Global News Podcast: UN sends aid after deadly Libya floods

Hello, this is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service with reports and analysis

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I'm Gareth Barlow and at 1300 GMT on Thursday the 14th of September, these are our main

stories. Thousands of people are feared dead after catastrophic floods in Libya. Now the

UN says it's sending an aid. Tremors are still being felt in Morocco, days after a massive

deadly quake that are hampering search and rescue efforts. And in the UK, civil-led sexual

harassment caught on camera shocks Spanish society. Also in this podcast we look at the

most unlikely of royal weddings and... We need to see pain in the economy, we need to remind

people that they work for the employer, not the other way around. It's a dynamic that

has to change, we've got to kill that attitude and that has to come through hurting the economy.

The Y1 multi-millionaire is now rowing back on his comments about workers.

Four days on from the cataclysmic floods in eastern Libya, and the number of people feared

to have died is in the thousands. Many bodies have still not been found. The worst affected

area is the port city of Derna, which was home to around 90,000 people. Following the

storm, two dams burst sweeping whole communities into the sea. The BBC's Joe Enwood has this

report on how the people of Derna are trying to come to terms with the scale of the disaster.

Climbing over the rubble that used to be the city of Derna, a red crescent worker prepares

a body bag. Wrapped in a blanket, four men carry a tiny body, one of the many thousands

of victims of this disaster. For the boy's father, it is too much. Don't give me patience,

my heart is with you, the man says to his son. The scale of what happened in Libya last

Sunday is hard to comprehend. You can hear the fear in their voices and the power of

the water. Shortly after this video was taken, thousands of people were simply washed into

the Mediterranean. No picture, no film can ever describe what we have seen.

Mala drove from the city of Benghazi to find his relatives, only to discover 150 of them

had died. Hundreds of bodies laid on the street, on the what is used to be streets. The whole

buildings were out, it's not there, it's never been there, never. 150 in one family, all of

them wiped out. Grandparents, grandmothers, wives, kids, all, all, all of them, they were

thrown into the sea. The initial shock is now turning to anger. This was a natural disaster

but enabled by the failings of government and of the dams that should have held the water

back. Abou Al-Mantasah lived in the city. We had warned the authorities since last week,

no, for years, that the dam had cracks and needs to be maintained. We said it and nobody

listened to us and now the whole of Derna is flooded. All the while an increasingly

forlorn rescue operation continues. As the firemen cut their way into a garage, a medic

waits outside with an orange stretcher. Whoever took shelter inside did not survive. Like

the little boy, like so many others, they too leave in a black body bag. This is partly

a story about the force of nature but it's also one about the failings of government

and the terrible consequences when the two collide.

Well you heard there in Jo Inwood's report the anger towards local authorities for not

heeding warnings about the instability of the dams. Many see this as a symptom of the country's

split between two rival administrations, one based in the capital Tripoli in the west and

the other in Tobruk in the east, and in between them rival militias that compete the influence.

In response to the floods, the United Nations has said it's sending all the aid and teams

to the region it possibly can. But are the rival factions cooperating in the relief effort?

Our correspondent Lina Sinjab is monitoring the situation from Beirut.

So far we've heard announcements from both sides that this is a national catastrophe,

it's a national disaster that they have to attend to. We've heard reports of them coordinating

efforts and talking to each other and both of them calling for international aid to arrive.

This is the time to set differences aside and act for the sake of the nation. This is

a country that is oil rich but poor with administration, poor with how these two governments are delivering

for their own nationals. Now the situation in eastern Libya especially in Derna is beyond

catastrophic. The need for efforts for rescue is immense and it will take weeks and probably

months before this city goes back on its feet. But the priority now is to retrieve and recover

bodies. There are fears of disease spreading because of the corpses covered with rubbles

but there are also concerns of efforts of finding these bodies. We've heard reports of

people losing entire families and the number of the dead is only going to be higher as

the hours and days unfold the rescue operation.

Lena Sinchap. The flooding in Libya isn't the only natural disaster North Africa is having

to cope with this week. Almost 3,000 people died in the earthquake in Morocco and many

have been left homeless. Some of the quakes are still being felt in the Atlas Mountains

where there's little hope of finding survivors. The BBC's James Coppinal is there and sent

this report from the town of Amsmes. The clatter of a busy kitchen, lunch is well

on the way but most of the people eating here at the Olivier Hotel are not paying guests.

Instead they lost their homes in the earthquake. Saladin, whose family owns the hotel, has

opened up its doors to everyone who needs it.

