Global News Podcast - US remembers George Floyd

Episode Date: May 25, 2025

Family of George Floyd promise to continue campaign for racial justice. Also: Spain calls for arms embargo against Israel over the war in Gaza. And male MPs in New Zealand describe their clothing to support female colleague.

This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Julia McFarlane and in the early hours of Monday 26th of May, these are our main stories. Commemorations in the United States to mark five years since the death of George Floyd. Spain calls for an arms embargo against Israel over the war in Gaza. And the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky condemns the silence of world leaders. Also in this podcast... This election is weaker. A voting centre like this one, which I've been coming to for a

long time, is normally full at this hour. Venezuela holds parliamentary elections boycotted by the opposition. In 2020, the murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin thrust the Black Lives Matter movement into the global spotlight. What do we want? Justice. When do we want it? Now. No justice. No peace. Prove to the police. No justice.

Millions of Americans turned out for some of the largest demonstrations in recent US history, calling for police accountability and racial justice. At the time, governments and companies promised to address bias and discrimination. But exactly five years on, there are fears that the current US administration under President Trump is

rolling back on reforms aimed at tackling police violence. This week, the Justice Department announced it was scrapping investigations involving police brutality filed in the aftermath of George Floyd's killing. The civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents Mr Floyd's family, said they would not be deterred. Despite what efforts by the Department of Justice to minimize and roll back the incremental progress we made after the killing of George Floyd, after the killing of George Floyd, their efforts to have the world unseat what we saw on this day five years ago

will not be judged kindly by history. It will not. Speaking alongside Mr. Crump at a gathering in Texas, George Floyd's brother, Philonis Floyd, acknowledged some of the many other victims of police violence. We did everything we could to do things to fight for George, not just George, it was Breonna Taylor, it was Ahmaud Arbery, it was Stefan Kross. People did a lot. You had Pamela

Turner that was down in Baytown. People who lost their kids and we're still here doing the same thing over and over and over again. But we can never give up. I heard more from our correspondent in Washington, Jake Kwon. The main theme of the talks today was really that the movement, Mr. Floyd's Black Lives Matter, which has been thrust into global spotlight, it's now on its back foot that it is under threat. And Reverend Arles Sharpton, who is a civil rights leader,

who was standing with the family today, was describing as a cloud over the sunshine. And the family was also expressing their feeling of exploitation, maybe betrayal, at these private companies that have taken up the value of diversity, equity, and inclusion off the back of the death of George Floyd are now rolling back their policy and acquiescing to the Trump administration which have come into the office vowing to roll back a lot of these policies.

Right, Jake, you say that the Black Lives Matter movement is on the back foot. Where exactly is it now under President Trump? President Trump came into the office with the promise that he will roll back this policy because him and his allies and the conservatives, they really see that the movement has gone too far. And he sees it as his mission to bring back the merit based society, bring back the racial blindness. He says that it is now the white men who are being discriminated against

after Biden era's focus on racial justice and police accountability. So we are seeing his justice department saying that they will abandon this effort by the Biden administration to bring police reform to the city of Minneapolis and city of Louisville. And they will no longer be bringing these in force, what was negotiated during his predecessor's time. And that is not the only one, right? I mean, the family is saying that a lot of the job is done, but it hasn't gone far enough. It is now being rolled back. I mean, there's still many reports of black people being systematically targeted by American police. Has policing changed at all five years on?

It has changed, especially in the Democrat whole held cities and held states, especially when it comes to banning chokeholds by the police, as well as making sure that every police officer is wearing a body camera. Having more sensitivity training and de-escalation. These efforts have been implemented. However, more red state area, it has not been implemented. And what the family is pushing for is federal level legislation so that these reforms that they've been calling for is evenly well distributed across America. So this is really the final, kind of the end game that Al Sharpton and his family were

talking about today. Another thing we saw in the data today is that the police killing, the number actually hasn't gone down since George Floyd's death. If anything, the number of police killing has gone up. Experts are discussing why this is happening and of course we need a closer inspection, but it really signals that the job still has to go on further. Jake Hwan in Washington. We turn now to the situation in Gaza and the mounting pressure from international leaders to end the war. At a meeting in Madrid, the Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Alvarez said that silence

is complicity as he called for an arms embargo against Israel. He urged other countries to halt Israel's offensive. I think that more and more every country on the planet is moved by the images we see from Gaza. We all agree that we're seeing a senseless war that has no military objective other than to turn Gaza into an immense cemetery. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey are among the nations attending the meeting in Madrid. Meanwhile, airstrikes have continued across Gaza.

