Global News Podcast - Gazans return to ruined homes after ceasefire

Episode Date: October 10, 2025

Tens of thousands of Gazans make the long walk back to where they once lived after a ceasefire comes into force. Meanwhile, families in Israel wait for the return of the last remaining hostages held by Hamas. The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to Venezuela's opposition leader, María Corina Machado, who expressed shock when first told of the award. Also, Taiwan seeks to protect itself against air attack from China with a defence system similar to Israel's Iron Dome, and the football referee who thinks we shouldn't want to win at all costs.The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: [e-mail]

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Your idea of banking that's personal happens here. RBC, ideas happen here. This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Julia McFarlane and at 17 hours GMT on Friday the 10th of October, these are our main stories. Thousands of Palestinians are making the journey on foot back to Gaza City as Israel announces the start of a ceasefire with Hamas. The IDF has withdrawn from parts of Gaza. Hamas now has 72 hours to release all the remaining hostages.

Also in this podcast, the moment the Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado reacted to the news that she had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Oh my God. I have no one. words. Israel says its ceasefire in Gaza is now in place. The effect on Gazans was immediate. A stream of tens of thousands started slowly making their way along the coast road back to the ruins of where they used to live.

Most walked, many carried no luggage or possessions. After two years of war, the long journey on foot was the only option for most. There are few vehicles still running in Gaza and the cost of fuel is beyond reach. Yusra Abu Sherech is an aid worker in Gaza City. This was her reaction to the start of the ceasefire. We are so excited for this time to be permanent and for the recent displacement that we were going through

to be the last displacement ever. People are so excited, so glad that. they could make it back to Gaza City, especially in North, and people are trying to figure out what happens to their houses, and some of them went back to Gaza City and North on foot. So imagine, like, they will walk for at least three hours just to check the situation there for their houses or their neighborhoods. After two years, they are in dire need for everything. And they are in their need for shelter items, for food, for hygiene, for protection, privacy and dignity during the coming very near future. So, yes, we are so optimistic, hopeful, but still so cautious.

And they are hoping that this time would be permanent and all the stages of negotiation succeed. and then think of the future of Gaza, their plans, and how to rebuild, how to readjust, how to heal the scars and the wounds that they already had during this unprecedented emergency and conflict that happened on Palestinians in Gaza. In Israel, families are waiting for the return of the hostages still being held. held by Hamas. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they would need time to readjust. The hostages, all of them, will come back to us. With God's help, we will bring them all in the coming days. Together with the great joy over their return, they will face a difficult

mission of physical and mental recovery and the whole of the people of Israel will hug them to help them stand on their own feet again. The dead hostages will be buried. Our chief international correspondent, Lee Dissette, spoke to us earlier from Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. There's a real note of expectation. So many of the families and friends of the hostages, so many supporters in Israel keep saying that they're still holding their breath. And especially for those who have family members still held captive inside Gaza, until they actually see them before their eyes, until they actually touch them again, embrace them again. They won't believe it.

There's still this disbelief. But we expect that in the hours to come, that everything will start moving in the way that it should. That the hostages will be moved to places where they will be handed over to the Red Cross. Lees, we've heard from the US that a team of around 200 American soldiers will be sent to oversee the ceasefire deal. But we understand there won't be any booted.

on the ground in Gaza? No, they don't want to get involved directly, although private contractors have very much been on the ground as part of the controversial Gaza humanitarian foundation. But President Trump, like American presidents before him, they don't like putting boots on the ground unless they absolutely have to. That force that the 200 soldiers will join

will have members from other countries as well. And it's very good news that they're setting up what does seem, at least on paper, to be a mechanism to monitor the ceasefire because that will determine whether or not this process succeeds. Because in the past, as in most wars, both sides are very quick to accuse the other of breaking the ceasefire, then it all breaks down, shooting begins again. And that's the real fear here with the critics of Prime Minister Netanyahu saying that he may look for opportunities to resume the war.

