Global News Podcast - US says it's cautiously optimistic that a deal to end fighting in Gaza is within reach

Episode Date: December 18, 2024

After months of deadlock, there are new signs that Israel and Hamas could be moving closer to a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal. Also: repairs are to be carried out on Venice's "slippery" glass bridge.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Are we not fighting for us? Just for the people back home? Purple Heart Warriors. Listen now by searching for dramas 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 18th December these are our main stories.

The US State Department says it's cautiously optimistic that a deal to end the fighting in Gaza is within reach. Russian politicians have vowed revenge for the assassination of a Russian general on the streets of Moscow. Ukraine said it carried out the attack. Also in this podcast... The constitutional bridge, one of only four bridges spanning the Grand Canal. 25,000 people cross it every day. The Italian city of Venice is to replace the glass steps on its famous slippery bridge

after 14 years of almost daily falls. The US State Department says it's cautiously optimistic that a deal to end the fighting in Gaza and secure the release of Israeli hostages is within reach. Its spokesman is Matthew Miller. Based on the remaining issues, we should be able to get to an agreement. We should be able to bridge the disagreements between the two parties. But that is not to say that we will. Because again, there have been times before where we were close

and we thought the differences were bridgeable and ultimately we didn't get a deal. As you've heard me say before, all the United States can do is push and try to come up with compromises but we cannot dictate to either side what choice they have to make. They have to make those decisions for themselves. All previous attempts have collapsed. A Hamas spokesman said the talks were positive and serious and a deal was possible if Israel stopped setting new conditions. A three-stage proposal is on the table. From Jerusalem, our Middle East correspondent Yolande Nel reports. Keeping up the pressure on Israel's government, former hostages and relatives of some of the remaining 100 people

being held in Gaza demonstrated in Tel Aviv again today. Diplomatic efforts have been gathering pace to end the 14-month-long war. A senior Palestinian official told the BBC that a three-phase plan was being discussed, starting with a 45-day truce during which civilians and female soldiers held captive would be released, Israeli forces would partially withdraw and displaced Gazans would be able to return to the north of the territory. Regional mediators and the US must still work out crucial details and overcome deep mistrust between the two sides.

Today Israel's defence minister Israel Katz has commented that after a ceasefire, Israel's military would retain security control over Gaza, with complete freedom of action. In a later statement, Hamas said reaching an agreement was possible if Israel stopped setting new conditions. Yoland Nel. So what's been the reaction on the ground to the news regarding possible ceasefire developments

in Gaza? The BBC has received audio messages from both Gaza and Israel. First, Ilon Kishet from Tel Aviv, who has a cousin that is a hostage in Gaza. These latest news, they are making me somewhat hopeful but because of the troubled history around this subject I can't be too hopeful because these things always fall apart and I think it's a just goes to show that everyone involved must do the best so it won't fall apart right now and it will be the last time that we have to guess if it's really true or not I'm just praying that it's true.

Khaled was injured in a missile attack last month. He got in touch from Jabalia in the north of the Gaza Strip. If this is fire, Turks happening, everything will stay the same because there is no shelters or houses. Everything had been destruction here. The people can't survive. There is no food. Everyone lost his sons, father, mother, family. So the destruction life will stay here. Everyone in Gaza, wait the ceasefire talk and be achieving everything. They are bombing when I speak. Khaled contacted the BBC afterwards to say he was OK.

Previous ceasefire talks have collapsed, so why is there more optimism about this set of talks? I spoke to our Gaza correspondent Rushdie Abu Alouf, who's currently in Istanbul. While the hope is bigger, it's simply because they said back in July 2nd when the talks collapsed, by then Israel didn't believe that they achieved most of the goals of the war, including destroying Hamas. Well, they didn't destroy Hamas completely, but they made a great damage to their military capability and they killed the two most senior people, the masterminds of the 7th of October attack, Mohammad Daif and Yahya Al-Sinwa and the overall leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniya. Five months ago when the talks collapsed, Hamas was insisting in having the agreement saying that Israel will completely withdraw its forces from Gaza.

