UK's Andy Burnham confirmed as new Labour leader

Summary

Global News Podcast — July 17, 2026

Main Theme

This episode tracks major global and UK news, focusing on Andy Burnham's confirmation as the new Labour leader and UK Prime Minister in waiting. It also covers updates from China, India, Japan, scientific advances, and cultural topics, with expert analysis anchored by Janak Jalil and segments with other BBC correspondents.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Andy Burnham Confirmed as UK Labour Leader and Next Prime Minister

• Context: Burnham becomes the UK’s 7th Prime Minister in 10 years, succeeding Keir Starmer, following Labour's decision for a leadership “coronation” instead of a contest.
• Burnham's Vision:
  • Emphasizes uniting the country, empowering citizens, and reversing decades of economic policy since the 1980s.
  • Commitment to “putting hope in every heart” and focusing on those left behind, aiming for “the biggest change in 40 years” ([02:48]).
  • Echoes themes of devolution, public ownership, and state intervention.
  • Noted lack of detail on policies and limited team announcements.

Notable Quote:

• “I want people to say once again that Labour are for us. I want that to just fall off people’s tongues and we can do it. We can be that party, the party that puts more power in people’s hands, drives good growth in every postcode and puts hope in every heart.” — Andy Burnham, as read by Nick Robinson ([02:48])

Political Analysis:

• Rob Watson (Political Correspondent) highlights Burnham’s broad, left-leaning vision but uncertainty on delivery, given UK’s high debt and spending ([03:25–05:41]).
• Burnham’s popularity is low, with little political capital and a short window to deliver on ambitious promises. “He’s more popular than Keir Starmer, but that isn’t massively difficult. He has sort of negative approval ratings...” ([05:47])

---

2. China’s Vision for AI and Launch of Global Cooperation Body

• Key Event: President Xi Jinping opens a major AI conference, proposes global cooperation, and warns against domination by a single nation.
• China’s Approach:
  • Announces training for developing countries; launches the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (Shanghai HQ, with members like Russia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Brazil, but no Western countries).
  • Contrasts China’s “open source” AI vision against the US’s “closed” system.
  • Moonshot AI’s new model, Kimi K3, showcased as globally competitive ([08:44]).

Notable Quote:

• “The development of AI should not be a solo performance by any one country, but rather a symphony of global cooperation.” — President Xi Jinping, quoted by Rob Watson ([07:02])

Expert Perspective:

• Stephen McDonnell notes Xi’s calculated framing of the AI moment as transformative as the steam engine or electricity and China's effort to include the “global south” ([07:33–10:31]).

---

3. India’s First Hydrogen-Powered Train

• Launch Details: India launches its first hydrogen-powered train in Haryana, aiming to reduce greenhouse emissions.
• Technology:
  • Train uses onboard hydrogen fuel cells; byproducts are only water vapour and heat ([11:14]).
  • Costs are significantly higher but hoped to decrease with wider adoption.
  • The initiative is a “small step” towards clean energy for India’s huge rail network.

Notable Explanation:

• “Hydrogen is stored in the train cylinders and that combines with oxygen from the surrounding air inside the fuel cell – that produces electricity, that powers the traction motors and the train starts moving. The only direct byproducts ... are water vapour and heat. There’s no combustion, no smoke, no carbon emissions.” — Aruna de Mukherjee ([11:54])

---

4. Japan’s Imperial Succession Crisis and Parliamentary Reform

• New Law:
  • Women no longer automatically lose royal status when marrying commoners.
  • Male descendants from former imperial branches can be adopted into the family and their sons made eligible for the throne.
  • Direct female succession (“Empress”) remains banned — Princess Aiko remains ineligible ([14:16]).
• Implications:
  • Helps address immediate public duties shortage, but not long-term succession threat.

Public Opinion:

• “They’ve consistently shown quite strong majority support for allowing a woman to become Emperor.” — Kurumi Mori, referencing 70–80% support ([16:14])
• A gap persists between public attitudes and political tradition.

