Imran Khan returns to jail in Pakistan, and experts issue an El Niño warning | Global News Podcast

This is the Global News podcast from the. BBC World Service. I'm Valerie Sanderson. and these are our main stories on Friday. the 21st of August. Weather experts. warned that a developing El Nino event. could become the largest in living. memory. Imran Khan, Pakistan's former. prime minister, is returned to jail. after being taken to hospital. Also in. this podcast, the true story of a man. who cycled from India to Europe for love. is turned into a film.

It seems every week another report is. released about extreme weather and the. increasingly worrying state of the. climate. Today is no exception. Scientists are now warning that the El. Nino weather event developing over the. Pacific Ocean is likely to be the. strongest in living memory. Professor. Adam Scafe is head of long range. forecasting for Britain's Met Office, which released the latest data. >> I've been involved in long-range. forecasting for many years, and I have.

never seen an event like this in our. forecasts. The tropical Pacific is. warming faster than I've ever seen. And. assuming the forecasts are correct and. we've got very high confidence at this. stage, the El Nino is very slow. developing. It takes many months. So, we're pretty confident about the. outcome. We think that when it peaks in. November and December, it's likely to be. record event, unprecedented, beyond. anything we've seen in living memory. >> I heard more from our environment. correspondent Matt McGra.

>> This current El Nino was only declared. just over two months ago in June, and. that declaration means the temperatures. in the water have reached uh 0.5°. above the long-term average. Now, that's. gone from that to 2° in a couple of. months. It's likely to go higher to at. least three degrees according to the Met. Office, maybe four degrees according to. other forecasts. Those are significant. increases in temperatures. And if you. look at what's driving it, there's heat. down in the water, perhaps 8 degrees. above the long-term average deep in the. waters of the Pacific. So, that's an.

awful lot of heat that could come out of. the and will come out of the uh ocean. and will have impacts all around the. world. >> A lot of people listening to this, Matt, are going to think, you know, why is El. Nino itself so important? What does this. system actually do? Yeah, what it does really is disrupt the. weather patterns and the weather systems. that we've all getting used to around. the world. So the monsoon for instance, the increase of heat, the increase of. change in the winds that's caused by the. rise of heat in the Pacific that in. increases the chance of a very low.

monsoon which affects millions and. millions of people. You'll also see. different aspects of it as well. So you. get flooding in some places. We've. already seen reports in Peru, which is. right in the Path of El right close to. it, of getting increased floods in the. last couple of weeks. We've seen the. Panama Canal declare that they're going. to cut the number of ships because. they're being affected by a drought. So. each and every area around the world, particularly around the tropical belt of. the world, is hugely affected from. Indonesia to Australia, all around that. central bit. But other parts of the. world are affected as well. And we're. likely to see the biggest overall.

impact, which is our our new record. global temperature next year. that will. be directly linked I think to the added. heat that El Nino will push into the. atmosphere. >> And what about the impact of the people. living in some of those places that you. mentioned like Australia, Peru and. Ecuador? >> Yeah, this is uh you know the this is. really where the rubber meets the road. with the Elino idea. It's great to talk. about it as something that's happening. in the world, but it really impacts. people. So there's increased threats of. floods in various places, increased.

threats of drought in places like. Indonesia, which will affect the crops. they grow there, which will affect palm. oil, which will which is included in so. many products around the world and. likely drive the prices of basic. products and cosmetics up. So it'll. impact people's income and impact their. their ability to buy food. So as well as. the flooding and the droughts and these. horrible direct impacts, there will be. these other impacts in terms of the food. potential food shortages and an extra. according to the World Meteorological. Organization an extra 50 million people. pushed into food insecurity by the end.

of next year. That's a considerable. number, a considerable impact. >> I mean this is a simplistic question, but can anything be done? I don't think. there's anything that can be done. directly and you people often talk about. these events as being linked to climate. change and this is one of those events. that's a natural event but it occurs in. a much warmer world. It's not directly. linked to climate change. So us cutting. back our fossil fuels and our emissions. aren't going to directly impact El Nino. but it's happening in a much warmer. world. And if it wasn't happening in a. such a warm world, it may not have such.

