Global News Podcast - Woman at the centre of Spain's housing crisis dies

Episode Date: October 8, 2026

Hundreds of protesters have demonstrated outside parliament in Madrid after the death of an 87 year old woman who became a symbol of Spain's housing crisis. Maricarmen Abascal was forcibly removed on a stretcher from her apartment of more than 70 years last month after she was unable to afford big rent increases. The company that owned the flat later offered to allow her to return at a lower rate - but she was unable to sign an agreement as she had been admitted to hospital. Also, US prosecutors are expected to bring new charges against the former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores for the alleged torture of American citizens. And a judge in the US state of Tennessee has ordered officials to preserve all evidence from the botched execution of Christa Pike last week.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]: Candles and messages in memory of Maricarmen Abascal, the 87-year-old Spanish woman whose eviction sparked nationwide housing protests. Credit: Reuters/Violeta Santos Moura

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It felt like everything I believed in was suddenly collapsing. This is the story of an Islamic boarding school. in Indonesia with a dark secret of the school's head teacher. This was someone I respected above anyone else. And the investigation led by students, he's trying to silence. If this is leaked to the media, I'll be destroyed. This is World of Secrets, Catching My Teacher. Listen on BBC.com, the BBC app or wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

This is the Global News Podcast. from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritson, and in the early hours of Thursday, October the 8th, these are our main stories. The evicted 87-year-old whose plight became the symbol of Spain's housing crisis and prompted a snap election, has died. A US judge has ordered officials in Tennessee to preserve evidence from last week's botched attempt to execute the death row inmate Krista Pike. Also in this podcast. This is one of the most rapid warming areas on the planet. That's causing krill stocks to contract southwards.

So the chinstraps have less to eat. Scientists say climate change has led to the population of what was the world's largest penguin colony plummeting by nearly two-thirds. An elderly woman in Spain whose eviction sparked protests over the country. country's housing crisis and a political row that triggered early elections has died. Maricarmine Abascal, who was 87, was forcibly removed from her apartment last month after she was unable to afford rent increases. She'd lived there for more than 70 years. The news of her death on Wednesday sparked renewed protests over affordable housing with hundreds gathering near the Parliament building

in central Madrid, chanting slogans and lighting candles in her memory. Right now I'm crying on the subway and my first reaction is that Mary Carmen hasn't died. She was killed by this capitalist system and I find it shameful that everyone isn't out on the streets protesting to ensure this never happens again. A lot of sorrow. I think that's what we all share. A great deal of sorrow and above all the thought that she is the cause, the head. of this whole revolution and that she can't see it. It makes me so sad that she won't see if anything comes of it if there's any result from all that she's fought for. Our reporter Albert Morgarde was at the protest

and she began by telling me about what is known surrounding the circumstances of Mary Carmen Abascal's death. She was admitted to hospital just the day of the eviction. You might remember that she was taken on a stretcher. Her health conditions was really weak. She had a 50% disability recognised due to mobility. And what media reports and her lawyers had said is that all the circumstances around the attempted evictions

that were several over the last few years had really caused her a lot of stress and a lot of extortions. Regarding the circumstances of her death are not yet known, but we know that she died in a hospital in Madrid and has caused an absolute outcry in the city and across the country. Well, as we can hear behind you, I think. Exactly. There is a small protest, I would say, there is a few hundred people, 300, 400, that were in these square in the centre of Madrid, where people have come to demand for better solutions on the housing crisis and, you know, where they're initiated after the eviction of Marie-Carme and Abascal. And they have taken today to the doors of Congress, which is just 500 metres away from this square.

Just to say, well, they are chanting several things, but one of the things is that she didn't die, she was killed. Again, people here demanding solutions to the housing crisis that's been really affecting people, especially the youth in this country. There's been improvised vigil as well with people lighting candles, and you can see a lot of banners and little messages in different places of the street, just remembering Marie Carmen Abascal. The eviction was arguably a big factor in the corner of the corner of the corner of the street. of the snap election by the Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, how is this pensioner's death going to play into that upcoming poll? Well, I think this will make people go to the polls. The people here, you know, want really solutions.

