Global News Podcast: Morocco earthquake death toll rises

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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.

I'm Nick Miles and at 13 hours GMT on Monday the 11th of September. These are our main

stories. Rescue teams in Morocco continue to search for survivors of last Friday's

earthquake with the death toll now standing at two and a half thousand. The United States

and Vietnam have issued a joint statement warning against the threat or use of force

in the disputed South China Sea. And China vehemently denies reports that a parliamentary

researcher in London has been spying for Beijing.

Also in this podcast.

We hear from residents caught up in warfare in Sudan's capital Khartoum. And we have

reaction to Novak Djokovic's US Open trial.

The toll from the Moroccan earthquake continues to rise. The government there now says almost

two and a half thousand people are confirmed to have died. Many of the worst hit villages

are yet to be reached. So that figure is certain to rise further.

With heavy machinery unable to get through blocked roads, villagers have been using their

bare hands to search under the rubble. People are still being pulled out alive. But our

correspondent Tom Bateman, who's reached one of the worst hit areas of the Atlas Mountains,

says time is running out to find more survivors. He sent this report from close to the epicentre

of the quake.

Dawn lights up the destruction in the village of Mule Brahim. Morocco's most remote hillsides

have become encampments of the survivors. Hakima has lost contact with her son, who fled the

village, she says, to get help. She was already grieving. Her husband had been sick and died

before the quake came.

We are staying in the streets. I feel bad for my son. His dad passed away and I have

to take care of him, says Hakima.

People are here to help each other. The village's mosque, still standing, becomes a makeshift

refuge. But in the morning we spent here, there were no signs of any official aid response.

Hussein survived when his son freed him from the wreckage of their home. But his wife,

Fatna, was killed.

My wife, she stayed in the house. The ceiling came down and struck her. This comes from

God. But thankfully, my son is safe, Hussein tells me.

This is where homes once stood. Now people walk through a cascade of ruins. Recovery

attempts across this remote region have been painfully slow.

So far this clear up is people having to do it by themselves. One of their neighbours

at the top of the street here, the house was struck. A family of six was inside and five

of them have been killed. Only the father has survived. But it feels like people barely

even have time to grieve. You can see the humanitarian challenge that now remains.

In another village, locals pull a body from the rubble. Spanish rescuers are on the ground

there too, saying the destruction is absolute. Meanwhile, British rescue gear has arrived

with a team of 60 specialists deployed from the UK.

People are retrieving what they can from homes to damage to living. Morocco's survivors

are now on the land with all they have left.

To Vietnam now, where 50 years ago, America was still at war with the communists in Hanoi.

This weekend saw the culmination of a long rapprochement between the US and Vietnam.

He added his thoughts on this on Monday, speaking after a major aviation deal with Vietnam Airlines

and the US firm Boeing, worth almost $8 billion.

Our partnership is about so much more than innovation and investments. It's about people.

It's about creating a free and open Indo-Pacific for all people, for all people.

On the last day of Mr Biden's trip, the visit took on a more political tone as he and the

Vietnamese leader Nguyen Phu Trang made a joint statement warning against the threat

or use of force in the disputed South China Sea. Last week, China's Coast Guard was accused

of illegally interfering with supply boats from the Philippines. Our correspondent Laura

Baker, who's in Vietnam, told me more.

Quite surprising from Hanoi, who appears to be taking a strong stance on this and standing

up to Beijing on this. If you look at the communique, it's actually in part of the joint leader's

statement that was issued to us. I think it's worth mentioning, it's the only time

China is mentioned in the whole document. But it does say, and both leaders have signed

their names to it, that competing claims on the waterway must be settled under international

norms. Now, they say the leaders underscored their unwavering support for the peaceful resolution

of disputes in accordance with international law. And here comes the key bit, without the

threat or use of force. Now, just last week, state media here in Vietnam reported that

a fishing vessel, a Vietnamese fishing vessel, had been water cannon by the Chinese Coast

Guard. The latest in what Vietnam claims are a number of rising tensions in what they claim

in the South China Sea. China claims quite a large swathe of the waterway, despite an

international tribunal saying otherwise. Vietnam says that China is building on islands, that

they also have claims to. There are various back and forth between Hanoi and Beijing

on this. And obviously in this statement, they've decided to take a stand with Washington

by their side. I think it's unlikely that Hanoi will raise their voice to China on anything

else. And when it comes to kind of smoothing out the way for this visit, they have had several

meetings with Chinese officials over the last few weeks.

