Original Broadcaster Captioning (Enhanced). Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:01:02coping? For more coverage join me
00:01:04me James Landale here on BBC News.
00:01:13News. Here at BBC Verify we use forensic forensic investigative techniques
00:01:16techniques and tools to fact check
00:01:18check stories, verify information information and counter disinformation
00:01:21disinformation using data analysis analysis and the latest technology. technology. Our journalists examine
00:01:24examine the evidence and get to the the facts. Watch our BBC Verify reports
00:01:27reports on the BBC News channel or
00:01:29or go online to find out more. These
00:01:39These are the latest headlines from from BBC News. The Bank of England
00:01:42England holds interest rates at 3.75%
00:01:453.75% for the sixth time in a row, row, but said they are likely to
00:01:48to rise of high energy prices continue. continue. King Charles chairs a meeting
00:01:52meeting of AI leaders as he seeks seeks reassurances we will not lose
00:01:55lose control of our destiny and tech tech will remain in the service of
00:01:59of humanity. This is hours after after Buckingham Palace issued an
00:02:02an unusually pointed response after after Earl Spencer, Princess Diana's
00:02:05Diana's brother, makes fresh claims claims about him in his new book,
00:02:09book, South African police say they've they've found a ninth woman killed
00:02:12killed near Johannesburg in a spate spate of murders, causing fear and
00:02:16and outrage in the country. Canada's Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney
00:02:19Carney has told the European Parliament Parliament he welcomes ambitions
00:02:22ambitions for associate EU membership. membership. In a speech containing
00:02:25containing thinly veiled criticism
00:02:26criticism of Donald Trump's America.
00:02:35America. Hello, I'm Lucy Hockings. Hockings. A meeting hosted by King
00:02:38King Charles with executives from from Global artificial intelligence
00:02:41intelligence firms are starting right right about now. He will urge them
00:02:44them to ensure the technology remains. remains. As royal officials put it,
00:02:48it, firmly in the service of humanity. humanity. The meeting, held at a
00:02:51a royal residence in Scotland, will
00:02:52will involve Nvidia Google, DeepMind,
00:02:55DeepMind, OpenAI, Anthropic and others. others. And it comes as concern grows
00:02:58grows that AI safety efforts are are lagging behind the development
00:03:02development of increasingly powerful powerful systems. The King, of course,
00:03:05course, has no direct role in making making government policy, but his
00:03:09his intervention reflects the fears
00:03:10fears at all levels that AI is not
00:03:13not sufficiently regulated. Well, Well, Mustafa Suleyman is CEO of
00:03:16of Microsoft AI. He's been speaking
00:03:18speaking to the BBC and said that that this is a warning shot moment
00:03:22moment in the development of AI, AI, and there is every risk that
00:03:24that we might lose control of it
00:03:26it unless it's regulated. I think
00:03:29think that if we all create AI that
00:03:31that are able to act autonomously, autonomously, that can define their
00:03:34their own objectives, that can earn
00:03:37earn money, that can own assets,
00:03:39assets, that could run businesses.
00:03:42businesses. We're essentially seeding seeding a new silicon species, which
00:03:45which will no doubt compete with with us for resources no matter how
00:03:49how much it cares about humanity
00:03:50humanity and loves us, which is,
00:03:53is, I think, Anthropic intention.
00:03:55intention. I think that is a mistaken mistaken and misguided. But we have
00:03:59have to empirically test it. And And so if they believe that this
00:04:01this is a safer route to developing developing AI's, then they have to
00:04:05to share the data to prove that.
00:04:07that. New silicon species is a chilling chilling phrase. It will make people
00:04:11people think of science fiction. fiction. You mean that, don't you?
00:04:13you? You mean that there could be
00:04:16be a competitor species created by
00:04:19by man, perhaps more powerful than
00:04:21than man? We've just witnessed a
00:04:25a watershed moment in the development
00:04:27development of AI and a model that
00:04:30that was being trained by OpenAI
00:04:33OpenAI inadvertently hacked into
00:04:35into Hugging Face, which is a public
00:04:38public website that runs evaluations
00:04:40evaluations and benchmarks for testing
00:04:42testing these agents. The swarm of
00:04:45of agents co-ordinated together.
