Global News Podcast - Last minute hitch in Gaza ceasefire deal

Episode Date: January 16, 2025

Vote by Israeli cabinet on Gaza ceasefire delayed, as Israel continues to carry out strikes; S Korea's arrested president refuses to take part in more questioning, and Pakistan’s national airline accused of bad taste.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Discover how to lead a better life in our age of confusion. Enjoy this BBC audiobook collection, written and presented by bestselling author Oliver Berkman, containing four useful guides to tackling some central ills of modernity. Busyness, anger, the insistence on positivity and the decline of nuance. Our lives today can feel like miniature versions of this relentless churn of activity. We find we're rushing around more crazily than ever.

Somewhere, when we weren't looking, it's like busyness became a way of life. Start listening to Oliver Berkman, Epidemics of Modern Life, available to purchase wherever you get your audio books. This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritson and at 14 Hours GMT on Thursday the 16th of January, these are our main stories. Israel is delaying a cabinet vote on the Gaza ceasefire deal after accusing Hamas of reneging

on elements of the agreement. Its forces have continued to pound the territory, killing more than 70 people. South Korea's arrested president has refused to take part in a second day of questioning over his attempt to impose martial law. Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rocket has successfully reached orbit on its delayed inaugural flight, but failed to land as scheduled on an offshore platform. Also in this podcast, the Indian actor Saif Ali Khan is said to be out of danger following surgery after he was stabbed by an intruder at his home. And Pakistan's national flag

carrier Pakistan International Airlines is being accused of poor taste with its latest advert. The ad, for those who haven't seen it, features France's Tricolor flag, a mid-flight PIA plane heading straight for the Eiffel Tower and the words Paris, we're coming today. We begin with the Middle East and fears of last-minute hitches are dogging the Gaza ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel, which was announced in Qatar on Wednesday. A planned vote by the Israeli cabinet on the Gaza ceasefire has been delayed. Israel has accused Hamas of backtracking on parts of the agreement. A BBC correspondent says Hamas is trying to get one or two of its members on the list

of Palestinian prisoners to be freed. On the Israeli side, a far-right party in the governing coalition has demanded that Israel ensures it can resume fighting as soon as the first phase of the ceasefire ends. In Gaza itself, Israel has continued to carry out strikes. Mark Lowen is in Tel Aviv. We are here on Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, a place that has become very much the focal point of the trauma that Israelis have felt since the 7th of October,

those Hamas attacks which killed 1,200 people and in which 250 were taken hostage into Gaza. But the trauma, it is hoped here, will be somewhat alleviated by the ceasefire deal that was announced last night in the Qatari capital Doha between Israel and Hamas that is due to go into place on Sunday. A ceasefire deal that could also ease the pain and suffering in Gaza where more than 46,000 people have been killed there and which would allow the return of some of the displaced to return home to rebuild

what is left of their shattered lives. The Israeli cabinet was due to meet to discuss and vote through that deal this morning, but it has been delayed with a statement from the Israeli Prime Minister's office accusing Hamas of reneging on parts of the agreement to try to extract last-minute concessions, saying that the Cabinet will not meet until mediators report that Hamas has accepted all the terms. There has been some pushback from Hamas on that. Meanwhile, on the ground in Gaza, the destruction continues, and so does the killing, with the Gaza civil defence forces saying that at least 70 people were killed in the last few hours since the ceasefire

deal itself was announced. Mark Lowen. Here's our international editor Jeremy Bowen on how the ceasefire deal, which is due to take effect on Sunday, was reached. In the streets of Hanyunas in Gaza, overwhelming relief that they are alive and hope too that the nightmare of this war might be over. When they announced that there is a ceasefire we felt happy and relieved. The pain has disappeared a bit even though the pain is still present but hopefully

