Global News Podcast - US election: Harris and Trump duel in battleground states

Episode Date: November 2, 2024

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris make their pitches on the final weekend of campaigning in the United States. Also: a polio clinic is hit in northern Gaza on the day a vaccination drive was restarted.

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Andrew Peach and in the early hours of Sunday 3 November these are our main stories. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris make their final push for votes before the US election on Tuesday. Spain announces its biggest deployment of troops in peacetime to deal with the floods in Valencia. A polio clinic has hit in northern Gaza injuring four children on the same day a vaccination drive had been restarted.

Also in this podcast... As I see no party asking for the floor, so it is adopted. Cheers at the COP16 Biodiversity Summit as new protection rules are passed. Let's start in the US where Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are making their final push to win votes before the US election on Tuesday. 70 million have already been cast. But as polls show the two candidates neck and neck, everyone could be crucial, especially in the seven swing states. And that's why both candidates

have been frantically travelling through these battlegrounds, holding rallies often just a few kilometres apart. Earlier Kamala Harris spoke to supporters in Georgia. Alright Georgia, so we have three days left. Three days in one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime and we still have work to do. We still have work to do but here's the thing we like hard work. Hard work is good work. Hard work is joyful work and make no mistake we will win. We will win. In Georgia for us our correspondent John Sudworth. She came out onto the stage to rapturous applause. This is of course a gathering of Democrat

voters, many of them who have already cast their ballots and they led her in the chant of no going back. She laughs and has to kind of catch up with the crowd. We are now in obviously the final days. People have had this on repeat on the TV networks as the candidate sort of barnstorm around America. She woke up this morning in Wisconsin. She was here in Atlanta, Georgia. This is a last-ditch attempt from both of them

to pick up every single spare voter. And if the race is tight nationally, here in Georgia, it is on a knife edge. Don't forget, this state was won by Joe Biden in 2020 with just 11,000 or so votes. You know, that is a tiny margin. And, you know, real concern from the Democrats about some of the polling here, real desperation to try to do everything they can to keep that edge. And that's why we've seen her here again in the closing days of the campaign. So John, when Kamala Harris says, we will win, do you feel like you're surrounded by

supporters who are fully believing that? Yeah, that's a really good question. Of course, you know, people kind of have to believe, especially if you are an invested voter on either side, you know, the enthusiasm is part of the strategy to some extent. But looking at the polls, anybody who tells you with a straight face that they know, you have to take with a pinch of salt. This really is very, very close. Here in Georgia, the really interesting thing for the Democrats is black voters are the bedrock of Democratic Party support here have always been and Kamala Harris enjoys a huge advantage amongst that

demographic but since 2020 there's a sign that that support is slipping ever so slightly it's still very very high but slipping a little amongst young black men. And again, when every single vote counts, even a little bit of the loss of support is troubling for the Democrats. I think if you read between the lines, you can see that they are worried in Georgia. It is a big ask. Given all of the other metrics on what people think about the economy, etc., Donald Trump's advantage on some of those issues, they know it. and that is why she is here with just three days to go. And I hear they're picking up a bit of positive data from these tens of millions of early

vote in that. Quite a high number of those votes are from women, so part of the whole closing stages of the Harris campaign is to appeal to women, even to say to women vote Democrat, vote for Kamala, even if you know your husband won't. Yes, and that's where it comes down to this question of turnout. There's no doubt that nationally Kamala Harris enjoys an advantage amongst female voters. That's been baked for some time amongst Democrats. The opposite is true of male voters, and that's why we have seen Ms Harris today hammering that message on the rolling back of reproductive rights under Donald Trump. A lot of support for those

messages in the crowd today. But although you are right, Democrats will take some cheer from the early voting. That does generally tend to advantage them. Democrats are far more likely on previous elections to vote early. We ought to temper those statistics with a recognition that Donald Trump has also been telling his voters to come out early this year. Very different from 2020. He understands that that cost him last time round. Elon Musk, now of course a very invested supporter, has been telling him that they need to get that message home. And actually some of the early voting in these southern swing states suggest that even in heavily Republican areas,

