Global News Podcast - Hezbollah "ready if Israel invades Lebanon"

Episode Date: September 30, 2024

Hezbollah's deputy leader, Naim Qassem, says the group is ready if Israel invades Lebanon. Also: Marine Le Pen on trial accused of embezzling European parliamentary funds, and UK ends coal power after 142 years.

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 Nick Miles and at 13 Hours GMT on Monday the 30th of September, these are our main stories.

Israel expands its military operation in Lebanon. Our correspondent has been speaking to people caught up in the violence in the Bekaa Valley. She wasn't responding and her head was bashed open with blood pooling under her. Her brother had an eye injury. Marine Le Pen, the leader of France's National Rally Party, has gone on trial in Paris, charged with corruption. Also in this podcast, an historic moment as Britain shuts its last coal-fired power station,

the first G7 nation to do so. It's three days since an Israeli airstrike killed the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon, and tensions are very high in the Middle East. Israel has continued with its airstrike killed the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon, and tensions are very high in the Middle East. Israel has continued with its airstrikes against Hezbollah and other Iran-backed militant groups, and it's amassing its troops at the border with Lebanon, giving the impression that they're ready for a possible ground invasion. Our senior international correspondent, Orla Guerin, reports now from the Riyak Hospital in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon.

You may find some of the details in her report upsetting. I'm standing outside a ward in a paediatric intensive care unit. There's a six-year-old girl inside in the bed closest to the window. She's called Noor. Her head is bandaged and she's seriously ill. Her mother, Rima, is with me. Rima, can you tell me what happened? How did Noor get these injuries? We were sat right by the front door,

not brave enough to go inside because we thought the building would collapse on us if it was hit. Then when the bombing got closer and more intense, we decided to go in, whatever the consequences. I picked up Noor and her brother, but the missile was much faster than I was. The next thing I remember, I was on the floor. And when I got up, it was obvious. She was the one most badly hurt.

She wasn't responding, and her head was bashed open, with blood pooling under her. Her brother had an eye injury. All her cousins were also on the floor, hurt. Before Noor was injured, was she very scared because of what was going on? Could you hear a lot of explosions in the past few days? Yes. I would try and soothe her, telling her not to be afraid,

but nothing would happen. She called on God and the prophets for help. But it was her fate to be hurt the worst. Well, within the last few seconds, we've had a strike. We heard the plane in the air, then we felt the impact. The windows here shook, they rattled, and it's an indication of how nowhere here is safe. Even patients in hospitals can't feel completely safe. With me is the medical director, Dr Basil Abdullah. Doctor, tell me, what kind of cases have you been receiving in recent days of people wounded by Israeli attacks? In total we

had more than 400 injured patients. Almost the majority of the patients are coming from the same family. And are you receiving casualties every day? Yeah every day. It must be very difficult for you and for your colleagues to be receiving so many wounded in such a short space of time seeing children bombed seeing elderly patients seeing women bombed it's difficult the majority of the nurses the doctors are depressed an ambulance has just arrived now bringing casualties from the latest airstrike. They're being treated in the emergency department. There's a lot of anger and tension.

People are stressed, wondering when this is going to stop. That was Orla Geren. Hezbollah's deputy leader, Naim Qasem, has insisted that it will fight back and that despite the death of Hassan Nasrallah and other Hezbollah's deputy leader, Naim Qassam, has insisted that it will fight back and that despite the death of Hassan Nasrallah and other Hezbollah commanders, the group's military capacity has not been diminished. The Islamic resistance will continue to confront the Israeli enemy in solidarity with Gaza and Palestine, in defence of Lebanon and its people, and in response to the assassinations of leaders and the killing of civilians. We recognise that the battle may be

long and all options are available to us. Should the Israelis decide to launch a grand invasion, the resistance forces are ready to engage with it. Our Middle East correspondent Hugo Bashega has this assessment from Beirut. I think it's a fact that Hezbollah has been heavily damaged by two weeks of intense Israeli airstrikes. Its entire leadership has been decimated. So they are in a difficult position, obviously, and their communications network has been breached. So it is very difficult to see how they are going to come up

