The men's football World Cup kicks off in Mexico

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1:26This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritson and in the early hours of Friday the 12th of June, these are our main stories. The FIFA World Cup kicks off in Mexico City with a star-studded ceremony and dramatic opening match. And President Trump says he's called off planned US attacks on Iran, claiming they're close to a peace deal, but Tehran says it hasn't reached a final decision. Also in this podcast... I was inside the mortuary ward trying to identify the bodies, trying to find the child and my loved ones. The bodies I saw still keep spinning in my head. I can't sleep.

2:14We return to Ahmedabad on the anniversary of the Air India plane crash. And Brussels hits the brakes on e-scooters.

2:27With three host nations, 48 teams and 104 matches, it's the biggest World Cup ever and likely one of the most controversial with rows over ticket prices, the ongoing war between the US and Iran, as well as visa issues for fans and even a prominent referee. Despite all that, the tournament got underway in Mexico City with great fanfare and a colourful opening ceremony featuring Shakira. Performers wore indigenous clothing while others held giant golden footballs above their heads. 80 ,000 fans, clad in Mexican and South African national colours, streamed towards the grounds for the opening match.

3:16As you can hear, there are a lot more Mexico supporters than South African, but that's to be expected. In one of the host countries, many there said the World Cup being played on Mexican soil was an honour. Oh my God, it's honestly my dream come true. I've been dreaming with going to a World Cup for all my life, and now that it's in my country. It's an amazing experience. You know, I was expecting this basically my whole life for a Mexico City opportunity for a World Cup, so I'm super excited. I remember the first match I watched was Sudafrica against Mexico 16 years ago. I was nine years old and I felt that emotion being Mexican, the goal that Rafa Marquez scored, and now to have it here in my country is really an honour.

4:02Those fans were no doubt thrilled when Mexico beat South Africa 2-0 in a dramatic opener that saw three players sent off. Our sports reporter Adam Wilde was watching. It's been a long build-up to this one, hasn't it? So much discussion and controversy, but we are now officially underway on the pitch. A real carnival atmosphere, as you were hearing some of the sounds there at the legendary Azteca Stadium. The first stadium to hold matches for three separate World Cup tournaments, a real display of colour, of sounds, of music, and Mexican and Latin American culture. The first of three opening ceremonies.

4:37Remember, as you say, the tournament being played across Mexico, the United States and Canada. So each host country getting their own ceremony, this being Mexico's day. More than 80 ,000 there watching, as you say, the likes of Shakira and Burner Boy performing before the parade of all 48 team flags at this newly expanded tournament. That was what was going on inside the stadium. It's perhaps important to acknowledge what was happening outside as well because there was a huge security operation going on in and around Mexico City to counter the threat of protests and indeed in the last couple of hours there's been a statement from the Secretariat of Citizen Security in Mexico saying that there was a situation involving nearly 200 what they call hooded individuals breaking away from a group of around 800 protesters but that situation says this statement was brought under control by police but certainly inside the Stadium and at the enormous fan park there in the Mexican capital.

5:33Scenes of real excitement, of national pride, a huge moment to have the World Cup back in the country for a third time. Yeah, and what a match to kick off the tournament. More red cards than goals. Yeah, plenty of talking points. Mexico winning 2-0 against South Africa. They were heavy favourites going into what was a repeat of the opening game of the 2010 finals, actually, where South Africa were, of course, the hosts. That's actually the last time South Africa were involved in a World Cup. It's a match, as you say, probably remembered for the three red cards. Julian Quinones putting Mexico ahead inside 10 minutes.

6:07In truth, South Africa rarely threatened, particularly after Yaya Citole was sent off early in the second half. Mexico got their second through Raúl Jiménez. A terrific story, really, for the 35-year-old, who you may remember suffered that really horrific, indeed life-threatening head injury whilst playing England a few years back. It's his fourth World Cup, but his first goal in the finals. And he looked really close to tears during those celebrations, really emotional. All over is a contest, other than two further red cards, one for Temba Zvane of South Africa and a late dismissal of Mexico's Cesar Montes.

