Global News Podcast - One dead after attack on Brazil's Supreme Court

Episode Date: November 15, 2024

A Brazilian judge says a foiled suicide bomber wanted to blow up the country's Supreme Court. Also: the hundreds of miners hiding in a South African mine, and the dead British soldiers - identified after 70 years.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. A search for the truth behind an international drug smuggling plot. How are we going to unravel this all? From the BBC World Service, this is World of Secrets, season five, Finding Mr. Fox. Search for World of Secrets wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Search for World of Secrets wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Police in Brazil say a foiled bomb attack on the Supreme Court was linked to riots that followed President Bolsonaro's election defeat. A community leader in South Africa says miners trapped underground are eating toothpaste mixed with vinegar to survive.

And President Trump has nominated the notorious anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as his health secretary. On the same day, a study revealed that falling vaccination rates have contributed to a 20% rise in measles cases around the world. Also in the podcast. The emotional release was just, well I can't describe it, I just wailed like a banshee for about 20 minutes. It sort of haunted me for 70 years. The bodies of four British soldiers killed in the Korean War are finally identified.

In January 2023, supporters of the defeated Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro went on the rampage in the capital, Brasilia. In an echo of the storming of the US Capitol two years earlier, they targeted Brazil's Supreme Court, Congress and the Presidential Palace. On Wednesday night, the same area was hit by a bomb attack, apparently carried out by a member of Mr Bolsonaro's far-right Liberal Party. Police say 59-year-old Francisco Vandeley Luiz died after setting off a bomb outside the Supreme Court. The Minister of the Supreme Federal Court, Alexandre Moraes, explained what happened.

Apart from the January 8th storming of government buildings by followers of Jair Bolsonaro, this is perhaps the worst attack on the Supreme Court. A person tried to enter the court when he was stopped by security, who realised he had artefacts strapped to him, and then he went to the Statue of Justice and blew himself up. His plan was to try to blow himself up inside the Supreme Court. No one else was hurt in the two explosions, but the attack raises questions about security ahead of a meeting of global leaders from the G20 industrialised nations in Rio de Janeiro next week and a

visit to Brasília by the Chinese president. For more details about the attack, I spoke to Leandro Prazeres of BBC Brasil. What we know so far is that two explosions were heard on Wednesday night near the Praça dos Três Poderes, where Brazil's Supreme Court and the Congress building are located. Footage from cameras show Mr. Luis throwing what appeared to be a firework towards the Supreme Court building before he lit an explosive device, laid on the ground until the device exploded, which killed him. After that, investigators went to a house he had rented three months ago

in the suburbs of Brasilia and found out that he had set bomb traps in the place that had been detonated by robots. And right now the police are investigating if he was operating alone or if he had the help of other people. Yeah, they say they think there are links to what happened in January last year. Tell us about his relationship with the ex-president Jair Bolsonaro. Everything indicates that Mr. Luiz was a right-wing militant. As you said, he ran for office in a municipality in southern Brazil in 2020. He didn't get enough votes. He ran for the same political party as former president Jair Bolsonaro, the leading political figure on the

Brazilian right at the moment. On social media, he posted several messages with political content, criticizing left-wing politicians and also at Brazil's Supreme Court. It's not a total surprise that Brazil's Supreme Court is the target of right-wing militants. We have to remember that on January 8, 2023, the Supreme Court was one of the buildings stormed by thousands of people in a Cuda tent. The Supreme Court remains heavily under the attack of right-wing figures here in Brazil who accuse it of persecuting militants and politicians such as Jair Bolsonaro. Yeah, I mean, has Mr Bolsonaro said anything about this? And indeed, have we heard from the current president? So far, President Lula did not say anything about what happened yesterday, which is different

from what happened last year when he was very vocal in relation to the invasion of buildings in Brasilia. J Bolsonaro issued a statement regretting what happened in Brasilia and saying that the country needs some sort of specification. And of course this all comes ahead of some very important meetings in Brazil. So is it likely that security will be tightened further? Well, I've been speaking to diplomats from Brazil and from different delegations. They have told me that there is no indication that additional measures will be necessary. Rio de Janeiro, which is going to host the G20 summit, is already under a heavy security scheme. The streets will be closed. An entire airport will be shut down

for commercial flights only to receive the planes from foreign delegations. It's expected that at least 26,000 military personnel will work during the days of the summit. So no additional measures will be necessary because the current design of the security scheme is believed to be enough. Leandro Prezeres of BBC Brazil. The World Health Organisation says global measles cases rose by 20% last year. The disease can be prevented with two vaccine doses but more than 22 million children missed their first injection in 2023. Our health correspondent Dominic Hughes has the details.

