators, offering a rare insight into a prison system international observers have no free access to. Tanya Hurchenko from the BBC World Service reports.

[Lyudmila Husseinova]

For three years and 13 days of my life, my soul and body were crippled. I don't remember what an ordinary life is anymore.

[Tanya Hurchenko]

Lyudmila Husseinova is one of many former detainees from Ukraine speaking publicly about what can happen to civilians inside these Russian back centers.

[Lyudmila Husseinova]

We are talking about rape, sexual slavery, torture, and that these are not accidental acts of violence, but a clearly organized policy which Russia uses as a tool of war.

[Tanya Hurchenko]

She was detained by pro Russian authorities and held for three years. She was accused of spying, but she says she had been helping orphanages and taking food to Ukrainian soldiers. Along with many others, she was held in the Notorious Izulatsia prison, one of 93 detention sites PBCI has verified in the occupied part of the country, along with 102 in Russia, where Ukrainian civilians are held. Lyudmila was freed in a prisoner swap and campaigns for other prisoners. But the memories of that time are still raw.

[Lyudmila Husseinova]

Someone started pinching me, turning me and saying, it's not a peach, of course. Not a dried apricot either. A raisin. That's how they judged my body.

[Tanya Hurchenko]

Along with the trauma of sexual assault, she also struggles to eat. She was forced to consume and cook food mixed with soil and garbage.

[Lyudmila Husseinova]

They told me to sit under the camera and eat. I put it in my mouth. I spat it out, but there was some left. The taste of this food will stay with me for the rest of my life.

[Tanya Hurchenko]

The BBC worked with Bohdan Kohatyko, an investigator who uses open source investigation known as OSINT to find Lyudmila's alleged abusers. Bohdan found information on the man that Lyudmila thinks arrested her and was present when she was sexually assaulted. His name is Temerbek.

[Alex Ritson]

We were able to establish all his phone numbers, including the ones he uses now. He hides his digital footprint the best he can.

[Tanya Hurchenko]

He is married with a daughter and a grandchild. The man who forced Lyudmila to eat garbage is known as Yermak. Lyudmila heard his voice many times but never saw his face.

[Lyudmila Husseinova]

That time when Yermak came to meet me, I wore a bag on my head and turned to face the wall. My hands were behind my back. He shouted, are you for Ukraine? I said, I'm for justice. After that he began to beat me.

[Tanya Hurchenko]

Yermak is from the Donetsk region. It's not clear whether he is working in isolation today, but still lives in the area. The photos of him and his family show him apparently enjoying life. Anna Sossonska leads a general prosecutor's team working on conflict related sexual violence.

[Lyudmila Husseinova]

Our youngest victim when she was subjected to sexual violence by the Russian military was 4 years old. The oldest was an 82 year old woman. There is a very small difference in numbers between male survivors and female survivors. This shows us, in fact sexual violence is a weapon of war and as I keep saying, the cheapest, most effective and efficient way.

[Tanya Hurchenko]

In response to the BBC's allegations, the Russian embassy in the UK said that Russia has consistently advocated respect for the rule of law and allegations of war crimes being committed are investigated by the Russian authorities. Even though Lyudmula is free, she cannot forget what is said still going on.

[Lyudmila Husseinova]

I was lucky that the exchange actually happened. But my knowledge of how many girls remain stops me from enjoying freedom and being at peace.

[Tanya Hurchenko]

She hopes that her perpetrators will feel the full force of the law one day.

[Lyudmila Husseinova]

For me justice is not revenge. For me justice is the decree that these people intentionally, deliberately did what they did. I want them to be punished by law. If Temerbek isn't imprisoned, then justice for me will be their names as criminals and torturous will be known to their children. That would also be justice.

[Alex Ritson]

Tanya Harchenko from the BBC World Service and you can watch the full documentary BBCI Ukraine Survivors Finding My Abusers on BBC iPlayer in the UK and on the World Service YouTube channel. The authorities in Venezuela now say at least 3,500 people were killed in the twin earthquakes of 12 days ago. But there have been some remarkable stories of resilience. A 12 year old girl called Fabiana has described how she was trapped beneath the rubble of her apartment building, waiting 32 hours for help to arrive. She eventually got out without serious injuries. Our correspondent Yogurta Lemoye went to meet her.

