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Find us wherever you get your

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BBC podcasts. This

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is the Global News Podcast from the BBC

1:20

World Service. I'm

1:23

Nick Horace and in the early hours of Saturday

1:25

the 27th of April, these are our main stories.

1:28

The US focuses on air defences

1:30

for Ukraine, earmarking $6 billion of

1:32

military aid in the war against

1:34

Russia. UN investigators dismiss

1:36

one case and suspend three others

1:39

against employees from the UN Agency

1:41

for Palestinian Refugees accused of involvement

1:43

in the Hamas October the 7th

1:45

attacks. A lot of

1:48

the crops of farmers in parts

1:50

of Afghanistan is actually rotting, so

1:52

it is having a profound impact

1:54

on people's livelihoods. Climate change

1:56

brings even more suffering to

1:59

Taliban-run Afghanistan. Also

2:03

in this podcast, King Charles is to

2:05

resume some public duties while he continues

2:07

his cancer treatment and imagine running this

2:09

marathon at the age of 76. After

2:25

a huge foreign aid bill was recently

2:27

approved in Washington, the United States has

2:29

announced details of where $6 billion of

2:31

military aid on Ukraine will be spent.

2:34

Despite pressure from Kiev, the package doesn't

2:36

include new Patriot launchers. At

2:38

the Pentagon, the US Defense Secretary Lloyd

2:40

Austin said rather than focusing too much

2:42

on that, the goal should be to

2:44

assist Ukraine in developing an effective missile

2:46

defense system. I would

2:48

caution us all in terms of making Patriot the

2:51

silver bullet. I would say

2:53

that it's going to be the integrated air

2:55

and missile defense, as we've said so many

2:57

times before, that really turns

3:00

a tide. And so there are other

3:02

capabilities that they need that we really pushed hard

3:04

to get. And we may be

3:06

able to get to the Ukrainians a

3:09

bit faster, but this work continues

3:11

on. Our correspondent in Washington, Will

3:13

Vernon, has more details about what this announcement

3:16

means for Ukraine. Will Vernon, U.S. Defense Secretary,

3:18

Ukraine This is separate from that big major

3:20

aid bill, the $61 billion that was passed

3:22

by Congress a few days ago. This is

3:25

an extra $6 billion the Pentagon has found

3:27

basically down the back of the sofa. And

3:30

it'll be used to buy kit,

3:32

like weapons, ammunition, other equipment from

3:34

US defense contractors, and then sent

3:37

to Ukraine. So it includes missiles

3:39

for the Patriot system and also

3:41

another air defense system called NASAMs

3:43

and counter-drone systems too. And this will

3:45

all come, as I say, from arms

3:48

manufacturers here in the US. Now that

3:50

could take time, of course. Some of

3:52

these weapons will need to be built

3:54

and shipped. But one of the

3:56

key parts of it is artillery ammunition. This is

3:59

something you can do. Ukraine has been critically

4:01

short of recently. The Ukrainians say Russia's been

4:03

outgunning them on the battlefield by a ratio

4:05

of 10 to 1. So for every 10

4:07

artillery shells the Russians have been firing, the

4:10

Ukrainians have only had enough for one. And

4:12

making the announcement today, the chairman of the

4:14

Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Brown, he

4:16

said this package, as well as the 61

4:19

billion supplemental that was passed a

4:21

few days ago, they should eliminate

4:23

that shell shortage very quickly indeed.

4:25

That's an important point. And this

4:27

is a substantial amount of money,

4:29

$6 billion. It's the largest the

4:32

US has committed so far from this

4:34

particular pot of money. And I suppose

4:36

interesting in how the Ukrainians will react,

4:39

will is what is not in this

4:41

package. Yeah, so this announcement

4:43

was made following a meeting of the so-called Ukraine

4:45

contact group. So this is a grouping of around

4:47

50 countries who all

4:50

support Ukraine. It includes every

4:52

single NATO member country. And

4:54

President Zelensky actually joined their

4:56

meeting himself personally today and

4:58

called again, said that Ukraine

5:00

needs patriot systems and not just initiatives.

