Global News Podcast - Greenhouse gases hit new record high

Episode Date: October 28, 2024

UN says the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere hits a record high. Also: Pakistan's drive to vaccinate against polio after surge in cases. And can fairy tales get children to eat more fruit and vegetables?

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Spend less time on ads and more time with BBC podcasts. You're listening to the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway and we're recording this at 14 hours GMT on Monday the 28th of October. Bad news for planet Earth as the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere hits a record high. A people smuggler tells us about the fraud used to enable migrants from Vietnam to reach Europe. And the NATO chief says the arrival of North Korean troops in Russia is a sign of Vladimir Putin's desperation in Ukraine. Also in the podcast, Pakistan begins a polio vaccination drive after a surge in cases.

We hear from young voters in the US swing state of Georgia. We're definitely going to make the right decision for the climate, for where we're at economically, for where we're at socially. And can fairy tales get children to eat more fruit and veg? But we begin with a stark new warning about climate change, which comes just over a week before a US presidential election, which could have a big impact on carbon emissions in the years to come. UN experts say levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at the moment surge

to a record level in 2023, locking in decades of temperature rises. Coe Barrett is deputy head of the World Meteorological Organisation. Every fraction of a degree of temperature increase matters in terms of the speed of glacier and ice retreat, the acceleration of sea level rise, ocean heat and acidification. It matters in terms of the number of people who will be exposed to extreme heat every year, the extinction of species, the impact on our ecosystems and economies." Although the record seems to be broken every year, the WMO report said carbon dioxide is

accumulating faster now than at any time in human existence. Our environment correspondent Matt McGrath has been studying the findings. The greenhouse gas bulletin is an annual publication, it's been coming out for 20 years now by the WMO and it looks at what's left in the atmosphere after the seas and the forests have soaked up large amounts of carbon. Those concentrations of carbon last for centuries and they're a key indicator of how temperatures might rise. They do rise every year.

It is a new record every year because we keep adding CO2 to it. But what the scientists and the WMO will say about this particular one is that 2023 marked some significant increases. It's the 12th year in a row in which the rise has been above two parts per million and if you take that period together, concentrations went up by 11% making it a period in human existence when we've never been able to putting so much carbon into the atmosphere. And take us through the the likely impact of having all this extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere? Yeah it's the number one driving warming gas in terms of its impact around the planet.

Other gases have more impact, but there's none so much as there is of CO2. And it is the likely cause of temperatures going up across the planet. We've seen since the Industrial Revolution 200 years ago, the temperatures have gone up by about 1.3 degrees Celsius. That's been driven by this big rise in co2 and that's led to significant impacts, significant heat waves, floods in many parts of the world this year and even hurricanes now being linked to co2 concentrations and warming in the planet as well. And what is causing this big rise now? There are particular

conditions that happened in 2023 that drove the record to a new high. Obviously the ongoing use of fossil fuels, coal, oil and gas is the key element but there were also huge fires, huge vegetation fires, forest fires in Canada and Greece and other places. Also we have the onset of the El Niño weather event which also helps to make trees soak up less carbon and we have this worrying factor about trees themselves because of the heat, because of the warming of the planet, not being able to soak up as much gas as they used to and scientists are quite worried about that if that trend continues it could bring forth more bad news in the years to come. Now we've got the UN COP29 summit coming up next month can anything be done about this and will anything be done?

It's a familiar picture I have to say this type of report does come out before these conferences and it does paint a rather stark image of what's going on in the planet. But the scientists and the politicians are very aware of this. It is continued, I suppose, an added pressure for them to take more action while they can while they're meeting in Azerbaijan. Our Environment's correspondent Matt McGrath. A Vietnamese people smuggler has told the BBC about the forgery, fraud and deceit used to help migrants gain European visas, paving the way for them to attempt the dangerous sea voyage from France to England. More than 2,000 Vietnamese have crossed the English Channel by small boat so far this year, which with more than 50 deaths already, is the deadliest on record.

