Global News Podcast - Von der Leyen: 'Europe is at a watershed'

Episode Date: March 6, 2025

Emergency EU summit on defence begins in Brussels. Also: UN releases $100 million to compensate for massive aid cuts from US. And pilot error is blamed after South Korean warplanes accidentally bomb civilians.

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Rachel Wright and at 1400 Hours GMT on Thursday 6th March these are our main stories. European leaders meet in Brussels at what's been described as a turning point in history. The UN's releasing more than $100 million to compensate for massive cuts to global aid and pilot error is being blamed after South Korean warplanes accidentally bombed civilian targets in a training exercise. Also in this podcast... It's probably one of the greatest feelings in the world when people let you know how the music has affected them. The legendary American jazz musician Roy Ayres dies at the age of 84. All 27 leaders of the European Union have gathered in Brussels with Ukraine on their minds,

but of course a wider sense that the world is changing and they need to step up. This is a watershed moment for Europe and Ukraine as part of our European family, it's also a watershed moment for Ukraine. Europe faces a clear and present danger and therefore Europe has to be able to protect itself, to defend itself as we have to put Ukraine in a position to protect itself and to push for lasting and just peace." That's the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, as she entered the emergency summit. A meeting prompted by a week in which President Trump distanced the US from Europe's security

and called into question future assistance. He also suspended military aid to Ukraine. The president of the European Council, Antonio Costa, was clear to point out the country did not stand alone. We are here to support Ukraine, to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace. And dear Volodymyr, we are with you since day one. We will continue with you now and we will continue in the future. In turn, President Zelensky thanked the EU for its enduring support and for its commitment to further boost funding for Ukraine.

I want to thank all our European leaders for such signal, strong support, strong support from the very beginning of the war and during all this period and last week you stayed with us and of course from all the Ukrainians, from all our nations, big appreciation. We are very thankful that we are not alone and these are not just words, we feel it. Our Europe correspondent Nick Beek is in Brussels for the summit. These aren't just words. He is really hoping that what happens today is that some of these pledges manifest to hard commitments and things that make a difference on the battlefield. Of course, this is an emergency summit, so whether or not we get some big agreement at the end of it, I think, is unlikely. But it is symbolic, and we saw

the hands on the shoulder there, the fact that they were standing shoulder to shoulder. President Zelensky and the people who really are figureheads in Europe, that sends a message. It sends a message to Vladimir Putin. And of course, in these extraordinary times, it sends a message to President Trump in the White House too. Another thing to bear in mind is that the decisions that are taken here in this format, at this summit, they're always unanimous, so all 27 leaders have to agree. And the problem comes in the form of Viktor Orban. He's the Hungarian leader, he's close to Putin, he's more sympathetic to Moscow than probably any other member of the European Union. He's said that he can't put his name to any sort of words on Ukraine which may or may not say

we'll be with Ukraine for as long as it takes because Mr Orban's argument is that the facts have changed. You've got the White House talking to the Kremlin directly, President Trump wanting to talk more with President Putin. Mr Orban is saying Europe should follow suit. It should be picking up the phone, talking to President Putin, trying to bring about peace. That could be one stumbling block. It is worth pointing out that in the past they have actually got round this when they have made decisions when Mr Or Orbán has left the room. So there has been some quite careful choreography that's worked out and they've been able to make a decision.

Nick Beek. Just before President Zelensky arrived he said there must not be a pause in the pressure on Russia to stop the war. His statement came after another night of Russian drone attacks on Ukraine, including on Mr. Zelensky's hometown. Vitaly Shevchenko is Russia editor at BBC Monitoring. Numerous cars damaged. One's got a UK sticker on it. The other one's on British number plates. The local authorities say that the number of wounded is more than 30, including a 13-year-old girl and a young man

aged 17. It's a scene of total devastation. And of course, looking at what Ukrainians are saying on social media this morning, there's a lot of anger directed at America. They're blaming the suspension of aid and supply of intelligence as well. So not a good morning in Ukraine. I mean, it wasn't the only target, was it? There was a severe bombardment throughout the country. Yes, we're hearing about civilians being killed in North East and Sumi region in Donetsk as well. There was an attack on Odessa. And frankly, none of that is unusual for Ukraine.

These attacks, they've been happening every night. There are reports of infrastructure, civilian infrastructure damage across Ukraine. And once Ukraine stops receiving US intelligence, and I understand about 80% of intelligence that helped Ukraine intercept those missiles and target Russian military facilities inside Russia, it used to come from America. So now that's stopped, it will make it more, much more difficult for Ukraine to intercept those missiles. And what will Zelensky want to achieve at today's summit?

