Global News Podcast - Night-time curfew imposed in fire-hit areas of Los Angeles

Episode Date: January 11, 2025

In Los Angeles, a night-time curfew has been imposed in areas impacted by the devastating wildfires, as police warn against looting. Also: a Stradivari violin heads to auction with an estimated $18m price tag.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. I'm Nicola Cochlan and for BBC Radio 4, this is history's youngest heroes, rebellion, risk and the radical power of youth. She thought, right, I'll just do it. She thought about others rather than herself. 12 stories of extraordinary young people from across history. There's a real sense of urgency in them. That resistance has to be mounted, it has to be mounted now. Follow History's Youngest Heroes wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.

I'm Jackie Leonard and in the early hours of Saturday the 11th of January these are our main stories. Donald Trump will become the first US president with a criminal record after being sentenced for fraud. In a rambling statement to the court he repeated his claim he is being persecuted by political opponents. Police in Los Angeles say they will rigorously enforce a curfew to prevent further looting of properties evacuated because of the wildfires and Washington has increased its bounty on the Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro on the day he was sworn into office. Also in this podcast a violin that could go for as much as $18 million.

The President-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, has become the first president to be criminally sentenced, but he won't face jail. The judge overseeing the case, Juan Marchand, imposed an unconditional discharge. Mr. Trump was convicted last year of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal that threatened his 2016 presidential campaign. Mr. Trump, who has always denied wrongdoing, appeared by video link from Florida. Before the judge delivered his sentence Mr Trump was allowed to speak in his own defence. Here's part of what he had to say to the court

in New York. With all that's happening in our country today, with a city that's burning to the ground, one of our largest most important cities burning to the ground, with wars that are uncontrollably going on, with all of the problems of inflation and attacks on countries and all of the horrible things that are going on. I got indicted over calling a legal expense a legal expense. It was called a legal expense. I just want to say I think it's an embarrassment to New York. Our correspondent, Neda Taufik, who's in New York,

told us what happened in court. This was a sentencing hearing that lasted about over a half an hour. And what we saw was both sides speaking, so beginning with the prosecution. And Joshua Steinglass from the Manhattan District's attorney's office said that he understood why the judge wanted to sentence Donald Trump

in the way that he did. But he did say, beyond kind of respect for the office of the presidency, he had real concerns with how Donald Trump conducted himself during the trial, saying that he has done lasting damage to the perception of the criminal justice system by continually attacking the judges and the system and just showing disdain overall. And then we heard Donald Trump, and there was a bit there that you played, but he also just spoke about how he was innocent, how he says he did nothing wrong and repeated the claims he made during the seven-week trial, that the entire case was a political witch hunt and he said that the voters had seen how he was treated and that's why they voted to put him back in the White House. And at that point we then got to hear from Judge Juan Marchand who really limited his remarks to explaining his decision. And what does an unconditional discharge actually mean?

Yeah, it's really interesting because it's the most lenient sentence possible. Judge Juan Marchand really made a distinction between Donald Trump as a private citizen and the kind of powers that are afforded to the office of the presidency in this case. And ultimately, he said the only lawful sentence he could impose to not encroach on Trump's imminent role as president on the highest office of the land was unconditional discharge. And what it means is that Donald Trump's guilty verdict goes on his record, that the case is officially closed so that Donald Trump can appeal it. And that is important because anything but a sentence wouldn't have allowed Donald Trump

to then be able to appeal. But crucially, what it means is that there is no punishment here, no jail time, no probation and no fine. So Donald Trump will enter the White House as a convicted felon, but he won't have any punishment hanging over him. But he could appeal. Do we have any indication of whether he's going to? Now Donald Trump has said very clearly that he will appeal this case. We know that he cares deeply that he is now a convicted felon. He wanted to stop this from happening. He appealed as far as to the Supreme Court for an emergency relief to pause the sentencing.

