--:-- Host: This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Visit unitedvanlines.com. Big moves, small moves, all moves. Easy choice.
--:-- Host: In the shadows and flames, primals will fall, and from the blood and ash, new gods will rise. Poppy was never meant to awaken, and consequences are devastating. Stirring ancient powers from their slumber, transforming Castile and Kirin in ways the fates couldn't foresee. The great conspirator has returned to stop the primal of death. The gods have awakened, harboring blood-soaked secrets, and every choice can undo everything. The primal of blood and bone, perfect for fans of Sarah J Maas and Rebecca Yaros. Available in print, e-book and audio book.
--:-- Host: This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Jonat Jalil and in the early hours of Monday the 1st of September, these are our main stories.
--:-- Jonat Jalil: Israel says it's killed one of the most prominent figures in Hamas's military wing, its spokesman Abu Ubaidah.
--:-- Jonat Jalil: A judge in the United States has blocked plans by the Trump administration to deport hundreds of Guatemalan children who entered the US alone.
--:-- Jonat Jalil: The leaders of China and India say they are now partners, not rivals, after years of tension, including a long-running border dispute.
--:-- Jonat Jalil: Also in this podcast?
--:-- Jonat Jalil: As archaeologists, yes, it's quite exciting. So the fact that the lake recedes and brings again to light all these sites is fantastic. A drought in Iraq has exposed ancient tombs dating back more than 2,000 years.
--:-- Jonat Jalil: Israel says it's killed a key Hamas figure, Abu Ubeda, the spokesman for its military wing in a strike on a block of flats in Gaza City.
--:-- Jonat Jalil: Israel's defence minister, Israel Katz, congratulated the Israeli defence forces and Israel's security agency, Shembet, for what he called the flawless execution of the killing.
--:-- Jonat Jalil: Hamas has not confirmed the death. At least 30 people were reported to have been killed by Israeli strikes on Sunday, a dozen of whom were trying to get aid.
--:-- Jonat Jalil: At the same time, as people continue to also die of malnutrition, a flotilla carrying hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists has left Spain and is heading towards Gaza after Israel blocked two earlier attempts to deliver aid by ship.
--:-- Jonat Jalil: The Spanish-Palestinian activist Saif Abu-Keshek spoke to reporters before the flotilla set sail.
--:-- Saif Abu-Keshek: The starvation that we are seeing in Gaza is intentional it's man-made we talk about the humanitarian aspect this is an unviolent mission that is aiming to open a corridor of humanitarian aid but for a political reason that is happening in palestine what is happening there is not a natural disaster
--:-- Jonat Jalil: I got more on the flotilla with our correspondent in Jerusalem Eminada but first I asked him to tell us more about Abu Ubaida and what his killing, if confirmed, means for Hamas.
--:-- Eminada: He was the military spokesperson for Hamas for many years, around nearly two decades, and he was always wrapped in a Palestinian scarf as a mask and really became known throughout the Middle East as a prominent voice of Hamas.
--:-- Eminada: He became an idol to Hamas supporters throughout the Middle East, regularly giving these very long, eloquent indeed, diatribes against Israel.
--:-- Eminada: And throughout the war, he'd become one of the last well-known figures that had survived. So if indeed he is dead, then it is a big symbolic blow to Hamas.
--:-- Eminada: And his is not the only death in Gaza in the past 24 hours.
--:-- Eminada: Just tell us what the latest is there.
--:-- Eminada: Well, we've seen this ongoing beginning of Israel's invasion of Gaza City, around a million people there.
--:-- Eminada: And now we've seen lots of heavy attacks in the northern areas with over 60,000 people being reported by the UN to have been displaced daily.
--:-- Eminada: We're seeing people from those outer neighborhoods where the military is attacking, moving inwards and also turning up in hospitals.
--:-- Eminada: There's been airstrikes, artillery, and indeed this new phenomenon that we're seeing more and more. Explosive robots, as they're being called, which are essentially armed personnel vehicles that are going in to destroy particular buildings.
--:-- Eminada: So we're seeing those outer neighbourhoods really becoming flattened in these early stages of Israel's push into Gaza City.
--:-- Eminada: And indeed, this strike that killed the spokesperson Abu Obeda was a very heavy strike.
--:-- Eminada: We've heard from eyewitnesses there.
--:-- Eminada: There was numerous airstrikes on this one particular apartment block.
--:-- Eminada: And indeed, seven people died, 20 others injured, children among the casualties.
