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Global News Podcast
Fatalities and injuries in German Christmas market attack
00:27:26
The suspect is believed to be a 50-year-old Saudi Arabian doctor
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Unknown Host
This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.
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Nicola Coughlan
I'm Nicola Coughlan and for BBC Radio 4, this is History's Youngest Heroes. Rebellion, risk and the radical power of youth. She thought, right, I'll just do it. She thought about others rather than herself. Twelve stories of extraordinary young people from across history.
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Unknown Analyst
There's a real sense of urgency in them. That resistance has to be mounted. It has to be mounted now.
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Nicola Coughlan
Follow History's Youngest Heroes wherever you get your podcasts. This is the global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Danny Cox and in the early hours of Saturday 21st December, these are our main stories. German media reports say a number of people have been killed and and many others injured after a car drove into a Christmas market in the eastern city of Magdeburg. A top US diplomat has described Syria's new Islamist ruler as pragmatic after their first meeting and expressed hope for a sovereign Syria that respects the rights of all its citizens. Japan says it's coming up with a plan to dispose of 14 million cubic meters of radioactive soil. Some may be used in road embankments. Also in this podcast, scientists in Peru have discovered 27 new species in the northwest of the country, including an extremely rare type of amphibious mouse.
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Trond Larsen
It belongs to this group of carnivorous semi aquatic rodents. On past expeditions, you know, we always search for this, this group of rodents and they're almost mythical because they're just so difficult to find.
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Nicola Coughlan
Just days before Christmas and what should have been a festive event, a Christmas market in the East German city of Magdeburg, has ended in tragedy as a car drove into the crowd at top speed. Doz. Dozens of ambulances were on the scene shortly after the incident. As we record this podcast, officials say a number of people have been killed, including a young child. Dozens of others were injured. The German state premier, Rainer Hasselhoff, had this to.
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Unknown Host
This is a terrible tragedy. It's a catastrophe for the city of Magdeburg and for Germany in general.
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Nicola Coughlan
For this to happen at a Christmas.
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Unknown Host
Market, it is hard to comprehend.
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Nicola Coughlan
Local officials say they suspect it was a deliberate attack. TV pictures showed a suspect being arrested by police with guns drawn. I heard more from our BERLIN Correspondent, Damian McGuinness.
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Unknown Host
Well, what officials have now told us is that at least two people have been killed, one of them a small child, one of them an adult. And it's thought that as many as 70 people could be injured, possibly 15 seriously injured. But of course, when you're talking about such large numbers, there's a lot of a Lot of things that are unclear. You know, this is an ongoing situation, really. The whole area has been secured off now. The suspected perpetrator has been arrested. And officials are describing this as an attack because the numbers are so big of people involved. It does sound like, and it does seem, according to what police have been saying, that this was indeed a deliberate act. And it was a hired car that he drove into crowds at the Christmas market. And I think that's what's really shocked people. You know, it's a time when people would be relaxing and enjoying the festive season. And Christmas markets are, of course, a big tradition across the country. And, you know, that that just makes this an even more horrendous and horrific situation for all those involved. And that's why officials now and politicians have been coming out expressing their sadness and sorrow at this tragic event.
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Nicola Coughlan
And sadly, not the first attack on a Christmas market in Germany.
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Unknown Host
Yes, that's right. So, as you'll remember, in 2016, there was a terrible attack on a market here in Berlin, not far from where I'm standing right now, committed by an Islamistic extremists. And that shifted the debate in Germany. In that attack, 12 people were killed. And this was at a time when there were large numbers of asylum seekers coming to Germany. And, you know, there had been a feeling of welcome to a lot of those people, and Germany had been coping well with the influx of lots of new people who were seeking asylum and refuge here. But what we saw after that attack, that the. The political debate shifted to a certain extent and it gave a boost to the far right AfD party, which had been a new party on the scene in politics in Germany. And it also, I think it's fair to say, shifted the rhetoric slightly and made the debate around migration a lot more heated and in some quarters, quite toxic. And I think that'll be the worry about this attack as well. We still know very little about the suspect and we don't know why he committed it. And I think that'll be the next question about why he carried out this terrible attack at a festive time of celebration for people.
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Nicola Coughlan
And briefly, Germany in political turmoil. Anyway, just now with an election just weeks away.
