Latest / The Rest of the World Podcast / The Rest of the World Report | October 28, 2026 — Evening Edition
Transcript
- 0:00[music]
- 0:09SPEAKER_00: Good evening from Paris.
- 0:11SPEAKER_00: I'm Rudy Martinez with The Rest of the World Report for Wednesday evening, October 28th.
- 0:17SPEAKER_00: Dolores Huerta dies at 96.
- 0:21SPEAKER_00: Dolores Huerta,
- 0:22SPEAKER_00: who co-founded the United Farm Workers Union and coined the rallying cry,
- 0:26SPEAKER_00: Si Se Puede, died on Wednesday at the age of 96.
- 0:30SPEAKER_00: Her family said she died at her home in Bakersfield, California.
- 0:34SPEAKER_00: Eric Olvera, a family spokesperson, said the cause was cancer.
- 0:38SPEAKER_00: In a Facebook post,
- 0:38SPEAKER_00: the family said, It will follow up on plans to recognize her life and legacy.
- 0:44SPEAKER_00: Huerta was born Dolores Clara Fernandez in 1930 in Dawson, New Mexico.
- 0:49SPEAKER_00: Her father was a minor and union activist who went on to win a seat in the state legislature.
- 0:54SPEAKER_00: Her parents divorced when she was three and her mother took her and her brothers to California.
- 0:59SPEAKER_00: Huerta became an elementary school teacher in the San Joaquin Valley and left
- 1:03SPEAKER_00: the classroom to organize farm workers.
- 1:06SPEAKER_00: She said, I couldn't stand seeing kids come to class hungry and needing shoes.
- 1:11SPEAKER_00: In 1962,
- 1:12SPEAKER_00: she and Cesar Chavez started the National Farm Workers Association,
- 1:16SPEAKER_00: which became the United Farm Workers a few years later.
- 1:20SPEAKER_00: Huerta was the union's chief negotiator, strike organizer, and lobbyist.
- 1:24SPEAKER_00: She joined Filipino grape pickers on the picket line in the five-year Delano grape strike.
- 1:29SPEAKER_00: She also negotiated the first health and benefit plans for farm workers.
- 1:33SPEAKER_00: She directed nationwide boycotts of grapes and lettuce in the early 1970s,
- 1:37SPEAKER_00: and they helped to bring about California's 1975 Agricultural Labor Relations Act,
- 1:42SPEAKER_00: the first state law to recognize farmworkers' rights to collective bargaining.
- 1:47SPEAKER_00: Huerta was jailed 22 times for union demonstrations.
- 1:51SPEAKER_00: In 1988,
- 1:52SPEAKER_00: a San Francisco police officer's baton broke three of her ribs
- 1:55SPEAKER_00: and damaged her spleen, while she was protesting then-candidate George H.W.
- 1:59SPEAKER_00: Bush's opposition to the grape boycott.
- 2:02SPEAKER_00: In 1968, she registered Mexican-American voters for Robert Kennedy's presidential campaign.
- 2:08SPEAKER_00: She was on stage when he won the California primary,
- 2:11SPEAKER_00: and he thanked her moments before he was shot.
- 2:14SPEAKER_00: She kept marching and speaking into her 90s on race,
- 2:17SPEAKER_00: on poverty, on LGBTQ plus rights, and on women's rights.
- 2:22SPEAKER_00: Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.
- 2:26SPEAKER_00: She was the first Latina inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.
- 2:31SPEAKER_00: She had 13 children.
- 2:34SPEAKER_00: This year,
- 2:34SPEAKER_00: Huerta said that Chavez sexually abused her in the 1960s,
- 2:38SPEAKER_00: which led to the birth of two children.
- 2:40SPEAKER_00: She had kept it secret for 60 years.
- 2:43SPEAKER_00: She said she stayed silent because she feared
- 2:45SPEAKER_00: that coming forward would compromise her life's work and unravel the progress made
- 2:49SPEAKER_00: for workers.
- 2:51SPEAKER_00: Teresa Romero,
- 2:52SPEAKER_00: president of the United Farm Workers, said,
- 2:55SPEAKER_00: The greatest possible tribute to her life is for her work of organizing to continue.
