Transcribe your podcast
[00:00:00]

Hello, this is the global news podcast from the BBC World Service with reports and analysis from across the world. The latest news, seven days a week.

[00:00:09]

BBC World Service podcasts are supported by advertising there, says the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service.

[00:00:18]

Hello, I'm Oliver Conway. We're recording this at 14 hours GMT on Thursday, the 28th of January. Germany warns that Europe's vaccine shortage could last months, but did the EU act too slowly?

[00:00:30]

Solidarity does not necessarily mean that each country in the world starts exactly at the same moment that it's up to the country.

[00:00:38]

Then to make the plans, China tells the US not to interfere with the investigation into the origins of the coronavirus. And the Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny denounces his detention as illegal after a judge turns down his appeal for release.

[00:00:56]

Also in the podcast, Pakistan's Supreme Court orders the release of four men accused of murdering the American journalist Daniel Pearl.

[00:01:03]

And he wasn't safe to travel anyway. Young people are people that are trying to leave. Hong Kong got arrested in the airport. That was quite scary.

[00:01:13]

We hear from the Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters seeking refuge in the UK as the communist authorities tighten their grip. A shortage of covid vaccines in the EU is being felt across the continent. In Spain, the Madrid area has cancelled jobs for at least 10 days, while officials in Catalonia have said freezes there are close to empty. A senior Hungarian official has said supplies sourced by the EU won't be enough to achieve mass vaccination. And Germany's health minister says the next 10 weeks will be tough as the shortage lasts into April.

[00:01:48]

The immediate supply problems have been blamed on production issues at local factories. But European politicians are pointing the finger at the British Swedish firm AstraZeneca for what they say is a 75 million shortfall in doses. One German politician has even threatened a trade war. So are we seeing an outbreak of vaccine nationalism? Said Jeremy Farrar sits on the British government's scientific committee. I'm afraid it is.

[00:02:11]

And it's something that we absolutely have to negotiate. We have to avoid. And it isn't it doesn't serve anybody to have these fights over vaccine supply. But I do feel sorry for AstraZeneca. I think they've done an amazing job. They've committed to these vaccines with no profit margins at all. But taxpayers' money has come from everywhere, as has philanthropic money. The AstraZeneca, the Johnson Johnson, the biotech vaccine. All of these have had international support across many, many countries.

[00:02:40]

These have been a truly global effort. And I think we need to honour that global effort.

[00:02:45]

Sir Jeremy Furrer, I asked our global health correspondent, Naomi Grimley, what the EU can do.

[00:02:51]

Well, I think the first thing to point out is that the EU has placed orders for a lot of vaccines five times the entire EU population say two point three billion, Day says. And although it's true that they had invested heavily on AstraZeneca coming to the rescue, they've also, for example, ordered 600 million doses of Pfizer and 160 million doses of the Moderna vaccine. Now, the problem is, is that when it comes to Pfizer, they, too, are facing problems at one of their plants.

[00:03:24]

But some good news this week that a French company, Sanofi, which has had problems with the speed of its own vaccine development, they've agreed to go into coalition with Pfizer to produce some of the Pfizer jobs.

[00:03:40]

We're also hearing that Hungary is going to get some of Russia's Sputnik vaccine by the end of of next month. But isn't this just a result of the fact that it takes a hell of a long time to produce this stuff and also the EU's more centralised way of deciding these things and signing contracts?

[00:03:55]

I think that's true. I mean, you can see why the EU wanted to do things in, you know, the spirit of cooperation as a bloc. But the fact is, there's obvious frustration that some of the countries that wanted to do things on a more bilateral basis. So I'm talking about the Netherlands, Italy, France, a small group of them tried to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies early on in the crisis. And obviously now they are incredibly frustrated that the process got slowed down.

[00:04:24]

So whereas the UK agreed its contract in May, the EU didn't until August.

[00:04:30]

Now, you mentioned that the EU has actually ordered loads of jobs.

[00:04:34]

In fact, the richer countries in the world have ordered three quarters of the 12 billion worldwide doses expected to be produced this year. So are we seeing nationalism, vaccine, nationalism elsewhere?

