Feminist pioneer Gloria Steinem dies at 92 and other top news stories | Global News Podcast

This is a global news podcast from the. BBC World Service. I'm Janet Jalil and. on Thursday the 3rd of September we. remember Gloria Steinem, a pioneer of. the women's liberation movement who has. died at the age of 92. The UN warns of a. super-sized El Nino continuing into next. year. >> This El Nino will deliver a major blow. to communities, economies and supply. chains across the globe. >> We investigate the people smugglers. bringing migrants to the UK from France.

>> Where are you from? Afghanistan. Why are you going to the. UK? Why do you do it like this? >> And we ride through London in a. driverless taxi. >> I'm the first British journalist to hail. a self-driving car taking a little trip. through central London and I want to. make sure that this machine gets me from. A to B in one piece. >> The US feminist writer and activist. Gloria Steinem has died at the age of. 92. In the late 60s and early 70s she.

was one of the most prominent leaders of. the American women's movement. campaigning for gender equality and. reproductive rights. In a statement on. social media her team announced that. Steinem had died peacefully at her home. in New York saying her near century on. earth were years well lived and she. continued working for equality until the. very end. Steinem spoke to the BBC's. Faranak Amidi in 2023. >> You and I have grown up in some form of.

patriarchy. that says that even in the family. uh women are more responsible for taking. care of infants and small children than. men are even though men are parents too. So that's where a lack of democracy. begins and that's the beginning of uh. change that we that we all can make. We. shouldn't feel helpless just because. we're not changing something globally.

The idea of domination and a lack of. democracy begins as in the family and. it's even more important and even more. the cause of future conflict to grow up. with that uh with making discrimination. and domination okay. than national policies are. >> What kind of change. you wish to see that you you think. hasn't been achieved and you hope to see.

accomplished in your lifetime? >> Well, the the most obvious and simplest. is that we uh can determine the fate of. our own physical selves. So, we can. decide whether and when to have. children, not to have children, uh you. know, whatever it is about our physical. selves because that's where our. difficulty begins cuz we happen to have. wombs and the desire to control wombs is.

very central to authoritarian systems. >> The BBC's Emma Barnett looks back on. Gloria Steinem's life and legacy. >> She was very much one of the leading. voices in America's women's equality. movement. She became particularly. prominent during the '60s and '70s, a. time when women were arguing for equal. rights at work, equal rights. um in politics, and more control over. their own destinies and in family life.

Now, she was born in Ohio in 1934, but it was when she was a journalist in. New York that she really came to. prominence after her investigation into. the Playboy Club. She went undercover, she worked as a Playboy Bunny, and then. later reported on the kind of conditions. that women were working in, the low pay, and their treatment at the hands. customers. And after her journalism, you. know, more widely then she continued as. a writer and a campaigner arguing for.

greater rights for women. Now, this was. a time when women could face a lot of. discrimination in the workplace, would. find it very difficult to get promoted, to get the same amount of pay as men. And these were arguments that she really. brought into the mainstream. She. traveled all over America appearing on. television, leading campaigns to make. these arguments and continue to do so. for decades. Many of the the rights that. we have now that we take for granted.

were things that she was very much. campaigning for throughout her life. >> Our planet is already experiencing. frequent record heat waves, droughts, and floods because of man-made climate. change. Now, scientists say they think. that will be exacerbated even further by. a natural recurring weather pattern El. Nino that causes surface temperatures to. rise in the Pacific Ocean. The latest. data shows it could be the strongest for. more than 70 years and last until at. least February next year. The head of.

the UN, Antonio Guterres, said that El. Nino was being super-sized before our. very eyes with the world in the danger. zone of even more extreme weather. The data was released by the World. Meteorological Organization. Its secretary general is Professor. Celeste Saulo. >> This El Nino will deliver a major blow. to communities, economies, and supply. chains across the globe. So, many sectors will be affected. Agriculture, trade,

fisheries, health, energy, transport, water resources, disaster management, to name but a few. We are already seeing disruption and. devastation from droughts and floods and. extreme weather. We expect these impacts to multiply and. cascade as El Nino intensifies. >> Our climate and science reporter, Esme. Stallard, spoke to Sarah Montague. >> They were giving a very stark warning.

