Sebastian Usher
Appearances
Global News Podcast
Trump and intelligence chiefs play down Signal app group chat leak
This we feel is a really important way of providing confidence and maintaining that absolute focus on the integrity of competitions.
Global News Podcast
Trump and intelligence chiefs play down Signal app group chat leak
Es ist wichtig, das zu tun, weil es alles behält, worüber wir geredet haben, besonders letztens, nicht nur die Integrität der Frauen im Sport zu sprechen, sondern es garantiert. Und das, wie wir es fühlen, ist eine wirklich wichtige Art, Vertrauen zu bieten und den absoluten Fokus auf die Integrität der Wettbewerbe zu behalten.
Global News Podcast
Trump and intelligence chiefs play down Signal app group chat leak
Es gab hunderts von jungen Palästinensern auf den Straßen in Nordgas und Beit Lahir. Und unter den Chancen sind Al-Talt, Hamas, sie wollen den Fall von Hamas. Es ist das erste Mal, dass es einen Protest von diesem Niveau von Menschen auf den Straßen seit dem Oktober 7. Angriff und der folgenden Krieg in Gaza gibt. Also es ist signifikant in diesem Sinne.
Global News Podcast
Trump and intelligence chiefs play down Signal app group chat leak
Ich meine, unter ihren Chancen waren auch Anrufe nach Frieden, Es gibt keine Anreize, die Palästinenser aus Gaza zu bringen. Es war nicht nur über Hamas, aber es gab auch diese sehr starken Antihamas-Elemente. Es gab eine Unterdrückung von dieser Angst, dieser Zufriedenheit mit Hamas, die in den letzten Monaten wächst. Und jetzt sehen wir es auf den Straßen. Es gab eine Anreize von Hamas.
Global News Podcast
Trump and intelligence chiefs play down Signal app group chat leak
Es gibt einen kleinen Anti-Hamas-Grupp, um diese Proteste in den kommenden Tagen zu verbreiten. Wir werden sehen, was mit dem passiert. Diese Proteste wurden, es scheint, ziemlich präzise von Masken-Männern verspürt. Ich denke, es wurde präzise von... Der Zerstörung ist jetzt vorbei. Israel hat seine Attacks auf Gaza resümiert. Mehr als 700 Menschen wurden in der letzten Woche getötet.
Global News Podcast
Trump and intelligence chiefs play down Signal app group chat leak
Und Hamas hat, ich denke, auf zwei Anfängen jetzt, Raketen in Israel. Und das hat große neue Evakuierungsordnungen gefordert, insbesondere für diese Bereich. Und ich denke, das ist wahrscheinlich das, was zu diesem Ausbruch von Angst geführt hat.
Global News Podcast
Trump and intelligence chiefs play down Signal app group chat leak
There was a deadline looming at the end of this month. If the budget hadn't had its final approval from the Israeli parliament by then, the government would have to call a snap election, which would once again put the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's political future in jeopardy. So it's a victory for Mr Netanyahu. There were big protests outside the parliament over the...
Global News Podcast
Trump and intelligence chiefs play down Signal app group chat leak
The budget and many other issues, particularly over the fate of a hostage still in Gaza and how the resumption of a war may affect that. Opposition leaders denounced this budget and the main opposition leader, Yair Lapid, called it the biggest robbery in the history of Israel. So you can imagine this was a turbulent session, but for Mr Netanyahu it's been a good day's work.
Global News Podcast
Zelensky says Trump 'living in disinformation space' created by Russia
Es kommt in etwa acht oder neun Tagen zu Ende. Phase 2, die die Erleichterung sehen wird, oder die Erleichterung der restlichen Hostagen in Gaza alive oder tot. Und ich denke, die Mehrheit derjenigen, die in Gaza noch sind, sind vermutlich tot. Das ist das, was Hamas gemacht hat. Es hat die Vision herausgefunden, wie Phase 2 gehen sollte. Es will gute Glauben zeigen.
