Israel launches ground offensive on Gaza City

Summary

Global News Podcast: Israel Launches Ground Offensive on Gaza City

BBC World Service — September 16, 2025
Host: Celia Hatton

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Episode Overview

This episode focuses on the rapidly evolving crisis in Gaza as Israel begins a sweeping ground offensive in Gaza City, the humanitarian fallout, and major diplomatic consequences following a historic UN finding of genocide. In addition, the episode covers a harrowing account of a Ukrainian civilian's release from Russian captivity, pays tribute to the late actor and director Robert Redford, tracks global competition in the artificial intelligence sector, and explores the true story behind Marie Antoinette.

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Key Stories and Insights

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1. Israel’s Ground Offensive on Gaza City

[00:06–04:49]

• The Situation: Israel has launched a much-anticipated full-scale ground operation into the center of Gaza City, described by Israel as a Hamas stronghold. Over 40 deaths are confirmed, with many more missing. Palestinians are digging through rubble hoping to find survivors.

• On-the-Ground Voices:

  • A Gaza rescuer:

    “There was heavy bombardment. We took out many, many martyrs and injured, some serious and some minor. The situation was very, very difficult.” (03:04)

  • A bereaved Gazan:

    "This man's cousin died when a concrete block fell on her. He said he'd been digging through piles of concrete with his bare hands.” (03:07)

• Israeli Military’s Perspective:
  Yolan Nell (BBC Middle East Correspondent) outlines Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz’s declaration that "Gaza is burning," and describes massive bombing as a prelude to the invasion.

  • "The Israeli military said...it had hit with its air force more than 850...terror targets in the past week and hundreds of what it called terrorists in Gaza City...a night of hell." (03:36)

• Civilian Exodus:
  Approximately 40% of Gaza City’s residents have fled; "the coastal road...is absolutely jammed with people trying to head out." (03:36–04:49)

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2. Hostage Families’ Protest in Israel

[04:49–05:47]

• Hostage Families Camp Outside Netanyahu’s Residence:
  Protesting families demand the offensive be halted to protect their loved ones held in Gaza.
  • Yolan Nell:

    "They say that Benjamin Netanyahu prioritizes his own political future over the well-being of their loved ones..." (05:01)

  • Still, as many as 20 out of 48 known hostages are thought to be alive.

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3. UN Concludes Israel Has Committed Genocide

[05:47–10:39]

• Historic UN Announcement:
  For the first time, the UN Commission of Inquiry accuses Israel of genocide in Gaza, citing "deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to destroy" Palestinians.

  • Navi Pillay (Inquiry Team Leader):

    “The acts were killing and causing bodily harm and mental harm, destruction of cultural, religious and educational structures and facilities, the siege, starvation and the blocking of humanitarian aid, destruction of the health care system, sexual and gender based violence, direct targeting of children. So all that's been covered and that's when we conclude that it's genocide.” (06:40)

• Israel’s Rebuttal:
  Daniel Mehran, Israeli ambassador to the UN, called the report "distorted and false...another fake report about Gaza." (07:33–07:50)

• Analysis:
  Imogen Foulkes (BBC Geneva):

  • The report’s significance stems from its strict methodology and its direct attribution of intent to Israeli leaders, including Netanyahu, Herzog, and Gallant.

  • “[The UN commission] is the most senior type of investigative body...Navi Pillay herself is a leading international lawyer and human rights expert.” (09:30)

  • Despite the rigor, “Israel has firmly rejected [these] suggestions...But the world is divided...so whether it will have any effect in reducing the violence, I think that’s perhaps doubtful.” (10:39)

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4. Ukrainian Civilians in Russian Captivity

[10:39–16:08]

• Personal Story:
  Dmytro, a Ukrainian journalist, is released after more than three years in Russian detention; he recounts beatings and psychological trauma.

  • “They grabbed us and dragged us to the prison, and on the way they beat us with rubber batons, shouting things like, ‘How many people have you killed?’ And sometimes they let the dog off its leash so that it could bite us.” (12:52–13:07)

• Family Impact:
  His return is emotional for his parents and serves as a rare happy ending — Russia still holds more than 16,000 Ukrainian civilians (14:25–15:24).