there about the potential global weather. impacts of this building El Nino event. I mean, what they're concerned about is. that we haven't even got to the peak of. those temperatures yet, and we are still. climbing. In terms of the areas that are. most affected, it is those tropical. regions. So, what we can expect to see. is intense rainfall in parts of Peru, parts of Ecuador and Brazil. Also, in. parts of East Africa, in Kenya. And then. we could get more dry drought weather. across Southeast Asia, as well as. typhoons building across the Pacific. into China, which is already struggled.

with four typhoons this year, killing. nearly 200 people. And so, that warning. from the WMO is for forecasters to just. just. share information with countries around. the world about these potential extreme. weather events. And also for governments. to prepare medical assistance and also. support for those most vulnerable. >> Yeah, and the message was that there's. no time to lose, that that preparation. needs to happen now. >> Exactly. We've already heard that the US. has sent a medical assistance ship down.

to Peru ahead of the peak in February to. provide additional technical equipment. and assistance. Based on previous El. Nino events, they are particularly. concerned about Peru because it's right. on the front line of where those warm. ocean waters are moving. We're also. already starting to see drought in parts. of Caribbean and the impacts of that on. crops. And as of today, the Panama Canal. Authority has reduced the number of. ships passing through that area because. they are concerned about predicted lower. rainfall, which could affect number of. ships that can get through. And of. course, that.

interrupts trade patterns, which are. already being affected by what is. happening in Iran. >> Well, the consequences of the El Nino. phenomenon are being felt in many parts. of the world. The Panama Canal, the. crucial man-made waterway connecting the. Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, is reducing. the number of ships allowed to pass. through from today. because of severe droughts, with. authorities having to safeguard water. resources after low rainfall caused by. the weather pattern. Around 5% of global trade normally.

passes through the canal. So, how much of an impact will this have. on global shipping? Richard Meade is. editor-in-chief at maritime journal. Lloyd's List. >> It's already having an impact. We've got. ships waiting for around a week. Uh a. ship's queue to get through. We've got. some ships paying up to around 4 and 1/2. million dollars in order to jump that. queue for high-value cargos. So, there. is disruption, but this disruption is. coming on disruption on disruption. You.

previous. uh segments mentioned the Strait of. Hormuz. Um we're already dealing with. the uh energy impact of that. Black Sea. is currently the most dangerous trading. environment for ships since World War. II. Red Sea is still largely rerouting due. to Houthi threats, and the Bab el-Mandeb. is very dangerous. There are a lot of. choke point problems. So, this is a sort. of compound interest of disruption on. maritime trade that's already disrupted. and has been since COVID. This is the. worst, most disrupted trading.

environment in living memory for the. shipping industry. Uh freight rates are. at an all-time high. Disruption and. inefficiency is an all-time high, and. there are very few signs that there is. much relief around the corner. >> Still to come, more than 40 people are. rescued from a boat that had been adrift. for weeks near Spain's Canary Islands, but it's feared that dozens more may. have died. France has loaned a nearly. thousand-year-old tapestry to Britain in.

a gesture of post-Brexit reconciliation. The new UK Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, thanked France for the loan of the. Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts the. French leader, William, who was of. Nordic descent, seizing the English. crown in a historic battle in 1066. And. he jokingly compared it to his own. ascent to power as a former mayor in. northern England. >> A tapestry. that shows a new leader. emerging. from a northern territory.

traveling to the south of England. in search of the crown. Something clearly that couldn't happen. today. >> [snorts]. >> France's President Macron is the first. foreign leader to be welcomed to Britain. by Mr. Burnham. The two men discussed a range of issues. including Ukraine, the Middle East, and. as our UK political correspondent Rob. Watson explains, the small boats. carrying migrants that continually.

arrive in Britain from France despite. the authorities' efforts to stop them. >> Opinion polling here suggests it is a. massive issue for British people. They. just don't like the idea that people. could come over in boats. You don't know. who they are, how many they are. And so. this is something that that Britain has. long wanted France to take action over. Now that the current government says. it's getting excellent cooperation from. France and that boat crossings. are down from nearly 50,000 to to to. below 20,000 so far this year, but it is.

a very very. It's a very important issue for Britain. >> But this is also a big diplomatic test. for Mr. Burnham because he's been rather. focused on domestic affairs rather than. international ones. He did visit Ukraine. in his first visit abroad as Prime. Minister. So so that is another big. issue, but it will also be a test for. him to see how he gets on with President. Macron given all those tensions. post-Brexit. >> Yes, I mean one of the doubts that have.

been raised about Andy Burnham is that. he was very much a domestic politician. that he'd never shown much interest in. in diplomacy and international affairs. and that most recently he's been the. champion of Manchester for 10 years as. the mayor of Greater Manchester. So, making that step up to looking at. statecraft, looking at international. relations was seen at very much as a. challenge and look, it's worth pointing. out of course, this will be the sixth, I. mean, can you believe it, the sixth. British Prime Minister that President.

