Global News Podcast: Lengthy sentences for 2 more Proud Boys

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The second of September, these are our main stories.

Two more members of the far-right Proud Boys group get long sentences for the Capitol Hill riot in the US in 2021.

Tens of millions in Hong Kong and areas of mainland China take shelter against a super typhoon.

And Muhammad Al-Fair, the Egyptian businessman who owned Harrods in London, has died.

Also in this podcast, Christie's cancel sales of jewellery from the widow of a German billionaire

who made his fortune during the Nazi era.

And in Mexico, goodness gracious, great balls of cheese.

For us and for our cattle producers in this region, it is going to be a part of history.

To have the biggest piece of cheese in the world.

Now, staunch supporters of Donald Trump, the far-right group known as the Proud Boys,

were among the first to storm the US Capitol just after the 2020 election.

Three of its members have already been given long prison sentences for their involvement.

A fourth Proud Boy has just been jailed for 18 years, the longest sentence yet.

And North America editor Sarah Smith is in Washington.

There's probably about 300 Proud Boys, they're marching.

Thousands of people marched on the Capitol on the 6th of January 2021.

The violence that followed has already led to hundreds of convictions,

with the longest sentences going to the people who organized and coordinated the riot.

The neo-fascist Proud Boys saw themselves as Donald Trump's foot soldiers,

prepared to use force to stop Joe Biden being certified as president.

Ethan Nordin and Joseph Biggs took charge of the Proud Boys on that day,

using a radio to coordinate and move their men.

They've both been convicted of seditious conspiracy.

Nordin has received one of the longest sentences related to the January 6th riots,

18 years in prison.

Donald Trump had invited his supporters to come to Washington and to march towards Congress,

bringing language many believe encouraged the violence that followed.

Joseph Biggs sobbed in court and begged for leniency before he was sentenced to 17 years in jail.

His lawyer blames the former president.

He stood on the ellipse, basically told people,

74 million of his followers.

The election's stolen, go to the Capitol, fight like hell you won't have a country anymore.

Some people listen to him.

Dominic Pazzola can be clearly seen smashing a window in Congress,

which then ignited the invasion of the building.

He's been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

In a debate with Joe Biden, before the 2020 election,

Donald Trump refused to condemn racist violence,

and name-checked the proud boys.

The proud boys leader, Enrique Tarrio, will be sentenced next week.

Donald Trump himself is facing a criminal trial next year

over his actions to try to overturn the 2020 election result.

If he's convicted, he also could be facing a lengthy jail sentence.

Sarah Smith in Washington.

Hong Kong has issued its highest storm alert for Super Typhoon Soura.

The authorities are warning it could be the strongest storm

to hit the area in decades, with winds of up to 175 kilometres an hour.

Hundreds of flights have been cancelled,

and schools, businesses and financial markets have been closed.

In the neighbouring Chinese province of Guangdong,

nearly 800,000 people have been moved from high-risk areas.

Earlier, streets in Hong Kong were deserted.

So how prepared are people across the region for Typhoon Soura?

In Hong Kong for us, here's Martin Yip.

The buildings are shaking, but there's also something

that is less of a concern for Hong Kong during the Typhoon season.

It's usually about debris flying around.

This time, we haven't received any reports of that kind,

so it might be the upside of the whole situation at the moment.

And how do the people you've been talking to caught up in this?

How do they feel about it? Are they scared?

Yeah, they do feel scared because of the buildings shaking,

and of course this wind speed is pretty amazing.

So anything flies around that's obviously going to be trouble.

And also heavy rainfalls are expected,

but there's more or less things that people get used to.

It seems this quasi-lockdown situation,

we have to continue all the way till tomorrow morning,

and possibly by lunchtime.

And what indicator is from

Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong's major airlines.

They are expecting to resume outgoing flights from Hong Kong from midday.

So that might give some hints that until tomorrow afternoon,

we might still have to weather this kind of storm.

