Global News Podcast - US deploys top aircraft carrier to Caribbean

Episode Date: October 25, 2025

Venezuela's president accuses the Trump administration of fabricating a war in sending a naval strike force to the Caribbean to lead its controversial sea campaign against alleged drug traffickers. Also: Ukraine's allies pledge to take Russian oil and gas off the market to pressure Vladimir Putin to end the war; calls grow for more humanitarian corridors in Gaza as 15,000 Palestinians wait for medical evacuation; the US places sanctions on the president of Colombia; Thailand's Queen Mother Sirikit dies at the age of 93; the Children's Booker Prize is launched; and we delve into the murky world of art forgery. 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]

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Military commanders, intelligence officials, diplomatic power players, they know things you may not about where the world is headed, and we will pull back the curtain on what they're thinking on sources and methods. NPR's new national security podcast. Our team will help you understand America's shifting role in the world. Listen to sources and methods from NPR. This is a global news podcast from the BBC World Service.

I'm Okina, and in the early hours of Saturday, the 25th of October, these are our main stories. The US sends its top aircraft carrier to the Caribbean to bolster its controversial operation against alleged drug traffickers. Ukraine's allies pledged to take Russian oil and gas off the global market, and calls grow for more humanitarian corridors in Gaza, as 15,000 Palestinians. Indians wait for medical evacuations. Also in this podcast, we delve into the murky world of forged art. It's, you know, quite difficult to fabricate 300 years, 400 years of history. You've got to be able to replicate the master's hand, and that is exceedingly difficult.

We begin in the United States, as the US Defense Secretary Pete Hexuth says that six male narcos. terrorists have been killed in the Caribbean. It comes soon after President Trump said the U.S. would just kill people, as it wages what he calls a war on those he claims are bringing drugs into the country. Here's little of what Mr. Hexeth has had to say on the issue. Our message to these foreign terrorist organizations is we will treat you like we have treated al-Qaeda. We will find you. We will map your networks. We will hunt you down and we will kill you. This is the 10th known attack since September. And just underlines again the fact that the US is stepping up

what it's calling its counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics operation in the waters of Latin America. As part of it, the Pentagon has also announced it's deploying the aircraft carrier, Gerald Ford, to the region. So how much of an escalation is this? A question for our correspondent, Norma Iqbal. A huge escalation, I think. I mean, sending the Gerald Ford and its associated war,

warships to the region, according to the Defence Secretary, it'll be in the coming days, is it's a real projection of power, but it is a massive increase in American firepower too. So the carrier and its escort ships will probably add to about 10,000 troops, roughly, that are already deployed to the Caribbean and the military bases in Puerto Rico. That's been since August. The Ford has war planes, and that can be used to launch air strikes on land. And then there are also destroyers with the Ford, and they can launch. Tomahawk cruise missiles against targets on land and attack ships. And then there are helicopters

on those destroyers that are capable of launching torpedoes underwater. So it is a real, as I say, projection of power, but it is a big escalation. And there have been criticism and questions about the legality of the strikes. What have the White House said in response to some of these? The view is simple, as far as they're concerned. The White House says they're targeting drug cartels who are bringing drugs into the country, which kill Americans. We heard there Pete Higgsath saying that they're going to treat them like al-Qaeda, President Trump. Basically, he's not calling for a declaration of war. He'd have to go to Congress to do that.

He is saying that the US is engaged in, quote, a non-international armed conflict. But he's very blunt about it. I mean, you know, you just mentioned at the start there, which is what he said yesterday, he said, we're just going to kill people. We're just going to kill them. He did say he might speak to Congress. regarding potential land strikes, but he wasn't explicit on whether or not he'd be seeking approval regarding that.