We stop all activities and we open our doors to everyone. Everyone is welcomed here. Everyone

who has no place to stay here is his house. What needs to happen next? Just tell us, explain

to us what needs to be done to get this place back to normal. Rebuild the houses, rebuild

the town because right now they have tents but there aren't places that aren't safe.

People here can't leave the land because people here are really attached to the land.

For a walk around one of Amsmes' oldest neighbourhoods, the Mella, gives an idea of the scale of the

problem. There's a heavily damaged pink mosque to my left, a school with no roof, a shop

with its entrails open to the world, a shoe hanging up rather for lawnleaf from a shelf.

There are possessions, beds and fridges out in the open. Homes have been destroyed. So

just how easy is it going to be to rebuild this town?

Back at the hotel, they're asking themselves just that question. Shaima, a university student

used to live in a nice home nearby. Now she's homeless and wondering about her future. So

what's going to happen now for you, do you think?

We don't know. We're going to start on the street until we figure out what we're going

to do. Because even if we go to Morocco, it's still risky because the earth is still moving.

Not safe?

Yeah, it's not safe for us.

Are you confident that the government is going to be able to help you?

I don't know. I think it's hard for them because there are a lot of cities. Maybe the government

can help, maybe not. I don't trust them really. I trust people in Morocco, other people in

Morocco. I hope they can help us because even the government can't do anything in these

cases. It's a disaster.

A couple of kids kick a ball around on the lawn. They should be in school. It's not hard

to worry about what comes next for them.

If I view it as a child, I would be very happy because I would not be obliged to wake up

early to have homework to go to school.

This is Abdel Ali Mahfoudi, a secondary school teacher.

If I view it from another perspective of a parent and of a teacher, this is going to

be a great, great loss for our future generations.

When you look at all these challenges, what's the one that worries you the most?

You know, you can die of cold in a few hours and we are about to welcome winter time where

temperatures are below zero in the village and the mountains are covered with snow.

So how can you imagine the situation of all people that are now hopeless, that are now

sitting under tents? How could they manage that cold?

If their houses are not built again, we can stand hunger. We can stand thirst, but we can't

stand cold.

From Morocco's Atlas Mountains, that report by James Coppnell. Many women in Spain were

hoping that men would start to show them more respect after Luis Rubiales was forced to

resign as president of the country's Football Association. There was a national outcry when

he kissed the World Cup-winning player, Jenny Amoso, on the lips. But sexual harassment

is in the headlines again, after a man in the street appeared to grope the backside of

a television reporter live on air. He reaches behind Isabelardo as she speaks to the

presenter in the studio.

The man has been arrested on suspicion of sexual assault. Gay Hedgeko is our correspondent

imagery.

This clip has gone viral on social media under the hashtag se acabó. That's the slogan

that emerged from the affair surrounding Luis Rubiales after he kissed Jenny Amoso on

the mouth after the World Cup final. And that was seen as a slogan against sexism in general

across Spain.

But there's also been a reaction to this from the very highest level. Yolanda Diaz, who

is one of the deputy prime ministers, she spoke out about this and she said sexism makes

journalists suffer sexual assaults like this. Her colleague Irene Montero, who is minister

of equality, also talked about it. She said this was a non-consensual physical contact.

Therefore, it was sexual violence. So people are talking about it whether it's in the government

or online as well.

I'm just watching the clip as we're talking here, Guy. You can see that the reporter remains

fairly calm before he walks away trying to scrunch her hair again. And she's been praised

for remaining calm, but many are saying that everyday sexism in Spain and playing down these

kind of incidents has to end.

Well, yes. I mean, that's part of this debate that has sort of been going on certainly since

the Luis Rubiales case, but really before that as well. And issues of consent, sexual

consent and sexual equality have been very much in the public domain over the last few

years in particular. And that's partly because this government has focused a lot on that

in terms of legislation. But there is a feeling that there's still a lot of resistance to

that. The police, for example, are concerned about a rise in sexual assaults on women among

young people over recent years. And then on a sort of everyday level when it comes to

offices or just day-to-day life, a lot of women say they still suffer sexism. They say there are

too many people behaving in this way who go unpunished.

The BBC's Guy Hedgeko. The BBC has learnt that in the last year a Russian fighter pilot attempted

to shoot down a British surveillance aircraft that was carrying dozens of military personnel.

Russia blamed the incident which occurred over the Black Sea on a technical malfunction.

The UK's Ministry of Defence accepted that explanation, but as our correspondent Jonathan

Biel reports, the MOD knew much more.

The RAF plane was on a surveillance mission over the Black Sea with a crew of up to 30.

