Global News Podcast: US: Still 'window of opportunity' to resolve Niger crisis

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

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I'm Valerie Sanderson and in the early hours of Tuesday the 8th of August these are our main

stories. The US says it believes there's still a window of opportunity to resolve the crisis

in Niger as the West African regional bloc Ekoas agrees to meet on Thursday.

A senior Israeli military official describes attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians

in the occupied West Bank as a form of terrorism. Donald Trump's lawyers have opposed an attempt

to limit what information he can make public about the prosecution on charges of trying to

overturn the 2020 election. Also in this podcast Ukraine security forces say they've discovered

another plot to assassinate President Zelensky and the film The Exorcist caused controversy

when it was released in 1973. Some critics called the movie a masterpiece others branded it a

monstrosity. Now its director William Friedkin has died at the age of 87 we look back on his life.

West African leaders will hold another emergency summit on the crisis in Niger after the country's

new military rulers defied an ultimatum to restore the elected government. The regional bloc Ekoas

had threatened possible military intervention if the army didn't reinstate President Mohammed

Bazoum by midnight on Sunday. Speaking on Monday the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said he'd

been in touch with Niger's deposed president and reiterated his call for the democratically

elected government to be reinstated. We strongly support the work that Ekoas is doing to try to

help restore the constitutional order. In Niger I've been in close touch with President Bazoum,

with many colleagues in the region including the Nigerian President Tanubu colleagues at the

African Union and it's very important that that constitutional order be restored and right now

I think Ekoas is playing a very important role in moving the country back in that direction.

Our Africa regional editor Richard Hamilton told me more about what Washington had to say.

They've held talks still urging the military junta to step aside and they say there's still

a window of opportunity for a diplomatic solution. They said they've suspended more than a hundred

million dollars of aid and earlier Marley and Burkina Faso said they were sending a delegation

from their countries to Niame the capital of Niger in support of the junta. The coup leaders

had closed the airspace above Niger anticipating some sort of military intervention and a flight

tracking software showed a transport plane going from Wagadougou the capital of Burkina Faso to

Niame hours after airspace was closed. I think it has to be said that the regional block has not

played its hand particularly well. They had this very, very tough talking automaton with a very

strong threat and there was a huge build up to this deadline on Sunday night where we were

expecting some sort of military intervention and then since that deadline passed there was just

a deafening silence and now they say they will hold a meeting on Thursday which doesn't suggest

a lot of urgency. It's sort of a bit like if in doubt what you do well we'll hold another meeting

and it all implies that perhaps they played their cards a bit too early and they don't sort of have

any leverage anymore and I think Eka was was taken by surprise by the coup in the first place

and it's complicated by the fact that about a million Nigerian refugees are in Niger and

they're really ethnically the same so Nigeria doesn't want to send in troops against their own

kin so it's all a bit of a mess. Richard Hamilton well Paul Melly is a journalist and consulting

fellow on the Africa program at the Chatham House think tank here in London. Gary O'Donoghue asked

him whether the junta will take the passing of the deadline without any obvious action as a sign

that Eka was has lost its nerve. I don't think so unless they're very stupid it's fairly obvious

that Eka was needed to set a fairly tight initial deadline just to get momentum because in handling

the other crises where there being coups before in West Africa over the last three years the clock

has been run down if you like they've let a longer period of time elapsed before really negotiating

and I think their conclusion was they needed to take a much tougher line with Niger and I imagine

that the junta will have understood that so I don't think the junta will think that Eka was is backing

off in fact with the sanctions biting hard and various West African governments announcing troops

that are assigned to the force they will know it's a serious threat but that doesn't mean that they

will cave in. Eka was is getting together in Abuja on Thursday what do you think their next steps

will be? I think they will first take stock of the impact of sanctions Niger is a landlocked country

and most of its trade flows down to the West Africa coast and most of the country's imports

come in through Nigeria and Benin so that leaves it very trade exposed and it's also part of the

CFA Frank West African single currency bloc whose central bank is actually in Senegal so Eka was

and the allied monetary bloc have the clout to apply some really serious economic pressure and

we're already seeing prices going up so they will first of all want to see what impact that economic

message is having and they want to demonstrate to their own publics that they are giving negotiation

a chance I would be quite surprised if they moved instantly to decide on force after Thursday. I mean

they can't really decide on force because some of their members are simply against it aren't they?