Our correspondent in Jerusalem, Barbara Pletasha, gave us this update. The Gaza Health Ministry has said is that 38 people were killed and more than 200 injured. These are the people who were taken to Gazan hospitals in the past 24 hours and of those 22 of the dead were killed in airstrikes since dawn on Sunday. Now these are figures from the Ministry of Health in Gaza which is controlled by Hamas and the IDF has not commented, the Israeli army has not commented on them so far. But what the Palestinian officials are saying is that some of the strikes took place in

the north of Gaza in Jabalia in which a local journalist and members of his family were killed in their home. Some of the strikes took place in central Gaza in Nusayrat where a senior rescue official was killed and some of them took place in the south of Gaza in Hanunis which of course is where that terrible incident took place yesterday on Saturday with nine children from the same family having been killed. Israel says it is looking into an airstrike in which nine children from the same family having been killed. Israel says it is looking into an airstrike in which nine children from that family were killed over the weekend. Both the parents are doctors. The mother was on shift at the pediatrics unit of the Al Nasser hospital. Her husband's life remains in critical condition due to a penetrating head wound, according to the doctors treating him.

Their only surviving child, 11-year-old Adam, is also being treated at the hospital. Israel's military said its aircraft had struck what it called a number of suspects in the Khan Yunis area. Here's the Israeli government spokesman David Mensah. Civilians in Khan Yunis, they were urged to leave. They were given very clear instructions for their own safety. That doesn't diminish any tragedy. But look, Hamas stay in these civilian zones. They hide in civilian areas. When innocents are killed, we certainly regret it and we are investigating it. But Hamas lies. They very often stage deaths. They very often inflate numbers, and they turn children into weapons of PR.

I asked our Middle East regional editor, Sebastian Usher, who's just come back from Jerusalem, what he made of Mr. Mensah's response. I mean, I think these are the kinds of comments we've heard many times before. This, I mean, justification probably is going too far, but this explanation from the Israeli perspective and military perspective in particular of saying that there are very clear targets and that it's very unfortunate and tragic that there are civilians killed. Now when there are nine children from a ten-children family who are killed in one instant, that clearly puts more pressure on Israel, on the government, on the military and its spokesmen to come up with something more than this. I mean, I'm just seeing from a diplomatic

correspondent for Israeli Army Radio who says that that investigation that David Menz was talking about, that initial investigation, there's some information that has now emerged about that in which the IDF says that one, they've had no verification that nine children were indeed killed in the attack. They say the photos published on the subject are fake and the IDF clarifying that if they'd known that there were nine children in the area, the attack wouldn't have taken place and as we heard from David Mensa there, the Harnunus area should have been completely evacuated of civilians. I think that is a very big point though. These evacuation warnings come regularly and they're for large swathes of Gaza. These are people who have moved from one place to another time and time again.

They're not sure that where they are told to go, Al-Mawassi, this area is safe. That's come under attack. And some people will stay, one, because they feel they're not directly in the zone that has been mentioned and also that they are just exhausted and tired and they can't move any further. Also, it's a warning. The Israeli army doesn't literally help the people to evacuate. And the warnings that we received from about Hanunis, we've been looking back to see when that specific warning was and it's from some time ago. Now the understanding is once that warning has been made, that's it, everyone has to go. But these are warnings

that are now several weeks old. So yes, it opens a lot of questions. Okay, that's the situation in Gaza. Meanwhile, this weekend, there is this summit, more countries trying to put pressure on Netanyahu. Where does that leave him now? Mr Netanyahu, I mean, it leaves him as we heard him this week, really doubling down, to use that phrase, when the governments, the UK, Canada and France came up with very, very strong statements about what is happening in Gaza at the moment, particularly the blockade and the risk of famine. His response was essentially to say that they were emboldening Hamas, that they were on

the wrong side of history, on the wrong side of humanity. What we're seeing at the moment is that Mr. Netanyahu doesn't really seem to be listening to people in the outside world nor his many, many critics inside Israel who are building and building some who are doing it because they believe it is not helping the hostages to be released. Others who are beginning to feel that what is being done to the Gazans themselves is unacceptable. Many more feeling that the image of Israel is being besmirched by this and it may not recover anytime soon. Sebastiaan Usher. Twelve people have been killed across Ukraine in what emergency services called a night of terror by Russia. Among those killed in the wave of hundreds of missile and drone

strikes were three children. On Sunday, President Zelenskyy condemned what he called the silence of world leaders, which he says is only encouraging Moscow. And as we record this podcast, President Trump says he is furious at Russia and is considering imposing further sanctions. He blamed the escalation on President Putin, of whom he said, something's happened to the guy and I don't like it. From Kiev with the latest on the attacks, here's our Ukraine correspondent, James Waterhouse. Russia says it targeted more than 100 military sites across Ukraine. It also claims it wants peace, but on its terms.

