Global News Podcast: Africa aims to be leader in green energy

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I'm Robin Brandt and at 13 hours GMT on the 4th of September, these are our main stories.

The Kenyan president has opened Africa's first climate summit, urging fellow leaders to

focus on solutions rather than who's to blame for global warming.

Zimbabwe's president, Emerson Munungagwa, is being sworn in despite concerns about the

credibility of last month's election.

And Ukraine has a new defence minister.

We'll get more from Kyiv on the man charged with leading the war effort.

Also in this podcast.

The whales do a huge amount for us when it comes to keeping our oceans healthy.

It's bad for our reputation.

It's bad for animal welfare.

There's anger as Iceland resumes commercial wailing.

Now climate change is seriously threatening to Africa, with the continent viewed as the

most vulnerable from the impact of environmental changes.

In light of that, leaders from across Africa are gathering in Kenya for a summit aimed

at promoting renewable energy and a shared vision for sustainable development.

The host, Kenya's president, William Ruto, said they should seek solutions, though, rather

than catalogue grievances and problems.

Chief Africa correspondent Ann Soy is at the conference.

I asked her what we can expect from the African leaders meeting today.

To build consensus and to speak with one voice when they go to the COP28, the UN climate

summit that's upcoming in Dubai in November.

And so they hope to discuss ideas that they will be taking to the table.

The host president, Ruto, has been very keen for Africa to be proactive, and he said this

morning during the opening meeting that they're not here to list grievances, they're here

to find solutions.

You have not just stepped into a conference hall.

You have entered the future, a future ripe with potential driven by global partnerships

committed to African prosperity, inclusive growth and a liveable planet for all of us.

Now as ever with these conferences, it needs the most important people there.

So are the most important influential people there?

To a large extent, yes.

I would have expected to see more African heads of state.

We having just about half of them here.

We have experts.

We have other delegates, including activists.

So we're expecting very vibrant discussions over the next three days.

They hope there will be consensus.

They hope they will have an Nairobi declaration.

However, there are issues.

There are contentious, for instance, carbon trading that's a very contentious issue here.

And also activists just saying that some of the leaders are not putting everything they

can to fight climate change.

So what is it they actually want to get to by the end of three days time?

Is this going to be clear decorations they can take to Dubai later in the year?

Yes, absolutely.

So they hope to come up with a Nairobi declaration.

And already the Kenyan president, the host of this meeting, has sort of set out the agenda

saying that they want to look at what Africa can offer, what solutions they can take to

the table.

They're looking at the minerals that they have on the continent, which are used to drive

the move towards green energy electric vehicles.

He drove himself yesterday and today to the conference in an electric car to make the

point.

They're also looking at financing solutions and discussing some of them.

He has urged countries that made commitments during previous climate summits to finance

climate solutions, but haven't come through.

He has urged them to make good their commitment, to fulfill their commitments.

And so in Nairobi, Ukraine says Russia has carried out a huge drone attack against the

port city of Ishmael on the River Danube from where agricultural products were being exported.

Officials say warehouses and other infrastructure have been damaged.

Here's our diplomatic correspondent, Paul Adams.

Russia has been hitting Ukraine's port facilities along the Danube River for over a month, trying

to prevent Ukraine from using the river to export its grain.

With last year's UN-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative on hold, and being discussed today

at talks between Vladimir Putin and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Moscow doesn't

want Ukraine to develop viable alternative routes.

In the latest air attacks overnight, Ukraine says two Russian kamikaze drones fell on the

other side of the Danube River, inside Romanian territory.

Romania seems to be denying this.

The Defense Ministry in Bucharest condemned the latest Russian attacks, but said they

did not pose any direct military threat against Romania.

Paul Adams reporting.

Next, let's go to the occupied West Bank city of Genine, where Israeli security forces

have targeted a refugee camp wounding several Palestinians.

In July, a similar raid in Genine killed at least 17 Palestinians, and it led to widespread

unrest.

Our Middle East correspondent, Tom Bateman, told me the latest from Jerusalem.

We know the Palestinian Ministry of Health has said at least four people sent to hospitals

in Genine.

Most of those look like minor injuries, but it seems that two of the militants that were

involved in a gun battle with the Israelis may well have more significant injuries.

We saw pictures of at least one of those being stretched away by Israeli troops into a helicopter

after he had been detained by the Israelis.

