Global News Podcast - Israel strikes Lebanon as Hezbollah targets military

Episode Date: December 3, 2024

Israel said it struck targets in Lebanon after vowing to retaliate for an attack by Hezbollah, with both sides accusing each other of violating last week's ceasefire. Also: protecting the price of pasta dishes in Rome.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Hello, I'm Brian Cox. And I'm Robin Ince. He understands the nature of the universe. And so does Robin. Well, you know what? I do have my moments, especially after this new series, the Infinite Monkey Cage,

because we are joined by experts at Bletchley Park. We're talking about cyber warfare, an unexpected history of the body at the Royal Society. Plus, we'll be talking about de-extinction, elasticity and embryology. And there will be comedic interludes. And Pam Ayres on hedgehogs. I mean, she's not riding the...

Listen wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Nick Miles, and in the early hours of Tuesday 3 December, these are our main stories. Israel has launched a wave of airstrikes on southern Lebanon after the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fired two mortars at an Israeli army post in Lebanese territory. French opposition parties say they'll bring down Michel Barnier's minority government within days after he forced his social security budget through parliament without a vote. Nigeria, which accounts for a quarter of the world's malaria cases, has begun vaccinating

people against the disease. Also in this podcast. In the simplest way, we just use eggs, the whole egg, then we use the guanciale, black pepper and pecorino cheese. That's all. Making the Italian classic carbonara. Now Rome City Council is calling for price limits for such favourites, so tourists are not overcharged. Israel launched a wave of airstrikes on southern Lebanon on Monday evening, hours after the

Lebanese militant group Hezbollah fired two mortars at an Israeli army post in a part of Lebanon occupied by Israel. The attack was the first by the group since a ceasefire went into effect last week. Hezbollah said it was a warning to Israel for its repeated violations of the truce. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hezbollah of what he called a grave violation of the deal. I heard more from John Donason, our correspondent in Jerusalem. Given this ceasefire has only been in place for a matter of days, it's an indication of how fragile it is, indeed, even if it is still in effect. So Israel says that two projectiles, as it put it,

were fired towards one of its positions just across the border. They landed in open areas. It was about five o'clock local time and Israel has said that it will respond with force. We've had the defence minister Israel Katz saying that Hezbollah will get a harsh response. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has just said something similar. Hezbollah, for its part, says that Israel had broken the ceasefire earlier today with the killing of two people in Lebanon in Israeli airstrikes and we've just had a note from the Israeli military saying that they are currently carrying out strikes inside Lebanon. Hezbollah says that Israel has

constantly violated this ceasefire. It's not just them, is it? America and France are saying similar things. Yes and I I think, you know, there is concern, and there was concern, when this deal was put together, that one of the things that was part of the deal was that Israel insisted that it had the right to carry out military operations if it thought they were necessary against Hezbollah. And it does seem that they are doing that. And given that that was part of the deal, it always seemed quite unlikely that it would be put under pressure pretty quickly. And it does seem that that's what's happening.

John, there were plenty of people in Israel, politicians who didn't want to ceasefire with Hezbollah in the first place. One imagines that their voices might become more prominent. That's right. We've had the far-right minister, Bezelal Smotrich, saying that the ceasefire should in effect end and that Israel should hit back hard against Hezbollah and continue the operation. So we've had these statements from the prime minister, from his ministers this evening, who are close to him. But there are people within the government who think Israel should not have stepped back and should be continuing.

John Donnington. The president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has called for concessions on all sides to end Syria's 13-year-long civil war. That's after Syrian rebels seized the northern city of Aleppo in a lightning offensive last week. The Syrian military says its troops are fighting the rebels outside Hama while Syrian and Russian warplanes have intensified airstrikes on rebel forces there and in Idlib and Aleppo provinces. This has slowed the rebels' advance further south. Iran and Russia, Syria's main allies, have reassured President Bashar al-Assad of their support. The recent escalation of fighting in

Syria could have wide-reaching consequences for the whole region. With his view on the significance of the developments over recent days, he is our international editor, Jeremy Bowen. The war in Syria has reignited. It could turn into a major escalation in the Middle East crisis. Syria is at the centre of the region's network of fault lines, with strong links to neighbouring countries and to the region's wars and via its ally Russia to the war in Ukraine. Diplomats will struggle to find a way to de-escalate what's happening. Years of war have already pulled in other powers. Turkey and the US have troops in Syria as well as Russia. A renewed Syrian war would also pour more fuel on the fire that is consuming the Middle East.

