In short
The episode is a BBC news roundup plus interviews. Main topics: (1) Thailand bar fire in Bangkok: a fire at a bar/restaurant with a band on stage killed at least 28 and injured dozens. Eyewitnesses said a burning smell appeared, then the ceiling caught fire; foam ceiling material and blocked entrances may have slowed escape. Fire spread unusually fast, despite firefighters arriving within five minutes. The venue was inspected in April and deemed safe; officials debate whether its “restaurant” classification reduced fire-regulation scrutiny. (2) Fentanyl supply chain: Zhang Zhidong (“Brother Wang”), a Chinese broker accused of linking Chinese chemical suppliers to Mexican cartel producers and selling fentanyl to US buyers; he pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial. (3) Other segments include Sam Neill’s death and UNICEF’s Bangladesh monsoon flooding response; plus Japan-Russia dual-use tech allegations and Ebola vaccine trial updates.
Guests
Jonathan Head (BBC Bangkok correspondent), Victoria Dittmar (Insight Crime researcher), Sean Yuan (BBC China unit; referenced), Helen Clark (former NZ PM), Deepika Sharma (UNICEF), Jane Bradley (NYT reporter), Fergus Walsh (BBC medical editor).
Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.
Chapters
Tap a time to open that second in VOGlobal Story Podcast Introduction
0:36 to 1:56
Introduction to the Global Story podcast and its focus on American influence.
“The United States is about to mark its 250th anniversary.”
Fatal Bar Fire in Thailand
1:56 to 4:43
Details about a tragic bar fire in Thailand that killed many.
“More from that interview with the former New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clark, in a few minutes' time.”
Investigation and Safety Concerns
4:43 to 7:32
Discussion on fire safety regulations and issues in Thailand.
“Well, it's not good, but it's not good in so many areas of life.”
Introduction to Brother Wang
7:37 to 8:20
Overview of Zhang Zhidong's involvement in fentanyl trafficking.
“Now, every year, thousands of people in the United States die from the drug fentanyl, a synthetic opioid used in the production of illegal drugs because it's cheap.”
First-Hand Accounts of Fentanyl Trade
8:20 to 10:47
Personal stories from those involved in fentanyl trafficking.
“but first for some background on the man known as Brother Wang and his role in the trade, here's Victoria Dittmar, a researcher at Insight Crime based in Mexico.”
Impact of Zhang Zhidong's Arrest
10:47 to 13:36
Discussion on the implications of Brother Wang's arrest on the drug trade.
“Knock on the heavy metal gate and enter a compound.”
Tribute to Sam Neill
14:26 to 15:12
A tribute to New Zealand actor Sam Neill following his passing.
“Also stay tuned if you're a fan of books, bookshops and the pop star Dua Lipa.”
Sam Neill's Career Highlights
15:12 to 16:46
Exploration of Sam Neill's notable roles and career achievements.
“Sam Neill, one of New Zealand's best-known actors, has died at 78.”
Reflections from Helen Clark
16:46 to 18:48
Former NZ Prime Minister Helen Clark reflects on Sam Neill's impact.
“and I continue to be surprised to this day when my agent calls up and says, someone wants you to do a series.”
Sam Neill's Advocacy and Environmental Efforts
18:48 to 22:14
Discussion on Sam Neill's environmental activism and personal philosophies.
“it was the starring roles that he had in some of our iconic movies.”
Show all 22 chapters
Sam Neill's Influence on Politics and Culture
22:14 to 23:16
Examining Neill's influence on New Zealand's culture and politics.
“So when a major mining proposal is talking of tailings, dams with toxic waste, his voice against this was just so powerful and will be very much missed.”
Tributes and Memorials for Sam Neill
23:16 to 24:08
Discussion of tributes and the response to Neill's death.
“I remember Sam as the quintessential Kiwi.”
Bangladesh Flooding Crisis
25:00 to 28:00
Coverage of the severe flooding situation in Bangladesh and its impacts.
“cbc.com or wherever you get your podcasts.”
UNICEF's Emergency Response in Bangladesh
28:00 to 29:06
Learn about UNICEF's efforts to provide emergency supplies and psychosocial support in Bangladesh.
“What are you doing in terms of what is being done in terms of aid supplies and operations to help ensure that people continue to have in particular food and clean water?”
Japan's Espionage Challenges Revealed
29:11 to 29:50
Explore Japan's weaknesses in counterintelligence and its implications for security.
“after a New York Times report on Monday claimed Russia was taking advantage of Japan's weak espionage laws.”
Investigating Russia's Use of Japanese Technology
29:50 to 33:28
Discuss how Russian military technology is linked to Japanese parts and the network behind it.
“Jane, thanks for being with us on NewsHour.”
Reactions to Lindsey Graham's Passing
33:28 to 34:06
Examine the impact of U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham's death on Ukrainian support.
“More, of course, on the New York Times website on that fascinating story.”
Lindsey Graham's Legacy in Ukraine
34:06 to 37:00
Reflect on Lindsey Graham's contributions to Ukraine and the significance of his stance.
“Graham was somebody who made it his life's battle to fight for freedom around the world and fight for liberty of Ukraine as well.”
Dua Lipa's Manifesto Library Project
37:00 to 41:44
Learn about Dua Lipa's initiative to create a unique library in Portugal promoting banned books.