Just to finish off of the question too far, do we know who's being killed? We heard that narco-terrorists, and also there is the issue of Venezuela as well, and he's been talking about operations within the country, and how far do you think the US are prepared to go with that? Well, that's the issue. The administration hasn't provided any evidence of what these boats are, who are on the boats. Legal experts say that this could amount to extra judicial killings. In terms of how far it'll go with Venezuela, it's really hard to say because President Trump has called Nicholas Maduro,

the president of Venezuela, the leader of the cartels and that he is responsible for sending drugs and violent criminals to the US. Now, the Trump administration already consider him in a legitimate leader. And he's definitely feeling uneasy, Maduro. He gave some rare public comments in English. Yesterday, I think it was, an address on state TV. He said, no al-Aguero, no al-Aguera, no war, no war saying he wanted peace. I think there might be concerns that Trump is laying the groundwork to forcibly remove him from power using this anti-drug campaign as some sort of cover. Nomi Egbal reporting. The Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro is most obviously in Mr. Trump's sites, but he's not alone. Venezuela's neighbor, Colombia, has traditionally been seen as a key U.S.

in the fight against illicit drug trade. But its left-wing leader, Gustavo Petro, has fallen out with his American counterpart. Now it's been announced the United States is imposing sanctions on President Petro. This is what the U.S. President said about him a few days ago. Well, he's a thug and bad guy. He's a guy that is making a lot of drugs. We've just, as of today, stopped all payments going to Colombia. Now, he's a thug, and he's a bad guy, and he's hurt his country very badly.

they're doing very poorly, Colombia. They make cocaine. They have cocaine factories. They grow all sorts of drugs, bad drugs, coming into the United States, goes generally through Mexico. And he better watch it or will take very serious action

against him and his country. Last month, President Petro had his visa revoked by the U.S. State Department after he took part in a pro-Palestine rally on the streets of New York outside the United Nations at General Assembly. A correspondent, Jose Carlos Cueto Lopez, is from BBC Mundo, and he told me more about the relationship between the US and Colombia. I was once called the most strategic alliance for Washington in South America primarily because the US since the beginning of this century sent hundreds of millions in military aids to Colombia to fight narco groups and guerrilla groups as well.

Pretty much the peace accord with the FARC robot group was attributed. to this financial aid that was provided by the United States to Colombia. But since Donald Trump returned to the White House, relations with Colombian President Guptaa Pedro have progressively worsened. In recent months, both governments have threatened each other with trade wars, recalled their ambassadors for consultations and exchanged strong words, strong rhetoric on social media. And one of the biggest points of tensions is precisely drug policy. And this has been the key reason why the U.S. decided to see.

sanctioned President Petra, accusing him of being involved in drug trade and suspend payments and aid to Colombia? In the meantime, then, I guess, how badly would these sanctions affect Mr. Petra and Colombia? Petra has said that he will fight the sanctions legally in the US, and we're trying to understand now how much these measures could affect him. When his US visa was revoked a month ago, he didn't seem too concerned. But for Colombia, the suspension of US military aid is a serious blow, especially in terms of security. That support was key, and it comes at a time with concerns about violence and instability in the country are growing. There's been strong rhetoric, hasn't there, from both sides?

The US have claimed that Colombia is flooding the country with illegal drugs. Has there been a spike in drugs production? What do we know? Well, one thing is clear, and is that Colombia's efforts are not meeting in US expectations. It is true that cocaine production is at record levels at the moment in Colombia, even though Petro's government has also reported record confiscations. It's worth noting, though, that Colombia still chairs a lot of intelligence with the U.S. for anti-narcotic operations and that the two countries still cooperate closely behind the scenes.

That's pretty much why within the Colombian governments, there is a feeling that these U.S. measures are politically motivated, targeting Petro's leftist administration. And just finally, what are analysts saying in terms of how this plays out then in the coming days, weeks and months? Well, since then, Petro has calmed a little bit down on social media. What analysts are saying is that this definitely compromises the relationship between Colombia and the U.S., but they're also saying that this could be very personal as well in terms of once Petro is out of power, there is a space for things to improve.

What is clear is that no Trump or no Petro are going to renounce how they use social media. and how the users to criticize each other, which has been pretty much the base for all of these crises to happen. Jose Carlos Quetto Lopez from BBC Mundo reporting. The U.S. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, has used a visit to Israel to appoint a veteran American diplomat to be the civilian head of the task force coordinating the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire plan. Stephen Fagan will work alongside a U.S. general and contingents from several other countries. Our security correspondent, Frank Gardner, is in Jerusalem and has this assessment. Marco Rubio is the latest member of the Trump administration to have come here to Israel

to both shore up phase one of the Gaza ceasefire and explore how to move it on to phase two. It nearly collapsed last Sunday with a renewed outbreak of fighting. But after urgent U.S. pressure on Israel for restraint, it's back on track. Mr. Rubio has appointed a highly experienced State Department diplomat, Stephen Fagan, to lead the civilian element of the civil. military coordination centre, based just outside the Gaza Strip. But the next phase involves disarming Hamas, something that's unlikely to happen until a proposed international stabilization force is formed and sent in to Gaza.

