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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.
I'm Nick Miles. And in the early hours of Friday, the 1st of August, these are our main stories.
Washington's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is to visit Gaza later today.
On Thursday, the U .S. administration imposed sanctions on Palestinian authority members.
In another blow to the Pakistan opposition leader Imran Khan, senior members of his party have been jailed for up to 10 years.
The United States has insisted there must be a deal to end Russia's war in Ukraine by August 8th.
Also in this podcast...
Beds of deep sea clams, what look like meadows of foot -long tube worms poking out of the seabed, and mats of bacteria that resemble rivers of ice.
Scientists exploring the Pacific Ocean say they've discovered entire ecosystems of marine life at depths of over eight kilometres.
The United States has imposed travel restrictions on members of the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organisation, accusing them of undermining peace efforts with Israel.
Washington's special envoy Steve Witkoff is in Israel trying to salvage Gaza ceasefire talks.
The White House press secretary, Caroline Leavitt, said Mr Witkoff and the US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, will also visit Gaza on Friday.
President Trump is a humanitarian with a big heart and that's why he sent special envoy Witkoff to the region in an effort to save lives and end this crisis.
Special envoy Witkoff and and Ambassador Huckabee will be travelling into Gaza to inspect the current distribution sites and secure a plan to deliver more food and meet with local Gazans to hear firsthand about this dire situation on the ground.
Well, earlier on Thursday, Mr. Witkoff met Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as international anger grows of the terrible humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Those who have been able to visit the aid sites in the territory and leave with supplies say what's on offer is not nearly enough to feed their families.
From four in the morning, I've been under the bridge, and this is what I got.
For eight people, one jar of tahini.
This is not distribution.
This is not distribution at all.
This is a crime, shooting, and martyrs laid down beneath us.
Look at this half a jar of tahini.
What should I feed my children?
This is a death trap.
I swear to God, it's a death trap.
You come to death and you know you're coming to death and you don't take anything or find anything left. For more details on the US envoy Steve Witkoff's visit to the Middle East and especially his trip on Friday to inspect an aid distribution site in Gaza, I spoke to our Washington correspondent Tom Bateman.
The next steps are that Mr Witkoff and Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, will visit a site of the so -called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, US and Israeli backed, supplying food aid inside Gaza and has had a series of disastrous consequences with many aid seekers being shot dead.
You sense that from the kinds of things Mr. Trump has been saying about it and the way he has talked about starvation, it seems to me he has told Mr Witkoff to go and see it with his own eyes and I think what he reports back will matter this is a close relationship between these two men I think he trusts him more than many of his own officials and so what he sees there will matter the Americans have been saying that they have put money into the food supply for Palestinians President Trump has been talking about 60 million dollars although it appears that half of that has come from the Israelis.
Mr Trump seems to speak in pretty sort of disappointing terms about the effects of the way that money has been used.
So I think he's putting pressure on this situation.
Tom, many people around the world, many governments will want sanctions put on Israel for what's happening in Gaza.
And yet today, we saw sanctions from the US against some members of the Palestinian Authority.
What was the reason behind that?
Well, the Palestinian Authority, along with the Palestine Liberation Organization, these are significant organizations that gave Palestinians for the first time national political representation and a voice on the world stage that was internationally backed.
Now, they have self -governance, some limited self -governance within the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Authority, but Israel and United States governments have long called for the PA to reform.
They accuse it of inciting terrorism and of also not reforming itself in terms of corruption.
what they have done today is using those accusations and arguments they've held for a very long time is to sanction some members of the pa and the plo this looks like fairly limited actually about travel bans not a full range of financial sanctions but the timing is clearly around the fact that we have had this week united nations conference involving the europeans and gulf arab states which have called for a rekindling of the two -state solution that the U .S. and Israel largely abandoned now.
And you've had also countries like the U .K., France and Canada commit to recognizing a Palestinian state.
And this is the punishment, although it denies that the timing is around that.
Clearly, this is a way of effectively weakening or using a punitive measure against the Palestinian Authority, which would be the future governing body of a Palestinian state to show really to the Europeans that they're very unhappy with what they've done on this week.
That was Tom Bateman in Washington.
My colleague Katrina Perry spoke to Frank Cessna, a former CNN Washington correspondent and presenter, and asked him about the visit of the US envoy Steve Witkoff to that aid distribution site in Gaza, and about the US administration's understanding of how the process is working.
Well, I think they've been standing by the efficacy of that system, despite all indications to the contrary, the terrible pictures and the terrible horrible stories that have come out of Gaza itself that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, this means of distributing aid, has been a disaster.
People have died trying to get to it.
It's distributing far too little aid.
Israel and by definition or by extension, the United States are becoming more isolated as a result of all of this.
