Global News Podcast - Fears of more fatalities as storm Boris lashes Europe

Episode Date: September 15, 2024

Romania has set up displacement camps after floods killed a number of people and destroyed thousands of homes. Also: Peru buries its former President, Alberto Fujimori, with a complex tussle over his legacy.

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. Life and death were two very realistic co-existing possibilities in my life. I didn't even think I'd make it to like my 16th birthday, to be honest. I grew up being scared of who I was. Any one of us at any time can be affected by mental health and addictions. Just taking that first step makes a big difference.

It's the hardest step. But CAMH was there from the beginning. Everyone deserves better mental health care. To hear more stories of recovery, visit camh.ca. 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. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Andrew Peach, and in the early hours of Sunday, the 15th of September, these are our main stories. Romania is setting up camps for thousands of people forced from their homes by severe flooding.

The US National Security Advisor says intense discussions continue on whether to allow Ukraine to fire Western long-range missiles at Russia. The former president of Peru, Alberto Fujimori, has been buried with full state honours in a ceremony attended by family and friends in the capital Lima. Also in this podcast... There are estimated to be about 100,000 elephants in Zimbabwe. Now, that's double the recommended ecological balance of elephants around. Zimbabwe. Now that's double the recommended ecological balance of elephants

around. Zimbabwe announces plans to cull elephants to feed people who are struggling to feed themselves in the drought. Cyclone Boris is wreaking havoc across large parts of central and eastern Europe. At least four people have been killed in Romania where thousands of homes have been damaged and hundreds of people have been killed in Romania, where thousands of homes have been damaged and hundreds of people have been evacuated after some of the heaviest rain in years. These people on the River Biala near the Czech border with Poland said they fear the worst. I've prepared sandbags and pumps, but it's impossible to predict what's going to happen. It's frightening. This is the second time in my life that I've seen such a phenomenon.

It's a nightmare for the people who live here. Of course I'm scared. Everyone's afraid of water. Water's the most powerful force of nature. Everyone's scared. Maybe the bridges will be cut off because the water is still rising and there's no hope of the rain stopping. Here's our Europe regional editor Charles Haverland. Romania's Prime Minister Marcial Ciolacu and his Interior and Defence Ministers have all been visiting the inundated areas, such is the seriousness of these floods. With beds, blankets

and food now ready at temporary camps, Mr Ciolaku said the priority was to prevent further deaths. Video shows firefighters carrying elderly people to safety. Military boats and planes are being used for rescues. Torrential rain has also hit neighbouring Moldova. Dramatic footage from the capital, Chisinau, shows people being swept down a street and coming up against stuck cars. Far to the west, rains linked to the same cyclone have struck parts of the Czech Republic and Poland, with Austria also braced for them.

Polish and Czech streams have become roaring torrents and people have been moved to safety. The Czech Prime Minister, Petr Fiala, has warned of worst-case scenarios as more rain is predicted. In the giant mountains of northern Bohemia, one woman uploaded video of rushing watercourses, which she said was unlike anything she'd seen in 20 years living there. Meanwhile, Myanmar's military leader has made a rare request appealing for urgent international help to deal with deadly flooding in large parts of his country. Minh-ung Klaeng told officials to contact foreign governments for rescue and relief aid. In the past, the military has blocked or frustrated humanitarian assistance from abroad,

so this underlines the gravity of this crisis. There aren't many confirmed details, but initial reports suggest at least 160 people have died in recent days, most in central and eastern Myanmar. Lee's dissent spoke to So Win Tan of the BBC's Burmese service and began by asking him how unusual this kind of appeal is. It's quite unprecedented. The regime has this natural suspicion of international involvement in their own affairs, but the regime has always been, like, you know, blasted for refusing international offer of assistance, even when the country is going through some desperate moments.

So this time, in a way that it shows their desperation. Also, the regime chief, junta chief, wanted to show that, you know, he is willing to work with the international community. But there is a caveat. They always insist that the international aid, even if it comes to Myanmar, then that should go through them. I mean, the aid could be delivered to them and they will do the distribution.

