Global News Podcast - Spain mourns as dozens of people remain missing after flash floods

Episode Date: November 1, 2024

Hundreds of people in Spain, aided by drones, have been deployed to a rescue mission after recent flash floods claimed many lives. Also: the first artwork made by a humanoid robot, Ai-da, goes up for auction.

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. This week on Witness History. For nearly 40 years Siegfried and Roy wowed audiences in Las Vegas in the USA with their death-defying tricks involving white lions and tigers. But in 2003, their magical extravaganza came to a dramatic end when a tiger called Montecor lunged at Roy.

Animal handler Chris Lawrence tells us how he walked on stage with raw steak in his pocket to try to stop the tiger's attack. Search and subscribe to Witness History wherever you get your BBC podcasts. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Rachel Wright and in the early hours of Friday, the 1st of November, these are our main stories. The Spanish government says dozens of people are missing following flash floods which have killed more than 160 people. The United States says there are now 8,000 North Korean troops in the Russian region

of Kursk where they've been deployed to help the war against Ukraine. One of Donald Trump's most prominent backers, Elon Musk, has not shown up for a court hearing into his cash giveaways for American voters in swing states. Also in this podcast… I have created a series of five portraits which explore the legacy of AI, with portraits of Ada Maddice, Alan Turing and myself. That's Ada, a humanoid robot who painted a portrait of the computer scientist Alan Turing, which has gone up for auction.

We begin in Spain, where the government says dozens of people remain unaccounted for following flash floods this week, which have killed around 160 people. A government minister, Angel Victor Torres, said it was not possible to assess the full impact of the flooding, which has mainly affected the eastern region of Valencia. Some inundated areas remain inaccessible, as rescuers try to clear vehicles and debris from mud caked roads and restore communication links. A major rescue operation is continuing. In the suburb of Pal Porta, six kilometres southwest of Valencia, a local resident, Mark Rinko, told us that bodies are still being found.

I just got a message from a couple of streets from us. They found eight bodies in the parking lot that is underground, probably people trying to save their cars and get out of the parking lot as soon as possible, but fortunately they didn't make it. The Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has declared Valencia a disaster zone. Classes in schools across 20 municipalities will be suspended next week due to the damage caused. Our reporter Nikki Schiller has been visiting affected areas throughout the day. I spoke to him as he traveled by car on his way back to a suburb called La Torre. I can only describe it as something like

out of a disaster movie because when you, and you have to walk into that area because you can't get cars in there at the moment. So we walked about two kilometers and all down the road were just cars everywhere, tipped up. So there'd like be three or four on top of each other. At one point I saw nine altogether and there's just debris everywhere and this

really thick horrible mud. Something really brought it home to me about how it affects people. They have been trying to clear up today but there was one young girl who was sitting on the pavement and she had a folder binder like you'd have at school or something like that and she was trying to clear that of muddy water because obviously there was something in that folder that meant so much to her. There is no power. So people were coming up to us and saying, could we borrow a charger to charge our phones so we can ring our loved ones?

There isn't much water. So everyone is walking into the city centre to get water. There's also a lack of food and I saw one of the greengrocers had put the fruit and veg on the road but of course again it was covered in the mud. What is the feeling like? Is there a sense of community spirit or is there looting? Are people desperate? As someone said to me, who I interviewed, you see the best of people in these situations and you also see the worst. So the community is coming together

and people are trying to help each other as best they can. But there has been looting. I think there was around 39 arrests have been made across Valencia. So even in that small area, we saw people with trolley loads of what some other people thought were items they shouldn't have. So I think it is a mixed picture. But I have to say there is definitely more of that community spirit to get people through it.

