Global News Podcast - Biden allows Ukraine to strike Russia with long-range US missiles

Episode Date: November 18, 2024

President Biden has authorised Ukraine to use US long-range missiles to strike inside Russia. Also: the AI technology that's cloning voices, and we meet Miss Merkel, the Miss Marple of German Television.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Good, bad billionaire from the BBC World Service. The podcast exploring the minds, the motives and the money of some of the world's richest individuals. Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts. This is a global news podcast from the BBC World Service. JALILIYA AL-JURAB, JANUARY 18, 2020 JALILIYA AL-JURAB, JANUARY 18, 2020 This is a global news podcast from the BBC World Service.

JALILIYA AL-JURAB, JANUARY 18, 2020 I'm Janat Jalil, and in the early hours of Monday, the 18th of November, these are our main stories. U.S. officials say President Biden has authorized Ukraine to use long-range missiles supplied by Washington to strike Russia. Israeli air attacks on Gaza, including on a multi-story residential building, killed dozens of people, with many more missing. We hear how melting glaciers caused by climate change are destroying mountain communities in Pakistan. People were running out of their homes. They were not sure of what will happen in future. Will anyone come to us? Will anyone save us?

Also in this podcast... She told me that she liked me, Angela Merkel, the real Angela Merkel. She don't like that I'm so small, but we are not really moderates, you know. Meet the actress who plays Miss Merkel, the Miss Marple of German television. President Biden is reported to have given the green light for Ukraine to use long range missiles supplied by the US to strike deep inside Russia. The decision marks a significant reversal in US policy after months of Washington

refusing Ukraine permission to use long-range weapons inside Russia. It comes just as Moscow is expected to launch a joint offensive with North Korean troops to push Ukrainian forces out of its Kursk region. As we record this podcast, the US policy shift has not officially been confirmed. It comes two months before Mr Biden is due to hand over power to Donald Trump. President Zelensky gave this response in his nightly address. The plan to strengthen Ukraine is the victory plan that I presented to the partners. One of the main points is long-range weapons for our army. Today many in the media are talking about the fact that we have received permission

to take appropriate actions. But blows are not inflicted with words. Such things are not announced in advance. The rockets will speak for themselves. So why the US change of heart now? Our correspondent in Ukraine, Paul Adams, gave his assessment. I think this is the result of a recognition

that Ukraine faces a very, very difficult winter with Russian forces on the advance in the east and also coming perhaps just days ahead of an expected Russian North Korean offensive in the Kursk region. Now that is the region of Russia, the little fraction of territory inside Russia that the Ukrainians have occupied and held since August and I think it is clear that Washington wants to help Kiev hold on to that territory, perhaps as a bargaining chip for some future negotiations. If those attack missiles are present, as we think they already are, and that the Ukrainians

have permission to use them at a range of in excess of 300 kilometers, which is their capability, then it presents all sorts of problems for the Russians. It puts many of their airfields within range. It puts a lot of their logistical hubs within range. It could really seriously complicate a Russian effort to retake that territory in Kursk. We understand, though we do not know this for certain, that that is the limited scope of this permission so far.

But I think it will make a difference there. And I think the other thing that's worth bearing in mind is this could unlock another decision by the British and French governments to use the Storm Shadow missile also at greater range, another thing that the Ukrainians have been demanding for some time and Washington has been resisting. So it's not necessarily a game changer. I talked to one military expert in Kiev this evening who said that he thought it was a significant moment that it could help Ukraine hold its own, that it could balance the forces in this fight, but that it would not bring the war to any kind of quick conclusion.

Paul Adams. So how is Moscow likely to respond? Our Russia editor is Steve Rosenberg. The only reaction that's come in so far has been from senior Russian politicians. So for example, the head of a pro-Kremlin political party has called this a serious escalation that would have serious consequences. A senior Russian senator said that it's a major step towards a world war, but keep in mind that what really counts in Russia is what President Putin says. And he hasn't said anything yet so far. I mean that's not surprising, it's late on a Sunday, but if you go back the last few months he said plenty.