with some kind of coordinated response to these attacks. And, you know, Naim Qasem said the group is ready to confront any Israeli ground invasion of Lebanon. So the signs coming from Israel suggest that this is imminent. Yoav Galant, the Israeli defense minister, was visiting troops along the border. He said the killing of Hassan Nasrallah was a very important step, but not the final one. And I think here in Lebanon, this is the concern that we're going to see a wider Israeli campaign against Hezbollah, including a ground invasion of southern Lebanon to create what the Israeli

officials describe as a buffer zone in the south to destroy the infrastructure that has been created by Hezbollah and push Hezbollah away from the border. So he was defiant, but the situation is very different for Hezbollah. Hugo, the Lebanese Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, has just been saying that he is ready to send troops of the Lebanese army to the southern border. One would imagine that would be worrying for Israel because it would put Hezbollah and the Lebanese armed forces on the same side. Yeah, I mean, it's very difficult to see how any kind of deal

or any kind of negotiation can reach a ceasefire at the moment. The Israelis think they are being extremely successful with the operation they've carried out so far in terms of weakening Hezbollah. And they want to change the reality along the border. So the Lebanese are saying that they are ready to implement the United Nations Resolution 1701, which is the resolution that was approved in 2006 to put an end to the last war between Hezbollah and Israel. And I think it's very difficult to see why the Israelis would accept any kind of deal at the moment. They feel that they have inflicted a significant blow

and they believe that they have the momentum now to degrade Hezbollah quite significantly, to again change the situation along the border. They say that the goal of this operation is to allow the return of those 60,000 residents who've been displaced because of those rockets that have been fired by Hezbollah. So very difficult to see how any kind of diplomatic solution can be found right now.

Hugo Bashega. Let's head to the French capital, Paris, now, where Marine Le Pen, the leader of the right-wing populist party, the National Rally, is on trial for allegedly misusing European parliamentary funds. So how serious is this for her personally and for her political ambitions? Our correspondent Hugh Schofield is following events at the court. She's accused of presiding over a system going back many years in which party workers at a time when the party was in financial difficulty were paid effectively, not with the party's own money, but with European money.

The system relates to MEPs, people working as deputies in Brussels and Strasbourg, who 15 years ago the party had several, 20 or more of these MEPs, people working as deputies in Brussels and Strasbourg, who 15 years ago the party had several, 20 or more of these MEPs, they all get an envelope from the parliament, money to pay for assistance. In theory these assistants should be people who are helping purely with parliamentary work in Strasbourg and Brussels, but what the party is accused of doing is using that money to pay Paris-based workers, who occasionally would take trips up to Strasbourg to sort of keep up the front that they were working in the Parliament but weren't really, were basically fully-fledged members

of the party apparatus in Paris. That's the accusation. Of course, they're saying it's not true. And they're saying also that Brussels is a... The European Parliament was a place where this kind of thing went on to varying degrees a lot. Hugh, her party did extremely well in European parliamentary elections earlier this year. a place where this kind of thing went on to varying degrees a lot. Hugh, her party did extremely well in European parliamentary elections earlier this year. It looked at one stage as if she was going to be the largest party in the French parliamentary elections.

It certainly was in the first round. So her party is riding high. What would a guilty verdict mean for her and her party? Well, I think there are two things there. One thing is the kind of technical consequence of her being found guilty and possibly declared ineligible for public office. That would be a huge blow to her personal ambitions. There's no guarantee that it would happen even if she's found guilty. One possible punishment would be this punishment of ineligibility for five years, which would mean she couldn't run for president in 2027. So that would be this punishment of ineligibility for five years, which would mean she couldn't run for president in 2027. So that would be a major blow.

The other side of this thing, though, what would it do to the image of the party? What would it do to its standing as a vote winner in France? I think there the answer is rather different. I think such is the cynicism towards Europe and towards the establishment in general. A lot of people will simply say, well, OK, she's been found guilty. I don't care. In fact, once again, it's the system attacking an outsider. I think it politically overall for the party, it would probably make little difference if she was found guilty. In fact, it might even help them.

