Global News Podcast - Elon Musk says he is launching a new political party

Episode Date: July 6, 2025

The billionaire, Elon Musk, is launching a new political party after falling out with President Trump. Also: Israel is sending a delegation to Qatar for Gaza ceasefire talks, and swimming in the river Seine in Paris.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. deal ratings and price history. So you know a great deal when you see one. That's cargurus.ca. cargurus.ca. In Fiji, music isn't something we do, it's who we are. Music brings everyone together. Music is connection. My favorite Fijian code, it's called Marautico. Marautico means to stay happy, whatever you go through in life, be positive, stay happy. Experience the real Fiji. Visit Fiji.com.fj to find out more.

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Nick Miles. And in the early hours of Sunday, the 6th of July, these are our main stories. After his spectacular falling out with Donald Trump, Elon Musk says he's founded a new political party in the United States. The authorities in Texas say flash floods that swept through a summer camp for children are now known to have killed 32 people. Reports from Israel say the government will send a delegation to Qatar for new proximity

talks with Hamas about a ceasefire. Also in this podcast, Chile's kidnapped children. He was born on the 3rd of July of 1978. He is 47 years old. I don't know if he's alive or dead. Could DNA evidence finally provide answers for the families? Donald Trump's relationship with the tech billionaire Elon Musk was always likely to be a volatile one. Just a few short weeks ago, Mr Musk was still a close confidant of the President, walking the corridors of the White House as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE. Then came the spectacular fallout with his boss over the President's new spending bill and

now a new twist. Elon Musk has announced that he intends to set up a new political party. He said on his social media platform X that the America Party would give voters back their freedom. There are a few details of what the party would stand for but more clues about what it's opposed to as I've been hearing from our North America correspondent, Arunoday Mukherjee. This is something that Elon Musk had mentioned earlier on as well when he was putting out a series of those posts on his social media platform X when the bill was being debated in the Senate as well as the House of Representatives saying that if this bill does pass, then he is going to float a new political party.

True to that, he did put out that poll on the 4th of July. Over a million people responded to that and 65% said yes. Now we don't know what those numbers actually are going to translate on to, whether that really means anything beyond, but given that he is the richest man in the world and he is someone who has been the largest donor to Donald Trump's political campaign, also was the former head of the Department of Government Efficiency, it is certainly going to make headlines. From what you're sensing, do you think there is some kind of appetite amongst American people for a third political party?

Well, going by the poll, it seems to suggest yes, but I think the poll would be a very premature and a very small understanding of what the larger mood or atmosphere might be. It would be hard to say what kind of overall appetite there is across the US for a new political party. I think given the kind of posts on X that we've seen in the past, this could also be seen as something of him trying to test waters. Given the kind of very serious opposition that he had to the big, beautiful bill, this is what it all stems from. He had very categorically pointed out that this is a party that had promised to cut down on expenses, but it was doing just the opposite. So this is a man who says that he is ideologically committed to the fact that America needs to save and forming a new political party, according to him, is the only way to do it.

And no reaction yet from Donald Trump to this. But in the past, Donald Trump has threatened to deport Elon Musk. What can you predict might be his reaction now? So there could be two. There could be one that we don't hear anything from Donald Trump at all. He just completely ignores this. Or, also knowing Donald Trump, he could even get into it and could see a series of tit-for-tat posts on social media. That could also be a very possibility. These are two individuals who it's very hard to predict, as you would know.

But Donald Trump in the past has essentially accused Elon Musk of doing all of this and opposing the big, beautiful bill because he feels the bill will not be providing too many incentives to Elon Musk's electric vehicle venture. And even saying that the Department of Government Efficiency, which Elon Musk set up, could actually go back to hurt Elon Musk himself. Elon Musk responded to that by saying that, look, this is not about that at all. This is me being ideologically committed to bringing down the national deficit, which is a huge concern for the American economy.

