Global News Podcast - Bangladesh Prime Minister resigns and flees after deadly protests

Episode Date: August 5, 2024

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has resigned and fled the country after anti-government protests in which hundreds of people have been killed. Huge crowds of protesters have been celebrating in the streets of the capital, but there has also been widespread looting, including in the Prime Minister's official residence. The army chief, General Waker-Uz-Zaman, says he will be forming an interim government. Also: The Japanese stock exchange has had one of the worst days in its history. The biggest drop was in Japan, where the Nikkei 225 index plunged more than 12 per cent. And we find out about the frontrunners for the US Democratic Vice-President nominee - Senator Mark Kelly, and two Governors, Tim Walz and Josh Shapiro.

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 Rachel Wright and at 13 Hours GMT on Monday 5th August, these are our main stories.

In Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has resigned and fled the country after anti-government protests in which hundreds of people have been killed. stories. In Bangladesh, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has resigned and fled the country after anti-government protests in which hundreds of people have been killed. We'll find out what's been happening in the capital, Dhaka. Also, the Japanese stock exchange has one of the worst days in its history. And tensions are running high in the Middle East following last week's assassinations. Also in this podcast, the mystery of what happened to American singer Connie Converse, who was born 100 years ago today. We start in Bangladesh, where after weeks of student protests and more than 300 people killed, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has resigned and fled the country.

There have been jubilant scenes, but also widespread looting since the news was announced. The army chief, General Waka Uz Saman, came on television to announce the prime minister's resignation and that he would be forming an interim government. The prime minister has resigned. Now we will run our work by forming an interim government. Have some patience. Give us some time. Working unitedly, we'll be able to resolve all problems. Don't go for conflict anymore and come back to the path of peace. Our South Asia correspondent Samira Hussain has been following events from Delhi. After 16 years under the rule of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the autocratic leader has fled the country. Huge crowds of cheering protesters stormed her official residence in the capital Dhaka.

Protests began last month when students demanded that quotas and civil service jobs be abolished. But it quickly turned into an anti-government movement after the brutal crackdown by police. Bangladesh has not seen this kind of violence since its war of independence back in 1971. Protesters looted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's official residence in the capital Dhaka, some carrying chairs and other furniture out onto the streets. Akbar Hussain from BBC Bengali is in the capital. People are celebrating their victory after the fall of Sheikh Hasina at one hand. On the other hand, the lootings and many people are setting fire on police stations and Sheikh Hasina's Awamilik's party offices and some leaders of Awamilik.

So violence is still going on across the country and it is now the prime task for the Bangladesh army to maintain law and order and restore normalcy in the country. But in the meantime, Sheikh Hasina, she was flown to India, and from where she will be taken to a third country. We don't know which country it would be, but definitely she is not going to stay in India for a long time or permanently. And Bangladesh's army chief, General Walker Zaman, he made a statement an hour after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left the country where the army chief said that an interim government will be formed and this interim government, it will be a non-party government. There will be no political affiliation of any political party in this government. But he

urged protesters to come down and go back to their homes. And he said that each and every killing would be tried. And he urged people to keep faith on Bangladesh Army. Our South Asia regional editor is Ambarasan Ethirajan. So what did he think was the catalyst for these dramatic developments? People's power, as simple as that, because this protest has been going on for weeks and she underestimated the power of this protest. As you know, I saw this in Sri Lanka two years ago when people storm compare the situation, similarities about the economic problems and how this, what they call as autocratic rule, really marginalized people triggering anger. The pent-up anger for over the years was, the tipping point was when all these killings happened by police in the last few days. We're talking about hundreds of people were shot

dead. And she thought somehow she could cling on to power with the help of the security forces because she had the security forces support and might. But what she did not predict was it was not simply a student movement, people from all walks of life, civil society, activists, actors, people, journalists, people, farmers, even rickshaw pullers joined this protest that came as a surprise. And the state was about to collapse. And that's when she decided she had to leave. Now, the army general has said he's forming an entering government. Can he restore calm? I mean, is there any faith or trust in the army?

