Global News Podcast - First case of polio confirmed in Gaza

Episode Date: August 17, 2024

Health officials have confirmed the first polio case in Gaza for 25 years. The UN wants the vaccination of 600,000 children. Also: Kamala Harris unveils her economic plan, and fantasy football's threat to mental health.

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 Rachel Wright and in the early hours of Saturday the 17th of August these are our main stories. Palestinian health officials say they've confirmed the first case of polio in Gaza for a

quarter of a century after the UN called for ceasefires to allow children to be vaccinated. Ukraine has destroyed a strategic bridge over a river in Russia's Kursk region as it continues its cross-border offensive. Aid agencies are warning of a critical shortage of treatments and vaccines for MPOCs across Africa and are urging wealthy countries with supplies to share them. Also in this podcast, I will be laser focused on creating opportunities for the middle class that advance their economic security, stability and dignity. Kamala Harris unveils her economic plan ahead of the US presidential election. As we record this podcast, there's a flicker of hope amid the ruins of Gaza, with confirmation that the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is heading back to Israel to ramp up the pressure for a ceasefire deal. And President Biden saying that an accord tied

to the release of Israeli hostages has never been closer. This was Mr Biden speaking at the White House after two days of talks in Doha between mediators from Qatar, Egypt and the United States. We are closer than we've ever been. I don't want to jinx anything, but as my grandfather said, with the grace of God, good will, the neighbors a lot of luck, we may have something. But we're not there yet. It was much, much closer than it was three days ago. So keep your fingers crossed. But if the Americans are making positive noises about a possible ceasefire, Friday saw confirmation of a new threat to the people of Gaza, as health officials there said they'd found the first case of the life-threatening disease polio in a 10-month-old baby. And the UN appealed for the fighting to stop for long

enough to allow the vaccination of more than 600,000 children. The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said preventing and containing the spread of the disease would take a massive coordinated and urgent effort. It is impossible to conduct a polio vaccination campaign with war raging all over. Polio goes beyond politics. And so it is our shared obligation to come together to mobilise not to fight people but to fight polio and to defeat a vicious virus that left unchecked would have a disastrous effect not only for Palestinian children in Gaza but also in neighbouring countries and the region.

Our State Department correspondent Tom Bateman has been monitoring the progress of the talks to broker a ceasefire. Antony Blinken will now travel to the region, arriving in Israel. That will be, at the moment, the first and only announced stop on this trip, but I expect he'll probably head off to some Arab capitals after that as well. I think that shows two things. One is that the very fact this trip is back on and it's hung in the balance all week because Washington has been watching to see whether or not Iran would retaliate for the assassination believed to be carried out by Israel of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas in Tehran. That has been hanging over this the whole time and has been why there's been really a sort of drip feed of leaks

about whether or not Mr Blinken will be travelling to the region. They obviously didn't want to go if they believed that such an attack was more likely than not, because, of course, it would also have derailed the ceasefire talks. And that's the second point, that these two issues have become entirely intertwined now about a potential breakthrough in the ceasefire talks and Iran's threatened retaliation to Israel, because I think the American feeling is very much that, you know, it heightens the possibility of an Iranian strike significantly if it looks as though the ceasefire talks are falling apart. So what we have now is after 48 hours of talks in Doha, as you've been hearing,

a lot of very positive messaging from the Americans. You heard what Joe Biden said there. So they think there's momentum. But on the other hand, the Palestinian version, not so positive at all. I think Mr. Blinken's trip is really about piling public pressure on all the sides to keep the engagement going and to try and take a deal. Tom Bateman. As we heard in our earlier podcast, Palestinians in the occupied West Bank are reeling after Israeli settlers ravaged a village on Thursday night, killing one young man and injuring others. There's been widespread condemnation of the attack,

with the Palestinian Authority describing it as organised state terrorism. The UN says nearly 600 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli settlers and troops since Hamas's deadly attack on Israel on October 7th and the ensuing war in Gaza. Lucy Williamson reports from the scene of the violence in the West Bank. There's a crowd of men moving through the narrow, steep streets of Jeep village, chanting as they carry the body of Rashid al-Sidi overhead, bringing it to his mother's house for burial. My son is gone, Iman al-Sidi told me, and the settlers are lying to us. They won't do anything. They helped the shooter escape.

