Global News Podcast - Arrests made after many fatalities in North Macedonia nightclub fire

Episode Date: March 17, 2025

Police have detained a number of people after a fire at an nightclub in North Macedonia killed scores of people. Also: The US deports hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members despite court order.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Hello, I'm Robin Ince. And I'm Brian Cox. And we would like to tell you about the new series of The Infinite Monkey Cage. We're going to have a planet off. Jupiter versus Saturn. It's very well done that because in the script it does say wrestling voice. After all of that, it's going to kind of chill out a bit and talk

about ice. And also in this series, we're discussing history of music recording with Brian Eno and looking at nature's shapes. So listen wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Janet Jalil and in the early hours of Monday the 17th of March these are our main stories. Prosecutors in North Macedonia are investigating whether a fire in a nightclub that killed nearly 60 people could be linked to bribery and corruption. The United States says its airstrikes on Saturday killed several Houthi leaders in Yemen. The Trump administration deports more than 200 Venezuelans to El Salvador,

despite an order by a U.S. judge banning such a move. Also in this podcast, how a glamorous new soap opera seeks to overturn stereotypes about Black Americans. That's not the experience of most of black America. So that's cool that other people can say experience black excellence, you know, in our drama. North Macedonia's interior minister says prosecutors are investigating whether corruption and bribery are linked to a fire in a nightclub that killed 59 people.

Pance Toskovsky said the venue in the eastern town of Kochani did not have a legal licence to operate. A special team has been set up to look into the cause of the fire in the early hours of Sunday morning, which broke out after a popular band used fireworks during a performance. The flames spread quickly as the ceiling was made of highly flammable material. Our Balkans correspondent Guy Delaney sent this report from Kotchini. This was the moment when a great night out turned into a disaster. Pyrotechnics ignited on stage as part of the performance by the band DNK in Kočini, a

small town about 60 miles to the east of North Macedonia's capital, Skopje. At first they watched as flames crept across the ceiling while staff tried to put out the fire with extinguishers, but the mood swiftly switched to panic as the blaze intensified. Survivors described the chaos as they fought to escape through the only exit. The fire broke out. Everyone started screaming and shouting, get out, get out. But unfortunately there was only one exit. I don't know how but I ended up on the ground.

I couldn't get up. People started stomping on me. I don't know how but somehow I managed to get out I'm fine now, but there are many dead. My sister died. I was saved and she wasn't. Here in Kočani police have sealed off access to the Pulse nightclub It's behind a green and yellow painted hotel on a roundabout on the outskirts of town and it's now considered a crime scene Ljubso Koseorski is the public prosecutor. I can guarantee that the investigation will be thorough and fast. We will engage experts

from all fields and determine the reasons for the accident and those responsible for it. At the moment, people are being detained and questioned, and we cannot disclose any details. The government has held an emergency meeting and declared a week of national mourning. It's also calling for an urgent safety inspection of all clubs and music venues. Guy Delaney reporting. The Houthis in Yemen say more than 50 people were killed in US airstrikes on Saturday. Washington says some key Houthi figures were among the dead, but the group hasn't confirmed this. The US military says it shot down drones launched by the Iranian backed group in response to the strikes. Donald Trump has said he'll hold Iran responsible for the attacks the Houthis are carrying out on commercial shipping. Mohammed Al-Bukhati,

a member of the Houthi's political bureau, told the BBC that the US president's actions are likely to further increase tensions in the region. This US aggression on Yemen is unjustified. We did not target the US. We targeted the Zionist entity, an entity that did not commit to the ceasefire agreement and continues to besiege the Gaza Strip. We believe that the region is headed towards more escalation and more disruption because of Trump's reckless moves. Raja Al-Mutwakal is a human rights activist based in the Yemeni capital Sana'a. She told the BBC that people there are now living in fear.

