Global News Podcast: Gaza is left without electricity

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Hey, BBC listeners, you come to the Global News podcast because you want to stay up to date on

the best of international coverage. I'm Erica Cruz-Gavara from KQED's The Bay podcast, where

we bring you the best of local news around the Bay area. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday,

we bring you conversations with local journalists to give you the context and analysis that you need

to make sense of what's going on in our region. You can find The Bay wherever you get your podcasts.

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Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. We're recording this at 13 hours GMT on Wednesday, the 11th of October.

Gaza's electricity goes off as the only power plant runs out of fuel.

Israel continues its bombardment of the Palestinian territory

and masses troops following the Hamas attacks at the weekend.

In other news, Western Afghanistan has been hit by another strong earthquake the second in days.

Also in the podcast, NATO says it will take strong action if investigators find a gas pipeline in

the Baltic was sabotaged and their designer flat leather sandals have had many nicknames

over the years, but they've also managed to raise the hype around the brand with these partnerships.

The once uncool German Birkenstock brand that is now worth billions.

Just before we began recording this podcast, we got news from Gaza that

Maine's electricity had gone out there after the only power station in the Palestinian territory

ran out of fuel. Israel has cut off electricity, fuel, water and food following the Hamas assault

at the weekend. Air strikes have continued with 1,055 people dead, according to Palestinian officials.

Doctors have warned that hospitals could soon run out of supplies.

Professor Hassan Abu-Sita is a plastic and reconstructive surgeon usually based in London.

He's been working in Gaza's main hospital over the past few days and he spoke to Martha Carney.

The hospital grounds have turned into a refugee camp. People are afraid and so they're bringing

their families to stay in the compound of the hospital as a safe space and there's just a

continuous stream of wounded. The hospital is at capacity beds and most of the other hospitals

already in Gaza are at capacity. Gaza has around 2,200 to 2,500 beds and we've already

had 4,500 wounded. What kind of casualties have you been seeing? So it's blast injuries,

shrapnel injuries, masonry, fallen masonry, burns and as is the case with all the wars in Gaza,

there's such a high percentage of children that are wounded. I'm just about to go into the operating

room with a what looks like a seven or eight year old child with severe facial injuries.

We have children with major burns. We have a teenager with 70% total body burns

and usually around the third to 40% of the wounded in Gaza's wars are children.

How are you managing to work as a doctor? We know the issues around supplies, around electricity,

around water. So the supplies are already running short because of the siege. I mean this is 15

years of siege and you feel it. You ask for basics, basic medication and they're either very short

or they're completely run out and with regards to the electricity the generators are on to at

least keep the operating rooms running. But if this lasts for longer than the next few days that

the health system is already on its knees and is unable to cope and unless there's a humanitarian

corridor to resupply the health system in Gaza the health system is going to collapse.

Professor Hassan Abu Sita and for the latest from Gaza we heard from our reporter there

Rushdie Abu-Wiluf. The shilling from tanks along the border to the western part of Gaza

wasn't intensified in the last half an hour or so. Also we understand that the Israeli navy was

engaged in firing into the seaport the only harbour in Gaza destroying most part of the of

this harbour. The non-stop shilling since last night started around eight o'clock in the evening

last night with focusing the airstrikes in a neighborhood called Al Karama in the north of

Gaza. It's northwest of Gaza where most of the damage overnight happened and where 30 people

were killed. The overall death toll now is 1055 people and the number might be increased

according to health ministry because there are many people who are in a very difficult very

severe injuries in the area. The health ministry just issued a statement saying that they will

stop all of non-essential medical treatment and they will focus only on the life-saving treatment

because they believe that by doing this they can extend as much as possible the amount of fuel

and the amount of medical staff medical needs to help those people. Talking about the humanitarian

situation we are into the fifth day of this war and nothing is coming into Gaza. None from Egypt

none from Israel electricity supplies was cut off internet supplies also was cut off and water

Rushdie Abu Alouf in Gaza. The total number of Israelis and foreign nationals killed in

southern Israel has now reached 1,200 as sites of massacres searched. Troops are massing near

Gaza ahead of a possible invasion. The Israeli defense minister Yoav Galant told soldiers the

next phase of their offensive would come from the ground. He said Hamas wanted a change and it will

get one. What was in Gaza will no longer be. Our international editor Jeremy Bowen interviewed

Israeli Major General Itai Varouv, a commander of forces near the border. He asked him about the

risk to Palestinian civilians. We are not terrorists. We are soldiers and we are Western country

and we know and we crush the Hamas and we kill them all. I hope so but we will still human

being until our last death. There's no sense in which you are suspending your obligations under

the laws of war because of the extent of the emergency. We fight for our value and our culture

all our life and you know you fought with value and you keep your value in the same time and I

know that we will be very aggressive and very strong but we keep our moral and our value. We

are Israeli, we are Jewish and you know war it's a very difficult theater, a lot of problem. People

that stay in the battlefield are suffering a lot. You can see what's happening here but we come to

kill the enemy, not the civilians in their bed. Israeli Major General Itai Varouv.