And just last night, they denied that on a very slim majority, five to four. And remember, this is a conservative Supreme Court. But ultimately, they said that Donald Trump had to go through with sentencing for that very reason that he could appeal and because he was able to appear virtually, which meant very little disruption to his preparations taking office. That was Neda Taufik in New York. Russia has said that President Putin is open to talks with Donald Trump when he returns to the White House, welcoming what it calls his readiness to solve problems through dialogue. Mr Trump

has repeatedly promised to bring a swift end to the war in Ukraine, but hasn't provided any details on how he would do that. His approach marks a change from that of President Biden, who is not believed to have spoken directly to Mr. Putin since his full-scale invasion in 2022. Our Eastern Europe correspondent, Sarah Rainsford, has this report from Kiev. Donald Trump once said he would end this war in 24 hours, an impossible claim that has morphed into a pledge to make stopping what he called the bloody mess in Ukraine a priority. He now says preparations are underway for a meeting

with Vladimir Putin, a man indicted by the Hague as a suspected war criminal and almost totally isolated by Western leaders ever since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The Kremlin has welcomed Mr Trump's comments, saying it shows the incoming president has a willingness for dialogue. It will have been even happier that he previously said he understood Russia's feelings in not wanting Ukraine to join NATO. That is why here in Kiev there will be some trepidation about such talks, concern that in his rush to push for peace, Donald Trump may push Ukraine into making major concessions.

A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry here has stressed that Ukraine is also preparing for a summit between Mr Trump and Vladimir Zelensky. He has said before that Ukraine wants peace more than anyone, but stressed that the only way to negotiate with Vladimir Putin is from a position of strength. Sarah Rainsford in Ukraine. The authorities in Los Angeles have issued a powerful warning against looting and other is from a position of strength. told to evacuate their homes by the authorities, leaving the empty properties vulnerable to opportunistic criminals. A nighttime curfew has been imposed in some areas. Robert Luna is the Los Angeles County Sheriff. You cannot be in these affected areas. If you are, you are subject to arrest. That is

important. We're not doing this to inconvenience anybody. We're doing it to protect the structures, the houses that people have left because we ordered them to leave and I want them to feel confident that we are doing everything we can to secure that. Officials also said that anyone flying unauthorised drones will face prosecution after a firefighting plane was taken out of action after being hit by one, hampering efforts to contain the fires. Ten people are known to have died so far. Peter Beaux, our correspondent in LA, told us about the weather conditions and the difficulties the firefighters face. These extremely strong gusts of wind, one moment it's

calm, next moment it's extremely windy, and they're very unpredictable in terms of the direction of the winds, and that's a key issue in terms of managing a fire as they try to put it out, but not quite knowing which direction it's going to move in next. And as far as the forecast is concerned, I'm hearing that Monday and Tuesday of next week are when the winds are really expected to kick up again. And in a sense there's nothing that unusual about that at this time of year. They're called Santa Ana winds, they come into

Los Angeles from the east and gain speed as they move across the city. It's something we're used to. The problem is we're not used to so many fires happening at the same time across such a wide area. And we heard that there's a curfew being announced to prevent looting. How serious is the looting situation? It's very serious and the curfew is to try to deter people from going into those areas and what it means clearly is they want to try to deter anyone who is intent on going into people's homes that have been evacuated. They're standing there empty of people but full of personal possessions that they are intent on stealing and there's

nothing that the homeowner can do about it and also of course affected by this curfew are in fact those homeowners themselves who in many cases are just desperate to get back to their properties but they're now being told that at least in these two hardest hit areas they are unable to do that. During the night time hours the curfew will end at 6 o'clock in the morning but already several people have been detained for attempting to break into these properties. We've had a lot of distraught people but there's anger as well isn't there? There's anger on several fronts, there's anger especially those people who are in neighborhoods, their house is burning and they don't