Global News Podcast
Zelensky says Trump 'living in disinformation space' created by Russia
Ich glaube, das wird in dieser Phase gesehen. Und Hamas sagt, dass es auf die anderen Elemente des vollen israelischen Kriegsverlustes und des permanenten Zerstörers liegt. need to be met in order for that to happen. Now, talks on Phase 2 haven't started yet. They should have started more than two weeks ago.
Global News Podcast
Zelensky says Trump 'living in disinformation space' created by Russia
The Israeli government has said that they will start this week, but we don't know exactly when or how. But there is a negotiating team, an Israeli negotiating team that's in Cairo, which is still discussing Phase 1. They may be given instructions of what they should say for Phase 2.
Global News Podcast
Zelensky says Trump 'living in disinformation space' created by Russia
Aber ich denke, das Problem, das kurz übrig bleibt, ich denke, am Herzen davon ist, was Hamas nach Phase 2 repräsentieren wird. Wird es noch eine Art Platz in Gaza haben? Und das ist etwas, was für Israel unerlaubt ist. Und so weit wie wir sehen können, glaubt Hamas noch, dass es eine Rolle spielen sollte, wenn nicht die Hauptrolle in Gaza. Also das ist ein wichtiger Punkt.
Global News Podcast
Zelensky says Trump 'living in disinformation space' created by Russia
Und auch, wie voll der israelische Kriegsabschluss sein würde, wenn jeder letzte Soldat verlässt, ist, glaube ich, ein bisschen open to question, wenn wir von ganz Gaza sprechen.
Global News Podcast
Zelensky says Trump 'living in disinformation space' created by Russia
This essentially was a Hamas statement, which has come out. We're still in phase one of a ceasefire deal. That's drawing to its end. And it looks like that will probably work itself out reasonably well now. There have been moments when it looked like it might all fall apart, but we've had...
Global News Podcast
Zelensky says Trump 'living in disinformation space' created by Russia
Das ist ein Deal, das sieht so aus, als würde es weitergehen, dass vier der acht Geister, die im Geist ihres Bodies gestorben sind, am Dienstag zurückkehren. Und dann sechs der restlichen lebenden Geister, die als Teil von Phase 1 veröffentlicht werden, werden veröffentlicht. Und dann werden die restlichen vier Böden nächste Woche zurückgegeben. Das bedeutet, dass Phase 1 zu Ende kommt.
Global News Podcast
Trump says US to 'takeover' and 'own' Gaza
The bells of Altahera Church ring out across Mosul, a symbol of the rebirth of the old city that was left devastated eight years ago after the battle to drive ISIS out.
Global News Podcast
Trump says US to 'takeover' and 'own' Gaza
A Mosul photographer, Ali Al-Baroudi, recalls the horror that greeted him when he first entered the old city shortly after the street-by-street battle was over in 2017, with the gloriously skewed Al-Hadba minaret, known as the hunchback that had been emblematic of Mosul for hundreds of years, in ruins.
Global News Podcast
Trump says US to 'takeover' and 'own' Gaza
80% of the old city of Mosul and the West Bank of the Tigris was destroyed. It was not just the churches, mosques and old houses that needed to be repaired, but the community spirit of those who'd lived there for so long in relative harmony between religions and ethnicities.
Global News Podcast
Trump says US to 'takeover' and 'own' Gaza
A year later, the huge task of rebuilding began under the auspices of UNESCO, with a budget of $115 million that the UN Cultural Agency had managed to drum up, much of it from the UAE and the European Union.
Global News Podcast
Trump says US to 'takeover' and 'own' Gaza
Father Olivier Poquillon, a Dominican priest, returned to Mosul to help oversee the restoration of the convent of Notre-Dame-de-L'Heure, known locally as Alsace, which was founded nearly 200 years ago.
Global News Podcast
Trump says US to 'takeover' and 'own' Gaza
In charge of the entire project, which included the restoration of 124 old houses, has been the architect Maria Rita Acatoso, who came to Mosul straight from restoration work for UNESCO in Afghanistan.
