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

I'm Gareth Barlow. And in the early hours of Monday, the 4th of January, these are our main stories. President Trump is recorded telling Georgia's top election official to find enough votes to overturn the election result. India approves to coronavirus vaccines, including one developed by an Indian company. Fail safe. Is it? The anniversary of the assassination of the Iranian general? Qassem Soleimani is marked by angry protests.

Also in this podcast, a Bosnian government minister says conditions at a camp for migrants in the country are cruel and inhumane.

And the lead singer of the British band Gerry and the Pacemakers, whose version of You'll Never Walk Alone, became one of football's best-known anthems, has died with less than three weeks to go until Joe Biden becomes the president of the United States.

Donald Trump has yet to admit that he lost the election. And now new evidence has emerged, which appears to show the lengths of which he's going to try and twist the arms of elected officials to declare that he was the winner. The Washington Post has obtained the recording of a phone call in which Mr. Trump is heard urging the top election official in the state of Georgia, the Republican Brad Raffensperger, to find enough votes to overturn his defeat there to Joe Biden.

Here's an extract.

Well, I want to do is this. I just want to find eleven thousand seven hundred eighty votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state. So so tell me, Brad, what are we going to do? We won the election and it's not fair to take it away from us like this.

Amy Gardner is a national political reporter for The Washington Post.

President Trump is on the call with Brad Raffensperger and his chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and a few lawyers and a couple lawyers for Trump and a lawyer for a Raffensperger. And Trump does most of the talking.

The vast majority of this hour, plus long audio is Trump talking.

He lays out the same old conspiracy theories that fraud stole the election from him that have been debunked and investigated and is proven in many cases by Raft's Workers Office and Vavilov, progressive Republican.

So I think it's important to point out and he voted for Trump, he likes Trump politically. So I think this is a rather interesting journey for him, too.

So he's repetitive. He interrupts Raffensperger in his lawyer, try to explain why the allegations that he's resurfacing aren't true. And he says, I don't want to hear that. I just want to know what you're going to do about it. What can we do? I need you to find 12000 votes.

There's a really, really telling moment and dramatic moment that might be the most important part of the audio, in my view, in which he tells Raffensperger and his lawyer that what they're doing by not acting is risky.

He says, you know, this is really risky. What you're doing here. It's it's criminal.

Actually, not acting to find these votes is a crime.

And that's the one bit of all of this that the constitutional scholars that I've spoken with today here and in states say is the most problematic from a legal point of view, that that sounds like a threat and potential extortion. I mean, this is a chief executive of our nation who has power over federal law enforcement. So he actually does have the power to launch a criminal investigation.

And so if you're looking for evidence that President Trump committed any crimes on this call, that bit of the call would be the most interesting bit of evidence.

Amy Garner from The Washington Post. In Sunday's podcast, we reported on the authorities in India approving the emergency use of a second coronavirus vaccine vaccine has been developed by a local company. Barat Biotech will be used alongside the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, which was authorized just the day before. But there are concerns that vaccine is being rolled out before all the data has been fully reviewed. James Coomaraswamy got the views of Dr Swapna Prick, a clinical research, or the Surber Hospital of Infectious Diseases in Mumbai.

As a scientist, I need to look at data before I can comment on something, unfortunately, because of the process that has been followed. I have not been able to review the data, so I can't comment on the safety and efficacy of something that I haven't reviewed myself. But I understand that there is a huge need for a large volume of vaccines. There's a new variant of more transmissible variant we have to contend with. So I understand there is a need to go through the process quickly remove regulatory hurdles.

However, one very important thing, governments and regulators, of course, they have a duty for quick data driven decision making about covid-19 vaccines. But equally, they have a duty to be transparent about the data they have reviewed and the process involved in making the decision to authorise a vaccine. Because if they don't do this, it can affect the public faith in the process and in the vaccine.

And the public will be turning to people like you. Won't the people at the front line of this? And if you say that you're not sure about the the data, will you have difficulty explaining to them why these vaccines are safe? Of course, you know, it's already happened.

I've had three patients reach out to me since Tuesday morning asking me what I think about vaccine. And I've had to tell them that I haven't been able to review the data. There's nothing in the public domain. It puts physicians, clinicians in a really difficult spot because we have a duty to our patients to review data for them, guide them through decision making processes. And I'm stuck between a place where on one hand I either have to tell my patient that or, you know, the regulators have reviewed the data and we should trust them, which I don't think as a scientist is the appropriate thing to say.

