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Global News Podcast
Trump moves nuclear submarines after Russian ex-president's comments
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Trump orders two nuclear submarines to be moved closer to Russia
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Nick Miles
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Call 1-800-GRAINGER clickgrainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Nick Miles and in the early hours of Saturday 2nd August, these are our main stories. President Trump has told the US Military to reposition two nuclear submarines in response to what he called foolish and inflammatory comments by Russia's former leader Dmitry Medvedev. Mr. Trump has ordered the sacking of the head of the U.S. bureau of Labor Statistics after it published disappointing job figures. Reports from northern Burkina Faso say attacks by jihadists have left dozens of people dead, including soldiers and civilians. Also in this podcast, from a biological perspective, there's no limit. So once the embryos are frozen, all cellular activity stops. They're stored in a sort of a suspended animation state. We hear about what some are calling the world's oldest baby from an embryo that was frozen 30 years ago. We begin in the United States. President Trump has responded to strident comments by the former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev by saying that he will reposition two US nuclear submarines in what he called appropriate regions. But Mr. Trump did not say if he was referring to nuclear powered or nuclear armed submarines or what regions he was talking about. We just have to be careful and a threat was made and we didn't think it was appropriate. So I have to be very careful. So I do that on the basis of safety for our people. A threat was made by a former president of Russia and we're going to protect our people. The threat President Trump was referring to came in the form of those comments from Dmitry Medvedev who said Mr. Trump was playing the ultimatum game with Russia by insisting on a ceasefire in Ukraine by August 8. He said that such an approach could lead to a war involving the United States and Russia. Arundhoi Mukherjee is our correspondent in Washington. President Trump importantly didn't say where he was moving these submarines to and whether they were nuclear powered or nuclear armed. It's an important distinction because repositioning these doesn't really matter because they can still hit targets from thousands of miles away. Now, he said this was in response to what he called foolish and inflammatory statements made by Dmitry Medvedev, with whom he had recently been involved in that, you know, in a series of personal attacks on social media. But this is being viewed as a major escalation in rhetoric between Moscow and the U.S. something that we've not seen so far. Dmitry Medvedev is the deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council and perceived to be close to President Vladimir Putin, but he's always been a Western critic, so it's interesting that he's making these statements. But a day earlier, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in an interview to Fox, played down threats from Dmitry Medvedev, saying he wasn't a decision maker or even an important player. Well, this all comes just a few days before Steve Witkoff, the US Envoy who's also involved in the situation in Gaza, of course, is due to travel to Moscow. Remind us what his remit is going to be in Moscow. What do we expect from that? Well, the timing is very important given that his visit will come as the deadline Donald Trump imposed is looming large. So the remit would be, as before, to try and convince the Kremlin to try and and agree to a ceasefire, something that Donald Trump has been really pushing hard for. But given all of what we've seen so far, that is looking difficult. Moscow has shown no indication of complying with any of the threats that the Trump administration has issued through so far. But those threats could be ramped up. Donald Trump has talked about secondary sanctions which could hurt Moscow. Is that as far as what we're seeing from Washington, likely now? Well, President Trump has been very clear about this. In fact, clearer than before. He said if a ceasefire is not arrived at, then he will be imposing severe tariffs on Russia. This would be a first for him since assuming office for his second term. He's also expressed skepticism about how much of an impact it may have, but also still said that he will be going ahead to impose those sanctions. He has also threatened sanctioning countries which have been buying from Russia like oil, examples being countries like China and India. Aronodoy Mukherjee in Washington. For an insight into how governments deploy nuclear submarines around the world, Celia Hatton spoke to James Acton, co Director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. So what is his initial reaction to President Trump's announcement? It's not serious. It's a bit sad, to be honest. You know, I just think it's sad that the President of the United States gets into a Twitter spat with a foreign leader and then has a bit of a tantrum online and throws around words in involving nuclear weapons. I don't regard this as being serious. I regard this as being kind of faintly ridiculous, to be honest. And why so? I mean, any mention of the deployment of nuclear submarines is sure to attract attention. Oh, of course it is. And that, I think, is the whole point, to try to attract attention. There's no question about that. Look, I'm somebody that worries quite a lot about nuclear weapons, so it's quite unusual for me to be on the radio saying that I'm not concerned about something. But, you know, the United States has four or