Andrew Harding has this report. We've managed to make contact by phone with one of the Vietnamese smugglers. I'm driving now to an undisclosed location somewhere in northern England to meet him in person. A translator is going to be speaking his words. It's a very lucrative business. If you have a good reputation the clients come to you. No force, no violence. We'll call him Tan, a slim, neatly dressed man who crossed the channel in a small boat earlier this year. He spent most of his adult life in the smuggling business. We're keeping his identity confidential,

the only way he'd agree to tell us about his work. He's now applying for asylum in the UK. You told the British authorities you'd been trafficked here, but that's not true, is it? No, I was not trafficked here. I said I was, because that's just the way it's done. It's what you say in order to get asylum. The police and human rights groups say that's nonsense, that many Vietnamese brought to

the UK are victims of modern slavery. For some years, Thanh worked for a smuggling gang in France, but he then went back to Vietnam where he began forging documents for people trying to get visas to Europe. I'm good at this work. People trust me. I never fail. He's showing me here some of the documents that he's actually forged. He's got copies on his phone.

One is for a bank statement. Another is for some pay slips, and this is a Hungarian visa, genuine visa that one of his customers was given on the basis of his forged documents. How do you justify what you do here? You've come to the UK illegally, you're still breaking the law by assisting other people to come here illegally. At the same time you're taking British taxpayers' money to be fed, to be sheltered here in the UK. I just do paperwork. I help people to travel. I don't force them to take certain routes. I think a lot of British people will not buy that. They will say that you are a criminal and that you should hand yourself in to the police.

The way I see it, I don't do anything illegal here in the UK. I'm not breaking the law here. I was only breaking Vietnamese law. Back in France, the smuggling continues. To understand more about the shadowy Vietnamese operation there, we decide to go undercover. My colleague here has been posing as a Vietnamese migrant and you've made contact with this smuggler, yeah? Yeah, yeah, I did over the last 10 days or so. And he thinks you're a migrant from Vietnam

who's come through Europe and you're now waiting to get on a small boat? Yeah, that's what I try to convince him. You say you found out about this smuggler online. Tell me a bit about that process. It's quite open business. They advertise this on Facebook. They don't fear about that. And he's saying what?

He expects me to come to this area and then get in touch with him. So you're going to have a face-to-face meeting, yeah? I hope that I could see him sometime this afternoon. Our team waits near a spot where other migrants gather for humanitarian aid. Our colleague still posing as a migrant calls the smuggler. He tells her to move away towards the woods through a broken fence. It's dangerous. And our colleague suddenly signals that she's not OK.

She wants to be rescued. OK, she wants out. Come back. Come back. You OK? Don't catch up with the guy, the blonde guy. The blonde guy. We get a glimpse of the smuggler, a tall figure now vanishing back into the woods. Our colleague is safe, but in similar circumstances many others are not. Some forced, others willingly embarking on an increasingly dangerous voyage. Andrew Harding and our undercover reporter was concerned the

smuggler was trying to trap her once she was through that section of fence as the gangs have a reputation for not letting people out of their camps once they have entered but as you heard she did get away. Israeli forces have launched new as the gangs have a reputation for not letting people out of their camps once they have entered. But as you heard, she did get away. Israeli forces have launched new attacks on Gaza and the Lebanese port of Tire, even as talks get underway to try to secure a possible ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas. At the same time, the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, is taking action to try to stop the UN-Palestinian refugee agency operating in Gaza

and the occupied West Bank. Earlier this year the UN fired several UNRWA workers after Israel accused the agency of involvement in the October the 7th massacre. Sharon Haskell is an opposition member of the Knesset who supports the bill. Our main problem is that UNRWA is an organisation that was taken over by a terrorist organisation. Its facility, which have also immunity and all the benefits that comes with an international United Nations organisation, is being used against our people. So if you understand that this organisation has been compromised and the United Nations is doing nothing about it, we have to protect and defend our people. Foreign ministers from seven countries expressed quote, grave concern over the legislation.

