Global News Podcast - No survivors after plane with 61 on board crashes in Brazil

Episode Date: August 9, 2024

Authorities say the aircraft landed in a residential area in the state of São Paulo, but no-one on the ground has been injured. Also: The UN nuclear agency has urged Russia and Ukraine to exercise maximum restraint, as fighting in western Russia draws closer to the Kursk nuclear power plant. Rappler, the Philippines news site critical of the former government's deadly war on drugs, is to stay open after a court overturned a closure order, and the Russian chess champion accused of smearing poison on her rival's pieces.

Hello, this is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service, with reports and analysis from across the world. The latest news seven days a week. BBC World Service podcasts are supported by advertising. If you're hearing this, you're probably already listening to BBC's award-winning news podcasts. But did you know that you can listen to them without ads? Get current affairs podcasts like Thank you. Amazon Music with a Prime membership. Spend less time on ads and more time with BBC Podcasts. You're listening to the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway and this edition is published in the early hours of Saturday the 10th of August. A passenger plane has crashed in Sao Paulo state in Brazil, killing all 61 people on board.

Russia sends reinforcements to the Kursk region as it struggles to contain a cross-border attack by Ukraine. And prison guards at Iran's Evin prison are reported to have beaten female inmates for protesting against an upsurge in executions. Also in the podcast... This would be the earliest known solar calendar by many thousands of years. The stone carvings that show how people recorded time 13,000 years ago. It is a terrible thing to witness a plane tumbling out of control before plunging into the ground. Footage from Brazil shows the moment that an aircraft carrying 61 people dropped out of the sky, killing everyone

on board. The domestic flight went down just outside Sao Paulo, a few miles short of its destination. Local resident Felipe Magalhães saw what happened. When I heard the sound of the plane falling, I looked out of my window and saw the moment it crashed, the way it fell to the ground. I ran out of the house to where it had crashed and saw it had fallen into the house of a couple of elderly people. We knew them from church and so terrified and not knowing what to do, I jumped over the wall. I got more details from our South America correspondent, Ione Wells, in Sao Paulo. Well, as we heard a snippet of there,

this was a really, really shocking incident. You can see from videos shot by shocked residents the moment that this plane was spiralling out of the sky, seemingly completely out of control before it landed on the ground and crashed into a big cloud of black smoke and flames. Now, we know that all 57 passengers and four crew members who were on board were killed. There were no residents in the surrounding area who have been reported injured or killed.

It did land in a kind of residential complex where one of the homes has reportedly been damaged, but no injuries, as I say, or casualties on the ground. It's still very unclear what exactly caused this flight. Officials have said that the plane was in good operating condition. It had all the valid certificates. Its crew were also all licensed and had valid qualifications as well. The Brazilian Air Force, though, has said that the flight was normal until about 20 past one in the afternoon local time, and then it lost contact with air traffic control a minute later.

It also said that the plane didn't declare any kind of emergency before crashing or that it had been struggling with bad weather conditions. So there's still a lot of unknowns about what exactly caused this, particularly, of course, for all the families and friends of those victims this evening. Yeah, the way it spins out of control suggests it may have lost power. Have they found the black box? Well, we're still waiting for sort of updates. There is an investigation going on as we speak to try and establish the parts of the plane and also updates about what may have happened to it.

There is a big sort of area of rubble that can be seen in some of this footage where the plane has landed, which officials are now sort of investigating and looking through not only to try and establish the parts of the plane to find out what happened, but also, of course, to recover the bodies of those who have been tragically killed in this horrific accident. Yeah, we're also hearing that some people who were due to be on the flight missed it and so had a lucky escape. Well, that certainly may be the case.

I haven't spoken to them myself if that is the case, but I have seen some interviews with people who have been speaking at the site, many in the surrounding area who also feel lucky to be alive because this certainly caused a huge amount of damage, flames, as i say on the site where this plane crashed we've seen for example an interview with one man who said that had he been in a slightly different place just moments before and had he not been moved out the way that he could well have been right where that plane had crashed so i think lots of

people feeling particularly lucky to be alive there was one also very moving interview with a woman who, when asked whether she could have ever imagined something like this happening in her town, said actually yes, because she is always worried about things like this, given the fact that the town sits under a popular flight route. Now, having said that, this is completely unprecedented. There hasn't been a plane crash so deadly in Brazil since 2007, when a TAM plane burst into flames, which killed 199 people. There are hundreds and

