Medical experts debunk Trump's autism-paracetamol link

Summary

Global News Podcast: Medical Experts Debunk Trump's Autism-Paracetamol Link

Host: Chris Barrow (BBC World Service)
Air Date: September 23, 2025

---

Episode Overview

This episode of the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service unpacks several top global stories, leading with medical experts’ strong rebuttal of President Donald Trump’s claims linking paracetamol (acetaminophen/Tylenol) use during pregnancy to autism in children. The program also covers Palestine’s statehood recognition, free speech tensions in US media, a landmark AI business partnership, Denmark’s extension of military conscription to women, the fallout from Super Typhoon Ragasa, the Ballon d'Or football awards, the discovery of a lost Virginia Woolf manuscript, and the travels of Europe’s most famous elk.

---

Key Segments & Discussion Points

1. Trump’s Paracetamol-Autism Claim Debunked

[01:53-05:08]

• The Claim: President Trump, in a "very important" announcement, asserted that paracetamol (Tylenol) use during pregnancy may increase autism risk, recommending its use only under strict circumstances (e.g., "extremely high fever") and advising doctors not to prescribe it to pregnant women.

  • Quote: “‘Taking Tylenol is not good… For this reason, they are strongly recommending that women limit Tylenol use during pregnancy unless medically necessary.’” – Asma Khalid [02:24]

• Additional Vaccine Claims: Trump also repeated debunked assertions about childhood vaccines, suggesting doses like the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) should be given separately and not as combination shots, referencing discredited figures like Dr. Andrew Wakefield.

• Expert Response:

  • Fergus Walsh (BBC Medical Editor) explained the scientific context:
    • A recent Harvard/Mount Sinai study found possible association but no causation between prenatal paracetamol and autism.
    • Large studies, e.g., a Swedish study of 2.4 million children, found "absolutely no link."
    • Trump's claims have been "roundly condemned and rejected by experts across the board."
    • Quote: “It was extraordinary to listen to because it started off about paracetamol and then it went into childhood vaccines. And some really astonishing claims from President Trump... you go full circle there.” – Fergus Walsh [03:24-05:08]

Notable Moment

• Trump’s press conference, flanked by vaccine skeptics, echoed rhetoric previously discredited by the scientific community and connected his paracetamol comments with anti-vaccination narratives.

---

2. France Recognizes Palestine; Global Diplomatic Shifts

[05:08-09:37]

• France Recognizes Palestine: France joins other western nations in recognizing Palestine at the UN, tying the move to hopes of salvaging a two-state solution and mounting frustrations with Israel’s war in Gaza.

  • Quote: “You have the two European members of the United Nations Security Council recognizing a state of Palestine for the first time…this is the only way to keep alive the hope of a two-state solution.” – Tom Bateman [05:34]

• US Stance: US administration under Trump remains silent on criticism of Israel, unlikely to use diplomatic pressure to restrain Israeli actions [06:45].

• Local Impact: On the ground, both Israelis and Palestinians are skeptical recognition will lead to meaningful change amid ongoing expansion of Jewish settlements and violence.

  • Quote: “The world recognizes us as Palestinian. We have a state…But on the ground it becomes so difficult for us…” – Asem Barakat (Palestinian from Bethlehem) [08:10]
  • Quote: “Recognizing a Palestinian state will not bring back a single hostage, nor will it save a single Palestinian baby.” – Udi Gorin, Israeli [09:16]

---

3. US Free Speech & Media: Jimmy Kimmel Returns

[09:37-12:28]

• Background: Disney suspended late-night host Jimmy Kimmel after controversial comments about right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s killing. The FCC, under Trump-appointed leadership, threatened ABC’s broadcast license. Disney bows to mounting public and industry pressure and announces Kimmel’s return.

  • Quote: “Disney had always telegraphed that they were hoping to bring Jimmy back…because they are still going to be getting pressure from the FCC and the Trump administration over this decision.” – Dylan Byers [10:23]

• Context: The incident highlights escalating tensions between the Trump administration and US mainstream media, with lawsuits filed against multiple media outlets.