a direct impact. The floods, the. droughts might not be as strong. So I. don't think there's anything we can do. except bear it. Be aware of it. Listen. to the forecast. Be aware of what's. happening in the world. But stopping it, I'm afraid it's a natural event. It. happens every 2 to seven years. And. we've been having these for almost a. thousand years. >> We heard there from Matt about the. growing threat from El Nino. Indian. consumers already feeling the impact. with the skyrocketing price of sugar. Now the Indian authorities have approved. duty-free imports of raw sugar to.

bolster local supplies. Our India. business correspondent Archana Shukla is. following this in Mumbai. I asked her. will these measures be enough to satisfy. the demand for sugar in the country. They are hoping that with additional. supplies coming in the prices will start. easing which have gone up by more than. 40% here in the local markets. Um you. know they're retailing at just over half. uh a dollar per kilo. uh and with the. festive season coming up, we have a long. period of festivals with the sher Diwali.

and then the wedding season. That's a. period when the demand for sweets. actually goes up quite a lot and that is. the period when the government hopes. that this supply would help. um you know. it wouldn't have been this big a problem. if the cropping season uh was normal but. because of the El Nino impact there've. been erratic rain uh patterns and the. sugarcane crop has been hurt uh and the. spare capacity that India has normally. is now being directed to ethanol based. fuels so the supply actually is crunched.

from both sides um and that is pushing. the government to uh to import first. time in a decade and that definitely. will also have impact globally because. Remember India is the largest producer. um of sugar. It's also the second. largest producer of sugar and second. largest producer of exporter and this is. happening at a time when you know other. hub exports like Brazil and Europe are. also seeing impacts on the sugar uh crop. production and you know there were I I. was checking earlier in the morning uh.

international prices of sugar has. already started ticking up with news. that India would be importing now rather. than exporting. >> and tell us about other ways that Indian. consumers might be affected by El Nino. you. >> well you know across different aspects. in our lives you know this time in. summer we saw some of the in most. intense nighttime heat for people the. demand for uh you know power went up you. know for cooling for air conditioning. went up it also impacted people's sleep.

patterns their work life and and and the. biggest impact is now coming on food. with erratic rains and we know India's. you know majority of the farms here in. India are rainfed and uh you know with. with the monsoon being delayed, monsoon. being erratic. Uh it's affecting crops, not just sugarcane, but also rice, wheat, the entire monsoon cropping. season. And it's hitting food prices. We've seen some of our kitchen staples. becoming very expensive uh from from the. grains, from vegetables and that's a. direct hit on household budgets. Then we.

are looking at uh you know water. reservoirs um you know at very low. capacities at this point in time. Um and. uh uh you know everybody's looking at. the monsoon to kind of fill in otherwise. uh you know water for drinking water. purposes and even for winter crop it. could be a problem. >> Ukraine's president Vladimir Zalinski. has renewed his appeal for more Patriot. missile interceptors after further. Russian attacks this week. The Patriots. are Ukraine's main defense against. incoming Russian missiles, but supplies.

have been significantly depleted in part. because of the war between the US, Israel, and Iran. Our defense. correspondent Jonathan Bill reports. >> It is the silver bullet. The US-made. Patriot interceptor the most effective. way of taking down a ballistic missile. It doesn't come cheap. Each missile. costs around £3 million and it's now in. short supply. >> We need to shoot down Russian missiles.

Be with us until the end. >> Ukraine's all but run out of them. The. last time it recorded an intercept of a. Russian ballistic missile was August the. 1st. >> America's war in Iran's only made the. situation worse. A global death of the most effective. weapon against ballistic strikes. Though. at last month's NATO summit, President. Trump appeared to offer Ukraine a.

solution. >> That we'll give them the right to make. patriots. We'll show them how to do it. It's very complex actually, but it's uh. you'll figure out the complexity. quickly. >> But just weeks later, he rode back. putting any agreement in doubt. He said it would be hard to give away. the technology. The US currently produces around 600. Patriot missiles a year. Before the war.

