Global News Podcast - Children killed in attack on football pitch in Israeli-occupied Golan Heights

Episode Date: July 28, 2024

The Israel Defense Forces said a rocket fired by the Lebanese Hezbollah group fell on the Druze town of Majdal Shams - a claim denied by the movement. Also: Trump courts crypto industry votes, and why is hip-hop playing an increasingly prominent role in world music?

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 Jackie Leonard and in the early hours of Sunday the 28th of July, these are our main stories.

Israel has blamed Hezbollah for a rocket attack in the occupied Golan Heights that has killed at least 12 people, the deadliest cross-border incident in the north since October. Hezbollah has issued a denial. Donald Trump says he'll carry on holding outdoor rallies, despite advice not to from the U.S. Secret Service. And the World Football Authorities have punished the reigning women's Olympic champions Canada for spying on rivals with a drone. Also in this podcast, it shows machinery and living conditions of mining before industrialisation and afterwards. A gold and silver mine in Japan has been added to UNESCO's World Heritage Register. We begin in the Middle East.

A football pitch in a remote town in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights has been hit by a rocket attack, killing at least 12 teenagers and young adults. It's the worst single attack on Israel's northern border since the start of the Gaza war last October. At a news briefing, the spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces, Daniel Hagari, insisted Hezbollah was behind Saturday's attack and said the Israeli military was preparing its response. The Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon fired a rocket at children playing soccer in a soccer field in Majdel Shams in northern Israel. Hezbollah then lied to the whole world and claimed they did not carry out this attack. This is a lie. Our correspondent Barbara Platt Asher, who's in

Jerusalem, told us more about what Hezbollah is saying. Hezbollah has categorically denied that it's behind the rocket attack on Majdal Shams and says that those are lies of the enemy to blame it. But it did claim at least four attacks earlier in the evening before the scale of the Majdal Shams attack became clear. This was in response to Israeli strikes that had killed four militants in Lebanon. And the Israeli army is saying that it is absolutely convinced it was Hezbollah. They sent out a graphic showing from where the strike was launched,

which is north, it's in Lebanon, but it's just north of Majdal Shams, and it's almost in the direct line of fire. And in between the launch place and the village is an Israeli army base, which Hezbollah had said that it was targeting. So that suggests that it's a possibility that a Hezbollah rocket might have gone astray and hit the wrong target, although, as I said, Hezbollah is denying that. And what it did was it hit a village of Arab Druze, Syrian Arab Druze, because this is occupied Golan Heights, which was taken from Syria in the 1967 war. But there is a Druze community

also in Lebanon, which could be quite angry about something like this. And there might be a backlash against Hezbollah if it seemed to have targeted such a community. And what do you think the wider implications of this strike could be, therefore? Well, there's always been a fear that the war in Gaza between Hamas and Israel is going to ignite a wider regional war. And Hezbollah had been drawn into that or had inserted itself into that shortly after the October 7th Hamas attacks in southern Israel. It started firing rockets at Israel, saying that it was acting in solidarity with the Palestinians. And up until now, you've seen the cross-border strikes, as well as the rhetoric, escalating at various times, but always avoiding an all-out war. There was a great concern, especially from Israel's allies, that at a certain point, either side would miscalculate. And so

the fear now is that this might be the miscalculation. We've had quite strong statements from the Israelis saying that they will act, they will restore full security on the northern border. The Israeli Prime Minister has said that Hezbollah will pay a heavy price, the kind it has not paid so far. We even had a rare statement from the Lebanese government in Beirut, which usually stays out of this, saying that it condemned attacks against civilians which violated international law and urged for a de-escalation of the situation. So there is great concern that this could escalate yet.