The new proposal isn't include this. Israel will not withdraw all of its forces from Gaza. They will have security control over the Philadelphia corridor between Gaza and Egypt, and forces will remain in Salah al-Din Road, the main road in Gaza. They will partially open the coastal road to allow hundreds of thousands of displaced people to go back to the north, but under Israeli monitoring. These two things I think is very significant, very important. Hamas didn't agree on them back in July. They are willing to agree this time as I heard from Sir, Hamas official yesterday, that they are ready to accept this in the first stage.

Our Gaza correspondent Rushdie Abou-Aloof. The UN's special envoy to Syria has warned that unless the country gets urgent support, it could be plunged back into conflict. Gare Payderson told the UN Security Council that the war there has not ended despite the departure of former president Assad. Mr. Paydushan highlighted recent clashes between Turkish-backed groups and Kurdish forces in the northeast where a US-brokered ceasefire has been extended until the end of the week. Meanwhile the Israeli government has approved a plan to expand settlements in the occupied Golan Heights.

The Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this was necessary because of what he called the new front that had opened up in Syria. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967. An armistice was signed between the two countries in 1974 and a buffer zone was established. But following the fall of President Assad last week, Israeli troops entered the buffer zone and, it was claimed, some crossed into Syrian controlled territory, although Israel has denied this. Now correspondent Lucy Williamson reports from the Syrian village of Hadda where she witnessed firsthand the incursion by Israeli troops. An hour from Damascus, on a Syrian country road, we met Israel's army, military vehicles and troops in full combat gear

on the only route into Hadar village. They make the area safe and then go away to the border. We want to hope but in the future we will wait and see. Riyad Zaidan lives in Hadda, one of several thousand residents from Syria's minority Druze community, watching Israeli military vehicles move around their village and armoured bulldozers working on a hillside above. You know here the problem is nobody can do anything. Just we look for the peace future with our people in Syria,

with our neighbours, with everybody in Syria. But now we cannot say anything. That's the problem here. Earlier this week, Israel said it was seizing control of Syrian territory in a demilitarised zone established in a ceasefire agreement 50 years ago. Hada sits right on the edge of this buffer zone, parts of the village, even jut inside it. Hada's village head, Jaulat al-Tawil, pointed out the Golan Heights beyond it, Syrian territory that Israel occupied in 1967 and later unilaterally annexed.

Many residents in Hadar have Syrian relatives still living there. On Sunday, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans to double the population of Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights, saying it was a response to what he called the new front in Syria. Some here worry that Israel wants to annex more Syrian land. Israel says its actions in Syria are motivated by the threat from jihadist groups, and its incursions would be limited and temporary. There are now Israeli bulldozers working on the hill behind me,

and we've also seen Israeli forces at the entrance to the village. The Iran-backed groups that Israel was fighting here have been weakened by the fall of Assad. Israel is taking advantage of this moment to extend its reach here and deal with new potential threats. A week after President Assad's regime fell, the sense of freedom is tinged with fatalism in Hada. Israel is a state. We can't stand up to it. We used to stand up to individuals, but Israel

is a superpower. Village head Jaoulat al-Tawil says dozens of men died defending the village from militia during Syria's war. His own son was killed by fighters from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Islamist militia that now runs Syria after sweeping President Bashar al-Assad from power. How does Mr. Al-Tawil feel about HTS being in charge now? The situation has changed. At first they were gangs. Now they are the state and need to The situation has changed. At first they were gangs. Now they are the state and need to rule with justice, provide safety and ensure people's rights. I hope they have changed. Syria's new Islamist leader Ahmad al-Sharah has warned that Israel's actions risk unnecessary escalation, saying his

country's interim government is not looking for conflict. Syria's long-awaited freedom already overshadowed by talk of war. Lucy Williamson reporting. The American TV channel CNN has said a man it filmed being released by rebels from a Syrian prison who claimed to be a civilian was in fact a former intelligence officer with the deposed regime. The man was featured in a widely shared report which showed him being freed from a locked cell. CNN said local residents had now identified him as a lieutenant in President Assad's Air Force Intelligence Directorate. Our media editor Katie Razzle has more.

