Global News Podcast - Harris names VP pick

Episode Date: August 6, 2024

Kamala Harris has named the Governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, to be her vice-presidential running mate. Also: Bangladesh's president dissolves parliament, clearing the way for the formation of a new government, disturbing evidence of torture of Palestinians in Israeli jails, and the Algerian winner of Africa's first Olympic gold medal in gymnastics.

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 Valerie Sanderson and at 13 Hours GMT on Tuesday, August the 6th, these are our main stories.

Kamala Harris has named her vice-presidential running mate. He's Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota. These are our main stories. Kamala Harris has named her vice presidential running mate. He's Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota. The president of Bangladesh has dissolved parliament to enable a new government to be formed a day after the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, was ousted by protesters. Dozens of protesters have been arrested in Nigeria for waving Russian flags at recent demonstrations. Also in this podcast, Israel's biggest human rights organisation exposes the brutal treatment of Palestinian prisoners. Big Tech finds itself in hot water in countries half a world apart and... It was a dream to one day take part in the Olympics,

but I never thought I could be an Olympic champion. We hear from the first African to win a gymnastics gold medal at the Olympics. As we came into the studio to record this podcast, we got word that Kamala Harris has named the man she's chosen to be her running mate for her campaign to become the United States' first female president. He's Tim Walz, who's currently the governor of Minnesota. Well, our reporter Will Vernon is with me. What are we hearing from the US then, Will? Well, we're hearing from multiple sources, including the BBC's partner in the US, CBS News, that Kamala Harris has made her choice. It is Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota. He was actually the bookie's favourite to be the pick. There was some speculation whether it would be

Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania, but it is Mr. Walz. So we're expecting that to be confirmed very soon. So tell us about him. Well, he started out his life in quite a normal way. He was a teacher. He served in the army, he's from a rural area, he first came into politics in the early 2000s. He's an incredibly successful politician, he was elected six times into Congress from a very rural seat. And that's quite a tall order because this is where Mr. Walls is from his constituency, this is the kind of place that would usually vote Republican, but he won it six times as a Democrat. He then became governor in 2019.

And just recently, he's become a bit of a social media phenomenon because he coined this phrase, just weird, right, to describe Donald Trump and the Republican Party. And he said, look, these guys are just weird. And this phrase, it might seem quite normal, but it actually resonated with a lot of people, a lot of people that perhaps had become desensitized to some of the more radical outbursts from Mr. Trump and his MAGA supporters. A lot of people kind of came crashing back down to earth and thought, actually, yeah, this guy is a bit weird. So I think Tim Walz is a good choice for Kamala Harris in terms of what we

call balancing the ticket. Tell us about that. Yeah, so balancing the ticket is when if you have a presidential candidate who appeals to certain groups of voters, then they usually try and pick as their running mate, someone who appeals to completely different groups, because then obviously you're appealing to as many different people as possible. And Kamala Harris is actually often regarded as a bit of an elitist in Washington. You know, she's from California. She, you know, went to top universities. She is often thought of as perhaps a bit out of touch. Whereas Tim Waltz is your kind of every man, everyday guy, the guy you might kind of get chatting to down the pub, talks in a very kind of normal, simple, everyday way. Whereas Kamala Harris, as we know, is often accused of speaking in platitudes, you know, saying a lot of words, but not really having much meaning. Whereas this

phrase, just weird, for example, that Tim Waltz came up with, that's classic, kind of very normal, everyday language that people can relate to. He's also quite funny as well. You know, he's got that kind of dry sense of humour. And actually, a few weeks ago, most people in America had never heard of him. But as I say, he's become this phenomenon on social media, incredibly popular, especially among young Americans. And of course, it's how it looks as well, isn't it? That's right. Because, you know, Tim Watts can appeal to voters that Kamala Harris perhaps can't. As we know, she is the first vice president in history, a woman of

colour. He's a white man, he will appeal to those white working class voters in the rural districts. So he's reaching a lot of groups that Kamala Harris perhaps is less likely to reach. Well, Vernon, thank you. A day after the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, was dramatically forced from power, the country's parliament has been dissolved. Student protesters had set a deadline for the move. They want a new interim government to be led by Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus. Nahid Islam is the coordinator of the student protest. We will not accept any other government than the one proposed by us. We will not accept a government supported by the military or the fascists.