So he's projecting himself as a person who's ideologically committed. Donald Trump, clearly not in agreement. Aronaday Mukherjee. Rescuers in Texas say at least 32 people, including 14 children, are now known to have died in flash floods in the state's central region. A Kerrville city official said hundreds of people were taking part in rescue operations. The Kerr County Sheriff said state teams would not stop until every single person was found. A number of people are still missing including over two dozen girls from

a summer camp. There have been warnings of more extremely heavy rains to come. Our North America correspondent Gary O'Donoghue is in Kerrville. As the number of confirmed fatalities continued to rise, rescue teams worked searching for the two dozen or so missing people from a camp for young Christian girls along the Guadalupe River close to the small settlement of Hunt. Dozens of helicopters and boats were being employed with more than 500 local and state personnel involved. state personnel involved. It's been confirmed that the director of the camp, Jane Ragsdale, was one of those who

died. More than 800 people have been evacuated from the area. This man's home was destroyed. It floated down the river maybe 80 yards and these two trees, it just lodged in between two trees so it's not going anywhere. Local authorities have set up a number of centres in the area where anxious parents and friends are waiting for news. Washed away roads and further rain are hampering the efforts.

The torrential rain early Friday morning took everyone by surprise. In some places between 12 and 15 inches fell in a matter of a couple of hours and the Guadalupe River rose by 26 feet in 45 minutes, its second highest level on record according to officials. It's been declared a mass casualty event and along with the missing children, officials are not sure how many other visitors could have been in the area for the holiday weekend. The Texas Governor Greg Abbott vowed to spare no resources to find those still missing. We will stop at nothing to ensure that every asset and person and plane and whatever is needed is going to be involved in the process

of rescuing every last person and ensure everybody involved in this is going to be fully accounted for. The Hill Country, located in south central Texas, is a scenic and popular spot for vacations and children's summer camps, particularly around the July the 4th Independence Day holiday. Donald Trump described the situation as terrible and shocking and said Texas would receive all the federal help it needed. Gary O'Donoghue in Texas. A plane carrying people deported by the Trump administration has arrived in South Sudan

after the migrants lost a last ditch legal effort to halt their transfer. US officials say the men had been convicted of violent crimes. Our Africa regional editor, Will Ross reports. There are warnings that South Sudan's on the brink of civil war. The US State Department website tells people not to travel there due to the risk of crime, kidnapping and armed conflict. But eight men deported from America have now been flown to the capital, Juba. Their lawyer argued the move was punitive and unconstitutional. A court ruling had temporarily stopped them being taken there and instead they were held at a US military base in Djibouti for over a month. What happens to them next is unclear. Only one is South Sudanese.

The others are from various countries as far away as Cuba, Myanmar and Vietnam. Will Ross. Now the prospect of another ceasefire deal in the Gaza conflict. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the government will send what's called a delegation for proximity talks to Qatar with Hamas on the latest US-backed proposal for a 60-day truce. Hamas has agreed to negotiations but demanded some changes. Mr Netanyahu described those demands as unacceptable but earlier an Israeli official told local journalists that there was something to work with in the way Hamas had responded. Our correspondent Sebastian Asha, who's in Jerusalem, told us more about the talks.

This will take place in Qatar, which with Egypt and the US has been one of the main mediators. So that's definitely a positive move from the Israeli side. It's a sign that it is taking seriously not just the new proposal, the modified proposal, the US BAT proposal for a ceasefire and release of hostages, but that it is giving Hamas some benefit of the doubt, which it didn't do last time. So there's definitely been a shift. It's whether there's been such a big shift in what Hamas is actually asking for. Hamas is presenting this, I think, as relatively minor adjustments and amendments to the deal, as far as we know, that is now being put forward. But that may well not be how Israel sees it. It wants an end to this new aid distribution system, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation,

which has been very controversial. It's seen many Palestinians killed. The territorial question is huge. Israel has taken more and more territory. Whether the Israeli military, the Israeli government would accept a big change to that in which Israel would withdraw from much of the territory that it now controls is a big question. And also international guarantees that Hamas wants, essentially from the US, from other countries over a commitment for the ceasefire to lead to a permanent end to the war. These are all

not minor but significant issues that have been the main stumbling blocks in the war. These are all not minor but significant issues that have been the main stumbling blocks in the past. Whether or not Benjamin Netanyahu who meets President Trump in Washington on Monday is under a lot of pressure will really define whether or not Israel accepts those three specific amendments you've been outlining. There is a big question over the Israeli Prime Minister, whether he is now at a position where he feels that it is in his interest, not just his country's interest, but his own political personal interest, to bring this to a conclusion. That hasn't been the sense