--:-- Eminada: And we've seen some of the aftermath videos, very distressing children covered in dust and very bloody.
--:-- Eminada: So it does look like Israel's escalating its campaign on Gaza City.
--:-- Eminada: And in this week, we will also see the call up of tens of thousands of Israeli troops ahead of this planned invasion.
--:-- Eminada: And yet again, a humanitarian flotilla is trying to reach Gaza.
--:-- Eminada: It sets sail from Barcelona in Spain, as we are hearing more deaths being reported in the territory from malnutrition.
--:-- Eminada: That's right. We've had daily reports of deaths from malnutrition continuing.
--:-- Eminada: Naturally, what's really alarming people is because Gaza City, where famine was declared just last week, this is obviously the focus of this huge military campaign now by Israel.
--:-- Eminada: And they've also announced that they will cease what they call their tactical pauses in airstrikes, which they introduced under very heavy international pressure to allow more aid to get into Gaza.
--:-- Eminada: So they said during daylight hours, we'll limit our attacks so there could be more movement of aid.
--:-- Eminada: They've now said for Gaza City, they will no longer observe that.
--:-- Eminada: And indeed, there is reporting in Israeli military that they intend to limit the amount of aid getting in to Gaza City.
--:-- Eminada: So there is real fear that the famine situation will deteriorate as the military campaign by Israel unfolds.
--:-- Eminada: Eme Nader in Jerusalem.
--:-- Eminada: A judge in the United States has ordered an emergency halt to plans to deport hundreds of Guatemalan children, some reportedly within hours.
--:-- Eminada: The temporary order, issued at a hastily scheduled hearing on Sunday, followed an emergency request from immigrant rights groups who call the Trump administration's plans illegal.
--:-- Eminada: More details from Electra Naismith.
--:-- Electra Naismith: The migrants range in age from 10 to 17 and cross the border into the US alone.
--:-- Electra Naismith: They're currently in the custody of the Health Department's Refugee Resettlement Office, which is supposed to house them until they're 18 or can be placed with a suitable sponsor.
--:-- Electra Naismith: Immigration advocacy groups say plans were instead underway to repatriate them, some in a matter of hours.
--:-- Electra Naismith: Lawyers say they were given no chance to contest the deportations.
--:-- Electra Naismith: The Trump administration has reportedly agreed a pilot programme with Guatemala to allow for the removals.
--:-- Electra Naismith: Lawyers say it's simply an effort to skirt round protections established by Congress.
--:-- Electra Naismith: Electra Naismith.
--:-- Host: China and India have been at loggerheads for years, partly because of a history of deadly clashes along their Himalayan border.
--:-- Host: But Donald Trump's trade war has led to a thaw in relations between the world's two most populous nations.
--:-- Host: Beijing and Delhi have reassured each other that they are partners, not rivals, as they try to repair ties.
--:-- Host: Their leaders Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi were speaking at a regional summit hosted by China in the port city of Tianjin
--:-- Host: Here our China correspondent Laura Bicker
--:-- Laura Bicker: President Xi said that China and India should be partners, not rivals.
--:-- Laura Bicker: Mr Modi added that there was now an atmosphere of peace and stability between them.
--:-- Laura Bicker: They met on the sidelines of an annual summit organised by Beijing, which is being attended by more than 20 other world leaders, including Russia's President Putin.
--:-- Laura Bicker: This year, the event is overshadowed by trade wars with the United States.
--:-- Laura Bicker: President Trump imposed steep tariffs on Indian goods last week, which appears to be pushing Mr Modi closer to China, something that President Xi welcomes.
--:-- Laura Bicker: As the world undergoes accelerated changes unseen in a century, with intertwined turbulence in the international landscape, China and India, two ancient eastern civilisations and key members of the global south, bear an important responsibility to benefit their peoples, promote unity and revitalisation among developing countries and advance human progress.
--:-- Laura Bicker: President Putin arrived to a red carpet welcome and according to Kremlin aides, he's been disclosing the details of his meeting with Donald Trump in Alaska during talks with the Chinese leader.
--:-- Laura Bicker: He will also meet Mr Modi.
--:-- Laura Bicker: For President Xi, playing the host and presiding over this gathering will help further his image as the leader of a new world order.
--:-- Laura Bicker: Nora Bicker.
--:-- Host: Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto has declared sweeping measures to address violent nationwide protests that have rocked the country in recent days and left at least four people dead.
--:-- Host: Protesters were angered at extra allowances being dished out to parliamentarians.
--:-- Host: Paulosa Yashinya Yoshiveda is a student president of the Yasi University in Jakarta.
