Global News Podcast - Brazil's Bolsonaro begins jail term

Episode Date: November 26, 2025

The former president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, has been ordered to begin his 27 year prison sentence for plotting a coup after the last election. The Supreme Court said he'd exhausted all appeals and will serve his time behind bars at the federal police headquarters in Brasilia. Also: Italy makes femicide – the murder of a woman, motivated by gender – a crime to be punished with a life sentence. Refugees who've fled Mali tell the BBC about alleged atrocities committed by Russia's Wagner group. New Zealand's "suitcase murders" trial comes to an end. The Popemobile is converted into a medical clinic in Gaza. LGBT campaigners celebrate the top EU court's ruling on same-sex marriage in case brought by Polish couple, and how children's author Roald Dahl's secret life as a spy inspired his script for a Bond movie. The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: [e-mail]

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This is the global news podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Janet Jal. And in the early hours of Wednesday, the 26th of November, these are our main stories. Brazil's former president, Jaya Bolsonaro, begins a 27-year prison sentence for a coup attempt. Italy's parliament has unanimously voted to make femicide a stand-alone crime punishable by life imprisonment. Also in this podcast, a Pope Mobile belonging to Pope Francis is transformed to help children in Gaza. And? He certainly was a spy. He didn't like the word, but he worked in British intelligence.

We hear how the children's author, Roald Dahl, led a double life. We start this podcast in Brazil. We're just days after the former president, Jaya Bolsonaro, was moved from house arrest to a police cell for an alleged attempt to remove his ankle monitor. He has now been ordered to begin serving a 27-year sentence by a Supreme Court judge. The 70-year-old far-right leader was convicted in September of plotting a coup after he failed to win re-election three years ago. Mr. Bolsonaro is serving his sentence. at the same police headquarters in Brasilia, where he was taken into custody on Saturday

after a judge deemed him a flight risk. He won't have contact with other prisoners, instead living in a small room with a private bathroom, a television, air conditioning and a mini-fridge. A group of Bolsonaro supporters gathered outside the police headquarters. The best president of our lives, what the judge and that whole gang of his are doing to Bolsonaro is an injustice. He's an upright, honest man, a family man.

The left has turned everything upside down. This is political persecution. In stark contrast, a nearby group of Brazilians cheered and waved champagne bottles, saying they'd waited a long time for justice. Today is a day when we can finally breathe. and say that we continue to stand in defence of democracy, a democracy that is so young yet one we refuse to give up. Our reporter Mimi Swayby told me it was an ignominious end to a very colourful career.

It is certainly a dramatic fool from grace. This was a president who fired up Brazil's right wing and reshaped the political landscape. Those against him will remember his four-year presidency as fueling environmental devastation, being the cause for thousands of Brazilians dying due to his COVID denial as well as hostility towards minorities, whereas his supporters who are outraged by the sentencing and the fact that he will serve time in prison or his form of prison called it a witch hunt against him and referred to him

as South America's Donald Trump. A very divisive career that came to an end with a plot which involved a plan to assassinate Lula de Silva, his rival. It failed after military chiefs refused to partake in it, and the court later convicted him, as well as his accomplices, of trying to annihilate Brazilian democracy and plunge the country back into detaintership. And this comes despite his close ally, Donald Trump, imposing 50% tariffs on Brazilian imports in an attempt to keep Mr Bolsonaro out of prison, an attempt that now seems to have failed. Yes, President Trump used his political and economic might to try and influence the trial, of Jay Bolsonaro. He put sanctions on the top judges, as well as put really hefty 50% tariffs

on Brazilian products. Those have now gone down to 40%, but still very, very significant. I'm sure the far right in Brazil and the right wing more generally will be looking to President Trump to try and help his ally not serve as much jail time or serve it in his special room in the police HQ in Brasilia. But Mr. Bolsonaro had been under house arrest. but then it appears that there was some kind of attempt to escape, although he denies this. Tell us more about that. So this is an incredible turn of events.