five submarines armed with hundreds of nuclear warheads at sea on a day to day basis. We have no idea whether Trump's tweet has actually led to any kind of concrete change in the US Nuclear force posture. But the US And Russia are not at loggerheads right now. They're not about to go to nuclear war with one another. You know, I don't think we should invest Trump's tweet with that level of seriousness. I think we should recognize it for what it is, which is, to be honest, as I've said, a bit sad and ridiculous, to be frank. And Mr. Medvedev is a hawk, isn't he? He says a lot on social media. He does, he does. And, you know, I think he's baiting President Trump. President Trump has fallen for the bait. He's allowed himself to be goaded in this way. I think it's a very bad sign of the state of the world right now that we have leaders engaging with one another on social media this way. You know, I think as a exemplar of that broad trend, I find this pretty depressing. But I don't think this signals that nuclear war is imminent or anything remotely like that. And what does this tell us about the US Russia relationship at the moment? Well, look, I think you have to look at the US Russia relationship holistically. You know, Trump has always had a very soft spot for Putin. I've seen nothing in his behavior over the last six months that suggests that that soft spot has gone away, even if in some ways Trump has become to talk more harm harshly about Putin. You know, the bilateral relationship clearly isn't good, largely, as you know, in, in no small part because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But neither do I think the two sides are about to go to war with one another. James Acton from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. On the campaign trail, Donald Trump regularly touted poll numbers when they were good for him and denounced ones that were bad as faulty or fake. Now, back in the White House, the US President appears to be applying that same attitude to government managed economic data. A report released today shows jobs growth in the US In May, June, and July slowed more sharply than previously understood, a worrying sign for the economy. Not long after the announcement, President Trump ordered the sacking of the head of the U.S. bureau of Labor Statistics. Michelle Fleury is the BBC's New York business correspondent. Look, we got a weaker than expected jobs report, and that has raised fresh questions about the strength of the US Economy. It's not clear if the two are directly linked, but obviously the fact that you've got the president talking on social media about how strong the US Economy is doing and then going on to fire the person that compiled the data, obviously it's hard not to draw a link. He also started to talk about the idea that this person who was appointed by Biden, may have manipulated data in the past to try and help Kamala Harris in her presidential bid in 2025. That is unproven. But that didn't stop that from sort of circulating. And so here we find ourselves now with the head of the agency that compiles the data on jobs being let go without any apparent sort of specific cause. Or at least as Democrat Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said, what does a bad leader do when they get bad news? Shoot the message messenger. What about reaction on the markets to this? How have they taken it? Well, it came late in the trading session and there was already a pretty tough day, in part because of that weak jobs report, but also you had the new tariff rates that were unveiled by the president. And so it sort of led to the kind of sell off continuing. I think it'll take some time as investors try to kind of digest what has happened. But the immediate reaction, the anecdotal reaction, was one of shock and surprise, in part because statistical data investors rely on it to make business decisions. So if it starts to get politicised. What will that do in the long run, both for their decision making process and for the sort of quality of the data. The fear being that if your boss is not going to be happy going forward with the reports you produce, will they try and skew the results? Michelle Fleury as we record this podcast, there are emerging reports from the north of Burkina Faso of two attacks that have left dozens of people dead, including soldiers, jihadist fighters and civilians. Since 2015, Burkina Faso has faced numerous attacks by armed jihadist groups, Will Ross reports. Security sources say there was a large scale attack on an army base in Dargo in Burkina Faso's north central region. Several dozen soldiers and Islamist militants died during Monday's battle. On the same day, a supply convoy under a military escort was ambushed between the towns of Dorry and Gorham. Gorham soldiers were killed and a transport official said 20 lorry drivers died in the attack. The insecurity is getting worse in Burkina Faso and the Al Qaeda linked group JNIM is behind much of the violence. Will Ross with the ever changing front lines in the Ukraine conflict, there is a constant danger for troops on the ground getting caught behind enemy lines. Well, a stranded and injured Ukrainian soldier has found a remarkable way to escape. Delivered from the sky, Our correspondent Joe Inward reports filmed through a drone's camera, a man in a field holds up his arms as an E bike is slowly lowered to the ground. It is a Ukrainian soldier injured, alone and surrounded by Russian forces in the Donbas. The footage, which was released by Ukraine's Rubij Brigade, shows what they say is surely one of the most extraordinary rescue operations of the war in Ukraine. The soldier callsign tanker described the moment it was lowered down. The ropes were tangled in the wheels a bit, he said. I could not start riding. At first