--:-- Host: This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Listen on bbc.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
--:-- Host: British couple who'd been detained since February. Officials in India investigate the death of an African elephant which was kept alone for much of its life in a zoo. Also in this podcast.
--:-- Host: So if you have access to sensitive information relating to global instability or hostile intelligence activity, you can now contact MI6 and share this securely using Silent Courier. Britain launches a portal on the dark web to recruit spies from abroad.
--:-- Host: In Sudan, civilians are increasingly suffering in the ongoing civil war, which began more than two years ago. A UN report says there's been a significant increase in the first half of this year in ethnically motivated killings.
--:-- Li Feng: There are no safe exit routes out of the city, and civilians are trapped in a situation of impossible choice. Either stay in El Fasher and risk bombardment, starvation and atrocities if the RSF overrun the city, or flee and face the risk of summary execution, sexual violence and abduction.
--:-- Host: In the latest incident in El Fasher, a drone strike is reported to have killed at least 75 people.
--:-- Barbara Pletasha: What we have been hearing from residents of El Fasher is that the drone hit a mosque early in the morning, in fact, right in the middle of early morning prayers, and that there are significant casualties.
--:-- Barbara Pletasha: Video posted online, which the BBC has verified, do show a significant number of bodies. There's also been a statement put out by local activists, an emergency response room. They are the ones that look after the displacement camp, Abu Shuk. They say that some of the local leadership of that camp was killed at the mosque. They were in attendance. They've been displaced from the camp because there have been a lot of attacks there this week, but they were attending the mosque and have been killed as well.
--:-- Barbara Pletasha: So it seems like quite a significant attack. Is the RSF gaining ground around El Fasher because they've been besieging it for months?
--:-- Barbara Pletasha: All evidence and reports point in that direction. They conducted a very fierce attack early this week and then the army said it had repelled that attack, but they do seem to be continuing to advance, in particular in two areas.
--:-- Barbara Pletasha: They have entered the headquarters of armed groups that are allied to the Sudanese military. It's a former UN compound considered to be a critical line of defence.
--:-- Barbara Pletasha: So we have verified video showing RSF fighters in this compound, although it's not clear whether they have seized full control.
--:-- Barbara Pletasha: The War Monitor, which is the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, suggests also that they have taken control of this headquarters and that they now control much of this camp I mentioned, the Abushuk displacement camp.
--:-- Barbara Pletasha: If that is the case, that the RSF is in control of these areas, that would place key parts of the city, the airport, as well as the Army's division headquarters, both within direct RSF firing range.
--:-- Barbara Pletasha: So it does look as if they are making significant advances. And meanwhile, the UN is warning that the situation for civilians is getting increasingly desperate.
--:-- Barbara Pletasha: Yes, they put a report out today saying that nearly 4,000 civilians had been killed or died in the first six months of this year and that is a figure that represents about 80% of the total deaths in 2024.
--:-- Barbara Pletasha: So they're saying that the conflict is intensifying, especially the suffering of civilians. They mentioned several trends that were continuing, that is the continued pervasiveness of sexual violence, indiscriminate attacks, and especially the widespread use of retaliation against civilians by both sides on an ethnic basis.
--:-- Barbara Pletasha: So that is the RSF and the army both target individuals belonging to different ethnic groups that they accuse of collaborating with opposing parties. And we have heard accounts about this happening on both sides.
--:-- Barbara Pletasha: So that is something they say is particularly troubling and that it increases the ethnicization of the conflict.
--:-- Barbara Pletasha: The other trend they mention is the increased use of drones, especially in attacks on civilian infrastructure and in the north and the east of the country, which up until now have largely been spared by the war.
--:-- Barbara Pletasha: Barbara Pletuscher in Nairobi in Kenya.
--:-- Host: The Taliban rulers in Afghanistan have imposed yet another restriction on women's rights and livelihoods. Women and girls have very limited access to work and education, and now books written by women have been removed from universities.
