--:-- Nick Miles: 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.
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--:-- Nick Miles: Go on, get a little out there, into the big heart of Nevada, where you can go off-road and off the map, on two lakes or on horseback. Dip into hot springs and dive into deserts. Climb a mountain or make your best effort.
--:-- TravelNevada: See thousands of stars in some of the darkest skies. Stake out haunted hotels. Can you make it to sunrise? There's always something new to see because we've got plenty of space to just be. Plan your trip at TravelNevada.com.
--:-- Nick Miles: This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Nick Miles and in the early hours of Saturday the 2nd of August, these are our main stories.
--:-- Nick Miles: President Trump has told the US military to reposition two nuclear submarines in response to what he called foolish and inflammatory comments by Russia's former leader, Dmitry Medvedev.
--:-- Nick Miles: Mr Trump has ordered the sacking of the head of the US Bureau of Labour Statistics after it published disappointing job figures.
--:-- Nick Miles: Reports from northern Burkina Faso say attacks by jihadists have left dozens of people dead, including soldiers and civilians.
--:-- Nick Miles: Also in this podcast...
--:-- Nick Miles: From a biological perspective, there's no limit. So once the embryos are frozen, all cellular activity stops. They're stored in a sort of a suspended animation state.
--:-- Nick Miles: We hear about what some are calling the world's oldest baby from an embryo that was frozen 30 years ago. We begin in the United States.
--:-- Nick Miles: President Trump has responded to strident comments by the former Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, by saying that he will reposition two US nuclear submarines in what he called appropriate regions.
--:-- Nick Miles: But Mr Trump did not say if he was referring to nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed submarines, or what regions he was talking about.
--:-- Nick Miles: We just have to be careful. And a threat was made, and we didn't think it was appropriate, so I have to be very careful.
--:-- Nick Miles: So I do that on the basis of safety for our people. A threat was made by a former president of Russia, and we're going to protect our people.
--:-- Nick Miles: The threat President Trump was referring to came in the form of those comments from Dmitry Medvedev, who said Mr. Trump was playing the ultimatum game with Russia by insisting on a ceasefire in Ukraine by August the 8th.
--:-- Nick Miles: He said that such an approach could lead to a war involving the United States and Russia.
--:-- Nick Miles: Arandoy Mukherjee is our correspondent in Washington.
--:-- Arandoy Mukherjee: President Trump, importantly, didn't say where he was moving these submarines to and whether they were nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed.
--:-- Arandoy Mukherjee: It's an important distinction because repositioning these doesn't really matter because they can still hit targets from thousands of miles away.
--:-- Nick Miles: Now, he said this was in response to what he called foolish and inflammatory statements made by Dmitry Medvedev, with whom he had recently been involved in a series of personal attacks on social media.
--:-- Nick Miles: But this has been viewed as a major escalation in rhetoric between Moscow and the US, something that we've not seen so far.
--:-- Nick Miles: Dmitry Medvedev is the deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council and perceived to be close to President Vladimir Putin, but he's always been a Western critic.
--:-- Nick Miles: So it's interesting that he's making these statements.
--:-- Nick Miles: But a day earlier, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in an interview to Fox, played down threats from Dmitry Medvedev, saying he wasn't a decision maker or even an important player.
--:-- Nick Miles: Well, this all comes just a few days before Steve Witkoff, the US envoy, who's also involved in the situation in Gaza, of course, is due to travel to Moscow.
--:-- Nick Miles: Remind us what his remit is going to be in Moscow. What do we expect from that?
--:-- Nick Miles: Well, the timing is very important, given that his visit will come as the deadline Donald Trump imposed is looming large.
--:-- Nick Miles: So the remit would be, as before, to try and convince the Kremlin to try and agree to a ceasefire, something that Donald Trump has been really pushing hard for.
--:-- Nick Miles: But given all of what we've seen so far, that is looking difficult.
--:-- Nick Miles: Moscow has shown no indication of complying with any of the threats that the Trump administration has issued so far.
