Global News Podcast - A left-wing landslide in Sri Lanka

Episode Date: November 15, 2024

The left-wing alliance of Sri Lanka's new leader wins a landslide. Also; volunteers enter South Africa mine to aid illegal workers, and a look ahead to one of the most controversial boxing bouts in modern history.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. going to war with Saddam Hussein. It didn't succeed, but does she still think she did the right thing? Listen now by searching for the documentary wherever you get your BBC podcasts. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Nick Miles and at 14 Hours GMT on Friday the 15th of November. These are our main stories. A left-wing landslide in Sri Lanka? Can the new government deliver prosperity? South Africa's police minister has visited a shaft where officers are trying to force thousands of illegal miners to return to the surface. President-elect Donald Trump nominates another contentious figure to his cabinet. Also in this podcast, we look ahead to one of the most controversial boxing bouts in

modern history. If I win, I'll be even more good. If I do a bad, I don't want to die in a hospital bed, I want to die in a ring. You started me off, but I'm going to teach you how to box, Mike. You started me off but I'm going to teach you how to box, Mike. And we find out why 40 years of work by French academics is already way out of date. You have chosen a renaissance, the words of Sri Lanka's president, Anurag Kumar Desanaika, after voters gave his leftist coalition a landslide victory in snap parliamentary elections. Sri Lanka certainly wants a change, a change from the last few years of economic

turmoil and rampant inflation. These voters are looking forward to a new administration. I'm very happy about this victory. All this time the country was governed by thieves, robbers and corrupt people. I'm very happy that the crooks are out and a clean government has been established. One of the main things that we expect from the government is that to punish the corrupted politicians because we have suffered a lot because of their wrongdoings. Our South Asia regional editor Amritsar Netarajan told me a bit more about the significance of the result.

First and foremost it has changed the political landscape of Sri Lanka because the country was dominated by the Rajapaksha dynasties and the Vikramasinghe as before for more than 30-35 years and you see a little-known party which had only three seats in the previous Parliament now winning two-thirds majority. In fact the final results are out now. They have got about 159 seats out of the 225 seat Parliament. This is the first time a party on its own getting this two-thirds majority since the proportional representation was introduced in 1978. So it's a huge mandate, unprecedented mandate, but also it comes with lots of challenges because it also shows that people are expecting something from President Anurag Kumar Desanayake. And what are they expecting? Are they expecting presumably anti-corruption drives and also

an improved economy? Can they deliver? First and foremost, they want political stability. The country witnessed political as well as economic turmoil in 2022. It declared bankruptcy, did not repay the debts. It owed to many international creditors and bilateral countries and the inflation went up, forcing know, forcing people to stand in queue for food and medicine.

Even now, the high cost of living is a major issue for ordinary Sri Lankans because the country is still negotiating with the international creditors to repay money. But they've got a package from the IMF, a bailout package of $3 billion, but they have to make a lot of structural changes. On the other hand, the left-leaning president would want a lot of welfare measures so that may come into conflict with what IMF usually expects. And patience is not necessarily in abundance at the moment because people are really suffering that they're going to expect changes pretty quickly. The reason that

they have overwhelmingly voted this little-known party back to power with the two-thirds majority shows that people want change. But how far, how quickly is going to implement those changes? Because he has the support of parliament, but then the reality is country has not really come out of this economic crisis. And when they start renegotiating to repay the debts, that's where it is going to hit. And how he's going to manage, that's where it is going to hit and how it's going to manage, that's going to be a big challenge.

