Global News Podcast - Venezuela earthquakes: nearly 600 people now confirmed dead

Episode Date: June 26, 2026

The Venezuelan government says a search and rescue operation is ongoing to find thousands of people still missing after two huge earthquakes on Wednesday. Venezuela's interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, says nearly 600 people are now known to have died. The United Nations says more than a thousand international search and rescue workers have been deployed. Also: a spy scandal in Ukraine as a top agent is jailed for passing secrets to Russia; King Charles reveals his 17 million dollar tax bill; Paris restricts alcohol due to a severe heatwave; more than a million people are asked to evacuate their homes in Japan ahead of a tropical storm; and we bring you the latest from the FIFA World Cup. The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: [e-mail] Photo: People react in the aftermath of earthquakes in La Guaira, Venezuela, June 25, 2026 Credit: REUTERS/Maxwell Briceno

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He's widely recognised as one of the greatest footballers in history. He's won the prestigious Ballandour Award, He's the all-time leading goal scorer in professional football. And according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he's the first active footballer in history to achieve billionaire status. Guess who we're talking about yet? That's right. Good Bad Billionaire is exploring the life and fortune of football icon Cristiano Ronaldo.

That's Good Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service. Listen now, wherever you get your BBC podcasts. This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritson, and at 15 hours GMT on Friday the 26th of June, these are our main stories. Nearly 600 people are known to have died in two huge earthquakes which struck Venezuela on Wednesday. Life in prison for a former high-ranking security official in Ukraine for passing secrets to Russia. And Japan is bracing itself for two tropical storms approaching. Also in this podcast, Egypt.

and Iran are annoyed that their World Cup match in Seattle coincides with the city's gay pride march, but the organizers call for tolerance. We're excited to have you in Seattle. You are welcome in Seattle. While you're here, learn about who we are. Learn about our culture. Homosexuality is treated as a crime in both countries. International rescue teams are arriving in Venezuela to help find survivors trapped under rubble of collapsed buildings after two powerful earthquakes. The president, Dulcei Rodriguez, says nearly 600 people are now known to have died.

Many more people are feared dead, with others left homeless or too afraid to stay in damaged, unsafe buildings sleeping in the streets after the disaster. The earthquakes struck on Wednesday evening a national holiday in Venezuela, which meant more people would have been at home than on a normal weekday. The coastal region of La Guarria, near the capital Caracas, was the worst here. and local rescuers there have been hard at work. They pulled this woman, Graciel Amora, out alive from under the rubble. When the earthquake started, I clung as tightly as I could to the doorframe,

so tightly that I broke my finger. I held on tight, really tight to the doorframe until all the floors collapsed. Andres Ortiz is a gastroenterologist in Caracas. He talked to the BBC from one of the main hospital. in the city where he's volunteering today. Yesterday, the government, they issued some information, and they're saying that they had to close down eight hospitals near Caracas and La Guaida. And they're moving all those patients from those eight hospitals

towards the other hospitals in Caracas. So that's overflowing the capacity of all the hospitals in Caracas. On my way to this hospital, I did see a lot of. lot of people sleeping on the streets and a lot of people sleeping in tents near the hospital. And like in parks and green areas around the city, you can see a lot of people sleeping in tents and not only tents but provisional tents that the government has set up, I guess. The acting president, Dulcea Rodriguez, said dozens of people had been rescued alive in Laguaria. But opposition leaders have criticized the government for not doing enough.

Freddie Guvara is a former member of the Venezuelan National Assembly who was imprisoned under President Nicholas Maduro and is now part of the opposition in exile. The official numbers doesn't make sense at all. We have open crowdsourcing platforms that says that we have around 30,000 people missing. We don't know about the deaths. And it's absolutely horrible.