People do respect the army. And he has been urging people to go back to their homes and we know that there are some incidents happening in the city itself but there's worry that because the Awami League and the government forces have done so many human rights violations people might think it is time for them to take revenge. That is a real worry between clashes between political parties. And also that's why we see the attack on the houses of ministers. And that needs to be brought under control. And that will be the big challenge for the army chief. And what about the wider region? How do you think they will view this? It came as a shock for many countries. No one expected that this could happen so quickly because Bangladesh was seen as one of the stable countries.

And what Asina provided was stability, especially for neighboring India. A stable Bangladesh is very key for India's security and also for China. She was in China, in fact, last month to ask for more money, for more investment. And for other countries like Nepal and in Pakistan, this has come as a big surprise. Once again, they are seeing the second time in the region in the last few years, how if people are going to abuse the power, then one day the people might take over. And this is what has happened, both in the case of Sri Lanka. Now we are seeing that in Bangladesh.

So it is a historic moment for many Bangladeshis. Ambarasan Etharajan. Now let's turn to our other main story. Dramatic things have been happening on Asian stock exchanges. We're going to find out why from our business reporter Marika Oi. The biggest drop was in Japan where the Nikkei 225 index plunged more than 12%. There were also big falls in South Korea and Taiwan. Mariko, who's in Singapore, gave us this assessment.

I think it's fair to say that people were expecting some kind of market movement because, of course, the Bank of Japan last Wednesday raised the cost of borrowing to 0.25%, which sounds very low, and it still is very low compared to the rest of the world. But the whole point was they were trying to prop up the value of the Japanese yen. And because the Japanese currency has been falling sharply against the US dollar, and the authorities have been saying that that's just too weak, and it was making, you know, the cost of imports for, you know, things like fuel and food more expensive. So they raised interest rates. And as

a result, it prop up the value of the Japanese yen sharply. And even though this is exactly what the authorities wanted as a nation of exporters, Japanese exporters have been suffering quite a lot today. Also, of course, last Friday, we had a very weak U.S. jobs data coming out, and that started concerns among some investors that the world's biggest economy could be headed for a recession. Now, some people say that the economy is absolutely fine, but just that kind of concerns and worries among investors, that has been triggering this global sell-off, as you said, in Japan, but also South Korea and Taiwan. Japan's Nikkei 225, it closed down 12.5% down, but also it was the biggest points drop in history. So bigger than COVID,

bigger than that huge earthquake that hit the nation in 2011, or even bigger than Black Monday of 1987. Remarkable. And what about the European markets? They are, of course, now open. What's happening there? They are trading lower as, now open. What's happening there? They are trading lower as well, but nothing compared to the numbers that we're talking about. Of course, they had already suffered some of the sell-off last week as well, because it's kind of everyone taking cue from each other. And of course, we'll be watching how the U.S. markets reopen as well. But it's really about the state of the global economy and also, of course, the US markets reopen as well. But it's really about, you know, the state of the global economy and also the, of course, the US economy. But also, it is important to mention that this is a summer holiday season where the number of traders is

probably fewer. And as a result, you know, the minority movement could actually cause a bigger move in a bigger market. So that could explain why this really big jump and fall that we've seen today. Mariko Oye. Fears are growing in the Middle East that there will be a major escalation of the conflict in the region. A statement from Iran today has said that while it doesn't want such an escalation, it must punish Israel for the death of the Hamas leader in Tehran. The killings last week of Ismail Haniyeh and a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon have increased tensions following nearly 10 months of war in Gaza. Israel is now preparing for what could be a prolonged Iranian missile attack.