More aid from Europe and an idea of whether Europe will be able to replace whatever Ukraine's losing in terms of aid not arriving from America. Vitaly Shevchenko. So while European leaders gather in Brussels, how has this week of frenzied headlines and diplomatic activity gone down in Russia? The BBC's Russia editor Steve Rosenberg is in Moscow. The global order is shaking. Alliances are changing.

And so is the language. Living in Russia, there are two phrases I've got used to hearing officials and pro-Kremlin commentators coming out with when they lambast Russia's rivals. The first one is the collective West, a derogatory term normally aimed at America and Europe. The second put down is the Anglo-Saxons. That's when Moscow rails collectively against the US and the UK. At least this is how it was for several years. But in recent weeks I've been hearing and reading these phrases less and less.

Perhaps that's not so surprising though. After all with Donald Trump in the White House labels likeective West no longer seem to apply. Instead, Russian state TV's flagship news show kicked off recently with a big strap across the screen, declaring America's doing things differently. As it turns out, very differently. A few days ago we saw the United States voting with Russia, North Korea and Belarus against a UN resolution that identified Russia as the aggressor in Russia's war in Ukraine. Now the Trump

administration has paused military aid to Kiev. By contrast, US-Russia relations are on the up. There have been discussions between Moscow and Washington on repairing diplomatic ties and talk of future economic cooperation. This week, one Russian newspaper described America as Russia's partner. It's just one word, but it represents a sea change. Not so long ago, Joe Biden was calling Russia the aggressor, and its president, Vladimir Putin, a murderous dictator.

Last weekend, I heard something in the news here that brought home to me just how much things have turned around. The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov went on TV and declared that America's new foreign policy configurations are largely aligned with Russia's. America and Russia seeing the world through similar eyes? So where does that leave Europe, potentially quite exposed and certainly receiving most of the abuse? Let me bring you up to date with Russia's new set of labels.

European countries that support Ukraine are described here as the old world. European leaders who back President Zelensky are referred to as the Party of War or the Liberal Globalists. Russian is a rich, colourful language and I'm sure many more labels will be hatched soon. But there's one other thing that I've noticed. When Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016, some headlines in Russia referred to him as Our Donald. Not this time. There's a little bit more caution here, just in case things don't work out. And what looks like being the start of a beautiful friendship turns sour. Steve Rosenberg in Moscow. The US was by far the world's largest humanitarian aid provider,

operating in more than 60 countries, largely through contractors. But since taking office, President Donald Trump has cut numerous aid programs and placed most USAID staff on leave or dismissed them. Action that many aid agencies argue has jeopardized life-saving operations worldwide. Now the UN says it will release $110 million to compensate for what it calls a precipitous cut in global aid. I heard more from our correspondent in Geneva, Imogen Fokes. The money will come from the UN's Central Emergency Response Fund. The UN this morning is talking about brutal cuts, although it doesn't specifically mention the United States.

Now, the Central Emergency Fund, to just give you some context, it was set up 20 years after the Asian tsunami to be a pot of money for really unexpected events, like a tsunami, like an earthquake, like a war breaking out and suddenly driving millions of people from their homes. That is now being deployed for the UN's day-to-day work. So, health in Afghanistan, into Sudan, things like that. What I would say is that

it's not really clear that $110 million will go very far. When you think that the UN had appealed for 45 billion to fund its aid operations across the globe this year with more and more people in need, it's received of that 45 billion. OK, it's only March, but basically it's received about three billion. So I think it's very, very difficult it's received about three billion. So I think it's very, very difficult times for the UN and its humanitarian work. 110 million will help but I don't think it will go too far. You mentioned women in Afghanistan. What are some of the other programmes that have been

affected by the cut in USAID funding? The list is incredibly long. The US was a very big funder of humanitarian aid, not by head of population the biggest. Some European countries sent proportionately much more, but it was still, because the US is a big economy, a lot of money. We have a complete stop on funding for UN AIDS, which does AIDS prevention, including in children. We have cuts in Ebola surveillance in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We have a stop on things like demining in Cambodia or Colombia. I had a statement this morning from the agency working

on tuberculosis prevention, which also monitors, by the way, drug resistant TB which is a global health threat, that also is suffering cuts. So basically wherever you turn, wherever there is a humanitarian or global health challenge money is being cut. Imogen folks. Scientists say they've discovered a new part of the immune system and it's a goldmine of potential antibiotics. They found protein recycling cells which have a secret mode that can create an arsenal of bacteria killing chemicals. Our health and science correspondent James Gallagher told us more.

