Global News Podcast - Millions hit by huge winter storm in US

Episode Date: January 6, 2025

A state of emergency is declared across parts of the United States as a major winter storm brings chaos to road, air and train travel. Also: prisoners in a high security jail try to find redemption through singing.

This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Janet Jalil and in the early hours of Monday, the 6th of January, these are our main stories. A fierce storm is causing disruption to large swathes of the United States. The Kremlin says its troops are battling a renewed offensive by Ukrainian forces in the Russian region of Kursk. The president of Austria has said he'll meet the far-right leader of the Freedom Party after coalition talks between more moderate politicians collapsed. Also in this podcast... To see something beautiful come out of an area that has had such misery is something that I think is is

a testimony to the human spirit. How prisoners in an American high security jail are trying to find redemption through singing. As we record this podcast, much of the US is on high alert as a huge winter storm that could bring the heaviest snowfall and coldest temperatures in over a decade is affecting tens of millions of people. Thousands of flights have been delayed or cancelled, with driving conditions described in some places as dangerous or impossible. Weather alerts have been issued across 30 states, with a state of emergency being declared in Kentucky, Virginia, Kansas, Arkansas and Missouri. The weather has been dominating national and local TV

and radio news. Here's what CBS, the BBC's partner station, was broadcasting. Tonight, a massive winter storm is expected to bring heavy snow, ice and bitter cold to large parts of this country. Fifty million people are in the storm's path. Our correspondent in Washington is Rowan Bridge. You are talking about potentially some of the worst weather parts of the United States have seen in a decade. I think the fact that you've got five states that have declared a state of emergency and more than half of states are under some sort of weather alert gives you an idea of what

we're talking about here. They were talking about 35 centimetres of snow falling in certain places in some of the worst affected parts of the country, Kansas, Missouri, sort of in the centre of the United States really. There you have got snow and ice blanketing major roads combined with strong winds creating blizzard conditions. The National Weather Service is warning that travel in some states is affected to a level where it's almost impossible to get around, which gives you an idea of the sheer scale of what we're talking about in the worst affected areas. And do we know how long this is likely to last?

I think it depends on where you are. The weather is moving eastwards, if you like. So it started off in Kansas, Missouri, the central part of the United States, and then it's sort of baring east and overnight will hit the East Coast of the United States. So that is places like, you know, Baltimore, Washington, Philadelphia, the East Coast big cities haven't yet seen the full force of it, they are going to get that sort of overnight. But even so, if you look at the scale of the disruption we've already seen, six and a half thousand flights cancelled or delayed, significant disruption on the rail network, you know these are significant levels of

problems. I mean the fact that you know as far away as Florida they are talking about the weather being affected gives you an idea of what we're talking about. And what's being done to help people cope with these extreme weather they are talking about the weather being affected gives you an idea of what we're talking about. And what's being done to help people cope with these extreme weather conditions? Yeah, I mean you've seen warnings for people not to go out on the roads and clearly you know a number of states are used to snowy conditions so they will have snow tyres for cars and snow ploughs have been out trying to clear roads but the level of snow in some of these places is just at such a level that they can't clear all the roads. Here in Washington DC they've declared

a snow emergency and basically that gives them some extra powers. So one of the things, for example, they're telling people to do is move their cars off the streets if they're on a snow route, because if they don't, their cars will get towed away because they're going to try and keep those roads open as best they can. They're also making extra efforts around the most vulnerable people in this city, again, because of the freezing temperatures that are coming. So people are taking precautions. There are steps being taken to kind of deal with the snowfall that's coming or has come. But even so, when you're talking the worst weather in a decade, that can only go so far.

Roanbridge. If you travel by car in a big city there's a good chance you'll spend much of your time completely stationary or at best just crawling along. It's an annoying waste of time and more importantly bad for the quality of the air everyone has to breathe. Singapore was the first city to do something about it. 50 years ago it introduced a congestion charge to cut down on traffic jams and pollution. London followed suit in 2003 and many other cities from Mexico City to Stockholm now have similar schemes. Until now America has been the only big Western nation to hold out, but Manhattan in New York has just brought in charges.