joy will overcome the pain. Some weapons, some defiance were on show but Hamas is a shadow of what it was when it attacked Israel on the 7th of October 2023. And in Tel Aviv, it is also a bittersweet moment for the families and supporters of Israeli hostages living and dead. Thirty-three women, older men and the sick and wounded are due for release in the next six weeks, in return for hundreds of Palestinian detainees and prisoners. But the future of the rest of the hostages depends on more negotiations. I really wait for this very, very needed thing to happen, for the war to stop, for the hostages

to come home. In Washington, President Biden took credit for a diplomatic victory, celebrated America's support for Israel, and said the war had transformed the Middle East for the better. There's a genuine opportunities for a new future. In Lebanon, there's an opportunity for a future free from the grip of Hezbollah. In Syria, a future free from the tyranny of Assad, and for the Palestinian people, a credible, credible pathway to a state of their own. With Gaza in ruins, the president's point that the Palestinians have a path to their own state is wishful thinking.

Israel's government says security depends on military power, not allowing Palestinian independence. After 15 months of war in Gaza, the conflict which has lasted more than a century is as bitter and intractable as ever. With luck the ceasefire will end this war. It does not end the conflict. The consequences of so much destruction and death will be felt for a generation at least. Jeremy Bowen, our correspondent in Jerusalem, John Donnison, has been testing reaction to the agreement on both sides.

There was celebration and relief in Gaza last night as news of the deal came through. Survival, a victory in itself for this woman. We are very happy about the agreement. It gives us hope for Gaza's future. The agreement guarantees that no more lives will be lost. After experiencing genocide, this agreement means saving lives. The end of the war brings us an indescribable joy. But this morning, the reality that the killing hasn't stopped yet. At the Baptist hospital in Gaza, they were bringing in the dead and the injured. At least 80 people, including 19 children, have been killed in Israeli strikes since the agreement was announced, according to officials in Gaza.

Still, amid the destruction, hope that the worst might be over. Enough is enough, says 14-year-old Ahmed. It's better for us to go back to our homes and sit on the rubble than deal with death every day. But not everyone is happy with the agreement. In Jerusalem today, there were protests from Israelis who say the war shouldn't stop until Hamas is wiped out. This deal is expected to be approved by the Israeli government this afternoon, but it's divisive. These people, many of them the family members of fallen Israeli soldiers, want Prime Minister Netanyahu to pull out.

Don't vote for that deal. That deal, it's a very dangerous deal. That deal is going to leave behind us in Gaza Strip about 70 hostages. But as they marched in protest, others were watching, who say now is the time to start bringing the hostages home. Ronnie Moretz has been on a partial hunger strike for 120 days to pressure the government to do a deal. Every war ever, we're ending by an agreement. You cannot destroy the enemy. You cannot kill

the last soldier. You need to stop and make an agreement. And I agree that this is a deal with the devil, but I don't think that we have any other option. And despite the protests, given the way the world has welcomed news of the agreement, it will be difficult for Prime Minister Netanyahu to back out now. John Donison in Jerusalem. To South Korea now. On Wednesday he was arrested on charges of insurrection and abuse of power. Today he's not speaking.

The country's impeached president is giving nothing away. Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law last month and investigators want to know why but while he's refusing to cooperate in custody, he may well be being permanently removed from office. Shai Ma Khalil is in Seoul. He's practicing his right to remain silent, essentially, because he has been arrested and he can be questioned and we understand that he was questioned for hours. Yonhap, the local news agency, said that he was questioned for 10 hours yesterday, but he refused to answer even a single question, according to the corruption investigation

officials. Yes, it was dramatic. Yes, it was unprecedented. But remember, this is one of two fronts, if you will, that this impeached president's leadership, the future of his leadership is being decided. He was summoned for questioning today as well by the CIO, the Corruption Investigation Office. He refused to show up. His lawyer said that we've discussed what we needed to discuss yesterday, even though

he said nothing. And essentially, at this point, on the criminal investigation front, he remains detained, but he also remains silent. On another front, where I'm standing outside the Constitutional Court, this is happening on the same day, but separate. And I don't know if you can hear, but UN supporters are shouting outside the Constitutional Court saying, you should uphold the Constitution, you should do right by the President. It's very consequential what's happening inside. The impeachment hearing is underway. His legal team is giving in their argument or his argument of why he decided to declare martial law in December. They're saying this hearing, this trial is politically motivated.