counties that lean Republican, they're seeing very high turnout too. So once again, you know, it comes down to that thing. The only poll that matters is the one that takes place on Tuesday. John Sudworth with the Harris campaign in Georgia. Meanwhile, in North Carolina, Donald Trump. I have come today with a message of hope for all Americans with your vote on Tuesday. I will end – Donald Trump. We don't have the American dream. We had it. Kamala broke it. She broke it. We will fix it. I will fix it. It will be fixed very fast. Watching for us in North Carolina, Helena Humphrey. We were in solid Trump country here and it was the well-worn refrains.

Topics such as the economy, immigration. Donald Trump saying that he considered immigration to be the biggest single threat to this country and promising once again, as we've heard him promise throughout this campaign, to carry out a mass deportation from day one, he said. And then he sought to tie those issues to the economy, for example, saying that it's undocumented immigrants coming across the border, he said, who are taking, in his words, African-American jobs. Now, you may remember when he made such statements talking about black jobs during a debate a number of months ago. Of course, that stirred controversy.

We even saw Michelle Obama at her speech at the DNC saying, who's going to tell him? Referring to her husband's job, of course, Barack Obama becoming the first black president of the United States, holding the highest office here in this country. And other key refrains when it comes to the economy. We're going to frack like we have never fracked before, he said, in the history of the United States. One point I did find interesting was when he spoke about women. We know that in this

election there is a gender divide, particularly when it comes to young women opting more frequently for Kamala Harris. And he said to the crowd, where are my North Carolina women? There was just kind of a lukewarm response, really. One woman shouted back saying they're coming later. And then he said, oh, OK, they are scattered. Where the hell are they? I've never seen this before. We don't know whether that's indicative of what we're seeing at the polls,

but certainly interesting to observe. Donald Trump has now gone to Virginia. He will be back here in North Carolina in Greensboro tonight. And talking about that African-American vote, that will be important because there, Harris has more support. We know that he's been causing support, particularly with younger African-American men in particular. But of course, that will be a block

that he wants to continue to win over because this state is important. Kamala Harris hopes that this is her best chance of winning back a battleground. Helena Humphrey in North Carolina. One country watching the US election closely is Ukraine. The course of its war against Russia will be determined by who's elected and how much military support they're willing to give. Our Ukraine correspondent James Waterhouse sent this report from the south-eastern region of Zaporizhzhia in the small area still under Ukrainian control. Usually, if you heard drones in south-eastern Ukraine this close to the front line, you'd

be finding cover and possibly saying a little prayer. But this is a fallback position where Ukrainian troops practice with American equipment. We've got drones to the left, we've got some sizeable machine guns to the right, and the dial of American interventionism versus isolationism is acutely felt here as Ukraine continues to mount its defense against Russia's full-scale invasion. So Alex gave us a quick demo with this grenade launcher. The guys here are really keen to show the difference Western kit makes, because if they didn't have it, it would be catastrophic for what is a very challenging stretch of the front line here.

If aid decreases or stops completely, the burden will fall on the shoulders of the infantry and other soldiers. Everyone knows that Ukraine cannot deal with it on its own. Andriy is in charge of his unit's armored vehicles and is keeping half an eye on the US election. Everyone is waiting. When we hear that one candidate who is less willing to help us is leading in the polls, it's upsetting and frustrating. But whatever happens, we are not going anywhere. In Zaporizhzhia city, this happens almost every day.

A police officer pulls over after a Russian bomb hits nearby. In the middle of this central reservation in Zaporizhzhia is a 10-metre-wide crater. And shops behind me are boarding up and sweeping up glass. Because the front line hasn't moved, this is what cities are subjected to. Russian bombs raining down from the sky. The bomb blast blew out the windows of inner shop. The store was damaged, but we are not going to stop. Now we are repairing it and from tomorrow we'll be openable. Of course we are worried about the US election because we want to defeat the enemy. We are hoping that the woman will win, Kamala Harris, and that she will support us.