“I honestly had not had the honor to meet the senator.”
Cake Parties: A Global Phenomenon
41:44 to 42:00
Discover the trend of cake parties and what they symbolize in modern society.
“And that's Francisca Pedro Pinto's head of brand at the Levaria Lello Bookshop, where you can find Dua Lipa's Manifesto Library.”
Cake Picnics: A Global Phenomenon
42:05 to 45:55
Exploring the rise of cake picnics and their joyous gatherings.
“after being told the people had no bread, let them eat cake.”
Ebola Vaccine Trials: Rapid Development
45:55 to 49:36
Discussing the swift progress in clinical trials for an Ebola vaccine.
“Prentice and find out if she brought any slices back with her.”
Transcript
Automatic transcript. May contain errors.0:00This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.
0:30I mean it. Buyers rejoice. Buy your car today on Carvana. Limitations and exclusions may apply. See our seven-day return policy at Carvana.com. The United States is about to mark its 250th anniversary. And so on the Global Story podcast from the BBC, we're telling surprising tales of American influence on the world stage and in ordinary people's lives all across the globe. We have this ability to export our story and a lot of people have bought it. I feel like the American dream is alive but not well. From the BBC, it's the United States at 2.50. Listen on bbc.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:29away from the movies, environmental causes and winemaking. His great affection for that vineyard in central Otago was what led him to come out on the huge environmental issue which is still ongoing there against a very destructive mining proposal which the government attempted to fast-track through a planning process and they ran up against the immovable rock of Sam Neill and a determined community. More from that interview with the former New Zealand Prime Minister, Helen Clark, in a few minutes' time. But first, police in Thailand are investigating a fatal bar fire which killed at least 28 people and injured dozens more.
2:08The fire broke out late on Sunday evening at the bar restaurant where a band was playing on stage. Many of the victims were found in the kitchens and toilets at the back of the venue as they tried to escape smoke and flames at the front. My friend, who was singing on stage, said at first they noticed the smell of something burning, then a little after they saw the ceiling was on fire. Some people were injured because of the debris from the ceiling, because it seems that the ceiling was made out of foam material to absorb sound. And there are concerns now being investigated that blocked entrances could have impeded escape.
2:46Thailand's Prime Minister Anun Tin Chan Wirakun has been to the scene. I asked one musician that happened to be on the stage when the incident took place. He said that there was a fire at the cutout switch. And after that, things happened very quickly. And everybody tried to flee themselves from the smoke and the flame. Prime Minister at the scene of the fire. Also having been there is our correspondent in Bangkok, Jonathan Hedge. Jonathan, what did you see when you visited the site? Well, it was very eerie because, of course, it's very quiet now. It was just a stream of officials and forensic investigators going in and out of the very same entrance, which a few hours before had been this dreadful scene of people screaming, coming out with their clothes on fire.
3:40This almost incredible roaring jet of fire as the fire kind of exited. I mean, it was quite extraordinary to see. It was like a flamethrower. coming out of the entrance. Today, of course, it's taped off. There's a terrible sort of acrid smell there of burnt plastic. They've piled up some of the furniture and some rather hideously melted musical instruments outside. And it's now just a scene of an investigation. A lot of the windows were broken. And I think deliberately, one eyewitness said that she tried to break the windows to see if she could help her friend inside get out. But the windows are very narrow there.
4:15It's a big, large, rectangular concrete building with very few windows because it's essentially a night venue, a mixed sort of restaurant, bar, music venue. And other than that, you know, just an awful lot of onlookers there. It was very hard to imagine those terrible scenes last night from being there during the day today. It's apparently the worst fire in Bangkok since one in 2009 in which 66 people died in a nightclub also in the capital. What is the Thai record on fire safety, particularly in bars and in popular entertainment venues? Well, it's not good, but it's not good in so many areas of life.
4:54I mean, this is a country which currently this year is applying to become a member of the OECD group of advanced economies. Thailand is a vastly more sophisticated and wealthier country than it was 20, 30 years ago. But safety culture has not kept up. I mean, this year I've already covered a terrible accident where a train crashed into a bus in the middle of the city at a level crossing. Another accident where a railway under construction collapsed onto a train. I covered that fire back in 2009, the one you referred to in a nightclub called the Santeca, where I had a friend who was trapped inside and narrowly escaped with his life.
5:29This is not new. And the problem is that at every stage, officials do look at the regulations. there are issues with the regulations. There are issues that the governor of Bangkok is looking at relating to this pub, saying it shouldn't be categorised the way it is, that it's called a restaurant, it's perhaps not subject to the more stringent fire regulations. But when you look at how fast that fire spread, there were firefighters there within five minutes. They got the fire under control in just over half an hour. And yet all that death and destruction happened within perhaps 10, 20 minutes. You know something was catastrophically wrong with the way the place was built.
6:05Fires should not spread like that that quickly. The investigation will ascertain what that problem was. But what we've never seen in the past is significant public pressure to call those responsible to account, to change the way enforcement goes on. You know, bars in Bangkok and elsewhere in Thailand routinely pay bribes to the police just to operate. You can kind of guess they may also pay bribes to the inspectors. This pub was inspected just back in April and pronounced to be safe. Just on that, if there isn't public pressure, could there be pressure from the tourism industry, which, after all, is hugely important to Thailand's economy?
