Global News Podcast - Power outage causes chaos in Spain and Portugal

Episode Date: April 28, 2025

A massive power cut hit large parts of Spain and Portugal on Monday, causing widespread disruption.

You're listening to the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. This edition is published in the early hours of Tuesday, the 29th of April. Power is back on in parts of Spain and Portugal, but it's still not clear what caused a huge blackout. Russia's president announces a three day ceasefire in Ukraine. The White House says it's not enough. And the head of Israel's internal security agency

agrees to resign after a long row with the prime minister. Also in this podcast. What we've seen is a remarkable degree of unity among Canadians, solidarity, and resolve to stand up to the threats of Donald Trump. Canada votes in a general election after a campaign upended by the US president. After nearly 12 hours of disruption, the Spanish government says half of the nation's electricity

supply has been restored, while Portugal's grid operator says 85 of its 89 substations are back on stream. The power cuts across the two nations knocked out mobile phone and transport networks and left people trapped on trains and in lifts. Some hospitals cancelled non-critical operations. This was the scene in Madrid. The emergency department, the intensive care unit, those are working. But the normal clinics have no electricity. So there's nothing. We have to go back home. I'll just have to walk. Perhaps it'll take me an hour and a half or something like that.

But what can I do? I'll just walk. Spain declared a state of emergency, but late on Monday the Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said there was no need to panic. The situation on the streets is returning to normality. Up to now, no serious incidents have been reported. In any case, the government has deployed members of the security services across the whole country in order to enforce the security during this coming night. The citizens can and should be calm. Spain is a safe, responsible country which shows its best side during situations like this one." He said the authorities hadn't yet established what triggered the blackouts and were ruling

nothing out. The Portuguese Prime Minister said the cause was probably in Spain. Our Europe regional editor Danny Eberhard told us more about the impact. Spain and Portugal aren't the first to experience this. There have been power cuts in the past in other modern economies. So for example Scandinavia has been hit by them, the US, Italy. So they do happen from time to time and it's very worrying because we rely so much on these things. For example, mobile phones, you know, Pedro Sancheth was talking of, you know, reduce your use of mobile phones to essential things, ATMs, your cash points for getting money out. So what you've seen is a run on buying it products, having to

revert to cash, which people haven't been using really since the coronavirus pandemic. So massive disruption. Europe Regional Editor Danny Eberhard. Among those witnessing the disruption in Portugal was our former colleague Alastair Leithead, who is now running a business there. Well this is the south-western Alentejo coast where we live. It's a remote part of Portugal. It's, well, Alentejo is a third of the country. We're very close to the border with the Algarve, which is 20 minutes away from where I'm driving at the moment. And the first we heard about the power cut was at the plant nursery, buying some olive trees and trying to pay. We then,

of course, realised the lights are all out, all the petrol stations have cones lined in front of them to seal them off and so I've just been wandering around, dropping into our usual haunts and places to see how people are coping with the lack of power. We headed straight to Zambugera do Mar, which is the nearest beach town to us, to see how the ice cream shop is faring. As soon as the lights went out, Nuno Rita, who runs Rita's restaurant, told me the ice cream went straight into the freezer. It'll be fine until tomorrow, as long as it doesn't go much longer than that. What do you think caused the power cut?

He didn't really want to speculate. Something caused in the north of Spain, and there's some talk about it in the north of the United States. What do you think caused the power cut? He didn't really want to speculate. Something caused in the north of Spain, and some talk about a cyber attack. But he'd rather wait and see. The towns and villages all along this coast are full of hikers who come here from all over the world to walk the Rota Vicentina. It's a 220-kilometre walking trail that goes right down to Legos in the Algarve.

They would be planning their whole trips around, stopping at restaurants and bars on the way. So let's see how things are going at the Sunset Bar. My name is Andre and this is Sunset Cafe. You're busy. How are you managing that? Work? traditional work. Okay, so you're not cooking. Light, traditional look for me. You're hand washing as well, I guess the dish washes well.