see any firefighters and that they feel as if they're being ignored. I've experienced that, many people have experienced that over the last couple of days and very often times it's simply because the fire service is so stretched that it simply can't get to every incident and but nevertheless people become angry and become frustrated. The other sense of frustration is that this is very unusual about 24 hours ago a city emergency alert system sent out texts to everyone in the Los Angeles area warning of an evacuation, of a compulsory evacuation. Problem is it was not

intended. It was a computer glitch, it was faulty and there's a major investigation now internally reflecting a lot of that anger as to why it happened and what can be done to stop it happening again. That was Peter Bowes in Los Angeles. Next to Venezuela. I swear by the historic noble and brave people of Venezuela before this constitution that I will fulfill all its obligations and the laws of the Republic and that this new presidential term will be the period of peace, prosperity, equality and new democracy. I swear by history, I swear by my life and I will fulfill it." Wearing the yellow, blue and red

presidential sash, Nicolás Maduro was sworn in on Friday for a third term. The oath came six months after disputed elections which the opposition and much of the international community say he lost. The opposition say Mr Maduro's swearing-in amounts to a coup d'etat. These people expressed their concerns about the future. I'm very afraid of what might happen. We all hope that there won't be any problems and that everything will be calm and good for Venezuela. What I tell you it's horrible. Six more years, no one can stand this. Maduro can't go on anymore.

Mr. Maduro's inauguration came a day after the opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was arrested after addressing a protest rally. She has now been released. Beginning his new term, President Maduro is defying international pressure and condemnation led by the United States, which has now increased a reward leading to his arrest. We heard more from Guillermo Olmo of BBC Monde. Mr Maduro was sworn in in the palace of the National Assembly in downtown Caracas surrounded the building by a tight security line. That's the continuation of something that has been happening in the Venezuelan capital for the last few days where people have been seeing a lot of military and police presence in the streets ahead of the ceremony. Mr Maduro stood before

the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez, and with his hand on the Venezuelan constitution vowed to, now I'm quoting, enforce all its mandates. He then got the enthusiastic applause of an audience made of mainly of pro-government politicians. That's what happened. Now, a lot of foreign dignitaries boycotted the inauguration, didn't they? Who was there? Well, the Venezuelan government has been facing international isolation over the last few years and that has been reflected in ceremony. We saw their special delegates sent by Russia and China, which now stand out as the main two powers that are the main backers of Mr.

Maduro. But the only two Latin American leaders that attended were the Cuban president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, and the Nicaraguan president, Daniel Ortega. Even some left-leaning Latin American presidents like Brazil's Lula or Colombia's Gustavo Petro have turned their back on the Venezuelan ruler and didn't show up and neither sent any delegates. There have been some protests, haven't there? Give us an idea of just how visible the opposition is. Well, the opposition has been facing a hard time after the election. Many of its activists have been facing prosecution, jail, detention. Even some of them are reportedly just disappeared.

And they tried to stage some protests nationwide. The most attended one was the one in Caracas where, according to reports, about 7,000 people showed up. But now, well, I've been talking to many people in Venezuela, and most of them say that they are concerned and that they fear reprisals or even prosecution from authorities if they dare to show their anger or their unhappiness with the outcome of July's presidential election. So they'd rather stay home and waiting for a better time to express themselves. Guillermo Olmo of BBC Mundo.

In Israel, the inauguration of Donald Trump as the next US president is seen by many Israeli settlers as an opportunity to press ahead with the annexation of the occupied West Bank. Israeli settlements there have almost doubled in the past five years and are now home to more than half a million people. Most countries in the world caught in the Hague see the settlements as illegal under international law. But Israel disputes this and the country's far-right finance minister Betzalel Smotrich greeted Donald Trump's election by saying that 2025 must be the year of sovereignty in the territory, which many Israelis refer to by its biblical name of Judea and Samaria.

