Global News Podcast - Syria rebel leader discusses 'transfer of power' after Assad is ousted

Episode Date: December 10, 2024

Syrian rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani has met the outgoing PM to discuss the "transfer of power" - a day after Bashar al-Assad fled the country. Also: Google unveils 'mind-boggling' quantum computing chip.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. If Hitler isn't defeated, it's the end of the free world. Purple Heart Warriors, listen now by searching for dramas wherever you get your BBC podcasts. This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Andrew Peach and in the early hours of Tuesday 10 December these are our main stories. The victorious Syrian rebel leader Abu Mohammed Al Jilani has met the ousted regime's Prime Minister to coordinate the transfer of power. The insurgents have issued an amnesty for Syrian army conscripts.

Several European countries have suspended their asylum programmes for Syrians following the downfall of President Assad. In other news US police have arrested a man in connection with the murder of a health insurance executive in New York last week. Also in this podcast... The throne is vacant. The conclave begins now. The papal thriller is among the nominations for next year's Golden Globes. As the euphoria in Syria begins to die down, the transfer of power is underway.

A day after capturing Damascus and ousting President Assad, Syrian rebels are working on forming a transitional government. Mohammed al-Bashir from the Islamist HTS group will be the interim prime minister. There's an amnesty for army conscripts. Cafes, markets and bakeries are reopening. But what sort of country will emerge? The Syrian parliament and Mr Assad's Baath party have pledged their allegiance to the new rulers and their support for the transition.

I heard more from the BBC's Lina Shaikuni. I heard from a lot of people that they're trying to calm people down, they're trying to tell everyone that they don't want to rule in any brutal way, they're just there to hold the stability and the safety of Damascus and other areas. There's been some kind of messaging that's being circulated among social media users telling people, you know, don't panic if you see checkpoints, don't panic if you see people asking you for IDs, all we are trying to do is just to hold the peace and the stability. So the messaging has been at least, you know, an attempt to calm people down and tell them

this is part of the process. The rebels say their forces have established order across almost all of Damascus, with fighters occupying public buildings. Our correspondent Yogesh Hidemaye has been assessing the mood in the Syrian capital. There was a celebratory gunfire here at the central Umaymedia Square in Damascus. We've seen people from all directions packed in cars coming here, this is like a street party. In front of me I can see people standing here

taking selfies, taking photos of each other, celebrating, clapping, cheering. People have come with their whole families, their children, there are women. And I was just speaking to a man earlier who said I've come here because I wanted to celebrate. I wanted to celebrate with my people. At the moment it's still not clear who's running this country, but the capital very much is renewing a second day of celebrations here.

It's hard to estimate how many people are here, but I can suddenly say it looks like a few thousand people to me coming and going. Some of them are members of the HTS, of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the rebel group that has taken over large parts of this country. But most of the other people are civilians, just families from Damascus who have come out here to celebrate. Yoko Selle Maie in central Damascus. Huge crowds gathered at the Syrian capital's prison on Monday, a day after the toppling of President Assad, to try to find evidence of loved ones who went missing under the former regime.

Thousands of prisoners were released from the jail by rebels on Sunday, but former inmates suggested other detainees were still locked in secret underground cells. The hopes of anxious relatives appear to have been dashed by the Syrian campaign group, the Association for Detainees in the Missing, which said it had found the entire complex to be empty. Our correspondent Barbara Plettusher spent the day at the prison. I'm about 30 kilometers outside of Damascus by one of the main prison complexes. It's called Sayyid Naya.

And I can see two prisons in the distance on a hill. The one to the right is the main prison. There, HTS freed the inmates already. The one to the left is called the Red Prison. And there it's believed that some prisoners are still locked in cells underground underground and there is a stream of people walking up the hill towards it. Sadnaya is a symbol for some of the darkest abuses of Bashar al-Assad's rule. Thousands of opposition supporters were tortured and killed here. Now there's a stampede of family members taking the chance of finding those still missing.

Everyone has a desperate story to tell of loved ones jailed for years. Mundar Tarki is looking for his brother-in-law. I know my experience with the Syrian regime since more than 13 years. I've lost a lot of my friends in prisons. But I think we could, I don't know, we pray for that. We try, we are trying to find him everywhere. We're asking everyone. We came to here like everyone. Call me the wounded mother, says this woman, because of the children she's lost. May God take revenge on Bashar

we're climbing the hill now to reach the top where the prisons are joining that long stream of people who are also doing the same wanting to find out if the search efforts in the prison are going to turn up any Any people still locked up there? Just days ago, rebels freed thousands of prisoners here on their march to Damascus. But many believe others are still trapped in underground cells. The Syrian civil defense group, the White Helmets, has joined the search. We spoke with one of its volunteers. Based on the information we've gathered, we believe there's a network of cells with prisoners

beneath the jail, but we haven't yet been able to find the entrance. We don't have any details on how many people are underground, but we were informed of this by others. We just pressed into the prison. We came in in a real crush because there was this sudden belief that they had found the entrance to the underground prison but it looks like it's been a false alarm. They're searching the bowels of the prison looking for tunnels that lead to hidden cells pounding away at the earthen floor.

