Trump leaves Middle East while strikes on Gaza intensify

Summary

Global News Podcast Summary: "Trump Leaves Middle East While Strikes on Gaza Intensify"
Release Date: May 16, 2025
Host: Alex Ritson, BBC World Service

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1. Intensified Israeli Strikes on Gaza Amidst Trump’s Departure

The episode opens with Alex Ritson outlining the day's critical developments: the Israeli military's intensified strikes on Gaza, resulting in nearly 100 fatalities over the past 12 hours, and former President Donald Trump's departure from the Middle East. The Gaza Civil Defense Agency, overseen by Hamas, reported these casualties amidst ongoing Israeli bombardment targeting Hamas infrastructure in anticipation of a potential ground offensive. Gaza has been subjected to a comprehensive Israeli blockade, cutting off all food and humanitarian supplies for the past 10 weeks.

Key Quote:
Yoland Nell (Middle East Correspondent in Jerusalem) at [01:43]:
"According to local sources, it does appear to be a significant new operation with powerful airstrikes and artillery shelling in Beit Lahiya and Jabalya overnight. Israeli troops have advanced into a neighborhood west of Beit Lachia."

The humanitarian situation remains dire. Dr. Victoria Rose, a British reconstructive surgeon at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, described the overwhelmed hospital conditions:
"The hospital is absolutely full... We have a huge outpatient department here of people that probably weren't operated on in a timely fashion... We're the last standing hospital in Khan Yunis and certainly accessible hospital in the south in Israel." ([04:20])

Alex Ritson further highlights the geopolitical tensions, noting a reported rift between President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Yoland Nell explains:
"There has been an evident sort of shift, a division between the Trump administration and the Israeli government, with increased frustration being expressed by key figures in the Trump administration." ([02:39])

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2. Ben Cohen’s Protest Against US Military Support for Israel

The narrative shifts to domestic tensions within the United States regarding support for Israel. Alex Ritson reports on Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's, who disrupted a Senate hearing to protest the US's $20 billion military aid to Israel, which he claims is facilitating the killing of innocent Palestinians.

Ben Cohen’s Statement:
"I could not feel good about my country using my dollars to buy $20 billion worth of bombs and give it to Israel to go and kill a bunch of innocent people... Those stands are generally about justice." ([10:22])

Despite being charged with a misdemeanor and fined $50, Cohen remains steadfast:
"The only way I can continue to be a citizen of my country is to protest what my country is doing." ([10:48])

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3. Fragile Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks in Istanbul

Lyse Doucet, BBC's Chief International Correspondent in Abu Dhabi, provides an update on the fragile peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine taking place in Istanbul. Despite symbolic progress, such as the first face-to-face meeting in three years, expectations for a substantive breakthrough remain low. President Putin failed to attend the initial talks, undermining their credibility.

Vitaly Shevchenko (Russia Editor at BBC Monitoring) remarks:
"Nobody has walked out. They are prepared to listen to each other... But their positions are very different. The Ukrainians need an immediate ceasefire... The Russian position addresses the root causes of this crisis." ([13:56])

Alex Ritson expresses skepticism about the talks yielding significant progress, citing ongoing civilian casualties:
"The bottom line is that the Russian army is still killing civilians in Ukraine." ([15:03])

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4. Amazon Web Services’ $10 Billion Investment in UK Data Centers

Shifting focus to technology and business, Matt Garman, CEO of Amazon Web Services (AWS), discusses the company's commitment to expanding its data center infrastructure in the UK with a substantial $10 billion investment over the next four years. Garman emphasizes AWS's dedication to renewable energy, stating:
"We're making huge investments in renewable energy... nuclear is a big part of... the solutions that the world is going to need for the electricity demands that we're going to have." ([15:51])

Addressing concerns about cybersecurity and the potential misuse of artificial intelligence, Garman highlights AWS's proactive measures:
"We invest a lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of research into identifying patterns... to prevent it from being used for some bad purpose." ([17:21])

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5. Legal Battle Continues for Australian War Hero Ben Robert Smith

The podcast delves into the ongoing legal challenges faced by Ben Robert Smith, a highly decorated Australian soldier awarded the Victoria Cross, who has been accused of committing war crimes in Afghanistan. After a defamation case resulted in the court finding him responsible for the deaths of four unarmed Afghan prisoners, Smith's recent appeal was unanimously dismissed by the federal court. His legal team hints at pursuing further judicial avenues, vehemently denying the allegations.