Our Middle East correspondent Lucy Williamson has this report. Take a deep breath and you will be captivated by the Samarian air blowing in the hills. On a hilltop viewpoint above the Israeli settlement of Karnish Omron, an audio guide sets out Jewish claims to the occupied West Bank, known to settlers as Judea and Samaria. In 1982 there were no permanent homes there, they were under construction and there were some temporary prefab homes on that hill. Sandra Barraas has lived in Carnes-Chamron for 40 years. Since then the population has grown to more than 11,000 and settlements across the West Bank have mushroomed. Now many here see an opportunity to go further. I was thrilled that Trump won. With the election of Donald Trump as

the next US president. I very much want Israel to extend sovereignty in Judea and Samaria. I do believe that this is something Trump could support. Israeli annexation of the West Bank has remained a dream for settlers like Sandra, despite the World Court and most countries viewing Israel's occupation as illegal. So what happens to Palestinians who say, I don't want to live under Israeli sovereignty? They can go wherever they want. But this is where they live.

So I'm not kicking them out. How many wars did they start? And they lost. Israel Gantz, head of the regional settlement council that oversees Karné Chomron, says he's already noticed a change in tone from the incoming administration. I think after October 7th, here in Israel and the United States, they understand

we must apply a sovereignty here. In my eyes, the dream of two-state solution, dead. President Biden was very clear, very public. Even after the 7th of October, he stuck to the sameth of October, he stuck to the same policy of the two-state solution. Are you hearing something different now? Yes. The United States finally and officially recognised Jerusalem as the true capital of Israel. In Donald Trump's first term as president, he broke with US policy and international

consensus by recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital and Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights. The man he's nominated as ambassador to Israel now, Mike Huckabee, has voiced strong support for settlements. When people use the term occupy I say yeah Israel is occupying the land but it's occupation of a land that God gave them 3500 years ago. It is their land. But there's a good chance that Israelis lobbying for annexation, some of them in cabinet positions, might be disappointed in Trump's decisions. Supporting annexation could alienate Washington's other key ally, Saudi Arabia, complicating

Mr Trump's chances for a wider regional deal. Mohaib Salameh says no American president has ever protected Palestinians, and that Donald Trump won't either. Mohaib's family home, built on private Palestinian land, was ruled illegal by an Israeli court last year and demolished. Israel controls planning laws in 60% of the West Bank and while settlements are expanding, permits for Palestinian homes are almost never granted. This is all part of policies to force us to leave.

It's a policy of forced migration. Palestinians are also increasingly being forced off their land by violent Israeli settlers, many of whom were sanctioned by the US and UK, but left unchallenged by Israeli police and courts at home. Israel's government has long denied that its settlements are illegal and it sees Donald Trump as a friend. But America's next president is also a man who likes closing deals and avoiding conflicts. That report by Lucy Williamson. Still to

come. In the 1980s Iran experienced a baby boom with fertility rates averaging more than six children per woman. But we'll hear how Iran's once youthful population is now aging rapidly. What do Tiger Woods, Mark Zuckerberg and Taylor Swift all have in common? Well, their lives and fortunes are all being discussed on Good Bad Billionaire, the podcast exploring the minds, motives and the money of some of the world's wealthiest individuals. I'm Zing Zing and each week my co-presenter Simon Jack and I take a closer look at the world's mega-rich and we try to decide whether they're good, bad or just another billionaire. From celebs and CEOs to sports stars and tech titans, find out how billionaires made their money and how they use it.

Good, Bad, Billionaire from the BBC World Service. All episodes of season one and two are available now wherever you get your BBC podcasts. And click follow or subscribe so you never miss a new episode. Ethiopia hasn't had a stock market for half a century since it was shut down after Emperor Haile Selassie was overthrown during the socialist revolution. On Friday, the Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed officially launched its new stock exchange or ESX. It's part of efforts to liberalise and revive the economy. This report from Jewel Kiryungi in Nairobi. Ethiopia is one of Africa's biggest economies with a population of more than a hundred million

people. Through the ESX, it wants to attract both domestic and foreign investors who will bring the much-needed foreign capital into the country. It also plans to privatize about 10 state-owned companies, as Dr. Tilahun Kasahun, the ESX chief executive officer, explains. So, broadly the objective, obviously, is a significant appetite for government to create sustainable ways and means in terms of raising debt capital from domestic sources as it attempts to diversify its source of finance. What about small businesses and start-ups? They are Ethiopia's economic backbone.

