Global News Podcast - Trump-Putin meeting over Ukraine likely ‘in coming days’

Episode Date: August 7, 2025

The Kremlin has said planning is underway for a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump next week, but denied the Russian leader has agreed to a subsequent meeting with the US president and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky. The Trump administration's long-threatened tariffs on around ninety countries have taken effect on imports from dozens of countries, raising the effective US rate to its highest level in nearly a century. Relatives of hostages held in Gaza have set sail towards the territory in a flotilla of eleven boats adorned with flags and protest posters, calling on the Israeli government to stop the war, amid discussion of plans to escalate the military conflict in Gaza. German police have arrested three men suspected of being members of the outlawed Reichsbeurger group and of planning high treason. The families of those killed in the Air India crash in Ahmedabad two months ago, say it's like 'losing him twice' after receiving parts of a stranger's body, instead of their relative. The dangers of unregulated cosmetic procedures like botox and what the UK government is doing about it. Why a new investigation into Pompeii has shed new light on what happened after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, and why one 90's superhero has joined in with the Trump recruitment drive for ICE agents to ramp up immigration raids and detentions across the United States.The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: [e-mail]

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This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Nick Miles and at 13 hours GMT on Thursday the 7th of August, these are our main stories. President Putin and Donald Trump will meet in the coming days to discuss the war in Ukraine. We get reaction from people in Moscow. I'm absolutely in favour of negotiation because everything always ends with negotiations. I am concerned about the problems our country is in. So I wish everything would be resolved. Tariffs imposed by the US are now rippling across dozens of countries around the world.

The latest on the three people arrested in Germany accused of plotting to overthrow the state and the dangers of unregulated Botox on what's being done about it. Also in this podcast. Since President Trump took office, ICE has arrested hundreds of thousands of criminals. A career plot twist for a 90s superhero. In the next few days, we are set to see a meeting of leaders that could change the face of the current world order. President Putin and Donald Trump are meeting in person for the first time since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

It is likely the United Arab Emirates will host. But will the Ukrainian president, Volodymy Zelensky, be joining the two men at the table? The White House says he will be, but not according to the Kremlin. President Putin has told reporters that he is not on the president. the whole, opposed to meeting Volodymy Zelensky, but he said that certain conditions would have to be in place for that to happen, and that those conditions were far from being met. Back in Moscow, there is support for the idea of finding an end to the war. I am absolutely in favor of negotiation, because everything always ends with negotiations.

If negotiations fail, renegotiation is required. I am concerned about the problems our country is in, so I wish everything would be resolved. We are always positive about negotiations because negotiations are good. That is not a war. Meanwhile, President Zelensky says that Ukraine and Europe must be a part of any agreement to end the fighting.

Ukrainian MP, Lisa Jasko, says it's unclear to Ukraine what agreement is on the table at the moment. I feel very nervous as a human, as Ukraine, as Ukrainian politician, because it looks like there is some progress, but we don't know the details of that possible progress. We need a ceasefire. We need to end war. If there is any possibility to negotiate with Russia,

it can be done only through that countries, leaders that Putin can talk to. In this case, it's Trump. Our security correspondent Frank Gardner told me what he thinks President Putin will do next. President Putin has made this very clear. He expects Ukraine to give up not only the parts of the four oblasts that Russia has annexed and occupied, but also the bits that they're not even occupying. In other words, the cities of Gerson and Zaparisia, which are entirely in Ukrainian hands, cities of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian citizens. He expects Ukraine to give up any aspirations of joining NATO. He wants to address what he calls the the root causes of the conflict. In other words, he wants Ukraine to abandon any thought of looking westwards, joining the EU, joining NATO, and come back into Moscow's orbit. He wants it demilitarized and denazified. In other words, he wants to completely neuter Ukraine's army, essentially to the point where he will no longer be able to resist the rest of the invasion. In other words, the conquest of the whole of Ukraine. Those terms are totally unacceptable to Ukraine. So this summit, if and when it happens, between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, will be all about optics, but don't expect any breakthrough. And it's unclear at the moment whether or not the Ukrainian president will be there.

