Global News Podcast - US senators question Robert F Kennedy Jr at heated confirmation hearing

Episode Date: January 30, 2025

President Trump's nominee for health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, has faced tough questioning at his first confirmation hearing in the US Senate. Also: scientists say asteroid Bennu contains building blocks of life.

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. 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 realize.

World of Secrets, the bad guru. Listen wherever you get your BBC podcasts. This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Janet Jaleel and in the early hours of Thursday the 30th of January these are our main stories. US senators have been questioning President Trump's pick to lead the Department of Health Robert F Kennedy Jr. at a heated confirmation hearing. Rwandan-backed M23 rebels are reported to be continuing their advance after capturing most of the key city of Goma in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Israel says it's received a list from Hamas of eight hostages due to be freed from Gaza on Thursday. Also in this podcast scientists say samples collected from an asteroid have given them new clues as to how life began here on planet Earth. It enables us to answer these really really big questions about where life began and who doesn't want to know about how life started. President Trump's controversial choice to be the new US Health Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced hostile questioning from Senate Democrats at his confirmation hearing. One Democrat on the panel, Rob Wyden, accused him of embracing quote conspiracy theories, quacks and charlatans because of his past strident anti-vaccine

statements. Another, Michael Bennett, asked him a series of questions about his views. Did you say that COVID-19 was a genetically engineered bioweapon that targets black and white people, but spared Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people. I didn't say it was deliberately targeted. I just quoted an NIH study that showed that certain races... I'll take that as a yes. I have to move on. Did you say that Lyme disease is highly likely a materially engineered bio weapon?

I probably did say that. Did you say that... That's what the developer of the disease said. I want all of our colleagues to hear it Mr. Kennedy. I want them to hear it. You said yes. Did you say that exposure to pesticides causes children to become transgender? No, I never said that.

Okay, I have the record that I'll give to the chairman and he can make his judgment about what you said. Mr. Kennedy, whose raspy voice is a result of a medical condition, was interrupted by protesters as he tried to convince senators that he was not against vaccines despite his past statements. News reports have claimed that I'm anti-vaccine or anti-industry.

I am neither. I am pro-safety. You're hurting our hearts. Please proceed, Mr. Kennedy. I am pro-safety. I worked for years to raise awareness about the mercury and toxic chemicals in fish, and nobody called me anti- fish. And I believe that

vaccines play a critical role in healthcare. All of my kids are vaccinated. I've written many books on vaccines. My first book in 2014, the first line of it is I am NOT anti-vaccine and the last line is I am NOT any vaccine. Ahead of the hearing his cousin Caroline Kennedy who's the daughter of the assassinated president John F. Kennedy made a rare intervention urging senators to reject him as unfit to serve in such an important role. Our correspondent in Washington Nomi Iqbal is following the hearing. I think there's a lot of skepticism, certainly by Democrat senators, on the way Mr. Kennedy seems to have done a U-turn. It's worth remembering that he has a pretty big following in this country because of his anti-vaccine views. And he says that his news reports have me

down as anti-vaccine. Well, senators were saying to him, look, here's the transcript from podcasts, from shows that you've spoken on, and which you've been anti-vaccine. So they really did bring evidence when they were questioning him. On the other side, you have conservatives who aren't quite sure about him because they're suspicious in terms of his abortion stances. He was pro-abortion before, then he changed his mind on bats. And bear in mind, he did run to be a Democratic presidential candidate but dropped out last year and fully endorsed Donald Trump. This is just one of two hearings he's facing. He'll face another one. And there were protesters who also heckled him because this post is very very important. It's a matter of

life and death and given the past views he's expressed a lot of people are very worried about what he could do if he is confirmed as health secretary. Oh, completely. He could oversee a life and death corner of the federal government. He would be overseeing the health care for millions and millions of Americans.

And in fact, just to quote Senator Bennett, he said, unlike other jobs that are confirming here, this one is about life and death. This is why it's a really, really important hearing. And out of all the picks that Donald Trump has made for his cabinet, this is arguably the most controversial, provocative one due to the fact that Mr. Kennedy is seen as someone who has dabbled in conspiracy theories, someone who has flip-flopped on a lot of issues. The key thing is, are there enough Republicans to go against him? If all the Democrats vote against RFK, it would only take four Republican senators to

sink the nomination. Nomiya Iqbal, the man who's been chosen to be Britain's next ambassador to the United States, has rode back on his previous criticism of Donald Trump. Peter Mandelson, a veteran politician who served under the British Prime Minister's Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, had called Mr Trump a danger to the world and little short of a white nationalist. But now, speaking to Fox News, Peter Mandelson said he had fresh respect for the recently re-elected US President and that he was confident Mr. Trump would not block his appointment.