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6. Heroic Act by Chinese Student Leads to Policy Change

A heartwarming story from China contrasts the bleakness of other reports. Celia Hatton, BBC's Asia Pacific Editor, shares how an 18-year-old student saved a friend from a heart attack on the way to an exam. Initially barred from retaking the exam, a viral social media campaign garnered public support, leading education authorities to reverse their decision and allow him to sit for the test.

Dr. Hayley Seward, a vocal and performance coach involved with the delegation, adds:
"We were able to escort the media to the dress rehearsals... It's important to see that this good news counterbalances some of the darker stories." ([20:49])

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7. Eurovision Song Contest Highlights and Controversies

The episode concludes with a lighter segment on the Eurovision Song Contest in Basel, Switzerland. Highlights include the unexpected elimination of Australia's "Milkshake Man" and strong performances from countries like Greece and Finland.

Charlotte Gallagher, BBC’s Eurovision correspondent in Basel, explains the surprise elimination:
"The Australian entry, Milkshake Man, was one of the more entertaining acts... but they were unlucky to go first, which is always difficult." ([22:31])

Additionally, organizers faced disruptions when six protesters attempted to derail the Israeli entry's performance, reflecting ongoing tensions surrounding the competition.

John O'Callaghan, a Canadian working for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), provides a behind-the-scenes perspective on the event's extensive security measures and the elaborate preparations involved.

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Conclusion

The episode of the Global News Podcast delivers a comprehensive overview of pressing international issues, including the escalating conflict in Gaza, strained US-Israel relations, fragile peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, significant corporate investments in technology, ongoing legal battles of notable figures, inspiring human-interest stories from China, and the vibrant happenings of the Eurovision Song Contest. Through detailed reporting and insightful commentary, the podcast offers listeners a nuanced understanding of complex global dynamics.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Alex Ritson: "Donald Trump saying this was a very brutal war and he expressed a desire to end it earlier in this week." ([03:28])

• Dr. Victoria Rose: "I'm slightly worried at the moment, but mainly because we are the last standing hospital in Khan Yunis and certainly accessible hospital in the south in Israel." ([04:20])

• Ben Cohen: "The only way I can continue to be a citizen of my country is to protest what my country is doing." ([10:22])

• Matt Garman: "I think nuclear is a great solution for that in the future because it's an excellent source of carbon zero, 24 by 7 power." ([16:14])

• Vitaly Shevchenko: "There's no will on Russia's part to stop it." ([15:17])

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This summary encapsulates the multifaceted discussions and reports from the Global News Podcast, providing listeners with an in-depth understanding of the day's significant events and their broader implications.

Transcript

[Alex Ritson]

This is the global news podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritson and at 13 hours GMT on Friday 16th May, these are our main stories. Gaza's Civil Defense Agency says the Israeli military has killed almost 100 people in the past 12 hours. In another intense wave of strikes, President Trump leaves the Middle east, his first major trip of his second term. No breakthrough on the release of hostages in Gaza, but significant business deals for US businesses. Peace talks involving Russian and Ukrainian representatives have begun in Turkey, but expectations are low after President Putin declined to attend. Also in this podcast, people did like.

[Charlotte Gallagher]

The milkshake man, and as you said, some of the lyrics were quite suggestive, some of the music video was quite suggestive, but sadly, it wasn't meant to be.

[Alex Ritson]

Who did and who didn't make the Eurovision Grand Final kicking off in Basel, Switzerland, on Saturday. The Civil Defense Agency in Gaza, which is run by Hamas, says the Israeli military has killed almost 100 people since midnight in another intense wave of strikes in the north of the territory. Israeli forces have been intensifying their bombardment of what they say are Hamas fighters and infrastructure ahead of a planned expansion of their ground offensive. Meanwhile, Gaza has been under a complete Israeli blockade of all food and other humanitarian supplies for the last 10 weeks. Our middle east correspondent, Yoland Nell, who's in Jerusalem, gave us the latest.