We have entire areas of cities that are on the robes, you would think that you're looking at Ukraine or Gaza, but not, it's cities of Venezuela that are devastated. And the situation gets worse because it's not just the natural disaster, the earthquake, that can happen to everyone. But it's a country that has the first reserves on oil in the world. What you're seeing now, people having to work with their bare hands because, you know, firefighters and first responders, no one has tools. There's nothing. That's why everyone is having to send help because. You know, the situation is so dire and so desperate that people are dying not because of the earthquake,

but because there was no capacity to respond. For more on the situation, I talk to our America's online editor, Vanessa Bouchluter. The good news is that some of the international teams have arrived in the worst affected areas, so a team from the Mexican military, a Swiss rescue team and one from El Salvador, all who've got very good expertise in the worst-effective. trying to salvage people from these situations. They've got drones. They've got highly trained dogs. A civilian team from Mexico known as the Moles Los Topos is also on its way there. They are well known for having the best search dogs and they have saved many lives in the past.

How are hospitals coping? Not very well. As Fredi Guevara was saying there in that interview, the hospitals in Venezuela have for many years suffered from underfunding. Last year, the Venezuelan government only spent 3.5% of its GDP on health, compared that to an average of 10% in most countries worldwide. So you can imagine that they don't have enough medication. In fact, many times when there's a scheduled surgery, people have to bring their own medication with them. So they have to source it, often from relatives who may be living abroad and send it to them.

There's a lack of operating theatres as well. Only 40% of the operating theatres in public hospitals are functioning. Yeah, because as you allude, I mean, this is a country that is already on its knees. That's right. And of course, under the government of Nicolaas Maduro, a lot of money was spent on the military. He wanted to buy the loyalty of the military so that there wouldn't be any discontent amongst their ranks. And he didn't spend that money on equipping the police. or the rescue services, and that's very noticeable now.

Of course, in times gone by, US AID would have been a big part of a rescue operation of this sort. What is the American involvement now? The American involvement will be military, and in fact a major general has already arrived in the country to coordinate the US response, and several maritime vessels are on their way with badly needed medication. So the response will be swift, the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio said, and Donald Trump also promised help. You will remember that, of course, the US removed Nicolas Maduro in a military raid, and Donald Trump has often referred to the new government as friendly and doing well,

and he is now willing to provide them with help, but in a military format. Vanessa Bouchluter, to Ukraine now and the former head of the Counterintelligence Service has been convicted of treason and sentenced to life in prison. Dmitro Cozura was found guilty of passing top secret military information to the Russians. Our global affairs reporter Paul Moss told me what sort of information Klon Kuzira was passing on. What the Russians mainly wanted to know from him is how much does Ukraine know about what we're up to? I know that sounds a little confusing, but that's the nature of someone who was effectively

a double agent. He was supposed to be snooping on Russia. It turns out he was snooping for Russia. We also know he was telling the Russians about critical infrastructure in Ukraine, the damage their attacks were causing. He also passed on information about the people who were working at the Ukrainian security services. What kind of people were they? Their personalities. Presumably that would be useful for the Russians because there may be other people within the SPU

that they thought they could recruit. Kuzura himself, by the way, was recruited back in 2018. We know that. The Russians recruited him in Vienna, clearly with an eye to the future. And they then kept him as what's called a sleeper. and he was then activated once their invasion began. How was he called? Well, the SBA were calling it an unprecedented operation, long and complicated.

And you can imagine this because, you know, imagine how difficult it was. You've got this man who's working as a senior figure within the SPU with lots of friends and colleagues. They have to investigate him without him finding out. It seems to have focused on a safe house he was using, the communications methods, a phone and an internet router. but it was very important he didn't know he was being investigated for one crucial reason. Once they identified him, the SPU did not immediately arrest him. What they did was rather cleverer. They started feeding him false information, knowing that he would then pass that back to the Russians who would then use this wrong information.

