Global News Podcast - Final push as Harris and Trump visit swing states

Episode Date: November 4, 2024

On the final day of campaigning the race for US President is too close to call. Also, Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu faces allegations of leaking classified documents and we hear from St Lucia's first Olympic medal winner.

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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Andrew Peach and in the early hours of Tuesday the 5th of November these are our main stories. The candidates for the US presidency, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump have been focusing on the swing states which are crucial for their path to the White House. The Hamas-run health ministry says the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza has again come under attack by Israeli forces. Thousands of people have been protesting in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, against the

results of last month's parliamentary elections. Also in this podcast... Standing there, knowing that my country, St St Lucia, an entire nation is watching. I just know that they were expecting the medal the first ever and I was just thinking of trying to deliver for them. We hear from Julianne Day who won the women's 100 metres at the Olympics. November the 5th has arrived and the race couldn't be closer. The opinion polls suggest

Kamala Harris is a single point ahead of Donald Trump, but in the seven swing states the leads are narrow. Pennsylvania is the swing state with the most electoral college votes, which is why both candidates have been there on the final day of campaigning. Kamala Harris told a rally in Allentown that America is ready for a fresh start, where fellow Americans were seen as neighbours rather than enemies. So Pennsylvania, I'm here to ask for your vote. I'm here to ask for your vote. And here is my pledge, and here is my pledge to you. As president, I pledge to seek common ground and common sense solutions to the challenges you face. I am not looking to score political points.

I am looking to make progress. Donald Trump was in Reading where he urged his supporters to swamp polling stations on Tuesday. He called the election the most important political event in the history of our country and said victory in Pennsylvania would mean winning the White House. You built this country, I have to tell you, you built this country, you're going to save this country too. You're going to save it. country too. Because you know if we win Pennsylvania, not me, if we win Pennsylvania we win the

whole ball of wax, it's over. It's over. We have correspondents in all the key battlegrounds so let's hear from the other six now starting with Emma Vardy in Arizona, Karl Nasman in Wisconsin, and first, Ioni Wells, who's in Michigan. Here in Michigan, one of the major issues is the war in the Middle East because it has the US's largest Arab American population.

There is a lot of anger here about the Democrat support for Israel, particularly among those with family in Lebanon and Gaza, even if Donald Trump hasn't necessarily said what he would do differently. Donald Trump also managed to win over a lot of blue-collar workers here in 2016 with his economic pitch. But there are also a lot of wealthier and college-educated Republicans here who don't like his character or values. One place that swung Republican to Democrat in 2020 was Kent County, where Donald Trump is giving his final rally of the campaign later tonight in the city of Grand Rapids, the same place

where he finished his 2016 and 2020 campaigns. Traditional party lines here in Michigan are out the window. Neither candidates can rely on their core base in the same way that they used to. Here in Wisconsin, one of the biggest issues on voters' minds is access to health care, especially in rural areas. At a recent rally at a small town here in the state, Kamala Harris promised to expand government medical insurance to those over 65 years of age. She also pledged to protect the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, which aims

to provide affordable health insurance to many people nationwide. Donald Trump, on the other hand, says that he wants to replace Obamacare with what? It's not quite clear. Wisconsin is accustomed to nail biters. Here in the state, four of the last six presidential elections have been decided by 1% or less. In Arizona, Donald Trump believes he's on course to win, thanks to his favorite talking point, immigration. This state has hundreds of miles of border with Mexico, and Donald Trump has often told voters how he would tackle what he calls

the invasion of illegal migrants. Now, he did win this state in 2016. Then he lost it in 2020 by the narrowest of margins. And this beautiful state of deserts and mountains saw really ugly scenes. Protesters came out onto the streets as Donald Trump and his supporters spread conspiracy theories that the election had been stolen. And those conspiracies spread from Arizona across America. And we're still feeling the repercussions of it today. And from Emma Vardy in Arizona we continue our tour of the swing states with Helena Humphrey

in North Carolina, John Sudworth who's in Georgia and next Lily Jamali who's in Nevada. Here in Nevada the economy is a key issue that's animating voters. The unemployment rate here in Nevada is the highest of any state in the nation. It's 5.6 percent. It's even higher here in Las Vegas, where you have a tourism-driven service economy. And so proposals like former President Donald Trump's no tax on tips have gained traction here, so much so that Vice President Kamala Harris has said she agrees with the idea, although she wants to see it paired with a hike to the federal minimum wage which hasn't gone up here in the United States in 15 years. Both campaigns face challenges here, with Kamala Harris enjoying huge support among