5:02

But he did thank the Americans. Lloyd

5:04

Austin, the US Defense Secretary, you heard

5:06

him just there, didn't you? He said

5:08

he's been talking to European allies about

5:10

providing more systems. And so he hopes

5:12

additional capabilities will become available soon. So

5:15

I think that'll be a big relief

5:17

if that happens for the Ukrainians. Will

5:19

Vernon in Washington. The American

5:22

Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, has said

5:24

the US is prepared to take steps

5:26

against China if it continues to supply

5:29

Russia with items used for its war

5:31

in Ukraine. Anthony Blinken was speaking to

5:33

the BBC after talks with President Xi

5:35

Jinping, speaking to our China correspondent Laura

5:38

Bicker. Mr Blinken urged cooperation where possible,

5:40

but said the US was not ducking

5:42

from some of the things that divides

5:45

China and the West. Let's

5:47

hear some of the interview. What we're focused

5:49

on is maintaining peace and stability across

5:51

the Taiwan Strait. It's an interest of

5:53

countries around the world. 50% of

5:56

commercial container traffic goes through that straight every

5:58

single day. of the

6:00

semiconductors that the world relies on

6:02

for everything from dishwashers to cars

6:05

to our iPhones made in

6:07

Taiwan. So everyone has an interest in

6:09

making sure that peace and stability is

6:11

preserved. We've had a long-standing policy, the

6:13

one China policy, but that also includes

6:15

making sure that Taiwan has the ability

6:17

to defend itself and the assistance

6:19

that we provide to them and provided them

6:22

for decades is commensurate with the threat. That's

6:24

actually a way of deterring. They

6:26

may see it differently. You came

6:28

to ask Beijing to stop supplying

6:30

Moscow with components that Russia

6:33

is using in its invasion

6:35

of Ukraine. You've asked them to do this

6:37

before. What makes you think that they will

6:39

listen to you this time? Let's be

6:42

clear about what's happening and what's not

6:44

happening. What's not happening is provision of

6:46

actual arms by China to Russia for

6:48

use in Ukraine and at the very

6:51

start of Russia's aggression. We made clear

6:53

to China that that was unacceptable

6:55

and we've not seen them do that. But what

6:57

China is doing or what some of its enterprises

6:59

are doing is to provide

7:02

critical components for Russia's defense

7:04

industrial base. Machine tools, microelectronics,

7:06

and optics. Those are being used

7:08

to help Russia on what's an

7:11

extraordinary crash course effort to make

7:14

more munitions, tanks, armored vehicles, missiles.

7:16

The actions that Russia has taken

7:18

are going at a pace unlike

7:21

any we've seen in its modern

7:23

history including the Soviet Union during the

7:25

Cold War. This could not be

7:27

happening without the support that China

7:29

is providing. It's helping Russia perpetuate

7:31

its aggression against Ukraine but it's

7:34

also creating a growing threat to

7:36

Europe because of Russia's aggression. What

7:38

I'm hearing from Europeans is

7:40

deep concern about this. For China, if

7:42

it wants to have better relations, not

7:44

only with us but with countries in

7:46

Europe, it can't do that while

7:48

at the same time helping to fuel the

7:50

biggest threat to European security since the end

7:52

of the Cold War. We've taken action already

7:54

against Chinese entities that are engaged in this.

7:56

What I made clear today is that if

7:58

China won't act, we will. what Boulders

8:00

actions involve. I'm not going

8:02

to get into the details except to say,

8:05

look at what we've done already. We've imposed

8:07

sanctions export controls on more than a hundred

8:09

Chinese entities because of their involvement in helping

8:11

Russia with its defence industrial base. And we're

8:14

fully prepared to take further action. US

8:17

Secretary of State Antony Blinken, our

8:19

Asia Pacific regional editor Celia Hatton,

8:21

gave me her assessment of the meeting. Antony

8:24

Blinken was unusually harsh, I thought,

8:26

considering he was actually in the

8:28

Chinese capital when he was making

8:30

his remarks, basically accusing Beijing of

8:32

fuelling the war in Ukraine,

8:35

not by supplying outright

8:37

weapons, but what Beijing

8:39

is doing, according to the Americans,

8:41

is supplying a lot of dual

8:43

use components and technology, which the

8:46

Russians are then using to fashion

8:48

into weapons that they're using against

8:50

the Ukrainians. The Chinese

8:52

position on this is basically

8:54

to accuse Washington of being completely

8:57

hypocritical, by saying, look, you have

8:59

just signed a $61 billion package

9:03

that hands weapons to the Israelis,

9:06

to Taiwan, that actually $8 billion

9:08

of that package is going to

9:10

give weapons to counter China's rise

9:12

in the region. And so they

9:14

would say, you're handing weapons out

9:16

right, left and centre. What's the

9:19

issue? What do you make of

9:21

the general tone between these two men?

