Global News Podcast: Niger coup leaders close country's airspace

Hello, this is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service with reports and analysis

from across the world. The latest news seven days a week. BBC World Service podcasts are

supported by advertising. This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service.

I'm Valerie Sanderson and in the early hours of Monday the 7th of August these are our main

stories. Niger's military rulers closed the country's airspace after a deadline from regional leaders

threatening possible military action elapses. Rescue teams in Pakistan are trying to free

people trapped in the wreckage after a train derailment which left dozens dead. A BBC investigation

reveals shocking levels of mistreatment in a care home in Kenya. Many have died of hunger here.

They deny them lunch and dinner or because they don't make time to come and feed them.

Also in this podcast Donald Trump alleges he won't get a fair trial in a case of election fraud

because of the judge who he claims is highly partisan. And girl power rules as Barbie makes

a billion dollars, ensuring Greta Gerwig becomes the first solo female director to pass that milestone.

First to Niger where the leaders of last month's coups say they've closed the country's airspace

in response to the threat of military action against them. It comes after the passing of a

seven day deadline issued by the regional grouping ECOWAS which had called on the coup leaders to

restore the ousted president or face a possible intervention. Earlier thousands of people gathered

in the main stadium in Neame, the capital of Niger, in support of the coup leaders.

A reporter in Ketchi Agbonna is monitoring the situation from Lagos in neighbouring Nigeria.

At the end of the ultimatum we had expected a swift move of action or some mega announcement

but ECOWAS seems to be silent on what its next moves would be so we're yet to hear from the block

but earlier today pro-co supporters in Niger gathered at the stadium in Neame, the capital city

shantin anti-france slogans and cheering at the military junta leaders as they arrived to the arena.

And do we know if that was spontaneous or if these people were bussed in and this was arranged?

No we cannot confirm that but we do know that the pro supporters had been

brawling in the last three days in support of the coup leaders who today emphasised that

they were not backing down and they were not releasing power to ousted president Muhammad

Buzum who is still held hostage at the presidential palace. Within ECOWAS itself there are varying

views aren't there about how this crisis should be tackled? Exactly first off Ghana has said

it supports the move to restore democracy in Niger but it did not explicitly say if that move

would include the military option Ivory Coast and Senegal have said they would support a military

move if the need arises but Mali and Burkina Faso which are also currently led by military

officers who overtook democracy and forcefully ousted their respective presidents have joined

forces with Niger to say any military intervention on Niger would be met force with force but some

of Nigeria's lawmakers have said a military intervention in Niger would be detrimental

especially because of the border states that Nigeria has with Niger housing a lot of displaced

persons refugees and some of them are actually leaving in Niger owing to decade-long Islamist

and jihadist movements in that part of the country.

Well the BBC's Krupa Paddy managed to get through to a resident in Niger's capital Nihami.

People in Nihami they're not feeling good they are very anxious the situation is difficult

in the past week since the ECOWAS put the embargo on our country all the efforts made over the last

decade would be destroyed by the school the price or everything is going up and the population

cannot afford it people are not able to share their opinion freely if they do they get arrested

so they don't speak up because of fear when you are at home and you turn on the TV or you turn

on the radio locally what do you hear and what do you see the reporter they must support the

military nobody can speak freely people can't speak freely on the radio or television they are

foreign journalists and the reporter to support them that's what it is and are people going about

their day-to-day lives as normal I know you said that there is a fear yeah for now yeah yeah people

are going to go to job as normal but what you cannot do you cannot freely give your opinion

that's what it is if you don't support the military you need to stay home or to hide somewhere

what do you think will happen in the coming weeks or what's your biggest fear

I don't see any sign for them to back down and you know our country cannot support the

aqours embargo so that's mean if they don't back down the aqours don't have no choice but to

intervene military you cannot protest against the coup they're going to shut you down if you do

because remember the first time people did that the first day of the push they shot people

a resident in Niger's capital in the army speaking to krupapadi in southern pakistan an

operation is underway to rescue people still trapped in a railway carriage from an express train

that was derailed some 250 kilometers north of karachi at least 30 people died and dozens more

were injured when the hasare express crashed around a thousand people were on board the train

this man was taken to hospital out of being injured in the crash it was so sudden and we

were sitting comfortably until then we heard growling sounds and i gathered that the train

