Death row prisoner Christa Pike survives execution attempts and other stories | Global News Podcast

Hi, this is the Global News podcast from. the BBC World Service. I'm Nick Miles. and here's what's coming up. Death row. prisoner Christa Pike survives two. lethal injection attempts in the US. state of Tennessee. >> We have a lot of questions and the. Department of Correction has a lot of. answers that it needs to provide to the. public about what happened here. >> Global bond markets come under pressure. as US borrowing costs reach their. highest level since 2002. We'll find out. what that means for consumers. Many.

borrowers around the world are say, "Hang on a minute. Why is it getting. more expensive to take out a mortgage in. this way?". >> Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. praises the heroism of passengers and. the crew who stopped the attempt to. crash a flight to Israel, but questions. remain about security. And dozens of. people are reportedly killed in the. latest fighting in Ethiopia's Tigra. region. We begin in the US state of Tennessee. where the debate around the death. penalty has been brought once again into.

focus in the most dramatic of ways. Christa Pike, a female prisoner. convicted of murder, had been due to be. executed, but she survived not one but. two lethal injections at a prison in. Nashville. The governor of Tennessee has. ordered a temporary halt to executions. Christa Pike was sentenced to death in. 1996 for the murder of her classmate. If. she'd been executed, she would have been. the first woman put to death in. Tennessee in more than 200 years. John. North is a producer at WBIR television.

in Knoxville and was present as a. witness at the attempted execution. He. had this to say at a press conference. later on. >> We have a lot of questions and the. Department of Correction has a lot of. answers that it needs to provide to the. public about what happened here. Why was. it that by the time the blinds went down. for the second time at 8:05, she was. still breathing and her breathing at. points was very rhythmic. Now, at times. it appeared labored. She was snoring at. times, but she was still breathing.

Prison officials say they followed every. step of the state's protocol. The. attempted execution followed a day of. legal limbo as the US Supreme Court. overturned a reprieve granted by an. appeals court just hours before. Earlier, our World Service correspondent. Stephanie Heggery told me the latest. >> What we can glean so far is that uh what. one of the reporters who witnessed this. ex botched execution said is that uh. Christa Pike at one point said that she.

felt a burning sensation in her arm that. something was that it felt like it was. about to explode and she asked the room. if this was normal. Um that may suggest. that the uh doctors didn't manage to get. a vein. They didn't manage to get the. penttoarbital into her veins. There was. we know as well that uh Chris Pike's. legal team had argued before this that. she had small veins that they might. struggle to find a vein. So that could. be what happened here. >> Now what happens to Chris Pike's case. now? >> So the governor of Tennessee has issued.

a stay in any executions till the end of. the year. So she won't be executed. before the end of 2026. But we know from. a case in May also in Tennessee where a. man called Tony Kurthers also. experienced a botched failed execution. They couldn't find a vein in his case. He uh received a stay of execution for. one year. It's not clear what exactly is. going to happen in um in Chris Pike's. case but that is the precedent here. >> Now even before this botched execution. attempt the case of Chris Pike had. caused huge amounts of controversy.

across the United States and beyond. Um. tell us why. So even yesterday this uh. execution had been delayed by several. hours because of a lastm minute plea. So. the court of appeals had issued a stay. about an hour before the execution was. about to play take place at 10:00 a.m. Um and then the state of Sen Tennessee. appeal appealed to the Supreme Court and. the Supreme Court vacated that stay. really late and the execution h uh. started at about 6:30 p.m. So there was. legal wrangling right up until the very.

end here. But what uh the reason that. that stay was uh put was put in place by. the court of appeal was that Christa. Pike's lawyers argued that her history. of really extreme neglect and sexual, psychological, physical abuse in her. childhood was never taken into account. by her original trial jury and also that. the state of Tennessee had argued that. she'd lied about that abuse uh. throughout her childhood and in her. trial. And that became a key point of. concern for the court of appeal. the. Supreme Court uh overruled that and and.