I heard more about the plan from Yolande Nel in Jerusalem, but first she told me about a new Egyptian initiative to try to revive negotiations over the Gaza conflict. Egypt is proposing an initial deal where you'd have a two-day truce negotiations over the Gaza conflict. are suggesting 10 days of talks on a permanent ceasefire. And now that has been suggested in parallel to other efforts that are going on in Qatar at the moment. Of course, Egypt and Qatar lead the regional mediation efforts in indirect talks between Israel and Hamas. And we've got the Israeli Mossad chief who stayed in Doha overnight.

He's been meeting the US CIA chief, with the US very much involved in these efforts too, and the Qatari Prime Minister. And last week we also did see some movement with Israeli and Egyptian intelligence officials meeting in Cairo, a Hamas delegation there too. Are these efforts likely to be any more successful than the ones we've seen over the past weeks and months? I mean, it's very hard to say at this point. Of course, the Americans have been saying that Yahya Sinwar was,

in their view, the chief obstacle in the negotiation efforts. But many would say that Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also been an obstacle too. And from the Israeli perspective, there is an insistence that they want to destroy Hamas's ability to govern in Gaza, its military capabilities in Gaza to remove the threat posed by Gaza to Israel. That's what's been laid out in terms of war goals. Hamas has been saying that in order to release the hostages that it holds, it wants a complete

end to the war, a complete Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza. And what should we make of Israeli attempts to stop UNRWA, the UN Palestinian refugee agency, from operating in Gaza? Yeah, so this issue is really coming to a crux. We've had strong objections to the idea of this coming from the UN, from the EU, from the US. They have largely been dismissed by sponsors of this legislation in the Israeli Parliament and there is an expectation that as soon as this is kind of comes to a vote then it will get passed and the idea seems to be

to strip UNRWA of its privileges, its immunities, to ban it from operating. Already, you know, they say that they have seen an effect of visas being denied. It would be impossible for them to have meetings with Israeli officials if this went through. It would be extremely damaging to UNRWA, which is the biggest agency for the UN operating in Gaza has something like 5,000 employees on the ground. Compare that they say to about 70 working for the UN development program. Yalanel in Jerusalem. Now you may have heard about technology being used to bring musicians back to life through holograms on stage or voices generated by

artificial intelligence. But what about recreating a talk show host? This is Michael Parkinson, or at least a version of me in this rather curious AI form. Now, I'll be honest with you, I haven't the foggiest idea how any of this technology actually works, but I must say I'm excited by it all. Well, that is an AI replica of Michael Parkinson, one of the UK's most respected presenters who died last year. He was best known for his talk show on which he interviewed stars like Muhammad Ali, Fred Astaire and Helen Mirren to name but a few. Now his voice

is being brought back for a podcast series in which his replica, built on hours and hours of archive of his interviews, will interview A-list guests. Inspiring or unnerving, Emma Barnett and Michelle Hussain spoke to Jamie Anderson from Deep Fusion Film, one of the podcast creators, and the late presenter's son, Mike Parkinson. It is, I think, extraordinary what they've achieved because I didn't really think it was going to be as accurate as that. And apparently the great thing about this AI is it listens. It really listens, which is extraordinary given the fact that's exactly what my father's motif was. Do you think your dad would like this? I think my dad would

have been fascinated by it. My father was in many ways a complete technophobe. He couldn't turn on a mobile phone. But just the idea of bringing it back and doing you know new interviews. Yes, because we had a long history of conversations when we were working together about the idea of how would he ever have got some interview people that he never did. So we had this sort of jokey idea about having some kind of thing called Jurassic Talk Show, where he would have a collection of people that brought back to life and he would go down and interview them and his