Laura, over the weekend, President Biden was saying, I think we think too much in terms

of Cold War terms. It's not about being opposed to Beijing. It's about generating economic

growth and stability for everybody. But Beijing's got to follow the rules. How do you think Beijing

will react to what's been said over the last day?

Well, I think it will be interesting to see how they do react, because over the last few

months, they have accused the Biden administration of having a Cold War mentality. And that is

what I put to the president in his press conference last night here in Hanoi. I asked him what

his response to that would be. And that was his answer. He said, we think too much in Cold

War mentality. But from Beijing's point of view, it has watched the United States steadily

increase its presence across the Asia Pacific over the last year. We've seen Japan and South

Korea brought into the same room, something we never thought would ever happen. And then

they've had a deal where the Philippines have offered the United States the use of four

more bases. The US has also done deals in the Pacific Islands. And now here they are in

Beijing's backyard, signing the highest level of agreement that Hanoi offers. And obviously

they're doing much more business. You just heard there about a Boeing contract. There's

going to be contracts on semiconductors also. So I think when it comes to that, Beijing

will be watching closely. One analyst I did speak to said that Beijing seems to have

been taken by surprise by how fast the United States has moved into the Asia Pacific region.

And perhaps Beijing's reaction will be to that.

That was Laura Bicker. Well, we've also been following Beijing's reaction to allegations

that a parliamentary researcher in London has been spying for China. The man accused

has released a statement through his lawyers saying that he's completely innocent of these

claims and had spent his career highlighting what he called the threats presented by the

Chinese Communist Party. Mao Ning is a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The so-called Chinese espionage activities against the UK are purely groundless. China

resolutely opposes this. We urge the UK side to stop spreading false information and stop

its political manipulation and malicious framing of China.

Your senior MPs from the governing Conservative Party in the UK have called for China to be

categorised as a threat to British interests. Well, the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, has

so far declined to take that step, but he raised concerns about interference from Beijing with

China's premier at the recent G20 summit in India. So does the UK consider China a threat?

Here's the business secretary, Kemi Bednock, speaking to my colleague Justin Webb.

China is an epoch-defining challenge for us as well as many of the other countries in the world.

But you don't define it as a threat. Why not?

I think that we have to be very careful with the language that we use and what we do is

have those conversations with China directly. I can't comment on the specifics of this investigation,

but the Prime Minister spoke to the Chinese Premier at the weekend about this, setting

out our very strong concerns about interference in Parliament. And I think that that's the

key thing that this should be noted. Whether or not you use words like threat, I think,

is a reflection of how far you want to escalate things. China is the second largest economy

in the world, is heavily integrated in our economy, as it is with many of our allies

like America, Canada and Australia. And we're taking the same approach that those countries

are taking. I asked our political correspondent Ian Watson

about the alleged spy's response to the accusations. The person at the centre of these

allegations, the parliamentary researcher, has denied them. In fact, he's said that he's

spent his time, in a statement via his lawyer, he's spent his time trying to expose the Chinese

Communist Party. And indeed, he was working very closely with some of the members of Parliament

who have been most critical of China, including Tom Tuggenhatt, when he chaired the cross-party

committee on foreign affairs. He's now, of course, a government minister. So I guess

the allegation is that he was getting close to some of China's critics on behalf of Beijing.

He's saying, in fact, actually, he was genuinely working with these people because he, too,

is critical. He said he's spent his career to date trying to educate others about the

challenges and threats presented by the Chinese Communist Party.

And Ian, this issue of whether or not to categorise China as a threat to British interest at the

moment, to Rishi Sunok, as we were saying, is low to go that far. What would it take,

do you think, for that to happen, though?

I think you'd probably need more evidence of China's activities. Although there's been

plenty of concern over the years, you know, about the Huawei contracts, for example. We

know about allegations of industrial espionage. We know about accusations of cybercrimes. There's

been a whole range of concerns which have been out there. But I think people are worried

about whether the activities stretch into the heart of government. So this development,

I think, has given fuel to the fire of those who are saying that more action should be

taken towards China and more scepticism expressed towards China. That said, Rishi Sunok's own

position was that he'd rather be in the room raising concerns than, if you like, boycotting

relations with China. So it doesn't look like he'll go down that road. And interestingly,

the trade minister, Kimi Bedinok, as well, pointing out the economic value of the relationship

with China. So I think the position in government, irrespective of this development, is that

there should be criticism, but also engagement with Beijing.