[Yoland Nell]

According to local sources, it does appear to be a significant new operation with powerful airstrikes and artillery shelling in Beit Lahiya and Jabalya overnight. But also Israeli troops said to have advanced into a neighborhood to the west of Beit Lachia. There has been more response to of this from the Israeli side with the Hostage Families Forum, this important group representing relatives of those still held captive, expressing concern about the latest attacks, calling again on the Israeli government to reach a hostage release and Gaza ceasefire deal, saying the state of Israel is hours away from the mists of the century. They're worried, as are many Palestinians, that President Trump could be set to leave this region without a breakthrough on Gaza.

[Alex Ritson]

Yolande Marco Rubio used this word, troubled. There's also these reports of a rift between Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu. Is this having an impact on the nature of the military offensive?

[Yoland Nell]

Certainly we're getting a lot more reports of that in the Israeli media as well, talking about how there has been an evident sort of shift, a division between the Trump administration and the Israeli government, with increased frustration being expressed by key figures in the Trump administration. There are Israeli media quoting different sources saying that Steve Witkoff, the special envoy of President Trump told regional mediators, though, that still, Washington does not plan to force Benjamin Netanyahu to end this war amid his staunch refusal to do so. And apparently there had been some hopes of this in the Arab world, given comments by Donald Trump and others. Donald Trump saying this was a very brutal war and he expressed a desire to end it earlier in this week.

[Alex Ritson]

Very briefly, this plan to deliver aid with private companies, how workable.

[Yoland Nell]

I mean, the UN has been saying it's both unethical and unworkable. And one point that they refer to is the fact that there are only four or five distribution areas in the south of the Gaza Strip that are being talked about under this plan, whereas at the moment there have been more than 400 to try to reach all 2.1 million people living in the Gaza.

[Alex Ritson]

Strip before these land, sea and airstrikes. In northern Gaza, more than 100 Palestinians were reported to have been killed. On Thursday, people in the southern city of Khan Yunis said it was one of the deadliest attacks there since Israel resumed its offensive in early March. Dr. Victoria Rose is a British reconstructive surgeon at Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, a hospital which has been struck by Israeli bombs in recent days.

[Dr. Victoria Rose]

The hospital is absolutely full. I'm standing on the balcony at the moment overlooking the World Health Organization's tents that have been built for the overflow. But it's busy. It's the busiest I've seen it, talking about thousands of people. The problem has been that we've really concentrated on the life and limbs saving cases. So we have a huge outpatient department here of people that probably weren't operated on in a timely fashion. So there's quite a few people with shrapnel embedded that have managed to continue walking around, that have come up to the hospital yesterday to our outpatients, knowing that we were here to see if we could help them. So there are thousands of people in need of medical care and this is my third trip since the war started. And obviously the local teams, although they're very talented, they're absolutely depleted now and exhausted. I am slightly worried at the moment, but mainly because we are the last standing hospital in Khan Yunis and certainly accessible hospital in the south in Israel.

[Alex Ritson]

There will be disappointment among some of the families of the remaining hostages as well as in some Arab countries that President Trump has left the region without reaching a diplomatic breakthrough. He made this brief comment to journalists before boarding Air Force One.

[Ben Cohen]

We're looking at Gaza and we got.

[Dr. Victoria Rose]

To get that taken care of a.

[Ben Cohen]

Lot of people are starving, A lot of people. There's a lot of bad things going on.

[Alex Ritson]

What President Trump has achieved on his four day tour of the Middle east is a string of lucrative business deals for U.S. companies, including the Trump Organization, now run by his sons. Our chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet is in Abu Dhabi and has this assessment of the trip.

[Lyse Doucet]

When he arrived in the region touched down on Tuesday morning, there was so much bits of optimism swirling in the air. There were even celebrations in besieged Gaza. Gazans daring to hope that President Trump would do something, especially while he stopped in the Gulf state of Qatar where so many of the negotiations have been taking place. And I should mention too, there was hope that he might actually do something on Ukraine as well. He kept talking about Gaza, saying we're looking at it in Saudi. He said, well, we hope the Gazans will have a good future. But he blamed Hamas without mentioning them by name. So the groups who kidnap and kill children cannot be allowed to continue. He repeated that again. And then when he left today, he did say that people are starving in Gaza. And he said, but we are trying to sort it and that good things could come. But you get a sense that yes, he could do something, but he's not doing enough given what we've been broadcasting on. The BBC is happening now on the ground.

[Alex Ritson]

Yeah, concern at the humanitarian situation, situation. But that was not criticism of the Israelis, was it?