As she wept over the body, the crowd packed around the entrance to the house, chanted slogans honouring Rashid as a hero who protected his village. His aunt, Ammourad, said the ambulance that came for him was blocked by the army. chanted slogans honouring Rashid as a hero who protected his village. His aunt, Ammourad, said the ambulance that came for him was blocked by the army. Even the ambulance was blocked by the army. They waited until he died, until the houses were completely burned, to let the ambulance and the fire brigade in. The blame is more on the army because they are not controlling the settlers. The settlers come under the protection of the army. Rashid's younger brother Mahdi, his 14-year-old face swamped by a keffiyeh, shows us where Rashid was shot,

a dirt road in front of a chain-link fence broken in places. Beyond it is an Israeli security watch tower, with what appears to be line of sight to the area. We heard that there were settlers here. When we went to see, they were already burning houses, and then the clashes started. Rashid threw a stone, and then he was shot. The bullet entered from one side and exited from the other. A neighbour, Sofyan, told me there were dozens of gunshots from the settlers gathered at the fence. Some were dressed all in white, some all in black, he said. He called the Israeli army, he said,

who arrived two hours later and took the settlers away. Israel's army says it has launched a thorough investigation. The Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said those responsible would be prosecuted. Israel is under fierce international scrutiny over settler violence in the West Bank. Both the US and the UK have imposed sanctions on settlers for acts of violence they say Israel is not policing or prosecuting itself.

Rashid Asidi's body was carried from the mosque towards the village cemetery, leading a procession of bitterness and anger. A symbol of the violence that many here trace back to the behaviour of Israeli security forces and the policies of Israeli politicians. Lucy Williamson reporting. Ukraine's troops have destroyed a strategically important bridge in the Russian region of Kursk. The move will make it harder for Moscow to supply its forces and evacuate civilians.

President Zelensky has described the captured territory as an exchange fund, implying it could be swapped for Ukrainian regions occupied by Moscow. Our correspondent James Waterhouse reports from Ukraine's region of Sumy, which borders Kursk. Ukraine's blistering land grab might be slowing, but it's still going. Its forces have crossed into two Russian regions and a major bridge to the north has been destroyed. Russian resistance is materialising in the form of familiar tactics. Artillery and drone units are being deployed, glide bombs are falling from the sky and thousands of troops are being sent in from elsewhere.

On the other side of the border in the Ukrainian region of Sumy, military supplies and personnel still speed back and forth along the main route. Anatoliy has just returned from Russian soil and tells us he's noticed a difference in progress. We are still advancing. It's slowed down a bit, but we're moving forward. As long as we have orders and instructions, we'll keep on moving. Despite Russia being forced to react,

invading troops are now within almost 10 kilometres of Prokhorovsk, an eastern Ukrainian town I've gradually watched be destroyed by airstrikes over the past year. The mayor there is urging people to evacuate. From speaking to soldiers and listening to the comments of Mikhail Podolyak, President Zelensky's senior advisor, on wanting to force Russia to negotiate, it feels like Ukraine's objectives are shifting. With its goal of liberation seeming ever distant, Kyiv is focusing on producing its own bargaining chips for a future peace deal,

regardless of when that might be. James Waterhouse. In the weeks since Kamala Harris became the de facto Democratic nominee for the US presidency, she's ridden high on a wave of enthusiasm and goodwill from her supporters. Until now, she's spoken a lot about what she claims will be the dangers of another Trump presidency, but little about her own policies. Well, on Friday in Raleigh, North Carolina, she changed all that and gave some details of her economic plans. Our country has come a long way since President Biden and I took office. And today, by virtually every measure, our economy is the strongest in the world. And as President of the United States, it will be my intention to build on the foundation of this progress.

Still, we know that many Americans don't yet feel that progress in their daily lives. As president, I will be laser focused on creating opportunities for the middle class that advance their economic security, stability and dignity. In her speech, she promised a ban on price hikes on groceries, a plan to build three million new homes, help for home buyers, the slashing of prescription drug costs and an effective tax cut for 100 million Americans. She said she wanted to create what she called an opportunity economy. So what did our North America correspondent Nomia Iqbal make of Kamala Harris's speech? It's a major moment for her because she has been accused by her critics of being all style and no substance.

