Global News Podcast - Tens of thousands demonstrate in Valencia over floods

Episode Date: November 10, 2024

Tens of thousands protest in Valencia over the Spanish authorities' handling of the deadly floods. Also: the women giving up sex with men because of Donald Trump, and an emperor penguin's epic journey to Australia.

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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Nick Miles and in the early hours of Sunday the 10th of November these are our main stories. More than 100,000 people have been demonstrating in the Spanish city of Valencia over the regional government's handling of last week's deadly flash floods. Qatar says that it will not mediate in peace talks between Israel and Hamas until the attitudes of both sides improve. Russia is hosting a summit of foreign ministers from Africa as it tries to increase its power across the continent.

Also in this podcast. We don't have stuff like this, at least where we're from, in America. It's such an incredible part of history that's almost inconceivable. The glories of Pompeii as seen by tourists. But their numbers are about to be severely restricted. We find out why. As we record this podcast, more than 100 hundred thousand demonstrators have been protesting in Valencia against the regional government's handling of those devastating flash floods that left more than 200 people dead. More than a year's worth of rain fell in that area of Spain in just eight hours, leaving many people trapped in their houses or underground car parks. The regional governor, Carlos Mathon, has been accused of missing an emergency meeting because he

was having dinner with a journalist. People taking part in the protests chanted slogans calling on Mr. Mathon to resign. Mathon, be the king! Mathon, be the king! Mathon, be the king! Guy Hedgeco was at the demonstration and gave me this update earlier. Well, I'm in the middle of the protest at the moment.

We're marching through the streets of central Valencia. The marchless protest has been quite quiet because it was billed as a silent protest in tribute to the many people who died. But there is a lot of anger. And one of the themes of this protest has been people calling for the resignation of Carlos Mathon, who is the regional president of Valencia. And many people here blame him for the mismanagement of this tragedy. They say that he and his administration did not respond adequately, in particular on the day that the flood struck, on October 29th, but slow in issuing an alert to the phones of the people of Valencia

and he was not present at a crisis meeting later in the afternoon and so there have been issues for him to resign. Some other people are angry at the central government as well but most of the anger is aimed at Mr Mathon. And Guy, the clean-up operation is still going on there in Valencia, in the outskirts of that setting and also in other places in Barcelona there have been devastating floods there as well. Yes that's right, there were heavy floods in the province of Barcelona, in Catalonia.

Here in Valencia the clean up continues and the search for missing people, there are several dozen people still missing unaccounted for who are being searched for still. Many streets are still covered in mud. There's a lot of debris in the streets as well. Businesses and homes have been devastated. So that reconstruction process is continuing. Guy Hedgego in Valencia. The Foreign Ministry of Qatar has said that it's withdrawing from its role as a key mediator

in talks between Israel and Hamas until both sides changed their attitude. In a statement, a spokesman accused both of exploiting continuing negotiations for what he called narrow political purposes. At a protest in Tel Aviv, relatives of the 100 remaining hostages held by Hamas accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his government of sabotaging negotiations. Every single person who has love for the state of Israel must ask themselves, how is it possible that not one Israeli proposal for a comprehensive hostage release ceasefire deal has been presented since the elimination of Sinwar. How it is possible that instead of taking advantage of the momentum to

promote the deal, we cause Qatar to withdraw from mediation. Just where then does Qatar's decision to stop its mediation efforts leave us? Our chief international correspondent Liz Douc, is in Jerusalem. Well, I wouldn't say that what Qatar has done is a blow to the peace talks because there are no peace talks. And so Qatar makes it clear in its statement that it had informed all parties, particularly the United States, after the last round, which went nowhere, if the parties did not approach the talks in good faith, that Qatar would, and this is the word that they used in their statement,

would stall their participation until there was a reason to come back to the table. In other words, this is very implicit criticism of most of all of Israel, which Qatar has publicly blamed for the deadlock in the talks. It's also criticism of the United States because Qatar has come under criticism both from Republicans and Democrats, accused of being the main obstacle in these talks, not doing enough to put pressure on Hamas. But it's also implicit criticism of Hamas because Qatar is trying to use its good offices with Hamas, which has a political office there, and they continue to insist on, you know, very, very big, wide red lines. In other words, an end

to the war before they agree to release any hostages. So basically Qatar is saying, when you're serious, come back to us, but until you do, we're just going to wait. Have Hamas or Israel responded to this announcement yet the last more than a year of negotiations have been ones of growing tension between Israel and and Qatar there was earlier in the year a leaked recording in which Prime Minister Netanyahu

