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Global News Podcast
Thousands return home as Israel-Hezbollah truce comes into force
00:30:34
A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah is in effect in Lebanon after a deal
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- [00:00]
Hugo Bashega
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Rachel Wright
This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Rachel wright and at 13 hours GMT on Wednesday 27th November, these are our main stories. A ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon appears to be holding. Displaced civilians are trying to return to their homes in southern Lebanon. Also in this podcast, the ICC asks for an arrest warrant for Myanmar's military leader.
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Hugo Bashega
We will seek to show that the Rohingya have not been forgotten, that they, like all people around the world, deserve and are entitled to the protection of the law.
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Rachel Wright
Opposition supporters in Pakistan have temporarily called off days of protests. The Spanish Prime Minister defends his handling of last month's death, deadly floods and a new documentary about the Fab Four. We begin this podcast in the Middle east where a ceasefire has come into effect between Israel and Hezbollah after 13 months of fighting. Under the terms, Israel has agreed to withdraw its forces from the south while Lebanon will move its army into the border area to make sure Hezbollah doesn't return. More than a million Lebanese have been displaced since the fighting be many residential areas of the capital have been largely destroyed. Ali Hajazi, a former resident of South Lebanon currently in Beirut, told the BBC people are looking forward to returning to their homes today.
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Hugo Bashega
It's a mixed feeling of sadness and joy. I would say the war has ended, but the humanitarian crisis is just unfolding a new chapter as we see hundreds of cars fleeing back to south Lebanon. The majority of them want to come back, check their home and try to restore what they can. And they are just excited and can't wait to come back home safe.
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Rachel Wright
The BBC's Hugo Bashega is outside the Lebanese city of Sidon.
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Hugo Bashega
This is the main highway between Beirut and the south of the country and this ceasefire has been in place for hours now and almost immediately after this, thousands of people started the journey down south and there is a massive traffic jam here with families trying to go back to towns and villages in the south of the country. Despite warnings from the Israeli military and also by the Lebanese authorities telling people not to try to go back now because this is obviously a gradual process, a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces. There's still a presence of Israeli troops in the south of the country. So the Lebanese authorities say that they are now working to deploy thousands of additional Lebanese soldiers as Hezbollah is also removing its fighters and weapons from the south as part of the deal. Now, we've been talking to people here, they say that they haven't been defeated. Obviously Hezbollah has been degraded also Israeli attacks that essentially killed the entire leadership of the group. They say this is a victory. The scenes of people returning to their homes, they are celebrating this moment. So we've seen Hezbollah flags, people celebrating, people carrying posters with the face of the late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. So this is the scene now as people are starting to go back to the south of the country as a result of this ceasefire.
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Rachel Wright
Hugo Bega, our correspondent in Beirut, Lina Shinjab, told me more about the deal. These recent weeks of violence have taken its toll on the country, on the people, but also on Hezbollah itself. Although the messages coming from Hezbollah are defiant messages, that what they've reached today is also because of, in their words, of their steadfastness and fight for the enemy. But of course, we can see that also Hezbollah had a big blow to its power, to its structure, to its leadership. This deal wouldn't have happened without their approval as well, that they will comply with the terms of this deal, which mainly is disarming and pulling from the south and handing over the south to the Lebanese army. The details and the success of this will be determined in the days to come. There will be a UN monitoring team to monitor the situation also with the leadership and observation from the US and France. So this is all going to be monitored closely over the coming 60 days window for this ceasefire deal. Although, you know, we know that it is a permanent deal, hoping that there won't be any violations from both sides, not only from Hezbollah. The focus now, of course, in Lebanon itself will be on rebuilding after 13 months of war. That's the big question, because the number of destruction, the villages, the towns, even here in central Beirut or in the southern of Beirut, the amount of buildings that were reduced to rubble. There's big question on who's going to reconstruct, who is going to pay the money for people to go back and live normally in their homes. And that's a big issue to come. And so, but for the priority for the Lebanese, what reallywe can see them celebrating today is that there is no fear of bombing, there is no fear of airstrike, there is no fear of further death. And the rest will come with time. Leena Sinjab. So how does the ceasefire deal go down among Israelis, especially the people who had to flee their homes in the north because of Hezbollah attacks? Here's our correspondent in Jerusalem, Yoland Nelson.