---

5. Scientific Breakthrough: Earth-like Exoplanet with Atmosphere

• Discovery: First detection of an atmosphere on a rocky, Earth-like planet (LHS 1140B) in the habitable zone, 49 light years away.
• Why It Matters:
  • The planet is rocky, at right temperature for liquid water, and has an atmosphere—conditions for life.
  • Observations suggest a helium-dominated atmosphere, theorized as a common stage in planetary evolution.

Notable Quote:

• “This is the first time we’ve ever discovered an atmosphere on a rocky sort of Earth-like planet that’s in a habitable zone outside of our solar system.” — Dr. Colin Cherubin ([23:36])
• “With this discovery, we now know that this planet has all three of those things ... makes this planet ... the best place currently to look for life outside our solar system.” ([25:34])

---

6. DRC Ebola Clinic Attack

• Incident:
  • Mob attacks hospital housing Ebola centre after a pregnant patient dies; violence fueled by mistrust and belief Ebola is “imported.”
• Wider Context:
  • Widespread suspicion of health workers and international interventions in remote, affected communities ([19:53–21:35]).

---

7. UK Study: Safer, Targeted Prostate Cancer Treatment

• Result:
  • Focal therapy (heat/cold to destroy cancer) as effective as surgery/radiation but with 5–10 times fewer side effects.
• Recommendation:
  • Prof. Hashim Ahmed calls for wider adoption and guideline revision ([22:06–23:10]).

Notable Quote:

• “What we now have is three and a half thousand men almost with ten year outcomes showing it is as effective as surgery and radiotherapy and cancer control.” — Prof. Hashim Ahmed ([22:06])
• “We now need to move on and get this accessible to all of those thousands of patients every year who could have it.” ([23:10])

---

8. Culture: “Frida Mania” and Iconography of Frida Kahlo

• Discussion with Cristina Callo (Frida’s great-niece):
  • Concern that Kahlo is remembered more as an image than as an artist.
  • Museums’ merchandising may overshadow deeper understanding of her work.
• Anecdote:
  • Personal story illustrating Kahlo’s assertiveness when confronted for her dress in public ([28:36]).

Notable Quote:

• “People do not read the explications on the walls. They just look to the things, to the objects, to the paintings. So if you don’t take the time ... then people can think that those objects are art also.” — Cristina Callo ([27:01])
• “She turned to the woman and slapped her on her face and said, whatever you have to say about me, you tell me in my face … that makes us clear that Frida Kahlo was a very strong woman.” ([28:36])

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• UK: Andy Burnham’s speech & commentary: [01:58–05:47]
• China’s AI ambitions, Xi’s speech: [06:34–10:31]
• India’s hydrogen train: [10:31–13:48]
• Japan’s imperial succession bill explained: [13:48–16:55]
• Exoplanet with atmosphere discovery: [17:08–26:29]
• DRC Ebola clinic attack: [19:30–21:35]
• Prostate cancer therapy: [21:35–23:10]
• Frida Kahlo and “Frida Mania”: [26:29–30:46]

---

Memorable Moments & Quotes

• Burnham’s focus on hope & unity:
  • “...move beyond the divisions of recent years. All people and all places, public and private sectors, in a new sense of unity.” ([02:48])
• Xi on AI cooperation:
  • “A single string cannot produce a melody, and a single tree does not make a forest.” ([07:02])
• Callo’s Frida anecdote:
  • “She turned to the woman and slapped her on her face and said, whatever you have to say about me, you tell me in my face.” ([28:36])

---

Tone & Language

• The podcast maintains an analytical, brisk, and informed tone, methodically moving through major international and British stories, providing both headline summaries and expert interviews with a mix of factual reporting, commentary, and occasional personal anecdotes and color.

---

This summary covers all significant stories and notable moments from the July 17, 2026 edition of the BBC Global News Podcast, providing context, analysis, timestamps, and speaker-attributed highlights for listeners and non-listeners alike.

Transcript

[Nick Robinson]

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the uk.