Blamed Hamas for not doing enough and for obstructing efforts. Senior members of Prime Minister Netanyahu's coalition have accused Qatar of being in league with Hamas and not doing enough to put pressure on them. So there is a history of this. So we're not expecting any progress. And this has happened on the same day as an esteemed Islamic scholar in Gaza has issued a fatwa, a religious decree against Hamas, stating the group is responsible for civilian deaths in Gaza. This was an extraordinary development and the fact that it took as long as it did underlines that this is a very respected Islamic scholar, Professor Dr. Salman

Aldaya. He's a former dean of the faculty of Sharia and law at the Hamas University in Gaza, the Islamic University of Gaza. He's widely respected in Gaza and beyond. He has long been known to be at odds with the more aggressive, the more militant, the more violent tactics of Hamas. So he has published this edict, they call it a fatwa, in a detailed six-page document and let me quote him. He says Hamas has violated Islamic principles governing jihad. There's been no response from Hamas yet. It's very brave of him to issue this kind of a statement which takes issue and says that brave of him to issue this kind of a statement which takes issue and says that the attacks of October the 7th violated principles of jihad because they did not take account of

damage to civilians. Liz Doucet speaking to Rob Young. Russia is hosting a summit of foreign ministers from Africa as it tries to increase its political, economic and military power across the continent. Several African nations have cut ties with the West and embraced support from Moscow. Our Africa regional editor, Will Ross reports. From the summit in Sochi there's been a steady stream of photos of Russia's Sergei Lavrov shaking hands with African foreign ministers.

As it tries to revive some of the influence it had during the Soviet era, Russia's telling them instead of dealing with former colonial powers like Britain and France, they'd be better off with Vladimir Putin. This comes with a promise that there'll be no meddling in a country's internal affairs or lessons on how to run an election. Speaking at the summit, the Foreign Minister of Military-led Burkina Faso praised Russia for being a more suitable ally than France. It's one of several countries where jihadist attacks are on the rise and Russian troops have been invited in. While all the ministers will be happy to discuss

trade deals in Sochi, some will share the West's concern that Russia's embrace and the prospect of more military coups risks destabilising the entire continent. Will Ross. American support for Ukraine has been vital in prolonging Kiev's defence against Russia's full-scale invasion. Washington has sent billions of dollars worth of weapons over the past nearly three years. But that assistance is in doubt since President-elect Trump's election victory. He's repeatedly said he could end the war between Russia and Ukraine in a day, but hasn't given any details

about how he would do it. Speaking to the BBC, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign said Ukraine should give up on trying to reclaim the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia invaded a decade ago. Paul Henley asked Brian Lancer if the next administration would pull the US out of NATO. President Trump is going to have a stern conversation with European leaders. They have a difficult choice to make.

If you really believe in the values of NATO, you would not be funding war machines. You would not be funding Russia's war machines. You would not be expanding China's communist rule in places. So yeah, I think if NATO and the nation states understand what's at stake, you know, China's communist rule in places. And so, yeah, I think if NATO and the nation states understand what's at stake, they'll have a partner in President Trump. But if they go back to the mentality where they don't have to contribute and they're going to fund these war machines, the American people shouldn't invest if Europe doesn't want to invest themselves.

But history will not be kind on Europe for making these dumb decisions at the end of the day. Vladimir Putin seems to agree with Mr Trump that he might be able to end the war in Ukraine. How? Listen, I have a tremendous amount of respect for the Ukrainian people. They've proven over the last couple of years that their hearts are made of lions. Europe needs Ukrainian people to protect them as well. These citizens know how to fight russia that does successfully now the challenge becomes we have an honest conversation with with your

partners is you know what are the goals zelensky for example he says his goal is to get korea back well that's not the goal of the united states and that's not the goal of the european nation states we learned that in twenty fourteen that would be invaded korea europe did nothing.