There seemed to be a suggestion yesterday from the White House that he might be. So what can we expect there? Well, I think Washington would like him to be there. Moscow doesn't want him there. what Putin wants is to be back at the top table. He wants to be visibly rehabilitated. He wants to be able to say, look, we've emerged from our isolation. There's a new man in the White House.

Relations are back as they were with Washington. And I think to a large degree, that is what President Trump has wanted. But in recent days and weeks, he has been growing increasingly frustrated with President Putin. Now, this is a dangerous juncture for Ukraine. because in Donald Trump's haste to finish this war, there is a severe risk here that he might try to do a deal one-to-one with Putin that cuts Ukraine out of this and ignores not in Ukraine's interest, but Europe's interests.

And the Baltic states are very concerned about this. And so are Ukrainians who heard there from Lisa Yasko, who I interviewed her in Ukraine back in May. And she's quite nervous with good reason that this kind of deal will be done behind Ukraine's back. And there's a risk if Donald Trump doesn't come away with some kind of deal that he might be seen as being played by the president of Russia over this. And that might mean that he, as you say, agrees to some kind of deal behind the back of Ukraine.

Yeah, or there's also the risk that he could feel so piqued that he has been played. I mean, he's already, you know, he's already made statements on truth, social, his social media platform that, you know, I think he's stringing me along, referring to Vladimir Putin's refusal to compromise even the slightest bit towards a ceasefire. I mean, although he does talk, Putin does talk about an aerial ceasefire, but he's not interested in freezing the war and pausing it. I think there is also the chance that if Donald Trump feels that he's been taken advantage of, that has, as you say, been played, that he could indeed lash out with these secondary sanctions. and just to explain what they are, that's when you punish a country that buys oil, in this case, from Russia. He's already done that with India. There's a big chance that he might be tempted to do this with China, and that could affect Russia's war effort.

That was Frank Gardner. Relatives of Israeli hostages have set sail in a protest flotilla, a collection of small boats, towards the Gaza Strip, several sailboats carrying yellow flags to represent the hostages, and pictures of those people set off from the city of Ashkelon. Those on board shouted messages through megaphones. We need all international assistance to rescue the 50 hostages who are nearly two years held by the hand of Hamas. The Tania's government is doing nothing to rescue them.

Well, this comes amid talks of plans by Israel to escalate military action in Gaza. Our Middle East regional editor, Mike Thompson, tell me more. It really aims to, in a very pictorial way, very good for television, to draw attention to the plight of the hostages when you think of 11 boats with these yellow flags and protests, posters

and pictures of their loved ones held up high. And they've said, the organisers have said, to the Israeli government, and I quote to you, don't sacrifice our loved ones on the altar of what they call an edit. endless war. There's also some sort of personal element here where one of the families just said we want to get as close as possible to our loved ones, although of course they won't be

landing in Gaza, it'll be turning around and going back to Ashkelon Port. Now, the timing of this is interesting. They say they don't want an endless war. The security cabinet are meeting to discuss plans to actually escalate things. Tell us more about what that plan might entail. Well, if this plan comes into being, and it's said to be very strongly backed by, it's reported to be backed by the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, it would involve the Israeli forces completely occupying the whole of Gaza. And one of the first things that would happen is Gaza City, where half the population of Gaza, that's more than a million people live, they'd all be moved south. And it would be several weeks of that. And then the same thing would happen in central Gaza. And the fear is that all of this, which could take months in total,

could really spell the end for the hostages. And that's why now in particular this huge concern. And there have been also there have been the release of by Hamas of several videos of hostages, one in a very emaciated condition. And that as well has really heightened concern across the country as well as with the families. Briefly, obviously concerns also if millions or a million or so Palestinians are moved out of Gaza. city, that could cause increased humanitarian problems there.

