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Global News Podcast
US Senate vote could end government shutdown
00:29:47
Senators pass deal that paves way for re-opening of US government
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BBC Announcer
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BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
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BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
This is the global news podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm on Criticia and in the early hours of Monday 10th November, these are our main stories. US Senators have taken a major step towards ending the longest government shutdown in American history. Donald Trump has welcomed the resignation of the BBC's director general and and head of news following claims viewers were misled by the editing of a speech by the US President. Also in this podcast, activists in Afghanistan say the Taliban authorities have ordered women to wear burqas to be allowed into hospitals.
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Afghan Woman / Activist (Zahra Joya)
When a woman going to hospital in different province of Afghanistan they have to go with a male chakran otherwise they are not allowed.
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BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
We start in Washington where US Senators have passed a deal that paves the way for the end of the longest government shutdown in history.
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Grainger Advert Voice 2
On this vote, the yeas are 60 and the nays are 43 fifths of the Senate duly chosen and sworn. Having voted in the affirmative, the motion upon reconsideration is agreed to.
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BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
The shutdown has brought pain to Americans. Low income families have lost food stamps and federal employees have been forced to work with no pay or be furloughed. The deadlock was broken when several Democrat senators voted with their Republican rivals. Anthony Zircher is our North America correspondent.
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Grainger Advert Voice 2
The government shutdown isn't over, but it is heading towards a resolution after 40 days where both the Republicans and Democrats were at odds. As you mentioned, a group of Democrats in the US Senate have now sided with Republicans to begin a series of procedural maneuvers to reopen the government. Once the Senate ultimately approves that, with this Democratic help, then the measure has to go back to the U.S. house of Representatives, where it also has to approve it, and then it goes to Donald Trump's desk for signatures. But the biggest obstacle, the obstacle that has led to this 40 day shutdown in the US Senate has apparently been resolved.
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BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
And what will be the next steps in the process as well? Anthony?
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Grainger Advert Voice 2
Well, what we're going to see once this government shutdown is ended is that all the government services will be reopened once that have been put on hold, such as furloughs of government workers. Government workers going without pay. Air traffic controllers, for instance, have not been paid for 40 days. Airport security officers as well. That had led over the past couple days to cancellations and flight delays across the United States. Thousands of flights had been canceled just on Sunday alone. National parks and public museums will reopen. Things essentially will start to return to normal.
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BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
And what was key in unlocking this.
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Grainger Advert Voice 2
Deadlock, Democrats actually had been insisting during this shutdown was that Republicans address health care subsidies, subsidies to help pay for health insurance provided to low income Americans. That actually wasn't addressed in this. The only thing that Republicans promised was that they would have a vote on extending those subsidies in the U.S. senate. No guarantees that the House would take it up as well, which would be necessary to extend these subsidies. One of the things that you did see with some government services being funded through the end of the fiscal year, so through the end of September, that means that food support for low income Americans would be provided and guaranteed for almost an entire year. That had been a source of pain for for many Americans over the past few weeks. As it looked like those funds ran out, the Republicans agreed to return to work. People who had been threatened with layoffs in the federal government over the course of this shutdown, now they're guaranteed that they will have their jobs back.
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BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
Next to the crisis that's engulfing the BBC, two of its most senior leaders have resigned. In the week before last year's US Presidential election, the BBC broadcast a documentary which included excerpts from a speech made by Donald Trump in the run up to the Capitol hill riots in 2021. But there were complaints that it misled viewers by selectively editing Mr. Trump's comments. And after a leaked internal memo also criticized the documentary and other areas of BBC news coverage, the director general, Tim Davy and head of news Deborah Turness have resigned. It's the latest in a series of controversies and accusations of bias against the BBC. In a statement, Mr. Davy acknowledged that mistakes had been made in what he described as febrile times. Ms. Tenness also accepted criticism, but denied allegations of institutional bias within the BBC. President Trump welcomed their resignation. And here in Britain, Nigel Huddleston of the main opposition Conservative Party said it's a major wake up call for the public broadcaster.