So people are saying they didn't get any warnings and they're accusing the regional Civil Protection Agency of not being prepared. This is a big point that they were all making today saying that the text warning them this would happen came way too late so they got the messages and then within minutes and certainly half an hour all the water was there and the civil protection agency did actually issue the alert at 2015 on Tuesday evening, which is when there had already been a lot of flooding and it had caused damage, but also angry about the reaction since then. They feel that there isn't enough of the emergency services getting into that area, but I think the problem is that this has been so widespread, the emergency services are having to deal with so many different issues and at the moment one of those is trying to get

into those areas that have been cut off to find hopefully missing people but as we've seen today the death toll has gone up a lot since they've managed to get into some of those areas and sadly they have found people who haven't survived the flood. Nikki Shiller in eastern Spain. The United States says about 8,000 North Korean soldiers have now reached the Kursk region of Russia. That's where Ukrainian troops have launched attacks designed to divert Russian forces away from Ukraine itself. The US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned North Korea that their

troops would become legitimate military targets if they took part in combat. Our assessment is that Putin's forces have trained these North Korean soldiers in artillery operations, UAV operations and basic infantry operations, including trench clearing. The Kremlin has also provided these DPRK troops with Russian uniforms and equipment and all of that strongly indicates that Russia intends to use these foreign forces in frontline operations in its war of choice against Ukraine." Brendan Kearney is a retired colonel who spent 31 years in the US Marine Corps. His last assignment was

as chief of staff of Marine Forces Europe, which required extensive work within NATO. Krupa Pardee asked what impact these North Korean soldiers will have on the ground. I don't really believe it's going to have a tremendous impact. You've got North Korean forces that poorly led, poorly equipped, no experience in combat. And here they are going up against Ukrainian forces that are among the most experienced combat fighters in the world right now. I really think this is going to turn out to be a tragedy for the North Koreans if anybody in North Korea cared. We do know though that this will in theory add an additional 10,000 troops to the Russian capacity

and we're in a place where Ukrainian forces are already talking about low spirit, low morale. Will that not impact, will this not have an impact on the dynamic in any way? I think it will. You know, I see the North Koreans as really being placed in a position where they're going to become casualties and they're going to become casualties very, very quickly at the hands of the Ukrainian forces. Even that is going to be, can you imagine being a North Korean soldier wounded and ending

up in a Russian hospital? There is no language ability between the two countries. They're incomprehensible. So this is going to pose a logistics challenge to the Russians and to the North Koreans as they try to repatriate their wounded and their dead home if they try to do that. And briefly, what kind of a response might we anticipate from the U.S. should this go ahead?

I don't think the U.S. is going to do much publicly other than condemn. Secretary Austin said there's going to be further announcements about increasing supplies to the Ukrainians. So I think there will be more equipment and munitions going to Ukraine from the U.S. But also I think we're going to see an increase from South Korea. They make some of the finest military equipment in the world and I see them getting more involved in shipping equipment to Ukraine. Brendan Kearney, a retired colonel in the U. I see them getting more involved in shipping equipment to Ukraine. Brendan Kearney, a retired colonel in the US Marine Corps. In Ukraine, drones, which are capable of seeing their targets and striking precisely, have changed how the war is being fought. The devices are used extensively by both the Ukrainian

and Russian militaries. But increasingly, there's evidence that Russia is using drones to also target civilians. The Ukrainian government says there's been a sudden surge in drone attacks on civilians in the southern Kherson region in the past three months, in which at least 30 people have been killed and more than 400 injured. Russia's military has not responded to the BBC's questions about the allegations. From Herson, Yogita Lamai reports. In the city of Herson there are constantly drones hovering over us. It is a constant threat and the only real mitigation against that is to drive at a really high speed. So that's what we're doing

right now to get from place to place. In what is considered a relatively safe area in the city we need Dimitri, a 22 year old volunteer who's one of more than 400 civilians injured in drone attacks since the 1st of August. He's got an injury to his ear in fact he's still got shrapnel lodged close to his ear because the doctor says it's too dangerous to try to take it out. And he's also got a video of how exactly the incident happened, which he's going to show us now. In the video, a drone can be seen as it buzzes over a makeshift bus stop. Then it fires. Is everyone OK? A man shouts.

The camera then shows Dmitro, blood gushing from his right ear. The drone attacks have intensified since July. And it's not five or ten of them, it's hundreds of them. They constantly circle, from morning till night, every day. The Russians are deliberately targeting civilians. They have a telegram channel on which they post footage from the drones of how they are hunting for cars and people in Kherson. Dozens of civilians have been killed in drone attacks.