The outcome of the US presidential election could see either Ukraine being given what it needs to hold the line. We could see a demilitarised zone potentially or support could be pulled allowing the tide of Russian occupation to swallow Zaporizhzhia and maybe more. James Waterhouse in Ukraine, all the coverage you need ahead of the US election at bbc.com slash news. A number of people have been injured in an Israeli strike on a polio vaccine clinic in Gaza where parents were bringing their children for the second phase of vaccination. The World Health Organisation only restarted the second round on Saturday after being forced

to suspend it earlier because of Israeli bombardments. Our correspondent in Jerusalem, Joe Inwood, spoke to my colleague Rebecca Kaspi. The crucial circumstances here is this is in the middle of a vital World Health Organisation polio vaccination campaign which was launched today, is taking place for three days. So you've got lots of parents and their children turning up at health centres, for example like the Sheikh Radwan Primary Healthcare Centre, which is the one that was hit, to get their children vaccinated. Now, this came about, the news of this strike, because Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organisation, put out a message on social media a couple of hours ago saying that he'd received an extremely concerning report, and these are his words, about a strike on the healthcare centre with six people injured including four children. Now it's interesting he

was quite careful to say or to not say where it had come from where the strike had originated. He was quite deliberate in his language but he says World Health Organization team was there just before. I think it is worth pointing out this is an area that seemed very heavy fighting and has been the subject of a very heavy Israeli offensive over the over recent weeks but there was supposed to be a humanitarian pause in daylight hours in this area and so they the message from Dr Tedros was they were very concerned that that a violation of that as he sees it would jeopardize people coming to get the polio vaccine. Yes as you say which is being seen as crucial not just for people in the north but for the whole of the Gaza Strip. Well, there's other breaking news in the past day on your patch and this is coming from Lebanon.

The Prime Minister there has called for an investigation into the kidnapping of a Lebanese citizen by Israeli Navy commandos. Apparently this is in the north of Lebanon. Yes, so this is rather dramatic CCTV that has emerged over the last few hours and it shows a group of armed men, heavily armed men, they look like sort of naval commandos moving in tactical formation in front of a building and they've clearly got with them a man who is being kidnapped, abducted, taken away. Depending on different sides they use different language to describe it and it has been confirmed by both sides now that this man is a person called

Imad Amhaz. Now he is a naval officer it seems but the Israelis have told the BBC that he's a senior Hezbollah commander who was taken away by a naval commando unit for interrogation. The Lebanese side have said that this man was kidnapped. And indeed Ali Hameed, who is a minister in the government associated with Hezbollah, the militant group, has said that he was a naval officer who's been abducted. But clearly this is a situation where the perspectives of the Israelis and the Lebanese is going to be very, very different.

Also, it's causing some tension with the Lebanese government. And I think it is always worth pointing out to our listeners that the Lebanese government, the Lebanese state and Hezbollah are separate things. And Israel is in conflict with one, in direct conflict with one, but not with the other. Joe Inwood in Jerusalem. The UN summit on nature and biodiversity, or COP16, has come to a close in Colombia. A couple of important decisions were reached. A new fund was created where a share of the profits from products developed using the genetic data from wildlife will be funneled back into conservation projects called the Cali Fund.

The other breakthrough was that it's been agreed a permanent consultative body to the UN will be established, drawn from indigenous communities around the world. And cheers erupted as Susanna Mohammed, the president of COP16, announced that decision. So I'll ask the parties if you are ready to adopt this document. As I see no party asking for the floor, so it is adopted. More than a quarter of the world's animals and plants are thought to be at risk of extinction, but how can indigenous people help to protect them? Rebecca Kesby has been talking to Orla Dwyer, a journalist for the Carbon Brief website that focuses on climate science and policy.