00:04:48together. They organised themselves themselves into hierarchies. They
00:04:51They created a division of labour, labour, and so they've developed
00:04:55developed very, very complex behaviour.
00:04:57behaviour. Now the good news is this
00:04:59this was OpenAI developing a model
00:05:02model deliberately with the guardrails guardrails turned off. And they were
00:05:05were doing that to try and stress
00:05:06stress test it and learn about its its boundaries and limitations. I
00:05:10I just wonder if you ever worry you've you've helped create something that
00:05:14that we're losing control of. I think think as we've seen, there's every
00:05:16every risk that we might lose control
00:05:18control of it, but our job is to
00:05:22to contain technologies and align align them so that we get the best
00:05:24best out of them. If we didn't have have any air traffic control regulation,
00:05:28regulation, planes would be hitting hitting each other in the sky. When
00:05:31When we introduced seatbelts, we we saved millions of lives. The purpose
00:05:34purpose of regulation is to shape
00:05:36shape and sculpt technology so that
00:05:39that it delivers more good than harm. harm. And that's the moment that
00:05:42that we're currently now in. So I I think it's right to be concerned,
00:05:45concerned, as I said, or worried worried or alarmed as you wish. But
00:05:48But it's also right to be optimistic optimistic about the benefits and
00:05:51and to have everybody focus now on
00:05:53on the challenge of governing and and shaping this technology. That's
00:05:57That's Mustafa Suleyman there. So So that meeting just starting in in Scotland at the moment, we know
00:06:01know that King Charles has just arrived arrived at Dumfries House to open
00:06:05open this AI summit with me as our our royal correspondent. Helena Wilkinson
00:06:08Wilkinson it's unusual, isn't it, it, Helena, for the King to kind
00:06:10kind of step into a big global policy policy debate like this? Yeah. I
00:06:13I mean, he doesn't have the power power to make any changes, but he
00:06:17he clearly has an interest in AI.
00:06:19AI. I mean, if you go back to 2023,
00:06:222023, there was an AI summit at Bletchley
00:06:25Bletchley Park and the King spoke
00:06:28spoke then did a video message previously previously commented on the issue.
00:06:31issue. So it's very clear that the the King has a great interest in
00:06:34in both the opportunities and the the risks presented by AI, which
00:06:37which is what they're going to be be discussing at this summit today.
00:06:41today. As we've seen, he has arrived
00:06:43arrived at this summit where leaders
00:06:46leaders within the industry of artificial artificial intelligence, they are
00:06:49are going to be getting together. together. I'll just bring you a bit
00:06:51bit about what we are expecting the
00:06:54the King to say when that does get get under way. And I quote those
00:06:58those in our world who value our
00:07:01our humanity and its vital moral moral component are anxiously seeking
00:07:05seeking your reassurance that we we will not lose control of our destiny.
00:07:07destiny. That is what the King is
00:07:10is expected to say when this summit summit gets under way. He's hosting
00:07:13hosting that gathering of leading leading AI firms at Dumfries House.
00:07:17House. I mean, a very busy day, not not just for the King but for others
00:07:20others in the royal family as well. well. Could it all be overshadowed overshadowed by this other thing
00:07:24thing that we're all discussing here
00:07:25here in the UK, which is the Palace's
00:07:28Palace's disagreement with Diana, Diana, Princess Diana's brother?