OK, you're OK. You're OK. CNN's chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward comforts a man she has discovered lying under a blanket, locked in a Damascus prison cell. I'm an ordinary Syrian imprisoned by President Assad, he tells her. As prisoners lucky enough to have survived the brutal regime emerged into a new Syria, this story appeared to sum up the emotions of their nation. The video went viral.

But questions quickly followed. Why did the man look so well fed? Was he really who he said he was? A Syrian fact-checking group has claimed the man was an intelligence officer from Homs called Salama Mohammed Salama. Instead of being a victim of Assad, he is thought to be one of his henchmen. With its journalism called into question, CNN said it was continuing to pursue information. The renowned US network has since updated its story online to make

clear that the man it portrayed as a prisoner of Assad has been identified by Homs residents as an officer from the deposed regime. They accuse Salama of extortion and running checkpoints. CNN has not apologised for misleading its audiences. Katie Razzle. Ukraine's security services have said they were behind a bomb attack in Moscow which killed a Russian general. The head of the Army's Chemical Weapons Division, Igor Kirillov, is the most senior military figure to be assassinated on Russian soil since the conflict with Ukraine began. Ukrainian security officials said he'd directed the use of banned chemical weapons on the front line and called him a war criminal. The Kremlin described

the bombing as terrorism. Our Russia editor Steve Rosenberg sent this report from Moscow. It was the day Russia's capital was reminded of Russia's war in Ukraine. The investigations committee confirmed there'd been a high-profile assassination outside an apartment building. A bomb hidden on a scooter had exploded, killing Lieutenant General Igor Kirilov, head of Russia's nuclear, biological and chemical protection troops, and his assistant Ilya Polykarpov. Only yesterday Ukraine had reportedly charged the general in absentia for allegedly using chemical weapons on the battlefield.

Russian state TV blamed the blast on Ukraine. With the attack, it said, President Zelensky had signed his own death sentence. The former Kremlin leader Dmitry Medvedev called for the killers to be tracked down in Russia. We must do everything, he said, to destroy the patrons who are in Kiev. Near the crime scene, local residents spoke of their shock. Liza told me, when this kind of thing happens, not just in your hometown or in your own neighborhood, but in the building opposite, that's scary. Even after nearly three years of war, for many Muscovites, Russia's war in Ukraine is

very distant. It's something they see only on TV or on their phones. But the killing of a Russian general here, that is a wake-up call, that this war is very real and very close to home. Steve Rosenberg in Moscow. The UK imposed sanctions on General Kirillov in October. He was accused by Ukraine and its allies of coordinating the widespread and regular use of banned chemical weapons. Our security correspondent Frank Gardner reports. The accusations against General Korilov are multiple and serious. As well as spreading

disinformation, he was accused by Ukraine and its western allies of ordering the mass use of a particularly unpleasant toxic chemical agent against Ukrainian troops in the Donbass. Chloropichrine is a rock control gas that causes intense irritation and pain in the eyes and lungs, forcing troops out of their trenches into the open where they can then be picked off by drones and artillery fire. Its use in warfare is banned under Schedule 3

of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which Russia has signed. But Ukraine says it has evidence that Russian troops have used it on nearly 5,000 occasions. As the commander of Russia's radiological, chemical and biological forces, General Karelov was already sanctioned by Britain for his alleged role in ordering the use of banned chemical weapons in Ukraine. Russia denies it has used them. Russia denies it has used them. Frank Gardner. In a separate development, Ukraine's security service says it has uncovered 12 agents spying for Russia

who were working to find out where Western-supplied F-16 fighter jets were being hidden. Security officials said they were also suspected of sharing information about the location of air defence systems in the south and north-east of Ukraine. The statement said some of those arrested were deserters from Ukraine's armed forces. Still to come... I think most people's Christmas list now are just skincare and make-up and all these products, but a few years ago it was probably like, oh, I want this toy and this toy, so I think it's definitely taken over.

