Lebanon completes first phase of plan to disarm Hezbollah

Summary

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Global News Podcast – Lebanon Completes First Phase of Plan to Disarm Hezbollah

Host: Julia McFarlane (BBC World Service)
Air date: January 8, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode opens with major international headlines, focusing in detail on Lebanon's announcement that it has completed the first phase of a plan to disarm armed groups in the south, targeting Hezbollah. The episode also covers protests in Minneapolis after a fatal ICE shooting, President Trump withdrawing the US from dozens of UN bodies, advances in humanoid robotics, anti-government protests in Iran, the extradition of a Chinese scam kingpin from Cambodia, and the naming of nearly 200 new plant and fungi species by UK scientists.

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Key Segments & Discussion Points

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1. Lebanon’s Disarmament Plan: The First Phase Against Hezbollah

[01:08–06:13]

Key Points:

• The Lebanese government has completed the first step in a new campaign to disband armed groups south of the Litani River, an effort mainly aimed at Hezbollah's stronghold.
• The Cabinet in Beirut and the Information Minister Paul Marcos confirmed further phases are planned, including for areas north of the river.
• This move follows a 2024 US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, although Israeli strikes have continued in southern Lebanon, ostensibly targeting Hezbollah positions.
• There is skepticism about the plan’s effectiveness, given Hezbollah's deep integration into Lebanon's political and social fabric.

Notable Quotes:

• Karine Torbay, BBC Beirut Correspondent:
  “What [the Lebanese government] is saying is basically that it has full control now of the area between the [Litani] river and the border with Israel.” [03:35]
• Karine Torbay:
  “Hezbollah is not just a paramilitary group… it is in the parliament, it is in the government. And no one wants it to be outside this political system because it is an integral part of it. But the efforts of the government are mainly about disarming groups and making the Lebanese government the only entity … capable of deciding of peace and war.” [05:17]

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2. Protests in Minneapolis: ICE Shooting Ignites Outrage

[06:13–14:09]

Key Points:

• Anger in Minneapolis after federal ICE agents shot dead Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old mother, leading to protests and vigils.
• Video evidence shows ICE agents attempting to detain the woman, whose car reverses and drives away before shots are fired.
• President Trump defended the shooting as self-defense; the administration characterizes it as a response to “domestic terrorism.”
• Democratic politicians and community members call it murder and highlight the broader tension with increased ICE presence in the city, recalling the aftermath of George Floyd’s killing.
• Local law enforcement stresses de-escalation but distances city police protocols from federal actions.

Notable Quotes:

• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (US politician):
  “Ms. Good had been murdered whilst fleeing for her life.” [07:17]
• Neda Taufik, BBC Minneapolis Correspondent:
  “What we saw today was a criminal, a criminal murder. A woman … shot her in the head while she was trying to escape and flee for her life.” [07:36]
• Local eyewitness, Lynette Rainey Grandell:
  “ICE agents were around and preventing us from getting close to the vehicle and threatening us.” [08:09]
• Police Chief Brian O’Hara:
  “City police departments… have been training to try and avoid putting officers in situations where deadly force may be necessary, particularly when there is no underlying serious criminal threat.” [09:16]
• Neda Taufik on community tension:
  “…with the kind of arrival of ICE agents in the city, we have seen this new feeling of it is the community against an overzealous federal government.” [12:29]

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3. President Trump Withdraws US From Dozens of UN Groups

[14:09–15:44]

Key Points:

• President Trump orders withdrawal from 66 international organizations, nearly half of them UN bodies, citing their alleged opposition to US interests.
• Affects key bodies focused on climate change, health, peacebuilding, and more.
• The move provokes backlash from advocacy groups, some labeling the step “authoritarian and anti-science.”
• Legal challenges expected.