Is this in part because some of the worst affected areas are in rebel hands and the military would not want aid to go to them? Or are there other issues? That's always the case. Like even in Rakhine State, we had natural disasters in the past, and Beijing was quite suspicious that when the international aid would be delivered, not through them, that would land in the hands of the opposition groups and troops. So they always insisted that they would manage by themselves. Currently, also the affected areas, many of those areas are in the hands of the rebel. But those suffer are the local people. When they say they want foreign aid, do they prefer that it comes from a country which they have close relations like China?

Or did they make it clear that Western aid would be acceptable this time? They didn't make it clear that Western aid would be acceptable this time? They didn't make it clear. The junta chief just said that they would want international aid to give to the affected peoples. Usually what happens is that they are more comfortable with the countries in the region, ASEAN, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which Myanmar is a part of. ASEAN already set up ASEAN Humanitarian Assistance Centre, which already started to aid, although it's in a very small scale, to the war-affected and internally displaced people. So, I mean, it's likely that they would go first to that ASEAN grouping and some individual

countries. But still, it's likely that it would be very suspicious of Western involvement. We've seen in disasters in other parts of the world, in conflict, that out of the tragedy comes possible political openings. Is there any desire on the part of the military to end its isolation, to reach out to the West? And if so, would the West want to reciprocate? Yeah, that is very difficult. With the history of the regimes, they have gone through so many kind of disasters and conflict, and they are still also very deep in this conflict, civil war. And they are also very suspicious of especially the Western countries. They always said that the opposition groups receive assistance from the Western countries. So they would be quite reluctant. People are saying that we have seen in other, like Aceh and other international conflicts, that disasters helped open the dialogue process and reconciliation. But in Myanmar, it's quite unlikely. And also the opposition side,

they both are quite dead set on crushing the other. So I don't see that this could be the very kind of big opening or opportunity for that kind of conflict resolution. And that was so in turn from the BBC's Burmese service. The US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan says intense conversations are still taking place among Western allies on whether to allow Ukraine to attack Russia with donated long-range weapons. This subject was discussed on Friday at a meeting between the US President Joe Biden and the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, but no conclusion was announced. The latest from Steve

Jackson. President Zelensky of Ukraine expressed frustration after the much-trumpeted meeting on Friday between the British and US leaders yielded no announcement on the use of long-range weapons. But President Biden's top security adviser has now insisted the issue is still very much on the agenda. Jake Sullivan spoke to a security conference in Kiev by video link. I think having a conversation that puts all of the pieces together, what we can offer up, what we can support Ukraine with, and then how Ukraine looks at that in the context of a strategy for diplomacy. And President Biden

will still have four months left in his term, and he's determined to use those four months to put Ukraine in the best possible position to prevail. He also said that a substantial US aid package for Ukraine would be presented to Congress later this month. Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine have been exchanging prisoners of war with mediation from the United Arab Emirates. UAE state media said 103 prisoners from each side were handed over and it was Abu Dhabi's eighth such mediation. This Russian soldier couldn't believe he was now free. I didn't expect all this. I am going. Everything is fine. I can't even admit it yet. I'm overwhelmed with emotion. I don't even know how to say it. Everything is great. The Russian Defence Ministry

said its freed servicemen were currently in Belarus and receiving help. On Friday, Ukraine said it had received a further 49 captives from Russia. Peruvians have buried their former president Alberto Fujimori in Lima. Despite previous convictions for human rights abuses and corruption, he was granted a state funeral. Tens of thousands of Peruvians paid their respects since his death on Wednesday, with many turning out to watch his funeral being screened outside Lima's National Theatre. Supporters chanted his nickname Chino as his coffin was carried to the graveyard. Alberto Fujimori governed Peru with an increasingly authoritarian hand in the 1990s and is credited with pulling the country out of economic crisis and defeating the shining path insurgency.

