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Thai court removes prime minister over leaked call
00:33:28
Thailand's PM is removed for ethics violations, plunging politics into turmoil
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This is the global news podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Valerie Sanderson. And at 13 hours GMT on Friday 29th August, these are our main stories. In Thailand, the Prime Minister Petongthan Chenawat has been removed from office by the country's top court. This was her reaction. I accept the Constitutional Court's verdict. As a Thai citizen, I would like to reiterate that my intentions were for the benefit of the country, not for personal gain. And so what happens next? Israel says it's ended humanitarian pauses in its fighting in the Gaza Strip. Italy's Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni demands action against whoever posted fake images of her and other prominent women on a porn website. Also in this podcast, how studying an 800-year-old tree could help save tomorrow's forests and South Korea's unusual approach to tackling crime. But first, what now for Thailand after the Prime Minister has been removed from office by the country's top court? She was dismissed over a leaked phone call with Cambodia's veteran leader, Hun Sen during recent border tensions between the two countries. The conversation was seen by critics as being too cozy and she was subsequently suspended. Ms. Petong tern insisted she'd done her best to act in the national interests. I accept the Constitutional Court's verdict. As a Thai citizen, I would like to reiterate that my intentions were for the benefit of the country, not for personal gain, but for the lives of the people, including civilians and soldiers. The court's decision plunges the country's politics into turmoil and has dealt a blow to its most powerful political dynasty, the Shinawat family. As Southeast Asia correspondent Jonathan Head explained the court's decision. Well, the court said that it accepted the complaint that she had violated ethics. Now, that's a very broad definition in the constitution, but specifically, it was a very embarrassing phone conversation. It was clearly never meant to go public. The Cambodian strongman Hun Sen leaked it very deliberately to cause a crisis, which is what happened. And it's probably had a big impact on the border war. But in it, she appealed to him because Hun Sen and her father Thaksin, who's the real power behind her party and her government have been longstanding friends and business partners. So she appealed to him in the name of that friendship to put aside their tension on the border and the spats between their troops and try to find a way through. And she was very conciliatory to him, very respectful. And she also criticized one of her army commanders, the man who actually commands Thai troops on the Thai Cambodian border saying he's actually in the opposition. He opposes my government. He's difficult. I'm having a problem with him. So once Hun Sen leaks that, which is pretty shocking, it's quite rare for heads of state or heads of government to do that in this part of the world. It really caused an enormous uproar. It painted Pet Ontan as inexperienced. I mean she's young, she had no political experience before she became prime minister last year and has having poor judgment and being outplayed by this wily old veteran and of being disloyal to her own troops. So this court has ruled many times on very, very trivial matters and dismissed prime ministers, it's dismissed governments, it's dissolve parties. But I think in this case many Thais felt this was a bit more serious and the judges clearly found it was serious enough to make her unsuitable for high office. So what happens in Thailand now? It's pretty chaotic to be honest. I mean, nothing's really been settled in this country since the election of two years ago which was won or the most seats were won by the most youthful and reformist party. Most Thais wanted that, but the unelected Senate stepped, stepped in and blocked that. So Ms. Pet on Tan's party came second. Cobbled together a coalition with many of her former conservative opponents with a promise to revive the economy. It's a difficult global environment. Thailand's economy is in a long term sort of structural stagnation as well. So they failed to do that too. Now this border war has blown up. It's given a lot of weight behind nationalist conservative opinion and old accusations that Ms. Petongtan's family, the Shinawat family, put their business interests with Cambodia before those of the nation have surfaced and really weakened her party. And I don't think it's going to be easy for Thailand to cobble together a stable government. They've got a very limited number of candidates that are allowed by the constitution. The current coalition has a very slim majority. It's very likely that within a few months they will be forced to call another election. But this is a polarized country. It's fragmented between different political views. It's not clear that even an election would deliver stability. Jonathan Head Israel says its attack on Gaza City is in its initial stages and it's ended humanitarian pauses in fighting in the