Global News Podcast - Anticipation grows as Harris set to deliver convention speech

Episode Date: August 22, 2024

Kamala Harris will formally accept the Democratic Party's nomination for US president. Also: ousted Bangladeshi leader Sheikh Hasina has her diplomatic passport revoked; and Trinidad and Tobago redraws its coat of arms.

Hello, this is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service, with reports and analysis from across the world. The latest news seven days a week. BBC World Service podcasts are supported by advertising. If you're hearing this, you're probably already listening to BBC's award-winning news podcasts. But did you know that you can listen to them without ads? Get current affairs podcasts like Thank you. Amazon Music with a Prime membership. Spend less time on ads and more time with BBC Podcasts. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Valerie Sanderson and in the early hours of Friday, the 23rd of August, these are our main stories.

Kamala Harris is to make the most important speech of her career, accepting the presidential speech of her career, accepting the presidential nomination of her party at the Democratic National Convention. The ousted Bangladeshi leader Sheikh Hasina has her diplomatic passport revoked. The social media influencer Andrew Tate is placed under house arrest in Romania over new sex trafficking allegations. Also in this podcast, Russians mark Flag Day to much pomp and ceremony and... Trinidad and Tobago redraws its coat of arms to remove references to colonization by Europeans. A few hours after we record this podcast, Kamala Harris, the woman hoping to become the first female president of the United States,

will deliver the most important speech of her career as the finale of the Democratic Convention in Chicago. Since President Biden withdrew from the race and endorsed her, hundreds of millions of dollars have poured into the Harris campaign. There's been an almost carnival-like atmosphere at the convention, where speeches have been given by running mate Tim Waltz, former President Barack Obama, his wife Michelle, and Oprah Winfrey. So can Kamala Harris continue to sustain the momentum she appears to have built up? This is the Democratic senator from Maryland, Chris Van Hollen. Yes, she can. I believe she came into this convention with a lot of momentum, and that momentum has only grown over these four days.

As everybody has said, the key is, of course, to convert that energy into votes. But I can see just from talking to people in my state of Maryland and around the country, especially younger voters, they're very excited, very motivated to get out. So I don't think this is just a sugar high. I think this is sustainable. Our correspondent, Ione Wells, is at the convention. So what message is Kamala Harris expected to give? She's expected, I think, firstly, to tell a bit about her own personal story. I think the speeches really at this convention have been pretty personal. I think she'll want to particularly highlight her upbringing. She was somebody who went to school.

She was essentially sort of bussed from her neighbourhood that was a sort of lower middle class, predominantly black neighbourhood to a more affluent, whiter neighbourhood. As part of a programme at the time to make schools more integrated, she went on to then be one of the country's top prosecutors. So I think she will want to sort of tell her own story of aspiration, about how she understands the struggles for many middle-class Americans, and I think try and sort of frame herself as somebody who is, yeah,

on the side of working people versus Donald Trump, who she will probably argue is on the side of the rich, in terms of sort of some of the tax cuts, for example, that he's previously talked about when it comes to the wealthy. I think she will also want to talk a lot about freedoms, particularly some of the freedoms her campaign have been specifically highlighting that they will be fighting for,

things like reproductive rights, abortion rights, economic opportunity for everybody, no matter their background. And I think those kind of things will be really key to her speech. I think also, finally, we will expect to hear a sort of solid dose of patriotism, of love for her country.

I think she'll want to be careful not to alienate Republican voters, even if she is going on the attack of Donald Trump himself. And that's partly because we know that this election is going to be won or lost in some really key swing states. And she will have a challenge on her hands to try and convince some people who would maybe traditionally vote Republican to perhaps consider voting for her this time around. Yes, because the race is still very tight, isn't it? That's right. It's extremely tight. And it's easy when you're somewhere like

this, where I am in Chicago at this convention, where you're surrounded by diehard loyal fans of the party of Kamala Harris to see a lot of the momentum behind her, which is definitely there. But I think it is important to remember that the polls do suggest this is incredibly tight still. And I think the party are aware that there isn't room to be complacent. Ione Wells. Well, just a few weeks ago, some Democrats doubted whether Kamala Harris should be appointed as the party's presidential candidate without any competition. Jerusalem Demsas is a staff writer at The Atlantic who worked on Kamala Harris' campaign to become the presidential nominee back in 2020. She wrote

