--:-- Asma Khalid: This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. America is changing and so is the world. But what's happening in America isn't just a cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere.
--:-- Tristan Redman: I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, DC. I'm Tristan Redman in London. And this is The Global Story. Every weekday, we'll bring you a story from this intersection where the world and America meet.
--:-- Oliver Conway: Listen on bbc.com or wherever you get your podcasts. You're listening to the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway.
--:-- Oliver Conway: This edition is published in the early hours of Saturday, the 12th of July.
--:-- Oliver Conway: A report into the Air India crash last month says the fuel supply was switched off just after takeoff.
--:-- Oliver Conway: On a visit to Texas with the First Lady, President Trump dismisses a question about the effectiveness of flood warnings.
--:-- Oliver Conway: And Palestinian officials tell the BBC that Gaza ceasefire negotiations are on the verge of collapse.
--:-- Oliver Conway: Also in this podcast...
--:-- Oliver Conway: This is extremely significant. It's the first time that we have a clear picture of what timely access to vaccines through a stockpile in an outbreak situation can really do.
--:-- Oliver Conway: A new study finds that emergency vaccinations have saved hundreds of thousands of lives.
--:-- Oliver Conway: One month ago, Air India flight 171 plunged into a building seconds after taking off from Ahmedabad airport.
--:-- Oliver Conway: 260 people died, including all but one person on board.
--:-- Oliver Conway: An initial report released in India in the early hours of Saturday says both fuel control switches in the cockpit were moved to the cut-off position just after takeoff.
--:-- Oliver Conway: This caused both engines to lose thrust.
--:-- Oliver Conway: In the voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why he did the cut-off.
--:-- Oliver Conway: The other pilot responded that he didn't.
--:-- Oliver Conway: So what does it all mean?
--:-- David Gleave: I'm not ruling out the possibility of some software issue or an electrical arcing problem or something like that causing the signals to the relevant computers from sending that type of signal.
--:-- David Gleave: The one second time gap is typically associated with how frequently the switch positions are sampled.
--:-- David Gleave: So it could have been almost instantaneous.
--:-- David Gleave: It could have been within almost next to each other or within two seconds, depending on where within the one second sampling time they were switched.
--:-- David Gleave: Or it could be some form of human deliberate act.
--:-- David Gleave: At the moment, a lot of analysis will go in to say how could this have happened electrically or electronically as well as human intervention.
--:-- David Gleave: We do have the finding, though, relating to the voice box recording where one pilot asks the other, why did you switch that off?
--:-- David Gleave: And the other says, I didn't switch it off, which would suggest that it wasn't a human intervention there.
--:-- David Gleave: How critical is that to the takeoff of a plane, that those buttons are flicked on and off, whether it's by a human or an electronic failure or a software issue?
--:-- David Gleave: Well, essentially, it's the same as the key switch in your car.
--:-- David Gleave: Switching the engines off is done directly through those particular buttons.
--:-- David Gleave: So it's essential that when the signal that the engines receive is that they are to be kept on.
--:-- David Gleave: Certainly the recycling of the buttons from off to on again happens if you have a double engine failure with the procedures on board that aeroplane.
--:-- David Gleave: So it's absolutely critical that the switch remains and the sensors detect that the switch remains in that on position.
--:-- Katrina Perry: Well, I heard more from our correspondent in Delhi, Samira Hussain.
--:-- Samira Hussain: This is very much a preliminary report, but what we can really see is that the focus of the investigation is concentrating on what was happening in the cockpit.
--:-- Samira Hussain: We heard that the fuel engines were switched from the run position to that cutoff position.
--:-- Samira Hussain: Then there was a conversation between the two pilots.
--:-- Samira Hussain: One pilot saying to the other, why is it that that was switched?
--:-- Samira Hussain: The other pilot saying, I did not make that switch.
--:-- Samira Hussain: And then they put those engines, the fuel engines from that cutoff position back into the run position.
--:-- Samira Hussain: And it takes a little bit of time when the plane is already in the air for that to sort of reignite and for it to be able to fly.
--:-- Samira Hussain: And it was just time that they did not have on that plane.
--:-- Samira Hussain: So if you go back and remember some of the video that we saw, we saw that the plane had taken off and then it was this gentle kind of come down and then the crash when it finally hit the ground.
--:-- Samira Hussain: So the investigators will want to know why those switches went to the off position.
--:-- Samira Hussain: Absolutely.