Frantic efforts to break through to anyone who might still be alive. Elsewhere, men sift through a litter of documents for any evidence of their loved ones or clues to the underground prison. Many are convinced it exists, but there are some doubts, including from a prisoner support group. Outside, an older woman with a steady gaze, Umm Al-Abd, tells me she's looking for her son. She used to visit him in prison, but then he was moved. After the past two weeks Syria has entered a new era, but she is still caught in the dark grip of the old one.

Our priority is our sons. Who are the future of this country? Do you believe that we, the elderly, can do much now? We want our boys back. We want our country back too. How can this country move forward without dealing with the horrors of its past? Bahamra Plattasha in Damascus. Meanwhile, Syrian media reports say Israeli warplanes have carried out dozens of attacks across the country, including on Damascus. A Britain-based war monitor said there were more than 100 strikes. A research centre suspected of links to chemical weapons production was among the sites hit. Israel says it's acting to stop such weapons falling into the hands of extremists.

The civil war in Syria forced more than 12 million people to flee their homes. Most of them fled to other parts of Syria or sought refuge in neighbouring countries. Others travelled further to safety in countries such as Germany or Sweden. In recent days, many exiled Syrians have expressed their hopes of being able to go home. Now it looks like a raft of host countries are thinking the same thing, announcing their pausing decisions on asylum applications for Syrians. These countries include Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the UK and France. Some are going even further with Austria's government talking about a

repatriation programme and even saying it might review those who've had visas or settlement approved. Reacting to all of that here's Shireen, who's a Kurdish-Syrian student, who left the country in 2016 and settled in the UK. That's really ridiculous to hear, because Assad just left yesterday, right? And this country's been damaged for how many years? It's not going to be brilliant and heaven again in like 24 hours. There has been destroyed on the floor, schools, universities, hospitals, everywhere.

I just can't believe they would just make such a quick decision in like 24 hours. Oh yeah, like, as it is gone, everyone go back. It's just really hard. I spoke to our correspondent in Berlin, Damian McGuinness. Well effectively, Andrew, it's just about putting on hold the asylum applications that are now pending. So that means that if a Syrian has put forward an application, is waiting for an answer, they will now have to wait longer because officials in Germany, Austria, other European countries as well, including Norway, Greece, the UK, it sounds like as well, are all saying because of the political uncertainty,

they don't feel they can make a decision about whether Syria is a safe country or not. So what that means here in Germany, for example, is that there are over 47,000 Syrians here who are still waiting for an answer to their application for asylum. So it doesn't affect those who have already been granted asylum, you know, that's the vast majority. You've got almost a million Syrians living here in Germany and most of them came as asylum seekers. It doesn't affect them but it affects those who are waiting for a decision. It also affects those who would like to apply for asylum but I think the real controversy around it is the signal it sends out because of

course you and I were talking yesterday About the celebrations at Syrians were holding out in the streets in towns and cities across Germany and across Europe indeed About the fall of Assad and now many of those people are going to be quite incredibly worried about their status In Germany and in other European countries about whether they'll be able to stay here or not So there's a lot of outrage among NGOs who deal with refugee rights but also among lots of politicians from the Green Party's right through to left-wing politicians who say well this is simply inhumane and is irresponsible populist talk is a very delicate time for Syrians. And you get the sense that

