Global News Podcast - Kamala Harris insists her values haven't changed in first campaign interview

Episode Date: August 30, 2024

In her first TV interview of the US election campaign, Kamala Harris sets out her vision for president and promises to 'turn the page'. Also: tributes to New Zealand's Māori King who’s died, and carbonara in a can.

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. Life and death were two very realistic co-existing 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 Podcasts. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Valerie Sanderson and at 13 hours GMT on Friday the 30th of August, these are our main stories. Kamala Harris says the US is ready to turn the page on Donald Trump in her first broadcast interview since winning the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. Israeli forces say they've killed the Hamas leader and two other

Palestinians as they continue their operation in the West Bank for a third consecutive day. We're in Jerusalem for the details. Also in this podcast, tributes are paid to New Zealand's Myrie King, who's died at the age of 69. And Britain's new Prime Minister Keir Starmer relocates a portrait of Margaret Thatcher, a predecessor and divisive leader of the opposition Conservative Party. So what's the reaction of portrait painter Richard Stone? If in this circumstance, two people looking at this portrait found it unsettling, I'd like to think that my portrait of Margaret Thatcher had a presence in that room. We start with the US presidential election campaign.

Kamala Harris, in her first TV interview since becoming the Democratic Party nominee, sat down alongside her chosen vice presidential candidate Tim Walz on CNN to discuss her bid for the White House and to fight back against the criticism she's faced over the past few weeks. Ms Harris, who's US Vice President, defended how her policy positions on issues such as immigration and fracking had shifted over time, insisting her values have stayed the same. The most important and most significant aspect of my policy perspective and decisions is my values have not changed. You mentioned the Green New Deal. I have always believed, and I have worked on it, that the climate crisis is real, that it is an urgent matter to which we should apply metrics that include holding ourselves to deadlines around time. We did that with the Inflation Reduction Act. We have set

goals for the United States of America and by extension the globe around when we should meet certain standards for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Within hours of clips of the interview being released, this attack ad was posted by the Trump campaign. My values have not changed. There's no question I'm in favor of banning fracking. You know, we have to stay woke. Running with the statement, my values have not changed, the video highlighted Harris's pledges during the 2020 Democratic primary, including previous commitments to gun control, the elimination of private health care and rights for illegal migrants. The Republicans continue to claim that Ms Harris is a radical Marxist, but in her interview with CNN, she said she wanted to be a president for all

Americans and would consider appointing a Republican to her cabinet. I have spent my career inviting diversity of opinion. I think it's important to have people at the table when some of the most important decisions are being made that have different views, different experiences. And I think it would be to the benefit of the American public to have a member of my cabinet who was a Republican. The interview was done following weeks of pressure from the Republicans. They've accused the Harris campaign of avoiding media scrutiny. However, they've criticised it for being a joint interview with her vice president pick and for being pre-recorded rather than live. They say it wasn't a real high-stakes moment,

with the consequential TV debate with Donald Trump looming on the horizon. Jenny Kumar. Republican political consultant Barry Donadio gave his assessment of the interview. I don't think she gained any votes. I don't think she lost any votes either. I think she was just kind of like neutral. I think she struggled to answer some of the questions, some of the things relating to immigration, global politics. It's just kind of like this neutral, almost like the administration. I saw her talking about a new way forward, but she's been in office for three years. So I'm trying to understand what her new way forward would be. She's showed, unfortunately, the new

way forward of food expenses, gas expenses, all rising. And that's what really people care about right now. And she seemed just unsure of herself, quite frankly. The true leader in the room seemed to be, at least by body language, was her vice president pick. And he seemed to be a lot more sure of his answers and a leadership voice. If you listen to her talk, and I'm not trying to be personal, but she kind of has a voice that's almost like a whiny voice. Well, we had women talking, they speak more authoritative than she does. And I get the fact that it's exciting to have a minority female president. But when that luster wears off, is she going to be

worthy to be a president of the United States? So why did Kamala Harris choose to have vice presidential candidate Tim Walz by her side? Amanda Venteria was national political director for Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Party's presidential campaign in 2016. I think anyone that looks at her recognizes that she's in charge. Anyone that watched her DNC speech knows that she's in charge. But what she is doing is her whole entire message is about unity. And so it does present differently when it is just her versus both of them as a ticket. And I think it actually does help to have the full ticket on display. And what she and Waltz have done is really introduce themselves as really the full picture of what her administration would be, of what the Democratic Party would be. When you have a lot of time,