In terms of what happened on the ground, I mean, this started as so many of these raids

have over the last year or so as an entrance into the city by undercover Israeli special

forces.

Sometimes they'd go in things like dairy trucks.

This time it seems they went in Palestinian vehicles with Palestinian license plates,

but at some point their cover was blown.

They were then being shot out by Palestinian militants from the Al-Qasam Brigades.

That's the armed wing of Hamas, the Palestinian militant group from the building.

It seems the Israelis were targeting.

And significantly some of those injuries have come from, according to unconfirmed Israeli

reports, an explosive drone or a so-called suicide drone that it seems was used above

or near to a vehicle causing injuries among those militants.

The militant group itself has said that it claimed that it shot down the drone and pictures

of part of a drone have emerged online since then.

So I think what you're seeing is this sort of ever-increasing sense of militarization,

the use of increasingly heavy lethal force once again in Janine as the West Bank continues

this slide into further bloodshed.

It's the simplest of questions, but maybe the most important.

Just remind us, why does Israel feel the need to launch these raids, incursions like this?

Well, Janine is one of two cities in the north of the West Bank alongside Nablus that over

the last 18 months to two years have seen the official Palestinian authority.

Now that's the internationally backed organization that has limited governance powers in the West

Bank.

It's seen the PA has lost control of some of these cities to armed militants.

Now many Palestinians see them as a heartland of resistance to Israel's occupation.

The Israelis call them hubs of terrorism.

And as we see increasing attacks against Israelis, they've been launching increasingly lethal

military raids into these cities.

They say to apprehend gunmen.

In many cases, we're seeing gun battles and militants dying and civilians as well.

One Bateman speaking to me from Jerusalem.

Now in Zimbabwe, the president, Emerson Munungagwa has delivered his inauguration speech after

he was sworn in for a second term.

I stand before you, my fellows Zimbabweans and countrymen women, at this historic moment

of our nation as the president of all Zimbabweans, regardless of tribe, religion, color, creed

or political decision.

There have been concerns, though, over the credibility of last month's election, with

analysts in the region claiming the poll failed to meet democratic standards.

They also claim it fell short of Zimbabwe's own constitution.

Well, as Zimbabwe correspondent, Shinge and Nyokha has been following the ceremony and

told me more.

Well, what has happened so far is that President Emerson Munungagwa has been sworn in.

He was sworn in by the chief justice in front of tens of thousands of supporters and there

was a celebration with some of his favorite music after that.

But I think it's quite interesting to note who was there.

Regional leaders, despite the fact that the election observer missions from those various

countries said that this election fell short of democratic standards.

The president, Cyril Ramaphosa, is there, as well as the Mozambican president, Felipe

Nuse, and former First Lady Grace Mugabe.

And so it really seems as if Zimbabwe President Munungagwa is moving on, despite the fact

that this election when was disputed, the opposition, we understand, was invited to

attend and they declined.

They still maintain that they want fresh elections.

But given that this inauguration has gone ahead, he's been sworn in.

It's just not clear what other options they have now.

So you see this definitely as a vote of confidence from South Africa and others in Emerson Munungagwa's

leadership?

Not so much a vote of confidence, but just support for his government.

It would have been very difficult given the proximity of these countries and historic

relationships, historical relationships between them for these leaders not to attend.

What is not clear is what happens now.

Whether these leaders are going to pressure Emerson Munungagwa to implement some of the

reforms that were spelt out by the election observer missions or reforms around some of

the laws, as well as whether he's going to or they're going to try and press upon him

to bring about some kind of unity to unite this very divided country.

Asinbabwe Correspondents, Shinge and Naka.

After a two-month ban on whaling, Icelandic boats have been given authorization to hunt

fin whales again, but with new guidelines aimed at killing them as quickly as possible

to reduce suffering.

The temporary suspension came in after it was found that the culling of the whales was

taking too long and it was in breach of animal welfare laws.

The controversial move has angered conservation activists and caused a political storm on

the island nation, one of three countries alongside Norway and Japan where whaling is

still legal.

Adrian Murray sent this report from Iceland.

In Reykjavik harbour, an old whaling boat maneuvers into dock.

It's been readying to head out to sea and go hunting.

Earlier this summer the practice was suspended over animal welfare concerns.

But within Iceland, the sudden stoppage caused a political row and now the government has

let whaling restart.