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Unknown Host
Yeah, that's right. It is, of course, a very uncertain time for Germany. There are snap elections coming up in February after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's coalition collapsed in November. So politically, it's quite an uncertain time. And economically, the country is. The economy is effectively stalled. So there's lots of uncertainties around in Germany now. And I think you know, the last thing the country needs is a terror attack in the run up to Christmas. So I think that that will make people even more nervous. And of course the idea of a terror attack in the run up to Christmas has been something people have been talking about for a long time and hoping would not happen. But of course, unfortunately the tragedy has happened this evening and that's why people will be mourning across Germany tonight.
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Nicola Coughlan
Damien McGuinness in Berlin. Officials say the perpetrator was a 50 year old Saudi doctor who arrived in Germany in 2006 and had indefinite right to remain. The police believe he was acting alone. Our security correspondent Frank Gardner has this assessment of the incident.
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Frank Gardner
There are often more than one reason why somebody would want to do this. It's not always purely terrorism, it's not purely ideology, it can be mental. There could be all sorts of reasons stress that they're undergoing. They might have been fired, they might have, their wife or partner has left them, they might be extremely upset about something. There have been a number of similar attacks like this. For example, there was one in Nice some years ago where a Tunisian man used a lorry to mow down. A large number of people around 80 were killed in the city of Nice in southern France. In this case a 50 year old Saudi Arabian doctor. That's very unusual for a number of reasons. Very few of the terrorist suspects in Europe have been Saudis. Now obviously the 911 plot involved a lot of Saudis but that was a long time ago, 23 years ago. 50 is quite old and it's, it's odd this. I mean a lot of things that don't really kind of stack up. There was no particular warning that, not sure that there was any particular spike in, in traffic or gossip or chatter as it's known as in intelligence circles, about an imminent attack. That said, only two months ago here in the UK, the Director General of MI5, Ken McCallum said Look, we're dealing with a huge number of state threats, specifically Russia and Iran, but also terrorism hasn't gone away and over 70% of the terrorism cases that they're dealing with are Islamist inspired, I.e. al Qaeda or ISIS inspired, where people have got a grudge against the west generally for its policies, largely in the Middle East.
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Nicola Coughlan
Frank Gardner, a senior US diplomat has said that Washington is scrapping a reward for the arrest of Syria's new leader, Ahmed Al Sharar. Barbara Leaf was speaking after the first meeting between senior American diplomats and de facto leaders of Syria. It was described as positive. Other Western Democrats, diplomats have already met officials from the HTS Islamist group which overthrew President Assad. It's still designated as a terrorist group by Washington, but delisting it would ease the path towards sanctions relief that the new Syrian authorities need. Our correspondent Lena Sinjab is in Damascus. She gave us this update.
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Lina Sinjab
They said that they were productive and detailed and they went into discussing variety of issues but most importantly discussing the transition to a Syria led government that is representative and inclusive of the whole society. They've discussed the issue of the security and stability in Syria, regional stability and also, you know, some US interest especially related to the missing Americans in Syria during Assad's time. On top of them, Austin Thiest who went missing in 2012 and that they are still looking for traces of his whereabouts. And they will continue to do so in cooperation with this new leadership and other partners on the ground inside Syria.
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Nicola Coughlan
And the Americans say they're also hoping there'll be no role for Iran in the new Syria.
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Lina Sinjab
They basically said that Iran had, you know, messed up inside Syria. They've been part of the killing in Syria and they shouldn't have any role in future Syria. While other, you know, regional countries who supported Syria, like Turkey, they will have, you know, different relationship with the country. They basically stress that this the most important thing is the stability and sovereignty of Syria and also maintaining security that will enforce security for the Syrian government, for Syrian territory, but also for regional countries.
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Nicola Coughlan
What are the Americans hoping to achieve with these talks?
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Lina Sinjab
They are taking baby steps towards their relationship inside Syria. They haven't mentioned anything about lifting sanctions that have been imposed on the country during the Assad time because of Assad atrocities. Nor mentioned, you know, that they will be discussing or thinking about delisting Hayat Tahrir Sham as designated terror group. However, they also committed to supporting the Syrian society and providing some aid into the country. But the lifting the sanctions that will help rebuilding the destroyed parts of Syria, that's something that's still not on the table yet.
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Nicola Coughlan
Lina Sinjab as the new Syria struggles to take shape, old threats are re emerging. The chaos since the overthrow of Bashar Al Assad is paving the way for the Islamic State group to make a comeback. That's according to a leading Kurdish commander, General Mazum Abdi, who helped defeat the jihadist group in Syria in 2019. He's told the BBC that is activity has increased significantly in recent weeks. The general heads the mainly Kurdish SDF, a force backed by the US. They're also responsible for holding around 10,000 IS suspects in Syria's Kurdish northeast. Our senior international correspondent Ola Guerin was given rare access to the largest IS prison there.
