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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Ankur Desai and at 16 hours on Thursday, the 6th of November, these are our main stories. World leaders gather in Brazil ahead of UN climate talks, but Donald Trump, Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi will not attend. South Africa says it's received distress calls from 17 citizens lured into fighting for Russia in the war in Ukraine.
And could the Trump administration be charged with crimes against humanity for striking ships near Venezuela? Also in this podcast, the young lawyer challenging Pakistan's tax on period products.
I was getting congratulations for bringing this petition forward as if I'm a soldier returning from war, you know. But there should be nothing brave about it. It's a biological function. It's a natural phenomenon that all women go through.
The Brazilian city of Belém is known as the gateway to the Amazon, a focal point of the global climate crisis. And on Wednesday and Thursday, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is hosting dozens of world leaders there, in advance of the COP United Nations Climate Summit, which begins officially next week.
Notably absent are the leaders of the three greatest producers of carbon emissions, China's Xi Jinping, India's Narendra Modi and Donald Trump, who says he won't even send a senior representative from the US. The proceedings began on a dire note.
The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said the world had already failed to keep global temperatures from increasing by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, a key climate goal.
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Chapter 2: What are the key issues surrounding the COP30 summit in Brazil?
The unhappiness that South Africa initially wasn't coming out stronger in condemning Russia when it became clearer or there were clearer suggestions on who the aggressor in the conflict is. And that's a sentiment that prevails here.
So while they may find empathy or sympathy amongst people who understand the difficult economic conditions that millions of South Africans face, it will be difficult for people to empathize if it's found then that they actively participated in the war, knowing what they were going into.
And just briefly, because this isn't the first time that South Africa or other African nations have got caught up in the conflict.
Certainly. In fact, it's part of a growing concern across Africa. My own colleague Mayeni Jones recently did a report from speaking to South Sudanese nationals who shared their own report of how they were promised jobs working in various parts of Russia and instead found themselves working building drones. So it seems to be part of a growing concern here.
And it's something that President Ramaphosa has spoken very harshly against, saying that vulnerable people in communities are should not be targeted by companies that have vested interest in the ongoing conflict.
The Trump administration is facing mounting questions over the legality of its airstrikes against alleged drug boats off South and Central America. More than 60 people have been killed in the last two months. But many Democrats say the strikes are illegal, while some Republicans also want answers, causing Secretary of State Marco Rubio to brief key lawmakers in Congress on Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, a former chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, has told the BBC the strikes would be treated under international law as crimes against humanity. The White House has rejected the claim. Here's our State Department correspondent, Tom Bateman.
The roar of the fighter jets on the Gerald Ford, the world's biggest aircraft carrier, will soon sound off Latin America. President Trump's military build-up in the waters off Venezuela continues after more than a dozen deadly airstrikes on small boats he says are carrying drugs. In the high seas, punishment is being delivered at the pull of a trigger.
But the missile strikes are rattling the halls of Congress. They are illegal, say most Democrats, and even some Republicans are asking difficult questions. So Mr Trump dispatched his top diplomat, Marco Rubio, to give a classified briefing to lawmakers last night.
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Chapter 3: Why are major world leaders absent from the climate talks?
It's not possible to win him with flowers. It's people with weapons needed.
Life is better with a story. Hyvät kollegat, mikä hämminki on sloganissa We Have Little Prices?
Eikö meillä pitäis olla Prisma Prices? Little Prices on parempi. Laita joo toi sloganiksi. Ei huono.
Prisma Selection, Little Prices. Hyvää stormausta, jengi. A young lawyer is taking the Pakistani government to court to challenge a tax on women's period products, which increases their cost by 40%. The country classifies items like sanitary pads as luxury goods, but Mahnoor Omer argues that they should be considered essential and made tax-free.
She spoke to my colleague Anita Rani and began by telling us why she believes period products are taxed so steeply.
Personally, my opinion on this is because they're seen as a product used by upper class women, not a need of women all over Pakistan, similar to like a makeup item or perfume, which is, to me, quite frankly, very unreasonable. So it's an omission on part.
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Chapter 4: What did the UN Secretary General say about global warming goals?