The way Eka was operates the countries that currently have military regimes their membership

is effectively suspended so Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso in a sense don't have a say in this

decision. Paul Melly as we record this podcast a senior American diplomat says she's held

frank and difficult discussions with the military junta in Niger. Victoria Newland who's the acting

deputy secretary of state said the co-leaders hadn't agreed to restore the democratic order

and didn't let her meet the deposed president Mohammed Bazoum. Speaking from the capital of

Niger the Ami, Newland added that Niger's co-leaders understood the risks of working with the Russian

mercenary group Wagner which is active in neighboring countries. The Israeli military chief spokesman

has described violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the occupied west bank as terrorism.

He also linked it to a rise in attacks by Palestinians. His comments echo those reportedly

made by the head of Israel's internal security service which have been denounced by some far

right politicians in the Israeli government. Here's our Middle East correspondent Yala Nel.

In a round of interviews on Israeli media the Ami's top spokesman addressed a weekend of

violence in the west bank and Israel. On Friday a young Palestinian man was killed

in an attack by armed settlers on a village near Ramallah and the next day a Palestinian

fatally shot a security guard in Tel Aviv before another guard shot him dead. Yesterday Israeli

forces killed three Palestinians in Janine who were said to have been planning an attack.

Speaking to the Ynet news site, Rear Admiral Daniel Higari strengthened his usual language

to describe settler violence as terrorism and he said it was pushing Palestinians into what

he called terror too. Nationalist crime and nationalist terror is terror,

I don't have any other way to say it. It pushes civilians who are not involved in terror

in the Palestinian Authority to terror. Those remarks echo a warning that was reportedly given

by the head of Israel's internal security service to the prime minister before Friday's deadly

incidents. Far right members of the governing coalition then accused him of being a leftist

and unable to distinguish between the enemy and his own people, prompting the prime minister

to voice his support for his security official. There's been growing international concern about

a recent rise in violence by extremist settlers under Israel's hardline government,

with the U.S. also labeling Friday's attack as terrorism.

Yolande Nell. The former U.S. President Donald Trump and his lawyers had until Monday evening

to respond to a request for a court order banning any evidence sharing about the federal case he

faces on overturning the election result in the 2020 election. Before the legal response,

Mr Trump tried to turn the tables on prosecutor Jack Smith by posting that it was Mr Smith who

was deranged and needed a protective order to stop him from leaking stories.

Our North America correspondent Peter Bose told me what happened.

Mr Trump and his team met the deadline which was to respond to the initial request by the

prosecution, the request to the judge for this protective order. Restricting the use of the

evidence during this phase of the case, which is known as the discovery phase, the evidence is

being shared between the prosecution and the defense. That happens in every criminal trial,

it gives the defense an opportunity to see what the specific information is that the prosecution

is going to take to court and it gives them time to prepare. In this specific case the request is

that Donald Trump shouldn't be allowed to go on social media and reveal what that evidence is,

he can't talk about it in television interviews or make a speech about it at one of his many rallies.

The reason that the prosecution is asking for this is that this is very detailed, there's a

substantial amount of information and there is a concern that it could intimidate some witnesses

who are likely to be called to the court whenever the trial is in a few months time and the release

of this information now could affect them and of course there was that social media post just a

few days ago by Mr Trump, if you go after me I'm coming after you. His defense team have argued

that in fact that was not meant to be in relation to the case he was talking about something else.