The scheme has its supporters but for others it's extremely contentious. Jeff Colton is New York City reporter for the Politico website. It's American car culture I think and there's a real tension of you know charging people to drive places. Now at the same time there's already tolls to enter a lot of Manhattan. If you're coming in from a lot of the tunnels into New York City, into Manhattan, you're already getting charged. But this is still a new charge for a lot of entrances into Manhattan. It's below Central Park.

There's now going to be a charge to go over the iconic Brooklyn Bridge, which was always free. There's going to be a charge to go over the iconic Manhattan Bridge, which was always free, is gonna be a charge to go over the iconic Manhattan Bridge, which was always free. So this is a big cultural change, as well as a new tax. That said, it's going to fund the New York City subways, the largest and most iconic subway system certainly in North America and arguably in the world.

And so the reason it is going into effect right now is to beat Donald Trump into office. Trump himself has very much opposed congestion pricing. He sees it as a political issue. He sees it as something that he can, you know, gain support from drivers and, you know, from those opposed to the Democratic Party that leads New York. And so Trump has said he will stop congestion pricing. And the reason that the New York government And so Trump has said he will stop congestion pricing. And the reason that the New York government has pushed ahead and putting this into effect just merely three weeks before Donald Trump is going into office is as you know, they're hoping that once it's into effect, Trump is not going to be able to repeal it.

Jeff Colton, New York City reporter for the Politico website. Five months after a lightning offensive by Ukraine into Russia's Kursk region that stunned the Kremlin, Ukrainian troops have launched what seems to be a new effort to seize territory from the same region. In recent weeks, Russia has been clawing back territory, partly with the help of thousands of troops from North Korea. And its military has tried to play down this new offensive. But pro-Kremlin bloggers say that could be a mistake, with one posting footage of what he said was a column of Ukrainian armored vehicles driving through the snow.

In his nightly address on Saturday evening, President Zelensky said Ukrainian troops had inflicted significant losses on North Korean and Russian forces. losses on North Korean and Russian forces. In battles near the village of Magnivka in the Kursk region, the Russian army lost up to a battalion of North Korean infantry soldiers and Russian paratroopers. This is significant. Overall, I want to commend the professional and effective actions of our soldiers in the Special Operations

Forces and the 80th Separate Air Salt Brigade. This new offensive by Ukraine comes at a critical moment in the war with US President-elect Donald Trump who has promised a quick end to the conflict preparing to take office. Our correspondent in Kyiv, Will Vernon, told us what was known about this latest Ukrainian offensive. It's still in its very early hours really. In Kiev, Will Vernon told us what was known about this latest Ukrainian offensive. It's still in its very early hours really. We heard earlier from the Russian Defence Ministry who said that the Ukrainians had launched an attack at around 8am local time

and that fighting was ongoing. And we also heard from the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, he wrote on social media, he didn't entirely confirm that the operation had started, but he did hint at it saying there was good news from the Kursk region and Russia was getting what it deserved. And I've also been reading some reports from the pro-Kremlin military bloggers. They also have been reporting what they call a major operation by Ukraine. But there's a lot of course we don't know.

We don't know what scale this is on or whether it will make any difference whatsoever really to Ukraine's pretty tenuous position on the battlefield. Yes, because both sides are trying to boost their position ahead of President-elect Donald Trump's return to the White House. Why is Kursk so important to Ukraine? Well it's important because it's inside sovereign Russian territory, right, which creates a real headache for the Kremlin when you've got the Ukrainian army not only not surrendering and not being destroyed on their own territory but actually attacking and pushing

deep inside Russian territory, seizing towns and villages. When Ukraine launched this, you know, pretty surprise incursion into the Kursk region in August last year, they made pretty good progress, seized quite a large chunk of territory. And it wasn't entirely clear at the time why Ukraine was doing this. There was some speculation it was, you know, trying to draw away Russian forces from the east of the country, from elsewhere on the front. President Zelensky said later that the Kursk operation was designed to be used as a bargaining chip in any future peace talks with Russia. But since August, Ukraine has been pushed back. Russian forces have been reinforced, of course, by several thousand troops from North Korea too. And although Russia has retaken large parts of that original area that