recently she didn't think Harris was the strongest choice to defeat Donald Trump. Paul Henley asked Jerusalem Demsas if she'd changed her mind. I think that it's not knowable because the way that you figure out whether or not someone is the strongest candidate is you have a primary process. That's the way the American political system works is that we have that process in which you figure out you're able to vet candidates fully and those people, their views, whether they how they stand within the party, what kinds of coalitions are able to coalesce around. So that sort of thing is is really unknowable in this election because we do not have that kind of a process. I think it's clear right now that Harris has been

able to consolidate a ton of Democratic support behind her in a way that many people, including myself, were not expecting. But I think that fundamental question of whether there were other candidates that could have done that, that could have been stronger, that maybe could have brought in other coalitions, that sort of thing is something we're going to have to, you know, we'll be left to historians try to figure out. Well, what we're witnessing now at the convention is a full on coronation, just what you didn't want. I mean, my article argued that Democrats should have a real debate about who should be the next candidate. And right now they're coalescing around Kamala Harris. I still believe that there was a

moment for the Democrats to have a real debate. And one of the benefits of having a primary is that you actually have the Democratic process figure out whether or not someone or what kinds of views the individual has. Right now, Harris, you know, she's not had a lot of pressure to take serious interviews. This is a candidate who does not really have to reveal a lot about her political and policy thinking. She's revealed some economic policies last week. But again, she's someone who hasn't had a ton of time in national political office. And so, you know, I think that a lot of Americans could have benefited from a primary process that revealed what she actually believed. Do you think that she should be putting

ethnic and equality issues higher up the agenda than she seems to be? I think that the question here is about how those things are emphasised, right? I think there's a way of doing identity politics, which has been shown to be often politically harmful. And I think that this emphasis on, you know, you should pick a black woman to do X, or you should pick someone of this ethnicity for whatever reason. I think that those things have been on the outs and are not really a great way to do governance. But on the question of whether people should attack inequalities that are a function of folks' race or class or ethnic background or nationality, I mean, that's obviously central and I think something that she's focused on when she put out her policy proposals on housing last week. It was clear that part of her focus is on the homeownership gaps that exist.

The big argument against Kamala Harris was that she didn't have the necessary polling numbers. That does seem to be changing, surely. She's clearly moving in a positive direction. But I think everyone would say, I mean, including Jeno Malley-Dillon, who's, you know, top of the campaign, that it is a very, very close election. She was improving on Biden's dismal standing at the time. And that's clear. She's able to consolidate a lot of low hanging fruit that I think was available and that he was struggling to get. But it's a very close election. It's unclear what's going to happen here. It remains to be seen whether they're able to win across the swing voters. The Trump campaign is working very hard to try to tag her

as liberal out of touch, but poll numbers still show a very tight race. Here's a final one. Do you think she can do it? Will she win? I think it is very possible that she will win. She's clearly improving on Biden's poll numbers. And Trump is a uniquely vulnerable candidate. But it's going to be a close race and it's going to really depend on what issues are salient come November. Is it going to be issues of immigration? Are there going to be issues that Republicans are trusted more on? Or are there going to be issues that Democrats are trusted more on? And is, you know, is Trump going to sink himself if he shows up to this debate? And the contrast between him and

Harris is very negative. Jerusalem Demsas, staff writer for The Atlantic. In Bangladesh, the interim government says it's revoked the diplomatic passport of the country's ousted leader, Sheikh Hasina. The interior ministry said the decision also applied to former members of her government. More from Elettra Naismith. The announcement came from the Security Division less than three weeks after huge protests forced the longtime leader to flee to India. It applies to all members of the former Awami League government not in post, cabinet members, advisers, MPs and their relatives. Diplomatic passports confer special privileges on holders. Without one, they'll need to apply for a standard passport and crucially be approved. Che Casina's government is accused of widespread abuses, including extrajudicial killings.

She's already the subject of a murder inquiry. A judge in Romania has ruled that the social media influencer and self-described misogynist Andrew Tate must be kept under house arrest while prosecutors investigate new allegations against him and his brother Tristan. They've both already been charged with trafficking as part of a separate case. Our Eastern Europe correspondent Sarah Rainsford reports from Bucharest. Andrew Tate came out of court to make a furious statement. A judge had just released him from police custody into house arrest. The notorious internet personality, whose open misogyny has gained him millions of followers, denounced the

new investigation he's facing as a setup. He called it absolutely disgusting and claimed there was no evidence he's involved in human trafficking. Today, Romania's serious crime agency announced allegations that he and his brother were part of a criminal group, grooming women and forcing them to make explicit video content and then keeping the proceeds. One of the brothers, who's not named, is accused of having sex with a 15-year-old. Andrew Tate refused to answer questions about that from the BBC outside court. Prosecutors say there are 35 alleged victims in their investigation. The Tate brothers have already been charged in a separate case of human trafficking and are awaiting trial.

