Global News Podcast: Ukrainian generals claim they have punched through a key Russian line

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

I'm Nick Miles and in the early hours of Monday the 4th of September, these are our main stories.

After months of fighting, Ukraine's generals say their troops have breached the first line

of Russian defences in the south, near Zaporizhia. More than 20 people have been killed in northeast

Syria in clashes between government forces and Turkish-backed rebels. The Israeli government

says it's considering deporting rival groups of Eritrean asylum seekers who were involved in

clashes in Tel Aviv on Saturday. Also in this podcast.

An event more used to dust storms has been transformed into a muddy quagmire.

After what's thought to be the longest, heaviest rainfall this festival has seen.

Thousands of people trapped at the Burning Man Festival in Nevada

wait for good weather so that the exit roads can reopen.

We begin in Ukraine, where the country's generals are reporting significant progress

in the counter-offensive against Russia's invasion. They say their troops have breached

the first line of Russian defences in the south, near Zaporizhia, allowing Ukrainian forces to

operate between Moscow's first and second lines. General Oleg Tarnovsky, leading the southern

counter-offensive, told a British newspaper that Kiev's army has made an important breakthrough.

Ukraine says weeks of overnight work to clear landmines has led to the advance.

Pady O'Connell put the report by the generals to Yuri Sak, an advisor to the Ukrainian Minister

of Defense. This is something which is the result of the smart military planning of our commanders.

And General Tarnovsky, who you have just referred to,

is a commander of the southern grouping of the Ukrainian armed forces.

And they have been systematically progressing along the front lines. They have been systematically

destroying the enemy's ammunition depots, enemy life force, enemy equipment. So, like we said

before, even at the time when there was a lot of skepticism about the pace of our offensive

operations, we said that, look, we ask for just two things, weapons and patience.

Yes, I know. I've heard you ask for them, but I'm needing to tell the listener what's new.

Have you broken through the first line of Russian defense? And do you now operate between the first

and second line? Yes, that has been confirmed. So this, you could say to your listeners that this

is progress. I have also read of awful losses. You don't report the death toll. There is difficulty

now in finding men to fight. Are you worried that your population is exhausted by war?

Well, the reports, we have seen some of them. They are not accurate. We have no idea what kind of

data they're based on. Of course, this is a war, and of course, we do have losses on our side.

But at the same time, even during the offensive operations, you know, our losses are considerably

smaller than those of the enemy. For example, during the last 24 hours, we have destroyed

600 Russian soldiers and a lot of their equipment, 10 artillery systems and so on and so forth.

So on a daily basis, we inflict more losses on the Russians than we suffer, and we have no

problems with the reserves, with the morale of our troops, and we continue to move forward.

That was Yuri Sak, an advisor to the Ukrainian Minister of Defense.

Well, for more details on what's going on, I spoke to our correspondent Paul Adams in Kyiv.

So this is an area some distance southeast of Zaporizhia, right on the one of the sort of

central areas of the front line that the Ukrainians have been probing and pushing

and exploring for some time now. We heard a week or more ago about the fall of a tiny village of

Robotinie with the Ukrainian flag being raised there. And since then, it seems as though Ukrainian

forces have been trying to push forward in a couple of directions to try and find gaps in

the Russian defenses. And we are being told, and we have no way of independently verifying this,

but it's coming from a number of sources, that they have indeed made that breakthrough.

I think the thing to remember is it's a very small breakthrough on a very small part of a very large

front line. What the Ukrainians will try and do now is to widen it in an effort to try and get

it big enough so that they can push their armoured infantry through and properly exploit this

breakthrough. But that could take some time still if it happens at all. Given though that they say

there has been a breakthrough, albeit relatively small, it seems strange timing for many people

that the Defense Minister, according to President Zelensky, they're going to ask Parliament to

dismiss him. What's going on there? It does seem like strange timing, doesn't it? And this is

something that has in fact been coming for a little while. There's been quite a bit of chatter

about this for some time. It is perhaps part of President Zelensky's wider anti-corruption drive,

which has seen a number of high-profile cases throughout this year. There's no suggestion

that Mr. Reznikov himself is guilty of any corruption, but there is a feeling, in fact,

there have been a number of quite well-publicized cases of corruption when it comes to procurement

within his ministry. And that, I think, is why we're hearing President Zelensky saying the time has

come to replace him. It is likely that Mr. Reznikov will become the ambassador to the United Kingdom

and another politician will take his place as Defense Minister. Yes, it does seem strange. Mr.