[Lyse Doucet]

No, he didn't. He was very careful throughout this trip not to criticize the Israelis, even though just before he left the United States, his envoy for everything, Steve Witkoff, had made unprecedented public criticism of Israel, accusing Israel of trying to drag the war on for its own reasons. The Witkow did go to went to Israel to see the families of the hostages, then went to Doha for what was described as 11th hour negotiations. But when I spoke to an advisor to the Qatari prime Minister on Wednesday, on Thursday, rather he was very bitter. He said, the Israelis are not taking this opportunity. That was the day where there was more attacks, where there were reports of 100 dead. And he said, you know, another massacre, in his words, has happened. And he said, we're trying to put pressure on both sides. And there is a sense among the Qataris and the Egyptians, who are the other mediators, that this was a missed opportunity. Even a comment by the Qataris that they think the United States is losing interest.

[Alex Ritson]

Mr. Trump chose not to visit Benjamin Netanyahu. Is there a rift developing there?

[Lyse Doucet]

The relationship between Israel and the United States of America is ironclad it doesn't matter which party is in power. It doesn't matter which president is in power. They may have differences about how they, how they carry out this relationship, but the relationship is solid. But there has been growing strains between President Trump, it seems, and Prime Minister Netanyahu. President Trump wants good news. He wants to make economic deals. His slogan here is peace through strength. He wants wars to end. It's not a good look. He feels for him as president who sees himself as the world's best deal maker to have these horrific scenes in Gaza and as I mentioned, he refers to them. But the question is how much pressure is he willing to put on Israel and how much Prime Minister Netanyahu is willing to do because he wants to keep his government and himself in power.

[Alex Ritson]

Lee Stucet Although President Trump has left the region, his stance on Israel remains a contentious issue back home, a long standing ally. Support for Israel among the American people is waning. A recent Gallup poll showed it at 48%, its lowest level in 25 years. Protests over the war in Gaza have been relatively small, but some high profile. This week Ben Cohen, the co founder of the billion dollar ice cream company Ben and Jerry's disrupted a Senate hearing at which Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Was giving testimony. I'm presenting today supports these goals and.

[John O'Callaghan]

Reflect.

[Charlotte Gallagher]

Congress pays for bombs to kill.

[John O'Callaghan]

Him from plaza while the committee conducts his business.

[Celia Hatton]

Capitol police are asked to remove.

[Alex Ritson]

Mr. Cohen was escorted from the building by police. He was charged with a misdemeanor offense and paid a $50 fine while another six demonstrators were also arrested and face a number of more serious charges. The BBC spoke with the freed Mr. Cohen from his home in Philadelphia.

[Ben Cohen]

I could not feel good about my country using my dollars to buy $20 billion worth of bombs and give it to Israel to go and kill a bunch of innocent people. The only way I can continue to be a citizen of my country is to protest what my country is doing. Otherwise I'm accepting it. Otherwise I'm agreeing with it. If Israel is so dependent on the US insist that Israel let food medicine into Gaza so that they don't starve people to death. Well, I want to emphasize that I'm speaking to you now as an individual and the action I took was as an individual. It was not. But I can tell you that for Ben and Jerry's it has a social mission and it has a set of values. You know, those stands are generally about justice. So we take those stands and you know, some people agree with them, some people Don't. It's okay.

[Alex Ritson]

Ben Cohen still to come in this podcast, when an exam is a reward, not a punishment, after a boy saves the life of his classmate.

[Celia Hatton]

And doctors say that this 18 year old saved the life of his friend. There was a social media outcry in China and they've now relented. He'll be allowed to take the test.

[Alex Ritson]

To Istanbul, where there appear to be positive signs for Russia and Ukraine in their peace talks. No doubt a symbolic moment in the war. The city where east meets west, and more importantly, the first face to face meeting in three years. However, no one expects any breakthrough when it comes to ending the conflict. President Putin named the date and the place, but he didn't turn up on Thursday when the talks were meant to start. The Russian leader didn't even send one of his senior ministers. The EU's foreign policy chief, Kaya Kallas, said Russia wasn't committed to the process.

[Dr. Victoria Rose]

Putin doesn't dare to come, really. So I think downplaying this shows that they are not serious about the reality, these talks. I mean, this is clear for everybody. And I think it's important to see also that the whole world sees that Russia is playing games.