They have always denied any wrongdoing. Sarah Rainsford. Russia has marked its National flag day with celebrations, despite the ongoing Ukrainian incursion into the border region of Kursk. It's the first major foreign invasion into Russian territory since the Second World War, with dozens of civilians killed and tens of thousands forced to flee their homes. Ukraine's action took the Kremlin by surprise, but as our Russia editor Steve Rosenberg reports from Moscow, it hasn't stopped Vladimir Putin from commemorating his country's

patriotic holiday. When Russians celebrate, they don't do things by half. At a Moscow war memorial on National Flag Day, a long line of Russian soldiers carried an enormous furled Russian tricolour. Unfurl the flag, came the order, and minutes later, the whole square was awash with white, blue and red. But a huge flag cannot cover up huge problems. For more than two weeks, Ukrainian troops have been occupying territory in Russia's Kursk region. After the flag ceremony, Yelena told me that she's terrified by what is happening, but Russia, she says, will eventually win and nothing will be left of Ukraine.

Later, Vladimir Putin wished senior officials happy flag day and discussed the situation near the Russia-Ukraine border. Ukrainian soldiers fighting in Russia is a huge challenge to his authority. President Putin will be desperate to crush the incursion. But he's also keen to avoid any sense of panic in Russian society. And so the authorities here create the image almost of business as usual. And yet, in recent days, reports of young Russian conscripts being sent to Kursk region has raised alarm in society. More than 10,000 people have signed a petition calling on President Putin to ensure that conscripts do not take part in the fighting. Our Russia editor Steve Rosenberg. Still to come, weapons dealers in Yemen use the social media platform X to sell guns and... The sheer volume of visitors, around 4 million people a year, takes its toll on infrastructure and services.

So the City Council has voted in favour of a visitor levy or tourist tax. The Scottish capital Edinburgh becomes the latest city to charge holidaymakers for staying in hotels, B&Bs and self-catering accommodation. If you're hearing this, you're probably already listening to BBC's award-winning news podcasts. But did you know that you can listen to them without ads? Get current affairs podcasts like Global News, AmeriCast and The Global Story, plus other great BBC podcasts from history to comedy to true crime, all ad-free.

Simply subscribe to BBC Podcast Premium on Apple Podcasts or listen to Amazon Music with a Prime membership. Spend less time on ads and more time with BBC Podcasts. Refugees who fled Ukraine for Hungary could be forced to return home. That's according to the United Nations Agency looking after them. Hungary has brought in a new law which reduces the number of people from Ukraine it says it will look after, and the UNHCR says this means many will have to choose between returning to their war-torn country or becoming homeless,

as our regional editor Paul Moss reports. On a small street in the Hungarian village of Koch, a group of women are sitting on the pavement with their children, suitcases scattered haphazardly around them. They're waiting, but it's not clear there's anything or anyone to wait for. They're all refugees who fled the conflict in Ukraine. They had found asylum in neighbouring Hungary, but Wednesday saw a new law come into force. The nationalist government in Hungary said refugees would only be looked after

if they came from a part of Ukraine directly affected by the war. These women and their families apparently didn't match that criteria, so they were turfed out of their accommodation. We've been sitting here since eight in the morning, but nobody says anything. Whether anyone will help us or are we going to sleep out here with the children till the morning? I don't know what will happen. The agencies looking after refugees in Hungary are equally at a loss. Aniko Bakonyi works for the Hungarian Helsinki Committee

and has been trying to find replacement accommodation for those stranded in Koch village. There are many small children here, so this is a very difficult situation for the families and then we are not sure whether they'll be able to spend the night somewhere. We try to phone around among the big charities if they have any emergency accommodation and they didn't seem to have any. So we are not sure how long this situation will go and how long this can be kept like this. Hungary's government says many refugees there could take jobs but have refused to and that the country is spending nearly $30 million a year looking after people who could be earning money. But now the European Union has said it will investigate

Hungary's new refugee law to see if it complies with international obligations which the country has signed up to. Paul Moss. India's Supreme Court has urged doctors who've been striking over the rape and murder of a female colleague in a hospital in the city of Kolkata to return to work. At a hearing into the killing, the Chief Justice said people could not be left in the lurch. There have been mass protests across the country led by women's groups who are demanding a swift investigation and greater safety in the workplace. Rebecca Kesby spoke to our correspondent in Delhi, Samira Hussain. The Supreme Court has really urged striking doctors to go back to work. And they're saying that, look, the protest could really have a serious impact on the country's health care system. It's been almost two weeks since the brutal rape and murder of that 31-year-old female doctor.

