Global News Podcast: Trump: Police investigate threats against grand jury

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

I'm Janet Jaleel and in the early hours of Friday the 18th of August these are our main stories.

US officials investigate allegations of threats to intimidate people involved in former President

Donald Trump's election interference case in Georgia. Dozens of migrants mainly from Senegal

are feared to have died after their boat was found drifting near Cape Bird off the coast of West Africa.

Britain invites the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to visit outraging human rights groups.

Also in this podcast.

The musician, Nile Rogers, accuses a far right political party in Switzerland of stealing his

hit song We Are Family. Officials in the US state of Georgia are investigating online threats

against members of the public who voted to indict the former US President Donald Trump this week

as part of a grand jury. Amid a rise in violent rhetoric by Trump supporters, the Georgia grand

jurors aren't the only ones to be targeted. A woman in Texas has been charged for threatening to kill

a judge overseeing another case against Mr. Trump. And last week FBI agents killed a man in Utah

who'd reportedly made death threats against President Joe Biden. I got more from our US

correspondent, Anthony Zercher. Georgia law enforcement is investigating threats made against

members of the grand jury that indicted Donald Trump on Monday. These threats have been posted

in right wing message boards and chat rooms online and information about the jurors has been shared

on these right wing outlets. I have to remember that the identity of the jurors were made public

in the indictment. That's something that Georgia does routinely in any indictment. They list the

grand jurors who brought the indictment in the trove of documents that are publicly released.

So the names of all these jurors were made public. What has happened is that Donald Trump

supporters have taken these names and done research and posted photographs and posted

addresses and looked into their social media history. And apparently according to law enforcement

made threats against them and that is what law enforcement is looking into because this could

be an example of juror intimidation, something that would disrupt the proper functioning of the

legal system in the United States. Yes, I was going to ask you about that because what does this mean

for the security of this legal process? I mean, how do you protect people like jurors and judges

when they're being threatened? That is a very real challenge. In a state like Georgia that does

something like this, this whole process very openly, very transparently. And then the goal is

doing it in public and doing it transparent in order to allow the public to have greater faith

in the legal system. The downside of that is that bad actors could access the information on these

people and bring threats. And while law enforcement can look into it and prosecute if need be,

that happens after the fact. And there is definitely a chilling effect for future jurors,

for future people who might want to take part in the justice system, the justice process,

when they get a juror summons, to think twice about doing so if they read about how

passengers have been targeted by individuals. There was actually a woman who was recently

arrested and charges brought against her in Texas for phoning a death threat against the federal

judge who is presiding over Donald Trump's federal trial in Washington, D.C. on charges

of election, 2020 election interference. So this is not just something theoretical,

this is something that is happening right now. And unfortunately, it is something that is very

difficult to nip in the bud and control ahead of time. Anthony Zercher. More than 60 migrants

are presumed dead after their boat was found drifting near Cape Verde off the coast of West

Africa. 38 people, including several children, were brought to shore. It's thought they set

off from Senegal more than a month ago, headed for the Canary Islands. Mayeni Jones reports.

This latest incident highlights why the journey from the western coast of Africa to the Canary

Islands is described as one of the most dangerous migrant crossings in the world.

After five weeks at sea, the wooden boats carrying 38 survivors were spotted drifting

in West African waters. It's unclear what happened to the 60 other passengers that are missing,

but they're presumed dead. Most of them came from the small Senegalese fishing village of Fastboi.

Mamou Bhav's 23-year-old brother, Sheikuna, died during the journey.

He said they'd both tried getting to Europe by boat just a few weeks earlier.

My brother, who died, we got on a boat to spend together the day after eight on Tatejohn. So

this latest trip was Sheikuna's second attempt at getting to Europe by boat. Three days after we

came back, he set off again. He was determined to leave because he had a family and there

was nothing for us here in Senegal. We are fishermen. We work all day and we make no

money. He just wanted to feed his family.