[Yogurta Lemoye]

This is a video of 12 year old Fabiana smiling as she peers through a hole. It's been shared across Venezuela as a symbol of hope. And after 32 hours under the rubble. This is the moment when she was rescued, walking out into the arms of her mother, Kareena. I was moving things around me so I could extricate one of my legs from under the rubble. That's when I found some ketchup and grated cheese. It helped me stay conscious and survive, fabiana told us she showed us a video she recorded while trapped under the rubble. I'm alone, please help me, she says. She'd hoped to send it to someone, but communications were down. I've seen a video of you when they first established contact with you, and you're smiling. How did you manage to keep smiling

[Tanya Hurchenko]

through that,

[Yogurta Lemoye]

that smile which has gone all over the world? It was because after so many hours of being shut in, I heard voices and realized I was going to survive, said Fabiana. Stories like hers are giving people hope amid despair.

[Alex Ritson]

Yogurt Le Moye with that report, the body of Iran's late supreme leader Ali Khamenei is now in the holy city of Qom, which is revered by Shia Muslims. The coffin arrived there after millions of people filled the streets of Tehran on Monday for a funeral procession. One will be held in Qom as well as Iraq's holy cities of Najaf and Karbala. And before Ali Khamenei, who was killed in U S Israeli airstrikes in February, is buried later this week in Tehran. Children and their parents raised their fists during the procession and carried red flags and banners with revenge written on them. Our chief international correspondent Lee Stucette is there reporting on condition that none of her material is used on the BBC's Persian service. These restrictions apply to all international media operating in Iran.

[Lee Stucette]

The clenched fist of Iran's Islamic Republic raised one generation to the next. Now, as it buries the last of its founders, a fist of defiance is the official symbol in a week of public mourning and political messaging. The most significant day the spectacle Iran wants the world to see. The supreme leader's cortege inching through this city, slowed and stopped by millions of mourners and four other caskets for his family members, the smallest painted with Iran's flag for his granddaughter Zahra, all killed by US Israeli airstrikes in the very first hours of the February war. Red is the loudest color of these crowds, religious flags symbolizing blood and revenge, singling out President Trump as their target.

[Alex Ritson]

Very soon you will see the sign of revenge at the top of the White House. And soon the color of the White House will change the same as the color of my flag

[Lee Stucette]

the procession's six mile journey ended here, Azadi Freedom Square, Tehran's historic landmark for the 79 Revolution and the waves of anti government protests since then. Nearly four decades ago, I was in Iran when it buried its first supreme leader, Ayatollah Khomeini. Now a second cleric has assumed his mantle, Khamenei. But he's not been seen in public since the airstrikes which killed his father severely injured him. In the margins of this moment, Iranians pull us aside some to tell us you must tell the truth about our defiance. But two women clad completely in black came up to me and whispered, the real revolution happened here on these streets six months ago, with the protests crushed with force which killed many thousands. A reminder of a country now pulling in different directions. And the men now charting its future, who survived weeks of war, are trapped in talks to end this conflict with the country who killed their supreme leader.

[Alex Ritson]

Lyse Doucet reporting from Tehran. Still to come in this podcast, we

[Tanya Hurchenko]

actually sleep the same bedroom. Like we have a bumpy bed. Like we sleep up a bunk bed.

[Alex Ritson]

Yeah, we hear how the rising cost of living in China is putting couples off from having children.

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[Yogurta Lemoye]

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[BBC Podcast Announcer]

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[Alex Ritson]

This is the global News podcast. Weight loss treatments, injections and pills are earning hundreds of millions of dollars for their makers across the world every week and helping millions of people slim down. Now the once a day Wegovy pill made by the Danish company Novo Nordisk is available to buy privately in the uk. It contains the same ingredient, semi glutide, as the Wegov weight loss injections. The BBC's medical editor Fergus Walsh explains how the pills work differently to injections.

