Global News Podcast - Venezuela stands up to Donald Trump

Episode Date: November 30, 2025

Venezuela has condemned as a "colonialist threat" President Trump's warning that its airspace should be considered closed. The US does not have the authority to shut another country's airspace and the foreign ministry described his social media post as an illegal and unjustified aggression. Also: the number of people killed as a result of Israel's military offensive in Gaza in the past two years has risen above 70,000 according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the Palestinian territory; rescue operations are continuing in Indonesia after floods and landslides killed more than 300 people in Sumatra; and King Charles leads tributes to the British playwright and Oscar winning screenwriter, Tom Stoppard, who has died at the age of 88.

This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritson, and in the early hours of November the 30th, these are our main stories. Venezuela condemns President Trump's warning that its airspace should be considered closed as an illegal and unjustified aggression. Mr Trump has also targeted Honduras, threatening to cut funding if the right-wing candidate Nasri Asfura doesn't win Sunday's presidential election. The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza says the number of people killed in Israel's military offensive has now passed 70,000. Doctors say the latest to be killed are youngsters.

The two boys who died have been described as an eight-year-old and his elder brother aged 10 or possibly 11. They were killed in what the relatives described as a drone strike by Israeli forces. Also in this podcast, the German TV series, Al-W. Fritzis Spuron wins an Emmy, and we look back on the life of the British playwright Tom Stoppard, who has died. Relations between Venezuela and the Trump administration have been deteriorating for months, with the US stepping up its very public criticism of the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. US forces have also been building up their presence in the Caribbean,

and targeting boats officials say, have been involved in drug smuggling. Mr. Trump has warned that US efforts to halt Venezuelan drug trafficking by land would begin very soon. Now he's infuriated Caracas even further by posting a warning on his truth social platform that the airspace above and around Venezuela

should be considered closed. Luis Fahado from BBC monitoring told me more. The government of Venezuela has protested in very strong terms to what they describe as quote-unquote colonial attitude by the U.S. when the president announced what he calls a closing of the Venezuelan airspace. There are reports in local media, however, from Caracas International Airport, the main airport in the country, suggesting that at least a few planes are still leaving from the airport. So it does not seem to have effectively closed down traffic.

Of course, a lot of very intense concern in Venezuela about the possible effects of these new statements by the U.S. president. So what's the objective of this? I mean, Nicholas Maduro and his military are not going to take this lightly. Well, the government of the U.S. has been very clear, actually, about its displeasure with the Venezuelan government. There is this argument that many commentators are saying that the U.S. hopes that the mere threats of military action against Venezuela would be enough to cause the ranks of the military, which have been remarkably loyal to Maduro until now to kind of suggest that they could actually remove his support and force him to leave or convince him to leave to give up power. There is no evidence up to this point that

that is happening. Of course, this is seen as a weeks-long campaign to exert this kind of pressure against the Venezuelan government and still the expectation to see what will be the actual results. What regular people in Venezuela make of all this? There seem to be mixed feelings. There's certainly at least a part of Venezuelan society, that would seem to actually be accepting of the U.S. interfering more or intervening more in Venezuelan affairs and actually trying to convince or to force Maduro out of office. However, there are also voices saying that this could be seen as an intervention in Venezuelan politics. And certainly, there are those who say that there are people in Venezuela and the Venezuelan government or close to the Venezuelan government

that even if this hypothetical intervention occurred, they would not leave that easily. They're certainly militias in Venezuela. There's even foreign rebel groups like the Colombian ELN and the Fartisian groups that are present in Venezuela. They have been seen as close to the Maduro administration. And few people expect that they would live without some kind of a fight if this hypothetical U.S. intervention really occurred.

Briefly, is there anyone waiting in the wings to take over from Nicolas Maduro? There have been all kinds of speculations about who could be interested in moving into Maduro's position. There have not been really any evidence. One of the striking things about the Maduro administration has been its resiliency over the years. And there is no clear figure that has openly seemed to suggest that he would be willing to take over. Of course, there's lots of speculation about the position of the military. But again, no concrete evidence of anyone appearing directly to try to challenge Maldon. in case he left office.