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Yoland Nelson
Opinion is quite split. There was one opinion poll for Israel's Channel 12 television that found that 37% of Israelis were in favor, while 32% of them were against this particular deal. And, you know, those who are against it include some opposition figures, the far right Security Minister Itamar Ben gvir, and the mayors of many northern towns in Israel and their residents. Because, of course, it was a stated war goal that Israel would be returning some 60,000 people displaced by more than a year of fighting with Hezbollah to their homes in the very north of Israel. Many people say they still don't feel safe, that they wanted really to have a sort of depopulated buffer zone on the Lebanese side of the border that would have made them feel safer to go back to their homes. When the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu came out talking about this, really presenting it in terms of a victory that he said he had promised the Israeli people, he said that Hezbollah had been set back decades. Of course, Israel has been targeting its rocket arsenals, its infrastructure, including, you know, big bunkers that were found close to the border. It has killed and maimed many Hezbollah senior figures, including the longtime head of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, in the course of its operations. And he said that if Hezbollah was found to be violating the terms of the ceasefire, if it was found to be disarming, then Israel reserved the right to strike decisively.
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Rachel Wright
Yoland Nell in Jerusalem, the countries which brokered the deal, the US and France, are hopeful it could lead to a renewed effort to end the fighting in Gaza. With more on how we got here and whether this could lead to a similar ceasefire in Gaza, here's our international editor, Jeremy Bowen.
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Hugo Bashega
The Israelis absolutely ramped up. They started a big offensive and invaded Lebanon, killed the leadership of Hezbollah back in the sort of in the summer, late summer, and they delivered some really serious major blows to the Hezbollah military organization. And as a result of that, they were certainly keen for a ceasefire. Their patrons in Iran also, I think they wanted to take the pressure off all of this. They were under also the Israelis under some pressure from the Americans to do this from the Biden administration before it leave. And there's something as well, I think, which is quite telling in Netanyahu's own statement saying that this will give Israel a chance to rebuild its weapons stocks and to concentrate on the war in Gaza. I think that the calculation on the Israeli side is that they have now that Hezbollah will pull back from the border and that that northern border of Israel and Lebanon will be a lot quieter and that people will, on the Israeli side and the Lebanese side ultimately be able to return to their homes, of course, massive damage, particularly in Lebanon. But think that just because this is happening doesn't mean to say that it is a precursor to a ceasefire in Gaza, because the situation in Gaza is way more complicated. What's going on there now is an insurgency. They are still, you know, a few times a week killing Israeli soldiers who are inside Gaza. There are still people there fighting on in their military organization. Gaza itself is increasingly lawless. Massive humanitarian emergency going on there. But in terms of a ceasefire, Hamas have basically said, yeah, we'll take a ceasefire, but Israel has got to get out to not come back in. And that's something that Netanyahu is not prepared to agree to. And also, of course, there are many, many people and there's loads of evidence that would say that Netanyahu wants to prolong that war for his own political reasons. That is absolutely a conviction among many Israelis.
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Rachel Wright
Our international editor, Jeremy Bowen. The violence against Myanmar's Rohingya population by the military seven years ago prompted an international outcry and demands for accountability. Hundreds of thousands of the minority Muslim population were deported to neighbouring Bangladesh. Now, the International Criminal Court has requested an arrest warrant for one of the architects of that policy, the general who's now military leader of the country. He's been accused of crimes against humanity. In announcing following the decision, the court's chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, said he would continue to pursue other senior officials in Myanmar.