--:-- Samira Hussain: There was, of course, a lot of question whether there was some fault with the plane.
--:-- Samira Hussain: And based on this preliminary report, it seems that there wasn't anything particularly wrong with this plane.
--:-- Samira Hussain: However, the report did mention that in 2018, the FAA, which is the American Aviation Regulator, had said that there is an issue with these switches and that there needs to be a certain kind of maintenance that needs to be done with regards to these switches.
--:-- Samira Hussain: Now, of course, one of the questions will be whether or not that was done on this particular fleet.
--:-- Samira Hussain: Now this report came out very late at night where you are.
--:-- Samira Hussain: What's likely to be the reaction?
--:-- Samira Hussain: I think a lot of people are going to be waking up to the news of this report, especially for so many of the family members of victims from that plane crash who are still here in India.
--:-- Samira Hussain: You know, ahead of this report, I spoke with one woman who lost her husband on that flight and she is now taking care of her 11-year-old son.
--:-- Samira Hussain: And, you know, she tearfully described what it's like to hear these questions that are coming from her son about why her daddy died and why wasn't the plane taken care of.
--:-- Samira Hussain: And with regards to the upcoming report, I asked her what it would mean.
--:-- Samira Hussain: And she said, ultimately, it's not going to bring my husband back.
--:-- Samira Hussain: Ultimately, it's not going to bring back the number of people that have died as a result of that plane crash.
--:-- Samira Hussain: And for her, the questions are were certainly going to be, you know, if there was something wrong with the plane, why weren't the appropriate checks made?
--:-- Oliver Conway: On Friday, eight days after Texas was hit by deadly floods, President Trump travelled to the scene with the First Lady to meet relatives of some of the 120 people who died.
--:-- Oliver Conway: 160 others are still missing.
--:-- Oliver Conway: The presidential couple saw for themselves some of the destruction before joining a meeting with local officials and emergency workers.
--:-- Oliver Conway: President Trump tried to defend the response of the authorities amid questions about the impact of government cuts.
--:-- Oliver Conway: And he lashed out when asked by CBS News whether more lives could have been saved if flood warnings had been received earlier.
--:-- Oliver Conway: Only a bad person would ask a question like that, to be honest with you.
--:-- Oliver Conway: I don't know who you are, but only a very evil person would ask a question like that.
--:-- Oliver Conway: I think this has been heroism.
--:-- Oliver Conway: It easy to sit back and say oh what could have happened here or there you know Maybe we could have done something differently
--:-- Oliver Conway: This was a thing that has never happened before
--:-- Oliver Conway: The first lady Melania Trump struck a very different tone when she talked about meeting survivors
--:-- Oliver Conway: We pray with them, we hug, we hold hands.
--:-- Oliver Conway: And I met beautiful young ladies.
--:-- Oliver Conway: They gave me this special bracelet from the camp in honor of all of the little girls that they lost their lives.
--:-- Oliver Conway: I will be back.
--:-- Oliver Conway: I promise to them.
--:-- Oliver Conway: And I just pray for them and giving them my strength and love.
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: I asked her about President Trump's reaction to questions about the response to the deadly floods.
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: There are lots of concerns about the warning systems where they weakened because of cuts that have been made to various federal agencies.
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: And so it's interesting because Mr Trump is obviously very quick to give his opinion on things.
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: But when it comes to this, he it was a sensitive spot for him.
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: And it's such a contrast as well, because here it's obviously a red state.
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: It's a state that has consistently voted for Donald Trump.
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: He lavished praise on the Republican governor, Greg Abbott, a very different contrast, as I say, to the way he treated the Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, when California was struck by wildfires.
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: Then he was very much doing the blame game.
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: But like I say, there are real questions here about exactly what went wrong.
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: But not just that.
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: People here tell us that they want help by the government, by President Trump to help them rebuild their lives.
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: So many tragic stories.
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: You know, obviously, people are still missing and people have lost their livelihoods here as well.
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: He's previously criticised the way that the disaster response agency FEMA handles things.
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: Has he rethought that now?
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: Well it's interesting because he very much has opinions on fema and he has talked for a long time about cutting the agency but he's been pretty quiet about it this time around and there are even some reports that suggest he might be backtracking from that plan entirely that he may not actually cuss it in the end and if that's the case then then it's interesting because i do think presidents are often defined by the way they handle these sorts of disasters.
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: And he's come here and he's probably sensed the mood, perhaps.
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: I mean, look, there's lots of people here that still support him and love him and are very excited to see him.