France and Germany and the UK are quite comfortable moving as a block. Austria is the country that's gone further and started talking about repatriating Syrians. Yeah, there the rhetoric is even more ferocious. And again, with the political backdrop of they've had elections and now they're in coalition talks and there the conservative caretaker government is trying to form a coalition without the far right. And again, a similar story of conservatives talking really hard line on migration refugees because they feel that's how they're going to get political support from voters to undermine the far right effectively. But others would say, well, actually, if you're just mimicking

the rhetoric of the far right, well, actually, you're doing their job for them, and then you're making them more powerful. This is the question and a debate that we've had in Europe really for years, how to deal with the far right and do you mimic the rhetoric or do you actually try and undermine the rhetoric by going the other way? And I think that this particular debate is showing the issue there very starkly indeed. is. its seabed for metals used in green technology. But a community that's defined by its ocean has found itself at the centre of a global debate. Listen now by searching for the documentary wherever you get your BBC podcasts. US police have arrested a person of interest in connection with the murder of the health

insurance executive Brian Thompson in New York. The 26-year-old man was detained in Pennsylvania on firearms charges after a tip-off from a member of staff at a fast food restaurant. He's been named as 26-year-old Luigi Mangione. New York's police commissioner is Jessica Tisch. The suspect was in a McDonald's and was recognized by an employee who then called local police. Responding officers questioned the suspect, who was acting suspiciously and was carrying multiple fraudulent IDs as well as a US passport.

Upon further investigation, officers recovered a firearm on his person as well as a suppressor, both consistent with the weapon used in the murder. Brian Thompson was shot dead in central Manhattan last Wednesday. I heard more from our correspondent Neda Taufik, who's following developments from New York. After a five-day manhunt, police do believe they have their suspect in the killing of the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, calling 26-year-old Luigi Mangione a strong person of interest. New York's mayor is saying he matches the description of the identification they were looking for, that he was also in possession of several items that they believe connect him to the incident. So this 26-year-old, he is originally from Maryland,

born and raised there, but he had connections to California, Pennsylvania, where he went to school, and also Honolulu, Hawaii. They say that he was spotted by an employee in a McDonald's who recognized him from the images that police have been circulating and they say that employee at McDonald's called the local police. When the police arrived, they say he was eating and reading but started to act suspiciously when they were then trying to question him. They say he was carrying multiple fraudulent IDs, that he was in possession of a ghost gun.

Those are kind of guns that are made on 3D printers. So they say they need a ballistics test to make sure it's the same gun that was used. But again, more evidence here. They also said they found a three-page document that spoke to his potential motive, saying that he had ill will toward corporate America. So we've got a fair few new details about the attacks. There's a lot of media interest in this around the world. It's still a big police operation underway, actually. That's what I took away from the press conference.

That's right. I mean, they said that there's been a combination of old schooled tech work and new age technology that led to this, but that the investigation is ongoing. For now, they believe that he acted alone, but they said investigation is ongoing. For now, they believe that he acted alone, but they said they're going to, of course, look into whether somebody provided him with information about, you know, Brian Thompson's whereabouts that day. That will still be part of a longer investigation. As I said, they have to look into the gun that the suspect was

carrying versus the one used on the day. So many pieces that have to come together. But I think the main message that police kept hammering home during this press conference was just how important it was to put this image out to the media and for people to report what they did see. The old saying, if you see something, say something. Neda Taufik in New York. A study in Britain, partially funded by the Football Association, has found higher rates of dementia in players are not caused by lifestyle factors like drinking or smoking.

The report examined the impact of heading the ball after previous research found footballers are almost three and a half times more likely than everyone else to be diagnosed with dementia. Our sports correspondent Natalie Perks has been talking to one player who's concerned about the impact of his career on his health. Gary Pallister was one of the biggest names in football as a Premier League defender,

but little bouts of forgetfulness as he approaches 60 have got him thinking about the migraines that blighted his career. We're quite disabilitating, you know, the vision, speech, the tingling, the violent headaches. I can only deduce the heading of the football was causing migraines to be a lot more severe. In the last few years he's watched fellow Manchester United players Nobby Stiles and Gordon McQueen die with CTE, a form of dementia that can be diagnosed only after death and is thought to be linked to repetitive head trauma.

A study in 2019 by the neuropathologist Dr Willie Stewart showed footballers were three and a half times more likely to get dementia than the general population. His latest report, which was part funded by the FA, studied almost 12,000 footballers in Scotland. The results show that it wasn't factors like alcohol and smoking that were putting footballers at higher risk. We've been working along the presumption that footballers have a risk of dementia and probably to do with head injuries and head impacts impacts but we haven't been certain because these other risk factors are also in play. Now we know these other risk factors aren't contributing to the dementia risk in footballers, we're really dealing with something in the game that's head injury and head impact.