We are all worried. We forgot how these explosions and this kind of fear felt. And now we are living this again. And we feel it's like just the same. There is nothing different, you know. We didn't feel this. This is different than what happened in 2015. There is no plan. It's just like a revenge. Our diplomatic correspondent, Paul Adams, says Saturday's attacks went beyond previous American, British and Israeli raids. For the first time, elements of the Houthi leadership were targeted in the capital, Sana'a and elsewhere. Mike Waltz, Donald Trump's national security adviser,

said several key Houthi figures were killed. The defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, said the attacks would continue until the Houthis stopped targeting shipping in the Red Sea, something they'd been threatening to resume. And he said Iran had been enabling the Houthis for far too long. The Houthis have yet to confirm that any of their leaders were killed. A spokesman called the attacks unjustified and said President Trump was being reckless. Iran was furious too.

The head of the Revolutionary Guard warned of a severe response to any threat levelled at his country, while the Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the US had no business dictating Iranian policy. Yesterday's attacks were a warning. After last year's devastating blows against Tehran's other allies and proxies across the Middle East, Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Assad regime in Syria, Washington may now want the Houthis to feel that they could be next. Paul Adams. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he'll sack

the head of the internal security agency, Shin Bet. Mr. Netanyahu said that in the middle of a war he needed to have confidence in the leader of Shin Bet, but instead he had what he called an ongoing distrust of Ronin Bar. We're in the midst of a war for our very existence, a war on seven fronts. At all times, but especially in such an existential war, there must be full trust between the

Prime Minister and the head of the Shin Bet. But unfortunately, the situation is the opposite. I do not have such trust. I have ongoing mistrust in the head of the Shin Bet, which has increased over time." A move to terminate the Shin Bet chief's position will be brought before the Israeli government later this week. Paul Henley spoke to the legal affairs correspondent for the Times of Israel, Jeremy Sharon. He began by asking him what lies behind the Israeli Prime

Minister's desire to fire the head of the country's domestic security agency. There's two reasons which are being put forth by the two different camps in Israel. The one is by Netanyahu, whose reason for saying he wants to fire the head of the Shin Bet is that he doesn't trust him anymore, meaning he has no faith in his ability to do the job. And on the other side of the aisle, there are the opposition parties and other critics who are saying that there's a very serious investigation against aides to Prime Minister Netanyahu about their connections to Qatar during a time of war when Qatar has close ties to Hamas and those aides are suspected of being involved in efforts to

improve Qatar's image in Israel and that therefore the Shin Bet is involved in this investigation into those ties within the Prime Minister's office and therefore that's the reason why Netanyahu was moving against a one-end bar at this time. You know, that's the two reasons that we're being presented with at the moment. The Attorney General has said that she was not consulted on this decision. Why is that significant? Well, you know, according to the law, it is actually the government, as in the cabinet, which is entitled to appoint and dismiss the head of the Shin Bet. The attorney general, she is the ultimate arbiter for the government of what is legal, what is a legal government action. She's saying that Israeli law and precedent in the courts means

that the government can't just fire a senior official like the head of the Shin Bet at will, it has to provide a substantive reason to do so. And she's saying first the government needs to provide that reason to her before she can say whether or not she believes that's a legal and lawful decision. The legal affairs correspondent for the Times of Israel, Jeremy Sharon. The US has deported more than 250 mainly Venezuelan alleged gang members to El Salvador by invoking a rarely used, centuries-old wartime law. The deportations took place despite a federal judge's order to halt the flights. The U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he wanted to express his gratitude to El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele for playing a pivotal role in ridding the US of violent criminals and that

El Salvador would hold the prisoners in quote very good jails at a fair price. I asked our America's editor Leonardo Rosha why the Trump administration had gone ahead with the deportations despite the judges ruling. President Trump is determined to go ahead with his policies. All the measures that he has signed into law or some special decrees that he signed have been challenged in court and he's going ahead with them. I think he's very defiant and very determined here. He's using a law from, I believe, from the 18th century about invasion of American borders

to say that these foreign gangs are a threat to America in the same way that the foreign army was. He's gone ahead with it and from day one he's very determined to, as he put it, stop the flow of mass migration. Have to bear in mind also that his secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is of a Cuban family from Florida and he not only speaks Spanish fluently but he's very aware of the situation in Latin America and I think that's a priority of the Trump administration there.