Any proxy government or government against the people will not be accepted. Lydia Silva is an activist in Dhaka. She's wary of assuming that, on its own, Sheikh Hasina's departure guarantees a brighter future for the people of Bangladesh. I would say, of course, the achievement of yesterday was historic, but it is only a primary achievement as of now. As of now, we are just free of lies, corruption and fascism from one fascist regime. But it would be foolish to think that it's over because you see there has been two ruling parties, political parties in Bangladesh

who have been playing musical chairs with the people of Bangladesh. One regime leaves and just it gets replaced with a worse and more bloodthirsty regime. So it's time to build an alternative. So this is not it. We have not achieved exactly what we were heading for. It's a long journey.

A country, and we're heading towards a country without an independent judiciary. There will be backlashes for the short term as there has been, but we have to focus on the long term and make sure the victory of yesterday is not hijacked by the people from any party, any opposition parties hiding and waiting for the next in line

to cause more suffering to civilians. Kezar Kamal is a senior member of one of those opposition parties, indeed the biggest one, the BNP. And Rob Young asked him what he expected to happen next. No, what happened basically, Army chief declared that there will be an interim government. And yesterday evening, all the representatives of political party and Army chief, Air Force chief and Navy chief, they went and met the president. And they had a meeting in consensus.

And following the meeting, president of Bangladesh declared there will be an interim government very soon. So there is national consensus. And a member of the civil society, as well as the student representative, all of them worked together and made the decision. Will your party also be part of this government as well?

Yes. So it's going to be some kind of government of national unity then? It is indeed national unity, so that the people of Bangladesh get the true test of independence. When will new elections be held then? The interim government yet to be formed. The people of Bangladesh get the true test of independence. When will new elections be held then? The interim government is yet to be formed. Therefore, it is difficult to say right at this stage.

However, demand of the people has got to be done as soon as possible. I've been speaking to our correspondent in Dhaka, Akbar Hussain. Things are moving very quickly and we have seen many dramatic decisions in the last 24 hours. And in the latest decision, President of Bangladesh, Mohammad Shahabuddin, he has dissolved the parliament because the parliament remains ineffective when Sheikh Hasina resigned and fled the country.

So now it is inevitable that the new interim government will be formed. But it is not clear who will be heading this government. But the leaders of the student protest, they say that they are proposing the name of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus as the head of the interim government. So it will be very interesting to see whether Mr. Yunus will take charge or not. But some local media, they're reporting that Mr. Yunus has agreed to take the charge. In the meantime, the army chief, he is in talks with the political leaders

and some groups to form a new interim government. Now, there had been a lot of looting going on. Is the country calm? Not calm yet, but the protesters, they are not blocking the roads anymore, what we have seen in the last four weeks. And many people are celebrating their victory today. And in some places, we can see the violence, unrest, and, you know, everything is going on. Because more than 400 police stations were set on fire, and police came under attack in different parts of the country.

Many police officers, they went under hiding. And the country's main airport was shut for six hours yesterday because there was no police at the immigration checkpost. So they had to close it down. On the other hand, the people associated with Sheikh Hasina's Awamilik party, they are also facing some backlash from the people. And in many places, the houses and properties of the people who were associated with Sheikh Hasina's party were looted and they were burned. So it's a very

volatile law and order situation. And many people, they think that, you know, it would be a very difficult task for the upcoming interim government to maintain law and order and back normalcy. Is there any evidence, Akbar, of the military on the streets? Military is not on the streets, but they have several checkposts. But most of the military, they have gone back to their barracks. But interesting thing is that there is no government in the country. There is a power vacuum for the last more than 24 hours. The military is trying to sort out things, but they have not taken the charge.

So as long as the new interim government is not formed, there will be some sort of uncertainty among people. Akbar Hussain in Dhaka. Conditions inside prisons holding Palestinian detainees run by the Israeli military and prison service amount to torture. That's the stark conclusion from a report by Israel's leading human rights organisation, Bet Selem. The group says prison conditions have dramatically deteriorated since the start of the war in Gaza last October. Since then, the Red Cross has been prevented from visiting Israeli prisons. Last week, the issue of Israel's treatment of Palestinian detainees caused a very

public row when demonstrators tried to prevent the arrest of soldiers accused of sexually abusing a prisoner from Gaza. From Jerusalem, our diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams reports. Chaotic scenes at the State Eman military prison last week as protesters break through the fence. Far-right demonstrators, including members of Israel's parliament, were furious that nine prison guards were being arrested. Israel, it's safe to say, is deeply divided over how to treat Palestinian prisoners. Thousands of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank have passed through Israeli prisons since last October. Those who've come out recently say they were kept in overcrowded cells,

