# Tuesday 13th October 2026. France fridge attacks. Britain Brexit Russia. Ethiopia gold refinery. Libya hashish. Indonesia forest fires...

An episode of [Simple English News Daily](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1505603790), 12 Oct 2026, 7:10.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/op3.dev/e/adbarker.com/stream/K1GF85x83ZWP88Cz18NfA8bx/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/75732522/12_10_26.mp3

World news in 7 minutes. Tuesday 13th October 2026. Today: France fridge attacks. Britain Brexit Russia. Ethiopia gold refinery. Libya hashish. Indonesia forest fires. China Taiwan sanctions. Mexico hurricane damage. Chile mining accident. Panama earthquake. United States Ukraine criticism. Asia AI productivity. With Juliet Martin Become a SEND7 supporter! • Ad-free listening • Bonus quiz episode every Friday • Daily transcripts (written by us, not AI!) • Vocabulary lists • Wednesday worksheets • Ask questions in Ask Me Anything episodes • 10% of our profit goes to Effective Altruism charities. You can become a supporter at send7.supercast.com For more information about SEND7 visit send7.org/contact or send an email to podcast@send7.org

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Good morning. This is Send7, world news in seven minutes.
[0:08] Speaker 1: I'm Juliet Martin and today is Tuesday the 13th of
[0:10] Speaker 1: October 2026. Starting in Europe today. In France, hackers attacked
[0:29] Speaker 1: fridges in supermarkets on Sunday night. They forced the temperatures
[0:36] Speaker 1: up to 50 degrees Celsius, causing fires and food losses
[0:42] Speaker 1: at hundreds of supermarkets across France. Supermarket CEO Dominique Shelcher said,
[0:50] Speaker 1: targeting equipment essential to the preservation of fresh products. and
[0:57] Speaker 1: to the food supply of the French people is of
[1:01] Speaker 1: extreme gravity and is unprecedented. Britain's Prime Minister Andy Burnham
[1:09] Speaker 1: has said that Russia interfered in the Brexit vote in 2016.
[1:16] Speaker 1: The Foreign Ministry has said that Russia did not influence
[1:20] Speaker 1: the result, however, meaning the decision to leave is still legitimate.
[1:26] Speaker 1: Burnham has said that Britain could consider rejoining the European Union.
[1:33] Speaker 1: The Russian embassy has not commented on the claim of interference.
[1:43] Speaker 1: Ethiopia has launched its first gold refinery, Prime Minister Abiy
[1:50] Speaker 1: Ahmed announced. The initial investment is $ 50 million. Gold exports
[1:58] Speaker 1: from Ethiopia were worth $ 5. 6 billion last year, according to
[2:04] Speaker 1: the government. Ahmed said the refinery would enable neighbouring countries
[2:11] Speaker 1: and regional mining companies to bring their gold to Ethiopia
[2:16] Speaker 1: for advanced refining, certification, value addition and sale. In Libya,
[2:26] Speaker 1: authorities have seized 6 million dinars worth of hashish, around
[2:33] Speaker 1: 400 kilograms. According to preliminary reports, the drugs may have
[2:38] Speaker 1: been smuggled across the border with Egypt. Asia In Indonesia,
[2:48] Speaker 1: forest fires in the Bangkar Belitung province have reached residential areas.
[2:55] Speaker 1: according to the Disaster Mitigation Agency. At least 300 houses
[3:01] Speaker 1: have been damaged in fires, which started on Saturday. 500
[3:06] Speaker 1: people have been evacuated. Indonesia is currently experiencing the biggest
[3:13] Speaker 1: wildfires it has seen in 11 years, mostly on the
[3:18] Speaker 1: islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Eight endangered orangutans have been
[3:24] Speaker 1: relocated since their homes have been destroyed by the fires.
[3:31] Speaker 1: China has imposed sanctions on Paraguay's communications minister and Belize's
[3:39] Speaker 1: foreign minister because of the country's ties with Taiwan. Twelve countries,
[3:45] Speaker 1: including Paraguay and Belize, maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
[3:52] Speaker 1: China states that Taiwan is one of its own provinces.
[3:58] Speaker 1: Taiwan's foreign ministry said the sanctions are blatant interference in
[4:03] Speaker 1: the sovereignty and foreign policies of other nations.
[4:08] Speaker 2: In Mexico, Hurricane Simon caused dangerous.
[4:10] Speaker 1: Winds heavy rain and flooding yesterday. It reached maximum sustained
[4:23] Speaker 1: winds of 115 miles per hour. In Chile, mining operations
[4:33] Speaker 1: at the El Teniente mine have been partially suspended after
[4:39] Speaker 1: a landslide killed two workers at the weekend. Mining company
[4:45] Speaker 1: Codelco is one of the largest copper producers in the world.
[4:51] Speaker 1: An investigation into the circumstances of the accident is underway.
[4:58] Speaker 1: Panama experienced a 7.7 magnitude earthquake on Friday. It has
[5:06] Speaker 1: since recorded more than 200 aftershocks. At least 27 people
[5:13] Speaker 1: have been injured. United States President Donald Trump has criticised
[5:20] Speaker 1: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky over Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries.
[5:28] Speaker 2: We said you can do whatever you want to Russia,
[5:30] Speaker 2: don't hit the refineries, because that's a world problem that's caused.
[5:35] Speaker 2: And I said to him, Do what you want. Don't
[5:37] Speaker 2: hit refineries. There's plenty of targets. Don't hit refineries. And
[5:41] Speaker 2: he went out and he hit. And he's not going
[5:42] Speaker 2: to affect our farmers. And he's not going to affect
[5:45] Speaker 2: our ranchers. And he's not going to affect the rest
[5:48] Speaker 2: of the world. So he'd better damn well stop.
[5:54] Speaker 1: And according to the International Monetary Fund, AI could help
[5:59] Speaker 1: Asia overcome the challenges of ageing populations. According to the IMF,
[6:07] Speaker 1: countries including China, Japan and South Korea could lose nearly
[6:13] Speaker 1: 25% of their working population by 2050. Managing Director Kristalina
[6:21] Speaker 1: Georgieva said AI is projected to lift up growth in
[6:27] Speaker 1: advanced Asia. And what is amazing is that if the
[6:32] Speaker 1: countries capture productivity and this growth, they will more than
[6:37] Speaker 1: offset the demographic pressure. That's your World News in 7 minutes.
[6:45] Speaker 1: If you enjoy this podcast, please tell your friends about us.
[6:50] Speaker 1: You can get in touch with us in a voice
[6:52] Speaker 1: message at send7. org or by sending an email to to
[6:57] Speaker 1: podcast at sense7. org. I'm Juliet Martin. Tomorrow you will be
[7:03] Speaker 1: with Stephen DeVincenzi. Have a great day.

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