I've been talking to Leonardo Rocha, the BBC's America's regional editor. I asked Leo, first of all, what is Fujimori's legacy? Bit of a mixed one. It is indeed. I mean, he was convicted. He spent a long time in jail. He went abroad to Japan, left power in 2000, eventually was arrested in Chile, came back, and he remained a divisive figure in Peru. Of course, the victims of his attacks with the time when he was in government, most of

them were poor indigenous people. He was also accused of sterilizing indigenous people against their will. So there are many things. But what I've seen in the past three days is really overwhelming. People from all over the country went to pay their last respects to him. Many, when interviewed, they said, look, he saved us from communism. They saved us from a brutal group, the Shining Path or Sendero Luminoso. And also they saved the country from hyperinflation. The country was completely out of control, the economy. And he came to power. If you look back at the history of Peru, recent history of instability, impeachment after impeachment, corruption of presence, he was the last strong leader Peru had. And just give me a sense of what the proceedings were today

with the state funeral that's been happening. Well, he'd been lying in state in this national theatre in the city centre where thousands of people went there. And then there was a mass, a Catholic mass there with the family, very emotional. His daughter, Keiko Fujimori, who is the political heir of the family, she went on stage there and she just said, look, he's finally free of all the attacks, free of all the vengeance, and we'll stay united and we'll keep his name in politics.

She is going to run for president again in two years' time. She nearly won the last election, and she looks very confident. And later, the body was taken to the presidential palace. She also thanked the president, Gina Baluati, for, according to her, not bowing to pressure from international pressure and basically giving him a state funeral. And former Peruvian leaders were there. I was surprised in a way that he had such honours after all the controversy and eventually was taken to a funeral where Keiko Fujimori again said it's about time to leave behind all this hatred and this division and put Peru first. That's a message,

a message of a politician who's running for president. Our America's regional editor Leonardo Rocha. More men have come forward, accusing the former chief executive of Abercrombie & Fitch and his British partner of sexual exploitation. Mike Jeffries and Matthew Smith have been facing allegations that they exploited young men for sex at events they hosted around the world. The FBI has been investigating after the BBC revealed

there was a sophisticated operation involving a middleman run for their benefit. Here's our investigations correspondent, Rhianna Croxford. I didn't think it would ever come to light. I thought this was a very powerful individual who was basically untouchable. This man, who I'm calling Luke, is one of 20 men I've now spoken with who attended or helped organise sex events hosted by Mike Jeffries and his British partner. These took place at their New York homes and hotels around the world from at least 2009 until 2015, while Mr Jeffries was chief executive of the fashion brand. This whole hotel room was completely converted to being a literal Abercrombie store. The photos and the tables, the plants, the cologne sets. It was like a movie set of an Abercrombie store. And I thought we were going to do a photo shoot. In 2011, when he was 20, Luke says he received a message on a modelling website

from a talent scout working for Mr Jeffries. He says this man had offered him the chance of being in a company advert if he flew to Madrid. But on arrival, he said he was taken to a hotel room, which resembled a mock Abercrombie store. He says Mike Jeffries' assistants, young men in the brand's polos and flip-flops, were folding clothes, pretending to be shop workers. And right away it's like we go into character. The talent scout or house manager says, all right guys, the first thing I want you to do is take off your shirts so you can, you know, you guys would be the guys at the Abercrombie store being the shirtless models. And he's like, all right, now I have two very important guests I'm going to bring into the store,

and these are going to be the customers that you need to impress. And that's when Michael Jeffries and Mr. Smith came out of a corner of the room. Luke says Mr. Jeffries and his partner Matthew Smith began touching him. He says the Abercrombie boss then performed oral sex on him and Mr Smith tried to do the same. Had he wanted any of that to happen? No. I mean, definitely not. Absolutely not. I was trying to avoid the whole situation as much as I could,

but Michael was very aggressive. I constantly was saying no and I wanted to go. The FBI began investigating after the BBC revealed there was a sophisticated network involving a middleman tasked with scouting men for these events. Mike Jeffries and his partner also face a civil lawsuit accusing them of sex trafficking and rape. I'm not scared of the FBI, and I'm also not scared of a court. This is Diego Gillen, a real estate broker who says he's been interviewed by the FBI. He says he would take the stand, if necessary, to defend Mike Jeffries. Over the course of life, there's moments when people may have given you a hand,

for one thing or for another. And I am the type of person that believes that you should never forget that. Back in 2011, Mr Gillen says he was recruited, while homeless and unemployed, to attend several of these sex events. He says that everyone who attended the events he was present at... ...were under no obligation, under zero pressure, and they were treated excellently in every respect. He told the BBC there was also a roster of attendees. Other sources have said