I consider my remarks about President Trump as ill-judged and wrong and I think that times and attitudes towards the president have changed since then. Our British Affairs correspondent Rob Watson told us more about Peter Maddelson. Quite an abrupt change, isn't it, that you heard from his previous position. So who is he? As you were saying, he's a, I guess you'd describe him as an elder statesman within the governing Labour Party. I suppose some would say he was a bit of a Sven Gali figure, someone who just seems to be incredibly good at the dark arts of politics, someone who's very clever, very charming. And as you said, there's works for both Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and now of course,

Sakir Starmer. And you say he's very charming. It's crucial for the UK to have an ambassador who can win over the US president. But given his past criticism of Mr Trump, why was he chosen for this pivotal role? Yes, I mean not only describing him as a danger to the world, reckless, a bully, but also the fact that Peter Mandelsohn had previously been a member of the European Union Commission, the EU Commission, and we all know how Donald Trump dislikes the EU. So why chosen? I think just because he is regarded by Sarkis Dahmer as an incredibly skillful operator and if anybody can talk

themselves out of the hole he was, he dug himself six years ago by describing the president in that way, then Peter Mandelson is the man. And I guess part of his selling point as well is that unlike a regular diplomat in that role, he'd be able to say look I really do have the ear of the British Prime Minister. And he's chosen one of Mr Trump's favourite TV channels to make these new statements, to go back on what he said in the past, to ensure that he does get this key posting. Yes, absolutely and he seems pretty confident. Mr Madison, just the latest person, politician, to carry out such an abrupt U-turn when it

comes to Donald Trump. He is indeed. I mean, I was thinking about just before him, his boss, David Lammy, Britain's Foreign Secretary, had previously described Donald Trump as a neo-Nazi sympathising sociopath, but he's now funny, friendly and warm with incredible grace, according to David Lammy. And yeah, we've seen this pattern in the UK all over the world and of course in the United States itself, Jeanette, with the sort of titans of tech who've now changed their tune. I suppose the big question for everybody, everybody listening and maybe for Donald Trumpers, you

know, with all these people, whether it's a Peter Mandelson, David Lammy or whoever, were they being sincere then or are they being sincere now? That's the question, isn't it? Rob Watson, next to the Democratic Republic of Congo, there are reports that Rwandan-backed rebels are seizing more territory in the east of the country after capturing most of the key city of Goma. Witnesses say the M23 rebels have advanced south towards the city of Bukavu, despite growing international calls for them to withdraw. The Congolese army, supported by local militia, UN peacekeepers and foreign mercenaries, lost control of Goma on Tuesday.

At least 500,000 people are estimated to have fled their homes in eastern DRC this month as a result of the rebel offensive. James Menendez spoke to the deputy head of the UN Stabilisation Mission in the DRC, Vivienne van der Peer, who's in Goma. He asked her if she could confirm that the M23 rebel group is now in charge there. They control the city, they have roadblocks everywhere, but there are pockets of resistance and fighting and there's many elements still roaming, so I wouldn't call it complete control, but they definitely have established themselves in Goma. And what about the airport? Is that in M23 hands too, do you know? It is my understanding that the airport is in M23 hands right now, but I have not been able to go there, so I have not independently verified that.

But from the troops that we have around the airport, the M23 seems to be controlling the airport. And if that is the case, what are the implications for delivery of humanitarian aid in the days to come. That is a big hindrance indeed. So we need the airport to be reopened as soon as possible by whoever controls it so that we can establish air bridges with the outside world in order to get humanitarian aid that is desperately needed into this region. Well I was going to ask you how bad is the situation? What do people need right now? They need absolutely everything. First of all, they need safety and security. We've had a couple of days of heavy fighting between M23 and the government and its allies. Fortunately, that has largely calmed down now. But the M23, as I

understand it, is trying to establish themselves here as the, if I can call it, de facto authorities. And they would be, since they are in control at the moment, and it's just a reality, they would be responsible for reestablishing safety and security. Secondly, humanitarian needs are tremendous. The population is suffering tremendously. They need food, water, medical care, everything. The electricity has been down, the Wi-Fi has been down. Water is in very short supply. Even our own troops in Manusco, we are running low on supplies

and some bases have run out because many of the population have been coming to seek refuge in our bases. Have you had any direct contact yourself with the rebels? Necessarily. We need to coordinate on certain very urgent issues such as our freedom of movement. We are doing our utmost to play a role in the protection of civilians. So yes, I have coordinated with them on our freedom of movement and we're trying to establish some kind of working relationship right now. They claim that they want the best for the population. So if I take them on their word, then I'm going to use that to make sure that Monusco is allowed to go out and to help the population where it can.