But we also heard from the representatives of the National Assembly impeachment prosecution team, and they said, had this martial law edict essentially continued, it would have dragged the country into military dictatorship. So essentially, you've got two fronts that are deciding where this leadership of Yoon Sang-gyo goes. And if the impeachment is upheld by the court, by the Constitutional Court, it's going to remove him from office and it's going to trigger a snap election in this country. If he's reinstated his supporters

outside here will be happy but it will trigger a lot of anger from the opposition and opponents from the public. Shyamakaril Inso. President Biden has used his farewell address to reflect on his four years in office, saying he was proud of what had been achieved. It will take time to feel the full impact of all we've done together.

But the seeds are planted, and they'll grow and they'll bloom for decades to come. At home, we've created nearly 17 million new jobs more than any other single administration in a single term. More people have healthcare than ever before. And overseas, we've strengthened NATO. Ukraine is still free.

And we've pulled ahead of our competition with China. And so much more. I'm so proud of how much we've accomplished together for the American people. And I wish the incoming administration success because I want America to succeed. Evan Osnos is a staff writer at The New Yorker and biographer of Joe Biden.

He told Emma Barnett that he sees President Biden's legacy as mixed. The positives are that he sees President Biden's legacy as mixed. The positives are that he's done some things that actually do affect people's daily lives, reduced the price of prescription drugs, made the largest investments in climate change mitigation, things like that. But as an immediate fact, there's just no denying that he set out for himself the measuring stick of preventing Donald Trump from a second term. And in that regard, he has fallen short and Trump of course is back. Have Americans lives improved under Joe Biden?

The economy is very strong right now. And part of the political puzzle for him that he was never able to solve was that there is a general sense of sourness, not just the fact that prices are higher, but that people just feel as they do in other countries these days, pretty unsatisfied with incumbents with the present disposition of power. And so he found himself unable to persuade people. And I think a big piece of that was because they looked at him and they said he doesn't have the youth and the vigor that would allow him to prevail in a moment when it is demanding as it is. Do you think the Biden camp, including First Lady Jill Biden in this, have accepted that he needed to drop out of the race because I'm just looking at this farewell interview in The Washington Post with Joe Biden taking a dig at the Democratic Party for pressing him to drop out saying, let's just say I was disappointed with how it unfolded.

I think in his inner circle, they really are not at peace actually with him dropping out. He said in recent interviews that he believes he could have prevailed over Trump and actually that is not supported by any of the polls that we see. I interviewed Biden back in January of last year, and I asked him at one point, was there ever a moment when you considered dropping out and not running for a second term? And he said immediately, no, I never thought about it. He was determined to run even though there were these indications that people didn't want it. As someone who has interviewed him and been in and around his circle, is he okay, Evan,

you know, mentally with his faculties? Yeah, I think what's clear is that there are days when he seems fine. And then now we have come to see that there are clearly days when he is slower, older, not able to take a full slate of meetings. But the person that was on that stage, on that fateful night, June 27th of last year, in the debate with Donald Trump, it became in a sense, inescapable to his political team, that there was no way they were going to rebuild his reputation. But that performance was a shock because it was not anything that people around him were

accustomed to seeing. I think the way these declines are not linear, but when they happen, they can be quite shocking. How do you think history will judge Joe Biden? I think that over time, presidents in the American tradition tend to improve in public memory. People like George W. Bush, who left with a lower approval rating, in fact, than Joe Biden is leaving with, have tended to get a little better in memory. The challenge for Biden, however, is that he doesn't leave office in his 50s or his 60s the way some of his predecessors did, which left them decades to improve their reputation

through humanitarian work or diplomatic expeditions. He will have to be judged ultimately. One of the things he said in his farewell speech was that the seeds have been planted, meaning things like infrastructure investments or advanced manufacturing. And over time, people may come to reward his reputation for that, but it'll take a long time. Evan Osnos from The New Yorker. Now for our next story, I would like you to imagine the unthinkable poisoning your baby and setting up a GoFundMe page to raise money and boost followers on