They wanted to know, well, how do you plan to govern? What does a President Harris look like in the first hundred days? And the economy is the number one issue that voters care about, rising inflation, the cost of living. And she addressed all of that, what her vision was. Her speech was 30 minutes long, I think, which was pretty short, concise, if you certainly compare it to Donald Trump, who gave a speech in North Carolina also yesterday. And she laid out what her vision was.

It wasn't anything radical from what we've seen regarding President Biden. I don't think we expected it to be. Of course, Biden and Harris together have developed their economy plan over the last few years. But I think what stood out was the way she kind of presented it. She can talk about the economy and people's fears with more ease than President Biden could. He was criticised for not showing enough empathy. He would often talk about how the economy is growing fast, unemployment is low, things are getting better.

And all of that is factually true. But as you heard in the clip there, Ms. Harris did make the point of showing empathy, saying, well, actually, you can say all these things are going on, but if people don't feel that way, if you don't go where they are, then they don't believe you. And it's something that's an important issue, as I say, because voters care about it. But the polls also suggest that they believe in Donald Trump's vision more, that they think he is stronger on the economy with his vision than she is. So it is a crucial issue for her to tackle. And she did that today. Nomia Iqbal. Still to come.

Feeling a bit twitchy right now? Are you happy with the team you've got fairly happy but straight away after this i will be going and fiddling around with my team to see if there's any changes i can make a new study finds that fantasy football can challenge your mental health To be continued... Plus other great BBC podcasts from history to comedy to true crime, all ad-free. Simply subscribe to BBC Podcasts Premium on Apple Podcasts or listen to Amazon Music with a Prime membership. Spend less time on ads and more time with BBC Podcasts. The world is in danger of repeating mistakes made during the COVID-19 pandemic. The warning from the World Health Organization after declaring MPOX a global health emergency.

The highly contagious disease, formerly known as monkeypox, has killed at least 450 people during an initial outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It's now spread across parts of Central and East Africa. Its first case in Europe was recorded in Sweden on Thursday. I heard more from our Geneva correspondent Imogen Fowkes. First of all, there are two variants. You know, we had an mpox outbreak a couple of years ago, and that was what was called clade two, which is a somewhat milder version. The one that is circulating now is clade 1, which is more serious and a variant of it called clade 1b. It starts with aches and pains, feeling flu-like.

But people who have it do develop these lesions, blisters almost. And these, when they burst, they are filled with this, the virus. They're loaded with the virus so it can be transmitted through sexual contact but also through you know cuddling a child for example hugs we heard today from the who that people who have handled the bedding or clothes of somebody who has mpox have also been infected. This new variant is more lethal. There are more mortalities than the one that was circulating a couple of years ago. And what the WHO are saying today is you need to treat it vigorously where it is really circulating, which remains DRC, and then it won't come to you. And the plea is, wealthy countries in Europe, United States, who have vaccines for MPOCs, please, Africa has scarcely any, if any at all. Donate them now, and we can bring this epidemic under control. So there's been a case outside of Africa in Europe. How is

the WHO responding to the case in Sweden, I believe? Well, in twofold, really. Obviously, you and I are talking, actually, because this case has been discovered in Sweden. This is the inequality of health. We've had many cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo. More than 500 people have died, many of them children. We haven't talked about it too much. But now that we've got a case in Europe, it's headline news. The WHO is concerned that a case has appeared, but also described it today as positive how fast the Swedish health authorities identified that case and isolated the individual. It is not proof that the disease is actually circulating in Europe. It probably came in with that person.

The other thing the WHO are pleased about, though they're not saying this quite so loudly, is that the Swedish authorities have gone no further to talk about the identity of this person. And this leads back to the stigma around this disease and the tensions we have in Europe over immigration. We don't know who this person is. Swedish, somebody from Africa? We don't know. It's a person who's being treated, who's being isolated. And that is exactly how the WHO would like it. They don't want to see an excuse to start whipping up unfounded fears and prejudices over one imported case of a disease. Imogen folks, currently there's no cure for mpox but the good news is that we already have a vaccine that works. Rebecca Kesby spoke to Paul Chaplin, the CEO of Bavarian Nordic,

which makes one of the two vaccines recommended by the WHO. The vaccine that we have we initially developed for a smallpox vaccine together with the US government. However, smallpox is closely related to mpox. And it's known that if you were protected against one of the viruses in that family, you're protected against all of them. Just to clarify, then it should be totally effective against these variants that we know about. Yes. So in 22-23, we distributed more than 15 million doses in that outbreak and effectiveness studies were performed and it was shown up to 80% effective or efficacious with one vaccination and up to 90% with two vaccinations. And where are your current orders coming from? Well, currently, we've only received one request, which was HERA, which is the EU. That was the deal that we announced the other day where we sold 175,000 doses together with the HERA, but also the African CDC.