- 3:01SPEAKER_00: What American readers need to know.
- 3:03SPEAKER_00: Dolores Huerta,
- 3:04SPEAKER_00: co-founder of the United Farm Workers Union,
- 3:06SPEAKER_00: died on Wednesday at 96 at her home in Bakersfield, California.
- 3:10SPEAKER_00: She coined the slogan,
- 3:11SPEAKER_00: Si Se Puede,
- 3:13SPEAKER_00: and helped win California's 1975 law,
- 3:15SPEAKER_00: giving farm workers the right to bargain collectively.
- 3:18SPEAKER_00: President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.
- 3:24SPEAKER_00: No majority as Israel counts.
- 3:27SPEAKER_00: Neither Benjamin Netanyahu's bloc nor Gadi Eisenkotz has a majority in the Knesset
- 3:31SPEAKER_00: with nearly 86% of the vote counted.
- 3:34SPEAKER_00: Israel's three main television broadcasters projected 53 of the 120 seats
- 3:38SPEAKER_00: for Netanyahu's bloc and 48 for Eisenkotz.
- 3:41SPEAKER_00: A majority needs 61.
- 3:43SPEAKER_00: They project an unprecedented 19 seats for the parties representing Arab Israelis,
- 3:48SPEAKER_00: the Joint List and ROM, up from 10 in 2022.
- 3:52SPEAKER_00: Another cow puts them at 17.
- 3:54SPEAKER_00: Turnout was more than 77%, the highest in almost three decades.
- 3:59SPEAKER_00: Netanyahu told supporters at Likud headquarters early on Wednesday that Likud was
- 4:03SPEAKER_00: the largest party and called for a strong right-wing nationalist government.
- 4:08SPEAKER_00: Eisenkot declared victory in Tel Aviv.
- 4:10SPEAKER_00: He has said that Netanyahu is a caretaker prime minister without a mandate.
- 4:14SPEAKER_00: Netanyahu stays in that role during coalition talks and possibly
- 4:17SPEAKER_00: until another election next year.
- 4:20SPEAKER_00: Likud said in a statement on Wednesday that Arab parties had stolen the election
- 4:24SPEAKER_00: through corruption, threats, violence, and the use of prohibited software.
- 4:28SPEAKER_00: The statement describes the Arab parties as supporters of terrorism.
- 4:32SPEAKER_00: Likud said it is submitting testimonies and evidence to the authorities.
- 4:36SPEAKER_00: Netanyahu had said on Tuesday that Rahm in particular was trying to steal
- 4:39SPEAKER_00: the election and cited reports of people arrested with envelopes of cash.
- 4:44SPEAKER_00: Yusuf Jabarin,
- 4:45SPEAKER_00: who leads the joint list,
- 4:47SPEAKER_00: He said the party cannot join an Isenot-led government,
- 4:49SPEAKER_00: citing support for Israel's military campaign in Gaza and its occupation
- 4:53SPEAKER_00: of southern Lebanon.
- 4:55SPEAKER_00: He left open the possibility of propping up a minority government from the outside.
- 4:59SPEAKER_00: Mansour Abbas, who leads Rom, said he would join an Isenot-led government.
- 5:04SPEAKER_00: Isenot has set conditions for partners.
- 5:06SPEAKER_00: They must recognize Israel as a Jewish and democratic state,
- 5:09SPEAKER_00: endorse the values of its Declaration of Independence,
- 5:12SPEAKER_00: and commit all Israelis to national service.
- 5:15SPEAKER_00: One account adds a fourth condition, that they denounce Hamas as a terrorist group.
- 5:21SPEAKER_00: President Isaac Herzog,
- 5:22SPEAKER_00: who decides whom to ask to form a government,
- 5:25SPEAKER_00: said Israel must do everything it can to avoid another election.
- 5:30SPEAKER_00: Translators Notes
- 5:44SPEAKER_00: It cites Sylvaini Bull,
- 5:46SPEAKER_00: a Paris-based expert on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,
- 5:49SPEAKER_00: who says Arab voters turned out in response to Gaza and above all to
- 5:53SPEAKER_00: the occupied West Bank.
