A (0:00)

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Saks Off 5th is your secret to fashion's most wanted deals at up to 70% off on the hunt for designer steals that'll turn heads and leave a trail of envy. Uncover Gucci, Valentino, Versace, Stuart Weitzman and more. With new arrivals dropping weekly at prices too good to stay confidential, Luxe Layers, statement boots and tailored essentials From Saks Off 5th will put your wardrobe on the most wanted list. Head to saks offfit.com or a Saks Off 5th store near you for a style lineup you won't want to miss. This message is sponsored by Greenlight with school out, summer is the perfect time to teach our kids real world money skills they'll use forever. Greenlight is a debit card and the number one family finance and safety app used by millions of families helping kids learn how to save, invest and spend wisely. Parents can send their kids money and track their spending and saving while kids build money, confidence and skills in fun ways. Start your risk free Greenlight trial today@greenlight.com iheart that's greenlight.com iheart this is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritson and at 0500 GMT on Saturday 27th September. These are our main stories. Iranian fury as Russia and China fail in their last ditch effort at the UN Security Council to prevent the reintroduction of nuclear sanctions. In Washington, new documents are released relating to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Also in this podcast, a father of a hostage held by Hamas in Gaza reacts to the Israeli Prime Minister's UN speech. An official apology in Indonesia as free school lunches make 1000 children sick this week alone. And this is a booming 21st century industry that was invented 200 years ago. A very special anniversary in the history of rail travel. The UN looks set to restore sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program after the failure of a last ditch attempt to delay them. A resolution put forward by Iran's closest allies, Russia and China, failed to get the required support at the UN Security Council. It means the sanctions will be reimposed at midnight GMT on the night of Saturday into Sunday. Speaking to the Council, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi criticised Britain, France and Germany, who jointly accused Iran of breaching the 2015 deal aimed at preventing it from developing a nuclear weapon. And he also laid blame firmly with the United States. We have unfortunately a terrible experience of negotiating with the United States. We negotiated once in 2015 and we made a good deal. We made a deal that the whole world celebrated as an achievement of diplomacy. But what happened? Only after one year, the United States withdrew and reimposed its sanctions. Again this year we were asked to negotiate and we accepted. What happened? Right in the middle of negotiations, the United States decided to attack us. They Israel attacked and US joined. So we have no reason to trust Americans when it comes to negotiations. I've been speaking to Khasra Naji from BBC Persian. So why are sanctions being reimposed now? The thing is that Iran hasn't been cooperating with the IAEA. And particularly after the 12 day war in Iran, Israel and the United States attacking Iran's nuclear facilities, the inspectors were basically forced to leave the country, the IAEA inspectors. And Iran hasn't been under inspections for almost three months. And that has basically raised concerns about Iran's nuclear activities. Particularly, Iran has some 450kg of highly enriched uranium stocks enriched to 60%. So gradually there had been increasing concern on the part of the Western nations, particularly E3. The European powers have been pushing for the snapback, a mechanism basically allowing them to go back to the sanctions on Iran. UN Sanctions on Iran that existed before. Yeah, because if it hadn't have been for that snapback mechanism, Russia and China would have been able to use their veto power. But because this was an automatic mechanism, the sanctions return. That's right, exactly. Sanctions returned. And today was the last chance basically for Russia, China and Iran to put forward a resolution deferring the return of sanctions for about six months, allowing, as they say, for diplomacy to take its course. But that was rejected because Iranians didn't play ball, according to the E3, the European powers. Why is it that Iran is refusing to cooperate with the UN over this? Surely life would be so much easier if it did. That is a question many Iranians are asking themselves and asking the government and the leaders as to why we are in this position that we are today. And there's no really a plausible or understandable reason or explanation for all this. And that is one of the aspects of this whole thing that Iranians, many Iranians are suggesting that, you know, we should change course. There's no reason to take this particular course, this strategy that has brought us nothing but misery and war. Kasra Najee from BBC Persian. More reaction now to the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech in the UN assembly on Friday. In it, he delivered a direct message which he said was being broadcast on military loudspeakers into Gaza, calling for the remaining hostages taken by Hamas to be released. Our brave heroes. This is Prime Minister Netanyahu speaking to you live from the United Nations. We have not forgotten you, not even for a second. The people of Israel are with you. We will not falter and we will not rest until we bring all of you home. Watching the speech in New York was Yehuda Cohen. He's the father of 20 year old Nimrod Cohen, an Israeli soldier who was captured by Hamas on October 7. But he wasn't there to applaud Mr. Netanyahu. He spoke to the BBC's James