Reznikov was a popular figure on the international scene, very much an ambassador for Ukraine,

presence of all those meetings at which he lobbied hard for Ukraine to receive the kind of

equipment that has gradually been handed over. But after a year and a half of war,

Mr. Zelensky has said the time has come to try some new blood.

Paul Adams in Ukraine. Clashes involving Syrian government forces and Turkish-backed

fighters in northeast Syria are reported to have left 23 people dead. The fighting happened when

SNA fighters tried to move into the Kurdish-held area of Hasaka province. Mike Thompson has more

details. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 18 of those who died belonged to a pro-ancro

rebel group known as the Syrian National Army. The other five were reported to be opposing

Syrian regime soldiers. The fighting happened when SNA fighters tried to move into the Kurdish-held area

of Hasaka province near a strip of land by the Turkish border that's controlled by Ankara and

its proxies. Mike Thompson. Next to Israel and the country's security minister said he plans to propose

a bill that would permit the mass arrest and deportation of hundreds of Eritrean migrants.

Itamar Ben Gavir's comments follow violent clashes on the streets of Tel Aviv on Saturday

between supporters and opponents of the Eritrean government. Around 160 people were injured as

police used tear gas and live rounds to end the clashes. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

had this to say. There remains this serious problem of the illegal infiltrators in southern

Tel Aviv and what happened crossed a red line. This rioting, this bloodshed, this savageness,

we cannot accept. We are seeking strong steps against the rioters including the immediate

expulsion of those who took part. Our correspondent in Jerusalem Yala Nel, tell me more about how

what began as a story about conflict within the Eritrean community could become another

battle between the Netanyahu government and those who oppose his reforms. What's interesting is it's

come at a time when Israel is already split over the government's highly controversial judicial

overhaul plan and it is actually fed into that because you've had Mr Netanyahu and others in

his cabinet blaming the Supreme Court for blocking earlier attempts of previous governments to try

to push migrants out of Israel. Now it is very much something that the far-right ministers,

particularly the National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gavir has campaigned about. He is now proposing

a new basic law on migration, a new quasi-constitutional law and he wants to use that to try to push

ahead with the mass deportation of migrants. Israel is a signatory to the refugee convention so

there would be legal issues there but do you think this kind of reaction would have been possible

under any other government in Israel? What happened was something unprecedented in Tel Aviv.

Some 170 people injured including a number of police officers and it's been widely condemned what

happened across the political spectrum so I mean certainly it is a pet issue of some of the members

of this cabinet so the response that we're seeing at the moment for a very hard line response probably

we wouldn't have had them in quite the same way from other governments but I think we are also on

course for another potential pointer of real tension between the government and the Supreme

Court if the Supreme Court finds that efforts by Itamar Ben Gavir to deport people are against

existing basic laws on human dignity and liberty for example that could be another real clash ahead.

Leaving the legal matters aside for a second the Eritreans who are at risk of deportation and they

say if they deport it back to Eritrea they risk persecution they're reacting very strongly aren't

they? Of course and it's estimated there are about 20,000 asylum seekers from Eritrea in Israel

most of them have been here for some years having arrived by crossing Egypt Sinai Peninsula.

They say that they have escaped from one of the world's most repressive countries

and I think you can see now within the community there is this sort of level of shock

that has set in and there was one Eritrean who works in NGO which helps refugees in Israel

Kibrom Thuende and this is what he said. What happened left us shaken we're ashamed about it

but we're also hurting we're hurting and we're also afraid and we feel insecure in this country

where further can we run to? We ran away from persecution in our country and the dictator regime

continues to persecute us to silence us. Kibrom Thuende ending that interview with Yulan Nel

Pope Francis has ended his first papal visit to Mongolia a country sandwiched between Russia and

China. He's long expressed his desire to visit China but the closest he might get there is

Mongolia. At the end of the mass there flanked by leading Catholic clerics from Hong Kong

he had this message for China's 12 million Catholics. These two brother bishops the Bishop

Emeritus of Hong Kong and the current Bishop of Hong Kong I would like to take advantage of their

presence to send a warm greeting to the noble Chinese people. To all the people I wish the best

and to go forward always moving forward and I ask Chinese Catholics to be good Christians

and good citizens. The Pope had arrived in Mongolia on Friday so what message was he

trying to send to Chinese Catholics and the ruling Communist party a question for our

Asia Pacific editor Michael Brister. Well when the Pope went to Mongolia many people questioned why

after all Mongolia has got fewer than 1500 Catholics it was suggested that perhaps he was going there

to deliver a message really his real audience perhaps was China which is next door to Mongolia.