6:43That's interesting. Of course, this particular bar was not in a tourist area, and so far as we know, no tourists were involved in it. I think there might have been one national from Laos who was caught up in it. It might have been one of the victims. In a way, the tourist industry should have been doing this in other areas as well, not just in road safety, but things like boats. There have been so many boat disasters in the critical tourist areas like Koh Samui and Phuket, where foreign tourists have been hurt. There are any number of foreign tourists, lots of British tourists, who get killed every year on the roads here because of the poor safety of motorbikes.
7:18It's a perennial problem. And sadly, because there isn't a public clamour, there's not very much political pressure, very few Thais think that this disaster, tragic and awful though it is, will really change much when it comes to the safety, and in particular, the enforcement of the existing regulations. Jonathan Head, live in Bangkok. Thanks very much.
7:48Now, every year, thousands of people in the United States die from the drug fentanyl, a synthetic opioid used in the production of illegal drugs because it's cheap. One man said to have played a significant role in the supply chain is Chinese national Zhang Zhidong, also known as Brother Wang, the fentanyl king. He's accused of building a criminal empire linking China's chemical factories with the Mexican cartels flooding the United States with the drug. Awaiting trial in the United States, he's pleaded not guilty. In a minute, we'll hear from some of those who've been involved in the trafficking of fentanyl into the US, but first for some background on the man known as Brother Wang and his role in the trade, here's Victoria Dittmar, a researcher at Insight Crime based in Mexico.
8:32He was what we would understand as a broker. Other words for this can be an intermediary, a link, a bridge between different parts of the fentanyl supply chain. In this case, linking mainly Chinese suppliers of chemicals to illicit producers based in Mexico who then process them into producing fentanyl. But his case was quite unusual or at least extraordinary, I think, because we see a lot of actors like that that connect Chinese suppliers to Mexican criminal groups. But in his case, he also had connections in the United States. He was also, according to the evidence presented, brokering deals to sell the finished substance, the finished form of fentanyl to buyers in the United States and then laundering the money back to the criminal networks he was working with in Mexico.
9:20We even said he offered kind of like a full package to various criminal networks in Mexico that were dealing with fentanyl. But if someone like Brother Wang in this case gets arrested, there will be someone else who eventually can fill his place. Victoria Dittmar in Mexico. Well, Sean Yuan from BBC Global's China unit investigates the fentanyl king's rise and fall and the impact it will have on the trade. first thing they always tell me is miguel are you sure this sean is not an undercover dea agent and i said no he's a real journalist this is miguel angelie rega he knows people i'll never meet on my own dangerous people they tell me like well miguel if this man is not what he claims to being.
10:08I'm going to catch you in little pieces, you understand that? It's a little scary, but you know, this is what I do. Today, I'm going to meet with a cartoon member, and I think he knows our subject. The subject we're investigating is Brother Wang, a Chinese national whose real name is Zhang Zhidong. News of Zhang Zhidong's arrest in November 2025 made headlines around the world.
10:35The United States government announced they'd caught one of the most wanted men.
10:42Miguel Ángel drives us to a safe house in a run-down part of the city. Knock on the heavy metal gate and enter a compound. We're introduced to Luis, obviously not his real name. An actor is speaking his words. One hot afternoon in 2019, Luis says he was at a ranch on the edge of the city. Then this man showed up. He came to talk to the bosses to offer his products. They opened the window to a new drug. The new drug was fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans over the past decade. That's when it started generating jobs for us. People gave him affectionate nicknames.
11:22He was called number one, the king of fentanyl. How do you think he managed to become number one, become king of fentanyl? Well, mainly because of his brain, his intelligence more than anything. Miguel Ángel explains that a place like that could be attacked any time. As we're leaving, he points out a house a few doors down, which is pierced with hundreds of bullet holes from a previous hit. Early the next morning, we meet a guy out there called Enrique. We talk in our car as he's worried about being overheard. I cook fentanyl on ice. I am also responsible for transporting the liquids from China to Mexico and from Mexico City to Sinaloa.
12:06Brother Wang, he was very important. He was number one on the connection. I just want to know more about whether his arrest has disrupted the supply chain at all. Yes, the business is affected because he is the one with the connection over there. They took the man and that caused a mess. But they have more people, because you always have to have an ace up your sleeve. Have you found any person yet? They are talking about a person, but for my own safety, I can't say. Can you at least say if it's Chinese? Yes. You play a quite important role in fentanyl production. Does it trouble you to know tens of thousands of people are dying from it every year?
12:48Yes, of course. In fact, a relative of mine recently moved to the U.S. and died from an overdose. And that's when my conscience was shaken. But work is work, and we don't know another way to make a living.
13:09The band is playing Anako Corrido, a ballad about the city of Culiacan descending into hell due to cartel violence. Given what I saw in Kurya Khan, it's clear the system is built to survive the fall of any one person. And while demand largely from the US remains high, the flow of fentanyl will continue. Zhang Zhidong has pleaded not guilty and remains in federal custody in the US. We approached Zhang Zhidong's lawyer, but as the case is pending, he declined to comment. His replacement, as the cartel members made clear, is already in Mexico. You can listen to The Investigation, the documentary The Chinese Fentanyl King with Sean Yuan wherever you get your BBC podcasts and there is more from Global Eye on the BBC World Service YouTube channel.