Indeed, we've already been seeing reports saying that starvation is on, or famine is unfolding across the territory. And when you're dealing with a million people, just to start with that operation, you can imagine the problems will multiply. Mike mentioned the situation on the ground there. It is very difficult for journalists to report from Gaza. Israel doesn't allow foreign journalists in unaccompanied. But we received this message from a regular contributor in Gaza City in the north of the strip. And a warning, the following message includes extremely graphic and distressing descriptions of violence.

She's describing a recent attack. A high explosion occurred if I hit the ground and then another explosion. I gather my strength. I don't know what happened. The target was an attempt. Of course, everyone in it died in addition to many injuries in the street. I tried to run away until I stopped near the place in a shock. There was a child next to the targeted tent and a swing.

I think he was seven years old. He was trying to get his breath. He opened his mouth to take an air. His hand were holding on the swing rope, but all his interior organs were outside his body. He opened his mouth to take an air and then stopped moving. I was crying barely. I couldn't do anything.

The child father was an accident. He threw himself on the ground and covered his face with the dirt. He was his only son. I do know how I get back home. I was walking and following the ground every time. The image of the child doesn't leave my mind. That was a resident of Gaza City. President Trump has once again been busy on social media,

posting this on truth. Social as his tariffs hit dozens of nations. billions of dollars in tariffs are now flowing into the United States of America. Now, around the world, companies and markets are having to deal with the consequences. Donald Trump's radical trade policies were first announced back in April and are aimed at reshaping the global trading system, which he sees as treating the US unfairly. The president has also announced some surprise additional tariffs, including a 100% levy on chip imports.

and he threatened India with a 50% tariff, which will take effect on August the 27th, unless it stops buying Russian oil. This is how India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi responded. In India, the livelihoods of our farmers, fisherfolk and cattle herders, are a top priority. We will not compromise their welfare, even if we have to pay a high price for this. India is ready for this. Indian business owners are worried as well, like Pankaj Agrawal, who is the CEO of no name.

That's an Indian textile company that exports about a million garments each year to the US. It's going to become very difficult and practically impossible to export to the US. If these tariffs stay, definitely there is no way out for us except to look for other markets. India predominantly has always looked at the US and UK as the strongest trade partners. We've not had very good penetration in many countries and many regions, for example, Europe or Japan, for that matter. We will see a lot of movement in that direction. For more on international reaction to Donald Trump's tariffs, I got this update from our Asia business correspondent in Singapore, Saronjanatawari. Actually, we've seen a mixed response on Asian markets, at least.

And that might be because amidst all this tariff chaos, we are. on the third deadline for tariffs to come in. Markets have largely priced in what's happening now. There's been so much uncertainty that companies, businesses, investors know now that when we approach a deadline, Trump is either going to announce a new raft of tariffs, as he did last week, which correspond to the tariffs that came in today. Or he's going to announce brand new tariffs again, as he said today. Overnight, rather, 100% tariffs on chips.

So largely priced in, but I will say that things are very volatile, not just because prices are still rising over in the US. There are concerns about interest rate cuts. And on top of that, we've got more uncertainty and more chaos ahead with these latest announcements regarding tariffs. Yeah, you mentioned the impact on America. These tariffs could well increase inflation in America because prices of imports will go up.

What about Donald Trump's claim that billions of dollars are now coming into the US as a result of these tariffs? Is that the case? That's exactly what he posted. Just minutes before this deadline kicked in that billions of dollars were now flowing into the US due to tariffs. Now, the jury's really out on whether the US is actually making money or going to make money from these tariffs.