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: But he has perhaps sensed that mood and seen disaster up close and personal.
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: And if he does do a U-turn, it's not the first time that he's done it since returning to office.
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: He's done U-turns and many other things.
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: He kind of changes the goalposts to fit the occasion.
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: And was he able to show empathy during this visit in the same way that Melania Trump was?
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: I think so.
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: When he sat down, he looked quite pale at one point.
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: He looked visibly moved and shocked at what he had seen.
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: And he expressed that.
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: He expressed his anguish about what had happened.
--:-- Nomia Iqbal: And so I think in many ways that's probably why he lashed out at the reporter for asking that question.
--:-- Oliver Conway: Vaccine scepticism may be on the rise, but a new study has found that emergency inoculations have saved hundreds of thousands of lives in recent decades.
--:-- Oliver Conway: Analysis of outbreaks of five diseases between the year 2000 and 2023 concluded that vaccinations had reduced cases and deaths by an average of nearly 60%.
--:-- Oliver Conway: They also significantly limited the outbreaks.
--:-- Oliver Conway: I heard more about the research from our global health correspondent, Dominic Hughes.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: It's really an examination of the impact that vaccines have had on emergency outbreaks.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: So if we look at, for example, the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, that occurred before a vaccine was available.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: It caused more than 11,000 deaths.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: But since then, a vaccine has been developed and rolled out and the impact of that has been really stark.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: So this is what researchers say is the first comprehensive study of this emergency vaccination programme.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: They looked at seven subsequent Ebola outbreaks where vaccines were available and they found that both deaths and infections had been cut by more than 75 percent, by three quarters.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: The study also looked at measles, cholera, yellow fever and meningitis, 210 different incidents in all from 2000 to 2023 in 49 different countries.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: And overall, deaths were reduced by nearly 60 percent.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: That's around 327,000 people and the number of cases by a very similar percentage.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: And the swift deployment of vaccines also appears to have halted wider outbreaks.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: And that's really important because that has led to significant economic benefits too, worth an estimated $30 billion, mainly from averting deaths and years of life lost to disability.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: But even that figure could be a significant underestimate of overall savings because it just doesn't take into account the costs of dealing with, for example, a wider outbreak or the economic disruption caused by a more serious health emergency.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: Now, this study was backed by Gavi, which is an international public-private vaccine alliance.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: The main funders have been, up until now, the UK, the US governments, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: It was responsible for many of these programmes.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: And Gavi's Dr Derek Sim says it proves now just how important quick and effective vaccine rollouts can be.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: This report is yet another piece of scientific evidence that demonstrates the value of vaccines and its role in preventing disease.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: In this case, preventing outbreaks, nipping them in a bud to prevent the spread of disease and crossing borders.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: This is extremely significant.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: It's the first time that we have a clear picture of what timely access to vaccines through a stockpile in an outbreak situation can really do.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: Derek Sim from Gavi.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: So it shows what it can do, but it's not all good news.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: No, it's not because Gavi is currently trying to secure a fresh round of funding.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: And it's doing that in the face of global cuts to foreign aid, but also growing vaccine scepticism, not least from one of the most important public health officials in the United States, if not the most, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: Now, he's previously announced that the US won't be providing additional funding to Gavi unless it changes its evaluation of vaccine science and safety, among other issues.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: But the World Health Organization also says that there is a growing number of people who will not accept a vaccine, but that number has risen dramatically since 2010.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: And we've seen that vaccine scepticism growing as well.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: So there are issues on the horizon there.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: Yeah, the vaccine scepticism in the US growing despite a big increase in the number of measles cases there.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: Yeah, measles cases well over 1,200, the highest since that childhood disease was declared eliminated in the US in 2000
--:-- Dominic Hughes: That is really concerning because it shows the level of vaccine scepticism which also seems to be a political issue as well
--:-- Dominic Hughes: And I think parents forget just how terrible measles can be that it can leave children with lifelong injury and disability, but also it can lead to death in rare cases.
--:-- Dominic Hughes: So there is real concern about that measles outbreak in the United States.
--:-- Oliver Conway: On Thursday, as he prepared to leave Washington, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that a Gaza ceasefire deal with Hamas to release the remaining hostages could be just a few days away.
--:-- Oliver Conway: But now, Palestinian officials have told the BBC indirect talks between both sides in Qatar are on the brink of collapse.
