Global News Podcast - Venezuela: man found alive days after earthquakes

Episode Date: July 3, 2026

Hernán Gil, a 43-year-old security guard, was found alive under the rubble of a collapsed building more than a week after Venezuela's devastating twin earthquakes. The country's interim President, Delcy Rodriguez, said nearly 2600 people are now known to have been killed. She stressed that rescue efforts are still ongoing. Also: The World Health Organisation says it has begun trials to find a treatment for the current strain of Ebola that is spreading through the Democratic Republic of Congo; a BBC investigation discovers that the tech giant Meta is running paid advertisements on Instagram in India promoting child sexual abuse material; and a dramatic finish sees Portugal beat Croatia to progress to the last 16 of the football 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: Rescue workers attend to Hernán Alberto Gil Flores after he was pulled from the rubble eight days after he was trapped by twin earthquakes that struck Catia La Mar, Venezuela. Credit: Fernando Vergara/AP Photo

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The United States is about to mark its 250th anniversary. And so on the global story, podcast from the BBC, we're telling surprising tales of American influence on the world stage and in ordinary people's lives all across the globe. We have this ability to export our story, and a lot of people have bought it. I feel like the American dream is alive, but not well. From the BBC, it's the United States at 250. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Will Chalk and in the early hours of Friday the 3rd of July, these are our main stories. There are more incredible tales of rescue following the earthquakes in Venezuela, but time is surely nearly up for those who remain trapped under collapsed buildings. We'll get the latest from our correspondent in Caracas. Officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo are fighting to contain the rapid spread of the Ebola outbreak. Also in this podcast. decisions, it's hard to say exactly who's responsible, but you don't get major decisions without

the most senior people in knowing about it. A BBC investigation discovers the tech giant meta is running paid adverts on Instagram in India, promoting child sex abuse material. Rescue efforts are ongoing in Venezuela nine days after the deadly earthquakes that rocked the country. The interim president, Delci Rodriguez, says the number of people known to have died has reached almost 2,600. As rescue workers reach more and more devastated areas, there are stark contrasts in the stories that have emerged. On the one hand, relatives forced to dig with their bare hands,

trying to free their loved ones, but getting there too late. And on the other hand, stories of complex international rescue operations and remarkable survival, like earlier in Katia Lamar, as a man was pulled alive from the ruins of a collapsed seven-story building. Our international correspondent Yagita Lamae was there as the man, Hernan Gill, a 43-year-old security guard, was freed. There it is. I'm watching the moment as this man who's been under the rubble. It's now day nine. It's day nine.

And this man has been pulled out successfully. It's taken a mammoth rescue effort. People are trying to stay quiet here. There's a lot of joy in the air, but they're trying to stay quiet here because this is a man who's been underground, who was in this cramped position for days and days, didn't know whether he was going to survive. And now, wow, he has been pulled out.

So what I can see in front of me is that he's been brought out on a stretcher, and now he is being put into an ambulance. They're doing it very slowly, very carefully. They put him on a saline drip, and there's somebody who's holding that, up next to him. That was the moment of the rescue. As for the rescue itself, Mani Sampang is from the Los Angeles County Fire Department

and is part of the international team that worked for days to reach the man. The place that he was located, he was a parking attendant security guard in a subterranean parking complex, approximately two stories below grade. The structure above him was a residential apartment complex, which had collapsed directly above his location. The debris pile was basically on top of his location and being suspended by the debris itself. So it was a very slow, methodical process in order to remove the debris enough where we can access him without having any further collapse on top of us and on top of him. In all honesty, it is likely a miracle for him to survive in the debris pile that he was in,

as well as to be successfully extricated from it. It was a huge effort by all the international teams that are here in the operational area. It was a great success. Our correspondent Vanessa Silva, who is in Caracas, gave me more details about the rescue. It's really a miracle what we've seen in La Guaida State with this rescue moment.