Biodiversity, it's essential to the functioning of our very planet. Biodiversity loss and climate change are inherently linked. Nature currently is declining at unprecedented rates. And what countries are trying to do at COP16 is essentially try and reverse this trend. So they agreed two years ago in Montreal at the last UN Biodiversity Summit to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030. And what was being discussed at this most recent summit in Cali in Colombia is basically what progress has been made on this over the past two years and also a lot of issues around the finance for biodiversity and how countries are going to reverse this really negative trend that we're seeing in terms of the scale of biodiversity loss. Were you satisfied with what came out on that score? Every country in the world had agreed to submit new national biodiversity pledges showing how they would meet these goals for 2030.

But actually only about 22% of countries have submitted these plans as of now. And presumably there are no consequences for the countries that haven't submitted those plans. Yeah, so it was talked about at the COP and the reasons tended to be either that there was only two years to put these plans in place and so countries said they needed more time or that they didn't have enough finance. So we just heard from the representative there from the Sami community in Norway, broadly welcoming this idea of having a permanent consultative group of Indigenous people to the UN. Do you welcome that or is there a danger that it's just another talking shop? Will it actually have any impact on policy? That is definitely something we've seen NGOs and Indigenous peoples groups celebrate that came out of

this and particularly given that there were outstanding issues on other aspects of the negotiations but that the Indigenous peoples permanent body was agreed. I think that in itself is a success that they got an agreement on it by the end of the talks. You mentioned the finance again and we talked about the Cali fund. I mean, that sounds quite positive, doesn't it? That some of the profits will be ploughed back into conservation? Yeah. So these resources that are taken from animals and plants and then used by companies to make vaccines and medicines and things like that. Getting an agreement on a way to do that is a pretty big deal of the talks, especially because it could be a big source

of money for countries like Brazil and the Democratic Republic of Congo, particularly because what was agreed in the end is that companies like pharmaceutical companies, agribusiness, tech companies and others that benefit from the use of this data should contribute 1% of their profits or 0.1% of their revenues to this Cali fund. That is a significant amount of money. And also that half of this fund is going to be allocated to indigenous peoples and local communities as well. And that was the journalist, Orla Dwyer from the website Carbon Brief, which focuses on climate science and policy. Still to come in this podcast. Still to come in this podcast? This is the future. The year 2125. These stories show how our decisions and actions can support

other species. What the natural world might look like in a hundred years. Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has announced the country's biggest peacetime deployment of troops and police to deal with this week's deadly flash floods in the Valencia region. 211 people are known to have died, dozens of others are still missing. The soldiers will help with the rescue efforts but Mr Sanchez admitted more resources will be needed to cope with the scale of the destruction. Our correspondent Mark Lowen is in Valencia. Four days on from the flooding it is still a scene of absolute devastation in the outskirts

of Valencia. I'm walking through entire areas still caked in knee-deep mud. Spain's prime minister says that 10,000 troops will now be sent to this area to try to help out. But still people here are having to depend on local residents and legions of volunteers to begin the seemingly impossible task of clearing up. On the night of the floods, Pablo Orescos rescued some residents from a nearby retirement home and retrieved the bodies of others who didn't make it.

We went inside and we found them down the fridge, down the sofa. Now when you look over there. I can't, I can't. Yesterday I tried with my brother to go there and see but I couldn't. In central Valencia, a flood, this time of humanity. Some 15,000 volunteers waited to be given buckets and other supplies to take to the worst affected areas, filling the vacuum, many say, left by the authorities. They have lost their houses and their cars. And we know people that have lost families and that is a disaster.

