Bernard Ecchio (0:00)

This is the global news podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Bernard Ecchio and at 14 hours GMT on Wednesday 5th March. These are our main stories. In a marathon speech to Congress, President Trump promised more unrelenting action, including radical shifts in foreign policy and far reaching cuts to US Government spending. An artillery attack on a camp in Sudan's North Darfur state has killed at least 70 people, including women and children. Also in this podcast, China says it will be difficult to achieve its economic targets in part because of the challenging international outlook. A lot of people would be scratching their heads looking at where the world's going at the moment with the way the Trump administration is throwing trade relations everywhere into chaos and wonder how can the Chinese government be this confident? And teachers in South Korea raise concerns about the increasing number of AI deep fakes being created by their own students. Donald Trump has listed what he said had been his administration's accomplishments during a lengthy speech to a joint session of Congress, his first in his second term as president. He taunted opposition Democrats over his cuts to the federal workforce and clamped down on illegal border crossings. He also defended his tariff policies, stating there might be short term difficulties, but that they would ultimately benefit Americans in the long run. Our Washington correspondent, Nomia Iqbal watched the nearly two hour address and sent this report. Mr. Speaker, the President of the United States. President Trump walked into the chamber shaking hands with excited Republicans. This was his moment to boast, America is back. We have accomplished more in 43 days than most administrations accomplished in four years or eight years and we are just getting started. He praised all the domestic actions he has taken so far, such as on immigration. I deployed the U.S. military and Border patrol to repel the invasion of our country and spending cuts. We are draining the swamp. It's very simple. And the days of rule by unelected bureaucrats are over. He praised his close ally, the unelected tech billionaire Elon Musk, who arrived with the President for the address. Thank you, Elon. He's working very hard. He didn't need this. He didn't need this. Thank you very much. We appreciate it. Everybody here. He's appointed the world's richest man to reduce government spending and boost the U.S. s space ambitions. We're going to lead humanity into space and plant the American flag on the planet Mars and even far beyond. In a key moment, Donald Trump reached out to Ukraine's President Zelensky after days of criticizing him. It's time to stop this madness. It's time to halt the killing. It's time to end this senseless war. If you want to end wars, you have to talk to both sides. It's after Mr. Zelensky made a statement saying he wanted to move forward. We've had serious discussions with Russia and have received strong signals that they are ready for peace. Wouldn't that be beautiful? Wouldn't that be beaut? Mr. Trump also repeated his trade war. If you don't make your product in America, however, under the Trump administration, you will pay a tariff and in some cases a rather large one. President Trump looks and sounds like he did the first time round, but now he's more experienced and emboldened. His speech really underlines the blitz of action he's taken since he returned to the White House. He's testing the boundaries of power and creating confusion with Democrats, the opposition unsure how to react. One congressman stood up and heckled Mr. Trump. Al Green of Texas was eventually kicked out by the speaker, Mike Johnson. Members are engaging in willful and continuing breach of decorum and the chair is prepared to direct the sergeant at arms to restore order to the joint session. Other Democrats brought signs reading false pay your taxes and this isn't normal. Some said nothing as Mr. Trump taunted them. President Trump arrived here at the Capitol as polls suggest Americans are split on the start of his second term. He can't run again, giving him four years to deliver on his big, bold promises. The golden age of America has only just begun. It will be like nothing that has ever been seen before. Thank you, God bless you and God bless America. A large focus of that congressional address was on the war in Ukraine. As Nomiya mentioned, Donald Trump read out a letter from Volodymyr Zelensky. In it, the Ukrainian president said he's ready to work under Mr. Trump's strong leadership and come to the negotiating table as soon as possible. It follows a White House announcement on Monday that it was freezing all military support for Ukraine. Just before recording this podcast, the CIA director, John Ratcliffe confirmed that the US had also paused intelligence. Our Ukraine correspondent, James Waterhouse is in Kyiv. You could look at this as to be expected after the pausing of American aid as Ukraine is strong armed into Donald Trump's vision of peace. Or you could look at it as a really