This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. In the new season of World of Secrets, our investigation follows a group of students as they fight to expose a dark secret inside their Islamic boarding school. I am not the only one. There are other girls too. We have to hold him accountable. World of Secrets. Catching my teacher. Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcast. This is a global news podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Janet Jaleel and at 15 hours GMT on Monday the 28th of September, these are our main stories. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reported to have flown to the UAE on Sunday for a secret meeting with its leader, Mohammed bin Zayed. We hear how unproven rape claims led to violent demonstrations erupting at an Indian University this weekend. And we have the latest on protests in Spain sparked by the forced eviction of an 87-year-old woman from her flat. What happened with this podcast? These bananas when you cut them, you slice it for 12 hours, it won't go brown whereas a regular banana will. The shelf life is greatly extended. How scientists came up with a solution to help bananas stay yellow even when they're old or damaged. We start this podcast with allegations that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu travelled secretly to the United Arab Emirates this weekend. This comes amid an uproar over a report by the Israeli newspaper Harretts earlier this month that the leader of the UAE had warned Mr Netanyahu that Hamas was planning to carry out attacks just days before the October 7th massacre that triggered the Gaza war. With elections now just a month away, Mr Netanyahu's rivals have seized on the report as just the latest example of warnings that he ignored. He, for his part, has denied the Harretts report and threatened legal action against the newspaper. Israeli media is reporting that his trip to the UAE over the weekend was to ask its leader, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, to also deny the reports that he had been warned about a looming Hamas threat. I got more on all this with our Middle East correspondent, Yolanda Nell, who's in Jerusalem. According to Israel's Channel 12, which broke this report, it says that Mr Netanyahu and his entourage took a number of different private planes in order to make the journey to the United Arab Emirates, and that they stayed there for some four hours, that the aim of the visit was to have a one-on-one meeting with Mohammed bin Zayed, the Emirati president. And this has not been confirmed by the Israeli Prime Minister's office nor by the Emirati foreign ministry, but there are several Israeli media that are quoting a senior Israeli official who's told them that indeed this trip did happen, and then there's that intriguing report from the Associated Press, which is quoting two sources who are briefed on this trip, it says, and saying that the trip took place specifically for Mr Netanyahu to ask MBZ as the Emirati leader is known by his initials to deny these reports that continue to circulate in Israel, saying that MBZ gave Mr Netanyahu a warning in September 2023, so really not very long before the Hamas led deadly attacks of the 7th of October, saying that the then leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwa, was indeed planning a major operation, and Mr Netanyahu reported to have responded calmly to that, the implication as that he didn't follow up on this warning. Now he has strenuously denied that that is the case and he has threatened to sue the Harret's newspaper for defamation. We're just a month away from elections now in Israel and this is really turning into a key issue for voters. Yes, this is a very tightly run election and it's all happening within that context. Certainly, Mr Netanyahu's political rivals, the opposition figures have really seized on these reports and there are others too suggesting that there were Arab world warnings given to Mr Netanyahu, equals all of those an absolute lie, but his opponents say that it is more proof that he is unfit for office. Now this is really leading to more calls for a state commission of inquiry, formal investigations into who knew what and when ahead of the 7th of October attacks, and of course that just feeds into Israeli social divisions, societies become very polarized around this issue and is an extremely sensitive timing as well just going into the 7th of October, the 3rd anniversary of those deadly unprecedented attacks on Israel. Jorland Nehl in Jerusalem. Next to the Indian state of Punjab, we're violent protests that a university campus broke out at the weekend over unproven claims that a female student had been raped at a hostel near the private, lovely professional university in Fagbara. More than 2,000 police officers had to be deployed to quell the violence. Director General of Police of the Punjab, Gaurav Yadav said officers had exercised restraint and that an investigation has now been launched. A very conscious decision was taken not to use force on these students and since there were grievances against the university administration, efforts were made to sort out the grievances through discussions. I asked our South Asia correspondent Azad A. Mashuri what was known about the claims that sparked the protests, most of the