area. It also says its forces have found the body of an Israeli who was killed in the October 7th attacks by Hamas. He died trying to defend his kibbutz and his body was taken into Gaza. Here's our Middle east correspondent, Yolandel. First of all, I mean the discovery of the body of Ilan Weiss, he was 56 years old, the head of the security squad in his kibbutz when he was killed in those Hamas led attacks on 7th October, 2023. The Israeli military is also saying that it has findings related to the remains of another hostage retrieved from Gaza and that an identification process is going on. Prior to this, there were 50 hostages believed held in Gaza, 20 of whom thought still to be alive. The hostages are missing. Families Forum did come out with a statement, statement about the remains of Elaine Weiss being brought back, saying that this brought some comfort to his family after 692 days of waiting in the nightmare of uncertainty. And they also repeated their call for a ceasefire deal for Gaza that would bring back all of the remaining hostages. Meanwhile in Gaza City, what we've been hearing from witnesses actually is that in the past hours there have been more, more intense airstrikes, just initial reports coming through of that. Meanwhile, the Israeli military making this declaration that Gaza City was now a dangerous combat zone and that it was suspending these tactical pauses in fighting that were introduced about a month ago to get more aid in just for Gaza City. This all seen as being part of the preparations for a bigger operation to conquer Gaza City. The UN's humanitarian office has put out some new figures saying that since this new operation was announced, about 60,000 people have been newly displaced in the Gaza City area. Yolan Nell, yet more stark warnings are emerging about the city of El Fha in Sudan which has been under siege by the paramilitary group the RSF for more than a year. Amid reports of squalid conditions and starvation, we're now hearing that civilians are increasingly being targeted in attacks. Dr. Mohammad Faisal Hassan from the Sudan Doctors Network gave us just one example. Three days ago they targeted the South Fascia Hospital which is one of the big hospitals that serves a big catchment area in North Darfur. And this resulted in a massive massacre as well for patients and the medical staff. James Koppnell presents Newsday here on the BBC World Service and is a former Sudan correspondent. So the rapid support forces have been besieging el Fasha for 500 days, but more than 500 days now. And the accusation has always been not just disregard for whether civilians are killed. So you see shelling of civilian areas, but increasingly and often targeted attacks on people they consider a threat, including civilians from ethnic groups they feel they're in conflict against. So we've had the deaths this week of dozens of civilians from shelling, but also of people trying to flee El Fascia. So civilians, including children, who've been killed by the RSF and both major participants in Sudan's war have been accused of atrocities and abuses. But overwhelmingly, the RSF has been accused of more of those, including what the UN believes are credible accusations of genocide elsewhere in Darfur. And who are they targeting specifically? They're targeting what are considered Africans in Darfur. So you have Arabs and Africans. The RSF forces come mainly from an Arab Sudanese group, but have often been in conflict with the Zagawa, the Fur, and the Masalite, which are considered African ethnic groups. And you have been speaking to a former Sudanese politician about this, haven't you? Yeah. This is Adi Abdurman Yusuf. He's former governor of central Darfur State. He works now with the People to People ngo, which has people inside Al Fashir, and he's extremely concerned about the situation there over the last few days. There is assassination of civilian those who try to escape and they cut them and then they kill them. Everybody has seen this killing, calling people by the name of their ethnic group and then they shoot them to kill. So the civilian population in Al Fashir, they are paying the heaviest price of all of this. So this city, El Fasha, has been under siege for more than a year. The situation there must be pretty desperate. Yes, because it's incredibly hard to get food and other supplies in. So we've talked to people who are eating animal fodder products intended to feed animals. That's the only way they can survive. I talked to one guy, Taha, a few weeks ago. He said, I'm not sure if I'm going to make it to the next week. I've tried to speak to him in recent days. I simply haven't been able to get hold of him. Members of his family have died of starvation. So civilians face this incredibly hard choice. They are starving to death within the city. Food is running out. The UN can't get aid convoys in, but if they leave, they run the risk of being killed, too. It's an awful, dire situation. And Sudanese from El FA and elsewhere are saying desperately that there needs to be some sort of action. The international community needs to get involved. So far, that's not happening. And why is El Fhasha strategically important to both sides? It's the last major city in Darfur that is still under