The measure of food, agriculture and fisheries, Sfandis, Sfavadotir, said she's done so reluctantly.

This discussion is far from over.

I think it is important that it continues in the society as a whole and in politics.

We are the last nation in the world that allows hunting of whales in this way.

Animal rights activists and environmentalists have condemned the move.

In Reykjavik, dozens gathered to protest, including Icelandic actress and activist

Hira Hilmar.

It's a very sad day.

I'm not really proud to be an Icelandic citizen today.

But at the same time I am because the majority of us really doesn't want this and is actually

fighting this.

We don't eat the meat, the whales do a huge amount for us when it comes to keeping our

oceans healthy.

It's bad for our reputation, it's bad for animal welfare.

An injunction has been filed and a bid to block further whaling and some Hollywood filmmakers

and actors like Leonardo DiCaprio and James Cameron have called for it to stop.

Finwales are listed as vulnerable globally but stocks in Iceland are reportedly stable.

Only one whaling station still hunts them and exports the meat to Japan.

The favela says it won't hang up its harpoons any time soon.

Christian Noffson is the owner.

If you have a healthy stock of fish or whales, you utilise them.

If the stocks are not healthy, you don't utilise them.

They're just as simple as that.

And we have about a stock estimate for fin whales around Iceland is about 40,000 animals.

The quota is about 160,000.

So this is a resource utilisation.

Critics would argue that the way whales have been hunted hasn't been humanely done.

What is the norm for humane?

I don't know.

What is humane?

I mean this is kind of ridiculous word to apply to animals in my opinion.

Just two other countries, Norway and Japan, still allow commercial whaling.

In 1986 there was a global moratorium due to dwindling whale stocks.

Iceland halted the practice shortly after, but restarted again in 2006.

Around the world, commercial whaling has mostly been consigned to the history books.

But here in Iceland, it remains a highly emotive issue.

In recent years, the views of Icelanders have undergone a sea change.

And the latest poll shows 42% are against it, while 29% remain in favour.

It's totally against animal rights.

It's totally against biodiversity of the sea, of the ocean.

Allowing whaling in Iceland is like, you know, the Icelandic nation is not getting anything from it.

It's just this one company and where it's going, for what and why.

In general, I think most Icelanders are against it.

But there is other parts of Iceland that sort of see it.

If it's done in a sustainable matter, it provides occupation for a local population in a small town.

It was handled very poorly.

The minister of the sea affairs did a very poor job, in my opinion.

It was a very short notice that he said no.

And now he has to turn around and allow it.

In downtown Reykjavik, chef Stefan Ulfason runs fish restaurant Thiröfrakka.

We make whales and sea me, and it's re-influenced by the Japanese.

And we have whale pepper steak.

He says whale dishes will stay on the menu.

We have local customers and then a lot of tourists, I would like to be very curious about tasting it.

Here we go, we have a big whale now, at the town, on the spot.

But while whaling has been done for centuries,

wanting for visitors now go whale-watching, and it's a chance to see these creatures in the wild,

it's becoming one of Iceland's biggest draws.

Adrian Murray, reporting from Iceland.

Still to come.

Sometimes I feel so hungry, and when I look at other children, they don't suffer.

Sometimes I think that I have no reason to live.

Children are being forced into sexual exploitation because of the global rise in the cost of living, according to the UN.

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Children are being forced into sexual exploitation and other forms of harmful work because of the global rise in the cost of living,

that's according to the United Nations.

The claims come from its agency, the International Labour Organization.

And they echo similar concerns that have been raised by NGO workers in Kenya

about the measures that some families there take to survive.

From Mombasa, our correspondent Barbara Plett Usher has more.

And just to warn you, you may find some of the details that follow.

Distressing.

Mombasa is a port city, of course, and I'm down by the entrance to the sea.

I've just seen a lot of people streaming onto a ferry.

This has long been a well-known hub for child sex tourism.

But COVID and the increasingly harsh cost of living have helped to push the sex trade online and even further underground.

And that's been drawing even more children into the industry.

In a wooden shack, with the sun shining through gaps in the roof,

I meet a mother who's had to make a painful decision.

She takes in washing a few times a week to support her three children

and doesn't want us to use her name.

The money for school fees quickly runs out, she says.

There's barely enough for food.

So her 14-year-old daughter has to find work.