[00:04:46]

Yeah, I mean, it is just unfortunately a fact of the crisis. It's happened in previous crises, for example, with the swine flu pandemic of 2009. One good lesson this time is that it's a good idea to have different supply chains around the world. So a Monday South Africa will get a million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine and that has been produced in India at the Serum Institute. So that's something that we have learnt from past crises.

[00:05:16]

A global health correspondent, Namee Grimly, The origin of sars-cov-2 is an extremely sensitive issue in China. It's taken well over a year for the communist authorities there to allow a team from the show to visit Wuhan to investigate exactly where the virus emerged. Today, after two weeks talking to their Chinese counterparts by video link, the 13 disease specialists were allowed out of quarantine. One is more or less returned to normal after the outbreak there, and some people claim the virus came from abroad.

[00:05:48]

China firmly rejects claims that it may have emerged from a lab in the city. John, from the Chinese foreign ministry has said the team must be allowed to do its job with no interference from countries like the U.S..

[00:06:01]

You may not want to hear it all, but we hope the US can work with China, have a responsible attitude, respect facts and science, respect the hard work of the international expert team so they can carry out scientific research free from political interference.

[00:06:21]

Those who aren't sure kuchu, but can the team operate without Chinese interference? A question for our correspondent in Wuhan, Stephen McDonell.

[00:06:29]

Well, you know, that's something we'd like to ask them if we could actually get in to where they are. I mean, at the moment, what's happened is that they've finished their two weeks quarantine, left the quarantine center and come to this kind of sprawling hotel complex, like a sort of convention center around like there are barricades put up around it and guards preventing pesky journalists from getting into the hotel grounds and talking about how they intend to get to the bottom of the origins of the coronavirus.

[00:07:02]

Now, what they won't be doing is looking at, for example, the lab leak theory. They're saying at the moment they think that comes under the conspiracy theory type umbrella and they won't be coming out at the end of this trip in two weeks and telling us that they've found what caused the coronavirus. They're stressing it's going to take a long time. It's a very complex matter. And what people should expect is for them to return, having reviewed the existing work done by Chinese scientists to see what gaps there are in the knowledge, to see what else possibly should be done, to try and find out how this pandemic started.

[00:07:40]

So they won't be visiting the two labs in and around Wuhan, where some in America think the virus may have leaked from. Will they be going to the caves where there's been some research into the bats which are thought to be the origin of all this?

[00:07:53]

They haven't told us anything at all about specifically what they might be doing. So if they are, we're not aware of it. For example, I mean, would they be going to the market here in Wuhan where the first cases were detected? I mean, I think either way, all this type of stuff, I think there's a bit of a misunderstanding that they are going to be doing kind of independent research, going into places, taking scrapings off walls or testing animals themselves.

[00:08:25]

I just don't think that's going to happen.

[00:08:27]

But if they're looking at data provided by the Chinese scientists, will the result be seen as as fully independent and trusted in places like America?

[00:08:39]

You know, that's a very good question. Obviously, it's quite political now when you've had abuse being hurled from Washington to Beijing and back again. It's very contentious, that's for sure, the trip. And they will have a job on their hands to convince people one way or the other that what they've discovered is, in fact, the truth. But I should add this. This could take years for them even to come up with what they think to be the origins of the coronavirus.

[00:09:08]

Nevertheless, they've got to try because it's been so debilitating and the world has to be ready the next time this happens again.

[00:09:16]

Stephen McDonell in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The Supreme Court in Pakistan has ordered the release of four men accused of involvement in the killing of the American journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002. Secunda Kamani reports from Islamabad.

[00:09:30]

Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and later beheaded once working on a story about extremist groups in Pakistan. A British born alleged militant, Omar Sheikh, was convicted of masterminding the operation, along with three accomplices. However, despite strong evidence indicating their involvement in the abduction, the case against them was riddled with technical flaws. Last year, Record downgraded Omar's Yates conviction for murder to simple kidnapping, meaning he would be released in light of time already served in jail.

