Global News Podcast - Trump hosts UK's Keir Starmer at the White House

Episode Date: February 28, 2025

Donald Trump says he's made "lots of progress" on ending Ukraine war after White House meeting with UK PM Keir Starmer. Also: Mexico extradites 29 drug gang members; police probe "suspicious death" of actor Gene Hackman.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Hello, I'm Robin Ince. And I'm Brian Cox. And we would like to tell you about the new series of The Infinite Monkey Cage. We're going to have a planet off. Jupiter versus Saturn. It's very well done that because in the script it does say wrestling voice. After all of that, it's going to kind of chill out a bit and talk about ice.

And also in this series, we're discussing history music recording with Brian Eno and looking at nature's shapes. So listen wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Jackie Leonard and in the early hours of Friday the 28th of February these are our main stories. President Trump and Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer say they've had productive talks at the White House with the focus on Russia's war against Ukraine. Mexico has extradited almost 30 alleged drug gang members to the United States, including two founder members of the brutal Los Zetas Cartel.

And explosions and gunfire have been reported in the Congolese city of Bukavu at a rally held by Rwandan-backed M23 rebels. Also in this podcast, all groups should lay down their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself. The imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ercalan has issued a statement All groups should lay down their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself. The imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Ercalan has issued a statement urging his PKK rebel movement to disarm and end its four-decade-long fight against the Turkish state. The British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Trump have both hailed their talks

at the White House as a major success. At a news conference afterwards, the US President said he thought there would be a Ukraine peace deal and a US-UK trade deal. The pair seemed to get off to a positive start before the talks proper even began when the British Prime Minister delivered a letter signed by King Charles inviting Mr Trump for a second state visit to the UK. And the US President also wrote back on previous comments that the Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky was a dictator when asked by my colleague Chris Mason.

Mr President, do you still think that Mr Zelensky is a dictator? Um, did I say that? I can't believe I said that. Next question. So, are you going to just leave it? Addressing journalists after the talks, President Trump said his UK counterpart was a tough negotiator, but the pair had made lots of progress

on ending the war in Ukraine. As I discussed with Prime Minister Stammer, the next step we're making is toward a very achievable ceasefire. We hope that that can happen quickly because thousands of young people, in this case we're not talking about Americans, we're talking about Ukrainians and Russians are being killed every week, thousands. This will lay the groundwork for a long-term peace agreement that will return stability to Eastern Europe and hopefully ensure that such a terrible war will never happen on European

soil or for that matter anywhere again. And the Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the UK was committed to European defence. Mr President, in this new era, you're also right that Europe must step up. And let me tell you now, I see the growing threats we face and so the UK is all in. This year we'll be giving more military aid to Ukraine than ever. And just this week, I've said out how we're shouldering more of the security burden. This isn't just talk, it's action. We're balancing the transatlantic alliance, making us all stronger and standing up for

our shared values and shared security. Our UK political correspondent Rob Watson was watching. I think it's pretty clear that Sakir Starmer and other European leaders, whatever reservations they might have, have accepted that Donald Trump is determined to make some kind of a peace agreement on Ukraine involving Vladimir Putin and that their efforts, if you like, the effort of Keir Starmer is to try and make sure that any peace deal is a reasonable one, that it's not one that that you would, if you like, give everything away to Vladimir Putin. And for his part, what President

Trump was saying is, look, I do think there's going to be a deal, and if there's going to be one, it'll come soon. If not, it might not happen at all. But I mean, there's clearly some kind of distance still. It's obvious that Donald Trump is prepared to trust Vladimir Putin, according to what he said, in a way that Sikir Starmer and other European leaders aren't. So they're still very nervous about what's lying underneath this. And of course the Brits and other Europeans would want a guarantee of security from the United States, which is not forthcoming at this point. But I guess the big question is what kind of deal will be done in the end? And there were other issues discussed as well, of course.

The UK very keen to avoid US tariffs. Did Mr Stalmer get what he wanted? In the sense that did he get a firm? They're not going to happen. No, he did not. There were warm words from Donald Trump about the possibility of a trade deal with the UK, which would do away with the need for any tariffs. But trade deals are notoriously difficult. So it's a bit like the whole issue of the deal on Ukraine. It's all a case, Jackie, of what comes next. So mood music, yes, it was clearly pretty good.