- 5:55SPEAKER_00: Amjad Shbita,
- 5:57SPEAKER_00: who heads the biggest party in the joint list,
- 5:59SPEAKER_00: said on election night, we will negotiate as equals.
- 6:03SPEAKER_00: On that reading, the seats are an opening position in a bargain.
- 6:06SPEAKER_00: Now, Jazeera's explainer is headlined with the opposite claim
- 6:09SPEAKER_00: that Arab parties may not be kingmakers.
- 6:12SPEAKER_00: Its sources are Palestinian analysts, among them the director of a research forum in Ramallah.
- 6:18SPEAKER_00: They say a political veto limits what the seats can buy,
- 6:21SPEAKER_00: and one calls Eisenkot's conditions a loyalty test.
- 6:25SPEAKER_00: Al Jazeera cites an account that puts Eisenkot's bloc and the Arab parties together
- 6:28SPEAKER_00: at 66 seats, and France 24 says the Arab parties could hold the key for him.
- 6:34SPEAKER_00: The difference is whether the obstacle is a negotiation or a veto.
- 6:38SPEAKER_00: Al Jazeera notes that Eisenkot has rejected the idea of partnering with them.
- 6:42SPEAKER_00: Jabirin has offered outside support instead of a place in government.
- 6:46SPEAKER_00: The test is whether Eisenkot will take a majority that he can reach only through that offer.
- 6:51SPEAKER_00: What American readers need to know.
- 6:53SPEAKER_00: Israel's election has produced no majority for Netanyahu or for his rival Eisenkot,
- 6:58SPEAKER_00: with nearly 86% of the vote counted.
- 7:01SPEAKER_00: Arab-led parties are projected to win 17 to 19 seats, up from 10 in 2022.
- 7:07SPEAKER_00: And could decide who governs.
- 7:09SPEAKER_00: Likud has accused the Arab parties of stealing the election and says it is submitting evidence.
- 7:13SPEAKER_00: And Netanyahu stays caretaker prime minister while the coalition talks go on.
- 7:19SPEAKER_00: Spain crash toll reaches 68.
- 7:21SPEAKER_00: The regional government of Castilla-La Mancha says at least 68 people died in
- 7:25SPEAKER_00: a train collision near Erda in Toledo province on Wednesday morning.
- 7:30SPEAKER_00: A high-speed train hit the back of a stopped train.
- 7:33SPEAKER_00: The first confirmed count earlier Wednesday was at least 10.
- 7:37SPEAKER_00: The regional government says 58 people are receiving hospital treatment.
- 7:40SPEAKER_00: Its head, Emiliano Garcia Paje, put the number of injured at about 80.
- 7:45SPEAKER_00: He said about 50 of them were injured seriously and 15 critically,
- 7:49SPEAKER_00: and that some might not survive.
- 7:51SPEAKER_00: The regional government spokeswoman,
- 7:53SPEAKER_00: Esther Padilla,
- 7:54SPEAKER_00: said 397 passengers were on the Renfe train and 147 on the Irrio train.
- 8:00SPEAKER_00: Transport Minister Oscar Fuente said the signaling system failed at about 8.30 a.m.
- 8:05SPEAKER_00: along a 63-kilometer stretch of the line and that all trains on it stopped.
- 8:10SPEAKER_00: He said the control center then told the Renfe train to start again
- 8:14SPEAKER_00: without speed restrictions while a stop signal was still active.
- 8:17SPEAKER_00: The train hit the stopped Irio train at 8.53 a.m.
- 8:22SPEAKER_00: Fuente called the order inexplicable and said the train drivers were not to blame.
- 8:26SPEAKER_00: He said the train could have been traveling at 200 kilometers an hour and
- 8:29SPEAKER_00: that authorities are still working out at speed.
- 8:32SPEAKER_00: Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez,
- 8:33SPEAKER_00: who faces a national election on November 29,
- 8:36SPEAKER_00: declared three days of national mourning from October 29 to 31.
- 8:41SPEAKER_00: He said the causes of this crash and January's appeared unrelated.