So the best advice the government has always been giving

is to stay home, stay away from windy locations,

stay away from the glasses.

Martin Yip in Hong Kong.

Now, also following Typhoon's solar

is BBC Weather's Stan De Naos.

It's taking an unusual path.

It's not making a direct lamp fall.

It hurtled in from the east, off the South China Sea.

And instead of barreling inland and weakening as it moves inland,

it's actually turned a corner, moving south-westward.

So the actual eye is travelling along the coastline

with the outer edges affecting Hong Kong

and the south coast of Guangdong province.

And it's going to continue to move parallel to the coast,

weakening as it does so, pushing south-westwards through tonight

and into Saturday morning, heading down towards

the Lu Xiao Peninsula and Hainan Island

by the time we reach next Monday and Tuesday.

However, it's still bringing some really heavy rainfall

across the coast of southern Guangdong, including Hong Kong.

I mean, they do get Typhoons in Hong Kong,

but this one seems to be particularly strong.

It has been a while since the Hong Kong area has seen

a powerful typhoon like this almost make lamp fall there,

but other parts of Guangdong are seeing the impacts from the heavy rain

and the strong winds at the moment.

And there's a different typhoon, another one approaching Taiwan.

That's right. We've got Typhoon Hai Cao,

which is barreling towards Taiwan.

And that's continued to strengthen as well.

I don't think it'll reach super typhoon, but close to.

And then it's like to make lamp fall on Sunday across Taiwan,

weakening as it continues through the Taiwan Strait,

and then into East China by around next Tuesday.

So there's a double whammy of typhoon impacts

across the south and east coast of China.

Stampton Ails from BBC Weather.

The Panama Canal Authority says waiting times for vessels

that reached the area without a booking have doubled

this serious drought in the region.

About 120 ships are currently waiting for their turn to cross.

Here's our America's regional editor, Leonardo Rosha.

Transit has been restricted for months and cargo ships

are having to wait on average 9 to 10 days

before being allowed to enter the canal.

The Panama Canal, which links the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific,

uses water from an artificial reservoir,

Lake Gatun, to feed a system of logs.

In the process, vast amounts of freshwater are lost to the sea.

A prolonged drought in Central America has forced the administrators

to cut the number of daily crossings by about 10%,

which has caused a bottleneck on both ends of the canal.

The restrictions are expected to remain in place

for at least another 10 months.

The Auction House Christie's has set its cancelling plans

to sell more jewels from the estate of the wife of a German billionaire

who made his fortune during the Nazi era.

Part of Heidi Horton's jewelry collection was auctioned by Christie's in May,

raising more than $200 million.

Christie said the first sale had provoked intense scrutiny

and reaction that deeply affected the Auction House and many others.

US Attorney Stephen Lieberman created a group to oppose the first auction.

He told Julian Marshall how Helmut Horton, a former Nazi party member,

acquired his fortune.

Helmut Horton was an Austrian businessman who died a billionaire

and his fortune was based in large part on businesses that he bought

during the Aryanization process in Germany and Austria in 1936, 37 and 38.

Jewish business owners were required by law to sell their businesses

and Helmut Horton and others like him went to Jewish business owners

and made deeply discounted offers, 10%, 20% of the value of businesses

and if people said that the prices weren't fair or they didn't want to sell,

Horton said, fine, we'll use our Gestapo connections

and the Gestapo will be at your front door tomorrow

and you and your family will be taken off to the camps

and it was off the backs of those deeply discounted businesses

that Helmut Horton made his fortune.

Horton after the war married Heidi and Heidi Horton began to acquire

a fabulously expensive collection of jewelry using the fortune

that he had made from the businesses stolen from Austrian and from German Jews.

I mean, although they were ill-gotten gains, that jewelry was legally purchased, was it?

The jewelry was legally purchased but it was purchased with money

that had been stolen from Jews who ultimately, most of whom were sent off to death camps

and murdered by the Nazis.