And why have these mostly Venezuelan migrants been sent to El Salvador? It's for a couple of reasons. First the president of El Salvador, Naíb Bukele, is a young right-wing politician, enthusiastic, very supportive of the Trump policies. He said he was willing to take them. The United States apparently agreed to pay $20,000 per prisoner per year for him to house them in El Salvador. And there's also another reason, is the fact that Venezuela has a socialist left-wing government that's been subjected to sanctions by the United States.

So they're refusing to take their parties from the United States. There was a sort of good start between President Maduro and the Trump administration, but since then Trump administration has issued new sanctions against the Venezuelan government and they have stopped. So what I see here is President Trump imposing his policies. He needs third countries to accept these migrants. And El Salvador is the only country that has agreed to accept convicted criminals or people accused of belonging to criminal gangs. Leonora Rocha, the prospect of coming back home to planet Earth is now a little bit closer

for two astronauts who have been stranded on the International Space Station for nine months. A SpaceX capsule carrying a new crew has docked at the ISS, paving the way for Butch Wilmore and Sunny Williams to finally return home. They were only supposed to be on the station for eight days, but technical issues with the experimental spacecraft they arrived on meant they couldn't leave until this week. Our science editor Rebecca Morell reports. Hands off. Dragon contact and soft capture complete. After the spacecraft docked, the hatch opened and the four new astronauts floated on board

the International Space Station. The arrival of this replacement crew marks the beginning of the end for Butch Wilmore and Sunny Williams' extended mission. The NASA astronauts have been on the space station since June and were only supposed to stay for just over a week, but the spacecraft they arrived on, made by aerospace company Boeing, suffered technical problems, so NASA had to find another way to get the astronauts home. They opted for the next scheduled SpaceX flight, extending Butch and Sonny's mission until

now. The pair will now spend the next few days handing over to the new crew before they can finally begin their journey back. Rebecca Morell. Well, for more on what it's like to spend a long time on the International Space Station, Paul Henley spoke to Colonel Katie Coleman, a retired NASA astronaut. She's a veteran of two space shuttle missions

and she flew back from the station in 2011 after spending 159 days there. Paul asked her about her time on board the ISS. I would have spent another 159 if I could have. You were excited enough by this experience. What about witnessing this, well you could call it a rescue, at least a relief for those who want to go back home? Actually, I cannot call it a rescue. We try to stick to the facts and they've had this

crew, Sunny and Butch, there's a ship that came up in September with two empty seats just for them. That SpaceX 9 spaceship has been attached to the space station this whole time. So they could have left at any time and especially in an emergency. So it's not a rescue. It's a regularly scheduled part of the operations. But that's actually the magical part, which is that dedication to mission. The fact that knowing what you're doing up there is so important. It's so fulfilling.

It even does overcome the fact that your family is taking up a lot of your slack for you and you miss each other greatly. We hear that training takes over in these circumstances, but the routine of life on board must get frankly at times boring, doesn't it? I can barely speak when you ask me that. It might depend on the person. I have not yet met an astronaut who was bored up there because every day is different. We actually barely have time to look out the window, but when you do look out the window, you'd think in a way – I think I went around the Earth more than 4,000 times – and it's different

every time you're seeing some place that's interesting to you or maybe it's home to you, but you're seeing it in a different light, in a different season. That vantage point, you're always looking with other people's eyes as well. Mason- You are surrounded by other people's eyes as well. Is privacy not an issue? It's the size of two 747s inside. So there's about 10 modules. They're all connected kind of in a line, but some are up and some are down or sideways. But each of them is the size of a subway car without the seats in it. I keep trying to get you to see a downer of this experience and I'm not managing, but