black voters who make up almost a third of Georgia's electorate. Donald Trump, polls suggest, is making some inroads with young black men. On the other hand, the tough abortion restrictions also brought in here may be costing him at the polls. Joe Biden won in Georgia back in 2020 by the narrowest of margins, prompting that infamous call from Mr Trump in which he was seen to be pressuring election officials to find him 11,000 votes. With unfounded conspiracy theories circulating, once again it's likely to be just as tight this time round. Georgia is bracing for another nail-biting election night. North Carolina is a state that Donald Trump needs to win,

but many Democrats believe that this could be Kamala Harris's best chance of flipping a battleground state blue. Now, she's been campaigning hard on reproductive rights issues here. And in the South, North Carolina is one of just two states where abortion is permitted past six weeks, bringing in women from neighboring states that can't access services there. Now, to be successful, she'll need to draw from around 60 percent of white women voters who previously supported Donald Trump in 2020.

But there's a looming question, the impact of Hurricane Helene, which hit hard here in September. How voters feel that President Biden handled that disaster could end up influencing whether they would trust a Harris administration. Thanks to Helena Humphrey in North Carolina and all of my colleagues in the swing states. Now, many states have introduced measures to make it easier for people to vote, but there are still many, some very subtle ways that states use to make it hard for people to vote, especially if their vote is unlikely to go to the party currently in charge. Our veteran US watcher and former BBC Washington correspondent Nick Bryant explains the history

of voter suppression in the US. Voter suppression is as old as America itself. Indeed, the founding fathers were masters at it. They never liked the idea of a mass democracy. Some even spoke of an excess of democracy. So in the early years of the United States the franchise was largely limited to white men of property. The states were

left to decide their own voting qualifications. Genuine universal suffrage only came about in the mid-1960s—yes, you heard that right—with the passage of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act. Finally, after the protests of the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans in the southern states were allowed to vote unhindered. No longer were they subject to literacy tests, where they were asked unanswerable questions, such as how many bubbles were in a bar of soap. However, the ink on the new legislation had barely dried, before new ways were found of barring people of colour especially from voting. In recent decades the Republican Party

has ramped up its campaign of voter suppression. In Georgia, for instance, the Republican-controlled state legislature made it a crime to provide water and food for those waiting in line to vote. This law was thought to be targeted at people of colour because the queues at polling stations in largely black neighborhoods tend to be longer than those in the largely white suburbs. Some people of colour, because the queues at polling stations in largely black neighbourhoods tend to be longer than those in the largely white suburbs. Some states curb early voting, which tends to hit low-income workers who sometimes can't get the time off work to cast their ballots on election day.

Strict photo ID laws are also used to suppress the vote. More than 20 million US citizens do not have government-issued photo identification, sometimes because it's costly to get. A disproportionately high number of these are people of colour. As Barack Obama once observed, we're the only advanced democracy that deliberately discourages people from voting. Much more about the US election online at bbc.com slash news. Nigeria's president Bolotinabu has ordered the release of nearly 30 teenagers detained

by the Nigerian police for participating in protests over economic hardship. They were among 76 suspects charged with treason on Friday. From Abuja, here's Chris Awokor. In a statement on Monday, the president ordered the children be freed immediately, regardless of ongoing legal processes. Nigerians were shocked to watch viral videos of boys, some as young as 14 years old, charged with planning to overthrow the government. In the footage, many of the children looked malnourished and sickly. On Friday in court, four collapsed and were taken out for medical care. Their condition triggered

a massive public outcry. Commentators say the viral videos had embarrassed the government. President Tionubu also wants an investigation opened into the circumstances leading to their prolonged detention. Thousands of people have been protesting in the Georgian capital Tbilisi against the results of last month's parliamentary elections. The country's ruling Georgian Dream Party claimed victory in those elections, which international and local observers said were marred by widespread violations. The opposition now wants new elections. From Tbilisi, here's Rayan