--:-- Emir Nade: On one key point of contention, the withdrawal of troops, a Palestinian official said the Israeli delegation presented a map which would allow it to effectively maintain control of around 40% of the Gaza Strip, including a number of cities.
--:-- Emir Nade: The officials also called an Israeli proposal to create a so-called humanitarian city in Rafah as a trap and a clear plan for the forced displacement of Palestinians.
--:-- Emir Nade: Yesterday in the United States, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had maintained a positive tone, telling hostage families that the deal was just a few days away.
--:-- Emir Nade: One of the Palestinian officials who spoke to the BBC said Israel was using the ongoing ceasefire talks in Doha to buy time.
--:-- Oliver Conway: And still to come on the Global News Podcast.
--:-- Oliver Conway: There's a mistaken perception that there are two conflicting interests at play here, transportation and protecting our cultural heritage.
--:-- Oliver Conway: But our study shows there's actually no conflict at all.
--:-- Oliver Conway: On the contrary, they support each other.
--:-- Oliver Conway: The campaign to save an industrial landmark in the Czech capital, Prague.
--:-- Asma Khalid: America is changing. And so is the world. But what's happening in America isn't just a cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere.
--:-- Asma Khalid: I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, D.C.
--:-- Asma Khalid: I'm Tristan Redman in London.
--:-- Asma Khalid: And this is The Global Story. Every weekday, we'll bring you a story from this intersection, where the world and America meet.
--:-- Asma Khalid: Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
--:-- Oliver Conway: The appropriate words to describe the suffering in the western region of Darfur.
--:-- Oliver Conway: She referred to a recent war crimes trial against a leader of the Janjaweed militia, Ali Kusheib.
--:-- Oliver Conway: To those on the ground in Darfur now, to those who are inflicting unimaginable atrocities on its population, they may feel a sense of impunity at this moment, but we are working intensively to ensure that the Ali Kusheib trial represents only the first of many in relation to this situation at the International Criminal Court.
--:-- Eva Hines: It is particularly difficult for children who are often the most vulnerable.
--:-- Eva Hines: and we've seen that since April the conflict in particularly in North Darfur and around Al-Fashur and the camps surrounding it, it's really intensified and we've seen entire neighbourhoods that have been cut off from aid, hospitals have been bombed, roads have been blocked.
--:-- Eva Hines: It's nearly impossible to get any aid in because there are attacks on convoys and this of course makes it difficult for children to get any water, any food, any health care and that's why we are seeing these very alarming numbers when we are talking about malnutrition and large number of children grappling with it.
--:-- Ansoy: Tawila is a small town in North Darfur, which is under the control of an armed group that is not affiliated to either RSF and the Sudanese armed forces.
--:-- Ansoy: That is where many people have found a safe haven after a big camp that was hosting internally displaced people in Zamzam was overrun by RSF and so people fled there as well as from the North Darfur city of Al-Fashar.
--:-- Ansoy: And so since April the Norwegian Refugee Council is saying that Tawila has taken close to 400,000 people and you can imagine the strain they have put on the services.
--:-- Ansoy: There's a lack of water, latrines for people, children just stopped going to school, and there's food shortages.
--:-- Ansoy: And some of these people were fleeing from areas where famine had already been declared, like Zamzam, and so they were already desperate.
--:-- Ansoy: But when you speak to many Sudanese, they are particularly concerned about the now.
--:-- Ansoy: Are they going to survive to see tomorrow?
--:-- Ansoy: They need food.
--:-- Ansoy: They need every form of help they can receive.
--:-- Ansoy: And then they were devastated again when the aid cuts were announced.
--:-- Ansoy: And so you're talking about very desperate cases.
--:-- Ansoy: We just need something to survive and then, you know, having to deal with all these international developments.
--:-- Ansoy: So the vast majority of people right now would be thinking about survival, about food.
--:-- Ansoy: But at the back of their minds, they also want justice.
--:-- Ansoy: Very many women in Tawila, the ones who have fled to Tawila, have been reporting of rape as they escaped.
--:-- Ansoy: So they survived the war.
--:-- Ansoy: But many of them are being raped along the way.
--:-- Ansoy: Some have died along the way.
--:-- Ansoy: They talked of seeing bodies as they fled to Tawila.
--:-- Ansoy: I spoke to one woman who said that she had rescued a baby they found by the roadside whose mother had died.
--:-- Ansoy: This child was roughly six months old.
--:-- Oliver Conway: The Greek Parliament has approved legislation suspending the processing of new asylum claims from migrants arriving by boat from North Africa.