Serhii, a local trader, was hit by shrapnel when he was in the backyard of his home. His wife, Angela, saw it happen. She broke down as she spoke to us. When he heard the drone, he tried to hide under a tree, but it was so quick. Shrapnel pierced his heart. He was such a good man. Is this the way the Russians have decided to fight? By just killing civilians who walk in the street?

Just a few minutes' drive away, I've come to an automobile repair shop in Harsan where we're meeting a woman, Olena, who had gone into a building to get a manicure and then she heard a loud explosion when she came out. She found a drone had dropped a bomb on her car. There's a huge hole in the roof where something's gone through it. The car seats are fully ripped apart. The door frame has come loose. There are shreds and little bits of plastic and metal and wire just scattered all over

the floor. I don't look like a military person. My car is not a military car. Don't they see that? We go further into the city to one of a handful of aid distribution centres operating in Hursong. The sound you hear there, that's a drone detector telling us that there are drones overhead. I'm just looking at the screen and there are at least four. We're at a centre where a charity distributes food and supplies to residents in Hursan. We've been hearing lots of artillery shelling as well in the last 10 minutes or so. So there's multiple threats here.

We've had to run in very quickly from our car into this building. We can see people coming in, mostly Andali people who are going to come in to get here some food and supplies. Bindu Singh, who runs the aid centre, explains why drones are more terrifying than shelling. It's an enormous difference. So the artillery, there's patterns to the shelling. It's very, very nuanced. But if you're here long enough, you kind of pick those things up. And the people generally manage to live that way. It didn't immobilise the population. The shelling is indiscriminate, but a drone locks on you. And the truth is, that's probably game over.

You have almost no chance at that point. That's the difference. Trauma is visible on the faces of everyone we meet at the AID Centre. They tell us they're worried things will get worse. That as winter approaches and the leaves fall from the trees, there will be fewer places to hide. That report by Yogi Tullamai. to hide. states who sign a petition. The Philadelphia district attorney Larry Krasner is suing the tech billionaire who's a supporter of Donald Trump. John Summers is a lawyer for Mr. Krasner. DA Krasner was here to testify. Elon Musk didn't show. We are going to handle this case and continue to handle this case. On mischief night, Elon Musk and his PAC, Ameripac, filed legal papers to have the case removed from this court to federal

court and we will proceed to federal court and we will address the issues there and seek to have the matter remanded back to the state court. Mark Lowen spoke to the BBC's Will Grant who's in Washington and began by asking him for the background to the story. Basically the background is that there's been this push by Elon Musk and his pro-Trump fundraising organisation the PAC called America PAC, to give away a million dollars to those who register, voters who register

ostensibly to sign a petition in favour of the Constitution, the First and Second Amendments. Critics say it's dangling a carrot in front of Trump voters to register and giving them a million dollars if they're chosen. The district attorney in Philadelphia has brought the case, Larry Krasner, saying that it violates state rules on illegal lotteries and consumer protection. And Mr Musk was due to turn up to court today. He was ordered to do so. Of course, he didn't appear. His lawyers did.

They lodged a request for the case to move to a higher federal court and it now has emerged that the judge Angelo Foglietta has approved that and that the lawsuit will not proceed at the state level while the federal court decides what to do next. Any comment from Elon Musk? His argument is throughout this he says he's done nothing wrong that it's not in violation of anything Rather that ultimately it doesn't matter whether or not people vote for President Trump or vote for Vice President Harris He's simply encouraging people to register, but as we've heard the district attorney sees that very very differently Will Grant in Washington

Rockets fired from Lebanon have killed seven people in northern Israel, in one of the deadliest days for civilians there in more than a year. The Lebanese Health Ministry said 45 people have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon over the past 24 hours. Six of those who died are said to have been Lebanese health workers. Following talks on Thursday between senior American officials and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Washington said progress has been made towards a diplomatic solution to the conflict. Sebastian Asha reports from Jerusalem.