information that has been circulating has been on social media and I spoke to police earlier and there's still a lot that has been unproven. Right now, they are still waiting to identify who the alleged victim would be. Students are the ones who have come to the police urging for a criminal complaint, a police report to be filed but they weren't able to provide a name for the alleged victim. Police have also reviewed CCTV footage throughout the week and so far haven't been able to identify any non-students entering the hostel and so there's a lot that is very unclear. What is obvious though is that this is an issue that has ignited so much anger in Punjab and Fagwara and not just there, there have been a string of sexual assaults in Delhi here in the capital as well as across India that have made headlines and it is why this has tapped into a sentiment here where women and students broadly feel that it isn't always safe on their campuses and they want the authorities to do more. It is also worth saying that the university itself is insisting that these are misleading rumours false allegations and they believe they're alleging that it's part of a campaign to tarnish their reputation. The police have told us that they have formed this special investigation team to look into these matters given students are demanding some action here. The police had to deploy a huge number of officers than 2,000 officers to try to calm the situation down. Just tell us about what happened over the weekend because it did get very violent. It was days after the allegations had surfaced that these protests erupted, students and student representatives at LPU were saying that this is because the university wasn't taking any action. What happened though is that university property was damaged, vandalised, they lit fires, they even blocked a major highway in Punjab and Fagwara and so yes police at that point had held several meetings with student representatives to try and calm the situation down. The university has now suspended classes for 10 days, many students have gone home according to police and that's why the situation is very much under control and police haven't been deployed because they're not expecting any further protests today. But separately you have seen multiple protests here in the capital of because again there has been a string of cases like this and it's not new to India but the fact that they're making headlines and the fact that students are now saying enough is enough means that people are coming out on the streets to demon more action here. Another day, Meshuri in Delhi. Images of a frail elderly woman in Madrid being evicted from an apartment that she'd lived in for decades on a stretcher have sparked widespread indignation across Spain. Tens of thousands of people marched through Spain's capital on Saturday rattling keys as they called for measures to curb housing costs. Some of them brought tents and sleeping bags and have now set up a protest camp in the city centre. 87-year-old Mary Carmen Abascale had benefited from a very low rent thanks to rent control but couldn't afford a higher rate when her home was bought by an investment fund. Her case has
highlighted the growing problem of soaring rents and housing shortages, partly because of investors and the popularity of short-term holiday rental businesses like Airbnb. Our correspondent Guy Hedgeco was at the camp, he told Crouper Party about the protest. I am in part of the sold and central Madrid's right next to the protest camp. There are, I suppose, around two or three hundred tenths right in front of me, where people have been spending the last few nights as part of this protest. They got banners hanging up demanding measures from politicians to try and deal with this crisis. And they are here, they say, because they want to pressure the government, the central government, the local government, and the political class in general, to take drastic measures to try and deal with this crisis, this housing crisis, which has seen rental soar over the last few years. Most of these people have asked majority of young people and it's young people above all who are affected by this crisis. You spoke about rental prices there. I imagine that's one of many concerns when it comes to the housing challenge there in Spain. Yes, the main one is rentals and the fact that it's so difficult to find an affordable home to rent, certainly in the big cities, whether it's Madrid or Barcelona or Valencia, but really across the country, rentals have increased so much. It's very difficult to find the affordable place to live. That affects young people, but it affects people across the board as well. The big concern is that not enough homes are being built. That's what many people see as the cause, but a lot of these protesters as well believe that there is housing that should be available, but it's being used for other things, whether it's Airbnb accommodation for tourists or its property, which has been bought by investment companies, and it's being used as an investment rather than being made available to rent out to ordinary people. You mentioned that this is particularly impacting young people, but of course it was the case of Marie Carmen Abascal that brought us to this point where people decided to take to the streets. So I imagine the