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00:00:00is what being a 21st century nomad nomad is all about. Sign me up. And And deepen your understanding. If
00:00:04If something starts changing here, here, you see the change all over
00:00:07over the world. The Travel Show on
00:00:10on BBC News. These are the latest
00:00:19latest headlines from BBC News. Millions
00:00:21Millions prepare to vote on the eve
00:00:23eve of Americas crucial midterm elections.
00:00:25elections. Can Donald Trump and the the Republicans keep control of the
00:00:29the US Congress as Democrats look
00:00:31look to flip the House of Representatives Representatives and the Senate? Ukraine
00:00:35Ukraine and Russia's emergency alert alert apps are both hit by cyber
00:00:38cyber attacks, with users warned warned of nuclear and other threats.
00:00:42threats. Meanwhile, Ukraine's president president says Russian forces have
00:00:44have bombed a village in the southeastern southeastern Zaporizhzhia region,
00:00:48region, killing at least 24 people. people. The UK home secretary, Shabana
00:00:52Shabana Mahmood, scraps plans for for migrant care workers already
00:00:54already in the UK to wait 15 years
00:00:57years for permanent settlement. King King Charles is set to meet Prime
00:01:01Prime Minister Andy Burnham in Antigua Antigua for the Commonwealth Heads Heads of Government meeting during
00:01:05during the final leg of his Caribbean
00:01:08Caribbean tour. It's crunch time.
00:01:15time. The midterms are just hours hours away. An election that could
00:01:19could shift the balance of power power in Washington. Selection is
00:01:22is a battle between the powers that that be and the powers that ought
00:01:25ought to be. Stop America hating
00:01:28hating communists from taking over over the United States. Congress Congress shouldn't be this hard to
00:01:32to afford a second bag of groceries groceries to pay your rent or your
00:01:34your mortgage. This election is the the fork in the road for the future.
00:01:38future. The power is in our hands.
00:01:40hands. We the people. After months
00:01:47months of campaigning, the US midterm midterm elections are here. They'll
00:01:51They'll decide how America is governed governed over the next two years
00:01:55years and crucially, how much power power the current Republican President
00:01:58President Donald Trump will have have in his remaining time in office.
00:02:01office. Now, over the next few minutes, minutes, we'll tell you what's at at stake. We'll break down some of
00:02:05of the key races to watch out for for on election night. And we'll
00:02:08we'll talk about how the results
00:02:10results could reshape US politics. politics. First, let's start with
00:02:13with just what is at stake, because because millions of people across
00:02:16across the US have already cast their their votes, and millions more will
00:02:20will go to the polls on election election day. But what's it all for?
00:02:24for? Here's our analysis editor Ros Ros Atkins. The midterms are all
00:02:27all about who controls the two houses houses of Congress, the House of
00:02:31of Representatives and the Senate. Senate. This matters because it's it's the part of the US government
00:02:34government that makes laws for the the country as a whole on everything
00:02:37everything from immigration to taxes taxes to defence. And right now both
00:02:41both houses are controlled by the the Republicans, as you can see,
00:02:44see, which is very helpful to President President Trump. Now the House of
00:02:48of Representatives is where proposed proposed laws are introduced and
00:02:50and debated. Each state gets a number
00:02:53number of seats proportionate to to its population. Members serve
00:02:56serve two-year terms, which means means that all of the seats in the
00:02:59the House are up for grabs in this
00:03:02this election, there are 435 of them. them. So to control the house, a
00:03:05a party needs at least 218. And according
00:03:08according to the polls, the Republicans Republicans may have their work cut
00:03:11cut out. Holding on to the House House of Representatives. Then there's
00:03:15there's the Senate. One of its main main jobs is to approve or reject
00:03:18reject those laws proposed by the
00:03:20the House. Each state has two senators, senators, so there are a hundred
00:03:24hundred in total. They serve six six year terms every two years. Roughly
00:03:28Roughly a third of Senate seats are
00:03:31are contested, so it's 35 this year
00:03:32year to control the Senate, a party
00:03:35party needs 51 or more, though if if it's 50-50, the Vice President
00:03:39President can cast the deciding vote. vote. So that favours the Republicans
00:03:43Republicans at the moment. Now, some some states are very likely to vote
00:03:47vote Republican, while others are are very likely to vote Democrat.