Amritsar Netarajan, South Africa's police minister has visited the mine where it's thought up to 4,000 illegal miners are refusing to return to the surface for fear of being arrested. The authorities have described them as criminals. Some are reported to be from neighbouring countries. Nomsa Maseke reports from Stilfonte. The men underground have been trying to find a safe passage out to escape from authorities. It's understood the health condition of some of them is deteriorating as food and water has been cut off. Near the mineshaft, a group of people who've said they're related to

the men beneath the surface have been holding visuals hoping for their safe return. Hundreds of volunteers are also at the scene and have been going down the shaft which is about two kilometres deep to help those who want to come out. Nomsomoseko. Donald Trump has been nominating his future cabinet and as you might have heard in the earlier podcast, he may have made his most controversial suggestion yet Robert F. Kennedy jr Known as a vaccine skeptic for health secretary. Mr

Trump made the announcement on his truth social platform saying Mr Kennedy will restore agencies to the traditions of gold standard scientific research and To make America great and healthy again. He then praised his choice in a speech to supporters on Thursday night at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. Today I nominated him for, I guess if you like health and if you like people that live a long time it's the most important position, RFK Junior. Bobby.

And I just looked at the news reports, people like you Bobby. Don't get too popular Bobby. We want you to come up with things and ideas and what you've been talking about for a long time and I think you're going to do some unbelievable things. Nobody's going to be able to do it like you. But there has already been a backlash to the idea. The executive director of the American Public Health Association says he and his organisation will absolutely oppose the appointment.

Dan Diamond is the Washington Post's national health reporter and a long time chronicler of RFK's pronouncements. He told us more about his ideas around health. There has never been a leader of this agency who has questioned vaccines, let alone been an activist like RFK Jr. RFK Jr. has lobbied lawmakers across the United States, even around the world about, he says, the dangers of vaccines. He has repeated debunked claims dating back to a debunked Lancet study from the UK, But he has followers who believe that. The members of Congress who are going to be reviewing his nomination do not agree with him

on vaccines. But there are other ideas that he has before that they do like related to combating chemicals and food, chronic disease and other things. So we'll have to see if that is where they end up landing. So who is RFK Jr and what does he stand for? Our North America correspondent Rowan Bridge has this report. America could soon have a vaccine skeptic who repeated Covid-19 conspiracy theories running its health department. Robert Kennedy Jr comes from Democratic Party royalty. His uncle was President John F Kennedy and his father was attorney general. Mr Kennedy made his own name as an environmental lawyer and activist,

but that's been overshadowed by his controversial views on vaccines. Do I want children to get measles? Of course I don't. So why do you spread this doubt? I'm asking you to be responsible and ask the question. The questions of being asked, the vaccines are safe. I'm asking you to be responsible and ask the question. The questions have been asked. The vaccines are safe. The vaccines are safe from what?

Do vaccines cause autoimmune disease? I'm in court right now arguing the case. There's no evidence they do. Well, there's plenty of evidence that they do. You're just not looking at it. Last year, he launched an independent bid for the presidency before dropping out and throwing his weight behind Donald Trump. He was one of the speakers at Mr Trump's New York rally where he condemned the party his

family had dedicated their lives to. Today's Democratic Party is the party of war, it's the party of the CIA. You had Kamala Harris giving a speech at the Democratic convention that was written by neocons. His loyalty to the Trump cause has now been rewarded. In a speech at his Mar-a-Lago resort, the president-elect praised Mr. Kennedy. We want you to come up with things and ideas and what you've been talking about for a long time and I think you're going to do some unbelievable things.

Nobody, nobody's going to be able to do it like you and boy does he feel it in his heart. So congratulations also to your family. During his campaign Donald Trump said he would let Robert Kennedy go wild when it comes to the nation's health. Mr Trump vowed to shake up the establishment. This latest pic shows he plans to do just that. We know that when Donald Trump gets into power he will hold the presidency, the House and the Senate. But does that mean he can push through any appointments he likes? A question for our North America editor, Sarah Smith.