had derailed then a storm of dust spread then a berth fell on my head and there was blood

terubaska from the bbc urdu service in lahore told me war

approximately 10 compartments of the train derailed and there were a total of 19 so there's

a huge number that got stuck in this incident rescue teams are also struggling and because it's

a remote area according to officials they have somehow cleared 90 percent of the compartments

but they're still working on one compartment that is actually badly damaged and people are still

stuck in that compartment officials actually asked nearby districts to send heavy machinery so that

they can cut those heavy metal sheets of those compartments to take out people who are stuck

inside has it become clear why this express train derailed do we know yet what happened

initially the officials actually said that there might be two possibilities one is that

there can be a technical or mechanical issue and the other one is there might be some foreign hand

that actually deliberately tried to create this incident but now they're saying that it looks like

that there is a technical and mechanical fault and what do we know about the hasare express well

this is a train that takes passengers from karachi that is in synth province of pakistan

towards panjab that travels on daily basis and there have been questions raised by a lot of

people and authorities as well about infrastructure of pakistan railways because these tracks are

approximately 150 years old they don't have that capacity through which you know a high speed trains

can move on with excessive weight a bbc investigation into the care of the elderly in

kenya has uncovered the mistreatment and neglect of vulnerable residents to care home near the

country's capital nirobi the world health organization says life expectancy across africa

has increased by almost 10 years in the last two decades and kenyans like many others across the

continent often now look for outside help but even with kenyan government standards and guidelines

governing care homes there's a growing fear that in some cases the last thing that elderly people

are receiving is care and jerry moanga reports the number of elderly residents in kenyan care homes

is increasing but what kind of care are they really receiving bbc africa i began to hear

worrying stories about abuse of elderly residents at one home just outside nirobi the thogato care

home for the aged local media filmed here in 2020 i had no granny so close to me because my dad was

an orphan this is the manager jane gaturu presenting an image of a safe haven every old person is your

associate is your granny this facility which is home to around 50 residents was set up by the

women's guild of the local branch of the presbyterian church of east africa but is managed independently

during our investigation staff admits to abuse at the home we beat him and that's what comes him down

and our undercover footage shows one resident being hit with a stick after she's found wandering

outside the home's perimeter fence hit her on the buttocks our reporters found more

evidence of neglect here another man suffering from hand tremors explains that no one is helping him

to eat if i don't get some help i will sleep hungry what can i do one staff member alleges that this

lack of support has had deadly consequences many have died of hunger here they deny them lunch and

dinner or because they don't make time to come and feed them we also found evidence of medical

conditions being left untreated in secretly filmed footage an elderly man who we are calling moangi

is showing our undercover journalist parts of his body affected by a serious skin condition

i'm feeling pain too much too much i'm feeling like i'm burning despite his pain

moangi says he is not getting the care he needs and after two weeks without treatment

he tells our reporter that he is still in pain it is so painful especially when i bend like this

you really need to go to hospital when you talk to jane about it what does she say

she keeps promising that there are people coming but they never come we put the allegations to the

manager of the home jane gaturu she told us the home always observes the rule of law and does not

condone any form of brutality towards its residents those who struggle to eat are given priority

assistance and any allegations that medical attention is not provided are lies and malice

we also showed some of our secret filming to joseph motari the kenya government's

principal secretary responsible for social protection are you aware of homes that abuse

elderly people we are going to do sport checks on various private homes and see as to whether they

meet the standards that they should be having over a month after we first spoke to him moangi the

man with the skin condition did get treated in hospital with help from his family some of the

stories we heard were shocking and whilst good care facilities do exist in kenya are there many

other elderly people suffering silently in homes where there is neither care nor love and you can

find the film betrayed elderly care exposed on the bbc africa youtube channel the former u.s

president donald trump is making his feelings clear about officials involved in his case concerning

election fraud on his social media platform truth social donald trump says he'll be petitioning the

judge to step aside alleging he won't get a fair trial if she presides in the case he also attacked

the lead prosecutor and the department of justice which he described as highly partisan and very

corrupt on saturday prosecutors in washington asked a judge to issue an order which would limit

what mr trump can publicly discuss about his election fraud case including on his own social

media platform more details from north america correspondent shondily i mean it's quite extraordinary

we paraphrase slightly when we say he said he'll be petitioning because that sounds far more respectful