If that will benefit Pedro Sanchez, who's the one who has called this early election thinking that this movement will benefit him, we don't know yet. But I think the death of Marie Carmen Abascal today and that Alquite we're seeing not just in Madrid where I am, but across the country and all the tributes that have been seen online, I think they're going to make people really go into the street, go to the streets and ask for the vote and ask for solutions,

a different alternative to the situation that we've been living in Spain for the last few years where people can't no afford to live in the cities where they were born, like was the case of Marie Carmen Alaskar. Alba Morgare. A judge in the U.S. state of Tennessee has ordered officials, to preserve all evidence from the botched execution of Krista Pike last week. Lawyers for the convicted murderer who survived two doses of what was supposed to be a lethal injection have said she's angry and confused after waking up in hospital.

After a hearing, the lawyers said the retention of evidence was the first step of a potentially long legal battle. Krista Pike has spent three decades on death row for killing Colleen Slemer. Our North America correspondent Ned Atorfic told me more about the emergency court proceedings in Tennessee. The judge ordered the state to retain not just physical evidence like the IVs and syringes and gurneys, but any surveillance video, any and all communications between officials. And, you know, her lawyers also wanted to get access to her more readily, you know, as she starts to regain full consciousness and even requested that her shackles be removed. And I think some of the most moving, astonishing details actually came when the lawyers spoke to the press after the court hearing and gave an update on just how she's doing.

On Monday night, it was our understanding that Krista was brain dead and that life support would be removed the next day. But on Tuesday, to the shock of everyone, including me, including her team, and including the medical team, Krista woke up and began talking. I do not have an explanation for what happened between Monday night and Tuesday morning. They described Krista Pike as currently confused, angry. They say that she wants to understand better what happened to her, but the physical and mental health toll of this is extreme. They talked about how her arms and hands are severely swollen from where she got those two rounds of the lethal,

what was supposed to be the lethal injection. They say she is suffering pneumonia, she can't swallow, she can't eat. And so they describe it as a long road to recovery. No, no, there's a suggestion this case is going to reopen debate across the United States on the death penalty. Is it, I mean, she was convicted of the most awful, awful crime, even though what happened to her in the death chamber was clearly horrible too. Yeah, we can't forget the family of Colleen Slemmer, the victim of Christ,

Pikes and all of this. Her mother said that she very much supported the death penalty for Krista Pike, that she wanted justice for her daughter, but she feels let down by the state. And I think, look, those who always felt against capital punishment point to the fact that the United States is an outlier, that 75% of the world's countries have either gotten rid of the death penalty in law or in practice, And they see this as further evidence of the kind of cruel and unusual nature of continuing this practice. But even those who support the death penalty are debating the methods used in this country after what we saw happen with Krista Pike. You know, these lethal injections, pharmaceutical companies, you know, don't want them used in this way. And so sourcing these drugs has become increasingly more difficult, finding people trained and administrative.

mastering them has become increasingly more difficult. And so, for example, you have one top Republican, the governor in Tennessee, who suggested electric chair should be the method used going forward. And I think the thing to remember here is her lawyers believe it would just be unimaginable after what she went through to then choose to execute her once again. And the state hasn't said yet whether they will seek to do that. Neda Tophic. The United Nations has condemned, continued Houthi attacks against Saudi Arabia and has warned of a worsening humanitarian situation in Yemen. It follows a flurry of attacks on Saudi targets on Wednesday, including firing a ballistic missile at Riyadh airport, as the Houthis, backed by Iran, battle for territory in Yemen against government forces supported by the kingdom. The International Organization for Migration says more than 180,000 people have been displaced by, the fighting inside Yemen since the 1st of August. The UN spokesperson, Stefan de Jerech, urged all parties to exercise restraint and protect civilians. We reiterate once again our condemnation of the continued Houthi cross-border attacks against Saudi Arabia,

including the recent attacks in Jazean, Narzran, as well as the attacks reported earlier to date near Riyadh and the airport there. We remain deeply concerned about the ongoing military escalation in and Iraq. around Yemen, including the intense fighting across multiple front lines. We call again on all parties to exercise restraint, urge them to uphold their obligation under international humanitarian law, and to refrain direct attacks on civilian and civilian infrastructure. The Houthi movement, which controls much of northwest Yemen, captured swathes of coastal

land from Yemen's pro-government forces last month after the country's civil war reignited in July. We got more details from Greg Holyoke, Middle East specialist with BBC monitoring. In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Yemen's Houthi rebels announced a fresh wave of drone and missile strikes, both within Yemen and against neighbouring Saudi Arabia. To the south, the Iran-backed group said it had targeted the main airport in the Saudi-backed government's temporary capital of Aden. To the north, they said they had hit a civilian airport and a military air base near the Saudi city of Abha, under 100 kilometres from the Yemeni border. They also targeted at least three other military bases to the Kingdom South.

