Global News Podcast - Trump's threats to seize Greenland and Panama Canal

Episode Date: January 8, 2025

Donald Trump has threatened to seize Greenland and the Panama Canal. Also: the climber who spent an earthquake up Mount Everest, and the Italian residents who are banned from becoming seriously ill.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Hello, I'm Tanya Beckett and on the inquiry, we're looking at how new vaccines might help in the treatment of cancer. It's estimated that around 20 million people worldwide will be diagnosed with some form of the disease in 2025. The inquiry gets beyond the headlines to explore the trends, forces and ideas shaping the world. Search for The Inquiry wherever you get your BBC podcasts. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritzen and in the early hours of Wednesday, the 8th January, these are our main stories. The US President-elect Donald Trump has refused to rule out using military force to take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal.

The social media giant Metta is ending fact checking on Facebook and other platforms, saying it wants to prioritise free expression over censorship. The outgoing US Secretary of State has accused the paramilitary rapid support forces of committing genocide in Sudan. Also in this podcast. I was up on Everest and my tent was shaken very hardly this morning. So I woke up to realise I was surrounded by avalanches coming down the mountain. We meet the climber who spent an earthquake on the side of Mount Everest.

US President-elect Donald Trump has ramped up threats to seize control of the Panama Canal and Greenland, saying he can't offer assurance that he wouldn't use military or economic coercion. He also said eliminating the artificially drawn US-Canada border would be beneficial to national security. And his intervention comes on the day that his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., visited Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory in the Arctic. While answering a journalist's question during a news conference in Florida, it was difficult to separate humour or bombast from genuine policy. Just how likely is it then that the next President of the United States will try to take these territories

with military force? A question for our North America correspondent, Neda Taufik. Neda Taufik I don't think he would. I think he is making these statements as sort of leverage. Look, when you look at Greenland as an island in the Arctic, it's very strategically placed. He's seeing Greenland in the sense that it's part of that geopolitical tension and competition with China and Russia, who have their eyes on the Arctic, of course. Greenland also has rich minerals, which would certainly be very beneficial to the United States.

So certainly when Donald Trump makes these statements, you kind of understand that he is thinking about projecting, as I say again, strength in terms of competition with China and Russia. It's interesting that this also comes as his son, Don Jr., is in Greenland. He's saying he's there just as an outdoorsman on a personal trip, but it does give a little bit of kind of trolling, doesn't it, from the Trumps. And when you look at Panama, again, Donald Trump again complained today that Panama was ripping off the United States by charging US ships higher rates than other countries, that the canal was being operated by China.

The authorities there have denied that, but clearly China does have an interest as well in the Panama Canal, and Donald Trump doesn't like that. So again, these comments really do have to be seen in light of how he wants to position the United States against Russia and China in the future. As you say, it was in response to a reporter's question. Did he plan to say this or was it something that he came up with on the spur of the moment? Look, Donald Trump in these press conferences really does speak kind of on the fly. He doesn't have many scripted remarks.

I don't think it's something that he would have stayed away from saying in the future if he felt like it would help him. Again, he knows how to grab attention, how to grab headlines, how to get media attention. And so I think that was a very calculated answer to that question to project strength. Nedatorfik. So let's hear what Donald Trump Jr. had to say to reporters when he flew into Greenland. Here as tourists, seeing it looks like an incredible place. We've been talking about going for a while.

I was actually supposed to be here last spring for some of the stuff I do in my free time. But just really excited to be here. Awesome country. The scenery coming in was just spectacular. So just very excited to be here. Thank you. He says hello. We were talking to him yesterday. So he says hello to everyone in Greenland. The debate over the territory's future has largely excluded its people, many of whom have a fierce desire for independence. Mark Lowen spoke to two residents of Greenland, Klaus Iverson, who was born in Denmark and moved to the island 16 years ago, and Aga Nirviana, who has Inuit heritage, the indigenous people of Greenland. Just what does Aga think

about Donald Trump's bid to buy her homeland? Both entertained and also a little terrified. It's more the attitude that the people, the Inuit of this country are not being asked, but it seems to be a conversation about us with Denmark, which is not the case. It's a negotiation and it's not like a purchase of us and our people. I have to say I think it's actually very offensive. Maybe Trump is actually quite transparent in what he's doing, but it's not okay the way he does it. He sees it just as a place where he can go and he can do whatever he wants,

but there's the people living here, 56,000 people is living here, and of course it's up to the Greenlanders what do we want to do up here that's not up to him to decide. It seems like a kind of an absurd proposition that one country can just say I'm going to buy the territory next to me. It's important to say as it is now there's a commonwealth between Denmark, Faroe Island and Greenland and it's up to Greenland if they want to develop as an independent country in the Commonwealth or leave the Commonwealth.