than the actual social media posts he's put out he says that there's no way he can get a fair trial

unless this judge recuses herself now he says that they'll be arguing this on what he describes

as powerful grounds the problem is for any defendant is that broadly judges and courts

likely legal arguments to be made in the court of law not the court of public opinion but in

reality donald trump is very much playing in that arena because again a point that his own lawyers

have made here is part of the issue and you have to concede there is a point in this the part of

the issue of the timing is that it's in the middle of political season while he's campaigning

to run for president of the united states it's a very nuanced thing it's certainly not likely to

go down too well with judge dritkin shondily staying in the united states the actress strike is entering

its fourth week and some of the biggest film stars including george cluney and meryl streep

have donated one million dollars each to support their out-of-work colleagues

it's a reminder that while many of the performers in hollywood are rich and famous the majority of

sag the screen actors guild members earn modest wages for small supporting or walk-on roles

tom brook reports from new york among those striking actors on picket lines in new york in

recent days was 29-year-old melissa rick hero she's been a working actor for the past six years

she's had jobs in commercials television and film she's one of america's 160 000 unionized actors

currently on strike the issue vets in her the most is how her real income has declined because of

streaming a few years ago i had one line on an episode of fbi that runs on cbs ma'am you requested

the personnel file on dan osborne every time that would air i would get a check you could make a

decent living i think i made 10 15 000 off one line right which is not bad the same exact episode

on netflix in fact i was in two episodes of a show on netflix i probably made 700 dollars in residuals

instead of working melissa nowadays has a new routine leaving her home and walking to her local

subway station this week she traveled downtown to join a picket line outside netflix offices in new

york a big concern of melissa's striking colleagues is the use of ai artificial intelligence in

moviemaking background actors are a great example of this what they want to do is they want to pay

background actors a day rate which is 180 dollars scan them and then use their likeness in perpetuity

for the rest of time we can't let that happen but the alliance of motion picture and television

producers which is negotiating on behalf of the major studios and streaming companies

says this claim is incorrect stating their ai proposal would only permit digital replicas of

a background actor in the film the actor is making not for eternity overall the studios have not

endeared themselves to the strikers particularly early on when bob i got chief executive officer

of disney appeared on the business news channel cmbc taking a firm view on the actor's demands

there's a level of expectation that they have that is just not realistic and they are adding to

a set of challenges that this business is already facing it is that it has been a great business

for all of these people many of the stars who've appeared at union events are not short of money

their presence while welcomed can confuse the message that the vast majority of strikers

are not economically privileged melissa rikiro again 90 of us out here are not out here making

millions of dollars a year we're just out here trying to pay our rent and make our health

insurance and all we want to do is be paid fairly the strike is just one aspect of a growing crisis

enveloping hollywood film critic steven garrett the problem with the streaming sites is that

there's so much content on there now which means there are tons of television shows that nobody's

watched and that's a conundrum too because i think the studios can really wait this out a lot

longer than the actors and the writers might think the dispute is also taking place at a time

when traditional television long a stable revenue source for hollywood is declining with fewer homes

paying for cable or satellite tv this on top of the reduced box office and cinema admissions

means there is great uncertainty of a revenue streams in the industry reducing the willingness

of the studios to accommodate to the demands of the strikers and making the dispute that much

harder to resolve tom brook still to come on the global news podcast hi ana you and your mother

are going to space over the moon the mother and daughter who won a competition to travel into space

pop francis has held an open-air mass in front of large crowds in portugal at the end of a week

long international festival for young catholics the ceremony took place in the capital lisbon

where the pope also led a vigil with more than one million pilgrims alison roberts was at the mass

on sunday and centers this report celebrating mass with over one million people this morning the

pope highlighted the suffering of the people of ukraine in calling for peace in the world

but in his send off to the vast crowds of young pilgrims he offered above all messages with a

personal focus such as that they must not be afraid to act to question and to engage with the world

away from social media throughout his stay in lisbon he hailed the spirit and restlessness of

young people casting them as a means of bringing about change in a church that he has said needs

it badly one of the phrases he used most often here was that the church is open to all without

exception alison roberts sunday was another day of upset at the football women's world cup the

defending champions the usa were knocked out defeated by sweden five four on penalties

shama clear was watching the game in melbourne the reigning champions who are going for a record