Qatar and Egypt are amongst 20 nations that Mr Rubio said are interested in contributing troops, but Gaza is awash with weapons and Hamas will be reluctant to surrender theirs unless they can be certain the same is done by rival clobio. and gangs, some of which have been supported by Israel. It's going to be complicated. Our security correspondent, Frank Gardner, reporting from Jerusalem. Well, this week, a medical convoy of sick and wounded gardens was allowed to leave through an Israeli crossing for the first time since the ceasefire. But a number of patients, including children, have died in recent weeks while awaiting permissions to leave. There are growing calls

for the Rafa crossing with Egypt to reopen, to allow hundreds more patients to exit for treatment abroad and for Israel to allow medical evacuations to other Palestinian territories. Amid least correspondent Yolán Nel sent this report. So many lives in Gaza are still hanging in the balance. The mother of Amar Abu Sayyad strokes his hair. He's just ten. His family says he was hit by a stray bullet from an Israeli drone in their tent in southern Gaza. It's lodged in his back and now he's paralyzed from the neck down.

He needs surgery urgently, Allah Abou Saeed says. But it's complicated. It could cause his death, a stroke or brain hemorrhage. He needs surgery in a well-equipped place. And that's not war-torn Gaza. Its own medical services are in a critical state. On another floor of Nasser Hospital, there's Ahmed Ajad, who's also 10. He has a brain tumour.

His sister Shachda is desperate for him to live. leave for a hospital abroad. We can't lose him. We already lost our father, our home and our dreams. When the ceasefire happened, it gave us a bit of hope that maybe there was a one-person chance that Ahmed could travel and get treated. This was the first medical convoy to exit Gaza after the ceasefire, rushing out 41 sick and wounded people through an Israeli crossing.

Some are now being treated in Jordan. But the World Health Organization says about 15,000 other patients are still waiting for evacuations. The WHO wants Gaza's border with Egypt to open for medical cases, as it did earlier in the war, and for Palestinian hospitals outside of Gaza to be allowed to help too. Hundreds of patients could be treated easily and efficiently. in a short time if this route and this hematarian corridor that we call it reopened toward East Jerusalem

Hospital Network and the hospital is in the West Bank. Dr. Fadi Atrash is head of the Augusta Victoria Hospital in occupied East Jerusalem. With the outbreak of war, Israel stopped allowing gauze and cancer patients to come here, citing security concerns. Dr. Atrash says his staff are ready and waiting for their return. We can at least treat 50 patients per day, at least per day, for care care. chemotherapy and radiation, and even more than that, other hospitals can do a lot of surgeries. Referring them to East Jerusalem is the shortest, the most efficient way. Aid agencies are getting more medical supplies into Gaza since the ceasefire,

but say the increase is less than they'd expected. At Norsor Hospital, pediatrician Dr. Ahmed Afara expresses his frustration. It's the most difficult feeling for a lot of fear. doctor to be present, able to diagnose a condition but unable to carry out essential tests and give the necessary treatments. This has happened in so many cases and unfortunately there's daily loss of life due to our lack of capabilities. Since the ceasefire, Hope has run out for three-year-old Zane Tafish. He died of leukemia just days ago, waiting unsuccessfully for an evacuation. And in the hospital grounds, this was the funeral for Saadi Abu Taha, aged 8,

who died from intestinal cancer, unable to leave for treatment. Without action, there are many more garsons who won't have a chance to live in peace. Yelan now reporting. Still to come. I expect there to be blood, arm wrestling, throwing of things, tantalans, the whole thing. It's going to be great. The prestigious new prize for children's books being judged by children. Military commanders, intelligence officials, diplomatic power players,

they know things you may not about where the world is headed, and we will pull back the curtain on what they're thinking on sources and methods. NPR's new national security podcast. Our team will help. help you understand America's shifting role in the world. Listen to sources and methods from NPR. Days after the U.S. joined the UK in sanctioning Russia's largest oil companies, more than 20 of Ukraine's European allies have pledged to take Russian oil and gas off the global market.

