Global News Podcast - Ceasefire talks may be last chance to end war in Gaza says Blinken

Episode Date: August 19, 2024

At the start of a day of meetings with Israeli leaders, Mr Blinken said it was time to say yes to a deal without excuses. Also: Russian officials say Ukraine has struck a third key bridge in the Kursk region and Chicago hosts the Democratic National Convention.

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 Janet Jalil and at 13 hours GMT on Monday the 19th of August, these are our main stories.

America's top diplomat calls this week a decisive one in ending the war in Gaza. But when so many attempts before have failed, will these latest ceasefire talks be any different? A Russian official says Ukraine has struck a third key bridge in the Kursk region as it continues its cross-border offensive. A superyacht sinks in a violent storm off the coast of Sicily, with one dead and several others missing. Also in this podcast... I was going to sail around the globe in the world's smallest ship, but I bottled it.

We hear from the comedian who's won the funniest joke award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. As Israel and Hamas continue to accuse each other of obstructing the Gaza ceasefire talks, America's top diplomat, Antony Blinken, back in the region for a series of high-stakes meetings, has said it's time for everyone to get to yes and to stop looking for excuses. This is a decisive moment, probably the best, maybe the last opportunity to get the hostages home, to get a ceasefire, and to put everyone on a better path to enduring peace and security. I'm here as part of an intensive diplomatic effort on President Biden's instructions to try to get this agreement to the line and ultimately over the line. It is time for it to

get done. Mr. Blinken held talks with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Prime Minister's office described the two men's talks as positive. In an earlier meeting, the Israeli President, Isaac Herzog, had these words for the U.S. Secretary of State. At the bottom line of it, people have to understand it starts with refusal of Hamas to move forward. We are simply still very hopeful that we can move forward in the negotiations that are held by the mediators. There is no greater humanitarian objective and there is no greater humanitarian cause than bringing back our hostages home as they should have returned long ago. With more than 40,000 deaths in Gaza since the October 7th attacks, in which more than

1,000 people were killed, Louise Wateridge, a spokesperson for the UN agency in Gaza, UNRWA, says that without an end to the fighting, civilians there cannot see a way forward. People express on a daily basis that the ceasefire is the only hope. They cannot continue living in such fear with such exhaustion. It's all people are talking about right now. People here are desperate to see a ceasefire. The civilian population of the Gaza Strip need this desperately. The hostages need this desperately. It really is the only choice right now. People need this war to come toages need this desperately. It really is the only choice right now. People need this war to come to an end. Our State Department correspondent Tom Bateman

is travelling with Mr Blinken on what is his ninth visit to the region since the start of this war in Gaza. I asked him why the US was optimistic that there could be a breakthrough this time when so many previous attempts have failed. It's a kind of mix of optimism and expectation, I think, from the Americans. And that is very much about using this language where they're saying, you know, this is the last chance, it's a decisive moment, it's an inflection point, and saying that they think it's achievable. And that's the sort of optimistic part. But as you say, nobody here on the ground is really sharing that particular assessment, I think. And what Mr Blinken in the meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu is trying to do is cajole and push him to sort of stop trying to squeeze any more concessions out of this deal and to simply take it. But I think the problem is the Americans don't have a strong track record on their leverage,

of which they have much, actually affecting the course that the Israelis take during the course of this conflict. Now, the Americans, I think, would dispute that. They think they have got the Israelis to change position on things during the course of all this. But my feeling is that Mr. Netanyahu is digging in. There was another defiant statement last night where he said that the Israelis will insist on maintaining a presence in the south of the Gaza Strip along the so-called Philadelphia Corridor. That's the border between Gaza and Egypt. That's something that Hamas says they simply will not accept. They accused Mr Netanyahu of inserting that as a new clause. And in their view, they see it as continued occupation, effectively a continuation of the war.

So it doesn't feel like they've bridged that gap yet. And I think the test will be on whether Mr Blinken is able to persuade Mr Netanyahu to effectively accept this. And the deadline the Americans are putting on this is really within the next week. Yes, not much time there. And there are those in Israel itself who have questioned Mr Netanyahu's good faith. Even Israeli officials have accused him in the past of sabotaging negotiations. There have certainly been media reports in Israel that even those involved close to the negotiations believe that he has sort of thrown spanners into the works at various points and

much more publicly than that you know we've heard from opposition officials in Israel and not least some of the hostage families as well who accuse him of stringing this out for his own political survival and the kind of converging timetables are really important here. You know, he claims that this is simply about extracting the concessions out of Hamas that will keep Israel safe when the guns fall silent here. But I think it all comes down to, as I say, whether or not Mr. Blinken is able to really use American leverage to make him change course. Tom Bateman, there are reports that Ukraine has shelled and damaged a third bridge over the river Seim in the Kursk region of Russia. It's the last remaining crossing point on the