the control of the Sudanese military, which has been fighting against the rapid support forces, the rsf, this paramilitary group for the last two plus years, the RSF has most of the rest of Darfur. Its fighters are originally from Darfur, and it wants to control that whole region. And the Sudanese army wants to say, no, we can maintain a foothold in this major place. It would also open up to the RSF new supply routes, new economic possibilities, too. But I think it's mainly the symbol of this major city still in control of the army and which the RSF is desperate to take. James Koppnell EU foreign and defence ministers are meeting in Copenhagen where they're discussing Ukraine. It comes soon after the heavy Russian strikes on kyiv that left 23 people dead, most of them in an apartment building that collapsed. Here's the lead EU spokesperson, Anita Hibbert. Putin understands only one word, and this is strength. So we will do anything in our power to increase our pressure on Russia. Until now, we had 18 sanction packages. We're now working on the 19 sanction packages. So we will do everything in our power to ensure Ukraine remains strong. And Putin comes at the negotiation table. And also the most importantly, the killing stops. The rescue work at the block is now finished, but the morning goes on. Here's Katie Watson, who's in Kyiv. The recovery operation at that block of flats that saw 22 people die. Of the 23 who died in that massive airstrike on Thursday morning that has now finished, there are still eight people missing. But, you know, people here are still reeling from what happened in the early hours of Thursday morning. President Zelensky has once again called for a strength, not just words from allies, to, to try and bring an end to this war. There's been diplomatic outcry, of course. The EU delegation building here in Kyiv was damaged, as was the British Council building. So, you know, a resounding criticism of what happened at these, these Russian attacks. But on the ground, speaking to those residents and neighbors watching the, the recovery operation yesterday after a missile hit a low rise residential building, there was a lot of disbelief, a lot of shock. People telling me that, you know, they see this and they never think it would happen to them, but it does. One lady told me of just the cruelty of it, that these drones and these missiles, there was a barrage of them coming in simultaneously in different directions, and it was just incomprehensible, very difficult to try and get their head around what had happened. So I think people, people were, yeah, were very much in shock, trying to get an understanding of exactly, of course, what this means for potential peace. Because, of course, Ukrainians here were wary of whether any Peace could come from these, this flurry of diplomatic talks. There was optimism, but now that's been undermined by what we saw with those attacks early yesterday morning. That's the view in Ukraine. Let's hear from Moscow. Here's our Russia editor, Steve Rosenberg on whether there are any prospects for peace. If you look at the last six weeks or so, there's been so much talk, so much diplomatic activity and so little progress. We've gone From Donald Trump's 50 day ultimatum to Russia to stop the war or face new sanctions to a 12 day ultimatum, then a 10 day ultimatum which turned out to be no ultimatum, no deadline at all really. Instead we got this US Russia summit in Alaska which did not bring an end to the war in Ukraine. The Kremlin again rejected the idea of a ceasefire from Alaska. Then we went to Washington and that meeting of Presidents Trump, Zelensky and European leaders talk of a possible, even probable Putin Zelensky summit until the Kremlin poured cold water on that. And then yesterday, yes, that massive Russian attack on Kyiv. I imagine Russian officials will be satisfied by the initial and rather subdued response from the Trump administration to that attack. The White House press secretary saying that President Trump was not happy by the strikes, but also not surprised by them. So it appears right now that we are no closer to peace. Steve Rosenberg, the government of Punjab says it's launched one of its largest rescue operations in years as more than a million people have been affected by floods in Pakistan's most populous province. Hundreds of thousands of residents have been evacuated so far in Punjab, and more than 800 people have been killed across the country since monsoon rains started in June. The BBC's Pakistan correspondent Azadeh Mashiri reports from Lahore. I'm in a luxury residential neighbourhood in Lahore, and when people moved here, they were promised beautiful parks, a scenic view of the Ravi river and new build modern homes. But looking at it now, the river has completely swollen and submerged several homes. Thousands of rescuers have been deployed to areas like these. And across Punjab, there are 1700 villages that have been flooded. So rescuers today are still traveling back and forth across the Ravi river to help anyone who is still stranded, anyone who refused to evacuate before. When families do come back, many will find their homes wrecked, just like the ones I'm looking at now. The government has pledged financial support for