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Global News Podcast
Trump and Netanyahu meet again in push for Gaza ceasefire
00:27:27
A deal has proved elusive during indirect talks between Hamas and Israel in Qatar
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- [00:00]
Julia McFarlane
This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.
- [00:06]
Peter Bowes
World of Secrets the Killing Call a BBC World Service investigation into the murder of Punjabi singer and rapper Sidhu Musiala.
- [00:15]
Chloe Hajimafeou
The facts, they aren't out in the open.
- [00:17]
Julia McFarlane
Why Sidhu Muse Wala, you know, Uncovering.
- [00:19]
Peter Bowes
A global criminal underworld that reaches far beyond India's borders.
- [00:24]
Chloe Hajimafeou
There are so many rumors, no one wants to talk.
- [00:27]
Peter Bowes
There might be repercussions.
- [00:29]
Evan Davis
Listen now.
- [00:29]
Peter Bowes
Search for World of Secrets wherever you get your BBC podcasts this is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Julia McFarlane and in the early hours of Wednesday 9th July, these are our main stories. President Trump and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been holding another meeting in the White House to discuss efforts to secure a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for two of the Taliban's top leaders, accusing them of persecuting women and girls in Afghanistan. King Charles has said the relationship between the UK and France is vital for preserving peace in Europe, as France's President Macron attends a state banquet at Windsor Castle. Also in this podcast, it's a best selling memoir which spawned a star studded movie. But is the story just too good to be true? We lost everything. Our home, our livelihood. Maybe we should just follow a line.
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Evan Davis
Around the coast.
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Peter Bowes
We hear from an investigative journalist who says the salt path isn't all it claims. We begin in Washington and as we record this podcast, President Trump and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been meeting again to discuss efforts to reach a seat fire in Gaza a day after the two leaders had dinner at the White House. Earlier, Mr. Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff suggested an agreement between Israel and Hamas was close. Our North America correspondent Peter Bowes reports.
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Julia McFarlane
This latest meeting between President Trump and the Israeli Prime Minister appears to be a last minute addition to Benjamin Netanyahu's schedule during his visit to Washington. Earlier, at a Cabinet meeting, Mr. Trump said the plan was to talk all almost exclusively about Israel's war in Gaza, which he said they had to get sorted. Steve Witkoff, the US Special envoy to the Middle east who was also at the Cabinet meeting, said it was hoped an agreement would be reached by the end of the week. He added that it would involve a 60 day ceasefire with 10 hostages being released along with the bodies of nine others. Progress towards a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has proved elusive for mediators during talks in Doha, but it's been reported by the US News website Axios that a Qatari delegation met officials from the White house hours before Mr. Netanyahu's arrival for his latest meeting with the President. Unlike last night's dinner, news outlets have not been invited to attend the meeting.
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Peter Bowes
Peter Bowes Meanwhile, international lawyers have raised concerns about a new Israeli proposal for the relocation of Palestinians in Gaza. Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz has laid out plans to move civilians in the territory to a camp in the city of Rafah. A Our correspondent Nick Beek reports now from Jerusalem.
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Julia McFarlane
Talks may have restarted to find peace in Gaza, but war cannot be escaped nor the Israeli bombs. A family grieves for baby Yakim and her parents, all three killed in an airstrike. Mohammed is the baby's grandfather.
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Chloe Hajimafeou
Was he bombing Israel? A five month old baby targeted by a warplane?
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Julia McFarlane
What ethics are they talking about?
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Chloe Hajimafeou
What ceasefire or negotiations are they talking about?
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Julia McFarlane
If a 60 day ceasefire is agreed, Israel's Defense Minister believes it can be used to create a so called humanitarian city on the ruins of Rafah in the south of the territory. Israel Katz is reported to have ordered the army to make plans to transfer all Palestinians in Gaza into a new camp. Critics within Israel have condemned it as a ruse to ultimately force the whole population out of Gaza. The British human rights lawyer Baroness Kennedy went further.