this database could have as many as 60 different men on it, giving a snapshot of the scale of those recruited. But Mr Gillen's view differs to the other men I've spoken with. Some have said they understood these events would be sexual, but not the specifics. Others, like Luke, have said they felt misled, exploited and abused. There's an immense amount of shame associated with, you know, or this image or idea that you're not a masculine man if you've been molested or taken advantage of by another man. I want to have the message that people can overcome things like this in their life and they can move forward. Mr. Jeffries stepped down in 2014 after two decades in charge. He and Mr. Smith did not

respond to requests for comment. However, their lawyers have previously said they deny allegations of wrongdoing. Abercrombie & Fitch said it does not comment on legal matters. With multiple investigations underway, it's now for the authorities and the justice system to decide what happens next. And to hear more on this story, search for the Abercrombie Guys on BBC Sounds or wherever you find your BBC podcasts. Now, still to come on this edition of the Global News Podcast. You can always find a coffee at any hour, at any location.

But the question is, how many of these baristas can continue to sustain themselves in business? Concerns about the rising cost of coffee in Italy. 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 Uganda and thousands of people have attended the funeral of the Olympic athlete Reka Cheptegei, who died after being doused with petrol and set alight by her ex-boyfriend in neighbouring Kenya. The 33-year-old succumb to burns covering 80% of her body. Our senior Africa correspondent Anne Soy reports from eastern Uganda. An emotional send-off for one of Uganda's finest ambassadors.

A sergeant in the armed forces, Rebecca Cheptege's casket was draped in her country's flag and she was given a three-volley salute. Her fellow athletes wore black T-shirts with the message, Say no to gender-based violence. The Kenyan sports minister, Kipchumba Murkomen, spoke at the funeral. We are guilty as government, but also the community is guilty. It is not true that we did not know, even in the local community, that Rebecca was facing family problems. Rebecca Cheptege is the third elite female athlete to have been allegedly killed by their current or former partners in Kenya since 2021, prompting calls for action to tackle violence against women.

The government of South Sudan has been holding an emergency cabinet meeting hours after announcing that long-delayed national elections during December will be postponed for another two years. Here's Will Ross. The decision to postpone elections by another two years has not come as a great surprise. The political leaders of South Sudan have not exactly been racing to get ready for a vote. This has fuelled suspicion that they're clinging on to power in the oil-rich country. President Salva Kiir's office says essential tasks like writing a new constitution have to happen before there's an election. Those in charge are the same leaders who plunged the country into a five-year-long civil war. Given the current relative peace and the fact that neighbouring Sudan is being destroyed by conflict,

South Sudan's politicians may not come under much international pressure. Will Ross reporting. Now this is is from the Ballet Giselle. The ballerina Michaela de Prince performed in Giselle in 2020. Her death has just been announced at the age of 29. A family statement said she was an inspiration to everyone who heard her story. Michaela de Prince was born during Sierra Leone's civil war, which took the lives of both of her parents. She went to the US as a four-year-old, where her adopted family nurtured her love of ballet. Our culture correspondent, Noor Nanji, told me more about her life.

She did have a really fascinating life. She was born in Sierra Leone in 1995. And she was sent to an orphanage when she was just three years old. And that's after both of her parents died during the Civil War. And she has spoken in the past about how she was seen as almost a devil's child in the orphanage because she suffered from a condition in which patches of her skin were losing pigmentation. And she was also told that she would never be adopted. But she was adopted at the age of four by an American couple. And that's when she moved to the US to New Jersey. And her adoptive mother quickly noticed that she was really obsessed with ballet and enrolled her into

classes. And then she, from then onwards, she rose to fame. She made history as the youngest principal dancer at the Dance Theatre of Harlem. And she has performed all across the world, including in a music video for Beyonce, which a lot of people will remember. It sounds like her original background, her birth background, had a whole list of reasons why she wouldn't have ended up in this profession. She wouldn't have ended up in the world of ballet. And maybe the adoption was the key moment that made that happen. I think so. I mean, she's often been described as a war orphan. So obviously, you know, things were stacked against her, if you like, when she was very young. But clearly that move to the US and, you know, having an adoptive set of parents who obviously, you know,