until now. There are many in Israel who believe that he's prosecuted this war as much for his own ends to avoid a day of reckoning over what happened on October 7th, 2023, the major security failings, Mr Netanyahu's own judicial issues, the court cases that continue, that being Prime Minister allows him essentially to put off all of those personal issues. He and his supporters would say absolutely not that what they've done, not just in Gaza, but look at Lebanon, where Hezbollah has been defanged, where in Syria President Bashar al-Assad was deposed to a considerable degree thanks to military actions that Israel had taken in the region,

particularly the way that it had weakened Hezbollah and weakened Iran, and then talking about Iran, the conflict that has just come to an end, at least for now, between Israel and Iran, which again weakened Iran and gave Netanyahu a boost, I think, here in Israel, where many people supported him in that, if they don't support him in other issues. So he would point to all of this and say, look, it proves that my constant repeated argument that only military force can really result in final success is the way for Israel to go. Sebastian Asher. Next to Iran and the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has made his first public appearance since the

end of the short-lived war with Israel 12 days ago. State television showed him greeting worshippers at a mosque on Saturday during a ceremony for the religious festival of Ashura. Khamenei's last appearance was in a recorded address during the conflict with Israel. Meanwhile, it's still not clear how much damage has been done to Iran's nuclear programme. On Friday, President Trump said it's been set back permanently, but Mr Trump said it's possible the Iranians could restart production somewhere else. Iran says the damage was minimal, but it remains open to diplomacy

and committed to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. But has the crisis changed Iran? Our chief international correspondent Lise Doucette has just visited Tehran, one of a small number of Western journalists allowed in. Now she's back in London and she gave us her reflections of a country reeling from its 12-day war with Israel. It's always been said and I've seen it over many years of visiting the country there are two faces of Iran, not to simplify too much. One is the face that you often see outside the from outside the country, the harsh dark face, the slogans of death to America and death to Israel. That

hard face has become even harder now after the 12-day Israel war and the strikes by the United States on Iran's nuclear sites. But the other face of Iran, the open face, the face of a country which has long been described as one of the most pro-American countries in the Middle East, that part of Iran has become even bolder. I was really struck by how many women, and not just in the capital Tehran, were no longer wearing the obligatory headscarf or the long coat, even though it's illegal. They're supposed to do it.

And they were more openly critical, less for TV cameras, but for radio, to say, we don't want the bomb, we want more freedoms. I want my business back, not the bomb, what businessmen said to me. But for the hardliners, it was really striking how many are openly saying that Iran now should get the bomb, that nobody will attack the capital of a nuclear state. We should be like North Korea. Culturally, Iran is definitely not North Korea. And so you've got a real sense that the Islamic Republic of Iran is at a crossroads, probably the most consequential crossroads since the 1979 revolution.

Lee is to set. Now how do you find someone when you don't know where they live, you don't know what their name is, or even what they look like? Well, that has been the harrowing experience for thousands of parents in Chile whose children were kidnapped during the Pinochet dictatorship in the 1970s. Our correspondent Ioni Wells has been investigating how modern DNA tests, despite some problems, are providing hope for the families. It's Mother's Day here in Chile and I'm at the house of Maria Cristina.

She's got the whole family around for lunch. They're all tucking in to rice and meat. Even the two dogs and the cat are under the table looking for scraps. But one of her sons is not here. He was born on the 3rd of July of 1978. He is 47 years old. I don't know if he is alive or dead. Maria was breastfeeding her son Christian when a social worker told her he was sick

and needed to be treated. Then, one morning, two women and a man dressed in white arrived. He said, we came to get the baby. I asked why they were taking my son. He threw himself on top of me, threw a punch, knocked me to the ground. They took the baby and sped off. Nobody helped me." Maria tried asking doctors where her son was, but was told he didn't exist. She and her daughter Ingrid have done DNA tests, hoping it could help them find Christian, but one of the problems is, he would have to do the exact same type of test to find a match.

We've solved about 20 cases since 2018, but we are always working to find more connections. The state does carry out DNA testing too to help investigators. But one of the challenges is there's no central database connecting all these different DNA test results globally. That's a challenge for people like Maria, if their children could well be in Europe. I started this work because I was looking for my own sister, who was born in 1972. My mother was told that she had died. I'm in the Museum of Memory and Human Rights in Santiago.