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BBC Announcer
It's really exposed some serious concerns about impartiality at the BBC. We need to make sure that the BBC does what we all want it to do and what it does best, which is be a global brand for the uk, based on world renowned, impartial, trusted news coverage and content. And I'm afraid that is not the case at the moment.
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BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
So just how damaging is this for the corporation? It's a question I put to our correspondent Rob Watson.
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BBC Correspondent (Rob Watson)
The first thing to say, Ankur, is that it is a massive crisis for the BBC. There's just no two ways about that. One of the worst crises it's faced in its hundred year history. How has it come about? Well, I think in many ways this was that the final straw. There had been a string of incidents over the last 12 months or so over various stories, various bits of coverage, but the final straw was essentially a memo that was leaked to a British newspaper. And that memo was written by someone who was an independent advisor to BBC editorial guidelines and standards board. And this memo was immensely damaging because what it contained was largely based on internal BBC reports by a senior journalist into issues with our coverage. Coverage not just of the now the notorious Trump editing, but the US election, anti Israel bias, particularly in the BBC Arabic service, but allegations of bias more generally against Israel and then all sorts of sort of basic journalistic errors, whether it was covering race, gender, immigration, even some economic comics stories. And what, what the man who'd written the memo to the BBC board had said is that it's just astonishing essentially that you failed to implement any measures to resolve these highlighted issues and in many cases don't even consider them issues at all. And as I say, this had come up on top of other issues. And so, yeah, final straw really for Tim Davy and for Deborah Turner.
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BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
You mentioned quite a few examples there. And we've also already had reaction from, from President Trump. He says the BBC has corrupt journalists, criticism from other parts of the British press. And then that comment as well from Tim Davies. Outgoing comments, these fever old times, it sort of just highlights how much pressure there is on the BBC now going forward to get this right.
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BBC Correspondent (Rob Watson)
Yes, but there's also been criticism of The BBC from its friends. And I think for those who wish the BBC well, part of the danger they see is that the BBC will try and say, well, look who's making these criticisms of us. It's right wing newspapers, it's foreign politicians who don't like us very much. But I think the sort of true friends the BBC would say that it doesn't matter who the criticism is coming from. To some extent, you do have to address some of the very serious underlying issues that have been raised here. And very important to remember, Ankur, that you know, critically, these damning reports about the BBC's coverage, I think, particularly of its coverage of Israel and Gaza and Hamas, have not come from outside the BBC. They were from a senior BBC journalist responding to criticisms about several issues, including that one, but others too.
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BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
How damaging is this to the trusted brand which the BBC prides itself on?
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BBC Correspondent (Rob Watson)
Well, it's undoubtedly damaging and that will be the BBC's first priority as to. To restore its reputation for not just impartiality and balance, but I think rather critically here, competence. Right? Because a lot of this criticism is not so much about this idea that the BBC is biased, it's not properly impartial, but just that all sorts of mistakes have been made. So that will be task number one for the BBC domestically here in the uk, but around the world. But the point is that they will be doing this against a background of tremendous political pressure, principally here in the uk, with politicians saying, look, the BBC needs to do better. So I think all sorts of questions are going to be raised about its funding and how it's regulated. The one bit of good news for the BBC, dare I say at anchor amidst all this, is that while there has been some pretty ferocious criticism of the BBC from politicians here and around the world, politicians here, you know, whether they're left, right or center, think that by and large, the BBC is a national and international asset and don't want to see it fail.
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BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
Rob Watson Activists in Afghanistan say the Taliban authorities have ordered women to wear burqas to be allowed into hospitals and government offices in the western city of Herat. The medical charity says such restrictions often mean care is delayed or refused. Rebecca Kesby has been speaking to Zahra Joya, an Afghan journalist and women's rights activist now based in London. This is what she's been hearing from.
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Afghan Woman / Activist (Zahra Joya)
Herad, the minority police of the Taliban. They are in front of the central hospital in Herat. So my colleagues, one of them was there and then we received a lot of videos show that The Taliban malarity police do not allow the women don't have burqa to enter the hospital. The Taliban malarity police, they raped them, they whipped them. Yes, very brutal treatment that the Taliban are doing against those women, that they need to have access to the medical services.