like Trump does or normal campaigns, you get a chance to not only introduce yourself, but then once you name your vice president, you get a chance to also introduce your vice president. In this case, they've got to do it both very, very quickly, with only, you know, 80 something days when they first started. Amanda Renteria, and also a little earlier, Barry Donadio. A major Israeli operation is continuing in the West Bank into a third day. As we record this podcast, three Palestinians, including a senior local Hamas commander, have been killed. Israel has described raids on towns and refugee camps in the northern part of the West Bank as a strategy to counter terrorism. Our correspondent in Jerusalem, Yoranel, told us more. So this is the third day

of what Israel says is its major counter-terrorism operation in the north of the West Bank. We've actually had more international expressions of concern. The British Foreign Office calling for Israel to show restraint, saying the risk of instability is serious and the need for de-escalation urgent. What the Israeli military says about what's been happening on the ground, it says that it killed a local commander of Hamas in Jenin, and they accused him of having been involved in shooting and bombing attacks. Hamas have acknowledged him as a member without saying that he was a leader. The Israeli military says that there were two other gunmen

who were also killed in a drone strike that it carried out on their car this morning. Now, Palestinians in Jenin have been telling us that they remain very fearful of snipers. It remains a very tense situation. This city is now the main focus of Israel's military operation, it seems. We heard earlier that troops had pulled out of Tulkram, which has also seen a serious offensive. And we're still hearing of other raids that happened overnight in Nablus, another big city in the north of the West Bank, but this does seem to have reduced in scope. But this is the third consecutive day, isn't it?

Do we know if it's going to go on? They have only said, the army, that they would continue this for several days and they're not giving that many updates, perhaps not surprisingly, on exactly what their movements and plans are. I mean, Palestinian officials have been coming out warning that what is happening is very dangerous. They're complaining about the effects that this is all having on people's freedom to move, how it's ratcheting up tensions, how it's having a knock-on effect, particularly on the health care with hospitals that have been very affected by what's going on. And of course, Yolande, this is coming as a mass polio vaccination programme is planned for this weekend with a pause in hostilities agreed by both sides. That's correct. And I've been talking to UN officials, they've told me this will

be a huge challenge, but they think that their plan is doable. Already, they do have the polio vaccine in cold storage in a warehouse in Gaza. But now they found the virus in the environment and in this one baby who was partly paralysed. They say that to stop transmission, they have to reach 90% of all children aged under 10, and they have to do it in a very short time frame. Yolan Nel. The Japanese are known for having a high life expectancy, but it seems to have come at a cost. Statistics released by the Japanese police

show that nearly 40,000 Japanese people died alone in their homes in the first half of this year, highlighting the growing problem of loneliness and isolation in a country with an increasing number of elderly people. Mickey Bristow has more. The figures released by the police show the vast numbers of people in Japan who live and die alone. Perhaps the most stark figure is that from January to June,

4,000 people went unmissed and unfound for a month after dying at home. 130 had been dead for at least a year before discovery. In April, the Japanese government introduced a bill aimed at tackling the growing problem of loneliness and isolation, partly caused by Japan's ageing society, a demographic shift that's getting harder to manage. Mickey Bristow. Weeks after the new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer moved into No. 10 Dining Street, his efforts to redecorate seemed to be well underway, relocating a portrait of

one of his predecessors, the Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher, apparently because he found it unsettling. But the move has angered some Conservatives. Here's our correspondent, Leila Nathoo. This is a portrait of Margaret Thatcher that has been hanging in Downing Street. And it apparently, according to Tom Baldwin, who's a biographer of Keir Starmer, wrote a very hefty book detailing him. And according to him, he had a conversation with Keir Starmer about this picture in the room that it hung and Keir Starmer agreed that he didn't like it and he was going to take it out of that room and he's since confirmed that he said that it's actually hanging somewhere else in that building or at least it plans to. So Keir Starmer clearly moving around the artwork in number 10 as he finds his feet there. So what does the painter of the portrait, Richard Stone, think about it? I see it as something of a compliment in a way,

because my sense of judging a good portrait, when looking at a painted portrait, if you sense you're in the presence of that person, then, you know, it starts ticking boxes for me. And if in this circumstance, two people looking at this portrait found it unsettling, well, then I'd like to think that my portrait of Margaret Thatcher had a presence in that room. And in fact, one of the most memorable comments I have ever received from any sitter was from Lady Thatcher when she saw the finished picture. She likely touched the pearls at her throat and was thinking of something appropriate to say. And with a little break in her voice, she said, it is how one would wish to be remembered. Richard Stone on Margaret Thatcher. Still to come, outrage in Italy after Heinz launches its version of spaghetti carbonara in a can.