His fine great lineup was Dom Bradman Frank Sinatra and also Rita Hayworth and before he died we talked about doing a podcast and unfortunately he passed away before he came It true which is where where deep fusion came in because I came to them and said well if we wanted to do this Podcast with my father literally talking about his archive. Is it possible? And they said, oh, it's more than possible. We think we can do something. So just to say, I'll bring you in now, Jamie, from Deep Fusion. What are you going to hear on this? It's him around his interviews or new interviews? He's a brand new interviews. And the AI that we've created is as close to the latest Sir Michael as we could possibly get it. He is autonomous, so we let him start the interview and after that it is up to AI Sir Michael

who is trained on Sir Michael's style and his interview questions and the formats he's done over the decades. Who are the guests, can we know? We can't tell you any guests yet. We have a few slots remaining but they are notable, noteworthy people. But they're real people alive rather than the wish list that we were just talking about. No, no, so it's a reversal of that. The thing I was going to say though is, do you worry in any way, and whoever would like to answer this might perhaps, about this being taken as real by people?

One of the things I absolutely made clear to to Jamie and Ben when I went in there is I really want this to be absolutely 100% this is an AI iteration and Jamie and Ben when I went in there, I really want this to be absolutely 100 percent this is an AI iteration. And Jamie and Ben are 100 percent very ethical in their approach towards it. They are very aware of the legal issues, very aware of the ethical issues and they will not in any way shape or form try to pass this off as real. And I think in many ways it's a wonderful way of extending the life of someone who was an outlier and a unique talent of his generation.

Does the AI Parkinson ever ask a Duff question, one that makes it obvious it's not a real thing? He never asks a Duff question in life, how dare you! Well obviously, but that's why I wonder if there's ever a question that makes you have to clip it out because it doesn't work. He's still being worked on, we're still modifying him all the time. And he does occasionally get stuck on a certain area so he can receive some direction. But mostly it's up to him and he's doing a great job. He's a lot easier to produce.

Mike Parkinson and Jamie Anderson. And still to come on the Global News podcast. He has definitely begun to sort of move around the Avery a little bit quicker and a little bit more confidently as well. By exploring the opportunity and possibility of using stem cells, we've really sort of tried to push what we might be able to achieve. A turning point in wildlife medicine, the vulture who got his knee fixed. 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 Pakistan is one of only two countries in the world that hasn't yet been able to eliminate

polio, the other being Afghanistan. A big part of the problem is that immunisation campaigns in Pakistan face opposition from radical Islamists. Last month, gunmen opened fire on a team in north-west Pakistan, killing a health worker handing out doses and a police escort. Nonetheless, the country is now carrying out a weeklong vaccination drive after a surge in cases. Our Pakistan correspondent Caroline Davis told me more. Pakistan had hoped that it was actually on track to be able to eradicate wild polio here in Pakistan. That was only a few years ago. So back in 2021 to 2022, there was actually a period of time when there were zero cases that have been registered for about 15 months. But those those numbers have dramatically now surged. And the highest numbers are in Balochistan province,

but they're also actually all around the country. Speaking to the government officials here, they have particular things that they think are behind this surge. In part, they think it's that there was a level of complacency that started to take hold in the vaccination camps themselves. As in, these groups that would go out and vaccinate didn't necessarily feel the same level of pressure that they'd maybe done on previous ones. They think that was a culture of not forcing people, not

encouraging people as strongly to be able to get the polio vaccine. They think that that might be behind it. That's why they're deciding to run bigger campaigns now. They also have said that part of the problem is that there is quite a free flow of people between Afghanistan and Pakistan. They think that that has also led to more of a spread of the virus, but going in both directions, not necessarily just coming from Afghanistan into Pakistan, but that that has also increased the numbers. Those are two of the things that they have particularly picked up on and they say are responsible for seeing this recent surge.

Okay, and so how successful will this immunisation campaign be, particularly given the entrenched opposition there? Well, I think that is the big question, whether they can now get a handle on this vaccination campaign. So as well as, as you mentioned, as well as having some of these other issues of not a sort of misinformation campaigns, where people have felt that there is a Western conspiracy and therefore don't want to take the polio vaccine. There is also what we've heard from some people who do these vaccination campaigns is there's quite often whole areas who will say, right, we're not going to take this, we're not going to allow you in to administer this vaccine until you

deliver on various other issues. So for example, until you repair our roads, until you deal with militants in the area. And so the main thing here is for the vaccine campaigns to be able to get into these areas to administer them. They seem confident and think things will turn around by the beginning of next year. We'll wait to see. Caroline Davis in Islamabad. Ukraine and its allies have been raising concerns about the foreign support Russia is getting to sustain its war in Ukraine.

