Global News Podcast - EU's top diplomat proposes sanctions against Israeli ministers

Episode Date: August 29, 2024

The EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell wants some Israeli ministers sanctioned for anti-Palestinian 'hate messages'. Also: hopes for a cancer vaccine, and dancing round the clock in Buenos Aires at the World Tango Festival.

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 Bernadette Keogh and at 1400 GMT on Thursday the 29th of August, these are our main stories. The EU's foreign policy chief has accused some Israeli government

ministers of issuing hate messages against Palestinians and has proposed sanctions. South Korea's constitutional court has ruled that the government's climate policies don't go far enough in a landmark case brought by hundreds of young people. Two editors of a Hong Kong news website have been found guilty of sedition in the latest move by the authorities to stifle independent reporting. Also in this podcast... Because we've learned such a lot about virus technology and actually vaccine technology in Covid, it means that once we know what to target, we can rapidly make these vaccines.

Hopes rise for the development of a cancer vaccine. As the Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank continues for a second day, with 17 people killed, according to Palestinian health officials, the European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has condemned Israel's action. He said he would consult with EU foreign ministers on whether to impose sanctions on Israeli government ministers. I initiated the procedures in order to ask the member states if they want, if they consider appropriate, including in our list of sanctions, some Israeli ministers have been launching hate messages, unacceptable hate messages against the Palestinians and proposing

things that go clearly against international law. This follows calls by the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres for Israel to halt its military operation. I've been speaking to John Donison, our correspondent in Jenin, in the West Bank. This operation is ongoing. We drove into Jenin this morning and all roads but one were shut off by the Israeli army. We were warned by Palestinian taxi drivers that Palestinian cars were being shot at by Israeli soldiers. And when we got here, I mean, this is normally a bustling and vibrant, busy town. The streets are absolutely deserted and all the businesses are boarded up. And what are the Palestinian authorities saying?

Well, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who is in power and in controls parts of the West Bank, has warned that the escalating Israeli raids will lead to dire and dangerous results. And then we had another quite senior Palestinian politician, Mustafa Barghouti, who told the BBC this morning that he believed that Israel was trying to bring war to the West Bank. Has there been any response from Israel to the criticisms by the UN and the EU? Not really. And to be honest, I think that that criticism will be water off a duck's back, really. Israel is no stranger to criticism from the UN and the EU. They say they are carrying out counter-terrorism operations. They say they are taking out weapons supplies and taking out Palestinian militants in Tulkarem, in the North Shams refugee camp. They say they eliminated a senior Islamic Jihad militant there yesterday, and they believe that they need to carry out this operation to protect their citizens.

And all this, of course, fuelling fears that the conflict will escalate further. Yeah, I mean, that's what's important, I think. For weeks now, diplomats have been trying to negotiate a ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza and simmer down tensions in the region. We had that big escalation at the weekend between Hezbollah in Lebanon and Israel. And now we've got this third front. So the fear is that what's happened in Gaza, the war there, could spread into a wider regional conflict. John Donison. A cancer vaccine is probably the holy grail when it comes to preventing the disease that takes so many lives around the world every year.

A vaccine would be able to better target the cancer and be less invasive than current treatment. Now scientists from the UK, the US and Australia have made a breakthrough that it's hoped will make the development of a vaccine more likely. We got more from Professor Pat Price, a cancer expert from Imperial College London. It's a very exciting development because we all want cancer vaccines. Just as we know our immune system can fight viruses, if this can fight cancers, that would be so much better, targeted, less effect on normal tissue and really effective. And this study, you think, brings us a move closer

towards a vaccine? Oh, absolutely. We know we've made great progress in other areas, but this is a fantastic study worked with the Americans and the Australians. So in this one, they've looked at one of the immune system, that's the natural killer cells that really just detect and smash up viruses. They've found a protein in the cancer that it targets. And if they can smash up that, then that will be really effective. And they've even developed in the laboratory, a small bit of the protein that's in the cancer cells, so perfectly harmless. And that stimulates those killer cells. And if they could make that into a vaccine, that would be great.