Moscow has been sending lots of warnings, lots of signals to the West, don't do this. Don't remove your restrictions on the use of your long-range weapons. Don't allow Ukraine to use these weapons to strike deep inside Russian territory. Back in September, Vladimir Putin said that if this was allowed to happen, he would view that as the direct participation of NATO countries in the Ukraine War. He said it would substantially change the very essence, the nature of the conflict, and would mean that NATO countries were fighting with Russia. And then one month later, he announced changes to Russia's nuclear doctrine. The document sets the conditions under which Russia might

use a nuclear weapon. And again, that was widely interpreted as another sort of less than subtle hint, if you like, don't do this, don't allow these weapons to be used. But this US change of heart does seem to have been largely influenced by the fact that North Korean troops are in Russia preparing to launch an offensive against Ukrainian forces in the region of Kursk? It does seem that way. Whether Russia will accept that and see it that way is another matter. And of course that's the big question now. How is Russia going to react? How will President Putin react? What measures will Moscow take in response to this? We'll have to wait and see what those will be. Our Russia editor Steve Rosenberg. Well, this dramatic development came at the end of a day take in response to this. We'll have to wait and see what those will be.

Our Russia editor Steve Rosenberg. Well, this dramatic development came at the end of a day which saw one of the largest attacks in months by Russia against Ukraine. President Zelensky said more than 200 missiles and drones were fired during a massive combined strike which targeted energy networks. At least 10 people were killed in the attacks. Engineers have been working to restore power supplies. One of the cities to be hit was Mikolayev in southern Ukraine. Its governor Vitaly Kim described to the BBC what happened. Russian forces showed us gain. Today it was about 10 drones and yesterday also was missile strike just like terrorism because they attacked civilian blocks and one entertainment mall no military targets. Two women was killed,

one of them was pregnant, six people was injured and two of them was children. Was it also the case that energy infrastructure was being targeted, which seems to have happened elsewhere? No, usually they attack energy infrastructure. But today they attack to the center of the city. There is no critical infrastructure in the center of the city. You know, there's more than 1,000 days of war already, but Nikolaev was decommissioned, and we are on the front line. So everybody gets used to the war, everybody dies, but we know and we feel it every day. There is a little or a big difference between front regions and central regions. We hear it by our own eyes every day, so people want to defend themselves.

We do not want to lose our homes. So Nikolaev is strong enough in their intention to win and to continue a battle. But still it depends on everybody else, all nations. So we have no choice. We need to defend our homes and that's it. The Governor of Mikolaev Vitaly Kim talking to Owen Bennett-Jones. Dozens of people are reported to have been killed by an Israeli airstrike on a residential building in northern Gaza and many more are unaccounted for. Civil defence workers say that six families were living in the multi-storey building in Beit Lahir,

which was reduced to rubble by the strike. The Israeli military says that it was targeting Hamas terrorist activity and had warned residents to evacuate. In separate Israeli strikes, 10 Palestinians are reported to have been killed in central Gaza's Buraysh refugee camp and five more in the southern city of Khan Yunis. These people lost relatives in the attacks. With no prior warning, they targeted unarmed civilians sleeping in their homes. I was surprised to find my father 45 metres away from our home, while my mother was thrown into the other street. All my sisters were scattered in the streets here and there. It's one of the biggest crimes, something that doesn't happen anywhere else in the world.