Our Middle East correspondent Yolande Nell is in Jerusalem. This morning and yesterday we continue to see Israeli forces and Hezbollah exchanging fire across the Israel-Lebanon border. But Lebanese TV has said that this was not the promised response to the killing of the Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut and the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week. The expectation remains that there could be a much bigger assault on Israel still to come involving Iran and its different proxies around the region potentially lasting for several days. President Biden is set to convene his national security team at the White House. What do you think the US can do? I mean, certainly a lot is going on diplomatically to try to de-escalate the situation. There are

different allies of the US Arab countries talking to Iran, urging it to restrain its response. We have the Jordanian foreign minister making a rare visit to Tehran. The US is reportedly trying to revive the coalition which helped Israel towards that major direct attack from Iran back in April with 300 missiles and attack drones being launched. Back then you had the UK, France

and Jordan involved in that apparent use of Saudi airspace as well. The Pentagon has moved extra military resources to this region, including an aircraft carrier. There have been conversations taking place between senior US military officials and their Israeli counterparts. Israel's been coming out saying that it's ready for whatever happens. There was this big meeting of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his security officials for four hours yesterday looking at Israel's options for response. Meanwhile, many countries are still pulling their citizens out of the Middle East. That's right, out of Lebanon in particular, with the thought that that could really be on the front line

if this turns into a wider regional war, a full-scale war. We heard that British diplomatic families were withdrawn from Lebanon, but one of my colleagues there is saying that people don't seem to be panicking. Certainly people are leaving, that's the advice that's come through from many foreign governments, but there isn't panic that's setting in as people try to get some of those few remaining flights. There's been a lot of flight disruption around this region as the situation has turned into this real fear of a regional escalation. You learned Nell in Jerusalem. Still to come on this podcast.

I can't even bring myself to follow the athletics at these games. It's too painful. We bring you the Russian experience of the Olympic Games. If you're hearing this, you're probably already listening To be continued... 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. In Panama, the sudden closure of a huge open-pit copper mine has created a dramatic economic fallout. Thousands of jobs have been lost and there's been damage to the country's reputation for investors.

The mine, Cobra Panama, was shut down by Panama's Supreme Court after months of protest against it. Jane Chambers has been to Panama to find out more. The Canadian mining company First Quantum Minerals has invested 10 billion dollars in the Cobre Panama mine which accounts for more than one percent of the world's copper production. This is a very swanky part of Panama City it's called Costa del Este and it's full of skyscrapers, very smart offices. I'm on the 23rd floor with stunning views of the sea and I'm about to meet someone called Dulcido de la Guardia, who's an ex-finance minister. Well, Cobre Panama, it was the most important foreign investment in the country, second to the Panama Canal.

What was its contribution? 5% of GDP, so it's about $5 billion in contributions between direct and indirect. But at the end of last year, thousands of people took to the streets to protest against the mine. They said a new contract was unconstitutional and bad for the environment. Reza Banfield, an architect and environmental activist, says the open-pit copper mine threatened water supplies and was harming the country's biodiversity. We looked at the new mining contract and realised how bad it would be for Panama.

That resulted in its closure by Panama's Supreme Court and the ratings agency Fitch stripping the country of its investment-grade credit rating. But not everyone agrees about the environmental impact. There has been a lot of misinformation surrounding the mine. You must understand that many people were against the last government. That's biologist Samuel Valdez, the owner of the Biodiversity Consultant Group, who's worked for the mine for the last 14 years. He thinks the mine was closed for political reasons. They thought it was corrupt and they started to mistrust the mine with a skeleton staff of 1,400 workers,

instead of the usual 7,000 in the mine. No copper has been extracted. But there is copper concentrate sitting, waiting to be exported, which people like the head of the Panama Mining Chamber, Zoral Morales, are worried about. It is increasing the risk of having an environmental impact tragedy over there. I mean, it is just getting high temperatures and it's producing some gases and those gases could be dangerous. They could make an explosion. First Quantum Minerals has filed lawsuits against Panama, but they've told the BBC they're open to dialogue and keen to find a solution with the government. Panama's former finance minister, Dulcidio de la Guardia,

says the government needs to give people some reassurances. He and others in the business community are hopeful the new government, which took over in early July, can reach an agreement with the mine that Panamanians will support, given how important it is for the economy. Jane Chambers ending that report. To listen to more about the Panama mining story, search for Business Daily wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Traditionally in US elections, it doesn't matter who's the running mate on the presidential ticket. However, a vice president herself, Democrat nominee Kamala Harris,