[00:10:00]

The court acquitted all the other men. That decision was upheld today. In a statement from their lawyer, the Pearl family described it as a travesty of justice. U.S. officials have indicated they will try and launch legal proceedings against Omar Sheikh to come.

[00:10:15]

Kermani in Islamabad. The UK government expects more than half a million people from Hong Kong to migrate here under a new British scheme in response to a crackdown on pro-democracy protests by the communist authorities in Beijing.

[00:10:29]

The program allows those with colonial era British national overseas status and their close family to obtain visas and pursue a path to UK citizenship. It was drawn up in response to a sweeping national security law passed by the Chinese authorities, which has been used to crush dissent in Hong Kong. Rebecca Henschke and Grace Sois followed one protester who were calling H on the journey to the UK.

[00:10:55]

H pushes a black liberate Hong Kong flag into his suitcase. At the age of 25, he's fleeing, going overseas alone for the first time since I was nothing.

[00:11:06]

I don't want to go. I was born and raised in Hong Kong, so I have really mixed feelings. But I have great fears about what will happen if I stay.

[00:11:21]

His mother quietly says goodbye to her only child, not knowing when they will see each other again.

[00:11:27]

For some Tonga, I'm heartbroken he will not be there if anything happens to me and I won't be able to take care of him. And I can't make him the. I want my son by my side.

[00:11:43]

But there is no other way at this point. It's better for him to leave.

[00:11:48]

I wanted him to know how a friend drives him to the airport.

[00:11:55]

A taxi thought to risky through the city where for over a year each has been involved in huge protests demanding more democracy in Hong Kong and less Chinese influence, a movement that ended with a government crackdown and the arrests of its young leaders. And HS2 worries he could be detained.

[00:12:17]

My brain isn't functioning that well, he says with a nervous laugh. I feel like an exile or a refugee, but in his bag is a key document.

[00:12:27]

H was born two years before Britain handed back Hong Kong to China. So he has a British overseas passport opening a path to UK citizenship for him. But he's anxious about the future.

[00:12:40]

May hold a lie. English may not be enough to deal with daily life, and there's cultural differences. But when it comes to a moment like this, you can't worry too much and can only go step by step. This is a 15, 20, 28, after flying to London, he caught the train to the northern town of Sheffield, where Thomas, his best friend, who is living there, was relieved to meet him.

[00:13:08]

Australia hospitalized here because though when he came to England at that time, it wasn't safe to travel. Anyway, you like your stories. And I like young people and people that try to leave Hong Kong all rested in the airport. That was quite scary.

[00:13:29]

We've walked up a hill to Hardcourt Road here in Sheffield, on one side is a little bit of English woods and on the other side, residential houses. This name, Harcourt Road, has a lot of meaning for those from Hong Kong.

[00:13:46]

It's where the government buildings are and where many of the protests and clashes took place. H likes to come here four months after moving to the U.K. He's struggling. It was inevitable.

[00:13:58]

Would you feel there'll be homosex? And my my fans have a lot of memories.

[00:14:05]

Yeah, he doesn't call his mum. They text, though. She's kept her own child's room as he left it. The bed neatly made, not knowing when they can meet again.

[00:14:17]

So how are you doing if Hong Kong is still under the control of the Chinese Communist Party? It will be difficult and I may not be able to see him for the rest of my life, but his safety is most important to you. Hang on.

[00:14:35]

The mother of Hong Kong, protester H. Ending that report by Rebecca Henschke. You can hear more on her story on assignment on the BBC World Service.

[00:14:45]

Still to come on the podcast, why are loss making? Video game company has become the center of a battle between private and professional investors.

[00:14:53]

And you can see it's like I'm living in a dream to go from total solitude to this to this party, to these lights.

[00:15:02]

The people here, the round the world yacht race winner who stopped to help a rival.

[00:15:11]

A court in Russia has ordered that the opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, should be kept in jail. He was detained for alleged parole violations when he returned from Germany, where he'd been treated for Novacek poisoning. He could face years in jail.