people who've been affected by the floods. But this isn't the first time families in Pakistan are seeing their lives upended, having to start all over again. And scientists are warning it won't be the last time either that climate change is intensifying the monsoon rains that the country has to go through every single year. In the immediate future, officials are warning that more rains are coming and with it, more damage, more lives at risk. Azadeh Mushiri, still to come in the global news podcast, it looks just like a regular person. And when I see it at night, it really feels like there's a police officer standing standing next to me. The unusual police officer deterring crime in South Korea. From today, any Packages entering the US that are worth more than $100 will be subject to tariffs. So bad news if you're a small business owner who sells to the States. Great news. Donald Trump would argue if you're an American business, it's because a rule which used to exempt goods valued at $800 or less from border tax has been removed. This was already in force on packages from China and Hong Kong, but now will apply to the rest of the world. Our Asia business correspondent is Suranjana Tiwari. It was really a loophole that's allowed billions of dollars of goods to enter the US duty free. It's very old, been around since 1938. And in recent years, it was largely used to flow foster small business growth on e commerce marketplaces. If you can imagine businesses around the region, especially here in Australia, Australia and in Asia, you know, selling to American customers on things like Etsy and ebay. But earlier this summer, President Donald Trump said he would eliminate the waiver that allowed those goods worth worth less than $800 to enter the US duty free. And now the exemption has gone away completely as of today. So what effect certain, Jana, will this have, do you think, on global trade? Well, we spoke to a lot of small business owners. You know, one maternity company that was based in maternity clothes company that was based in Australia. And he said because there's been so much chaos, there's been so much uncertainty about who will pay the duties, the Australia Postal Service service has actually stopped these parcels going into the US at all. So that means that he's having to look for new markets and he's having to redirect a lot of his deliveries. And essentially he was saying that he's not going to be able to market his goods to American customers as a result. But more broadly, I think there is still a lot of confusion around Donald Trump's tariffs policy. And this is just another example of it. And you mentioned the Chinese, Chinese and Hong Kong exemptions. They were removed earlier this year and that really affected E commerce sites, big Chinese retailers like Temu and Shein from being able to deliver their packages to US customers. So this is likely to have a big impact for many types of businesses around the world. And crucially, what effect is this going to have on consumers, particularly in America? Yeah, well, we're already hearing that one South Korean skin care brand has actually potentially just across the board adding 15% surcharges to its deliveries. So essentially it's going to become, things are going to become more expensive because while the receivers generally pay these tariffs and these extra taxes, at some point these businesses are going to have to pass the customer, the money on the, onto the costs, on to the customers. So, you know, we've heard from a lot of really big companies, Adidas, not Nike, all saying they're going to have to increase prices in order to be able to navigate these new tariff policies. And it seems that the only person that can really pay in the end will be the customer. Suranjana Tiwari. Italy's Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni says those responsible for publishing doctored images of herself and other prominent women on a pornographic website must be punished with the utmost firmness. Giorgia Maloney's spoken of her disgust, telling an Italian newspaper that women should immediately report images posted online without their consent. A correspondent in Rome, Sarah Rainsford, told me more about the website. It has closed itself down in fact. But this is a website that's existed for 20 years and there was very recently in the last few days an explosion of outrage when it was discovered that this, the site, an adult website, a pornographic website, was displaying doctors images of very well known female figures here in Italy, including the Prime Minister, including a number of opposition politicians, celebrities, influencers, using images that have been stolen in many cases from their personal social media accounts or taken from public images posted online at public events. And then those images were altered before being posted online alongside some obscene captions, very vulgar commentary and sometimes violent commentary in some cases I've been told, incitements to rape. So extremely serious allegations about this website. It has now taken itself offline. There is a police investigation, but the website says with regret that some users had been abusing the platform. They said it was set up with the best possible intent but. And it