is taking her time to choose her pick. Knowing the right choice could secure a battleground state or balance the ticket in a way that swings enough electoral college votes to win. There are three front runnersners, Senator Mark Kelly and two governors, Tim Waltz from Minnesota and Josh Shapiro from Pennsylvania. My colleague Justin Webb spoke to Hank Sheinkopf, a longtime political strategist for the Democrats. They discussed what each would bring to the ticket,

starting with Josh Shapiro. He is young, he is smart, he is somewhat charismatic, and he hails from a state that is critical for the Democrats to win. And if they don't win, it's not likely without Pennsylvania that Kamala Harris would be the next president of the United States. What in that case is preventing us simply saying it's him, it's so obvious, it's so clear that there's no reason not to do it? Well, there's a schism, there are many schisms in the Democratic Party in the United States, which is frankly, more like a bunch of clans than it is a coalition of any coherence. Part of Josh Shapiro's problem is frankly, that he's Jewish, and that the Gaza war

is a major problem for Democrats, and they have a great divide about it, and he's been public about his support for Israel, that may be a problem for him. Would it be a problem in the wider nation, then? Maybe, maybe not. Truthfully, among Republicans, and particularly evangelical Christians, it's not a problem at all

because they're strong supporters of the state of Israel. But the Democrats have that kind of fissure among the other fissures they have because they're aligned. It's clans. They're a loose coalition of ethnic, racial groups, different ways of thinking. And they can't seem to get united, which is which is why they need Kamala Harris to get united. If she decides against him, she has a choice of a real live astronaut, Mark Kelly. Well, Kelly would make a lot more sense, frankly. He is from Arizona, but he's an American hero. And Americans, as you know, watching Americans, they love heroes.

And that's part of it. He was an astronaut and his wife, Gabby Gibbons, was the victim of an attempted assassination when she served the United States Congress, leaving her impaired in many ways. So his story is a great story. And Kelly would help her also because she's a Catholic. People still vote along those kinds of lines. Michigan, heavily Catholic. Arizona, Nevada, heavily Catholic. Pennsylvania, heavily Catholic. Wisconsin, heavily Catholic. Those are all states that she's got to win. And Kelly would be helpful. We should mention as well, Governor Tim Walz, who came up, didn't he, on television with this word weird to describe J.D. Vance, but also to an extent, Donald Trump and the whole kind of

modern Republican Party, which just took off and seems to have catapulted him into the front running. Well, he was always a player. The weird thing is really good because we live in a nation today, in a world where in the social media environment, one word can define something where people don't have to say a lot. So weird makes it work for Democrats. He's from a state that doesn't have, but would be Democrat voting anyway. But he's from the Midwest of the country, the United States.

And that makes it easy to pick up some states, Wisconsin, Michigan, and potentially Pennsylvania, which sees part of itself as being in the Midwest. What do you think she's going to do? Hard to say. I mean, I think it's Waltz and I think it's Walter Kelly. I may be dead wrong. It just makes more sense. Shapiro creates problems for her and Kelly or Waltz can potentially help bring Pennsylvania. That simple. Paralympics medal table, Russia. Its team were banned after the Kremlin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, although individual Russian athletes from some sports have been permitted to compete under a neutral flag. The Games aren't even being televised in Russia and there's been

stinging criticism of the event on state media. Our Russia editor Steve Rosenberg reports on Moscow's view of the Paris Olympics. I'm on a boat sailing down the river with an Olympic champion. No, I'm not on the Seine, and this is definitely not Paris. Right now, we're passing the Kremlin. Below deck, high jumper Maria Lassistkene is at the press launch for an unusual event, a Russian athletics competition with fashion show and music festival. Maria isn't in Paris defending her Olympic title. Team Russia is barred over the war in Ukraine. Track and field stars from Russia aren't even allowed in as neutral athletes. And that hurts.