--:-- Shakiba Habib: If you look at the books that they are banned, it's mostly books related to women's rights, women's sociology, and also issues related to women.
--:-- Shakiba Habib: And also beside this, there are other books that include, for example, History of Religions. The Taliban has mentioned that because they won the curriculum for the universities to be Islamic.
--:-- Shakiba Habib: And also they are banning these books because they think this is against the Sharia law.
--:-- Shakiba Habib: And they have also banned teaching of 18 subjects at universities. However, there are no female students at universities at the moment, but they have issued these bans recently.
--:-- Shakiba Habib: And the recent earthquake highlighted, didn't it, how hard it is for women to get access to all kinds of aid? When the earthquake struck, obviously, soon after that, there were mobile health centres in entrance to each valley that was affected by the earthquake.
--:-- Shakiba Habib: However, in these mobile health centres, there was no female health worker. So those female who were injured and obviously they were in need so they couldn access those health centres So they had to be transported to the city of Jalalabad in Nangarhar So it actually took a while for them to reach there So that why they were not able to access this primary health care there and then
--:-- Shakiba Habib: So it sounds like life is getting increasingly desperate and restricted for women in Afghanistan.
--:-- Shakiba Habib: I cannot think of anything that a woman can do apart from being at home, like doing the house chores or giving birth to a child, Even giving birth to a child is faced with lots of problems because they cannot access female health workers.
--:-- Shakiba Habib: And obviously, we have seen the reports recently back from Afghanistan. The situation is really, really dire.
--:-- Shakiba Habib: The help and aid is actually stopped. And people in there are living in really, really catastrophic situation.
--:-- Shakiba Habib: Banning female from working and also from education has made it even worse.
--:-- Shakiba Habib: I spoke to many women because I recently returned back from Afghanistan. One example I can give you, there's a widow who was responsible for looking after three children.
--:-- Shakiba Habib: And she said, I had a job and I was working and I was earning some money to feed my children. But at the moment, I don't have no means of income.
--:-- Shakiba Habib: And also they have asked me, she was talking about the authorities that she was asked that even if she gets a job, she has to have a male chaperone to take her there.
--:-- Shakiba Habib: And she only had three little children and the son was going to school. So she said, it's actually really, really impossible for me to take my child out of school to take me to work.
--:-- Shakiba Habib: Shakiba Habib.
--:-- Host: And staying in Afghanistan, a British couple who'd been held in detention for almost eight months have been released following mediation by Qatar.
--:-- Host: Barbie and Peter Reynolds, who are 76 and 80 years old respectively, do that bit again. Barbie and Peter Reynolds, who are 76 and 80 years old respectively, had lived in Afghanistan for 18 years.
--:-- Host: The Taliban said the pair had broken Afghan laws and were released after judicial proceedings, but have never disclosed the reason for their detention.
--:-- Host: Landy in Doha, en route to the UK, there was an emotional reunion for the couple with their daughter, as our World Affairs correspondent Joe Inwood reports.
--:-- Joe Inwood: Astonishingly emotional scenes, and I think it's made even more emotional because of the concerns there had been about their safety.
--:-- Joe Inwood: I mean, we'd heard over the last few weeks and months of their deteriorating health, It was suggested or thought that one of them had had a stroke, a mini stroke in hospital that Peter had.
--:-- Joe Inwood: And there's, you know, they were held in a very, very secure central Kabul prison.
--:-- Joe Inwood: Their son, Jonathan, has said before they were chained to rapists and murderers.
--:-- Joe Inwood: So there was a real concern about their welfare.
--:-- Joe Inwood: In fact, the woman, Faye Hall, who was an American, they were arrested alongside, had previously said that she didn't know whether they would survive this.
--:-- Joe Inwood: So, obviously, joy from the families, delight from the families.
--:-- Joe Inwood: And in the last few hours, their son, Jonathan, spoke to the BBC to talk of the family's relief at what's happened.
--:-- Jonathan Reynolds: We're just so massively overwhelmed, really, with gratitude, just relief to know they're home.