Carbonara is such a traditional dish in Italy. You only need four simple ingredients to make a great plate of pasta. To be continued... 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. The far right could be on the cusp of winning the most votes in German state elections for the first time since the Nazi party back in the 1930s. This weekend, Alternative for Deutschland looks set to come out top in the eastern state of Thuringia and possibly in neighbouring Saxony too. It comes after last week's knife attack in Germany fuelled anti-government feeling.

The man detained is a Syrian asylum seeker and suspected Islamist. Our Berlin correspondent Jessica Parker reports now from Thuringia to find out why people are supporting the AFD. Booze cut through a polite applause for Chancellor Olaf Scholz. He's on stage in Jena, Thuringia's second city. This state is a stronghold for the far-right Alternative for Deutschland. Chancellor Scholz has not been very visible during this campaign. He's not exactly seen as an electoral asset.

And the reception here is mixed. An argument breaks out between a supporter of Alternative for Deutschland, Ralf, and a passionate opponent, Lennart. Does Germany feel divided to you at the moment? Yes, absolutely, they say. It's the one thing they can agree on. In a town on the edge of the Thuringia Wald forest, people sit in the shade sipping beer. Various party campaign stalls have popped up here in Schmalkalden, but across much of Germany's former communist east, it is the far right now

topping the polls. As sausages sizzle on the grill in this sunny market square, what's driving this discontent? Well, there's angst about a range of issues from immigration to Germany sending weapons to Ukraine, a deep frustration with the parties that have governed this country since reunification, and a gnawing dissatisfaction about what reunification has delivered or hasn't delivered for the people of East Germany. Mistakes were made with the reunification. The Western system was forced on the East Germans.

Birgit's an AFD activist, out campaigning ahead of Sunday's vote. No one wants to be called right-wing extremist or Nazis. But the AFD has nothing at all to do with right-wing extremism. We're about conservative politics. More arguments, this time at an AfD campaign stand in Meiningen. The AFD is classed in this state by domestic intelligence as right-wing extremist. Many view it as an anti-migrant, neo-fascist movement,

even an existential threat to modern Germany. But Konstantin, a trainee car mechanic, says other parties have failed the East. You can constantly see where the East begins and where the West begins. Better infrastructure, better industry, we are getting forgotten. The AFD, as you all know, faces accusations of being an extremist party with extremist people within it. If you really see it, you see that the AFD is really trying to do something and not just saying, yeah, we do it, we do it, and then nothing changes. Yeah, I believe in it. Constantine rides off on his S50 Simpson Classic East German moped. His words are echoed by many in the East, a tale of two countries in one. Jessica Parker reporting.

Mpox vaccines arrived in Africa this week. Nigeria received 10,000 doses which were ordered before the outbreak. There are calls to speed up the international response as 615 people have already died and more than 18,000 are suspected to have contracted the disease, mostly in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The World Health Organization has announced a six-month plan to curb the spread of mpox. James Copnell spoke to its regional director for Africa, Dr. Matsidiso Mawiti, who's about to leave the job after almost 10 years. What I do see is a situation that's unprecedented in terms of the number of cases, particularly the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the eastern part of the DRC, and new countries that are affected. Four East African countries are newly affected. And this is building on what was happening in the global outbreak in 2022 among men who have

sex with men. And we're seeing a situation where there seems to be faster spread, much more severe illness, broader groups, young children, as well as young adults affected, and sexual transmission seems to be important there. But what we're also seeing is a determined mobilization by the countries and partners. We've already developed, working with Africa CDC, a continental plan, and indeed we are working together to go and look for the resources to support our member states to respond to this outbreak. And we are hoping very much that the experiences that have occurred before in terms of availability of tools will be different. I believe the fact that we've already started seeing a case in Europe, a case in Asia,

will underline the shared vulnerability of the world and hopefully encourage a shared response where equity is emphasised. What are the major challenges you have faced as a WHO regional director for Africa, as you look back on the last decade? I started my job during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. And then halfway through my term was the COVID-19 pandemic. Now there's MPOCs as well as measles outbreaks, because of course, one of the things we don't emphasize is the impact of COVID-19 on health in general, going well beyond the specific cases.