14:07Coming up on NewsHour, what's the first rule? Of Cake Club. The rule of the final round is to eat to your heart's content. But that's the rule of every round. Always eat. You're here for cake. Cut to your heart's content and eat even more. How a social celebration of cake has gone global. That's coming up in 30 minutes' time. Also stay tuned if you're a fan of books, bookshops and the pop star Dua Lipa. Our headlines this hour. Britain has approved clinical trials for a new vaccine to tackle Ebola as the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo continues to spread. Reports from Iran say its forces have fired warning shots at another two vessels trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz as the struggle controlled the waterway continues.
14:49And police in the United Kingdom say the murder of the former government minister Anne Whittacombe is now being investigated by counter-terrorism officers.
15:08I'm Sean Lay and this is NewsHour coming to you live from the BBC in London. Sam Neill, one of New Zealand's best-known actors, has died at 78. One of the memorable roles in a career spanning half a century was in Jurassic Park as the dinosaur archaeologist whose dreams come alive. You get your first look at this six-foot turkey as you enter a cleric. He moves like a bird, lightly bobbing his head. And you keep still because you think that maybe his visual acuity is based on movement like T-Rex. He'll lose you if you don't move. But no, not Velociraptor. You stare at him, and he just stares right back.
15:48And that's when the attack comes, not from the front, but from the side. From the other two raptors, you didn't even know we're there. Sam Neill was born in Northern Ireland in 1947, his family moving to New Zealand eight years later. University studies in law at Canterbury weren't a success, but student theatre sparked a lifelong passion for performance, especially in Wellington, where he completed his studies. As he told the BBC, much as he enjoyed acting, he wasn't hopeful about his chances. You know how they tell children you should always follow your dreams? I came from a small town in, well, I was born in Northern Ireland initially and then a small town in New Zealand.
16:33Well, I didn't have dreams particularly. I never imagined that I would find a career as an actor, let alone an actor on screen. So once I started getting work, it was a great surprise to me and I continue to be surprised to this day when my agent calls up and says, someone wants you to do a series. Yeah, I think I have been extremely blessed because it wasn't something I sought. It just sort of happened by degrees and surprise followed surprise. I feel really at home on sets. It doesn't matter where in the world you are. And I really like being in the company of other actors. I think actors are the best company in the world.
17:15So I couldn't think of a better job, really. But Sam Neill was dogged and hardworking, playing in six films in four years at the end of the 70s, including Sleeping Dogs in 1977, one of the first films out of New Zealand to be screened widely overseas. In Australia, he guested on The Sullivans, a popular period TV drama. In A Cry in the Dark in 1988, Sam played Michael Chamberlain, a pastor whose baby daughter is snatched by a dingo, though the police and the Australian public believe he and his wife Lindy, played by Meryl Streep, killed her. What good is prayer? Anything God's good for at the moment has stopped me from cutting my throat because that's what I feel like doing.
17:59Hell can't be worse than this.
18:04My life is finished. How can I be a pastor anymore? Who'd listen to someone who's supposed to help kill a child? Sam Neill's international career blossomed through the 1990s and into the new millennium, but he also developed a reputation as a campaigner and as a winemaker at his farm and vineyard on South Island. He was a supporter of the New Zealand Labour Party. Its former leader and Prime Minister Helen Clark led the country for nine years until 2008. Miss Clark has been sharing her memories with NewsHour and asked her how she thinks New Zealand will remember Sam. Simply the best-known New Zealand actor of all time.
18:44most noticed by the international community in Jurassic Park. But for me as a New Zealander, it was the starring roles that he had in some of our iconic movies. Going back to 1977, he starred in Sleeping Dogs, which was a story about New Zealand under an authoritarian leader, probably an allegory on the government at the time. And then 10 years ago, he was in Hunt for the Wilderpeople, which also attracted a lot of attention. So he was an authentic Kiwi voice on the stage here, but also brought huge pride to New Zealanders for the great achievements offshore. Sleepy Dog's, of course, one of the first New Zealand films to really get a big international audience.
19:28He then did what a lot of New Zealand actors end up doing. He goes first of all to Australia, then begins to make a breakthrough in Hollywood. But his links with New Zealand remained very strong, didn't they? Very strong links. He remained associated with our politics and our big causes. One of my greatest memories of Sam will be when he appeared to speak at my campaign launch in the Auckland Town Hall in 2005. He was very moved to come out and support us. It was a difficult election. and he made a fine speech saying he wanted New Zealand to continue to be an inclusive place which didn't marginalise people and was a voice for peace in the world, words to that effect.
20:11So he wasn't afraid to get out there and put a stake in the ground for what he believed in. You mentioned his public speaking. A lot of people didn't realise that he'd actually had quite a severe stutter when he was younger and actually dreaded people talking to him. He'd done quite a lot to overcome that himself. he was known as a relatively modest man in a lot of ways wasn't he? Absolutely modest and to have the courage to overcome a stutter and go out on the stage, first the live stage which he was on in Wellington in the downstage theatre and then to go to screen, that takes real determination which Sam had but he was never one to blow his own trumpet although he did blow the great success of his wines from two paddocks in central Otago.