there are effects on your health aren't there? There's muscle wasting, there's a deterioration of your vision. What might these two astronauts who are coming home find difficult on their return to Earth? Well, those things that you talked about, definitely we are seeing some of that. I would say in terms of muscle wasting, that does happen. We lose bone about 10 times faster than someone who has osteoporosis. But here's kind of the good and the bad news is that due to the experiments we're doing up there, because it happens so fast, we're easily studied. And it turns out exercise is here to stay and that it really works to maintain bone

health. So that's working out, although each of us has a physical every year the rest of our lives if we are willing to go to NASA to have it. That was Colonel Katie Coleman, a retired NASA astronaut. Still to come. Essentially China's got 1.4 billion people, but it's aging rapidly and the government believes there simply aren't enough young people to pay for the ever growing number of pensioners. Now authorities in one Chinese city are offering couples a huge financial reward to have more babies but will it work?

Hello, I'm Robin Ince. And I'm Brian Cox. And we would like to tell you about the new series of The Infinite Monkey Cage. We're going to have a planet off. Jupiter versus Saturn! Well, it's very well done that because in the script it does say, wrestling voice. After all of that, it's going to kind of chill out a bit and talk about ice. And also in this series, we're discussing history of music, recording with Brian Eno

and looking at nature's shapes. So listen wherever you get your podcasts. You're listening to the Global News podcast. The number of people killed by tornadoes that have been tearing through southern and central parts of the United States since Friday has now risen to at least 36. The storms have caused mass car pileups, flattened homes, fueled wildfires and left hundreds of thousands of people without power. Jericho McCoy in Mississippi described her family's terror as a tornado hit their home. We went through Katrina but we've never experienced anything like this.

I grabbed my toddler, wrapped her up and got on the bed and then my husband grabbed my daughter. All I could hear is my six-year-old screaming that she didn't want to die, you know, you don't want to hear that coming out of your baby's mouth and you know my husband saying please God let my family be okay, please God, please God, please God. A state of emergency has been declared in a number of states including Arkansas, Georgia and Oklahoma, where more than 100 wildfires are raging. I heard more from our U.S. correspondent Merlyn Thomas. There are several states which have issued a tornado watch from the National Weather

Service including Georgia, Florida and even Pennsylvania. That for Sunday and it's really a deadly mix of violent tornadoes, high winds, large hail and blinding dust storms which have created this concoction of this large weather system moving across large parts of the United States and as you said the death toll is still climbing and responders and local authorities are still assessing the damage from the number of the tornadoes that have hit. And it appears that Missouri has borne the brunt of the storm that suffered most of the fatalities, but other states like Kansas have also seen dust storms because of those high winds and dry, parched ground.

And also we've seen car pileups of at least 50 vehicles, as you said, in states like Kansas, which have also caused some fatalities too. And we've also seen dozens and dozens of wildfires just weeks after the Los Angeles fires. Absolutely, those kind of scenes of apocalyptic scenes really, very reminiscent of what we saw in Los Angeles of those wildfires. We've seen videos circulating online of houses being consumed by flames and the remains of houses you can see in kind of drone footage are just charred land and homes which have barely been spared and now little more than rubble. And more than 130

fires have been reported across Oklahoma. That appears to be where most of the wildfires have been and it's because it seems The fires were fueled by high winds mixed with a combination of that dry parched land And there's still an elevated fire threat for some other states including Texas and Nebraska and South Dakota and the worst may still yet to be to come because they've still issued some of those for Monday and Tuesday too. Merlin Thomas, staying in the US and protests have erupted at Tesla facilities across the country as anger grows against its CEO Elon Musk for his federal cost cutting role in the US government. Mr Musk is running the so-called Department of Government Efficiency commonly known as

Doge which has slashed thousands of government jobs. Mr. Musk is running the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, commonly known as DOGE, which has slashed thousands of government jobs. That sparked a backlash with many consumers in the US and abroad boycotting Tesla. Reagan Morris attended a protest in Burbank, California, and sent this report. Elon Musk is not elected. Democracy must be protected. The growing political influence of Elon Musk, the world's richest man, has sparked a wave of protests outside Tesla facilities in the United States. I would like to run Musk out of business.