Hugh Schofield. Japan's incoming Prime Minister has called a snap general election for the end of October. Shigeru Ishiba was only elected as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Friday, and is due to be approved as Prime Minister in Parliament on Tuesday. I asked our Asia-Pacific editor, Mickey Bristow, why call an election now? He probably feels that he wants to establish his administration with legitimacy in the eyes of the public. In fact, at a press conference, that's exactly what he said. He wanted to give people the earliest opportunity to test his administration,

which he's still developing, by the way. He hasn't really announced his whole cabinet yet. There's probably a little bit more to it than that, though, because the race to allow him to become prime minister of Japan through the LDP was a really tight one there were nine candidates initially there was a runoff with a challenger between two people he just won so it's probably more about establishing his legitimacy with the public to give him credibility within the LDP that's perhaps why he's called the election now.

Now, is this a gamble, though, for him and also for the Liberal Party, because he is coming to office on the back of a corruption scandal, isn't he? His elections are always dangerous in democracies because you don't know who's going to win. Less so in Japan because the LDP has been in power mostly in the post-war period, really rarely been out of power. So there's less risk associated with that. As you say, you mentioned corruption scandal there. That's related to the LDP under a previous prime minister's suggestions that money was

misappropriated. This is a chance for the party to kind of have a fresh start, having an election, giving the party a clear new mandate is a way to kind of look forward rather than looking back. Mickey Bristow. In just under five weeks' time, Kamala Harris will be hoping to become America's first female president. But at the moment, polling looks too close to call. And if she does lose, she wouldn't be the first woman to suffer election defeat by Donald Trump. The other was, of course, Hillary Clinton back in 2016, who's been speaking

to the BBC's Amal Rajan. What does she think is at stake this time around? I think the election outcome in the United States will have repercussions far beyond our borders. It will also determine whether or not we continue supporting Ukraine, whether we can get some kind of workable resolution in the Middle East, and so much else. And I say that because the two candidates have presented extremely different agendas for where they want to take our country. And so I think it's really important that people around the world understand that we know what the stakes are and we're doing everything we can to elect Kamala Harris. Everyone can understand why you of all people would take what Donald Trump

says seriously. But do you give any credence to the idea that he did identify and articulate, perhaps sooner, perhaps better than some others, the legitimate grievances of many Americans who feel that globalization has robbed them of their agency and of their future. You know, I think it's fair to say that people support him for different reasons. And certainly for people who feel that they are overlooked, they're unseen, the economy doesn't work for them, and they just want change. And they are willing to risk the most dramatic kind of change. Although, frankly, he didn't help them very much the first time. So why they think he would this time is sort of a question mark.

But I think our problem is, frankly, we are not the most effective messengers about what we see and what we're trying to do to address these real and legitimate concerns that people have. And I recognize and accept my share of the responsibility. But it is hard in a time when politicians are expected to be more entertaining, where social media demands that you be outrageous, that you say something that breaks through, to do the hard, boring work of actually getting things done. You've known Joe Biden for decades. Now, hindsight is a wonderful thing. But do you think with the benefit of hindsight that he should have

stepped down earlier? No, no, I do not. Why not? I do not. We are now in a much different world because Joe Biden has been our president in so many different ways, including the the huge climate investments that have been made, advanced manufacturing, so much else. reason why he should have stepped down. But once that debate happened, he could not recover. And he did the right thing. It was a selfless, patriotic act for him to step down and then endorse his vice president. And what would it mean to you if she went all the way, if Kamala Harris won, and that she got the presidency that you got so close to? It would be exhilarating. I mean, I am so excited by this opportunity for her to be president, not only because I know her and I believe she would be a good president, but it's imperative to defeat Donald Trump, to break the fever that he has caused

in our political system and to try to, you know, help the Republican Party become a party of principle again, not a party that basically follows him. Hillary Clinton. Coming up. Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose. Nothing he would, nothing but his dreams. We say farewell to the American singer, songwriter and actor Chris Christopherson, who's died aged 88.