Perhaps more significant is their claim, just a few minutes later, of firing a series of drones and a ballistic missile at King Khaled International Airport in the capital, Riyadh. Saudi media we have been monitoring were keener to focus on claimed advances of their Allied forces on the ground in Yemen. But some have cited official comments confirming that a ballistic missile had been downed to the north of Riyadh, where the airport is located. Just a few days ago, a new military alliance, including Saudi Arabia, announced it would implement collective defence measures over previous Houthi attacks.

It remains to be seen if these latest strikes will draw more international players into the war. Greg, Hollyoak from BBC Monitoring. Native to the Southern Pacific and Antarctic Oceans, the chin strap is considered to be the most aggressive, and ill-tempered of the penguin species as you're about to hear. From fierce squabbles over nesting sites to loud, head-tossing territorial displays, chinstraps are feisty and aren't afraid to defend their turf. But when it comes to survival in the wild, it appears their numbers are in serious decline.

A new study by the British Antarctic Survey reveals that over half a million chinstrap penguins have disappeared from their largest colony in the South San Francisco. which islands. We heard more from lead researcher Norman Ratcliffe. The chin strap penguin is pretty plain black and white chin. They have this white chin and this quite distinctive narrow black strap that runs underneath their chin, hence the name. So the objective of the study was to look at numbers on Zavodoski Island, which is a very remote location about 4,000 kilometres southeast of the Falklands. And it's well known for holding the largest penguin colony in the world. This was back in 2011 at least.

And it's this volcanic island that just rises up out of the ocean, and it's completely fringed almost by penguins. So I liken it to a penguin mordor. You've got this volcanic cone that's continuously emitting sulfurous gases, and then this was covered in penguins. And our objective was to go and see what the population status of the penguin colony was in December 23, because no one had been there to count it previously.

And what we found was have been this precipitous decline in the chinstrap penguin population. So we've lost two-thirds of the numbers there, which equates to about half a million breeding birds. That's a colossal loss. It's a rate of decline of about 7% per annum, which is very steep. What's happened to them? Why are they in such decline? Chinstraps are what we call a maritime Antarctic species. They like quite cool temperatures in the seas around the colony. And they feed mostly on krill, which they find in this sort of habitat. And what we think has happened is that as regional warming has occurred, so this is why

one of the most rapid warming areas on the planet, you know, the whole Scotia Sea Antarctic Peninsula area, that's causing krill stocks to contract southwards. So the chinstraps have less to eat, and this is causing these population declines. And we know that because we put satellite tags on these birds as well as counting them using drones. So how are we going to try and preserve their species and help them grow again? I mean, at the moment they're just declining in a sort of straight line. That's quite concerning, and numbers also in the rest of the Scotia Sea are declining. And if we put those trends together, the overall projected rate of decline does meet the IUCN endangered category, whereas at the moment they're regarded as least concern, because everyone thought these massive populations in the South Sandwich Islands were stable.

But we think that we need to revise their conservation status. Zavidowski used to be the largest penguin colony in the world, it no longer is. so it's lost that title to the Cape Adair, a daily penguin colony, which is on the other side of the continent on the edge of the rock sea. That now holds half a million total pairs of penguins. So in terms of world records, that's a big change,

as well as the quite alarming population declines at a more global level for chinstrap penguins. British Antarctic survey researcher Norman Ratcliffe speaking to anchor decide. Still to come in this podcast. She's lost seven and a half stone. She was due a liver transplant that's completely reversed, a diabetes. Without any of that, she wouldn't be here.

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Odu gives you one place to manage your business. Visit Odu.com to book a demo. It's O'DO.com. It felt like everything I believed in was suddenly collapsing. This is the story of an Islamic boarding school in Indonesia with a dark secret of the school's head teacher. This was someone I respected above any. And the investigation led by students, he's trying to silence.