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Baroness Kennedy
I have now moved to a position where I believe that we're now witnessing a genocide taking place before our eyes. And I was very reluctant to go there because the threshold has to be very high. There has to be specific intent for genocide. But what we're now seeing is genocidal behavior.
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Julia McFarlane
Israel has consistently rejected the charge of genocide and says its ongoing mission in Gaza is to bring home the 50 remaining hostages and to destroy Hamas. But Israel has also paid a price for its resumption of military activities. In March, which broke a previous ceasefire, five more IDF soldiers were killed in an ambush. Hamas may be severely weakened, but it is not defeated.
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Peter Bowes
Nick Beak at least three crew members of a Greek cargo ship have been killed in an assault off the coast of Yemen. The EU military force in the Red Sea said at least two others were hurt, including a Russian who lost his leg. His Eletre Naismith the Eternity Sea was.
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Baroness Kennedy
Surrounded by speedboats firing sea drones and rocket propelled grenades. Its bridge and engine room were completely destroyed before the mostly Filipino crew were rescued by a passing merchant vessel. The US Embassy in Yemen blamed Houthi fighters for the attack, which is said was the most violent yet. The critical waterway has been calm for months, but this is the second attack in as many days on ships whose sister vessels have cooled at Israeli ports. It's raised fears of a renewed Red Sea campaign by the Houthis in support of the Palestinians.
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Peter Bowes
Elettra Naismith the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for two senior Taliban leaders in Afghanistan, accusing them of persecution of women and girls. The CR crimes are alleged to have happened after the Taliban seized power in the country and continued until at least January this year. The ICC judges said girls and women had been severely deprived of their rights to education, privacy and family life, as well as freedoms of movement, thought and religion. Our South Asia Regional editor and Barasan Ettarajan told us more.
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Chloe Hajimafeou
This is a very significant development, especially for those who've been fighting for the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan. Now the International CRIS Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for the two leaders. One is the supreme leader of the group, Haipatullah Akhun Sada and the Taliban Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani. And the court accuses them of committing gender based persecution. Now what the judges are saying is that while the Taliban have imposed certain rules and prohibitions on the population as a whole, they have specifically targeted girls and women by reason of their gender, depriving them of fundamental rights and freedom. We don't know how these IRS warrants can be implemented because the supreme leader, he's very secluded, is elusive, he remains in southern Afghanistan and he doesn't travel much. Now what this raises question in case if the ICC goes beyond this and issues arrest warrants for other leaders in case if some of the Taliban foreign minister or the Home Minister then it could be a problem because you know, some of the countries which are signatory to this icc, they are bound by the rules by taking them into custody. But as far as these two leaders are concerned, there is no indication they'll be traveling anywhere very soon.
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Peter Bowes
And how has the Taliban themselves responded to the news of this arrest warrant?
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Chloe Hajimafeou
The Taliban, they have reacted very sharply. What they are saying is these announcements have no impact whatsoever on the firm resolve and Sharia based position of the Islam Emirate. And we do not recognize any institution under the name of an international court, nor are we accountable to it or bound by its decision. So that's a very defiant message. So it comes just a week after Russia sort of recognized the Taliban by having a diplomatic person in Moscow. So this is, I mean when they are trying to get international recognition and that's what they have been demanding from the community. The money of the previous Afghan government in the Western countries should be returned and they should be given recognition. But the Western countries and the human rights groups have been saying that unless the rights of women and girls are restored, the groups have been urging that they should not be given any recognition until they restore the rights of women and girls.
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Peter Bowes
And Barasan Atarajan Here in Britain, King Charles has told a state banquet for the French President Emmanuel Macron, that the relationship between the UK and France is essential for preserving peace in Europe. Speaking at Windsor Castle, west of London, the King said both countries faced a multitude of complex threats and would face them together. Our diplomatic correspondent James Landel reports. On the first day of President Macron's three day visit.