It is typical of Donald Trump to attack using name calling his opponents and I think it is likely

to come as no surprise to Jack Smith or indeed any others on his team that Donald Trump if he is

legally allowed to is likely to continue with this kind of language. Peter Bose, the Taliban in

Afghanistan has banned girls who are more than 10 years old from attending school. Since the Taliban

regained power in 2021 girls and women have been banned from amusement parks, public baths, gyms

and sports clubs. Women are also not allowed to work in NGO offices or go to university and last

month the Taliban ordered the closure of all beauty salons. The international community has

widely condemned the severe limits being imposed on the rights of women and girls.

Divina Gupta asked former member of the Afghan parliament Shukriya Barakzai what she thought

about this latest development. I'm not surprised because the brutality of the Taliban was clear

when they was ruling Afghanistan from 1995 till 2001 they totally banned the schools for the girls

not even the primary students the girl was not able to go. Day by day Taliban are really showing

their true color despite of all the international pressure and despite of the Doha agreement that

they've signed and they accept a sorts of human rights and it shows how Taliban could go more far

to eliminate and erase women from every single aspects of life. It is very sad to see the international

community also they are still keeping their engagement with the Taliban. Shukriya do you feel

that a lot of times then women rights are sort of used as a bargaining tool also by the Taliban

with the international community? This is what's the problem because as long as the international

community asking change on the policy of Taliban, Taliban are banding and crossing more lines in

terms of women's rights issue. Not only they didn't allowing girls from the years three or

according to their school with the age of 10 they say even physically if some girls even if they are

not even 10 years or above 10 if physically they look bigger they are not allowed to go. The number

of forced marriages and child marriages have been increased. If you see their policy from

August 15, 2021 till August 23, day by day they were bargaining the international community asking

for women's rights and human rights and the Taliban banned the women's rights and this is the woman

of Afghanistan. We are the one to pay the price. The moderate Taliban are not the moderate the less

conservative Taliban are not that powerful to change their policy even where the area they are more

empowered. So even over there we cannot see a different type of approach of Taliban towards

women. I think this is the tool they are really like to chasing more international community

and the name of moderate Taliban. Their policy towards women is exactly the same. If you see how

many of them are joining the polygamy and taking second, third, even fourth wife in the last two

years you will say there's a no sign of a moderate Taliban. I cannot see any sign of political will

among the Taliban to change their policy and their behavior and their rule and regulation towards

women. Shukriya Barakzai speaking to Devina Gupta. How to deal with asylum seekers is an issue facing

many countries not least in the UK where political parties charities and voters are split on what

to do. On Monday a floating barge that will house hundreds of migrants officially opened off the

south coast of England. The government says it'll be cheaper than putting asylum seekers in hotels

while their applications are decided. But campaigners have described the conditions on board as

inhumane. Dan Johnson is in Portland in the southern English county of Dorset where the barge is.

The first few men walked up the ramp and boarded this vessel marking a new moment in how we welcome

those who reach the shores seeking asylum. They've been moved from hotels as part of the government's

determination to reduce accommodation bills and deter dangerous channel crossings. Cheryl Avery's

director for asylum accommodation at the home office. So we've successfully on boarded the first

cohort today and there are 15 people on board. We have had a few challenges but this is part of a

ongoing structured process to bring up to 500 people on board. There have been some minor legal

challenges and I can't go into the detail of those but accommodation is offered to all individuals

on a no-choice basis. There's been huge opposition in this community and beyond but today protesters

from stand-up to racism in Dorset were here to welcome the asylum seekers and hand them care

packages even though they're against this form of accommodation. We wanted to show we cared,

we wanted to show that there is support from the local community and we partly wanted to help them

give them some things they might need. We have to welcome them, they're here, they're over here now,

we have to welcome them. But listen to Ian Broad first. This is my home, this is my island.

Who came to challenge those perspectives. This isn't being racist, this is just us saying

we need to look after ourselves. As I got on sweet showers, getting free cooked meals a day,

really they're living like kings. This vessel's been weighed down with debate and beset by delays.

Ministers say it's safe but after a refit to double its capacity there are concerns about

fire safety. The fire brigade's union labelled it a death trap. Caroline Parks is the labour

mayor of Portland. We need to remember that these are human beings and they have dreams and aspirations

just like everybody else. The hotel bills are enormous, is it not right to try to tackle this?

