Latest / The Rest of the World Podcast / The Rest of the World Report | October 20, 2026 — Evening Edition

Transcript

The Rest of the World Report | October 20, 2026 — Evening Edition · The Rest of the World Podcast

• 0:00
  [music]
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Good evening from Paris.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Rudy Martinez with The Rest of the World Report for Tuesday evening, October 20th.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: More than 220 people were killed in Monday's drone strikes on the Amiette market
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: in Abye,
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: the region's caretaker information minister, Johanna E. Colin Gore, said on Tuesday.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: He said 153 were buried in one mass grave and 73 in a second.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Earlier accounts from local authorities were lower.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: The strikes hit around 11 a.m.,
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Ingok Dinka Paramount Chief Bulebek Deng Kowal said there were about 12 of them.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Médecins Sans Frontières said more than 20 wounded people were brought to
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: the Ameth Bek Hospital.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: A fire at the market was still burning on Tuesday and more than 8,000 people have fled.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: ABA officials blame the Sudanese army.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: That has not been independently verified and Sudan has not publicly responded.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: A senior Sudanese army officer who was not named...
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Said the army hit fuel tankers bound for the rapid support forces outside
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: the demilitarized zone.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: We do not target civilians, he said.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: South Sudan's foreign ministry summoned Sudan's ambassador Issam Mohamed Hassan
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Karar and urged diplomatic channels.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: AVA Civil Society petitioned the UN mission there, UNICEF,
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: to investigate and bring the matter to the Security Council,
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: citing resolutions 1990 and 2445.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: UNICEF's acting head of mission and force commander,
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Lieutenant General Ganesh Kumar Shrestha, Said the petition would be forwarded.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Both Sudan and South Sudan claim Abyeh.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: The strike came during a surge of drone attacks.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: More than 160 people have been reported killed in Western Sudan since Friday.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: On Sunday evening, a strike in Al Daba in West Kordofan killed 80.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: TASSIS, the RSF's self-declared administration, and the group emergency lawyers blame the army.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: On Monday, drone attacks on Khartoum killed three children.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: On October 12th,
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: the Hunger Monitor IPC warned of a deteriorating situation in Darfur and Kordofa,
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: including areas at risk of famine.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Severe drought affects more than half of Sudan.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: In May, nearly 19.5 million people faced high levels of acute food insecurity,
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: 135,000 of them in the most severe category.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Translators note,
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: South Sudanese outlets and officials treated the strike as an attack on On Abyeh,
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: not only as another episode in Sudan's war.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Abyeh is claimed by both countries and hosts a UN mission and
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: the Amiet market serves Ngakdinka, Mysorea, and displaced people.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Juba summoned Sudan's ambassador and Abyeh's civil society went to the UN mission
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: with a petition.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: Abyeh's information minister described the dead as civilians from both countries,
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: most of them traitors.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: The army officer quoted by the AP said those killed were RSF members
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: and people involved in fuel smuggling, an account the AP could not verify.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Radio Tamazouj reports that multiple sources told it the RSF used the market to obtain fuel.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: What American readers need to know.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Abiyé is disputed between Sudan and South Sudan and hosts a UN force.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: The strike there involves both countries and the UN, not only Sudan's two warring sides.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: The United States urged the Security Council on Friday to expand its arms embargo
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: on Sudan, and China and Russia opposed widening it.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: The Hunger Monitor, IPC, says areas of Darfur and Kordofan are at risk of famine.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: President Donald J.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Trump has offered every American adult $5,000 if Republicans keep control of both
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: the House and the Senate on November 3rd.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: He made the offer at the Republican Convention in Dallas on September 9th.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: The money depends on the results.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: The payments would cost more than $1 trillion,
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: and Trump says he does not need Congress's approval.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: Paul Berman,
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: a George Washington University law professor,
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: says the president cannot do it alone because only Congress can appropriate
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: the money.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Vice President J.D.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: Vance has said the money would come from tariff revenue.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: It is Trump's latest cash promise.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: A $5,000 Doge dividend and a $2,000 tariff dividend were also promised.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: Neither was paid.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: In December,
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: he floated $1,000 to $1,500 for Obamacare recipients instead
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: of renewing their expiring subsidies.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Enrollees got neither the payment nor the renewal.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Representative Jim McGovern,
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: a Massachusetts Democrat, called the offer an attempt to bribe people for votes.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Former Representative Bob Good,
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: a Republican who chaired the House Freedom Caucus,
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: called it a socialist vote-buying scheme.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: Fourteen days before the vote...
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Democrats hold the advantage in forecasts.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: Nearly every major forecaster expects Democrats to win the House, some by as many as 15 seats.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: About 50 races decided.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Democrats' chances in the Senate are slimmer, but they have made inroads in Texas and Kansas.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: On Tuesday,
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: the Cook Political Report moved South Carolina's Senate race from likely Republican
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: to lean Republican, and Mississippi's from solid Republican to likely Republican.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: It moved Minnesota's from likely Democrat to lean Democratic.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Polls have missed in the same direction before.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: In 2016 and 2020, polls underestimated support for Trump in key battleground states.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: And in 2020, they overestimated Biden's.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: The 2024 polls were more accurate than in 2020 or 2016,
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: but still underestimated Republican votes relative to Democrats.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: In each of the last three presidential elections, the error ran toward the Republican.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Polls measure opinion.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: The result is decided by the ballots cast.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Translators note,
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Germany's public broadcaster ZDF read the $5,000 promise less as a budget proposal
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: than as a campaign device.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Its Dallas report said the promise serves Trump's aim of turning the midterms into