--:-- Nick Miles: But those threats could be ramped up.
--:-- Nick Miles: Donald Trump has talked about secondary sanctions, which could hurt Moscow.
--:-- Nick Miles: Is that, as far as what we're seeing from Washington, likely now?
--:-- Nick Miles: Well, President Trump has been very clear about this, in fact, clearer than before.
--:-- Nick Miles: He said if a ceasefire is not arrived at, then he will be imposing severe tariffs on Russia.
--:-- Nick Miles: This would be a first for him since assuming office for his second term.
--:-- Nick Miles: He's also expressed skepticism about how much of an impact it may have, but also still said that he will be going ahead to impose those sanctions.
--:-- Nick Miles: He has also threatened sanctioning countries which have been buying from Russia, like oil, examples being countries like China and India.
--:-- Nick Miles: Arandoy Mukherjee in Washington.
--:-- Nick Miles: For an insight into how governments deploy nuclear submarines around the world, Celia Hatton spoke to James Acton, co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International peace in Washington.
--:-- James Acton: It's not serious. It's a bit sad, to be honest.
--:-- James Acton: You know, I just think it's sad that the President of the United States gets into a Twitter spat with a foreign leader and then has a bit of a tantrum online and throws around words involving nuclear weapons.
--:-- Nick Miles: I don't regard this as being serious. I regard this as being kind of faintly ridiculous, to be honest.
--:-- Nick Miles: And why so?
--:-- Nick Miles: I mean, any mention of the deployment of nuclear submarines is sure to attract attention.
--:-- Nick Miles: Oh, of course it is. And that I think is the whole point to try to attract attention.
--:-- Nick Miles: There's no question about that.
--:-- Nick Miles: Look, I'm somebody that worries quite a lot about nuclear weapons.
--:-- Nick Miles: So it's quite unusual for me to be on the radio saying that I'm not concerned about something.
--:-- Nick Miles: But, you know, the United States has four or five submarines armed with hundreds of nuclear warheads at sea on a day-to-day basis.
--:-- Nick Miles: We have no idea whether Trump's tweet has actually led to any kind of concrete change in the US nuclear force posture.
--:-- Nick Miles: But the US and Russia are not at loggerheads right now.
--:-- Nick Miles: They're not about to go to nuclear war with one another.
--:-- Nick Miles: I don't think we should invest Trump's tweet with that level of seriousness.
--:-- Nick Miles: I think we should recognize it for what it is, which is, to be honest, as I've said, a bit sad and ridiculous, to be frank.
--:-- Nick Miles: And Mr. Medvedev is a hawk, isn't he?
--:-- Nick Miles: He says a lot on social media.
--:-- Nick Miles: He does. He does.
--:-- Nick Miles: And, you know, I think he's baiting President Trump.
--:-- Nick Miles: President Trump has fallen for the bait.
--:-- Nick Miles: He's allowed himself to be goaded in this way.
--:-- Nick Miles: I think it's a very bad sign of the state of the world right now that we have leaders engaging with one another on social media this way.
--:-- Nick Miles: You know, I think as an exemplar of that broad trend, I find this pretty depressing.
--:-- Nick Miles: But I don't think this signals that nuclear war is imminent or anything remotely like that.
--:-- Nick Miles: And what does this tell us about the US-Russia relationship at the moment?
--:-- Nick Miles: Well, look, I think you have to look at the US-Russia relationship holistically.
--:-- Nick Miles: You know, Trump has always had a very soft spot for Putin.
--:-- Nick Miles: I've seen nothing in his behavior over the last six months that suggests that that soft spot has gone away, even if in some ways Trump has become to talk more harshly about Putin.
--:-- Nick Miles: You know, the bilateral relationship clearly isn't good, largely as in no small part because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
--:-- Nick Miles: But neither do I think the two sides are about to go to war with one another.
--:-- Nick Miles: James Acton from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.