it didn't work, but eventually, with God's help, I managed and went on. But his ordeal was not over. After riding about halfway to safety, he hit a landmine, destroying the bike. He limped the last few hundred metres, eventually being met by a rescue party. The war in Ukraine has seen remarkable innovations in the use of drone technology. They have transformed the battlefield, but they are usually used to take lives, not to save them. Joe Inwood now to what's being called the world's oldest baby. Thaddeus Daniel Pierce was born last week in the US State of Ohio from a donated embryo that was originally frozen and stored back in 1994. It sets a new record and means that at the time his embryo was first stored, his now Non biological biological parents, Tim and Lindsay Pierce would have been toddlers themselves. Tim Child is a professor of reproductive health at Oxford University here in the uk. I asked him how it all works. When people go through an IVF cycle, the woman having treatment will have a couple of weeks of injections to stimulate the ovaries. It's followed by an egg collection. The eggs are then mixed with sperm in the lab to make embryos. And these embryos are then cultured on for a few days. And then normally a fresh embryo would be transferred to her uterus. But often there are spare embryos left over which can be frozen or cryopreserved for later use and they're stored in liquid nitrogen tanks. And then at some point when the, usually the couple who made the embryos want to use them, the embryos are then taken out one by one and thawed and then placed into her uterus. So this happens and it could go on as it has in this case for decades. Is there a limit on the number of, of years that embryos can be stored? And why is there a limit? From a biological perspective, there's no limit. So once the embryos are frozen, all cellular activity stops, so they're stored in a sort of a suspended animation state. And it's really the risks in terms of these embryos is more about at the time of freezing and at the time of thawing is when sometimes they might not survive. But the actual bit in between potentially could go on forever. And this world oldest baby, Thaddeus Daniel Pierce, that wonderful name, he's set a record as a newborn for the longest time an embryo has been in this state of freezing before it was thawed out. Will he and other babies who have been born in that way be monitored in a different way for the potential long term effects on the body? Reassuringly, there have been studies looking at whether there are any ill effects to children who may now be adults who are born from whether it's fresh IVF embryos or frozen IVF embryos. And people have also looked to see for longer duration of freezing, is that linked to a detrimental effect? And reassuringly, it doesn't appear to. But obviously there is a limit on how many years these embryos have been frozen. But in terms of long term follow up of children born from ivf, fresh or frozen embryos, that really depends on the country. So in different countries there will be different types of long term studies. I wouldn't say routinely that all people born from fertility treatments are routinely followed up, you know, more so during their life than other people. Now there's a psychological impact of this potentially as well. If you're adopted, for example, you can track your biological parents when you reach the age of 18 in most countries, but that doesn't necessarily follow if, let's say you come from an embryo that's been stored for decades and decades, your biological parents may well be dead before you are born. The potential psychological biological impact of that could be worrying, damaging. Well, that varies from country to country. So in the UK the law is very clear that anyone who is born from donated egg, sperm or embryos can trace the genetic parents when the child is 18 years old. Now in other countries it is not necessarily in place. So for instance, if we have patients who are perhaps looking to go abroad to receive donor egg, sperm or embryos, one of the things we say to them is they need to be clear about the different regulatory environment that will exist in perhaps children that they have will not be able to trace who donated the egg, sperm or embryos. Tim Child from Oxford University still to come, South Africa is home to the world's largest rhino population and according to conservation groups, more than 400 are poached every year. Now a campaign is taking place in the country to save the rhinos from poachers by making the animals horns radioactive. For the ones who get it done, the most important part is the one you need now and the best partner is the one who can deliver. That's why millions of maintenance and repair pros trust Grainger because we have professional grade supplies for every industry, even hard to find products and we have same day pickup and next day delivery on most orders. But most importantly, we have an unwitting commitment to help keep you up and running. Call clickgranger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done next to Gaza and President Trump says he wants to help the people of the territory to live. Following a visit by his special envoy Steve Witkoff to a controversial US and Israeli backed aid site, Mr. Trump said he would announce a new humanitarian plan to improve food supplies in Gaza after getting feedback from his envoy. Gazans have denounced Steve Witkoff's visit. One Palestinian told our Gaza correspondent that it was a hollow media stunt, not a humanitarian mission. The UN has described the aid system run by the Gaza Humanitarian foundation as a death trap. It says around 1400 Palestinians have been killed seeking food since late May, with the majority shot dead by Israel. Israeli forces near GHF distribution