[Alex Ritson]

President Zelensky is also not in attendance, instead sending his Defence minister. Speaking from a summit in Albania, the Ukrainian President said he was closely following developments at the talks in Turkey. Ukraine is ready to take all realistic steps to end this war. I call on Putin to give his delegation real authority, and we need a full stop to the killing long enough to give diplomacy a real chance. Secondly, we must build at least a minimum level of trust in the negotiation process. This can be done by releasing prisoners of war, returning Ukrainian children taken by Russia, and releasing civilian hostages currently held by the Russian side. Vitaly Shevchenko, Russia Editor at BBC Monitoring is in Istanbul as we speak. Alex They've been talking to each other for more than an hour, which is a good sign.

[Vitaly Shevchenko]

Nobody has walked out. They are prepared to listen to each other.

[Alex Ritson]

They are at the negotiating table. It's a completely different matter, what they.

[Vitaly Shevchenko]

Will be able to achieve, because their.

[Alex Ritson]

Positions are very different. The Ukrainians, they've been saying that they need an immediate ceasefire lasting more than 30 days. The Russian position is different.

[Vitaly Shevchenko]

They say they want to address what.

[Alex Ritson]

They call the root causes of this crisis, and that means the reasons why.

[Vitaly Shevchenko]

They started this war, that is the.

[Alex Ritson]

Very existence of Ukraine as a sovereign state. So there's progress, there's a movement. At least they're talking to each other. Alex Briefly. Vitaly It Sounds as though the two sides are a long way apart. Is there any chance that anything could be agreed at this? I'm really skeptical, to be honest. The bottom line is that the Russian army is still killing civilians in Ukraine.

[Vitaly Shevchenko]

Just this morning I've seen reports of.

[Alex Ritson]

At least two civilians killed, one in Kharkiv region, another in Kherson region. That's what matters, really.

[Vitaly Shevchenko]

There's no will on Russia's part to stop it.

[Alex Ritson]

Vitaly Shevchenko Data centres are the factories of the future. They are air conditioned warehouses stuffed with powerful computers which were away 24 hours a day. They are the grey matter in the brains of artificial intelligence. The world's biggest cloud computing firm, Amazon Web Services, has more than 300 across the world and has announced a $10 billion investment in new centres in the UK over the next four years. The chief executive, Matt Garman, has been speaking to our business editor, Simon Jack.

[Matt Garman]

We're making huge investments in renewable energy. In fact, we're the single largest purchaser of new, brand new renewable projects around the world for each of the last five years. And I think the world is going to have to continue to build new technologies. I believe nuclear is a big part of that. As we look, particularly as we look 10 years out, that is going to have to be one of the solutions that are likely the world is going to need for the electricity demands that we're going to have.

[Vitaly Shevchenko]

We've just seen big blackouts in Spain and Portugal, which were blamed on the Iberian Peninsula's overreliance on renewables. And I'm guessing a data center needs an uninterrupted power supply because it's mission critical to so many functions that you talked about. Is renewables the answer to that or is it nuclear? What are you doing in the us?

[Matt Garman]

I think it's got to be a combination of some of those things. In the intermediate term, it's renewables. Some of that is supplemented with natural gas and other fossil fuels. And nuclear is a great solution for that in the future because obviously it's a. It's an excellent source of carbon zero, 24 by 7 power. I think there's lots of also research going into batteries and other storage facilities that allow you to do 24 by 7 and capture more of the solar and wind power. But I think it's going to be a combination of those and it's a portfolio effect. It cannot be one technology that's going to solve all of those things you.

[Vitaly Shevchenko]

Talked about security we've just had in the uk. I don't know if you've been aware of this, a number of big retailers get hit by ransomware and whatever. And if AI is so smart, what's to stop the bad guys mobilizing it? To get as good at attacking you as you are defending, I guess.

[Matt Garman]

Well, you can, you can be sure that they will likely try. I mean, I think that's true of any new technology that has come out, whether it's the Internet or whether it's computers or whether it's AI. And our job is to stay ahead of that. And we invest a lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of research into identifying patterns, figuring out where customers are going. One of the interesting things that we do, actually, because of our global footprint, we have a service that we call. It's an internal service that we call Mad Pot, where we actually can look at the global set of traffic and we have honeypots out there and we can see patterns and using AI, detect when people are trying to do security infiltrations of customers. And we take that information, match those traffic patterns that we see in these honeypots that we build to try to identify where there's nefarious agents out there.