concerning denial of intelligence Ukraine has used to significant effect so far in this war. If you look at the reports as to what this could mean, it seems to have been a selective measure in that this is intelligence to do with targets inside Russian territory and not Russian occupied territory. But either way, this severely hampers Ukraine's ability to sustain its fight. Because this war is not just about fighting in the trenches. It is about targeting supply lines. It's about stopping the gathering of troops further back in an attempt to relieve pressure on the cities and towns where people still live. And I think the most concerning thing, we are talking about a Ukraine that has yet to secure any security guarantees. We are talking about a Ukraine that has only received pressure from America. And as for the Russian advances which continue, let's be under no illusion there have been no new announcements from Washington to hinder their progress as they try to take Ukrainian territory. James Waterhouse, and if you have questions about the rapidly evolving situation with Ukraine, Russia and the roles of all the world leaders, we'd love to hear from you and get some answers from our correspondents. Send us an email. The address is globalpodcastbc.co.uk. reports from Sudan say at least 70 people, including women and children, have been killed in an artillery attack on a camp for displaced people in north Darfur state. Local media say the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces shelled a crowded market in the Abu Shouk camp near the city of El Fha late on Tuesday. For nearly two years, the RSF and the regular army have been in a devastating war that's uprooted more than 12 million people and caused what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis. I heard more from our Africa regional editor, Richard Kogoi. This is the latest attack that has taken place in this camp. There has been a jostling for control of power by the RSF and the Sudanese army. And we spoke to a local health official. He said that the scenes are quite devastating. And he managed to visit a local hospital where most of the people who injured were admitted shortly after the attack. And he said it was quite a very tragic situation and he fears that possibly even the toll could go even higher. Civilians are increasingly getting caught up in this conflict and this attack really taking place at a busy time when people were out there going for shopping for Ramadan just before they broke their fast. And most vulnerable populations are now becoming victims as this conflict escalates. Now, the battle for control of El Fasr has been going on for months. Why isn't there sort of one side dealing a decisive blow? It's quite difficult to tell, you know, that this is an area where the paramilitary Rapid Support forces have been controlling, specifically in the Darfur region. This is sort of like one of the last outputs that is still under the control of the army. And so there have been attempts by the RSF to wrestle control from the army. But of course, the army and its allied groups have put up a spirited defense against any advancements by the RSF and its allied militia. So at the moment, we've seen that the situation has deteriorated significantly, and that's why we've been seeing this escalation going even into residential areas and other camps for those that have been displaced. Well, Richard, whilst this escalation takes place, there are talks in Nairobi and the signing of a document by the rsf. What can you tell us? Yes, the reports that we have received is that the RSF and its allied groups on Tuesday signed what they called a constitutional document. Now, this comes after they signed a founding charter that now allows them to form a rival administration. So they're saying that this process now sets the stage of them forming a government of unity and a secular state in areas which are controlled by the rebels. And they say that this is going to happen inside Sudanese territory. But, of course, this decision has been won criticized by the international community, especially countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, who have been sort of trying to mediate and trying just to see how they can bring out the two sides to the negotiating table once again. Richard Kagoi. Still to come, I mean, living without electricity for the most part, and no hot water, I think will have challenges. But the ocean and the wildlife, it all makes it worth it, you know. A newlywed couple give up their city lifestyle to live and work on a remote island off the coast of Ireland. Every year, nearly 3,000 delegates from provinces all over China meet in Beijing for the National People's Congress. Over the course of this week, they'll usher through decisions that have already been made behind closed doors by party leaders. One of them, China's Premier Li Qiang, gave the opening speech, warning that an increasingly complex global order might impact the country's trade. Internationally, changes unseen in a century are unfolding across the world at a faster