Vivienne van de Peel, the deputy head of MONUSCO, the new end stabilisation mission in the DRC. Israel says it's received a list from Hamas of eight hostages due to be freed from Gaza on Thursday. Five of the eight are Thai nationals who were not part of the original ceasefire agreement. More than 100 Palestinian prisoners, some of them children, will be released from Israeli jails in return. Vera Davis reports from Jerusalem. As the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas continues to hold, the latest hostages due to be released include 29-year-old Arbel Yehud, who was abducted from kibbutz near

Oz on October 7, and Agam Berger, a 20-year-old military observer. They're believed to be the last two female hostages still alive. An 80-year-old man, Gaddi Moses, is also on the list to be handed over as are five unnamed Thai nationals, agricultural workers who were abducted from the kibbutzes where they worked. In exchange for the Israeli hostages, 110 Palestinians are being released from Israeli jails.

Their names have not been made public, but it's thought they include at least 30 women and children. While they will return to their homes in either occupied East Jerusalem or the occupied West Bank, Israeli media reports say that several others, those sentenced to life terms for more serious offences, will be exiled to Egypt or other neighbouring Arab countries. We're a Davis. Also on Thursday, as we record this podcast, Israel is set to outlaw the main UN agency for Palestinian refugees, despite warnings that this could undermine critical

aid deliveries in Gaza. Israeli officials have not spelt out how the new legislation will be enforced there and in the occupied West Bank. The UN Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA, supports some six million Palestinians across the Middle East. Already Israel has ordered it to close its schools and clinics, serving tens of thousands of people in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem. Here's our Middle East correspondent, Yolande Nel. Vast crowds of displaced people in Gaza on the move this week,

returning to the north. Most remain homeless. But even before this war, the majority of Gazans were classed as refugees, cared for by the UN Relief and Works Agency, or UNRWA. Now spokeswoman Julia Thuma says it's under threat. It would be a catastrophe. If this ban comes into place, what it will mean is that it will deepen and further the suffering of the Palestinian people who rely on the agency for their survival, for the

education of their children, for their healthcare. Recently, the Nasir family has been living in an Unruh school turned shelter in central Gaza. As the descendants of Palestinians forced from their land when Israel was created in 1948, they've always had Unruh food aid. Now they fear losing it, and 16-year-old Malak worries she won't be able to go back to school. Everyone in Gaza has a specific dream and a bright future if they learn. If you ask any child what they want to be when they grow up, they'll say a doctor or an engineer.

If education is tough, then there will be no dreams for Gaza's children. Israel has long criticised UNRWA schools, saying they promote the idea of Palestinians returning to their historic homes. But tensions have risen since the 7th October attacks. A UN investigation found that nine UNRWA workers out of some 13,000 employed in Gaza may have joined the deadly assault and fired them. The agency insists it's impartial but Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Sharon Haskell claims it's a security threat. Israel actually gave more than a year to the international community to clean out this organisation from the infiltration

of Hamas, but it didn't. So after a year, this was the only step, the logic step that we could do in making sure that this organisation will not harm Israeli citizens. The new laws prohibit Israeli officials from any contact with UNRWA, but there's uncertainty over exactly how they'll work. Top UN figures worry that they're coming into force just as a fragile ceasefire is taking hold in Gaza and warn they could also have an impact on the long-term chances of peace. That report by Jolande Nel. Samples scooped up by a NASA spacecraft from an asteroid hurtling

through space are revealing more about the origins of life on our planet. The asteroid named Bennu is as wide as nearly eight football pitches. It was found to contain the building blocks of DNA in what scientists have described as an exciting outcome. Their findings were published in the journal Nature. Professor Sarah Russell is one of the authors. We're not saying that there was life on Bennu. I don't see any evidence for that. But what we are saying is that we see this whole array of really complex, useful-for-life organic molecules plus water plus these salts would have provided lots of bio-essential elements.