We've had measles outbreaks in about 13 countries in Africa with over 60,000 children having died. You know, we need to put, let's put the MPOCs in perspective. One of the biggest challenges has been these disease outbreaks, but I'm very glad that we've improved the capacity of our countries to detect outbreaks quicker and close them down sooner. Dr. Matsudiso Mawati. In Brazil, an ongoing legal riot between Elon Musk's social media site X and the authorities there

is expected to end with the platform being banned in the country. Via tweets, Mr Musk accused a Brazilian Supreme Court judge of censorship and of being an evil dictator after he set a deadline for X to name a new legal representative, which it failed to do. The Supreme Court also blocked the local bank accounts of Mr. Musk's Starlink satellite internet firm, which is used by the Brazilian military. Our business reporter Pierre-Antoine Denis has more details. This goes back quite a long way, right? We are in the run-up to the 2022 election in Brazil,

and the Supreme Court judge, Alexandre de Moraes, is on a campaign against disinformation. And so he wants certain accounts on X that are spreading misinformation, according to his ruling, to be closed. So he's pushing these certain accounts that are linked to what he calls digital militia to be closed. And Elon Musk, as he was already owning X, or formerly Twitter, is challenging that decision. After months and months of discussion, then the judge, Alexander de Moraes, decides to launch an inquiry into Elon Musk's businesses. Why? Because according to Brazilian law, and according to the ruling from the Supreme Court judges, Alexander de Moraes, companies that are not respecting local laws could face temporary law and according to the ruling from the supreme court judges alessandra de morash companies are

not respecting local laws could face temporary suspensions of their activities x has recently closed their operations in brazil due to censorship orders fired most of the staff across latin america the service still is available for brazilian users why has he fired everyone is because he's saying that morayesh himself secretly threatened one of the legal representatives with arrest if the company didn't comply with these content removal orders. So for Elon Musk, this is his big fight that he's on for quite some time now

about censorship against moderation, propaganda, and about how he believes his platform is the best one for the freedom of expression. It is complicated, a legally complicated issue. But Pierre, what does it mean for consumers in Brazil? Does it mean that you won't be able to access, say, X? Yes. So as of now, as we're speaking, indeed, X is still working, is still operating. But funnily enough, the top trending hashtag is Twitter is dead. It's because everyone is wondering when, not if, it will end up eventually being blocked. According to market research, one in five Brazilians are estimated to be using X on a monthly basis.

So that's quite the market. You have to remember that the CEO of X is in a legal battle of himself against advertisers to try and get more money into the company. So it would actually really welcome the fact that all across the world, X would be working and running smoothly so that he can get this advertising money in. But when it comes to Brazilians, yes, indeed, it might mean that very, very soon they will not be able to access X for the time being and we'll never know when it's going to end. Pierre-Antoine Denis.

Tributes have been paid to the Maori King of New Zealand who's died at the age of 69, just days after celebrating the 18th anniversary of his coronation. King Tehetea was the seventh in line of a Maori kingdom founded back in 1858 and had been recovering in hospital from a heart operation. Maoris account for 18% of New Zealand's 5 million people and the king had been at the forefront of uniting the many Maori tribes. Mike McRoberts is the Maori editor of New Zealand's National Business Review. He was a very humble man. I think he actually was a truck driver before he took the throne,

so to speak, as the Maori king when his mother died. And he was in touch with what was going on and he came to prominence really in this past year or so when there'd been a lot of trouble between Māoridom and the coalition government with some of their proposals. And he had this wonderful way of unifying the nation. He put on Hui o Motu, which is basically a meeting for the nation. 10,000 people turned up to his home at Turangawaewae in January. I was there and was amazed to see just the kotahitanga or the togetherness that he brought to that meeting. And that continued on throughout the year. I got to spend some time with him and was really

impressed with the person that he was. I said today in a piece that I wrote that he was an instigator for Māori, not an agitator. So he spurned some of the more radical ideas that have come out of some of these meetings, things like an independent Māori parliament. He was very much a moderator and tried to inspire people to work with the government that we have at the moment. And one of his favourite sayings was, if you're worried about anti-Māori, then just be Māori all day, every day. Mike McRoberts, Māori editor of New Zealand's National Business Review. History was made on the first day of the Paralympic Games in Paris on Thursday,