I think over the last couple of days what we've seen is that playing out so on Saturday the Pope said

I didn't mention China directly but he said governments have nothing to fear from the Catholic

Church it has no political agenda seem to be directed at Beijing and China and what he said

directly today was about Chinese Catholics he was saying that they ought to be good Christians but

also importantly good citizens essentially I think what he was saying to Beijing is look you've got

nothing to fear from Christians they can still be loyal to the Communist party they can still be

good Chinese citizens as well as being Christians. And why do you think he needs to say this does it

go back to a slightly fractious relationship between the Vatican and Beijing? Pope Francis has put

great store by trying to improve relations with China and the Vatican and Beijing don't have diplomatic

relations but the Pope sees that there are millions of Chinese Catholics perhaps 12 million

and he wants to help them so five years ago he did a deal with Beijing so that they'd both agree

on the appointment of bishops because what you have in China you've got two parallel churches

really an underground church and an authorized church backed by the Communist Party the Pope

was trying to bring these together and he thought he could do that by agreeing with the Chinese

Communist Party to jointly decide on bishops China as we naged on that a little bit appointed a

couple of bishops without telling the Vatican the Vatican seems far more keen on this arrangement

than the Chinese government. And there's never been any suggestion that there's any sedition

amongst Catholics in China is there at all so is it just a matter of control letting Beijing see

that it is in charge and in control? Basically yes Chinese leaders are obsessed with control what

their citizens do and essentially what they don't want is Chinese Catholics to feel allegiance to

a foreign religious leader based in Rome all the way over in Europe they want their allegiance

to be to Xi Jinping Xi Jinping is more important than God in the eyes of the Chinese Communist

Party and so they're suspicious of any organization like the Catholic Church which could influence

people's behavior which could be an alternative source of power. Michael Brister tens of thousands

of people trapped by unseasonal rain and mud at the Burning Man Festival in the American state of

Nevada are waiting for a break in the weather so that roads in and out of the desert site can

reopen. The burners as festival goers are known have been ordered to shelter in place since Saturday

after the weather turned the site at Black Rock into a bit of a mud bath. Our correspondent David

Willis who was attending the arts and community event is one of those stranded.

An event more used to dust storms has been transformed into a muddy quagmire after what's

thought to be the longest heaviest rainfall this festival has seen since it was launched 37 years

ago. The day before people were due to start heading home the desert sand was transformed into thick

clay leaving vehicles bogged down and festival goers squelching their way through ankle deep mud

prompting the organizers to lock the gates to anyone seeking to enter or leave. They'll remain

closed until the ground hardens allowing the thousands of vehicles stuck here to leave through

narrow desert roads without getting bogged down in the mud. Meanwhile the advice to those stranded

remains can serve food fuel and water supplies because you don't know how long you'll be stuck

here. The mood remains generally upbeat but the longer the wait the more people here will want to

see the back of this muddy morass. David Willis at the Burning Man Festival in Nevada.

Still to come? Generally most people think of a mullet as short on the side short on top long in

the back. Yours is very long on the back five feet eight inches it's taller than you I'm assuming.

Yeah a woman from the US state of Tennessee has officially got the longest female mullet in the

world. 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 Zing available now wherever you get your podcasts.

Unexpected Elements is the podcast exploring the science behind the headlines. That's an

interesting concept. It's just probably my statement. Each week we take a news story you've

probably heard of and use the science surrounding it as a springboard to dive into other stories

that may not be on your radar. We're here in my b-lab. In front of a box of babies.