Salad, sandwich and that's Bifana, Portuguese Bifana. That's the sandwich with steak in it, yeah, you fry it. Yeah, that's it. You're taking it, you're frying it. That's it. Well I've come to the supermarket in our area, Intermarché. It's a big supermarket, a lot of people come here, there's camper vans, a lot of tourists come through this area, a lot of people in this very worky town. And it's even busier than usual today, and that's because they've got a generator,

and they've got a cash machine, and there's a huge queue of people waiting to get cash out. Hi my name is Francisco, we have a boutique hotel. Everything is off, all the fridge is off, everything is off. We're trying to sort it out ourselves with about some solar panels because... So you're literally at the bank there when I saw you paying for solar panels. Yeah, because tomorrow the price is going to be crazy. The power cut didn't affect us very much today, and this is why. That is the sound of our 84 solar panels bringing the power of the sun into our batteries. Three-phase power that runs the eco lodge that we've been building over the

last few years. So I suppose today we are balancing the curiosity with the conspiracy theories doing the rounds about what might have caused it. But at the end of it all, we're just a little bit smug because our batteries say 100 percent. Alastair Leithead in Portugal. In recent days, the US President Donald Trump has expressed doubts about Vladimir Putin's commitment to a peace deal with Ukraine. On Monday, the Russian leader announced a three-day truce starting on the 8th of May to coincide with celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe. The White House says it doesn't go far enough

while the Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky accused President Putin of simply wanting to ensure calm during a Russian military parade. Everyone is supposed to wait until May the 8th and only then cease fire in order to provide Putin with silence during the parade. We value human lives, not parades. That is why we believe, the world believes, that there is no reason to wait until May 8th. The fire must be stopped not just for a few days, only to resume killing afterward. An immediate, complete and unconditional ceasefire for at least 30 days.

With his analysis, here's our Russia editor Steve Rosenberg. Short ceasefires are becoming quite the Kremlin thing. Russian state TV wrote the news that Vladimir Putin had announced a three-day cessation of hostilities from May 8 to the 10th, for the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. The president, who had invaded Ukraine, cited humanitarian considerations and called on Kiev to follow suit. It follows Mr Putin's 30-hour Easter ceasefire, which Ukraine claims Russia broke repeatedly. Kremlin critics view these so-called ceasefires as a PR exercise designed to convince President

Trump that Moscow is serious about wanting peace while continuing to wage war against Ukraine. At the weekend, President Trump expressed rare criticism of Vladimir Putin, posting on social media that there was no reason for the Kremlin leader to be,, President Trump expressed rare criticism of Vladimir Putin, posting on social media that there was no reason for the Kremlin leader to be, as President Trump put it, shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns the last few days. It makes me think, he continued, that maybe he doesn't want to stop the war. Today, the Trump administration indicated that the Kremlinremlin ceasefire offer did not go far enough. Caroline Levitt is the White House press

secretary. Vladimir Putin this morning offered a temporary ceasefire. The president has made it clear he wants to see a permanent ceasefire first to stop the killing, stop the bloodshed. Meanwhile senior Russian officials are already using President Putin's three-day ceasefire offer to try to cast Ukraine in a bad light. The speaker of the Russian parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, said he doubted that President Zelensky would support Moscow's offer of a pause in the fighting. Steve Rosenberg in Moscow

Ronan Barr, the head of Israel's internal security agency Shin Bet, was sacked last month but the decision was frozen by the Supreme Court. And Mr Bar accused the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of ordering him to spy on anti-government protesters. The tensions between the two men highlighted divisions in Israeli society. But now Mr Bar has announced he will, after all, step down in June. I heard more from Sebastian step down in June. I heard more from Sebastian Asher in Jerusalem.

Ronan Barr was speaking at a memorial event for those who died in the service of Shin Bet. And he was essentially framing it in terms of the security failures on October 7th, 2023, the Hamas attacks on Israel, and saying that all public servants must bear responsibility. Essentially, putting it out as if that was the main reason that he was doing this now. I mean, I think that isn't really the case, because such a resignation could have come a much longer time ago, and if the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had wanted to get rid of him for that reason it also would have happened a long time

ago. Perhaps this showdown between Ronan Baer and Mr. Netanyahu had reached such a pitch with each man essentially accusing the other of being a liar that perhaps Mr. Baer felt that this was something that wasn't in the interests of Israel and also perhaps not in the interests of the argument that he's trying to make. I mean, he said that he would still be ready, if necessary, to speak to the Supreme Court over what he says is the most important thing, not his personal position, but the independence of any head of Shin Bet. And that is what he essentially has been saying has been under threat.