This is something that's happening in all of our bodies all the time and nobody knew basically before yesterday. So what's happening is in every cell, what normally happens is old spent tired proteins, anybody get broken down so the body can use the components to build new ones. But something called the proteasome is what does that process. When it detects that a bacteria has entered the cell that it's living in, well, it switches modes, starts chopping up proteins and basically makes these what have been termed natural antibiotics that then go off and kill the bacteria. So they've discovered this process that's actually happening

in all of us for the first time. And superbugs, these diseases can resist antibiotics, are a growing problem. What does this discovery mean for them? Well, one of the big problems has been trying to find new antibiotics that can actually treat these infections. And so traditionally scientists have gone looking in natural environment. Digging in soil has been a rich vein of finding antibiotics in the past. The big dream of this now is now that this has been discovered to be happening inside the human body, well, maybe we can look inside all of us.

You say that this has just been discovered. Was there any inkling that this was going to happen? Not really. This is one of those things that the tools that scientists can use have been advancing, allowing you to look in much more detail. So that is what really has allowed the technological revolution to look inside what's happening inside our cells in far more detail than ever before. And only by being able to do that, we are actually able to see that actually the structures inside the cell are changing in response to a bacterial infection,

that modes are being switched from recycling to producing antibiotics. And so it's just, we're getting an unprecedented view really on what's happening inside our bodies and that's allowing these discoveries to happen. The big question now is whether these can be truly harnessed. They've been discovered, they've been tested in the laboratory, shown that they can actually kill bacteria but it's going to take the next advance to actually turn those into drugs

that can be used. James Gallagher. Still to come on this podcast. be used. James Galaga. Still to come on this podcast. They're already putting sandbags outside their homes. We're out on these like, water pushing through these winds and the sea is like, it looked like it was snow on the beach because there was so much foam. People on the path of cyclone Alfred in Australia have been asked to leave before the situation gets worse.

Fifteen people in South Korea have been injured after a pair of fighter jets accidentally dropped bombs on a civilian district during a military exercise. This woman was nearby when it happened. district during a military exercise. This woman was nearby when it happened. I have never heard such a sound in my whole life. It was so loud. I was so scared. I was shaking uncontrollably. Celia Hatton is our Asia Pacific regional editor. The South Korean Air Force has said that they were carrying out a live fire exercise near the North Korean border. This is ahead of a huge round of joint exercises that are starting next Monday with the United States. Two fighter jets were going to be going up in the air and they were

practicing live fire. They said that pilot of one of the jets put in the wrong coordinates for where they were planning to drop some bombs and he ended up dropping them on the village of Potrún. Now what they don't understand is why the pilot of the second jet also dropped bombs on the same village when it wasn't clear that he had inputted the wrong coordinates. So they're investigating what went wrong first with the he had inputted the wrong coordinates. So they're investigating what went wrong first with the first jet, why the wrong coordinates were put in, but also why the second jet then followed the mistake of the first pilot. So that's the question for now. You know, if you look at the photos from the scene, you can see a lot

of residents were really shaken up by this. They reported that their houses were shaken. We have 15 injuries, two quite serious. One elderly man reported that he had been driving at the time of the incident. He was then hit by shrapnel, and he says that when he was driving, and then when he woke up, he realized that he was in hospital.

So he was really knocked out by the force of the shrapnel. A lot of other injuries being reported at this hour. So a lot of very frightened residents in this very small village. It was a joint drill with the US forces. Is it continuing? The joint drill is going to go ahead. Now, I should say that this drill that went wrong today was just involved South Koreans. So yeah, it does come at a quite worrying time when many in South Korea are questioning what's going on in North Korea that's quite strong. And also, you know, they're questioning how whether Donald Trump is going to continue relations.

So a lot of tensions right now between South Korea, the United States and also North Korea. Celia Hatten, the head of Bangladesh's government has told the BBC that the law and order situation in the country is not that bad. Mohammed Yunus was appointed after a student-led uprising drove the former Prime Minister Sheikh Hussiena from office. He's been speaking to Samira Hussain, who asked him what has changed since he returned to Bangladesh last August. I was dissolved when it came. I had no idea that I would be leading the government and how to make it happen.

So that's the zero point. We come in and still waiting to see what needs to be done immediately. First one of course the law and order situation, which is a big task. We are coming from a complete disorder and uprising. People get shot. So that's my first phase. And for me, a learning process also. I never ran a government machine.

And see how the institutions, the bureaucracy, the government can function. Because everybody you talk to say, oh, he's an agent of this. He is the one who did that. So come out of those levels of distrust and kind of trying to see how do you work with people that you don't know anything about. I want to pick up on law and order

because what people have been saying to us is that they don't feel like it's been getting better, that it's actually been getting worse, that they're fearful of going out at night. Why is that still happening? Why isn't it getting better? Well, better is a relative term to what we're comparing with.