[Fergus Walsh]

It works pretty much in the same way. It mimics a natural hormone that controls appetite and makes you full and it slows the progress of food through the stomach. Now with the injectable, that's a once a week self injection under the skin, you have to store in the fridge. But this is now a daily tablet. You've got to take it on an empty stomach with a small bit of water. But it's a daily tablet, doesn't need to be refrigerated. And so for the a lot of people who don't want to have an injection, this opens up this vast market. But in terms of what is available here in the uk, you would still have to buy it. And it costs a lot of money. Yeah, it's about 100 pounds a month, $130 a month. You have to get it by prescription so you have to be prescribed it. But there's a lot of online prescribing. But just opening this up now globally, I've got to tell you that this whole market for weight loss injections is vast. So the main competitor to Novo Nordisk, which is a Danish company, is Eli Lilly. And Eli Lilly now makes how much do you think it makes per week from its weight loss injections?

[Yogurta Lemoye]

Is it a.

[Alex Ritson]

No, I mean some millions.

[Fergus Walsh]

It is $1 billion per week in revenue. So Mountjara or Zepp Bound, it's called in the US that is now the world's best selling drug. It's the best selling drug of all time. Now, Nova Nordisk, Andy Lally have been in this grapple for the last few years. Novinodis, you know, still making $640 million a week from its Wegovy treatments. So it's a lot of money. And the market here is vast, is absolutely vast. Now, interestingly, semaglutide, this active ingredient actually came off patent in India a few months ago. And something like 50 different generic semaglutide pill forms, injectables have flooded the market in India, which has one of the highest total number of obese people in the world for its population size. And as a result, the cost, because these are generic rather than branded, has dropped dramatically. So this market is vast. And I can tell you there's something like five, six, seven different weight loss medications in the pipeline. The tablet form is a bit less effective, but we're still talking about a lot, a lot of weight loss. But they come with risks. And what are those risks?

[Alex Ritson]

And I guess because there's been a lot of concern about people who maybe don't need them getting their hands on

[Fergus Walsh]

it because they'd like to slim down for the summer or what have you. Yeah, absolutely. If you don't need them, if you do not need a medication, if you're just doing it for cosmetic reasons, really shouldn't take it because they come with, you know, general common side effects. And you can imagine if you're slowing down the progress of food through the gut is things like stomach problems, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation. But there can be rare complications. Inflammation of the pancreas, pancreatitis, which can be very serious. And the problem is pretty much these are drugs for life.

[Alex Ritson]

Fergus Walsh, speaking to Luke Jones. Scientists say they found the two oldest quasars ever recorded using a European space telescope. Formed after the Big Bang, the quasars are the intensely bright cores of early galaxies powered by supermassive black holes. The ancient pair of quasars was discovered by the Euclid telescope. Tim Frang spoke to Daming Yang, the lead author of the study.

[Tim Frang]

Some galaxies have this blazing core, and they are quasars. They are among the brightest objects in the universe, and at their center, there's actually a giant black hole. And the reasons why they are so bright is that their gravity pulls in the gas and Dust from the galaxy which spiral toward the black hole like water going down a drain. And during this process, all the gas gets heated up and they shine and they are so bright that even outshine the entire galaxy around it.

[Alex Ritson]

I mean, it seems amazing that just even in the very early stages of the universe and you're looking at what about 600 million years or so after the Big Bang. So right at the start that these huge events were happening then first 600

[Tim Frang]

million year may sound very long for many people. And that's actually a long lasting puzzle of the astrophysics. How does supermassive black go? How did they grow from and how did they grow so fast? And that's actually an unresolved problem in the field. And people are suggesting maybe they started very big. We don't know yet. But every step further back in time makes this puzzle on one side harder, but also providing more valuable clues to all these questions. So definitely we need to find more.

[Alex Ritson]

It sounds like it's opening up more questions in a way. Can you tell me about just the mechanics of this? I mean what this Euclid telescope, how it allows you to peer so far back into the origins of the universe?

[Tim Frang]

So Euclid is a space based infrared survey telescope. It's a lot of terms, but it includes all the specialties about surveys, an enormous areas of the sky. So right now we are having a telescope that combines the survey area and also the sensitivity in the infrared and that's combining these two factors, we can actually find very rare sources in the very early universe.

