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📅 2026-11-02 ⏱ 29 min episode · ~2 min read 📝 Transcript · 5,838 words

Trump celebrates shock endorsement ahead of US midterms

Global News Podcast · · Transcript & summary by WhipScribe

In half an hour it gives a clear read on what the US midterms could change for Donald Trump, plus three of the week's most unusual human stories.

In this episodeDonald TrumpHaley StevensAbdul El-SayedMike RogersKen PaxtonJames TalaricoSusan CollinsKarl BushbyGelephu Mindfulness CityKimi AntonelliMercedesAlex Ritson

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▸Notable quotes

“It makes it the most expensive non-presidential race in American history.” Gary O'Donoghue · at 12:43 — open in the transcript →
“There was things like the FARC guerrillas in the Darien Gap.” Karl Bushby · at 15:26 — open in the transcript →

▸What this episode covers

The bulk of this edition is the American midterm campaign in its final days. North America editor Sarah Smith, reporting from Maine, describes a national mood dominated by anger over prices, which many voters pin on Donald Trump and the war in Iran, and polls pointing to Democratic gains even in long-Republican states such as Texas, Kansas, Ohio and Iowa. She sets out the stakes: a Democratic House could stall Trump's agenda, launch investigations and even attempt impeachment, while courts have already struck down several of his executive orders. Will Grant explains the Michigan surprise, where defeated primary candidate Haley Stevens crossed party lines to endorse Mike Rogers, and Gary O'Donoghue reports a dead heat in a Texas Senate race that has broken spending records.

A second strand covers violence and unrest. Hugo Bachega reports on Israeli strikes in Gaza that killed at least eight people despite a ceasefire now a year old. Joe Inwood traces a wave of youth-led protests over living costs, housing and education that began with French students and has spread to Germany, Portugal, Switzerland and Albania, with a violent minority shaping how the movement is seen.

The lighter half profiles people and places. Former paratrooper Karl Bushby nears the end of a 28-year walk from southern Patagonia to his mother's home in Hull, having crossed the Bering Strait on foot and swum the Caspian Sea and the English Channel. Julia Paul visits Bhutan's planned Gelephu Mindfulness City, blessed by volunteers building 108 stupas in a day. Richard Forrest explains why 20-year-old Kimi Antonelli's Formula One title matters to a younger audience.

▸Key takeaways

01US voters are choosing both houses of Congress, deciding how much power Donald Trump keeps for his final two years as president.
02Sarah Smith found voters across key states blaming Donald Trump and the Iran war for rising prices, a mood that weighs on Republican candidates.
03Texas Senate advertising has reached about $570 million, the costliest non-presidential race in US history, with Ken Paxton and James Talarico level.
04Haley Stevens, beaten by Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan's primary, endorsed Republican Mike Rogers, and her own chief of staff resigned over it.
05A Democratic House could block Trump's bills and open investigations, while US courts have already struck down several of his executive orders.

▸Questions this episode answers

Q1What could Democrats do if they win the House in the 2026 midterms, according to the BBC's Sarah Smith?

Sarah Smith, the BBC's North America editor, said Democrats are very likely to take the House because the president's party normally loses seats in midterms. With it they could block Donald Trump's legislation, open investigations into his controversial decisions and even try to impeach him or a cabinet secretary such as defence secretary Pete Hegseth. Winning the Senate is harder but possible, and would let Democrats pass their own bills.

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Q2Why did Democrat Haley Stevens endorse Republican Mike Rogers in the Michigan Senate race?

Haley Stevens lost Michigan's Democratic Senate primary to Abdul El-Sayed, then appeared with Republican Mike Rogers at church and endorsed him days before the vote. BBC correspondent Will Grant linked it to personal differences and to Israel: a super PAC called Rebellion ran an ad blaming US aid to Israel for high food prices. El-Sayed said he had nothing to do with the ad, but Stevens said she did not belong in his campaign.

