Houthi fighters seize control of Yemen's entire Red Sea coast

0:00This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Incredible true stories shared by people from around the world. Something really strange happened to me. It was getting more and more bizarre. I didn't know who I could trust. I did not think we were ever going to make it out of life. Life's less ordinary is the podcast where real life is often stranger than fiction. G'day, my name's Brawga and I am a full-time kangaroo mother. Lives less ordinary from the BBC World Service. Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts. With an Amazon Music subscription.

1:01This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Jenna Jalil and in the early hours of Saturday, the 12th of September, these are our main stories. Iranian bat hoofy fighters in Yemen cement their control of a key waterway seizing control of the country's entire Red Sea coast. The Democratic Republic of Congo says the Ebola outbreak it's battling has spread to the country's northwest. A bill to legalize assisted dying in England and Wales is rejected by MPs. Also in this podcast, India hosts a Bricks summit. Will it challenge a Western dominated world? And a museum in England removes an ancient Egyptian mummy from public display because they think that's what she would have wanted. Some visitors though aren't happy. It's half of an exhibit if you just have the exterior without the interior of it.

2:01You're missing out on kids coming in learning what mummies look like. I do understand the point of view of the people who it's been taken from. Yeah, it definitely was a very decision to take it off. Iranian bat hoofy fighters have now seized control of Yemen's entire Red Sea coast in a lightning offensive that cemented their grip on a vital maritime corridor. An eyewitness said, government were deploying along a key international shipping route the Bab Al-Mandab straight and driving around in military vehicles. Officials in the Saudi-backed Yemeni government say the hoofies have also seized several islands in and near the Bab Al-Mandab. This has become an increasingly important route for Saudi Arabia's oil exports since Iran blocked shipping through the Strait of Hormuz after the US and Israel launched their war on it. The Hif Fee Military spokesman Yaya Sari had this to say.

3:04Navigation remains safe for all shipping companies, except Saudi vessels in the Strait of Bab Al-Mandab, a strategic link between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia says it's shut down a major oil pipeline after it was attacked by drones launched from inside Iraq. The UN says the latest fighting in Yemen has killed hundreds of people and displaced tens of thousands more. A correspondent, Least, who said, explained how significant the hoofie advance was. This is hugely significant. It essentially opens up a second front in this crucial area. We have, of course, been focusing on for many months, the main theater of war is in the Strait of Hormuz. And there's been observations, including from US officials in recent days about how they've been able to loosen Iran's grip on that strategic choke point that they're now managing to get many, many more tankers through exporting many, many more millions of barrels of oil,

4:08whereas the Iranians are being prevented from exporting their oil. So we see in this move by the hoofie who are not completely tied to Iran. They have their own interest in the region. But on this, they seem aligned that Iran now wants to exercise even greater leverage geographically and politically by maintaining a hold over the second choke point. Just south of the Persian Gulf, now you have the bubble manned straight on the Red Sea. But you heard from the spokesperson making it very clear they don't want the Americans to be drawn in. They promise not to disrupt maritime trade, except for the Saudis. And just how crucial is that bubble manned straight? We've heard so much about the Strait of Hormuz. How about this particular choke point? It's particularly important for Saudi Arabia because Saudi Arabia and being prevented from exporting through the Strait of Hormuz has been turning to the Red Sea, which is the link between Suiz Canal in the north and the Gulf of Aden. And I know from recently speaking to Saudi officials, they were putting all their efforts into developing these alternative routes. And it's been the same

5:12with other partners in the Gulf saying, okay, right? Iran's going to continue to exercise control there. We're going to outsmart them by making the Strait of Hormuz less important. It's very difficult to say just how much of the traffic goes through there. And it's not just oil and gas. There are other really important commodities as well. So this is why you've seen today another spike in oil prices. The markets are nervous. And I think it's a very unpredictable and a very volatile situation. What will the Saudis do? They're already bombing today. There are reports that they vass the Americans to help. So far they're not. But the discussions are continuing. Leads you, sir, speaking to anchor Deci. Despite efforts to control the Ebola outbreak and the Democratic Republic of Congo, officials have confirmed that the virus has now spread to a new part of the country. So far more than 3,000 people are known to have died with thousands more infected. I got more details from our reporter, David Bamford. Up until now, the virus has been mainly