[Janak Jalil]

This podcast is sponsored by Made in

[Narrator / Main Host]

Cookware Made in partners with multi generational

[Janak Jalil]

artisans and some of the world's best

[Narrator / Main Host]

chefs to create professional quality cookware knives and kitchen tools. Their products are trusted in Michelin starred restaurants worldwide and designed to perform just as well in your kitchen.

[Janak Jalil]

From five ply stainless clad to carbon

[Narrator / Main Host]

steel, every piece is built to last and made to actually make you a better cook.

[Janak Jalil]

Discover award winning [e-mail] this is the story of the one. The one who keeps multiple buildings running smoothly day after day. Plumbing that flows, H Vac that hums, cleaning supplies that keep surfaces sparkling. That's why she counts on Grainger. With easy reordering online and 247 support, Grainger helps her keep the products she needs on hand so shelves stay stocked in buildings stay ready. Call 1-800-GRAINGER, click grainger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done.

[Narrator / Main Host]

This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Janak Jalil and at 15 hours GMT on Friday 17th July, these are our main stories Britain hears from its new Prime Minister in waiting, Andy Burnham. China's President Xi lays out his vision for the future of AI. Japan tries to fix the succession crisis in its imperial royal family. Also in this podcast, India launches its first hydrogen powered train as part of its efforts to reduce greenhouse gases.

[Aruna de Mukherjee]

Unlike conventional trains that burn fuel, the only direct byproduct are water vapor and heat. There's no combustion, no smoke, no carbon emissions.

[Narrator / Main Host]

The man who will soon be Britain's seventh prime minister in 10 years has been laying out his vision in a short speech. After being selected as leader of the governing Labour Party, Andy Burnham will take over running the country on Monday when Keir Starmer steps down. But so far he has provided few details of what he plans to do to boost Britain's stagnating economy and help people struggling with the cost of living. Mr. Starmer was forced to stand down because of his growing unpopularity and long running divisions in the Labour Party, many of whose members want more government spending. Mr. Burnham, who only returned to Parliament a few weeks ago, said Labour was now united and would put its strength at the service of, as he put it, people and places who have been waiting too long for politics to let them hope again.

[Nick Robinson]

I want people to say once again that Labour are for us. I want that to just fall off people's tongues and we can do it. We can Be that party, the party that puts more power in people's hands, drives good growth in every postcode and puts hope in every heart. That gets the country pulling together again and moves beyond the divisions of recent years. All people and all places, public and private sectors, in a new sense of unity.

[Narrator / Main Host]

Our political correspondent Rob Watson was listening to Mr. Burnham's speech.

[Rob Watson]

He said a lot of the things that the previous six Prime Ministers have said these last two years, Jeanette, and that is that Britain needs to look after those sort of places and people left behind to try and make the society more equal, to spread opportunity everywhere. But what sort of stood out for me was his promise to make this the biggest change in 40 years. And he essentially was making a broad brush argument that the privatization in Britain and the liberalization of the economy from Mrs. Thatcher onwards in the 1980s had been a mistake and had badly affected working class parts of the United Kingdom. Now, exactly how he's going to achieve this biggest change in 40 years isn't entirely clear. He said he'd set out a path when he becomes Prime Minister next week, but. But it is clear that he's clearly a politician of left of center and thinks that the solutions lie in more public ownership, more and more public control, more state intervention and more devolution, more spreading power from London, Britain being a very centralized country, to other bits of England and the rest of the United Kingdom.

[Narrator / Main Host]

Yes, this all sounds very ambitious, but he hasn't yet named his top team and he's going to become Prime Minister on Monday.

[Rob Watson]

Yes, he's promised to set out his team and the policies that they will be pursuing. Because, of course, what really marks out Andy Burnham becoming Prime Minister is that nobody has attained high office in recent years with so little scrutiny of exactly what his policies will be, what his team will be, what his style of governing will be. And that's because the Labour Party decided to go for a coronation rather than what they feared would be a divisive leadership contest. So we get a general sense, we get a sense that he is proudly of the left. There's a strangely kind of nostalgic whiff, if you like, to Andy Burnham with him talking as if everything had gone wrong in the 1980s onwards. So, looking back to a Britain where there were still coal mines, steelworks and a talk of reindustrialization, again, how any of these things are going to happen, how any of them are going to be paid for, given that Britain is a highly indebted and already historically high tax, high spending country, that's all for the future.