But Witkoff is there to see what can be done to look at the humanitarian sites and to bring that back to to the administration to see what, if anything can be resurrected out of the ceasefire talks that have essentially broken down and getting the israeli hostages out and some uh next steps in the in a ceasefire and then finally looking to whether there can be any political movement whatsoever on the larger question of the israeli gaza standoff and on that and the kind of broader political point the isolation point you're mentioning there the u .s is becoming further apart from its allies We've
seen now three G7 member countries say they will recognize Palestine as a state subject to certain conditions, but the U .S. still holding very firmly to its line of no two -state solution.
It's very interesting because what we're seeing now, and this is going to accelerate, I think, because of the kinds of stories, images, reality and suffering that's being brought on a daily basis across traditional media and social media in this country, around the world, is a further isolation of the U .S. and Israel as a result of all this.
This is one of the reasons Witkoff is there.
So you have the United Kingdom, France and Canada saying under certain circumstances they'll recognize a Palestinian state not far down the line.
The president was dismissive, sort of, this doesn't really much matter or we didn't talk about it with respect to the United Kingdom and France's declaration with Canada.
He actually initially said he was going to slap higher tariffs on Canada because of this position that they took.
And he had hardly complimentary things to say about the initiative.
But here's the other thing that's very interesting.
A new Gallup poll in the United States, just out in the last week or so, shows a dramatically declining base of support for Israel's military activity in Gaza.
Just 32 percent now in the United States say they are backing Israel's military action in Gaza.
And while the Trump administration says and often acts like it doesn't much care about public opinion, they're keeping a sharp eye on this one because this can shift quickly and they know it.
Frank Cessna, a court in Pakistan has sentenced more than 100 members of the party of the former Prime Minister Imran Khan for their role in anti -government protests two years ago.
The chairman of the PTI party said the sentences would be challenged in the courts.
From Islamabad, here's Azada Mashiri.
This is yet another blow to Imran Khan's party, and a serious one.
The party's opposition leader, six members of parliament, and a senator are among those sentenced.
It's a direct hit, to their presence in Parliament.
The protests in May 2023 were at times violent.
Protesters targeted buildings belonging to the powerful military.
Since then the challenges keep multiplying and the party's influence is waning.
They are operating with a leader behind bars, multiple legal cases and even infighting within the party.
Azadar Mashiri in Pakistan.
A Swedish jihadist has been sentenced to life in jail for killing a Jordanian pilot who was burned to death in a cage in Syria a decade ago.
The Islamic State Group posted a video of the murder, prompting widespread revulsion.
A court in Stockholm handed down the verdict on Osama Krayyem.
Our Europe correspondent Nick Beek reports.
The highly produced video that AIS released back in 2015 gave the world a graphic illustration of the crimes the group was committing in Syria.
The Jordanian pilot, Maz al -Khousasba, was killed after crashing near the city of Raqqa.
A decade on, 32 -year -old Swedish national Osama Krayem has been convicted for his role.
Krayem is already serving 30 years in prison for helping plan the November 2015 Paris attacks and a life sentence for involvement in the bombings at Brussels' main airport and a metro station a year later.
Nick Beek. Scientists exploring some of the deepest ocean trenches on Earth have discovered whole ecosystems of marine life living at depths of more than eight kilometres.
The discovery, published in the journal Nature, suggests that deep ocean trenches around the world could be home to a diverse array of creatures adapted to live in the dark and under extreme pressure.
Here's our science correspondent, Victoria Gill.
beds of deep sea clams what look like meadows of foot -long tube worms poking out of the seabed and mats of bacteria that resemble rivers of ice these are some of the communities of marine creatures that Chinese researchers captured on camera on a mission to some of the deepest parts of the pacific ocean traveling in a submersible vehicle the team explored ocean trenches around the northwest pacific of depths of up to 9 ,500 meters nearly six miles down this is known as the Heidel zone after Hades, the Greek god of the underworld.
But rather than a desolate environment, scientists were amazed to see the abundance of life.
Previously, people always think the Heidel trench is not an ideal place for life to survive.
That's Dr. Meg Ran Du from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Under this extreme high pressure, under the super high high depths.
They must have their trick to adapt to the super high pressure.
That's the question we need to answer in the following research. The team hopes to work out what those tricks and adaptations are, exactly what enables marine creatures to thrive in such a harsh environment.
With no sunlight, they feed on carbon -rich chemicals that seep out of the seafloor.
And these new observations challenge long -held assumptions about the potential for life in some of the darkest, most extreme places on Earth.
Victoria Gill. Still to come.
A mega flash is basically lightning on steroids.
It's a lightning flash, lightning discharge that can travel hundreds of kilometres.