Menendez. It's not so easy to protest in such a big assembly, big hole. I was trying to put my back on him with a sign ceasefire and hostage deal. That was more or less after that. I went out, joined the protest next to the un, talked there. When you heard his words there saying that the hostages were not forgotten, how did you take them? I was not listening to his pack of lies. But let's say this. Hamas has more interest to keep the hostages alive than Netanyahu. It's easier what he calls to rescue them. And after, he'll convince everybody that they're all there, they can go brute force on Gaza, bombing everywhere. And if any hostage still left alive, he will make sure that he will be dead. Yehuda Cohen, the father of hostage Nimrod Cohen. Anshul Pfeffer is Israel correspondent for the Economist. What does he think Benjamin Netanyahu hoped to achieve through his speech? Well, the main thing he was trying to achieve was an early election speech. These UN speeches ostensibly to the world, but for many leaders. And Netanyahu is a prime example. They're actually speeches to the public back home. And this was a classic. I think Netanyahu was mainly speaking to Israelis and trying to show them once again that he is the best spokesperson for Israel, despite so many delegates walking out at the beginning of his speech. The second aim of the speech, I think, was Donald Trump, perhaps with the help of some sound bites which may be shown on Fox News or another of Trump's favorite channels. And Netanyahu is trying to show Trump that he is still his ideal partner in the Middle east that we've seen in recent days. Trump showing quite a bit of impatience with Netanyahu as well. Okay, so on Donald Trump, shortly after the speech, Trump said a deal was close on Gaza. What do we know about that, if anything? Well, we know there's been a deal close in different forms for a large part of this war over the last couple of years in Gaza and whether it's Hamas or whether it's Netanyahu or quite often both, these deals have just been beyond reach. Now we know there's a new 21 point plan for Gaza on the day after the war in which Tony Blair and Jared Kushner are some of the main planners of this and Donald Trump along with a number of Arab leaders have endorsed this plan. But the question is, when will this plan be implemented? Now the war needs to end and the question is, can Trump pressure Israel and can the Arab states pressure Hamas to finally reaching that ceasefire? The really important bit of the visit comes on Monday when Netanyahu goes to the White House in Washington to meet Donald Trump. And there, maybe we'll see. It may happen behind closed door. It may happen as often does with Trump out in the open with his unscripted remarks to journalists. We may see there finally, Donald Trump exerting serious pressure on Netanyahu to reach that ceasefire. But as we've seen, with so many meetings of Trump with world leaders since he's been reelected, it's very hard to predict how they'll pan out. Anshul Pfeffer, Israel correspondent of the Economist, speaking to Ben Shu to Washington now, where a new set of files relating to the late convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein has been released. The documents which name the billionaire Elon Musk and Prince Andrew, among others, have been made public by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. North America correspondent David Willis told me more. These files contain the daily schedules of the late Jeffrey Epstein stretching during a period from 2014 to 2019. And they show that Jeffrey Epstein had plans to meet with, amongst others, Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, the Internet entrepreneur Peter Thiel, and Donald Trump's former advisor Steve Bannon, either for lunch or breakfast on separate occasions. And there's an entry on 6th December 2014 which states that that Elon Musk was due to fly to Jeffrey Epstein's private island in the U.S. virgin Isles. And it asks, is this still happening? There are two banklog entries and a flight manifest which mentioned Prince Andrew. And he is recorded accompanying Jeffrey Epstein and his then girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell on a flight from New Jersey to Florida in May of 2000. Now, Buckingham palace had said that Prince Andrew attended a reception for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in New York that same month. It's important to point out, I think there's nothing in these records to show that the individuals mentioned were aware of the alleged criminal activity for which Jeffrey Epstein was later arrested and of course, Prince Andrew has always strenuously denied any wrongdoing. So why are the Democrats releasing them now? Well, this is the third batch of files Alex, turned over to the House of Representatives Oversight Committee by the Jeffrey Epstein estate, acting on a subpoena from the committee. And the Republican leadership of that committee has criticized the Democratic minority for, for releasing these files, accusing them, if you like, of cherry picking conservative names and avoiding those documents that mention Democrats, even though Bill Clinton, former president, has been mentioned in previous releases and Bill Gates is a well known donor for progressive causes. The Republican leadership of that committee has reportedly pledged to release the files in, in full once the victims names have been fully redacted. But there are still those, both Republican and Democrat, who are pressing for the release of all the files relating to the Jeffrey Epstein affair, including those relating to the FBI's investigations into his dealings. So far the Trump administration has declined to do that. And Elon Musk has accused the administration of refusing to do so because he says Donald Trump