Still a bad side effect to talk. Unexpected Elements from the BBC World Service. Find it

wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Welcome back to the Global News podcast. For the first time

Mexico could have two women facing each other in the presidential elections next year. The

opposition coalition has formally announced Sotil Galvez a politician with indigenous roots who

escape rural poverty to be their presidential candidate in next year's polls. I heard more

from Oscar Lopez a journalist who covers Mexico for the Washington Post. Sotil Galvez is from the

state of Hidalgo. She grew up in a small indigenous community. Father was an alcoholic quite abusive

as she tells it and she kind of has a bit of a rags to riches story where she ended up going to

the national university studying engineering and founding two quite successful tech companies

before going to politics. It's very interesting she came from a very humble and difficult

background and made it quite big. She's from the more conservative pan national action party.

What kind of a candidate will she be? Well she's an interesting case because although as you say

she does represent the conservative PAN party in parliament she's actually more progressive herself

and she's said many times that she's not militant for the PAN and while the PAN is largely anti-abortion

anti-LGBT rights Sotil herself is more progressive on those issues so I think she's trying to build

more of a coalition. She is the representative of a kind of fractious opposition coalition of

three main parties coming together kind of in opposition to the president and his movement

and so I think she's trying to build kind of a big tense moment trying to bring in both the

conservative base but also more progressives and also people who are just dissatisfied with the

current state of the country. And her likely opponent the main opponent is going to be Claudia

Scheinbaum from the current president's party. The polls for the governing party that's Morena

show that Claudia Scheinbaum is the most likely person to succeed. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador

who's the current president and can't run for reelection she's sort of seen as someone who's

been sort of handpicked by the president to carry on his legacy and carry on his movement.

She's seen as someone very close to the president someone who can champion his ideals his vision

but she differs from the president in some significant ways particularly as someone who is

a climate change scientist and seen as someone who could potentially be more environmentally

friendly. Now how significant is it for Mexican politics and Mexican society that both leading

candidates will be women for the first time. I think it's historic undeniably. I mean Mexico is

a country where you still see a lot of machismo very conservative it has very high rates of

violence against women and historically you know women haven't had a significant place in politics

that's changed in recent years as laws were passed to require political parties to have a certain

number of women representing them in congress and actually Mexico now has one of the most gender

balanced congresses in the world but to have a woman running for both parties as the leading

presidential contenders is hugely significant because it means that no matter who wins Mexico

will have a women president for the first time. Oscar Lopez from the Washington Post.

In August we reported on a wooden fishing boat that had been found adrift off the Canary Islands

with 38 people on board. It had set out from Senegal more than a month earlier carrying 101

people. Well the BBC's Joel Gunter now tells the grim story of a tragedy on one of the most

dangerous migration routes in the world. Padma is sitting indoors with his mother and close family

as they share a plate of food. He eats slowly and carefully. His eyes are downcast and his thoughts

seem far away. This 21-year-old fisherman has just returned from an unimaginable ordeal. In July

he set out with 101 others from this village in a wooden boat called a parogue aiming for the

Canary Islands. The boat became hopelessly lost and drifted for more than a month.

We were so tired. We were starving and thirsty and the sun was beating down on us.

You cannot do anything. Only lie silently staring at the people who still have some food.

After a week at sea passengers on the parogue began to pass away from thirst and hunger.

63 would die under the baking sun including Adam's brother and his two cousins.

Every time somebody died I thought I would be next. At first we said a prayer for each dead

person and put their body into the ocean. Later we just threw the bodies into the water because we

didn't even have the energy to pray. We just needed to get rid of the corpses.

Back in the village after a week with no news relatives of the migrants began to panic.

Adam's mother Soknafid something was terribly wrong.

The whole village was worried wondering if our family members were lost. Everybody was

becoming stressed. I got sick because of the situation and couldn't eat.

In another house nearby other members of the family are joining to pray.

They are in mourning for the three boys who died. Our brother Adam's cousin did not make it home.

When we learned that the boat had been found I thought my brother was coming home

but then they said he was among those who had died in the water. My brother always told me

that if I study hard I will become successful. When I got married the first thing he asked me was

are you going to finish your studies. I miss him so much. Migration experts say that the people

leaving these shores are setting out on one of the most dangerous routes in the world. People here

in Fast Boy will tell you that two of every three boats that leaves is never heard from again

and yet it is clear that even a tragedy as brave as this one

is not going to stop others from taking the same risk.

All along the beach here fishermen are taking out their wooden boats and bringing home what

little catch they have been able to find. They say that industrial overfishing is robbing them

of their livelihood. In the shade by boat I find Assam, a young fishing captain and his crew

knitting generator covers they can sell to help make ends meet.