elderly are equally as impacted or somewhat, but what does that say more broadly about the extent of the crisis? Well, something which has been brewing for some years now, people have been complaining about the housing crisis. Last year we saw some big demonstrations out the streets of cities like Madrid, other cities across the country, but it seems to be coming to a head now. There does seem to be the Marie Carmen Abascal eviction seems to become a symbol. There are photos of Marie Carmen's have pinned up here at the protest camp because these people here see her as a symbol, which they hope is going to bring about this broader change and it's going to pressure politicians. So it affects everyone, and there is a feeling that this could be a crucial moment when it comes to bringing about some kind of change when it comes to the housing market in Spain. How is Marie Carmen doing? Do we have any insights? The last we heard was that she had been taken to hospital after she was evicted. She does have a disability when she left hospital. She was in a wheelchair and then taken on the stretcher straight to hospital here in Madrid. And then we're told that from hospital we believe that she is okay. Her health is okay. Once she leaves hospital, she will go and stay with relatives. There has been some talk of the investment company that evicted her backtracking and trying to see if it can allow her to go back into the property. That looks like it's unlikely. What we know at the moment is she's probably going to go and stay with relatives at least in the short term. Guy Hedgeko, Irma Dread. Now if you love bananas, we have some good news for you. Scientists here in England have developed a gene edited version of bananas that will stay nice and yellow even if they get old or damaged. It's now had the final approval to be sold on British supermarket shelves. Professor Jonathan Jones from the Sains Relaboratory and Norwich is involved in the development. It's been done by a company in Norwich called the Tropic by Sciences. And what they've done is to work based on the knowledge of, you know, many scores of years, of thousands of researchers, which tells us a lot about what the genes in plants do. Every plant has 25 to 40,000 genes or more. And they know the genes that make bananas or potatoes or apples go brown when they've been cut. And this particular gene called polyphenol oxidase. And what they've done is to reduce the expression of that one gene without affecting any other genes. But with the result that the browning process either is completely polished or it's much, much slower. So I don't think it'll actually necessarily change the flavour. It will be softer. I mean, of course, the unripe banana is much firmer. The wider point in all of this is to try and reduce food waste, which remains a huge, huge issue. That's exactly right. Food waste is between 10 and 30% in the world of bananas. These bananas, when you cut them, if you slice it for 12 hours, it won't go brown, whereas a regular banana will. And also, it opens up new food service products. So you can make concoctions of many different slice fruits. And if you put the bananas in, normally they'll go brown and you'll have to discard it because people won't want to buy it. But it'll actually persist in a edible-looking state for much longer. Professor Jonathan Jones speaking to Anna Foster. Still to come in this podcast, 20 years after they burst onto the music scene and helped turn K-pop into a global phenomenon. I'm not going to say the kings of K-pop, because I think they're beyond that. I think they're like the emperors of K-pop. They are. And I think that you think of the K-pop. They did it first. The South Korean boy band Big Bang returned to London. Welcome to the Haunted Library. Have you come in search of a tale? This podcast invites you to browse the shelves and find stories that will linger long after you've left this place. From gothic masterpieces to pulpy penny dreadfuls, join me, Colin Morgan, with new episodes twice a week. Find the Haunted Library wherever you get your podcasts. They were taught to obey. People truly deeply respect him, but they learnt to resist. Not to stay silent, not to become another victim. World of Secrets, catching my teacher. You might drink it every day, but did you know that the history of tea is steeped in skull dugory, colonialism and industrial espionage. I'm Greg Jenner, host of Your Dead To Me, with a comedy show that takes history seriously and in our latest episode we spill the tea on tea. Join us to unpack the ancient Chinese origins of the drink and find out how it became the national drink of modern Britain. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Available now on the documentary from the BBC World Service. Following the pool's devastating floods, there have been start warnings about the impact of climate change on the Himalayas. Can communities there survive? I'm Antonia Bollingbrookent. Join me to hear the story of a thousand-year-old Himalayan village that now faces an existential threat from melting glaciers. Listen now by searching for the documentary, wherever you get your BBC podcasts. This is the Global News Podcast. The Hall of Bangkok has been declared a flood disaster zone after two days of torrential rain inundated much of the Thai capital, blocking roads and submerging vehicles. People have been urged to stay at home and those living close to the city's network of canals have been advised to move their belongings to upper floors. Jonathan Hedg gave us this update from Bangkok. The good news that the rain has stopped. I mean we had more or less three days of almost uninterrupted rain. That's exceptional. It's in the monsoon season you expect heavy thunderstorms at this time of year but they normally last an hour or two. Having persistent rain over such a long period of time is simply put too much water onto the roads for the city's canals and its pumps to deal with. Bangkok is a very low-lying city. It's in the most on average about a meter and a half above sea level. It's quite close to the sea and when you get that much water you just can't get pushed out to see fast enough and because there hasn't been rain over the last 12 hours or so water levels have gone down to the city center. It's actually most of the water that covered the roads has gone but in outlying areas of Bangkok there are still areas with at least half a meter of water. That means vehicles can't get in. There are still thousands of residents particularly in certain housing estates completely cut off. Their power is out as well and the priority today for the Bangkok authorities is to find ways to get more assistance food and water basically into them to bring out anybody with acute medical needs and just keep pumping that water because this low pressure system which produced such huge volumes of rain has now moved on. They're hopeful the meteorological department saying they're not expecting this kind of heavy rain for the rest of this week and that should give enough time for the water that's been covering these low-lying areas to be moved out but it is a warning for Bangkok and people living here about how vulnerable they are to heavy rain and
And of course, I mean, we don't know what caused this particular bout of rain, but where that has become a lot more unpredictable, and so it's something the authorities are going to have to factor in the future. Jonathan Het. South Korea is demanding that Ukraine apologizes after President Zelensky's surprise announcement at the UN that he had sent two captured North Korean soldiers to South Korea. Seoul says the transfer was supposed to remain a secret to protect the soldiers' families who are still in the North from possible punishment. Our sole correspondent, Jake Kwon explains. The two North Korean soldiers were told by Pyongyang to kill themselves when facing capture. Their survival meant they can no longer go home. Last week, after a lengthy negotiation between Seoul and Kiev, the two soldiers were finally transferred in secret. When it was revealed by Mr. Zelensky, South Korea cried foul, saying Ukraine broke the promise of secrecy, seriously damaging trust, and friendship. Ukraine disputes there was any agreement. South Korea has been a quiet supporter of Ukraine earlier pledging $100 million worth of assistance. At the same time, it has been trying to reopen peace negotiation with Pyongyang. Jake Kwon in Seoul. Uganda's chief of defense forces, General Mahoozi Kaineru Gaba, who is also the son of President Yawari M70, has said all government ministers must obtain his permission before traveling abroad. He may be an announcement after questioning the country's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Haruna Kassolo, over an official diplomatic visit to Turkey. It's been seen by some in Uganda as the latest example of the general's growing political influence. So what's the reaction bin? Political and security analysts, Angelo Izama, has been speaking to Krupa Paddy. I would say there's a muted reaction, mainly because the chief of defense forces, General Mahoozi, these kinds of interventions is making our own brand. He has in the past intervened in ways that many pokos, data, and orthodox, and the latest intervention is one and a long list of certainly out of the box interventions in the political character of Uganda. When you say muted is that because his statement isn't being taken seriously and that it will have no impact, that government ministers will not seek his permission before traveling abroad. Not at all it will certainly have impact. And the reason is for that is he's status as a chief of defense forces, but outside of the administration of government, he is now considered perhaps unofficially as. And one of the main political forces in the country, he's a patriotic league of Uganda, which is a loose political movement, is constantly dating, at least in the mind of the public. They certainly seem to have the upper hand in terms of initiating widespread popular political activities, such as public war on corruption, which is very popular right now. One of his main supporters is the government minister who has been in the countryside running a very popular anti-corruption campaign. I think the political moment is in his favor. And so in many ways it sounds like he's already acting like a de facto president then. Yes. And, you know, to be fair, to this issue of ministerial travel, it has been lingering around for a long time. I think there was an order by his father, the president of Europe, 70, asking ministers to reduce their travel around COVID. And by government ministers