The way to tackle something like that is to prevent it and the way to prevent that is to

invest properly in the asylum and immigration system. 20 asylum seekers are refusing to move here,

fearful of what conditions may be like on board when it reaches its full capacity of 500 men.

Dan Johnson. Still to come on the Global News Podcast. The women's game is closing,

the gap is closing between the top teams and teams are not traditionally seen as one of the

strong teams. Why the underdogs have booted out some of the favourites in the Football Women's

World Cup. In Ukraine the security surface says it's detained a woman for allegedly being involved

in a plot to assassinate President Zelensky while on a visit to the southern Mikhailov region.

At the start of the war Mr Zelensky said he was aware that Russia's President Putin wanted him

dead. Meanwhile the Ukrainian President says his country is well within its rights to respond

if Russia continues to dominate ports and launch missiles in the Black Sea.

I spoke to James Waterhouse who's in Kiev. This is quite a tale, they allege that this woman

shared information with Russia which allowed invading forces to plan an airstrike around

President Zelensky's visit to the southern Mikhailov region at the end of July and that

they stepped in after monitoring her for several weeks where they alleged that she would travel

the area, take pictures of different sites that would potentially give away locations of what

they call Ukrainian electronic warfare systems so presumably radars and missiles areas for example

as well as ammunition depots and she would go around take images and send them to her Russian

handlers several times and not just that this woman reportedly worked in the military shop on one of

the Ukrainian army bases in the region but I think what this also does is serve as a reminder

of the risks that President Zelensky faces when he travels across the vastness of Ukraine. It's

always been important to him to appear in different cities as well as being close to the front line.

And how many threats is he facing do you think? I think it's more of a constant threat. What the

security services are telling us is that they have stopped around 12 to 13 direct assassination

attempts but they don't say over what timeline. This does remind me of the early days of the

invasion when Russia firmly had Kiev in its sights and there were reported attempts on the

presidential palace. What they did at one point hoped to do was topple the administration and

install their own puppet. That has not happened which is why President Zelensky remains target

number one for Moscow. Wherever he goes he has a heavy detail with him, trips are often unannounced

or short notice. It's quite the operation but he still sets out to do this. And he has been

talking hasn't he about Ukraine being well within its rights to respond in kind if Russia

continues to dominate in the Black Sea. What Ukraine is trying to do is they're trying to

create a distinction because what they've said is look targets or threats in our occupied territories

or the Black Sea are fair game. It is within our rights to take those out in the continued

defence of our country but that clearly stretches to coastal Russian cities like Novorossiysk,

major terminals from Moscow which was hit by a sea drone this week where Ukraine is less

keen to admit responsibility. Are the increased drone strikes we are seeing not just on border

locations a bit deeper and inside Moscow itself? There's been evidence in the past that Ukraine

is behind it. There are several incidents where you don't know for sure but this war's footprint

is getting bigger and I suspect that Western Allies have long been nervous about a further

escalation. It's either Ukraine ignoring those concerns or Western Allies becoming more relaxed

with the idea of Ukraine looking to destabilise Russia in this way. James Waterhouse in Kiev

Six months on from the devastating earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria,

hundreds of thousands of people are still displaced. Just days after the disaster struck

in February, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to rebuild the region within a year.

While progress has been made in Hatay, one of the hardest hit provinces, the damage has been so vast

that improvements have been slow to materialise. Victoria Craig reports from Antakya in Southern

Turkey. Muharram Chayurja is pounding a mixture of broad beans and tahini to make a regional

version of Hamas for a customer. His business was destroyed in February's earthquakes,

so he set up a temporary shop in a container outfitted with the kitchen, prep counters,

even a dine-in area with tables and chairs amid the rubble.

We didn't receive any help or support from anyone. The municipality only allocated a place for us.

Me and my brothers, we took the responsibility for equipping and furnishing the place ourselves.