I was able to speak with the head of the Chilean fire departments, the medical team, Vicenza Bornia, and he will explain me how after five days of the earthquake, they reached this security guard, and they were able to feed them through a channel through a soup. They provided 11 liters of water and isotonic drinks in 72 hours, but that helps that Ernan were able to move by himself through the tunnel to the stretch. at the moment of their rescue. And the doctor says that he is quite sure that he will recuperate very soon of this episode,

at least in the medical conditions. But there is a huge contrast, isn't there? Because we hear about these huge international rescue efforts, but then also, as I said, families digging with their bare hands. So how exactly is the help being distributed? The level of devastations in that area is just... hard to explain, hard to describe the magnitude of what happened there in that town. And no matter the amount of help that arrives is so many buildings,

so many rubble to remove, to find people alive or dead, that there is not enough hands. So at the very beginning, it was just the relatives that survive or arrive into these buildings, finding for their loved ones, the ones who try to remove the robble and help them. And it's still going on because there is not enough machinery. Well, the help is there and everyone is trying to help as much as they can. Vanessa Silva in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, officials are fighting to contain the rapid spread of the Ebola outbreak. There have been more than 1,400 cases and 430 deaths from the current Bundibugio strain of the virus,

which has no approved vaccine or treatment. But now the World Health Organisation says it started clinical trials to find a treatment, in what it says is a major step to tackle the epidemic. The WHO's chief, Ted Ross Adhanem Gabriessus, says two drugs are being tested. The clinical trial of two therapeutics began with the enrollment of the first patient, Despite all this progress, we continue to face significant challenges, including mistrust and violence. Such acts not only endanger patients and health workers, but also impaired efforts to stop transmission and save lives. I heard more from our global affairs reporter and Barrison Ethirajam.

The WHO chief is describing this as a milestone in their attempts to treat this very rare strain, the Bundibuggy strain of this Ebola virus, which has caused havoc in a Democratic Republic of Congo. Now, there is no vaccination or no treatment for this disease at the moment. So that is why the health experts from around the world are trying to find a vaccine. But usually vaccines take years or even several years to get a treatment. But they are fast-tracking this, and that's why they have started this treatment. they got the first patient today.

So this is being done in the Democratic Republic of Congo. So they're using two drugs. One is monoclonal MBP-134 and the antivirus remdesivir. So they are giving them in combination as well as alone and then to see how the patient is being treated. But they're also warning that it may take months or even up to next year. And they may need at least 1,000 patients

to see a pattern, a design, answers they can get. Yeah, because people will remember, weren't they, from the COVID pandemic, that it's not as simple as just finding the vaccines. As you say, these things do take time. More than 400 recorded deaths at the moment. Time is not something that people have necessarily, is it?

The weight is spreading. It is pretty fast. The percentage is about 31. So that's why the World Health Organization is really concerned. And there are also other issues in the Democratic Republic of Congo. There is a conflict going on with various ethnic groups. It all started in the Ituri province and then where most of the deaths occurred.

And then you have north and south Kivu provinces where it has all been affected. And also they are struggling with another issue. Some of the locals, they think this whole thing is a conspiracy and people are trying to make a profit. Western pharmaceutical companies are trying to make a profit. And there were attacks on some of the Ebola centers in Ituri province. and some people are killed. And that's what the WHO chief was highlighting that. On the one hand, we are struggling with this disease

where people are dying. Many people are getting this because it spreads through bodily fluids. On the other hand, we have this regional conflicts. And also the attacks on these centers that pushes all the efforts back because, you know, when the security is at issue, many health workers won't come. And then already people displaced by war.

You need food, shelter for displaced refills. FD's internally displaced people because of this ongoing conflict. So it's all happening at a very complicated situation and that is why they are facing multifaceted challenges. And Barra San Etiraja. Now most Western governments take a hard line on illegal immigration. But the Spanish government bucked that trend by launching an amnesty program in April this year and offering legal residency and workers' rights to undocumented migrants.