Those are the accusations that he made against Mr Netanyahu, the ones that the Israeli Prime Minister then denied. That hasn't gone away. Of course, the Israeli Prime Minister has plenty of critics, plenty of supporters. What does this latest development mean for those divisions within Israeli society? It's shown them again in very clear light. Those divisions have I think been made even worse since the resumption of the war against Hamas in Gaza because the supporters of the hostage families who are the majority in Israel now feel that Mr Netanyahu's government is prioritising what it says is its goal of eliminating Hamas and in so doing doing the bidding

of the most hardline elements of the government and putting at risk the potential saving of the lives of the hostages who are still alive there. So all of this has become more and more intense before October 7th. There were mass demonstrations for months by people who felt that the government under Mr. Netanyahu was putting Israel's democratic foundations essentially at risk with moves against the independence of the judiciary. And that's still where part of this clash lies. From Mr Netanyahu's perspective, he, I think, felt that Ronan Barr had failed professionally,

that some of the investigations that are happening on Dishon Bet, in particular there's an investigation into potential links with Qatar of members of the government. And the moment that Mr Netanyahu seems to have really turned against Ronan Barr seems to have been when that investigation was really getting underway. But essentially, it is this division between the hardliners, the supporters of Mr. Netanyahu, who feels that what he's doing is right and necessary, even if it infringes to some extent on some of the safeguards of democracy in Israel

and infringes on the powers of the judiciary and those on the other side, the opposition liberal voices, who feel that it's a real genuine threat. Sebastian Usher in Jerusalem. As we record this podcast, Canadians are voting in a general election after a campaign that was upended by politics over the border in the US. The arrival of Donald Trump in the White House revived the fortunes of Canada's governing party, the Liberals, and dented the hopes of the opposition Conservatives. As voting began, President Trump repeated his call for Canada to become the 51st state of America, a call which is likely to

infuriate many Canadians. Our chief international correspondent, Lise Doucet, has been gauging opinion in the capital Ottawa. I'm just walking down the street and I've come across this group of young Canadians getting some lectures on Canadian history. It's an educational travel company. My name's Willem Looptstra. Are you following the Canadian election? Yes I am.

I think that our sovereignty has been challenged recently and I think reaffirming our Canadian-ness is very important right now for our country. It's quite extraordinary how it's turned politics upside down. The Conservatives were ahead by double digits and other Liberals are ahead by a margin. I was quite surprised by the change around, but a lot can happen in a short period of time and it really just shows how volatile our political system, not just here in Canada, but around the world is right now. My name is Matthew. Does this election matter to you?

For sure. There's kind of two, just between the Liberals and Conservatives, I think ultimately we've got to come together and make Canada a great country. Drinking coffee at Tim Hortons is seen as a quintessentially Canadian thing to do. So it's a good place to get a sense of what Canadians are thinking now. I feel like we may have a similar issue with how the United States, they have two parties where they're very close and they have similar opinions. I'm not sure who to vote for, so it's a difficult thing to say.

Have the threats from President Trump changed the way you feel about Canada? Yes, it has. I hold a South American passport as well, so I just have to think twice when I'm travelling back and forth just for my safety. Canada needs to start figuring out how to solve its own problems. Immigration for me is probably number one. The economy and everything, we're not in control of that, whether or not we like it or not, we're not.

Do you think President Trump and his threats and tariffs are the main issue? I think those are American issues that filter over the border that we have to deal with. We're not part of the American politics. Oh, my God, Lord have mercy. And on the eve of these falls, a reminder of the problems within. A lone man with mental health issues plows his SUV into a crowded festival in the western city of Vancouver,

provoking shock and sadness across this country. My name is Roland Paris and I'm the director of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa. Like any country, Canada is made up of a lot of different people and there is certainly in this country a darker element within our politics than we previously saw. On the other hand, during this election, what we've seen is a remarkable degree of unity among Canadians, solidarity and resolve to stand up to the threats of Donald Trump. You know, this country has had

several decades of very privileged life after the second world war. We had ready access to the American market. We had the security of where we are in North America. Both of those things are now called into question. And what it means is that the next government, whichever that is, is going to have to position Canada not just to survive in this new environment, but hopefully even to thrive. Professor Roland Paris ending that report by Lise Doucet. And still to come on the Global News podcast, a rocket carrying technology to monitor forests and their carbon stores is being launched from French Guiana.

This is a very special satellite that's using radar technology. First time ever that we've used this technology in space for this purpose. And it means we'll be able to look right through the rainforest canopy. Cardinals meeting at the Vatican have set next Wednesday for the start of the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis. 135 Cardinals are eligible to vote in the secret ballot held inside the Sistine Chapel, where they'll be completely cut off from the outside world. After a period of mourning, a tension among Catholic communities around the world is now turning to that conclave. From Kenya, here's our senior Africa correspondent Anne Soye. Eulalation as the choir sings during a special mass to honor the departed Pope.