was for the sharing of content. Supposed to be a safe space, but they are claiming that that space was misused. But certainly those who were targeted, the women who were featured on the website, are outraged. There's been a huge amount of coverage of what's happened here in Italy and as you mentioned, The Prime Minister herself has just expressed her disgust and said that those responsible need to be dealt with. And are they going to be held accountable, those responsible? Well, there is an investigation. As I say, the website has been closed, but it's not an isolated case. There was in fact just a few days ago another big noise about a Facebook group known as My Wife when it was revealed that men who were using that site were posting pictures of their partners. Very explicit, obscene pictures in many cases of their partners, again, possibly altered and certainly shared without the consent in many cases of the women who were featured. And the outrage again over that, led by celebrity figures here in Italy, cultural figures and politicians. Politicians forced Meta to close down that Facebook group. But I think, you know, there is a real focus now on those kinds of platforms, the kind of images that are being shared and the fact that that's being done in many cases without the consent of the women involved. So real focus on trying to identify who's responsible and trying to stop it and also calling for women who find their images being shared to report that to police. Sarah Redsford the BBC has spoken exclusively to some of the Rohingya refugees who were deported by the Indian government and and dumped in the sea just off the coast of Myanmar, a country in the midst of a brutal civil war. The Rohingya, a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority, face violent persecution and genocide at the hands of Myanmar's military government. More than a million Rohingya have fled to neighboring countries, including India. In an exclusive interview, the refugees recounted how they were taken and left at sea at the hands of Indian authorities. BBC's South Asia correspondent Samir Hussain reports from Delhi. Hello. Hello. A group of seven men appear on my screen. They're all sharing a mobile phone. We were so helpless and we were waiting for someone to come. And they're desperate to tell their story how they were thrown in the sea and ended up stranded in Myanmar, a country they fled in fear of violent persecution. We don't feel secure in Myanmar. This place is completely a war zone. That's Syed Noor. He's one of 40 card carrying UN recognized refugees living in Delhi who were put on planes to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, then put on a naval vessel in the Bay of Bengal, headed towards Myanmar. Fourteen hours later, they were told to board smaller boats. They brought four lifeboats and we were boarded to two lifeboats. 20 people in each boat. Our hands were bound in that lifeboat for more than seven hours. They asked us to jump off the lightboard one by one and we swim around 100 plus meter to get the sea. When you got on the bus to go to the boat, who took you on the bus? Yeah, the same navy. How do you know they were navy? We know that because of the bus inscription, like the Hindi word for Indian Navy. Then he says one by one they were pulled aside on the boat and questioned by Indian authorities. They would call someone and talk in Hindi and they will even say something like, why didn't you become Hindu? They question to Christian Rohingya Christians, why did you convert Muslim to Christianity and why didn't you become a Hindu? And even they, they threatened us to uncover our parents, to confirm whether we are circumcised or not. And they said, why did you come to India and why didn't you choose another country instead of India? Despite being registered as UN refugees, the Indian government says the more than 20,000 Rohingya refugees living in India are illegal immigrants. This is a matter of life and death for these people. Tom Andrews is the UN's Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar. I've been receiving reports of refugees being detained, interrogated, mistreated. These are people who are not in India because they want to be. They're there because of the horrific violence that is occurring in Myanmar. They literally have been running for their lives. We put these allegations to the Indian government who did not respond to our requests for comment. I'm walking up the stairs of a foreign four story building in the Vikaspuri neighborhood in Delhi. I'm going to meet with Nurul Amin. He's 24 years old. Noor Liman's parents, two brothers and sister in law are among the 40 deported refugees now in Myanmar. We are humans, not animals. How can you just throw people into the sea? In my heart there is only this fear that the Indian government will also take us and throw us in the sea at any point. India's Rohingya community, already existing on the margins, are now living in fear. Not welcome in their home country and not wanted in the country where they sought refuge. Samira Hussain. Scientists are decoding the DNA of some of the UK's most ancient oaks in order to understand the genetic secrets of the tree's success. Oaks can live for centuries, withstanding climate change and disease. Conservationists say gleaning that knowledge will help restore Britain's woodlands. Our environment correspondent, Helen Briggs went to see the first sample being taken from the Druids oak in southeast England. Hang on, Ed. It's caught there very good. This picturesque woodland in Buckinghamshire is home to a very important, impressive tree. Over 9 meters and good 9 meters. 