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Global News Podcast
Israeli minister sparks anger by praying at Jerusalem holy site
00:28:39
Far-right Israeli minister Ben-Gvir prays at al-Aqsa mosque compound, angering Arabs
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- [00:00]
Oliver Conway
This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the uk.
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David Mitchell
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Oliver Conway
Bit awkward really. I think I might just have solved a murder and outrageous.
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David Mitchell
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Father Manuel
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David Mitchell
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Grainger Representative
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- [01:08]
Oliver Conway
You're listening to the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. This edition is published in the early hours of Monday 4th August. A controversial visit by far right Israeli Minister Itamar Ben GVIR to the Al Aqsa compound in Jerusalem is condemned by Arab nations. Dozens of African migrants have drowned after their boat sank off the coast of Yemen and the trial of the deposed Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has begun. But she's not there. Also in the podcast, as Pope Leo addresses a million or so young Catholics in Rome, we meet the influencers who are spreading the word online.
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Stephanie Prentice
Hi guys, I'm Father Manuel. I'm a Franciscan Catholic priest. Recently I wrote a song on It's a rap song and it was really a banger.
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Oliver Conway
The Al Aqsa Mosque and Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem is an extremely sensitive site, holy to both Jews and Muslims. Under a decades old convention, Jewish worshippers can visit, but they're not allowed to pray there. On Sunday morning, Israel's far right National Security Minister Itamar Ben GVIR broke that agreement by traveling to the compound and reciting Jewish prayers along with at least 1,000 others. While he was there, he spoke about the recent Hamas videos of starving Israeli hostages in Gaza. These horror videos are an attempt to put pressure on the state of Israel, he said. From here at the Temple Mount, we should send a message and make sure we conquer the whole of the Gaza Strip and encourage Voluntary emigration. The visit has been called provocative by the Palestinians and condemned by Arab nations. I heard more about the controversy from our correspondent in Jerusalem, Hugo Boshega.
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Hugo Boshega
It's not the first time that Itamar Ben Gavir visits the Al Aqsa compound in the Old City of Jerusalem. But today it was the first time that he was seeing leading prayers at the site. And this is a violation of a long time arrangement that allows Jews to visit the site. They know this site as the Temple Mount, but they're not allowed to pray there. So this is obviously, you know, has been seen as a major provocation by Palestinians, by the Jordanians who are in charge of the site. And today is an important day for Jews. It's the day they mourn two ancient Jewish temples that stood at this site centuries ago. So this is perhaps the reason why he was there today.
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Oliver Conway
Of course, it also comes at a time when Israel is under pressure over the war in Gaza. Reports that negotiations might be about to resume. What does it mean for the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu? Because he relies on Itamar Ben GVIR to shore up his government.
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Hugo Boshega
Exactly. And I think for some of his observers, the Prime Minister has been held hostage, perhaps by not only Ben Gavir, but also Bezales Muotric, who is also a far right member of his coalition. They are against any kind of deal with Hamas. They've been threatening to quit the government if there is any kind of deal. And this could lead to the collapse of the coalition of the Prime Minister. And a lot of people believe, including the families of the hostages, that the Prime Minister is prolonging the conflict to save his governing coalition. But I think now the situation is different because Israel is under a lot of pressure. The country is facing growing international isolation because of the catastrophic situation in Gaza, the humanitarian crisis, the hunger crisis in Gaza that many believe, including of Israel's allies in the west, that has been created by Israeli policies in Gaza. So it is a very difficult situation for the Prime Minister now. And obviously the recent news emerging from Gaza in terms of the hostages, we've seen two videos that have been released by Hamas showing two hostages in a very difficult situation, emaciated, that is putting more pressure on the Prime Minister to strike a deal with Hamas because the families of the hostages say that time is running out to save the hostages who are still alive now.
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Oliver Conway
During the visit, Itamar Ben GVIR repeated his demand that Israel conquers the whole of the Gaza Strip and said we should encourage voluntary emigration. To quote him, what do you make of that?
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Hugo Boshega
I mean, it's very interesting because, you know, some people will say, well, look, these are radical views of radical members of the government. You should dismiss, you know, these remarks. But the point is that these are, you know, comments that have been made by a high profile member of the government. And experts say that any kind of voluntary migration of Palestinians, as he describes it, would amount to the forced displacement of civilians and this could be a war crime.