in Iran, the US was believed to have. stockpiles of more than 2,000. But during the war in Iran, within a. matter of months, those stockpiles have. more than halved. The US is now believed. to have around 800 interceptors left. Contrast that with Ukraine. It's. received about 600 Patriot interceptors. over the entire 4 and a half years of. Russia's war. The US does plan to ramp up production.

to 2,000 missiles a year, but that'll. take years. Patriots will still be in. short supply. In all likelihood, the. Ukrainians are going to have to cope. with the reality of Patriot interceptors. being quite scarce. >> because. >> uh because they're simply uh the there. simply is not enough capacity in terms. of available stockpiles uh in Europe to. provide it to them and because the US. will probably prioritize other things, not least of all rebuilding its own.

magazines. >> Meanwhile, Russia's ramping up its. production of its ballistic missiles. It's now making around 100 a month. Europe has been developing its own. solution based on its ATA missile. It's. now working on a joint interceptor. program with Ukraine, but it still can't. fill the void left by scarce US patriot. missiles. >> Still to come in this podcast, reports. that Prince Harry's wife, Megan, may.

return to the acting world. >> Everyone was asking, well, what is Megan. going to be doing? Is she keen on. returning to royal life or what will her. career look like in the UK? >> Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan is. back in prison after being taken to. hospital amid reports that he was. unwell. His lawyers say he's practically. blind in one eye. But on Friday morning, doctors at the hospital deemed him. medically fit. Mr. Khan has been held in. prison for three years on corruption.

charges which he says are politically. motivated. A short while ago, Imran. Khan's sister, who'd been present at the. hospital, spoke to reporters. They only examined Imran Khan's eyes. No. blood tests or any other medical. examinations were conducted. Apart from. that, only Imran Khan's blood pressure. was measured and no other tests were. performed. >> I got more from our correspondent. Caroline Davis who's in Islamabad. While. the authorities have said that he is. medically fit, his family too have said.

that that he is also fit and healthy as. an individual though they are concerned. uh about some of the things that were. raised in a medical report about him. including um uh an increased level of. blood pressure, anxiety, the pal. palpitations and a lot of this they say. as well as being treated with medicine. could be improved with more visits by. family uh to go and see Imran Khan in. prison. Over the course of the last few. months he has not been able to see uh. family come to visit him. We've also. heard from um family abroad from his. sons saying that they've not been able. uh to speak to him on the phone as often.

uh as they feel like they should be. allowed to be able to do. Um so that is. part of the backdrop and his family have. said that if that was allowed too that. that anxiety uh and that blood pressure. might also improve as well. in. particular um his sister had said that. uh the fact that he has not been able to. see people the fact that he says he's. not been able to get reading materials. that he's not been able to watch TV this. is all according uh to her um uh her. recital of what she spoke to Imran Khan. about he says that that amounts to some. form of torture against him that he's.

being put in that position now. previously when the authorities have. been asked about why Iran Khan has not. been having these visits uh with his. family members they have said that. during the course of those visits He. talked about politics and that that was. against the prison rules. What we have. often seen is after he had visits with. particularly family members or maybe. lawyers that there would be statements. that would come out on Imran Khan's. social media. Sometimes those would be. uh comments that were calling uh sort of. call to arms for uh political action. calling to to um giving direction to the.

political party and occasionally also. insults u particularly to um the head of. the armed forces here in Pakistan. Of. course, their military here in Pakistan. is very politically powerful. Um, and. there had previously been uh sort of. insults directed towards the head of the. armed forces, field marshall Asim Maner. So many people saw a link between those. two things and the fact that those. meetings had been stopped. Um, now the. other thing to bear in mind with all of. this background is that yes, this is.

also about Imran Khan's health, but it's. also about uh the timing of this. Now, in the course of the last 3 years, uh, Imran Khan has been in prison. His. lawyers have continued to fight in the. courts, but they've been given. relatively little relief through the. court system. Uh, and the announcement. that he was to be allowed to go to. hospital to have these medical checks. was being seen by some people as an. indication that that was giving some. form of relief, the most significant. relief he might have received in the. course of the last 3 years, which led. some people to ask why and why. Now, of.