routinely beaten and abused by guards and intimidated by dogs. After October 7th, life totally changed. I call what happened a tsunami. Feras Hassan has been in and out of jail since the early 90s, charged twice with membership of an armed group, Islamic Jihad. He was already in prison without charge last October. Nothing prepared him for what happened next. We were severely beaten by 20 officers, masked men using batons and sticks, dogs and firearms. We were tied from behind. Our eyes blindfolded, beaten severely. Blood was gushing from my face. They kept beating us for 50 minutes. I saw them from under the blindfold. They were filming us while beating us. Since October, Israel's prisons, some run by the army, others by the prison service,

have been overwhelmed. The number of detainees has almost doubled. B'Tselem has interviewed more than 50 former prisoners, almost all of them released without trial. Yuli Novak, B'Tselem's executive director, says their accounts paint a remarkably consistent picture. All of them, again and again, told us the same thing. Ongoing abuse, daily violence, physical violence and mental violence, humiliation, sleep deprivation. People are starved. The Israeli prison system as a whole, in regard to Palestinians, turned into a network of torture camps. The Israeli government rejects that description, but its far-right security minister,

Itamar Ben-Gavir, frequently boasts, as he did recently in parliament, that on his watch, Palestinian prisoners are treated much more harshly. But it's not just happening to Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank. Sari Huria is a lawyer from Haifa, an Israeli citizen, arrested last November and held for 10 days. It nearly broke him. They just lost their mind. Simply, they've just lost their mind. There was no law. Sari's offence, two Facebook posts which the police said glorified the Hamas attacks of October the 7th, a charge quickly dismissed. But not before he'd witnessed the horrors being meted out to fellow prisoners. They was hitting them badly, without no reason.

They was screaming, the guys, we didn't do nothing. You don't have to hit us. Me, an advocate that have seen the world outside the prison, now I am inside. I see another world. We put these claims of mistreatment to the Israeli military and the prison service. The army said it rejected outright allegations of systematic abuse. The prison service said it wasn't even aware of the claims. As far as we know, they said no such events have occurred.

Israel remains traumatized by the events of October the 7th. But that, Yuli Novak warns, is no excuse for what's happening in Israeli prisons. October 7th was the worst day in my life and in the life of every Israeli I know. The trauma and the anxiety walks with us each and every day. But to let this thing turn us into something that is not human, that doesn't see people, I think it's tragic. Bette Salem's executive director, Yuli Novak, ending that report by Paul Adams.

The Paris Olympics are bubbling up to a climax with the big track events now taking centre stage at the Parc des Princes. Mundi saw the curtain fall on the last of the competitions in gymnastics. Not, though, before Africa won its first ever gymnastics gold medal, courtesy of Algeria's Kelia Nemour. She won in the Uneven Bars contest on Sunday. Isaac Fanon tracked her down and asked her how she felt after making history. Thanks. I'm really proud that this is the first gold medal for gymnastics in Africa,

and I'm very happy. How long have you been, obviously, competing in the uneven bars in gymnastics? I came to the club when I was four, and I was still practicing from the apparatus, not only the bar. And I've been practicing since I was four and I was still practicing from the apparatus, not only the bar. And I've been practicing since I was four years old. And when she was a little girl, expect that she would one day be an Olympic champion? It was a dream to one day take part in the Olympics, but I never thought I could be an Olympic champion. You used to represent France and you represent Algeria because of your father.

Just talk to me about what it means to win gold for your dad's country. I've been competing for Algeria for three years now and they've helped me in my preparation so I'm very proud to win this gold medal. And now that you are a gold medalist, what will you do next? What's the next thing for Kalia? Right now, I will go on vacation and afterwards I will start training again at the end of the month of August. My goal is now the Olympics in Los Angeles 2024. And with you winning gold, a lot of people in Africa, a lot of people in Algeria and Morocco will be inspired by you. How does that make you feel? I'm very happy if that gold medal inspires people. And practising gymnastics is good.

Kayleigh and Amour speaking there to Isaac Fannin. Still to come, the people caught in the middle when an urgent need for cheap labour collides with right-wing politics. 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. Big tech seems determined to dominate more and more of daily life. Elon Musk of ex-formerly Twitter is notoriously happy to ruffle feathers, most recently with his allegation that riot-ravaged Britain is heading for civil war. But the big tech bros aren't having it all their own way. In a moment, we'll hear how Google has found itself in hot water with a judge in the USA. But first, to Malaysia and a censorship row between the Malaysian government and Facebook's parent company, Meta.

It's had to apologise after taking down posts by the Malaysian Prime Minister. Our East Asia editor, Mickey Bristow, told me more about the case. So this case essentially started when the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Iran last week. Following that, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim, put on a note on social media, on Facebook and Instagram. He offered his condolences to the family of the man who died. Also, he condemned the killing. Also, he called him my dear friend. Now, after that, Meta, which is a parent company of Facebook and Instagram, took down those two posts. The Malaysians were furious and they called in representatives from Meta and demanded an apology and that's just exactly what Meta has now done.

