Huge turnout in Israeli election
00:00This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.So, quick summer recap?Heat waves, data leaks, AI hacks, folding phones, and a viral spinally challenged raccoon.Yeah, I think that covers it, right?I'm Thomas Germain.I'm Jess Maddox, and the interface is back from its summer break.New season, new co-host, same deep dives into the tech that's shaping our world and our lives.So before AI wipes out all a community, allegedly, join us for the interface.
00:31Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service.I'm Nick Mars and at 16 hours GMT on Tuesday the 27th of October, these are our main stories.Israelis go to the polls in a tightly fought general election.Civilians pay the price yet again in Sudan's Civil War as a drone attack is thought to have killed around 100 people.And a Chinese red card for one of the world's best.footballers over a slight directed at Chairman Mao.Also in this podcast.
01:12It's about 190 bones within their complete skull.So it's a very good amount of dinosaur if you collect dinosaurs.With a hefty price tag, a dinosaur goes under the hammer.Israel has a population of just 10 million people, but given its place in a volatile region,when it holds general elections, the world often watches intense.and that is particularly the case now. As we record this podcast, Israelis are still floodingto the polls in numbers not seen for more than 40 years. Their urgency is not surprising. Sincethe last election, we've had the Hamas attacks of October the 7th and Israel's military
01:54campaigns in Gaza, Lebanon, and perhaps most consequentially for the world, Iran. For some, this electionis a referendum on Benjamin Netanyahu himself, Israel's longest serving prime minister, still beingcriticized for perceived security failure ahead of the October the 7th attacks.His rival, Gaddi Eisencott, has been urging voters to oust what he called the worst governmentin Israel's history. I heard more about the turnout from our Middle East correspondent,Yulan Nel, in Jerusalem.The latest we've just heard from this Central Elections Committee is that it's up to 44.9percent, and it's still some time to go before 10 o'clock local time when the polling stations
02:35will be closed. And I've been speaking to people going,into this polling station in Jerusalem, a steady stream of voters have been going in a real mixof people, you know, people who are religious, people who are more secular, families and elderlypeople. The one thing that they all tell you is that they do see this as being a crucial vote.I've met people who are from across the political spectrum, those who are more on the left,those who are in the centre, and some who are on the far right. And I have spoken to people,one man told him he'd come from Los Angeles to vote in this election. Others said they had alsoflown in, weren't giving so many details away. But, you know, that really does give you a sense
03:11of how people see that this is not just about the direction of the country. One man said to me hefelt it was about the spirit of the country also. For the past four years, it's been the mostright-wing ever government that Israel has had in charge, and it's taken the country along a religiousnationalist hardline course. And many people would like to see that change and take a moremoderate direction. They say this has led to Israel's global isolation and have a lot of questionsabout what this means for Israel's democracy. But then there are other Israelis who I've been talking tohere who think that this government, those who've been in charge, Benjamin Netanyahu with hisfar-right and ultra-Orthodox Jewish partners, that they are preserving Israel's nature as a
03:58Jewish state and that, you know, they should be allowed to continue the work that they have started.From an outsider's point of view, the two men you've mentioned, Mr. Eisencott and, of course, Benjamin Netanyahu, if they were to lead a future government, what impact would it have internationally on the wars in Gaza, Lebanon, and attitudes towards Iran?Why should the rest of the world be concerned?I mean, what people have been saying to me is, you know, what will also happen if the current coalition continues, because those policies that it has been pursuing are ones that do.concern Israel's allies around the world. And if it continues, it will pursue a course of trying toannex parts of the occupied West Bank potentially, provocative actions against the Israeli Arab minorityin the north and the south of the country. It's been made clear by Benjamin Netanyahuthat he would almost certainly be going back to war with Iran. There would be an overhaul of the
04:58judicial system to allow the government more autonomy to act. There have been calls for massmigration from Gaza, even from the West Bank, and there would be no State Commission of Inquiry,which is what the opposition bloc has been demanding into the events that led up to the 7th ofOctober attacks. Yuland Nell, ordinary people trying to get by have so often been caught up inSudan's civil war. And here's what seems to be a particularly blatant example of that.The paramilitary rapid support forces say around 100 people have been killed in a drone strike on thecity of Naila in South Darfur's state.eyewitnesses said a market in the north of the city was hit on Monday evening.