It was able to intercept communications and hear the actions of a rogue Russian pilot that could

have led to their deaths. An ambiguous order from a Russian ground station was interpreted

by one of two Russian pilots as permission to fire. He released a missile, but it missed.

Senior Western Defence sources have confirmed to the BBC that a row then broke out with

his wingman who did not believe they had permission to fire.

The rogue pilot still released a second missile. That one simply fell from the wing.

While US defence officials later described the incident as a near shoot down and very

scary, the UK Ministry of Defence accepted Russia's explanation of a malfunction, not

wanting to reveal details of its intelligence gathering or escalate the situation.

Jonathan Biel. The announcement of a rather unconventional marriage is currently the talk

of social media as Princess Merta-Louise of Norway, the eldest child of the king, has

set a wedding date for her union to an American, Derek Verrett, a self-professed shaman and

spiritual guru to the stars. Our very own gossip girl, Stephanie Prentice, has been filling me in.

This couple have been the subjects of a scrutiny in Norway for a while, but the

announcement of the details of their wedding has made them more famous on the wider internet

where shamans are often subjected to a level of ridicule from some corners.

So there's been a lot of discussion about this and no small amount of memes.

Now this ferrari is reminiscent of when the pair toured Norway back in 2019.

That was under the brand The Princess and the Shaman. They undeniably did create waves.

They discussed alternative beliefs, which included being able to communicate with angels, in fact

a broad range of spirits, a belief in ancient medicine, including using medallions to ward

off dark energies, and also a discussion around using spells.

There's also been some more controversial claims from Mr. Verrett in the past.

He suggested that cancer could be a choice and that medallions could ward off COVID-19.

He, in fact, sold some online for more than $200 each.

He's also reported claiming that he predicted 9-11 about two years before it happened.

Despite some of those unconventional claims and conventions, the Royal Family in Norway

have given their blessing to this marriage, haven't they?

They have indeed. We know Princess Mary to Louise has stepped back from her royal duties

in the past few years, but she seems connected still to the Royal Family.

Her father has given the union his blessing in a new statement.

He congratulated the pair. He said that he was delighted about the upcoming wedding

and that he was happy to welcome Mr. Verrett into his family.

That was Stephanie Prentiss.

Still to come.

Moths are colourful. They were talking about it on TikTok, so I thought, why not?

And that's why I started.

Why French lawmakers may assume he's saying no to vapes.

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Find it wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

You're listening to the Global News Podcast.

Let's take you to Vietnam now because in the capital Hanoi yesterday,

deep in Amazigh streets, a fire broke out at a small apartment building.

The flames blocked the only exit and fire trucks couldn't reach the site due to narrow roads.

56 people died.

Today, the government's ordered a nationwide safety check on similar buildings to prevent another disaster.

For more on this, I spoke to our Asia-Pacific regional editor, Celia Hatton.

Well, it really is striking, Gareth, to see what's happening in Vietnam in response to this fire.

You know, it's a country of almost 100 million people

and the strength of attention that's been focused on the inhabitants of that one building,

very narrow, tall apartment building in the center of Hanoi,

where 150 people were really packed into nine floors.

And there are many people now asking why so many died in such a short period of time

because it only took the firefighters an hour to put out the fire once they reached the spot.

But that was really the challenge, getting through narrow alleyways,

getting their supplies there in order to put the fire out.

And also the design of the building because it had a really narrow staircase going up through the middle,

which was the only way that people could travel through the building and it acted as a funnel.

The fire started in the very bottom of the building and sent flames and smoke right up through the middle.

People were really trapped inside their apartments because there were bars on all the windows

and they really were meant to keep thieves out, but they trapped people inside.

They acted like cages.

And so there are some heartwarming stories of parents who grabbed small children

and literally leaped from one building onto the roof of another to save their children and they survived.

But there are so many who didn't and that's why there's really nationwide grief across Vietnam today.

Considering how deadly this incident is, considering how many elements came together to make the situation even worse

than it maybe could have been, what's being done to prevent more cases like this?

Well, the irony is that Vietnam actually has quite strict fire safety regulations,

but they're only really being applied to new buildings.

And so we have a lot of multinational companies complaining that they can't get their new factories approved

because the fire safety just isn't up to scratch.

However, there's so many, many poor people who live in these so-called tube buildings,

very tall, thin buildings with only one entrance and exit.

And that's really where questions are being raised today.

So fire safety chiefs have been ordered to check every single apartment building in the country.

They're talking about fire safety education, making sure there are exits available to all buildings.