Ukraine seized, they haven't been able to push the Ukrainians out of the region altogether. So we'll have to see whether this operation is sustained, whether Ukraine manages to expand its presence. Ukrainian forces badly need a victory at the moment. Morale is pretty low here. Russia's been making significant advances on the battlefield in recent weeks. So, Ukraine really needs to show its own people, show Western countries and the incoming Donald Trump administration that it can still mount offensive operations and it can still manage to have some victories even if they're relatively small ones. Will Vernon in Kyiv. The president of Austria has said he will meet the far-right leader of the Freedom Party

after coalition talks between more moderate politicians collapsed. Alexander van der Bellen says he will meet the party's leader, Herbert Kickl, on Monday. He said a new path had opened up because the governing conservatives had softened their opposition to talks with Mr. Kickel. During these discussions the picture that has emerged shows that the voices within the People's Party, which ruled out cooperation with the Freedom Party under Herbert Kickel, have become significantly quieter. This in turn means that I may be opening up a new path that did not exist before. And for this reason I have called the leader of the Freedom Party and agreed that we will meet here in the Hofburg...

The President promised to ensure that the cornerstones of Austrian democracy were respected. Bethany Bell reports from Vienna. The Euro-skeptic pro-Russian Freedom Party, the FPO, won the general election in September but the head of the Conservatives, Karl Neyhammer and other parties had ruled out forming a coalition with the far-right leader Herbert Kickle. But now Mr. Neyhammer has resigned and the new head of the Conservatives, Christian Stoker, says he now expects the Freedom Party to be tasked with forming a government. If we are invited to these talks, he said, we will accept the invitation.

Bethany Bell. In what's likely to be his last trip as America's top diplomat, the US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, has arrived in South Korea, as it remains in the grip of a political crisis. Investigators have been trying to arrest the president after he shocked South Koreans by briefly imposing martial law last month. But even though he's been impeached and suspended, his bodyguards are refusing to hand him over and mass protests are continuing. Here's our Asia Pacific editor, Mickey Bristow. The US State Department said Mr. Blinken would look at ways to strengthen America's relationship with its two East Asian allies, South Korea and Japan. He said that while in Seoul he'd meet senior government officials without saying who. It's not clear who Mr. Blinken should

meet. The president, Yoon Suk-yol, and his replacement were both impeached. The Finance Minister is now supposed to be in charge. It's unlikely that any South Korean leader has the time to focus on anything other than the country's internal problems. On Sunday there were more developments. Mass protests, both for and against the President, continued on the streets of Seoul. Many waited to see if investigators looking into Mr. Yoon's declaration of martial law would again attempt to arrest him. They tried once on Friday and the president's

bodyguards prevented them getting to Mr. Yoon. This ended also stop any further attempts to detain him, raising the uneasy prospect of clashes between South Korea's different security agencies. Miki Bristo, despite the recent optimistic noises about finally securing a ceasefire in Gaza, the Hamas-run health ministry there now says that Israeli airstrikes have killed more than 200 people since Thursday. This comes as Israel's defence minister has warned that the ceasefire it agreed with Lebanon is at risk if Hezbollah fighters don't pull back from areas near the border. Israel cats accused the Lebanese army of not meeting the commitments it agreed to in the ceasefire. Jonah Fisher reports from Jerusalem. Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement both Hezbollah and

Israel have 60 days to leave southern Lebanon, with the Lebanese army and United Nations peacekeepers deployed to take their place. More than halfway through the 60 days, the Israel Defense Forces are still there, and according to Israel Cats, so is Hezbollah. If this condition does not exist, there will be no agreement. The first condition for the agreement's implementation is the complete withdrawal of the Hezbollah terror organization beyond the Litani River, Mr. Katz said on a trip to the IDF's northern command. He also accused the Lebanese army of failing to play its role of destroying Hezbollah's

weapons stores and infrastructure. If things didn't change, Mr Katz said, Israel would be forced to act on its own to ensure the safe return of people to their homes in northern Israel. Just over 100 miles to the south, the misery continues for displaced Gazans. The IDF say they hit more than 100 targets in the Gaza Strip this weekend, in part responding, they say, to rockets being fired towards Israeli territory. Israel says it has eliminated dozens of what it calls Hamas terrorists. Gaza's Health Ministry, which Hamas controls, said 88 people had been killed in the past 24 hours, 224 since Thursday. Amarzoud is in Gaza City and says many of his family members are dead or missing after

an Israeli strike on the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood. AMARZOUD, Gaza City Resident I came to check on my cousin to see what was going on. We found three women alive and one young man with broken legs. We also retrieved the body of my cousin's son. As for my other cousin, we have no idea where he is. Efforts to negotiate a Gaza ceasefire and the return of Israeli hostages are continuing in Qatar, with a delegation from Israel holding talks with mediators who then relay any proposals to Hamas.