A booming population, crumbling economies and growing insecurity are pushing young people

to leave West Africa in their thousands. As legal pathways into Europe tighten, many of

them are turning to dangerous illegal routes in search of a better life.

Mayani Jones As we heard in our earlier edition, West African

military chiefs say they're prepared to use force to restore democracy in Niger following

last month's coup. They've been meeting in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, to discuss the

deployment of a standby force for possible military intervention to restore democracy

in Niger. Three members of the bloc, Mali, Vakina Faso and Guinea, currently under military

rule themselves, support the junta in Niger and oppose any outside military intervention.

My colleague James Reynolds spoke to the BBC's Thomas Nadi in Accra in Ghana, who's been

covering the meeting of ECOWAS military chiefs and was also joined by the BBC's West Africa

reporter and Kechi Obbona in Lagos, Nigeria. So, will the regional bloc's military chiefs

recommend sending in troops to Niger?

ECOWAS is already getting ready to move into Niger and what the military chiefs are doing

here today is just to firm up the decisions that they've taken and tie the loose ends

so that if the order is given for them to move in, they'll be able to quickly do that.

Now, it's just part of efforts to ramp up pressure on the junta to force him to come

to the negotiating table and that does because in the past, he's not yielded to the demand

of ECOWAS or rejected both international and then efforts by religious leaders to immediate

in the crisis. So ECOWAS is just trying to ensure that all the time there's constant

reminder and pressure on the junta to retain the country to constitutional rule.

And Kechi Obbona, you're in Lagos and of course, Nigeria borders, Niger, thinking about a potential

deployment. What would that look like? Where would troops be recruited from?

So the thing is, previous missions like this have shown how troops are drawn from each

member states under the umbrella ECOMOG, meaning ECOWAS monitoring group. We have seen that

play out in Liberia and the Gambia in a couple of years ago. And so it's expected that that

would be the same formula that would be used for the deployment of troops and the formation

of the squad that would be heading into Niger. Although at this time, every coast is the

only country that has declared it would deploy about 1,000 troops for the intervention plan

should they decide to use the military route. However, Senegal and the Republic have also

said they will also send an unspecified number of troops. But other countries like Nigeria and

Togo and the likes are yet to say what exactly their deployment plans would be. But it's expected

that a bordering states would have troops heading towards the states that border Nigeria and Niger

for ground forces who are probably going to make any intervention. Now, of course, we talked about

diplomacy and Ketchy talking there about logistics. Let's talk about public opinion, though,

in the countries in which you both are. How do ordinary people feel about what's going on in

Niger, Thomas, and also a potential deployment? Because I know you've been speaking to some

people. Yeah, I think public opinion is very divided in some of the countries that are going

to take part in this particular intervention. In Ghana, for instance, the opposition is strongly

against it. And I spoke to some few people on the streets of Antioch. This is what they had to say.

It's good in Ghana to send their armies there to restore their democracy.

I don't support that idea because it's rather going to bring challenges to us

because we already have our problems. So let's rather concentrate on ourselves than

going to fight someone's war. My idea is that going to war and spending money is rather going to bring

economic challenges. So let us rather concentrate on ourselves and then mine our own business than

going to fight someone's war. I think it's about time they all come together and settle the issue

but it's not about war. It's about peace. That's what we want to know from them.

So I don't agree that they should go and fight. If it helps out, if it will be a greater good,

why not? I don't think it will be a problem. Interesting to hear, Thomas, some of those

conflicting views there, including the person who said we should mind our own business,

moving across Nkechi to where you are in Nigeria. What sense do you get about public opinion?

Very similar to what's happening in Ghana. Nigerians are very divided on the issues that

concern Niger. First off, part of the Israeli online community believe that Nigeria has enough

problems. We have soaring inflation. We have an economic crisis. We have rising food prices

and commodity prices. Everything is going skyrocketing. Inflation is over 24 percent and

people believe, look, we have bigger problems to deal with than Niger. Unfortunately, what has

happened to Niger has happened. However, let Nigerians solve their problems.