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BBC Interviewer / Reporter
And women of your age were spared this for many years after the American led invasion. Of course people will be familiar of seeing the pictures of the burqa being widely enforced across Afghanistan in the 1990s when the Taliban were first in power. Just on the issue of the access to medical help though, this is an ongoing problem for women in Afghanistan, isn't it? Because women have been banned from working, they can't study as doctors or I, I believe nurses as well. What kind of health care problems are women in Afghanistan having at the moment?
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Afghan Woman / Activist (Zahra Joya)
So there are lots of restrictions. First of all, when a woman going to hospital in different province of Afghanistan, they have to go with a male chaperone, otherwise they are not allowed. And the second thing now started from Herat, although it is happening in Kandahar and other fronts of Afghanistan. But in Herat recently, the women, they are resisting and they are trying to argue with the Taliban that this is not the right way. They can't wear burqa because this not the way that they are covering themselves. And also there is a gender segregation for the women. Basically all the staff in hospital should be women, female doctors should visit women and otherwise it is not possible.
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BBC Interviewer / Reporter
So traditionally women would prefer to see a female doctor. I think that's the case in lots of countries. But if women aren't allowed to be doctors anymore, the women now have to go to a male doctor.
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Afghan Woman / Activist (Zahra Joya)
Before, like in Kabul, I have seen many times that when there was some emergency, men doctors could visit women. So it was not that much restriction. But now it's completely forbidden even if women are dying.
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BBC Interviewer / Reporter
So a woman can't be treated by a male doctor, but at the same time there are no female doctors. So women are just going without any sort of medical care.
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Afghan Woman / Activist (Zahra Joya)
So this is the problem. The restriction is so deep. The pressure that the Taliban are putting on the women is so deep. And it is something like we never seen like this in other Islamic countries and other conservative society like this that we are seeing in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime Now. Today the Doctors Without Borders issued a statement which says that after this restriction from the Taliban and Herat, the women visitors to the hospital is now is reduced. We have no choice. I mean women in Afghanistan, they have to accept it because they can't raise Their voice and nobody cares.
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BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
Zara Joya, who is speaking to Rebecca Kesbi. Leaders in Johannesburg are pushing to reclaim the city as it prepares to host the first ever G20 summit on the African continent later this month. Earlier this year, South Africa's president Cyril Ramaphosa demanded Johannesburg take action to address the spread of squalid residential buildings, many of which have been hijacked by criminal gangs. Despite the city's claim to be cracking down on crime, one former hijacker has told the BBC how gangs have bribed city officials and police to maintain their control of the blocks. As Ayanda Charlie reports.
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Grainger Advert Voice
Welcome to Vannencourt, a residential building in central Johannesburg.
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BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
How are you, ma'?
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Afghan Woman / Activist (Zahra Joya)
Am?
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Grainger Advert Voice
Good, thank you. One young resident gives us a tour. No water.
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BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
No water, no electricity.
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Grainger Advert Voice
On paper, this block is owned by the council. But illegal networks of so called hijackers have sprung up collecting rent in their place as 300 or so residents are left to endure squalid conditions. As we descend towards the underground car park, an overwhelming stench rises to meet us.
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Afghan Woman / Activist (Zahra Joya)
That's the smell.
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Grainger Advert Voice
Abandoned cars are visible, partly submerged in a growing lake of human feces.
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BBC Announcer
They should be taken, turned into living accommodation.
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Grainger Advert Voice
Earlier this year, South African president Cyril Ramaphosa urged the city to seize back abandoned buildings. But we have located at least 102 derelict and abandoned buildings in the inner city alone. So what prevents the city from cleaning up these buildings? We're on our way right now to meet a man who says that he used to be a building hijacker. He's agreed to speak with us on condition that we hide his identity. I ask him how he and his associates would avoid eviction. He's been voiced by an actor.
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BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
Having a good relationship with city council and police is a matter of cash. If you don't take the cash, he must die some other time. They can bring your kids back from school to your home and watch you in your eyes and tell you that, buddy, don't think this is the end. This is the start.
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Grainger Advert Voice
You were involved in the drug trade. You were involved in hijacking buildings. You did cause misery to a lot of people. How do you feel about that?