How unusual is this case? Well, it's obviously unusual in the seniority of Coignal-Kazura. I mean, you know, that kind of figure being a spy for the Russians, but in fact the scale of Russian penetration, of Ukraine is pretty remarkable. We know that there have been thousands, maybe 10,000 investigations launched since the invasion. We know that hundreds of people have been successfully prosecuted for spying for Russia. And, you know, maybe we shouldn't be surprised. I mean, first of all, I'm afraid there's no way around it. Ukraine is a country with a high level of corruption. People are bribed to do all sorts of things, and it seems lots of them have been motivated by

money. And we should say Russians are also pretty seasoned at this kind of thing. They were doing it right the way through the Cold War. We know, for instance, they've used the old method of recruiting people by seduction. I mean, there was an extraordinary story in 2024. A 19-year-old woman, the daughter of a priest was effectively charmed by a Russian handler. She was going up into the high windows of his, her father's church, filming Ukrainian troop movements and passing them on. But remember also there will be people in Ukraine, older people, who remember when they were one country, the USSR. For them, this feels a bit like a civil war. They remember when they were one country. They will have friends and allies in the Russia and perhaps those people also

are open to the possibility of spying. Certainly the scale of it has been a major problem for Ukraine. Paul Moss and we have more on this story on our YouTube channel. Search for BBC News on YouTube and you'll find Global News podcast in the podcast section. There's a new story available every weekday. Next to Japan where many flights are being cancelled and more than a million people have been ordered to evacuate their homes as two separate tropical storms approach the country. Both storms are heading side by side over the Pacific Ocean and are expected to make landfall on the east coast. This could result in a rare phenomenon known as the Fujiwara effect when two storms interact, making forecasting their movements and strengths more difficult.

I heard from our correspondent Karumi Mori, who's in Kyoto. It is pouring rain right now. This morning, I just walked along the river, the Camo River, which runs along the city, and it was way higher. The water levels were way higher than they normally are. Luckily, it seems like no injuries at all. So far, people seem to be staying away, staying safe. One million residents across Japan, including about 100,000 here in the Kyoto region alone,

have been ordered to move away from their homes and any dangerous bodies of water as river levels just continues to rise here, increasing that risk of flooding and landslides. Government officials clearly a bit worried. We've been checking with the Ministry of Land and Transport, and they say that the severe weather has impacts all across transportation in the country. Yeah, two storms at once. How unusual is this? Yeah, we don't see this very often.

I mean, Japan is prone to many natural disasters, unfortunately, but this double storm system is really bringing some heavy rain, strong winds and it's already hitting southern and western Japan. Forecasters warn that these two storms could cross and interact over the weekend. So in the coming days, to create that phenomenon, that's Fujiwada effect. And that would really make the path of both of those storms a bit harder to predict. One bright note on this is that a typhoon number eight, what it was called, is now been downgraded. And some forecasters are saying that it looks like it's getting more loose, it's more weak, which means that the impact potentially could be less than they had feared

initially. But another complication I want to add to this next right now is earthquakes. Japan had a really strong earthquake, 7.2 magnitude in Almaty, which is North Japan just yesterday. This afternoon, we had another magnitude 5.8 in Chiba, which borders Tokyo. And we had buildings reportedly were shaking. And so Japan just facing a multitude of natural events in just the past few days. And briefly, presumably, Japan is fairly well prepared to cope with this. By and large, I would say yes, as much as one could hope. Over the years, the government officials have really stepped up efforts when it comes to public awareness and alert systems.

Generally, people have emergency kits like water, food and flashlights at home. Karumi, Mori, in Kyoto. Next week marks the 110th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. It began on the 1st of July, 1916, one of the bloodiest stays in the British Army's history with nearly 20,000 men killed. Even today, more than a century later, human remains are still being found at the site of the battle in northern France. Jordan Dunbar has been speaking with a family who continues to be affected by its legacy. Northern France. Jordan Dunbar has been speaking with a family who continue to be affected by its legacy.