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Julia McFarlane
In the bright winds of sunshine, President Macron was greeted with all the pomp demanded of his rank. There were marching bands and a guard of honor Royal saloon As he and the King paraded through the town in an open carriage, followed by The Queen and Mrs. Macron, the streets thronged with cheering crowds. Britain and France may have much in common. A sea, a tunnel, nuclear weapons and permanent seats at the UN Security Council. But they've also been divided over Brexit and a defence pact with the US and Australia that excluded France. Wounds that still linger in the minds of French diplomats. And there remain differences of nuance. How to manage Donald Trump, when to recognize a Palestinian state and how to stem the flow of illegal migration. In a speech to MPs and peers, President Macron said Britain had to address the pull factors that encourage a third of people entering the EU illegally to try to go on to the UK.
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Chloe Hajimafeou
France and the United Kingdom have a shared responsibility to address irregular migration with humanity, solidarity and firmness. The decisions that we will take will respond to our aims for cooperation and tangible results on these major issues.
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Julia McFarlane
But today was all about Franco, British unity, the defence of Ukraine, the shared military cooperation, the people to people contacts. At a state banquet this evening, the King said both countries faced complex threats but must tackle them together as friends and allies. Friendship between Britain and France is vital, he said, if the liberties and peace of Europe are to be preserved. The King also spoke of a thousand years of shared history and culture. To that end, President Macron announced the Bayer tapestry and would be loaned to the British Museum next year for the first time in 900 years. The fact it records a successful French invasion of these islands did not go unnoticed, but it did not seem to matter. And that it would seem, was the point.
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Peter Bowes
James Landale It's a multi million best selling book and has been adapted into a film featuring the stars. Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs.
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Lauren Markham
Are you walking the path?
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Peter Bowes
Yes, we are.
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Julia McFarlane
That's a long old hike.
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Baroness Kennedy
Yeah.
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Chloe Hajimafeou
Retired, are you?
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Peter Bowes
The Salt Path is the story of a couple who decide to walk England's thousand kilometer southwest coast path after their home is repossessed. Now, the author, Raina Wynne, has been accused of fabricating or giving misleading information about some elements of her memoir. An investigation by the observer newspaper in Britain has suggested that some of Wynne's claims about her husband's illness and the events that led to the couple losing their home were misrepresented. Raina Wynne has denied the accusations. Evan Davis heard more from the journalist behind that investigation, Chloe Hajimafeou.
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Baroness Kennedy
I started out with a load of documents from the land registry and then through lots of phone calls, what I discovered was that Raina and Mothwin's real names are Tim and Sally Walker. And they lost their home, actually, because Sally Walker was accused of stealing tens of thousands of pounds from her employer, who was an estate agent in this North Wales town where she was a bookkeeper. They accused her of stealing over £60,000 and she was arrested and questioned by the police and then subsequently borrowed £100,000 from a rich relative of Tim Walker's, her husband's, and that £100,000 was used to pay back the money that was missing from the estate agent and cover legal costs. But then it went on their house essentially as a private mortgage, and when their rich relative's business went bust, the people he owed money to took over that debt and tried to recover it. And eventually the courts foreclosed on their home and gave it to the people they owned the money to to recoup their debt. But the Walkers then essentially did lose their house, as they said, but under very, very different circumstances when, in effect, Sally Walker was accused of cr. Criminal behavior. Right.
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Peter Bowes
And indeed, you've also been examining the.
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Baroness Kennedy
Condition which in the memoir, Moth, the husband, Tim Walker, is living with, and.
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Lauren Markham
You find his experience there has been unusual.