You should review data yourself. But on the other side, I'm also mindful that I don't want to create vaccine hesitancy in a patient. I think this situation could have been handled a little better if there had been greater transparency and greater involvement.

And how much vaccine hesitancy are you coming across? Not too much. You know, in general, I think a vaccine hesitancy is something that people in the developed world, in the first world have the privilege to have those opinions. In India, it's quite the opposite. I see a lot of people who walk kilometres to get their children to vaccines and the desperately. They want these vaccines for their children, for their families and in general for vaccines. So I personally don't see as much vaccine hesitancy in India, but I think it's very important to prevent that from taking hold right now.

And what about the numbers that are being talked about 300 million in a year? It's a huge number, but is it enough in a country with a population of one point three billion?

Certainly we have to contextualize that off the one point three billion, about 40 percent below the age of 18. So the the group that we're really looking to target, you know, the group that's above 50 that have comorbidities, frontline workers, doctors, nurses, health care workers, we essentially want to vaccinate first, unclarity the individuals who have the highest risk of exposure and the individuals who are most likely to have severe outcomes, severe covid-19.

And this will help us reduce the number of mortalities. And that's the key thing to reduce the mortalities. I think 300 million is a very, very ambitious and an amazing target to have. I think vaccination is something that India actually has a lot of experience with. I think this is something that we can actually do very well.

Dr. Swannell Prak. So from a country just starting his vaccination program to one that's making rapid progress in immunizing the public, Israel, it's the current world leader in the distribution of vaccines.

As the BBC's Middle East correspondent Tom Bateman explains, this has been a success story for Israel, both in terms of the procurements of the vaccine, the speed with which that happened, and then its delivery in the country and on the delivery. I mean, there are some advantages in Israel. First off, because it's a pretty small place geographically, the population eight to nine million. And it is very well versed in getting out mass vaccinations. It has a universal health care coverage system where people by law have to register with a medical insurance provider and it's pretty good digitised system.

So they've used all of that to start delivering it very, very quickly. And you're seeing things like drive through vaccination centers at sports arenas and a big political push to get it out. They were a bit worried about people being disinclined to get the vaccine. So there was a big PR push as well. And I think that has helped in terms of procuring it. I mean, there were eight million doses of the FISA biotech vaccine awarded in November, and the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, very much made it a kind of personal mission, talked about his 2am phone calls with the chief executive of Pfizer, but they have very much paid their way.

I mean, the Israeli media reports that the Israelis have paid three times the price for the doses that some other countries have paid. They haven't commented on that officially, but ministers have said that smaller countries do have to pay more per dose.

Despite the progress with its vaccine program, Israel is under a third national lockdown. More than 3000 people have died with the coronavirus since March, with the ultra orthodox Jewish community among the hardest hit.

As Tom Bateman reports, there are four children playing outside the British Krauss's small house. How many children do you have? I ask him. Just 18, he replies. We're in the middle of May She'arim, the beating heart of Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox community. Cramped alleyways and steep steps lead to Yo Alisha's place, and signs tell you not to wear immodest clothes or come in big groups in these packed neighborhoods.

The virus surged over the spring and summer and still continues to do its damage.

Oh yeah, I was one of the first right from the start, but I had it lightly, says my older kids had it worse. They suffered for two to three weeks.

Police raided these areas early in the pandemic, accusing people of failing to distance the virus, stirred tensions between secular and ultra orthodox. There's an old hand at resisting the authority of the state of Israel. He sees law as divine and can't be man made. He's part of a small faction within the ultra-Orthodox that forbids cooperation with the government.

I know in the bathroom. The cops forced us to wear masks. They harassed us, but we kept fighting. They kept messing up until they'd had enough. Since then, thank God, they've left us alone with the government in heaven. Our synagogues and schools stay open. Everything is normal.

The ultra-Orthodox youth boom has helped resist the worst of the virus, just three percent of the population is over 65, but still there's been a heavy toll. Freshly printed death notices plastered the walls of Mayor Sharim.

It's been an extraordinary year for many, including Avigail Beer, she first spoke to us in March. She's part of an Orthodox all women team of paramedics.

Last time we spoke to you was earlier in the pandemic. How's it changed since then? They don't have any money to go buy food and they don't have ways to, like, help the children spend their time. So I think it's pretty tough.

As for Yoeli, he says no one can force him to announce his way of life.