The last 48 hours for Ukrainians have contradicted those assertions. Today was the second large scale Russian aerial assault on Ukraine in as many days. 30 cities were reportedly struck. As Moscow steps up its ability to manufacture drones at a greater and faster rate, these airstrikes are only increasing in size and intensifying. In Kiev last night, searchlights looked for a threat no other European capital has to face. Dozens of missiles and hundreds of drones launched by Russia intent on terrorizing. Despite air defenses reverberating through the night, the capital was glowing from fires across the city. President Zelensky has again

urged his allies to apply more pressure on Moscow to engage in a ceasefire, adding that America's silence will only encourage Vladimir Putin. James Waterhouse India and Pakistan have been trading barbs at the United Nations after Pakistan's ambassador accused the Indian military of targeting civilian areas including homes and mosques and a recent attack on a school bus which killed eight people in the province of Balochistan and injured many more. India has firmly rejected the allegations. The BBC's Pakistan correspondent Azad e Mishiri has been to a military hospital in Quetta where

the most severely injured victims of the attack were being treated. You might find parts of her report distressing. The children have been brought here to Balochistan's largest military hospital. Several of them are in critical condition and it's hard to see. Their skin is charred. One young girl kept calling out for her mother. There's no doubt this was a horrific attack. In the lobby of the hospital, Nasser tells us his 14-year-old son, Mohammed Ahmed, was flung across the bus and severely injured when the suicide bombing happened.

I felt the ground fall beneath my feet. All the parents started running towards the bus. No one could understand what's going on. When I reached the hospital, the children were screaming everywhere. It was the only thing you could hear. My eyes just kept searching for my son." The military has called his son's army school bus and the children themselves soft targets. They say they're easier to attack and claim they're now a focus for militants. An officer drove us through Queta's roads in a bus flanked by soldiers in SUVs with rifles in their hands and ammunition hanging from their pockets. This province is no stranger

to violence. It has experienced decades of militant attacks amidst a nationalist insurgency and is home to several separatist groups who accuse the central government of exploiting its rich natural resources. It's rare for foreign journalists to gain access to Balochistan and the timing of this escorted visit by the military comes as Pakistan blames India for a deadly attack on an army school bus, but also as both countries continue to paint each other as the aggressor. India has failed to establish its narrative.

Pakistan's Information Minister Attaullah Tarrar claims there is a history of India sponsoring attacks in Balochistan, something India firmly denies. Indian bad proxies are operating here, and they are promoting terrorism in Balochistan, something India firmly denies. Indian bad proxies are operating here and they are promoting terrorism in Balochistan. Pakistan was very quick to reject accusations by India about Pehelgam and said India had jumped to conclusions far too fast. So what's the difference here? Pehelgam was a one-off incident which without any investigation India started blaming Pakistan. But there has been a history of militant attacks in India and in the state of Kashmir.

But you see, we offered an investigation, an inquiry into the incident. The United Nations Agency for Children, UNICEF, has said children are not and must never be the targets of violence. Yet the children who were the victims of this latest attack have had their lives forever changed. Azadeh Mishiri. Still to come on this podcast... I'm borrowing a tie from the great member of parliament before Otaki actually. So I

borrowed his tie this afternoon. I don't know what the suit's made of actually, but bought here in New Zealand and a good shirt that I ironed this morning." Why male politicians in New Zealand are describing what they're wearing. Polling stations have closed in Venezuela, where parliamentary and regional elections have been taking place. After the main opposition urged a boycott of what they see as a sham election, almost a year on from President Maduro's disputed third term victory, turnout appears to have been low. This election is weaker. A voting centre like this one, which I've been coming to for a long time, is normally full at this hour. Right now it's empty and this is an area where many are against the

government so it seems they're not taking this seriously. As long as you can you have to go out and vote. But there are conditions that don't help. Some voting centres are very far away. But still I think you have to make the effort to vote. More than 400,000 security agents were deployed to monitor polling stations amid high tensions ahead of the vote. And for the first time voters were asked to elect representatives for Essequibo, the oil-rich region of neighboring Guyana, with voters being threatened with treason charges by the Guyanese authorities if they took part.