It's not up to America, it's not up to Denmark. Aka, what do you want for the future of your land? The end goal for everyone is independence and also for me. I'm still conflicted on how, but I think it will always be a negotiation with us and not about us Why do you want independence? You have formal colonies all around the world and the natural process is to reach independence and also having our own voice Holding our own microphone. I grew up in Denmark, obviously been living in Greenland for 16 years

I grew up in Denmark, obviously. I've been living in Greenland for 16 years. So I love Greenland and I also love the Danish King and I'm very loyal to the royal family. If Donald Trump comes with an offer then Denmark maybe should come with a better offer. I saw that the King of Denmark has changed the coat of arms to make the polar bear of Greenland more prominent. I mean, do most Danes want to keep hold of Greenland, would you say? The king here understands what Greenland is and he has been here a lot of time. The majority of the Danes, they know there's something called Greenland, they know it's up there somewhere in the north, but the Commonwealth doesn't mean that much to Danes in their daily

life as it does up here because we are kind of the little brother in this game. What is being part of the Danish Commonwealth? What does it mean in today's Greenland? It is both colonialism but I also think we can't just ignore this common history we have for over 300 years with the Danes because it's also tied in families. Opening up the debate is a good thing but it's also kind of families. Opening up the debate, it's a good thing, but it's also kind of dangerous, really polarising because I think people have really strong emotions.

Aga Naviana and Klaus Iverson speaking to Mark Lohan. In our earlier podcast we covered the first reports of a magnitude 7.1 earthquake which has hit Tibet's southern border with Nepal killing at least 126 people. That figure is expected to rise as rescue teams battle freezing temperatures and aftershocks to search the rubble of destroyed homes for survivors. Chinese state media said thousands of buildings were damaged around the city of Shigatse. Tibet is an autonomous region of China. Foreign journalists aren't allowed in. Laura Bicca sent this report from Beijing.

Thousands of rescuers are digging through the rubble of remote mountain homes after a strong and shallow quake rattled through the foothills of Mount Everest. They're searching for survivors even in the dark as temperatures overnight dipped to minus 18 Celsius. China's response has been swift. Dozens of train search and rescue teams have arrived in the region and are moving from building to shattered building listening for signs of life as local villagers cradle one another in shock. Our next priority is to visit each village, to assess their situation and determine where a significant rescue effort is needed.

President Xi Jinping called for all efforts to be made to minimise casualties. The Chinese Air Force launched an unmanned drone across the Himalayan Plateau to identify the worst hit areas as many roads are impassable after being split by the shifting ground. The People's Liberation Army has also arrived to set up makeshift camps as this captain explained to Chinese state media. camps as this captain explained to Chinese state media. Moving forward our goal is to ensure that the affected individuals safely enjoy their first night after the earthquake in the cold plateau.

Earthquakes are common in this region which lies in a major geological fault line. But this has been one of China's deadliest in recent years. Laura Bicker One of the areas affected by the earthquake in the Himalayas was Mount Everest itself. But it's the middle of winter, treacherous conditions for climbing,

so surely hardly anyone was there. Well, one person who was is climber Eust Ko Bush. He was attempting a solo climb of Everest's West Ridge and was camped on the edge of the mountain when the earthquake hit, as he told Rebecca Kesby. Well, I was up on Everest and my tent was shaken very hardly this morning so I woke up to realize I was surrounded by avalanches coming down the mountain. Goodness, okay and so just tell us where you are on Everest because I think you're on your own as well aren't you? Exactly, so I'm trying to solo climb Everest in the winter without oxygen on the West Ridge.

So I'm not climbing in the normal route. I'm climbing a technical route that is rocky and icy and steep. So I'm in my tent on a granite balcony at 5700 in a steep wall. And that's exactly when the earthquake hit. Goodness, were you worried that you would even be thrown off the ridge? I mean, it's not a very large area. One of the biggest challenges of climbing Everest in the winter is the extreme wind speed up there.