And that is why you and Jewish groups objected to the first sale by Christie's in May.

That's right. When you hear the name Christie's you think a reputable organization

that cares about its name, but when these issues were brought to Christie's attention

they didn't do anything to stop the auction.

They simply said the jewelry was legally purchased,

the jewelry itself was not stolen from Jews by the Nazis,

they weren't going to halt the auction.

They didn't think about the moral issues

and frankly, I don't think they thought about the legal issues

because the jewelry is property that was purchased with money

that was made from stealing businesses from Jews, many of whom were murdered

and there may well be claims on that jewelry by the descendants of people

who were forced to sell their businesses to Helmut Horton.

Christie's said that the more than $200 million raised by that first sale

would go to philanthropic causes.

Has it, do you know?

These were philanthropic causes chosen by Heidi Horton.

They were not philanthropic causes designed to reimburse the people from whom the businesses were stolen.

Faced with a very bad publicity, Christie's said that some of the money

would be donated to Holocaust organizations.

That was, I think, quite rightly viewed by Jewish groups as a bribe to shut these groups up.

Nonetheless, you must be satisfied that Christie's has called off

plans to sell more jewels from the estate of Heidi Horton.

We are very pleased and we ask Christie's to go a step further

and to make a public commit that in the future they will not sell any more jewelry from this collection

and they will not auction off similar property.

This is blood jewelry.

It would be as if you had somebody who had engaged in the trafficking of children

and used the money from the trafficking of children to buy artworks,

which then Christie put up for sale.

A reputable auction house shouldn't do that and we call on Christie's

to state that it will not engage in such despicable behavior in the future.

U.S. Attorney Steve Lieberman.

The Egyptian-born businessman, Muhammad Al-Fayed, has died.

He was 94.

The self-made billionaire was the former owner of the famous London department store Harrods

and also Fulham Football Club.

But an inquiry into Mr Al-Fayed's business dealings led successive governments

to refuse to grant him British citizenship, much to his frustration.

You think this is fair from the Home Secretary to behave the way

with someone like me who have given employment to thousands of people,

having four British kids.

It just shows what type of people infiltrate in the political life

and give us such a deal.

Mr Al-Fayed's death comes 26 years after his son Doad,

he was killed in a car crash in Paris with Princess Diana, the first wife of King Charles.

A U.K. correspondent, Rob Watson, looks back at his life.

Muhammad Fayed began in business selling soft drinks and sewing machines in Egypt.

He went on to own the world's most famous department store,

amassing fortune and controversy on the way.

He built a shipping business from scratch and came to Britain in the 1970s,

renaming himself Al-Fayed.

To those he clashed with, and there were many,

he was an abrasive, obsessive character given to feuding.

He bought the Paris Ritz and later the Jewel in the Retail crowned

the Harrods department store in London.

His battle with Tiny Rowland, chairman of Lonrow,

ahead of that takeover was vitriolic.

A British government inquiry later accused him of dishonesty

and he was repeatedly refused a British passport.

In the mid-1990s he revealed he'd paid British Conservative MPs

to ask questions in Parliament.

That put him at the centre of the crisis over sleaze

that eventually felled Prime Minister John Major's government

in the 1997 general election.

When his son Dodie Al-Fayed was killed along with Diana,

Princess of Wales in a car crash in Paris,

he claimed it was murder plotted by the Duke of Edinburgh

and the British Secret Service.

Muhammad Al-Fayed refused to accept that the couple's driver,

Henri Paul, an employee of his, had been drunk at the wheel.

Henri Paul was in the payroll of the MI6 for three years as an informer.

What happened to Diana and what happened to my son is a murder

and I'm not going to keep quiet until I get to the truth.

A French investigation and a British inquest rejected those claims.

He gave large sums to charity but was accused of bullying staff too.

He eventually sold Harrods after a row with the pension fund managers

over the size of his dividend.