- 8:45SPEAKER_00: What American readers need to know.
- 8:47SPEAKER_00: At least 68 people died when one high-speed train hit the back of another near Irta,
- 8:51SPEAKER_00: Spain on Wednesday.
- 8:53SPEAKER_00: Spain's transport minister says a control center told the train to start again after
- 8:58SPEAKER_00: the signaling system failed and calls the order inexplicable.
- 9:01SPEAKER_00: The government has declared three days of mourning.
- 9:06SPEAKER_00: African leaders gather in Moscow.
- 9:08SPEAKER_00: Russia opened a two-day summit with African countries in Moscow on Wednesday,
- 9:12SPEAKER_00: and 48 African countries are taking part.
- 9:15SPEAKER_00: About 20 of them sent their leaders, according to one count.
- 9:18SPEAKER_00: Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov counts 22 heads of state,
- 9:21SPEAKER_00: up from 17 in 2023 and down from 43 at the first in 2019.
- 9:27SPEAKER_00: Putin told the opening session that a multipolar world is becoming a reality.
- 9:31SPEAKER_00: He called for a bigger African role in decisions at the International Monetary Fund
- 9:35SPEAKER_00: and the World Bank Group.
- 9:37SPEAKER_00: He also said Russia delivers grain and fertilizers to more than 40 African countries
- 9:41SPEAKER_00: and is ready to expand supplies.
- 9:44SPEAKER_00: Across the Sahel, militaries that seized power have turned to Russia.
- 9:48SPEAKER_00: Africa Corps,
- 9:48SPEAKER_00: a military contractor under the command of the Russian Defense Ministry,
- 9:52SPEAKER_00: helped Niger's junta defeat a mutiny in the capital in August.
- 9:56SPEAKER_00: It is not known how many Russian mercenaries are in Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso.
- 10:01SPEAKER_00: Estimates run from 1700 to 2000.
- 10:04SPEAKER_00: Amnesty International wrote an open letter urging leaders at the summit to demand
- 10:07SPEAKER_00: that Moscow end what it describes as deceptive and coercive recruitment of Africans
- 10:12SPEAKER_00: to fight in Ukraine.
- 10:14SPEAKER_00: A column published on Monday by a South African outlet cites Ukraine's foreign ministry.
- 10:19SPEAKER_00: The ministry says at least 2,982 people from 37 African countries were serving
- 10:24SPEAKER_00: on Russia's side as of August.
- 10:27SPEAKER_00: The column says a petition to Kenya's Senate this month puts the number
- 10:30SPEAKER_00: of Kenyans involved at 841 and that the Kenyan government has confirmed
- 10:35SPEAKER_00: at least 354.
- 10:37SPEAKER_00: Kenya's president,
- 10:38SPEAKER_00: William Ruto,
- 10:39SPEAKER_00: Told a Russia-Kenya business roundtable in Moscow
- 10:42SPEAKER_00: that Kenya is mobilizing $40 billion over the next decade for infrastructure
- 10:46SPEAKER_00: and invited Russian investment.
- 10:48SPEAKER_00: He said bilateral trade was about $380 million in 2025
- 10:52SPEAKER_00: with Kenya exporting $52 million and that the figures call for a rethink.
- 10:57SPEAKER_00: Translators note.
- 10:59SPEAKER_00: Kenya shows the gap between what leaders and families want from this summit
- 11:03SPEAKER_00: because both asks come down to a count that doesn't add up.
- 11:07SPEAKER_00: Ruto's ask is about trade.
- 11:09SPEAKER_00: He told Russian investors that Kenya sold Russia $52 million in goods in 2025 out of
- 11:14SPEAKER_00: about $380 million in total trade, and that the gap calls for a rethink.
- 11:19SPEAKER_00: The family's ask is about people.
- 11:22SPEAKER_00: The Mail and Guardian column says a petition
- 11:24SPEAKER_00: to Kenya's Senate counts 841 Kenyans fighting for Russia,
- 11:28SPEAKER_00: while the government has confirmed 354.
- 11:30SPEAKER_00: Ruto has put the trade gap to Russian investors in Moscow,
- 11:34SPEAKER_00: and Amnesty has asked leaders to press Putin on recruitment.