  • Quote: “I don’t think the Trump administration’s campaign against mainstream media is going away, not by any stretch.” – Dylan Byers [11:24]
  • Quote: “That does not suggest someone who just wants to stabilize partisan politics and media. It suggests someone who wants to go quite…further in ways that are really troubling to free speech advocates.” – Dylan Byers [12:22]

---

4. Nvidia and OpenAI’s $100 Billion AI Bet

[13:15-16:38]

• Partnership Details: Nvidia to sell chips and invest up to $100bn in OpenAI, building massive AI data centers.

  • Quote: “So, not just on your phone, but on the smart glasses…our smartwatches, etc. They’re pretty lofty when they talk about this stuff. Sam Altman…talks about laying the groundwork of the economy of the future.” – Lily Jamali [15:02]

• Scale of Project:

  • At least 2, 10-gigawatt computing sites planned.
  • Project is up to five times bigger than Meta’s previous buildout.
  • China features as a competitor and potential obstacle, with Nvidia facing restrictions in Chinese markets.

• Timeline: First gigawatts of AI infrastructure to be ready in about a year.

---

5. Ballon d’Or Awards – Dembele & Bonmati Make History

[16:38-18:27]

• Ousmane Dembele (Men’s winner, PSG/France): Praised for late-career resurgence and extraordinary performance since December.

  • Quote: “But what he did for PSG this year from December onwards is just again incredible.” – Julien Laurent [17:46]

• Aitana Bonmati (Women’s winner, Spain/Barcelona): First woman to win the Ballon d’Or three times in a row; lauded for skill, humility, and local roots.

  • Quote: “She has the football in her head and she is virtuous in the midfield…she’s an example for the kids for all generations and she’s an extremely good footballer.” – Ernest Macia [18:01]

---

6. Super Typhoon Ragasa: Record-breaking Storm in Asia

[19:32-22:39]

• Typhoon Details: Ragasa, the world’s strongest storm this year, devastates northern Philippines, heads for China with winds over 250 km/h.

  • Hundreds of thousands evacuated, high risk of landslides, authorities ready for “potentially catastrophic” impact in Guangdong province.

• Climate Change Link: Intensification and frequency of such storms are direct consequences of warming seas; adaptation must go hand-in-hand with emission reduction.

  • Quote: “We can certainly avoid loss of life by evacuating…our climate is also on a runaway path, so we also need to stabilize the climate.” – Ralph Twomey [21:55],[22:20]
  • Quote: “There is a limit to how much you can adapt to something that is extremely catastrophic.” – Dylan Byers [22:29]

---

7. Denmark Expands Conscription to Women

[22:39-26:59]

• New Policy: Gender equality and national security concerns drive Denmark to include women in compulsory military service; service length extended from 4 to 11 months.

  • Quote: “We talk a lot about being equal here in Denmark. So yeah, I think it’s a pretty good idea. But being forced to go to the military, I don’t think it’s good for anybody to be forced to do anything in the world.” – Danish teen [23:05]

• Public Sentiment: Mixed views—some see opportunity and equality, others fear loss of autonomy or personal freedom. The law is largely supported in the spirit of fairness and defense readiness.

  • Quote: “Like yes, equality and stuff, feminism and blah blah, blah. But personally I didn’t like the idea of women going into the military.” – Isabella, 14 [25:03]
  • Quote: “As I’m from Ukraine, it makes me feel a bit more safe…we’re just repairing. So I think it makes Europe stronger.” – Nadia [26:39]

---

8. Rediscovered Virginia Woolf Manuscript

[26:59-28:53]

• Discovery: “Life of Violet,” a lost set of three interlinked comic stories by Virginia Woolf, to be published soon.
  • Written for Woolf’s friend Violet Dickinson, this work shows a playful, unconventional side.
  • Quote: “It’s very funny, it’s very enjoyable. It’s very unlike what most people think of when they think of Virginia Woolf.” – Professor Amila Seshagiri [28:29]

---

9. Emil the Elk: Europe’s Favorite Wanderer

[28:53-30:01]

• Emil’s summer travels across Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, and more draw tens of thousands of fans online before his capture and release in a Czech forest.