pace. Unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise. The multilateral trading system is experiencing disruptions, and tariff barriers continue to increase. He's proposed a growth target of 5% for the economy with measures to stimulate domestic consumption, cut youth unemployment, and encourage foreign investment. As I heard from our Beijing correspondent, Stephen McDonnell, it was clear that the changes in the world Mr. Lee was talking about include the looming trade war with the United States. I've just come from the Great hall of the People, and it'd be crazy to be ignoring the elephant in the room. I think every Chinese person who heard that speech would know what he's referring to there. I mean, why is this especially a problem for China? Just have a look at the Chinese economy. Huge areas where they've got to deal with these problems. The ongoing property crisis, youth unemployment, local government, debt, sluggish consumer confidence. Chinese people don't have enough confidence in the economy. Saving too much, not spending enough. Now the areas where the economy is doing pretty well, electric vehicles, solar panels, new tech, people all know about Deep Seq and TikTok. This is all export driven stuff. And so what the Chinese government doesn't need now is a renewed trade war with the US or anyone else for that matter. When these bright light areas of the economy are reliant on exports. And yet they're still saying they're going to achieve around 5% growth this year. Well, indeed, 5% growth target is much higher than most countries would hope for. Is it realistic? A lot of people would be scratching their heads looking at where the world's going at the moment with the way the Trump administration is throwing trade relations everywhere into chaos and wonder how can the Chinese government be this confident? I mean, for example, one thing it really needs to do is to get domestic consumption going. Interestingly, and we know, we look at the tea leaves here in China, the word consumption was mentioned 31 times in the speech today, as opposed to 21 times last year. Now we might think, well, why does that matter? Well, it shows that this problem of building up greater consumer confidence is at the forefront of the minds of the Communist Party. And you know, a decade ago they said there was going to be this shift towards an economy reliant much more on domestic consumer confidence, domestic consumer spending. But it hasn't panned out that way to attempt to encourage this. They've had financial incentives to switch out your old clapped out car, to swap your old appliances for new ones. Cash for clunkers, as it's being referred to. They're going to allow a greater proportion of the GDP to be caught up in debt. So the deficit to GDP ratio has gone up and yet not really much change to China's social safety net provisions. Many economists are saying the way to fix this is to put more money into the hands of ordinary households and that way they'll spend some more. And yet really this time round, not a lot on that front. And so there's still a lot more work to do besides the 5% growth target for the economy. China's National People's Congress was presented with a slew of major projects to reach its climate goals to help emissions peak in five years time and to become carbon neutral by 2060. Our Asia Pacific editor Celia Hatton reports. China is the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter, but it's also far ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to renewable energy, building twice as many solar and wind projects as the rest of the world combined. In new plans published at the start of China's annual parliamentary session, Beijing said it would develop new energy bases across its huge stretches of desert. New offshore wind farms and a controversial hydropower dam project on the Yarlong Tsangpo river in Tibet are also in the works. Beijing says it will continue to rely on coal power, though it will trial low carbon technology at its power plants. Analysts say despite all that effort, China will still fall short of its own target to cut the amount of energy it uses as its economy grows, with Beijing blaming that failures on rapid energy consumption as it tries to ramp up its weak economy and the pressures posed by extreme weather. Celia Hatton Israel says it's ready to proceed with phase two of the ceasefire in Gaza on the condition that the territory is fully demilitarised and all hostages are returned. Leaders from Arab countries have been meeting in Cairo to discuss a reconstruction plan for Gaza. On Tuesday, 29 children in need of medical treatment arrived in Jordan from Gaza. They're the first of 2000 who are coming under a deal agreed between Jordan and Israel. The children travel to Amman by military aircraft and a land convoy. Our special correspondent Fergal Keene watched them arrive. A child with a child in her arms. Shada Abu Dhaka, 17 years old, is feeding her six month old sister Naveen. The baby looks more like a newborn. She struggles to absorb nutrition. She has a hole in her heart. You're sad because