I would like to think it's not an intentional act. It's an omission where while making this law, they didn't really think of much of it. Well, I have to also point out that sanitary products have only not been taxed here in the UK for nearly five years since January the 1st, 2021. OK, so, you know, we were we're only just behind you. What's the attitude to menstruation and periods in Pakistan?
I would say the attitude back home is still quite conservative. I was getting congratulations for bringing this petition forward as if I'm a soldier returning from war. You know, it was quite intense where they said, you're so brave for speaking about this. But there should be nothing brave about it. It's a biological function. It's a natural phenomenon that all women go through.
So people still being so hush-hush about it. Women don't speak to their daughters about it. When I was little in my class, I would say like sixth, seventh grade, a girl got her period during computer class. She got up, her white kameez from the back was red stained entirely. She looked so confused. She had no idea what was happening. The boy started laughing at her.
The teacher, you know, quickly whisked her away to the bathroom. But I said, did your mom never tell you? And she didn't. That just goes to show even mothers don't speak to their daughters about it. And what are the consequences for women? You mentioned there the difference that they're seen as something that upper class women use. So what are the consequences for women in the poorer regions?
The consequences are extremely dire because firstly, lack of affordability because of this tax leads to lack of access and lack of access then translates them to using alternatives, alternatives such as pieces of cloth that they wash and reuse again and again. In some areas, there have been reports of women using leaves.
And, you know, and especially right now after the floods that happened, women's health was at the back burner once again. So this leads to infections. It leads to reproductive health issues. Reproductive health issues then lead to a rise in domestic violence because men are families are now upset. Why isn't she giving us more children? So it's a whole it's a cycle of, I would say, poverty.
It's a cycle of abuse. It's a cycle of electricity just goes on and on. It's interconnected. And a serious educational consequence as well. Yeah. The UNICEF report also said that one in five girls in Pakistan missed school because of their period. Your case against the Pakistani government has now had its first hearing. What made you bring a case? Where did your personal activism come from?
I've been pretty passionate about women's rights from a young age. I started organizing with the Women's March, also known as Orit March, back in 2019 as a volunteer and now as an organizer. And when I got my license to practice law, my colleagues and I were speaking to each other and a colleague and dear friend, Esen Jangir, who is the lawyer on this case with me and a great feminist ally.
He said, why don't we use our license to start challenging these laws? So this is just the start. We're going to do an analysis of all the gender blind legislation, legislation against minorities and challenge them one by one.
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Chapter 5: What initiatives are being proposed to combat climate change at COP30?
You've been locked up for what you have done.
But you also managed to escape. Can you tell us about how you managed to do that?
I've heard the speech of Vladimir Putin with the declaration of full-scale war. Against Ukraine? Against Ukraine. I desperately didn't want to leave the country for freedom of what I'm fighting. At the same time, I do understand that this is the war. If you take a side inside the country, that means that you're imprisoned, in my case, forever.
I was thinking when I got the sentence in absentia, I was thinking what it is to be in the country, actually, because politically I'm in the country. They opened this case and they gave me a sentence. Physically, I'm not there. And millions and millions of people are there. But they politically are not there because they cannot speak because they physically will go to prison.
So it's permanent, very brutal and dangerous self-censorship. which affects personality, affects society, and basically rotten the country. The state taught Soviet Union people that they are small. They are, comparing to the state, nobody. The protest of one person or of the group people will not lead... to the change of the power. So it's something which is in the blood.
At least five generations have been taught this thing. I'm just trying to get a sense from you if you've got any hope that the people will protest more, will rise up. The thing is that to overcome Putin's regime is, for my opinion, this is a goal for people inside the country and outside. It's not possible to win him with flowers. It's people with weapons needed.
What do you think about the West's response to Putin at the moment? Ukraine should be safe and Europe needs Ukraine, not a part of Putin's gulag. Because if it is something wrong with Ukraine, as Putin says, next will be something wrong with you. They will find Nazis, so-called Nazis, in your country and they will invade. Putin needs war.
This is like the general thing which Western people do not understand. Putin needs war because he needs to keep people on survival mode.
China's space program has released a video of its astronauts holding what it calls the first ever barbecue in space. Sounds like they really enjoyed it. Well, our reporter Will Vernon told me more. Space stations are a pretty delicate place. You can't have smoke or fire or dodgy toasters or anything like that in there. This was done in a specially designed oven.
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