And we imagine in the early salt system, asteroids like Bennu may have been raining down on the early Earth and would have provided this sort of package of all of these nutrients that the Earth needs to eventually become habitable. Our science editor Rebecca Morell told me more about the sample from Bennu and how it was collected. This was one of what I think is NASA's most audacious missions where it flew a spacecraft to an asteroid called Bennu, this 500-metre sort of pile of rocks and rubble. And this spacecraft basically unfurled a robotic arm, grabbed a bit of asteroid, packed it into a capsule and sent it back to Earth and it landed in the Utah desert in 2023. So about

100 grams was collected, which doesn't sound like very much at all, but every grain is a treasure trove and it's been shared out with scientists around the world who've been studying it very intensely and they've now completed their first analysis of it. And they're very excited by their findings. Yeah, I mean when you look at the asteroid it kind of looks dark and barren with not much going on but actually when you start looking closely it contains so much so they found thousands of organic molecules and these include some really important ones like amino acids which are the molecules that make proteins, it's found nucleobases which are ring shaped molecules that the fundamental components of DNA. They've

also found minerals suggesting that the asteroid had water on it and they found ammonia too which is really important for biochemical reactions. So you start thinking DNA, amino acids, does this mean Bennu had life on it? And the answer is no. I mean that would be an amazing find. But scientists do think that asteroids like Bennu that contain this rich array of minerals and organic molecules, they think asteroids were really important for delivering these sort of ingredients to Earth. And that would have been through asteroid impacts really early on. Like the one that killed the dinosaurs.

Exactly. But way before that. So the solar system was formed about four and a half billion years ago. It was this great big swirling cloud of gas and dust. And around this time after the planets were formed, there were loads of these asteroids basically whizzing about all over the place and lots of them were bombarding the Earth. So there was ample opportunity for these ingredients to be carried to us. In that case, there could be other planets in which the same thing has happened. Yeah that's right. So you know Earth wasn't the only place being bombarded with asteroids. These asteroids were striking planets all over the place. And this offers up a really

interesting question. Is there something really unique about the Earth and this particular set of circumstances which sparked life, you know, when life began, or did life happen, did it begin on other planets, moons of planets perhaps too, and then fizzled out, or is it still there and we just don't know about it? So it's really a very intriguing finding and there's so much research still to do on Bennu, they've only just literally been sort of touching the surface of these grains. There's loads more to understand, but also loads of places to visit, too, to kind of see what's happening there. Rebecca Morell.

Still to come. These are small patches that are developed into heart tissues. Stem cells are very special cells, which can take on the form of any other cells in the human body. We hear about new research on how to patch up failing hearts by using stem cells. 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 realize. World of Secrets, the bad guru. Listen wherever you get your BBC podcasts. The front runner to be Germany's next leader has been accused of breaking the country's long-standing political consensus against cooperating with the far right.

Friedrich Mertz narrowly pushed through a motion in parliament calling for tougher border rules with votes from the Alternative für Deutschland Party. Political rivals said he'd smashed a taboo in the heat of the moment. The AFD said the so-called firewall was an anti-democratic cartel agreement. Here's our Berlin correspondent, Jessica Parker. What has happened is that Friedrich Merz, leading the CDU, running right up to an election, has chosen, even though he says he's sort of done it reluctantly, to push through this call for tougher border rules with votes from Alternativa

for Deutschland. And he's going to table actual legislation on Friday. So there's the possibility that he could lean on those votes again to actually try and push through legislation, although the election is so near. I think many people regard that as highly unlikely that it could go through. But I think number one significant is this crack in the firewall. He's under a huge amount of criticism for it. The AFD, who consider the firewall as completely undemocratic, are celebrating. They feel they have even more momentum now. They're already polling second in the polls. And I think as well, Friedrich Mertz, some people are saying he will have lost trust with possible coalition partners

moving forward because he said he won't go into coalition with the AFD. So then you're looking at the Green Party or the Social Democrats and they are putting big question marks over his name after this move that he has made. Jessica Parker, there was a time when you could fly from New York to London at twice the speed of sound on the elegant and iconic Concorde passenger jet. Now more than 20 years after Concorde's last flight, could a new era of supersonic flights be about to take off? A test plane broke the sound barrier over the Mojave Desert in California this week. Now the company that made it, Boom Supersonic, wants to bring back commercial passenger jets in the next few years. Guy Grattan is an associate

professor of aviation at Cranfield University in southern England. He's been telling James Menendez what he makes of the XB-1 jet. It's very significant because it's actually the first time we've ever had a supersonic flight by a completely privately funded aeroplane and it's certainly the first time we've had anything looking like a civilian airline, a go supersonic. So it could well be a step into into a return to supersonic air travel at least for a few people. It's smaller isn't it than a commercial jet would need to be to carry lots of passengers. So has the technology got a bit of a way to go?