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Hugo Bashega
This is the first application for an arrest warrant against a high level Myanmar government official that my office is filing. More will follow. Today's application is the outcome of an independent and impartial investigation based upon a wide variety of evidence from numerous sources, such as witness testimonies, including from insider witnesses, and authenticated credible photographic and video materials.
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Rachel Wright
Our Southeast Asia correspondent, Jonathan Head, told us. More.
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Hugo Bashega
Well, this was a very tricky prosecution because Myanmar's not a signatory to the International Criminal Court. You can overcome that if all five members of the permanent members of the Security Council agree to refer a case. But of course, China and Russia have been supportive of the Myanmar military. But the prosecutors at the court argued that because some of the crimes in effect occurred in Bangladesh, which is a signatory to the icc, because the crime of deportation, of forcing hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas over the border into Bangladesh is a crime, therefore they do have jurisdiction. So the prosecutor is focusing on the crimes of persecution and deportation. Now human rights groups will say, well, of course there were lots of other dreadful things the military did in Myanmar before people fled to Bangladesh. There were mass rapes, there was mass murder, the burning of villages. It's the prosecutors are sticking to the crimes which they say cross the borders. But it is the first time that anyone from Myanmar has been referred to the International Criminal Court. It's not likely to have much effect because Minh Line, the military leader is, he's an international prior anyway because of his coup against the elected government three and a half years ago. And it doesn't travel much. But I think for the Rohingyas who are stuck in these God awful camps in Bangladesh and still suffering in the civil war that's now erupted in Myanmar, at least this is a sign that the international community, or at least a bit of it, still cares about their case and wants those really shocking scenes that we saw seven years ago someone to be held accountable for those.
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Rachel Wright
And of course it's a reminder that the situation still exists. What is the situation of the Rohingya now?
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Hugo Bashega
Well, in some ways it's immensely more complicated because aside from the 1 million or so you've got stuck outside the country, you've still got about half a million Rohingyas stuck inside Myanmar. They're now caught up in an enormously complicated civil war in which another armed group backed by the non Muslim population, Rakhine State, has successfully driven the military out of most of it. But there has been very fierce fighting, the fiercest fighting so far of Myanmar's civil war. And the Rohingyas are caught in the middle of it and there are bad relations between them and the non Muslim population. Rohingya militant groups who have claimed to be champions of the Rohingyas, although they're mostly accused of sort of organized gang sort of warfare inside the camps in Bangladesh, they've now joined the military. They're one time persecutors to fight against this resurgent insurgent group that's taking over a kind state. And rahing of civilians have been driven out of the towns by the fighting. There's very little food. The UN is warning of mass famine there. I mean it's hard to say this now when you remember the awful scenes of seven years ago, but if anything the situation is even worse now. And the situation is so complex on the ground in Myanmar, there is almost no diplomatic will or imagination to try and resolve the situation there.
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Rachel Wright
Jonathan Head since war erupted in Sudan in April last year, millions of people have been displaced and more than 10,000 have been killed. Charities estimate that around 25 million people are in severe need. But now the new United nations humanitarian chief has made progress on getting some help to them. On his first trip to the country, Tom Fletcher has managed to establish new supply hubs and use three new airports to deliver aid. After talks with Sudan's army chief, General Abdul Fattah Al Burhan in Port Sudan, the BBC's Lis Doucette spoke to Tom Fletcher on the plane as he left Port Sudan.
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Hugo Bashega
Well, we measure our work in terms of outcomes. And the outcome for us that matters most is life saved. So we have those conversations checkpoint by checkpoint, border by border, permit by permit, and we've made some real progress.
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Yoland Nelson
What actually did you achieve in your meeting with the de facto authority, General Burhan?