00:03:50Democrat. But there are a handful handful of states where races could
00:03:52could go either way, and in doing doing so, determine the balance of
00:03:56of power in Congress. So let's have have a closer look at three of them.
00:03:59them. We'll start in Maine. America's
00:04:02America's most north-easterly state. state. Now voters there chose Democratic
00:04:05Democratic candidate Kamala Harris
00:04:08Harris in the 2024 presidential election. election. Now Republican Senator
00:04:11Senator Susan Collins is in a tight tight race to hold on to the Senate
00:04:14Senate seat that she has held since
00:04:17since 1997. The BBC s Helena Humphrey Humphrey is in Bangor in Maine, and
00:04:21and she has this on what to look look out for. The rural forests of
00:04:25of Maine might feel a long way away away from the politics of Washington,
00:04:28Washington, DC, but if the Democrats Democrats want to flip the Senate,
00:04:31Senate, they will likely need to to pick up a seat here. Now the Republican
00:04:35Republican incumbent, Senator Susan Susan Collins, pitches herself as as a more moderate Republican prepared
00:04:38prepared to break with President President Trump. But her Democratic
00:04:42Democratic challenger, Troy Jackson, Jackson, a fifth generation lawyer,
00:04:45lawyer, says that that independence independence is performative. Now,
00:04:47Now, if Collins can hold on to that that seat, she can show that there
00:04:51there is a pathway forward for more
00:04:53more moderate Republicans in the the future. Going past President
00:04:57President Trump's Maga brand of politics. politics. If Democrats can pick up
00:05:01up this seat, they could flip the the Senate and ultimately challenge
00:05:04challenge what President Trump can can get done in his final years
00:05:07in the White House. Let's have a a look at Michigan now. The Senate
00:05:11Senate race there has become a national national talking point. Can a progressive
00:05:15progressive Democratic candidate candidate win for the Democrats in
00:05:17in a crucial swing state that Donald
00:05:19Donald Trump won in 2024? Or will
00:05:22will Republicans manage to flip the
00:05:23the seat? The result here could shape shape the national political conversation
00:05:27conversation in the run up to the
00:05:30the 2028 presidential election, our our correspondent Nada Tawfik sent
00:05:32sent us this from Michigan's biggest biggest city, Detroit. The swing
00:05:36swing state of Michigan is incredibly incredibly important to both parties
00:05:39parties when it comes to control control of Congress. Democrats almost
00:05:42almost certainly need to hold the the state to have a fighting chance
00:05:45chance of retaking the Senate, and and Republicans think it's their
00:05:48their best chance to pick up a Democratic
00:05:50Democratic seat. Abdul El-Sayed is is a progressive Democrat who has
00:05:54has been unapologetic about his criticism criticism of Israel and has pushed
00:05:57pushed for populist policies such such as universal health care. If
00:06:01If El-Sayed wins here in this swing
00:06:03swing state, as polls suggest, it it would be a big moment for the
00:06:06the left wing of the party. As Democrats Democrats debate their future ahead
00:06:10ahead of presidential elections in in 2028. If he loses, establishment
00:06:14establishment Democrats will say say it shows the party needs to move
00:06:17move more to the centre. Thanks, Thanks, Ned. Now Abdul El-Sayed is
00:06:21is facing a challenge from the Republican Republican congressman, Mike Rogers
00:06:24Rogers there in Michigan. We'll see see how that one shakes out. Let's
00:06:27Let's move on to the Lone Star State State because everything is bigger
00:06:30bigger in Texas and that includes includes politics. The money being
00:06:34being spent by campaigns and supporters
00:06:35supporters there is on track to reach
00:06:38reach $1 billion. Our chief North North America correspondent, Gary
00:06:42Gary O'Donoghue, is in the state
00:06:43state capital, Austin. Think about
00:06:46about it half $1. Billion on advertising advertising alone for one Senate
00:06:49Senate seat. If you piled that amount amount on top of one another, it
00:06:51it would reach 34 miles into the the sky. I'm in Texas, which has
00:06:56has now become the most expensive
00:06:58expensive non-presidential race in in American history. It could decide
00:07:01decide who ends up controlling Congress. Congress. It's a toss up at the moment,
00:07:05moment, too close to call between between Democrat James Talarico and
00:07:08and Republican Ken Paxton. Democrats
00:07:11Democrats have dreamed of turning turning Texas blue for years. If
00:07:14If they do manage it, it'll be the the big story of the night. Indeed
00:07:18Indeed it will. Now, some of the the results in this election have
00:07:21have already faced legal challenges, challenges, and that's before any
00:07:23any results have been declared or or even before most people have shown
00:07:27shown up to the polls. Both attempts attempts so far have come from the
00:07:30the Trump administration, and they've they've both been dismissed by the
00:07:33the courts. The most high profile profile case has been in Alaska.