There are Republican senators who will have a vote on his cabinet choices saying that they are deeply concerned, most particularly about Matt Gaetz as Attorney General and more than three of them, but will they have their arms twisted? Will he find a way to get his choices through? This is being set up as a test of strength it feels like between the White House and the Senate. Can he force the Senate leader to go into recess to allow him to make recess appointments that don't need to be confirmed? Or can he get a majority of Republican senators to vote for his choices even though you hear people saying that they're completely unqualified, deeply unsuitable and some people are really angry about the way in which he's going about

making these choices. But if he can get this through through well then won't that show really who is king of the hill but of course he's taking a risk that he may lose one or two of them along the way but then of course maybe you choose somebody as controversial as Matt Gaetz to be your Attorney General and then whoever you come up with next well they'll sail through because no matter how controversial they might be they've got nothing on him. Our North America editor Sarah Smith. You don't agree with me? Well you must be sick then. Nations have often used that logic to suppress social dissent. In the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 80s a significant number of political prisoners were sent to psychiatric hospitals. It still goes on in Russia in modern times. Is Iran at least starting a similar process now? The

question is raised because Tehran says it plans to open a treatment clinic for women who defy the mandatory hijab laws that require them to cover their heads in public. The authorities say this will offer scientific and psychological treatment for hijab removal. When the measure comes after an Iranian university student was arrested for stripping to her underwear in protest at alleged harassment over her dress by campus security. More from our Women's Affairs reporter Farhana Khamidi. So this was announced by the head of the Office for Women's Affairs of the headquarters for promotion of virtue and the prevention of vice.

So they say that they want to treat women who take off their hijabs as people who have personality disorder rather than people who basically are criminals. And they believe that this is because women are under a lot of new social and mental pressure to take off their hijab and they are basically being forced to take off their hijab. This does sound ironic because in Iran you have mandatory hijab laws so women are actually forced to wear hijab from a very young age and that is the age of six when you start attending school. So they say that they want to use

cognitive and psychological methods to make women understand the advantages of wearing hijab and how it will protect them so that they will choose to wear hijab. And what reaction has there been to this attempt to medicalise what most people would see as a social issue. So Iran's psychology and psychiatry society have published a statement and protesting the misuse of psychology by the state and authorities in launching these so-called treatment clinics. But the public, as usual, when such news comes out, the public are making jokes, creating memes on social media. But there's also this sense of worry and fear that women might be taken to these centres and be psychologically tortured

because this is something that the authorities and the regime has done before with political dissidents and women activists. To what extent have people already been sent to psychiatric hospitals for not conforming to this law? Well, we don't know how many really have been sent, but we know that women activists who have been protesting against hijab have been labelled mentally unfit or their families have been pressured to come out and say that these women took off their hijab because they weren't mentally fit and they were mentally ill. Theronacomedi. After nearly 40 years of work, the French Academy has finished the new edition

of the definitive French dictionary, but its relevance is already being questioned because it's taken so long to compile. Our Paris correspondent Hugh Schofield has been thumbing through it. Founded in 1635 it would be an understatement to say that the Académie Française is having difficulties keeping up with the pace of the modern age. When its wise men and women known as the immortals first started work on this ninth edition it was 1986 and no one had dreamed of the internet or smartphones and the way linguistic and cultural change would be so vastly accelerated. The immortals kept plodding along at the rate of one letter a year. The result now is a

new edition replacing the 1935 one, which has certainly been praised but which critics say is already out of date. While online and commercial French dictionaries are reacting with lightning speed to neologisms and borrowings, this official compendium of the language is too slow to include them. Its new words are new words from a previous generation. It has yuppie, for example, but not TikToker. Hugh Schofield in Paris. Still to come. D-E-E-N-I-N-E-X-E. King here, queen here. I didn't want to take that. And then no dicks? No dicks. We'll make a three-year-old chess prodigy in India.

Witness the stories that have shaped our world. On the launch pad, in the dawn light, a towering symbol of an ambitious nation. Three, two, one. The whole of India was watching. Told by the people who were there. I still don't regret that I was part of the Rose Revolution. I was a witness of very exciting days. Witness history from the BBC World Service.

Listen wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Colombia's Congress has passed a law banning child marriage after its ninth attempt. Now, anyone under the age of 18 won't be allowed to marry. Before this legal age for marriage was just 14 and it's a widespread practice. The UN's Children's Agency estimates in 2015 that one in four Colombian women were married under 18. My colleague Luke Jones got reaction from co-author of the bill, Congresswoman from the Dignity and Commitment Party, Jennifer Pedraza.