--:-- Paulosa Yashinya Yoshiveda: While citizens are struggling with rising costs of living in economic hardship, a member of parliament or the politician appear to live comfortably and during high allowance and privileges.
--:-- Paulosa Yashinya Yoshiveda: Actually, this has created a deep sense of injustice.
--:-- Host: President Prabowo now says some of those state-funded perks for politicians will be reversed.
--:-- Host: He's also ordered the security forces to take action against those who acted illegally.
--:-- Host: To the police and the Indonesian National Armed Forces, I order them to take the strictest actions against those who have committed acts of damage to public facilities, looting of individual homes or public places, or economic centres.
--:-- Host: Our correspondent in Jakarta, Astudestra Ajeng Rastri, told us more about what he said.
--:-- Astudestra Ajeng Rastri: So Prabowo, basically when he announced the discussions with the cabinet members and also the head of the political parties, he was accompanied by these politicians and also former President Megawati Sokarnaputri showing that, you know, all of these politicians backed him up on this decision.
--:-- Astudestra Ajeng Rastri: So what he said was, first, he apologized again for what happened, the victims that have died in this chain of protest.
--:-- Astudestra Ajeng Rastri: He said that the police have initiated now a criminal investigation to the seven police officers who is inside the tactical vehicle when he'd run over Afan Kurniawan, a 21-year-old motorbike taxi driver who's in the protest.
--:-- Astudestra Ajeng Rastri: And then he said, the second one is he revoked the membership of the parliament members who may have been made incorrect statements.
--:-- Astudestra Ajeng Rastri: That's what he said.
--:-- Astudestra Ajeng Rastri: So previously, before the protest happened, some of the parliament members were saying statements that is insensitive to the protesters.
--:-- Astudestra Ajeng Rastri: So they are now revoked the membership of the parliament.
--:-- Astudestra Ajeng Rastri: He also said that the parliament will now revise the allowance and now he said they would put a moratorium on overseas working visit.
--:-- Astudestra Ajeng Rastri: Not only that, but he also addresses the protesters because the last two days, the protests in Indonesia ended with chaos and the protesters torched some parliament buildings, both in Jakarta and other cities.
--:-- Astudestra Ajeng Rastri: He said that to the police and the army to take strong measures to the protesters who are caught up destroying public facilities and creating unrest.
--:-- Astudestra Ajeng Rastri: Astu Destra Ajang Rastri in Indonesia.
--:-- Host: The drought gripping Iraq has cracked the earth, withered its crops and dried up its rivers.
--:-- Host: But in the parched north, it has also peeled back layers of history.
--:-- Host: Archaeologists have discovered 40 ancient tombs after water levels in the country's largest reservoir fell to their lowest this year.
--:-- Host: Here's our Middle East regional editor, Mike Thompson.
--:-- Mike Thompson: Around five years of consecutive droughts have blighted Iraq's agricultural land and caused numerous power cuts during the sweltering summer months.
--:-- Mike Thompson: But now they've actually been a help to archaeologists.
--:-- Mike Thompson: A team working in the northern Dahuk province had spotted parts of the tombs two years ago but couldn't access the site because much of it was underwater.
--:-- Mike Thompson: Now, in one of the driest years since 1933, with water reserves down to just 8% of capacity, the burial site is both fully exposed and accessible.
--:-- Host: Well, Krupa Paddy spoke to Paola Sconzo, Associate Professor of Archaeology of Western Asia at the University of Palermo in Italy, who monitors sites across the Mosul Reservoir and was part of that team which discovered the ancient tombs.
--:-- Paola Sconzo: For us archaeologists, yes, it's quite exciting.
--:-- Paola Sconzo: I mean, not just the discovery of the cemetery, but the discovery is the fact that so many archaeological sites, features and also villages, which we thought that disappeared for good in 1988 when the Mosul Dam was built, are actually reappearing, sometimes cyclically, sometimes also periodically, because of the changing level of the lake.
--:-- Paola Sconzo: You talked about the water levels rising again and the risks that come with that.
--:-- Paola Sconzo: Just explain to us both the opportunities and challenges which are created when drought opens up windows like this for archaeologists?
--:-- Paola Sconzo: Actually, for the people of Iraq and for people of the Kurdistan region, these droughts which bring the lake to recedes are very difficult because, I mean, they are living of the water of the lake.