  • Dmytro's mother:

    "We were crying so much. I'm going to cry now too, because I can't control my emotions...we haven't seen our son for three and a half years." (14:25)

• Ongoing Ordeals:
  Many families, like that of Vladimir (still detained), endure years of uncertainty.

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5. Obituary: Robert Redford (1936–2025)

[16:08–20:51]

• Career Highlights:

  • Rose to fame with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
  • Oscar-winning director for Ordinary People
  • Founder of the Sundance Institute and Festival

• Notable Quotes:

  • On early life:

    “The fact that I wanted to be an artist, that was not an easy sell...I had to make up something. I told everyone I wanted to be an art director. And so somebody said, well, if you want to be an art director, you should have some dramatic training. So that led me to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. I was very shy, and it was very embarrassing to have to do it.” (17:05)

  • On filmmaking:

    “The more humanistic side of cinema is always what's interested me. Where the really great stories are to be told.” (19:48)

  • Reflection:

    “Where I'm going, I just think of myself as that little kid I was.” (20:39)

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6. Tensions in the Occupied West Bank

[23:59–27:18]

• Palestinian Filmmaker Basil Adra’s Testimony:
  Adra, an award-winning journalist, describes attacks by Israeli settlers, subsequent Israeli military raids on his village, and being targeted as an activist.

  • "The settlers brought their sheep to destroy our olive trees...then the army came, blocked the village...soldiers raided my village...search[ed] the house, the activist space that it's under my house and then my parent’s home." (24:30)

  • "All Palestinians are target for the Israeli occupation, all Palestinian life at risk. Yes, they target more the loud voices..." (26:28)

• Israeli Military View:
  Israeli officials say soldiers acted in response to rock-throwing and were searching the area for suspects.

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7. Argentina’s Economic Policy Shift

[27:18–30:26]

• President Javier Milei's Announcement:
  After electoral defeats and societal backlash, Argentina’s president promises to relax austerity and increase spending on health, pensions, and education.

  • "If we add our planned reforms, we could see sustained annual growth of 7 or 8%...in 30 years we would be on the podium of global powers." (28:10)

  • Widespread protests reflect skepticism, especially in healthcare and public sectors.
    • Katie Silver (BBC):

      "Apparently there has also been a huge increase in homelessness as well in the country since he took office." (29:29)

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8. AI Investment & Infrastructure Divide

[30:26–34:13]

• Alphabet’s (Google) $7B UK AI Investment:
  The UK welcomes a major influx of funds to expand AI research and data centers. In contrast, countries like Argentina scramble to keep up; small university labs repurpose outdated hardware.

  • Nicholas Vulovic (Argentina):

    “We use very old servers...and we repurposed them adding GPUs...It was the only way to get something related to AI working.” (31:45–32:08)

• African Perspectives:
  Kenyan startup founders discuss inconvenient workarounds due to lack of local compute power.

  • "...when Americans have gone to sleep, they're able to run their work. Before Europe wakes up, you're able to run their work." (33:09–33:28)

• European Strategies:
  Rise in European “sovereign cloud” providers amid data sovereignty concerns.

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9. Marie Antoinette: Humanizing the Queen

[34:13–36:57]

• First Major Exhibition in London:
  Oxford’s Professor Catriona Seth re-examines Marie Antoinette, arguing she was misunderstood and victimized by public opinion.

  • "She’s a very modern figure in many ways, because public opinion attacked her quite often for things for which she wasn’t responsible...She certainly wasn’t the monster she was made into...” (34:53)

  • "She’s generous with her friends, too generous, often doesn’t see that she’s been taken advantage of...She’s someone who in many ways would have liked to have lived a much more discreet life..." (35:24)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Navi Pillay (UN):

  “Genocide is happening. We went to the facts first. The facts must tell us that, yes, there’s the intention.” (06:40)

• Yolan Nell (BBC):

  "People have been telling us they don’t know where to go...many people are saying that they don’t find places of shelter." (03:36)

• Dmytro (Ukrainian journalist):

  “They grabbed us and dragged us to the prison, and on the way they beat us with rubber batons...” (12:52)

• Basil Adra (Palestinian journalist):

  “All Palestinians are target for the Israeli occupation, all Palestinian life at risk. Yes, they target more the loud voices...” (26:28)

• Robert Redford:

  "The more humanistic side of cinema is always what's interested me. Where the really great stories are to be told." (19:48)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Ground Offensive in Gaza: 00:06–04:49
• Hostage Families’ Protest: 04:49–05:47
• UN Genocide Finding & Reactions: 05:47–10:39
• Ukrainian Prisoner Release: 10:39–16:08
• Robert Redford Tribute: 16:08–20:51
• West Bank Tensions (Basil Adra): 23:59–27:18
• Argentina Economic Policy: 27:18–30:26
• AI Investment Gap: 30:26–34:13
• Marie Antoinette Exhibition: 34:13–36:57

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Conclusion

This episode provides urgent updates from conflict zones, delivers in-depth reporting on dramatic global events, and covers wide-ranging topics across culture, tech, and history. The tone remains serious, empathetic, and focused on human stories amid seismic political and societal developments.

Transcript

[Celia Hatton]

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.

[Narrator/Reporter]

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[Dmytro (Ukrainian journalist)]

The situation was very, very bad.

[Narrator/Reporter]

This man's cousin died when a concrete block fell on her. He said he'd been digging through piles of concrete with his bare hands. As they have no equipment to help them. I don't know what kind of planes, weapons or explosives they are bringing in.

[Robert Redford (voice clips)]

To kill children here in Gaza, why.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Our children are sleeping in God's safety when they strike them, kill them and turn them to remains. I got the latest from our Middle east correspondent, Yolan Nell.

[Yolan Nell (Middle East correspondent)]

The Israeli military said that it had hit with its air force more than 850 what it called terror targets in the past week and hundreds of what it called terrorists in Gaza City as well, saying this was part of the effort to degrade Hamas infrastructure and prepare for the deployment of the troops. What we've been hearing from people on the ground is that it was a night of hell. They said this was a massive bombing campaign, really relentless. There was artillery shelling, shelling from the sea, Israeli airstrikes as well. And this has led to thousands more people trying to make their way out of Gaza City and head south. The Israeli military spokesman for Arabic has said that about 40% of Gaza City residents have now left. We haven't got the latest estimate from the UN but there are these really telling scenes on the coastal road. It's absolutely jammed with people who are trying to head out, many of them on foot, others in vehicles that are piled up. People have been telling us they don't know where to go. You know, when they try to head to the center, the south of the Gaza Strip, many people are saying that they don't find places of shelter.

[Narrator/Reporter]

So we have this bombardment of Gaza City. While in Israel, hostage families have been camping outside the Israeli Prime Minister's house. What's their message for Benjamin Netanyahu?

[Yolan Nell (Middle East correspondent)]

So they have said they're going to stay outside the Israeli Prime Minister's residence while this offensive continues in Gaza. They're demanding that it should be stopped for the sake of their loved ones, saying that it puts them in danger. It's still thought that as many as 20 of the hostages out of 48 held in Gaza by Hamas and Islamic Jihad that they are still alive. And the hostage families really, they've been putting out statements through the morning just expressing their despair at the state of events. They say that Benjamin Netanyahu prioritizes his own political future over the well being of their loved ones. They say he's doing everything to Ensure that there is no ceasefire deal to bring back the hostages.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Yolah Nel in Jerusalem. Still with Gaza, the United nations has made a consequential announcement. UN investigators concluded for the first time since the war there began that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians living inside the Gaza Strip. The term genocide isn't used lightly. The United Nations Commission of Inquiry says in its report that after examining the actions of Israel and Israeli forces in detail, it's concluded that Israel has carried out actions against Gazans that satisfy four key elements defining genocide, including deliberately inflicting conditions calculated to destroy that group and preventing births. The investigation team leader is the former Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay, who's spoken to the BBC. We took two years to reach this conclusion. It's easy to proclaim the outcome. Genocide is happening. We went to the facts first. The facts must tell us that, yes, there's the intention. So the acts were killing and causing bodily harm and mental harm, destruction of cultural, religious and educational structures and facilities, the siege, starvation and the blocking of humanitarian aid, destruction of the health care system, sexual and gender based violence, direct targeting of children. So all that's been covered and that's when we conclude that it's genocide. Israel has rejected the UN report, describing it as distorted and false. Its ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Daniel Mehran, had this to say about Navi Pillay and her team. Three individuals serving as Hamas proxies, notorious.