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Orla Guerin
It's extremely rare to get access inside these walls. There's iron gate after iron gate all along this corridor. There are numbered cells. There are guards here, all of them with their faces covered, one standing outside each of the cells. Medaba We've been allowed to get a look inside one of the cells, but we've been told we can't speak to the men. The cell is quite full. There are men sitting on the ground, lining both sides, sitting on blankets and thin mattresses. This is the biggest detention center for IS prisoners. Most of the men being held here were with IS until the group made its last stand. Kurdish security sources tell us they were deeply committed to the IS ideology. What happens to these prisoners is one of the big questions facing this country. Hello, I'm Orla from BBC tv. We were taken to meet a detainee who didn't want to be named. He's 28 and hoping one day to get back to Australia. He said he was speaking freely, but on the key questions, he had little to say. Do you have blood on your hands? Were you involved in killing anybody with is?
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Unknown Host
No, I wasn't.
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Orla Guerin
Did you support what they were doing, what IS was doing?
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Unknown Host
I don't wish to answer that question.
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Unknown Analyst
Because it maybe affect my case. Yes, skip that question, if that's okay.
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Orla Guerin
This was is in its heyday in the city of Raqqa in 2014. It brutalized one third of Syria and Iraq before it was driven out five years later. A key role in that defeat was played by the SDF, mostly Kurdish forces backed by the U.S. general Masloom Abdi, commander of the SD, tells us is is now gearing up again.
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Frank Gardner
Of course, since the fall of the.
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Unknown Host
Regime, there are more factors allowing IS to get stronger.
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Frank Gardner
We see it in many areas.
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Unknown Host
They have more capabilities and more chances. The prisons are more dangerous and face more threat of attack.
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Frank Gardner
The danger has doubled compared to before.
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Orla Guerin
And the hope has grown in places like Roj Camp. It's a bleak and windswept expanse of tents, home to almost 3,000 women and children, never tried or convicted. They are the families of IS fighters and supporters. I'm with the manager of the camp. For security reasons, she doesn't want to be named. Can I ask you what has the mood in the camp been like since the fall of the Assad regime?
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Unknown Host
They have started to hope and believe that someone will come to free them.
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Nicola Coughlan
They've packed their Bags ready to go.
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Orla Guerin
They say we will get out of.
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Unknown Host
This camp soon and renew ourselves. We will come back again as is. Even their children have changed after these events. If you pass them by, they will say some slogans and swear at you and say it meaning is is coming soon. We will come back soon and get you.
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Orla Guerin
There are growing fears that IS will attempt to free its people from camps and prisons here in the Northeast. That's just one of the threats facing the new Syria.
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Nicola Coughlan
That report by Orla Gurin. In a world where we so often hear of the threat to endangered species and of species becoming extinct, it's heartening to hear new ones are still being discovered. An expedition to Peru's Alta Mayo region has discovered 27 new species, including an amphibious mouse with webbed feet and a blob headed fish. Nestling between the Andes and the Amazon, Alta Mayo is a lush patchwork of jungles, wetlands and mountainous terrain. Trond Larsen was the expedition lead. He's senior director for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Science at Conservation International. Julian Marshall asked him if they knew they might come across something new in the animal world.
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Trond Larsen
We led this Rapid Assessment Program expedition to the Alto Maya landscape with a grander vision of really filling the knowledge gaps that are needed to establish a new conservation corridor. And a big part of that is really identifying where the most important biodiversity is in the landscape. And that includes the discovery of species that may be new to science as well as species that are already known but that are rare or that are threatened with extinction. And so the results of the study really show where a lot of these high priority places are for conservation.
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Nicola Coughlan
And it all happened very quickly. As far as I understand, day one, a new species of climbing salamander. And shortly after, a new species of butterfly.
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Trond Larsen
Yes, the discovery started to come in fast and furious. It's really an incredible dynamic and diverse landscape. We have cities and towns and territories of indigenous peoples and local communities, but also fragments and larger pieces of these wild ecosystems of all different forest types and swamps and cloud forests. So just hugely varied and amazing terrain across the landscape where all of this biodiversity as well as people are thriving.
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Nicola Coughlan
And you got very excited about the amphibious mouse.