Notable Quotes:

• Rachel Cletus, Union of Concerned Scientists:
  “Another sign that an administration she described as authoritarian and anti-science was determined to sacrifice people’s well-being and destabilize global cooperation.” [15:36]

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4. Humanoid Robots at CES 2026

[15:44–18:27]

Key Points:

• Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas showcases new advances in humanoid robots—robots that strongly resemble humans in form and function.
• Boston Dynamics’ new Atlas robot demonstrates unprecedented smooth movement and adaptability, especially for use in factory settings.
• Debate about the practicality of human-like robots, including mechanical limitations (“legs are really hard”), and industry hype.

Notable Quotes:

• Jack Jakowski, Boston Dynamics:
  “We can pick the best parts of what nature has to offer and do better in others. Atlas here has joints that can move 360 degrees… We want folks working with Atlas to know that Atlas is a helpful robot, not a person.” [16:16]
• Zoe Kleiman, BBC Technology Editor:
  “I gasped as well when I saw Atlas take to the stage because I’ve never seen a humanoid move so smoothly… wheels are actually more efficient… But Tech Bros, in the last year, have really been bigging this up.” [16:58] “You still need to see what it does when things aren’t smooth … Can it still do all the computing we do in our everyday lives to get around without falling flat on our faces?” [18:16]

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5. Anti-Government Protests Spread Across Iran

[19:58–23:34]

Key Points:

• Widespread protests in Iran originally triggered by worsening economic conditions have quickly turned openly political.
• Significant participation in small towns, with large crowds supporting exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi as a “transitional figure.”
• Government shifts from vague conciliation to hardline repression as protests grow.
• Future role of Pahlavi remains undefined, but his name galvanizes opposition.

Notable Quotes:

• Parham Gabadi, BBC Persian:
  “…the sheer number of people on the streets … especially in a small town, it’s as if the entire town is on the streets.” [20:05] “They started off because of the devaluation… But then later on it turned into… political. People … chanting slogans like death to the dictator.” [21:09] “He [Reza Pahlavi] says … I want everything to be determined at a ballot box… But I’m going to step in as a person who’s going to help that transition.” [22:38]

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6. Extradition of Chinese Crypto Scam Kingpin from Cambodia

[23:34–26:36]

Key Points:

• Cambodia extradites Chen Joe, a Chinese billionaire accused of masterminding a vast crypto scam operation using trafficked workers.
• US and UK authorities have linked Chen’s network to $15 billion in fraud.
• Jonathan Head explains the “booming” cyber fraud industry in Southeast Asia: facilitated by corruption, lax enforcement, and China’s criminal influence.
• High level of economic dependence on scams in regions of Cambodia and Myanmar.

Notable Quotes:

• Jonathan Head, BBC Southeast Asia Correspondent:
  “…in Cambodia, we think the scams may now account for around 60% of the economy.” [25:39] “Southeast Asia is a place they [Chinese criminal underworld] can bring their practices and make huge amounts of money. And they’re only just being reined in now. They’re still a very powerful force. This will not be stopped easily.” [26:19]

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7. 200 New Plants and Fungi Named, Many Already at Risk

[26:36–30:41]

Key Points:

• Scientists at the UK’s Kew Gardens and global collaborators named nearly 200 new species in 2025, including peculiar flora (“zombie fungus,” “blood-stained orchid”).
• Some new species are already threatened by extinction or affected by illegal trade.
• Importance of local knowledge in plant identification, and stark warning about biodiversity loss.

Notable Quotes:

• Professor William Baker, Kew Gardens:
  “Most of the new plants that we find and describe as new to science … very often have local names already.” [28:48] “Three quarters of the species that we describe as new now are already threatened with extinction… It’s a weird thing about my job… we also have to deal with this kind of background grief … but we must not lose sight of the fact that if our nature is lost, we’re all done for.” [29:33]