And really the concern today is the contrast between rich people who live in typically newer fires-checked buildings

and poor people who don't.

Silia Hatun.

Now to a somewhat unlikely clash as officials in Taiwan have hit back at the billionaire businessman Elon Musk

after he suggested the country was an integral part of China.

Using the ex-platform, formerly Twitter, that's owned by Mr Musk,

Taiwan's foreign minister wrote, listen up, Taiwan is not part of the PRC and certainly not for sale.

The spat plays into broad attentions brewing in the region.

I spoke to our China media analyst, Kerry Allen.

He made these comments at the All In Summit in Los Angeles, which was earlier this week.

It's a three-day summit and it covers speakers at this event cover a range of topics

and Musk was also talking about Ukraine, AI, the creator economy.

And China was a big talking point because Musk was only in China in June.

He has business in the country as part of his work with Tesla.

And he did say at this event that he thinks he understands China well.

He's met with officials and yes, he's got factories in Shanghai.

But yeah, he commented that he felt that Taiwan was similar to Hawaii and this really didn't go down well.

It led to Taiwan's foreign minister Joseph Wu saying, listen up, Taiwan is not a part of the People's Republic of China

and it's certainly not for sale.

And this has been a big talking point today on ex-platform, formerly known as Twitter,

that obviously Mr Musk owns with both sides, people from state media in China,

applauding him for saying this and people from Taiwan, very, very critical of it.

Because it's worth remembering, isn't it, Kerry, that Taiwan's democratically elected government strongly rejects any sovereignty claim

by Beijing, by China.

But the China has vowed to take back control of Taiwan and if it requires force, then so be it.

Absolutely, yes.

I mean, Taiwan is an island that has for all practical purposes been independent since 1950.

But China sees this, the Beijing government sees this as a rebel region

that must be reunited with the mainland by force if necessary.

And it has been the case that Beijing has been increasing pressure on Taiwan through various means,

economic, diplomatic, military, and only this week Taiwan has seen large scale Chinese military activity round the island.

So, yeah, it is a particularly tense time and not a very good time for Musk to be making a comment as politically tense as this.

Kerry Allen, an Australian multi-millionaire has apologized after some very divisive comments that have been viewed on TikTok more than 11 million times.

Let's hear a bit of what Tim Gurnett had to say.

People decided they didn't really want to work so much anymore through COVID and that has had a massive issue on productivity.

You know, traders have definitely pulled back on productivity.

You know, they have been paid a lot to do not too much in the last few years and we need to see that change.

We need to see unemployment rise. Unemployment has to jump 40-50% in my view.

We need to see pain in the economy.

We need to remind people that they work for the employer, not the other way around.

It's a dynamic that has to change.

We've got to kill that attitude and that has to come through hurting the economy,

which is what the whole global, you know, the world is trying to do.

The governments around the world are trying to increase unemployment to get that to some sort of normality.

Well, before Mr Gurnett's apology, our business correspondent Katie Silver gave me her take on his comments.

Post COVID, there's been a huge shortage of workers.

I remember I was in Australia at the start of last year and I remember you couldn't go past a shop without urgent demands for workers.

So in that sense, there's perhaps some merit there. The power dynamic has changed.

Whether or not we therefore need to see unemployment and economic hurt,

Australia actually has had a pretty successful go at reducing their inflation despite maintaining a relatively strong level of employment.

So I don't necessarily think there's merit there, but it does go back to that wider issue that we're talking about time and time again

about how the COVID pandemic has changed the feelings for many workers, their employees' attitude,

and whether or not they've put work first or, you know, that kind of rise of terms like quiet quitting

and the way many people now feel about their jobs post the pandemic.

So considering then that societal shift that you talk about there, how does that then mean people are viewing his comments today?

Oh, they've been hugely criticised. Like, in Australia, to give you an idea from both sides of the politics,

one Labour MP said they were the sort of comments you'd associate with a cartoon villain.

Another one from the other side of politics, the Liberal Party, said that he could not be more out of touch

and that the loss of a job is not a number. It sees people on the streets independent on food banks.

So it's certainly really divisive, really annoyed people. And the fact that he's now worth about $600 million,

he's previously spoken, for example, about how he received a leg up from loans from his grandfather.

And so that sort of discourse and that kind of concept of family generational wealth certainly doesn't play in well when it's all combined.

No, and briefly, it's been noted, hasn't it, that the disparity between CEO wealth and worker wealth is the greatest ever extent now.

That's right. Those comments were made by the US Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez.

So criticisms even going as far as the United States. And that's because we are seeing as well with this cost of living crisis.