And so now when Zelensky says, you know, we will only stop this fighting, there will only be peace once Crimea's returned. We've got news for President Zelensky. Crimea's gone. And if that is your priority of getting Crimea back and having American soldiers fight to get Crimea back, you're on your own. That is not the priority of America. But the priority of America is peace and to stop the killing.

And does that include stopping arms deliveries to Ukraine immediately as things stand? Listen, I think Ukraine has a choice it needs to make. It has to decide what it wants to do with this war. So if Ukraine says, and it sounds unlikely at the moment, but if Ukraine were to say, right, we give up Crimea, they'd carry on getting the arms for the rest of the battle, would they? Listen, the reality on the ground is the European nation states and President Biden did not give Ukraine the ability and the arms to win this war at the very beginning and failed to lift the restrictions for Ukraine to win. And so, you know, those are the challenges.

What we're going to say to Ukraine is, you know, what you see, what do you see as a realistic vision for peace? It's not a vision for winning, but it's a vision for peace. And let's start having the honest conversation. And if President Zelensky comes to the table and says, well, we can only have peace if we have Crimea, he shows to us that he's not serious. Brian Lancer, the ancient Roman ruins of Pompeii are a symbol of tragedy and act as a type of time machine to transport tourists back to the first century AD. But now Italian officials say they're starting to become overwhelmed by the sheer number of visitors. From next week they will halve the number of tourists allowed into the site, El Abicto reports.

Walking along the ancient city's dusty streets, it's no surprise why millions flock to this UNESCO World Heritage Site every single year. The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD engulfed the town in pumice and volcanic ash within hours, turning everything into stone. Usually it's very easy to recognise the leg of a goat. For a city almost 2,000 years old, everything is remarkably preserved. From the city's large amphitheaters to the local brothel and bathhouses, remains of mosaics, frescoes,

pottery, jewellery and even food give an unparalleled window into the daily life of ancient Rome. Couldn't be more interested. It's the second time round and we'd be very happy to come back again. It makes you humble just to think what the people went through, just too much to believe. It was hidden for such a long time before we rediscovered it. So it seems like insane thing to find again, like a whole city that was basically lost for a time. You would think that with lava of all things,

it would be more destructive, but so many things are still left behind even after so many people died. We don't have stuff like this, at least where we're from in America. History dating back before we can even conceptualise is really interesting to me. Pompeii's popularity is becoming a cause of concern. A third of the site is still left to be excavated and recent discoveries attracted a record four million people last year. From

next week, there will be a cap to halve the number of daily visitors to 20,000. Park officials say it will protect the site's fragile heritage and encourage people to explore other attractions like Herculaneum, Peistrum and Stabii. It's part of an increasing trend in Italy to combat over-tourism. Venice now imposes a day trip of fee to manage its crowds. And as of this week, those in Rome won't be allowed to toss coins over their shoulders into the Trevi Fountain. Instead, people will have to cross overhead on a steel walkway, officials calling it a

unique experience that won't be ruined by overcrowding. Ella Bicknell. The British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has apologised to Indigenous Australians who have been angered by a plotline in his new children's book. An Aboriginal educational group has said the depiction of an Indigenous character, a girl who can communicate with plants and animals, trivialised and stereotyped First Nations people and their experiences. Nick Johnson takes up the story. So beautiful people, I'm in Sydney as you know.

Jamie Oliver is currently on tour in Australia promoting his new cookbook, but it's his second children's novel which has made headlines. Billy and the Epic Escape features an indigenous girl called Ruby who's in foster care and can communicate with plants and animals. An Aboriginal education group said the characterisation trivialised and lazily stereotyped First Nations people and their beliefs. The group's chief executive Sharon Davis said the story showed complete disregard for the vast differences among First Nations languages, cultures and practices and reduced Indigenous

beliefs to magic. The book's publisher Penguin Random House UK said it took responsibility for failing to consult with any indigenous organisation prior to publication and described not doing so as an editorial oversight. Jamie Oliver said he's devastated to hear he's caused offence and apologised for doing so. Nick Johnson. Still to come. Thousands of emperors are coming to this frozen bay. They are here because the new ice provides the safest place for them to breed. An emperor penguin's epic journey from Antarctica all the way to Australia. My talent as an athlete is swimming long halls over the curvature of the earth. Lifeless Ordinary is the podcast with astonishing personal stories from across the globe. My past is very bad and I survived it. You have to tell the story.