Global News Podcast
Trump says US to 'takeover' and 'own' Gaza
Eight years on, the major landmarks of Mosul are restored. The wriggling minaret of al-Hadba, the convent, the church of al-Tahira and the complex of al-Nuri Mosque. And people have been able to return to the houses that have in some cases been home to their families for centuries.
Global News Podcast
Trump says US to 'takeover' and 'own' Gaza
The scars of what the people of Mosul endured are yet to heal, just as much of Iraq remains in a fragile state. But the rebirth from the rubble of the old city represents hope for a better future.
Global News Podcast
President Trump: Your questions answered
What information do you have regarding how moderate, possibly previously Democratic voters may have been pushed into the arms of Trump by overly liberal rhetoric in the media and social media?
Global News Podcast
Erdogan calls Turkey protests 'evil' as unrest continues
In the latest video posted by Hamas, the two hostages, Elkanah Bohbot and Yosef Haim Ahana, are shown in considerable distress, calling on another hostage who was recently released to speak up for them. They also describe how during the ceasefire in Gaza, conditions had greatly improved, but that now they felt in danger again.
Global News Podcast
Erdogan calls Turkey protests 'evil' as unrest continues
Israel has condemned previous videos of hostages released by Hamas as psychological warfare. There seems little doubt that Hamas... is trying to put pressure on the Israeli government to return to a ceasefire. But there seems little sign of this, with the Israeli military continuing airstrikes across the territory. Two local journalists have been killed in the past few hours.
Global News Podcast
Erdogan calls Turkey protests 'evil' as unrest continues
One of them, Hossam Shabbat, was a well-known reporter. for the pan-Arab news network Al Jazeera. More than 200 media workers have reportedly been killed in Gaza since the war began. At the weekend, Hamas health officials said the total number of Palestinians killed in the conflict had passed 50,000.
Global News Podcast
Erdogan calls Turkey protests 'evil' as unrest continues
All this amid new reports that Egypt is trying to revive the ceasefire in a proposal that would see five living hostages released in exchange for an extended pause in the fighting.
Global News Podcast
Six killed as Egyptian tourist submarine sinks
They see it as an attack on democracy essentially. I mean the way that it's framed by Mr Netanyahu and his supporters. ist, dass es eine Re-Kalibration, eine Re-Balancing ist, sodass die ausgewählten Offiziere, die Richter in der Knesset, in der Regierung, mehr Aufmerksamkeit haben in der Anrufung der Juden, als diejenigen, die gegen sie protestieren.
Global News Podcast
Six killed as Egyptian tourist submarine sinks
Und das war ein großer, großer Problem vor Oktober 7, 2023. Es gab große Demonstrationen, Woche nach Woche, in Israel über den judicialen Überhang, der von Frau Netanyahu geplant wurde. They see it as an attack on democracy, but the checks and balances that the judiciary provides is severely undermined by this.
Global News Podcast
Six killed as Egyptian tourist submarine sinks
And I think also it's important to say that there's been a real resurgence of protests against the Israeli Prime Minister in the past few days. This is one of the issues. Another issue was the passing of the budget, a very controversial budget. His moves also to dismiss the head of the internal security agency, Shin Bet, and
Global News Podcast
Six killed as Egyptian tourist submarine sinks
Ich meine, das ist ein absoluter Teil der Proteste in den letzten Monaten. Und das füllt die Proteste auf den Straßen weiter, die wahrscheinlich nur noch weitergehen werden.
Global News Podcast
Six killed as Egyptian tourist submarine sinks
Overnight, around 10 people in Gaza were killed in Israeli strikes, among them the Hamas spokesperson. Also it's reported that another Hamas official was killed. I mean, since Israel resumed its offensive against Hamas, they've killed several senior members of Hamas and more than 800 people, according to health officials in Gaza.