6:15in the northeast of Congo in about six different provinces. It's now slightly further to the west on the borders of the Central African Republic and Congo in what's called the South Ubangi region. So it is still spreading. And up until now, we've had 7,000 cases nationwide. Nearly half of those died. So 3,300 dead. And the fear is, of course, that it could spread across the borders into the other countries. Although that said, when it is spread into Uganda for instance, they dealt with it very efficiently. That's because they have quick contact tracing systems and so on, very modern in a way that Congo just doesn't. And what role have the major cuts in USA played in all this? Because the virus did spread undetected for some weeks. That's right. It did. It is true that the Americans under the Trump administration have withdrawn funding for the little clinics that were spread right across the Congo. But it's not just the Americans, of course. The Europeans have

7:19also withdrawn a lot of aid as well. And dealing with the country like Congo is difficult at the best of times. But with money disappearing the way it has is almost impossible. And what progress has there been towards developing your vaccine? Well, remarkably, there has been a lot of work on the vaccines and human treatment has begun already. But it's still in the early stages. And it's going to be months before they can actually put together significant quantities of the vaccine to make any difference. David Bamford. A number of countries have legalized assisted dying in recent years. But it seems England and Wales won't be joining their ranks anytime soon. After the British parliament voted against changing the law on this emotionally charged issue. The terminally ill adults end of life bill would have allowed adults with less than six months to live to apply to end their own life subject to certain safeguards. One of those who has long campaigned for assisted

8:20dying to be allowed in the UK is 86 year old broadcaster Esther Ranson, who's terminally ill with cancer. She has said she is now too physically fragile to travel to another country like Switzerland where she could legally end her life. She gave her reaction to the no vote on a mobile phone. I'm so sad that people in this country won't have the choice of shortening their own deaths by asking for help. I am sure I change in the law will car. I am deeply sad that it will come to an end of all many of the people who need it. But one of the MPs who voted against was Ashley Dalton, who is living with stage 4 cancer. She said she was worried people like her could be pressured or coerced into ending their lives. It's nothing short, a very responsible, to scare among a people like me, into believing our deaths will be horrific. When all the evidence suggests

9:26that with access to good palliative care deaths are on the whole gentle, the answer is not to terrify people and their families. It's to sort out palliative care and social care first. It's the second time in two years that MPs have voted on the issue. The lower house of parliament, the commons voted in favour of assisted dying last year, but after the upper house blocked it, concerns have grown that safeguards may not be robust enough. When the result of this latest vote was announced to our medical editor, Fergus Wosh, was outside the parliament building, where supporters and opponents of the bill had gathered. Joy and relief from no campaigners who'd argued that the bill would lead to the coercion of the vulnerable and undermined support for the disabled. Sophie Cleanthus is a disability rights campaigner. The fact that MPs listened, they spoke to us, they heard us, they know that disabled people were terrified of this bill. Thank you to every MP that voted against. But there was

10:31dismay among pro-campainers, who only last year were celebrating when MPs backed the same legislation. They argue terminally ill people deserve choice and a pain-free death. Sarah Burns' sister Ali's died of breast cancer in July. It just feels like a massive slap in the face. We had to watch her go through hell, essentially, she'd be devastated that after it passed once and then it ran out of time, that it's come back and now it's no vote. A growing number of countries have legalised assisted dying in recent years, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Spain and just last month, France. This is not the end of the assisted dying campaign in Britain. Supporters say they'll be back, but it looks like they'll have to wait until after the next general election to have any hope of changing the law. Fergus Walsh, a new weather record was set on Friday and it's good news because