--:-- Nick Miles: On the campaign trail, Donald Trump regularly touted poll numbers when they were good for him and denounced ones that were bad as faulty or fake.
--:-- Nick Miles: Now back in the White House, the US president appears to be applying that same attitude to government-managed economic data.
--:-- Nick Miles: A report released today shows jobs growth in the US in May June and July slowed more sharply than previously understood.
--:-- Nick Miles: A worrying sign for the economy.
--:-- Nick Miles: Not long after the announcement President Trump ordered the sacking of the head of the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
--:-- Michelle Fleury: Look, we got a weaker than expected jobs report and that has raised fresh questions about the strength of the US economy.
--:-- Michelle Fleury: It's not clear if the two are directly linked, but obviously the fact that you've got the president talking on social media about how strong the US economy is doing and then going on to fire the person that compiled the data, obviously it's hard not to draw a link.
--:-- Nick Miles: He also started to talk about the idea that this person who was appointed by Biden may have manipulated data in the past to try and help Kamala Harris in her presidential bid in 2025.
--:-- Nick Miles: That is unproven, but that didn't stop that from sort of circulating.
--:-- Nick Miles: And so here we find ourselves now with the head of the agency that compiles the data on jobs being let go without any apparent sort of specific cause, or at least as Democrat Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said, what does a bad leader do when they get bad news? Shoot the messenger.
--:-- Michelle Fleury: What about reaction on the market to this? How have they taken it?
--:-- Michelle Fleury: Well, it came late in the trading session and there was already a pretty tough day, in part because of that weak jobs report, but also you had the new tariff rates that were unveiled by the president.
--:-- Michelle Fleury: And so it sort of led to the kind of sell-off continuing.
--:-- Nick Miles: I think it'll take some time as investors try to kind of digest what has happened.
--:-- Nick Miles: But the immediate reaction, the anecdotal reaction, was one of shock and surprise, in part because statistical data, investors rely on it to make business decisions.
--:-- Nick Miles: So if it starts to get politicised, what will that do in the long run, both for their decision-making process and for the quality of the data, the fear being that if your boss is not going to be happy going forward with the reports you produced, will they try and skew the results?
--:-- Nick Miles: Michelle Fleury, as we record this podcast, there are emerging reports from the north of Burkina Faso of two attacks that have left dozens of people dead, including soldiers, jihadist fighters and civilians.
--:-- Will Ross: Security sources say there was a large scale attack on an army base in Dargo in Burkina Faso's north central region.
--:-- Will Ross: Several dozen soldiers and Islamist militants died during Monday's battle.
--:-- Nick Miles: On the same day, a supply convoy under a military escort was ambushed between the towns of Dori and Gorom Gorom.
--:-- Nick Miles: Soldiers were killed and a transport official said 20 lorry drivers died in the attack.
--:-- Nick Miles: The insecurity is getting worse in Burkina Faso and the al-Qaeda-linked group JNIM is behind much of the violence.
--:-- Will Ross: With the ever-changing front lines in the Ukraine conflict, there is a constant danger for troops on the ground getting caught behind enemy lines.
--:-- Nick Miles: Well, a stranded and injured Ukrainian soldier has found a remarkable way to escape, delivered from the sky.
--:-- Nick Miles: Our correspondent Joe Inwood reports.
--:-- Joe Inwood: Filmed through a drone's camera, a man in a field holds up his arms as an e-bike is slowly lowered to the ground.
--:-- Joe Inwood: It is a Ukrainian soldier, injured alone and surrounded by Russian forces in the Donbass.
--:-- Nick Miles: The footage, which was released by Ukraine's Rubij Brigade, shows what they say is surely one of the most extraordinary rescue operations of the war in Ukraine.
--:-- Joe Inwood: The soldier, callsign tanker, described the moment it was lowered down.
--:-- Joe Inwood: The ropes were tangled in the wheels a bit, he said.
--:-- Joe Inwood: I could not start riding at first, it didn't work.