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Baroness Kennedy
When I spoke to neurologists who specialise in this condition, they say they've never come across anything like this. They've never come across anyone who's lived as long as Moth. The usual life expectancy with this illness from onset of symptoms is six to eight years. It's tragically short. And Moth has been around for 18 years with this condition. He's not got any visibly acute symptoms, whereas people with that condition towards the later stages are very visibly unwell. Their body isn't responding quite often. They have a lot of difficulty with speech and towards the end of their lives they need 24 hour care. So neurologists that I spoke to were really sceptical. They said maybe he's been misdiagnosed. But in the books we hear that he's had lots of trips to the doctor and we don't hear anything about a misdiagnosis. I cannot prove that that moth or Tim Walker doesn't have this condition. His medical records aren't public and nor would it be right for me to go digging into them. But he has made the details of his condition very public. I think it's right and proper now that we do raise questions.
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Peter Bowes
One reaction to a memoir is does it really matter whether it's true or not true?
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Julia McFarlane
I mean, you know, it is a.
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Chloe Hajimafeou
Description of a couple making a journey.
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Lauren Markham
A lot of people found it very inspiring and I don't know whether the truth matters.
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Baroness Kennedy
I all the way along this book has really been sold as a true story. That has been one of the major headlines behind it and also, you know, in very big letters in the trailer of the movie that's recently come out, which is supposed to be the true story of this couple. And I think firstly, in this day and age when truth is under assault anyway, people have really been affected by this book. They've opened their hearts to this couple and I think telling the public that it's true in that way and putting that center stage, it does hurt the bigger picture of truth.
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Peter Bowes
Investigative journalist Chloe Hajimafeou and in a statement, Rainer Wynne described the observer article as highly misleading and said she and her husband would be taking legal advice. Still to come on this podcast, when.
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Evan Davis
A small town in Italy announces that they're putting their houses up for €1, they are flooded with emails.
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Peter Bowes
The tempting offer of a cut price home in Italy. So what's the catch?
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Baroness Kennedy
Foreign.
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Peter Bowes
The killing Call a BBC World Service investigation into the murder of Punjabi singer and rapper Sidhu Musiala.
- [16:52]
Chloe Hajimafeou
The facts, they aren't out in the open.
- [16:54]
Julia McFarlane
Why is Siddhu Musaywala, you know, uncovering.
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Peter Bowes
A global criminal underworld that reaches far beyond India's border?
- [17:01]
Navin Singh Khadkar
There are so many rumors, no one wants to talk.
- [17:04]
Peter Bowes
There might be repercussions. Listen now. Search for world of secrets wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Here in Britain, an inquiry into an administrative computer scandal at the Post Office which led to thousands of its employees being wrongly accused of stealing from company accounts, has published its first report. It outlined what it described as a disastrous human toll and criticized the Post Office's attitude. The software was used to manage transactions and accounts. However, it contained significant faults that led to false accounting data, causing the local managers of the Post Offices to appear as if they were responsible for financial shortfalls. The inquiry's chair, Sir Wynn Williams, said the findings were profoundly disturbing and more than 13 people may have killed themselves due to the scandal.
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Chloe Hajimafeou
Many thousands of people have suffered serious financial detriment.
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Lauren Markham
Many people have inevitably suffered emotional turmoil and significant stress.
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Chloe Hajimafeou
In consequence, many businesses and homes have.
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Lauren Markham
Been lost, bankruptcies have occurred, marriage and families have been wrecked.
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Peter Bowes
Our correspondent Rob Watson told us more about the report.
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Lauren Markham
It's been described, Julia, with good reason, as the biggest miscarriage of justice in British history, which I think gives you a sense of why it's such an important story. It's also important because the sub postmasters, the people running the 11,000 or so branches of the Post Office up and down the country where you take parcels or maybe cash your state pension if you're elderly, were and still are often at the center of community life, particularly for those not particularly good at doing things online or digitally. Julia. Anyway, over 900 of these postmasters were wrongly accused of stealing money, some of them imprisoned. Thousands more used their own money to balance accounts, and all of it due, as you were saying, to a problem with a new software system which the Post Office denied for years and years. And what this report does is highlight just the sheer scale and depth of the suffering of these people, from bankruptcy to health problems, addictions and even suicide.