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BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
It's a pain to me because people died in these buildings. People went missing. I'm sorry for the wrong path in my life.
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Grainger Advert Voice
He has since left criminality behind. The Johannesburg police did not respond to the hijacker's claims. But we put the allegations of corruption and intimidation of officials to city spokesperson Ntatisi Modingwane.
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BBC Announcer
In our investigation thus far, we have.
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BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
Not had any credible reports.
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BBC Announcer
That seems to suggest that there might be any wrongdoing. Yes, some of the buildings are scary to say the least, but we will intensify our operations.
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Grainger Advert Voice
The sheriff for Johannesburg Central Marks Mangaba is responsible for carrying out legal evictions. He invites us to observe one Morning, sir, are you alone? This operation, however, isn't meant to remove hijackers. Instead is a single private tenant who has not paid rent from a well maintained building.
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BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
We're going to go downstairs where your things will be safeguarded by yourself.
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Grainger Advert Voice
Now this apartment is stripped by the sheriff's team and the resident is removed in 20 minutes. We know that there are many buildings in which people are occupying it who might be hijacking it and not paying or why aren't you doing this at a bigger scale?
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BBC Announcer
Unfortunately, it's a question of a budget.
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BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
This is a very costly exercise.
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Grainger Advert Voice
The evicted tenant is left on the street with his belongings. In the face of such financial hurdles and gang resistance, President Ramaphosa's call to clean up the city ahead of the G20 summit feels to many like a hollow appeal.
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BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
Ayanda Charlie reporting. Coming up on this episode, Red Kite chicks are sent from Britain to help the survival of the species in Spain.
- [18:58]
Grainger Advert Voice
This is the story of the one As a custodial supervisor at a high school, he knows that during cold and flu season, germs spread fast. It's why he partners with Grainger to stay fully stocked on the products and supplies he needs, from tissues to disinfectants to floor scrubbers, all so that he can help students, staff and teachers stay healthy and focused. Call 1-800-GRAINGER click granger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done.
- [19:27]
BBC Announcer
At the BBC, we go further so you see clearer. Through frontline reporting, global stories and local insights, we bring you closer to the world's news and as it happens and it starts with a subscription to BBC.com, giving you unlimited articles and videos ad free podcasts, the BBC News channel streaming live 24. 7 plus hundreds of acclaimed documentaries. Subscribe to trusted independent journalism and storytelling from the BBC. Find out more@BBC.com join.
- [20:03]
BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
The Philippines has been hit by more than 20 tropical storms this year. Around 1 million people were evacuated ahead of the latest typhoon Fung Wong, which is now over the South China Sea. The typhoon lost some of its energy as it traveled across the Philippines, but it has caused damage, even if it's not as extensive as was feared. Our Southeast Asia correspondent, Jonathan Head, spoke to Me from Luzon island in the north of the Philippines.
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BBC Announcer
Well, it's not as bad as many people expected. I mean, the peak of the typhoon was in the middle of the night. That's when the eye of the typhoon passed over the area I'm in now. I'm in a place called Cabanatuan City, which is in eastern Luzon. And at that point, the winds were very, very strong. You couldn't go out into the street because of the amount of debris flying around. There were just horizontal sheets of rain, huge amounts of water being dropped. Now this morning, the wind has dropped quite a lot. The storm has now passed over Luzon. The main island in the Philippines is now out in the South China Sea. It's still pretty windy. There's an awful lot of water around. The rivers are very high. Some communities close to the river we've seen are underwater and flooded. But people were pretty well prepared. Almost everyone in a vulnerable area took themselves off to an evacuation center. So we've seen people coming back to look at the sort of the poorer neighborhoods where the houses are very flimsy. And some of those houses have definitely suffered quite a bit of damage, but they made a very, very flimsy materials. But we're not seeing much, much other damage now. There are a number of communities on the island of Luzon which are completely cut off at the moment because bridges over rivers have been basically overwhelmed by the water. So it's not clear what's happened there. We've still got to get full reports from quite a lot of parts of this main island. Also, power is down, which means mobile phone reception is down. It may take a while before we've really got a full sense of the damage. But where reports are coming in, people seem to have got through the night fine. They took shelter when they needed to. The rain was tremendous, but the winds were not as strong as they've been in some typhoons. And the damage is not as severe as the authorities feared. What there will be is an enormously difficult cleanup operation. There's just so much debris everywhere. Broken tree branches, signposts, bits of timber. They're all over the place. But we've not heard of any damage that comes close to what was experienced in the central Philippines last week when they suffered flash floods. Now, with the amounts of rain that have fallen, the big worry now is landslides. This is a very mountainous area. They often suffer landslides. And once you've got those huge amounts of water being absorbed into the soil, these are deforested mountains as well. So they tend to be unstable. Landslides can occur sort of 48, 72 hours afterwards. That will be what people will be watching out for. But I suspect given the size of this storm and it quite literally blanketed the entire country, it was about the size of Western Europe. I think the authorities will probably feel that they got off fairly lightly.