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Q3How close is the Texas Senate race between Ken Paxton and James Talarico?

BBC chief North America correspondent Gary O'Donoghue reported the Texas Senate race between Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico as neck and neck and too close to call. That is striking because Donald Trump won Texas by 14 points two years earlier and Democrats have not won a Texas Senate seat in nearly 40 years. Around $570 million has been spent on advertising alone.

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Q4How did Karl Bushby walk from Patagonia to Hull without using any transport?

Former British paratrooper Karl Bushby set out from southern Chilean Patagonia 28 years ago to walk to his mother's home in Hull without any form of transport. A trip planned for 12 years stretched to 28 because of sponsorship gaps, a global financial crisis and border trouble. Where the land runs out he crossed on foot or swam: the Bering Strait over sea ice, the Caspian Sea and the English Channel.

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Q5Why are young people protesting across Europe, from France to Germany?

BBC world news correspondent Joe Inwood said the protests are largely youth-led and peaceful, driven by the cost of living, underfunded public services, housing and education. They started with French student protests over crumbling schools and have spread to Germany, Italy, Portugal, Switzerland and Albania. A violent minority has looted shops and clashed with police, and Inwood said that minority is shaping how the movement is seen.

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Q6What is Bhutan's Gelephu Mindfulness City and why is it being built?

Gelephu Mindfulness City is a new development on Bhutan's southern plains, with an international airport and a business district, meant to slow the exodus of young Bhutanese leaving for work abroad. The government says it will run on Buddhist and Bhutanese principles. BBC reporter Julia Paul saw volunteers build 108 stupas holding Buddhist relics in 24 hours to bless the site, and said full development will take about a decade.

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Q7How did Kimi Antonelli become Formula One's youngest ever world champion?

Kimi Antonelli, 20, clinched the Formula One title at the Mexican Grand Prix by finishing third behind Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton, becoming the sport's youngest champion and the first Italian champion in more than 70 years. The BBC's Richard Forrest said Mercedes had backed him for 15 years since karting. After a difficult first season replacing Hamilton, he won nine races this year in a new car built to new regulations.

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▸Transcript

Our own transcript of the public episode, with a timestamp about every 90 seconds. Tap a timestamp or the link button on a paragraph to copy a link that opens this page there.

0:00This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. in Washington right now. Host Mike Townsend, Charles Schwab's Managing Director for Legislative and Regulatory Affairs, takes a non-partisan look at the stories that matter most to investors, including policy initiatives for retirement savings, taxes and trade, inflation concerns, the Federal Reserve, and how regulatory developments can affect companies, sectors, and even the entire market. Mike and his guests offer their perspective on how policy changes could affect what you do with your portfolio. Download the latest episode and follow at schwab.com slash Washington Wise, or wherever you listen. Investing is one of the only fields in the world where the less action you take,

1:02the better you're likely to do. Morgan Housel, bestselling author of The Psychology of Money, explains why investing with the Wealthfront portfolio just works. If you want to get into good physical shape, go to the gym. If you want to get better at playing piano, like practice five hours a day. And it's just so much evidence in investing that it's the opposite. That the harder you try, the more you trade, the more activity you have, the worse you're going to do. Have a diversified portfolio and then go to the beach. Take your dog for a walk. Like, don't do anything else with the right products. And the mindset of, I'm just going to leave this alone and let it be, you can put yourself in a much better position.