The message from President Trump is that he doesn't want the war to resume. And so the sending up 200 troops is a message that it's a new chapter now. Let's move on and let's move to the day after for Gaza. And least President Trump said that he hopes to be traveling to the region soon. Yes, never has the first phase of a peace plan, a very vague and broad peace plan, been celebrated with such fanfare. But it's all part of the pressure that President Trump has exerted on this process. He wants to semest it to the people of Israel when he addresses the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, and he wants to thank his Arab partners when he goes to Egypt,

where we understand there will be a formal signing ceremony. For all of the actors, it's all about cementing this new put, cementing it so hard that even if it cracks, the cracks won't be so big to actually tear it apart. Lees Doucette The winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize has been announced in all, Oslo. It's Venezuela's opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado. Here's the moment that the Norwegian Nobel Committee gave her the news. Hello?

Hello? Yes. Hello? Am I talking to Maria Corina Machado? Yes, this is Maria Corina? Yes, Maria Corina. My name is Christian Berg-Arpiquin. I am the secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo

and I'm calling to inform you that in a few minutes it shall be announced here at the Nobel Institute that you will be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 20, 25. Oh my God. So our warmest congratulations to you, Maria. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Well, I have no words.

I, well, thank you so much, but I hope you understand this is, This is a movement, this is a achievement of a whole society. I am just, you know, one person. I certainly do not deserve this. Oh my God. I think both the movement and you deserve it. Maria Corina Machado is currently in hiding.

President Nicolas Maduro's government routinely targets its opponents. Many of Venezuela's embattled opposition are either in-prevolution. are either in prison or in exile. Our correspondent, Mark Lohen, joined us shortly after the award was announced. Maria Corina Machado has been a very prominent opposition leader and pro-democracy activist for more than two decades. She started an organisation called Sumate, which means stand-up in 2002, promoting free expression and free elections.

She is the opposition leader in a country that has, gone from a democracy into a dictatorship. And in the last elections in 2024, she was banned from standing. And so the opposition candidate had to be somebody else who ran from exile. She's been called Venezuela's Iron Lady. The committee described her as a brave and committed champion of peace. She was briefly kidnapped at the start of this year when she left hiding in order to join an opposition protest. So this is a woman who the Norwegian committee feels encapsulates the values that they try to promote through the award. But I think, Julia, there's another very interesting thing in selecting her,

which is, we all know that the one person who was openly campaigning for this award for years has been Donald Trump in an unprecedented way with this public pressure campaign with private phone calls to Norwegian politicians. And so the committee would never say this publicly, but it is widely believed that they were in a difficult position here because they didn't want to incur his wrath by not giving it to him. They didn't feel that he deserved it this year at least. But also they had to be careful in who they would choose

so that that person would not incurred Donald Trump's wrath. And the Trump administration has been very outspoken in its criticism of Nicolas, the president of Venezuela, calling him illegitimate. They've been bombing, boats carrying drugs from Venezuela. So I think that this would also be popular with the Trump administration. So many machinations behind the scenes.

What else was said at the ceremony? It was very interesting to listen to the head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, whom I met at the start of this week. We had this unprecedented access into the room where they gathered before they sat down for decision time. That, of course, was private. And he talked more widely about how democracy is in retreat, in his words, and there are more and more authoritarian regimes,

challenging norms resorting to violence, free media has been silenced, critics are in prison, societies pushed towards authoritarian rule. That, of course, is a wide reference to the fact that across the world this is happening. But I think a lot of people will also see in that implicit criticism of what is happening, at least internally in the United States. Donald Trump says he has ended seven wars now, potentially eight, with Gaza, Israel. Those are very spurious claims. But when you speak to Nobel Watchers, they say, look, this is a man who is trying to take over Greenland, who is clamping down on opposition protests.

He's been very harsh on protests over the Gaza War. And I think all of that clearly has been noticed by the Norwegian Nobel Committee. And whether or not this was a statement particularly about the Trump administration, they couldn't do that. Or kind of wider comment. It was very interesting. and quite unusual for the committee to have such strident and outspoken views about that after naming the winner. Mark Lowen.

Well, Mark mentioned there, Donald Trump. Let's have a look at his impact on Switzerland. President Trump has hit the country hard with tariffs. It's facing duties of 39% on its exports to the US. Our correspondent Imogen folks has been gauging the impact on Swiss businesses. The 1st of August. 2025. Across Switzerland, families were celebrating Swiss National Day, getting together for brunch in the mountains, barbecuing the traditional cerealite sausages, and then shattering news.