If this is leaked to the media, I'll be destroyed. This is World of Secrets, Catching My Teacher. Listen on BBC.com, the BBC app, or wherever you get your BBC podcasts. This is the Global News podcast. It was back in January that the former Venezuelan president, Nicholas Maduro, and his wife, Sillia Flores, were captured by US forces in They're currently in prison in New York, awaiting trial on drugs and weapons charges. Now, US prosecutors are expected to bring new charges against the couple over the alleged torture of American citizens. Our Latin America correspondent Will Grant told me more about these charges.

They relate, as we understand, to the detention of 12 American citizens in Venezuelian jails. They include a group of oil executives from Sitgo. They were known as the Sitgo. from 2017, what's called the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence, obviously part of the Maduro government held that group for five years. Their lawyers say they were subjected to torture during that time, and they were eventually released under a Biden administration prisoner swap. They were released in part for Celia Flores, that's Nicolas Maduro's wife,

her children, her adopted children. But another of those who was also expected to be, be part of this case. With two other former prisoners, one called Matthew Heath. He was a former Marine who was travelling through Venezuela in 2020. And Osman Khan, who was visiting his girlfriend, both men say they received extreme torture methods, including waterboarding, threats of sexual assault and the use of mind-altering drugs.

Mr. Maduro and his wife have been in jail in New York for some time. at what point can we expect a trial? Well, it's scheduled for the middle of next year, and that is when the prosecutors hope that their case will be in place. Now, the idea of introducing new charges at this stage is interesting, because as you said in your introduction, they are already facing trial on narco-terrorism, cocaine smuggling and weapons charges.

It makes one wonder if the prosecutors think they have enough on a charge like narco-terrorism or cocaine smuggling. Of course, Mr Maduro and his wife have both pleaded not guilty to those charges. The idea for the Trump administration that he could somehow get off from those charges, he could somehow be acquitted and go free would be a huge political defeat for the Trump administration. Perhaps introducing fresh charges we'll see later this week, which are related to the treatment of US citizens, feels like it might be a stronger case from the US Justice Department's point of view. Will Grant.

Five former financial traders who were sentenced to prison in one of the biggest scandals of the global financial crisis have had their convictions overturned by the Court of Appeal in London. The men who all worked for the British Bank Barclays were jailed for up to eight years for manipulating LIBOR and Eurobor, which are used to set the interest rates on millions of mortgages and commercial loans. The decision to quash their convictions on the grounds their trials were unfair has amplified calls for an inquiry into the wider rigging scandal.

The UK's serious forward office maintains the two remaining convictions are safe. Our financial investigations correspondent Andy Verity has followed their cases closely and he was at the Court of Appeal for Wednesday's judgment. Three cheers for justice. HIP! HIP! For former traders, their families and lawyers, justice at last, after they were falsely tried and wrongly sentenced to jail

following a cover-up at the top of the financial establishment dating back 18 years. No senior banker was prosecuted for the 2008 financial crisis and the recession that followed. In July 2012, when Barclays was fined for rigging interest rates, MPs demanded arrests. The chief executive Bob Diamond had to resign, but it was junior bankers who were prosecuted.

Between 2015 and 2019, 19 traders across the UK and US were convicted. Nine went to jail. For the former Barclays cash trader, Colin Birmingham, who was sentenced to four years in 2019, it's been a devastating experience. My mother passed away when I was in jail. So she never lived to see you acquitted? No. That must sting.

It's life, isn't it? His Barclays colleague, Jonathan Matthew, was accused by the serious fraud office of supposedly conspiring in a fraud when he was 23. He was jailed in 2016 and has taken 10 years to be exonerated. He's now 45. At the time, my first child had just been born. So I missed the first birthday because I was locked in a prison cell. I couldn't even make a phone call. I saw them every couple of weeks for the first sort of six months to a year. It's just catastrophic. It is, it's, you know, someone's just taking a grenade and thrown it into life. Prison is so different from any world that I'd ever been to or any world I'd even imagined.