social media. That's what a mother in Australia is alleged to have done. The Queensland woman claimed she was chronicling her child's battle with a terminal illness but the police alleged she was drugging the one-year-old and then filming her in immense distress and pain. A detective has said there are no words for how repulsive offenses of this nature are. Now Asia Pacific regional editor Celia Hatton told me more about the case. The authorities first became suspicious about this mother, a 34-year-old woman living in Queensland in Australia, back

in October, because she'd brought her seriously ill baby girl into hospital. The child was about one. And they couldn't understand the child's symptoms. The child was severely ill. But when they ran some extensive tests, they realized that the child had ingested medications that really she had no, they couldn't understand why she'd taken these pharmaceutical drugs. And they alerted the police that something seemed off. The police spent several months tracking this woman who is a social media influencer who had been documenting what she said was her child's terminal illness on social media and raising money. She'd raised about $40,000 for her child's care or so she said. But

as police watched what she was doing, they say that she had been going to great lengths to obtain unauthorized medications and to cover up her tracks from doing so. And they said that work with the doctors seemed to correspond that she had been drugging the baby, police said, poisoning her and then filming the child in deep distress and pain and basically trying to profit off of that. And get, it seems incredible, but get social media likes. That was one of the motivations. That's right. She was quite well-known social media influencer in Australia. Now the crowdfunding site that had had supported her is repaying all the

people who donated money. They say if this woman is convicted of the things she's been accused of – torture, administering poison, making child exploitation material and fraud – she will have to repay all the money to the crowdfunding side. One would like to think this is a unique and isolated case. Well American researchers, they call it fictitious disorder imposed on another, FDIA. They say it happens around one in a million childhood cases and they say it's usually the women who carry out this, it's 90% women who carry this out.

It's usually people who've had a really traumatic childhood themselves and they're just engaging in attention-seeking behaviour. Still to come on the Global News podcast, the space rocket, funded by the Amazon boss Jeff Bezos, has successfully launched from Cape Canaveral and reached orbit for the first time. Five, four, four,

lift off. Discover how to lead a better life in our age of confusion. Enjoy this BBC audiobook collection written and presented by bestselling author Oliver Berkman, containing four useful guides to tackling some central ills of modernity. Busyness, anger, the insistence on positivity and the decline of nuance. Our lives today can feel like miniature versions of this relentless churn of activity. We find we're rushing around more crazily than ever. Somewhere, when we weren't looking, it's like busyness became a way of life. Start listening to Oliver Berkman, Epidemics of Modern Life, available to purchase wherever

you get your audiobooks. Associates of the Indian actor Saif Ali Khan say he's undergone surgery and is out of danger after being stabbed by an intruder at his home in Mumbai. The attack took place early on Thursday in an upmarket neighbourhood of the city. Police say they're searching for the attacker. Khan's team say there had been an attempted burglary but did not share more details. Here's our South Asia correspondent Yogita Lemoye who's in Mumbai. We've heard from the police as well as the doctors who've been treating actor Saif Ali Khan. The police have said that the attacker entered his home using the fire escape. They believe the motive was burglary. The attacker

has fled but they say that they've identified a suspect in the phone to 10 police teams who are searching for the suspect at the moment. The doctors also came out and spoke after the surgery they said safely con was admitted to the love of the hospital at around 3 in the night and that he had some major stab injuries, The most significant one among them was an injury to his spinal cord. They say there was a knife lodged in his spinal cord, which had to be removed. He also had deep wounds in his left hand and his neck.

But they say that the surgery has been successful, that his condition is stable. He's being monitored in an intensive care unit. But most significantly they believe there's been no permanent damage and that he will fully recover. His publicist as well as that of his wife, Kareena Kapoor Khan, who's another massive Bollywood actor, have also said that Saif Ali Khan's life is out of danger and that they're very grateful for the support that they've had. Between them, they're a real Bollywood power couple. Saif Ali Khan started acting in Hindi movies more than 30 years ago. He's acted in a wide range of scores of movies. His mother, a very celebrated actress, his father was someone who played cricket for India.