And we topped that up with another 40,000 doses that we donated. So that's 215,000 doses. And that is it. So there's a lot of discussions ongoing right now with WHO, Gavi and different governments. But that's the only order that's been placed to date. So you mentioned Africa's CDC. Is this the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention? Yes. Because they've actually said that they think they're going to need around 2 million vaccines by the end of this year. What's it going to take to produce that many? Well, we have vaccines on stock right now. We've

been in routine manufacturing since 22. So actual fact, we can actually deliver with what we have on stock and with our manufacturing, we can actually deliver 2 what we have on stock and with our manufacturing, we can actually deliver 2 million doses by the end of this year. What would you need and what would you need to know before you kind of go into production with that sort of thing? To be frank, orders, because that's an awful lot of doses, as you mentioned. It would take an awful lot of the company's money to produce them. So we would need to know there's a customer before we can produce. We're in discussions with many different organizations.

We've made it pretty clear that we can supply up to 2 million by the end of the year, but decisions need to be made very, very soon. We're already in mid-August. So it's not like they can come in a few months' time and say, okay, we'll buy those doses. We need to know very, very shortly what we need to produce this year because vaccine production takes time. And is it the sort of vaccine that you only need to get the once or with a booster that you can deal with it in one go and it protects you for life? It's recommended to have two shots, three to four weeks apart.

But as I said, the effectiveness data in the 22-23 outbreak was that it was up to 80% effective with one vaccination so you're in a good shape if you just get one vaccination. In terms of how long it lasts you probably need a booster every two to five years. There are some challenges though aren't there in terms of transporting the vaccines and distributing them? Because I understand it's one of those vaccines that's got to be kept at a constant temperature. A vaccine needs to remain frozen at minus 20 degrees Celsius, and it needs to be thawed shortly before use, but can be kept at room temperature for only a short period of time.

So if you're transporting it, it needs to be kept in a frozen state until it's finally used. And in some parts of Africa, that is challenging. But other vaccines are distributed in the same way today in Africa, so it can be done. Paul Chaplin talking to Rebecca Kesby. China's social media is buzzing with posts criticising new proposals to change the country's marriage laws. These will make it easier to get married by, for example, introducing new rules about where couples are registered to live, but more difficult to get a divorce with a 30-day cooling-off period. The authorities hope to stop what it calls impulsive divorces. So why is the government

proposing these changes? Kerry Allen is our China media analyst. Only last week there were reports in China that the number of weddings recorded during the first half of the year are so low that China may actually be heading to having the lowest number of marriages since 1980. So I think the government have very much suddenly thought, right, we need to introduce new rules to make it much easier for people to get married. But why does the government want people to get married? Well, because China used to have a one-child policy in place, and it means that the younger demographic is much, much smaller than the older demographic. Now, the problem with that is that the older demographic is much, much smaller than the older demographic. Now, the problem with that is

that the older demographic is starting to retire and there's nobody to work. China wants to maintain the momentum of having a huge labour market that it once did. And it needs more people to do that. So it wants people getting married and having more children. In many parts of the world, of course, you don't have to be married in order to have children. But is that the case in China? You don't have to be married. But in China, the family unit is something that's been promoted for decades in the country. So there's a concept in China of filial piety, the idea that you look after your elders. And generally, when they start to retire, like all three or four generations move into the same household.