1:34Diversified investing isn't just smart. It's simple with the Wealthfront portfolio. It's designed to handle the best practices of investing for you so you can build wealth steadily. Get started in minutes at Wealthfront.com. designed to handle the best practices of investing for you so you can build wealth steadily. Get started in minutes at Wealthfront.com. Paid endorsement by a non-client. Investment management and advisory services provided by Wealthfront Advisors LLC, an SEC-registered investment advisor. Investing involves risk. Morgan Housel's views are his own. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritson, and in the early hours of Monday, the 2nd of November,

2:11these are our main stories. A Democratic congresswoman in a key battleground state, Michigan, has endorsed the Republican Party's Senate candidate just days before the midterm elections. We'll hear from our correspondents in swing states. The Italian Kimi Antonelli has become Formula One's youngest ever world champion at the Mexico Grand Prix. Also in this podcast... It's a pretty nice world out there as a traveller, meeting people face to face. The British man on the verge of completing an epic 28-year journey around the world to walk home. The US midterms are almost upon us and the stakes could not be higher. Americans are voting for both houses of Congress and the results will determine exactly how much power Donald Trump will be able to wield in his final years as president.

3:09Mr. Trump has held campaign rallies all over the United States to try to boost support for his Republican Party. But with prices soaring in the U.S., will that be enough to convince voters? Here's what some voters in the state of North Carolina had to say. I'm not saying he's the best there is. I mean, he has some childish habits that I don't really care for. But in the end, versus the other choice, he was the person. He was the man, for sure. Everything's going up. He's going to make America great again. You know, that was his main slogan. Everything was going to come back down. I don't think so. I don't think it's a referendum on him as much as it is on the general direction of the nation.

4:00I am not happy. I was a Trump supporter and I am so wished, I regret. I'm not even, I'm not even saying out of it. I mean, you have to ask yourself the question, am I better off than I was two years ago or four years ago? I am. So to find out more about what's happening, I spoke to our North America editor, Sarah Smith, who's in the state of Maine. Well, Maine is one of these states where you have got a long-served Republican incumbent senator, Susan Collins in this case, who's been here for nearly three decades as a senator, being challenged by a Democrat. And most of the races that look the closest, that we'll be watching the most carefully, are ones where you have a Republican incumbent facing a really serious challenge from a Democrat who are performing particularly well

4:49in the opinion polls. Now, they've been wrong before. We don't know for sure that they're correct this year, but they are fairly consistently showing pretty much a surge in support for Democrats across the country, with the result that states that have been reliably Republican for decades, like Texas or Kansas or places like Ohio or Iowa, look as though they could elect Democrats in this cycle. And what are the issues that are chiming with voters? The cost of living is top of mind for almost every person I've spoken to. I've been across the country to a number of key states speaking to voters, and they are almost all angry about the cost of living and blaming it directly on Donald Trump and his decision to go to

5:31war in Iran. There's not much doubt in anybody's mind who they hold responsible for the fact that prices are going up. Not everybody, though, said that's going to cause them to flip their vote. Some people still plan to back Donald Trump's Republicans, despite their fury about prices. But that has set an atmosphere electorally, which is one of the reasons why Republican candidates are likely to suffer in these midterm elections, because they're associated with Donald Trump and the decisions he's made that voters don't like. He's been campaigning very hard for his Republican candidates, hoping to inspire those who are still his loyal supporters to come out and vote. But the danger is, of course,

6:10when you have an unpopular president, that the more voters see of him, the more it galvanises people who don't like him to come out and vote against his candidates. So what outcomes are possible? What are we expecting to happen? It's very likely that Democrats will take control of the House of Representatives, because even if there isn't a surge in Democratic support, as currently suggested by the polls, it's very normal for the party of the sitting president to lose seats in a midterm election. And the Democrats don't need to take many to take control of the House of Representatives. If they do that, they can block pieces of legislation that Donald Trump wants to get passed, and they can open investigations into a lot of his more controversial actions and decisions.

6:50They could even try and impeach him again, or maybe one of his cabinet secretaries, like perhaps the defence secretary, Pete Hegseth. It's much tougher for the Democrats to try and win a majority in the Senate, but it is possible. And if that were to happen, if they controlled both houses of Congress, they could start trying to pass their own legislation. One Democrat Senate candidate I spoke to on the campaign trail told me that one of the things he wants to do first is try to force Donald Trump to end the war in Iran by passing a war powers bill. So it could have a real impact on Donald Trump's last two years in office if he loses control of Congress and he has Democrats working against his agenda.