I can't even bring myself to follow the athletics at these games, Maria says. It's too painful. We should be there. The Olympics is the greatest event in the world. Not according to Russian state media. After an opening ceremony featuring drag artists, and what some saw as a parody of Da Vinci's The Last Supper, Russian TV dubbed the Paris Olympics Satan's Party. Sour grapes? Not at all, says Russian MP Maria Butina. I thought the Olympic Games are about sport, but now it's no longer about sport. It's about politics, religion, everything. The original idea of the Olympic Games was to create peace. Russia has invaded Ukraine. That's not peace, is it?

Russia has been protecting their people, and this is normal. You talk about politics, but what about the years of state-sponsored doping in Russian sports? What about Russia's invasion of Ukraine? When they exclude Russian sportsmen, they do play politics. But do you understand why they exclude? If you want the perfect world, then everybody should give up their flags But to understand why they exclude. Fifteen Russians have been competing in Paris as neutral athletes, in sports like tennis and canoeing.

They've had to go through a vetting procedure to prove they have no links to the military or to security agencies and do not support Russia's war in Ukraine. For the first time in 40 years, Russian TV isn't showing it. Wall-to-wall fighter Vadim doesn't care. I haven't followed the Olympics for ages, Vadim says. So what that we can't watch it? Fighting talk from Vadim. But the reality is that Olympic Games were always a big deal for Russia and for Russians. The country used to send hundreds of athletes to a summer Games.

Having no team at the Olympics is a sign of Russia's isolation. And it's hard to see a victory in that. Steve Rosenberg, reporting from Moscow. And finally... See that bird sitting on my windowsill When he's saying, whip her the birth of the American musician Connie Converse. Never heard of her? Well, her songs were largely ignored in her time, but they've started to be rediscovered in recent years.

She's now hailed by some as a great lost talent. Lost not just because her songs got little attention, but also because Connie herself suddenly disappeared one week after her 50th birthday. Our culture reporter Ian Youngs has her story. Connie Converse wrote Talking Like You in 1951. Sophisticated, intimate, a little melancholy. She was arguably the first of a modern breed of personal and poetic singer-songwriters. There's the idea in Connie Converse's songs that we are being taken into the singer's confidence, that we are being allowed into a person's inner life,

into a sort of vulnerability on the part of the singer and the narrator. Howard Fishman, who recently wrote a biography of Connie Converse. And it has the ability, as so many of her songs do, to completely draw us in to a different world. And this, of course, is ubiquitous today. But at the time that she was doing it, nobody was doing this. But Connie never got a record deal. And we only have her songs today because a friend, the animator Gene Deitch, recorded her in his home. And he asked her how she got started. I always did hum things to myself, and when I got the guitar,

I was picking up folk songs and then started to make my own little tunes and words. Those home recordings were rediscovered 20 years ago, and have since gradually found the audience that escaped Connie Converse at the time. British singer Vashti Bunyan has seen her own music rediscovered in recent years and she's among the Connie Converse converts. The one I love of hers most is Roving Woman.

People say a roving woman is likely not to be better than she ought to be. Is likely not to be better than she ought to be. It just rang true for me. She was completely ahead of her time, and it must have been very hard for her. She must have felt isolated. If she had any ambition for her songs, She must have known how good they were but other people didn't seem to recognise that kind of genius writing at the time. Connie Converse's songs didn't fit in in the 50s and neither did she. She gave up on music and became the respected

editor of an international peace journal. But just after she turned 50 on the 3rd of August 1974, she sent letters to friends and family saying she wanted a fresh start. She left her home in Michigan and hasn't been heard from since. What do I think happened? How can we ever know what happened? I just hope that it wasn't despair that sent her away. The Connie Converse story doesn't end with a slow fade. Biographer Howard Fishman. It ends with a quick blackout.

She is never seen again. And what I always say is don't focus on how she disappeared, focus on how she lived. And I think it's only a matter of time before she becomes understood as a major American figure of the 20th century. Ian Youngs with that report on Connie Converse. 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 in it, you can 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 mixed by Chris Ablakwa and the producer was Anna Murphy. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Rachel Wright. Until next time, goodbye. 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?

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