And the Israeli prime minister, who's in the United States, has shortened his trip by a few hours and is coming back to Israel. And there's going to be a security cabinet meeting on Sunday to determine what the response is going to be. That was Barbara Platasha in Jerusalem. Earlier, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said at least 30 Palestinians have been killed and more than 100 injured in an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced people. Israel says it targeted a Hamas command and control centre embedded in the building in Deir el-Balak in central Gaza. These people sheltering in or near the school described the moments after the attack.

We were surprised that the Israelis dropped leaflets on large residential areas and wanted people to leave. The Israelis had previously announced that they were safe areas and people returned to these areas. We want a solution. Our legs are tired from being displaced and we have become sick from being displaced. We are asking for a solution.

Now the war is 11 months old, almost a year old, and people are fleeing from Gaza to Rafah and from Khan Yunus to Deir el-Bala. Enough is enough. Unfortunately, this is the fifth time that I've been displaced. I left with my tent and took with me only my wife and children. I left the tent with my belongings and fled, and I don't know if I will find my tent and my belongings after that.

Currently, I'm displaced on foot. I have no money, and I'm looking for a place to stay. The Oluxa Hospital in Deir el-Balak is close to the site of the attack and took in many of the injured. Alice Worsley from Médecins Sans Frontières works as a nurse in the emergency department there. We got about a five-minute warning that there had been a blast nearby. And then very quickly, we saw a large number of patients arriving.

At the same time, many in a very critical state with multiple different injuries of varying severity, some with quite evidently non-survivable injuries. So the type of injuries that we see and we saw many today is open fractures and open wounds of the head. We saw limb injuries, blast injuries, so amputations of limbs. We see significant burns, so we saw a number of children with high body surface area percentage of burns. Alice Worsley, an MSF nurse in Gaza. Next to the United States. The former President Donald Trump has said he will continue to hold outdoor rallies

contrary to safety recommendations from the US Secret Service following the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania just over two weeks ago. In a post on his own social media platform, Mr Trump said that the Secret Service had agreed to provide increased protection and no one can be allowed to stop free speech. So just how important are outdoor rallies for Mr Trump's presidential campaign? A question for our North America correspondent, David Willis. They're very important to Donald Trump. Indoor rallies are, of course, easier to police than outdoor ones because everyone in attendance has to pass through a magnetometer. Outdoor rallies afford wider access, as we saw in Pennsylvania a couple of weeks ago when that lone gunman managed to open fire from a nearby roof.

Mr Trump favours outdoor rallies because you can get more people in and he says the atmosphere can be more electric. Well, he's been at another event, a Bitcoin conference, and he's been talking about his plans to grow Bitcoin in the US. With your help, we will save our nation, we will restore a republic, and we will make America and Bitcoin bigger, better, stronger, richer, freer and greater than ever before. And this is quite a change of stance on cryptocurrencies for him, isn't it?

It is. He hasn't always been a fan of cryptocurrency. During his time in the White House, he dismissed them as highly volatile and based on thin air. And his conversion has come at a time when major crypto companies are making big donations to the 2024 presidential election campaign in a bid to stave off the sort of tough regulation that was introduced by Joe Biden. Now, Mr. Trump has vowed to ease regulatory oversight of the industry. And in a speech, he said that it was his aim to make the US the crypto capital of the planet, as he put it. Now, meantime, what are we to make of remarks that Mr Trump made at another event,

this time in Florida on Friday, that his supporters wouldn't have to vote again if he wins November's election? Yes, those remarks have caused some consternation. And up until a short while ago, the Trump campaign hadn't responded directly to a request for clarification. Addressing a Christian convention in Palm Beach, Florida, Mr Trump told supporters, Christians get out and vote just this time, you won't have to do it anymore for more years and it will be fixed. Now, Donald Trump does occasionally make these sort of remarks only to later claim that he was joking or that the remarks were taken out of context. But he told Fox News back in December that if elected in November, he would be a dictator for a day.

