Global News Podcast - Red Cross chief: 'Gaza worse than hell on Earth'

Episode Date: June 4, 2025

The head of the International Red Cross says the situation in Gaza has become 'worse than hell on Earth'. Also: The search for South Africa's illegal mining boss, and could we see data centres in space one day?

This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Janet Jalil at 13 Hours GMT on Wednesday the 4th of June. These are our main stories. The Red Cross tells the BBC that Gaza is worse than hell on earth after dozens of Palestinians were killed trying to reach aid sites in recent days. We have a special report on the man accused of masterminding illegal mining operations in South Africa. The Australian woman who cooked a deadly mushroom lunch tells a court how she threw up the meal. Also in this podcast

if we understand the molecular mechanisms better we've got a hope to reverse the rise in eczema that we've seen in recent generations. Scientists find that dogs could prevent eczema in at-risk children. A place worse than hell on earth. That's the assessment of the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross talking about the situation in Gaza right now. Mirjana Spoljaric told the BBC that Palestinians have been stripped of human dignity and that international humanitarian law is being hollowed out. Her comments follow the killing this

week of dozens of Palestinians who were trying to reach food distribution centres set up by a controversial new US and Israeli-backed organization which has taken over the role of handing out aid in Gaza from experienced agencies like the Red Cross. The group, called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, has suspended its operations now for a day, but there have been more deaths in Gaza, with 12 Palestinians killed after an Israeli strike hit a school housing displaced people. We'll have more on that in a moment, but first let's hear more from the head of the ICRC. She was speaking to our international editor, Jeremy Bowen.

Humanity is failing in Gaza. It is failing. We cannot continue to watch what is happening. It's surpassing any acceptable, legal, moral, and humane standard. The level of destruction, the level of suffering. But more importantly, the fact that we are watching a people being entirely stripped of its human dignity should really shock our collective conscience. Israel of course says it's acting in self-defense. Every state has a right to defend itself and every mother has a right to see her children return. There's no excuse for hostage-taking. There is no excuse for depriving children from their access to food, health and security.

There are rules in the conduct of hostilities that every party to every conflict has to respect. So you are talking, though, let's be clear about this, about the consequences of Israel's offensive. It's the consequence, as far as I'm concerned, of the whole world watching a type of warfare that shows utmost disrespect for civilians, that deprives civilians of their dignity entirely. Today we are in it, today we can reverse it,

we can save lives today. That's why it's important to act now. State leaders are under an obligation to act. I'm calling on them to do something and to do more and to do what they can because it will reverberate. It will haunt them. It will reach their doorsteps. Mirjana Spoljarevic, the president

of the International Committee of the Red Cross, speaking to Jeremy Bowen. During the Gaza war, international journalists have not been allowed in by Israel. So our correspondent Barbara Pletasha is monitoring the latest violence in the territory from Jerusalem. We have information from eyewitnesses and the civil defense agency as well as medics in the hospital that 12 people have been killed at a school in Hanunis. Now as you know of

course there are schools in Gaza are essentially not operating, but they are widely used by displaced people. And we understand that many hundreds came to this school recently because the Israelis have just put out new evacuation orders in Hanyunas, telling people to move out of certain areas as they step up their offensive.

And what we've been told is that a drone hit two tents in the grounds of the school, tents belonging to one family, and 12 people were killed and a number wounded. And we haven't got a response yet from the Israelis. Usually when they strike schools, they say they're being used by Hamas, although at the end of the day, it is the civilians who pay the price. Barbara Pletasha. The illegal mining trade in South Africa is highly lucrative and poses a serious problem for the authorities.

One man, known as Tiger, is accused of controlling the illegal operations at an abandoned gold mine near Stilfontein. He's managed to evade a police manhunt for the past four months. Seventy-eight corpses were discovered in the depths of the mine in January and police arrested some of the miners illegally working there. Many of these men come from South Africa's landlocked neighbour Lesotho. Our Africa correspondent, Mayani Jones, went there looking for tiger and others involved in the dangerous mining trade. I'm in a village in the area of Bobete which is right in the middle of Lesotho about 300 kilometers

drive from the capital Massaro to the east and we've come here because one of the Stilfontaine miners who died lived here, came from here. I'm actually walking past his house right now and one of the buildings, it's two stone buildings, one of them is missing a roof and we're told that that's the reason he went down the mine to try and make some money to replace the roof and provide for his family. 39-year-old Supang grew up in Bobete. He chose to leave his wife and three children three years ago to work in illegal mining in South Africa. His family say they didn't realize he was an illegal miner or zamazama