6:40And it's the red cards that you say may well get the headlines, but some terrific scenes, particularly for Jimenez. Adam Wilde. Though it is currently not too hot in Mexico City, much has been made about how this heat and potentially thunderstorms could affect this World Cup. There are fears that high temperatures could affect the health of players and fans, but there's also a chance the weather could disrupt games. Simon King is the BBC's lead weather presenter. You're looking at Miami, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Monterey, where the temperature can be in excess of 30 degrees Celsius, but it's the humidity that when you add that in, It will feel more like about 40 degrees, but the players are actually elite athletes.

7:25It's the fans, I guess, in the stadium who may have health conditions, who won't be acclimatised to that heat, who may be impacted more so. The United States in particular is pretty volatile in the summer. It can have some serious thunderstorms. There's a very simple rule in the US that if there's a lightning strike or a storm within eight miles of a stadium, protocol is that for safety, the game has to be stopped. You can't then go back onto the pitch. You can't play again for 30 minutes after the last lightning strike. So it's conceivable that we could see an hour or two hours delay when you get these storms.

8:01I think a lot of the teams have so far been aware of the heat and the humidity. So they've been training using heat chambers. I'm aware that they will be using these ice vests in some of the hottest cities to try and keep themselves cool as much as possible. And of course FIFA have introduced the mandatory hydration break. So that's the three minutes break within each half that will allow players to take on water. But I should probably stress that some scientists say that this isn't enough because some of the heat and stress that will be put on some of the players is up into dangerous levels. And perhaps the precautions being put in place may not be enough to counter that.

8:38Simon King. And the weather is not the only issue. While that could be blamed on Mother Nature, FIFA and the hosts, specifically the US, have been criticised for their handling of the World Cup, not least its hostile immigration policies, as well as fears of ice raids at games. Probably not what Americans imagined when they were told that the World Cup would be the equivalent of hosting 104 Super Bowls in a month. So, will the tournament bring the promised financial boost? Oliver Conway asked our football issues correspondent, Dale Johnson. Well, the American Hotel Association released a report a few weeks ago where they said that the hotel bookings were way below what they were anticipating and they blamed a few things on that.

9:25One of them was FIFA for reserving far too many rooms. 70 % of the block bookings FIFA had made have been cancelled and said what this caused was the prices which were unjustified because it created demand which just wasn't there. And that just means that supporters have been put off travelling to this World Cup for two reasons. You've got the ticket prices and you've got the hotel prices and you've also got the political backdrop in terms of just not feeling welcome in making the trip. So because of the whole situation around all those aspects, those international travellers aren't going to arrive and the local economies are not going to get the uplift that FIFA said they were going to receive.

10:04Now, there have been controversial World Cups before. Recently, Qatar, Russia, and once the games start, people tend to forget the controversies. Do you think it could be the same this time? I think there are two aspects to consider here. I think, firstly, we have not had a World Cup before where the administration in charge seem to have been so unwilling to make concessions to make the tournament go smoothly. I think on this occasion we've seen so many things happen where you think, despite the political talk beforehand, it's not going to turn around. For instance, we talked about ICE, the fact that that's not going to go away.

10:44There are going to be more stories that are going to be talked about in terms of how the government has handled this. Dale Johnson. And as we record this podcast, South Korea is taking on the Czech Republic. will continue to report on the World Cup action both on and off the pitch over the next five weeks. Still to come in this podcast, from smartphones to unusable bricks. This starts to take the profit out of criminal business. If they can only be broken up for parts, if you start to make it harder for criminals, there will still be fewer of them. Could a kill switch deter phone thieves?

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12:43This is the Global News Podcast. For weeks now, Donald Trump has been claiming that a deal with Iran to turn the ceasefire into a durable peace is close to being signed. Now, the President says he's so sure an agreement is imminent that he's cancelled planned US strikes on the Islamic Republic. At the White House, he told a reporter when he thought the deal would happen. It'll be soon, maybe this weekend. And has the Supreme Leader approved this deal, sir? I understand the The answer is yes. The Pressure And when the deal is signed, is the United States going to immediately lift the blockade? The President Yes, that's true.