didn't give the judges in the court of. appeal time to consider those arguments. >> The US Iran conflict, concerns about. whether there's an AI bubble about to. burst, just two of the reasons the world. economy is rather jittery at the moment. Now, those concerns have contributed to. a key interest rate in the US reaching. its highest level since 2002. Our. economics editor, Darini David, told me. more. What we're talking about here is. the rate on the instruments governments. use to borrow to fund their plans.

because quite often as we know they. spend more than they actually take in in. tax. And what we're seeing is that cost. of borrowing rising and that is because. of nerves about uh debt levels around. the world but also about the inflation. and interest rate prospects around the. world as well. And that's why you've got. this perfect storm which is pushing up. those borrowing costs not just for the. US government but we should say for. governments in Europe too and here in. the UK. So this is very much, you know, a little local trouble in the Middle. East, you might like to say, causing. very global implications and that causes.

implications for government's borrowing. costs and therefore for taxpayers. around. >> Well, yes, you're going to say that. about taxpayers as well. Interest rate. rates go up. Explain the process, how it. filters down to to you and me. >> Yeah, absolutely. Um, you know, what. we've got here is the government says, well, this is what we want to do. These. are our plans for the years ahead. Um, but we might need to find some extra. money. They go to the financial markets. They borrow this money and it's. long-term borrowing. So sometimes you're. paying back the interest to investors. for decades. Now those interest costs. have actually crept up higher and higher.

as governments have borrowed more in. recent years. Just to give you one. snapshot here in the UK, um if the debt. interest was a government department, we'd spend more of that on that than any. other department apart from health. That's how big a problem it has become. So that means there is less money. elsewhere to spend on other plans, public services for example. And it. tends to mean that governments have to. raise taxes to cover those costs as. well. So you know what might seem an. issue a storm in a teacup in financial. markets has implications both for public. services and for taxpayers further down.

the line. So yeah this is our problem. really. >> So taxpayers are going to have higher. interest rates that has an impact on. mortgage rates and the whole the rest of. it as well. >> Absolutely. That's you raised that. really important point because again. what happens in those bond markets tends. to be linked to those costs when you. take out mortgages that are fixed for. any period of time. So if you are taking. out a mortgage that is fixed for 5 years. 10 years it is that bond what they call. the yield the interest rate which really. influences those costs which is why many.

borrowers around the world are say hang. on a minute why is it getting more. expensive to take out a mortgage in this. way. Still to come, we'll find out why. sales of Japan's national drink, sake, aren't what they used to be. >> All of these tanks you said are empty. >> There's nothing inside. >> The northern Ethiopian region of Tigra. has been fragile for decades. Militants. there wanted far greater independence. from Addis Ababa. And it looks like a.

peace deal signed four years ago is. unraveling. Since September, federal. forces and Tigrian fighters have been. battling across three regions, Tigra, Amhara, and Afar. Now, it appears. government forces have captured the. strategic town of Alamata. More than 50. people living there are said to have. been killed. I spoke to Datu Goba from. BBC monitoring who's in Nairobi for. more. >> The latest we have in terms of the. fighting is the reporting on the number. of civilians that is increasing of. course in daily basis. the Ethiopian.

army and its alllight and also on the. other side the rebels and the allied. groups they continued fighting. specifically in Tigra Amhara and Afat. regions. We have the first clashes break. out on 23 September in those three. regions and the fighting of course. continued um intensifying. We do not. have numbers or casualties coming from. the federal government side uh so far. But the rebel groups, they continued um.

claiming battlefield victories. And of. course, we have civilian casualties. happening in those uh three regions so. far. >> And Datu, there was a dramatic instance. where there was an attack as a live. television broadcast was out. >> Yes. Um so a drone strike hits Tigry. regions main uh broadcast at Tigry TV. It's also functions basically as the. main um information source coming out of.