For decades, many of such businesses have struggled to get loans from traditional banks. But they will finally have a formal way to raise money by selling shares in their companies. Mr. Zemedene Negatu is the global chair of U.S.-based investment firm Fairfax Africa Fund. There are a lot of family-owned businesses, a lot of very exciting startups who can now tap into a large pool of capital, organized, regulated, and that's very important, especially as you establish a new market that is regulated by the government because confidence building is important. But not everyone is convinced. There have been mixed reactions to the sweeping economic

reforms pushed by Prime Minister Ahmed. When Ethiopia floated its currency to secure loans of about $10.7 billion from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, the value of the beer dropped in half. This shot up the cost of living for many Ethiopians. Meanwhile, local banks are worried about foreign competition after parliament passed a law that allows foreign banks to set up shop in Ethiopia over the next five years. Currently, all the banks in Ethiopia are locally owned. There's also the issue of political instability. The brutal two-year civil war in the North Antigra region dented investor confidence. And ongoing violent

unrests in the Oromea and Amhara regions remain a concern. Despite the challenges the new stock market presents a bold vision for Ethiopia's future. With the right balance of regulation and support it could help the country unlock its vast economic potential. Jule Kiriungi. A new study has found that Iran's once youthful population is aging rapidly and could shrink by 50% by the end of the century. Mike Thompson reports. In the 1980s, Iran experienced a baby boom with fertility rates averaging more than six children per woman. But as the country's economy struggled after its war with Iraq, the government imposed

a limit of two children per family. Since then, births have plummeted, slowing population growth by around two-thirds. In an effort to reverse the trend, the government has recently restricted the distribution of contraceptives, launched a dating app, and offered couples financial incentives to have more children. But all it seems to little effect as the nation's economic woes deepen. Mike Thompson. Justices in the Supreme Court in Washington have signalled that they're leaning towards upholding a law that will result in the banning of social media app TikTok. They heard from lawyers

representing TikTok, from content creators and the US government on a law that would require the Chinese company ByteDance to sell TikTok in the US or cease operations on the 19th of January. President-elect Trump, who will return to the White House the next day, now argues against the ban. Lily Jamali in Washington told us more. Tiktok's argument has long been that this law violates the free speech rights of the 170 million American users of the platform. The objection coming from the US government is that this law is not about that. This is about who owns TikTok.

The Chinese company ByteDance is who about that. This is about who owns TikTok. The Chinese company, Fight Dance, is who owns TikTok. And the justices, at least most of them, seem to accept that framing here at the Supreme Court today. The argument is that ownership by a Chinese entity creates opportunities for a couple of things. First, manipulation by way of the types of content that is served up on the app to users here, as well as data harvesting. Can the Chinese government access the data of those Americans? The justices here actually seemed quite animated by the concept that that data could be harnessed

by China for intelligence purposes. And so generally speaking, the consensus view is that the justices seem poised to keep this law in place, which would mean that the ban would take effect on January 19th. So how could it come into place? What would the mechanism be? Yeah, this is a really great question. And it's not entirely clear, you know, what happens when we all wake up on January 19th here in the United States if we have TikTok on our phones. You know, there's a little bit of a guide here from what happened when Twitter became X, you know, sort of a gradual process. One day, you know, you see it on your phone with

a different icon. But in this case, what we think will happen is that most of the action will come not from TikTok, but from Apple and Google and other companies that run app stores where people go to get TikTok. They would be flouting the law if they continued to serve it up, serve TikTok up on their app stores on January 19th if this law stays in place. And so very likely that's the most obvious mechanism,

the biggest change that Americans will see on that day if the Supreme Court upholds the law. Now, of course, President-elect Trump, who returns to the White House quite shortly, isn't in favour of the ban. Yes, and a reminder for our listeners that Trump tried to ban TikTok back in 2020 with an executive order, which was struck down by the Supreme Court. They said that he didn't have the authority to approach the issue in that way. But here we have congressional legislation passed on a bipartisan basis and signed by the current president. So