There's concern that young people are asking for anti-aging skincare products intended for much older consumers. World of Secrets is where untold stories are exposed, and in this new series we investigate the dark side of the wellness industry, following the story of a woman who joined a yoga school, only to uncover a world she never expected. I feel that I have no other choice. The only thing I can do is to speak about this. Where the hope of spiritual breakthroughs leaves people vulnerable to exploitation. You just get sucked in so gradually and it's done so skillfully that you don't realise.

World of Secrets, the bad guru. Listen wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Denmark has freed an anti-wailing activist who'd been detained in Greenland for five months after rejecting a Japanese request for his extradition. Tokyo had accused Paul Watson, a US Canadian citizen, of damaging a Japanese whaling ship in the Antarctic in 2010 and injuring one of its crew. Mr Watson's lawyers had accused Japan of trying to silence him and argued that he would not be given a fair trial. Sean Lay asked him how it felt to be released. Well, I'm certainly relieved because I haven't seen my family since June and that means I'll be able to be with my two young boys for Christmas.

How have you been treated? Very well. I mean, the prison's a very decent prison. The prisoners are all friendly, the prison guards are all friendly, people at Greenland are very friendly, so it wasn't that bad. The only concern I had was the fact that I hadn't seen my children since June and I was only allowed 10 minutes a week to speak with them. What about though this question of this international kind of red notice that exists against your name? What are you going to try and do about that? Well in the new year we're going to go to

Lyon to Interpol's headquarters to confront them because my case has been under investigation by a European committee looking into political abuse by Interpol. That's been there since 2017. So we want to really get to the bottom of this. You know the Interpol red notice is this for major crimes, serial killer and war criminals, you know, major drug dealers. Nobody gets put on that list for trespassing. It's absurd. That just indicates just how powerful their Japanese influence is.

Japan's warrant did accuse you at least of actions that led to one of its whalers being injured. And I suppose you might argue that personal injury would be justify international action. Well the evidence and we documented everything the evidence clearly shows that the Japanese pepper sprayed themselves you could see it going back into their faces and them rubbing their faces after and We never used any chemicals at all that would cause that kind of a thing and I wasn't even there at the time that this happened So I'm being accused of something where I wasn't part of the planning or even in the participation. Are you planning further action?

Well, we will continue our opposition to illegal whaling by Japan, Norway and Iceland. You have a couple of boats out at the moment, I think. You've told the BBC that's already. Yes, we have one ship in Bermuda, which is waiting for to go after Icelandic whalers in June of next year. And we have one vessel in Australia in the event Japan returns to the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. Is it

worth it because you know some might say you're very well-meaning and sincere in what you're doing but you're kind of like a gnat on a buffalo you're an irritant but you don't stop it getting to the watering hole? Our concern is to uphold international conservation law I mean what's the point of having laws rules regulations and treaties if everybody ignores them? And Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean was condemned by the International Whaling Commission and by the International Court of Justice in The Hague. It's up to governments to enforce that but no governments are willing to do it. There's a lack of political and economic motivation to do so. So we fill

that void. Paul Watson, anti-whaling campaigner and founder of the Captain Paul Watson Foundation. A woman from the Philippines who spent nearly 15 years on death row in Indonesia has headed home. Meryl Jane Veloso was convicted of taking 2.5kg of heroin in a suitcase from Malaysia to the island archipelago in 2010 but she's always claimed that she was duped into carrying the drugs. Asia Pacific editor Mickey Bristo told me more about the case. Well this is a mother of two Mary Jane Veloso who was a domestic helper she spent some time abroad in Dubai came back to the Philippines in 2010 and was promised a job in Malaysia. Traveled to Malaysia, the job didn't materialise, but the person who had recruited her said,