and department haze has been generally frowned upon, because it's a sense that it's not very good way to spend risk as resources. So I think the muted reaction could be well, you know. The cabinet is very big. Cost of public administration is equally large. The general host has been online arguing against wasteful spending in corruption. And so many of you might just shug their shoulders and say, "Well, why should the minister's balance cost resources in the air?" Interestingly, earlier in the year he also tried to take on the media as well there in Uganda. Quite true. The media body that I worked for for very many years, a nation media group, was shut down for several weeks. But my understanding that this is something that had been brewing prior to the election because of frosty relations in the nature of the reporting, and that it was actually the complaints by his dad, the president that eventually, you know, pushed that point. Political and security analyst, Angelo Izama. One of the South Korean boy bands that helped make K-pop a fixture of stadiums all over the world, is Big Bang, so much so that they've been dubbed the "Kings of K-pop". Now, 20 years after their debut album and 14 years after their first show in London, Big Bang have returned to the British capital. G-G-On went to their show. These were just a few of the fans outside the Tottenham Hot Spear Stadium in North London, singing along to one of the South Korean band's favorite tracks. Later, their voices joined a sea of thousands inside the venue who held the group's trademark Yellow Crown Lightsticks. 14 years after Big Bang first came to London, the K-pop pioneers were back. This time, they were playing a stadium. And for fans here, this was more than just a concert. I'm not going to say the "Kings of K-pop", because I think they're beyond that. They are anything that you think of the K-pop they did at first. Big Bang formed 20 years ago. But to understand why this return to London matters, you have to go back to 2012. Dr. He G-G-On, who researchers Korean popular music at Liverpool University, was also at that Wembley show. There was a couple of K-pop performances in London, but there were more like a collection of different acts, and performing as a highlight of a one or two pieces. As far as I know, probably one of the first, if not the first, solo act, the K-pop performance in a venue, such as the Wembley Arena. At the time, K-pop was still far less established in Europe. Big Bang were among the early Korean acts to bring a full-scale show to a major European venue, and crucially, they showed the industry that there was an audience here. Dr. Am says their success sent a signal to other K-pop acts that Europe was a viable market. Ever since the Big Bang concert, many, many different acts they choose to come to Europe, especially a London, because before then, I don't think they dare to think about it. BTS debuted in 2013, we're talking about the pre-BTS. So it's really set the kind of up the template for a successful K-pop act in many ways. Since then, K-pop has grown from a niche genre in the West into a global life phenomenon. But Big Bang's audience hasn't simply disappeared with the arrival of newer generations. Fans were still travelling to London, specifically for their return. I did fly all the way from Poland to be here, just for the concert. And there are now fans who weren't even around when Big Bang first played London. Some discovered them through T-O-P's role in Squid Game, others through TikTok or Friends and Family, who were longtime listeners. For older fans, though, Big Bang represents something different, a period when being a K-pop fan in the West was still far from being commonplace. Big Bang means nostalgia to me. Before all of this, it was not cool to like, K-pop. But now it's all over mainstream, so the OGs know it. And the group themselves have changed almost as much as the industry around them. Big Bang went from five members to three, amid military service, departures and controversy while the remaining members pursued solo careers. For years, there was no guarantee they would return as a group at all. But 20 years after their debut, they are still capable of bringing fans from around the world together. The success of this world tour, in 2026, to 20th anniversary, is going to be real proof that they are a skill in the top of the game. And Member Taeyang was clearly pleased to be back. Their return is a reminder of just how much the K-pop landscape has changed. They came to Europe at a time when few K-pop acts were willing to take that step, and their success helped open the door for others. And now they're back, this time as veterans of a global K-pop industry, they helped to shake. G-G-R with that report. That's all from us for now. If you want to get in touch, you can email us at
[email protected]. You can also now watch our episodes in full, just search for the Global News podcast on YouTube. This edition was mixed by Chris Ablaquer, the producers were Muzafishakir and Oliver Burlao, the editor is Karen Martin. I'm Janut Jalil, until next time, goodbye. From Gothic masterpieces to Pupy Penny Dreadfuls, join me, Colin Morgan, with new episodes twice a week. Find the Haunted Library wherever you get your podcasts.
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