- 11:37SPEAKER_00: The final declaration,
- 11:38SPEAKER_00: expected at the close of the summit,
- 11:40SPEAKER_00: will show whether the second ask reaches the text beside the first.
- 11:44SPEAKER_00: What American readers need to know.
- 11:46SPEAKER_00: Russia is hosting African leaders in Moscow for a two-day summit on Wednesday and Thursday.
- 11:51SPEAKER_00: Putin is offering grain, fertilizer, and a bigger African voice at the IMF and World Bank.
- 11:57SPEAKER_00: Kenya's president is asking for more balanced trade,
- 12:00SPEAKER_00: and Amnesty International and families in Kenya,
- 12:02SPEAKER_00: and elsewhere,
- 12:03SPEAKER_00: want leaders to press Moscow over Africans recruited to fight in Ukraine.
- 12:09SPEAKER_00: Houthi missiles hit Aden Airport.
- 12:10SPEAKER_00: A Yemeni government forces spokesman said two ballistic missiles struck
- 12:14SPEAKER_00: the perimeter of Aden Airport on Wednesday and wounded several civilians.
- 12:18SPEAKER_00: The spokesman blamed the Houthis and called it the sixth attack on the airport.
- 12:22SPEAKER_00: A police source said one missile fell inside the perimeter shortly before
- 12:25SPEAKER_00: the Houthis warned people to evacuate.
- 12:27SPEAKER_00: The Ayasari,
- 12:28SPEAKER_00: the Houthi military spokesman,
- 12:30SPEAKER_00: said a Saudi military cargo plane was at the airport transporting weapons.
- 12:34SPEAKER_00: He gave that as the reason for the warning.
- 12:37SPEAKER_00: The police source said a Saudi military aircraft was at the airport during
- 12:40SPEAKER_00: the first strike and it was not hit.
- 12:42SPEAKER_00: It took off shortly afterward.
- 12:44SPEAKER_00: A second police official said the second missile hit an area
- 12:46SPEAKER_00: under Saudi force control inside the perimeter.
- 12:50SPEAKER_00: Houthi Television said Saudi strikes on a market and petrol station in Joff province
- 12:54SPEAKER_00: in northwestern Yemen killed 14 people and wounded 15 in a preliminary toll.
- 12:59SPEAKER_00: That toll comes from Houthi Television alone.
- 13:01SPEAKER_00: Yemen's military spokesman,
- 13:03SPEAKER_00: Colonel Majid al-Nuzaili,
- 13:05SPEAKER_00: Said the military carried out 749 strikes on Houthi targets in the past 24 hours.
- 13:10SPEAKER_00: He said the operations resulted in the neutralization of 239 militia leaders and fighters.
- 13:15SPEAKER_00: The Aden Security Department said two Houthi missiles landed on the airport grounds
- 13:19SPEAKER_00: on Friday, October 16th, the second attack on the facility in less than a week.
- 13:24SPEAKER_00: A Houthi military source said the target was the Saudi forces command headquarters
- 13:28SPEAKER_00: in the Badr camp in Aden province and a weapons depot.
- 13:32SPEAKER_00: No casualties were reported that day.
- 13:34SPEAKER_00: The Houthi-run health ministry says 124 civilians have been killed and 327 wounded
- 13:39SPEAKER_00: in what it calls Saudi aggression since September 3rd.
- 13:42SPEAKER_00: The figures could not be independently verified.
- 13:45SPEAKER_00: What American readers need to know.
- 13:47SPEAKER_00: A Yemeni government spokesman says the Houthis fired two ballistic missiles
- 13:51SPEAKER_00: at Aden airport on Wednesday and wounded several civilians.
- 13:54SPEAKER_00: The Houthis say a Saudi cargo plane carrying weapons was at the airport.
- 13:58SPEAKER_00: They also say Saudi strikes killed 14 people in Joff province.
- 14:03SPEAKER_00: Taraba toll rises to 62.
- 14:06SPEAKER_00: Nigeria's National Emergency Agency says at least 62 people died
- 14:09SPEAKER_00: when gunmen attacked a village in the state of Taraba on Friday.