The president is escalating his global trade tariff for Switzerland with a 39% tariff. I was actually on a plane to the US when I first read about it, and I simply could not believe of what I was seeing. For me, who has been dedicated his whole career the last 30 years to promoting the Swiss excellence into building things that not many

other can, I was stunned. The shock among Swiss business leaders was profound for Donald Trump. The fact that tiny Switzerland, with a population of just 9 million people, sells more to the US than it buys, is intolerable.

Look, I did something with Switzerland the other day, and they paid essentially no tariffs. And I said, we have a $41 billion deficit with you. Two months on, efforts to negotiate with Washington have proved fruitless. The Swiss president is expected to leave Washington without a deal. The Swiss economy regularly ranked as the most competitive in the world is slowing down. 17% of Swiss exports are sold to the U.S., a significant percentage that Switzerland can't afford to live. overnight. Jan Attislander, director of international trade for the Swiss Business Federation economy, Swiss, says the US gains more from Switzerland than quality cheese

and chocolate, and he's still at a loss to understand President Trump's strategy. In the era of research and development, we are the biggest foreign investor in the United States. We employ 100,000s of US citizen in the United States, and we pay the best salaries. So which Swiss products are most affected by the 39%. First of all is pharma. Second, not surprisingly, is watches. Then actually comes Medtech. Adrian Hun is managing director of Swiss Medtech,

the trade body representing Switzerland's medical technology industry. We're doing a lot of life-saving and life-improving devices, knee implants, pacemakers, dental implants, surgical instruments and much more. Gilles-Rober is Chief Executive Officer of MPS, micro-precision systems, from aortic valve replacements to the tiniest of surgical drills used in hip-or-knee replacements, it produces things a wealthy country with an aging and increasingly overweight population like the US really needs. They had the best price before the new tariffs came into effect. So that means we don't have this.

leeway of giving a discount to our customers because they are already, the margins are already as low as they can be. What people don't understand is the country eats the tariff, the company eats the tariff. President Trump has promised U.S. citizens that the countries he is punishing with tariffs will swallow the cost of them. Adrian Hun of Swiss Medtech agrees with Scheel-Rober that this will be bad news for U.S. patients and U.S. taxpayers. will get more expensive for US patients. Switzerland's tech sector association has described the levees as a horror scenario that threatens jobs across the country's export-driven economy. So pain, literally, for US patients because of these tariffs, but also pain for Switzerland.

Swiss negotiators have ruled out retaliatory measures, concluding that Switzerland's David is just too small to take on America's Goliath. Imogen folks. A near-complete skeleton first found more than 20 years ago has been identified as a new species of Icthiosaur. The marine reptile, the size of a dolphin, is thought to be the only known example of its kind in existence. It was discovered off the south coast of England and has been called the Sword Dragon of Dorset. Dean Lomax, a paleontologist, was involved in the identification and he's been speaking to Rick Edwards. Xeosaurs are swimming marine reptiles. They look a little bit like dolphins or sharks,

but they're definitely not dinosaurs. They swam around in the seas at the time dinosaurs are walking around on land. What do they look like? Yeah, so imagine, say, like a dolphin or a shark, so quite a long, very long snout. They have enormous eyes as well, the largest eyes of any vertebra,

any backbone animal ever. They're really massive, massive ice. Some of them the size of footballs. So do we assume that meant they had really good vision for hunting? They did, yeah. And in fact, there's no species we've identified has, as soon as you kind of look at the skull, it's basically all eye.

Like the back of the skull is enormous, and it's just got this really big eye, and then there's really long, narrow, sword-like snouts. And the idea is that this ichthyosaur and several others would have been primarily hunting under kind of like dim-lit conditions, feasting on things like fish and squid. Why did this one take so long to identify? I guess in paleontology world, 20-odd years isn't too bad. There's a few studies I've been involved in,

and other colleagues where maybe things have taken 150 or 200 years. And in this case, it's an example that was found back in 2001 by a famous fossil collector called Chris Moore and good friend. And Chris had realized it was probably something new. And then speaking to a colleague who's now retired at a museum in Canada at the Royal Ontario Museum. And they were quick to acquire the skeleton. And they said, yeah, we're going to get it on display.