you're leaving us and going, shada tells the infant. Naveen is being evacuated to Jordan for treatment which isn't available in Gaza. Mothers are having to make heart wrenching choices. Naveen's mum Inas has six children but four must stay behind. I did hope to take them all with me, not only the sick one and her sister. I'm not happy. I'm leaving my children behind. I left my soul behind me. They are all my children. Everybody is wrapped up well for the journey. The windows of the buses taking them away are misted from the warmth of the bodies on board. A little boy presses his palms against the glass. Outside, a father waves repeatedly. The 29 children and their guardians were allowed to travel by bus, ambulance and helicopter after first being cleared by Israel the evacuation was organized by Jordan, whose King Abdullah announced it during a meeting with President Trump in Washington last month. Here at Markah Air Base on the outskirts of Amman, I can see two helicopters approaching. They're the first of a wave coming out of Gaza today with injured and sick children from the war. Right beside me. There are ambulances lined up to take them to hospitals here in Amman. It's the first phase of a complex operation that's been planned for months. First to emerge, blinking into the sunlight was 11 year old Abdul Rahman Al Nashash. He walked with crutches. His left leg was amputated when he was caught in Israeli shelling. His mom, Asma, explained that her husband was killed in an airstrike in Jordan, though there was hope for her boy. I want to have my son treated. I want him to walk as he did before. We want a ceasefire. I worry about my children who are still there. I was crying all the way here. I'm scared for them. We're in an ambulance now traveling through a man and you can hear the driver urging cars there to get out of the way. Behind me on a stretcher is 8 year old monotala Akel. She's got serious injuries to her legs. She's lying there still quiet in this completely new environment just come from Gaza. Monatel has now been moved into a private room in this gleaming intensive care unit. But there was a voice from home. Dr. Mohammed Matar is an anesthetist at Al Rashid Hospital. He's originally from Gaza. A warm, consoling presence, he told me of the pain he feels for the child victims of war. When I see this severe injury, my heart broke. Whatever the religion, whatever the race, in the end, we are all human. Right? You feel for everybody? Yes. Yes. What we saw emerging from the helicopters were wounded, seriously ill children. Nearly all of them had left close family behind. Still, the sight of the Jordanian rescue aircraft and the bright sun, the smiles on several young faces, felt like that rarest of things in this war. A hopeful interlude. Fergal Keen reporting. It's hard to think of a country that's not embracing artificial intelligence. With its long history of technological innovation, South Korea was one of the first countries to adopt a nationwide AI strategy. Teachers, however, have expressed concern about a growing trend of students taking non consensual images of staff members and creating AI deep fakes. With millions of children heading back to their classrooms this week for the start of the school year, BBC Korea's Hyo Joong Kim has been speaking to educators who found disturbing Pictures of themselves uploaded online. Photos of me and another teacher were uploaded on Twitter. I was so shocked when I received the screenshots. There were four images of my face and body, including my buttocks, circulating on Twitter. Below the images, hashtags like Teacher humiliation. Ji Hee, whose name and voice we have changed, is a victim of a growing trend in South Korean schools. The account was not only posting hidden camera photos of teachers, but also deepfake generated images of victims. It was extremely sexually humiliating and degrading, while shocking. Her experience is far from unusual in South Korea. In August, a survey via teachers Union found 2,492 cases where a member had been a victim of illegally manipulated images. Across the country, the number of police reports about deep fake sex crimes rose from 156 in 2021 to 1,202 in 2024. Despite the scale of the issue, Jee Hee felt let down by the response she received from authorities. The burden is entirely on the victim to prove everything. We have to persuade law enforcement, gather evidence, and prove our case. So I decided to investigate myself. I went to the school and tested different positions to see where someone could have taken those hidden camera shots. Teaming up with another teacher, Ji he worked out that there was only one desk in the classroom where the pictures could have been taken. But. And because she knew which student said there, now she knew who was responsible. Lee Ga Eun, whose voice and name we have also changed, is another teacher who has been affected. They explained that a manipulated image of my face edited onto the upper body of a topless woman was circulating in a telegram chat room. Teachers are often expected to continue doing their job