UN set to reimpose sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme

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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Circus.

I'm Alex Ritson, and at 0500 GMT on Saturday, the 27th of September, these are our main stories.

Iranian fury as Russia and China fail in their last-ditch effort at the UN Security Council to prevent the reintroduction of nuclear sanctions.

In Washington, new documents are released relating to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Also in this podcast, a father of a hostage held by Hamas in Gaza reacts to the Israeli Prime Minister's UN speech, an official apology in Indonesia as free school lunches make a thousand children sick this week alone.

And this is a booming 21st century industry that was invented 200 years ago.

A very special anniversary in the history of rail travel.

The UN looks set to restore sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program after the failure of a last-ditch attempt to delay them.

A resolution put forward by Iran's closest allies, Russia and China, failed to get the required support at the UN Security Council.

It means the sanctions will be re-imposed at midnight GMT on the night of Saturday into Sunday.

Speaking to the Council, Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi criticised Britain, France and Germany, who jointly accused Iran of breaching the 2015 deal aimed at preventing it from developing a nuclear weapon.

And he also laid blame firmly with the United States.

We have unfortunately a terrible experience of negotiating with the United States.

We negotiated once in 2015.

and we made a good deal.

We made a deal that the whole world celebrated as an achievement of diplomacy.

But what happened?

Only after one year, the United States withdrew and re-imposed its sanctions.

Again, this year, we were asked to negotiate and we accepted.

What happened?

Right in the middle of negotiations, the United States decided to attack us.

Israel attacked and the US joined.

So we have no reason to trust Americans when it comes to negotiations.

I've been speaking to Khazra Nagi from BBC Persian.

So why are sanctions being re-imposed now?

The thing is that Iran hasn't been cooperating with the IAEA and particularly after the 12-day war in Iran, Israel and the United States attacking Iran's nuclear facilities, the inspectors were basically forced to leave the country, the IAEA inspectors, and Iran hasn't been under inspections for almost three months.

And that has basically raised concerns about Iran's nuclear activities, particularly Iran Iran has some 450 kilograms of highly enriched uranium stocks and reached to 60%.

So gradually there has been increasing concern on the part of the Western nations, particularly E3, the European powers, have been pushing for the snapback,

a mechanism basically allowing them to

go back to the sanctions on Iran, UN sanctions on Iran that existed before.

Yeah, because if it hadn't have been for that snapback mechanism, Russia and China would have been able to use their veto power.

But because this was an automatic mechanism, the sanctions return.

That's right, exactly.

Sanctions returned, and today was the last chance, basically, for Russia, China, and Iran to put forward a resolution deferring the return of sanctions for about six months, allowing, as they say, for diplomacy to take its course.

But that was rejected because Iranians didn't play ball according to the E3, the European powers.

Why is it that Iran is refusing to cooperate with the UN over this?

Surely life would be so much easier if it did.

That is a question many Iranians are asking themselves and asking

the government and the leaders as to why we are in this position that we are today.

And there's no really a plausible or understandable reason or explanation for all this.

And that is one of the aspects of this whole thing that Iranians, many Iranians, are suggesting that, you know, we should change course.

There's no reason to take this particular course.

This strategy that has brought us nothing but misery and war.

Khazra Naji from BBC Persian.

More reaction now to the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech in the UN Assembly on Friday.

In it, he delivered a direct message, which he said was being broadcast on military loudspeakers into Gaza, calling for the remaining hostages taken by Hamas to be released.

Our brave heroes,

this is Prime Minister Netanyahu speaking to you live from the United Nations.

We have not forgotten you, not even for a second.

The people of Israel are with you.

We will not falter and we will not rest until we bring all of you home.

Watching the speech in New York was Yehuda Cohen.

He's the father of 20-year-old Nimrod Cohen, an Israeli soldier who was captured by Hamas on October the 7th.

But he wasn't there to applaud Mr.

Netanyahu.

He spoke to the BBC's James Menendez.

It's not so easy to protest in such a big, big assembly, big hole.

I was trying to put my back on him with a sign

ceasefire and hostage deal.