facilities. Israel accuses Hamas of instigating chaos near the sites. We'll examine some of those arguments in a moment. But first this report from John Donnison in Jerusalem. Donald Trump's man in the Middle east rolled into Gaza under Israeli escort to see for himself what the President has called real starvation. Steve Witkoff visited the much criticized GHF aid distribution sites, but it's not clear how many Palestinians he spoke to out looking for food. Mohammed Diab had these words for the American. I send a message to US officials and to Witkoff, end these things, completely. Stop the war entirely. We don't want aid here. We come and get humiliated and shot at. We are humiliated just for a loaf of bread. Amid the chaos to get their hands on aid, the UN says over 1300 Gazans have been killed in the last two months. More than 850 of them allegedly shot by the Israeli military at the US run GHF sites. A boy was reportedly killed by an Israeli sniper at the Shakush site in southern Gaza. It is Gaza's children who are most vulnerable to starvation. And 10 year old Dima playing with her friends had this message for the Americans. Children are dying from hunger. Men walk towards death just to bring us food and water and we're dying. Limited aid is now getting in, but the UN says it's nowhere near enough. And there's no ceasefire either. The Health Ministry in Gaza says at least 10 people were killed in a strike on a tent encampment in the so called safe humanitarian zone. John Donison reporting. Our international editor Jeremy Bowen is also in Jerusalem. He told us what impact Steve Witkoff's visit to Gaza might have. It might confirm some of the things that the Americans are saying to themselves about the GHF being a success. He may stick with Netanyahu's narrative on that. I think that as a VIP visiting the place, he probably had a very one eyed view of what was going on there. He didn't see any of the other scenes. Remember something very important. Every parachute you see with aid attached to it comes from an aircraft that each aircraft, which are very expensive to run, carries less than a big lorry. The UN saying that the only way to deal with the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, apart from of course having a ceasefire, is to open the gates and allow in hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of trucks and airdrops simply don't do that. The British government believes that the Gaza Humanitarian foundation model of giving out aid is discredited because it's not effective in getting aid to the people who need it. And of course so many people have been killed both by the idf, the Israeli military, and by the American mercenaries who work for GHF while they've been trying to get it. Jeremy Bowen in Jerusalem, hundreds of protesters in Syria's predominantly Druze province of Sueda are demanding the withdrawal of government forces after deadly sectarian violence there last month. The security forces had been sent to curb fighting between Druze militias and Bedouin tribes. Mike Thompson reports 1400 people were reportedly killed in the clashes that broke out last month in Syria's southern Zuwayda province between Druze militia and Bedouin tribesmen. Government forces were sent in to stop the violence, but Druze people claim they sided with the largely Sunni Muslim Bedouins and summarily executed Druze civilians. Protesters in the majority Druze province are demanding that the remaining forces leave. The government says a committee has been set up to investigate the claims and will report back within the next three months. Mike Thompson it wasn't that long ago that billions of us found ourselves having to work from home during the COVID pandemic. Lots of people around the world have now returned to the office, but more than 900 million of us still work remotely, at least some of the time. The question is, is that good value for money? Research here in the UK suggests broadband activity dips significantly between 3 o' clock and 5 o' clock on Friday afternoons. It sounds rather suspicious. The BBC's Paddy O' Connell has been to a park in central London to find out what's going on. It had just gone three when I arrived in this park and what struck me was how many people are on a screen, whether they're working or not. In this beautiful park where it's recently rained, people are all staring at a screen. Now, the people who weren't sitting on this bench told me that I'd caught them out because one of them regularly works from the park or cafe. You got me. Hang on, it's ten past three. Are you working from home? Well, technically, no. Technically I don't work on Fridays. Like, it's more Monday, Thursday, 9 to 5, and then Fridays is like till 1. But do you think people are knocking off early? Yeah, I honestly think it depends on the person. Some people do stay till five, some people don't. Is it a problem? I think if you get the. The work done and you're like, on top of your deadlines, then no, I think if you don't, then yes. There's a survey that says that broadband use drops by 8% after 3 on a Friday. They're putting this down to people who are Knocking off early and I'm wondering if you think that's happening. I'm certainly more productive at home than I am in the office, I find, so I prefer it myself. But I can see in some jobs, maybe, that people would maybe take the mickey. Would you be surprised that some people knock off early? I wouldn't be surprised. By any chance, are you working from home now with your dog? I'm just about to go home to work, but I will be working till about 8:00 clock tonight. Yes. So if you were to take a work email here, would that be working from home whilst throwing a ball for the spaniel? No. I mean, I wouldn't consider that working. Paddy o' Connell reporting. Isabelle Berwick