And there's a few reasons for that. One is that there is largely been a tariff, pause after Donald Trump announced his Liberation Day tariffs in early April. There was so much chaos, especially on the bond markets over in the US, that he paused these tariffs while his officials talk to various countries around the world to try and negotiate trade deals. So we've not actually seen the impact of tariffs yet. But on top of that as well, there's so much uncertainty on how they will work that it's not clear whether the government will actually get the money for the tariffs for these products going in. And again, as I say, there are many exemptions to the

rules, especially those chip tariffs that he announced overnight, although that still is not a formal announcement either. That was Surinjana to worry. Since Donald Trump's return to the White House, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency has ramped up raids and detentions of migrants across the country. As part of Mr. Trump's spending bill, which was passed last month, the agency, which is known as ICE, has been granted billions of dollars to hire more agents. And one of those responding to the recruitment drive is the actor Dean Kane, who played Superman in the 1990s. The newsrooms, Isabella Jewel, has more.

It's been described as a classic American immigrant story. The baby who crashed down in Kansas fleeing his dying planet, who went on to become one of the country's saviors, Superman. But now one of the actors who took on the mantle of Superman had announced he's joining ICE to support Donald Trump's immigration agenda. I will be sworn in as an ICE agent, ASAP. So they'll have 80,000 and one recruits for their 10,000 positions.

Dean Kane played the hero in the 90s TV series, Lois and Clark, the New Adventures of Superman. And in an interview on Fox News, the actor said this new role will also help defend America. I'm stepping up, hopefully a whole bunch of other former officers, former ICE agents, will step up and we'll meet those recruitment goals immediately and will help protect this country. And this country was built on patriots stepping up, whether it was popular or not, and doing the right thing. The actor, who's a longtime Trump supporter, decided to join. Join the federal agency after posting an ICE recruitment video on his Instagram account, which went viral.

Since President Trump took office, ICE has arrested hundreds of thousands of criminals, including terrorists, rapists, murderers, pedophiles, MS-13 gang members, drug traffickers, you name it, very dangerous people who are no longer on the streets. You can defend your homeland and get great benefits like a $50,000 signing bonus. Think about that. Student loan repayment legally. He told Fox News host Jesse Waters that he backs Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration. We have a broken immigration system. Congress needs to fix it. But in the interim, President Trump ran on this. He is delivering on this.

This is what people voted for. It's what I voted for. And he's going to see it through. And I'll do my part and help make sure it happens. ICE has been conducting raids across the U.S., which have seen undocumented people, residents with protected legal states, and even American citizens pulled off the streets and thrown into the deportation system. Some of the raids have been attended by celebrity Trump allies, like the TV presenter Dr Phil. The actions have sparked protests and legal disputes across the country. Until Wednesday, the age limit for signing up to ICE was 37, but the Department of Homeland Security said it would remove the age cap, all the better for 59-year-old Dean Kane.

But Heist also has its sights set on Gen Z Americans, who are being targeted in its most recent recruitment drive, although the under-30s may not be swayed by a 90s superhero. Isabella Jol with that report. German police have arrested three men suspected of being members of the outlawed Reichsburger group and planning high treason. The group doesn't recognise the German state and wants to replace it with its own system. Our Europe regional editor, Rachel Wright, tell me what we know about the arrests.

Well, Nick, it seems that in early morning raids in three separate states, Bavaria, Saxony and Thea, India, the police have arrested three men who are suspected of being a member of the Reichberger's group, which literally means citizens of the Reich. Together with three other suspects, they're alleged to have taken part in a training event, with other members of the group in April 22 at a former German army shooting range

and investigators believe the firearms training was meant to prepare for a possible armed assault on the German Bundestag in Berlin, which was said to have included a plan to raid the German parliament, arrest the chancellor and key politicians. Lots of firearms were confiscated and dozens of people have already been arrested for this attempted coup, including the so-called leader of the group, man who calls himself Prince Royce, who are all now on trial. The Reichsburger Group, what does it want? Well, these right citizens, as they call themselves, are a disparate movement of conspiracy

theorists and anti-Semites who deny the legitimacy of Germany's post-World War II Federal Republic. They believe that the pre-war German Reich, i.e. the Third Reich, still legally exists and the post-war Federal Republic doesn't have a valid constitution and is in fact a private company and that Germany is still occupied by the allies. So this group came into existence in the 1980s and is apparently led by a man called Heinrich the 13th or Prince Royce who I mentioned earlier and he comes from a German aristocratic family that goes back to the 12th century. Some of the group refused to pay fines and taxes. They ignore court orders, and they even declare their own national territories, giving them names like