11:35September 11th, 2026 marked the furthest point into an Atlantic hurricane season without a single hurricane being formed. James Kumersami asked Dr Ryan Trishelut, a meteorologist and president of the consulting firm Weathertiger if this was down to the El Nino weather phenomenon. It absolutely is. El Nino is a global climate pacemaker. It's defined by warmth of tropical ocean waters and the Pacific Ocean, but it certainly has weather impacts worldwide. And in terms of tropical cyclones, when there is an El Nino in effect, you tend to see more tropical cyclones in the western and the eastern Pacific Ocean, and many fewer than average tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean. Now it's unusual to see zero hurricanes forming at what's generally regarded as about the halfway point of hurricane season here in the North Atlantic Ocean, but this is no typical El Nino. It's one of the strongest of all time. Does it mean that there is just a delay? I mean, could things come back with

12:39vengeance in the second half of the season? Never say never in this business. I've been forecasting hurricanes for the last 20 years and it really and truly does only take one. Hurricane to make it a bad hurricane season. 1992 was a very quiet hurricane season other than Hurricane Andrew, which was a category five that hits South Florida. That being said, the conditions that are causing the hurricane season to be so quiet in the Atlantic are highly unfavorable upper level winds over the Caribbean Sea. I do not think that those are going anywhere over the next couple months. El Nino is only intensifying and I think those unfavorable upper level winds will continue to be in place. Now of course, that doesn't rule out that a storm could form closer to the continental United States and cause problems. So we may see some mean reversion, but I think this hurricane season is going to end well below normal and has a shot of being the quietest hurricane season of all time in the North Atlantic. Well, as you say, it's a different story in the Eastern Pacific. Well, it absolutely is. And in fact, if you integrate

13:41all the tropical cyclone activity in the northern hemisphere, we're actually running about 25% above normal for 2026. So it's kind of a sea saw. You'll see this when there's a lamina. Typically, we'll have more travel cyclone activity in the Atlantic and less in the central and Eastern Pacific. So in worldwide terms, 2026, travel cyclone season is quite busy, but it's very, very historically quiet here in the Atlantic. Since 1950, there have been at least two hurricanes in the North Atlantic Ocean every hurricane season. Dr. Ryan Schruchlatt. Still to come in this podcast, one year after the assassination of the prominent right-wing US activist Charlie Kirk, we assess his legacy. He changed the way US conservatives talk to Gen Z and future generations. And I think his legacy will be this concept of having an open dialogue is a good thing. Incredible true stories shared by people from around the world. Something really strange happened to

14:50me. It was getting more and more bizarre. I didn't know who I could trust. I did not think we were ever going to make it out of life. Life's less ordinary is the podcast where real life is often stranger than fiction. Lives less ordinary from the BBC World Service. Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Our podcast add free with an Amazon Music subscription. Available now on the documentary from the BBC World Service. Kirsty Walk reunites a group of people intimately involved in a moment of modern history. I can see the plaza are completely covered with debris and bodies.

15:51I was just waiting to die. The reunion, the 9-11 attacks. Listen now by searching for the documentary wherever you get your BBC podcasts. This is the Global News Podcast. Between them they represent about half the world's population. Leaders of the BRICS group of nations are attending a summit in the Indian Capital Delhi this weekend. It looks set to be dominated by the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine as well as economic challenges. It's being hosted by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi. China's President Xi Jinping's visit to India will be the first since deadly border clashes between the two nations seven years ago. BRICS was created in 2009 as a forum for major emerging economies seeking greater influence in institutions dominated by the West.