[Celia Hatton]

For their openly anti Semitic positions and.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Whose horrific statements about Jews have been condemned worldwide.

[Celia Hatton]

Released today, another fake report about Gaza.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The report relies entirely on Hamas falsehoods.

[Celia Hatton]

Laundered and repeated by others.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Our correspondent Imogen folks is tracking this story for us. She told me the UN report is unusual because it singled out individuals.

[Imogen Folks (UN report correspondent)]

She has named three Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the President Isaac Herzog and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. And what she does is there is analyze statements that they made very much at the beginning of the war. It's the language they used to, for example, Gaza will be reduced to rubble and other quite sweeping statements which seemed very less directed at Hamas, which Israel has insisted is its only target, and directed at garbage. Gaza as a whole and the Palestinian population as a whole. And Navi Pilley described it to me in a very interesting way when I interviewed her. What she said was, we looked at those statements. Since then we have been gathering evidence of how this war is being conducted. Now we're going back and looking at the conduct of the war and those statements. And this is where we see, yes, the Intention from the start, hinted at in those statements was indeed to a genocidal intent to destroy a group.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Imogen, what's the significance of this announcement today? We've heard the word genocide being used by various groups since the start of the war. Really? I mean, what does it mean that this body has come out with this report today?

[Imogen Folks (UN report correspondent)]

Well, this is the most senior type of investigative body that the UN can have a commission of inquiry. We haven't had that many. We've had one for Syria for, for example. Navi Pillay herself, of course, is a leading international lawyer and human rights expert. We know that she led the tribunal on Rwanda, so she knows the genocide laws inside out. We know that Israel has firmly rejected suggestions by human rights groups like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Genocide is taking place. It has rejected this report as well. But the methodology of a UN commission like this is very, very strict. Everything has to be verified, everything has to be factually based. It is a significant report. The world is divided over whether to support Israel or not. Israel has a strong ally in the United States, so whether it will have any effect in reducing the violence, I think that's perhaps doubtful.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Imogen. Folks in Geneva. Since the start of its full scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has been taking civilians prisoner. The two countries swap soldiers quite regularly as prisoners of war. But getting the civilians back is more complicated and many families have had little or no news of their relatives since their detention. Our Eastern Europe correspondent, Sarah Rainsford, has been to meet one man who's just been returned from Russian captivity. A journalist held for over three years with no charge. He's finally back home.

[Dmytro (Ukrainian journalist)]

Dmytro has barely been off his phone ever since he was released from a Russian prison. The journalist has three, three and a half years of news to catch up on. But he's also calling the families of all the other Ukrainians he met in captivity, because for some, it could be their first confirmation that a relative is still alive. Dmytro was brought back to Ukraine in the latest prisoner swap on a bus, together with dozens of painfully thin soldiers. Cross crowds lined the streets with flags and chants of welcome. Dmytro's first phone call was to tell his elderly mum he was home. Eight civilians were freed by Russia this time, which is very rare because Ukraine doesn't have a pool of people to swap for them. Taking civilian prisoners is against the rules of war. I met Mitro soon after his release at the hospital where he's been getting checks and recuperating.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The hardest was not knowing when you'll be allowed back.

[Celia Hatton]

You could be freed the next day.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Or stay prisoner for 10 years. Nobody knows how long it's for.

[Dmytro (Ukrainian journalist)]

What he told me about captivity itself was chilling.

[Narrator/Reporter]

They grabbed us and dragged us to the prison, and on the way they beat us with rubber batons, shouting things.

[Celia Hatton]

Like, how many people have you killed?

[Narrator/Reporter]

And sometimes they had let the dog off its leash so that it could bite us.

[Dmytro (Ukrainian journalist)]

The journalist was never charged with any crime. It's about an hour's drive out of Kyiv to Dimitro's family house in the village, just walking through the garden to meet his parents. With its poultry and its pear trees, this village feels peaceful now. But the back of Dmytro's house has chunks torn out of it by Shrapnel. In 2022, the whole area was occupied by Russian troops. Dmytro's dad, Vasyl, remembers how the two men were then captured, bound and blindfolded, and then left in a basement. Vasile was eventually set free, but for months he was terrified. Mitro had been killed. Chili at Demo. He shows me the tiny slip of paper that then arrived from a Russian prison, just two lines from Dmytro to tell his parents he was alive. Now he's free. His mother, Khalina, is overwhelmed.