The Supreme Court also said that there shouldn't be any coercive action taken against the protesters for their protests so far. And I think that's a real recognition of the anger that is felt on the streets right across the country at what happened to this doctor. And I think what's really also coming out now is just how unsafe so many female doctors feel while they're on the job. Well, yes, I mean, it's really sparked a national mood, hasn't it? And lots of people talking more about sexual assault and rape and the problem of it within the whole society.

Yes. And now look, rape is not something that is unique to India. There are instances of rape right around the world. So, you know, India is not unique in that. So I want to be careful in not painting it as such. But yes, there is certainly an outcry within the country from women that are saying that, look, we just don't feel safe in so many areas. And I think this has particularly struck a nerve because it is a doctor at a government run hospital who was there to work in service of the people. And for her to have been so brutally raped and murdered. I think that's really why so many people are just so upset about this. And there's been a lot of questions as well in terms of how the police and the state government of Bengal have been dealing with the situation. What happens next with that? Well, exactly. And so the Supreme Court actually, in a lot of what it was saying today, you know,

they also criticized the investigation, saying that, you know, authorities took more than an hour to cordon off that crime scene. So they found the woman's body at about 10.10 p.m., but it wasn't until 11.45 p.m. that they cordoned off the crime scene. And so there are all these questions being raised with regards to how the autopsy was conducted and how the investigation was conducted. And so there have been lots of very pointed questions at the authorities running that hospital in Kolkata. So now the Supreme Court will hear about this case again next month. Very briefly, Samira, the doctors going back to work when?

Well, so far, we've only heard from doctors at the largest medical institution in Delhi, and they have said that they are going to call off their 11-day strike at the urging of the country's Supreme Court, but we haven't heard from any of the other doctors since. The BBC's Samira Hussain in Delhi. An investigation by the British newspaper The Times has found weapons being openly advertised on the social media website X by dozens of Yemeni gun merchants operating in areas controlled by the Houthis, a prescribed terrorist group

in the United States. The BBC has found several examples still online. X has been approached for comment but has so far not replied. Here's our security correspondent Frank Gardner. The words beside the weapons are designed to lure in the buyers. Premium craftsmanship and top-notch warranty, says one advertisement. The Yemeni-modified AK is your best choice. A demonstration video filmed at night shows the seller blasting off a 30-round magazine on full automatic. Another offers Pakistani-produced Glock pistols for around US$900 each. Yet these advertisements are not hidden in the depths of the dark web. They are on X, the mass social media platform previously

known as Twitter. The sellers, who operate in areas of Yemen under control of the Houthis, a prescribed terrorist group by the US and Australian governments, make no attempt to hide their names or even their locations. Some post their price lists in both Yemeni and Saudi rials, inviting buyers to contact them on other social media platforms. An investigation by The Times found some of the sellers' accounts even had the blue tick validation. X has been contacted for comment but has yet to respond. Yemen has long been awash with firearms, with many adult males in rural areas regularly walking around with Kalashnikovs slung over their shoulders. But following the

upheaval of the Arab Spring, a civil war and a takeover of much of the country by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, conditions in Yemen, the Arab world's poorest nation, have steadily deteriorated. Frank Gardner. Scotland's capital Edinburgh is one of the world's most popular tourist destinations. Around four million people a year visit the city, particularly during the festival month of August. But soon they'll have to pay a visitor tax on top of their accommodation bill. Edinburgh City Council has voted for the introduction of the tax,

which could generate around $65 million a year. Our reporter in Edinburgh is Joanne McCauley. The charge covers hotels, B&Bs, self-catering accommodation and lets through websites such as Airbnb. Visitors would pay an extra 5% on their bills. The leader of Edinburgh City Council, Cammy Day, says it's an exciting opportunity. We currently propose that there's about £5 million that goes to help with some of the affordable housing in the city, that around 50% of the budget is spent on keeping the city and the streets cleaner, tidier, moving graffiti. 35% or so goes back into the culture and arts organisations who create all

this excitement in the city during summertime. The scheme is the first of its kind in Scotland, but last year Manchester introduced a £1 per room per night fee aimed at paying for measures to attract more tourists. But critics of the Edinburgh scheme say it's overly complicated and the charge could put people off visiting. David Weston is from the Scottish B&B Association. On that simple £100 room we've now got to advertise that at £105, so it'll immediately make us seem, well, be more expensive compared with our competitors in England and other European countries, and that'll make it more difficult. The draft plans will now go out to a 12-week consultation. A final decision on them will be taken in January, and the scheme could come into effect as early as July 2026. Joanne McCauley. And finally, the island of Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean has decided to redraw its coat of arms