He cast himself as the underdog,

yet he'd always craved acceptance from the establishment.

Rob Watson on the life of Muhammad Al-Fayed.

Still to come in the Global News Podcast,

a rare Iranian and Israeli collaboration to make a film

that's blossomed into something special.

In Israel, that became so extreme and in Iran too,

we are not allowed to talk to each other because we're enemies.

That's what they taught us, but we're not.

We founded this amazing friendship.

Now on yesterday's podcast, I asked you to email your little win,

the thing that's happened in your life or where you live,

that's made your week no matter how small.

We're collecting them for next week's edition of the Happy Pod

and I just wanted to say thank you for all the emails so far.

Here are just a couple of them.

Hannah in Sydney, Australia says the barista at her local café

gave her a free coffee and then the next day she found a $5 note on the floor

so she got another free coffee.

Thank you Hannah.

Carole emailed from St. Pete in Florida to thank her neighbors

for helping to keep her home dry and free from debris

during the hurricane conditions this week.

I had someone watching over me at a time of pure panic says Carole.

Of course we'd like more, so please email me with your little win

globalpodcastatbbc.co.uk

globalpodcastatbbc.co.uk

You'll hear more of them in the Happy Pod in this feed every Saturday.

Thousands of Syrians have taken to the streets in the northwestern city of Soweda

protesting against their deteriorating living and economic conditions.

These demonstrators chanting the people want the downfall of the regime.

Lina Sinjab is our Middle East correspondent in Beirut.

She's been telling my colleague Laquaza Barak

more about what's happening in Soweda.

They brought back all the demands that many Syrians across the country

called for in the early days of the uprising in 2011

when there were peaceful protests

as they are today in the Middle East.

This is the second week in a row that protesters took to the streets in Soweda

and today was quite significant

because thousands of them took to the streets.

They came from different villages and towns around the province of Soweda

which is a predominantly Jewish city

that the regime has always been careful in how to deal with them.

So there weren't violent crap down on protesters there

and we have to be careful.

So there weren't violent crap down on protesters there

and what we've seen this time is that the demands of the protesters

is not only criticising the government

but really targeting President Bashar al-Assad himself

calling on him to leave

and tearing out posters of him everywhere in the city

so this is quite significant to see.

What was it about the cost of living that brought people out on the streets?

Well, it was a gradual deterioration of the situation

since the days of the war

and then the war stopped

so the war economy stopped

so dollars stopped flowing into the country.

The Syrian pound devaluated

the cost of living increased

but the worst was the full lift of subsidy on oil in Syria

and that's what flipped the coin for many Syrians

that they cannot afford living anymore.

The average wage of a Syrian worker in 2011 was almost $500

today it's worth $20

an average family with a $20

they cannot even buy basic food

let alone meat or any other substantial items

just basic food for 2-3 days that won't be enough

so people are really starving.

The country has more than 90% of the population

living under the poverty line

so it's not surprising at all that they would take to the streets.

Where are we seeing these protests because they're not in the capital are they?