7:30Of course, Donald Trump has governed by executive order in many cases. Will he try and do that, were that to happen? Yes. Inevitably, he will try and bypass Congress if he no longer has a majority there. And as you say, even when he did have his Republicans controlling both houses, nonetheless, he liked to skip the congressional procedures and simply try and rule by executive order. The problem is that in quite a number of cases with some of his more controversial ones, like the trade tariffs that he imposed on nations around the world, or his attempt to end the right of people born in the United States to become US citizens. These executive orders have been struck down by the courts and often because they say actually this was something that should have been done by Congress,

8:15it can't be done by the President alone. So it is getting harder and harder for him to ignore Congress just at the point at which he might be about to lose control of it. Sarah Smith in Maine. Well, the battle for Michigan took an unexpected turn on Sunday. Democrat Abdul El-Sayed beat Congresswoman Hayley Stevens in the Democratic Party's Senate primary earlier this year. But now, instead of backing him, she's endorsed the Republican candidate Mike Rogers. And that could be a critical move. President Trump welcomed her decision. We just had some big news that came over the sets and just announced about Hayley Stevens endorsing Mike Rogers. That was a big move, I think. Nobody expected that, but it's a smart thing to do.

9:04Mr Trump went on to say that Hayley Stevens would be welcome to join the Republican Party. So a remarkable development, something I put to our North America correspondent, Will Grant, who's in Washington. Yeah, it really is. It caught a lot of people off guard. The appearance of Hayley Stevens alongside the Republican candidate at church on Sunday really did, you know, throw people into a bit of disarray. There is clearly some personal difference between the two Democrats, which has involved this change of heart. But I think in part it's come down to messaging over Israel. Specifically, there was a campaign advert from an outside liberal group, a super PAC called Rebellion, which blamed Israel

9:46for high food prices in the US, specifically blaming US military aid and US aid to Israel. Now, Mr. El-Sayed has criticized the advert, said he had nothing to do with it. But Congresswoman Stevens said, I don't belong in Abdul's campaign. She posted that in a video to X and said that people of the state, it was not who we are, hate is not who we are, and that they were not getting who they were out of their democratic nominee right now. So it's been seen as a real betrayal by many in her camp, including her own chief of staff who resigned. How much of a problem is this for Abdul El-Said? Has he said anything? Well, clearly at this stage, he's not going to welcome that kind of press and that kind of attention.

10:30But, I mean, you know, he said that he simply isn't focused in Congresswoman Stevens, that he's focused instead on the race, on the needs of people in the state of Michigan, less interested in the politics of it all than the policies of it all, is how he put it. And interestingly, his campaign has confirmed to our US partners, CBS News, they've managed to raise over $1.2 million since Congresswoman Stevens publicly backed Mike Rogers. You mentioned Gaza as one of the drivers for this, but also his religion. Yeah, I mean, you know, we heard Donald Trump there welcoming the move from Hayley Stevens, saying it was brave and so on. But within that same breath, he also repeated this sort of anti-Muslim attack on Mr. Saeed,

11:17calling him a jihadist, that he's part of the Muslim Brotherhood, of course, completely unfounded claims. But I do think that has fed in as well to the relationship between Haley Steem. And she sees him as having been anti-Semitic, you know, levelling these sorts of accusations at his campaign, something he is consistently, of course, denied. But he, you know, is trying to become the first Muslim senator in US history and has come up against repeated attacks over religion. Will Grant in Washington. The last time a Democrat won an election in Texas was nearly 40 years ago, so you'd think it would be an easy win for the Republicans, but apparently not. The race between Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Tallarico is reportedly too close to call.