The window closed on Monday and on Thursday the government announced. it received nearly 1.2 million applications. Our Spain correspondent Guy Hedgeco has more. Initially, when the government announced this initiative a few months back, it said that it was expecting only around half a million migrants to apply for this legalisation scheme. But there were some estimates by think tanks and other organisations saying that it was likely to be quite a bit higher

just because of the number of undocumented migrants that were believed to be in Spain. And as it turns out, the number is much higher than the government had initially said. The government's told us that nearly 1.2 million migrants have applied for this. And around half of those are currently being processed, so you'd expect those to go through and be approved. The criteria are to have lived in Spain for at least five months leading up to January of this year and to not have a criminal record in Spain or in the migrant's home country. Spain's population is around 50 million,

and the country has seen a large influx of migrants, particularly since the turn of the century, in particular from Latin America, the vast majority of these who are requesting this of legalisation are from Latin America, but not just from Latin America, also from Africa as well, migrants who arrive by sea, for example, to the Canary Islands and small boats and so on. Spain's economy has been growing much faster than most of its European neighbours.

And the data does actually show that a lot of that economic growth can be attributed to the foreign workforce. And the government's saying, we need more foreign workers. And if they are legalized, then they can pay taxes and they can contribute that much more efficiently to the economy. I think Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez quite enjoys this status that he's been creating for himself as this. sort of big kind of left-wing figure of Europe. And I think he sees this immigration issue as a way of mobilising voters on the left and pointing to the political right and labeling them as xenophobic and intolerant and also as not making much economic sense. Guy Hedgeco in Madrid. We are fast approaching the 4th of July and the 250th anniversary of the

American Declaration of Independence from Britain. Ben Rhodes is the former Deputy National Security Advisor and speechwriter for President Barack Obama, and he's just published a book about 15 speeches across the US's 250-year history, which for him offer a revealing portrait of his country. It's called All We Say, the Battle for American Identity. So, given that title, has that battle now been won? Tim Franks put that question to him. I don't think it has.

I think the core jumping off point for the book for me was a feeling that, you know, if you look at the last decade, Barack Obama and Donald Trump both represent in their own ways two stories that have been doing this battle from the beginning. And to shorthand it, one is a more exclusionary form of American nationalism. This is a white Christian nation, the inheritor of a certain sense of supremacy, versus a kind of progressive nationalism that America is dedicated to the principle that all are created equal. And American history is kind of a struggle to close the gap between reality and that aspiration. And that's obviously the tradition of the abolition movement and the suffrage movement. Now, I do think that part of

the reason politics is so intense right now in the United States is that Donald Trump is trying to declare the battle over. So in his mind, and I end with his second inaugural speech, he's essentially saying, hey, the competition's over. I won. But I think if you look at American history, as I have in this book, nothing is ever finished. It's not a permanent creation. It's always temporary. Can I ask you about the format that you're using to sort of examine these ideas of American identity, the idea of America, which are these 15 speeches? They are in their own way, sometimes baleful, sometimes brilliant, great, great speeches.

I just wonder whether it's a sort of dying form. Yeah, I wrote this book aware of the times that we're in. And I think one of the things I really came to appreciate is how much technology and the way people consume information has shaped and changed the way people speak. At the beginning of this book, the age of Benjamin Franklin, the only people who could hear a speech was sitting in the room. And so speeches were written to be reprinted in newspapers in that favored kind of carefully worded arguments. And over the course of the 19th century, in America, a speaker circuit emerged. And speakers became performers. And you've got people like Frederick Douglass, who's in my book, or Anna Dickinson, a really

dynamic woman who was a suffragette. Performance starts to matter. Can you rally up a crowd day after day? Radio comes along in plain-spoken explanation matters, and you get Franklin Roosevelt's kind of conversational style, someone talking to you in your living room. And then television comes along in spectacle matters and charisma. And I have King and Kennedy and these speakers that could captivate an audience visually, as well as with their words.