Luis Fahado. President Trump has also been outspoken in his comments about Honduras, where presidential and congressional elections are taking place on Sunday. In recent days, Mr. Trump has warned that he would withdraw aid to Honduras unless voters elected the Conservative presidential candidate Nasri Asfura. He also plans to pardon the former president Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was jailed in the US on drug and weapons charges. Mr Asfura has close ties with Washington

and with one Orlando Hernandez. Will Grant filed this report from the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa. As the candidates in Honduras wound up their campaigns, local TV news channels have mainly been discussing Donald Trump's social media posts. At least one presenter was so shocked, she even questioned on air whether the content of his posts was real. First, President Trump openly backed the conservative candidate Nasla Yasfuda and then threatened to cut off funds to Honduras if the country didn't elect him.

But most controversially, he said he'd pardon the disgraced ex-president Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was jailed for 45 years by a US court on drug smuggling and weapons charges. I'm in the farmer's market in Tugusigalpa, chatting to some of the stall owners. Many say they're underwhelmed by the names on the bar. ballots, such is their perception of ingrained corruption and cronyism in Honduran politics. People must vote based on the reality and not be blindly loyal to party colours, insists Walnut-Seller Nicole Castillo.

Yet stall owner, Ronald Flores, argues that the president, Seomara Castro and the ruling party Libre in Honduras have been unfairly portrayed in the. media, and overall have improved the lot of the poorest. The Libre candidate is the Ritsi Moncada, who Donald Trump dismissed as a communist and an admirer of Fidel Castro. Speaking to students, Ms. Moncada described herself as implacable in the fight against corruption and promised to tackle the issue, which so many Hondurans identify as one of the country's biggest problems.

Such claims. failed to convince Maribel Esponosa, though. The outspoken congresswoman for the Liberal Party warned the top brass of the armed forces to honour their commitment to uphold the Constitution rather than any individual politician or party. As Espinosa stood as a presidential candidate for the Liberal Party herself,

but was beaten by the current frontrunner, former television host and ex-Vice President Salvador Nasarala. The political parties have the duty to purge themselves. There are criminals in the National Party. There are criminals in the Liberal Party. There are criminals in the Libra and in the other parties. So to break out of the cycle, we must elect people who don't have any links to organized crime. Thank you, President Trump, because today you have corrected a grave injustice.

News of Mr. Trump's promise to pardon Juan Orlando Hernandez filtered into Honduras, and Mr. Hernandez's wife and two daughters gave a hastily arranged press conference to thank the U.S. president. Yet as Hondurans cast their ballots, plenty will be furious at the idea of a pardon for the man they saw as the personification of drug cartel-related corruption and cronyism. Many also harbor fears over irregularities in the vote or the count and over the creeping politicization of the armed forces. Analyst Josue Mourriyo laments the options in front of the Honduran people. We are in an election where we have to choose not between the best candidates, but the least worst. And that is something that really hurts. One voter told me that the thing to remember about Hondurans is that they're fanatical,

about religion, about politics, and about football, he said. After the national football team narrowly failed to qualify for next year's FIFA World Cup, a group of radical fans briefly blocked their players from entering the stadium before a game to urge them to show more commitment, to sweat for the shirt as they chanted. In politics too, most people want more effort from their leaders, greater sacrifice for the national good over personal ambition and corrupt enrichment. Will Grant reporting. The health ministry in Gaza, which is run by Hamas, has said that the number of people killed in the Palestinian territory

since the start of the war in 2023 has passed 70,000. Although a fragile ceasefire with Israel is officially holding, civilians are still being killed. The latest deaths include two boys. I heard more from our correspondent in Jerusalem, James Cook. What we're hearing about this latest incident comes from medics at the Nassar military hospital inside Gaza, who say that the most recent victims of this conflict are two children. Now, Israel prevents the BBC from reporting independently from inside Gaza, so I should say we've been unable to independently verify the details. But the two boys who died have been described as an eight-year-old and his elder brother aged 10 or possibly 11.