After President Vladimir Zelensky accused Moscow of deploying North Korean troops, the Kremlin dismissed it as fake news and Pyongyang said it was groundless rumours. But NATO has now confirmed those reports. Our defence correspondent Jonathan Beale has the details. It's still not clear how many North Korean soldiers have been sent to Russia. Estimates vary between 2,000 to 12,000 troops. But the head of NATO, Mark Rutte, confirmed their arrival in Russia's Kursk region, which puts them closer to combat. Mr Rutte, who'd received an intelligence brief from South Korea, said it was a sign

of President Putin's growing desperation. Russia, he said, had already suffered more than 600,000 casualties. The deployment of North Korean troops represents one, a significant escalation in the DPRK's ongoing involvement in Russia's illegal war. Two, yet another breach of UN Security Council resolutions. And three, a dangerous expansion of Russia's war. The NATO secretary general also warned that deepening military cooperation between Russia and North Korea was a threat to security, not just in Europe, but the Pacific too.

Senior NATO officials say North Korea has already sent 11,000 containers of weapons to Moscow, including ballistic missiles and more than two million artillery shells. They believe in return Russia may be helping Pyongyang with its space and nuclear programs. Our defence correspondent Jonathan Beale. Just over a week until the US presidential election the race remains so tight that one or two swing states could decide it. So getting the support of young voters could well be crucial for either side. But what does this generation want from their next president and what are the issues shaping their lives? Jordan Kenny has been to a music festival in Georgia.

On the one music fest line up you might know names like Earth, Wind and Fire, but a lot of young fans are here for a sound the city's famous for around the world. Hip-hop is an energy, it's a vibe. They don't got no one they be calling me splurge, let me jump right out of the curve. It's a style of music all about using your voice and having your say, and some here are already doing that. If you have voted, in the early voting make some noise. I some here are already doing that. If you have voted in early voting, make some noise. I'm Chris.

I'm 22. I've already voted. I just feel no matter who you vote for, it's important to get out there and vote. There are some reasons why I don't like either parties. It was confusing at first, but it felt good. It was cool. Georgia is a young state with a high share

of potential under 30 voters. Young people can be really influential in deciding the result of the election. My name is Dr. Kay Kawashima Ginsburg. I'm the director of CIRCLE, which is a research institution that studies young voting. About one-fifth of the total eligible population is under 30. And when we look at the Generation Z, which is a really active generation of young people who are under 27, there are 41 million young people.

And they tend to vote democratic. Circle reckons that when Joe Biden won Georgia by less than half a percentage point in 2020, young black voters had a big impact on the results. Young people in Georgia are really, really mobilized in that there is a really strong community-based system to organize and mobilize young people there. But how are people here feeling this time around?

Pretty worried, but pretty confident. Stay worried. What are you worried about? Between two different people, it's just kind of shifting. Who's going to really win is also like pretty tight. Worried a little bit. Hopefully it goes in the direction I would like it to go. I'm a democratic, so you know, I'll go vote for Kamala. Walking around the festival site, you can see a lot of campaigning for Kamala Harris with adverts on the big screens. Signs and badges are being handed out too. We haven't

seen anything for Donald Trump, but... It's too little for grads right now. A lot of people we're speaking to here tell us they're still waiting to be persuaded, like Makilah and Marie. You know, we're really building up for it. We're gauging where we're gonna go from left to right, but we're definitely gonna make the right decision