He was under house arrest, had been since August. And on Saturday, he was arrested, and it came to light that he had tried to solder off his ankle monitor using a really hot iron. And he said it was medicine induced. He was having hallucinations that were making him really paranoid, and he thought the ankle monitor was eavesdropping on his conversation. In court, he later said that he came to a census very quickly and he had no intention to flee,

although this was enough for the court to kind of dismiss an appeal attempt and deem him a flight risk and therefore put him in custody awaiting the sentence that we've seen now. So is this the end of the road, Mr Boltonaro? According to the Supreme Court, yes, there are no longer any availability for appeals, there are no more changes. This is final. However, Mr. Bolsonaro's lawyers say they definitely will appeal, despite the court refusing any further challenges and is expected that they're going to insist on trying to transfer him back to house arrest.

They're going to cite his precarious health after being stabbed in 2018 as well as his age. That failed assassination attempt. The failed assassination attempt as well as his age. An analyst quite widely on both sides of the political spectrum expect that Bolsonaro will serve some time in his prison cell in his kind of special room in that headquarters, but perhaps not all of it.

it's expected that he will at some point go to house arrest and serve out some remaining time, whatever that may look like under house arrest, which that is what he is pushing for and sees as the most likely option. Mimi Swayby. In our previous edition, we covered the alarming scale of Femicide Globally. A murder with a motivation is gender-related. UN data reveals that 50,000 women and girls worldwide were killed by partners or family members in 2024. That's the equivalent of one woman or girl being killed every 10 minutes.

Now, Italy's Parliament has voted unanimously to approve a landmark bill that makes femicide a stand-alone crime punishable by life imprisonment. There are critics who say the legislation won't work and that Italy needs serious investment in education to reform a deeply patriarchal society. But it is one of few countries in Europe to introduce a femici side law. Sarah Rainsford reports from Rome. There's a colourful gathering of people here around the fountain in the centre of Piazza

de la Republic. I can see lots of women in pink scarves, people setting off flares, pink and purple puffs of smoke heading up into the sky. This is a march against violence against women and particularly against femicide, the murder of women. because of their gender. It's not that the numbers are so much higher in Italy, but this is a rare issue that gets broad political consensus, so the government came up with the law against femicide. Judge Paola de Nicola is one of the authors.

And this is now Italy's definition of femicide. The murder of a woman driven by hatred, discrimination, or the desire to control because she's a woman. Talking of such crimes as rooted in exasperated love or strong jealousy is a distortion. That uses romantic, culturally acceptable terms. This law means we will be the first in Europe to reveal the real motivation of the perpetrators, which are hierarchy and power. It's important to introduce the word femicide. Gino Chequettine's daughter, Julia, was murdered two years ago by an ex-boyfriend.

He wouldn't accept that their relationship was over. Filippo lureds Julia to a remote spot and then stabbed her repeatedly. He's a different homicide. It's an homicide related to a difference of power. He said he killed so that no one has. else could have her. Julia's sister then made a speech in which Elena called him not a monster, but a healthy son of a deeply patriarchal society. From that moment on, we started to talk a lot in Italy about this.

Gino likes the new law, but his focus is elsewhere. There is no sex education in Italy, and Gino wants that and emotional education in all schools here. What happened to Philippo and Julia is underlining what important is to manage emotion because if you feel everything black while your girlfriend has splited up, you are in serious trouble because you cannot handle this emotion and that comes to the worst decision you can do. I just step into an exhibition space here in Rome. The exhibits here show that Mother with the mop

man with bottles of beer on the table and the remote control. There's also a speaker playing out wolf whistles and cackles. And there's a display in the corner which is about femicide. We are in the museum of patriarchy. This is a museum of the future when equality between women and male are succeeded. At this time also the violence is not a problem. So this is when all of these problems are in a museum because they're part of history? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

There are a lot of forms of violence, like a pyramid. We have to start to deconstruct and destroy the base to destroy the worst problem in the family seat. When you talk to women here about the famicide law, they all say that this is a phenomenon which comes from society and that is society itself where there needs to be changes. and this museum, I guess, encapsulates many of the problems that people here see. Not unique to Italy, but certainly on many of the indices of gender equality,