after being victimized, even when the student responsible might still be in their classroom. Ga Eun has taken medical leave. If leave exceeds a week, teachers must undergo a review to have it recognized as officer sick leave. Occasionally, requests are rejected, which means the complainant must use their annual leave instead. I don't know whether it's the deep fake that's making me suffer or the battle with the education authorities. South Korea's Ministry of Education says it is working hard to tackle the issue in schools, ensuring stronger action when incidents take place and providing better support for teachers. But Ji he still believes there is a big problem. Out of over 800 deepfake related cases in schools nationwide, only two resulted in expulsion. And one of those cases was ours. That's how rare such action is. That report from Huo Joong Kim. If given the opportunity, would you pack up your life and move to a remote island in the North Atlantic. Beautiful landscapes, but no running water or electricity. Every year, Great Blasket island off County Kerry in the Republic of Ireland, employs two individuals to run holiday cottages and a coffee shop for the 40,000 tourists that come every year. A newly married couple has signed up for exactly that. Camille Rosenfeld from the US state of Minnesota, and James Hayes from Tralee in County Kerry. With all modern conveniences abandoned and for the most part, just seals and sea birds for company, they've been telling my colleague Nick Robinson, what made them want to embrace such a huge lifestyle change. Well, it sounds pretty great, right? I'm from County Kerry and I would have grown up knowing about the island, its history, kind of as a bit of a cultural landmark and about its beauty. Yeah, I suppose when they started advertising this job, it was on my radar, myself and my wife. He started talking about it and thought, you know, this could be just a great bit of an adventure, really, for us at an important time in our lives. If you look at the photographs, the videos online of Great Blaska, it does look glorious. Beautiful rocks, the wildlife as well. But come here. It's going to be quite tough at times, isn't it? Yeah. I mean, living without electricity for the most part, and no hot water, I think will have challenges, but the ocean and. And the wildlife, it all makes it worth it. You know, I'm really looking forward to meeting all the people that the Great Blasket island attracts, all of the different visitors, and then just the small moments between me and James as well, like having dinner by candlelight, hearing the waves. James, do you lose the thing that everyone's obsessed with these days, the mobile phone or. Despite the lack of electricity supply, can you still do that? Yeah, there is a small amount of connection out there because there's a mast on the mainland, so we will be able to keep in touch. And there's a small wind turbine to charge phones, detached, but connected in some ways as well. Now, your caretakers for the people who come and stay in the cottages on the island. So you've got some company some of the time. Do you get a sense, James, of how often you're going to be on your own and what's the advice you've been given by people who've done the job before? Yeah, well, I suppose you just sort of make provision for kind of storms coming in? Last year we were told that a storm came in that lasted for 12 days, so there will be times when we're on our own, but I think that's kind of all part of the experience and art. Camille, that's part of what attracts you, isn't it? Is the time to look at this great beauty and to paint it. My background is in art and business, but James is actually a professional painter. So for him I'm a landscape painter and a figurative painter. So I suppose and in knowing about the island a long time, I would love the opportunity to go out there and spend some significant time and hopefully it'll probably provide inspiration for lots of work when we get back off the island. The weather is a bit lively off the southwest coast of Ireland at times. It's not always gorgeous. Sunshine and lying on the beach is. It depends what you mean by gorgeous. I think the rain and the wind can be quite powerful and beautiful in their own way. We've got lots of rain pants. What do they say? There's. There's never bad weather. Just the wrong clothes. Ah. So you're stacked up, are you, with. With the kit you need, James? Yes. There's a few things we've been tipped off to also. Head torches. A good stash of head torches at various points around the island, given the lack of electricity, is a big one. So we have a few little insider tricks. It's all a bit abstract now, but when we get out there, I'm sure we'll figure it out. James Hayes and Camille Rosenfeld, the lucky new caretakers of Great Plasket Island. 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, all 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 Daniela Varela Hernandez and the producer was Ella Bicknell. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Bernard Ecchio. Until next time. Goodbye.