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Hugo Bashega
So I was blessed with a series of meetings over four days, including, and also the site visits where you and I have seen so much why this matters. But we've got these extra humanitarian flights that will transport huge amounts of aid to where it's most needed behind the lines, across those battle lines. But we also got an agreement to open up new humanitarian hubs, which will mean that our people can see for themselves what needed and talk to those affected populations and make sure they're getting the support we need.
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Yoland Nelson
But are you asking for even more?
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Hugo Bashega
I will always ask for more because the scale of this crisis demands more. Half of the country are displaced 25 million people. And so we have to scale up our effort. That means asking much more of donors, asking much more of our own populations. But of course, we'll be asking more of the authorities because we want to get more aid in, we want to get more checkpoints open, we want to get more border crossings open. We want to get this support to those who need it by any means possible.
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Yoland Nelson
But you have to deal with the other side in this war too. Is every step forward with the Sudanese armed forces a step backward with their main rival, the rapid support forces that they're both in battle for the control of Sudan?
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Hugo Bashega
It's inevitable that there are trade offs. And a lot of this is about politics and diplomacy. I'm learning that already in my first week. But I'll go anywhere, talk to anyone to get this aid through and ultimately to save lives. It's worth it.
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Yoland Nelson
Would you say to the criticism that the United nations made a mistake in accepting General Bohan as a de facto authority, which means that in effect you can't do anything unless he gives you permission?
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Hugo Bashega
General Bohan and the authorities control those checkpoints. They control the system of permits and access. And so if we want to go into those areas, we need to deal with them. And so we've got to constructive conversation going. We've got a real dialogue. And if that saves lives, then it's worth it.
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Rachel Wright
Tom Fletcher talking to leastet. Still to come on this podcast, these.
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Hugo Bashega
Are vehicles that take up more space, they cause more damage to our roads, and if they happen to hit a pedestrian, they're likely to cause more serious injuries.
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Rachel Wright
Should owners of large cars pay more to park in cities. Opposition supporters in Pakistan have temporarily called off days of protest demanding the release of the jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan. Police are reported to have arrested hundreds of people after deadly clashes in Islamabad on Tuesday. From the city, here's Caroline Davis.
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Yoland Nelson
In the course of the last 24 hours, we saw firstly the protesters get into the centre of Islamabad, reaching this area known as D? Chuk, which was the sort of central location. It's important because it's very close to Pakistan's parliamentary buildings. The protesters were there for a period of time. The PTI and Ranghan's party, the leadership said that they were planning a sit in at this location. However, over the course of the next few hours, those protesters were pushed further back. So by the time it got to about sunset, there were no protesters left in that area. Instead, they had been scattered into the city and pushed further back. Now, the crackdown then seems to be pretty swift. Overnight we now know that 600, in fact more than 600 of protesters were arrested, according to Islamabad police. Yesterday alone, over 900 in the course of the three day march. We have heard from some of the protests leadership that now seem to be in Kyber, which is about two hours, two and a half hours away from here in Islamabad, talking about the fact that this is a temporary halt to the protest, that the protest continues. But ultimately we don't have people who are out here in the streets. Last night when I was driving through the city, you could still smell the tear gas in the city air. You could also see overturned shipping containers from where the protesters had pushed through. But this morning things are getting back to normal here. In fact, the shipping containers have been put to the side. There's been diggers that are on the road clearing away some of the dirt and debris that the authorities had put in place to stop the protesters in their tracks, which obviously didn't work. The Internet here is also now back to relative normal as well. The big thing now is the discussion about what happened during the course of these three days. Both sides are really trying to fight for the narrative of what occurred in the course of this city. Both sides trying to portray the other as being repressive, as being violent, as being the ones responsible for it, and for the sort of various different responses that have happened afterwards. So that is the real key thing now is a fight over the narrative about what happened during this march.
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Rachel Wright
Caroline Davis in Islamabad. Volkswagen says it's selling its controversial factory in China's western Xinjiang region. The German carmaker has been under pressure to shut the facility. As Stephen McDonnell reports from Beijing, Volkswagen.