Italy is pretty low down the list. The final vote in Parliament came after hours of passionate speeches, but not a debate. They all agreed. The yes vote was unanimous. From now on, those found guilty of killing. women, because they are women, will face a life sentence. And every single femicides will be properly recorded and counted. Sarah Rainsford. A Pope-Mobile that belonged to the late Pope Francis has been turned into a mobile medical clinic to be deployed to treat children in Gaza. The

Pope's final wish. Aid workers say the vehicle is capable of treating around 200 children per day. But it's unclear when it will be allowed to enter the territory. Our Middle East correspondent Yoland Nell went to Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank to see the newly converted vehicle. Back in 2014, Pope Francis was greeted by thousands of well-wishers as he was driven through the streets of Bethlehem in his customised Pope Mobile. He gave a huge open-air mass for Christians of the Holy Land in Manger Square. And then, for the past decade, the Pope-Mobile stood as a memento of that day, outside a nearby ice cream store.

Until now. It was one of the dying wishes of the late Pope that his iconic vehicle should be turned into a mobile clinic for children in Gaza. It's been kitted out with medical supplies and even has a small fridge for storing medicines and an oxygen unit. Alastair Dutton is from the Catholic Aid Agency Caritas, which carried out the work. It's a serious medical facility to provide healthcare for children. But I think it's also symbolic in terms of offering a symbol of hope. The tiny Christian community of Gaza was close to the heart of Pope Francis. He telephoned displaced parishioners living at the Catholic Church there nearly every day during the war.

He repeatedly called for a ceasefire, but didn't live to see the truce that's now taken hold. His idea was that his Popemobile would show how much he cared and would be part of his legacy. Church leaders say they're now working on getting the Pope Mobile to Gaza as soon as possible. Yoland Nell to a story now which has gripped New Zealand. It all started when a couple successfully bid in an online auction for the contents of an abandoned storage facility in Auckland three years ago. What they didn't know was that those contents included a suitcase which contained a terrible secret. The remains of two young children murdered four years previously.

Now the mother of those two children, Hakiung Li, originally from South Korea, has been sentenced to life in prison for their murder after her plea of insanity was rejected. With more, here's Aziz Al-Safin, a reporter for our New Zealand partners, TVNZ in Auckland. This has been really two years in the making in a case that has really shocked the country. 45-year-old Lee was found guilty of murdering her two children earlier this year, seven-year-old Yuna and six-year-old Minu. The killings actually took place in 2018, but the bodies weren't discovered until 2022.

Four years later, that was because the contents of a storage unit which had a circumcision, containing the human remains of those children were discovered by buyers who had bought those contents in an online auction, as you can imagine, one that shocked many people. And of course, this triggered an international investigation, by which point Lee had already fled New Zealand. She was living in South Korea at the time, but was later extradited to New Zealand to face trial. Now, much of the trial and sentencing, Even today, Lee showed little to no emotion. Her head just bowed down as her sentence was read out life imprisonment

with a non-parole period of 17 years. New Zealand reporter Aziz Al-Safin. Still to come on the Global News podcast. Today's ruling doesn't introduce marriage equality in Poland, but it's the start of a new chapter in the ongoing struggle for equal. rights. The EU's top court rules that same-sex marriages must be respected throughout the block. The BBC has spoken to refugees from Mali who have shared shocking testimonies of alleged war crimes committed by Russia's Wagner Group. Eyewitness accounts alleged that civilians

were brutally tortured and executed in central Mali's military bases. Our reporter Thomas Nadi has spoken to survivors who are now seeking refuge in eastern Mauritania. And just to warn you, his report contains graphic descriptions. In the scorching heat of Mauritania's Embedder refugee camp, Ahmed, a shopkeeper in his early 40s, finds sullen's in a simple ritual. Clad in a traditional all-black outfit and tuban, he prepares locality under a makeshift shed. But behind his calm demeanour

lies a harrowing story. He claims he was arrested alongside a student and allegedly tortured by Wagner mercenaries. They took us to a military base. The commander called Hamza came out and pointed at me. He turned to a Wagner soldier and signalled him to behead me, pointed at the students,