--:-- Paola Sconzo: But of course, for us, for archaeologists, it's incredible because Tigris and Euphrates is where the area of the Fertile Crescent is an area which was fully and livery populated from the Neolithic to, I mean, present time and the construction of dams, which is not just the Mosul Dam but also the dams in Turkey the Liso Dam and also the dams which were constructed in Syria have inundated and destroyed thousands and thousands of archaeological sites features and also modern villages
--:-- Paola Sconzo: So the fact that sometimes the lake recedes and brings again to light all these sites is fantastic, is very challenging and important for us.
--:-- Paola Sconzo: Archaeologist Paola Sconzo.
--:-- Host: Still to come Are these seagulls or humans mimicking the birds in the latest seagull screeching competition? We'll tell you shortly
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--:-- Host: Climb a mountain or make your best effort.
--:-- Host: See thousands of stars in some of the darkest skies.
--:-- Host: Stake out haunted hotels.
--:-- Host: Can you make it to sunrise?
--:-- Host: There's always something new to see because we've got plenty of space to just be.
--:-- Host: Plan your trip at TravelNevada.com.
--:-- Host: Hi, I'm Cindy Crawford, and I'm the founder of Meaningful Beauty.
--:-- Host: Well, I don't know about you, but like I never liked being told, oh wow, you look so good for your age.
--:-- Host: Like why even bother saying that?
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--:-- Host: Meaningful Beauty, beautiful skin at every age.
--:-- Host: Learn more at MeaningfulBeauty.com.
--:-- Host: According to a nationwide survey conducted by GeneSight, nearly 9 in 10 Americans who've been diagnosed with depression or anxiety believe that mental health medications are somewhat or very effective.
--:-- Host: However, despite that belief, more than half of those individuals say they have avoided taking medication due to concerns about potential side effects.
--:-- Host: That's why Dr. Whitney Brown, a family and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner based in Alabama, often recommends genetic testing to our patients as part of their treatment journey.
--:-- Dr. Whitney Brown: As part of my treatment plan, I offer the GeneSightTest, which analyzes how a patient's genes may influence how they metabolize or respond to certain mental health medications.
--:-- Dr. Whitney Brown: It gives me insights and takes out some of the guesswork that can be associated with prescribing them.
--:-- Dr. Whitney Brown: If you or someone you love is facing challenges with depression or anxiety, Talk to your doctor about how genetic testing may help.
--:-- Dr. Whitney Brown: To learn more, visit genesight.com.
--:-- Host: That's genesight.com.
--:-- Host: As Europe faces the threat of increasing Russian aggression, Norway has agreed a $13 billion deal for anti-submarine warships that will be built in the UK and will see the two countries carrying out joint patrols.
--:-- Host: In its largest ever military procurement, Norway will buy at least five British frigates that will primarily be built in Scotland by BAE Systems.
--:-- Host: Under the agreement, the UK and Norway will operate a combined fleet of eight British anti-submarine frigates and five Norwegian ones.
--:-- Host: The British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, welcomed the deal, which will be a major boost for the British defence industry.
--:-- Host: Our World News correspondent, Jo Inwood, reports.
--:-- Jo Inwood: It's not only the UK that views Russian submarines in the North Sea as a major strategic threat.
--:-- Jo Inwood: Norway's purchase of five British-built frigates, specifically designed to detect, track and, if necessary, defeat hostile submarines, is a mark of not only how seriously both countries take the issue, but also of the closeness of their alliance.
--:-- Jo Inwood: Luke Pollard is the Armed Forces Minister and welcomed the deal.
--:-- Luke Pollard: This is the biggest British warship deal in history.
--:-- Luke Pollard: It's a huge vote of confidence in British workers and the British defence industry, securing 4,000 jobs for the next 15 years and beyond.
--:-- Jo Inwood: Once they're all on the water, sometime in the 2030s, the combined fleet will have 13 frigates, 8 British and 5 Norwegian.
--:-- Jo Inwood: In winning the contract to build the ships, the UK beat rival bids from Germany, France and the United States.
--:-- Jo Inwood: Norway's Prime Minister, Junis Garstøre, said there were two reasons for the choice.
--:-- Junis Garstøre: We have given two basic questions. We have asked two fundamental questions.
--:-- Junis Garstøre: Who is the best strategic partner for Norway when purchasing new frigates?
--:-- Junis Garstøre: And can the country that is the best partner for us deliver a competitive frigate?
--:-- Junis Garstøre: The answer to the first question is the United Kingdom.
--:-- Junis Garstøre: And the answer to the second is yes.
--:-- Junis Garstøre: Overall, this is the best frigate for Norway.