20:58We'll always remember Sam for his great interest in the Kiwi wine area. Just on wine, Pinot Noir was his grape, I think, wasn't it, up in the Dunster Mountains. Did you sample it? Was it any good? I've sampled his wine. I think it's absolutely excellent. But also his great affection for that vineyard in central Otago was what led him to come out on the huge environmental issue which is still ongoing there against a very destructive mining proposal which the government attempted to fast track through a planning process and they ran up against the immovable rock of Sam Neill in a determined community and Sam has lent the vineyard for fundraisers, he's lent his voice, he's appeared on videos and he's really gone out on a limb to support the environment that he knows and loves and where his forebears came last century.
21:50As you say, his forebears came from there. He was actually born in Northern Ireland and his family moved to New Zealand in the 50s. But his links with the country of his earlier ancestry are very strong. He talked a lot about the importance of New Zealand's culture and community and associated himself with this Maori idea of being a custodian for the coming generation. In what ways did he sort of apply that philosophy, would you say? He wanted to leave the environment around him in the state that he found it. So when a major mining proposal is talking of tailings, dams with toxic waste, his voice against this was just so powerful and will be very much missed.
22:31I think it's been paused at the moment, hasn't it, by the developers. Just one other environmental issue that he cared passionately about, and I think you worked with him on this, along with the late Jane Goodall, the primatologist, was the damage that plastics waste is doing, not just in our oceans, but on our land to so many species. And he filmed himself on camera eating a plastic bag just to try and underline the potential harm this amount of waste is doing. Yes, Sam did that video, I understand, in collaboration with Greenpeace, and apparently it just went viral. particularly when he started eating.
23:06Heaven knows what he was eating. Was it plant-based plastic? But anyway, it certainly made a mark and eventually Jacinda Ardern's government moved against the single-use plastic. How would you like to remember Sam Neill? I remember Sam as the quintessential Kiwi. We all felt incredible pride to see him on screen and to see him go at age only 78 is just devastating for New Zealand. Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark on her friend Sam Neill, who's died at 78. The social media pages for Peaky Blinders, the TV series in which he played the villain Major Chester Campbell in the first two seasons posted this tribute.
23:42Sam was one of the key forces that got Peaky Blinders off to a running start, for which we'll be forever grateful. He'd announced three months ago that his cancer treatment had been successful. In a statement, his family said he died with dignity, surrounded by loved ones. The loss was sudden and unexpected, but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer-free.
24:08How has America shaped the world? I'm Asma Khaled, host of the Global Story podcast from the BBC. As the United States marks its 250-year anniversary, we've been exploring the surprising and often hidden ways the U.S. has shaped the modern world. And today on the show, we answer your questions about this moment and what to expect in the years to come. From the BBC, it's the United States at 2.50. Listen to the global story on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
24:59you get your BBC podcasts.
Read the full transcript
25:29cbc.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
25:35Welcome back to NewsHour, to Bangladesh now, where more than 50 people are known to have died as a result of flooding in the past week. It's monsoon season, but the intensity of the rainfall has been severe, especially in the south-east of the country, around Chattagrahm, also known as Chittagong. As well as floods, the rainfall has also triggered landslides. Thousands of people have been displaced as a result, and the authorities are trying to distribute aid, even as further heavy rain is forecast. Deepika Sharma is Chief Field Officer for the UN's Children's Agency UNICEF at Cox's Bazaar, where many of the Rohingya refugees from the civil war in neighbouring Myanmar are located.
26:14In Cox's Bazaar, especially the Rohingya camps, which are one of the most densely populated humanitarian settings in the world, and there are around 1.2 million Rohingya refugees in those camps and since the last whole week severe monsoons, flash floods caused multiple weather-related incidents across the camps and there was a landslide that struck a mox and when the classroom was going on and tragically some children and teachers lost their lives. Yeah, so the landslide effectively dislodges structures, it can bring down buildings, it obviously then leaves an area where people can't sleep and live until work has been done.
26:59So presumably you're having to relocate some people as well in what is already a kind of crowded and congested refugee camp. Yes, absolutely. It's kind of a combination of hilly terrain, sandy soil and high population density. And any single episode of rainfall can lead to flooding, landslides and all the damaged infrastructure, which restricts the essential services. And water clogging is also there in the camps. Right. And therefore, getting a clean water supply is presumably a problem if the heavy rains overwhelm whatever sewage system exists. Yes, absolutely. And then it increases the risk of waterborne diseases.
27:40And this is also the time for the dengue season. So the children are vulnerable, the families are vulnerable and it also increases the danger of drowning as the flood water rises around the shelters, the community areas across the camps. Unfortunately the monsoon season is very far from over is it and I suppose more rain is predicted as the week continues. What are you doing in terms of what is being done in terms of aid supplies and operations to help ensure that people continue to have in particular food and clean water? From UNICEF, we are there providing emergency supplies and restoring wash systems, the services for wash, health, nutrition supplies.
28:23And also, most importantly, is as children are affected, child protection services, because children also need at this point in time and families too, psychosocial support with all that is going around. So we have already started making an assessment, doing the repair of the damaged infrastructure, distribution of supplies like the menstrual hygiene management kit for the camps as well as in the host communities because they also live nearby. That's Deepika Sharma there from UNICEF in Bangladesh.