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Trond Larsen
I did get excited about the amphibious mouse because it belongs to this group of carnivorous semi aquatic rodents. On past expeditions, you know, we always search for this group of rodents and they're almost mythical because they're just so difficult to find and so naturally rare in most cases. And many species are just known by one or a few individuals. So finding any is really exciting. And to find one new to science is really thrilling.
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Nicola Coughlan
And as you say, you discovered these for science, but the people who live there live alongside these creatures, which is encouraging.
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Trond Larsen
It is encouraging. And we worked closely with indigenous Oahun people who have a lot of extensive traditional knowledge of the area. They were able to point the scientists to some of the best places where they could find really interesting species and things, like the blob headed fish, which one of the incredible new species discoveries we made is something that's very well known to the O'Lahoon people, and it's one of the fish that they catch and regularly eat for food.
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Nicola Coughlan
Tell me a little bit more about the blob headed fish, because it sounds extraordinary.
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Trond Larsen
It really is bizarre and extraordinary. It's a type of armored catfish and what's interesting is it looks like its close relatives in every way, except that it has this massive extension on the end of its head. It's hard to describe it as anything other than a giant blob, almost like a big strange nose. And the scientists have never seen anything like it. And we really have no clue what its function is.
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Nicola Coughlan
So the discovery of 27 new species, but you reckon there's a lot more out there?
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Trond Larsen
Yeah, we have at least 48 additional species that are potentially new to science, that require further study. And there's also many species that are known but are really rare and threatened, many of them actually critically endangered According to the IUCNament Red List of species, which is the highest threat level they could be in.
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Nicola Coughlan
I mean, overall, is the discovery of new species outpacing the extinction of existing species?
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Trond Larsen
Well, that's hard to say. And of course, the discovery of new species doesn't necessarily change their conservation status, but it does help us to understand where things live, what things might have restricted ranges and be threatened with extinction, and ultimately to come up with better ways to make sure that they continue to survive into the future.
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Nicola Coughlan
Trond Larsen of Conservation International. Still to come, the Chinese President Xi Jinping has been in Macau celebrating the 25th anniversary of its handover from Portugal to Chinese rule. I'm Nicola Coughlan and for BBC Radio 4, this is History's youngest heroes. Rebellion, risk and the radical power of youth. She thought, right, I'll just do it. She thought about others rather than herself. Twelve stories of extraordinary young people from across history.
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Unknown Analyst
There's a real sense of urgency in them. That resistance has to be mounted. It has to be mounted now.
- [20:23]
Nicola Coughlan
Follow history's youngest hero wherever you get your podcasts. The Japanese government says it will come up with a plan in the next few months for the disposal of 14 million cubic meters of radioactive soil from Fukushima. The soil is currently stored at a site covering 16 square kilometers. Mickey Bristow reports.
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Orla Guerin
Like many things, the soil was contaminated following the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear facility in 2011. Much of it is topsoil collected in.
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Lina Sinjab
Order to decontaminate vast areas surrounding the plant.
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Nicola Coughlan
Japan plans to use the least radioactive soil in civil engineering projects such as road embankments. More heavily contaminated soil will be disposed of.
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Orla Guerin
The International Atomic Energy Agency has approved the proposal. But as with the discharge of water.
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Nicola Coughlan
From the plant, some people will not be happy. Mickey Bristow, the Chinese president Xi Jinping has been in Macau celebrating the 25th anniversary of its handover from Portugal to Chinese rule. Chinese TV live streamed the day's events, showing children with flowers lining the streets. There were visits to Macau's Science and Technology University and a Chinese military garrison. It was also an important day politically, as Macau's new leader, Sum Ho fai, was inaugurated and President Xi was keen to point out the success of the city. Since 1999.
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Frank Gardner
Macau residents enjoy more rights and freedoms than at any time in history. And the political and social foundation of one country, two systems has become more solid.
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Nicola Coughlan
But the Special Administrative Region on the southern tip of mainland China is most famous for its casinos. Millions of Chinese tourists flock there to gamble, and President Xi also called on the city to diversify and cultivate new industries. So could we see Macau change? I spoke to our China media analyst, Kerry Allen.
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Unknown Analyst
Absolutely. And today there's been a real emphasis on that. The suggestion that 25 years on, that Macau has gone from being what some media have described as a backdrop for a lot of gangster films, it's a city associated with casinos. Instead, there's been an emphasis that it's become sports hub, it hosts the Grand Prix. It's becoming a growing place for education, development, that Macau is going to be a real development hotspot in the next few years. For example, its GDP in 2023 was seven times what it was before handover. So there's a real emphasis that it's not just a city full of casinos.