Expect the unexpected. All of a sudden the car exploded. Lives Less Ordinary from the BBC World Service. Here's a thing that happened to me. Find it wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Now to Pakistan, where a separatist group have claimed responsibility for a deadly suicide bomber in Quetta in the Western province of Baluchistan.

The attack targeted a railway station, killing at least 25 people and injuring dozens more. The separatist group, the Balochistan Liberation Army, has said that it was targeting an army unit. Our Pakistan correspondent Carrie Davids reports from Islamabad. Shouts of panic and fear as passers-by load the injured into the back of vehicles after the explosion. CCTV shows the station platform moments before the blast. Passengers were waiting for a train from Quetta to Peshawar when a sudden flash and a spark of orange flame sent bodies flying backwards. The platform is engulfed in a cloud of debris and smoke. Those who can run for cover. Videos of the aftermath show the terrible destruction,

bloodied bodies and the station roof torn to pieces. A senior police official told the BBC that they believe this was the result of a suicide bomber who walked into the crowd of 150. The Baluch Liberation Army has claimed responsibility, saying it targeted soldiers returning from a training course. The militant separatist group has conducted an increasing number of attacks this year. Its aim is to gain independence for Balochistan from Pakistan. Caroline Davis, since the election

of Donald Trump some American women on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram have been showing an increasing interest in a social trend originating in South Korea called the 4B movement. Its proponents oppose dating men, having sex with men, marrying men and having children with them. Stop talking to the men. Delete, block, say your goodbyes and leave it at that. If you secretly had to vote for Kamala because of your husband,

I just want you to know that it's okay to divorce him. We're building a whole community of ladies who are happy being single and guess what? If your husband voted for Trump, especially if he knows that you didn't, he hates your guts. Come join us over here on this side. It's called the right side of history. Posts shared in the last few days on TikTok. Sean Lay got more on the 4B movement from Ming Julie from Occidental College in Southern California. An English literal translation of it is no marriage, no relationship, no birth and no sex.

And it refers to a movement where some group of women, feminists, decided that they are fed up with the patriarchal system and the misogyny that was latent in Korean society for a long time, and that they are going to do something about it. The 4B movement became more of a mainstream thing starting in 2019, when there was this onslaught of mainstream news that was reporting about digital sexual violence cases that occurred in Korea. Notably, in 2019, for instance, in Korea, there was this notorious incident called the Anthraim incident, where allegedly a few thousand men participated in this court chat room, where they were exchanging illicit sexual images and

videos of women that were not consensually taken or provided. It's had quite an impact though on social media hasn't it and now has translated to the United States. What's happening in America? Why is it being picked up there? So in the US after the election, some women, especially it seems like the women who are living in more red states decided that actually they are similar to the Korean woman who felt like they couldn't trust the men in their lives also Couldn't trust the men who are in their lives or potentially the men who they might go out on dates with so they decided that they were also going to refrain from the So they decided that they were also going to refrain from the sexual relationships or dating with men until they can know actually that these men are men who can be trusted

to honor, respect women and respect women's health. Do they think then that white, black, Latina men who have voted for Donald Trump somehow become suspect to them that they are not trustworthy? Yes, because in some sense, it seems like the sexual misconduct allegations as well as how big of an issue women's health and abortion rights was for this election, it seems the case that even if all the men who voted for Donald Trump are not opposed to abortion rights or opposed to women's rights or other things, that it seems to be the case that that is something that they are willing

to kind of sideline in order to vote him into the office. So that is a factor. Back in South Korea, what impact has 4B made? There has been some change, but not necessarily in a good way. And that is one of the things that I'm partly concerned about for the 4b movement in the US as well, because in Korea, this movement has been happening for quite a while. And the results that you see nowadays isn't necessarily like a lot of men saying that, oh, they're in feminists now, or that they believe in women's cause. It's more so the case that some men have