Scientists have revealed the longest single lightning flash ever recorded.
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The U .S. President Donald Trump is insisting that there must be a deal to end Russia's war in Ukraine by his deadline of August the 8th.
That's according to a senior American diplomat.
John Kelly reaffirmed Mr. Trump's demand during a meeting of the UN Security Council.
Both Russia and Ukraine must negotiate a ceasefire and durable peace.
It is time to make a deal.
President Trump has made clear this must be done by August 8th.
The United States is prepared to implement additional measures to secure peace.
Well, Mr Kelly also criticised China for providing crucial components to Russia's war machine.
The ambassador was speaking after Moscow's massive drone attacks and missile attacks on Wednesday night on Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, which has killed at least 15 people.
On that issue of President Trump insisting there must be a deal to end Russia's war in Ukraine by August 8th, I heard more from Vitaly Shevchenko, Russia editor for BBC Monitoring.
Well, it's been more than six months since Donald Trump returned to the White House.
There's been a succession of deadlines, a succession of threats.
A lot of talk and chatter, but very little action that would meaningfully and seriously harm Russia.
Ukraine has borne the brunt of Donald Trump's annoyance, irritation and anger.
That seems to have changed.
Hence the latest shorter deadline of 10 days, the threats of secondary sanctions.
sanctions but looking at what experts are saying both in Russia and Ukraine they're not really expecting much in fact the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier that Russia has learned to live with those sanctions and when it comes to deadlines we've been here before that's what the Russian foreign minister said and the Kremlin doesn't appear to be taking seriously.
There was a barrage of attacks across Ukraine.
And once again, it's civilians who suffered the most, it appears.
The search and rescue operation in the Ukrainian capital continues.
One apartment block, nine -story apartment block collapsed, 54 flats destroyed.
That's just one sign of how deadly these Russian attacks are and how the Kremlin doesn't really care about Donald Trump saying that he doesn't like Vladimir Putin attacking civilians in Ukraine.
Vitaly Shevchenko from BBC Monitoring.
Just like in many other countries, as an adult, if you go into a restaurant or supermarket in Kenya after a hard day's work, you'd be able to buy a nice cool beer.
The question is, for how much longer?
That is because the Kenyan government is proposing a package of measures to restrict the sale of alcohol in all sorts of places, including hotels.
Just why, then, are the authorities considering taking what is pretty drastic action?
Will Ross is our Africa regional editor.
The government has for quite a long time said that there's a huge problem when it comes to alcohol, especially with the youth.
And so this National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse, known as NACADA, was put in place.
It's come up with these recommendations as a way, it says, of helping society, especially protecting young people from the abuses of alcohol.
And some of the measures are certainly being criticised pretty openly in Kenya.
People are looking at things like banning the sale of alcohol in supermarkets, restaurants.
This is a country that has a massive tourism sector.
So the thought of banning alcohol sales in restaurants seems a little bizarre.
But there are other ones, including influencers on social media won't be allowed to promote alcohol.
And that's actually received some criticism from within government, with an official saying these influencers and content creators are very important.
We need to think these things through very carefully.
But there are, of course, other people who look at the problem of alcohol abuse and how widespread it is and say there do need to be measures put in place.
But I ought to stress that these are recommendations at the moment.
And following a lot of criticism online, this organization, Nakata, put out a statement saying these are not the final word, as it were.
There's going to be more consultation.
And, Will, the other aspect of this is that these recommendations wouldn't address another big problem, which is local alcohol known as Changa.
Yeah, Changa is brewed right across the country.
So from the kind of densely populated areas of Nairobi to every village in many regions of the country, certainly.
And it's had a massive impact on society.
I mean, people will say, look, it's affordable, it's cheap, so that's a good thing.
There's another way for people to get alcohol if they want it.
But because it's unregulated, from time to time, there are problems where the wrong ingredients are put in and suddenly this turns into a large barrel of poison and there have been cases where multiple people have died.
But maybe the bigger problem, especially in the villages that I've seen, is just the impact on society of people who have access to this pretty cheap brew becoming alcoholics pretty young and it tearing their families apart and stopping them from being able to work properly.
That was Will Ross.
Now often when we report on the Democratic Republic of the Congo go it is to do with the conflicts that have dogged that country for more than 30 years but the government there doesn't want the nation to be defined by that it's spending a big amount of money on a controversial sponsorship deal with one of the biggest football teams in the world Will Chalk has the story a Barcelona FC training session with cameras snapping pictures of the players for sports websites and the next day's newspapers pictures that will likely be seen by millions around the world in other words a great advertising opportunity
and from next season the team's training tops will have dr congo heart of africa written on them it's part of a four -year sponsorship deal and the congolese government says it will raise the profile of the country but it's not come cheap at around 50 million dollars and the drc has already splashed out on similar deals with Italian side AC Milan and French team AS Monaco.