--:-- Jo Inwood: Kirstama said it was an historic moment for European security.
--:-- Jo Inwood: one that showed the extent to which Russia's invasion of Ukraine had led to the rearming of the continent.
--:-- Jo Inwood: Joe Inwood.
--:-- Host: The Trump administration has repeatedly accused the largely public-funded broadcaster Voice of America of being radical and a waste of taxpayers' money.
--:-- Host: Now it's moving to fire most of its remaining journalists.
--:-- Host: More than 500 employees have been told they'll lose their jobs.
--:-- Host: The decision is being challenged in the courts.
--:-- Host: Patsy Widakuswara has until now been the Voice of America's White House bureau chief and told us that she believes it's part of an erosion of press freedom in the United States.
--:-- Patsy Widakuswara: I think it's quite clear that press freedom in the United States is under attack, not just what's happening with us, with Voice of America, but also our colleagues, public broadcasters such as public radio, NPR and then PBS, as well as private stations.
--:-- Patsy Widakuswara: they're also under attack from the White House.
--:-- Patsy Widakuswara: And if you just look at any White House briefing, you see a lot of very right-wing influencers and outlets that it would be a stretch to call them journalists who are being given the opportunity to be there rather than AP and Reuters and other wires who are being pushed aside.
--:-- Patsy Widakuswara: There's a lot of our colleagues who are in the U.S.
--:-- Patsy Widakuswara: They're on what's called a J-1 visa, right?
--:-- Patsy Widakuswara: And so now that they're no longer employed with us, they have to go back to their home countries.
--:-- Patsy Widakuswara: and they are at risk of being harmed.
--:-- Patsy Widakuswara: We're also concerned about our stringers who work in various places around the world who are anti-U.S., and these people can no longer find jobs because they have worked for VOA.
--:-- Patsy Widakuswara: So it's just really sad to think about how these journalists in the past, they have been targeted by authoritarian regimes, and we have been the ones, like the United States have been the ones standing up for them, and now the United States is the one targeting them.
--:-- Patsy Widakuswara: Patsy Widakuswara.
--:-- Host: For decades, millions of people with heart disease have been advised by their doctors to take a low dose of aspirin every day to reduce their risk of heart attacks and strokes.
--:-- Host: But a study due to be presented on Monday to a meeting of the European Society of Cardiology and the World Congress of Cardiology in Madrid suggests that another blood thinner could be more effective
--:-- Host: Peter Goffin reports
--:-- Peter Goffin: Thinning the blood was always the goal
--:-- Peter Goffin: Coronary heart disease which affects an estimated 250 million people worldwide is caused by a buildup of fatty material along a person artery walls
--:-- Peter Goffin: That can cause blood clots and slow or even stop the flow of blood to the heart, which can lead to a heart attack.
--:-- Peter Goffin: Aspirin is a common, relatively inexpensive, over-the-counter pain reliever, but it also thins the blood, helping it pass through the arteries and prevent clotting.
--:-- Peter Goffin: But a new study, co-authored by medical researchers from universities and hospitals across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, found that daily use of the blood thinner clopidogrel could be even more effective.
--:-- Peter Goffin: They tracked nearly 29,000 heart disease patients and found that over an average of five and a half years, people who took clopidogrel were 14% less likely than those taking aspirin to suffer a heart attack, stroke, or death from a heart-related condition.
--:-- Peter Goffin: They also found that the risk of major bleeding, one of the most severe possible side effects of long-term aspirin use, was no greater with clopidogrel.
--:-- Peter Goffin: The chief scientific officer of the British Heart Foundation, Professor Brian Williams, who was not affiliated with the study, has said the findings are likely to affect which medications doctors prescribe to their patients.
--:-- Peter Goffin: Peter Goffin.
--:-- Host: Climate change is having an increasing impact on the number and the range of pests and diseases which trees and plants are exposed to.
--:-- Host: Rising temperatures are also allowing them to spread to new habitats.
--:-- Host: But there are signs of success in the fight against an eight-toothed beetle which eats growing Christmas trees.
--:-- Host: The spruce bark beetle has been devastating commercial forests around Europe and is increasingly found here in the UK.