The chemistry between the two men, pretty good, but whether it's on Ukraine, whether it's about the long-term security relationship between the United States and European countries like Britain, whether it's about tariffs, not just on the UK, but on the European Union, I mean, in a way, it all depends on what happens next, because one of the things that's really, if you like, marked out this moment as being different is that the Americans and the Europeans have had their ups and downs over the years over security. One thinks of the Vietnam War or the war in Iraq. But what really marks this moment out is disagreements over security, Russia, Ukraine, but also economics

as well with tariffs. So it depends on what happens next. And of course, Mr Stammer hand delivered an invitation from the King. That seemed to please the President didn't it? Yes, well it may be that all these kind of complex geopolitical issues, we're not going to know exactly what's going on for several weeks, months, maybe years to come Jackie, but actually on that one he didn't need a crystal ball. Donald Trump was obviously clearly delighted.

The Brits knew he was going to be delighted and he's going to be coming for a state visit. The first person to get two state visits, I mean he looked like he'd won the lottery. That was Rob Watson. The imprisoned founder of the Kurdish rebel group, the PKK, has called for his group to lay down its arms and end its four-decade struggle against the Turkish state. Abdullah Erdogan said the PKK, which is banned by Turkey and its western allies, should dissolve itself as an organisation. His statement was read out first in Kurdish, then a member of the pro-Kurdish DEM party

Pervin Buldan read it in Turkish. In this climate created by the will of President Erdogan and the positive approaches of other political parties, I call for the laying down of arms and I assume the historical responsibility of this call. All groups should lay down their arms and the PKK must dissolve itself. His call opens the door to the ending of the long conflict in southeastern Turkey which has led to the deaths of tens of thousands of people. Emily Withers is a journalist in Istanbul and she's been speaking to the BBC's James Menendez. It could potentially be very significant.

It could mark the end of a 40-year conflict that the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, has waged with Turkey that has left tens of thousands of dead on both sides and has had major regional impacts. We've had a letter that was written inside jail from the leader of PKK who's based on an island just off Istanbul. And in that letter, the militant leader Abdullah Ocalan said that the PKK should lay down their arms and they should dissolve. But there's so much that's unclear right now. You don't wage a 40-year insurgency against the Turkish state without there being any major concessions. And it's just not clear at the moment what

those concessions are. It's also not clear whether the fighters who are now based in northeastern Syria, they're based in the northern Iraqi mountains, are they going to listen to their jailed leader who has been in prison since 1999? Not really ever heard from. Meanwhile, Turkey has continued to fight the PKK in the northern Iraqi mountains, in Syria and within the country. And what about the political dynamics, the context from the Turkish government's point of view and President Erdogan? There are two reasons for why President Erdogan might want this to happen now. Firstly, if

we look over the border into Syria, running the northeast is the Syrian Democratic Forces. They are a Kurdish led group, which Turkey says has PKK fighters amongst them, and they do not want this group to be on their borders. The complicated thing here is the SDF forces are also American allies. They armed and trained them to watch over Islamic State and their battle against Islamic State in that region. There's also a domestic reason here too. President Tayyip Erdogan is no longer able to run for office after 2028 and it's not clear whether he might want to extend his power. He can do that through two ways. He can rewrite the constitution or he can call early elections. In order to do that, he's going to need the support from parliament and he doesn't

have that without the Kurdish parties. So it could be that this deal has been struck in order to secure the support from Kurdish parties so he can remain in office beyond 2028 and he's going to need the Kurdish vote as well potentially if he wants to win. That was Emily Withers in Istanbul. The United States has announced that 29 alleged drug cartel members have been extradited from Mexico. Among them are Rafael Caro Quintero, accused of torturing and murdering a US official 40 years ago. Our Mexico correspondent, Will Grant, reports. The extradition of 29 people from Mexico to the United States in and of itself is historic.

There are many who say this is the biggest extradition of its kind in the history of Mexico's brutal and relentless drug war. But more than the simple number, I think what stands out are some of the names of those involved. They include, for example, Miguel Ángel Trevino and his brother Oscar Omar Trevino. They are the founding members of Los Zetas Cartel, known as Z40 and Z42 respectively. They ran a criminal empire that had its finger in many, many different pies.