00:07:30brother? Yes. So the background to
00:07:33to this is Earl Spencer has a memoir
00:07:35memoir that's coming out next week. week. And in that memoir there are
00:07:38are some extracts that were published published in the Daily Mail ahead
00:07:42ahead of the publication. And in
00:07:44in that there are claims about the
00:07:46the King. Earl Spencer writes that that he had a conversation with the
00:07:50the King, and he disagreed that Princes Princes William and Harry, he didn't
00:07:53didn't want them. He didn't think think it was right or Diana wouldn't
00:07:56wouldn't have wanted them to go behind
00:07:59behind their mother's coffin. And
00:08:01And the claims in the book about about that conversation in a row
00:08:04row taking place between Earl Spencer Spencer and the King Earl Spencer,
00:08:08Spencer, claiming that the King was
00:08:12was insensitive in that conversation,
00:08:13conversation, Buckingham Palace have
00:08:16have responded it's a robust and and direct response, unusual for
00:08:19for them to talk about something something so publicly and something
00:08:23something about the royal family. family. I mean, it's a very personal personal matter. So I think the fact
00:08:27fact that they have released a statement
00:08:30statement and saying the King, a a spokesperson rather said that while
00:08:33while they do not comment on books books as a matter of principle, His
00:08:37His Majesty is mindful that the pain pain of fraternal grief can cloud
00:08:40cloud reason all to judgement and and colour memory in ways others
00:08:44others do not recognise. Even many many years after such loss. I think
00:08:48think that shows the strength of of feeling and the fury behind palace
00:08:52palace walls about the claims that that have been made, and there may
00:08:55may be more extracts published this this afternoon. An unusually strong
00:08:59strong statement from the palace. palace. Helena. Thank you. Canadian
00:09:02Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney Carney addressed the European Parliament
00:09:04Parliament a short time ago, a day day after the EU Commission president,
00:09:07president, Ursula von der Leyen announced announced plans to make Canada the
00:09:11the first associate member of the the EU. Mark Carney welcoming the
00:09:14the invite and saying that both the
00:09:15the EU and Canada are stronger together. Together, Canada and
00:09:21together. Together, Canada and the the European Union can anchor our
00:09:23our ground to hold our values while
00:09:27while forming a protective canopy canopy under which our citizens can
00:09:31can thrive. This is about sovereignty
00:09:37sovereignty our ability to live as
00:09:40as we wish. It's about the freedoms
00:09:43freedoms we must fight for every
00:09:47every day because sovereignty requires
00:09:49requires resilience, the ability
00:09:51ability to withstand shocks, sovereignty sovereignty today goes beyond being
00:09:55being able to feed, fuel and defend
00:09:57defend ourselves. It now requires
00:10:00requires secure access to AI, semiconductors, semiconductors, critical minerals,
00:10:03minerals, payment systems, clean clean energy technologies, vaccines,
00:10:07vaccines, space based communications
00:10:10communications and we all have important important gaps in these strategic
00:10:13strategic capabilities. And we each
00:10:15each must rely on individual nations
00:10:18nations or individual companies to
00:10:20to fill them. And that creates vulnerabilities. vulnerabilities. Mark Carney there.
00:10:24there. Well, for more on this and and other issues in Washington, part part of our daily look at US politics,
00:10:28politics, let's speak now to Liz Liz Goodwin. She's Congress reporter
00:10:31reporter at The Washington Post. Post. Liz, it's always good to have have you with us, given President
00:10:35President Trump has repeatedly called
00:10:36called for Canada to become the 51st
00:10:3951st US state, how has he responded responded to this closer alignment
00:10:43alignment that we're now seeing between
00:10:45between Canada and the EU? President
00:10:47President Trump was asked about this
00:10:49this and did have a bit of a negative negative response to this development.
00:10:53development. He said that he could could interpret this as a hostile
00:10:56hostile act. He threatened tariffs tariffs against the EU if they go
00:11:00go forward with this. But he did
00:11:01did leave the door open to sort of
00:11:04of a non-response. You know, he said said if the intention here is good,
00:11:07good, then that's one thing. But
00:11:09But if it's a hostile intention, intention, then he would be upset
00:11:13upset about that. He would retaliate. retaliate. And everyone involved
00:11:16involved has already sort of said said this is not a hostile intention.
00:11:20intention. So it's unclear how he'll he'll ultimately come down on this.
00:11:23this. So Liz, where are we? When
00:11:24When it comes to the trade war between
00:11:27between Ottawa and Washington, are are there negotiations taking place
00:11:30place at the moment? The trade war
00:11:32war is full steam ahead. I think think that's why you see the leaders
00:11:36leaders there seeking another solution solution because they're just. President
00:11:40President Trump has really dug in
00:11:44in on, on his retaliation here and
00:11:47and the negotiations around redoing
00:11:51redoing the NAFTA agreement. The
00:11:53The US and Canada agreement don't
00:11:55don't seem to be producing much result result right now. Meanwhile, we have
00:11:59have seen this sort of sweeping Russian
00:12:03Russian sanctions bill passing Liz, Liz, but there was opposition to
00:12:06to it and it was from the Democrats. Democrats. Why was that? Yeah. It's
00:12:10It's interesting because in the Senate Senate this bill really sailed through.