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BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
Jonathan Head reporting. It's been a year since an Indian woman, Harshita Brella, was found dead in the boot of a car in London. Her husband, Pankaj Lumba, also an Indian national, is charged by Northampton police with her murder. Mr. Lumba fled to India soon after the killing and is yet to be caught. Speaking with our South Asia correspondent, Yogita Limai in Delhi, Hashta's family say they're disappointed and saddened by the lack of progress in her case.
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South Asia Correspondent (Yogita Limai)
I'm on my way to meet the family of Harshita Brella. They live in an area in the southwest of Delhi. They've got a home which is in bustling narrow lanes. It's a two story structure. It's quite bare and sparsely decorated. From inside, they're a middle class Indian family. Over the past year, they've gone from pillar to post, from one court in India to another, from one police station to another in search of justice for Harshita. And I'm going to be speaking now to her father, Sadbir Singh Brela, her sister Sonia and her mother, Sudesh Kumari. Harshita's mother tells us not a moment goes by when she doesn't think of her daughter. She shows us the shoes she's wearing. They're Harshitas among her possessions which were returned to her family by UK officials a few months ago. Neither the UK government nor the Indian.
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Grainger Advert Voice
Government are doing anything.
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South Asia Correspondent (Yogita Limai)
My daughter should get justice. Only then will I feel at peace. Two months before Harshita was killed, she'd filed a domestic abuse complaint against Pankaj in the uk. The Northamptonshire police had arrested him and he was later released on bail. An investigation is underway to determine if the police had been negligent in following.
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Swedish Campaign Narrator / Guest
Up.
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South Asia Correspondent (Yogita Limai)
Harshita's sister Sonia says they were.
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BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
We are very disappointed with the UK.
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Grainger Advert Voice
Police because we feel like because she.
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South Asia Correspondent (Yogita Limai)
Was not a UK citizen, that's why they are not taking the case seriously. And now the Delhi police are also being negligent. Why have they not caught him so far? The Northamptonshire police didn't respond to our questions, but stated that Pankaj was charged with murder in March 2025 and that Indian authorities have been made aware of this decision. The police here in Delhi didn't comment on whether they've been informed of the UK charges, but say they've investigated Pankaj and his family on a separate complaint filed in India and have issued notices offering a reward for information about Pankaj. We've driven roughly two hours from the capital Delhi to come to the state of Haryana, to Pankaj Lamba's village, Dharoli. Pankaj has of course been charged in the UK with murder, rape and sexual assault. But his family here in India, Pankaj, his parents, his sister and two other relatives have been charged, accused of dowry harassment. We've come to his home. It's a single story, rural home, which was being painted. When we walked in, we actually did go in and we managed to see his father and his mother. They didn't want to do an interview with us, but we asked them about the charges that their son is facing in the UK and the charges against them here in India. They say their son is innocent. They say they're innocent. They say these are all false cases that have been made against them. And then they've spent the last year facing a lot of difficulties because of that. They say they haven't seen or spoken to Pankaj in a year and their last communication with them was over the phone in the UK on the same day that Harshita's family last had communication with her.