[Cristina Callo]

Yes.

[Narrator / Main Host]

And he's going to have a short honeymoon. He won't have much time to deliver on these ambitious plans.

[Rob Watson]

That is absolutely right. And he's already not hugely popular. I mean, he's more popular than Keir Starmer, but that isn't massively difficult. I mean, he has sort of negative approval ratings. And I think it was Tony Blair who said that, you know, your moment of maximum popularity and power is the second you walk into Downing street, and from then on it's downhill in terms of the way people see you. So absolutely, he's got to hit the ground, run, and it won't be easy. I mean, nobody is under any illusions about the economic and social and public service challenges that Britain faces and which indeed it has faced ever since the financial crash in 2008. Circumstances, of course, which have led Jeannette to this massive turnover, seven of them so far, prime ministers in 10 years. It's no accident.

[Narrator / Main Host]

Rob Watson let's turn to China now, where President Xi Jinping has called for global cooperation on the development of artificial intelligence to mitigate the risks it poses. Speaking at an AI conference in Shanghai, Mr. Xi said the technology should not be dominated by any single country. As the Chinese saying goes, a single string cannot produce a melody, and a

[Rob Watson]

single tree does not make a forest. The development of AI should not be a solo performance by any one country, but rather a symphony of global cooperation.

[Narrator / Main Host]

Mr. Xi also announced that China would provide training to developing countries to help them to also benefit from AI. This comes as China's AI startups have released increasingly powerful models, narrowing the gap with the US. I asked our China correspondent, Stephen McDonnell, whether this is a pivotal moment in the AI race.

[Nick Robinson]

I think Xi Jinping would like to make this a pivotal moment in the AI race. I mean, there's China's leader opening this mass AI conference in the presence of the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres, no less, making this speech, and he's comparing this moment in terms of AI development to the emergence of the steam engine or electricity, and saying that for that reason there needs to be a major global push on to guarantee that AI is well, especially always controlled by human beings. He warned that there could be the potential of these loss of control scenarios as he described them. So China's putting itself forward as if you like the global champion when it comes to AI, especially when it comes to dragging up the developing countries along with it. And I guess the obvious contrast, without even having to say it, is the United States.

[Narrator / Main Host]

Yes, because President Xi didn't name the us, but he's clearly challenging its attempts to dominate AI. What is his competing vision and how do AI China's AI models Compare to the US's?

[Nick Robinson]

Absolutely, you're totally right. I mean, for example, yesterday China launched the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization. It's to be based in Shanghai. You've got the likes of Russia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Brazil signing onto it, but no Western countries. And you can see the comparison here is to the US run PAX Silica organizations. So China is setting up this, it's more of a global south type, I guess, grouping challenging Western countries to join their vision rather than the US vision. And crucially, at the centre of all this according to the Chinese government, is the open nature of the Chinese vision, that is that China's open source approach is different to the closed approach of these Western countries. I guess Xi Jinping would argue that China's companies are also more democratic and more sharing, if you like, regarding the technology. Now you mentioned China's companies. They've got some amazing companies, including this Beijing based Moonshot AI. Now they were set up I think in 2023 from memory, a bunch of Tsinghua University students and they've just launched their new generation model. It's called Kimi K3 and it's supposed to be now rivaling the best of what the world can do in terms of these AI apps. And I guess this also strengthens Xi Jinping's hand because he's not only talking the talk in terms of the big vision, but he's done all this at a conferen with more than 1,000 Chinese companies showing off thousands of their gadgets, their new AI gadgets so showing. Look, look at this China, we've got all this great new stuff, plus we're also, we have this better vision. You can see why it would be appealing for many countries.