Even as there's a big new diplomatic push to try to get a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The fighting between those two sides is continuing unabated. In Israel, seven people were killed today by Hezbollah rockets. That is one of the largest death tolls there's been since Hezbollah began to fire into Israel after the October 7th attacks in support of Hamas. And Israel has after the October 7 attacks in support of Hamas. And Israel has continued with its airstrikes on Baalbek and also on Tyre, and we've heard from the Lebanese authorities that six health workers were killed.

So there's no let-up, but two US envoys came to Israel and they've spoken to the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. There's been much talk, there's been much speculation over a possible 60-day ceasefire. There's even been reports showing a draft proposal. This has been dismissed to an extent by Israel and Mr. Netanyahu himself has said he's not interested in documents and papers. What he's interested in is ensuring that the security of Israel in the north can be

assured. That's what he's focused on. He said that during the meeting with the two US envoys, and he said it when later he met members of the military. That's his message at the moment. So there is hope building that there may be the beginning of an end to this new conflict between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon. But I think we still have to wait to see any real concrete movement forward on it.

Sebastian Asher. The election in the US comes as the situation in the Middle East continues to escalate. The most pressing issue the new US president must tackle are Israel's wars in Gaza and Lebanon. The candidates hold very different views. The BBC's Middle East correspondent Lucy Williamson has been hearing opinions in the region ahead of the election. The last time Donald Trump was president, Israel's prime minister was so pleased he named a desert community after him. Trump Heights is an isolated cluster of bungalows in the rocky, mine-strewn plains of the Golan Heights. A soaring bronze eagle guards the entrance gate

beneath a large statue of a menorah. This honour was Donald Trump's reward for upending half a century of US policy and international consensus by recognising Israel's territorial claim to the Golan, which it captured from Syria in the 1967 war. He also won favour with Israel by scrapping an Iran nuclear deal, brokering historic agreements with several Arab countries, and recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital, causing international outcry. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu once called Donald Trump the best friend Israel

has ever had in the White House. There's not a great deal of confusion here about who Israelis or Mr. Netanyahu would prefer back there. Trump's not a nice man, one Israeli said to me recently. I wouldn't want him as a neighbor, but he knows right from wrong. And right, for many of those we spoke to in Jerusalem's main market, means always taking Israel's side.

He cares more for Israel. He's stronger against our enemies. People don't love him. But I don't need to love him. I need him to be a good ally for Israel. Kamala Harris is a clown of Barack Obama, and we had enough with Barack Obama regime. The Gaza war has helped drive a wedge between Israel

and the current US administration. Vice President Kamala Harris has been more outspoken about both the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the need for a ceasefire. During a presidential debate last month, she had this to say. This war must end immediately and the way it will end is we need a ceasefire deal and we need the hostages out. Also understanding that we must chart a course for a two-state solution. Donald Trump has talked more in terms of victory for Israel.

If I were president it would have never started. I will get that settled and fast. Both candidates share some broad goals in the Middle East. A quick end to the Gaza War, an upgraded nuclear deal with Iran, new diplomatic relations between Israel and its Arab neighbours, in particular Saudi Arabia, and a core U.S. commitment to Israel's defense. Part of the reason, perhaps, that many Palestinians see little difference in who wins power in Washington. One respected Palestinian politician, Mustafa Barghouti,

told me that the general feeling was that the U.S. had failed to protect international law, had failed the Palestinians, and had been totally biased towards Israel. But then, for Israel's key ally, policy alone doesn't always win popularity. Few US presidents have shown such dogged support for Israel in difficult times as Joe Biden, but there's little appreciation for that.