For more on the movements of Israeli troops I spoke to our Chief International Correspondent

Leastousset who is in southern Israel just north of Gaza. We're on the main road which normally

would there would be a lot of traffic but it is a closed military zone. There's been a lot more

military vehicles racing by, there's more armor that's been massing in the fields around here,

some of it has been moving closer to the border. Just in my line of eyesight when I look at the

junction where there's now only there's flashing lights of police cars, there's Israeli flags,

the blue and white Israeli flags but also there's Israeli military vehicles and soldiers yeah they're

all coming out as a military center very close to here. All of this are the signs of preparation

by Israel. It's very hard to say when they believe that they have enough forces here, enough armor

but also a plan as we've been saying on the BBC that for decades Israeli leaders including Benjamin

Netanyahu have resisted this option going into Gaza where Israeli troops pulled out in 2005

not wanting to risk the lives of soldiers heading into a densely populated enclave where

Hamas is no doubt prepared for this kind of an Israeli assault. It's fraught with risk but

given what has happened in the past several days given the mood in Israel now it seems that that

is really the only option that's on the table but it's a dangerous one. The military saying that

following that shock attack on Saturday they've now reinforced all communities in the area I mean

does it feel safer now? Well I think nobody feels safe now certainly not in Gaza where we can see

the plumes of black smoke rising just beyond the the tree line we can there's Bet Anun which is one

of the Gaza towns inside the the coastal strip even where we are there's a big green sign here

pointing to Zikim which there's an umbrella and a beach if you place people used to go to

to spend some leisure time in this kibbutz but it there were some Hamas fighters which were able to

infiltrate that kibbutz yesterday even yesterday a day after Israel said it had regained control of

the south but it has to admit it cannot seal this border it is very very porous that Hamas is wanting

to prove he wants to be seen to prove that it can actually still come through now you're you're

probably hearing the traffic white buses are going by they're used to transport troops and that's a

flatbed military truck that's been bringing in supplies now military vehicle lights flashing

the side of the road is lined with vehicles next to military centers reservists who've been called up

come to these areas get out of their car leave the car by the side of the road pick up their gun

and come down here to be part of the for now clearing this southern area and getting ready

for the even bigger fight to come. Please do set in southern Israel. Meanwhile EU officials have

warned Elon Musk that his social media site X formerly known as Twitter is being used to spread

false information about the conflict. EU Commissioner Thierry Breton wrote to Mr Musk to say fake and

manipulated images and facts were circulating on X. Mr Musk said his firm had removed certain

accounts. Mike Wendling is a US disinformation reporter. Among plenty of legitimate reporting

online there's been a huge wave of fake news recycled videos from past conflicts made up

headlines footage from video games and graphic propaganda. X is not alone among social networks

and dealing with the deluge but since taking over last year Elon Musk dissolved an independent

trust and safety council at the company and he slashed jobs at its safety team. In a post on X

Elon Musk asked Mr Breton to list the alleged illegal content and wrote our policy is that

everything is open source and transparent. Twitter's safety team says it's taken action on tens of

thousands of more than 50 million posts about the conflict. Mike Wendling and as we record this

podcast we're just getting some news from southern Israel a hospital there in the southern city of

Ashkelon says it has been hit by a rocket fired from Gaza. Some other news now and since the 1970s

the American musician Bernie Krauss has made over 5,000 hours of sound recordings of wildlife

habitats around the world. The archive provides a way of documenting shifts in endangered environments.

He estimates that more than half of the habitats have fallen silent because of human activity.

Bernie Krauss spoke to Nicholas Standbridge about a new collaboration bringing to life

his archive from the Central African Republic. Descending into darkness at 180 studios in

London with sounds from the Senga Senga Forest in the Central African Republic captured by Louis

Sarno produced by acoustic ecologist and author of the great animal orchestra Bernie Krauss.

We had western lowland gorilla, African grey parrots, Hadada ibis, greater spotted monkey

and guinea terraco. All brought flickering to life with hovering glowing lines of light

an installation designed by united visual artists Matt Clark. On the floor is an array of

small discrete speakers and that's where the sounds of crickets, frogs, birds call from

and then there's also an outer array of speakers where you get wind, chainsaws in the distance,

planes flying overhead and really it's an interplay between the man-made noises and forests.