16:51A Global Affairs reporter, Umbhurasan Etirajan told us more. It's a much expanded BRICS. Initially it was mainly Brazil, India, Russia, China and then South Africa. Now it is expanded with 11 other members. It is happening at a critical time. You have the tensions in the Middle East, Russia's war on Ukraine, and also the US President Trump's tariff, particularly targeting those countries which are doing business with Russia, for example, China, India and many other countries. Why they founded this because they felt the Western-backed financial institutions like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, they were Western-dominated and the UN and other agencies are again the influence of US and Western Europe are too high and to balance this, this alternative grouping was formed. But there are also issues because even though they came together for a common purpose, there are also bilateral issues and tensions like India and China and again India's links with the

17:53US and Israel, how it is being seen, whether they can have any statement against President Trump. But it is important because it really represents nearly 50% of the world's population, 40% of the GDP. And these are some of the countries which are having the fastest to go in economy. So what they say, whether to make trade easier among themselves or to plan for something long-term, whether how they can look at trading and low-con currencies rather than depending heavily on US dollar. So a kind of counterweight if you like to the West at a time when Donald Trump's policies, particularly on tariffs and trade, have caused a lot of concern around the world. This would be one of the topics discussed in this meeting because many of the countries feel that it is disrupting the global trade and they also feel that these tariffs are unjustified. So now they want to take a common position but at the same time, Trump has also clearly

18:54warned about some of the aims of this bricks, for example, if he was categorically saying, they shouldn't even think about an alternative currency to dollar, then he will be imposing severe tariffs on the member states. He was also warning about individual agreements on any of the trade policies. You know, they're going to watch it how for it is going to be beneficial to each other. Here is the counter narrative counter-wise and it is also interesting the Iranian President, Matsut Peshawskian is also there in Delhi. So you have these people from different countries with a different agenda and finding a common point if that's going to be a challenge. For example, Willad Mirputin probably is one of the few countries where he can go freely without the fear of getting arrested because India is not a signatory to the ICC. In India and Russia, they maintain very close defense and trade ties, especially in the military defense supplies, India heavily relies on Russia. Now at the same time, this also has given an opportunity for India and China to reset the ties because it's a first visit by Xi Jinping to

20:00India after seven years. So there is a thought in relations between Beijing and Delhi because that's a bilateral meeting on Saturday is going to be seen as very crucial in improving ties. Since the 1990s, Ireland has stood out among small countries as hosting a big number of US presidential visits, often with huge public welcomes for the visitors. Over the years, stories of this place have become part of my soul. I am happy to be in Ireland. I am now a free man of Dublin. The roots of the relationship lie in emigration during America's formative years, almost one in 10 Americans night claim Irish ancestry. The wheels of the presidential airline

21:06over running on Irish soil, John F. Kennedy was in the land of his forefares. JFK was the first president to visit Ireland in 1963. This is the man whose great-grandfather somehow scraped together the four pounds for a sailing ship passage and emigrated to the United States. Barack Obama was another president with Irish heritage and he paid homage with humor. My name is Barack Obama of the money goal of Obama. I've come home to find the apostrophe that we lost somewhere along the way. One of the most visible and diplomatically valuable outworkings of the country's links happens every year on the 17th of March in Washington. Let me wish everyone a very happy St. Patrick's day on Ireland's national holiday. The Irish Prime Minister, the T-Shick, has a meeting under ceremony with the president. Time on a tradition I'm going to present the ball of Shamrock's president. Dan Mulholl is a former Irish ambassador to the US. I don't know of any other country that has a

22:09guaranteed annual outing in Washington, some of our European colleagues kind of puzzled us to how Ireland had managed to pull this off. Donald Trump's visit here to Dublin to the west of Ireland will be different to most of his predecessors. He has no known Irish ancestry. There won't be a large public rally involving him. Protest are being planned, focused on US actions in the Middle East. Dr. Peter McLachlan believes there are parallels with another visit that of Ronald Reagan in 1984. The US was severely criticized at that point by people in Ireland and what was going on in the Cold War broadly but very specifically in Central America. Many people in Ireland would have a close nurse or someone who was serving abroad as a non-error priest in Latin America and was able to bring back these first-hand reports of how they were very controversial associations there with US policy. Yet at the same time this was the US president. He needed to be courted and that was the start of the real investment of the US in the Republic of Ireland and indeed Northern Ireland. I want you to know that for this great grandson of Ireland, this is a moment of joy.