Second German Empire and the Free State of Prussia. They sometimes print their own passports, and one has even declared himself a monarch, a former karate instructor who calls himself Peter I. He had a coronation while dressed in ermine robes and a medieval sword, but they aren't harmless. In 2016, a German policeman was killed, and four were injured when they were shot by a member of the group as they were trying to arrest him and then they confiscated his 31 guns. Rachel Wright. Still to come in this podcast.

The upper floors were still recognisable. People still lived where the city had been and began to live almost like in a kind of camp among the ruins of Pompeii. A new chapter of an ancient story. It's like losing him twice, a statement from one of the families of those killed in the Air India crash at Ahmedabad two months ago after receiving parts of a stranger's body instead of their relative when they were returned. 260 people were killed when seconds after takeoff both fuel control switches on the 12-year-old Boeing 787 abruptly moved to cut off. cutting fuel to the engines and causing total power loss. Another family say that other remains were in a casket with their mother when her body was returned.

Arwin Greenlaw's brother, Fingal Greenlaw Meek, died in the crash along with his husband, Jamie. She spoke to the BBC's Katie Razel, who began by asking her about the moment she first heard about the crash. So I had come home from work and, as I do, had BBC news in the background. and I saw the number come up for, well, I'd seen the tail end of the plane on the screen and the number come up and I just thought, well, they would have never flown Air India was my initial thought, but I called

and I was given a case reference number, trying to call Finn and Jamie not getting answers. And I think we kind of knew then really fairly quickly that they were. on that flight. And your mother, she flew to India. She did a DNA test and she brought back what she thought were Finn's remains. Yeah. By her own words, she was saying it was chaotic scenes, as you can imagine. And so she went straight to the hospital to give a blood sample. I think it was about 72 hours later we got confirmation. So she flew to India and she returned.

turned with what she thought were her son's remains. Yes. Which must have been incredibly difficult. It's the equivalent of losing him twice. So that definitely was a burden on everyone, really. And mum had obviously seen the situation there, smelt the smells, seen the sights, heard, you know, seen the crash site. I think for her that made it more real to be able to see.

that. So to come home and realise that's not your son is really tough. Because that's what happened. You found out that the remains that you were told were his were not. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So the first casket that arrived in the UK was tested and found to be the remains of two different people. And based on that, the coroner made the decision. to check everything. And so Finns was checked against DNA that we'd got off headphones at home. And, yeah, we found out that that was not Finn.

That was not his remains. The Indian government has previously said that all remains were handled with due regard for the dignity of the deceased and that they're working with the UK authorities to address any concerns. Air India has said it stands in solidarity with those affected by the accident

and is fully committed to providing them with support. For years, the authorities in Nicaragua have been accused of illegal land grabs, mainly to grant concessions to mining corporations. Now the government of President Ortega has passed a law that says any land within 15 kilometres of its borders belongs to the state.

Critics fear this may open the door to more mining. So why is the government doing this? Here's our Latin America expert from BBC monitoring, Luis Fajado. They are saying it is for questions of national security, of border control. They say they need to fight drug trafficking, people trafficking, and other organized crime activities happening across Central America. And that's why they claim they need this control over the border. However, opposition voices are saying that what it might actually be,

according to them, is a desire by the government to make it easier for them to give mining concessions to foreign companies. They particularly point out to an aspect of the new law, which repeals a former prohibition for foreign ownership in this area. Now the government, in theory, would be allowed to grant these types of concessions. So how big is the mining sector in Nicaragua and how much foreign involvement is there? It is very big. It is crucial, actually, for Nicaragua. Traditionally, Nicaragua's top export had been coffee.