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Peter Bowes
And we heard a little bit about this from the inquiry's chair just then. It wasn't just the sub postmasters who were affected, but their families, too.
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Lauren Markham
Yes, in addition to the thousands of postmasters affected, and it was thousands. This report considers for the first time the harm done to their children and wider families. And it's hard not to be shocked, Julia, by the stories of family heartache and breakup, even cases of children being taken away from their parents, young children, when they were put in prison for theft they hadn't committed. So what this report has suggested, and the government has approved the idea, is that for compensation payments to family members, especially children whose life chances were affected by the Post Office's behavior. Although how they're going to prove that won't be easy. In summary, really, Julia, this is a scandal that is far from over, both in terms of the issues of compensation and, of course, the possible prosecution of senior officials at the Post Office allegedly responsible for this massive miscarriage of justice.
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Peter Bowes
Rob Watson, Officials in Nepal say at least eight people have been killed and 20 are missing. After flash floods on the border with China, 11 people are reported to be missing on the Chinese side. This was the sound of the torrents of water which flooded the area around Rashwagadi. The floods also swept away the Nepal China Friendship Bridge, which spans the Sun Kosi river, forcing all bilateral trade moving through that route to be halted. Navin Singh Khadkar is our environment correspondent. I asked him what we knew about the situation there.
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Navin Singh Khadkar
Very early in the morning, there was a sudden rise in the level of this river. It comes in from Tibet and flows through Nepal and ultimately mixes with the Ganges in northern India. So this had swollen quite significantly and then it swept away this key trade bridge between China and Nepal. Around four hydropower stations in Nepal have been damaged and not to talk about debris being swept down. And as a result, in many parts, instead of water, you'll see this brown sludge, which means there's a huge loss to the aquatic life in the river. And also this threatens critical infrastructure like barrage dunes, dams down the stream.
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Peter Bowes
And there's this quite acrimonious war of words that suddenly erupted over this.
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Navin Singh Khadkar
Rather than arguing with each other, I have seen two different versions. The Chinese media have categorically said that there was this incessant rainfall in northern Nepal, and they've also said this is very common during monsoon and that's why there was this floods. But when I checked with the Nepalese authorities, what they have told is there was no rainfall as such, neither in the Nepalese side nor towards the border area in the Chinese side in Tibet. So there's this question, what caused the floods? Now what they've also told me is there was no early warning and therefore some experts are saying this might be a case of glacial lakes bursting out in Tibet, which has happened in the past. But the satellite imagery, it's full of cloud as of now, so it needs to be clear up and then we'll know what exactly happened in Nepal.
- [22:35]
Peter Bowes
It's mountainous area, it's prone to flash flooding, but it's apparently getting worse every year.
- [22:43]
Navin Singh Khadkar
You talked about Nepal's topography, Nepal's geography. It's the same thing across the border in China. So all this glacial melting, permafrosts thawing and then that triggering landslides, mountains coming down, you know, and blocking rivers and so on and so forth. Tibet, for instance, is one of those places which has seen expansion of water bodies. Just when, because of global warming, we are seeing water bodies disappearing elsewhere and drought and desertification. But Tibet, we're just seeing the opposite picture. There's this massive expansion of water bodies because there's this fast melting glaciers, all these snow filled ice packs, they are melting and as a result what happens is a small trigger. Any avalanche, anything happens, falls into those lakes, they tend to burst out. Again, we are not saying that was the reason, but these are things that cause floods downstream. Therefore, experts say all these risks are to be monitored and then there has to be this trans boundary management of river systems, early warning and so on and so forth, particularly where you have critical infrastructure downstream.