could you take a suitcase to Indonesia? She did do that. Unwittingly she says inside the suitcase was 2.6 kilograms of heroin. She was caught at the airport, put on trial and sentenced to death and she's been on death row now for nearly 15 years and there've been some quite close calls. In 2015 for example she was scheduled to be executed by firing squad with eight others. The Philippine government made a last desperate attempt to save her life. She wasn't executed but that

last minute we've briefed came so late that in the Philippines they didn't even know until afterwards when they found out there'd been eight people executed not nine that their appeal had been successful so has been a real desperately long campaign to have this woman freed because many in the Philippines thought she'd been duped. So she's going to get quite a reception in the Philippines when she gets back? She is going to get quite a reception. There's a lot of sympathy for her in this case, particularly a trial itself. It was conducted in Indonesian, translated into

English, two languages that she knew nothing of really. She didn't really speak English. Her language is Tagalog, a nothing of really. She didn't really speak English. Her language is Tagalog, a Philippine language. It wasn't until a few days after her sentence she actually realized she'd been sentenced to death. A priest had to tell her she hadn't understand the sentence when it was delivered in court. Also because of her situation, lots of Philippine women go abroad as domestic workers. They work hard. Not always are they treated well. They leave their families back home. So that generated a lot of sympathy as well. So there's been an awful lot of sympathy with this case and

there'll be an awful lot of people at the airport glad to see her back. Mickey Bristow. For many years anti-aging skincare was something only grown-ups had any interest in. Now very young children are asking for products once intended for much older consumers but that creates dangers as some of the creams contain potentially harmful ingredients. As a result, the largest pharmacy chain in Sweden, Apotec Jartat, is restricting the sale of some skincare products, raising the question should other countries follow suit? Hannah Malane investigates she first spoke to a young British girl who has an interest in such skincare products. Tilly tells me she's hoping to receive even more products as present. She's 11 years old

and lives in Manchester in the northwest of England. I think most people's Christmas list now are just skincare and makeup and all these like products but a few years ago it was probably like oh I want this toy and this toy so I think it's definitely taken over. Tilly has over the last few years become more and more interested in skincare and the data confirms that it's a growing trend. In the US, households with 6-12 year olds spent nearly a third more on skincare in 2023 than the previous year. That's according to consumer research giant Nielsen. Some of these products, which are usually aimed at adults, can have serious consequences if used in the

wrong way. For this category of patients, they are specifically, I would say, more girls than boys. Carol Cheng is the Pediatric Dermatology Fellowship Director at the University of California in Los Angeles. So a lot of these products contain active ingredients, glycolic acid, lactic acid. They contain retinols. These are often harsh on the skin. They can strip away oils, remove the top layers of the skin. I have skin patients that have had first degree chemical burns from these products.

This can cause long-term hypopigmentation, so lighter or darker discoloration. So what can be done to prevent children from using the wrong products for their skin? My name is Monika Magnusson and I am the CEO of Apotek Gjärtat. Gjärtat is the leading pharmacy chain in Sweden. So we have just about 400 pharmacies. Monika's pharmacy hit the headlines earlier this year when it announced it was going to put age restrictions on some of its skincare products. The plan was that children who were under 15 would not be allowed to buy skincare products meant for adults. And instead a pharmacist would be able to direct them towards products that were more suited to their skin. We consult with them, ask them about their skin condition and try to give relevant advice

on that rather than saying, don't come to us. The age restriction could be one solution in a controlled environment like a pharmacy. But it's much more difficult when buying online or in big stores. But how responsible is the beauty industry? Hello? Hi, is that Millie? Millie Kendall is the CEO of the British Beauty Council, a not-for-profit organisation that represents the beauty industry in the UK.