- 14:12SPEAKER_00: Ladana Yuba,
- 14:13SPEAKER_00: who heads the National Emergency Management Agency in Taraba,
- 14:16SPEAKER_00: said on Tuesday that thousands of people were displaced.
- 14:19SPEAKER_00: Amnesty International's Nigeria branch says the attackers targeted Benari Village
- 14:23SPEAKER_00: on October 23rd and set fire to homes, shops, food supplies, and motorcycles.
- 14:28SPEAKER_00: Victor Shaliza,
- 14:30SPEAKER_00: the Taraba police spokesperson,
- 14:31SPEAKER_00: said the toll could rise because officers are still recovering bodies.
- 14:36SPEAKER_00: On Sunday, reports gave at least 50 dead.
- 14:38SPEAKER_00: A resident,
- 14:39SPEAKER_00: Bashir Mahmouda Musa,
- 14:40SPEAKER_00: said seven bodies were found on Friday and 43 more the next day in a river.
- 14:45SPEAKER_00: Another resident, Abdullahi Zakari, confirmed that count.
- 14:50SPEAKER_00: He said many residents,
- 14:51SPEAKER_00: including women and children, ran toward the river to escape, and several drowned.
- 14:55SPEAKER_00: Survivors reported 20 dead on Saturday.
- 14:58SPEAKER_00: The attackers arrived on motorcycles and are described as suspected members of
- 15:01SPEAKER_00: a criminal gang locally called bandits.
- 15:04SPEAKER_00: Amnesty International Nigeria says the authorities' efforts
- 15:07SPEAKER_00: to protect civilians were inadequate.
- 15:10SPEAKER_00: It says issuing bland statements condemning such attacks is not enough.
- 15:14SPEAKER_00: What American readers need to know.
- 15:16SPEAKER_00: Gunmen attacked Benari Village in Nigeria's Taraba State on Friday.
- 15:21SPEAKER_00: The National Emergency Agency said at least 62 people died and thousands were displaced.
- 15:25SPEAKER_00: The police say the toll could rise.
- 15:28SPEAKER_00: Amnesty International's Nigeria branch says the authorities are not doing enough
- 15:32SPEAKER_00: to protect rural communities.
- 15:36SPEAKER_00: And finally,
- 15:37SPEAKER_00: in a play ripped right from the Donald J.
- 15:39SPEAKER_00: Trump playbook,
- 15:40SPEAKER_00: Flavio Bolsonaro declared himself Brazil's rightful president-elect on Wednesday in
- 15:44SPEAKER_00: an open letter shared with journalists by his allies.
- 15:47SPEAKER_00: He said an electoral coup by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and
- 15:52SPEAKER_00: the Supreme Court denied him victory and thanked Trump and Argentina's Javier Millet
- 15:57SPEAKER_00: for helping him leave Brazil He presented no evidence of fraud.
- 16:01SPEAKER_00: International observers have found Sunday's vote fair and Lula won by four and
- 16:05SPEAKER_00: a half million votes.
- 16:07SPEAKER_00: Bolsonaro bases his rejection on a two-hour extension of voting ordered by
- 16:11SPEAKER_00: a Supreme Court justice.
- 16:13SPEAKER_00: An analysis by INSPUR professor Pedro Burgos found that fewer than 35,000 votes,
- 16:19SPEAKER_00: about 0.03%, were cast in those hours.
- 16:24SPEAKER_00: Bolsonaro landed in Miami about 9.30 a.m. local time with his wife and two daughters.
- 16:29SPEAKER_00: Argentine immigration authorities say the family entered Argentina late Tuesday
- 16:33SPEAKER_00: and flew on to Miami by way of Ecuador.
- 16:36SPEAKER_00: Lula's office,
- 16:37SPEAKER_00: the Electoral Court,
- 16:38SPEAKER_00: and the Supreme Court have not responded to requests for comment.
- 16:43SPEAKER_00: That's it for this edition of The Rest of the World Report.
- 16:46SPEAKER_00: I'm Rudy Martinez and I will see you all again tomorrow morning.
- 16:49[music]