29:05You're listening to NewsHour from the BBC World Service with me, Sean Lay. In Japan, the government says it recognises the need to improve its counterintelligence after a New York Times report on Monday claimed Russia was taking advantage of Japan's weak espionage laws. The Chief Cabinet Secretary, or spokesman, Minoru Kihara, said greater rigour was needed to stop foreign intelligence activities on Japanese soil. The New York Times says as well as gathering information there, Japan has become an important source of dual-use components which can be used in weapons. The reporters say 90 % of Russian missiles and drones contain Japanese parts.
29:46With me in the NewsHour studio now is Jane Bradley, one of the reporters who carried out the investigation. Jane, thanks for being with us on NewsHour. First of all, tell us, if you could, why Japan is so attractive to foreign intelligence gatherers? Yeah, there are two main reasons. One is the country's weak espionage laws, and two is its booming high-tech industry, which basically creates the technology, these dual-use parts that Russia needs to keep its missiles, its drones flying, attacking Ukraine. Japan has been known as a spy paradise for decades, ever since its intelligence capabilities were stripped back by the war's victors after World War II.
30:24And since then, kind of Japanese officials have said the laws have kind of been frozen in time. So the current Prime Minister, Takeichi, is currently trying to bolster Japan's intelligence capabilities. But at the same time, where we have all this rhetoric about the importance of national security, about being a very vocal, very early supporter of Ukraine, you've got this network of spies and operating under Japan's nose and, you know, Japanese manufacturers' parts repeatedly turning up on the battlefield in Ukraine. Now, you talk about this 20th directorate operating, you say, out of Aeroflot's office in Tokyo, in the heart of the city of Japan, not so very far away from police headquarters.
31:09Ten-minute walk away. Yeah, it's literally, I was surprised when I went to Tokyo in March to basically try and track down one of the 20th directorate's officers, a guy called Maxine Filchenkov, and he heads up the Russian, the 20th operation in Japan. So we went to track down him and also the network of middlemen businesses which intelligence officials suspect are helping him get this technology to Russia. Because this stuff isn't necessarily going direct to Russia from Japan because presumably Japan observes all the sanctions and so on that have been imposed, but it's going to other countries.
31:49Yeah, that's the thinking. So Japan, very early on, I think the first day that Russia invaded Ukraine, actually announced sanctions against Russia. And it actually played a big role in developing this list of Julius technology, which are under great export restrictions. So it's completely illegal against export rules to directly export it from Japan. So where does it go to? So a bunch of middlemen countries which don't have sanctions against Japan and the biggest exporter, the biggest country which received Japan's export is Vietnam. Vietnam has no sanctions against Russia. And it is also, as it happens, the biggest importer of technology to Russia.
32:36So the technology does not need to go, as you say, directly from Japan to Russia. It can go through these transit companies, which, you know, in theory, don't explicitly break laws. But these companies who are shipping them from Japan do have a responsibility to ensure the end user, the end country is not Russia. Just in the last few moments we have, I mean, some big names here, Nippon, Panasonic, Toshiba and others. What do the companies say? Yeah, so the companies all deny any wrongdoing and say they very strictly follow all Japan's export rules and sanctions. Nippon itself said that the technology is old and it has not been made by the company for years.
33:19But there are questions that remain because 90 percent of components Ukraine says of its finding in the battlefield are made by Japanese manufacturers. Jane Bradley at the New York Times. More, of course, on the New York Times website on that fascinating story. Thanks for coming into NewsHour to tell us about it. And staying with the war in Ukraine, the death of Lindsey Graham, a US senator close to President Trump, is a blow for Ukrainian influence in Washington, D.C. Senator Graham had just returned from a visit to Kiev where he discussed a new US sanctions law against Russia with President Zelensky.
33:49The senator, who would have faced a re-election in South Carolina in November, was a Republican somewhat unfashionably in favour of foreign interventions by America. Well, I've been speaking to Ukrainian member of parliament for President Zelensky's servant of the People Party, Savita Slav Yurash. How has the news of Lindsey Graham's death been received there? As tragic as can be. Mr. Graham was somebody who made it his life's battle to fight for freedom around the world and fight for liberty of Ukraine as well. He was very clear in his stance about Ukraine throughout his career. And we will miss this great friend of our nation, most certainly.
34:35He just visited Ukraine, hasn't he? I think he just returned over the weekend from consulting Ukrainian government officials over further sanctions measures that he was involved in in the US Senate. Not just that. He was meeting with our president. He was speaking about combining our strategies to isolate Russia and to make it suffer the consequence, the decision to start and continue the largest war in Europe since the Second World War. Why do you think it was so important to him? It was hardly something that one can imagine a lot of his constituents would have felt directly interested in. Why do you think it mattered to him?
35:14he and i we grew up in the reality of the world that saw liberty prevailing with the collapsed soviet union uh there was so much possibility of truly uh just free world to start and he tried to fight this battle no matter how many cynics and skeptics were trying to push back and explaining why you have to live with hypocrisies and dictatorships. He was still making the clear case that America should be on the right side of history. And being on the side of liberty and freedom of nations to choose their own future is the right side of history. You know, there are some in American politics who think it's a battle of the past, the one with Russia, and not one America should concern itself with now.
36:02How did he kind of articulate the alternative view? And how do you think he managed to do so despite remaining kind of popular in the Republican Party, a party that in recent years hasn't seemed very keen on foreign engagement? He was focusing on concrete steps and projects and engagement that America can have with various different national points, especially on Ukraine. The question of supporting Ukraine, the question of trying to help us as we were battling as the largest country on earth, as they were invading our country in all different directions, was certainly something that showed that he is not just a man of word, but he is a man of action.