Nkechi Ogbana and Thomas Nadi talking about the crisis in Niger. Saudi officials have confirmed

to the BBC that the British government has invited Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to visit the UK.

It's understood that dates in October are being considered. Downing Street says Rishi Sunak spoke

on the phone to the Saudi leader, telling him he looked forward to meeting at the quote, earliest

opportunity. But the visit has been criticised by opposition parties and human rights groups who say

the UK should not be welcoming a man with such a poor human rights record. Our security correspondent

Frank Gardner reports. This, if it goes ahead, will be a highly controversial visit. The Saudi

Crown Prince, still only in his late 30s, is credited with transforming Saudi society for the

better. He scrapped the ban on women driving and he's brought back public entertainment long

banned by the religious clerics. He's also investing Saudi Arabia's massive oil wealth

in diversifying the economy away from petrochemicals. It's some of this trillion-dollar plus fortune

that 10 Downing Street would like to see come to Britain. But the Crown Prince, who effectively

rules his country unchallenged, has been something of a pariah in many Western capitals

for the past five years. He's widely suspected of ordering the murder of Jamal Khashoggi,

a Saudi journalist critical of his policies, inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.

The Prince denies any involvement, but human rights activists, including the chief executive of

Amnesty International, Sascha Deshmukh, firmly believe he should not be invited to Britain.

I would be very worried by an invitation for a visit where it appears that the UK

government is sending a clear message that UK leadership on human rights, which is something

that we should be proud of, is now taking a back seat. A statement released by number 10 today

talked in glowing terms about Anglo-Saudi cooperation in defence, security and cutting-edge

technology, yet made no mention of human rights. But Labour's deputy leader Angela Reiner said

it was essential these were discussed during the Crown Prince's visit, and the dialogue between

the two nations continued. Frank Gardner. Last year, the UN's annual climate conference was

held in the Egyptian Red Sea Resort of Shamil Sheikh. The exquisite, multi-coloured coral reefs and

dazzlingly beautiful marine life in the crystal clear waters of the sea, a perfect reminder of

what's at stake if world leaders fail to protect the environment. Now, Israel's Environment Ministry

has said that the Red Sea is warming more than twice as fast as the global average,

posing a threat to this underwater paradise. Our Middle East analyst Mike Thompson told me more.

1,200 species of fish down there in the Red Sea, and that includes 44 different species of sharks,

and 200 different types of coral. And this is partly because the waters are very clear compared

to many oceans and the sunlight's able to penetrate, and that gives an abundance of splendid sea life.

But now there's this warning that all this splendid sea life is under threat. Why do

scientists think that this particular sea is warming so fast? Well, one of the reasons is that

it's enclosed by some very hot areas of land right around it in the Gulf. But even more importantly,

it's quite shallow, and that means it can heat up much more than say the Caribbean,

which is very hot, but the ocean's about 10 times deeper. So that's fundamentally it.

And of course there is, like elsewhere, sadly pollution is a factor.

So how much of a threat is all this given that the coral in the Red Sea has up until now held

up pretty well to climate change compared to coral elsewhere? It has, yes. I mean, one of the factors

here, it seems that scientists believe that the algae that's there has actually come from the Indian

Ocean thousands of years ago. So it had to pass through some very hot seas. So only the most resilient

managed to then survive when they were in the north of the Red Sea. And so for that reason,

it's been able to survive better than others. But growing temperatures, rising pollution is a big

problem. And also we've seen the sea turtle population has been declining. And the sea turtles,

they help to balance the coral and algae within the ecosystem. And that's really quite vital.

They've been suffering from a disease. And all of these factors combined mean despite the resilience

of this algae, we could see a lot of it going. And already around 20% in some areas has been

badly damaged. Mike Thompson. Still to come, the Ukrainian University students about to embark

on their studies who potentially risk being called up to the military. I don't want to go anywhere.

Kiev is my home. Here is everything I made in 17 years. I lived like all my friends, my family,

everything.