and turned to a student, and turned to a. another Wagner mercenary and signored him to behead the student. They took us to a hangar. They had suspected his boss, the shop owner of collaborating with jihadis. The Malian army base situated near the village of Nampala in central Mali, where Ahmed was detained, is also home to Russian mercenaries. Many atrocities, including torture and executions, allegedly took place in the camp. Inside the hunger, they brought two men. and beheaded them in my presence. One was holding the man,

and the other called Andre, pinned his head to the ground with his knee, and brought out a knife and beheaded him. They brought the body closer to me to smell the fresh blood, and said, if you do not tell us the whereabouts of a shop owner, you will suffer a similar fate. The Embara refugee camp is home to over 100,000 refugees from Mali, most of them women and children. I'm currently at the Mbera refugee camp in Mauritania.

The camp is made up of mostly tent shelters and has a surprisingly serene atmosphere, considering the trauma many have endured. As someone who has ever lived in an IDP camp in northern, Ghana due to conflict. This place brings back painful memories. But what's striking is that many refugees here are fleeing alleged atrocities committed by Russian mercenaries and jihadists. 35-year-old been to clad in a blue dress and wearing a hijab, seeks refuge and a new beginning in the camp. She lost her husband last year to allege Russian mercenary brutality in central Mali. Now as a single mother of five, she faces an uncertain future. Who is going to look after my children? Who is going to look after me? When I hear the name

Wagner, I feel traumatized. I feel afraid. I hate the word of Wagner because they have brought sadness to me. Wagner mercenaries were deployed to Mali in 2021 to support the gentrified jihadist and separatist rebels. But human rights watch has accused them of rights violations because of their brutal tactics. Hussein was tending to his flock

and says he was suddenly seized by Wagner mercenaries and taken to a military base in Liri in central Mali. He recounts being locked in a metal shipping container with no ventilation alongside his friends. They dragged us into an office and beat us until we

fainted. When I woke up, my hands were tied to my friend's hands. They brought a motorbike close to my face, reft the engine and blew exhaust in my nose to wake me up fully. They did the same to my friend, but he didn't respond. That's when they realized he was dead. Thousands of Malian refugees continue to cross the border into neighboring Mauritania. Malian army and Russian mercenary bases are just a few kilometers across the border. And As the violence escalates, thousands are fleeing for their lives. The UNHCR says it has recorded atrocities committed by various armed groups in Mali, including the Wagner Group. Taya Sukru, the UNHCR representative in Mauritania, says they are providing them with psychological and legal assistance as many want justice.

Many of them come with that horrific violence that they have endured, either at the checkpoints, the road at their homes. Some of them are directly targeted. Some of them, simply in a place where the villages and other places where the fighting is very close. Wagner ended its mission in Mali in June this year, but many of the soldiers are still part of the newly formed African Corps, now under the control of Russia's Ministry of Defense. The BBC has approached Russia's and Mali's Defense Ministries for comment, but they have not yet responded. That report was by Thomas Nardi. Union's top court has ruled that same-sex marriages must be respected throughout the EU after

a high-profile case in Poland. LGBT campaigners have welcomed it as a step forward in the fight for equality. Our reporter Anna Aslam has the details. The case in Poland centers around two men who tied the knot in Germany in 2018. And when they moved back home, they requested their marriage certificate to be registered there. But the request was refused on the ground that Polish law does not allow marriage between persons of the same sex. Pavel Knoot is the couple's lawyer. The complainants have known each other for nearly 20 years. They met in Poland and moved to Germany due to professional commitments where they got married.

They've been wed for almost 10 years. They've now returned to Poland and want to continue their family life. On Tuesday, the European Court of Justice ruled in the couple's favor. The judge said all EU citizens have the right to live anywhere in the block and lead a normal family life. And so, Poland's refusal to recognize the marriage infringes not only the freedom to move and reside, but also the fundamental right to respect for private and family life. The court noted this ruling did not require member states to allow marriage between people of the same sex in their national laws. But they're not allowed to discriminate when recognizing foreign marriages.