So my tent was very, very well secured and it's in a spot where I was sure I couldn't be hit by any rocks or ice. So in a way I felt very safe, but there were big parts of glaciers collapsing and exploding around me and the shock waves hit me and well some bits of ice hit the tent and well let's put it this way, the tent has seen its last expedition. So just explain the shock waves. How long did that go on for and what was that like? And also you mentioned the avalanches, but I presume those are still a threat to you

at the moment. Right now at the moment I'm actually back to the base camp and I'm in a safe spot. I'm not in that camp anymore. But being up there, it's basically left and right. There are big chunks of glacier that are falling down, collapsing, forming avalanches. But also, yeah, it's just like explosion shockwaves from this ice collapsing and fine snow particles, sometimes less fine, pushing against the tent. Well, that's very dangerous. I mean, you talk about ice, but the kind of ice, the impacted hard ice that would be there raining down on you could do you some serious injury.

Absolutely. This could potentially kill you. I have to ask you this. It's incredibly dangerous what you do. Why do you do it? To me, alpinism is a journey into the unknown and I'm very curious about what awaits me up there and I'm very curious about what I can achieve as an athlete, as a human being, and therefore I'm very much drawn to this. Eust Kobusch. Residents of a town in the English county of Nottinghamshire have been left scratching

their heads and watching their step because of a mystery pile of bananas. A plate of the fruit has been left at exactly the same spot in Beeston every month for more than a year. Steve Nibbs investigates. In the early hours of the second day of each month, something very strange happens in the town of Beeston. A plate of up to 20 peeled bananas is left on the corner of Abbey Road and Wenzer Avenue, piled up in the same way, sometimes with honey drizzled on them. The culprit? Nobody knows. The phantom fruit leaver has never been revealed, all left any clues to their identity. The bananas appear outside Claire Short's house,

a local campaigner for clean streets. She recently put up a sign politely asking those responsible to stop, but come the second of this month, the bananas were back. I've asked around in the local community, no one can tell me anything. Some people think it's a ritual, some people think it's just a thing. I could leave this the first few days, the pile of bananas is okay and then it gets very soggy and the plates get broken and kicked around the pavement and those I will clean up. And I'm still mystified. I'd love to know who's doing this. Some residents are upset as the bananas are left to go mouldy and the plates are left behind. But this month there was an added twist.

Taped to the bottom of the plate was a £5 note, a new point of intrigue and mystery in this unappealing saga. Steve Nibbs. Still to come… Well that's not on. Yes, it's Un-Australian! It's Un-Australian, thank you Prime Minister. Everyone owns the beach. It's a place where every Australian is equal. Australia's Prime Minister weighs in on using cabana tents to reserve the best spots on the beach.

For just as long as Hollywood has been Tinseltown, there have been suspicions about what lurks behind the glitz and glamour. Concerns about radical propaganda in the motion pictures. And for a while, those suspicions grew into something much bigger and much darker. Are you a member of the Communist Party? Or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party? I'm Una Chaplin, and this is Hollywood Exiles. It's about a battle for the political soul of America and the battlefield was Hollywood. All episodes of Hollywood Exiles from the BBC World Service and CBC

are available now. Search for Hollywood Exiles wherever you get your podcasts. America's tech giants are on the march, Just days before the return of Donald Trump to the White House and hot on the heels of Elon Musk's online outbursts against some of America's erstwhile European allies, X's rival Meta has announced that it's abandoning the use of third-party fact-checking on Facebook, Instagram and threads. Indeed, it says it will rely on community notes similar to those used on X where commenting on the accuracy of posts is left to users. This is how Meta's chief executive Mark Zuckerberg explained the move. The problem with complex systems is they make mistakes. Even if they accidentally censor

just 1% of posts, that's millions of people. And we've reached a point where it's just too many mistakes and too much censorship. The recent elections also feel like a cultural tipping point towards once again prioritising speech. So we're going to get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms. The move has already been discussed by X's owner, Elon Musk, who responded, cool on his platform. For more on the change and its significance, here's our chief technology reporter, Chris Vallance.

It is an extraordinary shift, a sea change almost, in what we're hearing from Meta. We're all familiar with tech companies telling us about all they do to fight things like misinformation. Now Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Metta, which owns Instagram, Facebook, Threads, is saying fact-checking has gone too far. There's been mission creep and it's resulted in censorship. He says it's time for the company to get back to its roots in free speech. Now, it's no coincidence that this is being said at the dawn of a second Trump presidency, because there has been a narrative on the right that efforts to fight misinformation have effectively resulted in the censorship of right-wing voices. What

we're seeing here is in a sense a sort of an adjustment. Mark Zuckerberg may well believe that there's too much censorship but at the same time it doesn't hurt now that he is looking at working with President Trump and Elon Musk who described himself as a free speech absolutist of course. So just tell us how this new system is going to work because they're sacking their very own fact checkers who they appear now to have lost confidence in and replacing them with an army of not even volunteers just anyone who wants to take issue with a fact that's going to be on one of their platforms.