9:23

And I suppose we should ask general

9:25

relations between the United States and China.

9:27

Well, the relationship has improved a lot

9:29

since August 2022, when

9:32

the then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi travelled

9:35

to Taiwan. That put relations in a

9:37

deep freeze. They went even to a

9:39

lower point, I would say, after the

9:42

United States took down a suspected Chinese

9:44

surveillance balloon just a few months after

9:46

that. The two sides are really rebuilding

9:49

their relationship right now, but I would

9:51

say that they're frenemies. They

9:53

have accepted that they need each other

9:55

to solve many of their key problems,

9:57

whether it comes to trade issues.

10:00

the Middle East, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, they

10:02

can't do without each other. And so

10:04

they have to find a way to

10:06

work together. And that was the tone

10:08

of a lot of the remarks that

10:10

we've heard publicly from Anthony Blinken and

10:12

also from Xi Jinping. I mean, Xi

10:14

Jinping, frankly, was quite poetic in his

10:16

remarks today. So for example, he says,

10:19

today, as I see it, dwellers of

10:21

the same planet should help each other.

10:23

We live in an interdependent world and rise

10:26

and fall together. I mean, he just emphasized

10:28

over and over again how he wants the

10:30

relationship to stabilize. So the relationship has

10:32

stabilized, but they both have their red

10:34

lines. It's the provision

10:36

of help to Russia for the United

10:39

States, and it's the issue

10:41

of Taiwan for China. Julia

10:44

Hatton, there's been

10:46

a development in an investigation into

10:48

Israeli allegations against the UN Agency

10:50

for Palestinian Refugees. The agency

10:52

UNRWA was embroiled in controversy in January

10:55

when the Israelis said a dozen employees

10:57

had been involved in the Hamas attacks

10:59

on October the 7th. It

11:01

caused many countries to pull their funding. Well,

11:04

now UN investigators have closed one case

11:06

and suspended three others. Our

11:09

Middle East analyst, Sebastian Asher, has been telling

11:11

me more. What has

11:13

been announced today by the

11:15

UN spokesperson is that one

11:18

of those cases has been closed because

11:20

essentially they said that they've not

11:23

received any evidence from Israel that

11:25

backed up the allegations. They closed

11:27

it. Three others have been suspended,

11:29

saying only insufficient information has been

11:31

received from Israel. So

11:33

it's impossible to carry out a full

11:35

investigation at the moment. The other cases

11:37

are being investigated. But if you go

11:40

back to when Israel made these accusations

11:42

back in January, the Middle East gets a

11:44

bit murky because it's unclear exactly where we

11:46

are with this. But UNRWA fired 10 of

11:49

those 12 staff immediately and they said the

11:52

remaining two were dead. So

11:54

presumably the implication of this is that

11:56

even the two who are dead are

11:58

still being investigated as to whether they

12:00

did have direct involvement in

12:02

the October 7th attacks. Has Israel

12:04

had anything to say about these

12:06

interim findings? I mean, Israel's position

12:08

is that it's not just UNRWA,

12:11

it sees the UN as well

12:13

as essentially being an entity that

12:15

is predisposed against Israel. So

12:17

it would dismiss reports

12:20

that are being issued by UN

12:22

investigators as again part of that

12:24

bias. So where are we with

12:26

funding of various countries for UNRWA?

12:28

We know a number of nations

12:30

had pulled money from supporting

12:33

this agency. UNRWA depends on

12:35

having funding from foreign donors.

12:37

I think around half of

12:39

the funding it gets is

12:41

from the US. And

12:43

the US was one of the countries that

12:45

immediately suspended all its funds to UNRWA.