05:37This is a place that's been a stronghold of the paramilitary RSFand is regularly attacked by the Sudanese armed forces.Since it began more than three years ago,the war is thought to have killed at least 200,000 people.I heard more about this latest attack from our Africa correspondent,Barbara Pled Asha, who's in Nairobi.What we understand is that there was a drone strikeor maybe a number of drone strikes in the north of Niala,
06:02Monday night. Now, Niala is essentially the stronghold of the RSF, but it's also their de factocapital. They have a civilian government that is aligned to them, and they also have trainingcenters there for their soldiers. So it's very much an RSF space, and as you mentioned, theSudanese armed forces have been regularly attacking it. What one report said was that thestrike on the market killed at least 21 people and injured 40, not clear how many were civiliansand how many may have been RSF fightersbecause it was apparently an area where young men who fight with the RSF hung out.I spoke to the health minister who's in the RSF-aligned government
06:42and he has put at a statement saying,in actual fact, more than 100 people were killedand another 100 injured in something he called a humanitarian tragedy,calling it civilians dead.Pro-Army social media posts have suggested that, in fact,the drones also struck an RSF training camp killing fighters.So as usual, the picture is not entirely clear, but definitely what is clear is that drone attacks by both sides have stepped up and they have made war much deadlier for civilians.What about the general state of the war?
07:13Niel is just one of numerous places where the fighting is as severe as ever.That's right. The war has shifted to the central south part of Sudan in an area known as the Cordofan states.It's a strategic area because it links RSF held territory.in the west, with army held territory in the center and the east, including Khartoum.And so the fighting has been very intense there. The RSF and its local allies have also made inroadsinto another state in the south that is close to the Ethiopian border. As I mentioned,a lot of this is being fought with drones last week. Nearly, I think, more than 300 peoplewere reported killed in strikes that were attributed to the Sudanese army, although the foreign
07:55ministry denied that. So you can see, as you mentioned, that ordinary people are often caught upin this increasingly deadly war. The RSF has said it is open to peace talks which the US is pushing,but that has never been tested because the Sudanese army has said it will not enter any sort ofhumanitarian truce or some such unless the RSF pulls out of territory that it has taken.Barbara Pletasha, a truce between Ukraine and Russia aimed at allowing humanitarian aid into the Russianan occupied city of Oleshki in southern Ukraine has come into effect.Oleshki was seized by Russia during the first days of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine back inFebruary of 2022.
08:36Over 1,500 people remained trapped in the city.They haven't been able to get out because of mines and drone attacks in the area,and there are shortages of food and medicine.The White House says that the ceasefire was brokered last week by the U.S. First Lady,Melania Trump.Dmitri Peskov is the Kremlin spokesperson.For humanitarian purposes, it can be a precedent,especially when we are talking about the direct,
09:03very positive intervention by the American side.We highly appreciate these efforts.We hope that the Ukrainian side will fulfill all the agreementsthat we reached with the direct participation of American negotiators,including Melania Trump.One man who escaped from Oleshki some time agogave his perspective on the current ceasefire.We're not identifying him because he fears for his safety.
09:34What I think regarding a truce is that I am very skeptical about all of this.Having lived for four and a half years among the Russian military,you realize that almost everything they say is all a lie.I respect the U.S. First Lady Melania Trump very much,but she has absolutely no influence on Vladimir Putin.What should be done with those people who cannot move on their own?The severely ill people, the elderly people, what will happen to them?Our correspondent in Kiev, Dan Johnson, told me more about the current state of the ceasefire.
10:05The early signs from Aleshki are positive.It's about eight hours since this ceasefire was supposed to come into force.And both sides say they are respecting it so far.The aim here is to get some aid supplies into the town so that people can get food, proper clean water, some medicine.the sort of thing they've been desperately short of for months, if not years,because this place has been occupied and surrounded,it is effectively cut off by the river.There's been no escape route for Ukrainians who wanted to leave,
10:36and they've been surviving there in desperate circumstances.So the plan is now that a team will go in to try to clear an escape route,to try to clear the mines and shells,and that with a ceasefire, the drone attacks will stopso that there is time for people who want to.get out to leave. That evacuation effort's not due to start until Thursday. They're going to take a bit oftime to see if this ceasefire does hold and to give them time to clear a safe evacuation route.But there is, as you heard, a lot of skepticism amongst the population. They've been offered this
11:08sort of thing before and it's not really materialized. So they're deeply skeptical about theRussians respecting this. And there's a fear that even if the ceasefire does hold, Russia may use iteither to win advantage with the Americans or at the same time to reinforce and resupply itsmilitary units in that area so that when the fighting commences, they're in a stronger positionto take on the Ukrainians on the front line.Dan, it's pretty clear that elsewhere the fighting is, if anything, intensifying.What do we know? What's been happening overnight?Yeah, it's important to say this is a very much localized ceasefire.