[00:15:24]

The West has called on Russia to release him. And last Saturday, tens of thousands of Russians took part in protests over his detention. Mr. Navalny allies have called for new demonstrations this weekend. But as our correspondent in Moscow, Sarah Rainsford, explains, many are being targeted by the police in Russia.

[00:15:44]

If you don't open up to the police, they can get in with a hammer and a crowbar in a car.

[00:15:50]

Not only wish to live off snowball demands repeatedly to know who the officers in balaclavas are and why they've broken down her door.

[00:15:58]

But she's ignored safety. She's a close ally of the opposition politician Alexei Navalny, and one of many who were targeted by police yesterday in simultaneous raids. Payback for the mass protests on Saturday, calling for Mr Navalny to be released from custody.

[00:16:18]

There were the biggest rallies here in years. They weren't authorized, so the risk was high. Even so, crowds came out and close to 200 towns and cities. The spread across Russia was unprecedented.

[00:16:33]

The chance here in Moscow were echoed each time zones to the east and Vladivostok by Putin is a thief.

[00:16:41]

The crowd shouted, and freedom for Alexei Navalny.

[00:16:47]

Katerina is Nirvanas point person in Vladivostok, but she was detained even before the protests began there. Released three days later, she discovered that a record number of people had taken parts, but they weren't only motivated by Navalny.

[00:17:02]

Is the tension that I gave me to the White House in.

[00:17:09]

They'd also seen this, his latest investigation into corruption and this one focused on Vladimir Putin himself, buttermilk milk, isotropic, whether you should see the now famous video explores a giant palace on the Black Sea that he says was made for Mr. Putin, kitted out with a casino, an aqua disco and Italian toilet brushes that cost hundreds of dollars apiece. Katerina finds that offensive when so many Russians are struggling now to make ends meet.

[00:17:42]

Yardmaster considerable video film. I think Navales investigation on Putin played a big role in the protests, his stock of a palace that cost a hundred billion rubles. I think people in the regions are really much angrier and that's why they protested. They're angry because they have no money. And then look how much Putin has.

[00:18:10]

Vladimir Putin denies any link to the palace, calling the founders reports cobbled together to brainwash people, but the fact that he even mentioned it suggests he's rattled. It's been watched by almost 100 million people in just a week.

[00:18:28]

On Saturday, some in the crowd bought toilet brushes to the process, the humor was lost on police. More than 3000 protesters were detained, almost half of them in Moscow. So many, in fact, the system couldn't cope.

[00:18:45]

When I spoke to Felipe, he was squashed into a police van with 17 other protesters. They spent the entire cold night. Their space was so tight that one person had to stand at all times.

[00:18:59]

One they'd all been sentenced to 10 days, he told me. But Moscow's detention centers had no space for them. When I asked Felipe whether the harsh treatment has put him off protesting, he says, not at all.

[00:19:11]

He'll definitely come out again, but Russia will be free. He ends the call. Have a nice day.

[00:19:19]

Sarah Rainsford reporting from Moscow. It was a case that shocked Germany, a conservative politician shot dead on his doorstep by a right wing extremist in 2019. The politician Volter Lipka had been outspoken in his defense of immigrants. Today, a court in Germany sentenced the attacker to life in prison. I heard more of my Europe. Regional editor Tony Abbott is a 47 year old.

[00:19:42]

He's known to be a neo-Nazi. Some of his activities with the far right go back to 1993. He was involved in a bomb attack on an asylum home who was investigated and charged with the stabbing of an Iraqi asylum seeker back in 2016. But he seems to have disappeared off the radar of the security services, which provoked a number of questions in this case. He had an association with another man, Marcus Hartmann, who someone who was acquitted of being an accomplice in this case, was involved in weapons training.

[00:20:17]

And initially, Stefan Arnst admitted to the killing. He then retracted the admission and blamed it on Mr Hartmann, but then eventually reverted to the original admission. So it's not a surprise that he got convicted, but nevertheless a significant moment.

[00:20:33]

Yeah, and at one point I think he argued it should be manslaughter because it was a political attack. What more do we know about the motivation?