12:48

Now there hasn't been a change as

12:50

yet from the US, there hasn't been

12:52

a change from the UK. But we

12:54

have seen Germany just in the last

12:56

couple of days has said that it

12:59

will resume funding. We've seen that with

13:01

several other countries as well. That will

13:03

not get anywhere close to the sort

13:05

of funding that UNRWA needs in order

13:07

to provide the needs not just of

13:10

refugees in Gaza, in the

13:12

occupied West Bank, in Lebanon, in Syria

13:14

and in Jordan. Sebastian Asche

13:16

there. Should medically

13:18

assisted dying be made legal

13:21

and for whom? It's

13:23

a question being intensely debated in

13:25

several countries at the moment. In

13:27

Canada, medical assistance in dying or

13:30

made is already allowed for adults

13:32

with a terminal illness or

13:34

serious and chronic medical conditions. But the

13:37

government there has also been considering whether

13:39

to extend it to people who suffer

13:41

solely from a mental illness that sparks

13:43

a fierce debate. And this year the

13:45

government decided to delay. The BBC's Nadine

13:48

Yousuf has been following the case of one

13:50

man considering applying to end his own life

13:52

for the past year and

13:54

a warning that this report coming

13:56

up does contain references to severe

13:58

mental suffering which... as some of

14:00

you might find distressing. John

14:04

Scully has a familiar daily routine rifling

14:07

through his medicine cabinet with his wife,

14:09

Tony. I take 30 pills

14:11

a day, three zero. That's to

14:14

deal with other physical and mental

14:16

problems. I've had 19 shock

14:19

therapies. They did no good,

14:22

but God knows what harm it did. John

14:24

suffers from severe mental illness. He

14:27

has depression, anxiety and severe

14:29

PTSD following years of work

14:31

as a journalist, covering conflicts,

14:33

including Sarajevo and the troubles

14:36

in Northern Ireland. Riot

14:38

has gathered and began to throw stones

14:40

at the police. The police understandably retaliate.