The measles vaccine is believed to have saved more lives than any other in the past 50 years and yet vaccination rates have fallen away from the 95% coverage that experts say is needed to prevent outbreaks. The World Health Organisation estimates that just 74% of children received two full vaccine doses in 2023. That perhaps explains why global cases leapt by a fifth last year. Gaps in vaccination rates saw serious outbreaks in more than 50 countries, and the deaths of more than 107,000 people, mostly children under the age of five. Deaths in 2023 were actually slightly lower than the previous year, mainly because outbreaks occurred in countries with

better developed health services. Dominic Hughes. They're known as Zama Zamas in Zulu, illegal miners, many of them foreigners who operate in abandoned mine shafts across South Africa. It's thought hundreds, maybe even thousands are currently hiding in an old gold mine in Stilfontein, south of Johannesburg. They are reluctant to come out for fear of being arrested. The dead body of one miner was recovered on Thursday. I heard more from our correspondent, Nomsa Maseko, in Johannesburg. Illegal miners, some of them undocumented migrants, others former mine workers who have

been sacked because many of the mines have closed. They go underground in search of gold deposits in order to make ends meet. And what we know is that many of them are part of gangs who are heavily armed in most cases and they operate underground because South Africa has a labyrinth of mine shafts that stretch for kilometres on end between the provinces. Mines have enclosed, many shafts have been left abandoned and that is where people have been taking advantage of the situation by going underground, extracting the minerals and then selling them on the black market. Sounds like a dangerous situation.

Absolutely, very dangerous. The fact remains that there are illegal miners that are underground. Many of them have refused to resurface because they face arrest. They have been there since the 18th of October. And as part of an operation to stop illegal mining in the country, police and the army have been deployed to these areas. And what they have done is that they've cut off food and water supply in an effort to force the people, you know, who are beneath the surface to come out. So far, just over a thousand of them have voluntarily

come out. And today, we then found that there was a decomposing body of one of them that was pulled out from underground. Community leaders have told us that they used ropes and seatbelts to try and pull out this person. We don't know exactly how many people have died underground and what the cause of death is, but we do know that some are now frail because their supplies have been cut off to force them to come out.

And what are conditions like underground in these abandoned mines? I've been underground, you know, with illegal miners when I did an investigation a few years ago. It is very hot and it is very difficult to breathe some of these times. But there's also an interesting element to this because there's a whole economy that is actually being run from underground. There are shops, you know, there'll be women that are selling food and cigarettes and drinks to people that are staying underground. Many of them stay underground

for months and the prices of the food that they sell are exorbitant because if you don't buy from them, then you risk going out, buying food and then missing out on making money by stealing all the loot from underground. Nomsa Maseko in Johannesburg. Buried for decades in unmarked graves, the bodies of four British soldiers killed in the Korean War have finally been identified after a six-year investigation. Some of their children, now in their seventies, attended a ceremony in Busan. Our Seoul correspondent Jean Mackenzie sent this report.

This is a very special ceremony taking place at the United Nations Cemetery. Thousands of soldiers are buried here from countries all around the world who came to defend South Korea from the North during the Korean War. And in the morning, we will remember them. Nearly 900 British soldiers were buried here, 76 of them in unknown graves. But not anymore. There are now four new headstones for four men whose remains have been identified after more than 70 years. Major Patrick Angier, Sergeant Donald Northey, Corporal William Adair and Rifleman Mark Foster.

Something that makes today's ceremony so special is that some of the men's children are here after being told that their father's bodies would never be found. Each of the families have now been taken to the graves. Michael, you were just one years old when your father, Sergeant Donald Northey, went off to fight. Yes. I mean, this is the closest I've been to him in 70 years. What was it like to receive that news? The emotional release, well, I can't describe it. I just wailed like a banshee for about twenty minutes. It sort of haunted me for seventy years and I did a lot of research

but I've reached the point where I turned off, done, I thought, well I'm going to pass away soon. I read the paper, you touch my cheek. This is Tabby reading a poem about her father, Major Patrick Angier, who went off to fight when she was three and never came home. The rough kiss of my hand. She's visited this cemetery twice before, trying to get as close to him as she could. She had no idea he was here all along.