If you're comparing with the last year, for example, at the same time, it looks okay. We are not an ideal country, an ideal city, the suddenly we make. It's a continuum of the country that we inherited, country that was running for many many years. So it takes time to install that fear and install that discipline to make things happen. We take the collapsed country into order, into some discipline, some kind of policy, some kind of hope. This is what you're trying to do. When talking about members of the Awami League, right now there is a sense that there is a political witch hunt happening, that the judiciary has been politicized, that they don't feel

like they have the freedom to be able to speak. Are you comparing with the previous one or just the ideal one? You're the head of Bangladesh. People within your own country are saying, look, I'm part of the Awami lead, but I don't feel like I am safe. So you're talking about the law and order situation? I'm asking about whether A, is there law and order, is enough being done to protect? If there's a court, there's a law, there's a police station, they can go and complain, register their complaint.

This is our way. You just don't go to a BBC correspondent to complain. You go to the police station to complain and see through the whether the law is taking it course. When do you plan on having elections? I made it very clear that if reforms can be done as quickly as we wish, December will be the time that we will hold elections.

Will the Al-Wami League be able to participate in those elections? They have to decide whether they want to do it. I cannot decide for them. Will you allow them to participate? Who am I to allow them? You're the head of this country. Election Commission will do that. Election Commission decides who participates in election, who doesn't.

It's not the Prime Minister who decides. Mohamed Younus speaking to the BBC's Samira Hussain. In Australia, people on the path of cyclone Alfred have been asked to leave before the situation gets any worse. With more than half a metre of projected rain, Brisbane is shutting down trains, buses and ferry services. And several events have been cancelled in both Queensland and New South Wales. Emily lives in Byron Bay. She says surfers have been taking advantage of the higher waves but are now bracing themselves

for flooding and destructive winds. I mean the mantra here compared to growing up in the UK here is very much like it's nature, baby. Or like they're embracing it in that they're already putting sandbags outside their homes and then we'll hit the surf in 30 minutes. Like we've never seen waves like this. Like this is insane. We've just got a message through saying ocean shores, people are being told to evacuate their homes and ocean shores just a little bit north from us. We're out on these like, water pushing through these winds and the sea is like, it looked like it was snow on the beach because there was so much foam. Our correspondent Katie Watson is on the Gold Coast in Queensland.

Australia is no stranger to cyclones but this part of Australia, the last cyclone that hit this particular area was more than 50 years ago. Authorities are talking about the fact that this could be scary, it's a very rare event, and certainly people I've spoken to are just not quite sure what to expect in the coming days. And the landfall, it's expected to make landfall late on Friday, perhaps even early into Saturday, so there's been a window of opportunity, if you like,

for people to get more prepared before they have to wait it out. The authorities have been really hot on making sure that people are prepared. They've flown in firefighters from other parts of Queensland to reinforce them. Of course, northern New South Wales as well is likely to be in some of the danger zone. And so the two states are working together, the federal services as well are working on this to make sure that everybody is staying safe. But the general rule is try and stay indoors and just keep away from the strong winds and the concern about flooding. Katie Watson.

The American jazz musician Roy Ayres has died after a long illness. He was 84. The percussionist established himself as one of the pioneers of jazz funk in the 1970s with hits like Everybody Loves the Sunshine and Running Away. Ella Bicknell looks back on his life. Born in 1940 in Los Angeles, Roy Ayres was raised in a musical household and at five years old found himself drawn to the vibraphone. He soon picked up the piano while studying music theory at school. He joined the church choir and in stark contrast spent his nights playing jazz in the early 1970s with his album Ubiquity forming a group of the same name. 40 albums across his career changed everything. It's a slow song. My life, my life, my life, my life.

I said, my God. It's probably one of the greatest feelings in the world when people let you know how the music has affected them. Oh, man. And then when you get the radio out, and it's all over the radio, my God, it's all over, all over the radio, my God, it's no greater feeling than that.

It's easy listening, comforting vibes have stood the test of time, becoming a staple of his live set for decades. It's also been sampled over a hundred times from the likes of Dr Dre, Mary J Blige and Kendrick Lamar. As Ayers once put it, except Dracula, everybody loves the sunshine. Roy Ayers, who's died at the age of 84. And that's all from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the Global News podcast died at the age of 84. This edition was mixed by Sid Dundon and the producer was Richard Hamilton. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Rachel Wright.

Until next time, goodbye.