However, in the last few years, under the Ortega administration, They have been giving a lot of concessions to foreign mining companies. Now, gold is the crucial export product for Nicaragua. And just in 2024, it grew by around 20%, the mining exports of Nicaragua, which now are bigger than $1 billion a year. Also, several companies, multinationals, from Canada and China, play a big role in this new development in the mining industry. Just very briefly, what impact is there on indigenous communities?

One aspect of the law is that apparently it restricts indigenous land rights in these border areas, which are in many cases occupied by indigenous communities. And a few days ago, a concession was given to a Chinese company in an indigenous area, and critics are saying that this could actually go against indigenous rights in these regions of the country. Luis Fajado. For many years now, here in Britain and beyond, there have been growing concerns about so-called cowboy cosmetics, many people who sell unregulated products like facial fillers and Botox and use them on others without proper training.

Now the UK government is saying enough is enough. They are proposing a new licensing system in England for who can and cannot perform so-called non-surgical routines. The consequences for a botched operation can be very serious. This woman, Ashley, ended up in hospital after developing a serious infection. There was a lot of filler going in. It was a thousand. So there was a lot of pressure

and I felt like he was struggling to get it in as I say on the way home the pain just gradually got worse as the anaesthetic wore off the pain just got beyond belief I thought it was going to die in the back of that car BBC health correspondent Dominic Hughes is following the story

and he gave me the latest on what the British government is going to do there's been these long-running concerns over parts of the cosmetic procedure industry. It's recognised that some bits of it are perfectly legitimate. Others, though, are absolutely not. A health minister in the UK described the industry as a wild west of dodgy practitioners and treatments populated by cosmetic cowboys.

And as we've heard from that clip you just played, they can cause serious, sometimes catastrophic damage. So these proposals will allow only suitably qualified health professionals to carry out high-risk procedures such as non-surgical Brazilian buttlifts and that involves the use of, for example, dermal fillers to plump up the bottom to make the buttocks rounder and fuller. There are also plans to introduce a licensing system that will be run by local authorities for the use of lip and facial fillers and Botox injections

and then restrictions on what procedures will be available to under 18s because they want to try and protect them from social, beauty trends that appear on social media. As for the impact, we'll have to see. There was a public consultation two years ago that demonstrated widespread support for tighter regulation, not just among the public, but also the legitimate end of the cosmetic procedure industry itself. But ministers say they've now got to consult further and then legislate on exactly

how this is going to work in practice. Now, a lot of people in Europe fly off to places like Turkey to get cheap cosmetic work done. In America, they'll fly to Latin America. America. What is this situation around the world in terms of regulation? I imagine it varies hugely, doesn't it? Yeah, there's massive variation. And you're absolutely right. This has become a thing in recent years, people travelling to places such as Turkey, Latin America, as you say, because basically the operations there are much cheaper. Some, again, some operators are great, some are very much not. And in the UK, it's the National Health Service that has to deal with the

impact of that when these cases go wrong. Within the UK itself, there are moves from some of the other nations, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland that indicate there's going to be a similar tightening of regulations, as this is a problem that people are getting more concerned about. Dominic Hughes, bubonic plague has for thousands of years been one of our most feared and misunderstood or not understood diseases. Now, though, researchers from Madagascar and from the UK say that For the first time, they proved that a relatively simple and relatively cheap treatment is a highly effective alternative to the existing conventional way of dealing with this deadly disease. Piero Oliaro is the professor of poverty-related infectious diseases at Oxford University and the senior author of this study. He spoke to Tim Franks.