to where we feel is appropriate for the climate, for where we're at economically, for where we're at just socially. So we're still thinking about it, contemplating and all those things, but it's undecided. We're definitely undecided. Polling suggests that gun control is a big issue for young voters, and Georgia has some of the most relaxed laws in the country. Just last month, not far from here, a 14-year-old was arrested after four people were killed in a high-skill shooting. Kamala Harris has made preventing gun violence a key pledge, whereas Donald Trump has positioned himself as a strong defender of the right to bear arms, but views

on that here are mixed and sometimes complicated. So I personally agree with the gun control. I think that there should be mental health screenings. You should definitely go through a gun safety course before you're able to get a gun at all. I don't feel like guns is a bad thing. I feel like it's the person that's holding the gun. I personally am pro-guns just because I've been in certain situations where I wish I had a gun. You know, even if guns weren't allowed, people will still have access to them.

So bad people are still going to do bad things regardless. That's what I think. That report from Georgia by Jordan Kenney. Arthritis is a debilitating condition. Looking for a cure is a priority and now it seems we might be getting some help with that from a Eurasian black vulture called Bernard. As Terry Egan explains, the 28 year old bird of prey had been experiencing aches and pains in his leg. Now though, based in a sanctuary in Wales, he's become the first of his kind to have stem cell treatment

for it. Since undergoing the procedure at the start of the month, conservationists say his movement has improved and that Bernard is much happier wandering around. Holly Kale is from the Horstmann Vulture Conservation Trust. So far he has definitely begun to sort of move around the aviary a little bit quicker and a little bit more confidently as well. By exploring the opportunity and possibility of using stem cells which have been used in other animals but not vultures, we've really sort of tried to push what we might be able

to achieve. The conservationists say this is a turning point for wildlife medicine. But how does the treatment work? Andrew Cope is a professor of rheumatology at King's College, London. The trick here is to harvest these stem cells from Bernard's tissues. Usually it's from fat, it could be from blood,

it could be from bone marrow, to come up with millions of cells which have self-renewal or multi-potent function that can grow into cells that regenerate and repair things like muscle, bone and cartilage. And I think in Bernard's case these were cells that can regenerate cartilage cells and restore the injury that I suspect he may have had and then they inject that back into the stifle which for the bird is equivalent for us humans as the knee joint. So much for Bernard. But how do these kinds of procedures help us? Andrew Cope again.

We depend very much on lessons from stem cell injections into things like dogs, cats, horses. There's quite a lot of data out there on that. And if we can understand the mechanisms whereby these stem cell treatments work, when they work well and the reasons why they might not work so well, we'll be in a better place to translate these to the clinical setting. Vultures helping us? Maybe this will be good for their image as well. Terry Egan. It is a challenge facing many parents how to get young children to eat more fruit and vegetables. Some experts recommend getting them involved in cooking or growing their own produce, while family meals are essential. But a new study suggests that incorporating healthy foods into children's fairy tales could also influence their eating habits.

The newsroom's Shantel Hartle has been taking a look. Are children more likely to opt for healthier snacks if fruit and vegetables feature in their storybooks? That was the key question of a joint project by the Humboldt University of Berlin and the University of Nairobi. Teams studied 80 children in Kenya aged between 4 and 6 years old who were split into two groups. The first heard a fairy tale about a painter who refreshes the colours of a city every night. He stopped working when he became ill from eating junk food, but later regained his strength by eating magic vegetables. The second group heard a similar story, but without any references to food.

Every day for the next two weeks the children were offered a choice of fruit, vegetables, cakes and cookies all served on the same plate. The researchers found that for a fortnight children in the first group ate significantly more fruit and vegetables than they did before hearing the story. There was no change in those who'd heard the second version. Werner Sommer from the Humboldt University of Berlin said that just 20 minutes of storytelling was enough for them to observe a shift in food preferences. But the researchers did add a note of caution. As the fairy tales were read by the children's teachers, they

may have chosen healthier foods because they felt it was the right thing to do. Chantal Hartle. And that is all from us for now, but the Global News podcast will be back very soon. This edition was mixed by James Piper and produced by Stephanie Zacharason. Our editors Karen Martin, I'm Oliver Conway. 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.