I suppose a fair number of listeners will think of a vaccine as something that stops you getting a disease entirely. This, as I understand it, would not be the case with this vaccine, but it would make subsequent treatment that much less invasive. Is that right? Yes, that's right. We know there are some viruses that cause cancer, like the HPV virus, and we now have a vaccination programme for children with that. And that's great. So that will stop you getting the cancer from the virus. But this is one, once you've got the cancer, and you've had that perhaps removed, but you know that sort of what's in your own cancer, then if you can make the vaccine to that, that should be able to stop it coming back,

which would be brilliant. We often have these fabulous bits of news about research. The next question is always, right, when? We know we've got some cancer vaccines in trial at the moment. This one, they've done the laboratory studies, so they will have to now work it up to actually make it into a vaccine and then trial it. So this one isn't going to be available for patients for several years, but there are others. But the main thing is this is a great direction. And because we've learned such a lot about virus technology and actually vaccine technology in COVID, it means that once we know what to target, we can rapidly make these vaccines. So this is going to accelerate this work. But this, you know,

cancer is such a bad news story often. But if we, all these new ways and these better ways, it's so exciting and so encouraging for patients and for the whole public out there. Professor Pat Price talking to Johnny Diamond. To Argentina now, where police have clashed with demonstrating old-age pensioners in the capital, Buenos Aires. The protesters were angry after President Javier Millay said he would veto a pension increase,

which had been pushed through by the Senate. He maintains he needs to tackle the country's high inflation with austerity measures. Riot police fired tear gas, pepper spray and beat the elderly demonstrators as they protested near the National Congress. These people explained why they'd got involved. We are here to say enough, Millay. This can't go on any longer.

He has targeted the young people, the pensioners, education, health care. There's nothing left to take from us. It's over. He needs to go. He needs to go. We are here not just because we want a higher pension, but because of the cost of living. What it means to be able to use transportation, to be able to eat. Our basic needs are at stake and that's why we have to be supportive and participate, all of us. Members of the opposition have condemned the deployment of riot police, saying the measure amounted to repression. I got more details from our Latin America online editor, Vanessa Bush-Luter.

The footage is quite shocking. You see the police spraying these pensioners, some of whom were in their 80s, with pepper spray from a short distance and also using their truncheons on them. It is unusual because the pensioners have been protesting every week in front of Congress. But this week, there was a larger protest expected because of that veto that Mr. Millay, the president, wants to put in against these pension reforms. And the police were deployed to really crack down. There have been stricter measures, stricter policing of protests because the government of Mr. Millais wants to prevent roads from being blocked, which happened a lot in Argentina during these protests. And so as soon as the protesters, these pensioners, went onto the street, they were beaten back onto the pavement.

And criticism from the opposition calling it repression. Absolutely. And not just the opposition, but also, of course, the pensioners themselves and all of the groups which give them their support, who say that these pensioners have got a legitimate grievance. Year on year inflation in July stood at 263%. And of course, pensioners say they can't pay for electricity, for heating, for food, even in some cases. And so this new measure, which will see their pensions increase in line with inflation to them is crucial. It's a matter of survival, they say. But Mr. Millais is adamant. Absolutely. Mr. Millais says that you can't spend, spend and spend without planning on how to finance such a spending. He says that he was voted in with a large majority to bring down debt and that his plan is to bring down the exorbitant costs, which if measures like these are passed, then other vulnerable people will have to pay for. So he says he's protecting other vulnerable people who would have to foot the bill.