Tigra. But unfortunately since the drone. strike hit the broadcaster on Sunday. 27th September the broadcaster also. discontinued um its broadcast its news. there hasn't been anything coming out of. Tigra TV. However, the next day on. Monday, 28th September, the TV station. uh resumed its broadcast from a. temporary studio. However, it was not. able to continue its regular news and. program services so far, but we continue.

to monitor how it will unfold, whether. Tigrat TV will be back on air again or. it will um continue like that. to Israel. now where the prime minister Benjamin. Netanyahu has been praising the heroism. of passengers and crew who stopped the. apparent attempt to crash a flight from. Dubai to Tel Aviv. The captain was. stabbed as the plane was entering. Israeli airspace but was still able to. open the door to the cockpit so the. passengers could help him out. Mr.

Netanyahu has said it's too early to say. who was behind the attempt. The United. Arab Emirates has now also launched an. investigation into this incident. We. heard more from our correspondent. Yolanda. >> This Indian pilot Smith Machar is being. hailed as a hero by Israel's prime. minister and much of the public. It said. that he fought off an attack by his. co-pilot on a Fly Dubai flight and. managed to unlock the cockpit door. That. was critical. An Israeli woman who was.

on board close to the toilet said she. heard a struggle inside the cockpit and. when the door was open she said she saw. that the pilot had been stabbed. That's. when Israeli passengers on board. intervened and they tied up the. attacker. Now it took about 5 minutes to. try to stabilize this plane which had. plunged some 17,000 ft in under two. minutes. Officials say that what was. averted here was a 911 style disaster.

The injured captain has had surgery in. Saudi Arabia. That's where the plane. made an emergency landing thanks to a. reserve crew that was on board. Um, but. now investigators will try to find out. whether the co-pilot in this case was. working for a state actor or for some. kind of armed organization. It's. believed he really tried to crash the. plane and he's said to have come from. Oman. Now, Israel already has very. strict security checks when it comes to.

passengers who use its airlines, um, who. use its airports, and it's saying it's. going to increase the security checks on. pilots who are flying to the country. A. lot of questions are being asked about. the vetting that goes on at the moment. and whether in this case a pilot who. came from a country which does not have. diplomatic relations with Israel was. being allowed to fly here in. contravention of aviation agreements. >> Sake is Japan's national drink. At.

October the 1st is World Sake Day. It's. celebrated every year to mark the start. of the sake brewing season, but there is. little to celebrate at the moment. Since. the 1970s, sales inside the country have. fallen by more than twothirds. Our Tokyo. correspondent, Kurumi Mori, has been. inside an 18th generation saki brewery. to find out how producers are attempting. to revive a drink that was first. produced more than 2,000 years ago. >> I can already smell the sake.

Rice, water, mold, and yeast. Four. ingredients transforming steamed rice. into Japan's iconic drink for the past. two millennia. Yahachiro Ishkawa is the CEO of Ishkawa. Brewery in Tokyo. Compared to 36 years. ago, he said the amount of sake that he. produces is now onetenth of what it used. to be. So all of these tanks you said. are empty. There's nothing inside. The number of sake breweries like this.

one has plummeted from around 30,000 at. the end of the 19th century to just 1300. today. After Japan opened up to foreign trade, beer, wine, and whiskey entered market, thus reduced the reliance on saki. Also, today young generations don't. drink as much as we did.

But there may be a lifeline overseas. Japanese sake exports have been growing, hitting a record of 45.9 billion yen or. around $300 million last year. Besides. selling overseas, Ishkawo is finding. ways to attract foreign visitors by. offering tours and tastings. These. breweries may be disappearing from. Japanese towns, but the taste of sake. seems to be traveling farther than ever. Saki is deeply rooted in our culture.

It's something we are proud to share. with the rest of the world. It's a. symbol of Japan itself. And that's all for this edition of the. Global News podcast. If you'd like to. get in touch, our contact details are. below. I'm Nick Miles and until next. time, goodbye.