The French news agency, Agenz France Press, says it has spoken to relatives of the boys, and it reports those relatives as saying the children had been outlooking for five. firework east of Khan Yunus in the southern Gaza Strip when they were killed in what the relatives described as a drone strike by Israeli forces. What has the Israeli army said about this? So we have a statement from the Israel Defence Forces, and they have told BBC News that they struck two suspects who had crossed the so-called yellow line. Alex says, you know, that's the line behind which Israeli troops agreed to withdraw under the

ceasefire that was brokered by the United States just over seven weeks ago. IDF troops say they identified two suspects who crossed that yellow line. They say the suspects conducted suspicious activities on the ground and approached IDF troops operating in the southern Gaza Strip. They say that the suspects, as they describe them, and they don't mention the age of the suspects, that they posed an immediate threat to the troops. And so they say following the identification,

they eliminated the suspects in order to remove the threat. And I should say that the IDF says it also killed. another person in similar but separate circumstances also in the southern Gaza Strip. So these deaths have taken, we're told the number of people killed in the conflict above 70,000. That is a major milestone. Does it feel as though the war really is carrying on despite the ceasefire? I mean, it's such a good question. It is obviously a major and grim milestone.

Israel, remember, launched this offensive in Gaza in response to the high. Hamas led attack on southern Israel on the 7th of October 2023. Some 1,200 people were killed in that attack, 251 taken hostage. And since then, as you say, according to Gaza's health ministry, which is run by Hamas, 70,100 people have been killed in Gaza. And yes, the health ministry says 350 of those Palestinian deaths have happened since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, brokered by the states, came into effect. just over seven weeks ago. But it also says a sharp jump in the numbers it's been recording the health ministry in recent days is not down to a surge in violence in recent days,

but the health ministry in Gaza says that the immediate surge has been mainly down to the fact that it's been able to take advantage of relative, and I use the word advisedly, relative cams since the ceasefire to search for bodies in what is really the wreckage and ruins of Gaza. James Cook. Britain's King Charles has led tributes to the playwright Tom Stoppard, who's died at the age of 88. He described him as one of Britain's greatest writers who challenged, moved and inspired his audiences. The UK's National Theatre worked closely with Tom Stoppard and premiered many of his best-known plays, including Rosencrantz and Guilden Stern A Dead and Arcadia.

The theatre praised his sharp intellect, inventive narrative structures, and a blend of high-brow humor with profound philosophical inquiries. Tom Stoppard won theatre awards in London and New York and also worked in cinema. Here's Sarah Campbell. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead, the play which in 1967 made his name. It took two minor characters from Shakespeare's Hamlet and put them centre stage,

baffled and bewildered by the seemingly arbitrary events around them. It was like Samuel Beckett, but with better job. jokes. So we've got a letter which explains everything. You've got it. I thought you had it. I do have it. You have it? You've got it. I don't get it. You haven't got it. I just said that. I've got it. I've got it. Shut up. The young stop art was witty and playful, but took ideas seriously. Perhaps that reflected his background, Czech-born but brought up as a self-deprecating English man. They're all gifts from God. I mean, you come to a certain point and something you need arrives and without getting mystical about it I just know from years of it happening that one is

continually given Christmas presents you dare to deny that this means war and on stage he combined actors and a symphony orchestra to dramatize the plight of Soviet dissidents locked away in mental hospitals I have no symptoms I have opinions. Your opinions are your symptoms. Your disease is dissent. I love you. The real thing was a play about adultery.

So you'll forgive me anything. Is that it, Hen? I'm a selfish car. It starred Felicity Kendall, for whom Stoppard left his second wife, the doctor and broadcaster Miriam Stoppard. Is that right? He worked in films as well,

often as a script doctor brought in to add sparkle to other writers. work. He collaborated with Terry Gilliam on his dystopian fantasy, Brazil. You writing? A comedy. All but done. Pirate comedy. And won an Oscar for his contribution to Shakespeare in love. How much? Ten pounds. You're a liar. I swear he wants Romeo for Ned and the Admiral's men. Ned's wrong for it. Tom Stoppard, who managed to combine an intellectual's delight in complexity with an entertainer's talent for having fun.