As parents, first of all, we have a responsibility to know what the kids are looking at. That's obviously quite important. I think I sort of draw the line a little bit with putting disclaimers on products or ages on products because I think that like any young kid, the attraction is that it's for someone slightly older. What I'm hearing when I speak to parents and children, parents are finding it difficult to navigate and sometimes it's not that easy to tell exactly whether that product is suitable for their child and perhaps if there was an age restriction it would be easier to navigate. It is informative for parents and I do think that's clever and I think that that is definitely

something that we could look at. It's a perfect storm isn't it? The parents need to be aware of what's in these products, the kids need to be watching content creators that are a little bit more informative, the retailers need to be a bit more responsible. Everyone needs to be responsible at the same time. With social media now such a big part of so many young people's lives, it seems that the pressure for perfect skin is going to be hard to resist. That report by Hannah Malane. The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has filed criminal complaints against

subsidiaries of the tech firm Apple, accusing them of trading in-conflict minerals. Some mines in eastern Congo are run by armed groups accused of committing massacres of civilians. Lawyers have gone to court in France and Belgium, arguing that Apple is complicit in these crimes. The details from Will Ross. Eastern Congo is a major source of minerals and the global thirst for them has fuelled wars there for decades. There have been attempts to set up monitoring systems to ensure conflict minerals don't get into supply chains, but rights groups say this has not worked. They

say large quantities of minerals from legitimate mines as well as from facilities run by armed groups are transported into neighbouring Rwanda and end up in our phones and computers. Kigali has in the past described the Congolese government's legal action against Apple as a media stunt and it's denied selling any conflict minerals to the tech company. Will Ross. Apple says it audits suppliers. Next to Italy. Now what would Venice be like without its bridges? A network of them cross the city's many islands, but one bridge has remained a point of controversy for locals and tourists alike. It is of course the Constitution Bridge, a modern addition to the Grand Canal,

which has become notorious for its slippery glass steps, leading to numerous injuries and costly lawsuits. Now, Venice City Council has decided to replace its slippery glass steps with a safer alternative. Ella Bignol reports. Getting off the train at Venice's Santa Lucia station, one of the first things you'll encounter is the Ponte della Costituzione, or the constitutional bridge. As one of only four bridges spanning the Grand Canal, 25,000 people cross it every day. With its glass and marble design, it was intended to blend modernity with Venice's historical

architecture. However however locals struggled to embrace it from the very beginning. The bridge opened in 2008, five years behind schedule, and ended up doubling its budget, an eye-watering $12 million. Beyond its high cost, the bridge became notorious for its slippery, glass steps, particularly in wet and icy conditions. More than 100 people have sued the city for the injuries it's caused, from cuts and scrapes to broken bones. For the city councils, the costs kept on climbing. After criticism over poor disability access, they spent $2 million installing a wheelchair

lift. But the project was later abandoned when it overheated in hot weather and regularly broke down, often leaving tourists trapped inside. In 2019, the city took legal action against the bridge's main architect, Santiago Calatrava, fining him $80,000 for gross negligence. Other projects by the Spanish designer have also been criticised for prioritising aesthetic design over functionality and durability. That includes the Opera House and aquarium in its home city of Valencia. Back in Venice, the City Council plan to end their controversy once and for all, replacing

284 glass steps with a stone alternative. Unfortunately, for those braving Venice's icy winter temperatures, wear good footwear and use the handrail as the renovations won't be ready until later this spring. Heller Bicknell. 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. The producer was Liam McShaffrey. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Alex Ritz and until next time, goodbye. Following the story of a woman who joined a yoga school only to uncover a world she never expected I feel that I have no other choice The only thing I can do is to speak about this where the hope of spiritual breakthroughs leaves people vulnerable to exploitation You just get sucked in so gradually and it's done so

Skillfully that you don't realize and it's done so skillfully that you don't realize. World of Secrets, The Bad Guru. Listen wherever you get your BBC podcasts.