--:-- Joe Inwood: But eventually, with God's help, I managed and went on.
--:-- Nick Miles: But his ordeal was not over.
--:-- Joe Inwood: After riding about halfway to safety, he hit a landmine, destroying the bike.
--:-- Joe Inwood: He limped the last few hundred metres, eventually being met by a rescue party.
--:-- Nick Miles: The war in Ukraine has seen remarkable innovations in the use of drone technology.
--:-- Nick Miles: They have transformed the battlefield.
--:-- Nick Miles: But they are usually used to take lives, not to save them.
--:-- Joe Inwood: Now to what's being called the world's oldest baby.
--:-- Nick Miles: Thaddeus Daniel Pierce was born last week in the US state of Ohio from a donated embryo that was originally frozen and stored back in 1994.
--:-- Nick Miles: It sets a new record and means that at the time his embryo was first stored, his now non-biological parents, Tim and Lizzie Pierce, would have been toddlers themselves.
--:-- Nick Miles: Tim Child is a professor of reproductive health at Oxford University here in the UK.
--:-- Tim Child: I asked him how it all works.
--:-- Tim Child: When people go through an IVF cycle, the woman having treatment will have a couple of weeks of injections to stimulate the ovaries.
--:-- Tim Child: It's followed by an egg collection.
--:-- Tim Child: The eggs are then mixed with sperm in the lab to make embryos.
--:-- Tim Child: And these embryos are then cultured on for a few days.
--:-- Tim Child: And then normally a fresh embryo would be transferred to her uterus.
--:-- Tim Child: But often there are spare embryos left over, which can be frozen or cryopreserved for later use.
--:-- Tim Child: And they're stored in liquid nitrogen tanks.
--:-- Nick Miles: And then at some point when usually the couple who made the embryos want to use them, the embryos are then taken out one by one and thawed and then placed into her uterus.
--:-- Nick Miles: So this happens and it could go on as it has in this case for decades.
--:-- Nick Miles: Is there a limit on the number of years that embryos can be stored and why is there a limit?
--:-- Nick Miles: From a biological perspective there's no limit.
--:-- Nick Miles: So once the embryos are frozen, all cellular activity stops.
--:-- Nick Miles: So they're stored in a sort of a suspended animation state.
--:-- Nick Miles: And it's really the risks in terms of these embryos is more about at the time of freezing and at the time of thawing is when sometimes they might not survive.
--:-- Nick Miles: But the actual bit in between potentially could go on forever.
--:-- Nick Miles: And this world-oldest baby, Thaddeus Daniel Pierce, that wonderful name, he's set a record as a newborn for the longest time an embryo has been in this state of freezing before it was thawed out.
--:-- Nick Miles: Will he and other babies who've been born in that way be monitored in a different way for the potential long-term effects on the body?
--:-- Nick Miles: Well, reassuringly, there have been studies looking at whether there are any ill effects to children who may now be adults who are born from whether it's fresh IVF embryos or frozen IVF embryos.
--:-- Nick Miles: And people have also looked to see for longer duration of freezing, is that linked to a detrimental effect?
--:-- Nick Miles: And reassuringly, it doesn't appear to, but obviously there is a limit on how many years these embryos have been frozen.
--:-- Nick Miles: But in terms of long term follow up of children born from IVF fresh or frozen embryos, that really depends on the country.
--:-- Nick Miles: So in different countries, there will be different types of long term studies.
--:-- Nick Miles: I wouldn't say routinely that all people born from fertility treatments are routinely followed up more so during their life than other people.
--:-- Nick Miles: Now, there's a psychological impact of this potentially as well.
--:-- Nick Miles: If you're adopted, for example, you can track your biological parents when you reach the age of 18 in most countries.
--:-- Nick Miles: But that doesn't necessarily follow if, let's say, you come from an embryo that's been stored for decades and decades.
--:-- Nick Miles: Your biological parents may well be dead before you are born.