14:43

Fear is good, it's healthy. Fear

14:45

not frightened, you get killed. But I

14:47

was thinking that I have to control

14:50

the fear, be calm and

14:52

go ahead and get the story. I

14:54

started bouncing around from war zone to

14:56

war zone and I've steeled myself all

14:59

the time. I paid

15:01

a huge price for it. I suffer

15:03

from somatic pain, chronic pain. That

15:07

means pain that they can't diagnose

15:09

and assume is psychiatric. I've been

15:11

in this condition for

15:13

roughly 40 years. After

15:16

a lifetime of what he describes

15:18

as intolerable suffering in various therapies

15:20

or treatment, he's fighting for the

15:22

right to apply for a medically

15:24

assisted death. Canada was

15:26

planning to introduce medically assisted dying

15:28

for those solely suffering from mental

15:30

illness in March 2024. But

15:34

the controversial debate around whether Canada is

15:36

ready or ever will be has

15:38

been rife. And in January,

15:40

the Canadian government chose to delay by

15:43

three years to 2027, saying

15:46

the country needed more time. The

15:48

medical community in Canada remains divided

15:50

on this. Dr. Sonu

15:52

Ghand is a professor of psychiatry

15:54

at the University of Toronto and

15:56

a former president of the Canadian

15:58

Psychiatric Society. He is concerned

16:01

that allowing assisted death solely for

16:03

mental illness could be dangerous. All

16:06

the evidence shows us that when

16:08

we attempt to make predictions of

16:10

irremediability in mental illness, we are

16:12

wrong more than half the time. And I

16:14

can think in my own practice of

16:17

a number of people who struggled for

16:19

a long time, we tried various things,

16:21

they didn't get better for a long

16:23

time, and then they

16:25

did. Dr. Chantal Perot has

16:27

been a maid assessor and provider

16:29

since 2016 when it was first

16:31

introduced in Canada. She supports the

16:33

expansion and for those suffering irremediably

16:35

to have the right to be

16:37

assessed. Can people with these disorders

16:40

live and enjoy life? Absolutely, but some

16:42

cannot. And again, it's those few people

16:44

who are suffering intolerably who deserve the

16:46

right to be assessed for maid. I

16:49

think a lot of people don't understand

16:51

just how debilitating it can be to

16:53

live with a mental disorder. The

16:56

government says this delay is essential to

16:58

make sure any expansion would be safely

17:00

and adequately provided. But with the

17:03

general election expected by October next year,

17:05

advocates are concerned this three-year delay could

17:08

be extended if a different party is

17:10

elected. Nadine Yousuf with

17:12

that report. Still

17:16

to come on the Global News Podcast. There were

17:18

a lot of women coming to us not because

17:20

they were religious, but because they were postcard on

17:23

them and they didn't want cutouts in their gowns

17:25

anymore, or they were working in professional environments and

17:27

they just couldn't find clothes as soon as them

17:29

for that. The astronomical

17:31

rise of modest fashion. King

17:41

Charles is to return to some public

17:43

duties, including hosting the Emperor

17:46

and Empress of Japan after he

17:48

responded positively to cancer treatment. He's

17:50

been receiving care as an outpatient

17:52

since early February after being diagnosed

17:54

with an unspecified form of the

17:56

disease. It was detected during treatment

17:58

for an unrelated... related, enlarged prostate.

18:01

Buckingham Palace has released a photograph

18:03

of the King and Queen. Here's

18:05

Charlotte Gallagher. The photo, which

18:07

shows the King and Queen in the

18:10

gardens of Buckingham Palace, is being seen

18:12

as a positive sign about the monarch's

18:14

health. The palace says

18:16

the King is making encouraging

18:18

progress and will shortly return

18:20

to public-facing duties after a

18:23

period of treatment and recuperation.

18:25

It adds the royal couple are

18:27

deeply grateful for the many kindnesses

18:29

and good wishes they have received

18:32

from around the world. The

18:34

King's last public appearance was in Windsor on

18:36

Easter Sunday and he surprised

18:38

the crowds by stopping to chat. His

18:41

next visit will be fittingly to a

18:43

cancer treatment centre. There is

18:45

no news about when the Princess of Wales

18:47

will return to public duties. She

18:49

announced her cancer diagnosis in March

18:52

and has asked for time, space

18:54

and privacy for herself and her

18:56

family. Charlotte Gallagher. The

18:59

authorities in Kenya say the number of

19:01

people killed in severe flooding has risen

19:03

to 70. Kenya and other countries in

19:06

East Africa, a region highly vulnerable to

19:08

climate change, have seen heavier than usual

19:10

rainfall in recent weeks exacerbated

19:12

by the El Niño weather pattern. At

19:14

least 150 people have died

19:17

in neighbouring Tanzania. Richard Hamilton reports.

19:20

Kenyans have been warned to stay

19:22

on high alert with more heavy

19:25

rain forecast across the country as

19:27

the monsoon continues to batter East

19:29

Africa. The extreme weather has

19:31

caused chaos in the capital

19:33

Nairobi this week, blocking roads

19:35

and engulfing homes in slum

19:38

districts. On Thursday, the Tanzanian

19:40

Prime Minister, Kasim Majaliwa, said more

19:42

than 200,000 people had been

19:45

affected by the disaster and

19:48

that homes, property, crops, schools

19:50

and infrastructure had either been

19:52

damaged or destroyed. In

19:54

Burundi, nearly 100,000 people have been displaced by

19:59

the months of related events. relentless rain. And

20:02

earlier this week, the United

20:04

Nations Humanitarian Response Agency, OCHA,

20:06

said rains were intensifying in

20:09

Somalia, with flash floods reported

20:11

in recent days. Uganda

20:14

has also suffered heavy storms

20:16

that have caused riverbanks to

20:18

burst, with several hundred villagers

20:21

displaced. That was Richard Hamilton.

20:23

When it comes to the problems

20:26

Afghanistan is facing, climate change doesn't

20:28

immediately spring to mind. But the

20:30

country is actually one of the

20:32

most vulnerable. Afghanistan has been largely

20:34

isolated by the international community since

20:36

the Taliban regained control and reintroduced

20:39

extremely harsh restrictions on women and

20:41

girls' rights and freedoms. But this

20:43

week, international agencies held the

20:45

first talks there about climate change,

20:47

co-hosted by the Norwegian Afghanistan Committee.

20:50

Its director, Tehrei Watadol, told

20:53

James Menendez about Afghanistan's flights.