11:45So even if it is successful, it only applies to Aleshki and a very tight air.area around that town. In terms of the rest of Ukraine, there's been quite an intense night ofattacks. Keeve particularly came under missile attack last night. Parts of the city's energy networkwere again targeted. The city's southern bridge across the Nepro River was hit again. That'sdone serious damage to that bridge from the pictures that we're seeing. The traffic can't flow overthat bridge. The metro trains also use it and are suspended on that route. So that is causingtraffic problems. One of the city's universities was hit last night and there were reports ofstudents having been wounded there and one person was killed in the city. There have been attacks
12:27in Harkiv and many other places. So at the same time as we're talking about a ceasefire in oneparticular place for one particular humanitarian reason, Russia's attacks against Ukraine continue.It is applying pressure again on the population and on the energy network of Ukraine right acrossthe country. Dan Johnson. In investigative journalism,at its best, holds people in power to account by reporting accurate, verifiable facts.But how much would actually get to air or be published on websitesif reporters had to seek consent from the people they write about?That is what a government law in India proposes.
13:03A group of news publishers there are opposed to it,and they've been petitioning the Supreme Court.The Digital News Publishers Association said the law would challenge the whole concept of news.I heard more from our global affairs reporter,and Rasan Etter Rajan.The government is following up on a Supreme Court verdict about 10 years agowhere it declared privacy is a fundamental right in India.So India previously had an information and technology rule that was passed in 2000
13:31before the advent of social media and the growth of internet and the web.So they needed a new law where people's personal data can be protectedand they are properly used and they are not abused.In fact, that is a huge issue with these big social media companies with the meta and Google,how your personal data is being processed.So they needed a law where all these companies, all these digital websites, how they can protectthat.That has been the logic of the government.
14:02But there has been exemption to certain categories like newsrooms or journalism from these digital news data protection laws.But that is what these digital news publishers are telling that now this is.quite far-reaching, literally stopping us to do any investigative journalismbecause the government can ask us to provide all the information.Number one, number two, if you are doing an investigative journalism against any individual,you need to seek his consent before you start working on that.In that case, like he can destroy the evidence, intimidate witnesses.So basically it stops you from doing journalism.
14:38That is the main argument of these digital news publishers.What about other people, journalists, many journalists are obviouslyopposed to this. In India, is this making waves? It is a huge concern for the journalists, especiallyfor digital news websites. They had previous rounds of talks with the government. It is going tocome into effect from May next year. And they did not get any positive response as they soughtan exemption for journalism newsrooms. That did not happen. That's why now they're reaching thecourt so that the court can look into this and give them some remedy.Amberasan Etirajan.
15:15Still to come in this podcast.When she started torturing you, something snapped in a way I couldn't explain.Only that seeing you pleading and screaming undid me, it broke me at last.We explore the global publishing phenomenon, Romanticy.So, quick summer recap?Heat waves, data leaks, AI hacks, folding phones, and a viral spinally challenged raccoon.Yeah, I think that covers it, right?I'm Thomas Germain.
15:51I'm Jess Maddox, and the interface is back.from its summer break. New season, new co-host, same deep dives into the tech that's shaping ourworld and our lives. So before AI wipes out all of humanity, allegedly, join us for the interface.Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Global News podcast. The U.S. JusticeDepartment has moved to file new charges against the former FBI director James Comey, accusing himof leaking national security information to a journalist, a decade.ago. It is the third time in just over a year that the Trump administration has tried to prosecute Mr.Comey, who Mr. Trump fired back in 2017. Since then, he's been an outspoken critic of the president.
16:39Mr. Comey responded to the new charges in a short video.They're back. Again, it would almost be funny if it weren't such an appalling abuse of theDepartment of Justice, one that we cannot become numb to. Nothing's changed with me. I'm stillinnocent. I'm still not afraid of these people. And I still believe in the independent federaljudiciary. And I'm still lucky to have an amazing family and an incredible group of lawyers andwill stand up in court and fight the latest and whatever comes after this. Yes, and Mr. Cormney'slawyers have filed a motion to dismiss the charges as they may have exceeded the 10-year statuteof limitations. Another case against him is still set to go to trial next year. That centers on a
17:20photograph of seashells on a beach that Mr. C Comey shared on social media last year, whichprosecutors deemed to be a threat against Mr. Trump. Glenn Kirchner is a former U.S. federal prosecutor.He told us more about the new charges. Anytime your own government accuses you of mishandling nationaldefense information, which is a charge that falls under our espionage laws, you know, it is somethingthat feels deadly seriously, of course, when we see the track record of the current administrationgoing after the former director of the FBI over and over again unsuccessfully.You have to wonder if this is just more of the same.There is a statute of limitations problem here.