--:-- Oliver Conway: It follows a surge of migrants arriving in Crete.
--:-- Danny Eberhardt: The Greek government says it's facing an emergency.
--:-- Danny Eberhardt: More than 2,600 migrants have reached Crete already this month.
--:-- Danny Eberhardt: This new measure, passed by a large majority, will initially last for three months, during which new arrivals will be detained ahead of planned repatriations.
--:-- Danny Eberhardt: The government said it'll send a clear signal to people smuggling networks and migrants whose money would be wasted.
--:-- Danny Eberhardt: Greece, said Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, was not an open corridor to Europe.
--:-- Danny Eberhardt: Rights groups say the measure violates the country's obligations under international law.
--:-- Danny Eberhardt: The UN's refugee agency said it's seriously concerned.
--:-- Danny Eberhardt: It acknowledges the pressure on Crete, but says the ability to seek asylum is a fundamental human right.
--:-- Danny Eberhardt: And it stresses that many of those crossing from North Africa are fleeing war and persecution, including refugees from Sudan.
--:-- Rachel Wright: UNESCO has chosen two places in Africa, one in Cameroon, one in Malawi, as World Heritage Sites to try to boost the continent's representation on the list
--:-- Rachel Wright: The De Geed B landscape of the Mandara Mountains in the far north of Cameroon are the ruins of dry stone round structures thought to have been built between the 12th and the 17th centuries by the ancestors of the Maffa people.
--:-- Rachel Wright: They're surrounded by agricultural terraces and sites of worship.
--:-- Rachel Wright: The new addition to UNESCO's list have been joined by Mount Mulanji, the highest peak in Malawi, considered by locals to be sacred.
--:-- Rachel Wright: Being deemed a World Heritage Site often leads to lucrative tourism drives and can unlock funding.
--:-- Rachel Wright: UNESCO says it's trying to increase the number of African sites on the World Heritage List.
--:-- Rob Cameron: The Czech capital Prague is known as one of Europe's best-preserved cities, with most tourists making a beeline for the 14th century Charles Bridge.
--:-- Rob Cameron: But another bridge is making headlines there, the Vyshehrad Railway Bridge, whose iconic steel arches have been part of the Prague skyline for well over a century.
--:-- Rob Cameron: The railway authorities want to tear it down and build a new one, but fans of the industrial landmark are fighting back.
--:-- Rob Cameron: From Prague, I'm Rob Cameron.
--:-- Rob Cameron: A passenger train rumbles over Visehrad Railway Bridge.
--:-- Rob Cameron: For the past 123 years, the key rail link across the river Vltava, from the main station on one side of the river to Smikov station on the other, and from there westwards on to Pilsen, Karlovi Vary and Germany.
--:-- Rob Cameron: But the steel bridge carries around three quarters of Prague's railway traffic and after decades of neglect the rusty arches are truly showing their age.
--:-- Rob Cameron: The railway administration says the beams, joints and rivets are now so corroded they need to remove the bridge altogether and build a new one on the existing stone pillars.
--:-- Rob Cameron: Architect and bridge engineer Petter Tay says that's totally unnecessary.
--:-- Rob Cameron: These joints are most impacted by rust, so previous expert reports say that 70% of steel should be replaced, but according to our study, only 15% of the steel works needs to be changed.
--:-- Rob Cameron: That's a huge difference.
--:-- Rob Cameron: It's a huge difference, yeah.
--:-- Rob Cameron: PETA is part of an initiative called the Visharad Bridge Foundation, which has assembled an international coalition of experts who've restored similar bridges all over the world.
--:-- Rob Cameron: They say repairing rather than replacing the Visharad Bridge will be quicker, cheaper and can even be done without stopping the trains.
--:-- Rob Cameron: Their conclusions are endorsed by UNESCO, which protects much of the ancient Czech capital, as well as 25,000 residents who signed a petition in favour.
--:-- Rob Cameron: But the railway administration remains unmoved.
--:-- Rob Cameron: Pavel Paida is the director of the Construction Preparation Department.
--:-- Rob Cameron: Thanks to its condition, the bridge is currently carrying just 60% of its capacity, which, with the projected growth in rail travel, is becoming a major transport problem.
--:-- Rob Cameron: Yes, it's a protected historical monument, but it's becoming increasingly clear that it's simply not possible to reconcile these two things.
--:-- Rob Cameron: If rail transport is to develop as projected, meaning if the bridge is expected to carry up to twice as many trains by 2030, then it must undergo major reconstruction.