Well, now we're in the age of the internet and social media. And what that's done is people very rarely listen to a whole argument or make a whole argument. And also, you know, their stridentcy repays. I mean, you encourage engagement. That's exactly right. Most people don't, what they consume is a clip that an algorithm chooses for them to trigger them, to make them really sure of their views or really angry at their opponent. And Trump is kind of the perfect politician for this age.

because he can give an hour-long speech at a rally knowing most people won't watch that, but the Internet will do the work for him. The next day, all of his supporters energized and all of his opponents will be polarized. I do make the case, though, that even if we're not all sitting around listening to 45-minute speeches, a speech is the venue where you figure out your story that you're telling the people. It's how you make people believe you can get to a different future. Because I saw Barack Obama get better as a speaker because he could respond to what the audience. was responding to and refine his arguments and figure out a better way to tell a story.

And so I do think we need to kind of recapture a capacity to speak in the age of the internet and social media. That's Ben Rhodes, former deputy national security advisor and speechwriter for Barack Obama, and author of the new book, All We Say. Still to come in this podcast. I mean, in my brain it's royalty, that's for sure. Yeah, I feel like this is the American royal wedding at this point. Yeah.

Fans descend on New York amid rumors that Taylor Swift and NFL superstar Travis Kelsey are about to tie the knot. The United States is about to mark its 250th anniversary. And so on the Global Story podcast from the BBC, we're telling surprising tales of American influence on the world stage and in ordinary people's lives all across the globe. We have this ability to export our story and a lot of people have bought it. I feel like the American dream is alive but not well. From the BBC, it's the United States at 250. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Global News podcast.

A BBC eye investigation has discovered the tech giant meta is running paid adverts on Instagram in India promoting child sex abuse material. The ads use terms including rape and child video and link to content on other platforms. A warning, this report by Divya Aria, contains descriptions some listeners may find distressing. It began with a video on my Instagram feed,

a clip of an Indian influencer. Her style is flirtatious, even provocative, but it's not pornographic. Watching that video led to more. Instagram's algorithm quickly began serving up similar content, and my feed soon filled with accounts I'd never searched for. Increasingly, sexual and explicit video, featuring scantily clad women. Everyone you know, I'm a good, good officers.

Using a new phone and an alias account, I followed the trail laid out by Instagram's algorithm to see where it would take me. Within days, and in violation of Instagram's own policy, I was shown in advertisement featuring naked men and women having sex. Then it took a darker turn. The ad started promoting material involving exploitation of children. They linked out to apps where users could buy videos of child sex abuse.

One ad showed what appeared to be a seven or eight-year-old girl crying, with text indicating she had been sexually assaulted. I reported it to META. They replied, saying the ad did not violate their guidelines. While META does have safeguards in place to remove and report material showing the sexual exploitation of children, it appears that illegal content can still slip through the net. not just as user posts, but as paid advertising. I worked at Facebook for 11 years in a variety of leadership roles, helping to shape product

and market strategies. Brian Boland is a former vice president at Meta. He helped build the company's ad strategy, but later left Meta and publicly raised concerns about user safety on its platforms. When an advertisement hits is uploaded into the system, it goes through an automated review process. So there's been an increased reliance on technical solutions. And then some they may put into a human review process. And then people have to review and manually approve those ads. And how high do these decisions go about how much the algorithm, how strictly it should be

monitoring or how loosely it should be monitoring? For those decisions, it's hard to say exactly who's responsible, but you don't get major decisions without the most senior people and knowing about it. Meta, which owns Instagram, later told us it doesn't knowingly target ads featuring children to users identified as having an inappropriate interest in such material. But acknowledged, its ad review process may not detect all policy violations. At the Mumbai Tech Week, Meta's innovations are being celebrated. So ladies and gentlemen, welcoming the MD of Meta, Arun Shrinivas. Arun Srinivas is the head of META in India. I took my chance to confront him with our findings and to ask for answers.