He lost 22 relatives in the earthquake. His family owned a butcher, a bakery and a

meze restaurant serving traditional small plates like the broad bean hummus he's preparing.

After the disaster, Muharram and his brothers decided to pour their savings

into getting themselves back up and running. Initially, we faced a water shortage. In the

beginning, we used the generator for electricity during the day. Later on, we managed to connect

directly to the electric lines. The authorities helped us with electricity and water supply.

Back in February, President Erdogan promised the city would go back to normal in a year,

but six months on, there's still a long way to go.

Antakya was ravaged by the natural disaster, and while determined businesses,

like Muharram's, have risen from the rubble, the cleanup operation is still a day and night process.

The sound of digging machines, scooping up tangles of metal and concrete, is everywhere.

Huge lots where buildings once stood shoulder to shoulder are now eerily empty,

while in other places, structures marked for demolition still stand cross-sectioned,

with kitchens, living rooms and bedrooms still visible from the street.

Some 164,000 people are still living in tents and containers in this province.

Nearly 4,000 businesses operate in temporary structures.

Right now, our main focus is to revive trade, industry and support small businesses.

This is Hussein Yaiman, a member of parliament from Hatay who serves in President Erdogan's

Justice and Development Party, or AKP. Because if the economy revives, trade thrives,

and life gets back on track, then people's lives will improve.

Back at Muharram's shop, he tells me the most immediate need is the demolition of

the damaged buildings so reconstruction can finally begin.

It would be like the first piece of a line of dominoes. If trade starts in the markets and

the markets formation strengthens, and if the support for small businesses further

reinforced by our government, we believe that the recovery will be faster.

Like many in this container shop community, Muharram says the hardest part is drumming up

business, since tens of thousands of people fled the area after the earthquakes.

But he says he's thankful for his life and livelihood, and he'll leave the rest

to God and the municipality.

Victoria Craig

People in Hatay have been expressing skepticism about a recent offer from Kenya

to lead a multinational force to help address brutal gang violence in the country,

which has displaced tens of thousands. Nairobi offered a thousand police officers

in response to a call by Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry for international support.

But local perceptions of Kenya's rights record are causing worry about its capacity to restore

security in Haiti. Dr Jean Bouteau is a university professor in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

There are two things that we should consider. It is first the fact that the government has

requested that intervention. At that time it was not about Kenya. Probably the government was

thinking about some kind of coalition with very big countries like United States,

Canada, and maybe some countries in Europe. Whatever country, it would not have been welcome.

In terms of human rights issues, with all due respect for people from Kenya, Kenya's

police forces and armed forces are not good examples. This is how we feel in general in Haiti.

There are many other steps that should have been taken before thinking about intervention.

The main issue is that neither the international community and the Haitian government do not

want to make the proper steps that would be facing the political situation. We are facing

political crisis. There is a crisis of succession. So when Mr. Gervinal Moïse died

in any other situation, we probably would have a smooth or normal succession that did not happen.

Because all the institutional infrastructures in Haiti were dismantled. We do not have to accept

that the political issue must continue the way it is. If the Kenyan forces do not come, of course,

we are going to be probably facing uncertainty every day. When I go out, I do not know what

can happen in the next corner. My kids are not living here at the moment, but it doesn't mean

that it must be that way. Dr. Jean Bouteau. In the last 16 in the Football Women's World Cup,

the co-hosts Australia are through to the quarterfinals after beating Denmark 2-0.

England's squeaked through 4-2 on penalties after a well-organised Nigerian team challenged the line

essence in a match that saw the England player Lauren James getting a red card.

In more kickoff games on Tuesday, Colombia will take on Jamaica,

and France hopes to beat Morocco. Our sports reporter Mimi Fabias has been following the action,

and she told me first that Nigeria had been unlucky to lose to England.

Nigeria were very unlucky to lose a match. They were the better side in the game against England.

They were very solid defensively, even in attack. Nigeria had more shots on target and they came

close to leading a few times in the match. But unfortunately for England as well,

Lauren James was sent off. Nigeria were very good at keeping a quiet in the game. The midfielders

did a very good job in that side of things. She of course picked up their red card stamping on

the Nigerian defenders back. That caused a lot of people quite upset on social media,

and that was the right call. But Nigeria overall were just so unlucky.