I heard more from BBC Monitoring's KD Weddell, who's lived in Caracas for many years and is following events from Miami. In January of this year, about five months after those July elections from last year, we heard government representatives say they plan to hold nine electoral processes this year. So I think for Nicolás Maduro this represents an opportunity to attempt to turn the page on those elections from last year that were widely condemned as fraudulent and which the opposition presented credible evidence that they actually won those elections.

It's also, I think, an attempt by Maduro to regain some of that legitimacy that he lost after those elections last year. So these are really mega elections in Venezuela, both regional and parliamentary elections, 569 posts to be filled today, state council members, governors, as well as the National Assembly or Venezuela's parliament. And how has the election day played out so far? Well, we're seeing images on social media of polling stations that are mostly empty. We know that according to at least one independent pollster, most Venezuelans will stay home today. One of those

polls showed that around 12% of Venezuelans plan to participate. We've heard from the mainstream opposition, Maria Corina Machado, who led that effort to take on Nicolás Maduro last year, urging people to stay home today. She posted online today. She just said no, she does not want Venezuelans to participate. So it appears it will be a low turnout at the polls. There are a few mainstream politicians who are participating in this process. Among them, Enrique Capriles, who once took on Hugo

Chavez and Nicolás Maduro in presidential elections. But again, most of the opposition is planning to abstain. And briefly, could you just tell us about the significance of the Essequibo region being included? Right. This is an area that comprises about two thirds of neighboring Guyana. This is an area that comprises about two-thirds of neighboring Guyana. This is a territorial dispute that has existed since colonial times, but after the massive discovery of oil in Guyana in 2015, Venezuela has really ramped up efforts to attempt to reclaim this territory. So they are electing representatives for what they're calling their 24th state, this part of Guyana. Now, polls are not open in that area of Guyana because

Venezuela does not control this territory. So two small provinces in the neighboring state of Bolivar will be electing the representatives for that newly created state. Cody Weddle. Cameroon is set to hold presidential elections in October, whilst an unresolved conflict rages within its borders. For close to a decade, the country's two English-speaking regions have been gripped by violence that has claimed over 6,000 lives and forced hundreds of thousands from their homes. Blaise Aong, who has been covering the crisis

since the unrest began, reports. And a warning, this story contains descriptions of violence which some listeners may find distressing. Are you ready when the Russian comes? We are the soul of our perfect brother, Brother John Simabia, find peace. In 2021, John Simabia was on a work trip in one of Cameroon's English-speaking regions. He was a civil servant working for the government.

He never returned home. I was calling his line, but he wasn't picking. Gabi Doratwa is John Simabia's widow. About 10 minutes later, I received a phone call from him. Before he could even say something, they took their phone and then the person he was talking to said, if we don't send the money within 24 hours, it will kill us. Johnson and five other colleagues were captured and held for ransom by armed separatists fighting for the independence of Cameroon's two Anglophone regions.

While the family tried to raise the money, Johnson was found murdered. I didn't even know what to do. I was just shouting and shouting. An estimated five million Anglophone Cameroonians have been caught in the crossfire between Cameroon security forces and armed separatists since the crisis began in late 2016. and armed separatists since the crisis began in late 2016. The unrest started with protests against what many saw as the marginalization of the Anglophone minority in this Francophone-dominated country. We started by writing to the government,

which failed to respond. Agbong Kongo is an English-speaking lawyer who was one of the leaders of the 2016 protest. You know, we called for boycotts of courts, we called for school boycotts, but it was peaceful and civil. At no point in time did we advocate for violence. But Cameroon's government responded with force. Beatings, intimidation, and mass arrests. As tensions escalated, in 2017, Anglophone Separatist leaders declared independence of what they called the Federal Republic of Mbazonia.