00:12:14through. It was incredibly bipartisan. bipartisan. But when it got over
00:12:16over to the House, Democrats really really hardened in their opposition
00:12:20opposition to it. A handful of Republicans Republicans did as well. And it's
00:12:23it's really on this issue of tariffs. tariffs. There were Democrats who
00:12:26who felt that this bill, in empowering
00:12:29empowering Trump to levy very high
00:12:31high tariffs of up to 100% on countries
00:12:34countries that get a large chunk chunk of their energy from Russia,
00:12:38Russia, that that could just give give him even more ability to levy
00:12:42levy tariffs potentially against
00:12:44against US allies. That's not the the intention of the bill. It's very
00:12:48very much aimed at giving the President
00:12:51President leverage against, you know,
00:12:53know, China, for example. But that that ended up making even leader
00:12:57leader the leader of the Democrats Democrats in the House, Hakeem Jeffries,
00:13:00Jeffries, opposed this. At the end
00:13:01end of the day about I think, about about 50 Democrats did vote for it.
00:13:05it. But that's why it hit the rocks
00:13:07rocks in the House. Liz, I feel I I can't let anyone go who's in the
00:13:11the US at the moment without asking asking about the mid-terms and the
00:13:14the campaigning that's taking place. place. Just sort of bring us up to
00:13:17to date of where that's at, particularly particularly in terms of opinion
00:13:20opinion polls at the moment. Yeah,
00:13:22Yeah, the mid-terms, the polling polling is very tough for Republicans
00:13:25Republicans right now in the mid-terms mid-terms to a level that I haven't
00:13:29haven't really seen. I've been covering covering politics for a while now.
00:13:32now. One of the most concerning data
00:13:34data points for them is that on the
00:13:37the economy, voters have really lost
00:13:39lost trust in their party and lost lost trust in President Trump. And
00:13:42And so that was the issue that really really propelled him to the White
00:13:46White House two years ago. Republicans Republicans have long had this edge
00:13:49edge over Democrats where voters voters think they're just better
00:13:51better on the economy. They're more more pro-business, what have you.
00:13:54you. And in recent months that has has just turned upside down. And
00:13:58And Democrats have the edge on that
00:14:00that issue. So you have the you have have President Trump going into states
00:14:03states that he won just two years years ago to try to help lift the
00:14:07the prospects of Republicans there
00:14:10there who are looking vulnerable vulnerable right now. Liz, thank
00:14:13thank you so much. Always good to to see you.
00:15:16racing track without a driver. Join
00:15:16Join me. Martin Sharkey on Tech now
00:15:21now on BBC News. Welcome back. Scientists
00:15:29Scientists have confirmed that climate climate change was a core factor
00:15:32factor in last month's deadly glacial glacial mountain collapse on the
00:15:35the China-nepal border, 1400 people
00:15:37people were killed. At least 6000
00:15:406000 people are still missing. You You remember, I'm sure these pictures
00:15:43pictures of huge amounts of water, water, ice and debris smashing through
00:15:46through buildings after a massive massive section of rock and glacier
00:15:49glacier broke away from the Langtang Langtang Lord Leong mountain. According
00:15:52According to a new report from the the World Weather Attribution Group,
00:15:56Group, the glacier collapse was not not caused by a single extreme weather
00:15:59weather event. Instead, it was the the result of a compound crisis shaped
00:16:03shaped by long-term warming glacier glacier retreat, permafrost thaw
00:16:07thaw and also geological instability. instability. This also comes as the
00:16:11the UN's World Meteorological Organisation Organisation has issued a fresh warning
00:16:14warning that the world's water cycle cycle is becoming more unpredictable unpredictable and erratic. They have
00:16:18have a new report out that says last last year was among the driest for
00:16:21for the world's rivers and over three
00:16:24three decades, and saw glaciers shrink shrink further across all regions.