That's what more or less.

After that, I went out, joined the protest next to the UN, talked there.

When you heard his words there, saying that the hostages were not forgotten, how did you take them?

I was not listening to his pack of lies, but let's say this: Hamas has more interest to keep the hostages alive than Netanyahu.

It's easier what he calls to rescue them, and afterward it'll convince everybody that they're all dead.

He can go brute force on Gaza, bombing everywhere.

And if any hostage still left alive, he will make sure that he will be dead.

Yehuda Cohen, the father of hostage Nimrod Cohen.

Anshul Pfeffer is Israel correspondent for The Economist.

What does he think Benjamin Netanyahu hoped to achieve through his speech?

Well, the main thing he was trying to achieve was an early election speech.

These UN speeches, ostensibly to the world, but for many leaders, and Netanyahu

is a prime example, they're actually speeches to the public back home.

And this was a classic.

I think Netanyahu was mainly speaking to Israelis and trying to show them once again that he is the best spokesperson for Israel despite so many delegates walking out at the beginning of his speech.

The second aim of the speech, I think, was at Donald Trump, perhaps with the help of some sound bites, which may be shown on Fox News or another of Trump's favorite channels.

And Netanyahu is trying to show Trump that he is still his ideal partner in the Middle East, though we've seen in recent days Trump showing quite a bit of impatience with Netanyahu as well.

Okay, so on Donald Trump, shortly after the speech, Trump said a deal was close on Gaza.

What do we know about that, if anything?

Well, we know there's been a deal close in different forms for a large part of this war over the last couple of years in Gaza.

And whether it's Hamas or whether it's Netanyahu, or quite often both, these deals have just been beyond reach.

Now, we know there's a new 21-point plan for Gaza on the day after the war, in which Tony Blair and Jared Kushner are some of the main planners of this.

And Donald Trump, along with a number of Arab leaders, have endorsed this plan.

But the question is, when will this plan be implemented now?

The war needs to end.

And the question is, can Trump pressure Israel and can the Arab states pressure Hamas to finally reaching that ceasefire?

The really important bit of the visit comes on Monday when Netanyahu goes goes to the White House in Washington to meet Donald Trump.

And there, maybe we'll see.

It may happen behind closed door, it may happen as often does, with Trump out in the open with his unscripted remarks to journalists.

We may see there finally Donald Trump exerting serious pressure on Netanyahu to reach that ceasefire.

But as we've seen with so many meetings of Trump with world leaders since he's been re-elected, it's very hard to predict how they'll pan out.

Anshul Pfeffer, Israel correspondent of The Economist, speaking to Benshu.

To Washington now, where a new set of files relating to the late convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein has been released.

The documents, which name the billionaire Elon Musk and Prince Andrew, among others, have been made public by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.

North America correspondent David Willis told me more.

These files contain the daily schedules of the late Jeffrey Epstein, stretching during a period from 2014 to 2019.

And they show that Jeffrey Epstein had plans to meet with, amongst others, Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, the Internet entrepreneur Peter Thiel, and Donald Trump's former advisor, Steve Bannon, either for lunch or breakfast on separate occasions.

There's an entry on the 6th of December 2014 which states that Elon Musk was due to fly to Jeffrey Epstein's private island in the US Virgin Isles.

And it asks, is this still happening?

There are two bank log entries and a flight manifest which mentioned Prince Andrew, and he is recorded accompanying Geoffrey Epstein and his then-girlfriend, Ghillene Maxwell, on a flight from New Jersey to Florida in May of 2000.

Now, Buckingham Palace had said that Prince Andrew attended a reception for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in New York that same month.

It's important to point out, I think, there's nothing in these records to show that the individuals mentioned were aware of the alleged criminal activity for which Geoffrey Epstein was later arrested.

And of course, Prince Andrew has always strenuously denied any wrongdoing.

So why are the Democrats releasing them now?

Well, this is the third batch of files, Alex, turned over to the House of Representatives Oversight Committee by the Jeffrey Epstein estate, acting on a subpoena from the committee.