Somebody in our bedroom is trying to kill us by singing Thora. Surviving more than 110 years later, the words of Victor Hember, writing home about some of the lighter moments in the trenches of World War I. His great nephew, Chris Garnsworthy, had something to show me. Wow, look at all these letters. Hundreds in there? Yeah, probably even thousands. boxes upon boxes of Victor's letters

filled the floor of his attic in London, a rare treasure trove of memorabilia from the war. Alongside his brother, David Garnsworthy, Chris found them a few years ago, hidden in their father's loft. Can we take some of these downstairs? Let's go firm. From the darkness of the attic to the sunlight of Chris's kitchen table, we read Victor's words from the yellowing pages of his letters.

Look at this. Last Wednesday, we went to the Sinai. anymore. My habitation at present is in a little house about 600 yards behind the trenches. Victor's letters take a darker turn as the days go on. Men can be such utter fools as to no other way of settling their disputes except by causing such destruction to life

that can never be replaced. The Psalm on the 1st of July 1916, Victor joined soldiers from across Britain and parts of its empire in one of the bloodiest days in British Army history. The violence left a lasting impact on many, including Charles Taylor, who in 1964, recalled how the horrors stayed with him long after the war. I never seen so many dead men clumped together as what I saw there, and I thought to herself,

oh, the world's dead. They're all dead. Nearly 20,000 men died on the 1st of July, including Victor. His body was never found. Every year more remains of British and Commonwealth soldiers are discovered. Under a clear blue sky and surrounded by rolling green fields, the Somme's landscape today is a far cry from the muddy mar it was at the battle, nearly 110 years ago. A huge brick arched towers above the fields now, the Teapfal War Memorial.

Amongst its rows of white headstones, Rosie Barron from the Ministry of Defence joined me to witness the burial of an unknown soldier. There's still a region of 100-odd sets of rains probably found every year. We now commit his earthly remains to this hallowed ground. He was found on the song when some wind turbines were being put in. Elements of a Brody helmet were found with him. And we also, there were some buttons and British boots. So at the very least we know he's Commonwealth.

Probably British, though, based on the artefacts. At least he now has a final resting place amongst his comrades. Chris and David Garnsworthy also came to pay their respects. I think it was important that we paid our respects to that unknown soldier and also all the other soldiers as well as Victor. It just makes me realise that we have to make sure that the future generations give the same respect that we've seen today. That report by Jordan Dunbar.

And you can watch the full documentary. What happened at the Somme on BBC iPlayer? in Britain and on the BBC World Service YouTube channel. Still to come in this podcast, why the authorities in Paris have temporarily banned drinking alcohol in public. It is known from experience that when there are large crowds out in the sun, drinking heavily, the number of hospitalisations goes up. He's widely recognised as one of the greatest footballers in history.

He's won the prestigious Ballandeur Award, five times. He's the all-time leading goal scorer in professional football. And according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he's the first active footballer in history to achieve billionaire status. Guess who we're talking about yet? That's right. Good Bad billionaire is exploring the life and fortune of football icon Cristiano Ronaldo. That's Good Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service. Listen now, wherever you get your BBC podcasts. This is the Global News podcast. Stock markets across Asia tumbled on Friday, pulled lower by the region's biggest technology shares. The biggest route was in South Korea, where the KOSPI, the world's best performing index since the start of last year,

fell 8% at one point. Investors appear split on whether the boom in artificial intelligence spending is all but done or just beginning. I heard more from our business reporter in Singapore, Surinjana, to worry. The Cosby, especially in South Korea, has been really volatile in recent weeks and months. And that's largely because South Korea makes a lot of memory chips that are used in the AI buildup in data centers and that sort of thing. Now, today's falls were very significant, more than 8%. And actually, South Korea's Cosby has a mechanism to curb panic selling when it falls significantly. So that was initiated today because of the state.