Critics call him President Musk and say the billionaire has too much power in the White House. As President Trump's chief cost-cutting advisor, Musk has been instrumental in firing thousands of government workers and canceling humanitarian aid contracts around the world. Musk is also the CEO of Tesla, and protesters are urging people to ditch their stock in the company and to stop driving their cars. I had a 2021 Tesla, and about two years years ago I put on a bumper sticker that said bought this car before we knew.

Karen Rabwin protested two days after selling her Tesla. People on the freeway would drive by and honk and give me a thumbs up. I loved it until a couple weeks ago and I said no I can't do this anymore. How could I drive that car? I believe I principles So it felt like a stigma Stigma, but it was also showing the world that I was supporting something that I wasn't that I wasn't behind Was it easy to sell and did you get a good deal? We actually did it at the Cadillac dealer. We traded it in we did not get as much as we could have

But I didn't want to drive that car another day and you've got kind of a, I'd say maybe a Shepard Fairey influenced Elon poster with a big X through his face. Trying to do something that can be reproduced and all that and spread, you know, make people wake up. You know, we're either a nightmare or a dream and I just want people to wake up and see what Elon is doing. So that's why I'm here. So many Americans are admiring what DoGE is doing and are supportive of it.

I don't know about that. I don't think the people feel the same way. I mean, if they didn't feel the same way, they wouldn't be here. Most Tesla takedown protests have been peaceful, but a few have been destructive, with fires intentionally set at Tesla showrooms and charging stations. And there's also been a spike in take down protests have been peaceful, but a few have been destructive with fires intentionally set at Tesla showrooms and charging stations. And there's also been a spike in cyber truck vandalism across the country. While Elon Musk's social media platform X is full of videos showing happy cyber truck owners marveling at the futuristic looking vehicles, the site is also full of videos calling cyber trucks swastikars and deplorians, showing the vehicles

emblazoned with swastikas or anti-Musk graffiti. This is beautiful. Whoa. Should I get in? Get in. But Musk and Tesla have many devoted supporters, including President Trump, who used the White House as a backdrop to buy a bright red Tesla this week in front of the cameras.

Who else but this guy would design this and everybody on the road is looking at it. It's amazing, actually. As soon as I saw it, I said, that is the coolest design. President Trump said violence against Tesla owners and dealerships would be labeled domestic terrorism. And, no, we're going to catch them. And let me tell you, you do it to Tesla and you do it to any company.

We're going to catch you and you're going to go through hell. Elon Musk has billions of dollars worth of contracts with the US government, mostly with NASA and the Defense Department through his company, SpaceX. But unlike SpaceX, Tesla is a publicly traded company and the boycott is working. Tesla stock price surged after Donald Trump was elected with Elon Musk by his side. But Tesla shares have since plunged in value and driving one of their electric vehicles is now increasingly seen as a political statement. Reagan Morris reporting.

A decade ago China scrapped its one-child policy that had for decades meted out severe punishments including forced abortions to parents who had more than one baby. But despite China lifting the limit to two, then three children amid concerns about how rapidly its population is aging, this has failed to lead to a sustained rise in births. Now a city in northern China has decided to offer couples who already have two children a big financial reward to have another one. Mickey Bristow is our Asia Pacific editor. Essentially for the last couple of years the central government has been trying to persuade local governments across China to provide incentives for people to have more children. Essentially China's got 1.4 billion people but it's

aging rapidly and the government believes there simply aren't enough young people to pay for the ever-gr growing number of pensioners. So across the country there's a patchwork of incentives being offered. This particular case or this particular incentive is in the city of Ho Hoc in the Mongolia, that's a northern region of China, and they're offering couples an enormous amount of money really, nearly 14,000 US dollars for their third child and any other children that they have. This money will be paid over 10 years in 10 equal annual installments and just to give you an idea of exactly how much money this is, it's about twice as much as the annual disposable income that people