She started selling her body.

As a parent, it's not easy to tell a child to do something like that.

I would like her to go to school like other children.

But because I don't have any means, she's forced to do that job.

My heart is broken and I don't want it to continue.

She's not the only one.

We've spoken with a woman who runs a brothel.

She told us she's been getting more and more young girls.

At this shelter, there is a rare moment of joy.

The children are celebrating a birthday party.

They are here because they were abused, abandoned, trafficked

or forced into the sex trade.

Grace Odemba runs this center and two others.

They're struggling to meet the growing needs.

Now everyone wants to survive.

They've been giving away their children for exchange of money.

And has it always been that way or is it more so now?

Now it's more so because there is no money, there is no job.

The poorest Kenyans who've been hit the hardest.

And there are those who are ready to take advantage of this.

This undercover police unit is cracking down on the dark trade in child sex.

Here, raiding the home of a man who's posted offensive material on the internet.

Officers track down suspects using cyber tips from a database in the United States.

Then they search phones and computer drives for explicit material about children.

It's exhausting, traumatic work, up against a business that thrives in Mombasa.

You find that there are poor families following the whites for support.

Sex tourism? Yes.

Moutizia Moueni is in charge of the unit.

She says there's no data on whether the recent cost of living crisis

has driven more children into the sex trade, but her team has begun monitoring it.

You would say that unemployment.

There are so many children that are dropping off out of school

and then you find that they're getting to this, especially in the coastal region.

One girl who hasn't escaped the street told me about the despair that shapes her young life.

We're using her words, but not her voice.

I am afraid because I know that when you're sleeping with a man, you can get HIV or become pregnant.

Sometimes I feel so hungry and when I look at other children, they don't suffer.

Sometimes I think that I have no reason to live.

She's trapped by an economy of depravity that feeds on desperation.

Barbara Plett Usher reporting from the port city of Mombasa.

Now, thousands of teachers across South Korea have walked out

because of mounting anger over pressure from parents,

which they say is leading in the most extreme instances, to teachers taking their own lives.

The death of a young teacher who died by suicide and was found in a school cupboard in July

prompted weekly vigils and demonstrations.

Teachers have stayed away from work en masse today and headed to rallies instead.

Our correspondent, Jean McKenzie, was at one of them and she told me more.

I'm now at the heart of this protest where thousands of teachers have turned up today.

They're all dressed in black and this is because not only are they protesting

because they want this better protection at work,

but they're also here to commemorate this teacher who died now 49 days ago.

This is a kind of moment to mark in Buddhism where you mark the 49th day after somebody's death.

So that's why they're all dressed in black.

These protests have been huge now for about six weeks.

The weekend on Saturday gathered 100,000 people, which was rather extraordinary.

It's the largest one we've seen. Today is smaller because it's a school day,

but ever since teachers have turned up here and they are striking as well.

So a lot of them have managed to get off school to be here.

It's hard to get into a brief answer, but just give us an idea of what life is like

and the pressures that are faced by teachers in South Korea.

So really the death of this one teacher opened this Pandora's box here.

Suddenly you had teachers from all over the country just coming forward

and sharing these stories of how they were being harassed

by what they would say as overbearing parents who are just so fixated on their children's success.

So they're getting, they say, these incessant complaints from parents all hours of the day

on their personal mobile phones late at night, at weekends,

and it's just giving them no space to actually teach.

But sometimes these complaints are really serious.

Teachers are saying that they're being accused of child abuse

if they try to restrain violent children in the classroom.

They can be accused of emotional abuse if they tell children off

or they often to leave the classroom because they're being disruptive.

And this taps into just this wider societal issue here,

which is South Korea is this hyper competitive society

and so much here hinges on an academic success.

And so parents feel this huge pressure that their children just have to do well at school.

And of course that pressure is put onto the children

and it's being put onto the teachers we're learning.

And just quickly, there's a culture there that clearly is not going to change overnight.

But what's the government doing? How has it responded to try and reassure teachers?

The government is listening and it is saying to teachers, we are hearing your cries.

It has even accepted that its classrooms are broken,

which is a pretty big step for the government here

and it's issued this new guidance from teachers which came into force a couple of days ago

which should in theory give them a bit more control to be able to discipline kids.

But the teachers here are saying that they want a much more kind of systemic reform.