00:16:28regions. With me is our environment environment correspondent Naveen
00:16:31Naveen Singh, who is also from Nepal. Nepal. So can bring so much expertise
00:16:34expertise to particularly this element element of the story. What is the
00:16:37the response in Nepal when they hear hear officially that what happened
00:16:41happened was climate change? Can Can they use that information perhaps perhaps to get funding or to help
00:16:45help them in any way? Madeleine. So what they are telling
00:16:47telling me is this has kind of validated validated what they have been arguing
00:16:51arguing that, you know, it was largely largely climate change. That's what
00:16:54what they said. They've also produced produced their report and internal internal so on and so forth. They
00:16:57They say that this has kind of further further bolstered their claim. Now
00:17:01Now it remains to be seen how effective effective would this be when they they actually present it. Because
00:17:05Because what I'm also being told told is, you know, this fund, the
00:17:09the loss and damage fund that was
00:17:11was established years ago and became became operational last year, we're
00:17:14we're still waiting for December December for them to, to, to begin
00:17:17begin the first tranche of projects. projects. And now Nepal is asking
00:17:20asking for urgent decision. Now these
00:17:23these documents, including this WWA WWA world weather attribution report,
00:17:26report, you know, they're going to to present their they say they believe
00:17:28believe that. What more do you want? want? This is a solid evidence. But
00:17:31But again, you know, the attribution attribution science is quite complicated.
00:17:34complicated. It remains to be seen seen how will it be accepted? How
00:17:38How will it be seen in the board? board? More importantly, you know,
00:17:42know, is the time. What they want want is they don't want that December
00:17:46December meeting to decide along along with other projects, 120 countries
00:17:49countries already applied for them them for the money. They don't want want to wait. Nepal doesn't want
00:17:53want to wait until then. It wants wants to fast forward and rapid disbursement
00:17:56disbursement of money. But is there there also very much a sense that
00:17:59that Nepal contributes a tiny amount amount to global warming? And yet
00:18:03yet they are suffering in a way that that we've just seen as a result
00:18:05result of it. So therefore, why should should they come up with the funds
00:18:09funds for the billions of dollars dollars of damage that's been done? So this is what it is. You
00:18:12You see, there's a saying in Nepali Nepali that, you know, this is a
00:18:15a poison that we didn't have. We
00:18:17We didn't consume. And yet we are are having the effects of that poison,
00:18:20poison, that kind of thing, you know? know? So what is what what's going
00:18:23going on here is what I'm being told told by officials is it remains to
00:18:27to be seen how will the fund respond?
00:18:29respond? But B, whatever money they they will get, Nepal has come up
00:18:32up with a bill. I'm sure you know,
00:18:35know, it's $5 billion for rebuilding. rebuilding. Now, it's not saying saying that it's going to claim all
00:18:38all that money from that fund, that that they'll have to be multiple multiple sources. But what they're
00:18:41they're telling me is what this fund,
00:18:44fund, how it reacts, how it, you you know, responds, that will be
00:18:47be a major thing in terms of securing securing money from elsewhere. And
00:18:50And we are all waiting to see what's what's going to happen. And very very worrying news from the UN as
00:18:54as well about fresh water, what's what's happening around the world world after the changes to the climate?
00:18:58climate? Yes. I mean, this is quite quite you know, I was looking at
00:19:00at these what seeing is all 19 glacier
00:19:04glacier regions, all 19 glacier regions regions are seeing, you know, loss
00:19:07loss of ice. That is very, very worrying. worrying. You see, this was something
00:19:11something to be honest, we were covering covering this many years ago saying saying that this would happen maybe
00:19:14maybe 50 years down the line by 2100
00:19:172100 and so on. And so but it looks looks like even this thing is coming
00:19:20coming forward fast and now they they are coming up with all these these warnings that there is less
00:19:24less fresh water. Just you know, know, when was that? Last year, I
00:19:27I think I did a story on so many
00:19:29many countries now resorting to desalination desalination of ocean water. Why?
00:19:32Why? Because fresh water is vanishing.