have in this particular place. So really a lot of money. And the big question is will it work? Well it hasn't so far across China. Birth rates have been falling and the number of babies being born has been falling for a number of years. There was a slight uptick last year but that's to do with a specific reason. It was the year of theick last year, but that's to do with a specific reason. It was the Year of the Dragon last year and lots of parents like to have children in that year, but generally speaking it's on a downward curve and that's partly because the one child policy which existed until about a decade ago was really successful. It tried to persuade Chinese people that really

there was too many Chinese people and parents ought to have fewer children and they were forced to have fewer children. That policy was so successful that to suddenly turn it around and try and persuade people to have more children now, it's not really working. Miki Bristow, now to a new US soap opera which is being described as a slap in the face for Donald Trump. The daytime soap is called Beyond the Gates and it's about the glamorous lives of a wealthy black American community. It started airing at a time when the Trump administration is trying to end all diversity, equity and inclusion efforts known as DEI. The show is set in a fictional upmarket part of the state of Maryland, inspired by the very real exclusive Maryland enclave inside Prince George's County. Brandon Drennan

went to visit it. Prince George's County is one of the wealthiest black majority districts in the U.S. The Woodmore Country Club and its attached gated community are the heart of the area's upper crust. I am taking a tour of the golf club in style, on a golf cart. The parking lot is filled with Mercedes, Benz's and Teslas. The vast rolling hills of the golf course stretch as far as the eye can see. Ciara Balgar is a regular here. She also hosts events at the Woodmore for her women of color social club called City Girls Golf.

Housewives golf. Government Girls Golf. She moved to the county from New York in 2023. So I'm actually coming from New York and it was kind of like the culture shock for me to see like black people with with these mega houses. The country club setting has inspired a new TV production called Beyond the Gates.

Good morning, Mrs. Dupree. Have you spoken to Danny? Danny was blindsided by Bill and Haley's affair. In the past, wealthy black families have been portrayed in sitcoms like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air or primetime dramas like Empire. But Beyond the Gates is the first hour long daytime soap opera starring a black

family. And it comes amid a backlash spearheaded by President Trump's efforts against diversity, equity and inclusion. President Trump signed an executive order giving agencies 60 days to terminate all DEI positions. Our country is going to be based on merit again. Can you believe it? Kristen Warner is a media professor at Cornell University. It still is exciting and the idea that even in the midst of everything being taken away, we have this one little moment where there is something for us.

It's an exciting project. It also is really scary right now because they have to walk this tightrope. And how are you both able to be resonant to black audiences, but also non-black audiences? How do you balance that? And that's not a thing that the other soap operas ever had to think about. But Hope Wiseman, who grew up in Woodmore, is pleased to see the new soap opera depicting her community. Everyone's super excited to see our area depicted in a positive light with, you know, black wealth portrayed in a way that is relevant to us. A lot of people don't understand what it's

like to grow up around and what it's like to operate in an environment where there's black excellence all around you. And that's not the experience of most of black America. So that's cool that other people can experience black excellence, you know, in kind of our drama. Prince George's County Resident Hope Wiseman ending that report by Brandon Drennan. And that's all from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the Global News podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcast.bbc.co.uk. This edition was mixed by Nick Randall, the producer was Liam McSheffrey, the editor is

Karen Martin. I'm Janet Jalil. Until next time, goodbye. Hello, I'm Robin Ince. And I'm Brian Cox. And we would like to tell you about the new series of The Infinite Monkey Cage. We're going to have a planet off. Jupiter versus Saturn! It was very well done that because in the script it does say, wrestling voice. After all of that, it's going to kind of chill out a bit and talk about ice.

And also in this series we're discussing history of music, recording with Brian Eno and looking at nature's shapes. So listen wherever you get your podcasts.