The Holy Family Basilica is right at the centre of Nairobi. There's barely any space to move around. Extra seats placed along the side aisles and the entrance veranda are all occupied. More people are standing on the staircase outside the church and others along the pavement. It's a special mass, hence the big turnout. But even on ordinary days, weekdays included, many Catholics in the city take time off work to come pray together. It's a snapshot of the devotion Kenyan Catholics have to congregating in their churches as well as in smaller groups at their homes. It's the fellowship many seek, but from which some,

like divorcees and the gay community, felt they'd been locked out of. I am a Catholic, born and raised, and I belong to a contemplative order. That's 67-year-old Professor Genvive Wanjala. She tells me she hopes the church will get another leader who's as inclusive as Pope Francis. The law of the church was that if you are a divorced person, no communion for you. You know, cutting you off from that means you are really cut off now.

From sacramental life, you are cut off from being a member of the church. And he came and said, no, you are human, like all of us. It's not your fault. We love him for that. Even us who are in that line don't feel condemned anymore. My hope is that the next pope, I wish that you may also take the name Francis, so that at least the legacy can continue. Francis Xavier says he felt a special connection when the late pope chose the name Francis.

The 23-year-old was so inspired, he's now on course to becoming a priest. Having the name Francis, not just the name but in the actions, Francis showed us to be merciful, he showed us to help those who are poor, the voice of the voiceless. So I hope that the next one will come also, he may also have the same attitude. Being home to the world's youngest population with a median age of 19 years, Africa is also where the church looks set to continue to grow fastest. I spoke to 19-year-old Immaculate Koki and 16-year-old Faith Withera about what they hope the next pope will be like, first to Immaculate.

I'm hoping he's going to be a loving person and a caring person, a knowledgeable person, so those are my expectations. A nice pope who will be a resemblance of the other pope that we had, and I hope he leads us right and makes us feel comfortable. The late pope's leadership, views and message connected with many young people, they told me. In a deeply conservative society, however, some of his more liberal positions did stir up controversy. But on the overall, he was a much-loved leader of the Catholic Church who has set the benchmark for what people expect of his successor. And so in Kenya. Well, interest in the centuries-old process to select the next pope has been heightened by the recent film Conclave, as Richard Hamilton explains.

The pope is dead. The throne is vacant. The Conclave begins now. The official trailer for the Oscar-winning movie Conclave starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and Isabella Rossellini. It was originally released in October last year but subsequently re-released on Amazon Prime on the 22nd of April, one day after the death of Pope Francis. Interest in both the film and the real-life conclave has skyrocketed in the days since the Pope's passing. Siobhán Sinnott is a British film critic.

It's gone up 283% in viewing. So a lot of people are curious about what the conclave involved. Pope Francis, a very modest pope, but is actually one of the most cinematically inclined popes. He's not only been portrayed on screen, he also seemed to inspire a bunch of ecclesiastical films, not just conclave, but there's been a 400% increase in watching Fernando Morel's 2019 drama, The Two Popes. It also has really appealed to audiences. The colourful rituals of the actual conclave, with its red-capped cardinals in the Sistine Chapel and white smoke emitting from its chimney, make it highly cinematic. And despite a few inaccuracies, Catherine Pepinster, who's written several books about Catholicism,

says the procedure more or less mirrors the film. Quite a lot of it was reasonably accurate, although I think one thing people need to remember is that in the days between the funeral and the conclave starting Wednesday week, there will be a lot of conversations going on between cardinals. This is the bit that the movie got right. It's just those cardinals under the age of 80 who go into the Sistine Chapel to vote. The doors are locked. They don't have their mobiles still switched on. They are con clave with the key. They're behind the locked door and it is a secret process. Other movies about the Catholic Church which are enjoying a sudden surge in interest include the 2016 drama The Young Pope

about a fictional Pius XIII and Angels and Demons, a thriller based on Dan Brown's novel of the same name which was released in 2009. Richard Hamilton. Thousands of early deaths every year could be linked to the consumption of name, which was released in 2009. Richard Hamilton. Thousands of early deaths every year could be linked to the consumption of ultra-processed foods – things like crisps, biscuits and even some sliced bread. That's according to a study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, though it didn't establish whether it was the processing itself or the unhealthy ingredients to blame. Our health correspondent, Philippa Roxby, has been looking at the findings

and told me first what exactly are ultra processed foods. I like to think of them as things you eat that don't look like the real food. So they've been processed usually through industrial processing. Lots of unpronounceable ingredients have been added either to make them look different or taste better or last longer, like processed meat, hot dogs, crisps, cakes, biscuits, things that don't look like the whole food as opposed to something like a real vegetable or a real piece of fruit. Now, what did this study find and did it tell us anything new about the danger of ultra-processed food?