12:08A defeat for Republicans there would trigger a lot of soul-searching within the party. Our chief North America correspondent Gary O'Donoghue is in Austin. Donald Trump won Texas in the general election, the presidential election two years ago, by 14 points. The Republican candidate for Senator Ken Paxton should be out ahead, out of sight in this race. Nevertheless, it's neck and neck. Too close to call between him and James Tallarico, the Democrat. One other thing of note here. They've spent something like $570 million on advertising alone in this race. It makes it the most expensive non-presidential race in American history. Now, a word of caution. Democrats haven't won here in nearly 40 years

12:52in the Senate. This place has a lot of Republicans in it. If they do manage it, it'll be a major upset. And what's more, Donald Trump has nationalised this race, so it'll be huge judgment on his record. Gary O'Donoghue. 28 years ago this month, a former British paratrooper, Carl Bushby, set out from the deep south of Chilean Patagonia with one thing in mind, to walk back to his mum's house in the English port city of Hull without using any form of transport. No mean feat, as South America barely joins the North American landmass at the Darien Gap, and North America is separated by the Bering Strait from Asia. But on Monday, Carl, who also had to cross the English Channel, will complete his journey.

13:42Our reporter Danny Eberhardt met him just months into his journey in Argentine Patagonia. Nearly half a lifetime later, for both Carl and him, he tracked him down on one of the final legs of his journey in a village in rural Cambridgeshire in eastern England. Carl, we're sitting here in a cafe. The last time I saw you was 1999 this small pinprick of a figure emerging out of the distance on the route aquarient in patagonia we thought we've got to stop who is this crazy dude with his beasts like cart cart that he's pulling tell me what it was like in patagonia no patagonia was pretty rough. I mean, there were some hard days there, because, again, all dirt track and everything. So pulling the machine that I had, which was

14:30really built for the road, yeah, it was struggling. And that was just a very large expanse of nothing in Patagonia. In the good old days, you know, before social media and before the digital world and using paper maps and stuff back then. At the time, Carl had no sponsorship. On occasion, he had to find discarded food on the roadside or forage from farms. Only years later did proper sponsorships kick in, although those were disrupted, including by a global financial crisis. There were countless other disruptions too, forcing Carl to break his journey. A planned 12-year trip became 28. Some people say this is a modern-day equivalent of the Odyssey. In the Odyssey, you know, people faced cyclops, they faced witches,

15:19all sorts of other monsters, the Lystrigonians. What were your Lystrigonians then? It was governments, for sure. There was things like the FARC guerrillas in the Darien Gap. Governments, you know, the Russian government gave us a hard time. They wanted to put me in jail for five years. And China almost banned me. But again, they let me continue. There's geographical challenges. There is the bureaucratic challenges of dealing with all that, the politics of those borders and things, which you wouldn't get away with today. I mean, you know, that's when we were all friends. Now we're not, so we couldn't pull that off today. As well as the Darien Gap, the physical challenges included him and a fellow adventurer

15:58becoming the first people in recorded history to cross the Bering Strait from Alaska to Russia on foot, an extremely perilous undertaking across shifting sea ice. Many years later, Carl, with a fellow adventurer Angela Maxwell and two young Azerbaijani swimmers, became the first people to swim across the Caspian Sea, going from Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan, as walking round the sea through Russia or Iran wasn't an option. And recently, he swam across the Channel between France and England, as walking round the sea through Russia or Iran wasn't an option. And recently, he swam across the Channel between France and England after the Channel Tunnel denied him permission to walk through its service tunnel.

16:33Despite the difficulties and dangers he's faced, one of the beauties has been the people he's met along the way. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there's just no two ways about it. Right from the get-go, right from the first days in Patagonia, just overwhelming generosity and kindness from locals. Every country, every culture. I have to say, I've met 99.999% of the very best of humanity. And it's just across the board. And every now and then I think we need to be reminded of that. It's a pretty nice world out there, as a traveller, meeting people face-to-face, for sure. Carl's story now is one that itself has travelled the world. The famous German director Werner Herzog is doing a documentary on him.