00:07:36Alaska. That's down to two candidates candidates on the ballot now with
00:07:40with almost identical names. One One is the Republican senator who
00:07:43who has served in the state since
00:07:45since 2015, and the other is a retired retired teacher from a small fishing
00:07:48fishing village. The Department of of Justice had tried to halt the
00:07:52the certification of the result in
00:07:53in that state. If the Republican Republican incumbent loses, arguing
00:07:57arguing that votes cast for the other other Dan Sullivan could have changed
00:08:01changed the outcome. The BBC's Shaimaa
00:08:03Shaimaa Khalil is in Alaska and has
00:08:05has more. This race is close. It
00:08:08It is tightly fought and it is crucial.
00:08:10crucial. And it goes far beyond Alaska
00:08:13Alaska because a Democrat win in in this normally Republican state
00:08:16state could tip the balance of power power in the Senate. Over in Washington
00:08:20Washington and Alaska is not alone
00:08:22alone in these legal battles in California, California, the Department of Justice
00:08:25Justice is trying to get ballots
00:08:28ballots linked to 20,000 people blocked blocked because they claim that they're they're not American citizens. And
00:08:32And again, this has been dismissed dismissed by a judge. But now they
00:08:35they want the Supreme Court to get get involved. So up until the very
00:08:39very last minute, these challenges challenges are continuing and they
00:08:42they tell us a lot, but mainly they
00:08:44they pose this question how fiercely fiercely are these election results
00:08:48results going to be fought when they they do come out? Now, a reminder
00:08:51reminder we will of course have live live coverage on election night for
00:08:54for you, bringing you all of the the results, the reaction and what
00:08:57what it means for the President that that will be coming from our teams
00:09:01teams right across the US and around around the world. So do join us for
00:09:04for that. But what will both parties parties be looking out for on Tuesday
00:09:08Tuesday night? Let's go back to Ross
00:09:10Ross for this analysis. At the moment moment the Democrats don't control
00:09:13control either the House of Representatives
00:09:15Representatives or the Senate. Their Their goal in this election is to
00:09:19to do something about that. Though Though if you look at the polling,
00:09:22polling, they are widely expected expected to take the House of Representatives. Representatives. That is unlikely
00:09:25unlikely to meet their expectations expectations for the evening. They're They're looking for more. They're
00:09:29They're looking to control the Senate, Senate, too. And that looks like
00:09:32like a much harder proposition in in order to take the Senate, they're
00:09:36they're likely to have to defend defend some fiercely contested seats
00:09:38seats and win some fiercely contested contested seats, which is why we're
00:09:41we're keeping a close eye on states states like North Carolina, Michigan
00:09:45Michigan and Texas. And while controlling controlling both houses of Congress
00:09:48Congress is in part about a party's party's ability to promote its own
00:09:52own agenda, if the person in the the White House is from the other
00:09:54other side of the political divide, divide, it's also about being able
00:09:57able to slow up what can be done done in the White House, which is
00:10:01is another goal of the Democrats. Democrats. They want to put the brakes
00:10:04brakes on the last two years that that Donald Trump has as president.