I'm here to meet Marisol Rodriguez, who runs an organisation called Hijos y Madres del Silencio. She helps families that were separated during the dictatorship, before the dictatorship, and helps to reunite them using a combination of DNA testing, artificial intelligence and social media research. This was a state policy during the dictatorship where they wanted to exterminate puberty by taking children away from poor families. So if they didn't give them up for adoption, they sold them abroad. They made it look like a real adoption, with false stories and said that the mothers were alcoholics or poor or had abandoned them.

Marisol's investigations often start by spreading photos of separated children or parents on social media. We have also used artificial intelligence. With photos of the mothers and their family, they could reveal what a child could look like and simulations have been shown in different countries. She feels the state should be doing more to help victims. We need a commission to investigate the cases and provide reparations. These were crimes against humanity committed by the state. It's a failure of this state. The Chilean government acknowledged its response to forced adoptions had been late, but emphasized

ongoing efforts to support family searches and access to justice before this government's term ends. For those searching, like Ingrid and Maria, that doesn't provide much comfort. But while DNA tests also feel like searching for a needle in a haystack, the technology has provided her mother Maria with some hope. I'm going to be 68, but I haven't lost faith that someday I'll see my son. Maria Cristina ending that report by Ioni Wells in Chile. Still to come. It does sound quite a bizarre story doesn't it that a manga comic can predict an earthquake and people would believe it.

In Japan, the authorities are calling on people to trust in science and not in comic books. The funeral of the Portuguese footballer Diego Jota and his brother Andre has taken place following their death in a car accident on Thursday. Figures from across the football world including teammates from Jota's club Liverpool and the Portuguese national team attended Saturday's service in his hometown of Gondomar in northern Portugal. Large crowds of mourners also gathered outside the church and packed nearby streets to pay their respects, with many wearing football shirts bearing Jota's name. Our correspondent Guy Hedgeco reports from Gondomar.

This was an emotional farewell for Dior Jota, who was loved and admired across Portugal. The funeral of the two brothers took place in their hometown of Gondomar, a sleepy town on the outskirts of Porto. Today it was the focus of a nation's grief. A number of Portuguese international football players filed into the church for the funeral service. So too did teammates of Jota's from Liverpool, including club captain Virgil van Dijk. The team's coach, Arnest Slot, also attended. Outside, in the heat, several hundred people gathered, many wearing replica shirts of Jota.

I grew up watching Portuguese soccer all my life. So I watch all these players from kids growing up, playing in small teams, making it to the Bay games. So he's one of them that made it and he deserves him and his brother to deserve all the respect in the world. These people were able to follow the church service, which was relayed to them via public address. Many cried throughout and others repeated the prayers that were being said inside by the Bishop of Porto. To the sound of the Ave Maria, the coffins of the two brothers were carried out before being buried in the church cemetery. Church Cemetery. Guy Hedgego in Northern Portugal.

Let's have a look at a story from Japan now, where the authorities are calling on people to trust in science and not in comic books. The warning comes after tremors which hit the south west of the country coincided with a prediction of a major earthquake in a manga comic. Japanese officials are urging the public not to believe unfounded rumours. Will Vernon spoke to our Asia Pacific regional editor, Mickey Bristo, and asked him what's going on. It all sounds very bizarre. Yeah, it does sound quite a bizarre story, doesn't it, that a manga comic can predict an earthquake and people would believe it. But essentially it goes back to 1999 when this comic was first issued.

It's called The Future I Saw. It's drawn by Ryo Tatsuki and she essentially drew what she dreamed. And in this first edition, she predicted that there would be a major disaster in Japan in March 2011. Now that came to pass, there was a massive earthquake and tsunami, thousands of people died. When this comic book was reissued in 2021, there was a new prediction for July, July the 5th, 2025. And so because she got it correct the first time, lots of people believe that perhaps she was going to get it right the second time. And lo and behold, there has been an earthquake,

5.5 magnitude in the Tokara Islands. This is in southwestern Japan. And what's the fear from the government? Why are they giving this warning? You would think that people would be sensible enough to trust in science, as you suggested, they're not superstition. But in actual fact fact lots of tourists, lots of tourists have been going to Japan over the last couple of years, but interestingly over the last month or so from particular areas, particularly Hong Kong, the number of tourists has dipped remarkably because people, whilst they don't necessarily believe this prediction is going to come true, they think they might as well not go to Japan just in case going to come true, they think they might

as well not go to Japan just in case it does come true. So there's been a lot of talk in Japan and around East Asia about this prediction. So the government just needs to really come out and remind people that essentially they ought to follow the science. How unusual is this? I mean, there are lots of earthquakes in this area aren't there? Yeah, when I say follow the science, basically what the scientists want Japanese people to remember is that there's a lot of seismic activity in Japan. They have, depending on how you measure them, hundreds of earthquakes every year. In fact, a couple of weeks where this earthquake has happened, there have been hundreds of tremors.