Excuse me. Mr. Srinivas, I'm from BBC and we have discovered that Instagram has got pornography and child section of views made videos as ads on its platform, sir. Will you agree for an interview and speak to us about it, sir? Sir, you headed the ads business. Sir, you were the director before you became head of Mata India, sir. Sir, will you please give us an answer, sir? Who is responsible for this? Mr Srinivas disappeared backstage and his security guards prevented me from following him.

In a statement, Meta told us, they fight child exploitation on their platforms, block links to third-party websites hosting this material, remove ads and accounts found to violate their policies and report such content to the authorities. They said they had removed content flagged by the BBC and denied prioritizing records. revenue over user safety.

Vivia, Aria, and that is part of a full BBCI documentary, which you can find on the World Service YouTube page. It's called The Careless Machine, exposing Instagram's darkest secret. All right, update from the Football World Cup next, because the European champions, Spain, are through to the last 16 after beating Austria 3-0 in Los Angeles. There were some Hollywood A-listers in the crowd, Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem, among them. Here's what some of the Spanish fans had to say about the game. It was a great game to see.

So many Spanish flags and Spanish jersees. It was a sensational game. It was just like beauty, you know? Laminia Ma is a phenomenal player. We're in good shape for the rest of the games, right? I mean, it was a fantastic game. I love a win for Spain. That match happened before we had one of the games of the tournament so far in Portugal versus Croatia.

I spoke with our correspondent Isaac Fanon. plenty to unpack with him. He was at the Spain match. So I started by asking him what he made of the Spanish team. Spain were sensational against Austria. They got two goals from Mikhail Ojasabal and one from Pedro Porro. Brilliant, brilliant performance. One of the craziest stats, I think you'll find. Considering the amount of success this Spain team have had, of course, European champions, is that this is their first World Cup knockout win in 16 years since they lifted the World Cup for the first time. It was a brilliant performance by them and they really have set their marker at this competition as one of the teams to beat them in France. They both have had really convincing wins in the round of 32 and

every team that is looking at them will be thinking or those are the two teams to beat. And now we move on to this quite baffling match, Portugal versus Croatia. It finished 2-1 and it had something that we've not had too much of at this tournament so far. An incredibly controversial technology-based decision that absolutely affected the outcome of. the match. It absolutely did. One of the best matches at this tournament so far. So Croatia took the lead 1-0. Cristiano Ronaldo's had so much criticism in his time playing for Portugal at this competition. They got a penalty though. He got the penalty, scored the penalty, so he level things up. Surprisingly, Roberto Martinez took him off. Portugal managed to get a winner via a brilliant

goal from Gonzalo Ramos, 94th minute in. There was 10 minutes, Will, of added time and it looked as though Croatia had equalised with the very last kick of the game and the controversy you're talking about let me describe to you the goal the ball was crossed in and it brushed the hair of one of Croatia's players, Eagle Matanovich and when it fell to Maria Passolich she squared it across to Yoshko Vardial now why do I mention that it touched Eagle Matanovich's hair is because if he had a hair cut before the game then Croatia would have equalized and we'd still be playing because there's new technology in this World Cup. The ball could tell that it had touched Matanovich, which means that when the ball landed

at Mario Pasolich, he was offside. And it so removed one of the great moments in World Cup history, Croatia thinking that they had equalized. And it sets up an incredible round of 16 tie, Spain against Portugal. I have to mention as well after the game, the Portuguese players, paying tribute to Diogo Jota, who died a year ago on Friday. So they pose with his shirt number after the game will. But incredible drama in the World Cup.

Isaac Fanning there in Los Angeles. And if you want more from the World Cup, we've got a podcast called More Than the Score. You can find it wherever you find your BBC podcasts. Right. Something has been happening in New York. There have been road closures, extra police on patrol, and the booking out of the city's massive Madison Square Garden indoor arena for a three-day special event.