Too quick to criticise, some say, in difficult times as Joe Biden. But there's little appreciation for that. Too quick to criticise, some say. Too slow to invite Mr Netanyahu to the White House. Donald Trump won powerful friends here last time around. But political insiders in both Israel and the US see him as unpredictable, driven by deals, and reluctant to involve America in foreign wars. Benjamin Netanyahu would do well to be cautious too. Lucy Williamson. Still to come. Scientists analysed millions of hours of data from light sensors worn by almost 90,000 people. An Australian study has found that exposure to brighter nights

and darker days leads to a number of health problems. This week on Witness History, for nearly 40 years Siegfried and Roy wowed audiences in Las Vegas in the USA with their death-defying tricks involving white lions and tigers. But in 2003, their magical extravaganza came to a dramatic end when a tiger called Montecor lunged at Roy. Animal handler Chris Lawrence tells us how he walked on stage with raw steak in his pocket

to try to stop the tiger's attack. Search and subscribe to Witness History, wherever you get your BBC podcasts. To Sudan now, where the civil war has displaced almost 11 million people and has pushed half the population, that's 25 million people, into acute hunger, according to the UN. Tens of thousands of civilians have died since fighting broke out in April last year between the army and the paramilitary rapid support forces, the RSF. Both sides have been accused of sexual violence against women and girls. And now human rights groups have said that some victims of rape have been left so traumatised they have killed themselves. What you're about to hear from our Africa security correspondent

Ian Wafula is distressing. He's in Nairobi and told me more. I had a chance to speak to one woman who I found online who was taking part in conversations where they were talking about what has just happened in the recent weeks in Jazeera State and she left a comment that her sister had taken her own life. And so I managed to kind of reach out and she did indeed tell me that her sister had taken her life because of sexual violations by the RSF. But before we continue our conversation, she went offline. And this is three days now since I last spoke to her.

And I assume this is because of the network outages in the country which has been a major challenge. But then I also managed to speak to the executive director of the strategic initiative for women in the Horn of Africa. Her name is Hala Alkarib who gave me some very disturbing and horrendous accounts of women who have taken their own lives and she did say that you know her work is to document violence against women, especially in the Horn of Africa. And she did say she confirmed cases of three women who had actually taken their own lives. And she went on to describe one woman had actually unfortunately been sexually violated in front of her brother and father before the RSF fighters actually killed the two men. This is just some of the stories that we are hearing coming out of the Dezira state in Sudan, Rachel.

How widespread do you think these suicides are? Now speaking to activists and organizations, Rachel, it is very difficult to actually find out how widespread it is, but the rights groups say that do feel as though the numbers are higher just because at the moment it's difficult to be in touch with the millions of people who have been affected by the conflict. And the three cases that had been confirmed from this rights group were only from two villages of the 50 that have been invaded by the RSF over the recent days. And because of this, they believe that these numbers could be high. It's just difficult to come up with an exact figure or something close to that.

There have been lots of reports to suggest that violence against women has increased. How widespread do you think this is and is it mostly from the RSF that you understand? It is indeed quite widespread. In fact, just recently a UN report found that since the war began in April 2023, there have been at least 400 cases of sexual violence. And what the UN report was saying is that, look, it's just not the RSF, even though they're the main perpetrators, but the Sudanese armed forces have also been accused of the same ritual. Have there been any reaction from either side, from the RSF or the army to these reports?

Both sides have over the time denied these accusations, but specifically I did speak to the RSF spokesperson, Nazir Ahmed. He did say that the UN report is actually baseless and he was asking the UN to send its own fact-finding mission to the country to find whatever is actually happening on the ground. Ian Wafula in Nairobi. An Australian study has found that exposure to brighter nights and darker days is associated with an increased risk of death. Scientists at Flinders University say overnight light disrupts the body's circadian ribbon leading to health problems such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. More from Electra Naismith.

Scientists analysed millions of hours of data from light sensors worn by almost 90,000 people. They found that even taking into account lifestyle and socio-economic factors, those exposed to high levels of bright night-time light increased their risk of early death by up to a third. Those exposed to large amounts of daylight in contrast saw their risk fall by a similar level. Researchers say bright nights throw out our body clocks, leading to adverse health outcomes. For those who have to stay up, they suggest warm tones or dimmer lights, and getting as much natural sunlight as you can. Electra Naismith, now it's time for me to introduce you to a new artist on the block. Her name's Ada.