I'm thinking about leaving. Right now it is all I'm thinking about

and this tragedy will not stop people here from going. We are trying to find solutions to support

our families. Almost everyone in Fast Boy is connected to someone who went on this boat.

Back at Adam's home his mother tells me that the grief here is turning to anger.

All of our hopes have drowned. The people on the boats are the future of Fast Boy.

They are the hopes of the country. The youth are the seeds of our future but they are dying.

Senegal, she says, is being robbed of its future.

That report was by Joel Gunter in Senegal.

You are listening to the Global News Podcast. A global search has begun for the bass guitar

that the English singer and musician Sir Paul McCartney played in his first public performances

with the Beatles. He bought the instrument in Hamburg in Germany in 1961 for just 37 dollars

or 30 pounds but it later disappeared. Kate Ferrand takes up the story.

Love Me Do, an early track which Sir Paul recorded with his first Hoffner guitar.

He bought the violin shaped bass when he was 19 from a shop in Hamburg in 1961.

Not yet the focus of screaming fans. It cost just 30 pounds.

He replaced the instrument two years later but in 1969 it disappeared seemingly stolen

from a storage space. Rumors swirled for years as to its whereabouts but responding to a personal

appeal by the Beatles singer his long-standing supplier and advisor at Hoffner has now launched

a full global hunt for the bass. The guitar expert says the 10 million pound instrument

has an importance beyond Sir Paul and Beatles fans.

Kate Ferrand. A woman from Tennessee in the US officially has the longest female

mullet in the world and it's not the mullet fish we're talking about. Tammy Manis whose 58 is a nurse

with an extreme hairstyle short at the side and front and 172 centimeters at the back.

She'll be featured in next year's Guinness Book of World Records. She's been telling Paul

Henley about it starting with her definition of a mullet. Well I've actually been down the

rabbit hole and looked and there were like 19 different types. Generally most people think

of a mullet as short on the side short on top long in the back. Yours is very long on the back.

Five feet eight inches it's taller than you I'm assuming. Yeah yeah it is. I had to wet it,

stretch it out and have it measured and validated. It sounds sort of inconvenient in daily life terms.

I actually keep it braided during my work week so it stays braided so it only comes down to like

just right around my ankles. You're a nurse aren't you? Yes. Does it get in the way when you work in

hospital? I work in a health department so I'm not in a hospital setting but it's actually

not that difficult because since I keep it braided and I've had it for so many years

I know exactly where it's at and usually I wear a little support belt just because

moving around you know you don't want to hurt your back and it kind of keeps it tame and when I

sit down I just kind of pull it to the front so it's never really in my way. What first inspired

you to grow your hair this way? That's the question everyone asks. It was the late 80s. Till Tuesday

had a song that came out Voices Carry and I love that song and I looked at it and went I wanted

them there at Till's. You had a sort of false start didn't you? I had kind of a false start well

I had that for a few years and then I cut it off November of 89. I still have the original

little reptile immediately regretted that and so February the 9th 1990 I went and had shoulder

length hair at the time and cut it and said leave the tail and started growing it. And what kind of

reaction do you get daily? Usually is wow that is some long hair and then it's is that all yours?

Yes. Do you braid that yourself? No. I have a friend that braids it once a week you know the

usual stuff how long have you had it how long does it take to braid it how do you take care of it?

Presumably it's not obvious that you've got a mullet from the front. It's really funny because

people don't notice it till I turn around to like walk up to the room they're like oh my god

that's yours yeah it's a conversation piece it's really good it puts patience at ease it gives

them something to talk about distracts them if I'm drawing blood. Tammy Mannis with her record

breaking hairstyle. And that's all from us for now but there will be a new edition of the Global

News podcast later. Just before we go though the happy pod this week is asking for your

little wind the thing that's happened to you in your life or where you live that's made your week

no matter how small. We've already had emails from listeners in Arizona Florida and Australia

amongst others and we'd love to hear your story so we can include it in the podcast this weekend.

Drop us an email with your little wind to globalpodcast.bbc.co.uk and you'll hear more in the

happy pod in this feed on Saturday. If you want to comment on this podcast all the topics covered

in it you can send us an email to the same address you can also find us on x formerly known as Twitter

at Global News Pot. This edition was mixed by Nick Randall the producer was Lear McChefrey

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

Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.