Ian Watson. It is five months since the conflict began in Sudan. And according to the United

Nations, thousands of people have been killed, and around 5 million people displaced because

of fighting between government forces and a militia group. On Sunday, saw the deadliest

single act of violence since the war began, when airstrikes hit a market in the south

of the capital, Khartoum, killing close to 50 people. So what is life like now for many

people across Sudan? Ahmed, who lives in Khartoum, sent us his audio diary.

This is Ahmed from Sudan. In a few days for the world, the war in Sudan will complete

five months. For me and my family, it's like five years. Last Sunday, an intense clash

has erupted two meters in front of our main door between the Sudanese armed forces and

the paramilitary rapid support forces. I was left with the only option of sending my family

and dozens of relatives that were staying at our house to a mosque and a public school

to serve their lives from the clashes. It was the toughest decision I ever made in my

life. All of a sudden, we found ourselves in the middle of a war in a place that considered

to be one of the safest in the capital. I had only a few seconds to take the right decision

whether they should leave in the middle of the clashes or stay home and be subjected

to a risk of artillery shelling by one of the warring sides. My mom, kids and wife were

lucky to meet a friend on the way to the mosque who insisted on taking them home and shelter

for that night. Now, my family is scattered at four different locations because none of

the sites is big enough to accommodate all of them. I had to leave home myself a few

days after the family left that night because the paramilitary rapid support forces sheltered

our house with a mortar while I was inside and partially damaged the building. My mom's

calls and pressure from the relatives forced me to leave in tears. Leaving your home is

one of the worst experiences of war because the chances are very high that you might not

be able to return. I am currently splitting myself at four locations, the mornings between

friends in walkable neighborhoods when the situation is quiet. For the nights I sleep

over at any house that has electricity and running water. The nights for me are mainly

for thinking where I should go to the next morning. The war in Sudan is taking the country

to complete darkness. The destruction is beyond imagination. This country is absolutely

turning into complete anarchy. Few days before we became an IDPs we were thinking at a dinner

of post-war phase. My mom said she would slaughter a sheep as a farewell for the relatives staying

at a house that have expressed interest to return. I had plans to plant trees and open

free English language and Arabic class for the children including my own but the destiny

took us to an opposite direction from settled people to IDPs. However I am still very grateful

to God because my entire family is okay. I continuously tried to convince myself silently

that these tough days will end soon and we would be able to return to the home I was

born at and slaughter a sheep as well as planting the trees. When I see the news and reinforcements

by both sides I lose hope but I have to be strong. This is not the time to give up. It

is time to fight for the family and for my unplanted trees.

That was Ahmed on Surviving Sudan's War. Still to come. It just basically says to you when

you are thin, when you are skinny this is what we like and this is what is going to make

you successful. We have first hand about bullying and body shaming at the top of British ballet.

Unexpected Elements is all about finding the surprising science angles to everyday news.

I love that this show has the scope to discuss both emergent AI, nuclear in Ghana and also

what those stringy bits are on a banana. And joining the dots between their global connections.

Nature does pack a lot of surprises for us. An invisibility cloak in the acoustic domain.

So call that's Unexpected Elements from the BBC World Service. Find it wherever you get

your BBC podcasts.

Daniel Khalif, the terror suspect who sparked a manhunt in the UK last week, has appeared

in court charged with escaping from prison. The hearing heard that Mr Khalif, a former

soldier in the British Army, allegedly escaped by tying himself under a food delivery lorry

with a strap made from bed sheets. He was being kept at Wandsworth prison in London.

Our reporter Anna Foster was at Westminster Mergers Drates Court in central London for

the hearing.

He was in that blue police van which is generally only used for terror suspects. It's one of

the high security vehicles that the police use. You could see also the sirens of the

unmarked police vehicles and notably as well the entrance, the vehicle entrance into the

court was flanked with police officers as he was driven in this morning. He appeared

in court number one again flanked by two police officers. He was wearing a grey tracksuit,

sat quietly in the dock. He spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth. Now there

was legal discussion about the charge, the new charge which he is facing because of course

he was already on remand at Wandsworth prison accused of terrorism offences and offences

under the Official Secrets Act which he denies. He is now further charged with escaping from

prison, escaping from lawful custody. The allegation is that he was working in the prison

kitchen and he managed to smuggle himself out underneath a food truck. That is now the

subject of a police investigation. But there was no indication of plea at this stage during

this very short hearing which only lasted about eight minutes or so. He was of course

denied bail. There was no application for bail. So he will go back to prison. His next

court appearance will be at the end of the month in front of the central criminal court.