So we have matches ahead. What's your thinking about those?

Now, I think Morocco could possibly spring up an upset tomorrow against France. Of all the

African teams that have went through to the last 16, three African teams for the first time in history,

Morocco, the ones who really have responded well, especially losing in that first match,

6-0 against Germany, they will be playing France, an exciting match to watch out for tomorrow.

And as well, Japan, they're playing on Friday and they are looking very good in this competition.

And of course, we've got Colombia, Jamaica too. And what is striking you Mimi? Is it that a lot of

these teams that were underdogs are actually really playing out their skins? Now, I tweeted

something earlier on today. I said, if only there's proper infrastructure in place, support,

no paid disputes, professionalizing the leagues. And I put that, I guess you could say to Africa,

because I'm African. So I looked at the women's game in Africa, but you could also look at that

beyond. You can see how the gap is closing between the so-called favorites, the big teams,

and teams that people traditionally have looked at smaller teams. You can see that gap closing.

And that gap is closing with not the same infrastructure and facilities that we see in the

West. So they've been, I think, a wake-up call for many federations to see countries like,

for example, Jamaica crowdfunding to come in and seeing how well they're doing in the competition

through to the last 16 for the first time in their history, seeing as well Nigeria pay dispute,

South Africa would pay disputes coming through to the last 16. You can only imagine now that the

women's game is closing, the gap is closing between the top teams and teams are not traditionally seen

as one of the strong teams. Mimi Fawas, the acclaimed film director, producer and screenwriter,

William Friedkin, has died. He was 87, a member of the new Hollywood movement. He was most famous

for films such as The French Connection and The Exorcist. Terry Egan looks back at his life.

There was no more terrifying film in the early 1970s than the one with which that music,

Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, came to be associated.

It was the horror film The Exorcist, directed by William Friedkin, who was part of the new

Hollywood movement of exciting young directors such as Francis Ford Coppola. But with tales of

viewers fainting in the cinemas and because of the subject matter, dealing as it does with the

possession of a young girl whose head at one point turns 180 degrees, it earned Friedkin

a notoriety beyond any he'd had so far. And yet Friedkin was already one of Hollywood's best known

directors. A couple of years earlier, he'd directed Gene Hackman in The French Connection,

and that film, about a cock as ruthless as the drug dealers he's trying to find,

but always thwarted in his pursuit, not least during a riveting car chase, had won five Academy Awards.

Have you ever been a perkypsy? Huh? Have you ever been a perkypsy?

Hey, man. Come on, give me a beer. Come on, let's talk about this.

Let me hear you say it. Come on. Have you ever been a perkypsy? You've been a perkypsy, haven't you?

I want to hear it! Come on!

Brought up in Chicago in the United States, Friedkin began his career in television and with

documentaries, directing one of the last episodes of the Alfred Hitchcock Hour. And once he got

to The French Connection, his work on documentaries really told, enabling him to imbue the film with

a bleak reality that set its tone. After The Exorcist came a short-lived production company

set up with other famous directors that he himself left, and then more films, not nearly so successful.

An expensive remake of a French classic The Wages of Fear called Sorcerer was dramatically

overshadowed at the box office by Star Wars in 1977, and the fortunes of his later work

were equally overshadowed by the success of that film about an innocent young girl

disturbingly manipulated by the devil, which was nevertheless nominated for 10 Academy Awards,

including Best Picture and Best Director.

Terry Egan on the director, William Friedkin, who's died at the age of 87.

And that's it from us for now, but there'll be a new edition of the Global News podcast later.

If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, send us an email.

The address is GlobalPodcast at bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on Twitter at Global NewsPod.

This edition was mixed by Caroline Driscoll. The producer was Emma Joseph.

The editor is ever is Karen Martin. I'm Valerie Sanderson. Until next time, bye-bye.

Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.