00:10:07president. That is one of their main main goals for the night going into
00:10:11into these midterms. The Republicans Republicans are on the back foot. foot. They may have Donald Trump
00:10:15Trump in the White House. They may may at the moment control both houses
00:10:18houses of Congress. But the way the the polling is looking, it may not
00:10:22not stay that way. Even the most
00:10:24most optimistic Republicans would would say they may struggle to hold
00:10:27hold on to the House. If we're thinking thinking about what a successful successful night for the Republicans
00:10:31Republicans would look like, we may may be better off focusing on the
00:10:34the Senate if the Republicans can can fend off a fierce challenge from
00:10:37from the Democrats, that would be be a huge boost for the party, not
00:10:40not just because of the power it it would give it within an important
00:10:44important part of the American government, government, but also because that that would be a significant support
00:10:48support to Donald Trump as he seeks seeks to pursue his agenda in the
00:10:51the last two years of his presidency. presidency. It would also allow the
00:10:54the Republicans to fend off efforts efforts by the Democrats to disrupt
00:10:57disrupt the last two years of Donald Donald Trump's presidency. So that's
00:11:01that's what to watch in the US midterm
00:11:05midterm elections, explained.
00:12:07So Ukrainians are braced for what what could be a very tough winter winter ahead. Stay with us on BBC
00:12:11BBC News. We'll bring you the latest.
00:12:16latest. MUSIC
00:12:25Welcome. You're watching the political context with me. Geeta
00:12:28Geeta Guru-Murthy. Now the question question of immigration has long
00:12:31long been politically fraught. And And even though net migration numbers
00:12:35numbers have been falling here, the the government has been trying to
00:12:38to cut illegal migration in particular
00:12:39particular and tackle the wider political political concerns over this issue
00:12:43issue whilst meeting the needs of of the economy. Well, today the Home
00:12:46Home Secretary unveiled a major overhaul overhaul of the rules for migrants
00:12:50migrants seeking permanent settlement settlement in the UK. What does Shabana
00:12:53Shabana Mahmood bin saying? I'm joined joined by BBC Newsnight's political
00:12:57political editor as always. Nick Nick what? Nick, thanks for being being with us. So she made a statement
00:13:00statement in the House of Commons. Commons. What has she said? Well,
00:13:04Well, so Shabana Mahmood believes believes that she needs to deal with
00:13:08with the number of migrants that
00:13:10that came on legal so-called regular regular routes around about 5 or
00:13:13or 6 years ago. This was known as as the Boris Wave, which was a quite
00:13:17quite a large increase when Boris Boris Johnson was Prime Minister.
00:13:19Minister. This is in the sort of
00:13:22of the post-Brexit era. And Shabana Shabana Mahmood, her idea was that
00:13:26that you should increase from 5 to
00:13:27to 10 years or potentially to 15
00:13:3015 years. The wait to achieve indefinite indefinite leave to remain once you
00:13:33you have indefinite leave to remain, remain, you have a pathway to citizenship citizenship and also you're able
00:13:37able to access the health service. service. And if you need to, you
00:13:40you can access benefits. There was
00:13:42was a huge row in the Labour Party
00:13:45Party Angela Rayner now back in the the cabinet but under Keir Starmer
00:13:48Starmer had left the cabinet said said that the idea that Shabana Mahmood
00:13:51Mahmood came up with was un-British un-British because it was going to
00:13:54to be applied retrospectively and
00:13:55and the big area of concern was over
00:13:58over care workers. So what Shabana Shabana Mahmood announced today is
00:14:02is that care workers who have between
00:14:07between 2022 and 25 worked in the the care system, have had visas to
00:14:10to do that and have been earning
00:14:13earning £25,000. Then they will be be allowed to stay with that five
00:14:17five year path. If you weren't working working in the care system, but you
00:14:21you did have a care visa, then you you have a chance to flip back into
00:14:24into the care system and then you you can do your five year path. So
00:14:27So why don't we listen to what the
00:14:29the Home Secretary told MPs. This This country welcomes those who seek
00:14:33seek a new and better life within
00:14:35within it. But I also know that there
00:14:37there is an expectation of those
00:14:39those who do that. They will play
00:14:41play their part, contribute to their their community and become a part
00:14:45part of our national life. I do not not think this despite being a Labour
00:14:49Labour politician. I think this because
00:14:52because I am a Labour politician. politician. If we are to ask our
00:14:55our fellow citizens to buy into a
00:14:57a system of shared taxation and universal
00:15:00universal public services, they must must know that everyone is playing
00:15:04playing their part. Solidarity is
00:15:06is the precondition for social justice.
00:15:08justice. The Home Secretary. What What do the Conservatives have to
00:15:11to say on this main opposition? Of
00:15:14Of course again, it's a pretty fraught fraught even on the conservative conservative side over the last ten
00:15:18ten years. Yes. So Chris Philp is is the shadow home secretary for
00:15:22for the Conservative Party, and he he was obviously a Home Office minister
00:15:25minister during this period when when we had the so-called Boris Wave.