They particularly want the government to look at this Child Welfare Act

which they think the parents are exploiting.

And this is the act that means if you are accused of child abuse

you can be immediately removed from your jobs.

But there are plenty of people here who say that it isn't just classrooms that are broken.

It is South Korea's entire approach to education that needs to be looked at and reformed.

Gene McKenzie in Seoul.

Leaders of the world's most powerful economic nations are gathering in Delhi at the weekend.

But we now know one very important person won't be there.

China's Xi Jinping is opting out.

The G20 summit is supposed to be about tackling global economic challenges

but China's president currently in charge of the world's troubled number two economy isn't going.

Our Asia Pacific editor Michael Bristow is following developments.

We've just got a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry

essentially confirming what we heard through rumors for the last few days that Li Chang,

the premier of China, will be going in his place.

We can only speculate why Xi Jinping won't be going.

One of the reasons could be a major one.

It could be that China has decided to pivot away from the G20,

a group of many disparate countries with different political ideals underpinning them.

China could be moving towards groupings which it can control,

which it feels more in tune with.

For example, the BRICS group of nations,

that's just had a summit in South Africa which Xi Jinping did attend to.

It could also be that Xi Jinping doesn't want to go to India

where the G20 summit is being held.

India and China over recent years have had strange relations, clashes along their border.

Xi Jinping might not want to go to New Delhi,

so hold kinds of reasons, but we're not entirely sure why

because the Chinese Foreign Ministry hasn't told us.

No, a pakers ever in Beijing.

What about global diplomacy in the prospect which has been much talk about

of Joe Biden and Xi Jinping sitting down on the periphery of India?

That clearly isn't going to happen now.

I mean, that's disappointing for the Americans, isn't it?

It's disappointing and it's significant.

These are the two biggest countries in the world.

Their leaders have only met once before since President Biden took office

and that was interestingly at the last G20 summit meeting in Bali.

So President Biden was hoping that he perhaps could sit down with Xi Jinping at this event,

so already expressed his disappointment at not being able to do that.

So that was a potential major development at this G20.

It's also a loss for the summit as well, I think because as you indicated there,

China is completely at the moment going through very difficult economic difficulties.

It's the second biggest economy in the world and not to be there

really hampers the G20's ability to deal with those major economic problems

facing the world at the moment.

Michael Bristow reporting and just for the record, Xi Jinping won't be going,

but China's premier Li Chang number two in the pecking order will be there in his place.

Okay, let's end on dogs.

Yes, real dogs because some have taken part in a performance at a classical music concert in Denmark.

Now, it may sound barking, but organisers insist it was what the writer would have wanted.

I'm going to stop there and let David Lewis explain.

It may sound like a wolfgang, but actually it's a Mozart.

The hunting symphony was written by Leopold Mozart, Amadeus' father,

and is opening the Haydn classical music festival near Copenhagen.

The conductor says he's fulfilling the composer's dream.

Mozart's senior said that six bars, not barks, should be accompanied by baying hounds.

So how did organisers find the musical maestro mutts?

Well, dozens of dogs were invited to audition back in the spring.

Pets performed for a jury, including the festival director and an animal trainer.

The chief executive officer of the Danish chamber orchestra, Andreas Veto, was also there.

He explained how the show would work.

The symphony is in three movements, and in the last movement we will hear the hunt to begin,

and we'll have shootings, and then the dogs will start to bark around the scenes,

and we will have three dogs on his signal that will bark around the orchestra.

Auditionees needed to show the right temperament for the part.

How long command, but stay silent for the rest of the performance?

Pooches were whittled down to just three, Cookie, Sophus and Seeker.

After three months of training, they were ready.

Cookie's owner, Hella Lovering, said there were no pre-show nerves.

If I had to be there by myself, I think it would have been nervous,

but all the attention is at her, and she's the star.

I'm just behind her with all the treats.

The canine's cameo would have an extra benefit.

The trio of dogs taking part would also get four free concert tickets for their humans.

David Lewis on Denmark and Dogs. Let's just leave that one there now.

Well, that's all from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the Global News podcast later.

If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email.

The address is globalpodcastatbbc.co.uk.

You can also find us on ex, formerly known as Twitter, at Global NewsPod.

This edition was mixed by Dan Ehrlich and the producer was Beth Timmons.

The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Robin Brandt. Thanks for listening.

Until next time, goodbye.

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