At a summit in London on Friday, the British Prime Minister said we're choking off funding for Russia's war machine. Ukraine, President Zelensky, who is in Westminster, welcome the move as a big step. I want to thank our partners for walking with us to produce weapons, for investing in our country, for joint projects and for the agreements we are now implementing. We are not finding and we are not searching the way how to stop Putin and how to finish this war without the United States. So our plan is to make strong steps together. Our Ukraine correspondent James Waterhouse has been following the president's UK visit.

Within the grandeur of Windsor, King Charles and Volodymy Zelensky met for the third time this year. The monarch has previously expressed his support for Kiev, saying Ukraine had experienced indescribable aggression after Russia's unprovoked attack. But as he arrived at Downing Street, President Zelensky hoped to turn the pageantry into purpose. His host, Sakeir Stama, reaffirmed his support for Ukraine. We're also continuing our work on security guarantees, including the multinational force Ukraine, to uphold a just and lasting peace when that day finally comes. Because, and I say it again, Ukraine's future is our future. Today's gathering of the so-called coalition of the

willing, is about more than the usual business of supplying and supporting Kiev. It's about sending a message to one man who isn't here, Donald Trump. This week saw the US President take his first concrete action against Russia by sanctioning its two biggest oil companies. Today's gathering of allies want him to go further, as well as commit to Ukraine and Europe's long-term security. Vladimir Putin has said he won't bow to US pressure, and the arrival of his special envoy, Kyril Dimitrev in Washington, will add to European fears of being excluded from the peace process.

Moscow insists it won't bow to Western pressure, and everyday Ukraine's allies aren't united behind it is another day its people pay the price. James Waterhouse reporting. It's undeniably already been a bad week for arts-related crime with the breaking at the Louvre in Paris, but now police in Bavaria, Germany, say they've arrested a gang on charges of forging famous artworks and seized fakes purported to be by Carlo, Picasso and Rembrandt. The gang of 11 are facing charges of conspiracy and fraud after allegedly trying to charge tens of millions of dollars for the fakes. Stephanie Prentice has this report.

The world of forged artwork is famously hard to police. Along with freshly painted fakes, there are copies of copies and paper trails of false documents. But when an art dealer in Germany offered up to Picasso, transporting them in a car and showing them to buyers in a car park, one prospective customer tipped off police. German art investigators joined forces with teams from Switzerland in Liechtenstein and swooped in at dawn, finding 20 potentially counterfeit artworks.

The alleged ringleader is a 77-year-old man. It's not known if he's an art expert, but British art dealer and gallery owner Philip Mould told us Only an insider could pull off forgeries at this level. It's incredibly difficult. Firstly, you have to get the age right, you know, the appearance of age. And it's, you know, quite difficult to fabricate 400 years of history. The other thing is you've got to get all the ingredients right.

You've got to make sure that the canvas or panel and the support is appropriate for the period. You've got to make sure that all the pigments are absolutely right. then you've got to be able to replicate the master's hand, and that is exceedingly difficult. On top of that, fakers have to provide the provenance of the work, documents detailing its creation to the present. As compensation for all this work, the gang were asking for tens of millions of dollars per piece, with police finding evidence that the group tried to charge $150 million for a forgery of Rembrandt's to Starmisters, even though it's been hanging in Amsterdam's Rijks Museum since 1885. Dutch art expert and detective Arthur Brandt told us how the forgers spin their stories.