when Zakia Kudadadi, who was born in Afghanistan, became the first athlete from the refugee team to win a medal. Kudadadi, who was born without a forearm, took bronze in taekwondo and dedicated her medal to all the women in Afghanistan and all refugees. She's one of an eight-strong refugee team in Paris, whose chef de mission is the Zimbabwean former Paralympic wheelchair tennis player Nyasha Maharakowa. Nishat Lada asked him how difficult it's been to get the refugee competitors to the starting line at these games. It's definitely not easy. Para sport in general is not that well funded globally and if you're now a para-athlete who

is also a refugee, where you are in a country where it's not your country of origin or home country, if you can put it that way, you don't necessarily get the support that you need at a local level to prepare you to a point where you end up being ready for the Games. I'm intrigued to know what the atmosphere is like in the refugee team, because you'll have people who are speaking different languages, who've come from different cultures. So how do you foster that sense of team? That's a very good question and I must say it has gone much better than we thought because to be honest it was one of the many points that we wondered a lot. These are a group of people that come from different countries that speak different languages

that they probably have never met. And if you compare that to any other team that is in these games, typically, at least there's something that is similar, which is where you come from. When we arrived at the training camp, we already saw a lot of excitement and willingness to understand that this is a team. And in the words of one of the athletes, this is more than a team. And this is, according to Ibrahim, one of the athletes who is doing para triathlon. He sees this as a family. And if I think of the activities and the jokes and the fun that we have had, not just with the athletes only, but the coaches and the support staff,

in a very short space of time, it's really been amazing. They found a way not just to be able to move in and become part of a new community, but to find a place to be able to try out and train and compete in sport, which under normal circumstances, you would almost take that as a luxury if you were in a situation where you were to flee your home country. So for me, this is really something that I look at them and I see the amount of courage and the amount of positivity and the vision that they have to say, regardless of my situation, I need to focus and make sure that I move forward. Nyasha Bahara-Kurwa. Now to end this podcast, something new to appeal

to Gen Z food shoppers. But is it the end of culinary civilization or the kind of leap forward that brought us instant noodles and microwave meals? Heinz is selling spaghetti carbonara in a can,

much to the horror of many Italians. Anya Aslam reports. As the company that brought us spaghetti hoops, alfabeti and minions-shaped pasta, Heinz is not afraid to take liberties with Italian cuisine. Its newest offering hopes to take the drama out of cooking a classic, the carbonara. The $2 tin lets you enjoy a comforting meal in minutes.

And it didn't take long to convince the food expert Harry Wallop. There is a very long history of spaghetti in a tin. In fact, spaghetti in a tin goes back further than carbonara itself. Carbonara is a very modern recipe. It's dated only as far back as the 1950s or 1940s, if we're pushing it. It's a modern invention, whereas Heinz has been putting pasta in a tin since 1930. Heinz, which has already given the same treatment to spaghetti bolognese and beef ravioli, says tin carbonara is the perfect fuss-free dinner, especially for young people.

Research shows a third of Gen Z consumers want their food to be both fast and convenient. But many Italians are horrified at the latest viral innovation of their cuisine. Why don't they stick Heinz baked beans? The yellow and pink can's been called everything under the sun, a disgrace, an insult, an abomination, and just sad and beige. Andrea Scarpatti is an Italian chef. Carbonara is such a traditional dish in Rome, in Italy. You only need four simple ingredients to make a great plate of pasta. And just because the new generation hasn't got time or they can't be bothered cooking or spend time at the table with family and friends,

they must have some kind of thin food which you can only arm your health. Undeterred, Heinz, the culinary mastermind behind the TikTok-inspired pickle ketchup and the 14-flavour every sauce, will begin stocking the shelves with carbonara in a can later this year. But if you want to walk past the tins in the grocery store and try making the classic dish by yourself, It's a fairly simple recipe. The carbonara, it only has four simple ingredients called guanciale. Then you need, obviously, the pasta, which usually I do the rest with the rigatoni, or you can do it with spaghetti.

Roman pecorino cheese, black pepper, and egg yolk. You get the crispy guanciale, put it on the side, then get the fat, it's in a pan. You mix with the eggs and pecorino. And then once the pasta is cooked, you've got a plate of carbonara. Mamma mia. Italian chef Andrea Scarpatti ending that report by Anya Aslam. And that's it from us for now, but there'll be a new edition of the Global News podcast later. But just before we go, we're planning a special programme in Montreal in Canada next month

at the One Young World Summit, where young people from across the world gather to share their solutions to global issues. And for that, we'd like to know what question you would put to a group of young people setting out to change the world.

It could be about the environment, world peace, AI, or any other issue. You can send us an email at globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. Thank you. Until next time, bye-bye. 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.