It was more than 140 years ago when the UK became the birthplace of the world's first coal-fired power plant, producing electricity for homes and factories across the land. But today, its last remaining coal plant is closing for business. It is the first G7 country to phase the fossil fuel out completely. So what are the reasons behind it? Justin Rowlatt is our climate editor. Anxiety about coal really peaked back in the 50s when we had these terrible smogs. So there were concerns about the quality of the air. You could trace back the beginning of the end perhaps to there. But really what's happened in the last kind of few decades is in

the 90s, the North Sea in Britain started producing a lot of gas. That gas became cheaper and more efficient than coal, happening at the same time as anxieties about acid rain across Europe, which meant the EU had brought in regulations to control the emissions of coal plants, which pushed up the price. So that was the first wave. They call it the dash to gas, which squeezed a bit of coal out of the system. And then there was a second wave of reduction of coal use when we began to roll out renewables in the UK, which has created the space, if you like, that's allowed us now to close that last coal plant up in Nottinghamshire, Ratcliffe-on-Soar. And allowed us to become the first of the G7, the wealthy group of nations,

to do so. How are other G7 nations doing on that front? Not as well. I mean, the other thing that happened in the UK was our last big kind of build out of new coal stations was in the 60s. And we never replaced those other countries, Germany, America, built out new coal stations 10, 15, 20 years ago. So they've still got a fleet of coal stations that are kind of if you like inverted commas, economically viable, ours were on their knees, they were at the end of their life. So it was kind of relatively easy to close them down. So Germany, for example, is not looking to end the use of coal till about 2035. So we are ahead of the pack. There are other European countries that have done it, much smaller ones. Belgium, Sweden, Portugal, Austria have ended coal. But yeah, we are the first. I mean, and the other interesting picture, not just coal plants, but of course the industrial revolution itself began here in the UK. The first industrial nation now ending the use of coal. It's a very dramatic day. Justin Rowlatt.

The BBC has discovered McDonald's failed to stop the exploitation of nine men who'd been trafficked to the UK from the Czech Republic and forced to work in a branch of the fast food chain. The men were brought to the UK by members of a Czech criminal gang who faced trial earlier this year. John Ironmonger reports. The victims worked in a Cambridge and McDonald's for more than four years. They were controlled by the gang with threats and violence and nearly all their wages were stolen by the criminals who trafficked them to the UK. But neither McDonald's nor the franchisees running the branch noticed the signs they were victims of modern slavery, including that the wages for multiple people were being paid into the same bank accounts and individuals were working up to 100 hours a week. The company and its franchisee

say they've taken action to help detect potential risks in future and are committed to helping every John Ironmonger. and take swift action, but it's important the retailers learn from cases like this. John Ironmonger. Tributes are being paid to the American singer, songwriter and actor Chris Christopherson, who's died at the age of 88. He appeared in the hit movie A Star Is Born with Barbara Streisand and wrote songs like Me and Bobby McGee and Help Me Make It Through the Night. Michelle Hussain spoke to Joseph Hudak from Rolling Stone magazine about Chris Christopherson's legacy. When you talk about Chris Christopherson, yes, he's a singer, but above all else, he was a songwriter. Chris had this ability to just get into the heart of human emotion

and human vulnerability, and particularly loneliness. There was something about the way that Chris could write about this idea of not having anyone there to support you or any sense of structure that no one else could. We were talking a bit about some of his songs, and one of them that really gets to the heart of this is Sunday Morning Coming Down. I woke up Sunday morning with no way to hold my head. That didn't hurt. Morning Coming Down. And Sunday Morning Coming Down was most famously recorded by Johnny Cash. But I would argue that Chris Doverson's version is even more powerful.

Another of his songs that became very well known is Me and Bobby McGee. Did he mind when his work became much better known when it was covered by others? No, I don't think so at all. He didn't hear Janis Joplin's version of Me and Bobby McGee, which of course is the most famous one, until after Janis passed. And I believe he said he just walked all over Los Angeles just in tears, and he could barely listen to the song without breaking up. When you're a songwriter here in Nashville, the Nashville songwriter community is so based around writing songs, not just for yourself, but for others. Right. There's the community is about sharing those songs and you don't particularly own a song per se. So if that song resonated with someone else, Kristofferson was more than happy to have them recorded. Help Me Make It Through the Night is another one of his really beautiful songs.