From this point on, conflict raged. Even schools are being targeted, as they are considered by Separatist groups to be mild pieces for government propaganda. In October 2020, at least seven children were killed during a school attack. No one claimed responsibility, but the government blamed Separatist militants. As the spiral of violence continues, militant groups have also sprung up to fight the separatists. John Awome, known as Moja Moja, is the leader of one of them. I look for first of all the Ambasonians and also in format, they are worse than the Ambasonians. Although he denies killing anyone, there are videos showing Mwaja Mwaja beating on armed

civilians he believes to be Separatist fighters or their supporters. Presidential elections are scheduled for later this year. With Ambazonian Separatists reportedly calling for a boycott and the government continuing its crackdown, tensions remain high and civilians like John Zimabia's widow keep paying the price. It's really aching. I have debts, I have to settle. I don't even know how to settle. I was very young to become a widow. The Cameroonian Ministry of Defence did not respond to requests for comment. The Ambazonia Defence Council says that while the Ambazonia Defence Forces are the largest force, there are a multiplicity of separatist fighters.

The Ambazonia Defence Forces say they operate within international law and do not attack city workers, schools, journalists or civilians. They say they are individuals and fringe entities acting on their own accord who are not members of the ADF and they accuse government infiltrators of committing atrocities while claiming to be ambazonian fighters to turn the local populations against the liberation struggle. In 2024 Mwaja Mwaja was arrested. The arrest happened soon after he suggested online that senior army officers had contacted him to orchestrate a coup against President Bia. And that was Blaise Ayoung reporting from Cameroon for BBC Africa Eye.

Now, it sounds like the plot of a thriller. A tourist lured to New York and then held captive and tortured in an expensive townhouse for weeks, all for access to his fortune in cryptocurrency. But prosecutors say it really happened right in the heart of Manhattan. Carla Conti has the story. New York City is no stranger to violence or strange occurrences. But on Friday, when an Italian tourist escaped from a luxury townhouse in Lower Manhattan, claiming he had been tortured by a crypto investor for weeks, even the most unfazed New Yorkers had to stop in their tracks.

Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan, a 28-year-old from Turin, had travelled to the US to meet an entrepreneur known as the Crypto King of Kentucky, John Waltz. Upon arriving at his home, Mr. Carturon says that he was taken captive and subjected to weeks of torture. The Italian told the New York police that he was tied up, threatened with a chainsaw, forced to smoke crack cocaine, and dangled from the fifth floor of the townhouse by Mr. Waltz and his accomplices, all because he had refused to give up the password to his bitcoin account. On May 23rd, the tourist managed to escape from the house and immediately flagged down a traffic agent to ask for help. Later that day, police officers emerged from Mr.

Waltz's residence with the suspect wearing only a white bathrobe and handcuffs. These people were watching events unfold on the streets of Manhattan. It's wild to me that something like this would happen. Just unbelievable. Oh my god, that's awful. John Walt was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court on Saturday morning on charges of kidnapping with intent to collect ransom, assault, unlawful imprisonment and other counts. He is expected to be back in court on Wednesday. Carla Conte

Male politicians in New Zealand have been posting elaborate descriptions of their clothing on social media, all in support of a female colleague. She had been accused of disrespecting the local fashion industry. Our Asia Pacific regional editor Celia Hatton takes up the story. New Zealand's finance minister Nicola Willis unveiled a national budget on Thursday that cut government outlays while increasing defence spending. However, some in New Zealand chose to focus on what Ms Willis was wearing as she delivered her budget speech. Journalists and commentators criticized her choice to wear a British and not a New Zealand designer.

Others say the focus on the finance minister's clothing is sexist. In a tongue-in-cheek response, the minister's male colleague said they've never been asked about their outfits and have started supplying lengthy descriptions of the origins of their clothing, from their ties to their socks. So here I am at Parliament in post-budget urgency. I thought I'd run you through what I'm wearing. This tie I actually got in France. It's a lovely blue tie. This shirt is a classic New Zealand three wise men blue shirt. I know there's huge amount of interest in what me and a bunch of the other men in the National Party are wearing just to equalise things up.

I'm borrowing a tie from the great member of parliament for Otaki actually, so I borrowed his tie this afternoon. What about that suit? What's that made of? Suits... I don't know what the suit's made of actually, but bought here in New Zealand and a good shirt that I ironed this morning. So I've done this off the wrong road. Hey, I won't show you my singlet, but my singlet is a good New Zealand singlet made out of marina wool. Oh, we like that.

They'll be real interested. New Zealand politicians Chris Bishop and Carl Bates describing their outfits in that report by Celia Hatton. 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 podcast or any of the topics covered in it, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk.

You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag global news pod. This edition was mixed by Caroline Driscoll and produced by Richard Hamilton and Siobhan Lehi. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Julia McFarlane. Until next time, goodbye.