steep falls and the index ended up closing about 5.8% lower. The issue is definitely the questions over the AI investment boom, but Apple also increased prices over in the US on some of its iPads and MacBooks because of the soaring cost of computer chips. And that all comes back to the high demand for chips as a result of the AI boom as well. Yeah, as you say, there are concerns about whether artificial intelligence firms are overvalued, but surely no one is seriously suggesting this technology is going to go away. Well, if you look at the investments, that would suggest no. Having said that, it does take time to build out that AI infrastructure

and it takes even more time before AI will start showing those returns on investment, for example, improved productivity, which could ultimately lead to economic growth for countries around the world. So there are still lots of questions and a lot of time. And essentially, all these investors are currently putting in money for something that we won't see the returns of many, many years down the line. And there are fears that this could be the start of the popping of a much bigger bubble. Yeah, there's lots of concerns that the AI boom is actually a bubble, similar to the dot-com bubble in the 1990s. But, you know, I speak to analysts every single day.

and they seem to say that no, this technology is definitely going to produce rewards in the near future. Having said that, there is obviously huge demand. Many chip makers around the world are saying they are unable to meet that demand. The world can't make enough chips to meet that demand. And we're also seeing not just Apple, but also Microsoft increasing prices for its Xbox gaming consoles as a result of those chip shortages and higher costs in general of making the components that go into. these new technologies. Surinjana Tuari in Singapore. The court in Germany has sentenced a man to life in prison for the deadly attack on a Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg in 2024.

He was found guilty of murdering six people, including a child. More details from Bethany Bell. The court imposed the maximum sentence on Talib al-Abdhdhul-Mosson. Prosecutors say he drove through the crowded Christmas market at speed at around seven in the evening when it was packed with revelers. A nine-year-old boy and five women were killed. Prosecutors said Talib al-Ab al-Abdl Mosun, a refugee, planned the attack well in advance and had acted alone. They said his motives were primarily personal. A psychiatric expert said he had a narcissistic personality disorder and an overwhelming need for attention. Talib al-Av al-Bdlmossin told the court he'd been motivated because of conflicts with the German authorities. He said very little about the attack itself.

Bethany Bell. The authorities in the French capital Paris are bringing in restrictions on the sale and public consumption of alcohol this weekend. The measures are designed to ease the pressure on hospitals overwhelmed by patients during a fierce heat wave. Meanwhile, a number of outdoor events, including the annual Pride March, which attracts thousands of people, have been rescheduled. New Schofield reports from Paris. The public consumption of alcohol will be banned on the streets of Paris through till tomorrow morning. And then the ban will come in again at midday on Saturday through to Sunday morning. At the same time, there's a ban on buying alcohol, not in restaurants, but in shops for takeaway and so on.

The reasoning behind all of this is quite clear. The authorities, the prefecture of police, is worried about hospitals being overloaded. and it is known from experience that when there are large crowds out in the sun drinking heavily, or not even heavily, the number of hospitalisations goes up. Alcohol, you may think it's helping, it's not. It's actually dehydrating you. So there are a lot of additional and unnecessary hospitalisations that happen at times like this because people are out on the street drinking alcohol in large quantities.

So it's to stop that, it's to relieve pressure. on the health system and allow hospitals to look after the genuinely needy, the elderly, the vulnerable, the lonely, the people who are the homeless, people who are really suffering in this heat, that this ban has been put in place. So people don't drink so much on the street. And there are a few of these unnecessary, as they would say, hospitalisations. There's a big festival called Solidays, which is a way of a music festival for people living in the suburbs of Paris. That's been cancelled.

around the country. There are events which have been cancelled, all for the same reason, that having so many people out in the streets is dangerous and when a lot of those people might be drinking alcohol is even more dangerous. Hughes Schofield in Paris. A crucial World Cup match between Egypt and Iran in Seattle on Saturday will unfold against the backdrop of the city's annual Pride celebrations after FIFA said fans would be allowed to bring rainbow flags into the stadium, despite objections from both teams' football federations. Homosexuality and any symbols of pride

are criminalized in both countries. Our North America correspondent Shima Khalil reports from Seattle. There is plenty of excitement here at one of Seattle's fan zones. Supporters in different shirts gather in front of a giant screen cheering as yet another team edges closer to the knockout stages at the World Cup. And that is exactly what Egypt and Iran are hoping to do. Both teams face each other. in a crucial match.