--:-- Nick Miles: The potential psychological impact of that could be worrying, damaging?
--:-- Nick Miles: Well, that varies from country to country.
--:-- Nick Miles: So in the UK, the law is very clear that anyone who is born from donated egg sperm or embryos can trace the genetic parents when the child is 18 years old.
--:-- Nick Miles: Now, in other countries, it is not necessarily in place.
--:-- Nick Miles: So, for instance, if we have patients who are perhaps looking to go abroad to receive donor egg sperm or embryos, one of the things we say to them is they need to be clear about the different regulatory environment that will exist in some countries and perhaps children that they have will not be able to trace who donated the egg sperm or embryos.
--:-- Nick Miles: Tim Child from Oxford University.
--:-- Nick Miles: Still to come.
--:-- Nick Miles: South Africa is home to the world's largest rhino population and according to conservation groups more than 400 are poached every year.
--:-- Nick Miles: Now a campaign is taking place in the country to save the rhinos from poachers by making the animals horns radioactive.
--:-- Nick Miles: See thousands of stars in some of the darkest skies. Stake out haunted hotels. Can you make it to sunrise?
--:-- Nick Miles: There's always something new to see because we've got plenty of space to just be. Plan your trip at TravelNevada.com.
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--:-- Cindy Crawford: Well, I don't know about you, but I never liked being told, oh, wow, you look so good for your age.
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--:-- Nick Miles: 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.
--:-- Nick Miles: However, despite that belief, more than half of those individuals say they have avoided taking medication due to concerns about potential side effects.
--:-- Nick Miles: 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 GeneSight test, 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.
--:-- Nick Miles: If you or someone you love is facing challenges with depression or anxiety, talk to your doctor about how genetic testing may help.
--:-- Nick Miles: To learn more, visit genesight.com.
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--:-- Nick Miles: Next to Gaza, and President Trump says he wants to help the people of the territory to live following a visit by his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, to a controversial US and Israeli-backed aid site.
--:-- Nick Miles: Mr. Trump said he would announce a new humanitarian plan to improve food supplies in Gaza after getting feedback from his envoy.
--:-- Nick Miles: Gazans have denounced Steve Witkoff's visit.
--:-- Nick Miles: One Palestinian told our Gaza correspondent that it was a hollow media stunt, not a humanitarian mission.
--:-- Nick Miles: The UN has described the aid system run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation as a death trap.
--:-- Nick Miles: It says around 1,400 Palestinians have been killed seeking food since late May, with the majority shot dead by Israeli forces near GHF distribution facilities.
--:-- Nick Miles: Israel accuses Hamas of instigating chaos near the sites.
--:-- Nick Miles: We'll examine some of those arguments in a moment.
--:-- Nick Miles: But first, this report from John Donison in Jerusalem.
--:-- John Donison: Donald Trump's man in the Middle East rolled into Gaza under Israeli escort to see for himself what the president has called real starvation.
--:-- John Donison: Steve Witkoff visited the much-criticised GHF aid distribution sites, but it's not clear how many Palestinians he spoke to.
--:-- John Donison: Out looking for food, Mohamed Diab had these words for the American envoy.
--:-- John Donison: I send a message to US officials and to Witkoff. End these things completely.
--:-- John Donison: Stop the war entirely. We don't want aid here.
--:-- John Donison: We come and get humiliated and shot at.
--:-- John Donison: We are humiliated just for a loaf of bread.
--:-- Nick Miles: Amid the chaos to get their hands on aid, the UN says over 1,300 Gazans have been killed in the last two months, more than 850 of them allegedly shot by the Israeli military at the US-run GHF sites.
--:-- Nick Miles: A boy was reportedly killed by an Israeli sniper at the Shakush site in southern Gaza.
--:-- Nick Miles: It is Gaza's children who are most vulnerable to starvation and 10-year-old Dima, playing with her friends, had this message for the Americans.
--:-- Nick Miles: Children are dying from hunger.