20. For hundreds of years, the so called Druid's oak has withstood droughts, storms, heat waves and more. Sort of top 100. Yeah. One of the biggest trees in the UK. And today, the mighty oak is being measured up and getting a DNA test that could unlock the secrets of its superpowers, its extreme resilience, its ability to Witness. This is Dr. Ed Pine, a contemporary conservation scientist for the Woodland Trust. So we know trees like this are survivors. This tree has been standing in the same place for 800 years, maybe a thousand years, but we don't know what enables it to be so successful compared to other trees. Is it just that it's got lucky? Has it led a stress free life? Or is there something special about the genes of this tree? Is there a secret to longevity within its genome? And we're hoping to really dig into that and find, find that out. If you get very close, you can see it's all hollow inside and that's a great place for wildlife. A single oak can support hundreds of different species of plants and animals. And that's why there are growing concerns for these majestic living giants, many of which have no legal protection. If you lose an ancient oak tree, you lose. Who's the wildlife to? My name's Emma Gilmartin and I work for the Arboricultural Association. Ancient trees like this, they're historical and cultural monuments, I would call the monuments of nature, and they inspire a sense of wonder in all of us, I think. But this project will allow us to tease out what's so special about ancient trees and help us to make the case for them to be better protected. Meanwhile, in Mockers Park Nature Reserve in Herefordshire, unwanted conifers are being removed and oaks put back into the ground to encourage a diversity of wildlife. Acorns are really easy to grow. Anybody can do it. Tom Simpson is Senior Reserve Manager for Natural England. So this Tree is about 16 years old and it was one of the trees which was grown on from acorns collected from the 800 year old trees in the park. We're seeing a really sort of boom in the bird population here. So we've got meadow pipits, tree pipits, wood warblers coming up here. We've got spotted flycatchers as well. So in a short period of time that 16 years of restoration, we are really seeing the sort of nature recovery up on this site. That report from Helen Briggs, a new police officer in South Korea, has managed to cut crime on his beat by by more than a fifth, it'd be impressive for a real police officer. It's even more impressive for a hologram. Wil Chock has the story. Nighttime in Seoul. And like every night, South Korea's first holographic police officer is on duty. His beat is a local park and projected from behind onto a life size acrylic panel, from a distance, he does look eerily real. Choi In Jung lives nearby. It looks just like a regular person. And when I see it at night, it really feels like there's a police officer standing next to me. And that makes me feel safer personally. The hologram is the brainchild of police officer Kim Soo Hyang. My family and friends often told me that they would avoid passing through the park because it felt too scary. But as you know, it's impossible for CCTVs or police officers to be stationed everywhere 24 7. That's when I thought if we could create a visible police presence, it might help. So we decided to introduce the holographic signboard police officer. Every two minutes between 7 and 10pm, the hologram will pop up. He's in a busy area with lots of bars, and with bars often come late night crime. But the hologram's been surprisingly effective. Kim Hyun Don is another police officer from the team. After introducing this holographic officer, crime rates dropped by approximately 22%. The biggest impact was on impulsive crimes such as drunken violence or disputes. Since these crimes are triggered by sudden bursts of emotion, it's usually very difficult for officers to intervene beforehand, which makes prevention challenging. In that sense, the visual message that the police are always watching helped raise awareness and acted as an effective deterrent. Pre intervention or the idea that someone is always watching might be an unnerving concept for some, but it seems in this case, just reminding people on their way home from a night out that actions have consequences has nudged their behaviour in a more acceptable direction. We'll chalk and that's it from us for now, but there'll be a new edition of the Global News Podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or or the topics covered in it, send us an email. The address is globalpodcastbc.co.uk. you can also find us on XBCWorldService. Use the hashtag globalnewspod. This edition was mixed by James Piper and was produced by Charles Sanctuary and Isabella Jewell. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Valerie Sanderson. Until next time, bye bye.