Kareena Kapoor belongs to what is often called the first family of Bollywood in India. And so, between them, a real power couple, perhaps the most well-known couple in India. The incident, therefore, has sent shockwaves, not just through the film industry, not just through the entertainment industry, but ordinary people as well. And the reason for that is that the place where they live, so the city of Mumbai, but also the suburb of Bandra specifically, it's believed to be among the safest places to live here in India. Yoghurt Lemurier. A rocket belonging to the founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, called New Glenn,

has blasted off successfully from Florida and entered orbit for the first time. Five, four, for the first time. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Clip dog. The rocket booster, the part designed to land on a platform in the Atlantic so that it can be reused, failed to land. But that didn't stop Elon Musk, the owner of rival company SpaceX, from congratulating Mr Bezos for reaching orbit on the first attempt. Does this mean things are heating up in the billionaire space race?

Dr Ken Kramer is a research scientist and founder of Space Up Close, a website which reports on astronomy and science. He was at the launch. I think it was a really great launch. It's a great move forward for Blue Origin. And I'm glad to hear that Musk actually congratulated Bezos. There has been quite a bit of competition, sometimes not friendly between the two of them. Indeed. Why is today a great day forward for the space race? For those who don't follow it as closely as you do, Dr Kramer, why is today significant?

It's not so much a space race, but what is very important for American technology, because now we have another company besides SpaceX and ULA that will hopefully be able to reliably launch to space. This was the first one today, the maiden launch of the New Glenn rocket, and it'll be followed by more. But we couldn't get to number two until we had a number successful number one launch and that's what we had today. You've got to have competition between the companies and you can't just have Elon Musk and SpaceX snatching all the contracts up. So there'll be competition that'll bring the price down and it's also good for Blue Origin for their customers. They're going to launch science missions for NASA. They got two Mars orbiters they're going to send up this spring.

They've got spy satellites for the US military. This was a certification flight for them. And then you've got the competing system for Starlink, which is their project Kuiper from Blue Origin and Amazon. So it's very important for all those three reasons that this succeed today. Dr Ken Kramer speaking to Amal Rajan. Pakistan's national flag carrier, Pakistan International Airlines, is being accused of

at the very least very poor taste with its latest advert. The image it uses bears what some see as a striking resemblance to the terror attacks of 9-11. David Lewis takes up the story. What were they thinking? That's the general musings of some social media users. The ad, for those who haven't seen it, features France's tricolor flag, a mid-flight PIA plane heading straight for the Eiffel Tower and the words Paris, we're coming, emblazoned in capitals. It's meant, innocently enough, to let viewers and vacationers know the Pakistani national

carrier is resuming flights back to the City of Lights. Unfortunately, it bears more than a passing resemblance to the 9-11 terrorist attacks. And the backlash is big. Criticism has gone right to the top. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has ordered an investigation into how it happened. His deputy also lashed out at the poster. The September 11 2001 terror attacks saw hijackers crash passenger jets into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington DC. Nearly 3,000 people were killed. The alleged mastermind of the plot Khalid

Sheikh Mohammed was later arrested in Pakistan. US forces also killed Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in the country. Understandably, the ad has been lampooned on socials. And then some. Is this an advertisement or a threat? Asked one user on X, formerly known as Twitter. Yikes! said one account. This has to be intentional, lol, wrote another. If this was a way to get eyes on the company, it's worked. The graphics been viewed more than 20 million times. The airline, well, they haven't yet commented on the incident. The PIA, however, is no stranger to controversy.