- [27:20]
BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
Yogitha Limai now to a successful conservation story. Red kites are majestic birds of prey, but they're on the brink of extinction in Spain. To tackle this, more than 100 red kite chicks have been sent from England to southwest Spain to revive the population there. This report from Catherine da Costa.
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BBC Interviewer / Reporter
Four decades ago, red kites were extinct in most of the uk, with just a few mating pairs left in Wales. In the late 80s and early 90s, chicks from Sweden and Spain were released in the Chilterns and in Scotland in what became one of the most successful ever conservation stories in the UK. It's estimated there are now more than 6,000 pairs across the country. But while our population's thriving, the species has been nearly wiped out in southern Spain because of predators like the eagle owl, illegal poisoning by farmers and electrocution from power lines. Over the last four years, 126 chicks were collected from central England and moved to Spain, where they were fitted with a GPS backpack and tracked. After they were released, only a quarter of them have survived. But there is hope. There are now three mating pairs and with more birds due to begin breeding next year, it's expected those numbers will Multiply now.
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BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
Finally, if you're planning a holiday and come across an offer for three days of free travel, accommodation and food, you probably leap at the chance, right? But there is a catch.
- [28:48]
BBC Announcer
Shh.
- [28:49]
BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
You have to stay very, very quiet. It's part of a Swedish campaign to promote calm reflection. The newsroom's Stephanie Zakhresen has the details.
- [29:04]
Swedish Campaign Narrator / Guest
In the heart of the forest, surrounded by trees that have turned red and yellow in the crisp Swedish autumn, Josef and old Lund steps into a small wooden cabin. On the door handle hangs a sign with the words stay quiet, the challenge for anyone spending a few days here. She's the project manager for Visit Scawana, the county's tourism agency, and she shows how the guests will be monitored via a small sound level meter that's constantly sending updates. You're not allowed to make noise louder than 45 decibels, which is about the level in a library or a quiet, soft spoken conversation. If you fail, you'll receive a text message instructing you to check out in the morning. The idea is to push visitors to make the most of the calm and tranquility found in the woods, to enjoy the quiet moments and the closeness to nature. German sisters Lisa and Joanna took on the challenge and spoke to Swedish TV just before they moved in.
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BBC Interviewer / Reporter
Now I'm very grateful to just breathe in, breathe out, and come to myself, reconnect with myself with nature.
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Grainger Advert Voice
Do you think you will be able.
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BBC Interviewer / Reporter
To relax knowing that you're supervised?
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BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
I think it's actually more like an.
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Swedish Campaign Narrator / Guest
Advantage because then you really are focused.
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Grainger Advert Voice 2
Because we don't want to fail this, of course.
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South Asia Correspondent (Yogita Limai)
Do you think you will be able.
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Afghan Woman / Activist (Zahra Joya)
To stay quiet for three days?
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BBC Announcer
I think we're gonna be good.
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BBC Interviewer / Reporter
I think a big challenge will be not to sink. We have a very musician family.
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Swedish Campaign Narrator / Guest
Well, after three days, how did it go? The sisters said it actually wasn't that hard once they got used to the silence and that it helped them slow down and find a sense of peace. A sentiment echoed by some of the other visitors. Here's Laura and Mats from Denmark.
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BBC Announcer
We had to do a fire ourselves in the forest, and of course we know what a fire sounds like, but just to hear it with all the other nature sounds and like, don't talk while we did it was kind of special and very relaxing.
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BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
We felt a little bit like alone in the wilderness.
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Swedish Campaign Narrator / Guest
The guests have spent their time exploring the forest, crafting, reading, and watching the night sky through the roof window. And so far, none of the visitors have been kicked out for failing to stay quiet.
- [31:22]
BBC Main Presenter (Ankur D)
Stephanie Zakrisen with that report. And that's all from us for now. But there will be a new edition of the Global News Podcast podcast later. If you want to comment on this episode or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcastbc.co.uk you can also find us on X@ BBC World Service or you can use the hashtag Global Newspod. This edition was mixed by Russell Newlove and the producer was Ed Horton. The editor is Karen Martin and I'm Uncle Decide until next time. Goodbye.
- [32:02]
BBC Announcer
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