--:-- Nick Miles: Men walk towards death just to bring us food and water.
--:-- Nick Miles: And we're dying.
--:-- Nick Miles: Limited aid is now getting in, but the UN says it's nowhere near enough.
--:-- Nick Miles: And there's no ceasefire either.
--:-- Nick Miles: The health ministry in Gaza says at least 10 people were killed in a strike on a tent encampment in the so-called safe humanitarian zone.
--:-- John Donison: John Donison reporting.
--:-- Nick Miles: Our international editor Jeremy Bowen is also in Jerusalem.
--:-- Jeremy Bowen: He told us what impact Steve Witkoff's visit to Gaza might have.
--:-- Jeremy Bowen: I might confirm some of the things that the Americans are saying to themselves about the GHF being a success.
--:-- Jeremy Bowen: He may stick with Netanyahu's narrative on that.
--:-- Jeremy Bowen: I think that as a VIP visiting the place, he probably had a very one-eyed view of what was going on there.
--:-- Jeremy Bowen: He didn't see any of the other scenes.
--:-- Jeremy Bowen: Remember something very important.
--:-- Jeremy Bowen: Every parachute you see with aid attached to it comes from an aircraft that each aircraft, which are very expensive to run, carries less than a big lorry.
--:-- Jeremy Bowen: The UN saying that the only way to deal with the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, apart from, of course, having a ceasefire, is to open the gates and allow in hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of trucks.
--:-- Jeremy Bowen: And airdrops simply don't do that.
--:-- Jeremy Bowen: The British government believes that the Gaza humanitarian foundation model of giving out aid is discredited because it's not effective in getting aid to the people who need it.
--:-- Jeremy Bowen: And of course, so many people have been killed, both by the IDF, the Israeli military, and by the American mercenaries who work for GHF while they've been trying to get it.
--:-- Nick Miles: Hundreds of protesters in Syria's predominantly Druze province of Sueda are demanding the withdrawal of government forces after deadly sectarian violence there last month.
--:-- Mike Thompson: 1,400 people were reportedly killed in the clashes that broke out last month in Syria's southern Zueda province between Druze militia and Bedouin tribesmen.
--:-- Mike Thompson: Government forces were sent in to stop the violence, but Druze people claim they sided with the largely Sunni Muslim Bedouins and summarily executed Druze civilians.
--:-- Nick Miles: Protesters in the majority Druze province are demanding that the remaining forces leave.
--:-- Mike Thompson: The government says a committee has been set up to investigate the claims and will report back within the next three months.
--:-- Nick Miles: Mike Thompson.
--:-- Nick Miles: Lots of people around the world have now returned to the office, but more than 900 million of us still work remotely at least some of the time.
--:-- Nick Miles: The question is, is that good value for money?
--:-- Nick Miles: Research here in the UK suggests broadband activity dips significantly between three o'clock and five o'clock on Friday afternoons.
--:-- Nick Miles: It sounds rather suspicious.
--:-- Paddy O'Connell: It had just gone three when I arrived in this park.
--:-- Paddy O'Connell: And what struck me was how many people are on a screen whether they working or not in this beautiful park which recently rained people are all staring at a screen now the people who weren't sitting on this bench told me that i'd caught them out because one of them regularly works from the park or cafe you got me hang on it's 10 past three are you working from home?
--:-- Paddy O'Connell: Well, technically, no.
--:-- Paddy O'Connell: Like, it's more Monday, Thursday, nine to five, and then Fridays, it's like till one.
--:-- Paddy O'Connell: But do you think people are knocking off early?
--:-- Paddy O'Connell: Yeah.
--:-- Paddy O'Connell: I honestly think it depends on the person.
--:-- Paddy O'Connell: Some people do stay till five. Some people don't.
--:-- Paddy O'Connell: Is it a problem?
--:-- Paddy O'Connell: I think if you get the work done and you're like on top of deadlines, then no.