Sarah Campbell Still to come in this podcast The new Paddington Bear Musical opens in London A bear on Paddington Station Don't be silly Henry That can't be The number of dead

from devastating floods and landslides across parts of southern and southeast Asia continues to rise with more than 300 killed in Indonesia alone. Monsune rain, exacerbated by tropical storms, caused some of the region's worst flooding in years and affected millions across the region. These people in the remote village,

Ibruwen, in Aceh province in Indonesia, said their homes had been destroyed. After the flood, everything was gone. I wanted to save my clothes, My house came down. It was swept away. I couldn't save anything, not one thing. We did receive some aid, but so far we have only got two bags of rice. We haven't received any medical aid from the government. We severely lacked food, even the rice. We haven't got any left at all now. Amy Sowita LaFevera from Save the Children is helping with the flood response

in Thailand. We've seen perhaps some of the heaviest strain in a generation, in at least least 25 or 30 years. Many have said that the warnings were slow, provinces were slow to evacuate people, and the initial response was not perhaps as coordinated as it could have been, which is why we saw such devastating scenes. Children are traumatized. Children have been through a lot. Many of them have been rescued from rooftops. They've been stuck inside their homes with their relatives, and so the needs are very, very high at the moment. Our global affairs reporter, Anne Barrasanne Etirajan told me more about Sri Lanka, which has declared a state of emergency and appealed for international help.

The local officials are calling it as the worst flooding in about a decade. I spoke to a couple of our colleagues and friends. What they were describing, it was never in the past. Water had entered their homes. This is the first time they are seeing water coming in and they had to go and temporarily live with their relatives far away. Now, the human cost has been devastating, more than 150 people killed, but there are dozens of people missing, especially in the central part of Sri Lanka and eastern part of Sri Lanka. There were landslides, people were washed away in this torrent of water, and what many people were describing was this was happening very quickly, even the water coming out, bursting banks of the river, entering into residential areas, hardly giving them any time. to pick up their belongings and run away. They just had to leave the house and move away.

And already there was monsoon rains. And then there was also this cyclone dittwa passing through that island. Tens of thousands of people have been moved away. More than 20,000 homes were destroyed or damaged partially. So the human suffering has been enormous. And that's why the president has now declared a state of emergency that will give them power to supervise all the emergency work. And Sri Lanka, just one of the countries which has been affected? If you go further southeast, Indonesia is one of the worst affected countries where hundreds of people have died. And again, the Sumatra Island, people are still trying to find the relatives because what is happening there is many bridges have been washed away. So making

communication and emergency relief work very difficult. People have moved to relief camps in between. And also, the emergency services are finding it difficult to move this earth-moving equipment heavy machinery to dig up all these landslide areas to find if there are any survivors. So in some areas of Sumatra Island, people are using shovels and bare hands to dig through this rubble to find if there are any survivors. It's not just Indonesia, in Thailand. Again, one of the cities in southern Thailand received the worst train in about 300 years. Plead deluge, and there is also criticism of the local government, how they were prepared. And now, as we speak, the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh on the other side,

they are preparing for this storm. Now it is passing through this Bay of Bengal and reaching the southern Indian coast. and what they're hoping is that the storm will lose strength and become a low depression, but that means, again, a lot of rain, so that is what people are hoping that it won't create another deluge in southern part of India. And Barra San Etirajan.

The German TV series Alf Fritz's Spurin, or in Fritz's footsteps, has won an Emmy. The programme is based in communist East Germany, the German Democratic Republic, or GDR, as it was known then. It tells the story of a 12-year-old girl living in Leipzig and the events that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Julian Jensen, who's one of the main actors in the series, says making a political program for children was challenging.

In the state of the GDR, there were so many political words. So we had to see that it's easy to follow for children. But if you tell it in an interesting and fascinating way, it can be really good for them to know, even in the generation of their parents in Germany, it's really important, I think, to dare that. I was born in 1993, so I was born after reunification, and I think it's really important to keep that story alive, especially because of the stories of our protagonists. They were really taking risks, they were doing things because they thought it was right, but they all knew that this could have

consequences, and a lot of them faced those consequences. The stories of our protagonists are such an important message because we really have to keep democracy alive and we have to be able to go on the street and say what we want to say. And for me, it's normal nowadays. But for them, they really had to fight for it. And they are the reason all those people who went on the streets just before the wall came down in the Monday demonstrations, they are the reasons that we live in a free united Germany with a democracy. Children, all reacted really positive and were fascinated and also they changed their views about like their teachers, especially in the East, because they kind of found out about like the past of the teachers, which was really astonishing