Last year, a Supreme Court ruling in the UK quashed two convictions. Today's Court of Appeal decision overturned another five. That all might never have happened but for a cover-up right at the top of the financial establishment of evidence since discovered by the BBC. It indicates that central banks across the world, including the Bank of England, were involved during the financial crisis

in rigging benchmark interest rates, LIBOR and Euribor, on a much greater scale than anything that. traders were accused of. Now 17 of the 19 convictions of traders have been overturned, it's clear that the blame for the interest rate rigging scandal shouldn't have been put on the traders. The Bank of England has said the interest rate benchmark LIBOR wasn't regulated in the financial crisis. It promised in 2017 to release its records about so-called interest rate rigging. Nine years later, there's still to be released.

And the Verity. The World Health Organization has warned against using surgery and weight loss drugs to tackle rising obesity rates in children. It said that youngsters should focus on healthy eating and physical activity as well as change their behaviour. Most anti-abesity drugs are only licensed for children over the age of 10. But some doctors prescribed them anyway and drug companies are already testing them on younger patients. Ibi struggled with her weight and mental health from the age of 8 during COVID and almost took her own life after being bullied at school. She was treated successfully with weight loss drugs, as her mother Andrea explains. She's lost seven and a half stone.

She was due a liver transplant that's completely reversed to diabetes. Borderline has completely reversed her mental health because they put strategies in with a weight clinic to support her through that. It's been amazing. Without any of that, to cut it into a nutshell, she wouldn't be here. Professor Aaron Kelly is a paediatrician at the University of Miner, Minnesota Medical School, and he gave his reaction to the World Health Organization report. They did a good job of summarizing what child that obesity is and what it isn't.

They talk about it as being a chronic and relapsing and serious disease, which is supported by the evidence. They talk about how children and adolescents are often stigmatized, bullied, and ostracized for their obesity. And they also talk about importantly that kids are at higher risk if they have obesity, for mental health problems like depression and anxiety. There are many health care providers that I think underestimate the severity of the disease of obesity, and they overestimate the ability of people to be able to have control over their body weight.

And a lot of this is controlled biologically. And what about the warning not to use surgery and new weight loss drugs to tackle obesity in children? Does that make sense to you? Well, in their report, they talked about how kids up to nine years old, should probably not be going to medications right away except in extreme circumstances. And to be honest, there are very few medications that are approved for that age range for less than 12 years old. The only medication that is approved that I know of is approved in the EMA in Europe, and that is Lareglatide, which is a GLP1 receptor agonist for kids 6 to 12.

But if we talk about the recommendation for 12 to 18-year-olds or 12 to 19-year-olds, My understanding of the report is that they are recommending that there be a requirement of health behavior and lifestyle treatment, lifestyle counseling essentially, to have produced unsatisfactory results before a team could be considered for treatment with pharmacotherapy or medications or even bariatric surgery. If we look at the evidence of how the outcomes of health behavior and lifestyle treatment, lifestyle counseling on average, and there's a lot of variability, this doesn't apply to everyone, but for most children and adolescents who engage in lifestyle treatment alone, the reductions in body fat,

in body weight, in body mask index are clinically insignificant. So it's not really that the patients themselves fail the treatments. It's that the treatment fails them. This speaks to the strong biological forces that are at play in combination with us living in an obesity promoting or obesogenic environment. And that's where advanced therapies like medicines can be very, very helpful. Professor Aaron Kelly speaking to Paul Henley. Before we go.

Hi, I'm Celie Hatten, one of the presenters of the Global News podcast. Did you know there are nearly 1,300 terms and phrases used by election officials in the United States? So with midterms fast approaching, the Global News podcast is joining forces with AmeriCast. Together we'll be offering you a one-off jargon-busting special. and we want your suggestions, please, for words and phrases that could do with an explanation. Nothing is too simple. In our sites already are Senate, caucus and gerrymander. Please let us know what else to add. It's the usual address, global podcast at BBC.co.com. Celia Hatton.

And that's all from us for now. If you want to get in touch, you can email us at globalpodcast at bbc.c.co.com. UK. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag Global NewsPod. And don't forget our sibling 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 Stephen Bailey and the producer was Muzafa Shakir. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Alex Ritson. Until next time, goodbye. It felt like everything I believed in was suddenly collapsing. This is the story of an Islamic boarding school in Indonesia with a dark secret.

Of the school's head teacher. This was someone I respected above anyone else. And the investigation led by students, he's trying to silence. If this is leaked to the media, I'll be destroyed. This is World of Secrets, catching my teacher. Listen, on BBC.com, the BBC app, or website. wherever you get your BBC podcasts.