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Hugo Bashega
Has announced it will no longer have a presence in Xinjiang. It'll sell its factory and test tracks in far western China to a government owned car maker from Shanghai, which will also take on the staff. The Chinese government has been accused of widespread human rights abuses in the region, including the mass detention of ethnic Uighurs, many of whom had been seeking greater autonomy from Beijing. Human rights groups have criticised VW for having a factory in an area where forced labour has reportedly been used. But the company said it had received no evidence of abuses in relation to its own Enterprise.
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Rachel Wright
Stephen McDonnell the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is facing questions in Congress over the national government's response to the devastating floods which struck eastern Spain last month. Our reporter Guy Hedgeko in Madrid told me more about what happened in Parliament.
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Hugo Bashega
Well, we were expecting a very fierce debate today and that's what we've got. Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has robustly defended the central government's response to the tragedy of October 29, saying that it did everything within its powers on the day it was in contact with the necessary institutions and agencies. Two main responsibilities. The first one is to gather all the relevant information about meteorology and water flows. The second is to provide the affected region with all the means to deal with the crisis. Therefore, the question is if the government of Spain fulfilled these responsibilities. And the answer yes. But he also said the ultimate responsibility for managing that crisis was with the regional government of Valencia, which is led by the conservative People's Party. The People's Party in Congress today were very critical of Mr. Sanchez, saying that on the day of the floods he and his government were distracted. They also said that he should have declared a national emergency on that day that would have given him emergency powers, allowing him to step in and take direct control the situation. They also said that he really wasn't that bothered about the tragedy. So it's been a very fierce debate with some quite strong language.
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Rachel Wright
And of course there was serious public anger about the slow response at the time of the floods.
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Hugo Bashega
Yes, and that anger has continued to simmer. And a few weeks ago there was a huge demonstration in central Valencia demanding the resignation of Valencia's regional president, Carlos Mason. Now, it did emerge after the floods that he had in fact, been absent from his office for several hours on the afternoon that the flood struck, when the floods were already causing a lot of damage and he was having a long lunch with a journalist. So a lot of people have been critical of that. And I think on the ground there are a lot of people who are angry with all of the state institutions and how they've managed this. They're angry with the central government and the local government. But I think it's the local government that's bearing the real brunt of the anger of local people on the ground. And more demonstrations against the local government are being organized for Friday and Saturday. To mark a month since the flood.
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Rachel Wright
Hit, what's been the impact of the flooding?
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Hugo Bashega
We've had 222 people so far confirmed to have died, several people still missing, and devastation to the local economy because businesses and shops, many of them were shut down because they were flooded. The cleanup operation is still going on. Mr. Sanchez today announced a new aid package worth a bit more than 2 billion euros to help with that. But it's seen as a process that's going to take several months.
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Rachel Wright
At the very guy Hedgeko in Madrid, Mexicans will have the chance next June to vote in elections for the country's judges at every level. There are 881 posts to be filled, and already more than 34,000 people have registered as candidates. The elections have been held as part of a controversial reform to the justice system passed in September with the aim of eliminating corruption. But critics fear the new judges could be swayed by politics and be vulnerable to pressure by bribery or intimidation. Marcial Laguna Cordona, a federal judge in Mexico, spoke to James Kopnell about his concerns.
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Hugo Bashega
I don't think this process will be select the best candidates. This process will select the person that will be aligned or with the interest of the committee of evaluation that choose them and put them on the ticket of votation and also will respond to factual powers like the economic power, organized crime power, and also political powers and interests. You think then that elected judge could be swayed by politics, even threatened by a drug cartel, for example? I do think that because they're not get into the office by their experience and knowledge. The former president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who set in motion this whole process, said it was necessary to clean up a rotten judiciary, that the judicial system as it was, simply wasn't working. How would you respond to that line of argument? I think that he was preparing the overtaking of the judicial power, because I cannot say that there will be parts of the judicial power that could be improved. And also there maybe there are judge or even ministers of the Supreme Court that are rotten like he said, or like that there are near from the corruption. But this renewal he proposed is in fact overtake of the control of the Supreme Court and also the judicial power.