[Narrator/Reporter]

We were crying so much. I'm going to cry now too, because I can't control my emotions. Dima told me not to cry anymore, but we haven't seen our son for three and a half years.

[Dmytro (Ukrainian journalist)]

Just down the road from them is baby Yaroslav, and he's never seen his grandfather. Vladimir was detained by the Russians at the same time as Dmytro and in the same way. But he hasn't come home. Russia is still holding 43 civilian prisoners from just this one area. And across Ukraine, 16,000 civilians are missing. I ask Vera, Vladimir's wife, how she copes.

[Narrator/Reporter]

It's really hard. We smile, yes, but it's really tough because I had a husband and now I don't. It's the uncertainty that's the hardest.

[Dmytro (Ukrainian journalist)]

She wants the government to do more, but Ukraine can't return Russian soldiers to get back its civilians, because then it fears Moscow would take more people hostage. For Dmytro's parents, the wait is almost over. He'll be home, here to join them soon, when he's fit. His mother jokes that she has a long list of jobs for him. In fact, she can barely mention his name without crying. The years of fear and separation have done deep damage here to this family and to thousands more.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The Hollywood actor and Director Robert Redford has died at the age of 89. Robert Redford became a huge star with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in 1969. He also went on to direct his first film as director. Ordinary People won four Oscars. Vincent Doubt looks back on Robert Redford's long career.

[Celia Hatton]

He became a huge star. But starting out, Robert Redford played countless small roles in films and on TV. In 1960, the TV Western Tate was typical.

[Robert Redford (voice clips)]

They took his life away from me. I took theirs away from them.

[Celia Hatton]

Redford had been born in Santa Monica to a family he later called lower working class. He did not do well educationally. In his late teens, he went to Europe to find himself as a painter. But he moved back to America, this time to New York.

[Robert Redford (voice clips)]

The fact that I wanted to be an artist, that was not an easy sell. You know, I had to make up something. I told everyone I wanted to be an art director. And so somebody said, well, if you want to be an art director, you should have some dramatic training. So that led me to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. I was very shy, and it was very embarrassing to have to do it.

[Celia Hatton]

His first Broadway role was in 1959. But stardom arrived when Redford was 27 in the Neil Simon play Barefoot in the Park. In demand now as a hugely handsome leading man on screen, he starred in the movie version opposite Jane Fonda.

[Robert Redford (voice clips)]

Is this what life is going to be like for the next 50 years, Paul?

[Narrator/Reporter]

I think I'm going to be a lousy wife. But don't be angry with me. I love you very much and I'm very sexy.

[Celia Hatton]

As America changed, Robert Redford's screen presence felt modern, sometimes even countercultural. The next film was a big popular hit with Paul Newman.

[Robert Redford (voice clips)]

You're a hell of a card player, fella. I know. Cause I'm a hell of a card player and I can't even spot how you're cheating. We seem to be a little short on brotherly love around here. If you're with him, you better get yourselves out of here. Come. I wasn't cheating. I wasn't cheating. You can die. For that matter, you can both die.

[Celia Hatton]

After Butch Cassidy came work as varied as the Sting, again with Paul Newman and the spy drama Three Days of the Condor.

[Narrator/Reporter]

This is a major. This is Joe Turner.

[Basil Adra (Palestinian filmmaker and journalist)]

What is your Designation?

[Robert Redford (voice clips)]

Condor. Section 9, Department 17. The section's been hit. Everybody is dead.

[Celia Hatton]

Liberal of opinion and deeply into politics, Redford was the thinking person's film star, such as in Watergate drama or the President's Men. He Played a journalist.

[Robert Redford (voice clips)]

This is Bob Woodward of the Washington Post. Yes, about that twenty five thousand dollar check deposited in the bank account of one of the Watergate burglars, Mr. Bernard Barker. The check has your name on it. How do you think your check got into the bank account of Watergate burglary? The film all the President's Men, you know, is not a political film. It's really more about reporting, investigative reporting. How it works, this incredible detective story. How the clues and how these people stumbled into half of it.

[Celia Hatton]

In 1980, he fulfilled an ambition to direct. Ordinary People earned him an Oscar nomination as best director.