Demetri. Opposition leaders called for thousands of their supporters gathered outside the Georgian parliament in Tbilisi to continue to protest over what they say were stolen parliamentary elections on October 26. Protesters have accused the governing Georgian Dream Party of using widespread fraud to secure victory and damaging Georgia's prospects of joining the EU. Among the protesters was 18-year-old Anna Gaguchadze. ANNA GAGUCHADZE, Georgian Dream Party Spokesperson, Georgian Dream Party I just feel very devastated, because it's just so disgraceful to me that these people are walking over our

past and our ancestors and all they did, and they're, most importantly, they're ruining our future. I want to live in my country, and I want to have a chance to build my country where my ancestors wanted me to live. And these people, they sacrifice their lives for us to have a country to live in and not be a part of Russia. The ruling Georgian Dream Party officially won 54 percent of the vote. But international and local observers reported hundreds of cases of violations, including vote buying, intimidation

and violence. Those claims have been rejected by the government, which says the election met international standards. So far, only a handful of countries have recognized the government's victory, including Russia and neighboring Azerbaijan, which next week will host the UN's climate summit COP29. At the protest, the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg said she had come to Tbilisi to show her support in a region where democracy was under threat. GRETA THUNBERG, Swedish climate activist I am here today to show my solidarity to the struggle for democracy.

I am not going to attend the Kothranan in Azerbaijan. It is shameful that the UNFCCC is once again letting an authoritarian petrol state that does not have respect for basic human rights host the COP. Brussels and Washington have called for a transparent investigation into the allegations of electoral fraud in Georgia's election, opposition parties have promised daily protests until their demand for fresh elections are met. Our correspondent, Ray Dimitri, in Tbilisi.

And still to come in this podcast. Amazing to be in the presence of that much charisma and passion just completely undimmed by time or any kind of cynicism. Tribute to one of the most significant figures in music in the last century, Quincy Jones, who's died at the age of 91. My talent as an athlete is swimming long halls over the curvature of the earth. Lifeless Ordinary is the podcast with astonishing personal stories from across the globe. My past is very bad and I survived. You have to tell the story. Expect the unexpected. All of a sudden the car exploded. Lives less ordinary from the BBC World Service.

Here's a thing that happened to me. Find it wherever you get your BBC podcasts. The Hamas-run health ministry says the last functioning hospital in northern Gaza has once again come under attack from Israeli forces using heavy artillery. It said a total of 33 people had been killed in northern Gaza in the past 24 hours. Here's David Bamford. Palestinian health officials say it's the second time in recent days that the Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza has faced a barrage of Israeli shelling. The hospital director, Hassan Abu Safi said there was no advance warning nor any explanation

for the assault from the Israeli army. The latest situation is unclear. The BBC is not allowed by the Israelis to report from Gaza. Meanwhile, rescue workers have been looking for survivors under the rubble of a house that was attacked earlier at Bayat Lahir, close to Gaza's northern border. Seven people were reported killed. Meanwhile, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing anger from the families of hostages held by Hamas after it emerged that his spokesman had been arrested for allegedly leaking state secrets that may have undermined a ceasefire and hostage release deal. The allegations suggest that classified documents were taken, amended and then leaked to the

press. Mr Netanyahu has sought to distance himself from those allegations. My colleague Rebecca Kesby has been talking to Eliaf Breuer, a journalist with the Jerusalem Post. A member of the Prime Minister's office's team is under an investigation of the Shin Bet, like the equivalent of the FBI. So he's been arrested along with three or four other security officials whose names are still under gag order. This is a serious security breach. This has to do with certain documents that were leaked that were top secret, that were not approved to go out. These leaks had to do with ongoing negotiations for a hostage deal. And from what we understand, part of the purpose of

these leaks was to attempt to strengthen the prime minister's narrative that it was the other side that wasn't interested in a hostage deal, which means essentially that the Prime Minister of Israel himself was leaking highly classified information in order to prevent a hostage deal out of fear that it would bring down his government. So I mean, obviously, the political implications of this could be immense for the Prime Minister himself. But what are the possible legal implications if it is found that classified documents were taken, altered and leaked? I think that's a great question and this kind of harkens back to Watergate. The question is how high up does this go?