I think it'll take time to really sink in. Do you have any memories of him? all along. He knew he'd gone, but people in the village used to say, oh, those poor children, they've lost their father. So I used to think, if he's lost, they're going to find him. Both Tabby and Michael's fathers were in the Gloucester Regiment. They fought in the famous Battle of Injun River in 1951, holding back the Chinese army for just long enough so the Allied troops could regroup and defend Seoul. Thank you on behalf of His Majesty the King for Donald's sacrifice.

Unfortunately the enemy had scattered all of their dog tags so when they were actually trying to identify the men they just couldn't. Nicola Nash is the forensic expert who's spent the past six years trying to identify these men, piecing together the puzzles using burial reports, letters and eyewitness accounts. It's very emotional. I mean, the children have spent their whole lives not knowing what happened to their fathers and for me to be able to do this work and then bring them here

to Korea to actually come to the grave and say their goodbyes and have that closure, it means everything. Nicola is now gathering DNA samples from the relatives of the other missing soldiers in the hope she can give more families this special moment. A report from Korea by Gene McKenzie. Still to come on the Global News Podcast, Infowars is bought by the onion. I mean, the irony of the fact that you have Alex Jones dealing in conspiracies that have nothing to do with the actual truth to be taken over by a satire group on the other

spectrum is amazing. I can't wait to see what they do. Witness the stories that have shaped our world. On the launch pad, in the dawn light, a towering symbol of an ambitious nation. Three, two, one. The whole of India was watching. Told by the people who were there. I still don't regret that I was part of the Rose Revolution. I was a witness of very exciting days.

Witness History from the BBC World Service. Listen wherever you get your BBC podcasts. According to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, more than 43,000 people have now been killed in the war with Israel. For those who are abroad but still have family there, it's hard to hear about the rising number of dead. Ahmed Najjar lives in London but his family are in Gaza. Although most of his relatives have moved south to escape the fighting in the north, his elderly father has remained in Jabalia and his sister is also in the north in Beit Lahya. Ahmed spoke to us after asking his

father if he was planning to head south. He was saying it was going to be a long way to walk and my dad is nearly eight years old and I think he'll be all right here but we know he's not going to be all right. Yesterday the next door neighbour's house was bombed. All the windows and doors were shattered in my family's house and he was panicking and not knowing what to do because of diabetes and if he cuts himself and alone. So now, you know, it's the worry that whether he will have enough water, enough food. The neighbors were looking after him. We now don't know that the neighbors have decided to flee. If they've done that, that means he's left there alone. But the

problem is that there's nowhere in Gaza is safe really for them to go to. So to them it just feels like you're risking your life to go somewhere else that is just as risky. I try to give them hope and I try to tell them that the world doesn't see it the way that Israel sees it, the world is with you, but I know the world is not with them. Every time I speak to them, I feel it might be the last time. The number of families that I hear that have been wiped out is really scary. If you are going through a genocide and the world is further dehumanizing you for nothing that you've done nothing wrong to deserve all of this misery, why the world

doesn't come up and say that? You really actually start blaming yourself as a victim. You start thinking maybe something wrong with me. Maybe we are the wrong people. Maybe we are the bad ones. Maybe we deserve to be genocided and killed. Maybe we are the bad ones and then you start even hating yourself. You just wonder, can these all these people be wrong and we are the right? I mean, but then you come back to the idea that people like my family, they've never heard of lies. They're just trying to get on with their lives and that's all what they want. I just say look after yourself, just to stay alive. What matters now is you to stay alive.