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Rachel Wright
Martial Laguna Cordona, speaking to James Copeland should people who own large cars be charged more for parking than those with smaller vehicles? Well, a consultation is underway in the Welsh city of Cardiff to follow other cities in the UK and elsewhere, most notably Paris. As Richard had Hamilton reports, in London.
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Hugo Bashega
They'Re known pejoratively as Chelsea tractors, large expensive sports utility vehicles or SUVs, which might be more suited to rural landscapes than congested urban streets. In February, Parisians voted to triple parking costs for these SUVs as the city tries to tackle air pollution by targeting rich drivers in heavy, large and polluting cars. The city's mayor, Anne Hidalgo, described the move as a form of social justice. In the referendum that was closely watched by other capital cities, including London, a majority voted in favour of special parking fees for SUVs, although the turnout was very low. Consultations are now happening in the UK in the cities of Oxford, Bristol and Cardiff, where Hugh Thomas is the council leader. It's about making it less attractive for commuters to park for free in areas where our residents want to park. It's as simple as that. But the element of charging larger vehicles or SUVs that is entirely focused on the residential parking. And let's be clear, these are vehicles that take up more space, they cause more damage to our roads and if they happen to hit a pedestrian, they're likely to cause more serious injuries. But opposition has come from farmers and other people living in the countryside who say they will be unfairly penalised for bringing their working vehicles into town. Back in Paris, the French Environment Minister Christophe Bechu said the SUV surcharge amounted to a kind of punitive environmentalism. And Senator Agnes Evren of the right wing Republican Party called the referendum an ideological ecological fiasco and an insult to Parisians. Like many moves to combat climate change, these initiatives often get ensnared in unforeseen but bitter culture wars.
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Rachel Wright
Richard Hamilton A new documentary about the Beatles featuring their tour of America in 1964 is being released this week. The film, produced by Martin Scorsese, documents the cultural impact the band had in the US on their first visit to the country. They were already famous, but the tour launched them into superstardom. David Tedeschi is the director of the new documentary Beatles 64.
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Hugo Bashega
It's a moment in time in 1964 when their Beatlemania had already started. But their trip to New York and then Washington, Miami launched them into another level of fame. So it captures this very intimate story of these four young men who had dreamed of going to America and the success that came along with a story that I think we haven't seen before of the New York fans who as one person said, we had no idea where Liverpool was that could have been Mars. It had an impact on them for the rest of their lives. We also do contemporary interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. We also do interviews with people who saw the Beatles or heard the Beatles for the first time in 1964, and it literally changed their lives. Some of them are very crazy stories. The music producer Jack Douglas heard I want to hold you'd hand on the radio when he was 17 and he went to Liverpool because he was so in love with the music. But you also have fans. What the music meant to them was a more personal thing and they're able to articulate how it informed their life. There was something different about the nature of their celebrity. But what exactly was different about it as compared to, you know, Elvis or Frank Sinatra? I'm not quite sure.
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Rachel Wright
Director of the new documentary Beatles 64, David Tedeschi. And that's all from us for now. But there will be a new edition of the Global News podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcastbc.co.uk you can also find us on x@globalnewspod. This edition was mixed by Nicola Brought. The producer was Stephanie Tillotson. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Rachel Wright. Until next time. Goodbye.
- [30:48]
Hugo Bashega
Celine Dion. My dream to be international star. Could it happen again? Could Celine Dion happen again? I'm Thomas LeBlanc and Celine Understood is a four part series from CBC Podcasts and CBC News where I piece together the surprising circumstances that helped manufacture Celine Dion. The Popeye Celine Understood, available wherever you get your podcasts.