20:56

It is one of the most vulnerable

20:58

countries. I think it's ranked number six

21:01

internationally. And it's a country

21:03

that is the least prepared for the

21:05

impact of climate change. Just

21:07

as an example today, it has

21:09

been raining heavily. Tomorrow, we are

21:11

expecting 34 millimetre of

21:14

rain. This is not common in

21:16

April. This is actually the beginning

21:19

of harvest season. So a lot

21:21

of the crops of farmers in

21:23

parts of Afghanistan is actually rotting.

21:25

So it is having a

21:27

profound impact on people's livelihoods.

21:30

And people are already at rock bottom,

21:32

particularly when it comes to access to

21:34

food, aren't they? They are. Both the

21:37

change of government back in August 2021,

21:39

the following sanctions from the

21:42

international community, the war on Ukraine,

21:44

which has led to increased food

21:46

prices. And then on top of

21:49

that, you have changing weather patterns.

21:51

So this is a dire situation

21:54

for the Afghan people. For example,

21:56

in one of the northern provinces where we work

21:58

in Balakshan, it's a very important It's one of

22:00

the provinces that are most vulnerable to

22:03

natural disasters. And of course, when heavy

22:05

rain is coming like now, the soil

22:07

up there is finer than sand. And

22:10

with the heavy rain at

22:12

this time of the year,

22:14

it leads to massive landslides,

22:16

erosion along little brooks and

22:18

big rivers, rockfalls. So about

22:21

10% of the arable

22:23

land in Barakshan disappears every single

22:25

year. So Afghanistan is really

22:27

at the brink of, in many ways,

22:30

an environmental collapse. In

22:32

parts of the country, since 1950,

22:35

there has been an increase

22:37

in temperature of more than

22:39

2.5 degrees Celsius. Afghanistan is

22:41

really extremely vulnerable to climate

22:44

change, more than most other

22:46

countries in Asia. Given

22:48

all that, how seriously do

22:50

Taliban officials take the threat? I

22:52

think the symposium that we had

22:55

earlier this week was approved for

22:57

the government actually taking it seriously.

22:59

When I came here about 10 years ago,

23:01

we could dig 50 meters and we would find

23:04

water. Now it's down to more than 200 meters.

23:07

So they're very much aware of the

23:09

impact of climate change. So I do

23:11

feel that they are taking it seriously.

23:13

In the past, they were saying, well,

23:15

this is God's will. Now it is

23:17

much more the discussion that, okay, we

23:19

are not really appreciating the earth. And

23:22

this is why we are being punished. So I

23:24

do feel there has been a change. And

23:28

that is good because action is necessary

23:30

now. Afghanistan is contributing

23:32

with 0.06% of greenhouse gas

23:34

emissions. So

23:38

the problems come to Afghanistan from

23:40

outside. So I think it's nothing

23:42

but fair that the international community

23:44

supports through UN agencies, through

23:47

technical assistance to the technical

23:49

agencies under the government, but

23:51

also through international and national

23:54

NGOs. But they can definitely

23:56

not manage this by themselves. of

24:00

the Norwegian-Afghanistan committee in

24:02

Kabul. There are

24:04

a few lessons of models, designers and

24:07

buyers have descended on Istanbul in Turkey

24:09

that Modest Fashion Week, valued at hundreds

24:11

of billions of dollars, modest fashion is

24:13

a booming sector as more women look

24:15

to cover up for religious or personal

24:17

reasons but still want to stay on

24:20

trend. The BBC's Medon Lawton reports on

24:22

the brands that are looking to cash

24:24

in. Once associated with

24:26

flowing buyers and floor-length cast

24:28

hands, modest fashion is changing.

24:32

In this video from last year,

24:35

models are wearing leather skirts, cowboy

24:37

hats and feather boas. For Modest

24:39

Fashion Week founder Ozlem Sahim Ertas,

24:41

it's important her runways reflect the

24:43

evolution of the style. For us,

24:46

the modesty is not related to

24:48

any social, religious or cultural background.

24:50

According to the recent states of

24:52

the Global Islamic Economy report by

24:54

research firm Diner Standard, Muslim spend

24:57

on clothing in 2022 was $318

24:59

billion. That's

25:04

a rise of 8.4% compared to the

25:06

previous year. I think we just had

25:08

a really rapid growth within the Gen

25:11

Z and within the Western

25:13

world. Maha Gondal is a modest fashion

25:15

content creator who was born in Pakistan

25:18

but grew up in Toronto in Canada.