course, his political party have talked. about the fact that this is just about. going through the court system, but lots. of other people believe that there might. have been some form of discussions going. on behind the scenes between Imran. Khan's political party uh and the. military. Of course, neither side have. have commented or confirmed anything to. do with that. So, this is all still. speculation, but a lot of different. threads going on here in Pakistan, all. surrounding Imran Khan. This morning's. headlines here in Britain are dominated. by the news that Prince Harry and his.

family are returning to the UK after six. years in the US. And reports in. Australia say that his wife Megan has. been offered an acting role here, which. sources close to the family have not. denied. Bronty Koy is senior. entertainment and royal correspondent at. the Australian outlet news.com.au, which broke the story. This is such a. key part of the puzzle. And I think when. we all heard that news that Harry and. Megan were moving here and within a. matter of days and the kids were. enrolled in school, everyone was asking, well, what is Megan going to be doing?

Is she keen on returning to royal life. or what will her career look like in the. UK? And I think this here answers a lot. of that. Now, I had heard rumors that. potentially she'd be stepping into the. acting world a little bit more. We saw a. sign of that actually late last year. when it emerged that she had filmed a. cameo as herself in in a big upcoming. movie with Jack Quaid and Lily Collins. But this is obviously a massive step now. back into that direction. And again, this is clearly part of why they've. decided now to relocate over here with.

the kids because either she has signed. or is about to sign on for this project. I'm told it's significant and she's very. excited about it. A new film, The Cycle. of Love, focusing on the discrimination. people can face because of India's cast. system, has premiered in the US. It. tells the true life story of PK, a. street artist from the marginalized Dall. cast who cycled more than 9,000. kilometers from India to Europe to try. to reunite with his true love L from. Sweden. About 200 million people in. India are Dallots, historically known as. untouchables, who face generations of.

discrimination and exclusion. Our. culture correspondent Nuranji spoke to. Priyanka Chopra Jonas who executive. produced the movie and its director. Orlando von Einsteidel and asked them. what the real life PK and Lau think. about the film. >> I have heard of this story like 15 years. ago or so. It was super famous um in. India. there was a Hindi film that was. going to be made about it and um I just. remember being so fascinated that like.

how does someone do that you know just. the the psychology behind it. So when. the movie came my way, I was like, "Yes, this is going to be part of um my. company because it's such such a. beautiful story." And I think Orlando's. rendition of it with both Churag and. Mina playing L and PK um it just. transports you to what that journey. would have been like over five months. you know driving across so many. countries meeting strangers and just.

knowing that your north star is this. person and um and the fact that they've. been married 50 years and their kids are. producing this movie. I mean are you. kidding? It's like I was just blown away. by every aspect of it. Um so I'm very. very proud that you know they brought me. on um and to partner with this movie. I'm very excited about it. >> Priyanka at the heart of this film is. the treatment of the dullets. historically known as the untouchables. Do you think that attitudes are changing.

quickly enough in India towards people. of different casts? I think um. conversations when it comes to film um. and having conversations and telling. stories like PK um I think as filmmakers. gives us the ability to be able to have. a point of view in in conversations that. are really required. So, I'm really. happy that, you know, having PK as the. central protagonist in this movie and. telling his real life hero story um will. help probably move the conversation in.

the right direction. >> And Orlando, how did the real life PK, a. street artist from India, and L, the. Swedish tourist react when they first. saw the film? >> Well, when we were we were very lucky. because PK and Lot were with us on the. entire shoot. >> They were on set. >> They were on set. I you know I. >> I but still seeing it put together for. the first time like what did they. >> Well they I I think one of the things. that that makes me feel that maybe we. got it right is when this film's played. at film festivals PK not have come and.

they've watched every single screening. of the film and sometimes that's five or. six screenings which is amazing. >> cute together like you meet them and. you're like wow you know this is a love. story with a happy ending cuz you're. still together and you're still cute. like there's still like they hold hands. and they're affectionate and I'm like I. want that after 50 years, you know, that's it's amazing. >> And that's it for this edition of the. Global News podcast. If you'd like to. get in touch, our contact details are.

below. I'm Valerie Sanderson for the. moment. Goodbye. Thanks for watching and. thanks for listening.