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Oliver Conway
Hugo Bashega in Jerusalem. Well, the Hamas run health ministry in Gaza reported six more deaths from starvation on Sunday while hospitals there said Israeli forces had killed at least 27 Palestinians trying to get aid. The Israeli prime minister has requested the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross in getting food and medical care to the Israeli hostages in Gaza. Hamas has said it will allow the Red Cross access, providing that aid corridors are open for all areas in the territory. A boat carrying 150 migrants has sunk off Yemen's southern coast, killing more than 50 people, with many others missing. Reports say the migrants were Ethiopian and the boat capsized in bad weather. Temascin Debesai reports.
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Stephanie Prentice
Yemeni security forces say they're conducting a major operation to recover the bodies of Ethiopian migrants who drowned off the coast of Abian while attempting to enter the country illegally. Numerous bodies have been found along beaches with others still feared missing at sea. Despite ongoing conflict, Yemen remains a key route for migrants seeking work in Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The UN's International Organization for Migration reports tens of thousands remain stranded in Yemen, often facing abuse and exploitation.
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Oliver Conway
A solar powered device broadcasting biblical messages in Spanish and Portuguese has been discovered deep in the Brazilian Amazon in protected indigenous territory. The item was found in a village belonging to the Korubo, a recently contacted group living in the remote Javari Valley. Missionary work in these areas is illegal. This possible attempt at covert evangelising was uncovered by the Guardian and Oglobo newspapers. As I heard from journalist John Reid.
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John Reid
The device is about the size of a cell phone and it has loaded on it the Bible in two languages in Spanish and Portuguese. It also has a torch that is sort of, if you looked at the top edge of your phone, that's where the torch would be. And it has a solar panel on the back so that it can be recharged in a remot remote location.
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Oliver Conway
And this was found in an area where people aren't really supposed to go. Who do you think put it there?
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John Reid
Now that's the big mystery, Oliver. We interviewed indigenous people who've been involved with missionary organizations in the past. We solicited comment from those organizations and we went and talked to the manufacturer of the device, which is a religious organization in the United States. And all they were able to tell us is that they don't go into these restricted areas, but they weren't able to to help us to figure out who might have taken it there.
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Oliver Conway
But the intention seems to have been someone trying to spread news of Christianity to these uncontacted or recently contacted people.
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John Reid
That's what we think is a reasonable conclusion. The devices aren't for sale, so they're distributed through missionary organizations. And all that's on the device is the Bible plus some religious doctrine lectures by a Baptist minister in the US So it really isn't serving any other purpose.
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Oliver Conway
And they hope that someone wanders along, listens, is able to understand and then what? Maybe converts to Christianity.
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John Reid
That's the idea. The villages where the Korubo people live, most of the people, they were contacted anywhere between 10 and 30 years ago. So very few of them speak either Spanish or Portuguese. But some of the teenagers, some of the young people have become conversant in Portuguese and so could understand at least what is being said, if not understand the religious doctrine that's being communicated.
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Oliver Conway
And what's been the reaction of the authorities to the uncovering of this device?
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John Reid
My colleague Daniel Biaseto from the Global newspaper has spoken with authorities in the Federal Public Ministry in Brazil and they were shocked. They hadn't heard about this and they are investigating it.
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Father Manuel
Yeah.
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Oliver Conway
And just give us an idea of the terrain and how difficult it would be for someone to get in and plant this device. And it was just one of several.
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John Reid
Yeah, we were able to confirm one device because the video and photo files that we have, none of them show two devices together. We heard of more devices being in the village. As far as the terrain goes, the Javary Valley is an area the size of Portugal. It's massive. The Korubo people, though, live fairly near to the entrance point to the territory, really not that far from Brazilian cities. Now, one hypothesis is that somebody snuck in there and deposited it in the village. Another is that Kurubo are frequently transported to the nearby city of Tabachinga for health care. And health workers are often visiting the villages. So there could have been somebody who brought it in who is providing services.
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Oliver Conway
John Reed of the Guardian newspaper. Around the world, many countries are facing a shortage of nurses, with experts warning the profession is at breaking point. The issue has been highlighted by a film called Late Shift about overworked nurses in a Swiss hospital. The low budget project has already been a box office hit in German speaking Europe and it's opening in the UK and Ireland this week. Stephanie Prentice has the details.
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David Mitchell
The film Late Shift set out to imagine the consequences of one missed shift on a busy night at a hospital. But its director, Petra Volp said in doing so, she found herself making a disaster movie. Main character Floria arrives at work and hears another nurse has called in sick, compounding her workload and driving up the likelihood she'll make a potentially fatal mistake.