reports on management and the workplace for the Financial Times newspaper. Is she surprised that people are clocking off at 3? No, it doesn't surprise me at all. But actually, quite a lot of firms do sanction it. We've seen a lot of firms over the summer, you know, including big consulting firms, including KPMG, for example, saying on a Friday at 1pm you can take the afternoon off if you've met your targets. I think that's the crucial thing. And, you know, the FT reported yesterday that the average cost of a nanny in London is now more than £50,000 a year. So any relief with childcare costs is going to be very welcome. And there are some employers that are allowing people to work from home in August, particularly for that reason. So I think there are some really enlightened employers out there. Actually, a better measure of productivity is your output, and I think more enlightened companies are thinking about that. You know, if you get your work done, you can be more flexible. But there are people telling me there are companies that are now requiring people to go to the office on Friday and Monday to make sure no one takes a long weekend. Bosses are often not trusting. There's a huge gulf between how productive workers think they are at home and how productive their managers think they are. Isabelle Berwick from the Financial Times. Now it's a battle of power and of recognition. A growing number of women across Africa are aiming to change the traditionally male image of arm wrestling. And they're enjoying the benefits and opportunities that come with it. BBC Sport Africa's Emmanuel Akindabuwa has been to the Africa Arm Wrestling Championship in Abuja, Nigeria. Muscles tensed, elbows rooted, two women stare each other out across a table. This is the Africa Arm Wrestling Championship in Abuja, Nigeria. This year's competition has seen a 47% rise in female contestants. One of them is Rosemary Borta from South Africa. One of the best things about armwrestling is it's not a time consuming sport unless you want to go to elite level on an amateur level. It really is something that just keeps you going, keeps you moving, makes you stronger. Arm wrestling is a lifesaver for me. My bone strength is good because I do the lifting of weights. From street corners to arenas across Africa, female armwrestlers are changing the narrative about what strength and femininity really means. They are not just competing for medals, but putting up a show of confidence and self expression. Referee Sandra Ndoku explains why. Myself, I have defeated many men in arm wrestling. Women should involve more. It boosts their confidence, you know, it makes you feel in charge, you know, now I can stand here and speak because I am an arm wrestler. Arm wrestling is all about confidence and strength. Grace Minta is a world arm wrestling champion. She says competing has given her opportunities she'd never have otherwise had. Arm wrestling has done a lot for me. I've seen a lot of countries which I'm not even. I didn't even think of going this off. But arm wrestling, I've done a lot. I've gone far. And it's not just about physical strength, it's about mental strength too. Here's referee Sandra Ndoku again. When the referee says, ready, go. If you're not mentally smart enough to move, your opponent will move before you and that will be a win. The sport made its debut at the African Games in 2024. But players like Winifred Ndedi, who's from Nigeria, say they wanted to go even bigger. We are hoping to be next Olympic, next Commonwealth. With that kind of conviction, armwrestling is sure to go from strength to strength for women in Africa. That report was by Emmanuel Akindumbua in Nigeria. Nigeria, rhino horns are being injected with radioactive isotopes as part of a new anti poaching campaign in South Africa. Scientists from the University of Witwatersrand hope the process will allow customs officers to detect any smuggled horns as they're transported around the world. One member of the team said the technique was like putting a light inside the horn that no one can turn off. Ed Habersham sent this report from Johannesburg. South Africa is home to the world's largest rhino population and according to conservation groups, more than 400 are poached every year. So a group of scientists at Wits University in Johannesburg turned to nuclear technology to put off poachers six years in the making. The project came to a head in the last six months, as scientists injected radioisotopes into the horns of 20 rhinos across two locations in South Africa. The radiation can then be detected at transport hubs across the world with the aim of discouraging would be smugglers. Professor James Larkin is the lead scientist on the project. We are piggybacking on an existing infrastructure that was put into place to prevent nuclear terrorism. And the very same equipment that could prevent nuclear terrorism can be used to reduce, if not eliminate, wildlife trafficking of rhino. Before launching the project, which was a collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency and cost just over 200,000 pounds, scientists made sure radiation levels were not harmful to the rhinos or to humans who might come close to the radioactive horns. The technique is now available to anyone who needs it and Professor Larkin hopes to be injecting his first horn within two months. Ed Habersham in South Africa. And that's all from us for now. But there will be a new edition of the Global News Pod podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcastbc.co.uk. you can also find us on X@BBC World Service. Use the hashtag globalnewspot. This edition was mixed by Ricardo McCarthy. The producers were Liam McSheffrey and Paul Day. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Nick Miles and until next time, goodbye.