Trump has asked the Supreme Court for an emergency injunction, a halt, a temporary halt to the law, so that he can come into office the next day and start working on some sort of political resolution to this issue that would, in his words, save TikTok. He's had a change of heart. He's talked about on the election, on the campaign trail as well as after the election, how he thinks TikTok has been very helpful in terms of enabling him to reach young voters and so he has changed his tune there. Lily Jamali in Washington.

Spain has introduced legislation to stop people being prosecuted for blasphemy. The governing socialist party argues that blasphemy charges rarely succeed but are used by extremist and fundamentalist organisations to try to silence artists and activists. Here's our Europe regional editor, Paul Moss. There was the Comedienne who brandished a picture of Jesus with a cow's head superimposed on it, and a woman who paraded through a Spanish street with a giant model of female genitalia. They and others found themselves prosecuted for blasphemy. But the only such prosecution which actually succeeded in recent years was of a man who interrupted a Catholic mass shouting pro-abortion slogans. He got a six-month prison

sentence. Now Spain's government wants to remove anti-blasphemy laws from the statute book, part of a range of measures which it calls an action plan for democracy. That was Paul Moss. One of the world's great musical instruments has gone on show in London. It's a Stradivarius violin made by the Italian craftsman in 1714. The violin, specifically known as the Joachim Ma Stradivarius, will be auctioned in New York next month with an estimated value of 12 to 18 million dollars. Helena Newman is the chairman of Sotheby's Europe. This is a very special example of Stradivarius' violin making because it comes from his golden period between 1700 and around 1720. This dates from 1714, so it's right in the pinnacle of his maturity

as a maker and he innovated in his creations to improve the sound. And that's basically what people are looking for with Strad as this magic around the brilliance of the sound coupled with the warmth and the depth of color which a great violinist can tease out of an instrument of this quality. This instrument was owned by the renowned Hungarian violinist Josef József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József József Józ And he was one of the great 19th century violinists. So having that provenance, knowing that this instrument was owned by Joachim, I mean, it

gives one a sort of direct lineage through to the 19th century violin school. And then in the 20th century, it was owned by the Chinese violinist and pedagogue C. Honma, who was an alumnus of the New England Conservatoire in Boston. And he actually bequeathed this instrument to the conservatoire, where it has been played by some of its best students, but with the proviso that it could eventually be sold to fund a scholarship fund for students attending the Conservatoire. It's a wonderful thing actually. The proceeds will go to support students at the New England Conservatoire, which is incredibly worthwhile and important mission. That was Helena Newman of Sotheby's Auction House. Global podcast at bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at Global News Pod. This edition

was mixed by Masood Ibrahim Ghail. The producer was Liam McShepard. Our editor is Karen Martin. I'm Jackie Leonard and until next time, goodbye. What do Tiger Woods, Mark Zuckerberg and Taylor Swift all have in common? Well, their lives and fortunes are all being discussed on Good, Bad Billionaire, the podcast exploring the minds, motives and the money of some of the world's wealthiest individuals. I'm Zing Zing and each week my co-presenter Simon Jack and I take a closer look at the world's mega rich and we try to decide whether they're good bad or just another billionaire from celebs and CEOs to sports stars and tech titans. Find out how billionaires made their money and how they use it. Good Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service. All episodes of season

one and two are available now wherever wherever you get your BBC podcasts. And click follow or subscribe so you never miss a new episode.