become very radical anti-feminist as a reaction to the 4B movement. So it doesn't seem to be the case that on an individual level it has changed men's perspective to be more like gender equal or feminist. It has gone in the other direction, greater polarization. Do you worry that could happen in the United States too? Greater polarization. Do you worry that could happen in the United States too? I do worry about that because if there aren't any specific demands for legal reform or certain demands that the 4B movement are making, then it's kind of unclear to the men or the larger society that they're trying to send a message to on what needs to be done in order for this

movement to stop eventually. Ming Julie, a Bangladeshi man has been ordered by doctors to be returned to Italy from an asylum processing centre in Albania. He arrived on an Italian warship along with a small group of other migrants only on Friday. It is the latest setback for the deal between Italy and Albania. This report from our Balkans correspondent Guy De Launay. Just seven residents from Bangladesh and Egypt now remain at the Italian asylum processing centre in Albania. Doctors deemed one man to be vulnerable and

ordered his transfer to Italy. The others may join him as soon as Monday. That's when an Italian court will rule on the legality of their detention at a closed facility in Albania. It'll be the first test of the Italian government's decree, declaring Bangladesh and Egypt to be safe countries of origin. Last month, judges ruled that they were not. Guy Delaney. And now...

Thousands of emperors are coming to this frozen bay. They are here because the new ice provides the safest place for them to breed. That is the British broadcaster David Attenborough talking about the Emperor Penguin. But even he would probably be surprised to hear that an Emperor Penguin has survived an epic journey from Antarctica all the way north to Australia. Scientists are hailing it as a first for the species as Wendy Urquhart explains. Australia has long been a bucket list destination for travelers but not for Emperor Penguins who are native to Antarctica. That didn't deter Gus the Emperor Penguin who travelled 3,400 kilometres to tramp on the sands of Ocean Beach in southern Australia,

much to the surprise of a bunch of surfers waiting for the next big wave. It's thought the penguin got swept up by strong currents while it was searching for food, but it clearly didn't find much because it was seriously malnourished when it washed up in Australia and is now being nursed back to health by Australian wildlife carer Carol Biddulph. The bird sort of turned at an angle and I could see its back bone protruding and I thought this bird is well undernourished so that was a real consideration for bringing it in. I've never had to deal with a large penguin like this before they're always been a lot smaller our local little penguins. Never in my wildest thoughts would I thought I'd ever have an emperor

penguin to care for it's just such a privilege to be part of this bird's journey. Even Dr Peter Fretwell, a scientist with the British Antarctic Survey, who's discovered nearly half of the known Emperor Penguin breeding grounds and has made several visits to one of their colonies in the Antarctic, is at a loss as to how Gus ended up in Oz. Why he's turned up there is a bit of a mystery. We honestly don't know whether he's got disorientated or he's been sick or he's just followed the wrong path.

It's hard to tell. Some of the penguin colonies have seen an alarming decline in numbers in the last few years. And on top of that, the waters around Antarctic have been warming up due to climate change. As a result, the frozen seawater platform that emperor penguins breed on is breaking up before the chicks can get their waterproof feathers. Which means there's a high mortality rate amongst the young and

Dr Fretwell says that doesn't bode well for the future. Well the models that we have at the moment suggest that by the end of the century about 70-75 years they'll virtually be extinct but we're not sure if those models are correct and one of our real projects at the British Antarctic Survey is to try and see what the population actually is doing using satellite imagery to monitor those populations and see if we can track that decline and see what chances they have. Once Gus is in good health, he'll be released back into the ocean and he'll have quite the story to tell when he gets back home. Wendy Urquhart.

And that's all from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the Global News podcast later on. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at global news pod. This edition was mixed by Stephen Bailey and the producer was Alison Davis. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Nick Miles. journalist from Accra, Ghana. I've been looking at the battle to save endangered languages in Africa.

These are languages that have not received documentation. These are languages that are not even taught in schools. That's tongue and talk. Keeping languages alive in Africa. Listen now by searching for the documentary wherever you get to your BBC podcasts.