The structure is meant to represent a kind of monument to nature which we can orchestrate

like a it's like a sonic rewilding. And as we hear the insects you can see

green lights it's very soothing very calming as you hear the airplanes going over they turn white

they become quite brittle to the eye actually to look at. And really it sort of demonstrates

you know we can live in harmony through the noise we make but we can also disrupt nature.

Matt and his team have created an algorithm that allows you and the audience to see the sound

and its effect. Some of the recordings of the Bayaka tribe who actually sort of make a lot of

noise music but it's in harmony with the natural surroundings. We learned orchestration, melody,

rhythm all of these things from the sounds of the natural world when we lived much more closely

so it's really an epic story of you know how these habitats are devastated by

human endeavor and the rainforest has been compromised because of extraction of hardwoods

habitats that no longer exist. The animals have been poached like the elephants for instance

that whole herd that I had in the original recording is gone now.

In Louie's recordings over time from 1984 to the time that he died you can hear

the sounds of the rainforest diminish. Are you still traveling around and gathering sound?

Yes I am and I'm 85 years old I was out last night. I'm recording here in Sonoma which is

north of San Francisco. The recordings of cricket sounds night sounds in an effort to

record the entire year next comes the frogs after the rains then the birds come back in the spring

time. Ronnie Kraus talking to Nicola Stambridge and still to come on the Global News podcast.

Of course it's going to end sometime but everybody's in good faddle there's no particular rush.

Head of the release of their new album we hear from Rolling Stone Keith Richards.

That world has enough and spit out a lot of young and attractive guys.

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Investigating allegations that would take me into a world of money, sex and power.

This is World of Secrets season one the Abercrombie guys.

Search for World of Secrets wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

Hey BBC listeners you come to the Global News podcast because you want to stay up to date on

the best of international coverage. I'm Erica Cruz Guevara from KQED's The Bay podcast where

we bring you the best of local news around the Bay area. Every Monday Wednesday and Friday we

bring you conversations with local journalists to give you the context and analysis that you need

to make sense of what's going on in our region. You can find The Bay wherever you get your podcasts.

Afghanistan has been hit by a second powerful earthquake in a matter of days.

The new 6.3 magnitude tremor struck early on Wednesday morning near the city of Harat.

The extent of the damage isn't clear. Many people were already sleeping out in the open

after their homes were destroyed in Saturday's quake. I got the latest from Dawood Azami from the

BBC Afghan Service. The latest earthquake happened in the same region which was hit on Saturday five

days ago and since then almost every day people are saying that there are aftershocks and today's

aftershock was relatively stronger and it happened early in the morning when many people were sleeping

and since then since Saturday many people don't live in their houses in their bedrooms they sleep

outside intense in the cold because they were scared that there might be another strong earthquake.

So for this reason we expect that there will be less casualties this time but the earthquake

and the aftershocks have killed around 2,000 people. I mean there are different figures because

the authorities and agencies still don't have a clear picture about the casualties.

Definitely it's more than 1,000 and the Taliban government officials have been telling us that

the death toll is around 2,500 and maybe more than that but thousands of houses were damaged

even this morning. Many more houses were destroyed or damaged because most of the

houses in that part of Afghanistan are made of mud bricks they don't have resistance

when there is an earthquake and another point is that many people in that area are very poor

they rely on farming and livestock and the earthquakes have killed much of their livestock

as well. It has been arriving but it is slow and the Taliban government have been appealing

from the international community and Afghan business persons to donate but the UN agencies

have been active there and the Taliban government agencies are also operating they have found a

special commission to help people the survivors and they've also pledged that they will build

new houses for the people whose houses were destroyed.

On updates on a story we covered in our previous podcast a possible attack on a major European

gas pipeline NATO has warned of a strong response if there is evidence that it was sabotaged.

The Baltic connector running from Finland to Estonia was shut down on Sunday after

suddenly losing pressure. NATO's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg spoke ahead of a meeting of

defence ministers. The important thing now is to establish what happened and how this could happen

if it is proven to be a deliberate attack on NATO critical infrastructure then this will be

of course serious but it will also be met by a united and determined response from NATO.

Our Europe region editor Danny Abrahad gave us this update on the investigation.

The authorities tracked down where the leak has taken place so that was the first thing

the Estonian defence minister has said significant force was used in damaging the pipeline and he

spoke about this mechanical impact or mechanical destruction so I think investigators are looking

at theories of either accidental damage so perhaps something like a large ship's anchor coming down

on the pipeline or being dragged in a storm and breaking it that way or something deliberate

and the fear obviously is that it was something deliberate and sabotage. There is a Norwegian

seismological institute that detected a seismic signal at a time that coincides with the events

and also in a location actually quite close to Nord Stream gas pipelines that cross it.