until a relative called them to tell them he died in Stilfontaine. He left the village to try and find food for his family and to save money to build a roof on his house. Supang's aunt, Mabologang Kasonyane, says he died from lack of food and medication. How does it make you feel to think about him down in that mine for months without food or medication? It makes us really sad. We don't think the South African government handled the situation well. They should have tried other ways to arrest the miners. This situation has destroyed our family. The police in South Africa say the Stilfontein miners had many escape routes and chose to stay put to avoid arrest. The majority of the miners were illegal migrants from countries in the region. Lesotho is one

of the poorest countries on earth and men have been leaving here to work in South African mines for decades. Getting to some of the villages that some of the Zama Zamas come from is no mean feat. A lot of the roads are untarred along steep mountains and deep valleys. These are incredibly remote places where there isn't much economic activity and it gives you a sense as to why some of these men might decide to go elsewhere to make a living. On the other side of the country is the home of James Niyo Tsuwaidi, aka Tiger, the man South African authorities claim was the ringleader of the Stilfonteine mine. His friends and family deny this. He's escaped custody and is now on the run.

I've come to meet his mother. He's escaped custody and is now on the run. I've come to meet his mother. Tiger's mom, Mamprosuwaedi, hasn't seen her son in 80 years. How does it make you feel to hear that people are writing that about him in newspapers in South Africa, that he's a criminal? It really hurts me a lot. I think maybe he will die there, or maybe he has died already,

or if he survives and eventually comes home, maybe I'll already have died. The police say several illegal miners accused him of being responsible for some of the deaths, assault and torture in Stilfontaine. Researcher and activist Mahotla Sefuli says those at the top of the criminal gangs that run the illegal mines in South Africa never work on the ground. The illegal mining trade is like a pyramid. So we always pay attention to the workers, the ones who are going to the underground. But there is the second layer, Mahowa, the ones who are supplying cash to the illegal miners.

Then we've got the buyers, buyers will take the gold to those who will make it legal to enable the gold to get out of the country as if it was mined legally here in South Africa. It is about layers of people who are involved and sometimes are very powerful people. Back in Mbobete, Supang's family recently caught his body back and were able to bury him. But unless the authorities can find ways to stop the illegal mining industry from being so lucrative, more families may have to experience what they've been through. Mayani Jones reporting from Lesotho.

An Australian woman accused of murdering three relatives with a beef Wellington lunch containing toxic mushrooms has told her trial that she made herself sick by eating too much cake after the meal. Erin Patterson denied that she had intentionally put her own meal on a different type of plate from her guests at that fateful lunch two years ago. She repeatedly wept as she gave evidence. Our Australia correspondent Katie Watson was in the packed courtroom. The court heard about her preparations for the beef wellington and the fact that she had instead of using making a large beef wellington she had made individual beef wellington. She

didn't find the right cut of meat. She did say though that she didn't eat much of that beef wellington. She was too busy talking but then told the court that in the hours after the guests had left, she ate about two thirds of a cake that her mother-in-law Gail Patterson had brought for the lunch. And then she made herself sick after that. This builds on evidence that we heard yesterday about the fact that she had, since her 20s, had episodes of binge eating and she talked about her unhealthy relationship with her body image. There is interest here in the community, there is interest more widely

in Australia and of course the world. And that's something that the judge made very clear to the jury at the beginning of this trial that they needed to make sure that they weren't listening to any news about this trial, that they turned the television off, that they turned the pages over of a paper, they scrolled on, so that they were just looking at the evidence in front of them. And now, this afternoon, we heard more details about the hours and days after the lunch and her behavior,

and her lawyer has said that he's close to finishing questioning of Erin Patterson. And then we should be hearing from the prosecution who will spend several days cross-examining her. Katie Watson, thousands of protesters in Bulgaria have gathered outside parliament in the capital Sofia to show their opposition to the government's plans to join the euro. This comes as the European Commission has finally given Bulgaria the green light to join the Eurozone from next year, making it the 21st country to do so.

But some in Bulgaria fear the move could lead to higher prices and less autonomy. I want Bulgaria to be independent, sovereign, strong and free. If they take away our Bulgarian lev, I'm afraid that one by one they will take away everything. Our Central Europe correspondent Nick Thorpe reports. Both the European Commission and the European Central Bank issued statements on Wednesday afternoon saying Bulgaria has now met all main criteria to join the Eurozone. That's now scheduled to take place on the 1st of January next year, subject to final approval by the Council of Ministers of the EU.