[Narrator / Main Host]

Stephen McDonnell India famously has one of the world's largest rail networks and it's now joined a small number of countries which are using hydrogen power on their railways in an effort to reduce carbon emissions. The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi waved off India' hydrogen powered train adorned with flowers and balloons in the colours of the Indian flag. A promotional video to coincide with the launch proudly boasts about the future of rail travel in India. The new hydrogen powered train runs on a 90 kilometer long route in the northern state of Haryana. Our correspondent in Delhi, Aruna de Mukherjee told me more about the launch.

[Aruna de Mukherjee]

This is a first and it was a big event and that's something that this government is Also very particular about whenever launching something of this scale, it makes sure that, that it is communicated in a way in which it reaches out to the public as well. Which is why we saw a huge turnout, a lot of them, journalists, members of the public, and also interestingly a lot of school children as well who were very, very excited. But this was obviously a government sponsored event. Invitations had gone out, this was the first run and I think the true test of it will be when the public starts using it on a regular basis. This is a train that is going to be running twice a day.

[Narrator / Main Host]

And just explain how hydrogen power works.

[Aruna de Mukherjee]

So unlike conventional diesel trains that burn fuel to generate mechanical power, a hydrogen train carries a small power plant on board in the form of a small fuel cell. Hydrogen is stored in the train cylinders and that combines with oxygen from the surrounding air inside the fuel cell that produces electricity, that powers the traction motors and the train starts moving. The only direct byproducts of this chemical reaction are water vapor and heat. There's no combustion, no smoke, no carbon emissions. So basically, in short, if you look at it, if you picture an equation, it's hydrogen plus oxygen gives you electricity and water vapor and the train moves.

[Narrator / Main Host]

Yeah, that could really change carbon emissions. But how likely is that to happen right across the country, vast railway network, given the costs involved?

[Aruna de Mukherjee]

Well, absolutely. You know, according to some estimates it's cost about $12 million. Significantly more expensive if you look at conventional comparisons. And experts say that these costs are could fall as the technology improves. But it is definitely a big investment now. India is also home to a 70,000 kilometer vast rail network, one of the largest in the world. IT FETT Over 7 billion passengers last year. So it is going to be a challenge in that sense, cost and logistics. But this is essentially the government saying, look, this is a small step. We are demonstrating intention and ability. The train showcases India's efforts at transitioning to cleaner fuels, moving away from fossil fuels. You know, you're looking at northern India, which is more than half of the year, it is completely covered in smog and pollution, which is a huge issue. So in recent years, Delhi has been spending a lot of money to try and figure out alternatives. And especially far as the railway network is concerned, billions have been poured in to try and upgrade infrastructure. India has introduced made in India high speed trains as well. It is also currently involved in a Japanese Shinkansen technology project as well. So they are looking to try and make some strides as far as railways is concerned.

[Narrator / Main Host]

Aruna Day Mukherjee Japan may have its first female Prime Minister. But when it comes to the Imperial Royal family, the rules are much stricter. Women cannot ascend the throne and they lose their royal status if they marry outside the family. This has led to a succession crisis as a number of heirs has dwindled. The Japanese Parliament has now approved a bill to relax Imperial succession rules. Kurumi Mori in Tokyo told me what it changes.

[Kurumi Mori]

There are really two major changes with this bill. The first is that women in the Imperial Family will no longer automatically lose their royal status after they marry a commoner. And we saw that happen a few years ago, so then they can keep carrying out official duties as Imperial family members. And then the second major change now allows the Imperial Family to adopt male descendants from 11 former imperial branches. They were removed from the family after World War II, so the adopted members won't inherit the throne themselves, but the male descendants of these adopted members will be eligible. But we have to point out the key issue here that remains quite untouched in this revision. It's that Princess Aiko, the current Emperor's only child, still as a woman, she cannot inherit the throne. So this really leaves the ban on female succession and having an Empress unchanged.

[Narrator / Main Host]

So will this be enough to save the Japanese monarchy, do you think?

[Kurumi Mori]

Well, it really helps address one immediate problem, but not the bigger one that we're all talking about here on the ground. The Imperial Family has been shrinking for a while now, for decades. And there are currently only three men currently eligible to inherit the throne, and two of them are over 60 years years old. So the revised law does help expand the number of family members that can carry out official duties, make those public appearances, but it doesn't solve the longer term succession issue. So unless the law really changes to allow a woman to take on the throne or the line of eligible male heirs expands those questions about the monarchy's future, they're really likely to continue.