Cocaine trafficking, people smuggling, extortion, kidnapping, a whole range of different criminal activities before it eventually lost its power and essentially splintered and fractured in the mid-2010s. They are important figures in the history of Mexico's drug war, but another name in the group of 29 that has been extradited is perhaps even more significant, Rafael Caro Quintero. Now, he was one of the founding members of the Guadalajara cartel, an absolute lynchpin in how drug trafficking in Mexico was carried out. He is wanted in the United States in connection with the murder

of a DEA agent in 1985, Enrique Kike Camarena. He was arrested at the time and served around 28 years in Mexico before eventually being released. However, he was still wanted in the US. The Obama administration was very disappointed that he was allowed to be released by the Mexican authorities. He is now in his 70s. He was recaptured in 2022 and is now on US soil. So the broader question is why is all of this happening and perhaps why now? Well, I think we need look no further than the push by the Trump administration to the government

of President Claudia Sheinbaum to do more on the question of the drug war in this country, to do more in terms of cross-border cooperation in security. Is this perhaps a gift, as it were, to Mr Trump amid the threat of tariffs over fentanyl, for example, that's difficult to know, but certainly it is an effort, I think, by the Mexican government to show greater willingness and more cooperation on cross-border security issues. That was Will Grant. Explosions and gunfire have rocked the city of Bukavu in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo during a mass rally held by the Rwandan-backed M23 rebel group, leaving at least 11 people dead and around 60 others injured.

Videos posted on social media showed bloodied bodies lying on the ground and people fleeing the scene. Our Africa editor, Will Ross, reports. Chaos as the explosions caused thousands of people to run for their lives in panic. From buildings overlooking Bukavu's independent square, people filmed what was happening on their phones shortly after the leader of a rebel alliance, Khorne Nanga, had addressed the rally. When the crowd was gone, there were dead bodies on the street and rescuers carried away the injured. This was meant to be a day for the Rwandan-backed M23 rebels to tell the city's

residents and the world that eastern Congo is safer with them in charge. It's not clear who carried out the explosions, but on Wednesday leaflets were distributed warning people to stay away from the M23 rally. In recent weeks the rebels have been rapidly capturing territory from the Congolese army and ignoring UN calls to stop the attacks. People living in mineral-rich eastern Congo have been repeatedly fleeing violence over the last three decades. There have in the past been dramatic escalations in the fighting, which at times has drawn in the armies of several other African countries. That was Will Ross.

Still to come. We'll be going out tonight, no excuses. It's always been a big part of my life, dancing house, so I still keep it up, why I can't. That's it. A woman celebrates her 105th birthday with a rave. Hello, I'm Robin Ince. And I'm Brian Cox, and we would like to tell you about the new series of The Infinite Monkey Cage. We're going to have a planet off.

Jupiter versus Saturn! It's very well done that, because in the script, it does say say wrestling voice. After all of that it's going to kind of chill out a bit and talk about ice. And also in this series we're discussing history music recording with Brian Eno and looking at nature shapes. So listen wherever you get your podcasts. Now, in our last edition of the Global News podcast, we brought you the news of the death of the American actor Gene Hackman and his wife, the classical pianist Betsy Arakawa. The couple were found dead at their Santa Fe home in New Mexico on Wednesday. One of

their dogs was found dead too. No cause of death was given, but the police now say that the situation is suspicious enough to merit investigation. The BBC's Emma Vardy is in LA. In the last couple of hours, the county sheriff's office for Santa Fe have said that in fact they had been into the property, they'd carried out a search and that the testing had been done by emergency services and that there was no evidence of carbon monoxide or any sort of gas leak. And that was initially what people thought this was pointing towards because Jean Hackman's daughter had spoken to one news outlet saying,

that's what the family thought was the cause of death. But what the Sheriff's Office now is saying seems to contradict that. So investigations are still very much ongoing to find out what happened here. But they have said that the couple were found in different rooms. One of the dogs, the dog that was dead, was found in a closet. The other two dogs were found alive and that they are now treating this as suspicious.