river in the area. Meanwhile, in Ukraine itself, in the east, the authorities have ordered the evacuation of families with children from the strategically important city of Pokrovsk and surrounding areas as Russian forces close in. Vitaly Shevchenko from BBC Monitoring told me more about the importance of the three bridges in Kursk that have been hit by Ukrainian attacks. Now these bridges, they play a key role in the regional road network. And this morning, a person we think is the official representative of Russia's official investigations committee said that this third bridge has been damaged. Now why am I saying

it there's a bit of uncertainty about who this person is because he appeared to be in a video masked so that's slightly unusual but that's how Russia is these days. Now, three bridges, we know that at least one of them is completely destroyed. The other two are at least damaged, possibly destroyed as well. And the Russian forces relied heavily on these bridges. If they are gone, that means they are going to be cut off from supplies and reinforcements. Meanwhile, in Ukraine itself, there is this evacuation from the city of Pokrovsk. Tell us about the city and why it matters and what this tells us about the fighting in the east of Ukraine. The reason why Pokrovsk matters is because the Ukrainian army relied heavily on logistics there. It's a key railway station and also it

sits on an intersection of several roads. If it falls, that will create big problems for the Ukrainians in eastern Donbass region. So if they had hoped that the Kursk incursion would distract Russians from fighting there, it's not really working so far because the Russians are advancing slowly but surely. And if Pokrovsk falls, that will open up the way to another town in the region called Chasivyar, which sits atop of a hill. And if Russians capture that, it will give them a better opportunity to target Ukrainians in the area. Vitaly Shevchenko. Reports from Italy say a one-year-old child is among 15 people who were rescued after a super yacht off the coast of Sicily sank after being caught in a water spout.

That's a weather event similar to a small tornado. The captain of a nearby fishing trawler described what he saw in the port of Porticello. We went down to the boat while waiting for sailors to go on a fishing trip. I saw flashes of lightning. At around four o'clock, the water spout hit the town. Everyone inside the harbour was scared. Our boat was thrown onto its side. Fifteen minutes later, we saw a flare in the sea. Once the water spout had passed, we went out to inspect. All we saw were cushions and the rest of the boat which had sunk. As we record this podcast, one person has been confirmed dead and several others are missing.

Our reporter Tom Simons told us more about the disaster. We have pictures at about five o'clock, four o'clock local time in Italy of a massive storm hitting a local town. That fishing captain describing what he saw, a water spout. Now, we can't confirm that, but that's what he said he saw. What we do know is that the Bayesian seems to have sunk at that point. The 22 people on board, that's about 12 guests and 10 crew, tried to escape and some of them, 15 of them, managed to get onto a nearby yacht and then rescued by Coast Guard. But after that, nobody else emerged from the wreckage of this vessel.

It's thought that seven people are missing and certainly one body bag has been filmed being taken onto the shore. This is a British flagship with crew and passengers on board who are mainly from Great Britain, but there is one New Zealand citizen, one from Sri Lanka, an Irish national and two people with dual British-French citizenship. And one of the survivors, we understand understand is a one-year-old child. Today they've been searching the area both with surface ships but also divers who've been

going down 50 metres to see this vessel presumably on the on the bed of the sea to try to spot anybody inside. Tom Simons. The joke is that Chicago is named the Windy City not just because of its blustery weather, but because its politicians are full of hot air. Well, this week, we'll see plenty of that as the US Democratic National Convention kicks off today in Chicago, with Kamala Harris seeking to build on the momentum that's rattled her opponent Donald Trump after President Biden's last minute decision to drop out of the race for the White House. There'll be four days of speeches as the party rallies behind the first woman of colour to become a presidential candidate. But the race still remains too close to call. Emma Vardy reports from Chicago. It's a whiplash-inducing spectacle. Combine harvesters colliding headfirst as mud flies into the air,

the crowd cheering them on. Hey, let's go, Kennedy! At a county fair in Wisconsin, it's demolition derby time. And as the competition heats up between these machines, so does the race to the White House, and its voters in the swing states like this will have a big influence on who wins. Before it was, I think, Trump all the way, especially after the debate, I felt really secure about that. And also about after what happened

with his assassination attempt and everything. And I was really encouraged about that with him. But now with her excitement and everything, I'm more fearful. I would consider myself Republican. I don't know if Trump is the exact answer for that party, but I sure like his viewpoints. I like his policies. He's a little over the top sometimes, as we all know. But he gets things done, doesn't he?