President Assad only survived the first decade of the Syrian war because Russia, Iran, and Lebanese Hezbollah intervene to save his regime. He will need his allies again. But they're all hard pressed elsewhere. Iran and Hezbollah have suffered serious damage in their war with Israel and Russia's straining all its military power in Ukraine. Assad is facing a coalition led by a group known as HTS, short for Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which means the Organization for the Liberation of the Levant. Mina Alami, who follows jihadist media for BBC Monitoring, has seen how HTS is trying to rebrand itself,

to make itself more attractive to Syrians repelled by religious extremism, cutting ties with al-Qaeda and presenting itself as a nationalist liberation movement. The separation with al-Qaeda seemed to be more than superficial and cosmetic. In the past year, they went strongly against al-Qaeda, against IS, imprisoned, killed some of their members. So they have been trying hard, at least to give that impression that they have no lasting jihadist ambitions. But, you know, they could be playing the long game to get support now, make political gains now, and then maybe at some point show their true colours.

HTS is still regarded as a terrorist group by the UN Security Council, the US, Britain and the EU, among others. The HTS offensive has made sweeping gains, including the great prize of Aleppo. It will take a major effort by the weakened regime of Bashar al-Assad to destroy the offensive. But he's ruthless and has demonstrated in 13 years of war that he is prepared to break the country to save his regime. Jeremy Bowen. Next to France, and the country is facing a new political crisis as MPs prepare for a vote of no confidence in the minority government. The move is a reaction to

the Prime Minister's decision on Monday to force through a new social security budget without the Parliament's approval. Michel Barnier said he decided to use special constitutional powers to adopt the budget for the sake of stability. Parties on France's hard right and hard left now say they will vote to bring down the government later this week, a move which could see Mr Barnier's exit from power after just three months. Our Paris correspondent Andrew Harding reports. After days of increasingly tense haggling, France's Prime Minister Michel Barnier's patience

finally snapped. I engage the responsibility of the government, of my government. Telling Parliament here he would force through a new budget without a vote. MPs could either accept it or, he warned, risk pushing France into unknown territory. In unknown territory.

Moments later, Marine Le Pen, leader of what's now the country's biggest party, the hard right National Rally, made it clear that unknown territory was fine by her. That we will impose a motion of censure and that we will vote for the government's censure. Marine Le Pen said her party would now vote to bring down the government, possibly as soon as Wednesday. There are economic issues at play here. France has a huge budget deficit and there are disagreements about what's spending to cut and when.

But at heart, this is a political power struggle. This summer's surprise elections, called by President Emmanuel Macron, created an unworkable deadlock in Parliament. The hard right is now looking to flex its muscles. The hard left is also on the warpath. The question now is who will get the blame if the centrist government does fall and political and economic turmoil follow? Marine Le Pen is gambling that the French will blame President Macron. She wants his job and his popularity is already crumbling. But the national rally leader also wants to prove that her party is pragmatic and government in waiting. In other words, there are risks on all sides right now.

Andrew Harding in France. Nigeria has for the first time started vaccinating people against malaria, which officials say killed nearly 200,000 people in the country last year. The R21 Matrix M vaccine was developed at Oxford University in England and is the second to be approved by the World Health Organisation. Nigeria received its first batch of over 800,000 doses of the vaccine in October. Our Africa Regional Editor Will Ross reports. The Nigerian government says malaria is a health, economic and development emergency.