His one response of many in the community known as Haradinaj or God fearing that has struggled like everyone else while trying to keep alive the things core to its identity, communal gathering, prayer and religious study.

Most I see in Mayor Sharim are wearing masks. Leaders have told people to follow health guidelines, and wary businesses wonder when will it all end?

That report from Jerusalem was by Tom Bateman, the Swedish climate campaigner. Grétar Toolbag celebrated her 18th birthday on Sunday. She's given an interview to a British newspaper in which she says she won't judge people for flying.

As Rebecca Wood reports, the teenage activist was first propelled onto the international stage at the age of 15 when she launched a solo school strike to raise awareness of the climate crisis. She sat on the pavement outside the Swedish parliament in a raincoat with a placard alone. But the solitary part wasn't to last for long. She soon caught the attention of the world's media.

My name is Trimbole. I'm 16 years old and I'm from Sweden. And every Friday I had school striking for the climate outside the Swedish parliament alongside hundreds of thousands of other children from all around the world.

In fact, those hundreds of thousands turned into an estimated four million young people who took part in climate strikes inspired by her in 2019, a movement that became known as Fris for future. Since then, Gratitude Bogues been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize named Time magazine's 2019 Person of the Year and given powerful messages to world leaders.

How dare you? You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words, and yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering, people are dying, entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction.

And all you can talk about is the money she has famously given up flying, choosing to sail to America for the 2019 UN Climate Summit, a voyage that took 15 days. But when asked by the Sunday Times what she makes of celebrities who jet around in planes while preaching about climate change, she says she doesn't judge others nor think it's selfish to have children. She also revealed that she's given up buying new clothes. But while her fame gives her voice a platform, it's not something she enjoys.

She's been personally attacked by world leaders, including Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin and in an interview with The Sunday Times. So she feels guilty about the impact on her family, including having to deal with death threats. Despite this gratitude, Berg says she will not give up. In fact, she believes her fame will end as abruptly as it began and wants to make good use of her time. That means celebrating her 18th birthday with her family and a birthday wish for everyone to promise that they will do everything they can for the planet.

Rebecca would.

Still to come, victory for environmentalists in China trying to save the endangered green peafowl.

Thousands of members and supporters of Iranian backed militia in Iraq have marked the first anniversary of the assassination by the United States of the Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani, as an overnight vigil in Baghdad.

The crowd chanted slogans against America. Suleiman's death prompted threats of retaliation from Iran five days later. Iranian authorities mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian airliner while on vacation. We spoke to Kasra Naji from the BBC's Persian service. So a year on from the killing, are Iranians still angry?

Hardliners in Iran and people in power in Iran are pretty angry. They have lost a major figure from the hardliners who was in charge of projecting Iranian power throughout the region even further on in Sudan. So he was very instrumental in extending Iranian influence and they've lost him.

There were threats of retaliation at the time. Obviously, that was partly derailed by the bringing down of the Ukrainian airliner. But have we seen anything in terms of Iran exerting its influence in the region or anything hidden, perhaps hacking attempts, hacking attempts?

There have been and there will be. I don't know how far they have got and whether you can actually apportion that to the idea of taking revenge. What is sure and certain is that the Iranian side, the hard liners are regularly threatening, taking revenge for this. And they are saying that they will do it in their own time when the opportune moment arises. Pro Iranian militias in Iraq, for example, are very active. They've been attacking the American embassy in Baghdad for the moment, although the rhetoric is high, although the tension is high, I don't expect an outbreak of conflict because it's not in the interests of either side.

At the moment. Iranians are waiting for the next U.S. administration and they will deal with that when Joe Biden comes to power. The most important thing for Iran at the moment is the issue of U.S. sanctions against Iran, which Iran wants it lifted by yesterday, kind of saying they are very keen to not to give him Joe Biden, a reason not to lift sanctions.

The BBC's Kasra Naji, Bosnia's security minister, has said the situation at a migrant camp in the north west of the country is cruel and inhumane. Hundreds of people have been staying at the labor camp, even though fire destroyed much of the facility last month. Here's a Balkans correspondent going to Leweni.

Security Minister Salmat Psychotic said he'd ordered the army to make the leap a camp habitable. Troops have already set up emergency tents, but people have refused to use them because they lack heating and sanitation. Representatives from the European Union and the International Organization for Migration joined Mr Ticketek on his visit to Lippa. So did the mayor from nearby Bihac. He reiterated his opposition to reopening a reception centre there while works are carried out at Lippa. No wonder the residents chanted EU helpers to the departing delegation guide Aloni.