---

Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• “Taking Tylenol is not good.” – Asma Khalid [02:24]
• “His claims have been absolutely roundly condemned and rejected by experts across the board.” – Fergus Walsh [03:57]
• “If we don’t do this, what is the alternative?” – Antonio Guterres, relayed by Tom Bateman [05:34]
• “Recognizing a Palestinian state will not bring back a single hostage, nor will it save a single Palestinian baby.” – Udi Gorin [09:16]
• “I don’t think the Trump administration’s campaign against mainstream media is going away, not by any stretch.” – Dylan Byers [11:24]
• “She has the football in her head and she is virtuous in the midfield. She epitomizes what football should be.” – Ernest Macia on Bonmati [18:01]
• “There is a limit to how much you can adapt to something that is extremely catastrophic.” – Ralph Twomey [22:29]
• “It’s very funny, it’s very enjoyable. It’s very unlike what most people think of when they think of Virginia Woolf.” – Amila Seshagiri [28:29]

---

Useful for Listeners Who Missed the Episode:

This episode provides robust fact-checking of health misinformation at the highest level, a real-time look at pivotal world politics, a deepening rift over speech and media independence in America, insight into AI’s future, climate peril in Asia, evolving gender norms in Europe, and developments in sports and literature—all via signature BBC reporting and global voices.

Transcript

[Chris Barrow]

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the uk.

[Asma Khalid]

This is the story of the one. As a custodial supervisor at a high.

[Stephanie Prentice]

School, he knows that during cold and.

[Asma Khalid]

Flu season, germs spread fast. It's why he partners with Grainger to stay fully stocked on the products and supplies he needs, from tissues to disinfectants to floor scrubbers, all so that he can help students, staff and teachers stay healthy and focused. Call 1-800-GRAINGER, click grainger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done. America is changing and so is the world.

[Fergus Walsh]

But what's happening in America isn't just.

[Asma Khalid]

A cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere. I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, dc. I'm Tristan Redman in London, and this is the Global story. Every weekday we'll bring you a story from this intersection where the world and America meet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Chris Barrow]

This is the global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Chris Farrow and at 5 GMT on Tuesday 23rd September, these are our main stories. Medical experts debunk President Trump's claims about taking paracetamol during pregnancy, causing autism. France becomes the latest Western country to recognize Palestinian statehood. And the late night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel is set to return after a highly criticized suspension. Also in this podcast, we talk a.

[Asma Khalid]

Lot about being equal here in Denmark. So yeah, I think it's a pretty good idea. But being forced to go to the.

[Chris Barrow]

Military, I don't think it's good for.

[Asma Khalid]

Anybody to be forced to do anything in the world.

[Chris Barrow]

Denmark extends conscription to women. And who's won the Ballon d' or football's top individual award? We begin in Washington, where President Trump has given what he called a very important and amazing announcement about tackling autism. In an impassioned address and without providing scientific evidence, the US President claimed that taking the common painkiller paracetamol, also known as Tylenol, during pregnancy could lead to an increased risk of autism in children.

[Asma Khalid]

Taking Tylenol is not good.

[Fergus Walsh]

All right, I'll say it.

[Asma Khalid]

It's not good. For this reason, they are strongly recommending that women limit Tylenol use during pregnancy unless medically necessary. For instance, in cases of extremely high fever. If you can't tough it out, if.

[Dylan Byers]

You can't do it, that's what you're going to have to do.

[Asma Khalid]

You'll take a Tylenol but it'll be very sparingly.

[Chris Barrow]

President Trump said he's advised doctors in the US not to prescribe the painkiller to women who are expecting a baby. His administration has previously restricted pregnant women's access to Covid vaccines and antidepressants. In a lengthy press conference flanked by his top health officials, the president also railed against a number of so called combination vaccines for children, such as the measles, mumps, rubella, jab. Experts have said the science does not back Donald Trump and warned that making such unsubstantiated claims is dangerous. Our medical editor Fergus Walsh has this assessment.

[Fergus Walsh]

So I think the trigger for this may be a study that was published last month. Researchers at Harvard University and Mount Sinai Medical School, they found a possible association between the use of paracetamol in pregnancy and autism, but no causal link. And against that there have been lots and lots of studies, including a very significant one of 2.4 million children in Sweden last year, which looked at autism rates among siblings and found absolutely no link. And the words of President Trump, his claims have been absolutely roundly condemned and rejected by experts across the board. It was extraordinary to listen to because it started off about paracetamol and then it went into childhood vaccines. And some really astonishing claims from President Trump. The MMR vaccine, he said, should be given separately. He said all these childhood vaccines should be given separately. And he said there would be no risk here. Of course, when you're not vaccinated as a child and you have to wait to get the later dose, whether it's measles, mumps, rubella or all the other childhood vaccines, you are potentially at risk of each of those diseases. But President Trump said they should all be given separately. And then he brought on Robert Kennedy, the health Secretary, who's known to be a vaccine skeptic and has supported Dr. Andrew Wakefield, who was struck off for his incorrect claims back in the 90s claiming a link between MMR and autism. So you go full circle there.