Disaster has brought Spaniards together in sadness, shock and criticism of their politicians. A spirit of unity to fight national trauma. Mark Lowen in Valencia. How does China feel about Russia's flourishing relationship with North Korea? More than 10,000 North Korean troops have been sent to Russia potentially to fight in Ukraine. Beijing has long been Pyongyang's most important ally, providing trade and military aid to Kim Jong-un. But the Chinese President Xi Jinping has also been frustrated with North Korea and the instability it brings. Our China correspondent Laura Bicker took a trip to the border where China, North Korea and Russia meet.

Dozens of curious Chinese tourists have travelled hundreds of miles for a chance to see three countries at one time. Here in the North East, China owns just a sliver of land and a sandwich between Russia and North Korea. Tour groups huddle together on the top of a 12-storey tower to take photos next to three overlapping flags on the wall. Peering at their Korean neighbours seems to be the main attraction. North Korea has always been our neighbour. But to be able to see how they live makes me feel how prosperous and strong our country is.

I feel as a Chinese woman, I am very proud. There are no borders among the peoples. Everybody's good friends. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. This view might be overly optimistic. Like the Chinese territory she has travelled to see, Beijing is caught between its neighbours, allies that appear to be spiralling out of its control. Fears of the growing friendship between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un have peaked in the

last few weeks. The US has said it's seen evidence that Pyongyang has sent 3,000 troops to Russia for a possible deployment to Ukraine, claims WePut to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. What is China's reaction to having both its allies and its close neighbours potentially involved in a conflict in Ukraine? And can China really claim that it is absolutely neutral in this war when President Xi stands shoulder to shoulder with President Putin? On the Ukraine crisis, China's position is constant and clear. That is that China hopes all parties to de-escalate the situation

and promote political settlement. Back at the border, as tourists photograph the bridge that links Russia and North Korea, the atmosphere is friendly. But this deepening alliance is not in President Xi's best interests. Christopher Green from the International Crisis Group explains. The Chinese are concerned that Russia might share with North Korea the kind of military technology that could lead to instability on China's northeastern border. And destabilisation on some level could even benefit Vladimir Putin in a way it really would not benefit Xi Jinping.

Are we still being followed? Yeah, they're still behind us. Our presence at the border was noticed by the police, and while it seems tourists are welcome, journalists are not. Yeah, so they've just blocked the road to the port, which is usually a sign that they don't want us to go there. Time to get out. We were in public areas at all times, and yet the team was stopped, repeatedly questioned, followed, and our footage was deleted. It seems this topic is sensitive to China. Still followed, we head to the airport.

Beijing does not want to be seen as part of what some in the West have labelled an axis of evil. If President Xi continues to stand back, he risks an emboldened Kim ramping up tensions further. South Korea is already looking to NATO and the US to intervene. China now seems to be stuck in the middle as Western anxiety grows. Our China correspondent Laura Bicke reporting. In his latest documentary Separated the Academy Award-winning US filmmaker Errol Morris focuses on

immigration control under the Trump administration elected in 2016. It's a stark account of how an estimated 4,000 children were taken from their parents when they crossed into the US from Mexico. That policy was in place for about two months in 2018. Separation from your parent is a profoundly traumatizing event. But systematic separation of children from parents, officially it wasn't happening. But it was happening. Their version of stopping people from coming into the country was taking children away from their parents so that people wouldn't come.

My colleague Julian Morica has been speaking to Errol Morris and asked him what he wants people to take away from the film. These policies which were instituted during the Trump administration were quite terrible and should never be allowed to happen again. I don't know how to put it more simply than that. Immigration is at the centre of our politics for whatever reason. How we treat people coming into this country seems to tell us a lot about who we are, what our values are and what our values should be. And do you think it's become a much more divisive issue in recent times in American politics?