--:-- Rob Cameron: Visualisations suggest the planned new bridge, complete with added third rail, will closely resemble the old one and will be part of a total redevelopment of the whole riverside area.
--:-- Rob Cameron: But Vyšehrad Bridge Foundation co-founder Tomáš Bystrzycký is convinced all that can be done without losing the original.
--:-- Rob Cameron: You know, there's a mistaken perception that there are two conflicting interests at play here, transportation and protecting our cultural heritage.
--:-- Rob Cameron: But our study shows there's actually no conflict at all.
--:-- Rob Cameron: On the contrary, they support each other.
--:-- Rob Cameron: It proved the bridge, once repaired, can serve for another hundred years.
--:-- Rob Cameron: It'll be capable of handling all transport loads.
--:-- Rob Cameron: And it also turned out to be much cheaper.
--:-- Oliver Conway: Thousands of athletes and spectators from around the world are arriving on the island of Orkney off the coast of Scotland for the Island Games.
--:-- Oliver Conway: The week-long tournament, which gets underway on Saturday, will see competitors from 24 islands around the world compete in a range of events.
--:-- Chris McLennan: The Island Games is an Olympic-style event for small islands from across the globe, with around 2,000 athletes gathering in Orkney to take part in a week of fierce competition.
--:-- Chris McLennan: Athletes from islands, including the Falklands and St Helena in the South Atlantic, compete in events such as athletics, cycling and football, as well as archery and lawn bowls.
--:-- Chris McLennan: There is also one very big island involved, Greenland.
--:-- Chris McLennan: The Games were held in Guernsey two years ago, but they haven't visited Scotland for two decades.
--:-- Chris McLennan: The event has been years in the planning with the final preparations being put in place as Kirsty Talbot, director of Orkney 2025, explains.
--:-- Chris McLennan: Oh, we're ready.
--:-- Chris McLennan: We're ready.
--:-- Chris McLennan: The build is all on schedule.
--:-- Chris McLennan: The sports are good and they're ready to go.
--:-- Chris McLennan: Just a few finishing touches now.
--:-- Chris McLennan: From the moment they step off the plane where we've got our welcome teams right through to the venues with all our volunteers on hand to help them, as well as the community.
--:-- Chris McLennan: People have been pulling out all the stops, decorating everywhere, helping our visitors.
--:-- Chris McLennan: It's all these wee things that will make a difference and I think they'll really enjoy their Orcadian welcome.
--:-- Chris McLennan: And with thousands already on the streets of Kirkwall, some taking part in an impromptu cricket match, excitement is building.
--:-- Chris McLennan: There's a real buzz about the place.
--:-- Chris McLennan: They're really good.
--:-- Chris McLennan: I quite enjoy seeing them as fuck around.
--:-- Chris McLennan: It's good to see different coaches and stuff here and there.
--:-- Chris McLennan: It just feels a lot busier and everyone's really happy.
--:-- Chris McLennan: The kids are very excited for all the games and stuff, so it's going to be great.
--:-- Chris McLennan: I'm so glad I'm going to see it, because we'll never have it again.
--:-- Chris McLennan: I hope they enjoy opening.
--:-- Chris McLennan: And I hope the Arcadians might feel welcome.
--:-- Chris McLennan: The Games swell the population of Orkney a shade under 22,000 by a huge amount.
--:-- Chris McLennan: One of the biggest challenges has been accommodation, with classrooms and gym halls in four schools converted into dormitories.
--:-- Chris McLennan: One interesting fact to leave you with, also competing in the Island Games, is Gibraltar, which, the last time I looked at an atlas, is not an island.
--:-- Oliver Conway: And that is all from us for now, but the Global News Podcast will be back at the same time tomorrow.
--:-- Oliver Conway: This edition was mixed by Zabibuna Karush and produced by Stephanie Zacherson and Stephanie Tillotson.
--:-- Oliver Conway: Our editors, Karen Martin.
--:-- Oliver Conway: I'm Oliver Conway.
--:-- Oliver Conway: Until next time, goodbye.
--:-- Asma Khalid: America is changing. And so is the world. But what's happening in America isn't just a cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere.
--:-- Asma Khalid: I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, D.C.
--:-- Asma Khalid: I'm Tristan Redman in London.
--:-- Asma Khalid: And this is The Global Story. Every weekday, we'll bring you a story from this intersection, where the world and America meet.
--:-- Asma Khalid: Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