Why target peaceful people sitting in their home? What could they possibly have done to justify hitting them in their own house? If you want to target military personnel, go and search for them. This comes as Pope Francis has called for an investigation to determine whether Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. Israel says it's exercising its right to self-defence after the Hamas attacks 13 months ago. I got more on the latest Israeli assaults on Gaza with our correspondent in Jerusalem Frank Gardner. It's a very bad day in Gaza. It

started with reports of at least 10 people killed in Brej refugee camp in central Gaza including women and children And then swiftly on the heels of that followed another report that a residential five-story building had been hit in the northern town of Beit Lahya. The Israelis say that they had detected terrorist activities from Hamas cells, so they carried out what they say were a number of precision targeted strikes. Palestinian civil defence officials say that there were six families living in that building and that there are dozens killed. I think all of this is really symptomatic of the fact that Hamas is still out there, it's depleted, but nevertheless

it's still operating out of tunnels. So when it comes to peace talks, which have stalled, the Israelis say we're not going to cease fire until Hamas is defeated. Hamas say we're not going to sign up to a ceasefire and release the hostages until the Israelis stop assaulting Gaza and withdraw beyond the Palestinian territory of Gaza. So there is an unpass there, a blockage. It's interesting that because the recently ousted defense minister, Yoav Galant, said that Israel had achieved all its objectives. So some might question why Israel is carrying out so many strikes,

sort of claiming so many civilian lives, even if Israel is trying to do all it can to minimize casualties. And we've also had that statement from Donald Trump saying to Israel, hit Gaza hard, but get it done before he enters the White House in January. Yeah, he doesn't want to inherit a war in which US munitions are being fed to Israel and thousands are dying. And that makes Americans and Westerners potential terrorist targets in the region.

So it's something he wants to get wrapped up. When it comes to the differences between Yoav Galant, the ousted defence minister, and the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, cynics, including those here in Israel on the left, would say that Benjamin Netanyahu is deliberately prolonging this war because he doesn't want to hold elections and possibly have to go to court and face a number of charges. Well, in fact, he is going to have to go to court. It's going to happen in December. And there's even the possibility that he could be imprisoned. But that said, he is riding much higher in the opinion polls now than he was prior to the September the 27th assassination by Israel of Hassan Nasrallah, the Lebanese Hezbollah

secretary-general, i.e. head of Hezbollah. So it's by no means certain that he would lose an election but it's often a fragile coalition. I think what Palestinians are worried about, you know, judging by the appointments that President-elect Donald Trump is making, the kind of people that he is appointing to be U.S. Ambassador to Israel, to be Middle East envoy, these are people who are very pro-settler. One of them has even gone on record saying there's no such thing as a Palestinian. And they rather support the hardline, hard right Israeli idea that there's no such thing

as the West Bank or a two state solution. It's all about Judea and Samaria and the God-given right of Israelis and Jews to live there and Palestinians shouldn't be there. So, you know, the Palestinians are in for a tough time, it has to be said. Frank Gardner. Well, Frank referred there to Israel's fight against Hezbollah in Lebanon. And one of the latest Israeli airstrikes on Beirut is reported to have killed Hezbollah's media chief, Mohammed Afif, one of the few remaining public faces of the group. Our reporter, Nafise Kounibard, went to the site.

The damage is significant to the building of the Syria Bat Party's office in Beirut and apparently the head of Hezbollah's press office had a meeting here. Here is central Beirut. It is a very central location which is a mixed neighborhood. There are Christians, Shias and Sunnis and it is not by any means Hezbollah stronghold. No one was expecting this attack. I have people from the neighbourhood around me. I can see shock in their faces. It is like nowhere is safe in Beirut anymore. Is it definite that Mohammed Afif, this

communications chief, the spokesman was killed or is that just sort of unconfirmed reporting at this point? There is no official statement by Hezbollah but from what we can hear from people at the spot, Civil Defense and Even from some officials in Hezbollah He had a meeting here. Of course, we didn't see the body itself But they we saw that they remove a body and put it in an ambulance and take it right I mean it suggests once again that Israel has astonishingly good intelligence about who's where in Beirut? Yes, but Mohammed Afif was very obvious target and he was very known. He was a press officer and he was doing a lot of press conferences recently, but

it seems that the timing is very important. It is a message that a second phase or another another different phase of attack by Israel started hunting even middle-ranked people in Hezbollah in any areas and not only in southern suburb of Beirut. Nafisah Kouranavad speaking to Owen Bennett-Jones. Now to an area referred to as the Third Pole, the Himalayan Mountains, a part of the world with more ice than any other area apart from the polar regions. But as the world warms, melting glaciers, flash flooding and increasingly unpredictable weather mean that parts of this dramatic landscape have become impossible to live in and some villages have had to be relocated altogether.