[Narrator / Main Host]

And Japan's first female Prime Minister, Sanae Takechi, surprisingly, perhaps to some people, opposes allowing a woman to become monarch. Empress. How do people in Japan more widely

[Janak Jalil]

feel about this issue?

[Kurumi Mori]

Yeah, well, we had a look at a number of public opinion polls over many years, and they've consistently shown quite strong majority support for allowing a woman to become Emperor. And it's often around 70 to 80% of people are in favor of having a woman as Empress Princess, the Emperor's current only child. She's also quite popular with the public. But conservative politicians are saying that they want to maintain this unbroken male line, and it's really central to the tradition and legitimacy of the Imperial House. So we're seeing a clear gap between public opinion and the political consensus that has really shaped the law today.

[Narrator / Main Host]

Kurumi Mori still to come in this podcast, the discovery of an Earth like planet with an atmosphere and the conditions for life just 49 light years away.

[Colin Cherubin]

It is called LHS 1140B. Really cool name, I know. And this is the first time we've ever discovered an atmosphere on a rocky Earth like planet that's in a habitable zone outside of our solar system.

[Janak Jalil]

This is the story of the One As a maintenance engineer at a beverage manufacturing plant, he starts his day knowing every line is ready to run because Grainger delivers the industrial grade products he needs to keep mixers, conveyors and packaging equipment moving. With Grainger's vast selection of bearings, belts and motors, he keeps operations running smoothly so nothing grinds to a halt. Call 1-800-GRAINGER Click grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. When you're a maintenance engineer in a beverage manufacturing plant, you keep production lines moving and quality on track because there is no room for slowdowns. With Grainger's vast selection of high quality motors, sensors, belts and hard to find parts, you can get what you need fast and all in one place, so nothing gets in the way of getting the job done. Call 1-800-GRAINGER clickranger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. The United States is about to mark its 250th anniversary.

[Hashim Ahmed]

And so on the Global Story Podcast from the BBC, we're telling surprising tales of American influence on the world stage and in ordinary people's lives all across the globe.

[Narrator / Main Host]

We have this ability to export our

[Aruna de Mukherjee]

story and a lot of people have bought it.

[Colin Cherubin]

I feel like the American Dream is

[Nick Robinson]

alive, but not well.

[Janak Jalil]

From the BBC, it's the United States

[Hashim Ahmed]

at 250 listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcast.

[Janak Jalil]

When you're a maintenance engineer in a beverage manufacturing plant, you keep production lines moving and quality on track because there is no room for slowdowns. With Grainger's vast selection of high quality motors, sensors, belts and hard to find parts, you can get what you need fast and all in one place so nothing gets in the way of getting the job done. Call 1-800-GRAINGER clickranger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done.

[Narrator / Main Host]

This is the Global News Podcast. Reports from the Democratic Republic of Congo say an angry crowd attacked a hospital housing an Ebola treatment center, forcing patients and health workers to flee. A health worker at the hospital said relatives of a pregnant patient stormed the facility throwing stones and damaging the perimeter fence. Our Africa correspondent Richard Kagoi told me more.

[Richard Kagoi]

There was an angry mob that stormed at this facility. It's called Nyakunde. It's just southwest of Bunia, the regional capital of Ituri province. And so they came in on Wednesday afternoon. So there are two instances. So the first one is when people got to learn about the death of this patient. It's a woman who had gone to give birth, but then later developed severe anemia. And what happened is that the family had offered to donate blood, but hospital officials said it was not possible because it's prohibited be the two that during an outbreak like the one which is gripped at that particular part of drc. And so as a result of that there was anger and they began, you know, throwing stones. They damaged the perimeter of the hospital and this forced medical workers to be evacuated. Inside the facility itself, there was an area where Ebola patients were being treated. They're being isolated, so they fled in the process.