[Chris Barrow]

Fergus Walsh France has become the latest country to recognize Palestinian statehood with an announcement at the UN General Assembly. More than 150 countries had already taken the step, but recent criticism of Israel's war in Gaza has encouraged Britain, Canada and Australia to add their names to the list. The vast majority of UN Member nations now recognize Palestine. Our correspondent in New York, Tom Bateman, told us that this is an important moment.

[Tom Bateman]

It is a moment in history because you have the two European members of the United Nations Security Council recognizing a state of Palestine for the first time Also I think important because historically these were the two powers that carved up the Middle east as the colonial rulers. A century ago, it was when Britain was in control of that part of the region that the modern form of the Israeli Palestinian conflict really began. It was on Britain's watch. But the key reason that this is important now that these countries are saying effectively that this is the only way to keep alive the hope of a two state solution to solve the Israeli Palestinian conflict. I thought it was notable. Antonio Guterres, the Secretary General of the United nations, stood up and said, if we don't do this, what is the alternative? And he talked about the alternative being a one state solution in which Israel controlled the whole region and which Palestinians were, in his words, subjugated. He asked, how could this be acceptable in the 21st century?

[Chris Barrow]

Do you think there's any appetite from the US to kind of curb the attacks and the offensive from, from Israel? Because I know there's a meeting later on in the week between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. Or do you feel like that they're not going to wade in and not going to do anything?

[Tom Bateman]

The Trump administration simply does not criticize the Israelis in public. You never really hear them doing that. It's extremely rare. I think they're basically going to allow the Israelis to carry on and do what they want until the end of the year. But of course, what the Europeans are saying is what is actually being achieved here. Hamas, according to the American accounts under the Biden administration, was decimated early into last year and incapable of carrying out another October 7th. And so there is very little evidence that further continual military pressure, as the Israelis see it, is shifting Hamas to releasing the hostages. And so I think that's why you're seeing the Europeans pushing harder for the use of diplomacy.

[Chris Barrow]

Tom Bateman at the UN Away from the diplomatic circles of New York, Palestinian state recognition hasn't changed much on the ground. Our correspondent John Donison has been hearing what the move means for people in Israel, Gaza and the occupied West Bank.

[John Donison]

Amid all the diplomatic fanfare, Palestinians and Israelis both know that a state of Palestine remains only on paper, not in practice. Nothing has changed. Many on both sides will tell you the so called two state solution is no longer possible given the extent of illegal Jewish settlement expansion in the occupied west bank and East Jerusalem. It's important. For Asem Barakat, a Palestinian from Bethlehem, recognition is taken with a pinch of salt.

[Asma Khalid]

The world recognizes us as Palestinian. We have a state something like this. But on the ground it becomes so difficult for us, the problem that the situation here is very bad. It's not about recognizing, it's about what should you do after recognizing this Palestinian state?

[John Donison]

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said a state of Palestine will never exist. And there is a fear among some Palestinians that Israel could respond by accelerating the growth of Jewish settlements or even annexing parts of the west bank, adding legal permanence to Israel's control. Recognition from Britain and others has come partly because of the growing frustration of how Israel is conducting the war in Gaza.

[Tom Bateman]

I think that this move of recognizing.

[John Donison]

But Udi Gorin, whose cousin Tal Haymi's body is still being held by Hamas in Gaza, says it will do nothing to end the conflict.

[Tom Bateman]

This will not change a single thing. We are on the verge of the two year mark of this catastrophe that.

[Asma Khalid]

Both Israelis and Palestinians are suffering from.

[Tom Bateman]

And recognizing a Palestinian state will not bring back a single hostage, nor will.

[Asma Khalid]

It save a single Palestinian baby.