The country accounts for around a third of all global deaths from the disease. The first to be given the new vaccine were the most vulnerable. Children aged between five months and 15 months in the worst affected states, Kebbe and Bielsa. Health experts see it as a significant breakthrough but say the four dose vaccine should not replace other malaria prevention tools such as mosquito nets and insecticides. The total cost per person is likely to be between $10 and $15. Will Ross. Next to Italy and in Rome, the City Council has approved a motion calling

for price limits for staple pasta dishes like carbonara, a dish with egg, cheese and crispy pork or amatriciana with a tomato sauce and pork. That's because some Roman restaurants have become tourist traps, charging an exorbitant amount for often pretty dodgy versions of the dish. This is a particular worry as the city is expecting millions more tourists next year for what's called a jubilee or jubilee year. It's hoped that those restaurants that accept the price limits for their pasta dishes will put a sticker in their window informing customers. Mark Lowen spoke to Simone Dorday, owner of a restaurant called

Osteria della Gensola in Rome. He first asked him what makes a good carbonara. In the simplest way, we just use eggs, the whole egg, so the yolk and the white part. Then we use the guanciale. Which is crispy pork neck. Yes, and black pepper and pecorino cheese. That's all. So definitely no cream.

No, you will have the cream when you mix all these ingredients in the same bowl. Is it... But not that cream that you imagine. Is it a culinary crime to put, to add cream like we do in England and in other parts? You can do it, but you cannot call it carbonara. Maybe it's as bad as putting pineapple on a pizza as far as an Italian is concerned. Simone, what should a good carbonara cost in a restaurant in Rome? Well, in Rome, Rome, you know, most important areas in Rome, the most popular area that are located, for example, near Coliseum or Piazza Venezia or Colleopio, you know, there are many places that to be there

a lot of rent. So you can even find some place that asks for carbonara, 20, 30 euros. But this depends by the rent that they paid. In my opinion, the proper price for it, good carbonara is around 14, 16 euros. That's the honest price. How much do you charge for it at your restaurant? For me it's 14. 14 euros. So that's about 15 dollars, something like that, US dollars. Yes, yes. Simon Dorday from the Osteria della Gensole in Rome. Still to come.

A thousand tonnes is substantial. It will take up to 10 years before that metal actually starts coming out of the ground. A new gold deposit has been discovered in the Chinese province of Hunan and according to local authorities it could be the largest in the world. Hello I'm Brian Cox. And I'm Robin Ince. He understands the nature of the universe. And so does Robin. Well, do you know what?

I do have my moments, especially after this new series, The Infinite Monkey Cage, because we are joined by experts at Bletchley Park who will talk about cyber warfare, an unexpected history of the body at the Royal Society. Plus, we'll be talking about de-extinction, elasticity and embryology. And there will be comedic interludes. And Pam Ayres on hedgehogs. Plus we'll be talking about de-extinction, elasticity and embryology. And there will be comedic interludes and Pam Ayres on hedgehogs. I mean she's not riding them. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

The White House has defended President Joe Biden's decision to pardon his son over federal crimes despite having insisted for more than a year that he would not do so. Mr. Biden's press secretary said Mr. Biden believed Republicans would not let up on prosecuting his son. Jessica Parker reports. The White House is emphasizing that Joe Biden wrestled with this decision. Criticism that it sets a bad president or demonstrates double standards isn't just coming from Republicans but also some figures within Joe Biden's own Democratic party.

Aboard the president's plane, Air Force One, en route to Angola, reporters grilled Joe Biden's press secretary who reiterated her boss's claims that Hunter Biden had been unfairly singled out. She wouldn't confirm whether the president had discussed the plan with his son in advance. Jasmine Crockett is a Democratic member of Congress from Texas. She's backing Joe Biden over the pardon. Tim Franks asked her why. The first part of this answer for me simply goes back to tracking this prosecution as someone who serves on the Oversight Committee and saw what the Oversight Committee was doing and the fact that they were really reeling against the president

and his family in an attempt to make sure that they could set up the now newly elected president to be reelected. This was really nothing more than a political prosecution. As someone who has practiced criminal defense for almost two decades prior to entering Congress, I know what federal prosecutions as well as state prosecutions look like, and this isn't what it normally looks like. I'm sure we would be hard pressed to find one other person in the entire United States that has been prosecuted for what Hunter was prosecuted for and put through the wringer, especially after he agreed to enter a plea of guilty. So let me be clear, this is a father and a president that did what was right, not only by his son, but also did right to basically correct

what I would consider to be a wrong. Right. I mean, in terms of what President Trump may have done and may now be about to do, I mean, that's a separate issue. We're talking about what President Biden is responsible for. I mean, firstly, he said he wasn't going to pardon his son. So I mean, you'd be hard pressed to say that he wasn't guilty of double standards, presumably, on this. I mean, why he has suddenly changed his mind. You know what, I would disagree. I mean, I can't say what was in his head at that moment. But if he said in that moment that he wasn't inclined to do it, then so be it. Right. But that was probably also at a time in which he was seeking reelection.