[00:20:40]

Well, the person who attacked Volter, Lipka, he's a member of the Chancellor Merkel's Christian Democratic Union Party conservative. The head of the regional council in a town called Castle. And he became a right wing hate figure at one public meeting that the prosecutors believe announced attended. He suggested that people who didn't like Angela Merkel's open migration policy and in the end, the idea of hosting migrants in a place like Castle could leave the country. So he got high profile for speaking out.

[00:21:13]

He spoke out about people needing to accept asylum seekers from Christian values. So it was a it's a very high profile case and raised questions about how seriously Germany was taking the far right threat.

[00:21:28]

Danny Eberhart, the French government has been issued with a legal notice from six non-governmental organisations, including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. They're demanding an end to what's described as racial profiling by police officers carrying out identity checks. This is a first in France where citizens of sub-Saharan and North African descent have for years complained about police harassment. Zakaria today is a 23 year old man from Sundanese, a suburb of Paris.

[00:21:56]

Don't feel secure when I see a police officer. I remember in 2019 when the police got pranked in front of me. The police officer asked me if I had the problem. I didn't have time to answer the search of the car in front of everyone and had me removed my shoes and my socks in public space.

[00:22:19]

Well, according to Zakaria, he was allowed to leave the area but received no apology. That's just one case. My colleague Bolla Mercero discussed the issue with Yasser Liati, a human rights campaigner in France.

[00:22:31]

Blacks and Arabs in France, you know, despite being here for multiple generations, grew up looking at the police as an occupying force, many of us having covered the police the first time you were about 12 years old for our first police check for no reason. And if you put things into context, we have to keep in mind that as far as early as 2017, the defender of rights in France published a study that shows that if you are black or Arab in France, you are 20 times more likely of being controlled by the police.

[00:23:01]

And that's what you can see as the fear in our youth builds that distrust between the police and the youngsters.

[00:23:08]

So what do you then make of this decision, this action by the six NGOs?

[00:23:12]

That's the only way to go about them because the government has the first. It has been condemned in the past and still did nothing. And I do welcome that. NGOs that get together to carry of these actions together and push the government. To make a Stenstrom now what we hope is more than words by Emmanuel Makau, but literally to shake up the police institution because even the recruitment of the police is problematic if you keep checking. Blacks and Arabs, of course, know statistics which show that you have more problems with these populations.

[00:23:42]

But if you check people on an equal basis, you will see that you are having these problems across the segments of the population.

[00:23:50]

Yasar Lugazi, a human rights campaigner in France. For the past week, the US has been gripped by an unusual battle playing out on the stock market. An army of small investors working together via social media sent shares in the previously unloved retailer GameStop soaring in the process. Many professional investors, like hedge funds, were hit by big losses. Overnight, there was an unexpected twist. The firm's shares sank 20 percent in after hours trade when an online investor forum was temporarily restricted.

[00:24:21]

The trading frenzy has spread globally and even led to a White House alert. Michelle Floury reports from New York.

[00:24:27]

GameStop soaring share price isn't the fascinating part. It's what's behind the rise. Small individual investors on social platforms like Reddit are going up against fancy, well-funded professional Wall Street traders. And right now the little guy is winning. Whether you see this as the democratization of Wall Street or not, a lot of the frenzied seems to have originated in one specific Reddit chat room, Wall Street bit.

[00:24:53]

I think it fits into sort of the bigger trend of social media organizing people in unexpected ways. Maybe this is a sort of the first instance in a financial market.

[00:25:02]

Siamak, malem is a professor at Columbia Business School.

[00:25:06]

The analogy I think of is something like Kuhnen, right? So if Kuhnen, you had some particular conspiracy theories about the US government that have sort of gained a lot of traction and a lot of adherents and followers. And here you have what I'm really skeptical in terms of investment advice that, again, has created sort of an organized following and has managed to create, at least in this one instance, a self-fulfilling prophecy.