The case now returns to Poland, where the men are expected. expecting to receive their long-awaited marriage certificate with the Polish Eagle emblem. Pavel Knoot said it's a historic day. Today's ruling doesn't introduce marriage equality in Poland. We need to be clear about that. But it does require recognition of these foreign marriages so that spouses can claim the rights and obligations that under various rulings of international courts already belong to them.

It's the start of a new chapter in the ongoing struggle for equal rights. LGBT campaigners in Poland have welcomed the ruling. It's expected to lead to a surge in other couples bringing their cases to City Hall. Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government has been working on a bill to regulate civil partnerships, including same-sex unions, but its coalition has been held back by resistance from conservative partners. Several officials blasted the ECJ's ruling as an assault on Polish sovereignty. Traditionally Catholic, Poland has yet to undertake the social and secular reforms implemented since the early 2000s in the rest of the reasons. It's one of the last remaining European countries still to legalise marriage or civil unions for same-sex couples.

Anna Aslam. Now, if I mentioned Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda or the BFG, one of the world's best-known children's authors, Roald Dahl, would probably spring to mind. But did you know he also wrote the screenplay for a James Bond film after forming a close friendship with Bond author Ian Fleming during the Second World War when they were both spies? A new exhibition here in the UK is exploring Dahl's lesser-known Bond career, displaying a rare first draft manuscript of You Only Live Twice, the 1967 movie starring Sean Connery.

Sophie Law went to meet the Rold Dahl Museum's head of collections, Will Phillips, to find out more. Roald knew Ian Fleming. He was good friends with him. They met during the war when they both worked in British intelligence. After the war, when Roald developed his career as a writer, he did work in screenwriting, so that's really where Roald's wonderful imagination came in. And he was given free reign, apart from keeping the title of the book, Blofeld as the villain, Bond as the character, and a few other minor points, he was told he could do anything with it.

And so he brought a lot of, you know, this is the space age era, so you get that focus in the film, that space age storyline, the kind of technological advancements, but also the anxieties of the 1960s, are coming through quite strongly in Dahl's storyline. I wonder what he drew from his own experience. We know that he maybe had a bit of spying or certainly something secret going on during his own war experience.

I mean, he certainly did. The details of his career during the war in British intelligence is shrouded in mystery, of course, but he certainly was a spy. He didn't like the word, but he worked in British intelligence. But before that, he was a fighter pilot in the REF. He had experience in aerial combat.

So the iconic scene of Bond flying little Nelly and being attacked in the air is like something out of Dahl's own life. He must have drawn on his experience during the war. the description he gives in his autobiography going solo of coming under attack during the war is quite exhilarating to read and I think he must have been channeling

some of that energy into the script when he wrote that scene. When I read the first draft, the description of Tanaka, the head of the Japanese secret service, there's a whiff of Willy Wonka. Charlie the Chocolate Factory was published in 64 So just a couple of years before.

And it's just the sense you get of Tanaka in this first draft where he's kind of described as flamboyant and he's sort of obsessed with tricks and gadgets. And there's a slight kind of mischievous danger to him. Okay, mind the step. Thank you. So for Fans of Dal's work, it looks just like what you'd expect to see from him, the yellow paper, the pencil, scribble.

You know, how an important piece is this in the judge? digsore of understanding him? I'd say it's very important because most people tend to think of Roald Dahl as a children's writer. So it's really nice for us to throw a light on some of his other writing work that is lesser known. And a brand like the Bond franchise is so enormous. There are so many fans out there. We're here based in the tiny English village where Roald Dahl lived and worked his whole career. and so it's nice for us to connect with the global audience that is James Bond fandom.

The Royal Dahl Museum's Head of Collections, Will Phillips, speaking to Sophie Law about the multi-talented author. 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, you can send us an email. The address is Global Podcast at BBC.co.com. This edition was mixed by Rosenwyn Dorel. The producers were Chantal Hartle and Stephanie Zackwison. The editor is Karen Martin.

I'm Jenna Jaliel. Until next time, goodbye.