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: a vote on himself.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: It ended by observing that he has everyone talking about him in an election
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: where he is not a candidate.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: ZDF priced the promise at $1.35 trillion dollars
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: And set it beside Germany's own federal budget,
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: more than twice the size of what Germany spends in a year.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: It also noted that the party of the sitting president almost always loses seats
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: in midterms,
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: and that Trump's approval has fallen with the Iran war
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: and tariff-driven living costs.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: The report treats whether the money would ever arrive as an open question.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: What American readers need to know.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Trump has promised every adult $5,000 only if Republicans keep both chambers on November 3rd.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Three earlier cash promises,
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: a $5,000 Doge dividend,
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: a $2,000 tariff dividend, and Obamacare payments were never paid.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Forecasters give Democrats the edge in the House
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: and polls have underestimated Republicans in each of
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: the last three presidential elections.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Only the vote cast decides results.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met U.S.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: Envoy Steve Whitcoff,
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gar Storr,
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: and Finnish President Alexander Stubb in Oslo on Tuesday.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Jared Kushner joined remotely.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Zelensky said the U.S.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: early warning of Russian ballistic missiles is working again after a call
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: He called for a meeting of Trump,
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Putin, and himself to address the issue that only the leaders can do.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: Whitcoff goes to Russia on Wednesday.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: Story said he will fly to St. Petersburg to meet Russian leaders.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's a small correction over what we said this morning
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: when we said he would be going to Moscow.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see what Putin has to say, Zelensky said.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Ukraine says it supports a U.S.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: proposal for an energy ceasefire and will stop striking Russian energy sites
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: if Russia stops striking Ukraine's.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Putin has rejected it.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: Stubbs said today was a good day for peace.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow will listen to the new U.S.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: proposal but expects no miracle.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Trump said he wants Zelensky to make a deal.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: Rubio in India denied any change in U.S. policy on intelligence or weapons for Ukraine.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: Witkoff's talks with Putin are also expected to cover the release
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: of Stephen Hubbard, a 74-year-old American held by Russia since 2022.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Russian missile and drone strikes on civilian areas of Ukraine Killed at least nine people.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Translators notes.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Euronews and Ukrainian outlets United24 Media describe Oslo as a meeting Kyiv
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: and its European partners shaped with the U.S. envoys as guests.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: Norway's prime minister said Kyiv had specifically asked for the two American envoys to attend.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: He said Norway and Finland were hosting to put diplomacy on a more constructive path.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: The U.K., France, Germany, Poland, the EU, and NATO were also expected.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: Ukrainian reporting describes the energy ceasefire and a leaders' summit
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: as proposal Witkoff will carry to Putin and Zelensky's closing line left
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: the next move to Moscow.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: What American readers need to know.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: The Oslo talks come as Ukraine and the Trump administration are at odds over strikes
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: on Russian oil.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: They also differ over delivery of fair air defense missiles.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Zelensky said the U.S. early warning intelligence is working again after restrictions.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Witkoff is now carrying Ukraine's proposals to Putin in person.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: Nigeria confirmed an Ebola case on Tuesday in Abuja, a woman who arrived from Uganda.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: Her symptoms began on October 7th and she was admitted to a private hospital on October 11th.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: Authorities are tracing 44 contacts.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_00: Nigeria recorded 20 cases in the 2014-2016 West Africa outbreak.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: Kenya confirmed its first case on October 6th and now has nine.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: The first was a man who traveled from Congo through Uganda to Nairobi.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: He tested positive and died on October 5th.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Four of the others are his relatives, and four are healthcare workers.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Of 135 contacts, 134 are in quarantine, and the first group completes 21 days on October 25th.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: The outbreak has infected more than 9,500 people and killed more than 4,600.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Dr. Gene Kaseya,
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: Director General of the Africa CDC,
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: Called it the most geographically extensive Ebola outbreak in history.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: What American readers need to know, both of the newest cases arrived by travel.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: Kenya's first patient came from Congo through Uganda, and Nigeria's patient arrived from Uganda.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uganda had reported cases earlier and later declared itself free of the virus.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: India's youth-led cockroach Janta party has held almost daily protests this month
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gayanesh Kumar,
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: over a revision of the voter lists.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: More than 130 million names were removed.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: The election commission says 28 million had died,
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: 63 million had moved,
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: and 30 million could not be traced, and that wrongly deleted voters can re-enroll.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Opposition parties say the deletions fall hardest on Muslims and other minorities.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: The commission and the governing BJP reject that.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: On Friday, police detained the movement's founder, Abhijit Dipka, in Delhi before a protest.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: The second time in a week.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Two of its leaders were jailed for five days earlier in the week for protesting at
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: a site where protests are banned.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: Defense Minister Rajnath Singh said young people were being used as pawns by
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: the opposition Congress Party.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: The movement is one of the largest challenges Prime Minister Narendra Modi has faced
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: in 12 years in power.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: An earlier sit-in forced Education Minister Darmendra Pradham to resign over exam paper leaks.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: What American readers need to know More than 130 million names came off
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: of India's voter lists in a revision.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: Young protesters have demanded the resignation of the election chief almost daily this month.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: The latest reporting available to The Rest of the World Report is from Friday.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's it for tonight's edition of The Rest of the World Report.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Rudy Martinez, and I will see you all again tomorrow morning.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Good night.
• 12:19
  [music]