Jonah Fisher. Still to come, tributes have been paid to the former Greek Prime Minister, Kostas Semitis, who has died at the age of 88. You're listening to the Global News Podcast. India is the world's largest democracy, but under the leadership of Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government, it's also become one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists. Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders says that on average three or four journalists are killed in connection with their work every year in India. On Friday the body of a journalist who had been reporting

on alleged corruption in public construction projects was found in a septic tank. 32-year-old Mukesh Chandrakar went missing on New Year's Day. Our South Asia regional editor Amrassan Etirajan told me more about him. Mukesh Chandrakar was a freelance journalist in the state of Chhattisgarh in central India. Now he has been writing about alleged corruption on road construction projects because these long road construction projects involve hundreds of thousands of dollars and people are expected to give money to various officials and politicians. This has been the case for decades, you know, that is alleged corruption in these projects.

Now he has been reporting on those corruption issues through various media outlets and also through his YouTube channel called Buster Junction. Now one of those projects, it got stopped and then there was an investigation into what was really happening. So according to police, on the 1st of January, he went to meet two of the suspects at a compound and then he did not come back. So his family members, they filed a complaint with the police and then they went and searched for him. By tracing his mobile phone locations, they finally reached out to this compound of a

private contractor. And senior police officer said on the first day they could not find anything. And then when they found a newly concrete slab septic tank, it was broken open and they found the body of Chandrakar. And according to police, the body had several injury marks. Now they are treating this as an alleged murder and three people have been arrested. The police suspect that because of his work he could have been killed by the other two people. But this has triggered shockwaves among the journalistic community in the state. And this is far from an isolated case.

These kind of incidents, they are not uncommon in India. For example, a couple of years ago another journalist in the state of Bihar was killed. He was shot dead because he was writing about how people are illegally taking sand from the river bed that is causing erosion. What they call as sand mafias. So that's a very, very risky job. You have to, especially people in small towns and smaller cities where the journalists do not have that kind of protection, where big media houses do not have their own correspondence, where somebody can back them up.

Whereas many of them district level correspondents, as we know, they work as freelancers for many of the national outlets or nowadays they have their own YouTube channel. So it is not the first time such things are happening. Ambarasan Etirajan. In a dramatic collapse of their relationship, the American billionaire Elon Musk has said the leader of a British populist party, Nigel Farage, that is challenging the established parties doesn't have what it takes to be leader and should be replaced. The two men had met at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort last year to discuss Mr Musk making a multi-million dollar donation to Mr Farage's Reform Party. But after Mr Musk championed a jailed far-right activist, he was angered

by Mr Farage's refusal to do the same. At the same time, a British minister has sharply criticised the world's richest man for his comments over child rape scandals in the UK. Where Streating, the Health Secretary, was speaking after Mr Musk said the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer was, quote, complicit in the rape of Britain and said another minister, Jess Phillips, was a wicked witch who should be locked up. Mr Streating was asked for his response by the BBC. It is a disgraceful smear of a great woman who has spent her life supporting victims of the kind of violence that Elon Musk and others say that they're against.