Vanessa Bush-Schluter. While in Singapore, the government has come up with a simple solution for less well-off older people, keep working. Along with many countries, the Southeast Asian city-state is grappling with the challenge of people living longer and having fewer children. It's facing a future in which a shrinking younger workforce will have to prop up an ever-expanding group of pensioners. Our reporter Nick Marsh went to meet some older people who are following the advice to keep on working. Madam Goh is well known in this part of Singapore. It's her job to deliver lunch and dinner to people who struggle to leave their homes. Next book is 22. Living alone, she signed up to a scheme which uses government money

to offer retirees paid odd jobs in their community. I do nothing at home, sleeping, mopping. So when this chance comes by, I just grab to make my life more fulfilling and more purposeful. The number of Singaporeans who live alone, like Madam Goh, has shot up in the past few years. People are living longer, but having fewer babies. This inevitably threatens traditional living arrangements, where elderly parents would tend to stay with their grown-up children. It presents a big challenge, both socially and economically. I mean, naturally, people want to retire at an early age and enjoy their life.

Dr Sui Le is an economist at the National University of Singapore. But it's not sustainable, and that is going to become a very heavy burden for the government. So what's the solution? Well, working further into old age would solve a lot of problems. You simultaneously ease the tax burden and give senior citizens something to do. But for people who've worked hard their entire life, that's not exactly the most thrilling prospect. Back into work, I don't like to work anymore. No use.

I went down to a popular spot in Chinatown where groups of retired men often like to hang out, drinking beer, playing board games. Age is also a problem. Who's going to employ you? Nobody. They're looking for young guys, young people, youngsters and all this. Now Singapore's government clearly knows this and it's literally paying companies to hire people over 60 by offsetting part of their wages. The older the employee, the more subsidies a firm receives. Before retiring, Edna Goh worked at UOB, one of Singapore's biggest banks, for over 50 years. Shortly after stopping work, her husband passed away. Now she's back after signing up to a temporary work scheme.

It means that when projects and part-time vacancies pop up, managers have a ready-made pool of experienced workers to draw from. We don't work here. I feel there's too much time. Don't know what to do. In my health permit, I will continue. By 2026, Singapore's on track to become a super-aged society, which means one in five people will be over 65. For the government, these types of schemes are a dream solution.

Nick Marsh. It was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime, a round-the-world cruise for three years, taking in the Maldives, the Seychelles and Madagascar. But Belfast? Three months, in fact, in the Northern Irish capital, because that's where the ship is currently stranded because of problems with its rudders and gearbox. Holly Hennessy from Florida is one of the passengers, along with her cat, the aptly named Captain. She told my colleague, Nick Robinson, she's never used her

umbrella as much in her whole life. I arrived May 28th and the ship was supposed to depart May 30th. Two days. So how are you spending your time? I've become a local. There are about 200 of us who have been in and out of Belfast. I, because of Captain the Kitty, I've been stuck here. So Belfast has been home. I was in an apartment for two months, which meant I would visit your grocery stores and your butcher shops. Which are good for business. But you and Captain have also been living on board as if on a cruise, but just not going it. Well, actually, no, we're not allowed to stay aboard yet. We can spend the days there. And the ship is functioning like a normal cruise ship.

We have entertainment and movies and trivia and the buffet is open and the crew is doing a magnificent job. Holly, I don't want to make you miserable, but where are you meant to be now? Oh, I'd have to look at my calendar. When we left, we were doing Northern Europe, the fjords, Iceland, Greenland, over to Canada. Now, because of the delay, it's going to be a southern itinerary. And we're going to cross over to the Azores in Bermuda and then go to the Bahamas. Bahamas or Belfast? Tricky choice? Yes, right. You seem very good human about it.

You're happy to wait, are you? Well, it is something I have wanted to do forever. The opportunity to actually live at sea. You've got months to fill to enjoy it. Nick Robinson talking to Holly Hennessy. Still to come... Tango is our life. I left my family and my friends for tango and I will continue fighting for tango.