[Narrator / Main Host]

And this is far from the first incident of this kind. There is huge mistrust in this region, isn't there, of health workers who are trying to help patients who've got Ebola?

[Richard Kagoi]

Absolutely. So the mistrust there are still especially remote communities who still believe that Ebola is nonexistent and view the Ebola outbreak or the disease itself as something that has been imported. And so they deem and look at a lot of health workers with a lot of suspicion because they say that the ones who import it into the area, they infect the local population and they want to benefit from that because of the kind of funding that accompanies the emergency response.

[Narrator / Main Host]

Richard Kagoi A UK study of a minimally invasive treatment for prostate cancer has found it is as effective as surgery or radiotherapy, but with far fewer side effects. Focal therapy uses heat or cold to destroy diseased cells. Researchers followed nearly 3,500 men who'd had had prostate cancer treated in this way. Ten years on, only two had died from the disease. Professor Hashim Ahmed is from Imperial College London.

[Hashim Ahmed]

The side effects were five to tenfold lower. If you simply just target the areas of cancer within the prostate rather than treat the entire prostate and that means you cause much less collateral tissue damage. What we now have is three and a half thousand men almost with ten year outcomes showing it is as effective as surgery and radiotherapy and cancer control.

[Narrator / Main Host]

So that's what's new today. Professor Ahmed and you think therefore makes you presumably think an unarguable case for

[Rob Watson]

spreading it more widely?

[Hashim Ahmed]

I think so. We urgently need to look at the guidelines, we need to disseminate this and we need to make sure that this treatment is now accessible. We've been waiting for the last two decades for 10 year outcomes. That's what my colleagues want to see. We now have those 10 year outcomes. We know it's much less in terms of side effects, 5 to 10 fold lower risk of side effects and now just as effective. So we now need to move on and get this accessible to all of those thousands of patients every year who could have it.

[Narrator / Main Host]

Professor Hashim Ahmed speaking to Nick Robinson. Now to an exciting discovery in the search for life on other planets. Astronomers have for the first time detected an atmosphere around an Earth like rocky planet that could have water on its surface. Dr. Colin Cherubin is an astrophysicist at Harvard University and the lead author of the new research published in the journal Science. He told Nick Robinson more about the discovery.

[Colin Cherubin]

The planet is called LHS 1140B. Really cool name. I know it is located about 49 light years away from Earth, which is actually considered to be relatively nearby for galactic standards. And it is a relatively rocky planet exoplanet that's a planet outside of our solar system. And it sits in what we call the habitable zone, meaning it's the right distance from its star to be the right temperature to support liquid water, which is really exciting because we know liquid water is required for life, at least for life like on Earth. And so this discovery is about the atmosphere of that planet. We have discovered an atmosphere on this planet and this is the first time we've ever discovered an atmosphere on a rocky sort of Earth like planet that's in a habitable zone outside of our solar system.

[Narrator / Main Host]

The next question then is how, how did you discover that?

[Colin Cherubin]

Yeah. So the observation was motivated by a computer model that I developed for my PhD when I was doing some the work. And I specifically predicted a helium dominated escaping atmosphere from this planet. Which might sound kind of exotic, but part of my thesis was sort of arguing that these helium dominated atmospheres might actually be quite common and sort of natural stepping stones in the evolution over time of these small planets over like billions of years and could even affect, you know, Earth like planets and potentially even Earth in its past. So yeah, that motivated the prediction and we went out and we, I got some telescope time and we observed this, this planet pass in front of its star and some of that starlight filtered through the atmosphere. And lo and behold, we.

[Narrator / Main Host]

And the significance of this is that

[Nick Robinson]

maybe one day something like this might

[Narrator / Main Host]

reveal that there's life outside our solar system.

[Colin Cherubin]

That's the hope. That's the hope. I mean, when we think about life and habitability of a planet, we kind of consider three sort of high level things. One, the planet has to be primarily rocky. It can't be you gas giant like Jupiter or something. Two, we believe it needs to be the right temperature to have liquid water on its surface. And three, it really needs an atmosphere to keep that water there and to shield the surface from ionizing radiation. And so with this discovery, we now know that this planet has all three of those things and it just happens to be relatively nearby, so it's easier to study. And it happens to be orbiting a star that's relatively quiet. So this is a star that's not flaring too much or has too much X ray or ultraviolet radiation. So that kind of makes this planet, I think, the best place currently to look for life outside of our solar system.