He ultimately is not seeking reelection. He is on his way out the door. And I'm sure that there have been plenty of conversations and there's probably been more information that has come to light since ultimately that prosecution took place. Mind you, the president was very hands off with Hunter's prosecution. But now that Hunter has gone through it, now that there had to be a trial, there's a lot more that I'm sure that he has learned throughout the trial process and even afterwards. And so I think that he's entitled to change his mind, especially since circumstances have

changed. But why in that case should he deserve a pardon? I know that you're making the point about, you know, this is a father acting on behalf of his son. This is not a power that is available to any other family in the United States. So let me let me give you an example. When we look at the laws, there's a lot of laws that are on the books that have been on the books for a very long time that haven't necessarily in practice been prosecuted. And so what I'm saying is that when I call this a political prosecution, and I am curious as you were interviewing people, especially as you start to interview Republicans, please

ask them if they know of another case in which someone had been prosecuted for having a drug addiction at the time that they filled out an application to get a gun. Jasmine Crockett, Democratic member of Congress for Texas. It is a tense moment for Ukraine. American military support for its war with Russia looks increasingly in doubt, with President Biden on the way out of office and Mr Trump on the way in. Another key backer of Ukraine is Germany and its Chancellor Olaf Scholz is also soon to be leaving office. But in an unexpected visit he's met the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

It comes weeks after Olaf Scholz was criticised for holding a telephone call with Vladimir Putin. But speaking from Kyiv, he insisted he's acting on behalf of Ukraine's interests. I will not allow decisions to be made about Ukraine over the heads of Ukraine. Russia cannot impose a dictated peace on Ukraine. So what came out of the meeting for Ukraine? I asked our correspondent in Kiev, Paul Adams. I think probably more than anything tangible, it is the notion that Germany is going to

stand with Ukraine at what is after all an uncertain time with a change of administration and likely change of strategy in Washington. I think any expressions of European solidarity at the moment is very welcome. Clearly, Germany is a very significant player when it comes to military assistance. In fact, the largest European provider of military assistance by a mile, something in the region of 28 billion euros worth. And Chancellor Scholz was bringing the latest tranche of that including more air defense equipment and other military kit with him but I think it is more the notion that you know at this rather uncertain time President Zelensky feels

that European leaders are rallying around. There was one area where Chancellor Schultz decided to duck an issue wasn't there? It was over these Taurus weapons. How significant would their use be for Kiev? Well, no single weapon is, you know, a game changer, but this is something that the Ukrainians have been asking for for a long time. They may have hoped that in the wake of the decisions by Washington and London to allow Ukraine to use long-range weapons on targets in Russia, perhaps Germany might be persuaded to follow suit.

That has not yet happened, and Chancellor Schultz rather dodged that issue when it came up during their joint news conference. President Zelensky said that discussions about those missiles and how they would be used were still going on. So it's possible, I suppose, that that could change sometime in the future. And clearly, Kiev wants Moscow to be isolated diplomatically from Western leaders. And that wasn't something that happened last month when Chancellor Schultz had a conversation with Mr Putin.

That remains a real concern for Kiev, doesn't it? Yeah, at the time, President Zelensky sounded fairly irritated. He said that Chancellor Schultz had opened a Pandora's box, arguing that essentially that nothing suited Vladimir Putin more than the ability to talk one-on-one with assorted Western leaders in the hope that he can kind of persuade them of Russia's case. But what the Chancellor said today was that he had talked very bluntly and clearly to Mr Putin. He had stressed the importance of Ukraine's sovereignty and that there was nothing for Ukraine to be worried about. And I think for his part, Mr Zelensky was quite diplomatic. He said that the two men agreed on more than they disagreed.