That's a very important question

as I mentioned, this is a Druze province

that the regime has been very careful in dealing with this minority

that is spreading between Syria and Lebanon

for example, Daraa next to it

which is a predominantly Sunni one

which is the birthplace of the uprising

we've seen some protests there

but the reaction from the regime there wouldn't be the same

like a reaction to the Druze

it's hard to see the army firing at protesters in Sweden

as they did in many Sunni towns across the country

that's why we're not seeing these kind of protests

in any other government controlled areas

because people are scared

people have been killed, bombed and detained

and the regime is very careful in how to deal with the Druze

that's why we can see this momentum in Sweden

but it's hard to see it happening somewhere else

after more than a decade of civil war

hundreds of thousands killed, millions in refugees

and tens of thousands who've disappeared

so people are really wary on what to do in the streets

although the anger is mounting

even among the Alawite community

that is the main supporter of President Bashar al-Assad

last week the government introduced cuts of income tax

but that's too little, too late for many people

however, given the violent nature of this regime

it's hard to see how long they are going to

tolerate this situation there

our Middle East correspondent Lina Sinjab reporting

an Egyptian government official has submitted his resignation

over the destruction of a number of historic mausoleums

in centuries-old cemeteries in Cairo

the Egyptian authorities say they're developing

and restoring the area

but the campaign has caused considerable anger on social media

with some saying Cairo's architectural heritage

is under threat

here's our Arab Affairs editor, Sebastian Usher

Dr Aiman Wanas says he's resigning

because his task of logging buildings of historical

and architectural value has been rendered futile

the professor of urban design said the government's project

in the ancient cemeteries of Cairo

risked wasting Egypt's rich and irreplaceable heritage

several other members of the committee documenting heritage

buildings have already resigned

the cemeteries in Cairo have long been renowned

for the elaborate decoration and domes of their mausoleums

dating back hundreds of years

the authorities say what's happening is urban development

that's necessary to bring Cairo into a new era

critics call it cultural vandalism

the death of a mother bear

shot near a national park in central Italy

leaving two cubs alone has drawn condemnation

from animal rights groups and politicians

Europe regional editor Danny Averhard

has been telling me more about what happened and why

this bear, Amarena, that's the nickname for black cherry

basically one of the fruits that it was very fond of

two things that are important

one, it was extremely well known and well loved in the area

there was a rather endearing video of the bear

going through a local town at night

only a few days ago with its two cubs and onlookers

looking quite amazed at this scene

and also it was a female of a very rare subspecies

the rarest subspecies of bear in Europe

I think called a mastican brown bear

which lives in the Apennines in Abruzzo

this area of central Italy, east of Rome

and on Thursday night it was shot and killed

and the person who did this was a man in his 50s

and he's told the Italian news agency

answer that he did it out of fear

that it was on his property and he had shot it

but it hadn't meant to kill it

but sadly the bear died of very bad injuries

and the cubs escaped into the countryside

there's been quite a bit of reaction

both locally and on social media

absolutely, first of all on the political level

you've had the minister of the environment chip in

you've also had the governor of Abruzzo say

he's a very serious act against his whole region

it leaves pain and anger he said

and the head of the national park said

this type of bear is never aggressive

everyone loved her and called her a symbol of the park

and the rangers who posted the picture of the dead bear

said that it was just not justifiable

that bear Amorena had never created problems for humans

despite having raided agricultural produce and livestock

Danny Aberhardt

lots of movies claim to be groundbreaking

but Tatami which premieres at the Venice Film Festival

this weekend does fit the bill

it's a co-production between an Iranian and an Israeli

the film is about a female judo fighter from Iran

who has a shot at winning gold at the world championships

but the Iranian authorities order her not to compete

against her next opponent who's from Israel

leaving her and her coach in an awful dilemma

here's the moment when commentators notice

something's wrong with the Iranian contestant

don't worry, the coach is not out there with her

and well, I don't know why

she really needs to come cause herself to get her head seen somewhere else doesn't it

but this is where she's got to dig in

the co-directors are the Israeli guy Nativ and the Iranians are Amir

first to guide him, Franks asked him what inspired the film

in the middle of the pandemic

I read an article about an Iranian boxer named Saddaf Qadim

she really wanted to box in Iran but she couldn't

and she escaped to France where she became the first Iranian female boxer

and then more female stories about athletes

who rebelled against the regime in Iran for freedom

as part in the news and that brought the idea to make a movie about that

especially when the Israeli athletes and the Iranian athletes

are best friends in the competition outside of their homes

your Israeli, was that the reason why you then try to get in touch with Zah?

absolutely and Elham who wrote the script with me

so I brought a lot of Iranian artists with me to tell this specific story

and Zah, how long did it take you to decide that this was a project that you'd like to be involved in?