Our Pakistan correspondent Caroline Davies has this report from the mountains of Pakistan administered Gilgit-Baltistan. Crushing, powerful, uncontrollable. This is the moment water boulders debris hit a concrete bridge and turned it to rubble in minutes. This is the damage a glacial outburst flood can do. In Pakistan administered Gilgit Baltistan among the towering rocky forbidding mountains. Glaciers are melting and that leaves many at risk. Beneath this place there was our home. We used to live there. Komal Sher's home was destroyed by the same flood water that hit the bridge.

We crunch over what remains as she tells me of the day the flood came thundering through the valley tens of meters below, carving away the ground beneath her house, sending it crumbling. People were running out of their home, some people are taking out stuff from their home, they were crying because they were not sure of what will happen in future. Will anyone come to us? Will anyone save us? Kormal's home was known to be at risk two years before the flood, but they were not moved. Across the region, more than 48,000 people are estimated by the Aga Khan Development Network

to be living in high-risk areas. Some places are now considered impossible to live in, with entire villages being relocated. But trying to find land that's safe and has access to water isn't easy, as so many live next to the streams and rivers that the glaciers feed into. I can say that after five, ten years it will be very difficult for us to even survive. Zubair Ahmed works for the Disaster Management Authority. Year by year we are facing more and more disasters.

So we cannot stop these events because this is a global issue. There are over 7,000 glaciers in this area. Their beauty, size and power is difficult to appreciate except from above. I'm standing at the viewpoint looking across at the Pasu Glacier which is stretching out for kilometers with white peaks of snow and ice. If you're really quiet you can hear the water running underneath it and occasionally you can hear the cracks as the glacier splits. Sultan Ali lives with his grandchildren in the shadow of a glacier. His home has been narrowly spared in the past, but he knows it may not be again.

He says there is nowhere else to go. You can see my granddaughters. They are very worried, living here, constantly thinking about under what conditions we live our lives. What kind of life is this? If the flood comes, it will take everything away and there's nothing we can do about it. I can't blame anyone, it's just our fate. What will this generation remember of this time of uncertainty?

And what will become of the land they will inherit? That report by Caroline Davis. Still to come in this podcast, why this famous BBC voice... Still to come in this podcast, why this famous BBC voice... Donald Trump has nominated Florida Congressman Matt Goetz as the next Attorney General, a move that has generated significant controversy due to Goetz's legal history. ...is not who you think he is. We report on the growing concerns over AI voice cloning. A search for the truth behind an international drug smuggling plot. There's something on this boat. A tonne of cocaine.

There was a lot of adrenaline. I couldn't believe what was happening. And the man Brazilian police believe to be at its centre. Fox. Fox. Fox got the shots. From the BBC World Service, this is World of Secrets, Season 5, Finding Mr Fox. Search for World of Secrets wherever you get your BBC podcasts. You're listening to the Global News Podcast. Let's turn now to Sudan, where a civil war

that broke out more than a year and a half ago has created what's believed to be the world's biggest humanitarian crisis, with more than 11 million people displaced and tens of thousands killed. On Saturday, a human rights group said that the paramilitary rapid support forces, which is battling the army for power, had killed more than 1,500 civilians during the last month in the state of Al Jazeera alone. Now there are more grim figures from health officials in the capital cartoon. Our Africa editor, Will Ross, tells us more. Yeah, it's been quite hard to get details of what's gone on during the fighting, but a senior official in the health department has now given some idea of just how many people

have been injured. So in Khartoum alone, he said 33,000 people have been treated for war-related injuries and he said 22,000 people have had bullets removed at hospitals in the capital Khartoum. So extraordinary numbers and then you widen that out to think that's just one state. There are so many other areas of the country that have seen horrific violence against civilians. But this is just giving an example of just how much civilians have been in the firing line during this war which began in April last year. Will Ross. In New Zealand, a protest has blocked the country's main highway as thousands of people marched towards the capital Wellington ahead of a large rally on Tuesday.