18:04And really at light speed, James Comey's legal team filed a motion to dismiss these two chargesbecause, based on reviewing the pleadings in the case,it does appear that they were filed beyond a 10-year statute of limitationsthat required an indictment to be filed within 10 years of the time of the alleged crime,which was October 5th, 2016.It looks like this motion to dismiss has a very good chance of being granted.It's beginning to feel like for Donald Trump's administration, the process is the punishment.Not the prospect of a successful prosecution because I think with each case this DOJ brings against Mr.
18:48Comey, it is less and less and less likely they will be successful, but they are putting himthrough a very difficult time. He is now facing 10 years on each of the two charges that havebeen brought. It requires him to hire counsel. It probably results in sleepless nights forhe and his family. And it feels like this administration is using the process as the punishment.Former U.S. federal prosecutor Glenn Kircher. Now, what began as a joke has quickly escalatedinto a major row involving China and one of the world's best footballers,Killian Mbapé, who plays for the top Spanish club, Real Madrid.The video has emerged that appears to show the striker making fun of China's revolutionary hero Mao Zedong.
19:33It's not gone down well in China.Two of the footballers' Chinese sponsors dropped him.Now, state media says the football games from the Spanish League, known as La Liga,will not be broadcast on TV.La Liga has responded by apologising, issuing a state.that said it deeply regretted Mbapé's comments.It started with an internet meme in which Mbapé is known as the dictator.Our China correspondent Stephen MacDonald told me how that began.
20:00It's because he's so dominant and powerful on the field,like single-handedly determining results,and apparently also even off the field is such a presence at Real Madridand with a French team,that he's jokingly been referred to as the dictator.Now, what this prompted were fans sort of superimposing his face on the bodies of all sorts of strong man leaders,including, as it turns out, China's chairman Mao.Now, a video has emerged of an interview with him in which he says that the funniest meme he's ever seen was his face photoshopped onto that,
20:44and quote, some guy, I think he's a Chinese dictator.And so it's both a sort of, it's a double whammy hit for Chinese nationalists, if you like,because sort of dismissing this huge historic figure as some guy.Then also referring to Mao as a dictator, well, of course it was going to stir things up here.And so you've had this outcry on social media and then other companies and others have followed.This is all over a man, Malthe Dung, who died decades ago.In other countries, if a former leader was mocked, relatively gently in this way,it might not cause such a big issue. Why so in China?
21:26No, look, in most countries, even supporters of a political figure would understand jokes about them.And in China, it would probably be the case with even other leaders.But for some here, Mao is seen as the father of modern China.I mean, his painting is above the tenement gate.his mausoleum is in the middle of Tiananmen Square. So, you know, he is elevated above those otherleaders in terms of his place in Chinese society. Now, that said, he was also responsible fora famine with the Great Leap Forward, killing millions of people, with all the chaos of thecultural revolution in which there was death and destruction and held the country back. So a lot of
22:09people here, especially older people, know what a flawed figure he was. But I think sometimes foryounger people, they have not, they don't focus on that so much potentially because certainlytheir schooling doesn't focus on it. So you can understand why they, they sort of see thisis not so much, they're not thinking it through in terms of, gee, is Mao really a dictator oranything like that? I think they'd have said as a slight on the country by making a joke aboutthe founding father. Stephen McDonnell. And Killian Mbapé has since apologized for what hecalled ill-judged comments. He said he now understood that his remarks had hurt the feelings of manypeople in China. Now, many of us remember the unprecedented global phenomenon created by the
22:51Harry Potter books in the early 2000s. But now that franchise may have a rival, Akuta. After a five-yearwait, readers around the world can buy the sixth installment in the best-selling book seriesby Sarah J. Mass. Many people queued through the night to be there when bookshops opened.Fans also marked the release by dressing up as their favorite characters and taking part in books.quizzes. Mass's books have sold more than 75 million copies and been published in 40 languages.The series gets its name from its first book, A Court of Thorns and Roses, and is part ofthe Romantasy genre. But what is it and why is it so popular? I asked the newsrooms Ira Khan,who is herself something of a fan. Romanticy is the blend of two genres, romance and fantasy,
23:41and it gained a lot of traction on the reading community on TikTok.known as book talk. They're set in these fantasy world. There's fairies and magic, but there's alsoa huge romantic plot. There's also typically a large-scale conflict that's happening in this fantasyworld like wars or rebellion. And what stands out about romanticcy compared to other genres is thatyou have both the romance and this heavy plot existing together. And because it's this world-endingtheme and this big romance that's happening. The stakes when you're reading these books feel a lot higher.So how does Akatar fit into that genre's story? Akatar is one of the main pioneers of thisromantician genre. I remember when the first book came out when I was 14. The first three books in this
24:30series follow the main female character called Farah. And she's originally human, but she getstaken to this magical realm called Prithian. And this fantasy world, it features these seven quartswhich are all ruled by a powerful Faylord.The people who are in this fantasy world are not human.They're these immortal magical species.This is an audiobook of one of the key love confessions in the seriesbetween Fahra and her love interest.When she started torturing you,
24:59something snapped in a way I couldn't explain,only that seeing you pleading and screaming undid me,it broke me at last.I knew right then what you were.I knew that you were my mate,and you were in love with another male and had destroyed yourself to save him, and that I didn't care.If you were going to die, I was going to die with you.Then she snapped your neck.