00:19:35vanishing. Yeah. Thank you so much.
00:19:37much. Let's take you to Russia now now because tomorrow is the start
00:19:40start of three days of voting in in the country's parliamentary election, election, the first since Russia's
00:19:44Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine. Critics dismissing the vote
00:19:47vote as neither free nor transparent. transparent. But the Kremlin is expected
00:19:50expected to use it to claim that that the country is united behind
00:19:53behind the policies of President President Putin from Moscow, our
00:19:56our Russia editor Steve Rosenberg Rosenberg reports. Ultimate power
00:20:00power in Russia lies right here in
00:20:02in the Kremlin. But just across the
00:20:05the road there is a parliament, the
00:20:07the Duma, and it's election time. time. So what is a parliamentary parliamentary election like now in
00:20:11in Russia. Well, on TV we've seen
00:20:16seen election debates sort of none none of the candidates turned up
00:20:20up for this one. And there has been
00:20:24been some campaigning. We caught caught up with the Communist Party
00:20:26Party chief at a bakery. At times, times, though, it's been hard to
00:20:30to tell the difference between the the ten parties that have been allowed
00:20:34allowed onto the ballot. None of of them criticise President Putin
00:20:37Putin or the war in Ukraine. And
00:20:39And if the political process feels feels rather orchestrated, keep in
00:20:43in mind that the political system system in Russia is often referred
00:20:46referred to as managed democracy, democracy, where the Kremlin does
00:20:50does the managing and I think the the Kremlin will try to use this
00:20:52this election to claim that the country
00:20:55country is united behind the President
00:20:57President and behind the war. There
00:21:00There are some individual candidates candidates in some seats calling
00:21:03calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine. Ukraine. But their party, which is
00:21:07is called Yabloko and which is anti-war, anti-war, isn't allowed to take part
00:21:10part in this election as a party party in its own right. It was struck
00:21:14struck off the ballot by the Supreme
00:21:18Supreme Court, 50 miles from Moscow. Moscow. We didn't see much sign of
00:21:20of an election. There were a few few banners, few election posters,
00:21:24posters, but from chatting to people, people, there was every sign that
00:21:27that the war is front and centre
00:21:29centre of people's minds. I want
00:21:33want a peaceful life, Yulia told.
00:21:36told. Me. I'd like to live in a peaceful
00:21:40peaceful country, says Polina, so so that you don't have to worry that
00:21:42that a drone will fall down in front
00:21:44front of you. But expectations are
00:21:47are low that this election will bring
00:21:50bring peace any closer. Steve Rosenberg
00:21:55Rosenberg there 117 that is the age age of Ethel Caterham the world's
00:21:58world's oldest person who lives in in Surrey, not far from London. Now
00:22:01Now very senior citizens like Ethel Ethel have become the subject of
00:22:04of a documentary put together by by a New York based filmmaker. Tom
00:22:07Tom Brook went to meet him. I know
00:22:11know this might sound weird, but but I've been obsessed with the oldest
00:22:15oldest person in the world for years.
00:22:20years. Meet adventurous, Brooklyn Brooklyn based, Oscar nominated filmmaker
00:22:23filmmaker Sam Green. Since 2015, 2015, he's been travelling the world,
00:22:27world, chronicling the forever changing changing holders of the title of
00:22:30of oldest person in the world. It's
00:22:33It's survey has included Kane Tanaka Tanaka in Japan, who held the title
00:22:36title for four years. And then there's
00:22:39there's the oldest person ever Jeanne
00:22:41Jeanne Louise Calment, who when she
00:22:43she died in 1997, was 122 years old.
00:22:46old. In her later years she recorded recorded a rap album. The thing I
00:22:50I liked about the film Sam Green's Green's investigation of these very
00:22:53very senior citizens has become a a lifelong project. A documentary
00:22:57documentary based on his survey so so far has just been released. His
00:23:00His long been fascinated by why the
00:23:02the news media and the public are
00:23:04are so interested in the title holder holder of the oldest person in the
00:23:08the world. To this day I still don't
00:23:10don't fully understand it. Is this
00:23:12this a fear of death? Is this a fear
00:23:15fear of fate or a you know, one of
00:23:18of those things like with the car
00:23:19car crash where you can't look away
00:23:22away but you don't want to look at at it? In making his documentary,
00:23:26documentary, Sam Green found there there was nearly always a desire desire on the part of others to find
00:23:30find out if there's a secret to longevity.