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Nicola Coughlan
The phrase many people use to describe Macau is one country, two systems. We've heard that phrase before in the region.
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Unknown Analyst
Yes, we have. Yes. It's something that's also used to describe Hong Kong. And generally, the idea is that both Hong Kong and Macau are under the umbrella of China, even though they have their own separate governments that falls under the umbrella of the Beijing Communist Party government. So in a lot of respects, what you get in Macau and Hong Kong is more press freedom, you get more local development that isn't the same as mainland China. And also it's worth noting that Hong Kong's chief executive is also been at these events today. So there's really a message of all three regions coming together, but for China's overall development.
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Nicola Coughlan
And how well is one country, two systems going down in Macau?
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Unknown Analyst
Well, in Macau, it's always been regarded as the good boy or the good girl when it comes to its relationship with the central government. The chief executive has always been a one horse race. So it's always been known that there's going to be a toeing of the party line, working very, very closely with China. You don't as much with Hong Kong. In fact, we know in recent years there have been lots of demonstrations and protests in the city. There's a lot of British expats who might want to change the status quo and not work so closely. Kind of look back on the British era much more fondly than under China's reign. But Macau's not had that relationship. It's very much been regarded as very much toeing the party line and as a result developing at a fast rate. That's how Communist Party media often report.
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Nicola Coughlan
That the BBC's China Media Analyst Kerry Allen Netflix has secured exclusive rights to show the next two women's Football World cup tournaments in the United States. It's the first time the streaming platform has acquired live rights to a sports competition in full. Here's Elettra Naismith.
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Lina Sinjab
The deal was announced by football's world governing body, FIFA, which said it was a landmark moment for sports media rights and for the women's game. Fans in the US and in Puerto Rico will be able to watch every match in the 2027 tournament in Brazil and in the 2031 competition live. Netflix is promising an unprecedented celebration of women's football with exclusive documentaries and star studded studio shows, reinforcing the tournament status as the single biggest women's sporting event on the planet.
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Nicola Coughlan
Electra Naismith Stonehenge the huge stone circle in southern England has long been thought of as a religious monument. Now a leading archaeologist and authority on says he believes it was built for political reasons, to unite early farming communities and not specifically for religious worship. Earlier this year it was discovered that the altar stone, which is laid flat in the middle of the monument, could only have come from northern Scotland. The other upright stones that make up the circle are from West Wales. Professor Mike Parker Pearson from University College London told James Menendez about his theory.
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Frank Gardner
We're looking at a time in prehistory when politics and religion were two sides of the same coin. I think there's been a misunderstanding for hundreds of years that Stonehenge was some kind of temple. I'm coming around increasingly to the idea that it's really a monument, that it was built to remember, monumentalize. It's particularly the ancestors. And the stones, of course, coming from different parts of Britain are indicative of where those people's ancestors resided. Might seem odd. Why would you want to put huge stones in your luggage and pull them hundreds of miles? But of course, we've got to understand that these stones were more than just objects. These must have been emblems of identity and ancestral belonging. So to actually move them from one part of the country to the other is making a huge statement about joining in and belonging within a wider and larger territorial.
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Unknown Host
That political statement. Was it trying to forge unity or trying to commemorate some sort of unity?
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Frank Gardner
I think what they're trying to do is to construct it. The moment that the altar stone arrived at Stonehenge, as far as we can gauge, around 2,500 BC. So that's four and a half thousand years ago. That's a really pivotal moment in not just British, but European prehistory with the arrival of groups from the continent of Europe. So it may well have been that this indeed was part of a legitimation of the sense of unity, which, of course, was very much under discussion and possibly under threat.
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Nicola Coughlan
Professor Mike Parker Pearson and that's all from us for now, but 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 globalpodcastbc.co.uk. you can also find us on X Global Newspod. This edition was mixed by Chris Hanson. The producer was Liam McSheffrey. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Danny Cox. Until next time. Goodbye.
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Lina Sinjab
Hello, I'm Katya Adler, host of the Global Story podcast from the BBC. Each weekday we break down one big new story with fresh perspectives from journalists around the world.
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Nicola Coughlan
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Lina Sinjab
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Unknown Host
That touch our lives.
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Lina Sinjab
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- [29:06]
Orla Guerin
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Unknown Host
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