Paul Adams in Ukraine. The United States has just announced further restrictions on the export of computer chip technology to China. Washington said the aim was to prevent Beijing using the most advanced semiconductors for its military modernisation. Mickey Bristow reports. These latest restrictions will make it harder for Chinese firms to develop artificial intelligence Mickey Bristow reports. to be just as tough. China has faced restricted access to US technology for several years and is desperately trying to develop its own semiconductor industry. Mickey Bristow, and staying with Matters Chinese, a new gold deposit has been discovered in the Chinese province of Hunan and according to local authorities it could be the largest in the world. It's believed to store reserves of more than a thousand tons at a

depth of 2,000 metres. At current gold prices, they would be worth more than $60 billion. Will Bain heard more from Rona O'Connell, the head of market analysis at the trading platform Stonex. A thousand tons is substantial, but probably the significance of the depth is that in terms of lead times, generally speaking, if you've determined a level of reserve in a mine deposit, it will take up to 10 years before that metal actually starts coming out of the ground. So it's an exciting announcement, but it's not going to have any immediate impact. When it does, it will only actually be raising world mine production by something of the order of 3% because if they've got a thousand tonnes, they're probably not going to want

to produce more than a hundred a year because they want to have a smaller mine life. So is the depth potentially why it's not been struck upon before? Very probably. Two miles is a long way down. The deepest ones in South Africa are about three kilometres. Right. And so presumably it's going to be very expensive to get it outright at that depth as well. It will. But I suspect the Chinese government will find the funds from somewhere.

Yeah, absolutely. What about that wider impact on the price then? You think not in the short term, but what about down the track? Not really. No. If we were talking maybe about something like copper, then it could well. But the gold market is very, very deep. Just to give you a couple of numbers, put it into context, mine production globally is about 3,600 tonnes. If you look at the over-the-counter, i.e. not futures markets, but if you look at the over-the-counter spot market, then the London Bullion Market Association in the 12 months

to the end of October, their spot turnover was 209,000 tonnes, so that's about 58 times world production. Rona O'Connell. Finally, its pieces may be tiny, but its value is huge. The British company behind the miniature tabletop game Warhammer is in fact now so big, it's expected to make it into the FTSE 100 this week. It'll mean Games Workshop will be among the 100 most valuable public companies in the UK. Our senior technology reporter Chris Vallance has the story.

If Games Workshop does storm the ramparts of the FTSE 100 it will be a remarkable journey. Now valued at over £ and a half billion pounds. 50 years ago, it was a very different picture. Sir Ian Livingston is one of its three original founders, along with John Peake and Steve Jackson. Well, when we started Games Workshop, Steve Jackson and I ended up having to live in a van because we went to the bank managers and he looked at us rather like a dog watching television, had no understanding of what we were talking about and asked us to leave. We ended up selling out in the early 90s but standing now, almost like proud parents watching this great, pretty success story, kind of conquer the world and become one of the premier

games IPs of all time. The firm's shops have become a familiar feature of the High Street, but the company is keen to stress it's a manufacturing business, selling the sci-fi and fantasy warriors who battle it out in tabletop war games. Katie Fode, aka Jinx from Tabletop Tactics, a YouTube channel about Warhammer. They are plastic and you build them as part of a kit. You then paint them up and then you have these models that create an army to play on the tabletop. It's such a massive thing. There's so many aspects to it because you've got that hobby aspect, but you also have the gaming and playing. So it really is a community thing. But the real key to the business's success, according to Sir Ian, was tapping into the enthusiasm of players. Realising that hiring people who were effectively like us, gamers, were fantastic retailers because their passion, their knowledge, their understanding of the games was infectious

and even like they might look like busy goths, they really resonated with the people who came in. Chris Vallance. And that's all from us for now, but there will 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.bbc.co.uk.

You can also find us on x at Global News Pod. This edition was mixed by Caroline Driscoll. The producer was Liam McSheffrey. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Nick Miles and until next time, goodbye. Hello I'm Brian Cox And I'm Robin Ince. He understands the nature of the universe. And so does Robin. Well, do you know what? I do have my moments, especially after this new series, The Infinite Monkey Cage, because

we are joined by experts at Bletchley Park who are talking about cyber warfare, an unexpected history of the body at the Royal Society, plus we'll be talking about de-extinction, elasticity and embryology. And there will be comedic interludes and Pam Ayres on hedgehogs. I mean, she's not riding them. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.