While the National Parliament has a strong majority in favor of the move, protesters organized by the opposition revival party gathered outside. organizers organised by the opposition Revival Party gathered outside. Many Bulgarians fear that their savings could be harmed and that prices will rise, despite official reassurances that there will be no negative impact. Nick Thorpe. Still to come on the Global News Podcast. Putting data centre in space is technically possible, depending on the size of the data center.

It means if you leave something there, it just stays there. A possible new frontier for data centers. Hours after his decisive victory in South Korea's presidential election, the country's new leader Lee Jae-myung was sworn into office. I am obeying the constitutional law for the peace of the country and the peace of the country. for the peace of the country." The new leader spoke of the need to heal the wounds of division after months of political turmoil. Last December, his predecessor, Yung Sung-Yul, was impeached for trying to impose military

law. Mr Lee also faces a daunting task of trying to boost South Korea's economy as Donald Trump threatens to slap hefty tariffs on it. He's also pledged to improve relations with an increasingly belligerent North Korea. So who is Mr. Lee and how might he approach these challenges? The retired South Korean Lieutenant General in Bumchun, who's now a political and military analyst, spoke to Victoria Uwonkunda. Mr. Lee comes from a very underprivileged family background. He did not have a decent formal education. He had to earn his way up.

So I think he's going to be a person for the underdog of Korean society. But at the same time, I hope that he understands that he is the president of the Republic of Korea. Not only be underprivileged, but it takes everybody to run a country. So I'm hoping that he will also at the same time have a holistic view of Korean society. Right now, Korean economy is very challenged. We've had a long time of leadership void and he's going to have to fill that up as soon as possible,

especially in the economics. I think he is focusing on that as we speak. You talked about polarization. The new president, Mr. Lee, campaigned on the promise of uniting a divided country. How does he achieve that? Well, it's compromise and negotiations. To me, compromise is you only get half of what you want. But in Korean politics today, it seems it's a zero-sum game. I hope that he gets away from this habit and he starts looking at the minority opinion. We think that democracy is majority rule. Yes, but at the same time, you must respect the opinions of the minority. For the past six months, there have been 0% growth in the

Korean economy. Our unemployment rate is not doing that great. We have a lot of labor issues. Koreans are not accustomed to this kind of economic concern, and he really has to focus on this. and he really has to focus on this. He has gained this responsibility by holding the previous government accountable for their failures and especially martial law. South Korean military analyst in Bumchun. Staying in that part of the world now because South Korea is just one of many East Asian countries having to contend with a dramatic fall in birth rates. Just a few years after China scrapped its one-child limit for parents, Vietnam has now announced that it's scrapping a two-child limit that's been in place since the 1980s. And Japan has reported that the number of babies born last year is the lowest since records began. I heard more about this trend from our Asia-Pacific editor, Mickey Bristow.

China, the one child policy, lots of people knew about that but not so much in Vietnam. I think that's mainly because the Communist Party in Vietnam didn't enforce this policy as rigorously as it was enforced in China. So for example, if you weren't a Communist Party member, you perhaps only got a fine or retelling of that kind of thing. And at other periods in Vietnam's recent history, the party hasn't really enforced its policy across the board. So that's perhaps why you haven't heard about it so much. But essentially what's happened is that the birth rate is falling, the number of babies women give birth to throughout their life has gone down a great deal very sharply and so

essentially there's no need for this policy anymore. Women are already having fewer than two on average, fewer than two children throughout their lifetime so there's no need for this two-child policy. And it seems the picture might be even more bleak in Japan which has seen an even faster decline in the birthrate than it was predicting even just a few years ago. Across East Asia there's falling birth rates and Japan is the most advanced or it's further along down that road. The birth number of children born last year fell below 700,000 for the first time since records began way back in 1899. And this pace of decline is even catching demographers by surprise. It was only a couple of years ago that they predicted this level of births wouldn't be reached until the end of the next decade.

So it just shows you how the birth rate is falling there. And really if you're a young person within your lifetime you're going to see the population drop dramatically to perhaps half of what it is in Japan at the moment. Mickey Bristo, data centres are popping up all over the world, especially with the rise of artificial intelligence, but they take up a lot of land, are prone to overheating and require vast amounts of energy and security. So could putting these centres in space solve such problems? It may sound far-fetched but Dr Dominico Vincenanza from Anglia Ruskin University in the UK told us the idea is taking off. Putting data centre in space is technically possible depending on the size of the data centre.