Ahmed Najjar and the Israeli Defence Forces sent us the following statement. The IDF is committed to mitigating civilian harm during operational activity. It makes great efforts to estimate and consider potential civilian collateral damage in its strikes. The IDF is fully committed to respecting all applicable international legal obligations, including the law of armed conflict. The US President-elect Donald Trump has made another controversial choice for his administration. The prominent anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been nominated as his secretary of health. Mr Trump said RFK Jr. would defend Americans from the industrial food complex and from drug companies who were engaged as he put it

in deception and misinformation. Jessica Parker reports from Mar-a-Lago in Florida. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a member of the famous political dynasty and nephew of the former president John F. Kennedy. He had run his own independent presidential campaign, but withdrew his candidacy in August and got behind Donald Trump. The fact he's been given a role is no surprise. Expectations had been building, but this will nevertheless be another contentious

pick by Donald Trump. The President-elect is putting one of the nation's most prominent vaccine sceptics in charge of America's health care agencies. RFK Jr. has a history of amplifying debunked conspiracy theories. Jessica Parker at Mar-a-Lago in Florida The American satirical website The Onion has bought Infowars, which was run by far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. He was found to have defamed the families of the Sandy Hooks school shooting, in which 26 people, mainly very young children, were killed. He falsely claimed the shooting was a hoax and was ordered to pay the families

of the victims nearly $1.5 billion. In In September a judge ordered that Infowars be auctioned off. In a rambling video message Jones called the takeover a total attack on free speech. The onions bid was backed by the families of eight Sandy Hook victims including Robbie Parker. His six-year-old daughter Emily was one of those killed. He has just published a book about his legal fight against Alex Jones. He spoke to Paul Henley. His campaign of disinformation, specifically about Sandy Hook, started within hours after the shooting. My wife and I were sitting down the street from the school waiting to find out if

Emily was okay or if Emily was a victim. And at the same time, Alex Jones was in his studio sowing seeds of doubt that this was a false flag event, that it was fake and staged and that the government was behind it. And so, dealing with grief and battling conspiracy theorists happened for me at the exact same time. And a lot of people believed Jones. His followers threatened and harassed you and other Sandy Hook parents, didn't they?

No, that's correct. Emily was killed on a Friday morning and by Sunday morning I was already receiving threats and harassment online and within that week people mailing letters to my home. Before we even got to bury Emily I was worried about my own life and the life of Emily's younger sisters and my wife. You've been fighting to hold Alex Jones accountable. Does this auction outcome and the onion buying info wars feel like a win? It totally feels like a win because Alex Jones throughout this whole process before we filed the lawsuit,

never never never took any accountability or back down on his claims. When we filed the lawsuit, he did everything he could to protect himself and his brand, the things that are most important to him. And so at the end of this big long fight, 12 years for me personally and six years in court, to be able to say that the brand that he built for 30 years has now been taken away from him because of his own actions and what we did to hold him accountable, that is a huge win. Do you have wider feelings and judgement on the media scene in the US more generally nowadays and its adherence or lack of adherence to the truth?

Was this the start of something bigger, do you think? Yeah, that's a very good question. I'm gonna think just for a second on it because I haven't been asked that before. It's true though, we, at least here, we have these polarizing sides and people are more focused on getting their opinion out than they are in taking out the truth. And that's exactly why my book is about reclaiming the truth about Sandy Hook. In order for my family to heal, in order for me to reclaim Emily's memory that Alex Jones defiled, I had to combat that with the truth.

And that's why in a court of law, we got to just state facts. And because of that, we were awarded an amazing verdict and are holding him accountable because we stuck to the truth. And so that's the biggest thing that I can say is sticking to what matters most brings healing and hope. And when we sit and just insulate ourselves with opinions that are just confirmed our own biases, we don't grow and we don't heal. The healing process must have speeded up a lot since the result of that court process. How does it feel now that the onion takes control and this could become an online comedy site? I mean, some people might even wince at the mention of that, but it feels good,

does it? It does. I mean, the irony of the fact that you have Alex Jones dealing in conspiracies that have nothing to do with the actual truth, to be taken over by a satire group on the other spectrum of not being truthful is amazing. I'm a big fan of the Onion, and I wasn't aware until recently that they had even been part of any of the bidders. It was all kept secret from us and so I'm curious to see what they do with it. I mean they're they're smart witty people and I'm sure they have a lot in in the bag ready to go and I can't wait to see what they do. Robbie Parker talking to Paul Henley. Vets in Scotland have said that a baby