25:21

She has over

25:23

180,000 followers on TikTok and has

25:25

worked with brands including Coach, Tiffany

25:27

& Co and Versace. One

25:33

of the reasons the industry has grown so

25:35

rapidly is social media. The hashtag

25:38

modest has had 7.2 billion

25:40

views on TikTok. I had little girls, they

25:42

would reach out and be like, oh my

25:44

god, you're the first brown girl from within

25:46

our community who we can actually look up

25:48

to. When I first moved to Canada,

25:51

I didn't see a Muslim girl,

25:53

let alone a brown girl on

25:55

a billboard. But now, you're able

25:57

to see that. popularity

26:00

with women from all backgrounds. The

26:03

Reflective are an e-commerce website for

26:05

modest dressing women. They're based in

26:07

New York and have customers who

26:09

are Jewish, Muslim and Christian, but

26:11

also women from non-face backgrounds. It's

26:14

run by Ariella Immerman and Liza Hockeen. There

26:16

were a lot of women coming to us,

26:18

not because they were religious, but because they

26:21

were postpartum and they didn't want cutouts in

26:23

their gowns anymore, or they were working in

26:26

professional environments and they just couldn't find clothes that

26:28

suited them for Ariella also highlights

26:30

the current trend of old money, a

26:33

style gaining popularity thanks to celebrities

26:35

like Cecilia Richie. Hand-tits to creating

26:38

that old money style. Instead of

26:40

flashy logos and bold prints, this

26:42

style is about embracing classic wardrobe

26:44

staples. That whole classy, almost timeless

26:47

luxury style goes hand in hand

26:49

with modest fashion as well. The

26:51

state of the Global Islamic Economy

26:53

Report estimates the global modest fashion

26:56

industry will grow to USD 428

26:58

billion by 2027. Medinorton

27:05

reporting and you can hear more by

27:07

searching for Business Daily wherever you get

27:09

your BBC podcasts. Now

27:12

at 254km, the marathon de

27:14

Sable in Morocco is

27:17

the equivalent of running six marathons over

27:19

seven days in temperatures that can exceed

27:21

50 degrees Celsius. So

27:23

imagine it climbing and descending through

27:25

the rolling sand dunes of a

27:27

Sahara while carrying the food and

27:29

supplies you need for the day.

27:32

It's described as the toughest of the foot races

27:34

and even those in the prime of life

27:36

have found it too much to bear. So,

27:39

a marathon for Harry Hunter who has just

27:41

become the oldest Briton to complete the race

27:44

at the age of 76, raising

27:46

money for children's hospice. He told Julian

27:48

Marshall why he took on such a

27:51

gruelling challenge. I have been doing

27:53

these sort of races for about 10 years

27:55

anyway and I did a lot of racing

27:57

ultras and marathons and everything before that. the

28:00

iconic ones, the original one. Because

28:02

I knew that if I finished,

28:05

I'd be the oldest British finisher

28:07

in the history of the race.

28:10

How long did it take you? It was about 54 hours. There was

28:14

860 that ever started the race, but I finished 508 and my bib number was 508. Very

28:24

spooky really. And were there moments when

28:26

you thought you wouldn't make it? No,

28:28

a lot of experience. It's tough. They

28:30

classify it the toughest foot race on the

28:32

planet. You only eat what you've got on

28:34

your back. All they give you throughout the

28:36

race is water. And at night, you go

28:38

back into this bivar area and you have

28:41

somewhere you can sleep, but you still have

28:43

to carry all your sleeping tips. And

28:45

basically, it was day 131 kilometers, day

28:47

2, 40.8 kilometers, day

28:52

3 was 85 kilometers. That was a

28:54

tough day. I was out on

28:56

the ground for over 22 hours. And

28:59

then the fourth day of running

29:01

just plus 43 kilometers. And

29:03

then the next day was 31 again

29:05

and the last day was 21 kilometers.

29:08

And what was the terrain like? Sand

29:11

dunes, jebals, climbs,

29:13

lots of sand, sand everywhere.