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Petra Volp
We didn't just want to make a film, that's where you can sit back comfortably. We really wanted to put the audience into the shoes of a nurse. I did so many premieres in Germany and Switzerland and the audience was full with nurses and they would all say, this is actually our everyday life.
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David Mitchell
The idea for the film came after the director lived with a nurse, watching her coming home exhausted after her shifts and being shocked at the magnitude of the role.
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Petra Volp
The sad thing is there's such a distorted image of nursing in media, in hospital series. Usually they're somewhere in the background. You know, they fall in love with the doctor or they put up an IV and that's about it. But actually the nurses are at the center of a functioning healthcare system and hospital. Like if you don't have good aftercare after a successful operation, surgery, you can still die.
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David Mitchell
The film has been praised by critics and sparked debates over policy reform in health services. The production team spent time at a hospital in Switzerland and worked with nurses on the script and said workers reported feeling demoralized and overworked. And that's why many nurses are leaving the profession. But the film's intention isn't to put people off.
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Petra Volp
I think if somebody is put off by the film, they would never survive the job. A lot of young nurses who watched the film, they felt very empowered because finally they felt seen. And I think that's also the sadness that a lot of nurses, they don't feel seen. It's historically been a woman's job. So I think it's symptomatic that it's labor that's been pushed to the brink, that's been exploited. And I think it's definitely connected to the fact that it's women doing this job.
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David Mitchell
Petrovolp calls her finished project a love letter to nursing and wants it to cause change, not just at government level, but on the hospital floors.
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Petra Volp
There's more and more violence against nurses. People are very impatient. They think they're the only patient on the ward. We hope that the film really also creates better patients. To show the patients when the nurse leaves your room, she isn't just going to drink coffee, she's leaving because she has three other patients waiting.
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Oliver Conway
That report by Stephanie Prentice still to come on the global news podcast, Researchers in Australia solved the World War II mystery about a gift to Winston Churchill that never arrived.
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Paul Zaki
He liked keeping certain animals from across the world. Because of this interest, he had requested a platypus be sent from Australia foreign.
- [15:17]
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- [15:48]
Father Manuel
Travis fell in love with the perfect woman. She listened. She cared. There was just one catch. She wasn't human. She was an AI companion. But when her behavior takes a disturbing turn, Travers finds himself at the center of a much darker story with this is Flesh and Code, a true story of love, loss and the temptations of technology. Listen to Flesh and Code wherever you get your podcasts.
- [16:18]
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- [16:52]
Oliver Conway
The trial of the deposed Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has begun in the capital Dhaka. She's facing charges of committing crimes against humanity during a mass uprising last year. 1400 people died during the nationwide protests which led to her overthrow. Sheikh Hasina, who denies the charges, is being tried in her absence. She fled Bangladesh and is being sheltered by India despite protests by the interim Bangladeshi government. Our South Asia regional editor, Amrasan Eti Rajan, spoke to Julia McFarlane.
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Stephanie Prentice
As you may remember, there were weeks of protest against her rule a year ago in which hundreds of people were killed, many of them in clashes between police and protesters. And the UN and other agencies are talking about more than 1,400 people killed in the violence. And following this intense protest, she fled to India. And since then, an interim government is in place. And this trial marks a formal legal process, a key moment in the legal proceedings against Ms. Asina, because the interim government, led by Professor Muhammad Yunus and other political parties, they want to show the world that there is a formal legal process against Ms. Asina, and they want to go through, interview or bring witnesses to the courtroom to prove the charges. On the other hand, Ms. Alsina and her supporters say the entire trial is a farce and it is politically motivated and they didn't even get any formal legal notices. So this trial is being keenly watched in Bangladesh when many people want to know answers to the questions about what happened to the loved ones who were killed during the protest.
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Father Manuel
And Barsan, it's been a year since those mass uprisings. What has changed in Bangladesh since Ms. Hasina's rule?
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Stephanie Prentice
It was a momentous change for Bangladesh for the last one year because nearly 15 years, Ms. Hasina was ruling with a very iron hand. And there were allegations of human rights abuses and how the dissent was curtailed with a very, very firm hand using security forces. Now, in the past one year, what many people would say it's had been a mixed bag, with the economy stabilizing to a certain extent, with political parties operating freely, and many of them were released from prison. On the other hand, some would also point out the law on order situation, particularly, you know, street crimes, have increased, and then the interim government should focus more on establishing law and order in the streets.