It also marks the start of Seattle's Pride Weekend, a celebration of LGBTQ-plus communities that both countries' football federations have objected to on cultural and religious grounds. Homosexuality is illegal in both countries and can result in harsh punishments. FIFA says rainbow flags will still be allowed inside the stadium, but insists this is not a FIFA pride match,

simply another World Cup game taking place in a city marking Pride weekend. Egyptian-American fan Macarius Damien says for him the focus is still on football. I don't see it being the main part of the game. Right now it's about two teams trying to get to the next round. Pride match or no pride match, that's not what matters. Welcome to Seattle. This is how we pride. All humans.

Seattle organizers insist the timing was not designed to provoke. Pride weekend had been planned long before the World Cup draw paired Egypt and Iran in the city. They say the answer to discomfort is curiosity rather than retreat. We're excited to have you in Seattle. You are welcome in Seattle. While you're here, learn about who we are. Learn about our culture. Heda McClendon is a senior official on Seattle's World Cup 26 local organizing committee.

Be curious about our culture. Ask questions. It might not be how you want to live or how things are in your country, but this is something that makes us unique, and we want you to experience it and be curious. On the pitch, there's plenty at stake. The Egyptian squad comes into this match with momentum after beating New Zealand and with a real chance of taking control of Group G.

At the pre-match press conference, Egypt manager, Hosam Hassan, would not engage with questions about the pride-related celebrations, insisting his focus was on football. Iran, meanwhile, arrive in a very different mood. Their tournament already shaped by politics, travel restrictions and complaints about preparation time. Even if they have now been allowed to get to Seattle earlier than before, their head coach Amir Kalinoy, also refused to engage with questions about the pride-related celebrations. We are here to play football, not for other things. We think about football. Our concentration is on the match and on being successful. As for things that are forbidden in our religion and do not exist,

we do not want to talk about them. We only talk about the match, football, and the beauty of the game. So it's got rice, lentils, garbonzo beans, elbow macaroni, garlic tomatoes. Not far from the fan zone, an Egyptian restaurant pop-up is getting ready for the match and for fans craving a taste of home. Owners Amani and Ayman Abamo say the discomfort around the game is real, but they see it less as a confrontation and more as awkwardness rooted in cultural misunderstanding. It's really confusing because first here is the culture, but the...

I mean, you know, it's kind of like acceptable to the people here. Everyone is used to that. Back home, people are not used to that. And it's a cultural thing that they cannot get it. So it's just like this piece of confusion that each party cannot understand the other party. I don't think it's going to have any. People going to the match are going to be at the match. People at Pride Fest are going to be there.

Soccer fans are here. for soccer. They really are into the game. As Egypt and Iran tried to edge closer to the knockout stages, this match here in Seattle is a glimpse into what happens when a World Cup lands in a city celebrating one set of values, while two of the

teams taking part, arrive carrying very different ones of their own. Shai Ma Khalil in Seattle. And that's all from us. For now, if you want to get in touch, you can email us at Global Podcast at BBC.com.

CO. UK. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag Global NewsPod. And don't forget our sister podcast, the global story, which goes in depth and beyond the headlines on one big story. This edition of the Global News podcast was mixed by Kai Perry and the producers were Arienne Kocchi and Oliver Burlowe. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Alex Ritson. Until next time, goodbye. widely recognised as one of the greatest footballers in history. He's won the prestigious Ballandour Award five times. He's the all-time leading goalscorer in professional football. And according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index,

he's the first active footballer in history to achieve billionaire status. Guess who we're talking about yet? That's right. Good Bad Billionaire is exploring the life and fortune of football icon Cristiano Ronaldo. That's Good Bad Billionaire from the BBC World Service. Listen now, wherever you get your BBC podcasts.