Ukraine and Russia strike energy targets despite Trump claim and other stories | Global News Podcast

This is the Global News podcast from the. BBC World Service. I'm Charlotte. Gallagher. And on Monday the 15th of. September, we go to Kiev as President. Trump claims Ukraine and Russia will. stop striking energy infrastructure. >> The general expectation here is that. Russia will seek to use this coming. winter to put as much pressure as it can. on Ukraine. >> NATO shoots down a drone that entered. Lithuanian airspace. We speak to our. correspondent there. It was just after. midnight this morning here in Vius that.

my phone screeched with an alert. Keep. safe, it said, and wait for the all. clear. And the UN says thousands of. refugees are fleeing Yemen as the. Iranbacked Houthies ramp up their fight. against government forces. Also in this. podcast, we ask our Tokyo correspondent. why so many people in Japan live to be a. hundred. Experts suggest that uh. combining good health care with healthy. lifestyles, managing illnesses early.

really help contribute to having. longevity. And we go to Kenya, which is. set to become the first African country. to host the World Athletics. Championships. There's been no pause in fighting. between Russia and Ukraine overnight. despite President Trump's claim that. both sides would temporarily stop. targeting critical infrastructure. Russia says a gas pipeline was hit in. the south of the country while the. governor of Zaparisia province in.

Ukraine said Russian attacks had. disrupted power supplies to some areas. and a petrol station in Kiev was hit. The Ukrainian foreign minister, Andre. Cibia, said Ukraine was primed for a. ceasefire. >> Ukraine is ready for such a ceasefire. Our partners know our position. And by. the way, there are several other. proposals from our closest partners, our. international partners to work on this. track so that through joint efforts, we. can achieve this energy ceasefire. The.

Kremlin has said it welcomed the US. proposal while adding that what it. called illegal sanctions on Russian. energy supplies should be lifted. Our. diplomatic correspondent James Landale. is in the Ukrainian capital and told me. more about the overnight attacks. >> here in Kiev. Yet again, more air raids. uh more Russian drones in the skies um. overnight. And this morning we the. understanding is that the main targets. of those drones were petrol stations. Uh. two were hit. We know a number of people.

have been injured. Uh there is a report. that one of them has now died of of. their wounds in hospital. This is part. of a continuing pattern now of Russia. choosing more and more petrol stations. to target here uh as part of a wider. escalation of its attacks against. Ukraine. Um, in turn, we also know that. there was a Ukrainian missile attack uh. on a a town uh in the southern part of. Russia on the Sea of Azovv where the. local regional governor has reported.

Ukrainian strikes on a warehouse uh and. a gas pipeline. So, the fighting. continues. >> And have Ukraine and Russia said. anything about this temporary pause that. Donald Trump announced on them targeting. critical infrastructure? >> Well, Donald Trump said there was an. agreement. Um that's not true. Uh what. there is is some kind of proposal during. the rounds. President Zilinski said in. his overnight address uh that he he. welcomed what he called a strong. proposal from the United States for some. kind of pause uh on attacks on critical.

infrastructure. And he said that Ukraine. was in principle willing to deescalate. But he said they would only do that if. there was a very genuine and clear sign. that Russia was ready to end the war. and he said at the moment there isn't. such readiness. Uh so I here not many. people are holding their breath for some. kind of pause in the fighting. The. general expectation here is that Russia. will seek to use this coming winter to. put as much pressure as it can on. Ukraine.

>> On Monday, NATO and EU leaders condemned. what they described as Russian attempts. to frighten the West from its support. for Ukraine after a drone struck a train. near the Ukraine Poland border. Less. than 24 hours later, NATO said one of. its fighter jets had shot down a drone. that entered Lithuanian airspace. Our. correspondent Sarah Reignsford is in the. capital Vius. It was just after midnight. this morning here in Villnius that my. phone screeched with an alert. And when. I checked the message, it said there was. a suspected drone. Keep safe, it said,

and wait for the all clear. Now, that. all clear came about 20 minutes later, and we now know that there was a drone. confirmed that it was in Lithuanian. airspace for around about half an hour. before it was intercepted and shot down. by NATO fighter jets. We still don't. know who that drone belonged to. We. don't know whether it was launched. deliberately or it might have strayed. into Lithuanian airspace. We know that. it entered from neighboring Belerus and. that after it was shot down, the debris. was scattered over a wide area. So, it's.

being collected up and examined to see. who it was launched by and uh whether or. not it was armed. In fact, whether or. not there was any explosives. But this. has happened at a nervous time here in. this region because Russia is escalating. its full-scale war on Ukraine and it is. also escalating its hybrid attacks on. Ukraine's greatest supporters. Vius, Lithuania, has always been a staunch. supporter of Ukraine ever since the. full-scale invasion. Uh, this city is. still covered in Ukrainian flags.