23:15Ireland is more used to the most nations to hosting the holder of the most powerful office in the world. This weekend of diplomacy and demonstrations will be another episode in a story dating back decades. That report by Chris Page. It's one year since the assassination of Charlie Cook, a right-wing American activist who was credited with helping to get young men to vote for President Trump and who was talked about as a future President himself. In the wake of his shooting on a college campus his supporters thought his conservative movement turning point could only grow, but many now fear that no one will be able to fill the void. Kyle Bass is an American investor and founder of a private equity fund who knew Charlie Cook. He spoke to Paul Henley. I met Charlie when he was 21 years old. He came into my office in Dallas, a couple of friends who suggested that I meet him and I was just taken by his constancy of purpose. The fire that he had

24:19lit in him to change the way that youth politics is formed and going to these college campuses around the US was his mission to go talk about the things that he cared most about, which was faith, family and country. So we were in frequent contact. Charlie and I had plenty of things we disagreed on, but the one thing that I think everybody appreciates was his desire to engage in the dialectic. Ask questions and answer questions and let's talk about what our differences are and why they might be. And I think that did the US and the world a service. He was always optimistic and he changed the way youth politics was thought about in America. So I think he has a lasting legacy. And what convinced you he could have been President of the US one day? I've met the last I don't know four or five presidents in America and when you meet someone whose life mission is to make things better and he has that charisma, he has that presence that

25:19gravitas when he walked into a room when he was 21 years old he had it and I think that's why he was so successful having that constancy of purpose and the desire to as he always said, trying to get America back to the America that let's say we once had the America that we had before September 11th. And I think that's why he had such a broad reach across America. What do you think Charlie Kirk would make of his legacy now? He changed the way US conservatives talk to Gen Z and future generations and I think his legacy will be this concept of having an open dialogue is a good thing. Kyle Bass and finally Manchester Museum in North West England has removed its ancient Egyptian mummy from public display to reflect what it describes as changing views. The remains of the woman known as Azru have been on show in the city for 200 years. The woman lived and died in ancient Egypt more than 2000 years ago. The museum said it had

26:23carried out research that showed she would not have wanted her body to be on public display. Roman Bridge reports. Since being unwrapped, Azru has been on almost constant public display, most recently at Manchester Museum, but no longer. Last year the museum launched a public consultation on whether her mummified body should continue to be seen by visitors. Around 8,000 people responded with views roughly evenly divided. And today these visitors to the museum gave their reaction to the decision. As we'll leave it, it's half of an exhibit if you just have the exterior without the interior of it. You're missing out on kids coming in learning what mummies looked like. I do understand the point of view of the people who it's been taken from. Yeah, it definitely was a very decision to take it off. Having it in a separate room sauce that you make that choice about whether you go and see it or not, I think that would be a good compromise because I think some people would want to see it and we learn from the artefacts that are in museums. I mean that's part of the reason behind having museums, isn't it? But the museum said the move reflected

27:27changing views about its responsibilities towards ancestors and the communities they represented and most closely reflect what Azru herself would have wanted. The museum's now considering what should happen to her in the long term. The question of whether mummies should be publicly displayed as a live issue among museums. The British Museum still displays mummies saying they provide an opportunity to examine how past societies understood death. Roman Bridge. And that's all from us for now. If you want to get in touch you can email us at globalpodcast at BBC.co.uk. This edition of the Global News Podcast was mixed by Hannah Montgomery. The producer was Emma Joseph. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Janet Joliel. Until next time. Goodbye. Incredible true stories shared by people from around the world. Something really strange happened to

28:29me. It was getting more and more bizarre. I didn't know who I could trust. I did not think we were ever going to make it out of life. Life's less ordinary is the podcast where real life is often stranger than fiction. Good day. My name is Brawger and I am a full-time kangaroo mother. Lives less ordinary from the BBC World Service. Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts.