US Republicans kick off first-ever midterm convention

0:00This BBC Podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. I'm Janet Gilliland at 4 hours GMT on Wednesday the 10th of September. These are our main stories. President Trump says he will pay every adult American $5,000 if the Republicans keep control of Congress in November's midterm elections. More than 80 people are missing after a five-row count and a passenger ferry in a popular tourist area in the Philippines. Apple launches its new foldable iPhone but would you pay $2,000 for it?

1:05Also in this podcast we know about leap years but have you heard about leap seconds? Instead of having to apply a leap second every few years we can let them drift further apart. It will be many thousands of years before that drift becomes up to an hour. The US Republicans have kicked off their first ever mid-term convention amid growing concern that they could lose control of one or both houses of Congress. Usually conventions are held before presidential elections not mid-terms. The hope is that this unusual two-day gathering in Dallas, Texas will infuse voters and boost turnout in November's elections. Despite Americans' concerns about rising prices, dissatisfaction with the Iran War and Donald Trump's low approval ratings. Taking to the stage the President made an impassioned plea to voters. In 55 days Americans will be going to the polls in one of the most important elections

2:09in our country's history. Your vote will decide whether our country stumbles at the starting gate of the next 250 years or surges forward and never ever looks back. Mr. Trump urged voters to pretend that he was on the ballot. He then went one step further with this promise. If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them, because of our tremendous strength and success economically, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000. I put it to our correspondence at the Convention, Daniel Bush, that this was an extraordinary plea from President Trump. It certainly was, Janetta, a number of fronts. You know, not the least of which was this $5,000 dividend, which it's important to note, there are some 270 million American adults. That would be some $1.3 trillion.

3:14And it's unclear where that money would come from, whether it's even legal for the U.S. government to issue such a payout and critics immediately seized on it to say that it was essentially a bribe on the part of the President to try and get voters out of the polls by promising them a cash reward, although he framed it as an economic incentive. That was just one part of this extraordinary speech, nearly two hours long in which the President argued that the country's better off under him stronger economically and more secure border. It's also notable, however, some of the things that were not in this speech, Janetta, for example, much attention paid to the war in Iran. He mentioned it a little bit, the President did, but largely did not offer any new roadmap for how to end this conflict for how to get Iran's a negotiating table. It's something that a lot of supporters are concerned about. So it was a speech with a lot of sort of vague promises about what he might do, but not a lot of concrete specifics on how Republicans

4:14would shape continued to run the country if they keep control of the House and the Senate. Yeah, thorny issue for him because ahead of this speech, he did say that he didn't think the Iran war will be over until after midterm elections. And we've already seen all prices going above $100 a barrel again, given all this, what kind of reception did he get? Well, he got a very positive reception, but that's primarily because the audience at this convention, this unprecedented midterm convention was largely made up of oilists, of party supporters who are deeply loyal to the President himself, the core MAGA supporters. Those are the folks who came to this convention. And so it's not indicative necessarily of the broader Republican electorate. In fact, the President still has his work cut out for him, getting moderates and independence that poll show are not pleased with his handling of Iran, of the economy, of other issues out to the polls. And there was not much in this speech for that audience, in particular, it was loaded more with culture war issues and talking points that are popular with his base,

5:20but there was not a lot of reach out to the broader electorate that Republicans needed in November. And there are quite a few close races in November's election, and some of those Republicans in those close races decided to skip this event entirely. That's right. There were some Republican candidates in House and Senate races who were present here, but the vast majority of Republicans that are in tight races that are actually going to determine the outcome of the House and the Senate state away. Many of them claiming that they had scheduled conflicts or it simply had chosen to remain campaigning home in their districts, but their absence was glaring. And it pointed to number one, how much the Republican party has changed under Trump and the dwindling Republican establishment over the last decade. And number two, how polarizing the figure he remains within even his own party in the extent to which some Republicans at least start eager to move on from the Trump era. Daniel Bush, the Republican Convention in Dallas. As we record this podcast, at least five people are known to have died after a fire broke out on a passenger ferry in the

6:23Philippines. More than 80 others remain unaccounted for according to the country's Coast Guard. Video footage shows the vessel completely engulfed in flames during the night time, as rescuers and nearby boats pull people out of the water. The ferry was heading to Corona, a popular tourist destination when the disaster occurred. Our reporter, Jake Kwon, is following developments from Seoul in South Korea. This is shaping up to be one of the kind of worst disasters in recent memory. I mean, they're still investigating the cause of the fire, but because the fire happened on a ship in the middle of the night, the darkness, as well as the condition of the water, the current is very strong. There's high wind as well as a high wave that is complicating the rescue efforts. Now, this ship, it was carrying 134 passengers from Manila, the capital Manila to the island of Corona, where this is a very popular spot for many tourists,

7:26both locals and foreigners alike. So, what the authorities are saying is that the time is of essence, and they're using all resources, including volunteer fishermen, to pull as many people out of the water as possible. And there were some harrowing images weren't there? There are. And I think, you know, the question is, you know, how many childrens were on board, as well as, you know, how many foreigners were on board. There's a lot of still questions about how exactly something like this had happened. This is an island nation of more than 7,000 island, and fairies are very common. And unfortunately, this is a country that is no stranger to these kind of fairy disasters. Back in 2023, 31 people died, you know, a fairy fire as well. And there, you know, whenever this kind of things happened, the kind of lacks attitude towards safety, as well as the enforcement, and poor maintenance has been blamed for this kind of events. And, you know, I think one other thing that is kind of interesting about this incident is that, Cron, it's known for very, you know,

8:31crystal clear waters and white sandy beaches. This is a very popular tourist destination. And, it is where a lot of people go to do scuba diving. And the understanding is that a lot of the people on that boat are probably holiday makers. And it's just unfortunate and awful to see this image of people who are about to start their holiday season with this tragedy. Jake Cron. Apple has unveiled its latest iPhone. This is an iPhone. It's not the first iPhone to have your favorite apps. Or the first two fit comfortably in your hand. It is the first iPhone to do this. This is Apple's first foldable smartphone. It's called the Duo, and it's been years in development. On ortho-mercotechnology correspondent Lili Jamali was at the launching California. I put it to her that this was the first major change to the iPhone in years. Yeah, the first major change

9:32since the release of the iPhone, if you can believe it, that was almost two decades ago. Steve Jobs, of course, was the person who did that unveiling today here at Apple Park in Cupertino, California. It was new CEO John Ternis who did the unveiling of the iPhone Duo. He said that in his view, it would fundamentally alter how consumers experience foldables. I got to test it out a bit earlier. It's actually a lot of fun. It is the size of a passport. It's not all that much heavier than your standard iPhone, the smaller version now. When you open it up, you get a 7.6-inch screen. It's the thinnest iPhone that Apple has ever made when it is open, but it is expensive. Absolutely. A hefty price tag of some $2,000. That's right. It's 2000 to start. That's just the base price. The price can rise considerably, depending on how much storage a consumer is willing to buy. You could end up spending north

10:33of $3,000 US dollars for this phone. It's worth noting smart phones within that segment, foldables make up just 2% of sales. That was the stat from 2025, according to a number of different analysts we've been speaking to. It's not something that consumers are clamoring for, but we have seen Apple enter these spaces later. The smartphone itself, that category being a great example. Coming to dominate it, because in their view, they might take a little bit longer, but they are the ones who will ultimately get it right. Lily, iPhone launches used to be highly anticipated events under Steve Jobs. How does this one compare? In recent years, the company has shifted away from these live events. Steve Jobs, because it was the 50th anniversary of the company earlier, I spent a lot of time looking through his archival videos. He was just a spectacular showman, did live demos, crack jokes on the fly. We have a much more curated, carefully choreographed

11:38set of launch events these days. In fact, it was released by video effectively. We all sat in a room and watched a video for an hour and 20 minutes. It's a little different, but that does represent some of the bigger shifts under Tim Cook and now John Ternes. It's a little bit more careful perhaps than it used to be. Lily Jamali. The German car manufacturer, Volkswagen, is having a tough time. Competition from Chinese competitors is causing it and other German car makers a big headache. With the future of several factories in jeopardy, one VW plant on the brink of being shut down will now be repurposed in what might well be a blueprint for the future. Rather than making cars, it will now manufacture weapons. The financial times Berlin correspondent covering German defence, Laura Pittel, told Evan Davis more about the plan. VW, which is obviously one of Germany's most iconic car makers, has been in real trouble. It's been suffering from all the factors that have been putting the German car industry under pressure

12:41and they had said that they might have to close up to four of their factories sometime in the next decade and they were looking together with unions and others to find a deal to save it. This is where the Israeli Defence Company Raphael comes in. It makes the iron dome system that's protected Israel from rockets from Hamas for many years and they have now struck a deal which will see Raphael come in and use the factory and most of its workforce to produce components for that system which they now hope to sell in Europe. I mean, is a car plant easy to convert to if you like a military purpose? Obviously take out the cars and the machines making cars. Are they convertible? Well, it depends who you ask. I hear very different views on this from across the German defence industry. I think some in the sector are maybe a little bit defensive or protective and they say incredibly difficult to make our products which some of which are obviously incredibly complicated. High security complexes specialised fortified steel and security clearances for

13:42their workers. But I think if we look at the practical examples it is actually happening. So KNDS which is the Franco-German maker of the Leopard 2 tank which is used across Europe has taken over a factory that used to make railway carriages in East Germany. A few months ago I visited a small growing startup called Arks Robotics and they've done a deal with a former auto supplier where they could make up to 60 of their kind of ground-raised military robots per day. What's going to happen at the VW plant in Osnabork is that they will make things like launches and vehicles for this iron-done system. They're not actually going to make the missiles which are both like the most sensitive and the most difficult part. But I think it shows you how there can be some overlap. Germany is leading the way in European defence spending which is going to end up with a budget bigger than France and the UK's put together. And at the same time Germany has been incredibly dependent on the car industry which is doing very very badly right now.