Well we already know that a lot of ultra-processed foods are pretty unhealthy. They contain a lot of fat, a lot of sugar, a lot of really unhealthy ingredients. So this looked at past studies in eight different countries including the UK, the US and some South American countries as well and tried to estimate the dangers of eating too much ultra-processed food in your diet and what that might do to when you die. So they looked at a whole lot of data, number crunched it and came up with this estimation that the more ultra-processed food you eat, the earlier you are likely to die. But what it couldn't say was it couldn't prove that the ultra-processed food was the

thing that caused those deaths. So essentially what it's saying is the more of these things you eat, the less likely you are to be really healthy. Yeah, it may not be the fact that they're ultra-processed. It may be that they've got high sugar, salt and fat, but they're still bad for you. Exactly. They're still not particularly good for you, a lot of these ultra-processed foods, because they contain all these things you're talking about. And we already know that saturated fats and sugars and foods like that, that are really high in those things, are not good for us. They're more likely to cause a whole host of diseases, from heart diseases to type

2 diabetes to some cancers. And if you get those things, they're more likely to kill you earlier. So is it the fact that they just contain all these ingredients we already know are bad for us, or is there something specific about the way these foods are processed that's causing the problem? And we don't really have that evidence to prove that yet. And tell us about the countries that eat the most ultra processed foods and perhaps some of those ones which eat less and what they can teach the rest of us. Interestingly, the South American countries eat much less than European countries like the UK and also much less than the United States. So in the UK and the US,

in this study, they found that nearly half of the calorie intake was down to ultra processed food. So that's huge when you think about it. Whereas in South America, it's much less, it's maybe less than 20%. And that may be down to the amount of bread that we eat in some parts of the world. In the UK particularly, we're very fond of our sliced bread and supermarket shop bought bread is ultra processed because it's had emulsifiers and various other things added to it. In many other countries, they're not so reliant on bread and they're much more likely to eat fresher bread.

Philip O'Roxby, a Britishmade satellite will be launched into space on Tuesday to map the world's forests in 3D. The data collected is seen as crucial in furthering our understanding of how tropical forests are changing. Paul Bate, chief executive of the UK Space Agency, spoke to Evan Davis. The biomass satellite will take off from French Guiana on a five-year mission to map the world's tropical rainforests and that's so important because at the moment whenever we want to understand how many

trees are or how much biomass as the name of the satellite suggests we have to do things like fly overhead or you might have to count the number of trees which is extremely difficult given the the volumes involved. This is a very special satellite that's using radar technology, first time ever that we've used this technology in space for this purpose. And it means we'll be able to look right through the rainforest canopy, measure the actual number of trees and biomass in a world where the illegal loggers will do their very best to hide the amounts of deforestation going on, this is a great way to go right through the canopy, which might have been left intact by those loggers and really understand the beating lungs, I suppose,

of our planet. So just to be clear, the clever bit is that this can tell how deep the forest is, how heavy it is, as opposed to simply how expansive. That's exactly right. Down to sort of a 50 meter to 200 meter range and resolution. Is the goal to kind of keep abreast of what's going on then? Is it to sort of map the forest and continually remap the forests? Yes, that's right. So within less than a year and a half of the launch in 17 months time, we'll be able to create a 3D map of these tropical rainforests, which we've never had before.

And we'll be able to update the mapping over the five year duration of the mission. And to put this in context, there are around about 55 variables, numbers, that we need to understand to fully get to grips with the climate crisis. And biomass is an absolutely critical one of those. But around two thirds of all those variables are best managed from space. And that's what gives a sense of what a space age we're already in. The chief executive of the UK space agency, Paul Bate.

And that is all from us for now, but the Global News podcast will be back very soon. This edition was mixed by Caroline Driscoll and produced by Stephanie Tillotson. Our editors, Karen Martin, I'm Oliver Conway. Until next time, goodbye.