Dancing around the clock at the World Tango Festival in Buenos Aires. 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. Now it's an important decision that could have governments across the world looking closely at their climate change policies. One of South Korea's highest courts has ruled that the government's plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are unconstitutional because they don't properly protect people's rights. It's the first of its kind in Asia. Mickey Bristow is our Asia-Pacific editor. It's quite a complex case this and the ruling is reasonably technical but as you indicated there it might have far-reaching consequences. It was brought by about 250, mainly young people,

some children and in fact the lead plaintiff was named as an embryo just to give an indication, an idea that climate change is something which is going to affect people in the future, not just at the moment. The court ruled essentially that South Korea's climate change policies up to 2030 were fine and didn't affect people's human rights. But after that, when South Korea is moving towards carbon neutrality in 2050, the government just hadn't really laid out a detailed enough plan of what it intended to do and how it intended to get to that point. So essentially, by not doing that plan, it had really affected people's human rights and hadn't protected and wasn't going to protect people enough. Well, what does the ruling mean in practice?

Well, in practice, the court has given the government until early 2026 to come up with a very detailed plan of how it intends to get to net zero carbon emissions by 2050. And already the South Korean government has indicated that it will abide by this ruling. Also, the consequences of practical consequences could embolden climate change activists in other parts of the world, including East Asia, in order to pursue their own cases. And as you indicated there at the beginning, governments could be looking really closely at their climate change policies and whether they meet stricter standards. Well, indeed, I mean, it's the first of its kind

in Asia, this case. Do you think other countries might see similar cases quite soon? There are already similar cases. Just earlier this year, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Switzerland hadn't properly protected its people from the effects of climate change. There are cases in Taiwan, there's been one in Germany, a couple in America as well. So, you know, we've got a lot of these cases. And I think what this court ruling does in South Korea is it really get governments to look closely at what they're doing with climate change, not be able to say just vague promises and set general goals, but really look at exactly how they're going to do this. It will focus their

attention on how they're going to meet their climate change obligations. And as this court in South Korea has shown, there could be consequences if they don't do that. Mickey Bristow. The US National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, has met China's President Xi Jinping, wrapping up three days of talks between Washington and Beijing. Tensions between the US and China have been high because of issues such as the war in Ukraine, the status of Taiwan and Beijing's territorial disputes in the South China Sea. From Beijing, our China correspondent Laura Bicker reports. Jake Sullivan has held 14 hours of meetings over three days in Beijing as both

China and the US try to manage their substantial differences. The tone from each side seemed conciliatory, even though they're at odds over trade, Taiwan, the South China Sea and the war in Ukraine. President Xi told Mr. Sullivan that he hoped the US and China could find the right way to get along with each other. Mr Sullivan said there would be a call between the two countries' leaders in the next few weeks, and he added that they might meet in person one more time before President Biden leaves the White House. Mr Sullivan also became the first Biden aide to meet General Zhang Youxia, one of China's top military advisers, a sign that the two sides are taking steps to

increase communication between their militaries to avoid any potential conflict. Laura Bicker. Two editors of a news website in Hong Kong have been found guilty of sedition as the authorities continue to target free speech. Chung Poi-kun and Patrick Lam said they'd merely reported on key public events. Martin Yip sent this report. Chung Poi-kun and Patrick Lam were the editors of Stand News, a Chinese-language website which was popular during the pro-democracy protests in 2019. During the trial, the prosecution accused Mr Chung and Mr Lam of inciting, as they put it, hatred or contempt of the Chinese and Hong Kong governments. The editors argued their website was a platform for free speech and defended their decision to publish articles critical of the authorities.