A few months ago in March 2025 a company called Lone Star sent a shoebox sized mini data centre on its way towards the moon. One of the places people are looking at is a very special location between the Earth and the Moon called Lagrange Point. It's a kind of like stable point where the gravity of the Earth and one of the Moon, they balance each other and it's really good because it means if you leave something there, it just stays there. But it's also exposed to the Sun, the temperature is comparable to the Earth and good enough for, let's say for a computer to run without worrying about overheating. And you can actually place solar panel. We want free energy and free cooling

if possible. And of course, it means adding robots, but also sending repair crews, highly trained engineers to do any reparation. And that is a very complex and costly affair. There is one application that I think is probably going to kickstart the whole thing, which is looking at satellite data, data that are collected in space and they are used either in space for navigation or are used on Earth. Having data processing in space could be really useful. Dr Dominico Vicinanza, ice hockey was hit hard by the COVID pandemic with empty arenas and financial losses threatening the sports

future. But five years on North America's National Hockey League has come roaring back with packed stadiums and a wider fan base. In Canada Sam Gruay looks at how the sport is about to enjoy a record-breaking season with predicted revenues of 6.6 billion dollars. Welcome to game night in Toronto and a sport being driven by new teams, new technology and new fans like Selena. I am a big fan of the professional women's hockey league so I'm also really excited for that and that starts next week as well. But definitely with the women's league coming

up I've definitely started getting more into like the men's league because of that. This evening's game is a pride night, one of many themed evenings across professional hockey, promoting diversity and inclusion. I got my pride socks on. I think it's absolutely great. Pre-people have always been in sports and I feel like games like this really bring out the energy and the excitement for that. Everyone's welcome. And things like tonight show that everyone is. I think that's really important.

From the stands, it's not hard to see why this fast and furious game is so popular, with big hits and late drivers. But as the packed crowds make their way out of the arena it's a visual reminder of how far the sport has come since 2020. The NHL just announcing that they are pausing the season due to the coronavirus. Nick Eaves saw the impact first hand as chief operating officer of NHL side the Toronto Maple Leafs. Every one of our revenue sources dried up. Obviously no ticketing revenue, no food and beverage revenue. It was a terrible couple years of no revenue being generated and lost time. 4,000 kilometres west across North America, the NHL's newest franchise

was taking to the ice for the first time. Chief Marketing Officer Katie Townsend says the team and the league has come a long way since then. And the work off the ice has inspired new audiences to get involved in the sport too. We have a female assistant GM, Alexandra Mandrycki, who was actually the first member of our Hockey Ops team. And now really the kind of forefront of this is Jessica Campbell, one of our assistant coaches who is the first female coach, but coaching behind the bench for an NHL team. And I think that's important. It's important that people see people who look like them within the world of hockey. It's important for the growth of the fan base.

It's something 22-year-old superfan Selena agrees with. I feel like a lot more women have been looking to the game. I think it's Seattle that has their first women coach in history. And I think that's really big. That's really showing the world that women are part of the game. As does Dr. Anne Peguerrero, Lang chair in sports management at the University of Guelph in Canada. I think that a lot of the new money coming into sport has to do with probably the increasing

ability of the NHL to demonstrate a diverse audience, both demographically in terms of age and demographically in terms of racial make-up and gender. So we've got several different factors I think that have all come together to bring a booming business back to the NHL. That report by Sam Gruay. And finally, some good news for any children listening who are trying to convince parents they should get a dog. A new study suggests that growing up with one could help prevent eczema in children who are genetically prone to the condition. A team led by scientists in the UK and Germany exposed lab-grown human skin cells to molecules from dogs and found that instead of triggering an allergy, they worked to suppress skin inflammation. Professor Sarah Brown from the University of Edinburgh

says the findings could offer a chance to intervene and prevent allergic disease. It's really given us a hint and a hope that if we understand the molecular mechanisms better we've got a hope to reverse the rise in eczema that we've seen in recent generations. With more details, here's Katrina Renton. Eczema is an itchy skin disorder caused by a combination of genetic and environmental effects. The international team examined data from almost 300,000 people to investigate whether those who are prone to developing eczema might respond according to environmental factors, including pet dogs, elder siblings, smoking and washing practices.

Lab tests found that dog skin cells that can trigger an allergy may instead work to suppress human skin inflammation. The study did not look at the effect of dog exposure in the treatment of existing eczema and experts caution that introducing a dog may make symptoms worse in some children. Katrina Renton. And that's all from us for now but there will be a new edition of the Global News podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcastatbbc.co.uk. This edition was mixed by Nick Randall, the producers were Shantel Hartle and Siobhan

Lihi. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Junaid Jaleel. Until next time, goodbye.