Now to a David and Goliath story, a massive industrial project brought to a standstill by a humble peacock. That's exactly what's happening in China, where a high court upheld a suspension on building the JASSA dam, saying it poses a threat to the endangered green peafowl Asia Pacific editor. Well, Leonardo, tell me more.

The story pits of 500 million dollar hydroelectricity project against the Green Peafowl, also known locally as dragon boats, which are now severely endangered in China. The birds there essentially a type of peacock, the roam around the tropical forests of southern Yunnan province. They hold a place in Chinese history as well, with some historical sources describing them as the king of the birds. Now, some estimates say there were only 300 birds left in the world, in the country, which is fewer than the giant panda, which, as you know, has been the subject of an extensive conservation program.

So what's happening there?

And in this case, what's the dragon bird got to do with it? So the Gethard Dam project began construction in 2016 along the Red River in southern Hunan Province, hoping to provide electricity to one of China's poorer regions. But a year later, the peafowl, thought to be extinct in the area, were discovered in the valleys. And a Beijing based environmental group, Friends of Nature, sued to stop construction, saying it would flow to the bird's habitat.

The case garnered a lot of public attention, and last year a lower court agreed that work should be suspended. But decision was appealed. But this week, the Union Higher Court upheld the original decision, saying the project posed a grave threat to wildlife and ordering. An ecological assessment, the court didn't rule to cancel the project, though, as demanded by the environmentalists. And at the moment, the dam stands awkwardly, half constructed across the river in limbo.

Local media say the suspension hasn't been good news for some local villagers who's been looking forward to the economic benefits of the construction. But the peafowl live to see another day.

The stereotype of China is the country of mega-projects where things get built. So how unusual is it that a huge project like this is being halted for environmental reasons?

Well, it is pretty unusual. I mean, although this case is ongoing. It can be seen as a rare win for environmentalists in China, where, as you say, few large construction projects face such obstacles. Normally, environmental legal action is taken for redress after harm is done and not to prevent ecological damage. But it could be seen as indicative of a change in direction as well. Beijing has been increasingly forthright in calling for environmental protection. In the latest five year plan, the authorities vow to prioritize environmental protection and regulation for nature reserves.

The country has also recently promised to become carbon neutral by 2060, and there are other recent examples of the environment taking precedence over economic concerns. 300 square kilometers of aquaculture farms were shut down and in a nature reserve in Jiangsu province, for example. But the environmentalists in the union case say there are still glaring omissions when it comes to check on habitats, many of which they say have been quietly destroyed over the years.

Well, Leonardo Jeremiahs Mastan, the front man of Gerry and the Pacemakers, has died at the age of 78. He'd suffered a heart infection unconnected with covid-19. The 1960s band were best known for You'll Never Walk Alone, which has been sung by fans of Liverpool Football Club ever since. Our entertainment correspondent Colin Patterson looks back at Gerry Marsden's life.

You. You'll never walk alone, played before every Liverpool home match and the voice singing it, Jerry Marsden. When Gerry and the Pacemakers version of the Carousel show tune reached number one in 1963, it made them the first ever group to top the charts with their first three singles. Now, do you do what you do to me earlier in the year? Both. How do you do it? And I like it. I like it. I like it.

Got to number one, Jerry in the Pacemakers helped kick start Merseybeat. In fact, they had a number one before the Beatles, although their success was short lived in comparison.

The final hit was in 1965. However, Jerry Marsden twice topped the charts in the 1980s with all star charity singles raising money for the victims and families of the Bradford City Stadium fire.

So, Barry.

Plus, the version of Ferry across the Mersey was recorded after the Hillsborough disaster and hearing, but it's you'll never walk alone, which will mean that Gerry Marsden's voice will continue to be heard at football grounds around the world, particularly at Liverpool in.

Evo. Colin Patterson remembering Jerry Marsden, who's died aged 78, and that's all from us for now, but there will be an updated version of the Global News podcast later. If you want to comment on this one or any of the topics we've covered in it, do send us an email. The address is Global Podcast and BBC Don't Code on UK. Our superstar studio manager was found down. The person who made it all happen was the producer, Judy Frankel, and the executive editor is Karen Martin.

I'm Gareth Barlow. Until next time. Goodbye.