[Basil Adra (Palestinian filmmaker and journalist)]

And the winner is Robert Redford.

[Celia Hatton]

Redford directed eight more feature films in the early 80s. He started the Sundance Institute to encourage independent filmmaking. The annual Sundance festival became a big influence on the movie industry.

[Robert Redford (voice clips)]

I could see the way the industry was moving in 1980, that it was likely that we were going to be maybe abrogating that space that was given over to more diverse fare. But to me, the more the humanistic side of cinema is always what's interested me. Where the really great stories are to be told. That was the objective. Didn't know it was going to work.

[Celia Hatton]

When in 2018 he made the Old man and the Gun, he said it would be his last outing as a film star. Playing an aging bank robber, There was an echo of Butch Cassidy.

[Robert Redford (voice clips)]

Let's take this place, say it was a bank. Gotta feel right. The timing has to feel right. And when it does feel right, you make your move. So you walk right up and you say, ma', am, this is a robbery.

[Celia Hatton]

From a background far from privileged, a combination of looks, talent and ambition made Robert Redford one of the most admired and influential figures in American cinema.

[Robert Redford (voice clips)]

Where I'm going, I just think of myself as that little kid I was.

[Narrator/Reporter]

So is he proud of you, that little boy?

[Robert Redford (voice clips)]

Oh, he's getting closer every day.

[Narrator/Reporter]

A tribute to Robert Redford, the actor and director turned activist who's died at the age of 89. Later popular target of rumor and gossip in the 18th century. We'll hear about the real Marie Antoinette.

[Katrina Seth (Professor of French literature)]

She's a complex woman and I welcome the occasion for us all to see a much more human individual than the sort of cardboard cutouts which we've often been told about.

[Robert Redford (voice clips)]

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[Robert Redford (voice clips)]

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[Narrator/Reporter]

We started this podcast with news from Gaza, and we'll now turn to the other Palestinian territory, the occupied west bank, where there's been an upsurge in tension between Palestinians and Israeli settlers. Palestinian filmmaker and journalist Basil Adra, who won an Oscar for the documentary no Other Land, said Israeli soldiers had raided his home while he was in hospital. It happened after Israeli settlers had first attacked his village. Basil later told us what happened.

[Basil Adra (Palestinian filmmaker and journalist)]

The raid happened after the attacked us on our land. I was together with my brothers, my cousins. The settlers brought their sheep to destroy our olive trees. And we tried to push them out, calling the police to come and to arrest them. More settlers came with rifles with sticks. They attacked us. And then the army came, blocked the village. We were able to have only one Palestinian ambulance and they forced them to wait for half an hour before hospitalizing my a cousin and one of my brothers other brother. We have to take him to the hospital with a private car. When I was in the hospital, soldiers raided my village. They invade my home where my wife together with my nine month old daughter. The soldiers searched the phone of my wife, searched the house, the activist space that it's under my house and then my parents home. When the soldiers forced my wife to open her phone and they called me from it, I didn't hear exactly what they want because I was in hospital. It was a bad connection. And they moved around to the neighbors. They searched their home to another activist's Houses in the village were raided and the village were blocked by a metal gate for a few hours. No one was allowed to go in or out. And next day my lawyer reached out to the Israeli police as they are like the ones should be aware of what's happening and why the army raided my home and they said that I'm not wanted, there's nothing against me.

[Katrina Seth (Professor of French literature)]

There has been an increase in tension, an increase in settler attacks and increased criticism of the Israeli authorities response since the conflict in Gaza began. Do you know whether they were targeting your home, your family specifically, whether they got your wife to call you because.

[Basil Adra (Palestinian filmmaker and journalist)]

Of who you are and the prominent.

[Katrina Seth (Professor of French literature)]

Position that you have?