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Memorable Moments

• Atlas robot demo reaction:
  “I think the audience gasped, and actually I gasped as well when I saw Atlas take to the stage because I’ve never seen a humanoid move so smoothly.” (Zoe Kleiman, [16:58])
• Protest intensity in Iran:
  “…it’s as if the entire town is on the streets. You know, so that is one of the differences this time.” (Parham Gabadi, [20:05])
• Community tension in Minneapolis compared to George Floyd protests:
  “…we have seen this new feeling of it is the community against an overzealous federal government.” (Neda Taufik, [12:29])

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Timestamped Highlights

• Lebanon disarmament, Hezbollah’s role: [01:08–06:13]
• Minneapolis ICE shooting aftermath: [06:13–14:09]
• US withdrawal from UN/International bodies: [14:09–15:44]
• CES 2026, Humanoid Robots (Atlas): [15:44–18:27]
• Expanding Iranian protests: [19:58–23:34]
• Cambodian cyberfraud syndicate busted: [23:34–26:36]
• New plant/fungi discoveries and extinction risks: [26:36–30:41]

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Tone and Approach

The episode maintains BBC’s professional, composed, and incisive tone, balancing breaking news urgency with reflective interviews and expert analysis.

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For further details and daily updates, listeners are encouraged to follow the Global News Podcast on their preferred platform.

Transcript

[Tim Franks]

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[Julia McFarlane]

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[Julia McFarlane]

This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Julia McFarlane and at 16 hours GMT on Thursday 8th January. These are our main stories. The Lebanese government says it's completed the first phase of a plan to disband armed groups in the south of the country, the traditional heartlands of Hezbollah. Protests and fury erupt in the US city of Minneapolis after a 37 year old mother was shot dead by immigration agents and President Trump withdraws the US from dozens of UN groups, including a climate change treaty and bodies to advance peace and democracy worldwide. Also in this podcast, you still need.

[Zoe Kleiman]

To see what it does when things aren't smooth. You know, when it's bumbling around in the dark, when there's a tear in the carpet. Can it avoid those trip hazards? Can it still do all the computing you like that we do in our everyday lives?

[Julia McFarlane]

Humanoid robots unveiled at a trade show capable of folding laundry. Is it progress or a dystopian nightmare? The Lebanese military says it has successfully completed the first phase of its plan to embed across the south of the country, disarming local armed groups under the control of the Shia militant organization Hezbollah, who for decades have dominated the area, which also borders Israel. The Cabinet in Beirut had earlier taken the decision for the move, and the Information Minister, Paul Marcos, said further operations were planned.

[Jonathan Head]

The Cabinet reviewed the army command's report and commended the efforts of the Lebanese army in the region south of the.

[Tim Franks]

Litany river to impose operational control over the area.

[Jonathan Head]

It also called for drawing up a plan for the region north of the Litany river based on a general assessment currently being prepared by the Army Command, which will be presented and discussed in the next monthly report to be submitted by the army commander to the cabinet in February.

[Julia McFarlane]

The efforts follow a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah that was brokered by the United states back in 2024. However, towns and villages across the south have continued to face heavy and regular Israeli bombardment ever since. The Israelis say they targeting Hezbollah military infrastructure. The BBC's Karin Torbay, who's in Beirut, told me what the Lebanese officials have been saying.

[Karine Torbay]

What they say is basically that they have completed phase one of the disarmament plan that aims to disarm all illegal armed groups across the country. Phase one is basically related to the area south of what is known in Lebanon as the Lithonia river, which is a river that separates the south of the country between the areas that are very close to Israel, border towns and areas that are further inside the country. So what it is saying is basically that it has full control now of the area between the river and the border with Israel.

[Julia McFarlane]

Karine, there has been a ceasefire agreed between Israel and Lebanon since last year, but there has continued to be Israeli operations in the south. Has what the Lebanese army, what they've announced today. Do you think that's done enough for the Israelis to maybe halt their operations?

[Karine Torbay]

Today we heard from the office of the Israeli Prime Minister that said that basically what the efforts that the Lebanese army and the governments are doing are an encouraging beginning, but they are not enough, they're not sufficient. And Hezbollah has said that in the absence of any measure taken by Israel to do something in return of what Lebanon doing, it is not going to cooperate any further or to disarm.