17:14On Monday, he'll see his mum for the first time in ten years. Then he'll be embedded in a media scrum. But after that, what next for a man who's spent half his lifetime completing one sole mission? How do you deal with the end of something like this, which is half your life, when Carl is going to have an identity crisis because the Carl Bush behavior one knows is going to just disappear. I have to reinvent myself and all that weird stuff. I mean, I think the idea is to get another passion, find another mission and get busy, get busy quick. My other passion is science literacy and science engagement, so that's hopefully what I'll spend the rest of my life focused on. Carl Bushby speaking to the BBC's Danny Eberhardt.

18:06Still to come in this podcast. We hear about the mindfulness city in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. you pick up a few farm fresh trades while you peruse. You can even get help from a dedicated advisor. That's full service wealth management. Mix, match and change your mind whenever you want. Because at Schwab, you can invest your way. No matter your goals or appetite for investing, Schwab has everything you need all in one place. Visit schwab.com to learn more. Imagine buying a toy for your kid, but it doesn't come with batteries. That sucks. But honestly, it's't come with batteries. That sucks. But honestly, it's even worse when you buy business software. You end up with fragmented, disconnected systems that cost a fortune and don't talk to each other.

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20:51Claude.ai slash solve. Support comes from Wise, the smart way to manage the currencies you need around the globe. Fed up with losing out to hidden fees when you send money abroad with your everyday bank? Choose the smart way. Wise. You can count on the exchange rate you'd usually find on Google. No unwelcome surprises. Plus, ditch that where's my money feeling. Most transfers arrive in under 20 seconds. Join millions saving billions on hidden fees. Be smart. Get wise. Download the Wise app today. T's and C's apply. This is the Global News Podcast. At least eight people have been killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, including a four-year-old child and five police officers. That's according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

21:37The strikes were carried out despite the year-old ceasefire agreement. The Israeli military said it had attacked what it described as military operatives. Our Middle East correspondent Hugo Bechega sent this report from Jerusalem. Outside the Shifa hospital in Gaza City, a crowd gathered to pray. On the ground, two body bags and a tiny body of a child wrapped in a white towel. Officials say an Israeli missile hit a group of civilians who were next to a school. To the south, in Hanunis, the interior ministry said a drone attack targeted a group of police officers as they were carrying out their duties. It called it a massacre. It named the five men killed, whose ages ranged from 23 to 53. The Israeli

22:27military confirmed it carried out two attacks on what it described as military operatives. It has provided no further information or any evidence. A ceasefire in Gaza came into force in October of last year, but Israel's attacks have continued almost every day. Since then, more than 1,500 people have been killed, according to Gaza officials. Israel says it is targeting Hamas, saying the group is trying to rebuild its military capabilities. Hugo Bechega. In recent weeks, large-scale, often youth-led protests over issues such as the rising cost of living or underfunded public services have broken out across Europe. France, Italy, Portugal and Albania have all seen demonstrations and some of them turned violent. Now the demonstrations have spread to

23:17Germany. Tens of thousands of people participated demanding action on issues affecting young people from the cost of living to spending on education. But on the sidelines, masked rioters looted shops in Frankfurt and clashes broke out in Berlin, Cologne and Hamburg. And in France, the authorities have launched an attempted murder investigation after petrol bombs were thrown at security forces during similar protests in Paris. Pete Ross heard more from our world news correspondent Joe Inwood. There were some really extraordinary scenes in a number of German cities in Cologne, in Hamburg, in Berlin and Frankfurt where I think they've been the most dramatic scenes of mostly young people rioting, looting, serious clashes with police,

24:03the police deploying water cannon. In Frankfurt, a number of shops were broken into, and this has happened across a number of cities. It's not the sort of thing you normally see in protests in Germany, and so it's been met with real shock in the country. We should say this came as part of a much, much larger protest movement organised by a group called Gen Z Will Sort It, a kind of a youth movement. The vast majority of the protests and the protesters were peaceful. Most of them were calling for understandable demands around public services, about opportunities for young people, about housing, about education. And it seems, though, that there was a minority, a significant minority, an impactful minority, certainly,