Global News Podcast
Six killed as Egyptian tourist submarine sinks
Wir haben auch zwischen den Evakuierungswarnungen, die von Israel gegeben wurden, eine noch kürzere, für Leute in vielen Städten in Gaza City, die sozusagen sagen, das ist deine letzte Warnung vor militärischer Aktion. Ich meine, in der letzten Woche, seit dieser Versuchung von Israel, gab es mehrere Brötchen, die von Gaza in Israel eingestellt wurden.
Global News Podcast
Six killed as Egyptian tourist submarine sinks
Und das hat diese Warnungen in Bereichen, in denen Israel glaubt, dass sie ausgeführt wurden. Und ich denke, das hat auch für das erste Mal diese Proteste geführt, die wir in Nordgasen gesehen haben, wo Menschen denken, dass Hamas Israel vielleicht provoziert, um mehr Angriffe zu bringen, von denen sie traurig sind. Sie fühlen sich, dass Sebastian Usher in Jerusalem.
Global News Podcast
Trump threatens Russia with sanctions
Well, the law called the personal status law has been in place in one way or another in Iraq for more than 60 years. It's essentially a law for all the kind of civil aspects of life and And it incorporates some Islamic elements, but it's not dominated by them.
Global News Podcast
Trump threatens Russia with sanctions
And it was meant, I think, when it was brought in, to unify the country, which is made up of many different ethnicities and different religious sects. Obviously, Iraq went through many, many years of all sorts of problems, but this law has, one way or another, managed to weather those storms effectively.
Global News Podcast
Trump threatens Russia with sanctions
Essentially, these are amendments, and there's been an awful lot of pressure to try to stop this for months now by women's rights activists who are alarmed by the fact that it will allow Iraqis, and when we say allow, I mean within the context of certain elements of society, there probably won't be any choice actually there, but to choose when they're looking at the issues of marriage, of divorce, of bringing up of children, custody, etc.,
Global News Podcast
Trump threatens Russia with sanctions
to choose whether they go with the civil law or they go with the religious law, which belongs to their Islamic sect, the Sunni or the Shia. Now, the real headline of this has been about the age at which girls could be married under these changes.
Global News Podcast
Trump threatens Russia with sanctions
Under the personal status law, that is 18, although there is some allowance made if there are safeguards for a religious dispensation for younger than that to 15, I think, under Sunni law. The concern is, that many girls now will not be married under the civil law, but under the Sunni or the Shia law.
Global News Podcast
Trump threatens Russia with sanctions
Under the Shia law, the biggest concern was that under one school of Shia Islamic law, the Jafari school, girls can technically, though this is very rare, be allowed to marry as young as nine. My understanding is that that particular way that that might be allowed, that Shia religious authorities have said that that won't happen.
Global News Podcast
Trump threatens Russia with sanctions
But certainly allowing girls to be married as young as 15, this will potentially make that easier. There won't be a court system which can intervene in the way that it has before. Also, other rights, particularly relating to women over the custody of children, over rights to divorce, over inheritance, all of those women are potentially going to lose out under Islamic law.
Global News Podcast
Trump threatens Russia with sanctions
To a degree, yes. And I mean, the fact that it's been passed, despite the pressure, not just inside Iraq, but outside, shows that particularly the Shia religious authorities, I mean, they are the majority religious sect in Iraq. It shows that they have year by year gained more power, really, politically than as well as socially and religiously.
Global News Podcast
Trump threatens Russia with sanctions
So I think it's a sign of that, and I think that's one of the main concerns. They themselves, the religious authorities, say this is simply according to Islamic law and that everything will be done responsibly and with justice as the key element. But certain elements of Islamic law do favour men in certain instances, particularly to do with the family.
Global News Podcast
Trump threatens Russia with sanctions
This is not just an issue in Iraq, this is an issue across much of the Arab world.
Global News Podcast
Hamas releases the bodies of four Israelis
There are people, politicians to the right, particularly in the government, who on each one of these hostage handovers, but particularly today, particularly the moment when three of them emerged in really bad condition, have said that this is proof of what they've been arguing all along, that there should... Be a resumption of a war in Gaza until Hamas is entirely wiped out.