--:-- Jonathan Reynolds: Well, they're on the way home anyway, I should say. So, yeah, they're on the way home and really excited about that.
--:-- Jonathan Reynolds: And just heartfelt appreciation to His Highness the Emir of Qatar and their compassion.
--:-- Jonathan Reynolds: I think it's amazing. And I understand they're behind a lot of these tough situations in the Middle East.
--:-- Jonathan Reynolds: And just, yeah, there's doctors on board on the plane, which I just massively appreciate that as well for health care for my parents.
--:-- Jonathan Reynolds: And then obviously the British government for their commitment to all of the complexities of this and having to navigate it through with and for my parents.
--:-- Jonathan Reynolds: Just the deep appreciation for all who are involved.
--:-- Joe Inwood: So that was their son, Jonathan Reynolds. and he wanted to emphasise, as you could hear there, the role of the Kateries and of the British government as well.
--:-- Joe Inwood: I think it is worth sort of emphasising the Kateries have been involved not just in this, they've got a really broad sort of diplomatic footprint and role now and they evidently were central to this.
--:-- Joe Inwood: It's understood that they were trying to provide or they helped to provide kind of consular assistance to the Reynolds while they were in prison in Kabul and have been performing a lot of the diplomatic help and that was something that their daughter Sarah Entwistle who we saw greeting her parents off the plane that was something that she was really keen to emphasise when she spoke earlier as well.
--:-- Joe Inwood: I'm overwhelmed with gratitude and relief that we have our parents back after their incomprehensible detention by the Taliban.
--:-- Sarah Entwistle: This is a moment of immense joy for our family and we are deeply thankful to everyone who played a role in securing their release.
--:-- Sarah Entwistle: This experience has reminded us of the power of diplomacy, empathy and international cooperation.
--:-- Sarah Entwistle: We are forever grateful to the Qatari and British governments for standing with us during this difficult time.
--:-- Sarah Entwistle: Thank you for giving us our family back.
--:-- Host: Britain's secret intelligence service, MI6, has put out a recruitment call aimed at those around the world who might want to act on the agency's behalf, offering information without the risk of meeting in person.
--:-- Host: So if you have access to sensitive information relating to global instability or hostile intelligence activity, you can now contact MI6 and share this securely using Silent Courier.
--:-- Host: Well, that's part of the probo-advert made by MI6.
--:-- Host: The organisation's outgoing head, Richard Moore, was in Turkey to announce plans to use the dark web to recruit informants and gather secret information from countries like Russia.
--:-- Frank Gardner: Absolutely. It's a challenge for any covert intelligence agency, whether it's the North Koreans, the Russians, the Chinese, the Americans or the Brits, to get their agents and indeed the people who run them in and out of countries undetected because the days of being able to whack on a false moustache and glasses and pretend you're Professor Higgins, you know, from this and that university, are long gone.
--:-- Frank Gardner: I mean, they're not completely gone, but it's very hard to do that undetected because of biometric identification, CCTV camera surveillance, cameras that do gait recognition, facial recognition, iris recognition.
--:-- Frank Gardner: So they've had to come up with innovative ways to get around that.
--:-- Frank Gardner: And interestingly, the woman who's about to take over running MI6, Blaise Metro Welly, has come from something called QBranch, which is a part of MI6 that deals with the tech.
--:-- Frank Gardner: They come up with gadgets to give to their agents to be able to communicate in secret.
--:-- Frank Gardner: Now, I have no idea how those work, but the one thing that has come out in public is this dark web portal called Silent Courier which they hope will be a safe secure way for potential new agents to contact them
--:-- Frank Gardner: Although presumably they will also have to take some sort of measures to ensure that they're not simply getting that gateway inundated with a whole lot of useless slurry from other actors who want to gum up its works.
--:-- Frank Gardner: Yep, that is one possibility.
--:-- Frank Gardner: Another one is the dangle, as it's known in espionage terms, where a hostile target intelligence agency deliberately feeds one of their own people into your system, having trained them in pretending that they genuinely want to come across.