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Oliver Conway
And Marsan Etirajan, our South Asia regional editor. Two months ago, a huge landslide wiped out the Swiss village of Blatten, causing shock across the Alps. Climate scientists have long warned that global warming is making Alpine regions more prone to natural disasters as the permafrost thaws and glaciers melt. But what risk is too big? And when is the cost of reconstruction too high? Our correspondent Imogen Folks has gone back to the disaster zone.
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Imogen Folks
Looking down at the disaster zone now, it's hard to believe a village stood there for 800 years. All I can see is a vast stretch of rock and mud and here and there, a bulldozer. It's tiny in comparison. It's pushing rubble out of the way. The whole thing seems kind of futile. Blatton's 300 residents were luckily evacuated just before the disaster. And of course, now they want to go home. I'm on my way to see Blatton's mayor, Matthias Belvalt. He's determined the village will be rebuilt exactly where it was. He's a mountain man and he dismisses the suggestion that climate change might make that too risky.
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Oliver Conway
Life itself is risky.
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Paul Zaki
None of us survived that. What happened here was a once in.
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Oliver Conway
A thousand years event. And disasters can happen anywhere.
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Hugo Boshega
In the cities, you can have floods.
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Imogen Folks
Or earthquakes, but the cleanup and rebuild of this one small village will take years, with a price tag of hundreds of millions of dollars, maybe even a million per resident. Is it worth it when glacier experts like Matthias Hus say such disasters may happen again and again?
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Oliver Conway
This can quite clearly be linked to climate change because the warming has resulted in changes in the permafrost. And also the glacier retreat has led to the fact that the glacier stabilized the mountain less efficiently than before. It is not the very first time that we're seeing big landslides in the Alps. But what should be worrying us is that these events are becoming more frequent, but also more unpredictable.
- [21:54]
Imogen Folks
But the people of Blattan are doing everything to keep their community alive. The village choir now sings in a neighbouring church. The mother and toddler group is up and running. Three quarters of Swiss live in cities, but they remain deeply attached to their Alpine regions. The cities, in fact, subsidize life here in the mountains. And you can see the investment, the regular bus service, a schoolhouse, a doctor's local shops. And they're all connected by masterpieces of Swiss engineering. Railways, tunnels, cable cars, high Alpine passes. Boris Previsic of the University of Lucerne's Institute for Alpine Cultures says some Swiss may have begun to believe they had tamed the Alpine environment.
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John Reid
In the past, we thought we can do everything without infrastructure, and now there is no technical mean to adapt to this situation.
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Oliver Conway
You cannot hold back the whole mountain.
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John Reid
That's impossible.
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Imogen Folks
But Blatton's residents clearly want to stay put. Most now live in neighboring villages, as close as possible to their destroyed homes, waiting to go back.
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Oliver Conway
Imogen. Folks. In the biggest event of his papacy so far, the new American head of the Catholic church, Pope Leo XIV, has celebrated Sunday Mass for an estimated 1 million young Catholics. The Vatican says worshippers came from around the world for the event, which is part of the church's jubilee year. The pontiff traveled by helicopter and Popemobile to the Tor Vergata field on the outskirts of Rome, where he delivered this message to the faithful. We are with the young people of Gaza. We are with the young people of Ukraine.
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John Reid
With those of every land bloodied by war. My young brothers and sisters, you are the sign that a different world is possible. A world of fraternity and friendship where conflicts are not resolved with weapons, but with dialogue.
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Oliver Conway
The Pope. Well, as part of the event, the Vatican has been hosting a gathering of a thousand Catholic influencers. These young believers are attracting big online followings on Instagram and YouTube by sharing their thoughts on prayer and worship, often via music. Our Rome correspondent, Sarah Rainsford met some of the them.
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John Reid
I'm Father Rafael Capo. I'm a priest of the Archdiocese of Miami. I've been bodybuilding and weightlifting all my life, since I was in high school.
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Father Manuel
I mean, I have to say it's a bit unusual for me to look on, on Instagram and see a priest kind of like flexing enormous muscles and you know, in your shorts and your vest and so on. It's not kind of your traditional image of a Catholic priest.
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John Reid
Yeah, I know it's not a traditional image, but it's another image, a different image that for young people, especially young men, it impacts them because they do understand it. It's not just strength in your body, but also strength to be a better man in mind and soul. I'm stuffed all the time with young people telling me how a post about fitness and spirituality inspire them to help them strive to be a better human being and to work harder. So it's beautiful.