[Julia McFarlane]

Right. And I mean, they're more than just an armed group, aren't they? Hezbollah, they've been deeply embedded into Lebanon for decades. Is it even possible for the Lebanese government to truly dismantle this organization?

[Karine Torbay]

Well, Lebanon says it is adamant that it will not accept any presence of any armed groups anymore. But as you said, Hezbollah is not just a paramilitary group or a militia in the country. Hezbol also a very important political group with a very large base, and it has been quite popular among a large community in Lebanon, especially the Shia community within the country. So what the government is saying is basically that all it wants is basically the disarmament of the group. On the political level, the group is an active group in the country. It is in the parliament, it is in the government. And no one wants it to be outside this political system because it is an integral part of it. But the efforts of the government are mainly about disarming groups and making the Lebanese government the only entity in the country that is capable of deciding of peace and war.

[Julia McFarlane]

Karine Torbay in Beirut and for more on this story, you can go on to YouTube. Search BBC News Global Podcast. There's a new story available every day. Protests have broken out in Minneapolis and several other US cities a day after a 37 year old woman was shot dead by a federal agent from ice, the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Agency. People gathered around a makeshift shrine of flowers and candles and hundreds of Minnesota residents held a vigil for the victim, who has been identified as Renee Nicole Good. Videos of the incident posted on social media show immigration officers ordering a person to get out of a car in a residential part of Minneapolis as one of them tries to open the driver's side door. The vehicle can then be seen reversing and beginning to drive away. Seconds later, several gunshots are fired fired and the vehicle crashes into a parked car. President Donald Trump reacted to the shooting on social media saying the ICE agents had acted in self defense. Speaking later at a press conference, the Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the woman had tried to use her car to run over the officers and called it domestic terrorism. But the high profile Democratic politician Alexandria ocasio Cortez said Ms. Good had been murdered whilst fleeing for her life.

[Neda Taufik]

What we need to see is this incident prosecuted. What we saw today was a criminal, a criminal murder a woman and shoot her in the head while she was trying to escape and flee for her life.

[Zoe Kleiman]

And I think what we saw today.

[Neda Taufik]

Was a manifestation of every American's worst nightmare.

[Julia McFarlane]

Lynette Rainey Grandell was there at the site of the incident. She told the BBC she tried to intervene after realizing that someone had been shot.

[Neda Taufik]

I started trying to run over to the vehicle and at that point ICE agents were around and preventing us from getting close to the vehicle and threatening us.

[Karine Torbay]

They had guns out.

[Neda Taufik]

It was very scary looking.

[Julia McFarlane]

They didn't point them at me, but.

[Neda Taufik]

They had them raised in the air. So it was certainly threatening. And they had their tear gas canisters or whatever that is ready to go. So they had those kind of poised ready to spray us and they were pushing us back. They wouldn't let anybody go to her aid as far as I could tell.

[Julia McFarlane]

Speaking to the BBC's US partner, CBS News, the Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O' Hara said law enforcement officials are trained to avoid situations where the use of deadly force may be required.

[Tim Franks]

In my years of experience as a police officer over the last 25 years, I can tell you police officers have been training more and more as time has gone on to try and avoid these situations. In the first place, especially the last few years, there's been a very strong emphasis on trying to de escalate situations whenever possible. But certainly for many years, professional law enforcement training has been to try and avoid using tactics that place officers in a situation with an unarmed motorist where deadly force may be necessary. So, Chief, it sounds like what you're saying is that this, what we see on that video, is not the protocol your police officers would have followed in that situation. I think the overwhelming majority of city police departments in this country have been training to try and avoid putting officers in situations where deadly force may be necessary, particularly when there is no underlying serious criminal threat. In this case, it appears that this woman was not the target of any preplanned law enforcement investigation and that the initial reason for approaching the vehicle was because she was blocking the street. So that being in mind, certainly everything that we do in law enforcement, we are trying to be proportionate and reasonable.