--:-- Frank Gardner: But actually, they are literally a double agent.
--:-- Frank Gardner: So Russia, for example, there could be a disaffected Russian who's got a little bit of information, just enough to get MI6 interested, but they're going to have to be on the alert that this isn't somebody who is actually all along working for the SVR or the GRU or the FSB, whichever Russian agency it is.
--:-- Frank Gardner: And I think their main target with all of this is Russia, because when the full-scale invasion of Ukraine kicked in in February 22, ever since then, MI6 has been reaching out, trying to encourage disaffected Russians to come and spy for them.
--:-- Frank Gardner: And this is an extension of that.
--:-- Frank Gardner: But, you know, there is an inherent vulnerability with the dark web, which is that not that long ago, the CIA tried to run its agents in China using a kind of central node in the dark web, which their agents would log into.
--:-- Frank Gardner: Well, China's Ministry of State Security, the MSS, cracked that portal, got into it, and they were able to then wrap up America's pretty much their entire network of agents inside China.
--:-- Host: Still to come on this podcast, the awards for the latest scientific findings that make you laugh and then think.
--:-- Host: Drinking alcohol sometimes improves a person's ability to speak in a foreign language. America is changing. And so is the world.
--:-- Host: 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.
--:-- Tristan Redman: I'm Tristan Redman in London.
--:-- Host: And this is The Global Story. Every weekday, we'll bring you a story from this intersection, where the world and America meet.
--:-- Host: Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
--:-- Camilla Mills: An inquiry is underway into the death of an African elephant, which was presented to India as a gift and kept in Delhi Zoo.
--:-- Camilla Mills: Shankar had spent much of his life in isolation, despite concerns over his welfare.
--:-- Camilla Mills: Our global news reporter Camilla Mills told me more.
--:-- Camilla Mills: So the elephant Shankar, he was given to India by Zimbabwe as a diplomatic gift, which often happens between countries.
--:-- Camilla Mills: And that was back in 1998. And he arrived at Delhi Zoo with another elephant companion, another African elephant.
--:-- Camilla Mills: And they lived there together for a number of years. And then his companion died.
--:-- Camilla Mills: Following that, the zoo say that they tried to house it with other elephants, but they're Asian elephants and they didn't get on and there was some fighting and there was some conflict between them.
--:-- Camilla Mills: So he essentially was put into solitary confinement and he was put into an enclosure on his own.
--:-- Camilla Mills: This is despite a federal ban in India on keeping elephants alone for more than six months.
--:-- Camilla Mills: So there's been a real outcry about this elephant being on his own for so long and this dates back years.
--:-- Camilla Mills: Animal activists have said that it's wrong And also last year, the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, they suspended Delhi Zoo's membership over concerns about Shunker's living conditions.
--:-- Camilla Mills: And just recently following his death, which happened on Wednesday, activists have said his death reflects years of institutional apathy and neglect and systematic failure.
--:-- Camilla Mills: So Delhi Zoo say that they have launched an investigation into the death.
--:-- Camilla Mills: They said that he had stopped eating food and he just collapsed and died on Wednesday evening.
--:-- Camilla Mills: Had they tried to get him a companion elephant from outside the country?
--:-- Camilla Mills: Yes, so they made an appeal and it was also advised by the governing body of zoos that they investigate this.
--:-- Camilla Mills: And both Botswana and Zimbabwe, where he originally came from, they said that they would be able to offer a companion, either a male or a female, from Africa.
--:-- Camilla Mills: I mean, this is becoming a bit of an international incident, isn't it?
--:-- Camilla Mills: It is.
--:-- Camilla Mills: I think there's this great sadness because he was only 29 years old and African elephants can live up to 70.
--:-- Camilla Mills: So his life really has been cut short.
--:-- Camilla Mills: And they're, you know, they're animal rights activists and just people generally on social media, voicing their concern and raising questions about the living conditions and why he died.
--:-- Camilla Mills: Was it neglect? Was it loneliness? Was it just, you know, being completely and utterly ostracised?