They were demonstrating against the bill before Parliament, which the Māori people, who make up almost 20% of New Zealand's population, say will undermine their rights. Rachel Wright has more on the story. Back in 1840 in New Zealand, or Aotearoa as it's called by the Māori community, there was an agreement between more than 500 Maori chiefs and the British. It was called the Treaty of Watangi, New Zealand's founding document which in essence established the relationship between the Maori community and the English Crown.

But now a new piece of legislation has been put before New Zealand's parliament by the Libertarian Act Party, which is a minor partner in the ruling coalition. This bill seeks to change the way the treaty is interpreted, in an attempt to recognise everyone in the country equally. But Debbie Nariwa-Packer, who is co-leader of the Te Pati Māori Party, says that her community is a long way from being equal, as historic inequities have not been resolved. To actually sit there and say we're now all equal without addressing the inequities, without acknowledging that we have the rights to live undisturbed as indigenous peoples. That is Māori that will only be affected by this. There's only one reason why somebody would

want to remove indigenous rights and recognition of them in the modern times. And that is because we are the last bastion that is consulted and acknowledged before there is exploitation of our ocean, of our land. So we are still very much involved in environmental decisions. The controversy about the bill gained international attention on Thursday, when a female Māori MP started a haka in parliament, a traditional Māori war dance, only to be joined by many in the chamber.

Despite their opposition, the bill did pass its first reading, although it is unlikely to become law. But many in the Maori community feel it's just the beginning in an attempt to redress the balance against the Maori community. Thousands of demonstrators have been marching towards the capital in a nine-day hikoi, the Māori word for march, in which they have walked the length of the country's North Island, blocking roads and staging rallies on the way. Organisers estimate around 30,000 people will congregate in the country's capital city Wellington on Tuesday. The country's Prime Minister, Christopher Luxton, said he would wait and see what happened on Tuesday before he decided what to do.

Rachel Wright, now to Tanzania. Where hundreds of rescue workers are searching for people who remain trapped in the rubble of a four-storey building that collapsed in Dar es Salaam on Saturday. In some cases they've been using sledgehammers and even their bare hands. While they've managed to rescue 84 people, 13 deaths have now been confirmed. The Prime Minister, Qasem Majaliwa, went to the scene where he called for calm. I want to assure all my fellow Tanzanians that we won't rest until we have made sure we have been able to rescue each and every person. Our rescue teams are still working.

So let us allow them to continue with their work. This report from Sophie Smith. Rescue teams say they have managed to send water, glucose and oxygen to those who are trapped by pushing supplies through small gaps in the debris. They have also heard tapping sounds from inside the collapsed building in Dar es Salaam. Extraordinary video footage shows young people covered in dust crawling out between the collapsed concrete slabs. The four-storey building came down early on Saturday morning, fortunately before many

people had headed to Kuryaku Market. Eyewitnesses said the day before they had seen builders doing some work. One politician from the governing party said the collapse was a stark reminder of long-standing issues in urban development across Tanzania's cities. Sophie Smith, the British naturalist and broadcaster David Attenborough says he's disturbed by reports that his voice has been stolen and cloned by artificial intelligence. The BBC contacted him after hearing online news videos which appear to sound similar to his world-famous commentary. Here's Paddy O'Connell. Sir David Attenborough has one of the most famous voices on the airwaves.