Global News Podcast
Hamas releases the bodies of four Israelis
So this will further fuel that. But on the other side, you have the emotional wave of feeling from the hostage families first, and then many, many hundreds of thousands of people across Israel who feel their pain most strongly above all else, who will say that this is a sign that these hostage handovers must continue, that nothing Wir sind nahe dem Ende der ersten Phase. Das endet nächste Woche.
Global News Podcast
Hamas releases the bodies of four Israelis
Die Gespräche in Phase 2 haben noch nicht angefangen. In dieser Phase sind alle restlichen Hostels lebendig und tot. Die Druck von den Hostelfamilien und, wie ich sage, ich denke, wahrscheinlich von der Mehrheit der Menschen in Israel auf die Regierung, ist, nichts zu tun, das die Möglichkeit für das, was nicht passieren wird, zu machen. Sebastian Ascher
Global News Podcast
Last minute hitch in Gaza ceasefire deal
Well, we heard from the Israeli prime minister's office two or three hours ago now saying that Hamas was creating a last minute crisis. Now, the Israeli negotiating team is still in Qatar. This is where these talks have been taking place. This is despite the fact that the Qatari prime minister announced the deal had been accepted by both sides.
Global News Podcast
Last minute hitch in Gaza ceasefire deal
President Biden, the president elect Donald Trump have all announced that it's a done deal. From the Israeli side, there's a suggestion that this could still go off the rails and the blame being put on Hamas.
Global News Podcast
Last minute hitch in Gaza ceasefire deal
I mean, what seems to be the issue from what we've heard of it, this isn't 100% officially confirmed, is that Hamas with the prisoner list, the Palestinian prisoners will be released in exchange for the Israeli hostages. They want one or two names, more prominent names than have been there so far. And Israel is saying, well, this is not what was agreed to. This was not in the list.
Global News Podcast
Last minute hitch in Gaza ceasefire deal
I mean, it seems to me that this could still be overcome. But what has happened, the direct result has been that a meeting of the Israeli cabinet and the security cabinet, which was supposed to vote on this again several hours ago, has been postponed. And we're not quite sure when that's going to happen.
Global News Podcast
Last minute hitch in Gaza ceasefire deal
I think that's a good point. I think theatrics is probably being slightly too superficial about this. I think it's more serious than that, obviously, because the stakes are so high. But it's not something we haven't seen before. It's not something we haven't seen from Mr Netanyahu before. Very much, it has been a blame game.
Global News Podcast
Last minute hitch in Gaza ceasefire deal
And I think that he is very mindful of the opposition within Israel from the hardliners who feel that this is a deal that allows Hamas too much, that this goal of eradicating Hamas which time and time again, Mr. Netanyahu said he was 100 percent, you know, this is the only end of the war in sight. That's not what's going to happen.
Global News Podcast
Last minute hitch in Gaza ceasefire deal
So what they want, essentially, is a ceasefire to take place for six weeks. But they want Israel essentially to be free to restart the war if necessary after that. So I think it's very much Netanyahu dealing with a domestic issue more than anything else.
Global News Podcast
Last minute hitch in Gaza ceasefire deal
I mean, there are, and this is a sign of that, that even with the deal supposedly done and dusted, there's still issues about it. In 16 days from Sunday, if it goes into effect, the negotiations on the next phase will begin.
Global News Podcast
Last minute hitch in Gaza ceasefire deal
And they've been left, I think, purposefully open in order not to close down the space in which Hamas and Israel would be able to agree to that ceasefire, the hope being in any... thing like this. But once a ceasefire is in place, the momentum will build that it will then become very difficult to move away from that.
Global News Podcast
Last minute hitch in Gaza ceasefire deal
But there are certainly voices inside Israel that are saying that's not what we believe should happen. And they're voices that Ms Netanyahu has listened to before. So yes, there are big, big challenges. In some ways, the hardest work of negotiation will begin in the next two or three weeks.
Global News Podcast
New Orleans attack: death toll rises to 15
Now back, this sense that on every street corner, these people who are back to experience this heady moment might bump into someone who they hadn't seen for so long.