24:40which has taken those protests and turned them into something much more violent. Now, there have been protests across Europe in several countries, perhaps most significantly, or some of the largest protests in France in the last couple of weekends. What's the latest from there? Yeah, France was where this really started. Student-led protests, again, talking about what they saw as the kind of crumbling schools, the state of educational funding. When you listen to the people that are leading the protests, whether they're in Germany, in Switzerland, Portugal or Albania, they often cite this French student movement. France is the place, though, where this really sort of kicked off. And for the last three weekends, we've seen really significant protests on the street.

25:21Two weekends ago, they were far and away the biggest, the most consequential and the most violent. Last weekend, not quite so bad. And this weekend, there were real warnings there was going to be more violence on the street. And once again, there was. The French police say they arrested about 770 people yesterday. And they've also launched an attempted murder investigation after Molotov cocktails, petrol bombs were thrown at the police. And again, some of the footage is really extraordinary, shocking, of police running with their legs on fire. Some of them have been badly injured, second-degree burns. Again, it's really worth pointing out that this is a minority of people doing this, but it's a minority that is shaping how these protests are being seen.

26:01These protests are not coordinated, but there are themes that tie them together. They're often youth-led, they're on similar issues like the rising cost of living. Do we see this spreading further? There doesn't seem to be any sign of this stopping. Where does this go? Yeah, as you say, it's not one group that's doing this across these countries, but there does seem to be a sort of a domino effect of these protests. They all cite the French and their other movements. They do have connecting themes, threads that run throughout them. But it's interesting that in different countries, there are different other motivating factors. So in Germany, it's concerns around military service or conscription.

26:38In Portugal, it's about housing. Where they go, it's very difficult to see. But there's nothing being said at the moment that suggests that the underlying problems, the root causes that they're talking about, are being dealt with and are going to go away. And so it's difficult to see, especially in a time when European governments have really, really difficult fiscal situations. They haven't got money to throw at these problems, quite how they deal with these. And the protesters have given no indication that they're going to give up their cause. Joe Inwood. Now to the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. The sound of Buddhist chanting marks a special event in which thousands of volunteers, some from around the world,

27:29have gathered to build 108 Buddhist structures in 24 hours. The event is being held to bless a new so-called mindfulness city in the country's southern plains called Gelafu. It's hoped the city, which will have a new international airport and business district, will help stem the exodus of young Bhutanese who are leaving for what they see as better opportunities abroad. The government says the Gelafu Mindfulness City will operate to Buddhist and Bhutanese principles, working in harmony with the environment and incorporating the spirit of compassion and peace. Our reporter Julia Paul is there and told us more about the launch event and the new city. It is absolutely enormous. I mean, Bhutan is a very tiny country, just a population of around

28:18700,000. So 125,000 people had registered to take part. So that's already a percentage of the population. But in addition lanterns, but they had drone shots, and it was absolutely amazing. A lot of people, after the king gave his speech, have sort of decided to get out of the sun and have a break. People have poured in really from all across the country. So, you know, we saw that roads blocked, flights sold out, you know, not a hotel room to be seen. I certainly think the Buddhist world has sat up and taken notice of this. I mean, a lot of the Buddhist world has been invited. And the significance of the stupas, these 108 structures that have been built today, is that they contain very important Buddhist relics or texts. And so these monastics who've

29:22come from across the Buddhist world, you know, Malaysia, Thailand, a whole variety of places have brought Buddhist relics with them. These 108 buildings or 108 monuments were made from pre-fabricated steel. And the volunteers who built them have been practicing for a couple of months. So I don't think Bhutan was ever going to let it not, you know, was never going to not meet that 24-hour thing. And I think it's going to be about a decade before this entire area is developed in the way that they want to develop it. The idea of the mindfulness city is that you are going to still work with the environment. For example, they're preserving conservation routes, you know, routes for wild elephants to go through.