That was Anna Foster. Ballet places a huge strain on dancers training to become professionals.

The physical and mental challenges are immense and here in Britain some of the country's

elite ballet schools are facing accusations of bullying and body shaming from former students.

The BBC has spoken to a number of them who say that they have all suffered eating disorders

and depression after attending the schools as children. Haley Hassell reports.

These teenage dancers have big dreams. Most of the pupils in this lesson are around 16

and many have been dancing since they were three or four years old. Ballet training is

hard. You have to be tough to make it as a professional. I know about this world because

I was once part of it. As a child I wanted to be a ballerina until a knee injury ended

my dancing days and I became a journalist instead. I have a lot of happy memories of

performances, costumes and the friends that I made but not everyone in this intense high

pressured world can say the same. He literally just went out of his way to just break me

into little teeny tiny pieces and then didn't really do very much to build me up. For the

BBC's File on 4 programme I've spoken to over 20 dancers who've told me that they think

they've been body shamed and bullied at school. Ellen joined the Royal Ballet School at 16.

Just two weeks later she claims one of the teachers took her aside. She used her kind

of hand, she cut my bum off and then cut basically the whole back of my leg off all

the way down to my heel and just said if I had a knife this is what I'd cut off. Ellen

tells me the alleged comment made her concerned about what she ate. Later she was surprised

at the clash reaction when she returned to school after being unwell. I came back into

the studio I felt awful and I had lost weight because I hadn't been very well. The whole

class clapped me. It just basically says to you when you're thin, when you're skinny

this is what we like and this is what's going to make you successful. The Royal Ballet

School say that the applause might have been to welcome her back. Ellen did become a successful

ballerina. She says she developed an eating disorder which lasted 15 years. Terry Hyde

is a former ballet dancer and now a psychologist who now counsels dancers from all over the world.

He says the majority of those he speaks to tell him they have issues with food.

It's those in power, those in a position of trust that then create the issue of

a body needs to be thin and then the dancers mostly the female dancers will have this idea

I need to look thin therefore I need to restrict in what I eat I need to be careful what I eat

then it goes beyond that to eating disorders and body dysmorphia. Ellen has now begun legal action

against the Royal Ballet School. Dino Nocchivelli from Lee Day Solicitors is representing.

These women were entitled to a duty of care. Their parents were paying for them to receive this

education by professionals which was a care for them that progressed their careers. People within

the ballet companies might say that they pushed these students to make them better ballerinas.

What do you say to that? We do not see how any ballet school can say that these acts were implemented

for your benefit. They clearly caused distress. The Royal Ballet School says previous allegations

have been investigated and resolved and do not align with their records. The school says it's

ready to investigate any new claims and continuously improves to protect its students health and

welfare. Throughout this investigation the BBC spoke to over 50 dancers across four different

dance schools many of whom say that this culture goes beyond just a handful of schools.

Five, six, rising up on the end, seven, eight. Hailey Hassel reporting.

Now for a bit of trivia. Which country has the fastest growing economy in the world?

Well if you said Guyana then you'd be correct. The small South American nation grew by 62% last

year. That's according to the International Monetary Fund. The growth has come from newly

found oil and gas reserves. But Guyana's president Ifan Ali says his country is facing a race against

time to capitalize on their oil wealth before global climate commitments come into action.

The BBC's Gideon Long has been speaking to him. The country at this moment is in transformation

gear. It's a lot of energy, a lot of infrastructure work, a lot of investment in education, in health,

in housing, a number of hotels being constructed, apartment buildings, apartment complexes.

And the construction sector is the prime beneficiary as a spin-off of what is happening in the oil

and gas sector. What are your plans and particularly what are your plans in terms of OPEC? I read that

there's been a discussion about whether Guyana might join OPEC. Well at this moment our decision

is very clear on this. We are not in any rush or any hurry to join OPEC. It is not part of our

policy. So we are very clear on that. Okay. Those big oil deposits, they were discovered

before you came to power and some critics have said that the previous government,

when they signed those contracts with Exxon and its partners, they were too generous. They gave

away Guyana's oil riches too cheaply. How true is that? Well, I would say definitely we did not

had the best of deals. Exxon had a good deal. But look, the sanctity of contract is very important

and we can't go back at that. So there'll be no renegotiating of those contracts?