third world cup are now out of the world cup this is a team that has dominated the game

internationally for years it has produced legends some of whom were playing today on the pitch today

they were their fears themselves they played aggressively they pressed but they just could

not score goals sweden's defense and their goalkeeper who hands down was the woman of the

match just would not allow them to score and then it came down to penalties and what a penalty

shootout that was sweden won by the narrowest of margins in the end megan rapino who says goodbye

to world football missed a penalty and what a note to go out on definitely hurts there are going to

be many many questions about their performance in this tournament about why they didn't gel

this tournament has been described as the world cup of surprises of firsts of unpredictability

and i think for the us fans this has ended with the worst of surprises for them and here is the star

us player megan rapino you know i felt like we controlled the game but that doesn't win games

and at the end of the day you go for the ball in the back of the net yeah it's a tough one and

there's just a dark dark comedy and me missing a penalty in my last game ever megan rapino

in the other game the netherlands went through to the last eight after beating south africa

2 nil on tuesday the reggae girls from jamaica will take on columbia after drawing their last

match with brazil to get through to the second round for the first time ever in the competition

some have hailed it as the proudest moment in jamaica's football history

olivia grange is jamaica's minister of culture gender entertainment and sport there are those who

shed a tear because it's a dream come true it's a goal that was set by the girls that

jamaicans share that dream and for a little country like ours with less than three million

population and you can barely see us on the map and see that we were able to hold france to a

nil all draw and also brazil and we beat panama it's for me and for the people of jamaica we've

done an awesome job olivia grange well sedella marley is an ambassador for the reggae girls

and the daughter of the jamaican music legend bob marley as well as the mother of reggae singer

skit marley back in 2014 after learning the team had disbanded because they weren't receiving funding

from jamaica's football federation sedella became a benefactor and was instrumental in ensuring they

could take part in the last world cup in 2019 paul henley asked her how it felt to see the team

play so well at the competition in australia and new zealand it feels good i think the girls put in

the work that was needed they were very focused i would like to say they're always in warrior mode

and despite everything else that's been going on behind the scenes they knew what they had to do

and they went out there and they did it there was a time wasn't there when the football

federation in jamaica refused to fund the women's team yeah it was disbanded i think in 2008 but

in 2014 my son brought home a flyer and that's how i was aware that jamaica actually had a woman's

program i make some calls to the federation in jamaica and by the time you know i turned around

you know i was being asked by captain borrell to be the global ambassador and i still am and how

important do you think your father bob marley's passion for football was for you that is something

that was instilled in us from a long time it's like you wake up you eat breakfast you go to school

after school you play football you do your homework you go to bed um but that was for

my brothers you know my job was just to watch it happen i think when daddy said football is freedom

that's saying to me now means so much more just because i've seen not only my country but other

countries um struggle for resources to get to this world platform and so football is freedom is

is a real thing and we're seeing it happen with the type of teams that are going through in this

world cup there are a lot of upsetters in this world cup and i'm really just watching it with

different eyes will it be huge in jamaica from now on the sport football has always been the

biggest sport in jamaica just not the woman side of it but now the woman have put jamaica on the

map so hopefully we will see local support increase but if not world support has increased and that

we're grateful for sadella marley it is six months since a huge earthquake hit turkey in syria

killing more than 50 000 people and leaving many more homeless but despite the tragedy there are

stories of hope such as baby afra who was born beneath the rubble of her collapsed home the bbc's

hanan rasek caught up with afra and her extended family to find out how they are all coping six

months on it was a moment that went viral around the world shaky phone footage of a man running from

the rubble of a collapsed building clutching a tiny newborn baby a sign of hope amongst the

devastation caused by the earthquake that hit syria and turkey in february this year baby afra

was born beneath the wreckage of her family's home in the syrian town of jinderes her mother died

shortly after giving birth the building collapsed also killed her father and her four siblings

but now afra has a new life adopted by khalil al sawadi her uncle and the man who pulled her

from the rubble i started to dig with my hands in the rubble then i could hear a voice so i carried

on and sang good afra came up in my hands she was still attached to her mother by her umbilical cord

when i found her after the video of afra's rescue went viral the attention was intense and offers to

adopt her flooded in from around the world khalil says the family struggled to convince

authorities to let them look after her with the help from the police we managed to get extra security