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Stephanie Prentice
Yo, listen up. Let me tell you bout the kids. Carlo Coot is here. The bro on the grid, a modern day saint. Hi guys, I'm Father Manuel. I'm a Franciscan Catholic priest. Recently I wrote a song on. It's a rap song and it was.
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Oliver Conway
Really a banger manual on the block.
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Stephanie Prentice
Yeah, I think joy is a very, very important part, part of my being on social media because that is a little bit missing in the Catholic Church.
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Father Manuel
You can see why the Vatican has brought these people to town. Influence, of course, is power.
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Stephanie Prentice
Yeah. On instagram I've got 464,000 followers and the church there are only 10 people. Sometimes for Mass through my videos. Also some consider of joining the priesthood.
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Father Manuel
Catholics really do watch this stuff. Miriam tells me she converted because of it. So I start seeing mass on YouTube and I really love that. Do you follow any influencers?
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Oliver Conway
Yes.
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Father Manuel
He'S French because it's on YouTube. Lots of people talk about the idea of very good looking priests on Instagram. Do you think that that helps?
- [26:46]
Oliver Conway
If you're following someone just because he's.
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Father Manuel
Good looking, you need more to listen to his messages. Father Giuseppe agrees. He is another bodybuilding priest and he is covered in tattoos. But Father Giuseppe told me he stopped posting gym pictures on his Instagram because they were distracting people would comment on his physique when it was God he wanted them to appreciate. From hot priests to gospel readings, the content out there is vast and the Vatican is catching on to its potential. Which is why when all the influencers met here this week, they got a visit from Pope Leo himself. With almost 19 million followers, he is still the biggest Catholic influencer of all.
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Oliver Conway
Sarah Rainsford in Rome. A woman in New Zealand has been arrested after she was found to be traveling with a two year old girl inside her lunch luggage. Our Asia Pacific editor Celia Hatton has the story.
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David Mitchell
The arrest took place at a rest stop for long distance bus travelers in the town of Kaiwaka. A female passenger had asked the bus driver if she could access her luggage which had been stored in the bottom of the bus during the first part of their journey. The driver then noticed the woman's suitcase was moving. When he opened it, he discovered the two year old girl curled up inside, alive but extremely overheated. She's been transferred to a hospital and the 27 year old woman has been charged with the child's ill, treatment and neglect.
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Oliver Conway
Celia Hatton. During the Second World War, as Japanese forces advanced, Australia was keen to secure help from Britain. So a plan was hatched to try to win the favor of the British leader Winston Churchill. And in 1943, the Australian sent a ship carrying a single young platypus for his menagerie. The creature never arrived and its death remained a mystery until now. As Andrew Peach heard from Paul Zaki of the University of Sydney, Winston Churchill.
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Paul Zaki
Had something of a, an interest in exotic animals. I think throughout his life he had something of a menagerie as well. So he liked keeping certain animals from across the world. Because of this interest, he had requested a platypus be sent from Australia. Just two days before the platypus Winston arrived to his namesake. The logbook of the ship notes that he was found dead in the water.
- [29:23]
Oliver Conway
A myth arose that this was to do with some kind of German submarine attack.
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Paul Zaki
Following the war, a number of articles were released saying that the death of this platypus was due to German submarines and the interference of depth charges with the electrosensory system of the platypus, which is present in the bill and which is quite a unique property of the platypus.
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Oliver Conway
How did you get involved in trying to work out what really happened?
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Paul Zaki
We partnered with the Australian Museum in undertaking some research with some recently retrieved archives from the naturalist David Flay, who was an Australian scientist. He, of course, is the one who was responsible for the sending of the platypus in this collection of his, which the museum was given. In 2023, the museum found the logbook of the midshipmen who looked after the platypus on its voyage from Sydney. So we found significant evidence to suggest that the platypus died from prolonged heat stress. Temperatures well exceeded the temperature of 27 degrees Celsius, which for humans might not seem that hot. But for platypuses, we found in the literature that is available on platypus, thermal regulation is very hot and is a temperature at which they start to exhibit really significant signs of heat stress, including unconsciousness and dilated blood vessels and things like that. Those data that we have don't even represent the hottest temperatures that the platypus experienced on that voyage. So, yeah, really good evidence to suggest that the poor platypus endured quite a lot of heat.
- [31:00]
Oliver Conway
Paul Zaki. And that is all from us for now, but the Global News podcast will be back, back very soon. This edition was mixed by Holly Smith and produced by Alison Davis and Paul Day. Our editors, Karen Martin. I'm Oliver Conway. Until next time, goodbye.