In the discussion that we had in the Congress, there were a lot of Congresswomen that shared their personal experiences and their grandmothers' and mothers' experiences. And they shared with the entire country how painful these experiences were. In the Colombian Congress, we have 30% that are Congresswomen. So I think it was very important for this decision. We tried eight times before and I believe having a lot of women in the Congress was very key. Why has it taken so long? It's very normalised in our culture to sexualise and to keep reproducing these kind of practices, even though we all know that they are very harmful for child. And I hadn't realised how high it was. UNICEF say that by 2015, it was one in four Colombian women had been married before the age of 18.

Are you confident that even with this law change, that will stop? Or might people just continue doing this anyway? I'm confident that it will not change this reality from one day to another. I am very sure because in the Colombian culture and you know Colombia has a lot of indigenous communities and in their view of the world it's gonna be a challenge to stop this childish marriage but I do believe that Colombia we need to be radical We need to stop making exceptions and to say, we only recognize as state the marriages that are from adults. And we've been like making a

lot of exceptions, you know, since 14 years old, then you have to go and find your father, your father and your mother to say, okay, you can't get married. And these kind of exceptions, what they do is that they don't share a message, a clear message to the society to protect the child's rights. The law that we just voted, it's not only the prohibition. It has public policy of prevention, of education. I think that's my favourite part of the law because in every school in Colombia there is going to be a conversation with parents, with teachers, with professors and with students to explain why is why childish marriages and

forced unions so harmful for children. Jennifer Pedraza, are the UN climate change talks working? Are they even fit for purpose? Well, a group of scientists and former political leaders have signed a letter saying the process needs to be radically reformed. The signatories include the former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the former UN climate chief Christiane Figuere. The climate scientist Johan O'Rochstrom is one of the co-authors of the letter. We need the UN process more than ever. Science is clear. We have a climate crisis. There's urgency. We have to cut global emissions by 7.5 per cent per year to have any chance of holding the Paris agreed, the legally binding 1.5 degrees Celsius global warming limit. 30 years of negotiations have actually made very very significant results. So what we're suggesting is that now is the time

for a reform to move from commitments and promises to action and delivery. Well, Azerbaijan is a controversial host for the conference this year, as it is a major fossil fuel producer. Last year's conference was held in the United Arab Emirates. Climate editor Justin Rowland is at the COP Talks in Baku. He told us more about the open letter calling for reform. What the press release says is that they're upset at the way that Azerbaijan, the host, has conducted itself. They're upset by President Aliyev,

the president of the country, who opened the conference describing oil and gas as a gift of God, which I think most people would agree is an unusual way to open a conference designed to tackle climate change. There was a story that we did that I did which revealed footage of the chief executive of COP29 appearing to discuss possible oil and gas deals in his role as a UN official. And obviously that's against the rules. The COP29 team haven't commented on our findings. But they say they don't like the way that Azerbaijan's hosting the conference and then they've said there need to be changes. So they say maybe only countries that have committed to transitioning away from fossil fuels should be host.

So change the way that the host country is chosen, which is chosen by the parties, the countries, not by the UN. They say the conference should be smaller. There's 40,000 people here. They say they should be more frequent, more focused on delivery, on delivering outcomes. And they say countries should be more accountable for the commitments that they make, all of which, to be honest, sounds very reasonable. Until you remember that the whole point of this is it's multilateral, that all the countries, it's one of the only places in the world that all the countries of the world come together, whatever their opinions of fossil fuels, and we heard that from the president, didn't we, whatever their opinion on fossil fuels and we heard that from the president didn't we whatever their opinion on fossil fuels to discuss this