--:-- Paddy O'Connell: I think if you don't, then yes.
--:-- Nick Miles: There's a survey that says that broadband use drops by 8% after three on a Friday.
--:-- Paddy O'Connell: They're putting this down to people who are knocking off early and I'm wondering if you think that's happening.
--:-- Paddy O'Connell: I'm certainly more productive at home than I am in the office I find so I prefer it myself but I can see in some jobs maybe that people would maybe take the mickey.
--:-- Paddy O'Connell: Would you be surprised that some people knock off early?
--:-- Paddy O'Connell: I wouldn't be surprised.
--:-- Paddy O'Connell: By any chance are you working from home now with your dog?
--:-- Paddy O'Connell: I'm just about to go home to work but I will be working till about eight o'clock tonight yes.
--:-- Paddy O'Connell: So if you were to take a work email here, would that be working from home whilst throwing a ball for the spaniel?
--:-- Paddy O'Connell: No, I wouldn't consider that working.
--:-- Nick Miles: Paddy O'Connell reporting.
--:-- Isabel Berwick: Is she surprised that people are clocking off at three?
--:-- Isabel Berwick: No, it doesn't surprise me at all.
--:-- Isabel Berwick: But actually, quite a lot of firms do sanction it.
--:-- Isabel Berwick: We've seen a lot of firms over the summer, you know, including big consulting firms, including KPMG, for example, saying on a Friday at 1pm, you can take the afternoon off if you've met your targets.
--:-- Isabel Berwick: I think that's the crucial thing.
--:-- Isabel Berwick: And, you know, the FT reported yesterday that the average cost of a nanny in London is now more than £50,000 a year.
--:-- Isabel Berwick: So any relief with childcare costs is going to be very welcome.
--:-- Isabel Berwick: And there are some employers that are allowing people to work from home in August, particularly for that reason.
--:-- Isabel Berwick: So I think there are some really enlightened employers out there.
--:-- Isabel Berwick: Actually, a better measure of productivity is your output.
--:-- Isabel Berwick: And I think more enlightened companies are thinking about that.
--:-- Isabel Berwick: You know, if you get your work done, you can be more flexible.
--:-- Isabel Berwick: But there are people telling me there are companies that are now requiring people to go to the office on Friday and Monday to make sure no one takes a long weekend.
--:-- Isabel Berwick: Bosses are often not trusting.
--:-- Isabel Berwick: There's a huge gulf between how productive workers think they are at home and how productive their managers think they are.
--:-- Nick Miles: Now, it's a battle of power and of recognition.
--:-- Nick Miles: A growing number of women across Africa are aiming to change the traditionally male image of arm wrestling, and they're enjoying the benefits and opportunities that come with it.
--:-- Nick Miles: BBC Sport Africa's Emmanuel Akendubua has been to the Africa Arm Wrestling Championship in Abuja, Nigeria.
--:-- Emmanuel Akendubua: Muscles tensed, elbows rooted Two women steer each other out across a table This is the Africa Arm Wrestling Championship in Abuja, Nigeria This year's competition has seen a 47% rise in female contestants One of them is Rosemary Bota from South Africa One of the best things about arm wrestling is it's not a time-consuming sport unless you want to go to elite level.
--:-- Emmanuel Akendubua: On an amateur level, it really is something that just keeps you going, keeps you moving, makes you stronger.
--:-- Emmanuel Akendubua: Arm wrestling is a lifesaver for me.
--:-- Emmanuel Akendubua: My bone strength is good because I do the lifting of weights.
--:-- Nick Miles: From street corners to arenas across Africa, female arm wrestlers are changing the narrative about what strength and femininity really means.
--:-- Nick Miles: They are not just competing for medals, but putting up a show of confidence and self-expression.
--:-- Nick Miles: Referee Sandra Ndoku explains why.
--:-- Sandra Ndoku: Myself, I have defeated many men in arm wrestling.
--:-- Sandra Ndoku: Women should involve more.