Apologised for its behaviour. It's reposted those online comments and it's essentially said there was some kind of error. That's why they were taken down. So that's the bare bones of this story. And what's been the reaction in Malaysia? Well, the Malaysians, as I said, were very, very angry because they saw this as the taking down of a legitimate comment, which essentially falls under free speech. Malaysia is a Muslim majority country. And over the past decades, governments there have

expressed their support for the Palestinian situations, something that they see as a legitimate cause to support. And they think it's their right to be able to express that. And so they were furious that Mehta had waded in to this argument by taking down what they thought was a legitimate comment. Meta considers Hamas a dangerous organisation. That's how it describes it. And a number of Western countries consider Hamas a terrorist organisation. So that's why they take down, Meta takes down some of the posts. But in this case, Malaysia thought it had gone too far.

Indeed, there were human rights organisations, Human Rights Watch, for example, a few months ago came out with a report. They documented 1,000 cases since Hamas attacked Israelis and killed Israelis, hundreds of Israelis, last October. 1,000 cases since then when they thought Meta had overreached itself and taken down legitimate comments in support of the Palestinians. So essentially, this case is around free speech. It's not about terrorism or not. It's about whether people have a legitimate reason to

support the Palestinians. That's how the Malaysians see it. And staying with big tech, a judge in the United States has ruled that Google acted illegally to crush its competition by paying tech firms to set it as the default search engine on their products. Google has effectively held a monopoly over the online search market for decades. Our technology editor Zoe Klimlin says the decision is likely to hurt Google. It's quite a damning verdict, a 277-page judgment which says it was basically spending billions of dollars to make itself the default search engine on various products including Apple's and Samsung devices. And in doing so, it was pretty much cutting out the competition because nobody else could afford to do it. And by making itself the dominant search app, it was also hoovering

up all of that data from people using it, which enabled it to make itself even better. We don't yet know what the punishment is going to be, but there has been talk about something structural. Structural relief is the phrase that was used, which could mean the breakup of Google's search business. Now, it's incredibly valuable to Google. It makes an awful lot of money out of search and also the related advertising around it. So I think if that were to happen, it would be a big deal for Google and its parent company, Alphabet. We might also see a fine, but in the few cases that we've had that we've seen in the past, it tends to be that they'll look to do something that will be, I think, more dramatic, if you like, than something that a massive multi-billion company like Google could just pay off and carry on as it was. It is

going to appeal, of course. Google says basically it's being punished because its search engine is good and people want to use it. So I don't think it's quite the end of the road yet. But this has been going on since 2020. The Department of Justice in the US is going after big tech. Now there are also upcoming cases against Apple as well and Amazon and also Meta. So I think we're going to see more of this. Zoe Kleinman. Now what's happening with the world's stock markets? On Monday, stocks in the US, Europe and Japan plunged, partly because of fears about a slowdown in the American economy. On Tuesday, Japan's stock market bounced back after suffering an historic drop the day before.

I spoke to our business correspondent Marika Oi in Singapore. Well, Val, you mentioned yesterday's sell-off, the Nikkei 225 ending the day 12.4% lower. That was the biggest point fall in history. So bigger than COVID, bigger than that huge earthquake that hit the nation in 2011, bigger even than Black Monday, if you just look at the points. And then today, as you said, the Nikkei 225 opened sharply higher.

And guess what? They ended the day more than 10% higher as well. And if you just look at the points, this is the biggest daily gain as well. So extreme volatility, definitely not for the faint-hearted, but definitely a sigh of relief among those Japanese investors. And people listening to this will think, well, why does it matter to me? Well, what matters is that when one market suffers such a huge loss, as you could see, it almost has a contagious effect. So, you know, what actually started was the Bank of Japan, the country's central bank, raising interest rates last Wednesday to 0.25%, which still is very,

very low. But that basically propped up the value of the Japanese currency, the Japanese yen. And even though that's what the authorities wanted, investors started to panic because it could actually have a huge impact on Japan's exporters. And then we also had that weak U.S. jobs data on Friday, and that basically triggered the sell-off again. So that's why we started seeing America, Europe and Asia all having this sell-off. And at least today, this morning in Asian markets, they have done OK. And now we're starting to see European markets starting to trade slightly higher as well. So it might be that the global sell-off is cooling down. But why it matters to you, that's because it could actually have an impact on your stock