00:15:28Wave. And Chris Philp was saying, saying, well, wait a minute, you.
00:15:30you. Shabana Mahmood said that the the issue around care workers was
00:15:34was a huge system and you believed believed very, very strongly that
00:15:37that they should have the ten year year wait for indefinite leave to
00:15:41to remain. So what's this all about? about? Interesting. Edward Leigh,
00:15:43Leigh, Conservative MP who's the the father of the house, actually actually turned on his side and Chris
00:15:47Chris Philp and said anyone who was was a Conservative Home Office minister
00:15:50minister in this period should be be wearing sackcloth and ashes. How
00:15:53How is that? But why don't we listen listen to what Chris Philp had to
00:15:56to say? So if they had the courage courage to toughen up the welfare
00:16:00welfare system, we'd get some of
00:16:01of those people into work instead
00:16:04instead of relying on mass low skill
00:16:07skill migration. So, Mr Speaker, Speaker, if the Home Secretary wants
00:16:10wants to face down her nemesis the
00:16:13the community Secretary, and implement implement her own plans, we will
00:16:17will vote for them. But if she capitulates
00:16:19capitulates to the open borders left
00:16:21left her credibility as Home Secretary Secretary will not recover. Yeah,
00:16:25Yeah, I mean, a reference really really to the internal disparity
00:16:29disparity of opinion within the Labour Labour Party. What did we hear from
00:16:33from the backbenches? Yes, because because we know that Angela Rayner, Rayner, the housing secretary, Miatta
00:16:36Miatta Fahnbulleh, who's the energy energy secretary, were not happy
00:16:39happy about these on the back benches.
00:16:41benches. Had Shabana Mahmood done done nothing, I think the government
00:16:44government will now be facing a full-scale full-scale rebellion. She has acted
00:16:48acted so. The reaction on the Labour
00:16:50Labour benches was muted. There was was unease and interestingly, Diane
00:16:54Diane Abbott, who's an iconic figure figure in the Labour Party, mother
00:16:58mother of the House back back as
00:17:00as a Labour MP having lost the whip, whip, clearly unease about uneasy
00:17:04uneasy about this. But you didn't didn't get the impression that Diane
00:17:07Diane Abbott is about to sort of of take a stand and lead a bigger bigger rebellion. Let's listen to
00:17:10to what Diane Abbott had to say. say. My parents were immigrants.
00:17:14immigrants. My mother was a nurse.
00:17:17nurse. She was one of that generation
00:17:19generation that came to this country
00:17:22country to build the NHS after the
00:17:24the war. And it remains the case
00:17:27case that immigrants play a very
00:17:29very important role in our NHS. And
00:17:33And I say to the Home Secretary and
00:17:35and I say to the House, we should
00:17:37should always remember the contribution
00:17:39contribution that immigrants made
00:17:42made and continue to make to our
00:17:45our society. I mean, there is always always a question about, you know,
00:17:48know, how much any cabinet minister, minister, any government, any Downing
00:17:51Downing Street wants to take on factions factions within their own party,
00:17:55party, an ongoing question one imagines. imagines. Yeah. I mean, look, clearly
00:17:59clearly Shabana Mahmood had to act. act. And interestingly for Andy Burnham,
00:18:02Burnham, you can tell that he's torn torn on this because he was elected
00:18:06elected MP for Makerfield, which which is very similar to his old
00:18:08old seat of Leigh. There was a very very strong leave vote there, very
00:18:11very strong views on immigration.
00:18:14immigration. So he knows that he he needs to sort of be reasonably
00:18:17reasonably strong on immigration. immigration. But equally he is the
00:18:20the leader of a Labour Party that that has tilted a little bit to the
00:18:24the left with the departure of Keir Keir Starmer. And there are many
00:18:27many Labour MPs who want to see action. action. And that's why somebody like
00:18:31like Diane Abbott is a very significant significant figure. And interestingly,
00:18:33interestingly, she was saying to to Shabana Mahmood watch out. I see
00:18:36see that this is a repeat of the the Windrush scandal to which Shabana
00:18:40Shabana Mahmood said no. The point point about the Windrush scandal
00:18:43scandal was that were commitments commitments made to people who were
00:18:46were here, who were British and then
00:18:47then were let down. These people
00:18:50people are not British. They are are potentially on a pathway to that,
00:18:53that, she said. Very, very different different situation to the Windrush Windrush scandal. It's really interesting,
00:18:57interesting, isn't it? There's lots lots more we could say. But I do
00:19:00do want to just ask you, Nick, whilst whilst you're here briefly. Obviously
00:19:03Obviously a lot of focus on the midterms.