25:22I felt you die.And this beautiful, wonderful thing that had come into my life, this gift from the cauldron, it was gone.So that's just a taster of the audiobook there.She sold 75 million books.Why do you think it's so popular?It's pure escapism.Book Talk, which is this community.of readers on TikTok. They share rankings of the book series, theories of what might happen,
25:47their favorite quotes. The fantasy world in these books are so complex, they're so descriptive,and people use AI to make characters, to set the scenes. There's also podcasts that are devotedto dissecting these books. One of my favorites is called Fantasy Fan Girls. It has over 15 milliondownloads. There's even people who have read a court of Splintered Harmony, that's the new title,and have posted their reviews, even though it only came out at midnight.My colleague and Romantici superfan Ira Kahn there.And finally to New York, where a dinosaur skeleton will be auctioned later.The two-meter-tall skeleton is of a smaller relative of the more fearsome T-Rex.
26:29Smaller in statue, it may be, but it has giant-sized price tags attached.It's expected to sell at Sotheby's for $9 million.Megan Jacobs is a paleontologist.at the University of Portsmouth here in the UK.She's been explaining more about the nanotaranus to Justin Webb.A nanoturanis was for a very long time believed to be sort of a teenager of T-Rex.But it's a lot smaller and it's a lot more grail.So it's very sort of slender.
26:58It's a blade-like teeth for slicing through meat.So it had been a pursuit predator.There wasn't small.It's still, we think, about a ton in weight and about 18 foot long.18 foot long.Okay, so it's not a tiny thing.And the parts of it that are going on sale today, is it intact?What is a potential buyer buying?
27:22So it's about around 70% of the skeleton is the one at the Sotheby's auction,which is about 190 bones within their complete skull.So it's a very good amount of dinosaur if you collect dinosaurs.Yeah, exactly.So, and it's going on for quite a good price as well.The price tag is potentially $9 million, so it's not cheap either, is it?Does it distress you and other paleontologists that it could just disappear from you then?Because if someone wealthy buys it and sticks it on their private island, that's the end of it.
27:56There's two sides to this.There's people that really are against the private sale of dinosaurs.But these sort of dinosaurs, there are quite a few of them.And there's a lot of time and effort and money goes into excavating these things, preparing them, mounting them to these skeletons.So I don't begrudge the people involved for wanting to sell it and for such a large amount of money.That's interesting.So if it's well kept by its new owner, potentially it's not a bad thing.Because obviously you have to be incredibly worthy to purchase a dinosaur like this.
28:30And in the recent years, actually, they've gone into trusts or actually to,There's a museum in the Abbey that's been buying them.So although it's a scary prospect,actually a lot of them have ended up in the public eye, if that makes sense.You know people have been able to look at it and do some research on it.And these things, without a doubt, will end up in a museum at some point.My logic is it's been in the ground for 70 million years.If it's then in someone's house for the next 20 or 30,
29:05it doesn't make this for the next generation to work on.Megan Jacobs.And that is all from us for now,but if you want to get in touch,you can email us at globalpodcast at BBC.co.uk.You can also now watch our episodes in full.Just search for the Global News podcast on YouTube.This edition was mixed by Nick Randall,
29:27and the producer was Richard Hamilton.The editor is Karen Martin.I'm Nick Miles, and until next time, goodbye.So, quick summer recap?Heat waves, data leaks, AI hacks, folding phones, and a viral spinaily challenged raccoon.Yeah, I think that covers it, right?I'm Thomas Germain.I'm Jess Maddox, and the interface is back from its summer break.
29:55New season, new co-host, same deep dives into the tech that's shaping our world and our lives.So before AI wipes out all a community.Allegedly.Join us for the interface.Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
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