[Julia McFarlane]

So what more do we know about this woman whose youngest child, aged six, also lost their father three years ago? Nada. Tofik is our correspondent in Minneapolis, and she's been speaking to Tim Franks.

[Neda Taufik]

Renee Nicole Good lived just blocks from where she was killed. So the people in that area had known her. They said she moved from Colorado to the Twin Cities and lived with a partner. And they described her as a caring, generous person. In fact, her mom was reached, and her mom said that what happened, the way she was killed was stupid. She said her daughter must have been so afraid that her daughter is not someone who would have been seeking to confront ICE agents in any way. She said she was the kindest person that she knew. So by all accounts, you know, she is a beloved member of the Minneapolis community. And so that just really adds to this conflicting narrative of what put Renee Nicole Goode in that situation and whether she was, in fact, trying to confront ICE agents or to help those in the community in that area. You know, ICE had been raiding neighborhoods and business areas for some days after the Trump administration declared that they were going to launch the largest immigration enforcement operation ever in this city. And residents had kind of gone out blowing whistles, blaring their car horns whenever they saw ICE agents out in the community to warn their neighbors. So it was already a tense situation. And then you see in the video just how that escalated.

[Tim Franks]

You mentioned that it's a tense situation. And I know that there was a protest, impromptu protest, last night. There's, there are, I think, further vigils planned for today. I mean, one, one never wants to predict trouble. But Minneapolis is, of course, the city where there were big protests following the killing of the unarmed black man, George Floyd, back in 2020. I mean, are people drawing parallels just in terms of how tense the place is?

[Neda Taufik]

I think people absolutely are in the sense that, let's not forget this was just a few blocks, in fact, where, from where George Floyd was killed by police and the fact that this city was still healing. You had an overhaul of the police department. But nevertheless, you know, with the kind of arrival of ICE agents in the city, we have seen this new feeling of it is the community against an overzealous federal government. That has been the feeling. And Minneapolis officials in the press conference, including the police chief, talked about how they warned this could happen, that the arrival of immigration enforcement officers was not going to help keep the city safer, that it was only going to sow fear and chaos because it was going to pit the community against federal agents. And not just that, that federal agents weren't cooperating with state officials. And so despite the kind of efforts of officials last night to tell residents, if you aren't peaceful, you're really playing and taking the bait of the Trump administration because they want to use that as a reason to further militarize Minneapolis. That's what the officials here in Minneapolis believe would happen. Despite that, I think there is another fear, which is if ICE doesn't leave the city, and by all indications, Christine OEM is saying they will get to those 2,000 ICE agents in the Twin Cities, then what happens? It's not just the fear of protests, but it's also the fear of more incidents like these happening.

[Julia McFarlane]

Neda Taufik in Minneapolis, President Trump has signed a memorandum ordering the withdrawal of the United States from 66 international organizations, nearly half of them UN bodies. He's deemed them as operating contrary to the interests of the United States. Many of those organizations were founded to combat climate change and promote peace and democracy. As Danny Eberhard reports, Donald Trump has.

[Tim Franks]

Already stripped many multilateral organizations he dislikes of funds. Now, following a review he ordered at the start of his second term, he's pulling the US out from dozens of bodies he sees as being globalist, inefficient, or ineffective. Many deal with the environment. Most strikingly, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the treaty that underpins all international efforts to combat global warming, and the ipcc, the expert body that assesses climate science worldwide. Other UN organizations affected include those working on family planning, maternal and child health, peace building and sexual violence in conflict. Mr. Trump's action may well face legal challenges. A member of a U S based non profit advocacy group, the Union of Concerned Scientists, described the step as a new low. Rachel Cletus told the French news agency AFP it was another sign that an administration she described as authoritarian and anti science was determined to sacrifice people's well being and destabilize global cooperation.