Martin Yip. You might think artificial intelligence has no place in a restaurant kitchen, but chefs around the world have been using AI to upgrade their menus with innovative and sometimes rather funky flavour pairings. But could this be a recipe for disaster or can AI revolutionise the culinary world? Our technology reporter, Porik Belton, has been investigating. I want to see how real restaurant owners who are using generative AI could give them the edge in making the next big recipe to win over the Michelin inspector. There's this Dodo pizza in Dubai that used to create a pizza for Dubai

with things for all of its immigrant cuisine. So it's got Arab shawarma chicken, it's got Indian paneer cheese, some things for Filipinos, some things for Europeans. You've got these large language models that have been able to come up with suggestions that, for their case, that suited their clientele. Now, it seems that some of the food combinations are, quite frankly, rather weird. Dodo's AI experiment also gave them strawberries and pasta. And I think there's a pizza with blueberries and breakfast cereal, which it sounds right up there with what I cook for my children. There's this lovely taco chain in Texas called Velvet Taco that had AI suggest red curry,

coconut tofu and pineapple. And the chef said, look, I'm not really sure those things are going to be delicious together. But I think for restaurants like Dodo in Dubai and Velvet Taco in Dallas, they probably also saw a marketing benefit. So restaurant goers are talking about generative AI in their daily lives. So there's been some marketing hook for them and saying, come on, let AI cook for you. Now, some of those less than appetising combinations seem to illustrate the way in which, quite frankly, technology doesn't always get humans. Now, this is where this paradox, which I think is really at the heart of

large language models like we're all playing with, you know, can it really produce anything that isn't either plagiarism or dodder? So, you know, either you're kind of lifting something off of a recipe blog, maybe without giving someone credit, or you're throwing things together just completely randomly, paneer, cheese and Cheerios. And maybe the answer for that kind of randomness is that that data approach is sometimes what you need, that randomness can maybe spur creativity. What I do think is worrying, though, is if you're making a living coming up with recipes and then chat GBT starts offering your recipes, except without you getting your tiny cut. And I think that also gets at the heart of large language models and problems of intellectual property that they haven't quite solved out yet. Well, indeed, it could have an impact on food blogging and recipe book writing, couldn't it? Yes. And I think that people have seen it.

You know, I've spoken with some recipe bloggers who've seen the actual work kind of coming up. And in other reporting, it maybe alludes to how AI is taking people's livelihoods in ways that maybe you hadn't expected. It's sort of a funny story, you know, kind of Cheerios on pizza. But it gets at some quite difficult things about AI and how we'd have to address it as a society. On the one hand, it can steal people's ideas. It can steal people's livelihoods. But it can also be random and fun and engaging. Poor Rick Belton. Let's end this podcast in Argentina, the birthplace of tango. It's loved the world over, with many cities following the practice in Buenos Aires of couples dancing in the street around the clock. And as Wendy Urquhart reports, this year's World Tango Festival

and competition in the Argentine capital was a truly international affair. A record 750 couples travelled to Argentina to take part in the 2024 Tango competition. They came from 53 countries, including Brazil, Colombia, Italy, South Korea and Ukraine. Tango originated in the 1880s in the brothels and bars in the poverty-stricken port area of the Rio de la Plata, which separates Argentina and Uruguay. Back then, it was mostly sailors and immigrants that lived in that neighbourhood, which might explain why there are many different versions of the dance. It's a highly emotional dance that sees both partners fight for control as they glide across

the floor, and the first part of the competition gives them plenty of opportunity to show off their expertise with well-timed leg flicks and lifts because they have to improvise their moves to music they've not heard before. In the second round, the couples perform a choreographed stage tango. More than 10,000 spectators turned out to watch the final, which was won by the Argentine couple Aiellen Morando and Sebastián Martínez, who were absolutely thrilled. Tango is our life. I left my family and my friends for tango. I have no other words to describe it. I love tango and that's why I'm here and I will continue fighting

for tango. The World Tango Festival also includes performances by famous artists, workshops and discussions and there are even tango events for kids to make sure that this sensual dance lives on through the next generation. That report from Wendy Urquhart. And that's all from us for now, but there'll 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 Global News Pod. This edition was mixed by Callum McLean and the producer was Alison Davies. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Bernadette Keogh. Until next time, goodbye. Goodbye. The 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.