Macron will have met saying something. about the particular political. turbulence this side of the channel. But, I I guess the good news for Mr. Burnham is that on issues like the. Middle East, on issues like Ukraine, which are massively important to both. France and to Britain, there'll be a. considerable agreement. Some tension. perhaps on Britain's desire to get. closer to the European Union without. actually rejoining it. That will of. course continue to be a source of. friction between the two countries. >> As Rob was saying, one of the issues.

being discussed by the two leaders is. the daily crossing by small boats across. the channel. A BBC investigation has found criminal. groups who illegally smuggle people to. the UK from France are running low on. small boats. Gang members have told BBC. sources that rival factions are now. having to work together to load migrants. onto fewer larger vessels. They're also. charging them more. With the number of. crossings currently at a six-year low, British ministers have credited the.

French police for intercepting more. attempts. Our correspondent in France, James Waterhouse, looks at how the. people smugglers are being forced to. adapt. >> Did you know a small boat launch to the. UK can take 3 hours in daylight without. the French police stepping in? Here's. how. >> Where you from? Afghanistan. Why are you going to the. UK? Why not go legally? Why do it like this? It's very dangerous. Once in the water. like this, the authorities don't really.

intervene over concerns people could. drown unless they can be stopped closer. to land. So, away they go. This one appears to head off, but it's. not done yet. Was that the boat you were. hoping? Another group appears. Is it. going to come back for you? You don't know. And an hour later, the boat sure enough. does come back. All of these people. have paid 2,000. euros each. They're customers to these.

people-smuggling gangs. After 3 hours and five collections, the. window for boarding shrinks. 82 people. finally leave and make it to the UK. Those left behind will wait for another. opportunity. And people-smugglers will continue to. exploit them. Although they are. frustrated, our investigations found. they are short on boats with once-rival. gangs being forced to now work together. The UK and France have put this. significant drop in those making it.

across down to stronger policing and. better cooperation. But with thousands. still making this journey every month, their war on small boat crossings is. merely entering a new phase. >> Let's turn now to the issue of migrant. crossings further south in the Atlantic. Ocean. Many people bought boats from. Africa's western or northern coast to. try to reach the Canary Islands, which. are Spanish. Now, Spanish maritime rescue teams say. they've located a vessel south of the.

island of Gran Canaria, which has been. adrift for weeks, where they found five. dead bodies and 44 survivors. It's. feared that dozens of people, including. a baby, died. I got more details from. our Madrid correspondent, Guy Hecko. >> So, 44 survivors, we are told, were all. uh, sub-Saharan African men. Um, but in total we're told that 128. people did, uh, leave, uh,

Gambia in West Africa in this boat, um, in early or the first week of. August. Um, and we know that there were some women, uh, on board, uh, who clearly perished. during the journey. Um, and we know that there was, you. mentioned a baby there, at least one. baby on board as well who who also, uh, perished. The the survivors, uh, have. been taken in in the Canary Islands are. undergoing medical treatment, um, and.

that's prior to, uh, undergoing some. legal procedures that they would, uh, that that they would normally undergo, uh, on arrival in, uh, European port. >> And how will they be processed? Will. they be processed in the Canaries or. will they be taken to mainland Spain? >> Well, there are temporary migrant, uh, stay centers, as they're known, on the. the Canary Islands because so many. migrants, uh, try and reach the Canary. Islands, um, from North and West Africa, that we.