[John Donison]

And in Gaza, there has been no let up in Israel's offensive focused on capturing Gaza City. The health ministry in the Strip says more than 60 Palestinians have been killed in the last 24 hours.

[Chris Barrow]

John Donison in Jerusalem. For nearly a week, the Walt Disney Corporation has found itself at the center of a fierce debate over freedom of speech in the US it followed the decision by Disney, which owns the ABC network, to pull the late night TV host Jimmy Kimmel off air over comments he'd made after the killing of the right wing activist Charlie Kirk and accusing Donald Trump's supporters of trying to score political points from it. In response, the Trump appointed head of the FCC, which regulates US television, threatened to revoke ABC's broadcast license. But now Disney says Jimmy Kimmel Live will return on Tuesday night. So why the reversal? My colleague Sumi Somaskander has been speaking to Dylan Byers, a journalist covering entertainment and politics for the US news site Puck.

[Dylan Byers]

Disney had always telegraphed that they were hoping to bring Jimmy back. I don't think they saw a situation in which it would be tenable to get rid of him this way. And I think that became abundantly clear once you saw the pressure that was coming from all corners, really, from the creative community in Hollywood, from the political community. I mean, even former President Barack Obama weighed in. You saw Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney, was even getting pressure from his predecessor, Michael Eisner, asking where is the leadership now? What I will say is that the situation has not become any easier for Disney necessarily, because they are still going to be getting pressure from the FCC and from the Trump administration over this decision. And they might also get pressure from some of their distribution partners like nexstar and Sinclair, which we don't know yet, whether or not those companies are going to actually broadcast Jimmy Kimmel show on their stations.

[Asma Khalid]

That's an interesting point. So, Dylan, can this be seen, do you think, as a victory for Jimmy Kimmel, for his supporters?

[Dylan Byers]

If you're Jimmy Kimmel and if you're anyone who cares about this sort of, I guess, freedom of speech or a culture and a climate in which it's okay to go on and engage in satire about political figures, it is at least marginally reassuring to see Jimmy Kimmel come back. But there are broader concerns here. I mean, I don't think the Trump administration's campaign against mainstream media is going away, not by any stretch. I don't think the fact that Disney felt the need to preempt this show at all is cause for solace. So I think that this is a positive sign that he's coming back on Tuesday in the short term. But I think there are a lot of long term challenges ahead.

[Asma Khalid]

Dylan, can we come back to what you said about the Trump administration's campaign against mainstream media? I mean, tell us a bit more about what the Trump administration has said here because they have said that this is about really making sure that lies are not being told on shows like Jimmy Kimmel's program and the aftermath of the killing of Charlie Kirk.

[Dylan Byers]

Yeah, well, look, there is a feeling among conservatives in America and it's longstanding that traditional forums in media, Hollywood, late night broadcast news, universities have leaned left for a long time and they feel now that Trump is in power and that he has Brendan Carr as his FCC chairman, that now is the time to go on offense and sort of correct that drift. I think the problem is, is that the intensity of that campaign is so intense, there are lawsuits that most legal experts agree are meritless against either a, Disney, abc, Paramount, cbs, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal. That does not suggest someone who just wants to sort of stabilize partisan politics and media. It suggests someone who wants to go quite, quite a degree further in ways that I think are really troubling to free speech advocates on either side of the political aisle.

[Chris Barrow]

Dylan Byers. From Hollywood to Silicon Valley now. And two American tech giants have announced a partnership to build data centers for the next generation of artificial intelligence. It's understood that Nvidia will sell its computer chips to OpenAI and invest up to $100 billion in the startup for non controlling Shares. Our technology correspondent, Lily Jamali told us more about the AI infrastructure that's being built.

[Lily Jamali]

These data centers house all these servers that are used to train artificial intelligence models like the one that OpenAI developed, ChatGPT, the one that exploded on the scene back in 2022 and really got all of us into this AI chatbot revolution. And so that's what that is all about. Just to give you a comp on what this means, you talked about $100 billion. So we're looking at at least 2, 10 gigawatts of computing infrastructure. So you might remember last month, Meta, the parent company of Instagram, said they were doing something very similar. They turned heads. For the amount of computing power they were talking about, this project is up to five times bigger. So I kind of think of this as what I call OpenAI's bigger is better philosophy, where you need ever more computing power, more data centers, more chips to win at AI. That all costs money. And Nvidia, being the world's most valuable company, they have that kind of cash.