36:47And he was always there at the forefront of discussions about supporting Ukraine, providing us the means to defend. And that is something that we will never forget. Do you have a personal memory of him? I honestly had not had the honor to meet the senator. But for me, again, whenever he was showing up in Ukraine, it always meant good news. It always meant decisions being taken to support our country through this ordeal. And that, again, is not just going on for the last five years, full-scale invasion, but has been going since 2014, annexation of Crimea. That's Savita Slav Juras on the US Senator Lindsey Graham, who died at the weekend.
37:43Now, celebrity book clubs have become a bit of a thing in recent years, with publishers keen to get endorsements from them, which can significantly boost sales. But the British Albanian singer Dua Lipa is taking a different approach, putting her chosen volumes straight into one of the world's most renowned bookshops. Le Livraria Lelo is a popular tourist attraction in Porto, Portugal, because of its period features, with substantial wooden bookstacks accessed by an elegant red staircase, The upper level illuminated through a stained glass skylight. Now it contains the singer's manifesto library.
38:17The books are arranged under four headings, power, control, voice and memory. 100 volumes in all. Francisca Pedro Pinto is the head of brand at the Livaria Lello bookshop and she told me more about the project. We decided that we're a 200 square metre bookshop and we needed to adapt to new times. So we expanded and we of course had to have an auditorium, a place where we could host our cultural programming. We wanted it to be a place for questions, for debate, for contemplation. And we started thinking what books belonged on these shelves. Then we challenged Service 95 Book Club to create this project with us.
38:58And this is the book club that's run by the singer Dua Lipa. Yes, we wanted this to reach new audiences and we believe that Dua Lipa has the power to do that. Now, are these books that have been in different places around the world at different times been banned or censored or indeed removed altogether from bookshelves? Some of them have. Unfortunately, we're living strange periods. Just in the US in the past year, over 4 ,000 books have been banned. So that's the highest number ever documented. So we do have lots of books that have been censored, that have been banned from schools. For example, The Handmaid's Tale is one of the books represented or the satanic verses from Salman Rushdie.
39:43Other types of books that, for example, in the voice category, which are books that maybe people haven't heard of. And so we try to brother that voice and amplify it. And when you say voice, these are people's accounts of their own experiences. Yes. For example, Shimamanda with the half of the Yellowstone that talks of the Bifurian War and how a million people have died of starvation. So these are stories that not many people know of and that we believe deserved a special category within this library. Livriri Alilu is an historic bookshop, as you say, over a century old in Porto. What is it about the building that makes it so special?
40:26It's back to the origin. So Livre d 'Ilelo was conceived to be a place of homage both for books and knowledge, but also for the arts. Actually, the bookshop was founded because a French bookseller won the lottery. And so, for example... How wonderful. So he shared his success. Yeah. And we have been considered the most beautiful bookshop in the world. And of course, that allowed us to grow. But we've been through difficult times. We were having many people, but many were taking pictures and they were mesmerized by the architecture, the neo-Gothic architecture. But they weren't actually buying books because they were taking pictures.
41:05And so our mission since 2015 was to find ways to convert visitors into readers. So we implemented a voucher system, which allowed us to control the inflow of people into the bookshop. But now people use this money and they redeem it towards the purchase of a book. Are you hoping that maybe Dua Lipa herself will visit at some point? I bet she will. This is now her home as well. These are the books that she helped select to be represented. We ask ourselves what questions are important today, what books belong on these shelves. So she helped answer this question. I'm sure she will want to visit the Manifesto Library.
41:44And that's Francisca Pedro Pinto's head of brand at the Levaria Lello Bookshop, where you can find Dua Lipa's Manifesto Library. This is News Hour.
42:01I'm Sean Lay and this is News Hour. The French Queen Marie Antoinette declared, after being told the people had no bread, let them eat cake. She never said it, but that didn't stop it damning her reputation long after the French Revolution had cut off her head. In a dire conscious age, cake alone may seem a bit of an indulgence, but over the past two years, thousands of people all over the world have been meeting up for cake parties. The most recent one was held here in London. Armed with napkin and fork, the BBC's Stephanie Prentice went along. To all of our new friends, welcome. Can you raise your hand if you brought a cake today?
42:38So to everyone with your hands up, a round of applause, you guys. Have you ever been lying in bed wishing you could eat a giant cake? or in fact lots of pieces of different cakes all at once. Well, Elisa Sunga, a tech worker living in San Francisco, did and felt it was a problem that needed solving. During one morning dreaming of a cake feast, she posted on Instagram asking if people fancied having a cake picnic where everyone brought cakes along and then shared them. I wanted to eat a lot of cake and along the way I realize that a lot of people also want to eat a lot of cake. But at the same time, when and why do you ever need to eat hundreds of cake at one time?
43:25You don't. But the beauty of it is that we choose to do so because of our free will. And we just choose to have a nice, lovely time together outdoors in the sun and spending it here together. The response was far beyond her wildest sugary dreams. and now she works full-time hosting cake picnics all around the world. In a corner of Greenwich Park, colourful bunting marks the spot as guests drop off elaborate cakes on long banqueting tables. We have over around 250 cakes here today. I don't know if you've ever been around that many cakes, but you guys, you brought it. And these amateur bakers are not messing around.