We cannot go back and renegotiate. But what we have done is to ensure that there are changes.

We've already outlined a number of changes in future production sharing agreements. It will

be completely different. We have to ensure that there is great transparency and accountability

in the management of the resources, using the resources as handouts in a way that is popular

in the short term. But in the long term, it is detrimental for the countries, not the route

that we're going to go. Has your government taken measures to ensure accountability and transparency?

Yes. So that is what I'll explain. So first of all, we have set up the natural resources fund.

That fund is governed separate and apart from the executive. Secondly, we have set in the law

a condition that if the Minister of Finance does not declare the revenue that has been paid into

the fund within a stipulated time from receiving that revenue, he can face up to 10 years in prison.

That is in the law. All the resources that is used from the fund to be invested in the country

has to pass through the parliamentary system and get parliamentary approval.

Are you worried that Guyana simply doesn't have enough people to really take advantage of this

bonanza that you've been given by oil and gas? I mean, just to explain for listeners

who don't necessarily know Guyana, it's a country around the size of the United Kingdom.

And yet it has a population of less than one million people.

Definitely, our population is going to be a hindrance to development. We're already in a

situation in the country where we have a tremendous shortage in the supply of labor.

The companies in the private sector complaining now even government contractors are having great

difficulties in sourcing labor. So what are we doing? So we have launched a scholarship program

through which every Guyanese can have access to higher levels of education.

So you'll be training Guyanese workers. Will you also be importing foreign workers?

Oh, definitely. We are seeing already tremendous requests for the importation of labor to fill

the gap that exists. There's an irony here, isn't there, that Guyana has found all of this oil and

gas in its water just as the world is moving away from oil. As I speak to you, 53% of the

world energy mix comes from oil and gas. But if we are to achieve the full commitment,

you're looking at 35 to 40% of world energy mix still coming from oil and gas. So I don't see

an immediate medium term end to oil and gas. That was Guyana's president Irfan Ali.

Finally, tennis and Novak Djokovic has moved one step closer to being legitimately called

the greatest player of all time. The Serbian won the US Open in New York to secure his 24th

Grand Slam title, beating Russia's Danilo Medvedev in straight sets after a nail-biting

time break in the second. The 36-year-old now stands at the top of the record list,

tying Margaret Court for the most Grand Slam's titles ever. With more, here's the BBC's

tennis correspondent Russell Fuller. He lay down at one moment on the court in the middle

of a game, just to try and fill his lungs with air. He looks shattered. I think he genuinely

was very, very tired. He was trying to keep the points as short as he possibly could. He was

regularly stretching his leg muscles in between points, but yet he still managed to win it,

saved a set point, won it in a tie break. And at that moment, you could just see, mentally,

it was going to be incredibly difficult for Danilo Medvedev to come back. And in contrast to the

second set, Djokovic won the first set relatively easy by six games to three. He played a brilliant

first set, serving and volleying quite a lot, taking advantage of the fact that Medvedev likes to

return, serve about eight or nine metres behind the baseline. So an extraordinary strategic

performance by Djokovic. And to have the endurance at the age of 36 to win the second set in the

way he did and complete victory in straight sets is just another remarkable achievement.

Do you think Medvedev will be slightly disappointed in how he played in the first set in particular?

He started very, very slowly. He played a lot, lot better in that second set. And clearly,

it could have gone either way. He's a stubborn man and he admits he can be a stubborn man.

This position he takes that I was describing, it really is a long, long way behind the baseline.

It does make it easier for somebody, your opponent to come forward and dominate the court.

But he's had a lot of success from that position as Rafael Nadal has done over the years,

because he does have a powerful and a deep return. But even Medvedev admitted later that perhaps he

was a little bit stubborn and he should have tried to move a little bit closer to the baseline

to put pressure on Djokovic. Medvedev didn't play nearly as well as he did in the semi-final

against Carlos Alcárez, where he was just outstanding. And of course, a lot of that does

have a lot to do with the opponent. That was Russell Fuller speaking to Rick Edwards.

And that is all from us for now, but there will be a new version of the Global News

podcast later on. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it,

you can send us an email. The address is GlobalPodcast at bbc.co.uk.

You can also find us on X, formerly known as Twitter, at Global News Pod.

This edition was mixed by Pat Sissons and the producer was Jacob Evans.

The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Nick Mars and until next time, goodbye.

Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.