were able to spot her talent and really nurture that from a young age clearly made a really big difference for her. What sort of legacy does she leave in the world of ballet? Because she's a trailblazer for many people. That's right. And I mean, that's sort of the gist of what people are saying about her today with this very sad news. People are calling her a trailblazer. Her spokesperson said that she had touched countless hearts and inspired many, leaving a mark on the world of ballet and beyond. They said that her life was defined by grace, purpose and strength, and that she was unwaveringly committed to the arts and also to her humanitarian efforts. And I think that's also an important part of the story. She was really a campaigner for other young children who'd gone through similar things. And I think that's very

important considering where she also came from. Nornanji, our culture correspondent. Zimbabwe is facing a severe drought that's led to food shortages. Now the government has come up with a controversial plan to try and feed its citizens. It's going to cull 200 elephants and then distribute their meat to those who need it. I asked our reporter Camilla Mills why they're doing this now. There are a number of reasons. First and foremost, there are estimated to be about 100,000 elephants in Zimbabwe. Now, that's double the recommended ecological balance of elephants around. So there's been, as well as the issue of there being a kind of human-elephant conflict,

added to this is now the El Nino drought that is happening in southern Africa. Five countries in the region are being impacted by it. And these are the worst droughts that we have seen in decades. Now it's left millions facing hunger. So one of the solutions has been to kill wild animals. We saw this happen last month in Namibia, a number of wild animals were killed, including over 80 elephants. And now this is happening in Zimbabwe, they're going to be roughly 200 elephants killed. I have a sense of listeners elsewhere in the world outraged about the idea that anyone would kill an elephant. They're just those animals that have a special emotional relationship with us somehow, even if you've never been anywhere near one.

Is that true in Zimbabwe? Do people feel like that about elephants there? Yeah, elephants are a huge symbol of strength and prosperity, and they're used as luck symbols as well. But something that you've got to remember is these elephants are huge mammals. Imagine how much water and food they need. But conservationists, as you say, are outraged by this because they are emotionally intelligent and apparently they can experience trauma. So there will be people within Zimbabwe and globally who are outraged. In fact, culling of elephants was very popular in the 80s and 90s and the reason it really tailed off was because of the global backlash.

And how exactly do you go about it? Because logistically it can't be easy. What generally happens is that specific animals are targeted and they're targeted in their entire family unit. So an entire family will be killed. Then what will happen is the meat will be dried, it will be packaged and there's going to be a feeding scheme that will go to predominantly schools and prisons. So rather than the elephants eating more food than is available, these 200 elephants are going to be used as food? Yeah, elephants are going to be used as food. Yeah, they are going to be used as food. They're going to be sent to people who are in dire need of just basic food, but also in need of protein. As it stands, there are about 42% of Zimbabweans

live in poverty. And the authorities there say that 6 million will require food assistance between November and March. Camilla Mills reporting. According to the British newspaper the Financial Times, Italian baristas are concerned about the future of their cheap espressos as the global price of coffee surges. So vital is the espresso in lubricating daily life in Italy that prices were once regulated by the state.

At the moment, Italians enjoy a shot for about €1.20. That's around $1.33. As a comparison, the average takeaway coffee here in London is around $4.50. Amy Casmin is a Financial Times journalist in Rome. My colleague Caroline Wyatt asked her, what's going on with the price of coffee? The price of the espresso shot is rising and could rise further and that is causing quite a lot of heartache here in Italy. Italians have grown very

accustomed to very affordable coffee. They pay some of the lowest prices in all of Europe. You can easily find a shot for a euro or maybe 1.2 euros. And that's just a fraction of the price in some of the other northern European capitals. But baristas have been complaining of mounting costs and now global coffee bean prices are also surging because of bad weather. And that has started to trigger a lot of predictions that prices are going to have to rise and there's a lot of agitation in the market. Historically, the prices were regulated in order to keep the cost of an espresso affordable to the common man. There is also a phenomenon of people literally rushing into a bar and standing up at the counter and knocking back an espresso