14:44You have this booming defence sector and so you have this sort of unique convergence of a very large advanced manufacturing sector with lots of skilled workers, lots of engineers that just at this moment is looking for ways to diversify things to do with its spare capacity and its spare workers just as the defence sector is really booming. I think Germany is trying to lead the way in showing how it can be done and German officials, you can imagine are very very keen for it to happen because they're very worried about sluggish growth here and trying to help it pick up. That was Laura Pittel. Still to come in this podcast? I've seen cockroaches and rats. The actions which are taking it is in the public health interest and it will continue so that whatever we eat and whatever purchase is a safer food. The food in spectrum in India is becoming unlikely celebrity. Get more with BBC podcasts wherever you listen. Be the first to listen to your favourite shows

15:48like Evil Genius, Good Bad Billionaire and Your Dead To Me with a subscription to BBC Podcasts Premium on Apple Podcasts. You can also enjoy a range of our podcasts ad-free with an Amazon Music subscription. This is the Global News Podcast. Let's turn now to a disturbing case in the US state of Mississippi. The mother of a black woman whose body was found hanging from a tree in the city of Jackson has told the BBC she is still waiting for answers from officials more than a month later. Christie Speeby said despite repeated inquiries police had not given her any information about the investigation into the death of her daughter 29-year-old Tassia Fortune for weeks. She said the first update she received came on Tuesday when officials at a public city meeting finally announced they were investigating her death as a potential homicide. Many people in the black majority city say they are fearful given Mississippi's long history

16:53of racial violence and lynchings. With more here's our reporter Brandon Drennan. Police discovered the body on August 3rd hanging from a tree in the lot of an abandoned home. They initially said they're classifying it as a death investigation and hadn't really said much since then until the city council meeting where they announced they were investigating it as a possible homicide. The mother herself said she felt a bit stone walled by police. She told me yesterday she'd made multiple phone calls, left voicemails over the last two weeks and hasn't heard back anything this morning when I texted her she said not a word. So she's still just really looking for closure wanting to know how her daughter died and total disbelief of a possibility of suicide but that hasn't been suggested we just don't know. One of the other things about this particular case is it is the third instance of a person found dead and hung from a tree in Mississippi in less than a year. The other two happened in 2025 on the exact same day one white man, one black man both considered a suicide and the mother of one of those contests those findings.

17:57So there's institutional distrust going on. People are saying the slow drip of information just feeds that distrust and they're worried is this the beginning of a new horrifying trend and they want answers. Looking at Mississippi's dark racial history and the lynchings that have occurred there over the years many years ago fortunately and this predominantly black town roughly 80% of the population is African-American. People are worried did race play a role in her death. Why she killed these are all some of their worst suspicions that are borne out of knowledge of that lived history by some of them and until they get answers from police they just feel kind of stuck about worrying the worst. Brandon Drennan. Let's turn now to Germany where the resounding victory of the far right party the AFD in a regional election this week has sparked alarm. It rejects comparisons with the Nazis but in a stormy debate in the German parliament the Chancellor Friedrich Merz clashed with the AFD leader Alice Vidal saying her party's migration

18:59policies are mounted to ethnic cleansing that would affect millions of workers. Merz Vidal dismissed the claims and told the Bundestag that the days of the Merz coalition were over. Mr Chancellor the voters in Saxony and Holt have made it crystal clear to you in the language of the democratic sovereign. Your coalition is done. People finally want a change of policy and they do not want more of the same. With more on what she had to say here's our reporter Joanna Keem. She told Friedrich Merz his coalition government was a total failure and his time was up. Christian Democrats had been pulverized she said in the recent Saxony and Holt elections. So this was when he hit back. He said the AFD party was a destructive force. If what you are advocating here namely remigration were to become a reality it would be nothing other than ethnic cleansing based on skin color and origin. Nothing else. Ladies and gentlemen the

20:06word remigration is nothing other than a synonym for ethnic cleansing. He claims that their policies will affect millions. He talks about skilled workers being forced to leave the country and he's claiming this will leave a skills gap saying not a single hospital nursing home will be able to function. Then he went on to accuse the AFD of being on Russia's side during the war in Ukraine. The disruption by AFD MPs became so loud at one point that the Bundestag president threatened to start expelling people. Now I think we should talk a bit about the AFD's response to all of these claims. It's denied the ethnic cleansing. It advocated for remigration policies. It calls them remigration but it says it just wants to speed up deportations of rejected asylum seekers and foreign criminals and it says it wants to incentivise people to leave voluntarily. It also wants the children of refugees to be taught in segregated classes.