--:-- Camilla Mills: And we should say this is Delhi Zoo, who would presumably have access to the top specialists and elephants around the world.
--:-- Camilla Mills: You would hope so.
--:-- Camilla Mills: And like I say, there's a governing body that oversees zoos and they were referred to this governing body.
--:-- Camilla Mills: They went and investigated the conditions and they made a number of referrals, one of those being that he really did need a companion.
--:-- Akisa Wanderer: The family and friends of an athlete from Kenya say they're shocked to find out that he was captured in Ukraine after reportedly being recruited to fight for Russia.
--:-- Akisa Wanderer: In a video released by the Ukrainian military, Evans Kibbutz says he was tricked into joining the war while visiting St. Petersburg.
--:-- Akisa Wanderer: He said his passport and phone were taken and he was made to sign documents in Russian, not realising he was enlisting as a soldier.
--:-- Akisa Wanderer: In the video, he pleads not to be sent back to Russia, saying he fears for his life.
--:-- Akisa Wanderer: There's been no comment yet from Moscow.
--:-- Akisa Wanderer: BBC's Akisa Wanderer is following the story.
--:-- Akisa Wanderer: Evans says he travelled to Russia as a tourist, but by the end of the trip, he'd been offered a way to stay in Russia and maybe get a well-paying job by the sports agent who sent him there.
--:-- Akisa Wanderer: That's how he ended up signing documents he couldn't understand and found himself in the war zone, was taken for a one-week military training where he says it was just basic training of how to use, you know, an assault rifle, then sent out into war.
--:-- Akisa Wanderer: Evans in the video claims that he never participated in the war, instead escaped the Russian army, hid in the forest for two days in the northeastern part of Ukraine just about five kilometers from the Russian border and then was rescued by the Ukrainian forces
--:-- Akisa Wanderer: And now he pleading that he should not be returned to Russia
--:-- Akisa Wanderer: That's what we have so far on what Evans is saying.
--:-- Akisa Wanderer: And we've also been trying to get hold of his family.
--:-- Akisa Wanderer: Many of the family and friends that I've spoken to are really still reeling from watching that video, some of whom were not even aware that he'd gone to Russia.
--:-- Akisa Wanderer: Those who are aware say that they knew it was a usual trip where he would be participating in the race.
--:-- Akisa Wanderer: And the family now says that they really would like to see the government intervening.
--:-- Akisa Wanderer: And I've been speaking to his younger brother, Isaac Kipiego Masai.
--:-- Isaac Kipiego Masai: As a family, we are shocked about the information that we received concerning our brother, whom we know has never been involved in such cases or scenarios.
--:-- Isaac Kipiego Masai: We are pleading with the government of Kenya to intervene with the issue so that as a family, we get back to the unity and union of our brother.
--:-- Isaac Kipiego Masai: So we are really missing him.
--:-- Isaac Kipiego Masai: And we are hoping that one day we will be back to the family and continue with daily activities.
--:-- Isaac Kipiego Masai: I hope so, that very soon things will be OK.
--:-- Akisa Wanderer: There really hasn't been any reaction or official statement from the government.
--:-- Akisa Wanderer: The video only just started doing rounds yesterday, but we did reach out to the Foreign Affairs Ministry and are still waiting for a response from their end.
--:-- Dan Roan: A BBC investigation has uncovered tens of thousands of Premier League tickets listed on unauthorised resale websites.
--:-- Dan Roan: Selling football tickets on an unofficial online platform is illegal here in the UK.
--:-- Dan Roan: But BBC reporters were able to buy tickets for four top flight matches last weekend using sites that are based abroad.
--:-- Reg Walker: The ticket-tacking problem involving the Premier League is absolutely massive.
--:-- Reg Walker: It's probably worth somewhere between £200m and £300m a year.
--:-- Reg Walker: We are seeing attacks at every level on Premier League clubs.
--:-- Reg Walker: You're ending up with significant amounts of away supporters in the home end and home supporters in the away end.