And the Republican leadership of that committee has criticised the Democratic minority for releasing these files, accusing them, if you like, of cherry-picking conservative names and avoiding those documents that mention Democrats, even though Bill Clinton, former president, has been mentioned in previous releases, and Bill Gates is a well-known donor for progressive causes.

The Republican leadership of that committee has reportedly pledged to release the files in full once the victims' names have been fully redacted.

But there are still those, both Republican and Democrat, who are pressing for the release of all the files relating to the Jeffrey Epstein affair, including those relating to the FBI's investigations into his dealings.

So far, the Trump administration has declined to do that, and Elon Musk has accused the administration of refusing to do so because he says Donald Trump himself is mentioned in those files.

David Willis.

In Geneva, a month-long meeting of the UN Human Rights Council is well underway.

There's a lot to talk about, including allegations of genocide taking place in Gaza, a surge in killings and sexual violence in Sudan, and a sharp increase in civilian deaths in Ukraine as Russia intensifies air attacks.

But what about human rights in Russia itself?

Imogen Fokes now reports on a strategy of repression, which human rights experts now warn is spreading to other countries.

Russia is now run through a state-sponsored system of fear and punishment, where dissent is is erased and civic space dismantled.

Mariana Katsarova, the UN Special Rapporteur on Russia, she's the first ever human rights expert to investigate a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Her latest report, presented this week to the Human Rights Council, documents a repression so stifling that virtually all freedom of expression is silenced.

And still, the remnants of civil society and independent media are being persecuted, prosecuted, and imprisoned.

To remind UN members that there are still voices in Russia trying to speak out, Ms.

Katsarova brought Russian writers and journalists to Geneva.

Some who still live in Russia gently refused interviews, fearing for their safety once they return.

Others, like writer Boris Akunin, now lives in the UK.

He was recently designated a foreign agent by Moscow and sentenced to 14 years in absentia for criticizing Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

A foreign agent is anybody they do not approve of, and it is not decided by a court of justice or something, just some government institutions which say that you are a foreign agent, which means you cannot write, you cannot publish, you cannot teach.

The Russia report was published the same week that in the United States, the late-night chat show host Jimmy Kimmel was taken off air.

Breaking news tonight, ABC is pulling Jimmy Kimmel live indefinitely.

The significance wasn't lost on Mariana Katsarova, who fears other governments, even democracies, are copying Russia's tactics.

I feel I'm monitoring the handbook for repression that the Russian government is using against its own civil society, journalism, free speech.

This handbook, unfortunately, has been copied by by democratic countries, which are starting to experience a clampdown on freedom of expression, of closing television stations and shows and newspapers.

So I think it's a warning because it could happen to any of us in any country.

They'll take a great story and they'll make it bad.

I think that's really illegal.

Watching the attacks on media in the United States, Boris Akunin fears a global shift towards authoritarianism, starting with the repression of writers and journalists, is already well underway.

I think that we fail to understand that the world has changed, that the political system created by the fall of the Berlin War, it's done, it's over.

We are entering a totally new world where everything will be different.

I'm very much worried about what's going to happen in the UK, in France, in the United States.

It has already happened.

And that's a bitter disappointment to the Russian free speech defenders here in Geneva.

Journalist Alsu Kurmasheva was arrested and imprisoned after traveling to visit her mother, who is ill in Russia's Tatarstan region.

Charged as a foreign agent, she spent months in jail before being freed in last year's historic prisoner swap.

Now she warns against complacency.

It's never late to acknowledge how precious it is, how precious democracy, how precious freedom is.

You know, it's been more than a year since I got released from prison.

Every morning I open my eyes, I'm so thankful.

I know democracy and press freedom sounds very vague for people who live ordinary lives, right?

As you said, okay, this conflict is happening there, why would I care?

But actually, when it comes to you, to your door and ring your bell, it's too late.

That report by Imogen Folks.

Still to come, concerns over freedom of expression in the arts dominate the start of the New York Film Festival.

We would like to think we create a space for discussion, and we're also a platform for filmmakers.