It said that this could be a possible explosion something less than 100 kilograms of TNT in

explosive yield so relatively small but researchers there also say that it could be something for

example like gas bursting out of a ruptured gas pipeline at pressure so they're not saying it's

an explosion. NATO is in touch with the authorities in both Finland and Estonia about their investigations

and how to respond. You mentioned Nord Stream and this of course isn't the first time that an

undersea pipeline has been damaged. Yeah the Nord Stream pipelines which will go from Russia to

Germany were severed in big explosions in September of last year three or four pipelines were damaged

two were actually exporting gas at the time and one was about to or the Russians hoped it was about

to open but there is a difference the the signal that was detected in this incident was much smaller

than the signals that were detected in the Nord Stream gas incidents which were clearly explosive.

A Europe region editor Danny Aberhardt. It's been described as the world's ugliest shoe but after

a surge in popularity the German sandal maker Birkenstock is making its debut on the New York

stock exchange. In less than three years the company has doubled in value and is now worth

roughly eight point six billion dollars. It appears much of that success is down to a series of

marketing deals that even featured in the Barbie movie but can Birkenstock maintain this momentum?

Marguerite Le Rondon is a fashion analyst at EuroMonitor International. I think Birkenstock

have a very good value proposition they're 250 year old brown from Germany they have this reputation

of craftsmanship know-how and they're really famous for their designer flat leather sandals

have had many nicknames over the years but they've also managed to raise the hype around the brand

with these partnerships you mentioned Barbie movie but they've also had collection with Valentino,

Dior, Jill Sanders and many other designers so they really managed to elevate the brand

desirability. I think it's important for them to retain their identity because consumers appreciate

the consistency of their design of their quality and that's something key that the brand should

retain in future. They will have to ensure that they strike these partnerships and collaborations

regularly as they've done in the past but always finding an interesting designer or movie or

celebrity to collaborate with and it's great to build a brand hype the engagement around the

brand to tell the story they want to tell. Marguerite Le Rondon fashion analyst at EuroMonitor

International. It is the Rolling Stones first album of original songs in nearly two decades

ahead of the release of Hackney Diamonds guitarist Keith Richards who is almost 80 has told the BBC

he is ready to go back on the road he's been speaking to our music correspondent Mark Savage.

My job is to keep that rhythm thing going and to be a reliable part of the rhythm section.

Solos come and go riffs last forever.

Your love affair with the guitar that's kind of the defining thing about your career but

what's the fascination with it that keeps you coming back? The fascinating thing about it is that

the more you play it the less you know it. And I don't know if this is a sensitive question but

obviously you've struggled a little bit with arthritis in your fingers has that changed the

way you play? Finally enough I've no doubt it has but it's not from I don't have any pain it's a

sort of benign version apparently. I think if I've slowed down a little bit it's probably due more

to age than to any particular thing and also I found that interesting I was like well I can't

quite do that anymore but the guitar will show me to well there's another way of doing this you

know some finger will go one space different and say uh-uh there's a whole new door just opened here.

So we kept it as simple as possible and we actually cut this record primary to be a vinyl

record you know with a cover and a plastic thing that you pull out and put on a turntable.

Do you still listen to vinyl is that how you prefer to play your music?

Far the best sound if you really want to listen to a record properly I mean digital is toy town

synthesizers now you have AI which is even more superficial and artificial.

Sweet Sound of Heaven is one of the songs that's really going to stand out it's

huge blues gospel song and you've got Lady Gaga trading vocal hooks with Mick and also

there's Stevie Wonder on there as well which is sort of the thing only happens when you record in

LA. Guess who's dropped by? Lady Gaga is a piece of work I love working with her because she has

a great attitude towards things and I'm a great voice and I always want to see her play off against

me. There's so much energy to the music on this record it feels like it's designed to play live

have you got plans to take it out on the road? Basically yeah that's the plot is next year take

it on the road and if everybody's still standing. And I guess that brings me to the question that

everybody asks you but will this ever end will the stones just keep going? My answer is I'm not

Nostradamus of course it's going to end sometime but everybody's in good fettle there's no particular

rush you know I mean oh we're having great fun doing this you know and this is what we do.

Keith Richards talking to Mark Savage

And that's all from us for now but the global news podcast will be back very soon this edition

was mixed by Chris Lovelock and produced by Chantel Hartle our editors Karen Martin I'm

Oliver Conway until next time goodbye. Oh wow oh my god I'm so excited thank you

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Hey BBC listeners you come to the global news podcast because you want to stay up to date on

the best of international coverage. I'm Erica Cruz-Gavara from KQED's The Bay podcast where

we bring you the best of local news around the Bay area. Every Monday Wednesday and Friday we

bring you conversations with local journalists to give you the context and analysis that you need

to make sense of what's going on in our region. You can find the Bay wherever you get your podcasts.

Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.