[00:25:29]

When the closing bell rang on Wall Street, GameStop shares were above 340 dollars a share five months ago. This was a four dollar stock. On the surface, none of it makes sense in the era of video streaming, the prospects for a brick and mortar shop selling physical video games doesn't look great. The money losing company had, in fact, become a target of short sellers. To explain what that is. Here's Erika Safran of Sovereign Wealth Advisors in New York.

[00:25:57]

A short seller is someone who bets on the price of a stock going down. And the way the short sellers executed is by borrowing the stock and then selling it. And what happens is if you short sell the stock, you sold a stock and you're waiting for it to drop lower and lower and lower. And then when it drops to the price that you have in mind, well, then you buy the stock back and you've made a lot of money betting on the stock declining.

[00:26:28]

But GameStop share price hasn't declined. Far from it.

[00:26:32]

Instead, what you have is something trading experts call a short squeeze, a short squeeze, or they're short sellers covering their positions by buying the stock. So if you have the short and the stock continues going up and up and up, the amount that you lose is unlimited.

[00:26:52]

Citron Research, one of those targeted by these individual traders, sold its short position at a 100 percent loss, even though there have been called boomers many times over the past week.

[00:27:03]

We understand the changing dynamics in the market. So with that will become more judicious when it comes to shorting stocks despite being forced to throw in the towel.

[00:27:12]

Andrew left, who runs the hedge fund, had this advice for Redit investors.

[00:27:16]

When you make your profits, make sure you put some away. For the IRS, that money is not all your money, but at the end of the year, you do owe tax money.

[00:27:25]

None of this has gone unnoticed in Washington. When asked, Jerome Powell, the head of America's central bank, wouldn't weigh in on game stocks meteoric rise. While the Biden administration has said it is monitoring the situation and with the phenomenon extending beyond game stock shares, AMC appears to be another Redit favorite. This week, nobody is sure when or how this roller coaster ride will end.

[00:27:51]

Michelle Floury. After 80 days at sea, a French sailor, Janik Best Darvin, has won the prestigious von Dayglo round the world yacht race, even though he didn't cross the line first, as Richard Hamilton reports.

[00:28:09]

Fireworks lit up the night sky at the French port of Sublieutenant as it welcomed Janik West Darwin on board his yacht, the Metra clock for it set off from the same port back in November.

[00:28:22]

The Rondi Globe, which takes place every four years, is a single handed round the world race, and it's regarded as an extreme trial of individual endurance and the ultimate test in ocean racing. The competitors cover nearly 25000 nautical miles, often in ferocious conditions as the third to cross the finishing line best, Ivan seemed slightly stunned that he'd been crowned the winner.

[00:28:50]

However, you can see it's like I'm living in a dream, hallucinating.

[00:28:55]

It's bizarre to go from total solitude to this, to this party, to these lights. The people here, it was in complicated circumstances, but I'm very happy. I still can't believe it's happened. It's finished, but it's like the dream of a child.

[00:29:10]

I don't know.

[00:29:11]

The most dramatic moments of the race came when the yacht belonging to another French sailor, Kevin Escoffier, was snapped in half by a giant wave off South Africa's Cape of Good Hope for sailors were requested to reroute to help Escoffier, among them Janik Bustan. Although he finished nearly eight hours behind the leader Charlie Dallah, best of one, won because of a 10 hour time allowance for his role in rescuing Escoffier. Another contender, Boris Herrman from Germany, who was also involved in the rescue, was within sight of victory when he collided with a fishing trawler.

[00:29:50]

It was the closest race in the competition's 30 year history. Harsh weather conditions ruled out any hopes of breaking the record set in 2017 of just 74 days. This was best Arvind's second attempt at the race back in 2008. He lasted just 30 hours on the waves when his yacht's mast broke in rough seas in the Bay of Biscay. Asked before the race what his best quality was best, Ivan replied, stubbornness and his worst character flaw. Stubbornness. Richard Hamilton.

[00:30:28]

And that's all from us for now.

[00:30:29]

But there'll be an updated version of the Global News podcast later. This edition was produced by Henry Bellow and mixed by Philip Boal, the editors. Karen Martin. I'm Oliver Conaway. Until next time. Goodbye.