So essentially to predict an earthquake is going to happen in Japan is not a really difficult thing to do and that's just what the Japanese government is trying to remind people about. Mickey Bristow. Next to the French capital, Paris and the river Seine has been reopened for public swimming for the first time in a century. It's super hot. It's super hot. Yes, it's super hot. Really hot they say, really hot.

The sound of some of the first people to dive into the River Seine in Paris on Saturday morning. The historically polluted river received a significant clean up for last year's Summer Olympics. The local officials say the water is now safe to swim in. Three designated areas will operate over the summer months complete with lifeguards. Andrew Peach spoke to Dan Angelescu, the founder and CEO of Fluidion, a water monitoring tech company based in Paris and Los Angeles. The company has been testing bacterial levels in the Seine almost every day recently. So is the river really safe? And just a warning the findings are quite

descriptive. Yes today with the water was actually relatively good with one exception which is that we detected large number of bacteria that were attached on what we call aggregates. So these are essentially microscopic fecal particles which carry more than one bacterium. So these go under the radar of the laboratory methods. But based on the laboratory methods the water quality looked safe and okay today. Everything about your answer suggests it's on the edge of being safe. It's not a clean bit of health, it's something that needs to be tested and then we think well is it the right side of the line or the wrong side of the line? Is that about

right? Yes, we are actually in a gray zone where in fact different methodologies give you different assessments. We went away from the laboratory standard methods because these are outdated and they cannot measure all the bacteria present in the water. So we developed methods that can measure the bacteria comprehensively. And this show a slightly different picture of water quality from what the current regulatory methods show.

They show that sometimes in rivers like the Seine, where there is a significant amount of sewage that's untreated that goes in the river upstream of the bathing sites, you can have these micro-fecal particles, if you'd like, that carry a lot of bacteria and also a lot of pathogens with them and these go under the radar of the standard laboratory methods. This is why we've been developing new methods and new instruments that allow us to measure these and faster and we see a very different picture sometimes. Everything you're telling me about the water in the Seine carrying bits of sewage and E. coli pathogens is telling me I shouldn't be swimming in it. Why is anyone swimming in it?

Well, because it's Paris and it's fun and it's summer and it's hot. So all the good reasons it would really help if water quality was really good as well. And on some days it is, but it requires very careful monitoring and monitoring with the correct methods which currently the standard methods do not apply to waters like the Seine in Paris and it is the standard methods that the officials are using. Dan Angelescu the founder of the water monitoring tech company Fluidion. A farewell gig for the legendary British heavy metal band Black Sabbath has taken place in their home city of Birmingham in central England. Frontman Ozzy Osbourne performed solo material sat on a black throne decorated with skulls and a bat with jewels for eyes before the

band's original lineup joined him to headline what was their final show. Over a dozen international acts including Metallica, Slayer and Guns N' Roses performed earlier in the day. Five years ago Ozzy Osbourne revealed that he had Parkinson's disease. These fans of Ozzy Osbourne had these warm words to say of their idol. I wish him to be like here forever. I mean it it means a lot to me and I'm a bit tearful. Well, he's gone, the father or the grandfather, even of my own.

As a legend, as he should be, he's done so much for rock and roll, he's Prince of Darkness, man. He's amazing. The music writer, Matt Charlton, reflects on Black Sabbath's legacy. They created their own genre from nothing. They were touring the US in the early 70s and a review of one of their gigs in America

saying they were about as musical as a tonne of heavy metal. And when life gives you lemonade, a whole genre was born from that. They have influenced everyone in that genre and it's a big world. It's one that doesn't really make the mainstream media very much heavy metal because it's very harsh. But it is all over the world and it has so many fans. The music writer Matt Charlton. And that's all from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the Global News podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on x at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag globalnewspot. This edition was mixed

by Derek Clarke. The producers were Leah McShephry and Charles Sanctuary. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Nick Miles. and until next time, goodbye.