There's lots of messages of solidarity. In the past, when there have been drone. incursions into other countries, including Poland and other Baltic. states, experts have suggested that. Moscow could be testing NATO's. reactions. At the moment, here in. Lithuania, there are still more. questions than answers, but certainly uh. there is now a full-scale investigation. into what happened and who might be. behind it. Saudi Arabia has vowed to. respond firmly to attacks by Yemen's. Houthies after the Iranbacked fighters.

wounded 13 people in the south of the. kingdom in an assault using ballistic. missiles and drones. In Yemen, reports. on a Houthy run media outlet say three. people were killed in Saudiled air. strikes. The fighting has been some of. the heaviest in the region in years, forcing thousands of civilians to flee. across the Red Sea to neighboring. Djibouti. We heard more from the UNICEF. representative in Djibouti, Ramatu. Toreé. >> We've been seeing at least 2,400 people.

crossing over the past few days. We. estimate that half of them are children. They are tired, but they are also very. relieved once they arrived. What we've. seen is families crossing. We've also. seen children who had to cross in. different boats. I think that we were. all kind of surprised by the numbers. We. do not know obviously how the situation. will evolve but we expecting more. arrivals. We are planning for 5,000 to. 10,000.

our capacity I would say as partners to. provide assistance to those arrivals. will be difficult. They need first water, shelter, food and. the assistance is being provided by the. government. Should the situation. escalate, it will be very difficult to. cover those needs. The good thing is. that they are actually arriving in a. refugee village that is called Martasi. uh where there are some already basic.

installations. But this is not enough. We urgently need additional assistance. >> Kenya has a history of producing some of. the world's greatest athletes, particularly when it comes to long-d. distanceance running. Now the country. will be the first in Africa to host the. World Athletics Championships in 2029. Our global affairs reporter Richard Kgoy. is in Nairobi. He told me more about why. Kenya came out on top. >> Kenya did present a very solid and uh.

emotional uh bid to host this very. historic event. Uh the argument has been. that uh Kenyans really do follow. athletics. It is the second most. followed sport in the country behind. football. in terms of engagement also. online on social media. Kenyans are. quite really engaged uh when it comes to. athletics. There's also the thinking of. the fact that Kenya has uh you know over. the years produced world and Olympic. champions and it will be a historic. moment for Kenya to host this event for.

the very first time being held in the. African continent. >> What's the reaction then in Kenya. because I guess it feels like it's been. a long time coming having it there. >> Absolutely. you rightly put it that way. It's been a long time coming and uh. Kenya had done a bidder for 2025 but. lost out to Tokyo and there has been. really a lot of excitement. Uh just. looking even at comments by the Kenyan. President William R who says that this. is Kenya's moment. It's Africa's moment. Uh he says that it's a victory for.

generation of athletes uh who have made. our nation quite a synonymous with. excellence on the track on the road and. cross country. There have been also. comments from the Kenyan sprinter. Finantala who also holds a 100 record. holder who says what a time to be a. Kenyan athlete and also Paul Teragard if. you would remember him uh he also said. that this was a moment that Kenya really. uh deserved this opportunity to host. this event. So it's not just a Kenyan.

moment but it's widely seen as a victory. for Africa because athletics has really. picked up across East Africa in. Tanzania, Uganda and also as far as. South Africa. So you know it's a moment. of pride for the continent. >> Still to come why reading whatever the. genre can bring health benefits at every. stage of life. The number of people in Japan who are. aged a 100red or older has surpassed a. 100,000 for the first time and the vast.

majority of them are women. The oldest. person is a4year-old. woman from Kyoto. I asked our Tokyo. correspondent Kurumi Mori why so many. Japanese people are living for such a. long time. There's no single explanation. for this, but Japan's longevity is. really probably the result of several. factors that really have been working. together over the past few decades. The. number one thing I can see here on the.

ground is perhaps the diet. The. traditional Japanese food, it's often. associated with more fish, vegetables, rice, relatively nutritious foods. And. historically, we have lower levels of. saturated fat compared to a lot of the. western diets. So that may be one. contributing factor. Another thing, health care. Japan has a highly. developed health care system that uh. gives broad access to medical care uh at. at pretty reasonable cost which helps. people prevent um any illnesses, detect.

them and treat them. There's also. lifestyle factors. Physical activity um. is very big in Japan. And a lot of the. social connections and commu communities. is based around remaining engaged in the. community and that could also contribute. to healthy aging. And from what you were. saying as well, it seems that people not. being isolated, people being involved in. the community is as important perhaps as. diet and also health care. >> Yeah, that's right. You know, I there's.

a lot of research um that's been. ongoing. Uh some of the experts suggest. that uh combining good health care with. healthy lifestyles, managing illnesses. early really help contribute to having. longevity uh in a Japanese life. There's. also um a cautionary tale for Japan, right? Longer lives combined with very. low birth rates do create a shrinking. workforce. So that's putting pressure on. society as well. Researchers at. Cambridge University say reading for.