[Alex Ritson]

It must have been an enormously exciting moment, the point at which you realized that you and your colleagues that you'd got two of the oldest quasars ever recorded.

[Tim Frang]

Yeah, we were definitely excited. It's just a normal observation run and you know, in observation run we have to stay up. We were very tired and when we saw it we were kind of overwhelmed already.

[Alex Ritson]

Tim Frank speaking to Deming Yang. Over the last few years, China's population has started to fall. That process will gather pace in the coming decades. By the end of the century, it will have hundreds of millions of fewer people. Mickey Bristow looks at why it's happening, what the government is doing about it and what it might mean for the country.

[Mickey Bristow]

Hannah is reading with her two year old son in their flat in Beijing, just like his mother and father and millions of other Chinese people. Her toddler is an only child and likely to remain so I think one

[Lee Stucette]

child is enough for me and for my family. I grew up in a single Child, family, and I have many friends and classmates to play with, so I don't really feel lonely.

[Mickey Bristow]

So Anna, I'm not using her real name because every topic in China is sensitive, is happy with one child. But for her government, that's not enough. They want parents to have two or three children. That's because the country's population is falling. Over the next few decades, it will collapse. That seems at odds with what many think they know about China. And it has too many people. The Chinese government once thought so too. That's why it brought in the one child policy.

[Alex Ritson]

The children of China may now get brothers and sisters.

[Mickey Bristow]

It took a while, but Chinese officials realized they'd made a mistake with their calculations. And 10 years ago, they abandoned the one child policy, expecting couples to suddenly start having more children. That didn't happen. As Professor Wang Fung from the University of California, Irvine explains, one child was

[Alex Ritson]

an abnormal norm imposed by the government.

[Tim Frang]

But with 35 years of the one

[Alex Ritson]

child policy, the only children growing up, they felt, it's fine, I'm the only child. I don't need to have two children.

[Mickey Bristow]

The rising cost of living is also pushing couples to have fewer children. Lauren, again, I'm not using her real name, is a single mother living with her 12 year old son Robert in Shanghai, one of China's most expensive cities.

[Lee Stucette]

Financially, like, it's on my own, so I have to do, like, cover everything. I have to work and I have to keep an eye on his studies.

[Mickey Bristow]

What kind of house do you have? How many bedrooms is that?

[Lee Stucette]

One bedroom, one living room, one bathroom, one kitchen. It's very simple.

[Mickey Bristow]

And do you sleep in, do you mind me asking, do you sleep in the living room and Robert sleep in the bedroom?

[Tanya Hurchenko]

We actually sleep the same bedroom. Like we have a bumpy bed, like he sleep up, I sleep down a bunk bed. Yeah.

[Mickey Bristow]

The authorities have held mass weddings like this one to encourage others to tie the knot. To make childbirth less painful, hospitals are being forced to offer women epidural anaesthetics. And then there's money, cash, handouts to have more children. So far, none of it has worked. China isn't the only place with a falling fertility rate, but the scale of its coming population decline is immense. We're talking hundreds of millions of fewer people by the end of the century. One expert thinks it could fall to as low as 330 million. Here's Professor Wang again.

[Tim Frang]

I think the Chinese leaders and the

[Alex Ritson]

Chinese people have basically come to accept

[Tim Frang]

that China's population will get smaller and smaller.

[Alex Ritson]

We are looking at a new technological

[Tim Frang]

revolution, AI and automation, robotics to sustain economic growth.

[Mickey Bristow]

Fewer children and a collapsing population will have consequences, and not just for China's capacity to generate economic growth, but for its ability to project itself across Asia and the rest of the world. In the future, China won't be able to rely on its vast stock of people for wealth and power.

[Alex Ritson]

Mickey Bristow and that's all from us for now. If you want to get in touch, you can email [e-mail] you can find us on X@BBC World Service. Use the hashtag globalnewspod. And don't forget our sibling 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 Martin Baker. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Alex Ritz, and until next time, goodbye.

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