And it's all very well sitting there and fire off something in haste and click send when people like Keir Starmer and Jess Phillips have done the hard yards of actually locking up wife beaters, rapists, paedophiles. This is just the latest salvo Elon Musk has fired against centrist European politicians as he endorses far-right parties including the AfD in Germany. José Manuel Borrusu spent 10 years as president of the European Commission. Before that he was Portuguese Prime Minister. Johnny Diamond asked him about Mr. Musk's increasingly frequent

interventions into European politics. Whether we like it or not, Elon Musk is a visionary person and he has been transforming the world in the field of technology. So it's a very important development. We are surprised to see some of those comments, namely, let's say the support to IFD in Germany, which considered a very, very right-wing party and somehow linked to the past in Germany. And we know the past in Germany, how hopeful it was. So it's a matter of concern

for us. But I believe the best way to react is to try to win the conversation. It's not, of course, trying to suppress the different opinions. If we believe we are right, those of us who are for, let's say, moderate views that we are against, extremes, be them from the far right or from the far left, I think it's important that we be in the debate and we tell Mr Musk why he's wrong. You clearly admire one side of the man, his restless success, his engineering brilliance, the way he has driven his projects through. And you say, you know, Europe could do with some of that fire. On the other hand, from what I

know of you, his politics are a long way away from yours. How do you bring those two together, the politics you really don't like at all, and the success that you so admire? It's not so much a success I admire. what I admire I think he has been a visionary. I mean Tesla, that's not my car, but look, it was certainly very important in terms of the push for climate friendly vehicles and so on and so forth. And some of the ideas he has in terms of technologies related to our brain capabilities. I think Mr. Musk certainly is a visionary, but it seems to me someone very, how can I put it, psychologically unbalanced.

By the way, you speak about the ideas of Mr. Musk, but what kind of ideas? He was a Democrat, he was a very registered independent. Now he's supporting Trump. Musk supports Musk, basically, because according to the laws of nature, he will be there after Trump. So I think he's investing in himself, not necessarily in Trump. And some of his ideas are, of course, those who are he's expressing currently are completely unacceptable from my point of view. I mean anything that appears as racism or anti-semitism, yes he has deleted some of those tweets but at the same time I

have to recognize that the man has been bringing a lot of innovation and instead of just criticizing him we should understand what we should do. The former president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barrosu. Well, one European leader who does enjoy good relations with Elon Musk and Donald Trump is the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Maloney. She made a surprise visit to Florida over the weekend to meet Mr. Trump. The trip to his Mar-a-Lago resort is being seen as an attempt to strengthen ties with the President-elect before his inauguration later this month. Here's our Europe Reishne

Editor, Sascha Schlickter. All the Sunday papers in Italy feature on their front pages the two Conservative leaders side by side beaming. Giorgia Meloni is clearly a lady after Donald Trump's heart. As she arrived at Mar-a-Lago, he told a waiting crowd, this is very exciting. I'm here with a fantastic woman. She's really taken Europe by storm. Apart from discussing some bilateral issues, the two enjoyed a dinner and a film. To have such naturally good relations with Donald Trump is rare for a major European leader, so many of Miss Maloney's fellow Prime Ministers will be hoping she could help avert a trade

war with America. In fact, according to its Europe Minister, Italy could act as a diplomatic bridge between two worlds, the EU and the USA. Miss Maloney is seen as a potentially strong partner for Trump given her conservative credentials and the stability of the right-wing coalition she has led for more than two years. And one other thing, unlike other leaders who found themselves the target of Elon Musk's invective, Georgia Maloney has forged a close relationship with the tech billionaire and close Trump ally. Sasha Schlitka, tributes have been paid to the former Greek Prime Minister Kostas Simitis who has died at the age of 88. Mr Simitis guided Greece into the Eurozone as well as

overseeing Athens hosting of the Olympic Games in 2004. Jacob Evans looks back on his life. In the 1960s Kostas Simitis became a resistance fighter against Greek military rule, but fled abroad to avoid arrest. On his return to Athens several years later, he co-founded the Socialist PASOK party. He eventually became its leader in 1996 and won that year's general election. Kostas Simitis served as Greece's Prime Minister for eight years, a tenure marked by the country's adoption of the euro following years of economic revival under his leadership. But critics argue he didn't do enough to tackle corruption. Four days of national mourning have been announced and there'll be a state funeral on Thursday.