13:22That's part of the deal. The Pressure But has Iran committed to not pursuing a nuclear weapon, or will there be more negotiations on that down the line? The President They will not have a nuclear weapon. They've agreed to that. There will be no — which is the whole reason — which is a big part of the reason. The Pressure Is that going to be in your agreement, sir? The President They will not only not have — they will not purchase, develop in any way, shape or form a nuclear weapon. They will not have a nuclear weapon. Iran has always claimed that the aim of its nuclear program is solely for civilian purposes and in the last few hours Tehran said that it hadn't reached a final decision on a deal describing talk of one as speculation.

14:01Esmail Bakayi, who speaks for Iran's foreign ministry, said that the US and its ally Israel had behaved unreasonably.

14:13Regarding the negotiations, the problem we face stemmed from the contradictory approaches of US officials. They have so far, on two occasions, carried out military aggression against Iran during negotiations and committed countless crimes when we have been in a ceasefire situation. They've repeatedly violated the ceasefire, both the United States and the Zionist regime, through attacks on Lebanon. I got this update from our correspondent in Washington, Thomas Morgan. We've had two days of kind of tit-for-tat strikes between the two sides ever since that US helicopter was downed on Monday. I think increasingly you've got the sense from some of the messaging that Donald Trump was putting out on Truth Socialry that he was getting increasingly frustrated the deal had not been signed.

14:59I was telling Fox News reporters that, you know, if it wasn't going to be signed soon, the level of the military action by his US forces was going to significantly increase. I think what's slightly different this time around is you get the sense from the Iranians, although they say, you know, nothing has been finalised just yet, they also say that the majority of this memorandum or deal has been finalised. I think, once again, what they're saying is there are still some excessive demands in the deal put forward by the US and they keep adding new requests. but I think for Mr Trump it is key really that he gets this deal signed as soon as possible because you know here in the US I think public sentiment towards this conflict has never been high it's lowering by the day and I think you know with the rising cost of inflation and gas prices I think he realises he needs to bring this conflict to an end because if he were to carry out the threat that he has said a number of times of trying to take over the oil fields in Iran And that would require ground troops.

16:06And that is something I think the US public wouldn't be for at all. Do people believe Mr. Trump this time? That's a difficult question, isn't it? Because, you know, you ask that question because it is a claim that he's put out several times over the last few days, last few weeks, that a deal is close. I think he sounded incredibly bullish and confident in the Oval Office earlier. He was kind of saying that a deal was going to be signed over the next few days. You know, the Strait of Hormuz could be opened as early as Saturday and that J.D. Vance would probably be signing this agreement probably in Europe at some point over the next few days.

16:42As I mentioned, I think the noise coming out of Iran is they don't want to, I guess, respond directly when President Trump says the deal is ready to be signed and say, yes, it's ready because they don't want to come off as if they're following his lead all the time. But I think, you know, the mood music is slightly changing is the impression we're getting. Thomas Morgan in Washington. On the 12th of June last year, Air India Flight 171 was bound for London from Ahmedabad. But the plane crashed shortly after takeoff, killing 241 passengers and crew on board and 19 people on the ground. The BBC has been back to the crash site and spoken to one family whose grief has been compounded by failures in the identification process, as well as the discovery that some remains were wrongly identified.

17:32Our correspondent Azadeh Mishiri sent this report from Ahmedabad. The planes that fly above are a reminder of how close this crash site is from the airport. It's about a kilometre and a half from the end of the runway. There are still cars, motorcycles and rickshaws that pass by this site. The rest of it, though, looks like it's suspended in time. Authorities seem to have removed the debris from the plane, but the buildings themselves, the accommodation for the medical students at the nearby government hospital, look exactly the way they did a year ago. Charred walls, burnt metal, broken glass.

18:18Joginder lives about five minutes away from here, and he still remembers that day. Here's videos where you can see him pulling bodies out of the rubble.

18:31He doesn't think anyone he tried to save survived. He said it felt like the bodies were disintegrating into his hands. And the whole scene looks like it's in the middle of the night, even though it was the afternoon, because the smoke is just covering the skies. Those who were sitting inside drinking tea, they also died. It was very difficult to extract them. We couldn't get them out because the seatbelts had caught fire. So it was very challenging. But everyone helped out. The crash damaged multiple buildings, but the impact stretches even further. In suburbs, villages outside of Ahmedabad, families have lost loved ones.