himself is mentioned in those files. David Willis In Geneva, a month long meeting of the UN Human Rights Council is well underway. There's a lot to talk about, including allegations of genocide taking place in Gaza, a surge in killings and sexual violence in Sudan, and a sharp increase in civilian deaths in Ukraine as Russia intensifies air attacks. But what about human rights in Russia itself? Imogen Folks now reports on a strategy of repression which human rights experts now warn is spreading to other countries. Russia is now run through a state sponsored system of fear and punishment where dissent is erased and civic space dismantled. Mariana Katsyrova, the UN Special Rapporteur on Russia. She's the first ever human rights expert to investigate a permanent member of the UN Security Council. Her latest report, presented this week to the Human Rights Council, documents a repression so stifling that virtually all freedom of expression is silenced. And still the remnants of civil society and independent media are being persecuted, prosecuted and imprisoned. To remind UN members that there are still voices in Russia trying to speak out, Ms. Katsarova brought Russian writers and journalists to Geneva. Some who still live in Russia gently refused interviews, fearing for their safety once they return. Others, like writer Boris Akunin, now lives in the UK he was recently designated a foreign agent by Moscow and sentenced to 14 years in absentia for criticizing Russia's invasion of Ukraine. A foreign agent is anybody they do not approve of and it is not decided by a court of justice or something, just some government institutions which says that you are a foreign agent. Which means you cannot write, you cannot publish, you cannot teach. The Russia Report was published the same week that in the United States the late night chat show host Jimmy Kimmel was taken off air. Breaking news tonight. ABC is pulling Jimmy Kimmel live indefinitely. The significance wasn't lost on Mariana Katsyrova, who fears other governments, even democracies, are copying Russia's tactics. I feel I'm monitoring the handbook for repression that the Russian government is using against its own civil society, journalism, free speech. This handbook, unfortunately has been copied by democratic countries which are starting to experience a clampdown on freedom of expression, of closing television stations and shows and newspapers. So I think it's a warning because it could happen to any of us in any country. They'll take a great story and they'll make it bad. I think that's really illegal. Watching the attacks on media in the United States, Boris Akkoonin fears a global shift towards authoritarianism, starting with the repression of writers and journalists is already well underway. I think that we fail to understand that the world has changed, that the political system created by the fall of the Berlin War, it's done, it's over. We're entering a totally new world where everything will be different. I'm very much worried about what's going to happen in uk, inside France, in United States, it has already happened. And that's a bitter disappointment to the Russian free speech defenders. Here in Geneva, journalist Alsu Kurmasheva was arrested and imprisoned after traveling to visit her mother, who was ill in Russia's Tatarstan region. Charged as a foreign agent, she spent months in jail before being freed in last year's historic prisoner swap. Now she warns against complacency. It's never late to acknowledge how precious it is, how precious democracy, how precious freedom is. You know, it's been more than a year since I got released from prison. Every morning I open my eyes, I'm so thankful. I know democracy and press freedom sounds very vague for people who live ordinary lives, right? As you said, okay, the. This conflict is happening there. Why would I care? But actually, when it comes to you, to your door and rings your bell, it's too late. That report by Imogen, folks. Still to come, concerns over freedom of expression in the arts dominate the start of the New York Film Festival. We would like to think we create a space for discussion and we're also a platform for filmmakers, so hopefully they feel free to speak their mind. It's finally happened. Your kid could be part of the first generation to never suffer the rough touch of toilet paper on their tender tush. All thanks to new flushable Little Dude Wipes available in bubble bum scent or fragrance free because we know little butts can make a big mess. But with Little Dude Wipes you can keep your kids keister clean without the burn and debris toilet paper can leave behind on their behinds. Experience the confident Clean of Little Dude Wipes available exclusively at Walmart nationwide. The US Electric grid is approaching a breaking point. As demand soars from data centers and home energy use. Our aging infrastructure can't keep up and the Department of Energy warns that without action, blackouts could surge 100 fold by 2030. The good news? One solution is already here. Propane. It's American made, stored on site and always ready, powering homes and businesses with cleaner, reliable energy that doesn't depend on the grid or the weather. Learn more@probane.com Now I'd like to introduce you to Meaningful Beauty, the famed skin care brand created by iconic supermodel Cindy Crawford. It's her secret to absolutely gorgeous skin. Meaningful Beauty makes powerful and effective skin care simple and it's loved by millions of women. It's formulated for all ages and all skin tones and types and it's designed to work as a complete skin care system, leaving your skin feeling soft, smooth and nourished. I recommend starting with Cindy's full regimen which contains all five of her best selling products including the Amazing Youth Activating Melon Serum. This