He really does. I can't even tell you who I'm going to vote for right now. And I've never been in this predicament. How are you going to make up your mind? I'm going to watch the debates and then I'm going to make up my mind after that. Across the state border, the Democrats have the stage set

for their national convention in Chicago. It's one of the most important moments for the party as they try to drum up support ahead of the presidential election in November. Inside the arena, workers are putting the finishing touches here to all the razzmatazz that will unfold over the next four days. There's thousands of red, white and blue balloons poised on the ceiling here to rain down on the convention. And outside, metal barricades are up in preparation for big protests. There's huge anticipation for this historic moment,

as for the first time a woman of colour, Kamala Harris, becomes a presidential candidate. Visitors from across the United States are here to witness the political theatre. To us, this is a really important election. The country is so divided right now. So this isn't just a big party or campaign rally. It affects people who have been watching it, listening to the speeches to determine who they're going to vote for. And my kids are going to be future voters. So my three kids, we took them here and it's going to be fantastic. As for Kamala Harris, the convention is a chance to introduce herself to the country and put more flesh on the bones of what she stands for. Kamala Harris has had a meteoric rise from Joe Biden's running mate to being the Democratic nominee to now leading in the polls

against Donald Trump. And she's done it all in less than a month. Marianne Marsh is a longtime Democratic strategist who's attended many conventions. She's optimistic that Kamala Harris is putting the Democrats on a path to victory. For everyone who thinks she can't maintain the momentum, there's still room for her to grow, and she knows it. And if you go back to Obama in 2008, that momentum went right through Election Day. At the weekend, both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump were hitting the campaign trail that momentum went right through election day. At the weekend, both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump were hitting the campaign trail in the key swing states. When you stand for working people, you fight for working people. When you stand for freedom, whether it be to make decisions about your own body or love who you love, you fight for those things. In Pennsylvania, Donald Trump launched personal attacks against his rival.

I'm a better looking person than Kamala. I'm better looking than she is. In her speech yesterday, Kamala went full communist. You heard that? She went full communist. She wants to destroy our country. Back at the Derby, there's wreckage everywhere. The combine harvesters have taken a beating.

Some are being towed out of the arena. The presidential race has been upended in recent weeks, and the two new opponents are only just at the beginning of their clash. That report by Emma Vardy. Coming up in the Global News podcast. When they ask, actually, if we give you a job, would you take it? They're saying, well, no, no, because it's not the job I want. I don't want to just jump on the right thing.

I want to wait. We hear about a growing trend in South Korea, the lack of appetite to look for a job. to BBC's award-winning news podcasts. But did you know that you can listen to them without ads? Get current affairs podcasts like Global News, AmeriCast and The Global Story, plus other great BBC podcasts from history to comedy to true crime, all ad-free. Simply subscribe to BBC Podcast Premium on Apple Podcasts

or listen to Amazon Music with a Prime membership. Spend less time on ads and more time with BBC Podcasts. He may be in jail, but that hasn't stopped Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan from submitting an application to head Oxford University in England. According to an advisor, Mr Khan, currently serving a prison term in a case he says is politically motivated, applied to be Chancellor of the University at the weekend. Imran Khan studied philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford, one of the world's most

prestigious universities. So why has the former Pakistani Prime Minister made this surprising move? Our correspondent in Islamabad is Caroline Davis. When we asked the advisor about exactly why Imran Khan would want to be the chancellor of Oxford University, we were told that it is an extremely prestigious post. Maybe it is symbolic, but it has scope for Imran Khan to offer a lot. They are quite adamant that him being in jail, as they refer to it, illegally in jail, won't hold him back. Of course, at the moment, we don't know from Oxford University.

They have not made any statement about this and they won't confirm the list of candidates that will be standing and that graduates and members of the faculty will be able to vote on. That won't be made public until early October. So at the moment, we're going off what his advisors have said. But yes, slightly surprising to have heard that Imran Khan is wanting to stand for this position. The second time, of course, that he will be standing for an election while he is in prison. And in terms of why he might want to do it, yes, it is prestigious. But I think the other thing to bear in mind is that since Imran Khan has been in prison, despite the fact that we haven't seen him out in public for over a year, his team have been very

effective at trying to keep him in the public consciousness. There have been different things that have been done over the course of that year. For example, there was AI generated speech that his team created using recordings of him. We've seen a lot of campaigning on social media for Imran Khan. So it's possible that this is part of their way of making sure that Imran Khan is kept in the public consciousness. And I'm sure that there will be quite a lot of effort to try to get out the vote, although this is obviously a much smaller electorate, to show Imran Khan's popularity as well in this vote too. Caroline Davis in Islamabad.