Jean Hackman, who was 95, was best known for films such as The French Connection and The Conversation. There's been a flood of tributes to the actor. The filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola called him inspiring and magnificent. Our arts correspondent David Silito looks back on his career. Hi, Popeye's here. Popeye Doyle in the French connection was Gene Hackman's

defining role. Get your hands on your heads. Get off the bar and get on the wall. It brought him the first of his two Oscars in a career that saw him nominated five times. Not bad for a man voted least likely to succeed at acting school. And it did take him a while to get going. He was in his mid-30s by the time of his first big movie. But then came an Oscar nomination for his role in Bonnie and Clyde. You shouldn't have done that, Blanche.

It was a dumb thing to do. And after that... What's my name? His big break. came an Oscar nomination for his role in Bonnie and Clyde. You shouldn't have done that, Blanche. It was a dumb thing to do. And after that... What's my name? His big break. Doyle. What? Mr. Doyle.

Bleak, brutal and gripping, the French connection turned him into one of Hollywood's most compelling tough guys. Get over that. Get your hands on your head. But the role didn't come naturally. Matter of fact, the second day of shooting, I had asked the director to replace me because I just didn't feel I could do it. I was popping these guys in the mouth

and after a while you punch somebody long enough you get kind of used to it, you know? And he got very good at it, with an Oscar for Unforgiven. On Independence Day. And another nomination for Mississippi Burning. You got a stupid smile, you know that pal? But there was more to him than that. And another nomination for Mississippi Burning. Get out of here. You got a stupid smile, you know that, pal?

But there was more to him than that. From the paranoia of the conversation to the comedy of the Royal Tenenbaums, he was a versatile actor. Lex Luthor. Possibly you've heard the name, the greatest criminal mind on earth. Who excelled at playing the ordinary guy.

Turned out to be real natural as a traveling salesman. And while he may have lacked traditional film idol good looks, he was undoubtedly a star. It's all I ever wanted to do. I fulfilled a lot of my dreams. David Silito on the career of Gene Hackman. The social media influencer and self-described misogynist Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan have arrived in the US after having a travel ban imposed by the Romanian authorities lifted. The pair, who

have joint US-UK citizenship, are facing charges of rape and human trafficking in Romania, which they deny. Romanian officials say the Trump administration requested the Tate brothers be allowed to travel to America. From Bucharest, Andrew Harding reports. Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan slipped out of Romania on a private jet before dawn. A few hours later they were seen arriving at an airport in Florida. The Romanian authorities have defended their abrupt decision to relax travel restrictions for the two men. They've also released most of their assets, including property, cash and cars. Critics here in Bucharest claim the Tate's sudden departure is the result of a shameful deal between their government and the Trump White House, where it's clear the

men enjoy strong support. Elena Lascone is a leading Romanian politician and presidential candidate. Actually, I'm outraged as a woman, as a human being, as a Romanian. The justice must be firm, transparent and stand on the side of the vulnerable. Otherwise, what kind of message are we sending to the world? That anyone with the money and influence can escape and punish in Romania? Andrew and Tristan Tate were initially detained in Romania in 2022. They had already gained global fame and notoriety as influencers, but now face charges here of people trafficking and money laundering. They deny all wrongdoing. Andrew Tate calls himself a misogynist, spreading

a message of assertive masculinity. Teachers and police say he's a toxic figure with a dangerous influence, particularly on boys. At this stage it's unclear what implications the brothers' departure may have on their legal cases in Romania. That was Andrew Harding. Since the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in 2021, they have steadily cracked down on freedoms. Women in particular have almost been erased from public life, banned from education showing their faces or even speaking loudly in public. A key way of enforcing law and order is a vast surveillance network with 90,000 CCTV cameras across the capital Kabul. From

license plates to men's facial expressions everything is being watched. Luke Jones spoke to Majuba Nauruzy from the BBC Afghan Service who was given exclusive access to the surveillance centre interviewing members of the Morality Police. They claim that the crime rate has gone down by 30 percent. There's zero kidnapping and theft and made lots of claims that Kabul is now safe for more than five million people. But we obviously cannot independently verify what. And also there are plenty of concerns that a government like the Taliban government in

Afghanistan what they might do with those 90,000 CCTV cameras because there are lots of people whose dissent and criticism they'll want to crush. Totally and there's huge concern especially raised by women. Omnesty International says that installing cameras under the guise of national security sets a template for the Taliban to continue their draconian policies that violate fundamental human rights. And it's not necessarily the case that this is going to rely on a policeman sitting in this room with all those TV screens you described spotting you on one of the cameras, there is an element of facial recognition is there not?