And whilst we can't officially say it's got something to do with arguably the most famous singer on the planet and a certain NFL footballer, if you ask any Taylor Swift or Travis Kelsey fan, they'll tell you it's wedding time. The permit for the event states a hundred guests should have been enjoying a pre-party celebration pretty much around the time we've been recording this podcast. Sounds a bit like a rehearsal dinner, doesn't it? And if you need more evidence, loads of Swifty friends, Ed Sheareran and Sabrina Carpenter among them, have already been spotted arriving in the city. Plenty of fans have been showing up by the truckload, too, and they couldn't be happier. We're so excited to be here.

We came all the way from Little Rock, Arkansas, to celebrate Taylor's wedding and congratulate her on her big day. I think it's our version of a royal wedding because she's so popular and her future husband's so popular. You know, everyone's going to be all eyes on them the whole weekend. We're huge Taylor Swift fans, and we're happy that it's happening for them. I mean, in my brain it's royalty, that's for sure. Like, yeah, I feel like this is the American royal wedding at this point.

Yeah. Still, with no official confirmation, it is still a bit of a mystery. So our correspondent, Netatourthic, Brave, the blistering New York heatwave to find out exactly what's happening at Madison Square Garden. I am right in front of what is one of the entrances into Madison Square Garden. And around this area, which is barricaded, I can see 20, 30 fans, I would say. It's hard to tell because there's so much media, too. And they described this as America's royal wedding.

So the excitement is certainly building. And there are hundreds of police officers already patrolling the streets. There's barricades everywhere. We were here as a white tent was being erected, which a source told us was for the thousand guests that are coming in. So all signs point to this happening. Although a New York tabloid did just say that they have a source that reveals they may have already said their idios and that this will be more of a reception party on Friday. It's an odd venue for a wedding, isn't it? I read that there might be a castle being built inside it.

Yeah, exactly. There were photographs of deliveries, one of the worker having Taylor Swift on his polo, a box saying garden party with some trees coming out, what looked like columns of a castle, and many people just started piecing together while the pair got engaged in August of last year and put out professional photos,

and it was very much that garden theme. And so people are saying, it looks like that same kind of romantic, whimsical, garden decor for this. But as you say, people just kind of questioned if this was really the location because Madison Square Garden doesn't really have curb appeal, you know? It's not exactly the romantic location that you would assume for someone with unlimited funds, but it is a secure space. You know, it's basically a box with no way to look into it. And so it looks like she has ultimately landed on this as the best fit. Yeah, she's unique in as much as I think people who listen to her music have been

following her relationship story for two decades now. So speculation for this has just been building and building, hasn't it? Oh, absolutely. You know, you hear Swifties talk about this being her bride era celebrating the fact that she found a real life love story. Fans really connected to her writing about her past relationships and her music and her heartbreaks. And she has been very out and open about how happy she is in this new relationship with Travis Kelsey. He and his own right, a superstar of sport. But if you think about Taylor Swift, she is definitely up there with other cultural icons, and that is what makes this wedding such a big deal. One thing we actually do know for certain is that the couple have donated millions and millions of dollars to charity.

Yeah, that's right. They have donated $26 million in charities, and several of those charities are right here in New York. And we talk about the rumor mill. The rumor going around the BBC is actually that you're not working today and you're just hanging around outside trying to blag an invite. Is that true? You know what? I have to say my chances of an invite are slim to none. I am just trying like everyone else to break this mystery for the BBC. Nedatorific in New York. And that's all from us for now.

If you want to get in touch, you can email us at global podcast at BBC.co.uk. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. This edition of the Global News podcast was mixed by Mark Pickett and produced by Muzaffa Shakir and Wendy Urquhart. The editor is Karen Martin and I'm Will Chalk. Until next time, goodbye. How did the United States build the largest soft power empire in the world with the help of some tiny metal objects?

I'm Tristan Redmond, one of the hosts of the Global Story podcast from the BBC, to mark 250 years of the United States, we speak to Roman Mars of 99% invisible. This soft power, this influence, was an incredible invention. For more, listen to the global story on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.