So hopefully they feel free to speak their mind.

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Let's turn to a scandal in Indonesia now.

President Prabowo Subianto has made a program offering free lunches to millions of school children, a signature policy of his leadership.

But after repeated outbreaks of food poisoning, 1,000 students have fallen sick after eating school lunches in West Java this week alone.

The government agency in charge of the program has apologised.

Our global affairs reporter Anbarasan Etarajan has more details.

The deputy head of Indonesia's National Nutrition Agency, Nanik Deyang, said the biggest mistake had been a lack of oversight and that partners and internal teams had not followed standard procedures.

She said inconsistent cooking times contributed to the poisoning.

The biggest mistake was ours.

We admit that we were wrong.

We admit our guilt for what we call the food safety incident.

Because we found that not all suspected cases of poisoning were due to allergies and other causes, we are responsible for all costs incurred by the children or parents who ate with them and experience problems.

provide free, nutritious meals to combat impaired growth among the country's children.

Nanik Deyang said processed foods had been banned from the lunches and kitchens lacking proper certification would be shut down by next month.

Non-governmental organizations had earlier called for the program to be suspended.

Some have warned that the food poisoning cases could overwhelm small local hospitals.

The organization behind the Eurovision Song contest has confirmed it will hold a vote on whether or not Israel will be allowed to take part next year.

The European Broadcasting Union says all 68 member countries will vote at a meeting in November.

This comes after a number of nations threatened to pull out if Israel competes in Vienna next year.

Calls for a boycott have grown following a UN report which concluded that Israel had committed a genocide in Gaza, allegations Israel denies.

Eunice Muller reports Broadcasters from Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Iceland, and Spain have threatened not to participate in Eurovision unless Israel is excluded.

The board of the European Broadcasting Union, which runs the event, has informed members in a letter that a vote will take place at an online meeting in November.

A spokesperson said an absolute majority would be required for CAN, the Israeli public broadcaster, to be excluded.

All EBU members can vote, including countries who who have decided not to take part.

Turkey has reportedly made that choice on the grounds of LGBT messaging.

Germany and Austria have backed Israel's participation.

Other national broadcasters, including the BBC, have not yet made a decision.

The BBC Director General Tim Davey said the corporation was aware of the concerns around Israel's participation, adding that the song contest had never been about politics.

Eunus Muller.

It's 200 years since the age of the passenger train began.

On September the 27th, 1825, the planet's first steam-driven locomotive service opened between Stockton and Darlington in northern England.

It changed transport forever.

So, two centuries on, how are the world's railways faring?

Transport journalist Christian Woolmer spoke to the BBC's Rob Young.

Some countries really neglected their railways, particularly many countries in Africa, Argentina, some of the Eastern European countries have really neglected their railways and forgotten how useful they were.

But other countries have really built on their strengths.

So their strengths are really threefold.

I mean, suburban railways, metro systems, absolutely a winner because it's so much better than trying to drive into town centers.

And you get regional railways, high-speed trains, or even just medium-speed trains between major cities, what a better way to travel than sitting on a motorway for three hours.

And, you know, you can read your book, you can do your work, you can do whatever, much better.

And then there's heavy freight where railways have a huge advantage, you know, big aggregates and building materials and

containers and the like.

And there they have a big plus point.

So in those markets, they are thriving.

I mean, just to give you an example, China has 45 cities where they have an underground system, and they're just growing at an amazing rate.

They have 30,000 miles of high-speed rail, and there's high-speed rail in about 25 different countries.

So this is a booming 21st century industry that was invented 200 years ago.

The past couple of decades, though, have seen a proliferation of pretty cheap flights within nations, within continents, around the world.

Surely that must have hit the usage of the railway.

It certainly has been an alternative on some routes.

But do you know what's interesting is that once you get a high-speed line and say maximum 350, 400 miles, but you know, Barcelona, Madrid or Paris, Lyon, those sort of distances,

once you get a high-speed line that will take you, say, 600 kilometers in three hours or less, then people prefer the railways because it's such a hassle.