And if so, why? Well, of course, it has become more divisive. It has become political capital. And one would be misstating the case to say that immigration hasn't been a problem for decades. But it's true that during the Trump era, immigration has become central. And what has become central is the demonization of immigrants. What strikes me as so terrible about the Trump era is how manipulable the electorate is, how credulous people are. Say you say again and again and again and again

ad nauseam how bad immigrants are, they're murderers, they're rapists, they're criminals. How easy it is to convince people that's the case when we should know better. We know there were a country of immigrants. Good Lord. Kamala Harris wants to sign into law. What she would suggest is a pretty tough border compromise. In fact, it was put in front of Congress of late. And of course, she would say that Donald Trump objected to it, that he prevented Republicans from supporting it and is therefore putting it back in front of the electorate in some shape or form as part of this presidential election campaign. So to a degree she feels the need to at least appear quite tough on this issue as well, doesn't she?

Yes, I think that's a simple answer. She wants to be elected president of the United States and there are compromises, as we all know, that politicians have to make in order to get elected. And can you stomach that? What choice do I have? If it's the choice between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, I can stomach a lot from Kamala Harris, to say the very least. And to the Trump supporters who watch your film and there, I don't know, there may be some,

there may not be many. What do you hope they will take out of it specifically? I hope they learn something about these kinds of draconian policies. The separation of families at the border, you have to remember that part of this policy was taking infants, nursing infants away from their mothers. It's possible to have borders without really beating up on people. Errol Morris on his new film, Separated. What might our natural world look like in a hundred years and will knowing help us to appreciate the threats to it now? Visitors to London's

Natural History Museum have been finding out, thanks to a combination of French technical know-how and informed scientific predictions. My colleague Sean Lay met some of the team behind it. We are now high in the canopy of a tropical rainforest. Those lights are fireflies. Look all around you. I have been in a tropical forest and I've sat surrounded by fireflies but in the experience you can actually have one that comes and lands on your finger and it's a completely accurate firefly which of course appeals to me but it's also incredibly beautiful. What struck me in

putting it together is actually a hundred years sounds like a long time away, but evolutionarily it's a blink. Actually one of the big challenges of planetary crisis is that change is happening at a much faster rate than animals are, you know, flora and fauna are used to adapting at. Particularly with doing a mixed reality experience. One of the really great benefits of that is that it's a shared experience. You can see the people and the things around you can react together and collectively to that. And then that hopefully sparks conversations afterwards about the kind of future that we want to see and that we want to create together. It's all completely synchronized and you'll all do the same interactions. But for example, you'll be invited to release a Darwin's frog into its new habitat and you'll have your very own one to release.

But you'll be able to enjoy that experience with the people next to you. Hello, welcome to Visions of Nature. Oh I can see the map there, it's in front of you. Amazing, your experience will start very soon if you just want to jump into the box. Walk into this box, okay. So the first thing I've got is a map of the world and it's got highlighted different parts. Show's starting. This is the future.

The year 2125. These stories show how our decisions and actions can support other species to survive. So we've got a horned beast over there. Do you recognize the animal that just brushed past you? It's the Eurasian lynx. Oh, that's beautiful. It's the Lynx in the Scottish forests. Ooh. The Lynx has restored an ecology of fear where prey live on constant watch once more. This leaves the deer less time to graze and can result in fewer offspring.

Apart from my own experience, I've just had the very strange experience watching a group of people wearing these headsets, holding their hands out as if there was something in front of them, gazing in astonishment at what are basically blank walls. I wonder what they thought of the experience now they've got their headsets off. I think virtual reality and digital aspects in museums really help to bring in lots of different audiences so I think it's really good that the Natural History Museum is putting something like this on. I thought it was very interesting, it's very

well made and it's very positive about the future which is obviously a good thing but it might not be telling the whole truth. Reactions to the visions of nature experience at the Natural History Museum in London. And that's all from us for now. There will be a new edition of Global News to download later. If you'd like to comment on this edition, drop us an email, globalpodcastatbbc.co.uk or on X we are at Global News Pod. This edition was mixed by Jonathan Greer, the producer was Stephanie Prentice, the editor is Karen Martin. I'm Andrew Peach, thank you for listening and until next time, goodbye.