So family is considered very important in China. So what's been the reaction to this proposed law on social media in China? Well, media have tried to present this as a way of building a family-friendly society. So they're trying to say that this is making it easier for people. But even in official media that you'd expect to be very praising of these new laws, they've said that social media users have actually just seen this cynically as a way to try and boost the marriage and subsequently birth rate. And I've seen for years people on social media platforms like Weibo saying

that they simply don't want to get married now for a number of reasons. A major concern is domestic violence because China only in very recent years introduced domestic violence laws. And one of the rules that's in this new revised law is that there's a 30-day call-off period for divorce. And this is something that's existed for a while in the country, but it's been heavily criticised and there was the hope that these new laws would remove it. And what about the concept of dowries or bride prices? That still exists in China, doesn't it? Oh, yeah, absolutely. It's very much been accepted. If a man wants to ask for a woman's hand in marriage, he needs to own property beforehand. And obviously, we've gone through the

pandemic and people have really struggled financially. And there's a real feeling that it's hard to afford a house, not even factoring in that weddings are big, extravagant events that require a lot of money. And again, that's another thing that I see on social media platforms, comments from social media users saying, this is just a huge expense to even think about so they'd rather just just accept love in a much more kind of relaxed term than tying the knot and getting into something that they may regret further down the line. Kerry Allen. In England on Friday evening the first Premier League game of the season kicked off with Manchester United beating Fulham 1-0, a much-anticipated event for fans across the world,

including followers of fantasy football. What's that, some of you may ask? Well, here's an explanation from self-declared fantasy football fanatic Harvey Stevens. Fantasy football is a game where football fans pick a team of 11 real-life footballers who score points based on their performances. For example, if I pick Manchester United's Marcus Rashford and he scores a goal tonight, he'll get me five points. If he gets sent off, I'll be docked three. There are various points for different on-field situations like these.

You then join mini-leagues with your friends where your total points are tallied up and I will no doubt come out victorious in this year's mini-league. Well, that seems like good fun then, or does it? Turns out fantasy football can be good, bad and ugly for your mental health. Dr Gary Britton is a lecturer in psychology at Queen Mary University of London. He's been looking at fantasy football leagues and how they can affect emotions and well-being. He also plays fantasy football and Anita Anand spoke to him just before the fantasy football transfer window closed. But first, what did his research reveal? The main findings from the research were the highest

invested group were more likely to encounter problems with things like anxiety, depression as a result of the game. What could be quite relaxing for some people actually is enormously stressful for other people. Yeah the flip side of it which wasn't mentioned when it was picked this the study was picked up by a lot of newspapers is also the people who are more invested actually get a lot more positive emotions as well so if their team does well they'll get more enjoyment out of it but when the team does badly and they're doing badly compared to their friends or when they compare their team to other people on twitter it's going to make them feel a lot worse like betting on the horses and studying the form pages and making an informed decision your your team is a fantasy, but the stats have to be very, very real. Yes, yeah. Does it make a difference if money is involved or not?

The Premier League actually discourages people from getting involved in what we call money leagues, which is basically with, say, 20 people at work. For example, everyone puts a tenner in each and the winner takes, I don't know, a bit of £1,000, I guess, if there was 100 people in it. There is a lot of people who do that. What are the kind of anxieties and the winner takes, I don't know, a bit of £1,000, I guess, if there was 100 people in it. There is a lot of people who do that. What are the kind of anxieties and the kind of stresses that your research has turned out? We also found that people who are more engaged, for example, have more of a problematic work-life balance

in relation to fantasy football. So, for example, they report, compared to players who are less engaged, for example, having problems in their relationships or focusing at work because of fantasy football. Is it mostly a male thing, a male preserve fantasy football, or more women? It was about 6% were female.

Six? Out of 100. So certainly there are females that play it. I mean, whether or not that would be reflective, because that was, as I say, quite a... Committed bunch. Committed bunch, yeah. Well, I mean, it's almost six o'clock

and 6.30 the window closes. So around the country, around the world, people playing fantasy football, is this the most frenetic time? And what are a lot of people going through right now? Game week one is a time where you can still change around all your players. Usually on a week-by-week basis

you can only make one transfer or you usually only make one transfer. So it's quite frenetic trying to solidify your team. And as somebody who's played it, you know, seriously, and studied it as an academic, feeling a bit twitchy right now?

Are you happy with the team you've got? Yeah, fairly happy. You took an age to answer. Fairly happy. but straight away after this I will be going and fiddling around with my team to see if there's any changes I can make Dr Gary Britton 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 Global News Pod. This edition was mixed by Darcy O'Brie. The producer was Alison Davis. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Rachel Wright. 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?

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