hundreds of flights that go in and out of Sao Paulo International Airport every day, most of which with absolutely no problems at all. So I think there are lots of people absolutely in shock by what has happened. And also the way that it happened. Just seeing this plane fall out of the sky like that with no apparent control whatsoever is causing huge amounts of concern for everybody here this evening. Ione Wells talking to me from Sao Paulo in Brazil. Days after the Russian military claimed to have halted a Ukrainian cross-border offensive, fighting is still going on in the Kursk region. Footage from up to 35 kilometres inside Russia shows two abandoned Russian battle tanks and a burnt-out

column of military vehicles. The Kremlin initially said the incursion, which began on Tuesday, involved 1,000 Ukrainian troops. It later claimed that Ukraine had lost up to 945 of them. However, Ukrainian forces do seem to be on the offensive still. In a video posted online, soldiers claimed to be in control of a Gazprom office in the Russian town of Suja, 10 kilometres from the border. Wishing you health from Suja. The town is under control of the 61st rifle brigade the soldier says flanked by three other troops with a ukrainian flag the un nuclear agency meanwhile is warning both sides to exercise maximum restraint as fighting draws closer to a nuclear

power plant in kursk theEA said there were reports of significant military activity near the facility and urged the two nations to avoid a nuclear accident. So how is Russia responding to this Ukrainian offensive? A question for our Ukraine correspondent James Waterhouse. Well it's trying to throw its familiar military might at the situation. You know, we've seen footage on Russian state TV of missile launchers, armoured vehicles, tanks, either by rail or road, being sent in. But as of now, it is doing little to slow this advance. We're talking about Ukrainian forces making it as far as 10 kilometres inside Russia. And as you mentioned, you know, we've seen footage of one damaged convoy

that was struck by a missile. So the Ukrainians aren't just taking territory, they're frustrating the Russians' attempts to push them back. I don't think we are going to see lofty ambitions on the Ukrainian side of trying to push further in. I think we're going to see Ukraine try and create a buffer zone for as long as possible along the border to both pressurise Russia in the way we're seeing, but also in the hope that more troops are drawn to that area and also in a hope of trying to reduce the number of airstrikes. And how is Ukraine able to maintain this advance given the imbalance of forces and weaponry between the two nations?

That is a question certainly being posed by the more sceptical military analysts online. Ukraine is still seriously outnumbered by Russian forces. It is why they continue to inch forward in the eastern Donetsk region. And yet the Ukrainian command has decided this is an operation worth carrying out. And you would imagine there has been some kind of Western endorsement as well, either through the sensitive issue of strikes inside Russia,

but also the sharing of intelligence, because you would imagine the Ukrainians wouldn't have gone completely freelance on this. So this is a gamble. This is a high-stakes manoeuvre by Ukraine, because to send in elite fighters in this way inside Russia, they need a return for that. They need some kind of operational collapse elsewhere on the front lines inside Ukraine, or some kind of sizable concession from Russia. And at the moment, you're seeing Russia doing

everything it can to try and take it back. Meanwhile, the Ukrainians have even widened their attacks, hitting an air base deep inside Russia and launching an amphibious raid to the south in occupied Ukraine on the Kinburn Spit. Yes, I mean, on the latter operation we've seen, it seems like a resuming of amphibious assaults by Ukrainian forces on the southern point of the Dnipro River. These can still be classified as probing attacks

because the east bank of the river is occupied, the west is under Ukrainian control. And at the moment, Ukraine has tried to establish a foothold there before. Again, the aim is to draw Russian personnel. So this is certainly coordinated. As for the Lipetsk airbase strike, this is something Ukraine has wanted to do for a long time. It has reportedly hit an airbase where hundreds, says Kiev, of glide bombs are thought to be stored, where there are fighter jets and Russian bombers as well. And so with a large-scale drone strike, as reported overnight, this could well hinder Moscow's attempts to either terrorise cities or strike military positions. But that has not happened despite Ukraine launching strikes inside Russia.

Nevertheless, we look with interest to see whether this will be an extension of a Ukrainian strategy. James at Waterhouse in Kiev. Despite being forced on the defensive in some areas, Russia continued to fire missiles into Ukraine, killing at least 14 people and wounding many more in a strike on a supermarket in the eastern Ukrainian town of Konstantinivka. Anita Anand asked Kurt Volker, a former US representative for Ukraine negotiations, just how dangerous is this escalation? This is a deliberate political signal from Ukraine. Of course, Russia has been occupying parts of Ukraine for 10 years and engaging in ruthless attacks every day inside Ukrainian territory. So this is a way of bringing the war home to Russia a little bit, letting them know that it's not cost free, that it is indeed a war.