We're going to study this skeleton. Well, they definitely put it on display. And it was on display pretty much up until last year, until the museum, taking it off for some refurbishments. But nobody actually took the time to sit down properly, analyse the skeleton in full detail, because it's not a quick process. If you identify something new kind of based on a new discovery in the field,

you've got to look at it all in very much in the case of comparing all the bones in the skull, the bones and the flippers, the bones and the rest of the skeleton, to work at it's something new. Dr Dean Lomax. And if you, like me, are wondering why the sword dragon is not classed as a dinosaur, despite being a reptile and living in the time of the dinosaurs, it's because dinosaurs by definition lived on the land and this species lived in the sea

and is therefore not technically classed as a dinosaur. Still to come on this podcast? What you say or what you write can have a significant impact on that individual and how they feel. A high-profile football referee reveals the impact of abuse on himself. and his family.

Over the past few years, people in Peru have become rather used to losing their presidents. Now the country has got its eighth in less than a decade. This after MPs voted to remove President Dina Boluarte, whose term has been marked by protests and accusations of failing to stem crime. This man said enough was enough. I think that the president has done nothing to calm the situation. We see murders, delinquency, happen on a daily basis. Nobody does anything.

Neither the president nor government ministers. For me, this should have been tackled a long time ago. Miss Boloate, who became president in December 2020, refused to appear before Parliament during an overnight hearing after MPs, including some of her own supporters, impeached her. Our global affairs reporter is Clitsia Sala. This has been triggered by the unprecedented wave of violence linked to extortion rockets in Peru.

The last draw for Peruvians was the attack on Wednesday night on a cumbia band at an area near a military compound when criminals entered the area with machine guns and fired more than 20 rounds at defenseless artists. Four musicians and the street vendor were wounded. And the criminals fled basically with impunity. And even though it wasn't clear if the attack was related to the extortion rackets, people perceived that the state was not able to protect them to protect its own citizens.

The numbers of extortions in just 2024 rocketed up to over 15,000. And this wasn't the first case like bus drivers, have been murdered, dozens of schools and businesses have been forced to close after being threatened for refusing basically to pay protection money to criminal gangs. And Dina Bulu Arta's response to this was a piece of advice that wasn't very welcomed by Peruvians. She just said, do not answer calls or open messages from extortionists, as if ignoring those calls and messages, the crime itself go away. So she was probably one of the least popular leaders in the world.

And even the politicians, the political forces that had been supporting her, turned the back on her. And it wasn't just the soaring crime that really damaged her. She's had a series of scandals throughout her presidency, hasn't she? Yes. As soon as she was sworn in, there were protests in favor of our predecessor, Pedro Castillo. and she was responsible for lethal crackdowns on those protesters for which she was hardly criticised. But it wasn't just that. She was involved in corruption, accusations and the so-called Rolex skate.

So she faced backlash after wearing dozens of undeclared luxury watches, which she denied she basically obtained by just being in offices, by illicitly profiting from her office. but later admitted they were loaned by a regional governor. And also in mid-20203, she secretly underwent and no surgery without informing Congress, so basically leaving her seat empty and not doing her duties. And these obviously sparked outrage over constitutional violations. And in July, she decided to double her salary.

And there are quite a lot of issues facing the new president, aren't there? Yes, so Jose Harry will face, of course, rising insecurity and also political instability. And in his first speech, he promised to address these issues. He's promised to guide a transition government and to guarantee fair elections in 26. Klitsia Sala. Taiwan's president, Lai Ching-Dur, has announced that the island will build a more comprehensive air defense system known as the T-Dome. The name suggests the president wants to replicate Israel's Iron Dome. Mr Lai also said defence spending would increase to 5% of Taiwan's GDP by the end of the decade. In response, China, which considers Taiwan to be a part of its own

territory, called Mr Lai a troublemaker. So what is the T-Dome? Here's Mickey Bristow. Taiwan's president, Lai Ching-Dur, he made these comments at a speech to mark Taiwan's national day and he essentially didn't talk about the technicalities behind it, but laid out some of the more broad principles. He said essentially it would be a multi-layered defense system incorporating artificial intelligence. The aim was to make an early detection and interception of anything that came to Taiwan through the air and we're talking about drones, missiles, air attacks, rockets. Taiwan already has air defense systems. It's got the US Patriot system, it's got its own system. But over recent years, China, who you mentioned there,

which considers Taiwan part of its own territory, has threatened to invade the island, has increased its military activity around the island, both in the air and at sea. And I think there's a sense in Taiwan that what they have at the moment isn't sufficient to deal with that threat. Mickey, the other part of this huge announcement is Taiwan being set to increased defence spending by a significant amount. Is this really all about China? It is. Essentially, China is Taiwan's only enemy. the only country which is threatening the island of Taiwan. And as you said there, a massive increase from just over 3%.