Much better to go on railways.

And one of the new things that has happened particularly around europe and in some other places in the world as well is that we've got a new generation of sleeper trains and and people will you know prefer to take a sleeper train overnight uh on a conventional railway rather than uh staying in a hotel in the us the railway is not as uh widespread as it is on the european continent outside of the the the northeast of the us passenger railway is pretty difficult to find isn't it that's one of the great transport mistakes in the world.

So there's an amazing contrast whereas we're getting China building a whole network of high-speed rails connecting every town and city with trains that are going 300 kilometers per hour.

Meanwhile, America, which is struggling to build a couple of high-speed lines, but rather unsuccessfully without proper funding, destroyed its whole passenger rail network in the 1950s and 60s, closed it down as rapidly as they could, and yet they have probably the most intensive and profitable freight rail transport in the world.

And they have actually the biggest network with about 125,000 miles.

China's just about catching up, but it's a great shame.

Transport journalist Christian Woolmer.

One of North America's most prestigious movie events, the New York Film Festival, started on Friday.

Among the highlights is the actor Daniel Day-Lewis coming out of an eight-year retirement to star in a movie directed by his son.

But in the run-up to the event, the discussions over the films on offer at the festival have taken second place to concerns over freedom of expression in the arts in general and cinema in particular.

Tom Brooke reports from New York.

In the coming days, some 100 movies will be shown at the New York Film Festival.

Among the highlights, a screening of a new biographical musical drama portraying rock icon Bruce Springsteen.

And a five-part documentary on legendary New York filmmaker Martin Scorzesi.

I don't know.

I was angry.

I said, I'm going to threaten them or maybe just shoot herself.

And a comedy drama called Is This Thing On?

directed by Hollywood leading man Bradley Cooper is premiering at the festival starring Will Arnett.

Hello, Joe.

I think I'm getting a divorce.

But the world premiere premiere of a film called Anemone has been getting a lot of advance attention.

The war with crime.

And we were the phantom soldiers.

It's an intense work that relies heavily on its performances in a film which explores the relationship between brothers and between fathers and sons.

It's directed by Ronan Day-Lewis and stars his father, the celebrated actor Daniel Day-Lewis.

What do you want from me, brother?

What do you want?

Tim Tiemann is theatre critic for the Daily Beast in New York.

It's a really big deal that Daniel Day-Lewis is here at the New York Film Festival this year.

It's his first acting role in eight years since he announced he was going to quit acting after his last film Phantom Fred, for which he earned an Oscar nomination.

And obviously the big question is, will he get another Oscar nomination out of it?

There is some fear and trepidation being expressed by some festival goers over what they see as efforts by the Trump administration to realign the cultural agenda in the U.S.

by trying to control content and remove perceived liberal bias in museums, the performing arts and in other areas including Hollywood.

Film journalist Nicholas Cooey.

I think that right now we're living under a regime that wants to regulate what kind of films that we bring into this country and what artists are saying.

The issue in terms of freedom of expression, of creative expression, is on a lot of people's minds.

I've talked with a lot of critics, a lot of programmers at the festival, and they're all very concerned about what's happening in the cultural ecosystem across the globe, let alone in this country.

But the New York Film Festival's artistic director, Dennis Lim, at least, sees his festival as an arena for free expression.

I think we're all concerned about the current political climate, but we stand behind the films that we've selected.

And we think that we're...

We would like to think we create a space for discussion and we're also a platform for filmmakers.

So hopefully they feel free to speak their mind.

Despite Despite concerns over freedom of expression among many festival goers, their appetite for movies remains unabated.

They appear to be displaying an eagerness and open-mindedness to savour the vast range of cinema the film festival is offering.

Tom Brooke in New York.

And that's all from us for now, but there'll be a new edition of the Global News podcast later.

If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email.

The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk.

You can also find this on X at BBC World Service.

Use the hashtag Global Newspod.

This edition was mixed by Paul Mason.

The editor is Karen Martin.

I'm Alex Ritzen.

Until next time, goodbye.

Sucks!

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