Welcome back to the Global News podcast. Opposition leaders in Serbia are taking

legal action against one of the country's most popular broadcasters. They say Pink TV is using

artificial intelligence to alter video clips of their television appearances. Here's our Balkans

correspondent, Guy Deloni. Pink TV is well known for its pro-government stance. So it's no stranger

to the mockery of opposition figures. But now it's deploying artificial intelligence to create

video clips in which the opposition leaders mock themselves. A casual viewer would find it hard

to tell that the soundtrack to the original clips has been replaced. And the opposition say that's

unacceptable. The leader of the party of freedom and justice, Dragan Jilas, is starting legal action

against Pink TV. He warns that AI manipulation could have catastrophic consequences. Pink's

management insists that the clips are satirical and a humorous depiction of Serbian reality.

This time of year, millions of young people around the world are preparing to start university.

It can be a challenging time. But in Ukraine, students there are having to grapple with problems

that could potentially decide whether they live or die. From Kyiv, Toby Luckhurst reports.

It's been a tough and unusual few years to be a university student here in Ukraine.

There are some students that never attended university offline because they were accepted

when the COVID was and sent for scale invasions. So they never really was in a class of flying.

I meet this group of undergraduates outside Kyiv Mahilla Academy, a university here in

the Ukrainian capital. They're standing outside the admissions office, helping people who are

applying for a spot before term starts in September. This is a welcome video for new students.

There's no mention of war. It's like a standard welcome video at any other university in the

world. The Kyiv Mahilla president is telling students about the community and all the opportunity

students can have here. But like all things now in Ukraine, the war has raised unique challenges

for the country's university students. Nastya is a student originally from Lviv.

Under current laws brought in after Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022,

men aged between 18 and 60 can't cross the country's borders without special permission

from the government. That means male students who decide to study at home in Ukraine can't go

abroad. And those who go study abroad won't be able to come back home to visit without

risking getting stuck inside the country. I just got accepted to Kyiv Mahilla Academy.

I live in Kyiv and I'm not planning to go anywhere. I haven't left the country since the war started

and I don't want to. Misha is a 17 year old from Kyiv who's starting at Kyiv Mahilla in September.

He's thought about studying abroad and escaping Ukraine completely. But the risk of getting trapped

on the other side of the border and unable to see his family made him think twice. I don't want to

go anywhere. Kyiv is my home. Here is everything I made in 17 years. I lived like all my friends,

my family, everything. Today, Ukraine students are protected from the military draft. That means

while they're studying, men here won't be called up to fight. But that could change and deciding

to study at home means taking that risk. My parents were pressuring me so hard to go somewhere because

I might get drafted to a army. I might get killed by rocket. He turns 18 next year but doesn't plan

to leave before then. And he's optimistic about Ukraine's future and keen to help get the country

back on its feet. Russia is showing no sign of halting its full scale invasion of Ukraine. And

we've termed you to start here at Kyiv Mahilla in just a couple of weeks time. Students enrolling

here today have no clue what could happen during their degrees and what kind of country they'll

be graduating into in just a few years time. That report by Toby Luckhurst in Kyiv. It's more than

a hundred days since US film and television writers went on strike and there are signs that a deal

may be close. Their union is currently considering a new offer from the major studios. The screenwriters

were joined by members of the American Actors Guild SAG-AFTRA last month. The action has resulted

in a serious halting of major Hollywood productions. David Weddle is a TV writer and producer who's

worked on a wide range of series including Star Trek, Deep Space Nine, Battlestar Galactica and

CSI crime scene investigation. He's now also a strike coordinator for union members at Sony Studios.

Simon Jack asked him why he felt optimistic that studio executives were finally willing to cut a

deal now. My sense of it is they are circling. They would like to make a deal. They want to see

if they can beat us down a little bit first. That gets us to give some ground. But ultimately I think

you know my sense is in the next month to two months there will be a deal in place.

What are the key demands that the writers have here? What do they need to secure?