21:12Now the AFD says by remigration it means deportation in accordance with the law those are its words. Just a reminder for a bit of context here the AFD in Saxony and Holt has been labeled as right-wing extremist by German domestic intelligence. Geranikin. No we all know about leap years but have you heard about leap seconds? Every now and then an extra second is added to a day in order to keep the world's clocks aligned with the Earth's rotation. However because our planet's speed varies in response to climatic events there is now a possibility of a leap second being taken away. But that could pose all kinds of risks from telecoms to satellites if computer systems are not programmed to deal with this. Next month a general conference on weights and measures, yes that is a thing we'll consider how to deal with this. Dr. Set Nam Shima, the principal scientist for the National Timescale Group at the UK's National Physical Laboratory explains the problem and a

22:15possible solution. The problem is that whenever we insert these leap seconds to keep atomic time or the time on our everyday clocks in order to keep that aligned with solar time which is based on the rotation of the Earth. Modern technology systems, the timing networks in them can have discrepancies in the way the leap seconds are applied and this can cause inconsistencies with a system crash. So this could involve a telecom system or an electoral grid system or a system inside the financial sector and this is the concern why leap seconds are being considered to be replaced by the leap hour. The current proposal that's been put forward by the international timekeeping community is to replace leap seconds by the leap hour. This means that instead of having to apply a leap second every few years because the the world time system has drifted from solar time by a second instead we can let them drift further apart by up to an

23:18hour before a leap hour is applied. However, it will be many thousands of years before that drift becomes up to an hour and then the leap hour needs to be applied. So we don't need to worry about applying one for thousands of years and by that time things will be so different on Earth that it may not matter anyway. So the international consensus is the leap hour and this is where in October next month there will be the national delegates of many different countries at the general conference for weight and measures in Paris and they'll be voting and if it's passed then leap seconds will be abandoned and will move to the leap hour. But to set nam shimha. A bureaucrat on a mission has become an unlikely celebrity in India. The food and spetters crack down on restaurants and stores across Mumbai has captured the public's imagination with footage from the raids going viral. But along with the fame has come controversy. Our reporter, Achana Shukla met the man who's shaken and stirred Mumbai's food industry.

24:22Do you have filter coffee? Yes, yes. Can I get one filter coffee and a plate of idli sambar please? Yes, yes. Thank you. I've popped into this restaurant near our Mumbai office and this place looks different from the last time I was here. There's a fresh coat of paint on the walls. There are new bins. The open kitchen counters that I can actually see from here are being wiped down after every task and the staff here also seems to be double checking everything. Like nobody wants to end up in the next viral video and that's not really a joke because the recent photos and videos coming out of the food safety raids across Maharashtra that's the state Mumbai sits in have been hard to ignore. Cockroaches and kitchen floors, spider webs and the walls rotting vegetables. And behind it all is Tukaram Mundi, the state's new food safety commissioner. Since he's took over in May his teams have raided more than 4,000 food businesses. That's over 40 raids a day. 300 licenses have been suspended so far for violations. When I joined I never

25:24anticipated this will be like it. We turned out that way. I met him at his office in the city's business district. I did not expect these misviolence. Infestation, scene, cockroaches and rats. We just cannot think it's a filthy conditions. And it's across from multinational food chains to a hundred year old dairy to the iconic and elite clubs all have had their kitchen shut down. This has made the new food commissioner popular but also controversial. Some businesses say they were shut without warning and have taken legal action. Codes have at times find Mundi's department called their actions overboard even reversed some decisions. There's been some amount of criticism as well with some establishment saying that the actions are more strict than needed. The actions which you are taking is as per the law. It is in the public health interest and it will continue so that whatever we eat and whatever purchase is a separate food. But Mundi has tapped into the shared public frustration over food safety in India where government data shows one in five food

26:29samples tested were found unsafe, substandard or mislabeled. And that's why Mundi's hard enforcement style has made him popular. There are selfies, fan crowds close to four million Instagram followers. Experts however say that why this has raised awareness one officer can't sustain it all. Building a system that outlasts him is the real challenge. For now the change is reflecting even in street stalls like the one selling sandwiches here that have stopped using old newspapers where the ink can seep into food. After Mundi banned it among many other unsafe items. Today I actually got my sandwich wrapped in plain grease proof paper. A channa chocolate. And that's all for 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 Nicky Bruff, the producer was Adrian White, the editor is Karen Martin. I'm Danut Jalil. Until next time.

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