next generation serum has the power of melon leaf stem cell technology. Its melon leaf stem cells encapsulated for freshness and release onto the skin to support a visible reduction in the appearance of wrinkles. With thousands of glowing five star reviews, why not give it a try? Subscribe today and you can get the Amazing Meaningful Beauty system for just $49.95. That includes our introductory five piece system, free gifts, free shipping and a 60 day money back guarantee. All that available@meaningfulbeauty.com this message is sponsored by Greenlight. With school out, summer is the perfect time to teach our kids real world money skills they'll use forever. Greenlight is a debit card and the one family finance and safety app used by millions of families helping kids learn how to save, invest and spend wisely. Parents can send their kids money and track their spending and saving while kids build money, confidence and skills in fun ways. Start your risk free Greenlight trial today@greenlight.com iheart that's greenlight.com iheartra Lets turn to a scandal in Indonesia now. President Prabowo Subianto has made a program offering free lunches to millions of school children a signature policy of his leadership. But after repeated outbreaks of food poisoning, 1,000 students have fallen sick after eating school lunches in West Java this week alone. The government agency in charge of the program has apologized. Our global affairs reporter Anbarasan Etarajan has more details. The deputy head of Indonesia's national nutrition agency, Nanik Deyang, said the biggest mistake had been a lack of oversight and that partners and internal teams had not followed standard procedures. She said inconsistent cooking times contributed to the poisoning. The biggest mistake was ours. We admit that we were wrong. We admit our guilt for what we call the food safety incident because we found that not all suspected cases of poisoning were due to allergies and other causes. We are responsible for all costs incurred by the children or parents who ate with them and experience problems. Thousands of students have fallen sick since the program was launched in January this year, it has rapidly expanded to more than 20 million school children. The initiative that eventually aims to reach 80 million children was a campaign promised by the president to provide free, nutritious meals to combat impaired growth among the country's children. Nanik Dayang said processed foods had been banned from the lunches, and kitchens lacking proper certification would be shut down by next month. Non governmental organizations had earlier called for the program to be suspended. Some have warned that the food poisoning cases could overwhelm small local hospitals. Anbarasan Etorajan, the organization behind the Eurovision Song Contest, has confirmed it will hold a vote on whether or not Israel Israel will be allowed to take part next year. The European Broadcasting Union says all 68 member countries will vote at a meeting in November. This comes after a number of nations threaten to pull out if Israel competes in Vienna next year. Calls for a boycott have grown following a UN Report which concluded that Israel had committed a genocide in Gaza, allegations Israel denies. Yunus Mullah reports Broadcasters from Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Iceland and Spain have threatened not to participate in Eurovision unless Israel is excluded. The board of the European Broadcasting Union, which runs the event, has informed members in a letter that a vote will take place at an online meeting in November. A spokesperson said an absolute majority would be required for can the Israeli public broadcaster to be excluded. All EBU members can vote, including countries who have decided not to take part. Turkey has reportedly made that choice on the grounds of LGBT messaging. Germany and Austria have backed Israel's participation. Other national broadcasters, including the BBC, have not yet made a decision. The BBC director general, Tim Davy, said The corporation was aware of the concerns around Israel's participation, adding that the song contest had never been about politics. Yunus Muller It's 200 years since the age of the passenger train began. On September 27, 1825, the planet's first steam driven locomotive service opened between Stockton and Darlington in Northern England. It changed transport forever. So, two centuries on, how are the world's railways faring? Transport journalist Christian Woolmer spoke to the BBC's Rob Young. Some countries really neglected their railways, particularly many countries in Africa, Argentina, some of the Eastern European countries have really neglected their railways and forgotten how useful they were. But other countries have really built on their strengths. So their strengths are really threefold. I mean, suburban railways, metro systems, absolutely a winner because it's so much better than trying to drive into town centres and you get regional railways, high speed trains, or even just medium speed trains between major cities. What better way to travel than sitting on a motorway for three hours and you can read your book, you can do your work, you can do whatever, much better. And then there's heavy freight where railways have a huge advantage, big aggregates and building materials and containers and the like. And there they have a big plus point. So in those markets they are thriving. I mean, just to give you an example, China has 45 cities where they have an underground system and they're just growing at an amazing rate. They have 30,000 miles of high speed rail and there's high speed rail in about 25 different countries. So this is a booming 21st century industry that was invented 200 years ago. The past couple of decades though have seen a proliferation of pretty cheap flights within nations, within continents, around the world. Surely that must have hit the usage of the railway. It certainly has been an alternative on some routes. But do you know what's interesting is that once you get a high speed line and say maximum 350, 400 miles, but you know, Barcelona, Madrid or Paris, Leon, those sort of distances, once you get a high speed line that will take you say 600 kilometers in three hours or less, then people prefer the railways because it's such a hassle, much better to go on railways. And one of the new things that has happened, particularly around Europe and in some other places in the world as well, is that we've got a new generation of sleeper trains and people will prefer to take a sleeper train overnight on a conventional railway rather than staying in a hotel. In the us, the railway is not as widespread as it is on the European continent. Outside of the northeast of the U.S. passenger railway is pretty difficult to find, isn't it? That's one of the great transport mistakes in the world. So there's an amazing contrast. Whereas we're getting China building a whole network of high speed rails connecting every town and city with trains that are going, you know, 300 kilometers per hour. Meanwhile, America, which is struggling to build a couple of high speed lines, but, you know, rather unsuccessfully, without proper funding, destroyed its whole passenger rail network in the 1950s and 60s. Close it down as rapidly they could, and yet they have probably the most intensive and profitable freight rail transport in the world, and they have actually the biggest network with about 125,000 miles. China's just about catching up. It's a great shame. Transport journalist Christian Woolmer One of North America's most prestigious movie events, the New York Film Festival, started on Friday. Among the highlights is the actor Daniel Day Lewis coming out of an eight year retirement to star in a movie directed by his son. But in the run up to the event, the discussions over the films on offer at the festival have taken second place to concerns over freedom of expression in the arts in general and cinema in particular. Tom Brook reports from New York. In the coming days, some 100 movies will be shown at the New York Film Festival. Among the highlights, a screening of a new biographical musical drama portraying rock icon Bruce Springsteen and a five part documentary on legendary New York filmmaker Martin Scorsese. I don't know, I was angry. I said I'm gonna threaten them or maybe just shoot or something. And a comedy drama called Is this Thing On? Directed by Hollywood leading man Bradley Cooper, is premiering at the festival starring Will Arnett. Tell a joke. I think I'm getting a divorce. But the world premiere of a film called Anemone has been getting a lot of advance attention. The War With Grime and We Were the Phantom Soldiers. It's an intense work that relies heavily on its performances in a film which explores the relationship between brothers and between fathers and sons. It's directed by Ronan Day Lewis and stars his father, the celebrated actor Daniel Day Lewis. What do you want from me, brother? What do you want? Tim Tieman is theatre critic for the Daily Beast in New York. It's a really big deal that Daniel Day Lewis is here at the New York Film Festival this year. It's his first acting role in eight years since he announced he was going to quit acting after his last film, Phantom Thread, for which he earned an Oscar nomination. And obviously the big question is, will he get another Oscar nomination out of it? There is some fear and trepidation being expressed by some festival goers over what they see as efforts by the Trump administration to realign the cultural agenda in the US by trying to control content and remove perceived liberal bias in museums, the performing arts and in other areas, including Hollywood film journalist Nicholas Kui. I think that right now we're living under a regime that wants to regulate what kind of films that we bring into this country and what artists are saying. The issue in terms of freedom of expression, of creative expression, is on a lot of people's minds. I've talked with a lot of critics, a lot of programmers of the festival, and they're all very concerned about what's happening in the cultural ecosystem across the globe, like, let alone in this country. But the New York Film Festival's artistic director, Dennis Lim, at least sees his festival as an arena for free expression. I think we're all concerned about the current political climate, but we stand behind the films that we've selected and we think that we're, we would like to think we create a space for discussion and we're also a platform for filmmakers, so hopefully they feel free to speak their mind. Despite concerns over freedom of expression among many festival goers, their appetite for movies remains unabated. They appear to be displaying an eagerness and open mindedness to savor the vast range of cinema the film festival is offering. Tom Brooke in New York. And that's all from us for now. But there'll be a new edition of the Global News 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 globalnewspod. This edition was mixed by Paul Mason. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Alex Ritson. Until next time. Goodbye. This is the story of the 1. As a maintenance supervisor at a manufacturing facility, he knows keeping the line up and running is a top priority. That's why he chooses Grainger, because when a drive belt gets damaged, Grainger makes it easy to find the exact specs for the replacement product. And next day delivery helps ensure he'll have everything in place and running like clockwork. Call 1-800-granger. Click granger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done.