Money well spent, we ask people in the country's capital, Kinshasa.
It's a good idea to bring tourists in DRC.
When you talk about tourism, there should be things to see when those people come here for tourism.
They should use that money to build the country so that when they call those people they have something to see.
So yes, tourism, but there is nothing to see so far.
It's not just shirt sponsorship.
It's claim the deal will also involve barcelona's stadium hosting an immersive exhibition to showcase the cultural diversity and sporting tradition of the drc but for some it shows the government has the wrong priorities especially because the country's own football league has been plagued by massive underfunding for years maurice carne runs u .s based advocacy group friends of the congo the country has 7 million internally displaced people you have a outbreak of cholera and you have 70 70 million people living on less than $2 .15 a day, and the Congolese government is entering into a marketing
and promotion agreement, a sponsorship agreement, $50 million with European football teams. It just doesn't add up.
What makes things murkier is that in signing this deal, the DRC is following in the footsteps of its eastern neighbour Rwanda, who sponsored Premier League side Arsenal's shirts since 2018.
Rwanda's been accused of backing the rebel group involved in much of the violence in the east of the DRC, something it denies, but the Congolese government has previously written to Arsenal questioning the morality of the arrangement.
Timothy Longman is an international relations professor at Boston University.
He's been following the conflict for 30 years.
I think Congo feels like, well, if they can do it, we should as well.
Congo, the problems are more closely related to corruption and so I do imagine there will be some concern about where this money is actually going to go.
Yeah, Rwanda has a very different set of issues.
It's a much stricter government that allows a lot less dissent With Congo the problem is more just where does the money go?
From a Barcelona perspective, rightly or wrongly, it's $50 million.
And as football clubs have proved time and time again, it's a sport where money talks.
We'll chalk there. Now to something that you might call a lightning change of subject.
The certification this week of the longest single lightning flash ever recorded.
it. According to a study published by the World Meteorological Organization, it happened back in 2017 in the United States and it measured 829 kilometers in length.
That is roughly the distance between Paris and Venice.
Randy Cervini, a professor of geographical sciences at Arizona State University and one of the study's authors, told James Menendez about such mega flashes.
A mega flash is basically lightning on steroids.
It's a lightning discharge that can travel hundreds of kilometers.
It's not limited to just in the nearby area.
It can travel, as we have in this particular case, an enormous distance.
How do you actually measure it then?
Well, in the early days, we actually used ground -based radio technology.
As you all know from radio, there's a static discharge when lightning occurs, and we can triangulate it based on the ground.
But that's only limited to where we have the detectors.
So nowadays, what we use is what we call a lightning mapper.
It's an instrument that we put on board weather satellites that can very precisely detect the start and the end of individual lightning flashes.
Why has it taken so long to measure and, well, I guess certify, most importantly, this one?
Well, this one was overlooked, basically.
Back in 2017, there was a study of this particular event, and there were three other mega flashes that occurred with it.
But somehow this one was overlooked.
And one of our researchers actually went back and was examining this historical storm.
And he said, wait a minute, I think there's an even longer one here.
And as we looked into the data and we carefully analyzed it, we realized that, yes, it is not only was overlooked, but it is the longest one that we have on record. And I guess here comes the key question.
Why does it matter?
Why is it so important to measure these mega flashes?
Well, it helps us with our understanding of lightning, but it also, on a day -to -day basis, helps to emphasize the very major safety idea that lightning can travel a very long distance away from its parent thunderstorm.
So what we say is, if there is a thunderstorm over your area that's producing lightning, wait at least 30 minutes after it's passed before you go outside and start to resume normal activities.
Are these things getting bigger?
Is that possible? I mean, we hear about lots of impacts of climate change.
Presumably that has an impact on storms. Do those storms, as they get more powerful, have an impact on the length of lightning flashes?
flashes? Well, we don't know, frankly.
This record doesn't really relate to climate change because we simply don't have a long enough record of these mega flashes yet.
We've only been studying them for the last 10 years.
We just don't have a long enough record to be able to say, are they changing?
Are they becoming more frequent?
Are they becoming longer?
As we get more data, we should be able to start to answer those kinds of questions.
That was Randy Cervini from the Arizona State University.
And that is all from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the Global News Podcast later on.
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 us on X at BBC World Service.
Use the hashtag Global News Pod.
This edition was mixed by Ricardo McCarthy.
Carthy, the producers were Leah McSheffrey and Oliver Berlau.
The editor is Karen Martin.
I'm Nick Mars and until next time, goodbye.