19:13We're travelling right now about an hour out of Ahmedabad where Roman Vahra lost his aunt, his brother and his three-year-old niece.

19:25I was inside the mortuary ward trying to identify the bodies, trying to find the child and my loved ones. Through my contacts, I got permission to go inside the ward. The bodies I saw still keep spinning in my head. I can't sleep. The condition those bodies were in, the ones I saw, I am never going to forget it until my dying breath. But the work of identifying the dead isn't over. Worse, some remains were wrongly identified. We're back at our hotel to call someone still fighting for answers. Four days after returning to London with his parents' remains, Mitten received a call from police. A CT scan of his mother's casket had revealed it also contained the remains of someone else.

20:13Further testing later on showed they were those of an unidentified man. We called Mitten from Ahmedabad.

20:23Hi Mitten, it's Azadeh, how are you? Yeah, good, not too fast. Staying emotional with this week, to be honest. One year, you know. There is an unknown person in the UK mortuary. I want to be able to get that person reunited with their family. I don't think I know how to grieve, if I'm honest with you. And I don't want to let go of finding the answers because I don't want to let go of my mum and dad. A UK coroner has sent palm prints and DNA to Indian authorities, but they still have no confirmation of the man's identity. The BBC has reached out to the government of Gujarat, as well as the Indian Foreign Ministry, but received no response.

21:07Last year, in a statement, the Foreign Ministry said it had been working closely with the UK from the moment these concerns were brought to their attention, and that all remains were handled with utmost professionalism and with due regard for the dignity of the deceased. These words are no comfort, though, to families like Mittens. Azadeh Mishiri. Thailand's royal family has announced that Princess Pachara Kiti Yafar has died at the age of 47 after more than three years in a coma As the eldest child of the king and a former ambassador she had become the inevitable topic of speculation for succeeding her father to the throne I heard more from our correspondent in Bangkok, Jonathan Head Because she was so close to King Wai Chira Longhorn and such an important part of his operation.

21:57She was always seen with him and because she was certainly the most visibly accomplished of all the royal family members, it was a great loss to him. We don't know for sure, but we think he was just hoping against hope there might be some kind of medical breakthrough that could bring her back. But in fact, her condition deteriorated in recent weeks and we were expecting her death to be announced. And it is a very big blow because she really stood out in the Thai royal family. Most of them tend to stick to just formal royal rituals Of course, you know, the monarchy is surrounded by an awful lot of ritual of protection.

22:30There's this very severe Les Majesty law, so it can't really be discussed. But, you know, she had gone out into the world. She trained as a lawyer. She had had multiple postgraduate qualifications from the United States. She worked in government legal offices and she was Thailand's ambassador to Austria for three years. And in that time, she became very close to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. and that gave her a built up a commitment in her to reform thailand's criminal justice system and in particular to advocate for the welfare of women in prison thailand has one of the world's largest population of women prisoners so you know she was unusual as a royal and seen as very capable and remember although king vajra longhorn has seven children four of them four boys live in the united states and have been estranged from their father for the last 30 35 years so that leaves three.

23:22His youngest son, Dipangon, is presumed to be the heir. It's up to the king to name an heir, and he's not done that yet. But it was always expected that Princes Bacirab Kitiaba would have played a big role in any royal succession, and the king himself is in his 70s. So, you know, that is something that they do start to think about now. So in that sense, it really is a very significant loss. Jonathan Head. To Belgium now, where public e-scooters are set to be banned in the capital Brussels following a sharp rise in accidents. The licenses of the two operators Bolt and Dot will be allowed to expire at the end of the year.

23:59It comes after several other major European cities including Paris, Madrid and Prague have done the same. Our reporter Alfie Habershan told me more. Chances are if you've been to any European city in the last couple of years, you have seen these. Two wheels, a platform to stand and zoom along on, tall handlebar, they're quite heavy too, and they're everywhere, whizzing past, lying on the street, piled over each other and stacked up outside bars, shops, train stations. They are very convenient, it's worth saying, and anyone who's ridden one will know they're pretty fast. Tourists, delivery drivers, commuters, useful to anybody really in a bit of a rush, but the Brussels regional government says it's taking this on because the accidents that they're causing have shot up by 25%.