it took me a little bit of time because it can be risky for everyone

even outside of Iran

I think that this global situation of our society and our planet

is to rush towards disaster

we don't know how long we will all be able to live

but at least during this time we do something good

I just start doing this as a fit, it's staring, it's beautiful

because we've never seen it before

it's being sort of talked about as a first this collaboration

you live in exile in France yourself

you left Iran some years ago

in 2008

but you just said to me that you had to think about it a bit

because it's a very risky project

even with you living in exile

can you tell me why that is?

as an Iranian filmmaker what is happening in Iran and Israel is almost the same

political situation

we don't know with what risk exactly you take

not only because I'm afraid of Iranian government

but the story that we are telling in this movie

is exactly what goes on with us

because that government, that power can influence me

can control me sometimes even from 1000 km away

it also sounds like you both were drawn to the idea of

this fact that an Israeli and an Iranian were cooperating

there was a bigger story behind the scenes guy

what our government are preventing us from doing

we achieved

it's kind of sad that we have to get out of our country

to stability Georgia to meet each other

to feel like we're sisters and brothers

to understand that we are from the same tribe

in Israel that became so extreme

and in Iran too

we are not allowed to talk to each other

because we're enemies, that's what they taught us in school

but we're not

we founded this amazing friendship that is for life

we have the same taste, food, movies, music, sports

and we shot this film under the radar with a different name

and we made it

and that's why this collaboration is so important for us

it's kind of crazy that both countries are going through the same process

there's people who are fighting in Israel against the regime

by Benjamin Netanyahu

a lot of people are going to the streets to demonstrate

it's kind of crazy that Zar came to Israel to edit the film

in time of demonstrations

we were in the same ground to demonstrate the fight for democracy

the same thing happens in Iran

I hope this movie opens another window

we need to change our mindset

we need to change how we see each other

we don't need enemies

this movie is my first feature as director, co-director

I really love this movie and I'm very proud

and I hope we make them feel good about this friendship

Israeli Guyanati of the Iranians are Amir with Tim Franks

about the film Tatami

let's go to the Mexican town of Pijijapan now

local people there have been keeping themselves busy

with a bit of record breaking

the residents have banded together to, well, band together

a giant ball of cheese

weaving together cheese strings to make a ball

the size of a refrigerator

sounds like a story for Stephanie Prentiss

a giant spinning wheel

surrounded by 80 determined Mexicans in white overalls

feeding long strings of white cheese into it to form a ball

but this was no normal day

playing with a giant ball of cheese, no

these dairy farmers and cheese professionals had a plan

to make a ball of cheese so large that they break the world record

over 350 kilograms fair

using caseo, a mozzarella-like stretchy semi-hard cheese

drawn out into long strings

it is a source of pride for us, we're happy

proud to be here, for us and for our cattle producers in this region

it is going to be a part of history

to have the biggest piece of cheese in the world

making the biggest piece of cheese in the world

in all smooth sailing

at one point the Kurds nearly had their way

tilting dangerously close to the ground

but the crowd were there to cheer the workers on

and after much cheering and much spinning

a 558 kilogram piece of wound-up cheese was created

smashing the previous record

and securing the team's place in the record books

Stephanie Prentice reporting

I definitely can't beat the Kurds nearly had their way

so that's all from us for now

there will be a new edition of Global News to download later

this one was mixed by Javid Ghilani

the producer was Emma Joseph

the editor is Karen Martin

I'm Andrew Peach, thanks for listening

and until next time, goodbye

Ever wondered what the world's wealthiest people did

to get so ridiculously rich?

Our podcast, Good Bad Billionaire

takes one billionaire at a time

and explains exactly how they made their money

and then we decide if they are actually good, bad

or just plain wealthy

so if you want to know if Rihanna is as much of a bad gal as she claims

or what Jeff Bezos really did

to become the first person in history to pocket a hundred billion dollars

listen to Good Bad Billionaire with me, Simon Jack

and me, Zing Sing

available now wherever you get your podcasts

Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.