and replace explorer Christopher Columbus's three ships with its national percussion instrument, the steel pan. It's part of a move to get rid of references to its colonial history. The island will hold a public hearing on whether certain statues, signs and monuments with colonial connections should also be removed. The issue is causing a heated debate, as we heard from two residents. These three ships and the team of people didn't discover Trinidad. They didn't discover the Caribbean. There were already people living here. There were already cultures living here. What those three ships brought to Trinidad in particular

was the rape, the plundering, the destruction of diversity, of culture, of ways of life, of interacting with nature, things that we recognize are so important today. Those ships and those that followed have no place on anything to remind anyone. The history behind what those three ships actually represented, actually did to this country, isn't told on a coat of arms. So they shouldn't be there.

I've seen the statues. They're everywhere. They're in the squares, they're in the plazas. They remind us of our history. It reminds us of where we came from. It's because of Columbus's discovery, I am here today. If not, I'd have been born on the other side of the world. I believe this is a political move. The logistics

of even doing this, you have all these legal documents, passport, ID, driver's permit, all these things have to change. All the signage on government buildings have to change. The bank notes, millions and millions of dollars are going to be wasted to make this move when this money could be used to better the nation. Luke Jones spoke to local journalist Ryan Bechu about the decision. It came like a thief in the night, really. The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr Keith Rowley, announced it at a People's National Movement convention. That's the ruling party of Trinidad and Tobago at the moment.

Quite abruptly, really, it sort of stunned the nation and sort of turned the entire news cycle around, really, a couple of Sundays ago. And since then, Trinbagonians have sort of been split on the announcement to remove the three ships that Columbus came with here to Trinidad and Tobago from the coat of arms, the national emblem. And so what are the people who are in favour of getting rid of, as you say, of those three ships off the coat of arms saying? And what are those who want to keep it saying?

There are and there have been. It's important to understand that there have been calls, there has been advocacy for quite a few decades for these emblems of colonialism to be removed from Trinidad and Tobago's signage and street names, etc, etc. And they have long advocated for things like this. And they're saying this represents our colonial history. And we're now past that colonial history. And it is about time that we move into our own chapter of what our signatures look like and our emblems look like. voice over the last few days saying this should not be a national priority, not at this point, not with the economy doing the way it's doing, not with unemployment the way it is, not with the crime situation in the Twin Island Republic the way it is. This should not be our priority number one. And then there was a very interesting letter to the editor in one of the daily newspapers today that also pointed to an argument of keeping such colonial symbols. And I'll just read a short excerpt out of that letter for you. It said, we should not pick and choose the history we want

represented. Let the colonial relic statues, images, and the like remain as a reminder of how far we have come since the days of imperialism and exploitation. And that's from a letter to the editor in one of the daily newspapers today. So that's generally been the for and against of this argument since the announcement was made a couple of Sundays ago. Interesting. Where else do you think this could go? I mentioned there are streets and buildings also named after Christopher Columbus and colonisers like him. Could this extend much further? It can. And it's really going to over the next few weeks. It's not going to stay at just Dakota Farms because Dakota Farms is just the start of it because there's a national consultation on this very issue that you just spoke about happening next

week Wednesday, that's August 28th, where the public will be able to come in and see if they think streets and monuments and statues should all be replaced that have that colonial flavor with it. So the conversation is about to blow open. You're very right. The conversation is about to blow open in a very big way. And the public will be consulted through the Ministry of Gender and Child Affairs very soon, within the next week. And it would be interesting to see how far, because Trinidad and Tobago, having that Spanish influence, having that English, that British influence, through colonialism and history. I come from a small town called Princess Town.

It's named after Prince Albert and Prince George, the grandsons of Queen Victoria. We grew up in school learning about that. And you're speaking to us from the capital port of Spain, which I guess is the other key example of it as well, isn't it? Exactly. Ryan Batu. And that's it from us for now,

but there'll be a new edition of the Global News Podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, send us an email. The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at Global News Pod. This edition was produced by Judy Frankel and mixed by Chris Ablakwa. The editor, as ever, is Karen Martin.

I'm Valerie Sanderson. Until next time, bye-bye. If you're hearing this, Thank you. plus other great BBC podcasts from history to comedy to true crime, all ad-free. Simply subscribe to BBC Podcasts Premium on Apple Podcasts or listen to Amazon Music with a Prime membership. Spend less time on ads and more time with BBC Podcasts.