30:05They're trying to keep the tree cover as much as possible. And it's true that when you're actually up on the bank where the stupas have been built, looking down over the plain, although still a lot has to be developed, it's actually quite hard to see the buildings. But having said all of that, the legal structure of this area is distinct from the rest of Bhutan. And I think it's quite difficult to sort of actually envisage what a mindfulness city would look like as well. It's certainly a question that we've all been asking again and again. And I guess we're sort of trying to envisage a kind of Dubai, but with mindfulness, you know, it's hard to kind of envisage how you have an international

30:38airport and a hub. And even though they do want to open the country up, I think these principles are still very important. Julia Paul in Gelafu, the new mindfulness city in Bhutan. At the Mexican Grand Prix, 20-year-old Kimi Antonelli has become the youngest champion in the history of Formula One. The Mercedes driver finished the race in third place behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton. Antonelli is also the first Italian champion in more than 70 years. He was so overcome with emotion that he cried on the team radio as he crossed the finish line, saying it's a day he will remember forever. The BBC's Richard Forrest, a long-time Formula One fan. Tell me more about the sport's new champion.

31:26He's been on Mercedes books for 15 years, since a young boy karting. And he's been paid for for his career when he was talent spotted years and years ago. And he's been brought up through the ranks of Formula One. And he joined the actual Mercedes Formula One team last year, stepping into the big shoes of Lewis Hamilton, who had decided to go off to pass his new at Ferrari. So he had big shoes to fill. Last year, it was what people would say was a character testing year. Kimi Antonelli showed some promise, but he had some accidents as well. But this year, he's absolutely shone. He's won nine races. He's been leading the championship for pretty much most of the year. And it was almost a matter of time of when, not if, he was going to win the world championship.

32:20Just tell us how big a deal this is for people who don't fully understand Formula One. This is just enormous, isn't it? Yes, it is enormous. I think because of his young age, and he has captured the imagination of this. There's a new audience that's now watching Formula One. You know, the days of petrolheads, the people like me have watched it for years and years and years. The American owners of Formula One, they're called Liberty Media. They took it over a few years ago. They've expanded it to lots of different countries. And I think one of the key things they did was they brought Netflix in. And there's this documentary series that's called Drive to Survive that started a few years ago, which gave people the look behind the curtain of Formula One.

33:03It made you realize the personalities of the drivers underneath the helmet. And I think because there's this new generation of younger people watching these young stars, so many of these drivers now are under the age of 25, it's revolutionised the sport. And I think Kimi Antonelli captures the imagination of the young people. He's with Mercedes, a team with an incredible track record. How much of it is down to the car and how much of it is down to the driver? Interestingly, there were new regulations this year. So it was a completely new car. And maybe this year's car has suited his driving style. He's been up against his teammate, George Russell, who's no slouch. But Kimi Antonelli, he's just made the car work. And I think sometimes in Formula One,

33:52there's a lot of luck involved. And sometimes you just know it's going to be a particular person's year. This year, almost the writing was on the wall that Kimi Antonelli was going to be the champion this year. The BBC's Richard Forrest. And that's all from us for now. If you want to get in touch, you can email us at globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag Global News Pod. And don't forget our sibling podcast, The Global Story, which goes in-depth and beyond the headlines on one big story. This edition of The Global News Podcast was mixed by Rosenwin Dorrell and produced by Daniel Mann. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Alex Ritson. Until next time, goodbye.

34:54This is the story of The One. As a procurement manager at an industrial manufacturing facility, she balances inventory levels with sourcing supplies. Too much stock ties up the budget, too little slows down production. So she counts on Grainger. With $2 billion in on-hand inventory, Grainger delivers the product she needs fast, helping her stay stocked without overstocking. Call 1-800-GRAINGER, clickgrainger.com, or just stop by. Grainger, for the ones who get it done.

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