In 2017, the airline was roundly ridiculed after staff sacrificed a goat to ward off bad luck. That was after one of the country's worst ever air disasters. Two years later, their flight attendants were told to slim down or get grounded. Staff were told they had six months to shed excess weight. David Lewis. We return now to our top story, the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. Israel is delaying a cabinet vote on the Gaza ceasefire deal after accusing Hamas of reneging on elements of the agreement. Its forces have continued to pound the territory, killing more than 70 people. I asked our Arab Affairs editor, Sebastian Asher, what was holding up the deal? Well we heard from the Israeli Prime Minister's office two or three hours ago now saying that Hamas was creating a last-minute crisis. Now the Israeli

negotiating team is still in Qatar. This is where these talks have been taking place. This is despite the fact that the Qatari Prime Minister announced the deal had been accepted by both sides. President Biden, the President-elect, Donald Trump have all announced that it's a done deal. From the Israeli side, there's a suggestion that this could still go off the rails and the blame being put on Hamas. I mean what seems to be the issue from what we've heard of it, this isn't 100% officially confirmed is that Hamas with the prisoner list, the Palestinian prisoners will be released

in exchange for the Israeli hostages. They want one or two names, more prominent names than have been there so far and Israel is saying, well, this is not what was agreed to. This was not in the list. I mean it seems to me that this could still be overcome. But what has happened, the direct result has been that a meeting of the Israeli cabinet and the security cabinet which was supposed to vote on this again several hours ago has been postponed and we're not quite sure when that's going

to happen. Is there an element of theatrics in this with all sides needing to show that they've gone right up to the wire? I think it – I think that's a good point. I think theatrics is probably being slightly too superficial about this. I think it's more serious than that, obviously, because the stakes are so high. But it's not something we haven't seen before. It's not something we haven't seen from Mr. Netanyahu before.

Very much it has been a blame game. I think that he is very mindful of the opposition within Israel from the hardliners who feel that this is a deal that allows Hamas too much, that this goal of eradicating Hamas, which time and time again Mr Netanyahu said he was 100 percent, you know, this is the only end of the war in sight. That's not what's going to happen. So what they want essentially is a ceasefire to take place for six weeks, but they want Israel essentially to be free to restart the war if necessary after that. So I think it's very much Netanyahu dealing with a domestic issue more than anything else. Yeah and as you're indicating there even if this does go ahead in the

next few hours there's still going to be massive challenges in its implementation. I mean there are, this is a sign of that that even with the deal supposedly done and dusted there's still issues about it. In 16 days from Sunday if it goes into effect the negotiations on the next phase will begin and they've been left I done and dusted, there's still issues about it. In 16 days from Sunday, if it goes into effect, the negotiations on the next phase will begin. And they've been left, I think, purposefully open in order not to close down the space in which Hamas and Israel would be able to agree to that ceasefire, the hope being in anything like this, but once a ceasefire is in place, the momentum will build that it will then become very difficult to move away from that. But there are certainly voices inside Israel that are saying that's not what we

believe should happen and the voices that Ms Netanyahu has listened to before. So yes, there are big, big challenges. In some ways, the hardest work of negotiation will begin in the next two or three weeks. Sebastian Ascher. And that's all from us for now. But there'll be a new edition of the Global News podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast, all the topics covered in it, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcast.bbc.co.uk.

This edition was produced by Alice Adderley and mixed by Vladimir Muzetska. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Alex Ritzen. Until next time, goodbye. Yoga is more than just exercise. It's the spiritual practice that millions swear by. And in 2017, Miranda, a university tutor from London, joins a yoga school that promises profound transformation. It felt a really safe and welcoming space. After the yoga classes I felt amazing. But soon that calm welcoming atmosphere leads to something far darker. A journey that leads to allegations of grooming, trafficking and exploitation across international borders.

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even if it seemed gross to me, was for some spiritual reason that I couldn't even understand. Revealing the hidden secrets of a global yoga network. I feel that I have no other choice. The only thing I can do is to speak about this and to put my reputation and everything else on the line. I want truth and justice. And for other people to not be hurt,

for things to be different in the future. To bring us into the light and almost alchemize some of that evil stuff that went on and take back the power. World of Secrets, season six, The Bad Guru. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.