have these migrant centers, uh, on the. islands. Um, and so they would stay in those stay. centers, in theory, um, as long as it takes to get them them. processed, uh, legally. Now, that can be. quite a long a long procedure. It can. take several months. Obviously, to the. frustration of the migrants themselves, obviously, they arrive on the islands. and they think they're in they're in. Europe and that's that, but if they want. to go go to the, uh, to mainland Spain, it can take quite a long time, uh,

before that happens. And in many cases. they do actually get repatriated to. their own countries if there are. agreements with their countries of. origin. >> And this is quite an ordeal for them. because this route from West Africa to. the Canary Islands is one of the. deadliest crossings in the world. >> Yeah, it really is. I mean, if you look. at the map, traveling from Gambia in. West Africa all the way to the Canary. Islands is an enormous trip. I mean, in. a way it's a miracle they they reached. the Canary Islands. Though, of course,

there was a massive loss of life, more. than 80 people appear to have died. on the way. But, it it's a huge journey, but many people. try and make it. Now, this so far this. year we've had more than 5,000 migrants. have made the journey from Africa to the. Canary Islands successfully. That sounds. like a lot, but actually it's it's it. it's about or less than half the number. that made the journey over the same. period last year. But, there are many. migrants who are seeking alternative.

routes, for example, to the Balearic. Islands in the Mediterranean. But, nonetheless, this very perilous, very. dangerous route to the Canary Islands. does remain quite popular with many. migrants. >> From today, Londoners will be able to. hail an Uber robo-taxi, where cars drive. themselves. There'll still be a human at. the wheel on standby, but as our. technology editor, Zoe Kleinman, explains, there are still a few issues. which need to be sorted out. Uber has now added robo-taxis to its UK.

app, but only if you happen to be within. a short distance of its initial fleet of. 15 approved cars, like me. Hi. >> Today, you'll be taking a way with. autonomous ride. So, the car will be driven by yourself. >> [snorts]. >> Usually, when I get in a ride, I kind of. zone out and look out the window or. check my phone, but today I'm paying. attention, and that's because I'm the.

first British journalist to hail a. self-driving car, taking a little trip. through central London. And I want to. make sure that this machine gets me from. A to B in one piece. While my car navigates the city streets. with my hands-off human by the wheel, this has been a long time coming to the. UK, nearly a decade in fact. Industry. and government had indicated that. self-driving rides without safety. drivers could be available by Christmas. It's now looking increasingly unlikely.

So, what's taking so long? >> We're not holding up any decisions as it. stands. What we want to make sure is. this is something that's new. It's. coming to London. We need to make sure. it's safe. And we're we're making sure. that anything that does come to London. has all those things in place. But we're. not holding anything up. We're taking. time to get it right. >> And the roads themselves throw up their. own challenges. >> How do we deal with emergency services. like ambulances, fire services? As human. drivers, we tend to make a very. conscious decision of what we believe is. right. And sometimes actually doing.

things that are not perfectly legal. So, for example, we tend to mount a curb to. give way to an ambulance. We believe. that's the right thing to do. But. actually by the highway code, that's not. legal. >> There's been some really hard problems. to solve. What we've done over this time. is pioneered a completely new approach. to autonomous driving. Makes it possible. to bring it to such a busy and diverse. city like London, to scale it globally, and to let it be deployed into. integrated into manufacturer produced. vehicles. Um so, it's creating a sea. change for the industry, but it's been a.

long development. I think autonomy is. the space race of the generation. >> And that race is fierce. Uber working. with Wave, Google's Waymo, and the. Chinese tech giant Baidu are all. fighting hard for the UK's driverless. ride market. Should human drivers be. worried about their jobs? >> We always want consumers to be able to. request a human ride or an autonomous. vehicle on Uber. And because the. market's growing, we expect that there. will be human drivers on Uber in London. for a long time to come. >> This Uber is using AI to analyze lots of.

data in real time about the road as we. travel along, gathered by different. sensors on the car. It isn't. pre-programmed. >> It has managed lots of hazards on the. road. There's been crowds, there's been. people. There was a demonstration. outside Westminster. We had some road. works as well. >> But then. >> We have actually had to activate the. safety driver, Monsieur. Not allowed to. talk to him because he needs to. concentrate. Um but we did need him in. this short distance to take control.

because where we were parked up, a van. suddenly opened its doors and he had to. take hold of the wheel. >> Wave, which built the driverless tech. used in my Uber, later told me it was. the driver's decision to take control. and it was confident its tech could have. handled it. But it is also perhaps the. perfect illustration of exactly why the. authorities are not in a rush. >> Let's tell the tail of. >> 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 Jon Hill. >> [music]. >> Goodbye.