Definitely. They were very proud of the fact that they are using this cutting-edge technology from what we observed were imported from China, a technology to recognise people from a long distance even at night. And to add insult to injury, it's not just that civilians will be having to live under this, but some of them have even been asked to pay for it when the cameras are installed on their streets. Is that right? That's right. I also spoke to some people, especially women, very well-educated women.

They cannot find a job at the moment because of the Taliban restrictions. And they were saying that every family was asked to pay thousands of Afghanis, which is a lot of money for these households, that they have no jobs. And they were saying that this is not fair. We don't need the security. We need job security. We need food. We need work.

When I put that question to the Taliban, they didn't actually deny that they collected money from people for buying these cameras and installing them. They were saying that, yes, we did collect some money, but it was voluntary, and it was not in thousands, it was just in hundreds. So if people have any complaints, they can officially come forward but obviously

people are too scared to go forward and make any complaints. Marjuba Nahrouzi from the BBC Afghan Service. Nearly 2000 years after a man died in bed during the Vesuvius volcanic eruption, scientists have discovered that his brain turned to glass in an extremely hot cloud of ash. They say it's the only known case of glass forming organically. Science correspondent Georgina Ranard reports. A human brain turned to glass by a volcano. It sounds like bad science fiction and when archaeologists first found glass fragments inside a skull in ancient Herculaneum in Italy, they were mystified. They deduced that the pea-sized chunks

of black glass were the fossilized remains of the brain of a man aged about 20. He was killed by the massive Vesuvius eruption that buried his town and the sister city of Pompeii. But experts didn't understand how his soft brain could have been transformed into glass. Now scientists from the University of Rotmattray say that a huge ash cloud rushed down the mountain enveloping the victim. It heated up his brain to at least 510 degrees Celsius before rapidly cooling. It created unique fragments of a man who suffered a violent death but left behind incredible scientific evidence of a spectacular

volcanic eruption. Georgina Ranard. A woman from central England has celebrated her 105th birthday with a makeshift rave at her care home. Hilda Jackson told the BBC she drank champagne and danced to drum and bass and she'll keep on dancing. This report from Graham Satchel. Can we make some noise for the birthday girl on her 105th birthday. Happy birthday Hilda! Holbrook Hall care home in Derbyshire has never seen anything like it. Fluorescent face paint, glow sticks, music by the rapper Brucie who played Reading and Leeds festivals last year. Hurry on darling, you take too long. It was a rave, and first on the dance floor, Hilda Jackson. This birthday, honestly, absolutely fabulous. I had a great time.

I was pleased when it was all over, I might tell you. But it was lovely. Hilda said the secret to her longevity was dancing, particularly jiving and ballroom dancing. It's always been a big part of my life, dancing, so I still keep it up, why I can. You've still got to keep active. Keep on going. That's it. You can't give up just because you're 105.

No, we're going to keep going. We're going to keep raving, aren't we? There's no question about that. Yes. 105-year-old Hilda Jackson ending that report from Graham Satchel. And happy birthday, Hilda. And that's it from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the Global News podcast later. If you would like to comment on this edition or the topics covered in it, do please send us an email. The address is globalpodcast.bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on x at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag globalnewspod. This edition was mixed by Philip Ball. The producer was

Ella Bicknell. our editor is Karen Martin. I'm Jackie Leonard and until next time, goodbye. Hello, I'm Robin Ince. And I'm Brian Cox and we would like to tell you about the new series of The Infinite Monkey Cage. We're going to have a planet on. Jupiter versus Saturn! Well, it's very well done that, because in the script it does say, wrestling voice.

After all of that, it's going to kind of chill out a bit and talk about ice. And also in this series we're discussing history of music, recording with Brian Eno, and looking at nature's shapes. So, listen wherever you get your podcasts.