Jacob Evans, for Colombia a new year brings an old problem, cocaine. Decades of bloodshed led to President Gustavo Petro being elected with a new year brings an old problem. Cocaine. Decades of bloodshed led to President Gustavo Petro being elected with a new strategy of making peace with the cartels and tackling poverty. But the drug is being produced in greater quantities than ever, and doubts are rising about whether his plan will work. Alfie Habishan reports. The war on drugs has failed, with the words of the elected left-wing president Gustavo Petro in 2022, and he would know of course having been an armed rebel himself before moving into politics. A big part of his bold new vision was to target the key ingredient of cocaine, the coca plant, by giving farmers who grow it better ways to make money. So why is it not working? Sergio

Guzman is director of the Colombia Risk Analysis Organisation. Coca production has skyrocketed in Colombia since that decision was made. Cacao, plantains, coffee, yuca, all of these crops have a very high logistical cost of bringing them to market. Instead, in the coca crop, it's a much higher price and the buyer purchases them at farm. President Petro also invited rebel groups and drug cartels to drop their weapons and join the government around the negotiating table in favour of less violence, but it has not stopped them from threatening farmers to grow coca. The president has been pursuing a policy of total peace with all the different armed groups

and that has led to bilateral ceasefires. This consolidation has led to not just more drug production, but also an increase in emboldened by these organizations against the state. The president maintains that the overwhelming global demand for cocaine makes his job more complicated and that his plan to tackle inequality is a long term one. The question is whether Colombians will give him a second term to prove it as optimism begins to fade over whether the country can ever tackle this problem. Alfi Habersham reporting.

In 2023, the Grammy award-winning producer Ian Brennan went to the maximum security Mississippi State Penitentiary and recorded a group of prisoners singing at a Sunday morning chapel service. The record received international recognition for bringing previously unheard voices to the outside world. Ian Brennan has been back to the prison and recorded a follow-up album, another Mississippi Sunday morning. He's been telling Martin Bernard why he went back. I'll never, never say no.

I returned to Parchman Prison because there had been such a strong positive response to their debut record. The administration has made great improvements there at the prison. The men were very proud of their success, and we were granted more time together this time. And many of them had prepared original songs. And there were also new people there that had not been there previously. We had 12 men participated for this album. They ranged in age from 23 to 74. Four of them were serving life sentences.

The album was recorded in the chapel. I was alone with the men for three or four hours on a Sunday, and we just made music together the entire time. ["I Know Jesus"] Jesus. Jesus we're here. Archman Prison has quite a history. It houses the death row for Mississippi.

It's rich in history, the area, musically. You know, Muddy Waters was raised nearby. Sam Cooke and Ike Turner were born in the neighboring town. But a lot of that history is very dark, as most prisons are. And so to see something beautiful come out of an area that has had such misery is something that I think is a testimony to the human spirit. Tell us about some of the tracks and the men who performed them. One of the tracks that I think is a standout is a rap which is by Jay Robinson who's 34 years old. This song is entitled MC Hammer and it's

quite a song because it makes MC Hammer seem almost cool again. Holy Spirit dancing like MC Hammer. All it is is him and a beatbox provided by another prisoner and it has groove and it has such believability and texture and toughness, but also tenderness. One of the most striking ones was the song Let It Rain, which was sung by Mr. Hemphill. And he's 67 years old. He's been there almost his entire life. And if you listen to that voice, that shows that somebody can be redeemed and he has. Open the floodgates of heaven, let it rain. And as he was singing the song let it rain it began to rain.

And there's a poem by somebody called C Jackson which goes, and they don't have to whip us anymore. Our hangers from trees, it just whip us with a prison cell and hang us for 60 years for our first sale. Suggests that many of them feel unfairly treated. The statistics show that by the system at large, they are unfairly treated. America now leads the world in the total number of people in prison and African Americans are incarcerated at five times the rate of white Americans. But some of them have committed very serious crimes.

Very serious crimes and that's something to be taken very seriously and not forgotten. This is not to ever heroise the people that are involved, it's to humanize them. ["Parchment Prison Blues"] The lead-off song for the record is called, Parchment Prison Blues. It was the last song that we recorded that day. And these six men huddled together and non-verbally expressed their emotion with one another and their pain and their longing. And I think it's something that transcends language, and

to hear them express it so vulnerably and so openly is such a moving thing. That was the music producer Ian Brennan talking about a prison choir to Martin Bernard. 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, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on x at global news pod. This edition was mixed by Caroline Driscoll, the producer of Liam McShepard. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Janet Jaleel. Until next time, goodbye.