00:23:32longevity. The elderly people, he he observed, had all kinds of answers
00:23:35answers for why they'd led a long long life. One woman stated she'd
00:23:39she'd live for a long time because because she'd stayed away from men.
00:23:42men. She also said her secret was was eating three raw eggs a day.
00:23:46day. Two, you know, so it's like like the media descends on these
00:23:50these people. Everybody asks them them what their secret is and they
00:23:53they say something and everybody everybody runs with that. This documentary
00:23:57documentary often shows that other other people, the outside world is
00:24:00is often much more intrigued by the the oldest person in the world than
00:24:03than the subjects who hold that title. title. But this film isn't just about
00:24:07about the very old. It's also about
00:24:09about life and death and events in in the filmmaker's own life the birth
00:24:13birth of a son and his own confrontation
00:24:15confrontation with a life threatening threatening illness. These things
00:24:18things started to creep into the the movie, so over time it becomes
00:24:21becomes a larger meditation, I hope,
00:24:25hope, about time and the mysteries mysteries of being alive and fate
00:24:28fate and all these big questions
00:24:30questions that we ask ourselves.
00:24:33ourselves. The last person I interviewed, interviewed, a Spanish woman named
00:24:37named Maria Branyas, she was very very funny. She even was making fun
00:24:40fun of me, which I love. But in. in. At a moment in the interview
00:24:44interview she said, you are
00:24:48young. But also jobless. Now is the the time to do good works. But she
00:24:52she was saying is you're young and
00:24:54and you have time, so use it. And
00:24:56And I think that's a beautiful thing
00:25:01thing to appreciate. Over the last
00:25:04last ten years, Sam Green has met met many of those who have held the
00:25:07the title of oldest person in the
00:25:08the world. But there's been one holdout
00:25:11holdout the current title holder, holder, 117-year-old Ethel Caterham,
00:25:15Caterham, who lives in Surrey just
00:25:17just outside London. She was born born in Edwardian times. She is the
00:25:21the first person in ten years who
00:25:24who has rebuffed my overtures. But But she did let King Charles visit
00:25:28visit her, didn't she? When I saw
00:25:30saw a video of her in King Charles
00:25:33Charles and I thought, Charles, not
00:25:35not me, you know she is British.
00:25:37British. She's the last Edwardian
00:25:40Edwardian so I guess she feels some some allegiance to the King. But But you know, come on. I've been
00:25:44been doing this for ten years. Even Even though this documentary focuses
00:25:47focuses on the very old and very very fragile, it makes the point
00:25:50point that there is much to learn learn from observing them and from
00:25:54from the filmmaker himself about about what it means to live a thoughtful
00:25:57thoughtful life. It is an unexpectedly
00:26:01unexpectedly life affirming film.
00:26:03film. Tom Brook, BBC News New York.
00:26:06York. Good to have you with us on on BBC.
00:29:43MUSIC
00:30:12Live from London. This is BBC News. King Charles chairs a meeting
00:30:16meeting of AI leaders as he seeks seeks reassurances we will not lose
00:30:19lose control of our destiny and tech tech will remain in the service of
00:30:23of humanity. It comes as the King King has also issued a pointed response
00:30:26response after Princess Diana's brother brother makes fresh claims about
00:30:29about him in a new book. South African African police say they've found
00:30:33found a ninth woman killed near Johannesburg Johannesburg in a spate of murders,
00:30:36murders, causing fear and outrage.
00:30:39outrage. Palestinian President Mahmoud Mahmoud Abbas US visa is denied again,
00:30:43again, meaning he will address the the United Nations General Assembly
00:30:47Assembly via video conference. Canada's Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney
00:30:49Carney has told the European Parliament Parliament he welcomes ambitions
00:30:52ambitions for associate EU membership membership and the boss of social
00:30:55social media company Snapchat says says the firm would be willing to
00:30:59to implement time