to protect her the doctors at the hospital didn't seem to believe that i was her relative i felt

that he didn't want to give her to me after a dna test proved afra is related to khalil's wife

they were able to leave with her since then the family has turned down offers to live abroad in

the uk and the united arab emirates khalil's home was destroyed in the earthquake so for two months

following the disaster he lived along with afra his wife and their seven children in a tent at a camp

set up for people made homeless by the earthquake thanks to help from willwishers they have now been

able to rent a house but the family says it's very expensive and they don't know how much longer

they will be able to afford to stay the road ahead might be difficult but khalil says the family are

grateful for the chance for a new start following the disaster i lost everything it was like going

back to square one i can't even afford sending my kids to school but there are people living in

worse conditions and gender is khalil aswadi ending that report by hanan razzak anna mayors is

set to make history this week along with her mom kisha by becoming the first ever mother and daughter

in space the pair from antiga won the tickets in a competition for a trip on virgin's vs unity

craft louise hosie takes up the story welcome to space it's a once in a lifetime adventure few of

us will ever experience but for kisha and anna fire fire their dream is on the edge of becoming a

reality they're about to become the first ever mom and daughter in space they'll be on board

virgin galactic's vs unity spacecraft kisha says she still can't quite believe it to just have the

experience to actually go to space and look at our amazing planet from that high and to just

breathe that in and to just being that's energy it's just super amazing anna says the nerves are

starting to kick in but she's excited it brings out a lot of emotion in me because it's something

that i've wanted for so long and it's happening i know that we'll get to experience weightlessness

and be able to see the planet from outer space i have no words to describe how i feel about

experiencing that originally from antiga in the caribbean anna is currently studying physics at

university and hopes to eventually work for nasa so richard branson delivered the good news

himself hi anna you and your mother are going to space her mom won the seats on the rocket

after entering a competition she saw advertised on a flight as they travelled to get anna's

student visa anna believes it was written in the stars had i not chosen abridain university and had

we not had to take a massive detour to get my visa we wouldn't be going to space this is cool

anna hopes her example will inspire aspiring astronauts like some of these young people at

a recent uk space agency event in abridain i think that's really cool that people like from

abridain can go off into space it's like really like amazing how does it make you feel seeing the

rockets and everything it's great because i see the earth where i live and i can see my house on

the earth anna and kisha say their bond makes the voyage all the more special you're going to be the

first mother and daughter to ever go into space how does that feel it is so much more reassuring

and so connecting to be able to do this with someone i love so much the virgin spaceflight

takes off from new mexico on thursday louise hosie and finally barbie was one of the most

anticipated films of the year and now it's record-breaking this weekend it will have

made a billion dollars in ticket sales meaning that gretta gerwig has become the first woman

to reach the milestone as a solo director this report from charlotte galha hey barbie

can i come to your house today sure i don't have anything big planned just a giant blowout party

with all the barbies and plant choreography and a bespoke song you should stop by so cool barbie's

perfectly pink world her dream house and of course ken have seen millions of us flocking to the cinema

the blonde beautiful doll that many spent their childhoods playing with has been brought to life

by margo robbie with ryan gozling as barbie's permatand on off boyfriend who's always in her

shadow its distributor warner brothers says the film will finish the weekend with more than a

billion dollars in ticket sales at the global box office just 17 days after it was released

the company says it proves movies are back after the cinema industry suffered as a result of the

pandemic and competition from streamers gretta gerwig is also celebrating becoming the first

woman to hit the billion dollar mark as a solo director the marketing campaign for the film has

been huge with hot pink billboards a real-life barbie dream house appearing in california

and margo robbie arriving at global premier's dressed in some of barbie's classic outfits

shavon sonnet is a film journalist and says the promotion added to the excitement this was an

event movie and i think we'll be seeing more of those things you dress up for it you bring your

friends you you you wear pink if it's if it's a barbie movie that really caught on with audiences

matel the makers of barbie are hoping to repeat the success with other toys barny the purple

dinosaur hot wheels and poly pocket are set to feature in upcoming hollywood films and many

are betting on a barbie sequel barbie in the pink and that's it from us for now but there'll be a

new edition of the global news podcast later this edition was mixed by gabriel oregon and the

producer was emma joseph the editor as always is caron martin i'm valerys handerson till next time

bye bye

Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.