Do you see him as a pioneer of Nashville? And that's why Chris Dofferson is like the North Star in that respect. I mean, you know, we talk about Help Me Make It Through the Night. I mean, everyone from Jerry Lee Lewis to Tina Turner and most famously Sammy Smith recorded that song. And she had a number one with it. But Chris's is just so hard to beat. Take the ribbon from your hand. Shake it loose, let it fall. The thing about Christofferson's voice is he would even admit he was not a good singer. You know, his voice was croaking. You know, when he uttered those sounds in a song like Help Me Make It Through the Night,

you're really kind of worried that he may not see the morning light. You know, that's what that song is about. One of his acting roles was in A Star is Born. When Barbara, I think I saw this, she tweeted this today after Chris passed. She said she first saw him perform at the Troubadour Club in Los Angeles. And right away, she knew that he had what she wanted for the script that she was developing, which was a Starsborne. He was on stage at the Troubadour strumming his guitar barefoot, very much the folky, hippie kind of Troubadour at that time.

But, you know, I think acting was just another part of who he was, was just another facet of the man that is Chris Christopherson. I don't think it's anything that he pursued any harder, per se, than he did songwriting. Joseph Hudak from Rolling Stone magazine. For many people around the world, the UK is high on the list of places they'd like to visit, although those used to the blazing heat might find the grey and wet weather a little dreary if they stay too long. But Holly Hennessy, a cruise enthusiast from Florida, was left without a choice. She and her cat, called Captain, are finally now setting sail after four months stranded in Belfast because of a problem with the ship. So is she sad or excited to be leaving?

She's been speaking to the BBC's Nick Robinson. You know, it's a little bit of both. The ship people, we all rented the pedal taverns yesterday. We had three of them. We had quite a group. And one of the residents had made a beautiful soundtrack to go with it. And as we were passing City Hall, that beautiful Belfast City Hall, time to say goodbye came on the music and I cried. So I'm going to be sad to say goodbye to Belfast, but we'll see again probably on the next Circa Navigation. You're not going to miss the weather, I suspect, Holly. Not at all. Not at all. Lots of time with the umbrella spent in Belfast, but what are the happy memories there? Well, part of the happy memory was surviving it. I actually wore out an umbrella.

It lost its waterproofing. It got so much use. I loved that my day trips, the Lord Mayor had us, all the shipmates, for a reception at his chambers. It was wonderful. He invited the cat. Cat couldn't make it because it was raining that day. But that's the kind of welcome we've had here in Belfast. Well, make us jealous now, because you live on this ship. This is your home. Where are you going now? Well, our first port of call will be Brest, France, and then we will meander down the coast of Europe and cross over

the Atlantic to the Caribbean and then get back with our normally scheduled itinerary. When your old friends in Florida ring you up and say, should we go to Belfast, what will you say to them? Get the weather forecast before you go. That was Holly Hennessy. And that's all from us for now. But there will be a new edition of the Global News Podcast later. We're also planning a special edition of the podcast, marking one year since the Hamas attacks on Israel from Gaza. We'll be putting your questions to our correspondents who've been covering events in the Middle East over the past 12 months. Please email us your questions. The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at Global News Pod.

This edition was mixed by Martin Williams and the producer was Vanessa Heaney. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Nick Mars. Until next time, goodbye. Goodbye. Life and death were two very realistic coexisting possibilities in my life. I didn't even think I'd make it to like my 16th birthday, to be honest. I grew up being scared of who I was.

Any one of us at any time can be affected by mental health and addictions. Just taking that first step makes a big difference. It's the hardest step. But CAMH was there from the beginning. Everyone deserves better mental health care. To hear more stories of recovery, visit CAMH.ca. 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 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. Life and death were two very realistic coexisting possibilities in my life. I didn't even think I'd make it to like my 16th birthday, to be honest. I grew up being scared of who I was. Any one of us at any time can be affected by mental health and addictions. Just taking that first step makes a big difference. It's the hardest step.

But CAMH was there from the beginning. Everyone deserves better mental health care. To hear more stories of recovery, visit camh.ca. 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.