[Chris Barrow]

They certainly do. And I know that they kind of are planning this $10 billion investment, and then it scales up. If they're happy with the progress. I think there's something about the first sort of power. What outage that happens means that they commit that 10 billion, then it continues from there. But what's the product that they're then going to sell? Once they've got these data processing centers for the AI up and running? What am I going to buy from them? How is that going to make them money?

[Lily Jamali]

Well, I think the idea is, and what I'm hearing everywhere in Silicon Valley is AI. We've got ChatGPT, we're at GPT5 now, and all of these big tech companies that are in the AI space have their latest models as well. And what they really want to do is integrate AI into all facets of our lives. So, not just on your phone, but on the smart glasses that they expect us to wear two, three years from now, our smartwatches, et cetera. And they're pretty lofty when they talk about this stuff. Sam Altman, who's the boss over at OpenAI, talks about laying the groundwork of the economy of the future. But, you know, more practically, I think for him, is the front runner in AI now. His goal is really to just make sure that OpenAI stays as the leader in that AI chat bot space. And Nvidia has this very symbiotic relationship with OpenAI. Nvidia has been around a lot longer, but these two companies kind of exploded into the public consciousness together just a few years ago. And oftentimes what we're really talking about too is geopolitics. China looms large here because Beijing has been hitting Nvidia pretty hard with some recent decisions ordering in its AI firms to stop buying chips from Nvidia. So they're looking back at home for more investment opportunities.

[Chris Barrow]

And just very briefly, it all sounds great, but it's not happening particularly anytime soon.

[Lily Jamali]

Well, yes, the first gigawatts are set to be deployed towards the end of next year, so that's, yeah, about 12 months from now. But this does appear to be a longer term commitment between these two companies. But the first phase of this will start just in the next couple of months.

[Chris Barrow]

From what we understand, Lilli Jamali Football's top individual trophy, the Ballon d' or, has been awarded to the best players of the past year. The prize is voted for by a panel of journalists, one from each of the top 100 countries in the FIFA world rankings for the men and from the top 50 for the women. In the men's game, Ousmane Dembele, the French international striker for Paris Saint Germain, scooped the award for the first time. The French journalist Julien Laurent told the BBC that Dembele was a worthy winner.

[Asma Khalid]

PSG brought him back to France from Barcelona after a few years there, where he had highs and also a lot of lows on and off the pitch, really, and again, not fulfilling completely that potential. And I think PSG always had a thought that there was an incredible talent there that you just had to work with and polish a little bit more, even at the age of 26, 27, to make the finished article, which is not even now. I still think there's another step up for Ousmane Dembele in terms of consistency and if he can reproduce this kind of season, then he would be even better. But what he did for PSG this year from December onwards is just again incredible.

[Chris Barrow]

And Aytana Bonmati, the midfielder for Barcelona and the Spanish national team, made history to become the first woman to land the Ballon d' or for the third time in a row. Ernest Macia is a reporter for Catalunya Radio. She's the best. She's like a PC, a laptop.

[John Donison]

She has the football in her head and she is virtuous in the midfield. So I think she epitomizes what football should be, a player who is extremely humble. She lives 15 minutes away from my home and I know her in the in the village next to mine. And I know her from the people around her, that she's an example for the kids for all generations. And she's an extremely good footballer.

[Chris Barrow]

The journalist Ernest Massiat on the Ballon d' or winners awarded at a ceremony in Paris.

[Amila Seshagiri]

And still to come, there was never such a child for growing. Nurse, bring the weighing machine, said the doctor. It's the foot rule you want, sir, said Nurse, if I may make so.

[Chris Barrow]

Bold, the long lost Virginia Woolf book that's coming out next month.

[Asma Khalid]

America is changing and so is the world.

[Fergus Walsh]

But what's happening in America isn't just.

[Asma Khalid]

A cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere. I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, D.C. i'm Tristan Redman in London, and this is the Global story. Every weekday we'll bring you a story from this intersection where the world and America meet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Chris Barrow]

What's been called the world's strongest storm of the year is moving across the Pacific, leaving a trail of destruction in its path. Super Typhoon Ragasa swept through the northern Philippines on Monday and is forecast to reach China by Wednesday. With wind speeds of more than 250 kilometers per hour and torrential rain, there are warnings of a high risk to life, major damage to homes and widespread flooding.