As writers we give up our copyright to our material in exchange for residuals which is a

profit-sharing agreement with the studios that we who create the original product that they then

market all over the world that we share in the revenue from that because we created it. Since

the streaming era they have managed to crank down the faucet till it's only a dribble and we

writers depend on those residuals when we're in between shows because we are itinerant workers

that move from job to job like people that work the harvest. They have refused to pay us our fair

share, decent residuals for streaming, refused to even show us the number of views that they are

getting for their streaming material and that's put our income at jeopardy. All of us are stressed

trying to make ends meet. It's not fair. It's been widely reported there's a sort of AI

artificial intelligence element in this. What's the fear there and what kind of reassurances

are you looking for? They're not going to have a robot write TV. They know even the people in

charge of the conglomerates that understand TV business know that much. But they think why not

bring in a robot to take all the notes, to write even like assemble plots, develop outlines that

then the showrunners and the number two can rewrite. Well that eliminates again younger writers

and then how are you going to have showrunners and number two, the twos that even understand the

business if they never had that training, if a robot did it. How important has the support of

actors been? Hugely important. It was a checkmate. It was a waterloo moment. They had a grand strategy

and it blew up in their faces and it's been extremely important. It was now all production

is shut down throughout the American entertainment business and they're facing a complete shutoff

of new product and now they're in trouble and now they finally realized it. So the actors gave us

the clout to go back to them and get a strong contract which in turn will then help the actors.

Content is everything, isn't it? Once you start emptying the bucket of what's available on

the various streaming platforms that is terrifying to the streamers themselves because they know that

without new content people will go elsewhere. It's beginning to dawn on them, yes. I mean,

I know many people, friends who are not in the business, who tell me they're cancelling apps

right and left. Not only because these conglomers are charging more but because there's nothing new.

There's nothing new they want to watch and just as in 2007 the studios pretended they were

unconcerned. Oh, we'll just do reality television. It's cheaper anyway and people love reality

television. They don't care about drama which is too expensive. They talk themselves into this

and every 15 years we have to re-educate a new generation of studio executives who think that

they don't need us and then they have to find out that they do and then they lose their appetite

for this kind of strike to happen at least for another 15 years.

TV writer David Weddell. During election campaigns politicians often draw on popular music as a

way of getting their message across and to engage potential voters but it can cause problems when

musicians object to their songs being used to promote political views they strongly disagree with.

Nar Rogers is a latest musician to make such a complaint about his hit song We Are Family.

The American had told a far-right political party in Switzerland to stop using a track

which has a very similar chorus to the 70s disco classic Chantal Hartle reports.

Recorded by Sister Sledge in 1979 We Are Family went on to become a huge hit around the world.

The song celebrates the sisters family bond and is used in popular culture

more generally to express solidarity so when Nar Rogers heard this

he made it clear he wasn't happy with the Swiss People's Party or the SVP as it's known

and its election campaign video which shows party members wearing brightly coloured sunglasses,

dancing and waving glow sticks in a nightclub. The SVP is the biggest party in Switzerland's

coalition government and is known for its anti-immigration policies and Eurosceptic views.

In a statement Rogers said his song was intended to be about diversity and inclusion

and that he condemned its use by the Swiss party or anyone who didn't share those values.

SVP politician Thomas Matta, who's credited as the songwriter under the name DJ Tommy,

said the anthem was an original composition. But Swiss media have reported that for years

Mr Matta's mobile phone ringtone has been We Are Family. This issue has repeatedly

come up in the US during Donald Trump's election rallies. The former president has angered a long

list of musicians including Elton John, the Rolling Stones and Credence Clearwater Revival,

who've all opposed the use of their music for political reasons. Some have threatened legal

action. And in 2017 the American rapper M&M won a $600,000 copyright lawsuit after the New Zealand

National Party used his song. A court ruled that the National Party's election advert

was sufficiently similar to M&M's track. That report by Chantal Hartle.

And 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 you can send us an email. The

address is globalpodcastatbbc.co.uk. This edition was produced by Alice Adley, it was mixed by Chris

Hansen and the editor as always is Karen Martin. I'm Jeanette Jaleel, until next time, goodbye.

Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.