[Julia McFarlane]

Danny Eberhard Human inspired robots, aptly named Humanoids, have been doing all sorts at the annual Consumer Electronics Trade show in Las Vegas this week. Everything from pouring the coffee to folding laundry. One company, the Hyundai Motor Group, says it will roll out humanoids in its factories from 2028. Jack Jakowski is a vice president at the Hyundai owned Boston Dynamics. He introduced the new electric Atlas humanoid robot in Las Vegas.

[Tim Franks]

We've also been at this robotics thing for a while and we've learned that there's more to it than just copying nature. We can pick the best parts of what nature has to offer and do better in others. So as you can see, Atlas here has joints that can move 360 degrees. This lets ATLAS move even more efficiently than humans, particularly in manufacturing environments where every second counts. We've also designed atlas's head and face very purposefully. We want folks working with ATLAS to know that Atlas is a helpful robot, not a person.

[Julia McFarlane]

Zoe Kleiman is our technology editor. She told us about the possibilities of humanoids.

[Zoe Kleiman]

I think the audience gasped, and actually I gasped as well when I saw Atlas take to the stage because I've never seen a humanoid move so smoothly. Traditionally, humanoids have been really quite clunky machines. You've got to bear in mind, though, this was a demo, it was programmed, it was on a clear stage. The argument for humanoids, you know, why do robots need to look like us? Is that if they're going to operate in an environment that's designed for a human, you know, your house or a factory or an office, they've got to be able to get around it in the same way that we have, therefore having the same kind of physique that we do. But if you think about it mechanically, every roboticist I've ever spoken to says, you know what, legs are really hard. There's a lot of hardware, there's A lot of joints, there's a lot of things that could go wrong. Wheels are actually more efficient. And don't even get them started on why humanoids don't need heads. However, the Tech Bros. In the last year have really been bigging this up. There's been a huge push towards making humanoids happen and getting them out there into the world. You know, this idea that they can multitask and do a number of jobs. Again, not something that traditional robots have been able to do very well. They're usually primed to do one thing in particular. But this is the vision and as we saw on stage with Hyundai's Atlas, it does seem to be getting a little bit closer to reality. But you still need to see what it does when things aren't smooth, you know, when, when it's bumbling around in the dark, when there's a, I don't know, a tear in the carpet. Can it avoid those trip hazards? Can it still do all the computing, if you like, that we do in our everyday lives to get around without falling flat on our faces?

[Julia McFarlane]

Zoe Kleiman still to come in this.

[Tim Franks]

Podcast, it's an incredibly elegant palm. It has these, these arching leaves on a stem that can be as much as 15 meters tall. And the leaflets are, are really stiff. They're absolutely spectacular. And then when it flowers and fruits, it produces these cascading bunches of bright red fruits.

[Julia McFarlane]

Scientists here in Britain name nearly 200 new plants and fungi, but some are already at risk of extinction despite only just being discovered. This is the story of the 1. As an H Vac technician, he and his digital multimeter are in high demand. So when a noisy office H Vac turns out to be a failing blower motor, he doesn't break a sweat. With Grainger's easy to use website and product information, he selects the product he needs to keep everything humming right along. Call 1-800-GRAINGER clickranger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done. Protests in Iran are now entering their 12th day and there are reports they are spreading to towns and cities that haven't been affected until now. On Wednesday, two police officers were killed in the western town of Lordigan. At least 36 people have been killed since the protests began over worsening economic situations. Parham Gabadi from BBC Persian told James Copnell.

[Karine Torbay]

More.

[Parham Gabadi]

We would hear the name of the cities from, you could say all four corners of Iran. People were protesting. And the difference this time is that we see the number of the small towns, the Crowd, the sheer crowd in the small towns, thousands and thousands of people have gathered on the street. I mean, we've been covering the protest. Last time back in 2022, yes, it was also nationwide, it was all across Iran. But the sheer number of the people on the streets and especially on a small town, it's as if the entire, in some towns, it's as if the entire town is on the streets. You know, so that is one of the differences this time. And the other thing is that Iranians, it seems that this time they are having a leader at the helm of the protest. Unlike the previous one in the woman life freedom movement back in 2022. This time many people across Iran are shouting and calling for Reza Pahlavi, who's the son of Iran's last Shah.