[Stephanie Prentice]

Stephanie Prentice reports hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated as the super typhoon moves across the northern Philippines and towards southern China, with warnings issued in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Videos on social media show waves crashing through houses as it moves through islands in the Philippines. Schools and government offices are closed in the capital, Manila, with the weather bureau warning of life threatening conditions and a high risk of landslides. Ragasa is then expected to make landfall in China's highly populated Guangdong province. Authorities there have warned the impact could be potentially catastrophic. They're preparing to evacuate at least 400,000 people from the coastal city of Shenzhen. The major worry? The storm is very strong, gaining strength as it travels, and the ferocity is hard to predict. Dr. Johnny Chan from the Asia Pacific Typhoon Collaborative Research center is one of the people tracking it.

[Dylan Byers]

It's still maintaining a very strong storm with winds near the center of about 140 knots, which is close to 250 kilometers per hour. So it's really very strong. There are lots of computer models that predict where the storm is going to go and the same time we at the center are collaborating with other units to look into the typhoon and see whether we can collect some actual data.

[Stephanie Prentice]

This comes as scientists warn once again that climate change is helping to fuel stronger, more destructive storms. As Ralph Twomey, director at the Grantham Climate Change Institute, explains, if it's a.

[Dylan Byers]

Severe hurricane or typhoon or tropical cyclone.

[Asma Khalid]

You just have to leave. So that obviously means leaving property behind.

[Dylan Byers]

Leaving your lifetime investments behind, potentially in your house and so forth. So property damage is almost inevitable.

[Asma Khalid]

But we can certainly avoid loss of life by evacuating.

[Stephanie Prentice]

Along with research from other experts, he predicts that warmer seas will also make intense storms more frequent and and more likely to make landfall in mid latitude regions that are less equipped for extreme weather.

[Dylan Byers]

The issue about intensification is that yes, we can adapt and we should have more early warning systems, but our climate.

[Asma Khalid]

Is also on a runaway path. So we also need to stabilize the climate.

[Dylan Byers]

So reductions of greenhouse gas emissions is.

[Chris Barrow]

Also part of the story.

[Dylan Byers]

It is not just a question of adapting, we also need to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions because there is a limit to how much you can adapt to something that is extremely catastrophic.

[Chris Barrow]

That report was from Stephanie Prentice. Compulsory military service has been a rite of passage for young men in Denmark for centuries. But now, with Denmark taking great pride in its reputation for promoting gender equality, and with Europe increasingly worried about Russian aggression, the government is extending the draft to women as well. Our correspondent Anna Holligan has been finding out what young Danes think of the movement.

[Asma Khalid]

The sun's setting at the carousel festival, ravers dance as bass lines bounce between pine trees. But for young Danes here, the rhythm of life is changing. We talk a lot about being equal here in Denmark. So yeah, I think it's a pretty good idea. But being forced to go to the military, I don't think it's good for anybody to be forced to do anything in the world. You may have seen the headlines, the declared Danish women to face conscription by lottery, fueling anxieties that girls would be drafted straight to the front line. But what's really changing? We've come to one of the recruitment centres in Copenhagen. Peter is the captain in charge here.

[Chris Barrow]

The half year before you train 18 then you will receive a letter telling you you will soon be drafted or called to the recruitment office for young men.

[Asma Khalid]