00:19:06midterms. Any change within the House
00:19:08House of Representatives or the Senate,
00:19:11Senate, will that change potentially potentially US foreign policy and
00:19:14and the UK's relationship with the the US therefore I mean all US allies
00:19:17allies will be watching events in
00:19:20in the US very closely this week. Well look, I did my usual thing thing today of walking the corridors
00:19:23corridors of Westminster and I have have to say the hot topic amongst
00:19:27amongst MPs peers is what is going
00:19:29going to happen in the midterms tomorrow.
00:19:31tomorrow. And of course, were the the Democrats to do well, were they
00:19:35they to get the House? And it looks looks like, as we were saying, the
00:19:37the Senate may well be in play. That That is potentially going to transform
00:19:41transform the Donald Trump presidency. presidency. The one area where he
00:19:44he may be able to do more if he's he's constrained domestically, because
00:19:48because obviously Ross was saying saying that the two houses are in
00:19:50in charge of domestic legislation, legislation, is foreign policy he
00:19:54he could do maybe much more in that that area. Although you are technically technically as president, if you're
00:19:58you're going to go to war, you should should be getting the approval of
00:20:01of Congress. So yes, there may be
00:20:04be a feeling that maybe this president president would be more focused on
00:20:07on foreign policy. And the big challenge challenge for this country, as we've
00:20:10we've seen in recent weeks, is Donald
00:20:13Donald Trump's instincts on Ukraine Ukraine are to be more sympathetic
00:20:16sympathetic to Russia than he is
00:20:19is to Ukraine. And if there's more more foreign policy and more heading
00:20:22heading in that direction, then for for a country like the UK, which which is obviously hugely supportive
00:20:26supportive of Ukraine, as is indeed indeed the rest of the European,
00:20:29European, that might be quite challenging. challenging. Yeah. And obviously obviously the Middle East is incredibly
00:20:33incredibly difficult. There's been been a lot of speculation about whether whether there will be renewed action.
00:20:36action. Andy Burnham clearly wanting wanting to focus domestically, but
00:20:39but we know global events are really
00:20:42really unavoidably, you know, kind kind of prescient. Well look, we we had the budget last week and they
00:20:46they know in the Treasury that where where Donald Trump to launch renewed
00:20:49renewed action in the Middle East, East, all those sort of fiscal plans plans could go out the window, although
00:20:52although I think Donald Trump has has been speaking to Axios in the
00:20:55the last few hours. And I think the the President saying not in a big
00:20:58big rush to get into more military military action over there. Yes,
00:21:01Yes, we never know what's going to to come out of DC, but we will be be watching. Nick Watt thanks very
00:21:05very much indeed for being with us.
00:21:07us. Much more, of course, on all
00:21:09all the US politics coming up.
00:21:22Africa Enterprise sponsored by Absa
00:21:26Absa Group. MUSIC
00:21:36I'm heading to Seacom, which
00:21:39launched Africa's first private subsea
00:21:41subsea fibre optic cable in 2009.
00:21:472009. Headquartered in Mauritius, Mauritius, with hubs across southern
00:21:50southern and eastern Africa, it connects
00:21:52connects millions to the web. Now
00:21:54Now Seacom is planning a $2 billion
00:21:56billion cable connecting Africa to
00:21:58to not just Europe but Asia. What
00:22:04What is the opportunity you're seeing seeing in Africa's digital economy
00:22:06economy that gives you the confidence
00:22:08confidence to make such a large
00:22:11investment? So if you just take a a map of the subsea connectivity connectivity throughout the world,
00:22:15world, what you will find is between between Europe and North America,
00:22:19America, lots of connectivity. But But if you just blow that map up up and look at the Indian Ocean basin,
00:22:23basin, you'll find it's fairly devoid
00:22:24devoid of connectivity and very little
00:22:28little subsea cables in that area.