And he sought, of course, to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election, prompting Joe Biden and others to brand him a threat to democracy. So many will wonder what he actually means. And meanwhile, what's going on with the Harris campaign? Well, Kamala Harris has been addressing a gathering in Massachusetts featuring the musicians James Taylor and Yo-Yo Ma, and she'll be taking part in a virtual rally for young voters. One of a number of Zoom rallies that her campaign has planned. And they make the point that such rallies are cheaper to organise, easier to attend. And two nights ago, one of these virtual rallies raised, according to the organisers, more than $8 million for her campaign.

That was David Willis. France have won the men's rugby sevens on day one of the Paris Olympics, the first gold medal for the hosts. Led by their star player Antoine Dupont, France beat Fiji 28 points to seven in the final in front of 70,000 fans. As we record this podcast, Australia are leading the medals table after dominating the swimming events, including gold in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay. Meanwhile, the French authorities are still trying to work out who was behind coordinated sabotage attacks on the high-speed rail network just hours before Friday's opening ceremony. The French Interior Minister said foreign involvement couldn't be ruled out, but expressed confidence investigators would know fairly quickly who was responsible. The transport minister, Patrice Fercrete, warned fans to continue to expect some delays.

So there's no problem about supporters coming to Paris in the next couple of days. I think there will be some disturbances tomorrow. For the time being, we will be on high alert in terms of supervising the network, and then we'll see afterwards. Our correspondent in Paris, Andrew Harding, told us more about developments on Saturday. I've been at various railway stations today, and there are delays of maybe an hour or two here and there. About two-thirds of trains are running normally, certainly from Montparnasse, one of the big stations that was badly affected yesterday. And there is a reassurance from the authorities

that they will have things pretty much back to normal, certainly by the end of the weekend. Although, interestingly, the transport minister said this afternoon that he had a thousand railway workers backed by drones and police helicopters checking all of the rail network across France for other signs of potential sabotage. So this is clearly something that is still ongoing and, you know, people are still on high alert. And what's being done to work out who was behind the attacks? And what should we read into the suggestion of the possibility of foreign involvement? Well, I think what you're referring to there is the Interior Minister, Gerald Darmanin, saying that he couldn't rule that out. He couldn't rule it in or out at this stage. Interestingly, though,

he said that they had recovered already some useful evidence that should allow them pretty soon to determine who was behind this attack, whether it was something organised by local groups, possibly people are starting to talk about far left extremist groups, possibly far right groups, or whether this was something sponsored or organised from abroad. Major security still in place. This must be one of the most highly policed games. It is, although, you know, the mood has changed.

I think so much tension had built up around the opening ceremony because it was unprecedented, because it was right through the centre of Paris, along four miles of the River Seine, and a feeling that something could always go wrong in an open environment like that. And it involved tens of thousands of police. Now that's out of the way. The mood, I was just walking along the riverbank myself earlier today in the drizzle,

and things have changed. The police look much more relaxed. There's still a huge police presence. In fact, there was a time trial cycle race going on when I was there and there were just crowds milling around and everyone seemed to be having a great time. So I think there is touch wood a feeling that having got over that first hurdle, things can become a little more normal now. Even though there are events scattered across the capital, they tend to be isolated behind fairly secure enclosures and the rest of the city feels a bit more ordinary now.

That was Andrew Harding. The World Football Federation, FIFA, has deducted six points from the Canadian team at the Olympic women's football tournament following the flying of a drone to spy on New Zealand's training session on Monday. Warren Bull reports. Canada are the reigning Olympic champions and there was little surprise when they beat New Zealand 2-1 in their opening group match on Thursday. But New Zealand then complained that Canadian coaching staff had used a drone to observe their training sessions.