global challenge of tackling climate change and I think people here would say well hold on a second you know that's really precious getting everyone together and getting even skeptical people part of the process encourages them to take action. That was our climate editor Justin Rowlatt. A hacker in the United States has been sentenced to jail for laundering one of the biggest ever cryptocurrency thefts with the help of his wife. Our business reporter Nick Marsh told James Coughnell more about this Bitcoin heist. It's the story of Ilja Liechtenstein and his wife Heather Morgan, who pleaded guilty last

year to hacking into the Bitifinx cryptocurrency exchange back in 2016. He stole nearly 120,000 Bitcoin. He did the hacking, Heather laundered it and Ilya has just been sentenced to five years in prison. 120,000 Bitcoin, what's that in old money? Well the old money or the old old money or the old new money. So at the time it was in 2016 it was 70 million dollars. Do you want to take a guess how much it was worth by the time they were arrested two years ago? Is it a lot more? You're correct. Four and a half billion.

Oh gosh, okay. A lot more. 70 million, a lot more. 70 million to four and a half billion. That was in 2022. So now, given all the, you know, the spike in the price and especially since the election as well, we're talking 10 billion odd worth of Bitcoin. The Department of Justice managed to get 3.6 billion of it back, which is the largest seizure in their history. So serious numbers. So Ilya Lichtenstein is facing prison. What about his wife that you mentioned, Heather? Heather. So she is being sentenced on Monday. They worked as a team, basically. He hacked, she laundered, she basically switched the stolen Bitcoin into different cryptocurrencies. She

actually bought real gold coins as well. She used lots of fake identities, all sorts of things. And another way that she spent the money, and I feel duty bound to tell you and our listeners about this, she had a rapper alter ego called Razzle Khan. So she used a lot of this money to produce these videos. I've watched them, so you don't have to. They really are quite something. In a good way or a bad way, I can't quite tell. She won't be winning any Grammys anytime soon I can tell you that. Yeah, yeah. Quite openly bragging about their

hacking actually. The videos are shot on Wall Street and she calls herself the badass money maker, crocodile of Wall Street. Nick Mosh. And staying with money, the president of Guyana, Ifan Ali, has announced that every adult in the country will receive 100,000 Guyanese dollars or nearly 500 US dollars. Local journalist Dennis Chabrol told us why Guyana has decided to do this. What is for sure is that the cost of living continues to rise, and one can only assume that they have taken those concerns into consideration. And secondly, we are heading into a general election next year. So here in this part of the world, especially in most third world countries, incumbent governments

tend to give sweeteners. And this is being interpreted in some quarters as a sweetener for the electorate well ahead of the elections expected in late 2025. In fact, there have been several other types of grants over the years, even before the arrival of oil as a key resource in the country. By and large, I think people are pretty much thankful for what we in Guyana would term a small piece in our pocket. Probably try to put some more food on the table as we head into Christmas 2024, New Year 2025. Denis Chabrol.

It is set to be one of the most controversial and most watched boxing matches in modern history. On Friday, the 27 the 27 year old social media influencer Jake Paul will take on former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson. This showdown is being broadcast by Netflix to its 278 million subscribers. Part of the streaming platform's plans to crack the live sports market. Ella Bicknell looks ahead to the fight in Dallas. If I win I'll be in the ring. If I do it bad I don't want to die in a hospital bed, but I want to die in the ring. You started me off, but I'm going to teach you how to box, Mike.

Everyone has a plan, until they're punched in the mouth. The famous words of Mike Tyson. 19 years since his last professional bout, the former heavyweight champion is returning to the ring. This is the fight the world's been waiting for. On Friday, he'll take on a man less than half of his age, social media influencer Jake Paul, in front of a crowd of 70,000 spectators at the AT&T Stadium in Texas, home to the NFL's Dallas Cowboys. Is the old mic back? Is vintage mic back? Let us know.