[Basil Adra (Palestinian filmmaker and journalist)]

All Palestinians are target for the Israeli occupation, All Palestinian life at risk. Yes, they target more the loud voices, voices that speak up against the occupation. Activists like me, like the journalists in Gaza, have been precisely targeted and murdered by Israeli soldiers. They try to go more after like journalists activists, because they want to do crimes and no and they don't want anybody to speak about. And July 28th they killed our beloved brother and amazing activist from the village nearby. And since then Israeli settlers committed like four bloody attacks against us, including they attacked kids, elderly people, women, men. They torture homes and cars.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Palestinian filmmaker and journalist Basil Adra, speaking to Rob Young. Israel's military said soldiers went to the village after Palestinians had thrown rocks, injuring two Israeli civilians. It said its forces were still there, searching the area and questioning people. Now to Argentina, where the president has announced plans to water down his radical economic policies. He's promised to relax his austerity measures and increase spending on pensions, health and education. The policy shift comes after Javier Milei's party suffered a resounding defeat in an important local election earlier this month. In a TV address, he said that the worst is over, but added that it was important to continue with his economic shock therapy.

[Celia Hatton]

If we add our planned reforms, we could see sustained annual growth of 7 or 8%. To put that in perspective, growing at.

[Katrina Seth (Professor of French literature)]

These rates would mean that in 10.

[Celia Hatton]

Years we'd resemble high income countries. In 20 years we'd be among the richest nations in the world. And in 30 years we would be on the podium of global powers.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But not everyone shares President Mile's optimism in Argentina's future. To explain why, Stuart Clarkson spoke with the BBC's Katie Silver.

[Katie Silver (BBC correspondent)]

There have been widespread cuts and indeed protests across the country at some of his austerity measures. I mean, some are very positive when it comes to Malay. They say that he's been very beneficial for the economy. He's seen inflation go down, it was triple digits. Now they're forecasting or hoping for just over 10% next year. So in some ways there are some people who are very supportive, but many are not. So there have been widespread protests, particularly for example from the health care sector. I have contacts and colleagues in Buenos Aires who have talked about, for example, the sheer numbers of doctors that are taking to the streets, the huge cuts that that sectors have faced along with as well, for example, public sector workers. And of course he came to office with that chainsaw promising to drastically cut government spending. And that is something that we have seen well and truly during this time. And I even received an email from somebody saying please mention the homeless, because apparently there has also been a huge increase in homelessness as well in the country since he took office.

[Celia Hatton]

So he's saying the worst is over. What's actually going to change, how might affect people's lives daily.

[Katie Silver (BBC correspondent)]

So they say now that they're still going to be. The Libertarian Party says now that it's still going to be pursuing a solid fiscal program. So basically saying that by all accounts they are going to guarantee a fiscal balance. They call it a rule of fiscal stability and say that if there's any chance that they're going into fiscal deficit, they will cut spending again. But for now they say that they're going to guarantee a fiscal balance and hike funds, particularly when it comes to things like health care, education and pensions. Three of the sectors that have been really cut during this time. The government said that they're going to allocate about 85% of the government budget to that in the coming year.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Now, the US technology company Alphabet, which owns Google, has announced a $7 billion investment in artificial intelligence in the UK. The money is being used to open a new data center and to fund further research into AI and its possible economic benefits. That's all good news for Britain, but other countries are struggling to attract similar investment in this rapidly developing sector. Right now, for example, 90% of the world's data centers are owned by US and Chinese firms. What are other countries doing to keep up? It's something Hannah Mulling has been looking into.

[Basil Adra (Palestinian filmmaker and journalist)]

This is an intermediate place where you.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Just clean your shoes here in order.

[Robert Redford (voice clips)]

To keep the dirt off.

[Various Advertisers/Commercial voices]

Nicholas Vulovic is a computer science professor at the National University of Cordoba in Argentina. He is running what counts as one of his country's most advanced AI computing hubs from a converted room at the university. A stark difference from the infrastructure you might find 5,000km away in the US.

[Robert Redford (voice clips)]

Let's enter.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But the noise will be unbearable.

[Various Advertisers/Commercial voices]

Nicholas has been repurposing a lot of old computer equipment to run the site.

[Basil Adra (Palestinian filmmaker and journalist)]

We are always trying to push the budget. We use very old servers that were from 2012 and we repurposed them adding GPUs. So we added stuff like that to.

[Celia Hatton]

Get a new life to the computer.

[Basil Adra (Palestinian filmmaker and journalist)]

It was the only way to get something related to AI working.