There are many experts who can say this is a Rembrandt, for example. But you can also find experts who would say, no, this is not a Rembrandt, the other one is a Rembrandt. These people try to use that. Many copies of some famous paintings exist. So only one is the original, usually hanging. in a famous museum. And what these people do is take such a contemporary copy, create some fake documents, supposedly from experts, and then claiming that the original is not the original, but this contemporary copy is original. To further complicate matters, there is a chance some of the

paintings are real, and police say they're now being examined. In the meantime, for anyone worried about being scammed by a forgery themselves, Arthur Brown's advice to his clients is to look inside. I always tell them, look, why would they call you, you know, if somebody finds an unknown Rembrandt, you go to an auction house, to Sotheby's or Christie's. So that's always the giveaway. They always create some fake documents and supposedly from experts. But then when I call these experts, they all turn out to be deceased. That's the trick they always use. Stephanie Prentice reporting. Thailand's Queen Mother, whose son is the current king, has died at the age of 93. Syriqit, as she was known, was the country's longest-serving queen and a key

maternal figure in the country with her birthday marked on Mother's Day. Kai Pit looks back at her life. Sirikit Kitayakara wasn't even 18 when she became Queen of Thailand in 1950. She would remain queen for 66 years until the death of her husband, King Pumipon Aduniat, when her son ascended to the throne. Royal Watchers felt she brought a touch of glamour to the monarchy in the years immediately after of the war, a young woman of fashion helping revive their prestige of the royal family. Her long years on the throne undoubtedly gave her a place in the nation's heart, but she caught it controversy in later life with some of her political statements in support of a royalist party. She suffered a stroke in 2012 and had barely been seen in public

since. The Booker is one of the most prestigious literary prizes for novels in English and those translated into English. Now, a children's version of the prize has been announced. It will recognize the best contemporary fiction for kids, age 8 to 12 years, and the first winner will be announced in 2027. And children will be involved at every step along the journey, as the chair of the judging panel, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, told James Menendez. Sharing the panel is going to be quite exciting because, of course, some of the panel are going to be children. How are those children going to be chosen? I'm not completely sure what the process is, but anyone can apply. So that's almost one of the

most important parts of the whole thing, is getting children involved in the whole conversation and trying to start a conversation about children's books across the country. So you, as the adult judges, if you like, so what, you draw up the short list and then they make the final decision, do they? I think an adult panel is going to draw up final eight, and then the children panel is going to help us decide, which is the actual winner. Do you expect some arguments in the judging room? I expect there to be blood, arm wrestling, throwing of things, tantrums, the whole thing.

It's going to be great. And that's just from the adults. Yeah, that's the adults. And then the kids will come in and calm things down. Exactly. How important is it to recognise children's literature in this way? Oh, it's massive. It's such a huge part of how we grow up and how we become who we are.

And the conversation, for me, is the most important part. That whole thing of, like, one of the reasons books can still surprise us is that by and large, we find out books through personal recommendation because people share, people can gift books and all that stuff. And that's why stuff comes out of left field. It never happens like that in movies. You always know what the next big it is going to be. But in books, every year there's something that's a runaway hit and everyone goes, where did that come from?

And to me, that's really, really important because if a child is going to go up to be a reader, they have to find the book that they love. So the bigger the choices, the better. And one of the things that book has been really brilliant out for the last, what is it, 50 years has been really broadening the taste in books, you know, bringing new work, new stories, new ways to tell stories to people's attention. So if we can do that for children, we'll give a lot more children the chance. to engage with books. What do you think this will do for reading, though? I mean, that's the big problem, isn't it? And it's something, I mean, I have teenage girls, one of whom does read, the other one doesn't read. Will it encourage children to pick up the habit of reading, which

does seem to be dying away a bit? I really think it will because, like I said, the driver is conversation, and this will create conversation. It creates this infrastructure of interest, and kids will talk to each other, they'll have favorites, they have books that they ate. And also, of course, on a much more basic level, we're going to gift 30,000 books in the course of the year. So kids will get books that would not have got those books without the prize. Frank Cottrell-Boyce on the Children's Booker Prize. And that's 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 episode or the topic's covered in it, you can send

us an email. The address is global podcast at bbc.com.com. And you can also find us on X. at BBC World Service, and you can use the hashtag Global NewsPod. This edition was mixed by Derek Clark. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Uncle Dyside. Until next time, goodbye. Military commanders, intelligence officials, diplomatic power players. They know things you may not about where the world is headed,

and we will pull back the curtain on what they're thinking, on sources and methods. NPR's new national security podcast. Our team will help you understand America's shifting role in the world. Listen to sources and methods from NPR.