--:-- Sandra Ndoku: It boosts their confidence.
--:-- Sandra Ndoku: You know, it makes you feel in charge.
--:-- Sandra Ndoku: You know, now I can stand here and speak because I am an arm wrestler.
--:-- Nick Miles: Arm wrestling is all about confidence and strength.
--:-- Nick Miles: Grace Mincha is a world arm wrestling champion.
--:-- Grace Mincha: She says competing has given her opportunities she'd never have otherwise had.
--:-- Grace Mincha: Arm wrestling has done a lot for me.
--:-- Grace Mincha: I've seen a lot of countries which I'm not even, I didn't even think of going there.
--:-- Grace Mincha: But arm wrestling, I've done a lot, I've gone far.
--:-- Nick Miles: And it's not just about physical strength, it's about mental strength too.
--:-- Nick Miles: Here's referee Sandra Undoku again.
--:-- Sandra Undoku: When the referee says, ready, go, if you're not mentally smart enough to move, the opponent will move before you and that will be a win.
--:-- Nick Miles: The sport made its debut at the African Games in 2024.
--:-- Nick Miles: But players like Winifred Ndidi, who's from Nigeria, say they wanted to go even bigger.
--:-- Winifred Ndidi: We are hoping to be a nice Olympic, nice Commonwealth.
--:-- Nick Miles: With that kind of conviction, Amrass Lin is sure to go from strength to strength for women in Africa.
--:-- Nick Miles: That report was by Emmanuel Akindumbua in Nigeria.
--:-- Nick Miles: Rhino horns are being injected with radioactive isotopes as part of a new anti-poaching campaign in South Africa.
--:-- Nick Miles: Scientists from the University of Vidwotasrand hope the process will allow customs officers to detect any smuggled horns as they're transported around the world.
--:-- Nick Miles: One member of the team said the technique was like putting a light inside the horn that no one can turn off.
--:-- Ed Habersham: South Africa is home to the world's largest rhino population and according to conservation groups, more than 400 are poached every year.
--:-- Ed Habersham: So a group of scientists at Witz University in Johannesburg turned to nuclear technology to put off poachers.
--:-- Ed Habersham: Six years in the making, the project came to a head in the last six months as scientists injected radioisotopes into the horns of 20 rhinos across two locations in South Africa.
--:-- Ed Habersham: The radiation can then be detected at transport hubs across the world, with the aim of discouraging would-be smugglers.
--:-- Nick Miles: Professor James Larkin is the lead scientist on the project.
--:-- James Larkin: We are piggybacking on an existing infrastructure that was put into place to prevent nuclear terrorism.
--:-- James Larkin: And the very same equipment that can prevent nuclear terrorism can be used to reduce if not eliminate wildlife traffic of rhino horn.
--:-- Nick Miles: Before launching the project, which was a collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency and cost just over £200,000, scientists made sure radiation levels were not harmful to the rhinos or to humans who might come close to the radioactive horns.
--:-- Nick Miles: The technique is now available to anyone who needs it and Professor Larkin hopes to be injecting his first horn within two months.
--:-- Nick Miles: Ed Habersham in South Africa.
--:-- Nick Miles: And that's all from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the Global News Podcast later.
--:-- Nick Miles: If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email.
--:-- Nick Miles: The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk.
--:-- Nick Miles: You can also find us on X at BBC World Service.
--:-- Nick Miles: Use the hashtag Global News Pod.
--:-- Nick Miles: This edition was mixed by Ricardo McCarthy.
--:-- Nick Miles: The producers were Lear McSheffrey and Paul Day.
--:-- Nick Miles: The editor is Karen Martin.
--:-- Nick Miles: I'm Nick Miles.
--:-- Nick Miles: And until next time, goodbye.
--:-- Nick Miles: And this is The Global Story.
--:-- Nick Miles: Every weekday, we'll bring you a story from this intersection, where the world and America meet.
--:-- Nick Miles: Listen on bbc.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