red panda at Edinburgh Zoo has died from stress caused by fireworks on November 5th. That's the date when people in Britain celebrate bonfire night with bonfires and often very loud fireworks. The red panda's mother also died unexpectedly. The deaths have prompted the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland to join forces with other animal welfare charities to push for tighter restrictions on who can buy fireworks and when. Our Scotland correspondent Lorna Gordon reports. Red pandas are an endangered species with only around 4,000 left in the wild. Edinburgh Zoo has a successful breeding program but two weeks ago a mature female red panda died from pancreatitis, caused, vets suspect, by

stress brought on by loud fireworks. The head of animals at the zoo, Darren McGarry, said the animal's four-month-old kit that survived her had been doing well, until the noise and stress of bonfire night itself proved too much for her as well. So Roxy was always in a difficult situation because her mother had died and we had observed her on the camera feeding normally but on bonfire night she was actually not in the house and in the morning we found her on the ground which would be unusual for a tree dwelling animal to be on the ground. On that particular night the noise was horrendous and it's our opinion that it contributed to that.

The zoo said many of its animals were susceptible to noise. Keepers tried to mitigate their stress, moving them inside, providing extra bedding. It's not alone in calling for more limits on the use of fireworks. Animal welfare charities want them banned and a petition signed by more than a million people has been delivered to government. Lorna Gordon, now do you like matcha tea or perhaps like me, you're not quite sure exactly what it is. Well apparently it's made with the finely ground powder of specially grown and processed green tea leaves which originated in China but became popular in Japan. Matcha has now taken over the menus of coffee shops

and bakeries around the world, with large corporations like Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts getting involved. But with the surge in demand, is quantity being put ahead of quality? Megan Lawton reports on the battle to get this burgeoning industry regulated, starting at the Neo Coffee Bar in Toronto. So today I got an iced matcha latte with oat milk and an extra shot of vanilla. Inside I meet customer Anna Forrest, who explained to me why matcha is their drink of choice.

There is still caffeine in it, so it is definitely a good substitute for coffee. Matcha sales are booming, so much so the value of the global market is predicted to jump from $2.3 billion this year to $2.89 billion in 2028. On TikTok alone, there have been over 42 million posts for matcha recipes. The tea has been used in Japanese ceremonies since the 12th century. It was actually brought over by monks from China. From what I've understood, matcha was first brought to the southern island of Kyushu, then brought up to Uji. And it was started off as something that monks would use to heighten their focus during meditation.

Max Ando is the co-founder of premium matcha brand Neko-Hama. Based in LA, they grow their tea on the volcanic island of Kyushu in Japan and sell it to customers around the world as well as supplying high-end restaurants at $60 a bag. When we were looking for the best tasting non-bitter matcha... As it stands there's currently no regulation of matcha and there's no industry standard for ceremonial grade. That's the highest quality of powdered green tea used mainly in traditional Japanese tea ceremonies. It's something Max would like to change. He says it could help protect farmers

in Japan. And especially the smaller ones. There's issues because of the fact that every year Americans and Western companies will go to Japan and will speak to the farmers and ask for a cheaper product to get better margins. The only way for the product to get cheaper is to reduce the quality of the product." As well as making matcha growing more sustainable, Max says a recognised body overseeing the industry would be better for consumers too. Max says, there is no governing body like there is in coffee. In matcha, people are putting ceremonial-grade matcha on products that you can't consume without a lot of sugar. There's a lot of things that are being done right now by wholesalers

that we think could be done better. One thing that is clear, matcha's future is bright and green. That report by Megan Lawton. And that is all from us for now, but the Global News podcast will be back very soon. This edition was mixed by Derek Clark and produced by Alison Davis, our editors Karen Martin. I'm Oliver Conway. Until next time, goodbye. When we left, there was this wonderful feeling, but it was only the beginning of a nightmare. This is a story that started with a job advert.

A yacht owner looking for a crew to sell his recently renovated boat from Brazil to Europe. For me it was going to be a great adventure and an opportunity to gain a lot of experience. But when police raided the vessel and discovered drugs... Cocaine hidden under one of the beds. It can't be! ...a key suspect was miles away. Everything revolved around him. Who's the boss?

A British guy. Fox. Fox. This is World of Secrets from the BBC World Service. Season 5, Finding Mr Fox. Search for World of Secrets wherever you get your BBC podcasts.