[Narrator / Main Host]

Dr. Colin Cherubin the interest in the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is so intense, it's been dubbed Frida Mania. Huge cues line up to see exhibitions of her paintings, many of them self portraits. The latest have been at the Museum of Fine Art in Houston in the US and now at the Tate Modern here in London. This exhibition is called the Making of an Icon. And it's that tendency that troubles Christina Callo, the painter's great niece, herself a successful photographer. She's been telling Shaun Ley why I

[Cristina Callo]

have the feeling that for next generations, Frida Kahlo will be not exactly the great artist that she was. I think that more than that, she will became kind of an image because in many cases I have asked to people who have a T shirt, for example, and I ask them, tell me two paintings by Frida Kahlo and they really do not know. They know the image, the personality, the face, et cetera, but not Frida as an artist. And I think that all these merchandising and products will in some way change the point of view of attention on Frida. On the other hand, all these merchandising in a museum, I have noticed that people do not read the explications on the walls. They just look to the things, to the objects, to the paintings. So if you don't take the time to read the explanation why those things are in the context of a museum, then people can think that Those objects are art also.

[Hashim Ahmed]

Got you.

[Nick Robinson]

So it can give a misleading impression.

[Hashim Ahmed]

I know you never met your great aunt because she died before you were around, but your father, who was her nephew, I think he told you stories about his.

[Cristina Callo]

Well, my father passed away when he was 42 years old, so we didn't have enough time to talk about Frida. And at that time, Frida was not as famous as she become today. And one of the stories I remember very well because it was like, shocking. It was this day that Frida and my father went to the cinema and they were in a line waiting to buy the tickets, and the woman behind them started to laugh and to talk to her companion. And she was saying something like, look, this ridiculous woman with flowers in the hair and the dress of Tijuana. It's not a way to come to a cinema. And we have to think about that because the way Frida used to dress, it was not common in Mexico City. So she turned to the woman and slapped her on her face and said, whatever you have to say about me, you tell me in my face. So my father was shocked about the situation. But that makes us clear that Frida Kahlo was a very strong woman. At the same time that she was fragile because of her health and so

[Hashim Ahmed]

on, she didn't mind attracting attention.

[Nick Robinson]

And I just wonder whether.

[Hashim Ahmed]

Whether she might quite have liked all these different representations of her on things every day.

[Cristina Callo]

Obviously she was someone who wanted attention on her person, but I think that it depends on how the image of Frida Kahlo depends on which objects her image is on, because we have to remember that she had a very strong political idea. And in some way I think that for her it will not be nice to be in objects or products from selling companies, because in my way of thinking, all these products do not have anything to do with art. The relation is with money only.

[Narrator / Main Host]

Cristina Callow, the great niece of the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. And that's all from us for now, just before we go.

[Nick Robinson]

Thank you.

[Narrator / Main Host]

Thanks to everyone called Juliet who got in touch, including two from Luxembourg and another two from Wellington in New Zealand. It prompted Neil from here in the UK to suggest that the collective noun for Juliets is a balcony. Any listeners called Romeo may have a view on that. If you want to get in touch, whatever your name, you can email us [e-mail] this edition of the Global News Podcast was mixed by Vladimir Muzyka. The producers were Bernadette Keough and Adrienne White. And the editor is Karen Martin.

[Janak Jalil]

I'm Janak Jalil.

[Narrator / Main Host]

Until next time. Goodbye.

[Janak Jalil]

When you're a maintenance engineer in a beverage manufacturing plant, you keep production lines moving and quality on track because there is no room for slowdowns. With Grainger's vast selection of high quality motors, sensors, belts and hard to find parts, you can get what you need fast and all in one place. So nothing gets in the way of getting the job done. Call 1-800-GRAINGER clickranger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done.