29:15

It's stunning. There's nothing. In

29:17

the whole time I was

29:19

running, I've seen I think four wild camels. And

29:21

some animals I thought might have been goats with

29:24

long legs. I wasn't sure of them. So I

29:26

don't know what they were. And just beetles that

29:28

run through the sand. You look

29:30

at it and think, well, this is a

29:32

place where if you went wrong, you're not

29:34

going to come out of it because there's

29:36

just nothing there. There's no water. There's no

29:39

anything. Were you running on your own? Well,

29:41

no, sets off. You're running with other people.

29:43

Sometimes you can be on your own, but

29:45

you can see people in front of you

29:47

and there's people behind. You follow markers and

29:50

they can pull you out at any time. They're checking

29:52

you all the time. Make sure you're not going to

29:54

kill yourself. I mean, when you reach your age, I

29:56

mean, the medical advice is to avoid high

29:59

impact. Exercises your knees start to

30:01

go your hips start to go but that

30:03

hasn't been happening to you. No at

30:05

all I'm a very lucky man So I

30:07

haven't I mean, I'm not sort of trying

30:10

to blow my own trumpet But I do

30:12

believe that I'm a lot fitter than possibly

30:14

people who are a lot younger

30:16

than me And so the secret is just

30:18

just to keep going is it always yes

30:20

never stop I've been doing a lot

30:22

of this a lot of my life. I mean, I hope

30:25

in four years time. I'm 80 I'll

30:27

still be there. I don't see any reason

30:29

why not. I still go to the gym. I

30:31

still work hard. I still run That's why I want to

30:33

carry on do it and well

30:35

done to him That's Harry Hunter the

30:38

oldest Britain to complete the marathon de

30:40

Sabla or marathon of the sands

30:43

Mike Pinder the last surviving founding member of the

30:45

English rock band the moody blues has died at

30:47

the age of 82 Pinder

30:50

who played the keyboard helped form the group

30:52

in Birmingham in the mid 1960s They

30:55

went on to reach the top of the charts

30:57

three times in the UK and

30:59

twice in the US our culture Correspondent

31:01

Lizzo Mzimba looked back at the life

31:03

of the melotron man Mike

31:08

Pinder's piano introduction to the moody

31:11

blues In 1964 It

31:20

was his introduction of a new

31:22

instrument the melotron that gave the

31:24

band its unique sound Pressing

31:27

keys on its keyboard triggered

31:29

the playing of pre-recorded audio

31:31

tape It was often described

31:33

as a keyboard with the power of

31:35

an orchestra I

31:46

Like Pinder first came across the melotron

31:48

where he answered an advert from an

31:50

electronics firm looking for someone to help

31:52

with the new invention I said, I

31:54

mean man, you know, I started working

31:56

with them went through the whole process

31:58

of had a melotron was built. It's

32:01

conception and everything and then

32:03

ended up being the tester so that

32:05

when the machine came off the line I

32:07

would totally go through the machine and play it.

32:13

Pinder used the melotron extensively

32:15

on the band's early albums

32:18

and he inspired its use by

32:20

others recommending it to John Lennon

32:23

and Paul McCartney who used it

32:25

on the songs Strawberry Feels Forever.

32:29

Pinder left the Moody Blues in the late

32:31

1970s but was instrumental in

32:35

hitting the band a 60s dreamy

32:37

psychedelic sound that was copied

32:39

by the soulmates. Lee's

32:49

opening in the life of Mike Pinder from the Moody

32:51

Blues who has died at the age of 82. That's

32:57

all from us for now but there'll

32:59

be a new edition of the Global

33:01

News Podcast later. If you want to

33:03

comment on this podcast or the topics

33:05

covered in it you can send us

33:07

an email at the address is globalpodcast

33:09

at bbc.co.uk. You can also find us

33:12

on x at Global News

33:14

Podcast. This edition was mixed by Nick

33:16

Randall and the producer was Emma Joseph.

33:18

The editor is Karen Martin. I'm

33:21

Nick Creation. Until next time. Bye. Do

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34:33

Katja Adler from the Global Story podcast, and

34:35

we're looking at this summer's Paris Olympics

34:38

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34:40

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34:42

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34:44

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34:47

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34:49

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34:52

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