Yes and this is the system that effectively works on X. It's called community notes and as you say it is users adding notes to posts that they believe are erroneous. Of course many people would argue it doesn't work particularly well on X and it's not going to work particularly well on meta. It's going to result in more misinformation going through. Of course other people would say less censorship but we've heard from one of the organizations that is at the moment a third-party fact-checking organization, Full Fact, their chief executive Chris we've heard from one of the organisations that is at the moment a third party, a fact checking organisation, full fact, their chief executive Chris Morris has said, we absolutely

refute Metta's charge of bias, we're strictly impartial. We fact check claims from all political stripes with equal rigour. Part of what Mark Zuckerberg had to say was that he looked forward to working with Donald Trump to take on governments around the world, and particularly mentioned Europe as in effect trying to censor free speech and censor American companies. He looked forward to pushing back against that. So is this nakedly, Mark Zuckerberg, just trying to get close to Donald Trump who's going to ultimately be his regulator for the foreseeable future? I think two things can be true at once, can't they?

I mean, he can believe, genuinely, that there is too much censorship, the fact checking, etc. has gone too far, they need to get back to free speech. He can believe that. And also, it can be convenient for him to get close to Donald Trump. I mean, he spent the day before Thanksgiving dining with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. You know, Nick Clegg, a former centrist British politician, has departed. He's been replaced by his deputy, Joel Kaplan, who is on the right of the US political spectrum, who will be taking

over his role at Metta. And Metta has recently appointed Dana White to its board of directors, an individual who is seen as close to Trump as well. Chris Valance. The United States says members of the rapid support forces, RSF and allied militia have committed genocide in Sudan. The Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, said he based this on the systematic murder of men and boys and the brutal sexual violence against women on ethnic grounds in Darfur. Barbara Platasha sent this report from Washington. Sudan's civil war is one of unmitigated brutality, Mr. Blinken said. A year ago he determined that both sides had committed war crimes. Now the US has gone further with a designation

of genocide because the rapid support forces and its allied militias had systematically targeted civilians from certain ethnic groups, Mr Blinken said this did not signify US support or favor for the Sudanese army, declaring that both belligerents lacked the legitimacy to govern the country. Barbara Pletasha. It's just been a very stressful time in India. It always is around now with the annual civil service examinations and the chance to secure a coveted job in India. It always is around now with the annual civil service examinations and the chance to secure a coveted job in government. Students in the state of Bihar have been protesting for weeks claiming there were

irregularities in the tests. Archana Shukla reports from there. I'm in Patna and it's early morning on the banks of River Ganga. About a hundred students, all in the age group of 18 to 25, are giving a mock test. They are preparing for competitive exams in hopes of a good government job. That's the teacher reading out the right answers and students are marking themselves on the multiple choice questionnaire. It's one of the most extraordinary sites. Most of them cannot afford private training centres and hence have made this public promenade their classroom. They are desperate.

Government exams are their only shot at a stable career and they try year after year. But their dreams are crushed each time by cheating scandals and frauds where question papers are leaked for money. 25-year-old Akash Kumar, a graduate, works by day and studies for a police recruitment exam by night. But in the last two years, papers were leaked and exams cancelled. If paper leaks keep happening, poor students will never be able to realize their dreams of becoming officers.

My father works as a construction worker but hopes I will get a government job so my family doesn't struggle for daily wages anymore. Competition is fierce. Millions are vying for a few thousand government jobs. Hundreds of miles away, a sleepy village in Uttar Pradesh bears testimony. In a quiet house, Laxmanpal Singh sits, grieving. His 26-year-old son struggled to find a secure job for years. Last February, he was one of around 5 million who took an exam to fill 60,000 constable posts.

But exams were leaked again. After the paper leak, I consoled him and told him it's okay. But he was shattered. The next morning, he took his life. He had burned all his college certificates. He said his degrees were useless if they can't get him a job. Our only hope is gone. What do we look forward to?