[Vitaly Shevchenko]

I've seen Bill Gates say recently in an interview that humans might not be needed for a lot of tasks. Is there any part of you which has misgivings about the direction we're headed? Does anything keep you awake at night and say, boy, we're about to unleash something which you may regret? Almost like an Oppenheimer, like responsibility.

[Matt Garman]

I feel responsibility for our customers every single day. So every day I wake up, I worry, how are we doing the right thing for our customers?

[Vitaly Shevchenko]

What about the whole human race?

[Matt Garman]

Well, I'm not sure if I'm responsible for the whole human race, but, you know, I think it's all of our responsibilities to think about that. And so with regards to this technology, absolutely. Like, we try to think about what are the belts and suspenders that we can put on this technology to, as best our ability, prevent it from being used for some bad purpose.

[Alex Ritson]

Matt Garman from Amazon Web Services speaking to Simon Jack, Australia's most highly decorated living soldier, has lost an appeal against a landmark court ruling that he committed war crimes in Afghanistan. Ben Robert Smith, who was awarded the country's highest award for bravery in battle, the Victoria Cross, has always denied the allegations. Our correspondent in Sydney, Phil Mercer, gave us the details.

[Vitaly Shevchenko]

These allegations date back well over a decade and a half in Afghanistan. Back in 2018, three OSC Australian newspapers published a series of stories alleging that Ben Robert Smith, Australia's most decorated living soldier and a former corporal in the special Forces, was a war criminal. In response, Mr. Robert Smith launched a very high profile defamation case against the media in Australia. At the end of that defamation trial in 2023, the judge threw out the former soldier's case, insisting that on the balance of probabilities, he was involved in the murders of four unarmed Afghan prisoners. And Mr. Robert Smith, in response, launched an appeal. And that brings us to today's hearing at the federal court. It has unanimously thrown out Ben Robert Smith's appeal, but it's not over. We are hearing from his legal team, the former soldiers legal team, that there could well be a hike court challenge, saying that he vigorously denies what he describes as egregious and spiteful allegations against him.

[Alex Ritson]

Phil Mercer in Sydney. Now to a good news story from China, a rethink from the education authorities after a heroic student sacrificed his exam to save a classmate. He was initially barred from taking the test until a successful social media campaign came to his defense. I heard more from our Asia Pacific editor, Celia Hatton.

[Celia Hatton]

This story goes back to the moment when two young men, two 18 year olds, were on their way to an exam. They hailed a taxi in order to get to the exam hall and they've actually released the video that was taken from inside the taxi. You suddenly see one of the young men just collapse onto the lap of his friend and his friend jumps into action. He tells the driver to call the hospital and to also just get to the hospital as quickly as possible. And you see him start to give chest compressions to his friend who's collapsed in the back of the car. This goes on for some time. The two are racing towards the hospital. The taxi driver actually went through seven red lights in order to get there in record speed time. And it turns out that the taxi driver and this 18 year old year old boy worked together to rescue the life of this young man who had collapsed. He'd actually been having a heart attack. And doctors say that this 18 year old saved the life of his friend. The problem was he missed the exam that he was supposed to be taking. And at first the exam board said, no, you're going to have to wait another year to be able to retake the exam. We're not going to allow you to take it. But there was a social media outcry in China and they've now relented. He'll be allowed to take the test.

[Alex Ritson]

Celia hatton, we now know the full lineup for Saturday's Eurovision Song Contest. After the second semi final in the Swiss city of Basel, the last country.

[Yoland Nell]

To compete in the grand final on Saturday is.

[Lyse Doucet]

Greece.

[Alex Ritson]

The Greek delegation's success signalling the shock elimination of the Australian entry, Milkshake man, one of the more entertaining acts of the night, dressed in a jumpsuit adorned with glitter and sparkles. Montenegro, Ireland, Georgia, the Czech Republic and Serbia also failed to qualify. The BBC's Charlotte Gallagher is in Basel and has been talking me through what to expect and why the cheeky Australian exit came as such a surprise.