44:08Can you believe the quality of these cakes? One of them is rotating. One of them is actually a carousel. Wow, yeah, people really think outside of the box, which is amazing. I made a Ukrainian honey cake, which is about eight layers sandwiched with a sort of spiced cream. I have a heart-shaped strawberry and vanilla cake pulled with a homemade strawberry curd. Can we ask you about your cake? Yeah, sure, but my wife did the entire thing. Next, the systematic business of feasting. We're going to take turns cutting cakes, So if you have a blue wristband, please slowly make your way up. Grab your cake box.
44:47I'm seeing lots of orderly behaviour, everyone following the rules. Does it go down differently in different countries? No, it's about the same for country. I think the only difference was in Minneapolis at the end. We had so much cake left over because apparently in Minneapolis, everyone wants to leave a lot for the person after them. Three, two, one. Thank you. Make your way back to your places. The other groups take turns as group one starts tackling huge boxes of cake and making friends. It's just lovely because I think otherwise you would not have crossed each other's path, but everyone loves cake and you don't judge anyone who loves cake.
45:32So this is actually very lovely. it. The rule of the final round is to eat to your heart's content, but that's the rule of every round. Always eat. You're here for cake. Cut to your heart's content and eat even more. So I always think of Cake Picnic as a moment to make magic in a world that needs it. So thank you all for making that dream come true today.
45:54I think I'm going to have to seek out Stephanie Prentice and find out if she brought any slices back with her.
46:05We spoke on NewsHour earlier this month about the start of trials in Africa of antibodies supplied by the United States, which could help fight the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Now comes news of clinical trials beginning for a vaccine. Scientists at the University of Oxford in the UK have taken just eight weeks to come up with a potential vaccine and been given regulatory permission to recruit volunteers to test it. They're using a template developed by the team behind the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine. You may remember that for COVID, the analogy they like to use is a letter in a postbox.
46:38The BBC's medical editor is Fergus Walsh and he's here to explain. Fergus, they've moved very fast. They have moved fast. It's because they have had this vaccine technology now for over a decade. So it came to the fore in COVID. They use a, the letterbox is this inactivated common cold virus that infects chimpanzees. And what they put inside with COVID, it was the spike protein. With Ebola, they're putting in the single surface protein on the Bundibujo virus. It's a scrap of the genetic material. It can't give you Ebola, just as the COVID vaccine couldn't give you COVID. Then goes into the body, goes into cells.
47:24They start producing this scrap of genetic material. And the theory goes that it then gets the body to produce antibodies and T-cells and it will have a memory to those. So that's the idea behind it. What's going to happen in a couple of weeks is the first of 50 healthy volunteers aged 18 to 55 will be vaccinated in Oxford. And they'll be monitored for safety and the immune response. And they'll be followed for a year. and very soon after that there'll be a similar small trial in Africa and then all being well there'll be a much bigger trial in Africa in the affected area so it'll be a trial that will actually try to also protect people at the same time.
48:11And there are quantities of this already being produced by the Serum Institute in India so that if it does get regulator approval it can be moved fast. Yeah, extraordinarily fast. The Serum Institute has manufactured 620 ,000 doses, which are now sitting there, ready to be used, should this get all the approvals. And I should stress the Oxford team say, look, we've moved incredibly fast. We think of vaccines taking at least a decade to produce, but they have done all the animal trials or the lab trials. They've done them, they've overlapped here, but they could not and they would not be able to start these trials until then done trials in the lab and trials in small mammals, trials in macaques, safety trials there.
48:55So they're ready now to start. And there's good indications that it will be successful. There's a very successful vaccine against the Zaire species of Ebola. It's a different species, it's a different type of vaccine, but there's optimism that they'll have an effective vaccine. And just briefly, where are we with the Ebola outbreak in Africa? Well, it's not good at all. We've got something like 1 ,900 cases, just over 700 deaths. It's spreading, so the outbreak is not under control and this is very much needed. BBC's medical editor, Fergus Walsh. Thanks so much for coming into the NewsHour studio.
49:36Thanks too for your company wherever you are listening to us in the world. Don't forget, NewsHour is here twice a day, every day. I'm Sean Lay. It's been a pleasure to be with you.
50:02How has America shaped the world? I'm Asma Khaled, host of the Global Story podcast from the BBC. As the United States marks its 250-year anniversary, we've been exploring the surprising and often hidden ways the U.S. has shaped the modern world. And today on the show, we answer your questions about this moment and what to expect in the years to come. From the BBC, it's the United States at 250. Listen to the Global Story on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. F哪 % you
From the publisher
At least 28 people are dead after a bar in the Thai capital was gutted by fast-moving flames.
We'll hear the latest from Bangkok about the situation, as dozens remain missing and 25 people are said to be critically injured.
Also in the programme: We'll go inside the world of the Chinese man known as the "Fentanyl King"; and we have a tribute to the actor Sam Neill from his friend, the former New Zealand prime minister, Helen Clark, after his sudden death.
(Photo shows Thai firefighters and rescue workers working at the scene of a fire at a bar in Bangkok, Thailand on 13 July 2026. Credit: Rungroj Yongrit/EPA)