If this person, Eli Feldstein, did it on his own initiative to try to look good in the eyes of the boss, that's one thing. If the order came directly from the prime minister, then allegedly the prime minister himself could have committed a crime of leaking state secrets for political purposes. Some of the hostage families are furious at the prime minister's conduct. They're furious that he isn't being held accountable. And this episode kind of fits in as a piece of that larger puzzle where it could be proof that the prime minister himself acted in order to prevent a deal that could have brought home their loved ones so as to preserve

his government. Aliyev Breuer from the Jerusalem Post. More than a month on from the Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon, the impact on the civilian population is clear. Many areas are deserted, with people forced to move to avoid the fighting. Our correspondent Ola Gherian has been to Nabatae, which before the war was one of the most populated cities in the south. This report is a difficult listen. I'm standing in what is or was the old market area in Nabatae, the old souq. It dated from the Ottoman era and

now there's really just destruction in every direction. And over our heads very loud, very low in the sky, an Israeli drone. It's been there for the past 10 or 15 minutes and it continues to hover. I'm with Hussein Jabr from the Civil Defence in Nabatea. The drone is over us. You hear this all We hear it 90% of the time, but it depends exactly where it is. Now we think it's right above us. So they're watching us? Most probably, yes. Within the last few minutes, a patient has been rushed in, a woman, she's being treated here in the emergency department. You can hear now that she's in pain. She's a casualty of an airstrike

that we heard just a few moments ago. I'm on one of the hospital balconies now. There's just been another air strike. I can see smoke rising in the distance just beyond the hill in front. We've had one or two other explosions in the past hour or so. And a short time later, we heard this massive strike. The Israeli army says it's targeting Hezbollah, not the Lebanese people. We're inside the burns unit in the hospital. There are three patients here now, all victims of airstrikes.

Lying in front of me is Mohammed who's 29. He's a civil engineer. His injuries are very visible. He has severe burns to his face. He has bandages around his chest where he has third degree burns. And he was injured trying to bring food to a neighbour. The air track hit the house right beside us. It was all black, smoke everywhere.

I took about one minute, then I started to recognise what is around me. I saw my friends, started talking to them and I knew they were still alive. And there was no warning before this strike? No warning, no. The area that was hit, was this completely a civilian area? All civilians, yes. We're driving through Nabataea now. Flattened, crushed buildings in every direction. It's been turned into a ghost city.

A correspondent, Orla Gherin reporting. When Julian Alfred won the women's 100 metre final at the Olympic Games in Paris this year, her home country of St Lucia went wild. The small Caribbean nation had never won a medal in any games before. St Lucia's Prime Minister was so excited he gave the country an annual holiday. Julian Alfred has come to the UK as an ambassador for her country and she's been talking to my colleague Claire MacDonald. My biggest challenge was the blocks. You know 2022 I had a fall start on world championships so I had to really pay attention

to just the gun, do not anticipate it, and just work on just thinking of my execution. But it was a lot of pressure. I'm not going to lie. Standing there knowing that my country, St. Lucia, an entire nation is watching, looking forward to a medal. I'm not sure if it was gold or whatever, but I just know that they were expecting the medal the first ever. And I was just thinking of trying to deliver for them. Let's talk about the

celebrations when you cross the line. I mean men have been known to rip off their shirts when they cross the line, jump around, you screamed, you were clearly overcome with emotion. All of those years just came out didn't it? Right, oh my god it's been a long journey. Living my home at a young age of 14 when it finally comes through and you cross the line first it's such an amazing feeling all I could scream was yes yes yes early on that season well this season sorry I had a breakdown I was completely out of it I told my coach I didn't want to continue the season I told my agent to cancel my

meets because I just didn't want to continue I was just I was overweight as well struggling mentally and just feeling like I couldn't go on but my to my needs because I just didn't want to continue. I was just I was overweight as well, struggling mentally and just feeling like I couldn't go on. But my coach, he worked with me, took me off the track for a little bit. We had a long conversation. We both cried on the phone. And the last thing he said to me was, are you ready to be an Olympic champion? Yeah. So I mean, he stepped in at the right point, didn't he? He could see what was happening. I mean, to go back for people who don't know your story you know you were running on grass in bare feet because where you were in Sillusia there wasn't there wasn't an athletic stadium for you to train on was there?