FIFA has now suspended the manager, Bev Priestman, from taking part in any football-related activity for a year, along with her assistant and analyst. FIFA said they'd engaged in offensive behaviour and violated the principles of fair play. Warren Bull. Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban has accused the European Union of having a pro-war policy on Ukraine. He told an annual summer camp of his supporters, held in neighbouring Romania, that both Kiev and Moscow wanted to continue fighting and that peace must be brought from the outside. The right-wing politician whose country currently holds the EU

presidency again implied that the person to do this would be Donald Trump, whose victory he hoped for in November's US election. Mr Orban also said that Europe was suffering from economic and moral collapse. European politics has collapsed. Europe has given up defending its own interests. All Europe is doing today is unconditionally following the US Democratic Party's foreign policy, even at the cost of self-destruction. The BBC's Nick Thorpe, who's in Budapest, told us more about Mr Orban's remarks. He said Europe is on the wrong path in terms of supporting Ukraine unconditionally with weapons and so on.

And he said also he feels that history will prove him right. He does see a change. He'd recently been on what he called a peace mission to Kiev, Moscow, Beijing and Washington. And he said that after that, even President Zelensky spoke to Donald Trump. So he feels that even though he's in a minority here in Europe now, he feels that he's slowly winning the argument around the world. And he said that both Kiev and Moscow want to continue fighting and that peace must be brought from the outside. What did he mean? You know, from his own conversations with Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Zelensky a couple of weeks ago,

that they are really at loggerheads. Both of them have their own logic. Both want to keep fighting. And that, therefore, the only way that peace will come is if it's not exactly imposed, but brought from the outside. Mr. Orban is hoping that Donald Trump will win the US election in November. But he's also been speaking to President Erdogan in Turkey and President Xi Jinping in China. So he feels in a way that really he's siding with the rest of the world against the current EU and current US policy and that peace is possible and will be brought about

if Donald Trump wins the elections in the US in November. Now, Hungary currently holds the EU presidency. Just explain for our listeners how significant it is that Hungary currently holds that role and how significant it is that Mr Orban is taking this stance. It's a symbolic role, but it gives Hungary the chance to set the agenda. And clearly, Mr. Orbán's wasted no time in trying to set the agenda. He said the situation on the battlefield in Ukraine means, for example, that neither side can win. So he's using it really, the EU presidency as a podium. Of course, that was very controversial

when he embarked on this great global trip trip because the EU leaders were quick to say, wait a minute, you're not representing us. You're not representing EU policy here. You're only representing your own policy. That was Nick Thorpe. Still to come. Hip-hop is an accumulation of many different music genres, so blues, jazz, everything, and that's why it's thriving. Why hip-hop belongs in the World Music Festival WOMAD. 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. Next to Venezuela. On Sunday, the country goes to the polls. President Maduro and his socialist

party have been in power since 2013 after he took over from his mentor Hugo Chavez. Nicolás Maduro is seeking re-election for a third six-year term. He's expected to face a strong challenge from the opposition candidate Edmundo González, who's ahead in the polls. Our South America correspondent Ione Wells is in the capital Caracas. She's been meeting voters who say the last few years have been marred by security forces committing abuses. And a warning that this report contains some vivid descriptions of violence. We already have our president, who we have known for so many years. We continue to bet on him. We continue to support him.

This is the last day of election campaigning in Venezuela today and the center of Caracas is full of thousands of people who have turned out in Maduro t-shirts. There are pictures of him absolutely everywhere, lining the streets, bands playing on stages to whip up the crowds. And the streets are lined with coaches that have been put on by the government to transport people from all around the country to come and support him on the final day of campaigning. The last elections were seen as neither free nor fair. For the first time in years,

the opposition has huge momentum. But President Maduro's party has used a range of tactics to suppress the opposition with the army and electoral authorities it controls. Disinviting EU election observers, banning opposition leaders from running, detaining critics. Emil Andres Benitez was arbitrarily detained in Venezuela in August 2018 after she and her taxi driver partner were arrested giving someone a ride to the city centre. Without a fair trial, she was accused of organising a plot to kill the president and given a 30-year prison sentence. She was pregnant. Guards beat her stomach.