Her latest piece is entitled AI God, Portrait of Alan Turing. He was a pioneer of theoretical computer science and cryptanalysis, who died in 1954. Now here's the catch. Ada is a humanoid robot whose work will be the first of its kind, sold by the auction house Sotheby's. Here she is talking about the work. I have created a series of five portraits that make up Elliptic, which explore the legacy of AI, with portraits of Ada Lovelace, Alan Turing and myself, through the lens of technological transformation over time. Cooper Paddy spoke to Aidan Mellor who created Ada with a team of scientists from Oxford University. What I've really tried to get into is what is actually happening here. We're hearing AI in lots of different forms in all sorts of industries affecting them. What's the big theme though? And I'm starting to realize only just now,

five years into doing this every day, and what I'm clocking is actually the agency of human decision-making is being transferred from the human to the machine. So whether you do Spotify or whether you do your sat nav, you now trust the sat nav to take you where you want to go, you trust the Spotify to come up with music you want to listen to.

But here's the thing Aidan, isn't that hugely worrying for human artists? Yes, well beyond human artists, all humanity. If you are going to the algorithms in 10 years time for what job you're going to do, what partner you're going to date, what kind of family you're going to have, what kind of house you're going to have, what kind of food, the algorithms will be able to, because the vast data sets involved, the accuracy will be mind-blowingly good. So you'll trust it. And Ada has just released this artwork.

And the idea is to say, well, actually, if we do trust this algorithm, if we do trust this ability for it to make decisions on our behalf, it's got a godlike quality to it. We trust it. We follow it. We are allowing it to make those decisions for us. And this artwork we hope will provoke the question, is that what we want? So those are questions for wider society that we are all grappling with, but artists in particular, I'm keen to better understand their reaction, their concerns. I think it's a whole polarised thing. I think some artists are embracing it, go, wow, new tools, bit like the camera in the 1850s, let's go for this,

let's go and develop where it can go. And of course, there's going to be a whole swathe of artists going, oh my gosh, this is threatening and horrible. And they're stealing our pictures and all the rest of it. Just out of interest, Ada does the majority of her works by looking. She has cameras in her eyes. Most of the imagery that she takes in is actually through by what she sees through those cameras. So I'm really sympathetic to the upset that it's causing because obviously the artist's data is being used to create artworks. But actually more importantly, what is that going to be? Is that going to be a different industry? Is that going to be complementary to the artists? I think some of the worries are going to drop away just like they were about the camera.

They just start to use it in a different way and it becomes a different thing. Certainly didn't stop painters painting and I think there's probably going to be an AI art world alongside the traditional art world. But yes, I completely sympathize with the plight of the artists at the moment and I think it is frightening. Aidan Mellor, but there will never be AI presenters. Trust me. And if you want to buy the portrait of Alan Turing, the auction has started and it's due to end on the 7th of November. Sotheby's accepts bids in cryptocurrency. You'll be pleased to hear. Two mathematicians in Australia say they've successfully debunked

the infinite monkey theorem. The hypothesis states that if a monkey randomly types at a keyboard long enough, it will eventually write the complete works of Shakespeare. More from Simon Ponsford. The researchers say the infinite monkey theorem is mathematically true but misleading. They've concluded that even if the entire global population of chimpanzees kept bashing at a keyboard, they would not accidentally reproduce the words of William Shakespeare. In fact, it would take one chimp 300 million keystrokes just to write the word bananas. And the probability of a random sentence such as,

I chimp, therefore I am, comes in at one in ten million billion billion. While Shakespeare's entire canon would take more time than the expected lifespan of the universe. Simon Ponsford. 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 or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcast.bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on x at globalnewspod. This edition was mixed by Jonathan Greer, the producer was Liam McSheffrey, the editor is Karen Martin.

I'm Rachel Wright. Until next time, goodbye. This week on Witness History. For nearly 40 years Siegfried and Roy wowed audiences in Las Vegas in the USA with their death-defying tricks involving white lions and tigers. But in 2003 their magical extravaganza came to a dramatic end when a tiger called Montecor lunged at Roy. Animal handler Chris Lawrence tells us how he walked on stage with raw steak in his pocket to try to stop the Tigers' attack. Search and subscribe to Witness History, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.