[Tim Franks]

That is an interesting development. So then it would be right to say that these protests at least now are overtly political, even if they may have started on economic grounds.

[Parham Gabadi]

That is absolutely correct. So they started off because of the devaluation of Iranians currency against US dollar. But then later on it turned into immediately turned into political. And we could hear people on the streets of Tehran and other cities chanting slogans like death to the dictator and they want an end to this regime. But the reformist government of Masuf Pezechian at the very beginning tried to adopt a more conciliatory approach and tone towards the protesters, saying that we recognize your protest, we understand that and we try to have a talk with the representative of these people at the Grand Bazaar of Tehran because it's where it all started. However, after a few days, after protests spread to other cities in Iran and became more anti government, we started that riot forces started using more force. They started shooting in the protesters. And more videos emerged on social media of protesters being killed and being injured and wounded and the number of casualties rose immediately. And also Iranian head of judiciary has said that because of the American support and because of the Israeli support this time around, we have no mercy.

[Tim Franks]

This dimension of some people calling the name or supporting Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the Shah, what do they want exactly? For him to return in a political guise or to return almost as a royal figure. What are people calling for?

[Parham Gabadi]

So he hasn't made it clear. He says that I want to step in as a transitional figure to help the transition into a democracy. He says that this is what he says. He says that I want everything to be determined, you know, at a ballot box so people can vote whether they want a constitutional monarchy or they want for example, a republic. That's what people are going to choose. But I'm going to step in as a person who's going to help that transition. What people want is that it's not clear what they want. They're just shouting his name on the streets. We don't know if all of them want a constitutional monarchy, all of them want him to return as a monarch or the reason they're calling him is because that nobody has his political weight and leverage. So they are choosing him for the transition, only for the transitional period. So that is not clear yet and I think we have to wait and see for that.

[Julia McFarlane]

Parham Gabadi, Cambodia says it's extradited a billionaire businessman from China who's accused of masterminding a vast cryptocurrency scam in which trafficked workers were lured to labor camps and forced to defraud victims around the world. Chen Joe was one of three Chinese nationals arrested on 6 January following a joint investigation with the US into transnational crime. Our Southeast Asia correspondent, Jonathan Head told me what he knows about the case.

[Jonathan Head]

This is a bit of a surprise because when the US and UK authorities really put him in the headlines in October last year with this description of this incredible network, they confiscated more than $15 billion of, of crypto and property and details Chenzhi heading this amazing sort of network of scam operations all across Cambodia with shell companies in many other parts of Asia. The Cambodian authorities at the time were very standoffish about it. I mean, he was a very well connected man. They didn't say they knew where he was. They didn't say anything about the allegations against him. They simply said they hoped that the US and UK authorities had their evidence. Well, you know, almost three months later, suddenly we're told he's actually been extradited to China, which has also been investigating. We know that. But it's interesting they've chosen China and not the U.S. i strongly suspect that is because the trial in China will be largely kept out of public view and the Chinese will help avoid embarrassment in Cambodia about any possible revelations that would have come out in, let's say a trial in the US because he was very well connected to the very top leadership in Cambodia and that would indeed have been deeply embarrassing. So we expect that the Chinese authorities will announce charges at some point and we have no idea when. But he will certainly be going on trial in the next few months.

[Julia McFarlane]

Jonathan, last year you reported in nearby Myanmar from this booming city which was also being accused of enriching itself from these types of scams. Why are these cyber fraud empires really booming in Southeast Asia? In some of the poorest countries in.