She had a miscarriage. A family member spoke to us anonymously and we've changed her voice. One day we were visiting her in prison. I took off her shoes and saw her nail was purple and asked, what happened to you? A lump forming her throat. Tears came to her eyes. She told me they removed her nail with a hammer.

She is one of hundreds of political prisoners in the country. Thousands more have been detained. We voted for Chavez and Maduro also. Everything changed because we realized how justice works in Venezuela. They said they won't investigate her torture. In the name of God, I hope a new president wins and for a in Venezuela. They said they won't investigate her torture. In the name of God, I hope a new president wins and for a better Venezuela. That report by Ioni Wells in Venezuela. The world's most powerful countries, the G20, have agreed in principle that there needs to be a global tax on billionaires, but they've stopped short of backing a proposal put forward by Brazil.

Finance ministers met in Rio de Janeiro and promised to continue discussions on how to enforce a minimum tax on the world's wealthiest people. Harry Bly reports. When you think billionaire or super rich, picture the recent wedding of the son of Mikesh Ambani, Asia's richest man. There were four months of celebrations leading up to the big day, with guest lists including global business leaders, politicians, Bollywood actors and sporting legends, who were entertained throughout the multiple pre-marriage parties by the likes of Katy Perry. Thank you for setting up way past your bedtime for me. I know you wanted this song, right? You gotta bring it to the front! Katy Perry. And the Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli. The wedding of Makesh Ambani and Radhika Merchant, which also included a four-day luxury Mediterranean cruise, is thought to have

cost in the region of $132 to $156 million. And it's this kind of fortune that finance ministers from the G20 nations were discussing imposing a tax on. Tabled by Brazil, the idea is simple, a minimum 2% tax on the 3,000 richest people. A report commissioned by the Brazilian government says billionaires currently pay 0.3% of their wealth in tax, so imposing a 2% tax could unlock around $250 billion per year. The proposal has so far been backed by France, Spain, South Africa and the African Union, but the US and Germany are sceptical. Brazil says it will make this proposal its top priority ahead of the G20 summit in Rio in November. Harry Bly. A remote gold and silver mine on a tiny Japanese island has been added to UNESCO's World Heritage Register.

South Korea had opposed the listing of the Sado mine, which operated for nearly four centuries, because it was linked to the abuse of around 2,000 Koreans used as forced labour by Japan during the Second World War. Our Asia-Pacific editor, Mickey Bristow, began by telling us why South Korea had dropped its objections. Quite simply, because the Japanese government says it's going to give proper explanations about the Koreans who worked there, the conditions in which they lived in and the conditions which they were forced to work in. So that's why South Korea has essentially withdrawn its objections. We've got to say as well, though, that the South Korean government is a little bit sceptical about whether Japan will do that.

On another occasion, there was a coal mine, another island. This coal mine was an island. Another island, this coal mine off the coast of Japan, it too was given world heritage status. And it too promised to give full play to descriptions of the Koreans who were forced to work there. But it didn't actually do that, the Japanese government, and they were criticised for that. So the Korean government is a little bit sceptical about whether this will actually take place. So obviously this is part of what can be quite a difficult relationship between these two countries. We're talking about Japan taking over and ruling Korea from 1910 till the end of the Second World War. Lots of Koreans treated very badly by the Japanese,

most notably women who were forced into prostitution to serve the soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army. Lots of forced labour. And South Korea, basically this is an issue which is still pertinent. It still hurts them because they don't believe the Japanese have properly atoned, properly explained, properly held their hands up to basically what they did. So this mine itself, which now gets onto the World Heritage Site register, it was once one of the biggest sources of gold, wasn't it? Tell us a bit more about it.

It has a history which goes far beyond the period we're talking about. It goes back to at least the early 1600s. The reason why it's so interesting is because it shows machinery and living conditions of mining before industrialisation and afterwards. It's on an island just off the coast, the west coast of Japan. Underneath this mountain, there is a real warren of kind of a network of tunnels stretching for hundreds and hundreds of kilometers. And it was a really important mine over its lifetime. And it closed in 1989. It mined 78 tons of gold and more than 2,300 tons of silver.