It has the XP one which did its test flight. it's basically a single-seat aeroplane. It's there to learn how to do it. This is leading to an aeroplane that will be about half the size of Concorde, called the Overture, and will be a bit slower than Concorde at about 1.7 compared to Concorde's 2.1. But development programs work like this. You start small, you start with prototypes that let you learn a lot of the key lessons and you work upwards and that's the way Concord was developed and I think they're going about it the right

way. Guy Gretton from Cranfield University. New technology could mean that failing hearts are patched up and kept pumping, using small pieces of heart muscle developed from stem cells. Scientists in Germany are hopeful that their research could give patients with advanced heart failure more of a chance, based on promising tests in monkeys and early results from a small trial on humans. Our health and science correspondent, Philippa Roxby, told us more. These are small patches that are developed into heart tissues. Stem cells are very special cells which can take on the form of any other cells in the human body. So they created these in the lab, little tiny patches of heart muscle and used them on primates that had heart failure.

And that's something that's very common in people. After they've had a heart attack, and used them on primates that had heart failure. And that's something that's very common in people after they've had a heart attack. Their heart doesn't work quite as well as it did and heart failure develops. And so these heart patches can be sewn onto the damaged heart and the researchers found that actually they could help, they could strengthen the heart muscle and help support its pumping and its beating and go some way to repairing it. And these stem cells, do they have to come from the patient with a heart problem or can they just be a supply of stem cells that the scientists can tap into?

Interestingly they're just off-the-shelf stem cells which have already been developed and in the lab because it takes some time to do that. So if you use the patient's own stem cells that would take too long. So they're sort of off the shelf, they've already been developed and engineered into different parts of tissue from the human body. So they take a tiny sample of those and then create them into this pink sort of coloured patch which they then stitch onto the heart. It's still early days in the trial for humans but already it looks quite promising. Yes it is very early days we're only just with this team of German scientists into a small study in people so clearly much larger studies are needed

in more people to find out exactly what these patches can do. At the moment they think they've got the potential to help repair the heart and charities, heart charities today were saying well if all these other steps in the future are positive then the potential could be huge for new treatments for heart failure. At the moment there are very few options, people can have pumps put into their body but those are sometimes costly and complicated and problematic. Heart transplants are hardly ever an option. They're only an option for a tiny number of people. So really there's a real need for a different kind of treatment but it could take some time to arrive for most

people. We're talking years. We're definitely talking years, years and years. Research is never quick in this area because it's painstaking. But this is a promising start to something that could go on for some time. Philippa Roxby. Mongolia has announced the resumption of spring horse racing seven years after it was banned because of concerns about the use of child jockeys.

At least 30 children have been killed over the past two decades in what the UN has called one of the worst forms of child labour. Electra Naismith reports. Horse racing is a national sport in Mongolia going back centuries, but it's different to racing in other countries. The routes are straight and need more speed and endurance. That means light jockeys and the lightest are always young children, some aged just six or seven. The lack of saddles and helmets make it hazardous work but it offers prestige and vital income to

poor families. The government says new rules will protect child jockeys who should now be at least 12. Public opinion is divided but Mongolia's Bar Association says better laws are needed to ensure children's rights. Elect Renee Smith. Hundreds of millions of people across Asia and the world are celebrating the Lunar New Year, bidding farewell to the Year of the Dragon and ushering in the Year of the Snake. These people visited the Lama Temple in the Chinese capital, Beijing. We want to get rid of all the bad things and physical diseases from the last year and embrace the start of the new year.

Generally speaking, the past year was a very busy one for me because I had to take care of both my kid and my work, which is quite different from earlier years. In the year of the snake I wish my kid will grow healthily and my work can remain stable then I can be happy enough. We want to seek good omens on the first day of the new year. In the past year people experienced a lot of things and we hope our lives can get better in the coming days. We are Chinese and we are influenced by thousands of years of history and culture. Our cultures just exist in our blood, both tangible and intangible.

It's New Year's Day and I brought my children here to experience the atmosphere because the New Year atmosphere in society is fading. Here we can still feel the celebration. Children like mine don't have much of an idea of what New Year is like in Beijing but here we can still see some of that. And to everyone who's celebrating, happy new year. 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, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcastatbbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at Global News Pod. This edition was mixed by Tom Bartlett.

The producer was Liam McShephy. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Janet Jaleel. Until next time, goodbye. fastest cars in the world. Oscar Piastri. Your head's trying to get roof one way, your body's trying to go another. Lance Stroll. It's very extreme in the sense on how close you're racing wheel to wheel. We've been given unprecedented access to two of the most famous names in Formula One,

McLaren and Aston Martin. I'm Landon Aris. They build a beautiful bit of machinery that I get to then go and have fun in. They open the doors to their factories as the 2024 season reached its peak. I'm Josh Hartnett. This is F1 Back at Base.

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