It's hitting poor people harder. And therefore these sorts of comments couldn't really seem more, as one of those Labour MPs said,

more tone deaf in the current context of the current cost of living crisis.

Well, in his apology, Mr Garner said his comments had been deeply insensitive to employees, tradespeople and families across Australia

who are affected by cost of living pressures and job losses.

In France, a ban on disposable e-cigarettes, known there as puffs, is expected to come into force by the end of the year.

Anti-smoking campaigners say children are being targeted to draw them into taking up the habit for life.

Several other countries in Europe, including Germany, Belgium and Ireland, have announced similar bans,

and Britons also said to be considering one. Our correspondent in Paris, Hugh Scofield, sent this report.

So for those of you who haven't seen one of these things, what I've just bought there is an Elf Bar 600,

lime green in colour, Pompèche, that's apple peach in flavour, there's a science bar under 18-year-olds,

and it's made, it says, by the eye-miracle technology company of Shenzhen, China.

And when I open it up, you get out a kind of capsule wrapped up nicely in a kind of,

a bit like a sort of medium-length, medium-thickness cigar in lime green with a kind of lip attachment down 1M.

But it's not me or the likes of me that's the main target of the makers of puffs.

It's young people, the kind who are watching influencers like this on social media,

as they sing the praises of the different flavours, chocolate and hazelnut, watermelon, marshmallow.

Little wonder that according to the figures presented by opponents, some 13% of children aged between 13 and 16

have tried disposable vapes at least once. One of them, Sam, I met on the street near his school in Paris.

Puffs are colourful, and in my head, they're not as dangerous as cigarettes.

The flavours are aimed at children, and they're nice. My favourites are ice-grape and apricots.

It was about two years ago, they were talking about it on TikTok.

It was kind of a trend, so I thought, why not? And that's why I started.

The French government is concerned by two sets of figures, one that chose smoking in general, picking up again,

and the other that use of e-cigarettes of all kinds among young people, tripled in the last five years.

They're worried there's a connection.

So last week, Prime Minister Elisabeth Bourne appeared on the radio to make the announcement.

We'll soon be presenting our new anti-smoking plan, and one of its key elements will be a ban on disposable e-cigarettes.

These famous puffs which cause such bad habits among our young people.

You may say there is no nicotine in them, but what they do is create a reflex.

Children get used to it and end up being drawn to tobacco.

That packet I bought at the beginning cost me €9.50. That's less than a packet of cigarettes.

And with 600 puffs advertised, it's the equivalent in puffs of two packets.

And don't forget that while some disposable vapes are nicotine-free, most, like this one, are not.

This is me finally trying out the Elf Bath 600.

It's like smoking sweets. Horrible, but I imagine for children very, very moorish.

The BBC's Hugh Scofield.

We end this Gleibung News podcast in Australia where the Palm Cockatoo is known for being unique in the animal kingdom

for using bits of wood as drumsticks to tap out rhythmic beats.

As arguably with humans, it all forms part of a complex ritual to try and attract a mate.

Now, scientists from the Australian National University have released a research paper with more details about the parrot's rhythmic schemes.

Professor Robert Heinchen was part of the study.

So they have a really elaborate sort of display which involves combinations of 30 different cold types.

The males erect their very impressive crests, reach for the sky with their crests,

and they dance and they bob and they twirl on the branch.

And then, as if that isn't enough, at the end of all of that, the male will sort of waddle out to the end of the branch

and he'll sniff off a stick or a seed pod and he'll spend some time fashioning that into a sound tool.

And he'll start tapping rhythmically against the side of the hollow.

Every male has his own drumming signature.

Now, we find that the style of their drumsticks differs as well

and they're making different shapes and sizes of their drumsticks.

And making the stick seems to be part of the display because the females are watching their every move

and the males are actually showing off by, you know, how thick a stick they can cut off with their powerful bulls

and then they're waddling it down to the size and shape that they like

and the females are just a couple of metres away just watching really intently.

They're every move.

Well, it would be remiss not to give a drumming palm cockatoo a moment in the spotlight here on the Globe Wingies podcast

so take a listen and see what you think.

Personally, I think it sounds like mild construction work but I'll leave you to have your own opinion.

If you do want to share your opinion then drop us an email.

While the address is GlobalPodcast at bbc.co.uk

you can also find us on ex formerly known as Twitter at Global News Pod.

This edition was mixed by Pat Sissons, the producer was David Lewis, the editor Kara Martin.

I'm Gareth Barlow. Until next time, goodbye.

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