And at one point in the 17th century, it was the biggest source of gold in the world. About 10% of the world's gold came from this one mine. And so it was a really important industrial site and probably for that reason alone deserves to be on the World Heritage List. Mickey Bristow. Commercial music from Western countries is not often thought of as being part of what's known as world music. Sounds from Africa and Latin America are more often associated with the genre. But hip-hop, which emerged from Afro-American communities in inner cities, is playing an increasingly prominent role in world music.

And at this year's World Music Festival, WOMAD, in the south of England, more than 10 hip-hop acts are performing. They come from as far afield as Senegal, South Africa and Europe. The BBC's Martin Venard is at WOMAD and sent this report. This is one of the traditional sounds of world music, cumbia from Latin America, being played by a group based in France and led by a Mexican. But this is increasingly the sound of world music. Hip-hop from Senegal, performed by two young women,

going by the name Def Mama Def. My name's Oren Mullen and I work at Real World Records. So, Oren, this year there are lots and lots of hip-hop acts appearing at Walmart. What do you think of that? I think it's probably a reflection just of a general trend in music at the minute. I think as well, if you're doing a more traditional sort of sound, you've got to come with drums and bass and guitar and keyboards and all sorts. Whereas the very nature of hip-hop music, it's quite often with the sound system. And it's a compact way to tour, but also to get the music out there.

My name's Jessica, and I'm writing for Wordplay magazine. We're a beats and culture magazine specifically focused on hip-hop. Does it have a place at a world music festival? I definitely think it does. Hip-hop is an accumulation of many different music genres, so blues, jazz, everything, and that's why it's thriving, it's because it's always evolving, it's multifaceted, I'm just really excited to be a part of it. So what do other artists performing at WOMAD

think of the rise of hip-hop at the festival? Ladies and gentlemen, I am Alba Rosie, I'm Italian, but I live in Jamaica all my life, and I play reggae music, and music is like ice cream. You pick your flavor. You know what is good for you. I never exclude any genre. I'm a producer, I'm a recording engineer, mixing engineer, so I work with a lot of music, right, not only reggae.

So that's why I welcome hip-hop. My name is Noriko Tadano, and I'm a Japanese, and I play Japanese instruments called shamisen. My music is very traditional, and 300 years ago, people sang about their feeling, nature sometimes, about the job sometimes, life. Again, 21st century hip-hop can express their feeling as well, and with a very resumable

dancing. Would you ever be tempted to do a bit of hip-hop yourself? I'd love to. Yeah, I'd like to dancing hip-hop in my 500 years old instruments. That would be cool, don't you think? This is the GS Collective performing at one of the outdoor stages here at WOMAD. They're a UK hip-hop act. So let's ask some of the crowd here what they think of hip-hop being performed at a world music festival. If you want a family event and you want your kids and your teenagers to come, it's a really good idea to include things that they think are cool so they can then go on and discover other stuff that isn't on their normal radar well we're just listening to you

right now if you listen to it it's hip-hop yeah there's uh there's the spoken word but there's also jazz in there you know i hear the the saxophone there hip-hop can be so many things right it can include all sorts of impulses and and that's what music's all about, isn't it? Do you mind the fact that there's at least ten acts at this year's Walmart that play hip-hop? Does that matter? I much prefer the folk and the African beat stuff. Hey, I'm Shaka Zulu. I'm part of the GS Collective. Fundamentally, hip-hop is world music.

It may be seen as Western music, but it's influenced by African music, Caribbean music. It's everything, really. That report by Martin Venard. And that's it from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the Global News Podcast later. If you would like to comment on this edition or the topics covered in it, do please 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 Houle. The producer was Liam McSheffrey. Our editor is Karen Martin. I'm Jackie Leonard and 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.