--:-- Host: The pest is seen in the industry as enemy number one, as our climate editor Justin Rowlett reports.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: Two tree experts from the UK's Forest Research Agency, armed with binoculars, are scanning the spruce trees in a wood in Hampshire for the telltale signs of a rapacious predator.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: The Ips typographus beetle is tiny, the size of a large grain of rice, but they can destroy entire forests.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: This is what we've called our remote Ips trap.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: The idea is that it captures insects over a set period of time.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: We're on the country's first line of defence, a network of elaborate traps that stretch across southern England, an early warning system to alert the researchers to the beetles' presence in the UK.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: So you could show us now what you were looking for in the forest.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: And these are the galleries that the adults and the larvae produce, and eventually lots of these conjoined will girdle that tree and eventually kill it.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: but you've got to imagine this could be all up and down that tree.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: It's incredibly extensive.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: Dr Max Blake of the Forest Research Agency is showing me a piece of bark from an infested spruce tree.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: Tiny tunnels dug by the beetle larvae scour the inside of the bark.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: The actual insects themselves are in here, so when we get one of those trap samples that we looked at earlier on, this is what the clean version of that looks like.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: So they're actually tiny, aren't they?
--:-- Justin Rowlett: They're really, really small.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: And it's extraordinary that such little things can do so much damage.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: There's thousands and thousands of them, potentially millions, on these individual trees.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: So that many of them can easily, easily kill them.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: The beetles are blown across the channel and can quickly take hold in the UK, especially as climate change drives up temperatures, allowing them to breed more than once in a year.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: Having two generations of beetles massively increases the potential for damage to healthy trees in the UK.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: So typically, each generation of beetles is going to produce about 60 larvae.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: So, hold on, two could have 60 and then they could all have another 60.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: So we're talking 3,600 from two in a single year.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: Yes.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: So this is explosive population growth.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: Yeah, it can be. It can be enormous.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: And year on year you can get this very, very rapid build-up in the natural environment.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: Drones are used to detect infested trees.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: Spruce trees are Ipsi's favourite.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: it. They're often used as Christmas trees, but they also make up over half of the UK's commercial timber.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: If it spreads, it will change how our forests look, as well as costing up to £3 billion a year, the government warns.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: And it's just one of many threats that need to be tracked, says Andrea Deal of the Forest Research Agency.
--:-- Andrea Deal: Climate change is an important consideration in terms of expanding pest and diseases, natural range and so forth.
--:-- Andrea Deal: So we can see different types of pests and diseases more able to establish in different places than they might have done in the past.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: The team have some new recruits, dogs.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: They've been trained to sniff out the beetles in cut wood.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: Once infestations have been identified, the trees and the beetles within them can be destroyed.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: And the effort appears to be working.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: The researchers are finding increasing numbers of beetles in the UK, but they are not taking hold.
--:-- Justin Rowlett: That report by Justin Rolat.
--:-- Host: An 11-year-old boy who gained worldwide fame for his seagull mimicking skills has been back in the spotlight this weekend.
--:-- Host: Cooper Wallace was the guest of honour at the first ever Western Super Mayor's Seagull Screeching Championship in the southwest of England.
--:-- Host: Judith Ecott has the story.
--:-- Judith Ecott: Seagull Boy became an overnight sensation, aged just nine when he won the European Goal Screeching Contest in 2024.
--:-- Judith Ecott: Today, the seagull enthusiast became head judge for two competitions in Western Supermare, one for under-12s and the other for teenagers and adults.
--:-- Judith Ecott: Speaking to the BBC, he was clear what he'd be looking for.
--:-- Judith Ecott: The pitch, the volume of it, and then how they act like a seagull, basically.
--:-- Judith Ecott: People in the seaside town flocked to the event at a shopping centre near the pier.
--:-- Judith Ecott: One local could barely contain his excitement.
--:-- Judith Ecott: It's not very often we get an event as prestigious as the Seagull Championships in Weston.
--:-- Judith Ecott: Couldn't miss it.
--:-- Judith Ecott: In the end, only four people entered the main event, although the standard was high.
--:-- Judith Ecott: with local Scott Milton taking the title.
--:-- Judith Ecott: Next up were the children.
--:-- Judith Ecott: With three-year-old Miles awarded top spot.
--:-- Judith Ecott: Dressed for the occasion, as he often is in a white fluffy seagull costume, Cooper Wallace said he'd had an absolute whale of a time.
--:-- Judith Ecott: Something to crow about.
--:-- Judith Ecott: That report by Judith Ecott.
--:-- Host: America is changing. And so is the world.
--:-- Host: But what's happening in America isn't just a cause of global upheaval.
--:-- Host: It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere.
--:-- Host: I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, D.C.
--:-- Host: I'm Tristan Redman in London.
--:-- Host: And this is The Global Story.
--:-- Host: 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.