lickety split and leaving. And this has always been very affordable. So the concern now is that if prices rise, it's going to put a real strain on consumer pockets. What happens, do you think, if the bars, the baristas are forced to put prices up? Will people actually pay for them? Well, so in fact, baristas, many baristas will tell you that in the last two years, they have already been forced to raise prices somewhat because of rising costs linked to things like the war in Ukraine and the surge in energy prices that was associated with that, and other inflationary pressures that made the old prices, some of which was under a euro per shot. So baristas did raise prices, and they said that they endured grumbles from their customers,

but they really had no choice. A bar in Liguria, when faced with the grumbles of customers, even put up a sign saying, we'll give you an espresso for 70 cents if you bring your own cup, spoon, and sugar from home. But bars are very embedded in their local communities, outside the center tourist areas. Many baristas are very much a part of the fabric of the places where they live. So they're sensitive to the price pressures on their own customers, and they're really reluctant to raise prices. But there are other strategies. People will tell you that they'll raise the price of a cappuccino more, or they'll raise

the price of some of the food a little bit more in order to hold that espresso price down because it just seems so symbolic and so resonant. Literally, you can always find a coffee at any hour at any location. But the question is how many of these baristas can continue to sustain themselves in business? And there's a lot of pressure both ways. The Financial Times journalist Amy Kasman in business. And there's a lot of pressure both ways. The Financial Times journalist Amy Kazmin in Italy. It's a bit of a cliche to say someone suffered for their art, but the Dutch post impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh really did. I put my heart and my soul into my work, he once said, and have lost my mind in the process. Writing about his famous paintings

of wheat fields, he said they represented his sadness and extreme loneliness. Now, given that Van Gogh took his own life at the age of 37 in 1890, it might sound a bit of a tall order to put on an exhibition about his happy times. But the National Gallery in London has done just that, as Vincent Dowd now reports. No Van Gogh exhibition would seek to disguise his sad end, but Van Gogh Poets and Lovers focuses on the last two years of his life to show there were moments of joy as well, even in his time at the Saint-Rémy Asylum in Provence,

in the south of France, where he went seeking the mental balance he knew he lacked. Christopher Riopelle is the co-curator. The vast majority of Vincent's career is euphoric. With our tales of Wobegon Vincent we miss the fact this was a man in control of his own life. This image shows the hospital at Saint-Rémy but look how he transforms the garden. We have photographs of it. Those trees aren't there. He is inventing this wonderful space where these trees take on, they're almost like giants dancing. Very colorful, particularly the range of greens and the way they play into the blues is really wonderful. But we notice in the lower left corner a woman with a beautiful parasol over her head,

which is just a slash of bright red to animate the picture. Chris, we've come into a different room where the big centerpiece is the two images of sunflowers, hugely famous in terms of Van Gogh. Why was Vincent obsessed with sunflowers? There are a number of reasons. He saw a lot of symbolism in them, the sun, life blooming, etc. They have so much sunlight, they kind of create a feeling of sunniness. You're blasted by sunshine looking at them, but you're also, again, so drawn to the physicality of the way he paints those things, big, thick strokes of colour that stand proud on the canvas.

Here in the next room, three pictures clearly from Saint-Rémy. Did he change his colour palette in the relatively short time he was in Saint-Rémy? The palette just gets brighter and brighter and purer. I mean, more and more you see just pure colours laid down on the canvas with incredible vivacity. He always thought, realised he could do great things with yellow. What do you suspect Vincent most liked painting? He loved being confronted by people and there is a certain joy in the portraits as well but it's much more a sense of a face-to-face confrontation. If we look at his take on human beings close up, they're wonderfully detailed, and there's

often a sort of spark to them. And that sense of a personal engagement is there. He loved people. What are people going to learn from this exhibition, Chris, that they haven't learnt before? Vincent was in control of his own career. He was plotting his own career, how he and his friends were going to make it as independent avant-garde artists in the world. And yes, he sold very few pictures during his lifetime. 25 years after his death, he was the most famous artist in the world. So he was doing something right.

Christopher Riopelle talking to Vincent Daud on the life of the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. And that's all from us for now. There'll be a new edition of Global News to download later. If you'd like to comment on this podcast, drop us an email. The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk or on on X, we are at Global News Pod. This edition was mixed by Tom Bartlett. The producer was Liam McSheffery. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Andrew Peach. Thanks for listening.

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.