for them that they lived in such a different world. And it has definitely changed not only their knowledge, but also like how they felt and talked with adults that were living in this GDR. I think in our program on Fritzi Strasis, we shown that the state of the GDR, the politicians who were clinging on to their power were instructing the secret police to make people do what they want and more than like a classic kid story that they were like the bad guys and the good guys

and it's my clear opinion that it's really important to look into the past to be able to have a good future and so important to remember because people would really take high risks to achieve this freedom. German actor Julian Jensen from the TV series in Fritz's footsteps.

Now, get ready for marmalade sandwiches. Lots of singing and dancing in a thrilling rescue mission. I'm talking, of course, about the new Paddington Bear Musical, which opens at London's Savoy Theatre on Sunday. Paddington was created 67 years ago, and he's been a firm favourite with children all over the world ever since. Vincent Dowd has been speaking to the show's writer Jessica Swale and director Luke Shepard.

A bear on Paddington Station? Mrs Brown looked at her husband in amazement. Don't be silly, Henry, that can't be! Playwright Jessica Swale had a delicate task. Take on the beloved character Michael Bond created in the very different Britain of 1958. But there is, he insisted. I distinctly saw it.

Over there, he was wearing a funny kind of hat. And turned Paddington into a character to speak and sing on stage today. Dear Aunt Lucy, all change at Paddington. I'm in London. But Jessica Swale says the heart of the story never really changes. One of the wonders of Paddington is that

he was written without the sort of cynical element that I think some writers bring to children's stories. So there is a sort of optimism and a hope and a theme of kindness. Although there is a baddie, enthusiastic taxidermist Millicent Clyde. It has to be

Peruvian. I need a bear. Barruvian. Nothing else compare. Say goodbye, Peru. In this stage version, it's not a puppet Paddington or CGI, but performer Artie Shah of limited height and endlessly endearing in a three-foot six-inch bear suit.

Director Luke Shepard. We explored multiple ways to bring Paddington to life. We looked at perhaps a more conventional puppetry. Really, it was working with Tara, our bear designer, who had an instinct that this would be the right route forwards. It's quite humbling being in his presence, actually, when Paddington walks into the room. He is an emblem of what it means to be British of what our country can stand for. This is the origin story of a bear coming from Peru to live in London and befriending, among others, wartime refugee, Mr Gruber. The dialogue does not shy from modern

parallels. Immigration, assimilation in society. That's an obvious theme of the story, even clearer than it was in the films. It's on everybody's lips at the moment. It's such a vital and a forceful debate in our country and around the world at the moment. And actually Michael Bond himself described that Paddington, when he first wrote him, was a migrant. And now, you know, in the current culture, just before Bond died, he described Paddington as a refugee. So it's essential in the building blocks of the story. previews this week were clearly impressed with Artie Shah's unique performance. It was really, really impressive. I'm really surprised, like, how she could breathe.

Like, you wouldn't know there was a person in it. Absolutely amazing. It should be on all theatres around the world. The music, the emotions, the actors, the whole story. I loved every second of it. I thought the way that she delivered Paddington was incredible. I mean, she had incredible stage presence and incredible physicality, and it must be incredibly difficult under... massive costume in the bright lights. Were you moved? Oh, definitely.

The way they delivered the story was incredibly moving. The highlight of Tom Fletcher's score may be Rhythm of London, which revels in the city's diversity. I think it's something that has always been in the source material that Michael Bond gave us in his books. It's something that the film's brilliantly explored. And what I love about the theatre is it's a place. place where we can entertain, but also hold a mirror up to society, or perhaps even offer a

version of the world that we want to live in. Perhaps what we're presenting on stage here is a sort of manifesto for the world that we would like to be a part of. And that's all from us for now, but that's all from us for now, but the There'll be a new edition of the Global News Podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email. The address is Global Podcast at BBC.co.uk. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag Global NewsPod.

This edition was mixed by Rebecca Miller and produced by Muzaffa Shakir and Wendy Urquhart. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Alex Ritsen. Until next time. Goodbye.