The Russian public needs to recognize that, that there are risks for Russia. So I think this is a very important signal. I don't believe that Ukraine has the capability to really take over Russia or defeat Russia in Russia. But doing something like this as an incursion, I think sends an important signal. An important signal to Russia. Does it send an important signal also to the United States, for example, that look, we're going to push on regardless and look at what we can do with what we've got? People keep thinking that Ukraine is not capable and eventually they're going to have to give up. And this is showing that Ukrainian capabilities are more robust than people have assumed. Conversely, does it not risk escalation if these Ukrainian troops have been using

weapons from the West? I don't think so. Russia has been attacking Ukraine relentlessly for over two years now. If they could have done more, they would have already done it. So I don't really think there's much risk of escalation. Russia's already escalated. What lines would Russia then cross after that? If you're talking about nuclear weapons, I don't think that that achieves anything in terms of Russia winning the war. Any tactical use of nuclear weapons. If anything, I think it should cause Russia to begin thinking about how it wants to end this war. It can't continue like this. How do the next few weeks pan out then, in your opinion? Well, I think the Ukrainians are very keen to show gains on the battlefield. They've gotten the

bulk of the equipment that has been approved from that $61 billion that Congress approved earlier this year, that is making its way to the front lines. So Ukraine is actually turning the tide a little bit. And I think that's important for psychological reasons for everybody, for the Ukrainians, for the Russians to see this happen, and for the West to see that Ukraine is capable of doing that. It's going to put them in a stronger position as we go into next year, and there may even be more pressure for some kind of negotiation or solution. And you don't subscribe at all to the notion that a cornered President Putin is a more dangerous President Putin? He's already dangerous. So it's not as if doing that is going to make it worse.

He's already there. We have to recognise that he has embarked on an imperialist and genocidal quest to kill and eliminate a whole people and to take over the territory of neighbouring countries. That's already bad enough. Kurt Volker, the former US permanent representative to NATO. Now, how did people thousands of years ago keep track of time and record important events? Archaeologists believe they found what may be the world's oldest sun and moon calendar at a site in southern Turkey, dating back nearly 13,000 years. Symbols carved into pillars in the mountains of Anatolia

are also believed to have recorded a comet strike that hit the Earth. Dr Martin Swetman from Edinburgh University told us more. This site consists of lots of enclosures with lots of stone pillars. And on one of these stone pillars, one of the most sort of decorated stone pillars, there are these carvings. There is this, what we can interpret as a solar calendar, and it's encoded in terms of these geometric symbols. So we have these V symbols, and there are some small box symbols.

And when we count them up, we can see that there is a lunar cycle. And then when we add all these different lunar cycles up and all the extra days, the extra V symbols, we can count an entire solar year of 365 days, which is quite remarkable. This would be the earliest known solar calendar by many thousands of years. On the same pillar, there are lots of animal symbols. There was this bird of prey symbol on the pillar, which was representing the summer solstice constellation. One of the few things we know about that time period is that this dramatic comet impact on Earth happened, and it's thought to have triggered all sorts of effects, such as extinctions of animals and climate change and so on.

So it's the kind of thing that would have been remembered by the people at the time. And they probably built these constructions, these pillars and these enclosures, because they were motivated by perhaps a new religion or a cult that was sort of triggered by this comet impact event. You know, the building of these grand structures would have encouraged people to gather around in the area to grow larger and larger communities. And so if our interpretation is correct, it means that this comet impact might have had an important role in the origin of civilisation.

Dr Martin Swetman. And still to come on the Global News Podcast. When I am convinced that my positions are true, I'm ready to fight for my beliefs. The Israelis trying to protect Palestinian shepherds from Israeli settlers. Like Global News, AmeriCast and The Global Story, plus other great BBC podcasts from history to comedy to true crime, all ad-free. Simply subscribe to BBC Podcast Premium on Apple Podcasts or listen to Amazon Music with a Prime membership. Spend less time on ads and more time with BBC Podcasts. Ibn Prison in Tehran has a notorious reputation. It is the main site for holding political prisoners in Iran and has long been the scene of what campaigners say