market and also, you know, the country's economy and of course, you know, companies' performance and so on and so on as well. Meriko Oye. Nigeria's government has warned protesters it is treasonable to wave another country's flag after Russian flags were seen at a number of anti-government demonstrations in northern Nigeria. Dozens of people have been arrested. Russian influence has been growing across the Sahel region of Africa. Our regional Africa editor, Will Ross, told me more. We've seen these demonstrations, these protests in several cities across the country. In at least two or three states in the north of the country, small numbers of protesters have been waving

these Russian flags. Now, some of them have been, you know, denouncing the Nigerian government with similar slogans that we've heard all over the country is calling for better governance and calling for the government to do something about the cost of living. But there is a school of thought that perhaps that this is linked to the military coups that have taken place in other parts of West Africa. For example, these states in the north of Nigeria border Niger. And in Niger, a military coup took place a year ago. And the authorities there have been very angry with Nigeria and the regional bloc ECOWAS in West Africa for the position Nigeria took condemning that coup. So it's possible that some of these people waving the flags are

really having a go at Nigeria for that position against Niger. But I think the Nigerian authorities want to kind of nip it in the bud. That's why they've come out with this statement. And already a strong response, isn't it? Yeah, very strong response. And they say that they've arrested, you know, dozens of people, including also tailors who were stitching up these red, blue and white flags. And they've, as you say, called it a treasonous act. But it just could be that the Nigerian authorities are just slightly worried that if any kind of momentum got behind the waving of Russian flags and sort of pro-Russian stance and against the West, because Nigeria is a key ally of the West, it if they did snowball and if they became kind of more pro-Russian and anti-West, it might pose greater problems for the Nigerian authorities. Will Ross. Half the world away from the dramatic developments in their homeland, an expat community of Bangladeshis are wrestling with the hostile reaction to their presence in a small Italian

town. One falcone on the Adriatic coast has made a name for itself as a base for building a new generation of enormous cruise ships. To succeed, it's had to recruit a 6,000-strong army of Bangladeshis to do the low-paid jobs that Italians won't do anymore. Their presence in a town of just 30,000 has, though, sparked tensions that have seen the local mayor attempt to ban both collective Islamic prayer meetings and the Bangladeshi's national sport of cricket. Sofia Petitza reports from Mount Falcone on what happens when an urgent need for cheap migrant labour collides with far-right politics. A group of friends playing cricket on a Saturday afternoon. These players are all from Bangladesh,

but we are thousands of miles away from where they grew up. Believe it or not, the mayor has effectively banned cricket here. And it's come to symbolise the tensions that one small Italian town is grappling with. If you were to play this cricket game in Monfalcone, what could happen? We'd have to pay a fine, 80 or 100 euros. What happens? The police come and say? You can't play. They say, let's see your documents. That's all. Why is it forbidden? They say cricket isn't for Italy. I'll tell you the truth. It's because we are foreigners. In her two terms as mayor, Anna Maria Cizint has removed the benches in the town square where Bangladeshis used to sit and railed against what Muslim women wear at the beach. But then she took things to the next level. She tried to effectively

ban collective prayer at the two Islamic centres in the town. People from the town started sending me photos and videos which were quite shocking, which showed a huge number of people who were praying in the two Islamic centres, as many as 1,900 in just one building. This is really unfair for other people because there are so many bikes left on the pavement and loud prayers five times a day, even at night. So the mayor says the Islamic centres are not designated for religious worship and she believes the Bangladeshis are degrading her town. There is a very strong process of Islamic fundamentalism here,

a culture where women are treated very badly and are oppressed by men. Our history has been erased. It's like it doesn't matter anymore. Everything is changing for the worse. People are saying, what's happening? It's early morning and I'm at one of the two Islamic centres which the mayor says is not authorized as a place of worship. And in spite of what the mayor said, there are hundreds of men here dressed up for the

celebration, kneeling on the soft turquoise carpet. Boukonate, who's from Senegal, is one of the leaders of the two Islamic centers. He sees the arrival of migrants from different countries as a major benefit for the town. I'm from Africa, they're from Asia. We definitely don't have the same culture, but I accept this cultural difference. Why? Because it's a wealth. It's not a problem if it's managed well,

but in the case of Monfalcone, it was not managed well. Instead, the mayor exploited it. A few weeks ago, a regional court ruled in favour of the two Islamic centres and annulled the town council orders, banning collective prayer. But in the meantime, Anna Maria Chizint got elected as an MEP and will bring to Brussels her battle against what she calls the Islamisation of Europe. That report by Sofia Petica, you can hear her full documentary on crossing continents assignment. And that's it from us for now, but there'll 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 Mark Duff. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Valerie Sanderson. Until next time, bye-bye. 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.