That's been the case for generations now, though young women get the same letter. 19 year old Sarah has volunteered to be here. I didn't think about it as, oh, I'm going here because I'm being sent to war, but more as like an interesting opportunity to get to know yourself a little bit better. I'VE always wanted to go to the military. Molly is 20. If I do pass all the tests, I'm definitely going in and then staying for a couple of years. If the Danish military doesn't get enough volunteers, there's a lottery system to decide who serves, based on teenagers picking numbers out of a tombola drum. Under the new law, the duration of military service has been extended from four to 11 months. We join some of the newest recruits running through their battlefield tactics. The recruits are crawling through the forest commando style, carrying their rifles. There's a small hill which they're now taking position behind and they are about to take part in some kind of shooting exercise. You earn a new skill set and you earn so many friendships and you just learn a lot about yourself. Catherine is a few months into her training. This feels quite removed from the battlefield. Do you see a time in the future where you would be prepared to go to war? It's a training situation and I think for many it doesn't really feel real. But I think if you are considering continuing in the military, it's something you have to be prepared for, that one day it can be real. Denmark, a NATO member is seeking to boost its defenses. A response the Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said last year, to Russian aggression and America's uncertain commitment to European security. We plan to extend conscription. We are in no doubt that increased gender equality will deliver a more modern and better defence. 14 year old Isabella is dreading the day she receives the call up letter. I would be like sort of a military denier and try to take another community service instead of going to the military. Like yes, equality and stuff, feminism and blah blah, blah. But like personally I didn't like the idea of women going into the military. But the majority of Danes do accept this new law to mostly in the spirit of fairness, equality and deterrence. Among the forest ravers we meet Nadia. As I'm from Ukraine, it makes me feel a bit more safe and it might seem like, okay, we're escalating something. No, we're not escalating anything. We're just repairing. So I think it's just makes Europe stronger.

[Chris Barrow]

Anna Holligan with that report. The British author Virginia Woolf was one of the most influential modernist writers and feminist voices in the English language. She died by suicide in 1941. Well, next month a new book of hers will be published. A lost collection of three comic stories. Professor Omila Seshagiri said discovering a finished version of the Life of Violet was the luckiest accident.

[Amila Seshagiri]

We knew that it existed in rough draft form. And that draft is in the New York Public Library. And it's a rough, almost messy typescript that Woolf had given to Violet Dickinson as a gift and that it has. And it has Woolf's hand edits and Violet's hand edits on it. It's a little bit difficult to read. It's very informal. And nobody knew that Woolf revised that draft and made it into something much more elegant and complete. It's an interrelated three set of three stories that are interconnected. And it's about a giantess named Violet Dickinson, who grows up to be 6ft 2 inches tall, as the real life Violet Dickinson, who was Virginia Woolf's friend, did. And it's about a girl who doesn't get married, who doesn't lead a traditional aristocratic life, who doesn't become a spinster, who doesn't have children, who doesn't do any of the things that are traditional for women in literature and I think in life at this. At this time. But she does magical things, and she becomes a goddess. She becomes a giantess. She flies. She is able to slay a silver sea monster. It reads very smoothly. It's very funny, it's very enjoyable. It's very unlike what most people think of when they think of Virginia Woolf. And you can read it from start to finish without any of the hiccups that one might encounter in a rough draft.

[Chris Barrow]

Professor Amila Seshagiri from the University of Tennessee. And finally, a wandering elk nicknamed Emil and spotted across central Europe in the past few months, has been captured in Austria and released on the edge of a Czech forest. Tens of thousands of people have followed Emil's eventful summer online since he first strolled into a village. Among them was Rob Cameron in Prague.

[Fergus Walsh]

Emil was first spotted in the very northeastern corner of the Czech Republic on June 2, apparently after crossing the border from Poland.

[Chris Barrow]

And since then, he's strolled through villages and towns, 60 of them, according to one account.

[Fergus Walsh]

In four countries, he's forded streams. He's swum across the River Danube. He stopped trains and closed roads.

[Chris Barrow]

He's been spotted near two music festivals, one of them heavy Metal. He has 50,000 Facebook followers. All of that could now be over.

[Fergus Walsh]

After getting too close to a motorway in Austria. And he begins a new chapter in a Czech forest home to several dozen of his elk kin.

[Chris Barrow]

Will he stay there? That's up to him. Rob Cameron there. And that's all from us for now. There'll be a new edition of the Global News podcast later on, but if you'd like to comment on this podcast and the topics we're covering. Perhaps you're an elk enthusiast. Do send us an email. The address is globalpodcastbc.co. you can also find us on X@BBC World Service and use the hashtag global newspod. This edition was mixed by Caroline Driscoll. The producers were Anna Aslam and Peter Goffin. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Chris Barrow. And until next time, thanks for listening. Goodbye.

[Asma Khalid]

America is changing, and so is the world.

[Fergus Walsh]

But what's happening in America isn't just.

[Asma Khalid]

The cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere. I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, dc. I'm Tristan Redman in London, and this is the Global Story. Every weekday, we'll bring you a story from this intersection where the world and America meet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.