That's what the Taiwanese defence budget will be next year to 5%. I think in that there's a nod to President Trump, who's also tried to convince NATO countries to increase their defence spending to around 5%. I think also relating to President Trump as well, Taiwan is a US ally, but it's sensed over recent years that It can't rely on America for its arms. It has to develop its own indigenous systems. So recently it started building submarines, for example.

And so I think with President Trump suggesting that he might not come to the defense of his allies, that they need to build their own defense systems, their own arms. And that's why there's this massive increase in arms spending. Mickey Bristow. A leading football referee has criticized what he says is a win-at-all-costs culture. in the sport. Anthony Taylor is a regular in the English Premier League and has officiated at the World Cup. Two years ago, he was the referee at the Europa League Final, a club competition, and he was confronted by the Roma boss Jose Marino after his side lost on penalties.

Anthony Taylor told the BBC his family no longer attend big matches because they were abused by Roma fans travelling through Budapest Airport following the final. Here he is talking to our sports editor Dan Rohn. That's for sure the worst situation I've dealt with in terms of abuse because a team has lost the game. We're trying to shift focus on for somebody to blame. And for me, that's a great source of disappointment, frustration, anger. How traumatic was it, given that you were with family and how fearful were you in those moments? It makes you reflect back on whether you made a mistake travelling with your family in the first place. And as that meant that they don't now come to big matches that you...

They're very much, so they haven't been to one since. Do you think there was a link between the criticism that you received by Jose Mareno following that match and then what happened in the airport? Do you know, has an influence inevitably on the behaviour of fans? Yeah, I think if we're being honest, I think it does, yeah. There's not one person in this world that likes being criticised.

So, I've said many times before, our role is something that people are more than willing to have opinions of and very few people are willing to have a true understanding. or even having a go at being a ref at any level of the game. And so when we take that fear factor of making a mistake,

being told you're not very good. And if you continually told you not very good, now whether that be by people in the media, by pundits, or even ex-officials who should have a better understanding and be more balanced in that, then yeah, people's mental health could potentially suffer. There'll be some fans, Anthony, no doubt, who would say, it's fair to expect scrutiny.

The match officials are paid to do a job. The standards on occasion aren't there. There's serious consequences. You can have scrutiny and you can have critique, but it's very rarely balanced, and it's not always nobody really talks about the positive side of things a lot of time these days either. Have you ever considered stopping being a ref?

And if you'd known in your younger years what it would entail, would you have thought twice about it? No, I don't think I've ever thought, that's it, I'm done. There's certainly been moments where you're thinking, is it, is it worth it? And certainly be moments where you're thinking what's being said is completely unfair. And for sure, there will be people who've had the doubts about carrying on. So what is your message then to pundits, ex-officials who are now in the media, journalists, who discuss some of these decisions.

Referees don't go out onto a field of play to deliberately, to annoy people, or pluck a decision or a rule out of the air just for the fun of it. They make decisions on the basis of guidance that we're asked to follow by the stakeholders in the game, and of course sometimes those decisions aren't always universally accepted.

Now, whether sometimes the criticism is level that the guidance or the rules rather than the ref as an individual, I understand that. But we need to have a better appreciation of what you say or what you write can have a significant impact on that individual and how they feel. Football referee Anthony Taylor. Now, before we go, I'm joined by Becky from the Global News Podcast team. Who needs your help?

Yes, I do, Julia. Our editor, Karen Martin, has tasked me with a special project. Now, as you know, here on the Global News podcast, We're very reactive covering the day's news events. But we're doing some planning ahead and this is where you, our listeners, come in. So you're very good at letting us know what you like and what you don't like on the podcast. I'm wondering if there's a new story that you think we might have missed or there's something you want us to investigate or maybe there's a story that we have covered, but you'd like us to revisit it. Then please do send us your ideas for future episodes.

And that's all from us for now, but there will be a new edition of. of the Global News Podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or help Becky out with those ideas, you can send us an email. The address is Global Podcast at BBC.co.uk. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag Global NewsPod.

This edition was mixed by Derek Clark and the producer was Stephanie Tillotson. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Julia McFarlane. Until next time, goodbye. Thank you.