Are you talking to me right now? Yeah. Oh yeah, I guess I'm back, yeah. You're the star. I'm just happy to be here. I love you too, thank you. The 58-year-old looked weary during a bizarre pre-fight news conference, the toll of a legendary yet volatile career. Across two decades he became the youngest heavyweight champion in history, won six world titles, served a three-year prison sentence for rape,

returned to the ring to then be stripped of his boxing license for biting the ear of his opponent. Will that same ferocity return on Friday? I'm not going to lose. But you say that in the last minute of the second countdown. I am not going to lose. Did you hear what I said? Thank you. But on the whole, Tyson left the trash talk for his competitor. So I want him to be that old savage, Mike. He says he's going to kill me. Is that what you're

going to do, Mike? Because I'm ready. I want that killer. I want the hardest match possible Friday night. And I want there to be no excuses from everyone at home when I knock him out. So is that what you're going to bring? Jake Paul found his celebrity status first as a controversial YouTube personality, posting pranks, challenges and music videos alongside his brother Logan Paul, another novice turned professional boxer. Traditional boxing fans say he makes a mockery of the sport. Paul wants to prove he's a legitimate contender and his words a future world champion.

I promise you I was built for this, destined for this. The gods got me, universe got me and I, Jake Joseph Paul, will knock out Mike Tyson Friday November 15th. It is written. The two will fight it out in eight two-minute rounds instead of the typical 10 or 12 three-minute rounds and will use heavier 14-ounce gloves. It's expected that millions will tune in to watch the pair do battle, the first of its kind to be streamed on Netflix. Ella Bicknell reporting. Finally, take a listen to this.

U-E-E, 986, skin here, queen here. We did that one. And then no dicks? No dicks, nothing. And then 986. We're pretty. That is Anish Sarkar playing chess with his instructor. The Indian three-year-old refuses kids programmed like Peppa Pig and the like. Instead, he much prefers spending time on Gotham Chess, an online site for learning chess.

Anish has already met his Norwegian chess idol, Magnus Carlsen, at a tournament in India. He even became the youngest ever player to get a formal rating, according to the International Chess Federation. Charlene Rodriguez spoke to his mother, Reshma Sarkar, in West Bengal, Kolkata. She began by asking how did Anish become interested in chess at such a young age? His uncle gave him one chess board as a gift last year and we introduced another game, more chess is one game and it's nothing else.

I also saw that he was watching an older kid playing chess and you were on a train and he took an interest in what the older child... We were coming from Agra and one elder boy playing chess in mobile and he went there and played with that boy and he beat the boy. That's why we recognized that he took interest in chess. How old was he when he was on the train? Three years, two months. Wow. He prefers Gotham chess to Peppa Pig.

Yes. How many hours a day does he spend playing chess? When he is in the academy, he practices chess for five to seven hours. So what were some of his first words? Ony started talking in nine months and his first word was ma. Did he say checkmate or rook? Actually rook sacrifice, the rook sacrifice. His best chess word, the rook sacrifice. His best chess word, the form Gautam chess, he learned the Rook sacrifice and every

day he watched the video and said the Rook sacrifice. And what are some of the other hobbies Anish enjoys? Anish enjoying playing with friends, playing with toys and watching chess. Chess is his everything. Anish Sarkar's mother, Reshma Sarkar. And that's all from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the Global News podcast later. If you want a comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email.

The address is globalpodcast.bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at Global News Pod. This edition was mixed by Chris Murphy and the producer was Tracy Gordon. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Nick Miles and until next time, goodbye. When we left, there was this wonderful feeling, But it was only the beginning of a nightmare. This is a story that started with a job advert. A yacht owner looking for a crew to sell his recently renovated boat from Brazil to Europe.

For me, it was going to be a great adventure and an opportunity to gain a lot of experience. But when police raided the vessel and discovered drugs... Cocaine hidden under one of the beds. It can't be....a key suspect was miles away. The police raided the vessel and discovered drugs. Cocaine. Hidden under one of the beds. It can't be. A key suspect was miles away. Everything revolved around him. Who's the boss?

A British guy. Fox. Fox. This is World of Secrets from the BBC World Service. Season five, Finding Mr. Fox. Search for World of Secrets wherever you get your BBC podcasts.