[Jonathan Head]

The region, largely because of poor law enforcement, entrenched corruption, and the hunger for local elites to make money easily. In Cambodia, we think the scams may now account for around 60% of the economy. If you go over into Myanmar near the Thai border, this is a war zone where there are very few sources of income, few ways of making money. People are very poor, and the local warlords who are fighting each other and fighting the military government need to raise funds. And this is one of the easiest ways of doing it. It's also because China's enormous sort of footprint, which has spread into Southeast Asia over the last 20, 25 years. Of course, with that has come incredible investment technology. But it's also brought China's enormous criminal underworld, who are highly regulated in China, but realize that Southeast Asia is a place they can bring their practices and make huge amounts of money. And they're only just being reined in now. They're still a very powerful force. This will not be stopped easily.

[Julia McFarlane]

Jonathan Head, Scientists at the world renowned Botanic Gardens at Kew here in London, along with their collaborators, have named nearly 200 new plants and fungi in 2025. The list includes some of the weirdest new finds in the plant world, including a zombie fungus from Brazil, a blood stained orchid from Ecuador, and a fiery plant named after a Studio Ghibli character. But despite only being recently discovered, some are already at threat of extinction. Professor William Baker, a senior research leader at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, told Tim Franks about some of the new plants.

[Tim Franks]

A new species of Christmas palm, which is found only on the island of Samar, which is one of the 7,000 islands in the Philippines. It's an incredibly elegant palm. I've only ever seen cultivated specimens of this, but it has these, these arching leaves on a stem that can be as much as 15 meters tall and the leaflets are really stiff. They're absolutely spectacular. And then when it flowers and fruits, it produces these cascading bunches of bright red fruits. But hang on, you said that you've seen it cultivated and yet you are naming a. Is this a. This is a sort of new subspecies or what? No, it's a completely new species. It was discovered in 2013 and written about a little bit and very quickly leaks into horticulture, which is a bit concerning. Right, because that means those seeds have likely been illegally collected and entered horticulture. That is something we have to be Very careful of when we describe new things that may have various kinds of appeals to a broad audience. But the process of actually naming this took some time because while we knew it was a new species, there was nothing else like it. We actually didn't know where to fit it in the broader palm family. And that required my fantastic colleagues at Kew to help our Filipino counterparts who'd actually done the discovering part. We had to do DNA work, kind of quite deep genomic work, to place it in the broader palm tree of life and say, well, okay, you know, it's a new species, but you can describe this new species, species in this particular taxonomic box. I mean, that is extraordinary. I mean, is this something that you describe, you do the DNA sequencing where you decide exactly what this plant is, but presumably there are locals who have known about this for eons. That is a very important point. Thank you for raising that. I mean, most, I would dare to say, of the new plants that we find and describe as new to science, and I stress new to science, they very often have local names already. Our Christmas palm in Samar in the Philippines was already known by the name Amurring in the local language. You know, when we assert newness, it's important for us to be clear in our own heads and people we share this information with that this isn't to say no one has ever seen this before, no one has owned this thing before until scientists came along and fixed it. And I suppose one of the purposes of you doing this is not simply of these, this naming and you sharing it with us and also coming up with rather grabby names like the blood stained orchid and a zombie fungus and a demon flower and so forth. It's to remind us that this biodiversity is at risk. We think, for example, that in the case of plants, probably three quarters of the species that we describe as new now are already threatened with a extinction. And you know, it's very hard to exactly monitor whether a plant is, has become extinct, but you know, we do our best. And it's a weird thing about my job is a huge privilege to do what I do. I'm incredibly fortunate. But we also have to deal with this kind of background grief of the things you're working on, the places you've been to, disappearing all the time. But I remain optimistic and I will never stop, you know, with everything else going on in the world, we must not lose sight of the fact that if our nature is lost, we're all done for.

[Julia McFarlane]

Professor William Baker 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 any of the topics covered in it, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcastbc.co.uk you can also find us on XBC World Service. Use the hashtag globalnewspod. This edition was mixed by Sydney Dundon and the producer was Oliver Balaau. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Julia McFarlane. Until next time. Goodbye.