In 2024 alone, six major exams were compromised and nearly 10 million students left in the lurch. Enraged, the students have been protesting across the country. As pressure mounted, the government, first dismissive of any failure, has promised reforms. India's Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan told reporters in December the overhaul could be slow but sure to minimise irregularities. Back in Patna these students still keep trying. After all, the dream of a better life is all they have to hold on to. A small hilltop village in southern Italy has banned its residents from becoming seriously ill.

The mayor of Belcastro in Calabria on the toe of the Italian peninsula has ordered people to, in his words, avoid contracting any illness that may require emergency medical assistance. The mayor described the order as obviously a humorous provocation, but he's making a serious point, as I heard from Laura Godsey. So basically the mayor of this town has issued this decree which lists various reasons why it was put in. So among them is the fact that around half of the village's 1200 residents are over the age of 65 and so more exposed to serious illnesses. But mostly that the nearest A&E department is a long drive away,

so down a long road with a very low speed limit, which means that it will take over an hour to get there from Belcastro. And also crucially, the villages on-call doctor surgery only opens periodically and offers no cover during weekends, holidays or after hours. So essentially the idea is that if you get sick in Belcastro, there's nowhere for you to go. Is this yet another case of someone who lives in this area trying to focus attention on the Gulf in health provision and much else between the poor south of Italy and the wealthy north? Yes, I mean the mayor himself has called this a provocation and he's basically said that by issuing this strange decree, he's managed to focus the attention on the healthcare

issues faced by his village and by the region of Calabria. Calabria is one of the poorest, if not the poorest regions of Italy. It's been riddled with corruption for a really long time now and the healthcare system has suffered from that greatly. The mafia has got its hooks in the healthcare system of the region. The Italian central government in Rome has done its best to eradicate it by sending special commissioners that go work in Calabria, but that hasn't always necessarily helped. And over the last couple of years, 18 of the region's hospitals have closed down and half of Calabria's 2 million residents regularly have to travel to other regions to seek medical care. The problem got so bad that

a few years ago the regional authorities enlisted almost 300 Cuban doctors to travel over from Cuba and work in Calabria to staff these hospitals and medical facilities that otherwise are just unusable. And yet this is one of the richest countries in the world. I mean, what does he expect? What does he want to happen? I think he wants to attract attention on the issue and he wants to put his tiny village on the map, which he has done because a number of journalists have descended on Bill Castro

over the last couple of days. And he wants people to talk about what seems like an unsolvable problem and, you know, we're talking about it now so it must have worked. And what happens if any residents of the village defy his decree and get ill? That's unclear. That's unclear and let's hope it doesn't happen at all and we don't have to find out. Laura Gotzey. Reserving a spot around the pool or on the beach is nothing new. But a growing seaside trend in Australia has sparked a national debate. It's so serious that the Prime Minister,

Anthony Albanese, has weighed in on the issue. More from our Sydney correspondent, Katie Watson. It's peak summer here in Australia and beaches up and down the country are packed. Shelter from Australia's harsh sun is a must, especially with a recent heat wave. But how people do it is causing some controversy. Cabanas or portable sun tents have become all the rage here in Australia. A parasol doesn't cut it anymore. But the large shades have taken on a secondary role, that of bagseying precious space on the sand.

The growing trend of erecting the cabana and then coming and going throughout the day is a practice that not everyone is happy with. On Channel 9's Today Show, presenters even asked the Prime Minister what he thought of it. Well, that's not on. Yes, it's un-Australian.

It's un-Australian. Thank you Prime Minister. Everyone owns the beach. It's a place where every Australian is equal and that's a breach of that principle really to think that you can reserve a little spot as just yours. In the US, some local authorities have restricted the use of cabanas to stop what's known as beach spreading. So far, nothing like that's been introduced here, but for as long as the summer lasts, this debate will continue. Katie Watson.

And that's all from us for now, but there'll be a new edition of the Global News Podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcast.bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at Global News Pod. This edition was mixed by Caroline Driscoll and the producer was Alison Davis. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Alex Ritzen. Until next time, goodbye. What do Tiger Woods, Mark Zuckerberg and Taylor Swift all have in common? Well, their lives and fortunes are all being discussed on Good Bad Billionaire, the podcast exploring the minds, motives and the money of some of the world's wealthiest

individuals. I'm Zing Zing and each week my co-presenter Simon Jack and I take a closer look at the world's mega-rich and we try to decide whether they're good, bad or just another billionaire. From celebs and CEOs to sports stars and tech titans, find out how billionaires made their billionaire.