A BBC investigation has revealed dozens of workers from around the world may have been trafficked by a small family-owned fishing firm in Britain. The fishermen came from the Philippines, Ghana, Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka to work for TN Trawlers of Anand in Scotland over a 10-year period. 35 have been recognised as victims of trafficking by the British Home Office. Monica Whitlock reports. I'm Joel Quincy. I'm from the Philippines, from Manila. Well, I came here in the UK because the salary in the UK is a lot higher compared to the Philippines. I applied for an agency.

They get me hired to come over in the UK as a fisherman. When Joel Quincy landed at Heathrow Airport, he was full of hope. Joel was 28, an experienced fisherman with a young family to care for. He was travelling with three other Filipinos. They'd all signed on with TN Trawlers of Annan, a Scottish family firm specialising in scallop fishing. Joel said he worked extremely long hours and he says there was never enough food or drinking water on board.

We're out of water, drinking water. We get thirsty, we get sweat. I eat tomatoes. I eat tomatoes just to wet my throat. Joel wasn't the only one. Many other fishermen from overseas who worked on TN trawlers told us stories like Joel's. They said they were hungry, thirsty, exhausted and their wages weren't paid in full. But they didn't want to leave because they'd borrowed money to pay the crewing agencies back home. Most of them came from the Philippines, but others came from India, Sri Lanka, Ghana and Indonesia. One day the towing bar on Joel's trawler swung up. He leapt out of the way. So I managed to jump but still fall in the deck.

That's caused me head bleeding and loss of consciousness. Joel finally got off the boat in Troon on the west coast of Scotland to get medical help. Here's Karen Burston from the charity Fisherman's Mission in Troon. I remember I made Joel a bowl of fruit salad. He was hungry and he was upset and he was in a strange country. He didn't know what was going to happen and he was injured. And he was overwhelmed, he began to cry

and he took a photo of the bowl of fruit salad to send to his family to say that he was OK and he was being given food. That marked the start of a major police operation. Officers boarded TN boats and helped many fishermen off. At least 18 of them were recognised by the Home Office as having been trafficked, including Joel. The police asked them to stay in the UK

as witnesses in their investigations. But, and here's the twist, it wasn't 2024 that all this happened, it was 2012, more than a decade ago, and between then and now, no such case has come to trial. Although TN Trawlers was under investigation, it continued to fish. Many more deckhands from overseas worked on their boats, most of them from Ghana, and they told us very similar stories to Joel's. Here's Gideon Mensah. I've never seen that before in my life. I was like, how on earth did this happen in Europe? How? But at the end of the day, you need somebody to speak to. Who do you know to speak to?

The Home Office saw my case and said I have been trafficked. I'll read you what TN Trawlers has said in their reply. They say, We absolutely refute any allegation of modern slavery or human trafficking, adding that their workers were well treatedtreated and well-remunerated. Ten years after the police operation began, Joel, Gideon and the others are still in the UK. They could have gone home, but chose to stay as they were asked.

Joel did finally get some compensation for his head injury, £3,000, but there's been no prosecution on trafficking charges. That means, although the men have waited so long, they've never had their day in court and never spoken out until now. So why did you keep me here all this while? If you don't want to continue giving me or maybe witnessing the police,

why did you keep me here? We asked the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service of Scotland what happened. It said it's fully committed to tackling human trafficking, and it goes on, we recognise that the time taken in dealing with these complex and challenging matters has been difficult for those affected, And we deal with every case individually, taking action where there is sufficient admissible evidence that a crime has been committed. That report by Monica Whitlock. Southern African leaders are holding talks at a summit in Zimbabwe on the alarming rise in MPOCs cases on the continent, as you might have heard in our last podcast. Health ministers from several African countries emphasised the urgent need for better preparedness, better cross-border

surveillance of the disease and coordinated regional responses. The South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said he was very worried given that there had been more than 17,000 cases and over 500 deaths across Africa since the start of the year. Dr Chris Van Straten is a global health advisor at International SOS in Johannesburg in South Africa. He spoke to Sana Safi. South Africa is no stranger to infectious diseases and has been keeping an eye and monitoring the situation for several weeks and months and we're also very fortunate to have some of the global experts in infectious diseases and academics in South Africa. So part of the ramp up to support for the CDC Africa's announcement,

which was then shortly followed by the WHO announcement of a pandemic of international concern, that those announcements really have been a call out and an enabler for the bloc and for the WHO to then start engaging with different ministries of health to make sure that, one, we can test, check which clades are being picked up and in what locations. And then also, very importantly, be able to start to engage and try to get these very important vaccines into the different countries

so at least there can be a focused immunisation campaign. And what is the advice for people on the ground? Because those are the policies and in theory, what should people do practically? It is spread primarily from skin to skin, close contact. And usually the someone who's got the rash and those vesicles are open, that fluid when it bursts out of the vesicles is full of virus. And that's usually when people will pick it up. For most individuals, the treatment is supportive. It will maintain your fluids, good nutrition, get lots of rest, and your body will heal up in two to four weeks.