are serious human rights abuses. Now, the family of Iranian Nobel laureate Nagesh Mohammadi say guards have severely beaten female inmates after they protested over an upsurge in executions in the country. Human rights groups say at least 29 people were hanged this week, including 26 in a group execution in one prison outside Tehran. I got more details from Paham Gobadi of the BBC Persian service. Political prisoners, women political prisoners in notorious Evin prison decided that they would go on strike and show their protest every day

because of the number of executions in Iran. And what happened was that they guards, according to Nargis Mohammadi, they attacked female prisoners and a male guard punched her in the chest and she had a panic attack and she had difficulty breathing, but they refused to take her to the hospital. And so few others were also injured. But one of the main reasons is that a man who was actually arrested, Reza Rassoi, who was arrested during the protest two years ago in Iran in the western city of Kermanshah, was executed three days ago. And the way that he was executed actually shocked the nation because BBC Persian understood that after midnight,

Iranian security forces go to his parents' place and install cameras in front of their house. At 4.30 p.m. at the dawn, they hang him. And at 6 o'clock in the morning, they notify the family. And the reason why they install the cameras is that they want to check every movement of the family. They want them not to hold, you know, invite a lot of people not to cause unrest. This is a, you know, a pattern that they've been following in the past two years for many other prisoners as well. That was a political prisoner. Many others were executed this week. Why are we seeing so many people being put to death at the moment?

Most of the people believe that this is because the Iranian regime, after the mass protest two years ago, is scared that people might come to the streets again because of the financial difficulties that they are facing. So they use this as a form of, you know, ruling with iron fist to make people scared. It's a fear mongering technique to send a signal that if you dare to come out on the street again, this is going to be the repercussion. And this person who was executed, for example, Rasai was accused of killing a

security agent, which he denied all the time during the past two years. It's hard to keep track, but by some counts, 345 people executed this year, including 87 since the relatively moderate president was elected in July. Yeah, but if you ask him, I bet if he has an interview with any foreign media like his predecessors, he's going to give you the exactly same answer, that Iran has an independent judiciary. And I am not responsible for that. But the reality is that most of the Iranian regime's critics believe that Iranian judiciary is an extended arm of Iran's security apparatus and intelligence apparatus. Baham Ghabadi of the BBC Persian service. The UN says more than a thousand Palestinians have been forced from their homes because of escalating violence by Israeli settlers in the occupied territories. The UN's top court, the International Court of Justice, has ruled that the settlements

in the Palestinian territories are illegal. Israel says they are part of the Jewish ancestral homeland and necessary for Israel's security. But some Israelis are braving settler intimidation to stand in solidarity with Palestinian farmers. Our special correspondent Fergal Keane has this report from the Jordan Valley. Here a settler on horseback pushes against Gil Alexander, a 71-year-old Jewish human rights activist who's trying to stop him scattering the flock

of Palestinian shepherd Ahmed Daraghmeh. When I am convinced that my positions are true, I'm ready to fight for my beliefs. Call it stubborn. Call it stubborn. Call it stubborn. All right. Gil describes himself as a Zionist. He's a devout religious Jew who believes settlements

outside Israel's 1967 borders should not have been forced on the Palestinians. Gil, born in France, where his father fought in the resistance against the Nazis has been beaten and pepper sprayed but he won't relent this is my philosophy we cannot be a country that lives at the expense of a population that it governs by force here farther south, settlers are scattering a Palestinian flock.

They taunt the shepherds. I win, you lose, again, one shouts. Ahmad Daragmeh has endured relentless harassment from settlers, backed by the most right-wing government in Israeli history. According to human rights groups, the police and military often either refuse to intervene or take the side of the settlers. Gil and the other activists are the only witnesses to what Ahmad endures. It's good. All respect to him because he helps us with the sheep, he protects us in the land and at home.

There are several very good volunteers. The problem is that we are not allowed to go down the hill. All this land is forbidden for us. This hill is forbidden. All of it is forbidden. We think the settlements in Israel are very important because we think that in Israel we have to connect to our heritage. I met Shai Rosengarten here in Jerusalem. He's a leading figure in the Zionist organisation, Erm Tertzu, which supports the settlements. Like Gil Alexander, he's descended from survivors of the Holocaust.

He says violent settlers are a minority and what he calls radical activists are the Holocaust. He says violent settlers are a minority, and what he calls radical activists are the problem. What they are trying to do is just to weaken the Israeli army and to sabotage our efforts to make this area peaceful. Ahmad and Gil are sitting under an acacia tree, resting in the shade. The dogs are sprawled, exhausted, around us. There's time to reflect. Gil asks,

Do you realise when you meet us that not all Israelis are the same? And Ahmad replies, I know, I know, everyone knows. Not all Israelis are the same and not all Arabs are the same. Finally, Gil says, if it depended on us, tomorrow there would be peace. But of course, it doesn't depend on them. The politics of the moment appear unremittingly bleak. The shepherds and their Israeli supporters are the small, quiet voices, isolated figures in this valley.