[Charlotte Gallagher]

People did like the Milkshake man, and as you said, some of the lyrics were quite suggestive, some of the music video was quite suggestive, but it was one of those classic Eurovision pop songs. We certainly thought here. Lots of Australians had come here as well. They made the journey all the way from Australia to Switzerland to come and support their act, but sadly, it wasn't meant to be. So I think that was one of the real surprises of the two semi finals. I mean, also Australia, they went first last night, which is always difficult. You've got to open the show. You're not going after someone else who's made a good or bad impression. It's all on you. So I think they were unlucky as well to have to go first last night.

[Alex Ritson]

And Charlotte, what else is making a good impression this year?

[Charlotte Gallagher]

People really liked Finland last night. So that's a singer called Erica, she's well known already in Finland. She had an incredible performance and I think with her, it's half about the song and it's half about the performance, because she was on top of a golden microphone as it was lifted on the stage, it was really high energy. When you saw it, you thought, yes, I can imagine that winning. It's a real winning performance. But of course, on the night, the votes are split between the jurors, so they are music industry professionals who cast some of the votes and then also people at home who are casting votes. And you don't have to live in Europe in order to vote. You can live anywhere in the world and you can still vote at Watch and join in with Eurovision.

[Alex Ritson]

Organisers say six protesters were removed from a dress rehearsal on Thursday after attempting to disrupt a performance by the Israeli entry who will be competing in Saturday's final. The world's biggest song competition has extensive security measures in place, along with hundreds of people working behind the scenes, creating the hair, the makeup, the lighting, the pyrotechnics and so much more. John o' Callaghan is a Canadian, working for the ebu, which organizes the entire event. He's been giving us a backstage tour.

[John O'Callaghan]

I'm still finding my way around this, the warrens of this place. In fact, I got lost the other day and found myself backstage. But here we are again. We're just about to, to go through sort of the, the great concrete back warrens along the delegation walkway and if we find our way, we will pop up near the stage.

[Dr. Victoria Rose]

My name's Kate. As soon as you get that email, my God, I'm going to be part of Eurovision. And I didn't, you know, I didn't care what I was going to be doing, you know, sweeping floors, emptying bins. And we've had a great time because we've been able to escort the media to the dress rehearsals. On the Sunday, we were all shipped out to Basel itself, where they were doing the turquoise carpet. But you could see how professional they all were. I mean, they worked really, really hard.

[John O'Callaghan]

Well, we went through that final door around the back and just racks and racks and racks of equipment and a big black curtain and we come around the corner and we are now standing just on the very edge of the sage going up to the ramp and we can see the whole arena now and they're testing all of the lights, so it's very, very colorful.

[Vitaly Shevchenko]

My name is Tim Routledge. I'm the lighting designer for this year's Eurovision. This is the biggest lighting rig in Eurovision history by a long way. I was blessed with a beautiful set by set designer Florin Vida, which is this amazing portrait frame, the mountains and the huge transparent screen. I was then responsible for integrating four and a half thousand lights into that. So integrating all the moving lights around the frame, our three dimensional grids and then the 30 huge trusses that move and change the architectural stage for every performance.

[Dr. Victoria Rose]

My name's Hayley Seward. I'm the lead person for the whole of the stylist here at the Bubble. We have over 28 stylists here with us this week doing hair for all of the delegations. Do you want to know how many appointments we've had already? Yes, please. Okay, so. So today, as of this minute, we are at 670.

[Yoland Nell]

There's a lot that's gone into it.

[Celia Hatton]

Yeah.

[Dr. Victoria Rose]

I'm Francesca Owen. I'm a vocal and performance coach with the Luxembourgish delegation. I very much look at the artists keeping themselves at their best for the competition, kind of working with them through any challenges that they're going more from a kind of psychological perspective. So they hired us then to come out to Eurovision to work not only with the artist, but actually with the whole delegation from that perspective as well.

[John O'Callaghan]

Well, here we are back in the arena and we're up on the side. All of the house lights are up and on. We have the audience in here now and we're looking out across at the delegation areas where everybody will be sitting very expectantly waiting the final vote and the final count to see if they're the champions of the grand finale.

[Alex Ritson]

John O' Callaghan with a behind the scenes look into the 69th Eurovision Song Contest. The Grand Finale on Saturday in Basel. And that's all 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 the topics covered in it, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcastbc.co. you can also find us on XBCWorldService. Use the hashtag globalnewspod. This edition was mixed by Holly Smith and the producers were Becky Wood and Ella Bicknell. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Alex Ritson. Until next time. Goodbye.