In England, under nines are now banned from heading the ball. Over the next few years that will extend up to 12 year olds. The FA says that ban is part of the proactive steps it's taking to address the potential risk factors which may be associated with playing football, and it continues to support projects to gain a greater understanding of this area. A new quantum chip unveiled by Google spent less than five minutes solving a problem that would have taken one of the world's fastest supercomputers ten septillion years. That's a ten followed by 24 zeros. This new chip called Willow was built in California. It's the latest development in the field of quantum computing which uses

the principles of particle physics. Let's get more from our senior technology reporter, Chris Vallance. The systems behind our universe are quantum mechanical. They shift and change... The sound of a slick promotional video by Google announcing its latest quantum chip. The tech giant is keen to champion its performance in a so-called benchmark test, in which it solved a theoretical problem it would have taken one of the fastest conventional supercomputers 10 septillion years to solve. Hartmut Neven leads Google's Quantum AI lab that developed

it. That's an astounding number. It's 10 to the 25, so one followed by 25 zeros. So that shows that even if you wouldn't develop the chips any further, today there are tasks that classical computers will never be able to do that quantum processors can solve. Quantum computers, which are based on the principles of quantum mechanics, solve problems in a fundamentally different way to the computers in laptops and phones. Google hopes that by the end of the decade its machines will start solving practical problems, for

example in the design of car batteries and the discovery of new medicines. But Mr. Nevin, who admits he is the chief optimist of his lab, acknowledges there's a lot more work to be done to reach that point. And there are many competing approaches to the path chosen by Google. The head of the UK's new National Quantum Computing Centre, Matthew Cuthbert, said Willow was a milestone rather than a breakthrough but was clearly impressive work. Now the awards season is underway with the nominations for next year's Golden Globes being announced ahead of the

ceremony next month. Among the films with the most nominations, the Spanish language musical thriller Amelia Perez, the papal thriller Conclave and the musical Wicked. Our culture reporter Charlotte Gallagher told me about Amelia Perez first. The critics and the people that are voting, putting forward these nominations, obviously love it. It's about a Mexican drug lord who changes gender. And it's really swept the board in all the categories. So acting, directing, best film, musical comedy film, and it's done really well. It's got Selena Gomez in it, who many people will know, Zoe Saldana, they've

both been nominated for awards. Whether that will translate into actual wins, I don't know. But I think this is the thing that's taken people by surprise. Everyone's expecting Wicked to have the most number of nominations. And it's in fact this much smaller film that a lot of people just haven't heard of. Let's talk about Conclave. This is a Vatican movie. Yes, a very different mood.

This is a film about choosing the next pope. The pope is dead. The throne is vacant. The conflict begins now. It's a very dramatic, very clever film brilliantly acted, a lot of suspense, a lot of drama. It's Ralph Fiennes, he's the lead character. He's been nominated for best actor and also Isabella Rossellini. She's been nominated in the supporting category. He's been nominated for best actor and also Isabella Rossellini She's been nominated in the supporting category. This has been a real hit with the critics. It's based on a Robert Harris novel I think this could do very well indeed. I think this is something that's gonna do really well at the Oscars as well Okay, let's talk about wicked I went to see it a couple of weeks ago when it came out in the UK my daughter and I have not stopped singing

The soundtrack scene either It's brilliant. I obviously can't sing like either Ariana Grande or Cynthia Erivo. It's had really good reviews from the vast majority of critics and we've seen that Cynthia Erivo, she's been nominated for best actress in the music or comedy section. And then also Ariana Grande, she's got her first Golden Globes nomination in the supporting category. It's been nominated for best movie, comedy or musical. What it hasn't got is a nomination for best director.

So John M. Chu that people thought he would definitely get one. He hasn't got a nomination. So his film is considered one of the best films, but he hasn't got a director nomination and neither has the director of Dune II. So Dune II has been nominated for best film in the drama section, but he's not got a nomination. I have to say The Substance, that's done very well.

Demi Moore, a real Hollywood comeback. She's been nominated for best actress and Margaret Qualley has got best supporting actress nomination and there's another Hollywood comeback that people are really smiling about today and that is Pamela Anderson. She's been nominated for best actress for drama film and that's for the last show girl

and that category really is a who's who. That's Kate Winslet, Tilda Swinton and Pamela Anderson. The list goes on and on so I think that will be a really hard fought category. Our Culture Reporter Charlotte Gallagher on the Golden Globe's nominations. And that's all from us for now. There'll be a new edition of Global News to download later. If you'd like to comment on this podcast and the stories we included, drop us an email globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk, globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk or on X we are at Global News Pod. This edition was mixed by Darren Garrah, the producer was Liam McShephry, the editor is Karen Martin. I'm Andrew Peach, thanks for listening and until next time, goodbye. This small island nation has grand ambitions to mine its seabed for metals used in green technology.

But a community that's defined by its ocean has found itself at the centre of a global debate. Listen now by searching for the documentary wherever you get your BBC podcasts.