No there wasn't. Where I where I live the capital of Sillusia we don't have a track there so we have a grass little grass tracks that we paint around when it's time for school sports so I trained on there and I joined the club at the age of nine. I didn't have the right, the proper shoes until my coach, my childhood coach, he gave me my first pair of shoes, my first pair of trainers and spikes. Until then I was just running around without any shoes. Sometimes I'll be training in my school shirt, my school uniform at times because I just didn't have the proper attire to train at times. So all of that stacked up against you and then the tragic loss of your father when you were just 12 years old and you almost you talked about walking away maybe before the

Olympics but that that was a pivotal point as well when you thought I'm not sure I can do this. Yeah I was devastated, I was hurt and he just took a toll on me to the point where I felt like I couldn't go on. And he really looked forward to me. He was always so boastful to others when he spoke about me and spoke highly of me. But I mean, it really took, it tore me apart just seeing that my dad is no longer here with me. You've had to come back from so much. You must have so much strength. And your Prime Minister says you're going to have a day named after you. How does that feel? It's an amazing feeling, one that I didn't expect, especially after winning an Olympic medal.

Like I said, they could have given me the smallest thing. And I'll just be so appreciative of just how much love and support that they've showed me. It means a lot to me. Julian Alfred with Claire MacDonald. One of the most significant figures in music over the last century, Quincy Jones, has died at the age of 91. Not only was he the producer of Michael Jackson's Thriller, Bad and Off the Wall albums, he also produced Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Aretha Franklin, plus Big Band, Bebop, Gospel, Blues, Soul, Funk, Disco, Rock and Rap. I've been talking to our Arts correspondent Colin Patterson

to find out what made Quincy Jones the producer everybody wanted to work with. It's an extraordinary story. He was born into poverty, his gran was a former slave. At the age of 11, he broke into a recreation center after he'd eaten the free ice cream and pies that he found, he spied a piano. He sat down at it and played the keys and he said his life changed forever. He knew that's what he had to do. Within a decade, he had become a virtuoso on the trumpet. He was on the road with Dizzy Gillespie. He went to Berklee Music College to really study jazz. He had this genius natural talent but studied. And he also went to Paris and learned classical music.

So he was someone who was disciplined and wanted to really take what he got and enhance it and use it as much as possible. So he had the talent, he had the passion. In the end, did he just meet the right people? When you hear his life story, it is ridiculous. In one interview I saw, the interviewer went, you're like Forrest Gump, you're everywhere. And he says, I'm ghetto Gump. He met Ray Charles when he was 14 and he introduced him to a whole world of jazz. He was soon arranging for the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, I mean absolute all-time greats. And it just went on from there, but because he was so good, he was in demand.

I mean, it's just extraordinary. You think he was the right-hand man for a decade for both Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra. Amazing. Tell us about some of the tributes we've heard from the big, big stars of the world of music today. Yeah, the likes of Elton John leading the way saying, nobody had a career as incredible as him. What a guy. I loved him. And the British jazz musician, Jamie Cullum, so wanted people to know just how much work he did to help young artists right through into his 90s. I got the great opportunity to interview him in his house in Los Angeles and chatted to

him all afternoon about his career and just amazing to be in the presence of that much charisma and passion just completely undimmed by time or any kind of cynicism. And it's not many people who can work in so many different musical styles and with so many huge stars. Do we know what it was about Quincy Jones that fitted the bill for that? I think it was because he had this knowledge. He knew how to apply the rules of music. He wasn't just making it up as he went along. That's why he could transfer between different genres with such success.

I mean, when you consider at the mid 1950s, he was part of Elvis's backing band for his first six TV performances. And then in 2010, he's working with Snoop Dogg. You go from Hound Dogg to Snoop Dogg and people wanted to work with him because he made them better. Michael Jackson, at the peak of his powers, knew the person that was making him better was Quincy Jones. Our Arts correspondent Colin Patterson. And that's it from us for now. There will be a new edition of Global News to download Colin Patterson. Rachel Wright, the editor is Karen Martin. I'm Andrew Peach. Thank you for listening. And until next time, goodbye. I'm Krassi Twigg from the Global Jigsaw Podcast from the BBC World Service, where we are examining

what one official called Russia's special demographic operation. The country's population is shrinking fast and its leaders have come up with a range of measures to reverse the decline. Will the plan work? The Global Jigsaw looks at the world through the lens of its media. Find us wherever you get your BBC podcasts.