For those who are immune compromised, such as someone who has got HIV or other conditions like cancer that can suppress the immune system, doctors will certainly want to be more attentive. We might admit that patient and there are antivirals available and especially available in the developed world. Dr. Chris Van Straten, and if you want to know more about MPOCs and the risk it poses, why not check out the latest episode of the Global Story podcast? Just search for the Global Story wherever you listen to your podcasts. Now, let's talk about a growing phenomenon in South Korea. Not only are an increasing number of Koreans under

the age of 30 struggling to find a job, but some of them have given up looking as they feel the search has become pointless. Our business reporter Pierre-Antoine Denis told my colleague Andrew Peach why this is happening. Basically, this is very interesting. The data that's just coming out of South Korea has been a kind of a rising issue this number of young people that are not in education employment or training was the highest last month for any month July on record and that's a 10 percent increase since last year so that's basically put it at around 440,000 people that are under 30. And basically, yeah, as you said, don't want to get a job. Stop looking.

And for different reasons, because when they ask, actually, if we give you a job, would you take it? They're saying, well, no, no, because it's not the job I want. I don't want to just jump on the right thing. I want to wait. But it is great. It is becoming some sort of a problem in South Korea. And because their authorities are, of course, worrying about this becoming a trend. And is there any evidence of this being a broader thing than just isolated to South Korea? People, of course, across the world, there is this growing tendency, there's

been some sort of trend on social media about people explaining why they're becoming now this acronym NEET and EET non-educational employment training and you know going to the fact of being gen z or millennials being worried of being the on the firing line and they've been the first ones to be fired or just to not being in the job that they make can make them happy and just wanting the right place, the right job, and trying to move away from what is too well known as the hustle culture and moving into a situation where they can be in a workplace culture that they really appreciate and that they can work without being worried about all these things.

But the issue there, according to the International Labour Organization, a fifth of people between 15 and 24 worldwide in 2023 were considered as NEETs. So this probably is becoming a growing trend and a growing worry for governments across the world. Pierre-Antoine Denis. Now, to end this podcast, are you ready for a laugh? Well, the title of funniest joke at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival has been announced. I was going to sail around the globe in the world's smallest ship, but I bottled it.

Did you get it? The writer of that corker of a joke is Mark Simmons. He's been telling the BBC about how he found out he'd won the title and how he comes up with his material. With this joke, it's a nice bit of wordplay. Some jokes, it's all about taking people down one way and then doing a twist, and then the twist is surprising, makes people laugh. But I think the best jokes, when it creates an image in your head, I think they're the best jokes, so you can really visualise what's happening. I just do one-liners.

That's my thing, yeah. I think I find it uncomfortable talking too long on stage without a laugh, so I try to get to laugh as quick as possible. So in an average show, I've probably got about 200 jokes. None of the jokes are true with what I do. So I kind of, the way my brain works,

I kind of go around, I spot wordplay quite easily, and then I'll write it down. And then once I've kind of got maybe 10 ideas, I'll craft them into jokes and then go to a new material night, try it out. If it works, it's in the show. And then if it doesn't work, back to drawing board, change a few bits around, go back and try it. So, yeah, a long, long, long process. Well, that was Mark Simmons there who won the title of the funniest joke at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Well, let's see what the competition was like. Here are a few of the jokes he beat. I've been taking salsa lessons for months,

but I don't feel like I'm progressing. It's just one step forward and two steps back. Here's another one. Et horse at a restaurant once. Wasn't great. Starter was all right, but the main was dreadful. And one of my personal favourites, I'm an extremely emotionally needy non-binary person. My pronouns are there there. And if you want to hear more like this, you can find the full list on the BBC News website. 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 topics covered, 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

Nora Hull. The producer was Tracy Gordon. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Janette Jalil. 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? Get current affairs podcasts like Global News, AmeriCast and The Global Story, plus other great BBC podcasts from history to comedy to true crime, all ad-free. Simply subscribe to BBC Podcast Premium on Apple Podcasts or listen to Amazon Music with a Prime membership. Spend less time on ads and more time with BBC Podcasts.