- [23:44]
Peter Bowes
Navin Singh A court in Pakistan has ordered YouTube to block or remove 27 channels accused of violating a controversial law against fake news. Several of the accounts belong to prominent local journalists. Others are linked to the party of the jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan. From Islamabad, here's Azadeh Mushiri. Assad Ali Taur is a well known YouTuber and activist in Pakistan and highly critical of the government. The country's cybercrime unit is accusing him and 26 others of allegedly spreading provocative and derogatory content about state institutions and officials. Mr. Tor has told the BBC that YouTube has already contacted him and warned that if he doesn't address what it called a legal removal request, then it may comply without any further notice. The government has previously said the law is aimed at hate speech, misinformation and any content that could incite violence. But rights groups such as Amnesty have called it draconian. Azadeh Mushiri now ever thought about escaping to the Italian countryside? It's a scheme that's been running for several years. Small Italian towns are selling dilapidated old houses for one euro in the hope of attracting international buyers and stimulating economic growth. So how's it been going? Guardian journalist Lauren Markham, who was herself tempted to take up the offer, has been investigating.
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Evan Davis
When a small town in Italy announces that they're putting their houses up for one euro, which is generally the starting price, they are flooded with emails like hundreds if not thousands of people inquire. So it's incredibly popular. Certainly once people understand the catches and there are a number, they don't always follow through. Every town does it somewhat differently, but generally there is some commitment that you're required to make to restore and renovate whatever property you're buying. Some towns require some kind of residency in Italy so that it's not just, for instance, a vacation home. Some towns really are looking for people not just to fix up these tumbledown properties, but really bring life back into depopulating towns. You know, people who will Buy the food and attend the events and help restaurants and stay open or new ones open. Some places have actually asked that if you come, you launch some sort of business or some sort of social enterprise for the community.
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Peter Bowes
Yeah. What are local residents making of this influx of foreign buyers?
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Evan Davis
It really depends place to place. And I would also say it depends on when in the lifespan of the one euro house scheme. You talk to them often at the beginning, there's a lot of suspicion. I talked to the mayor of one town and some folks from that town who recounted that at the beginning, a lot of residents felt like, oh, you're selling off our properties like they're nothing. You're making us a discount town. I think in general, that suspicion has ceased. Now that those properties are sold, new life is in the town. Businesses that were on the brink of collapse are able to run. So I think for the most part, there is a sense of toward the completion, many people seem to feel, even the neighbors, right, relatively happy that the house next door is not kind of falling to ruin. But at the same time, I think that there is a sort of forlorn sense that this era of our town is gone, that these new people are ushering in a new era, which even if there's like hope and optimism around that, there's also, of course, I think, a sense of mourning.
- [27:17]
Peter Bowes
It's also not just Italy. There are other countries experimenting with similar schemes, aren't there?
- [27:23]
Evan Davis
Yes. Greece has sort of flirted with the idea. Japan is selling homes. I mean, if you're on Instagram, I would be surprised if you haven't at some point come across the, like, this town in Spain will pay you 5,000 you're owed to live there if you have a child. So it's happening all over the place. We are facing a global population decline. These rural towns have a hard time keeping their young people and attracting people to move there. So they're looking abroad to sort of say, okay, can we get the remote worker or can we get somebody who has money, or can we get someone who has a flexible life and can live half the year here to help keep our town afloat?
- [28:00]
Peter Bowes
Lauren Markham. 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 X@BBC World Service. Use the hashtag globalnewspod. This edition was mixed by Caroline Driscoll. The producers were Liam McSheffrey and Alfie Habershan. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Julia McFarlane. Until next time. Goodbye. World of Secrets. The Killing Call. A BBC World Service investigation into the murder of Punjabi singer and rapper Sidhu Musayallah.
- [28:51]
Chloe Hajimafeou
The facts, they aren't out in the open.
- [28:55]
Peter Bowes
Uncovering a global criminal underworld that reaches far beyond India's borders.
- [29:00]
Navin Singh Khadkar
There are so many rumors, no one wants to talk.
- [29:03]
Peter Bowes
There might be repercussions. Listen now. Search for World of Secrets wherever you get your BBC podcasts.