Peace. prize winner and investigative journalist Maria Ressa. When it lost its license, Rappler had been investigating the then-president Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs. Rebecca Kesby has been speaking to Maria Ressa and asked first how she felt when she heard the court's decision. Oh my gosh, you know, Rappler was clapping, was laughing. It's been eight years of harassment. This is the case that could have shut us down. And to have that finally, and to have the decision written, you know, one of our lawyers just said, it's an overwhelming victory. It was a joy for me to read. So, wow, what a long-winded answer to say. Yay! So, a happy day for you. How do you think this is going to affect your news organization now in practical terms? Do you know that because there were criminal charges against Rauper and because our entire existence was at risk, it meant that we couldn't do simple things, almost like you're running a marathon, but you know, one leg. It means now finally, the SEC can actually change their banner, which says we don't exist, restore our license, and we can begin to move forward. After this

happened, we had to close our Jakarta Bureau. We couldn't even open a bank account outside the Philippines, right? So this means we can begin to think of a normal world. What about the cyber libel case, which has, for whatever reason, gone all the way up to the Court of Last Appeal. Cyber libel is now at the Supreme Court, and it is an unbanked decision, and we wait. That means that I can't leave the country without getting approval from the Supreme Court. I mean, there's so many things I can't do because of this. It also means that if the Supreme Court. I mean, there's so many things I can't do because of this. It also means that if the Supreme Court rules against me, that I could go to jail for up to seven years. But I mean, I suppose today's ruling does give you a sense that

perhaps things may go in your favor. I mean, I was just reading the ruling that came down today from the appeals court saying that the Securities and Exchange Commission had acted with grave abuse of discretion, it says. Yes. Is that kind of them saying that this was politically motivated or that it was unfair? I mean, the decision and other parts. And I think we tried to pull it out when we were reading it. My three co-founders and I were like yelling at each other, reading the quotes. There's a part there that says this should never happen in a democracy. I mean, in the darkest of times, we seemed foolish for

continuing to submit ourselves to the court. It took six years from the time this SEC en banc took the case, eight years from the time when we had heard that this was going to happen. It took a long time, but finally a sense of justice. What does it mean for the country? I've asked this all the time, you know, and I have a glib answer, which is we were in hell and now we're in purgatory. Because it's still far from perfect, right? But we're in purgatory and we can continue to move forward. The world of chess has been shocked by allegations that a Russian champion tried to poison her rival

by covering her pieces in mercury. Amina Abakareva was caught on security camera acting suspiciously ahead of a tournament in southern Russia last week. Richard Hamilton takes up the story. In the CCTV footage, Amina Abakareva can be seen entering the room at the Dagestani Chess Championship where all the boards are set up and looking around to check no one else was there. She then approaches her opponent's table, takes what appears to be a vial from her bag and pours a substance on some pieces before surveying the room again. Umayganat Osmanova needed medical treatment after experiencing severe dizziness and nausea during the game, but she was able to continue with the

tournament later. It's claimed that Ms Abakarova poisoned her childhood rival in an act of revenge after Ms Osmanova had insulted her. The incident was reported to the police by the tournament organisers and the footage was handed over, as well as the substance, which was later found to contain mercury. Depending on the amount, exposure to mercury can be fatal, but can also lead to other complications such as tremors, memory loss, neuromuscular problems, headaches and insomnia. Ms Abakarova could face up to three years in prison. The Russian Chess Federation is also considering whether she should be banned for life. Richard Hamilton. And that is all from us for now, but the Global News Podcast will be back at the same time

tomorrow. This edition was mixed by Daniel Fox and produced by Rebecca Wood. Our editors, Karen Martin. I'm Oliver Conway. Until next time, goodbye. to BBC's award-winning news podcasts. But did you know that you can listen to them without ads? Get current affairs podcasts like Global News, AmeriCast and The Global Story, plus other great BBC podcasts from history to comedy to true crime, all ad-free. Simply subscribe to BBC Podcast Premium on Apple Podcasts

or listen to Amazon Music with a Prime membership. Spend less time on ads and more time with BBC Podcasts.