[Various Advertisers/Commercial voices]

Nicola struggles to get access to funding in Argentina to develop AI technology, despite the president, Javier Milei, bringing in incentives to try and attract big tech companies to invest there. It's a theme replicated in many parts of the world. Lack of investment and infrastructure holding countries back from developing homegrown artificial intelligence businesses. It's 3:30am In Nairobi, Kenya's capital. And whilst most of the country is sleeping, software engineers are heading into Carla's offices. An AI startup developing artificial intelligence software for businesses around the world. They too don't have local data centers to power their businesses, so they have to use compute power from other parts of the world, which often means an early wake up call.

[Narrator/Reporter]

You have to find time when not everybody is hogging their resources, which is like, like 4am, 5am because then Kenya has not woken up, Europe has not.

[Katie Silver (BBC correspondent)]

Woken up, the US is sleeping.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Yeah. So the only person you're competing with is China and India.

[Various Advertisers/Commercial voices]

Shiko Gutao is the CEO of Carla.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And what I love about the engineers is they found where to host their workloads, such that it processes faster because, you know, the further it is, it's the slower it is. Sometimes they leave it overnight to run, so that when Americans have gone to sleep, they're able to run their work. Before Europe wakes up, you're able to run their work.

[Various Advertisers/Commercial voices]

Carla, like many other companies, has to rely on the US and China for its compute power. But as other parts of the world race to compete, will that trend change?

[Narrator/Reporter]

Political developments in the last couple of.

[Celia Hatton]

Months certainly made people more concerned and more worried about having full control of their infrastructure.

[Various Advertisers/Commercial voices]

Exoskel is a European cloud company. Matthias Neubauer is the CEO.

[Narrator/Reporter]

They certainly want to avoid that someone has access to data that they should.

[Celia Hatton]

Not have access to.

[Basil Adra (Palestinian filmmaker and journalist)]

And this is where more and more.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Businesses are turning to sovereign cloud providers from Europe.

[Various Advertisers/Commercial voices]

Whilst the future of artificial intelligence is uncertain, what we do know is the industry has big economic potential. So the race to dominate in it is only going to get more competitive.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Here in the UK, the first exhibition dedicated to the life of the 18th century French Queen Marie Antoinette is opening in London at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Marie Antoinette was the subject of accusations and rumor in her time. Her high spending was blamed for France's financial crisis and gossip swirled around her during her short life. She was married at the age of 14 and crowned queen at 18. She was executed at the guillotine when she was just 37. Anna Foster asked Katrina Seth, a professor of French literature at the University of Oxford, to tell us more about her.

[Katrina Seth (Professor of French literature)]

She's a very modern figure in many ways, because public opinion attacked her quite often for things for which she wasn't responsible. And whilst she was careless and naive, she certainly wasn't the monster she was made into by some contemporary press outlets. There were horrible caricatures against her, for instance, and pornographic texts and so on.

[Narrator/Reporter]

What kind of woman was she? Let's set the record straight because you have spent so long studying her and her life and her legacy. Tell us more about her.

[Katrina Seth (Professor of French literature)]

I think she's somebody who's very conscious of her duty. She's brought up by a very Catholic mother, Maria Theresa, the Empress of Austria, and she believes that she has a function in life which is to represent an important family on earth and to bring up the child who is going to be the future king of France. And everything she does, she does with that idea in mind. She's generous with her friends, too generous, often doesn't see that she's been taken advantage of. She's a bit of a negligent adolescent, but then, weren't we all and doesn't necessarily care so much about what people think. She's someone who in many ways would have liked to have lived a much more discreet life than the one she had, where she was thrust into the spotlight very often.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And it feels almost reductive to talk about her things when we're talking about her as a woman, but actually seeing her things together really paints a picture of her.

[Katrina Seth (Professor of French literature)]

Yes, it's very moving because you discover that Marie Antoinette is like a lot of us in that she has passions, there are things which interest her. The exhibition is very good. Obviously, on the fashion side, she's such a style icon and yet she's also a human being, writing very moving letters, for instance, when she's in captivity. So she's a complex woman and I welcome the occasion for us all to see a much more human individual, probably, than the sort of cardboard cutout which we've often been told about Oxford University's.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Catriona Seth on the Real Mary Antoinette. And that's all from us for now. But there will 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@BBC World Service. Use the hashtag globalnewspod. This edition was mixed by Derek Clark and the producer was Ed Horton. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Celia Hatton. Until next time. Goodbye.

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