--:-- Dan Roan: The findings raise fresh concerns over ticket access and fan safety, as our sports editor Dan Roan reports.
--:-- Dan Roan: BBC Sport discovered almost 33,000 tickets were listed on overseas websites for the four top flight games we purchased tickets for, almost all priced well above face value.
--:-- Dan Roan: That included the Manchester Derby, a match officially sold out weeks ago, but we were able to buy a ticket just days before the game at three times the standard price.
--:-- Dan Roan: The seat was also in the home end, highlighting the risk of infiltration by away fans, undermining segregation intended to keep supporters safe.
--:-- Dan Roan: The Football Supporters Association says the BBC's findings are very concerning, while some clubs insist they're taking the issue seriously.
--:-- Dan Roan: But some also want a change in the law in order to tackle sites that seem to be making it harder than ever for regular fans to go and watch their teams.
--:-- Richard Hamilton: Every year since 1991, the Ig Nobel Prizes have been awarded at a ceremony in Massachusetts in the USA.
--:-- Richard Hamilton: They're a deliberate spoof of the serious Nobel Prizes, and they celebrate research that makes people laugh and then think.
--:-- Richard Hamilton: Richard Hamilton has been watching some of the highlights from Thursday night's ceremony at Boston University.
--:-- Richard Hamilton: Organised by the humorous scientific magazine The Annals of Improbable Research, The Ig Nobel Prizes are presented by previous Nobel laureates and the winners receive a solitary banknote for 10 trillion Zimbabwean dollars, a collector's item worth less than half a US dollar.
--:-- Richard Hamilton: Among the lucky winners was a plan to reduce people's calorie intake by putting Teflon into food, in the hope it would satiate people's hunger before quietly sliding out.
--:-- Richard Hamilton: Another food-related study found that lizards preferred four-cheese pizza.
--:-- Richard Hamilton: The aviation prize went to researchers who plied Egyptian fruit bats with ethanol.
--:-- Richard Hamilton: They concluded the bats which binged on fermented fruit may be at higher risk of colliding with obstacles.
--:-- Richard Hamilton: And alcohol also featured in another prize.
--:-- Richard Hamilton: The Ig Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to Fritz Renner, Inge Kersbergen, Matt Field and Jessica Werthmann for showing that drinking alcohol sometimes improves a person's ability to speak in a foreign language.
--:-- Richard Hamilton: In his acceptance speech, Dr Fritz Renner said Germans spoke Dutch with a better accent after a small sip of vodka, as it seemed to boost confidence without making the words fall apart.
--:-- Richard Hamilton: But his co-researcher, Professor Matt Field, cautioned that the improvement wasn't huge.
--:-- Richard Hamilton: It's not like people were transformed into perfect Dutch speakers after a single drink, he added.
--:-- Richard Hamilton: Other unusual findings were that cows disguised as zebras suffered fewer insect bites, and that people became more narcissistic after being told they were more intelligent than most, even when they weren't.
--:-- Richard Hamilton: And finally, the Ig Nobel Prize for Literature went posthumously to the late Dr William Bean from the University of Iowa, who documented the growth of his toenails over the course of 35 years.
--:-- Richard Hamilton: That must have been a labour of love.
--:-- Host: And that's it from us for now, but there'll be a new edition of the Global News Podcast later.
--:-- Host: If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, send us an email.
--:-- Host: The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk.
--:-- Host: You can also find us on X at BBC World Service.
--:-- Host: Use the hashtag Global News Pod.
--:-- Host: This edition was mixed by Kai Perry.
--:-- Host: The editor is Karen Martin.
--:-- Host: I'm Valerie Sanderson.
--:-- Host: Until next time, bye bye.
--:-- Asma Khalid: America is changing. And so is the world.
--:-- Asma Khalid: 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.
--:-- Tristan Redman: I'm Tristan Redman in London.
--:-- Host: And this is The Global Story. Every weekday, we'll bring you a story from this intersection, where the world and America meet.
--:-- Host: Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