pleasure is linked to better mental. health, lower stress levels, and a. reduced risk of dementia. In a new. review of existing evidence, scientists. argue that regularly picking up a book, whatever the genre, can bring health. benefits at every stage of life. One. study of more than 10,000 young people. found those who read for fun from an. early age had better concentration, memory, and problem solving skills. Professor Barbara Sahakian is the lead.

researcher. >> People can benefit from reading at all. ages, which is what's great, but it's. especially important in early childhood. because we have shown in some of our own. studies that the benefits of reading. acrue when you're an adolescent. So if. you read early on as a child when you're. an adolescent you have better brain. structure better cognition better. academic attainment you have less in. attention less symptoms of mental health.

problems and so you get all these. benefits they also spend less screen. time which I know a lot of parents are. concerned about and they uh have a. longer sleep duration so all those. things acrue in adolescence if you are. an early reader in childhood. I was going to say that can be one of. the hardest things for parents to get. their children to read particularly when. there's so many screens around that can. often seem more tempting for children. >> Yes. So we we always say that the. important thing is reading for pleasure.

and it doesn't really matter what they. read and the studies have shown that as. well. So even comic books or anything. that interests them if it's about. sports, you know, about football or. anything about fashion or whatever they. want to read, it's good to get get them. started reading because they'll probably. continue that as a good habit lifelong. And then at the other end of the. spectrum, it's also great for you. because we reported on a couple of. studies that showed with people, you. know, a big group of people about 2,000.

older adults that if they read just once. weekly, they were less likely to suffer. from cognitive decline with aging over a. 14-year period. So, that's really great. And another study showed that you had a. 35% reduction in risk of dementia if you. were a reader. So at the other end of. the spectrum, you also gain a lot. >> And does it matter if someone's reading. a book or a magazine or is it the same. if they're reading from say a Kindle?

>> Well, it does matter. I mean, most. people enjoy the books better than the. Kindles, but the Kindles are sort of. more practical. But I I would say that. it uh different effects you get in the. brain depending on what you're reading. So that was one of the most fascinating. things of uh the studies that we looked. at. One of them found that if you were. reading fiction and it had a social. content that it actually activated areas. of the brain that we know are involved. in social cognition. So areas like the.

temporal parietal junction. Now the. interesting thing there is that this. area is very important for the sorts of. things like empathy or understanding the. ideas of others you know sort of theory. of mind what the other person's thinking. and in surveys when you ask people about. in surveys why do you read they say to. reduce loneliness to connect more with. others it also gives them more empathy. and it also has helps them understand.

things from another person's perspective. So it's really interesting that the. survey data fits very well with what we. actually see uh in the brain when people. are neuroimed. Let's return to Ukraine now where. officials say Russia has been targeting. critical infrastructure. The head of the. postal service says Moscow has been. deliberately striking post offices and. vans which are a lifeline for millions. of people isolated by the war. Our.

correspondent, James Landdale, who we. heard from earlier in the program, has. been speaking to one of the postal. workers now in the line of fire. >> This is all that's left of Katarina's. post office. Widowed by war, forced from. her home. It was in this building she. rebuilt her life. >> Until March when a Russian drone struck, targeting soldiers who'd worked nearby. >> So that was your desk? >> Yeah. from here for two years. She served as.

the village post mistress. >> It's a great pity for me to lose this. room. >> Well, this was your life. This is your. work. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. I I didn't visit this room. at this first time. Today, Katarina's new office is this. van, one of thousands of mobile branches. providing vital services to people on. the margins of society.

And they don't just deliver parcels. Most here in this village are collecting. pensions or paying bills. >> It's a long way for us to travel to the. Parisia, especially now at a time when. there are attacks all around. They also deliver medicines and food and. something more intangible. >> It's very important. It's one of the few. joys of the month. You come out, have a. chat with people, collect your pension,

and go on. >> For security, Katina travels with Slava, who's armed, and they go from home to. home, helping those most in need. Where. would you be without Kate? >> We would be stuffed. Ukraine is a vast rural country made up. of thousands of remote villages just. like this. And the postal service is. part of the glue that holds it all. together. And for these people not too. far from the front line, this van can be.

their last link to the Ukrainian state. >> What do you think people here think. about you? >> They proud of me. They love me. But this is dangerous work. Russia has. destroyed hundreds of branches and vans. and more than 50 postmen and women have. lost their lives. >> Supply region.

>> The head of Ukra told me they were. deliberately targeted and he faced a. daily decision about where to deploy his. teams. >> If we don't go, they don't have basic. supply. They don't have food. They don't. have medicine. Uh I mean people will. struggle if we do go. They may delay the decision to evacuate. from uh the areas they probably should. have evacuated. >> For their safety, Katarina and Slava. have just one antenna to detect drones. >> Do you not feel scared?

>> No. >> Why not? >> It's my. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. If I can't, who will do my job? >> Ukraine's defense comes in many forms, and it's not always delivered at the. barrel of a gun. >> And that's all for this edition of the. Global News podcast. If you would like. to get in touch, our contact details are. below. I'm Charlotte Gallagher. Until.

next time, goodbye.