00:22:30area. So the opportunity here is is to really connect Africa to the
00:22:33the rest of the world in a meaningful
00:22:35meaningful way with high speed connectivity.
00:22:38connectivity. And it's a really ambitious ambitious project, but I think vitally
00:22:41vitally needed for the African
00:22:45continent. While hyperscalers like like Google and Meta build cables
00:22:48cables to push content into Africa,
00:22:50Africa, Seacom operates an open network network designed to connect African
00:22:54African businesses out to global global opportunities. Do you find
00:22:57find that to be a key component for
00:23:00for success? Being able to own and and control more of the value chain?
00:23:04chain? Why is it important to have have that autonomy? What hyperscalers
00:23:07hyperscalers are doing today is exactly exactly that. They've realised that
00:23:10that outsourcing all of this doesn't doesn't allow them to control their their own destiny. The reason they're
00:23:14they're rolling out these cable infrastructures infrastructures is so they can drive
00:23:17drive down the cost for their connectivity, connectivity, which is exactly the
00:23:19the same model we've been using since
00:23:21since 2009 or before that. And how
00:23:25how does AI affect what you're able able to provide and what you need
00:23:29need to provide in terms of how the the demand is going to grow or change.
00:23:32change. What you are going to find
00:23:34find is that AI will drive high speed
00:23:37speed connectivity in a very elastic
00:23:38elastic way. So not what we typically
00:23:41typically have in a home today. But But now you're looking at tens or
00:23:44or hundreds of gigabytes of capacity. capacity. If you look at the cables
00:23:47cables that exist today, that technology technology won't run on those older
00:23:51older cables. So we're building a a newer cable with newer technology
00:23:54technology that allows us to have
00:23:55have high speed connectivity. To
00:24:00To compete globally, African businesses
00:24:03businesses need massive AI bandwidth. bandwidth. But transferring that
00:24:06that data brings risks. How are you
00:24:11you thinking about the cybersecurity cybersecurity threats. That for us
00:24:15us is an ongoing sort of consideration. consideration. What we're starting
00:24:18starting to look at now, and this
00:24:19this is a proper tongue twister, twister, post-quantum cryptography.
00:24:23cryptography. So we're using quantum quantum physics or we will start
00:24:25start to use quantum physics to encrypt encrypt data. Cyber criminals will
00:24:29will continue to be there. And all all of these threat actors will continue continue to be there. It's about
00:24:32about being one step ahead of them. them. Looking to the future. You've
00:24:36You've got this big project that
00:24:39that should come online in 2030.
00:24:422030. What do you hope that project
00:24:44project will achieve? I think it
00:24:47it will go part of the way to unleash unleash the African continent. For
00:24:50For many, many years I've said connectivity connectivity should be considered
00:24:54considered as an essential service service similar to electricity and
00:24:56and water. If you start to look at at it like that, you will then start
00:25:00start to understand that this has has become the lifeline for many
00:25:02many things people can't do. Having
00:25:05Having pieces of connectivity all all over the continent, a growing growing population that's starting
00:25:09starting to use technology and adopting adopting technology much faster than
00:25:13than most of the world. That's where where the opportunities start to to come
00:25:27Enterprise sponsored by
00:29:17MUSIC
00:30:16I'm Sumi Somaskanda in Washington and this is BBC World
00:30:19World News America. President Trump Trump makes a final appeal for votes
00:30:22votes ahead of Tuesday's US midterm midterm elections for his Republican
00:30:25Republican Party is battling to maintain maintain control of both chambers
00:30:28chambers of Congress. Democrat party
00:30:30party is nominated the most extreme
00:30:33extreme and dangerous slate of candidates candidates in American history. These
00:30:36These are the most dangerous candidates
00:30:39candidates ever put up. In Michigan.
00:30:42Michigan. Abdul El-Sayed Senate campaign campaign reports a record breaking
00:30:45breaking fundraising day after fellow fellow Democrat Haley Stevens pulls
00:30:48pulls her endorsement in favour of of the Republican rival. And officials
00:30:51officials in Ukraine say at least least 24 people have been killed
00:30:54killed in repeated Russian attacks attacks on a school being used as
00:30:57as an aid