Since the 1950s he's brought the natural world to millions. There's nowhere else on earth with so many untold stories. Welcome then to Asia. His milifuous tones are unmistakable, so we contacted him when we heard this voice on an American website reporting on the recent US election. Donald Trump has nominated Florida congressman Matt Getz as the next attorney general, a move that has generated significant controversy due to Getz's legal history.

Sir David told us having spent a lifetime trying to speak what I believe to be the truth, I am profoundly disturbed to find that these days my identity is being stolen by others and greatly object to them using it to say whatever they wish. There's no word back from the website yet, so this case appears to pit one of the giants of natural intelligence against the artificial kind now spreading into all of our lives. Paddy O'Connell. Germany's former Chancellor Angela Merkel stepped out of the limelight after she retired from politics in 2021. But a German-made crime fiction series adapted for television has reimagined her retirement as an amateur sleuth solving murders.

The TV series called Miss Merkel, whose title is perhaps inspired by Agatha Christie's Miss Marple, has won fans all over the world. David Safir wrote the book on which it's based. First of all, I knew that she wouldn't be in Kaplik anymore when she will be retired. And then I talked to my agent and we talked what will she do, what will she do. And afterwards I saw an episode of Colombo and I thought, well, this would be great for her to solve murder mysteries. She's a little bit like Columbo you know. She is very intelligent, she is always underestimated, especially by male politicians and I thought this would be perfect.

The actor Katharina Thalbach, who plays Angela Merkel, told Julianne Warwicka how she got the role. It's the second time that I was playing Angela Merkel. I played her in another version about our defense minister Gutenberg. Then they tried to get me for many times to play her, you know, in serious and I said, no, no, no, no, no, thank you. I don't want to be Angela Merkel for my whole life. No, it's enough one time. But then they sent me this book and it was like a very tale. And I liked it very much.

And then I said, OK, I will do it the second time. If it's a little bit funny and if it's a very tale and not the real person. She liked me the first time. She told me that she liked me. Angela Merkel, the real Angela Merkel. Maybe, you know, we are both from the GDR, I have the same age, I'm only half year older. I'm smaller than her, she don't like that I'm so small, but we are not really models, you know.

What she liked to play, what are you trying to capture about her when you play her? She had a lot of humor I have to say and then she's intelligent but she's clever you know and she is playing the whole time a little bit the stupid woman you know and all the men feel good when they're with her. Yes, she is real clever. I have to say, I like it very much. And you said that she liked the way you portrayed her. What did she say in that conversation? You know, she's clever.

She said to me, no, I don't have time to look television. I don't have time. But many of my girlfriends said to me that it was very funny and very good. And then she invited me to, with other people, to a big dinner. But I was sitting in her neighborhood, that was her wish, and we were talking about the GDR and our garden work. And this has been very successful in Germany and in Italy, I believe.

It's now going to be translated so that American audiences can watch it with subtitles. British audiences can read the book in English, what the series is based on. Are you surprised by the level of popularity this is now enjoying? I'm totally surprised, but I'm a little bit proud you know because it's not so often that the German television comes to other countries because we mostly very boring and it's not so special for other countries. I'm proud. I think I disagree with her there on German drama. That was Katharina Fahlbach talking about the series Miss Merkel in which she stars.

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 globalpodcasts.bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at Global News Pod. This edition was mixed by Chris Lovelock, the producer of Sophie Smith, the editor is Karen Martin. I'm Janet Jalil. Until next time, goodbye. A search for the truth behind an international drug smuggling plot.

There's something on this boat. A tank of cocaine. There was a lot of adrenaline. I couldn't believe what was happening. And the Man Brazilian Police believe to be at its centre. Fox. Fox. Fox called the shots.

From the BBC World Service, this is World of Secrets, Season 5, Finding Mr Fox. Search for World of Secrets, season five, Finding Mr. Fox. Search for World of Secrets wherever you get your BBC podcasts.