In the first place, we found out two regiments for treating plague. Both work very well and one of which is easier to give already. It's less cumbersome and is very cheap. The other one is that for the first time ever, and as I like to say, for the first time, 5,000 years, we have a study that is conclusive and provides robust evidence of efficacy and safety of treatment of play. The evidence, what is called the evidence to back a recommendation,

can be stronger and can be more confident that would give to patients for treating play works. The other good news is that in the study, we had a very low mortality, only 4% compared to about four or five times as much as we would normally see outside the study. So this is just a fairly generic antibiotic, is it, that people can take orally? Yes, superfoxicine is a drug that you can find anywhere. It's available in Madagascar and other countries. Yeah, and indeed the research was carrying. it out partly in Madagascar, which obviously has a tremendous problem with poverty and where

the bubonic plague, am I right in saying is endemic? So there are cases every year? Correct. How widespread is it in Madagascar? It's essentially in the highlands. In 2017, there was an exceptionally large outbreak in Antenna Reve with the capital. So that was exceptional, an urban outbreak. Otherwise, it will be in villages. Is there any danger that this widely available antibiotic that you talked about, Cyprophloxacin, that if it's over-prescribed, that there could be the issue of resistance to use of this antibiotic? Yes, it is true that Cyprofoxysing, like other antibiotics

that are normally used for plague or could be a useful plague, are also being used for other indications. The reason why we believe that antibiotic resistance is unlikely is too forward. In the first place, because we do have evidence from isolates collected for the past several years in Madagascar, there's been no change in antibiotic susceptibility of plague isolates over time. But the other one is also that bacterium, yersinia pestis, would be in our organism for a very short time. When you are infected with plague, you would know that very soon. And if you don't get treated, you'll be dead, most likely, within a few days.

So it's not a bugger that will be hanging around for a long time. That was Piero Oliaro from Oxford University. It is one of the world's most famous archaeological sites, a Roman city frozen in time after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago, buried under its volcanic ash. But now, new findings at Pompeii are shedding light on what happened. The newsrooms, Carla Conti, spoke to Jackie Leonard about the findings. What the archaeologists have found are clear traces of life

after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, evidence that people return to Pompeii and tried to settle in the devastated city. So these discoveries come from a project focused on the insular meridionalis, which is a large block of buildings in the southern part of Pompeii. And it's in that area that researchers have uncovered things like makeshift ovens, fireplaces, storage places, all built into the ruins. So while the ground floors of many homes were completely buried in ash, the upper floors were still visible.

And that's where people seem to have moved in and effectively turned these collapsed buildings. into shelters. So just thinking about what it would have looked like, it would have been a scene of absolute devastation and yet people went back. Tell us what we know about the people who decided to try and make Pompeii their home again. So it was sort of a mix of people really. We know that some survivors of the Mount Vesuvius eruption fled to other towns in the Campania region because there are inscriptions in nearby cities across southern Italy. The bare typical Pompeian names, but not everyone could afford to leave or start over.

So some came back and others, possibly homeless or displaced, moved in for the first time, perhaps hoping to find valuables buried in the ruins. And Gabriel Zuchtregel, who is the director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii, explained it like this. Many people died, many went to live elsewhere, but, not everyone could afford to. Not everyone had the means. So there were also people who returned to the site, which was deserted. The upper floors were still recognisable. People still lived where the city had been and began to live almost like in a kind of camp, a favela, among the ruins of

Pompeii. So, Carlo, how long did these new settlements last? And why is it only coming to light now? So amazingly, this reoccupation seems to have lasted until the first. century AD. So around 400 years after the eruption and eventually a later volcanic event known as the Pollina eruption took place and drove people away for good. And that's when Pompeii was finally abandoned. But for centuries, that chapter of the story was overlooked because archaeologists focused almost exclusively on what the city looked like before the eruption. So all the stunning villas and the frescoes and the daily life that was frozen in time. But in doing so, they often ignored or quite literally swept away

the later layers that told the story of what came after the eruption. Carla Conti. And that is 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 Global Podcast at BBC.co.com. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service.

Use the hashtag Global NewsPod. This edition was mixed by Chris Murphy and the producers were Stephanie Prentice and Peter Goffin. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Nick Mars and until next time, goodbye.