Global News Podcast
New Orleans attack: death toll rises to 15
Yes. I mean, obviously, the Alawites, the community to which the Assads belonged and which, you know, to a lesser or greater extent, benefited perhaps most from their rule over in the West. I mean, we've seen unrest there. We've seen issues, as you would expect there. Not yet on a level that I think would really cause imminent fear in people in Syria or outside. But there's that.
Global News Podcast
New Orleans attack: death toll rises to 15
Then other communities you were mentioning, I think two of the key communities who would feel they have... something to lose in the change of leadership, the Christians and the Kurds.
Global News Podcast
New Orleans attack: death toll rises to 15
And Ahmad al-Sharif, a de facto leader, the man who's headed HTS, the one-time jihadist group that he is certainly in public made much more moderate, was once again in the last two or three days giving signals, and I say these are signals rather than actions at the moment, that his rhetoric
Global News Podcast
New Orleans attack: death toll rises to 15
that he wants to see a Syria that's once again united, one in which all communities feel they have a stake, that was backed up by these meetings. So he met high-level Christian clergy and gave them assurances.
Global News Podcast
New Orleans attack: death toll rises to 15
that although he has an Islamist background, although the majority of the rebel factions, as they were then, that came in to Damascus and took over, had that ideology, that it's not going to necessarily be overpowering. They're going to allow people to continue to live in the way that they are accustomed to and that their own culture leads them to.
Global News Podcast
New Orleans attack: death toll rises to 15
And then the Kurds, which I think is the most imminent pressing problem, perhaps... who control much of the Northeast, who are backed by the U.S., who were absolutely vital in the defeat of ISIS territorially years ago. We've heard a slightly more confrontational aspect of things to do with them. The SDF, the
Global News Podcast
New Orleans attack: death toll rises to 15
Kurdish-led forces, which are now, I think, virtually all Kurds who control that area, are seen by Turkey, which has given absolutely crucial backing to HDS, Apen Arshara's group, as a terrorist offshoot of the PKK, the Kurdish separative movement in Turkey.
Global News Podcast
New Orleans attack: death toll rises to 15
And Ankara has for a long time mounted incursions, mounted attacks on them and has made clear that it wants them to no longer be an active armed faction. So Ahmed al-Shara had his first meeting again a day ago with representatives of the SDF and it was reported as being positive. But who knows where that will go? I think if there's going to be... Quite a big confrontation.
Global News Podcast
New Orleans attack: death toll rises to 15
That's one that we might see sooner rather than later.
Global News Podcast
New Orleans attack: death toll rises to 15
Last night I was at a New Year's Eve party, which was moving, as so many things have been, to watch people who haven't, in some cases, met each other for many years –
Global News Podcast
New Orleans attack: death toll rises to 15
thinking they would never be able to do so, if at all, in Damascus, in Syria, suddenly there, on New Year's Eve, and the embraces, the hugs, the surprise on some people's faces at who had shown up, film directors who'd gone into exile, actors, similar journalists, being imprisoned.
Global News Podcast
Myanmar earthquake deaths surpass 1600
There's been growing speculation that Israel and Hamas might agree a new limited ceasefire during the Muslim holiday of Eid, which begins tomorrow. Mr Netanyahu's office says he's held consultations on a proposal from mediators, which is said to involve a 50-day truce and the release of five more hostages. Hamas is said to have agreed to the plan. Israel has now submitted a counteroffer.
Global News Podcast
Myanmar earthquake deaths surpass 1600
It comes as Israeli forces have continued airstrikes across Gaza and a ground operation in Rafah aimed, the IDF says, Sebastian Ascher
Global News Podcast
Putin apologises over plane crash, without saying Russia is at fault
Well, there have been a couple of videos now which show lines of men walking among armed Syrian fighters, presumably from HTS. This is, we believe, at the Al Arida border crossing between the two countries. It's a really desolate area. windswept, rainy.
Global News Podcast
Putin apologises over plane crash, without saying Russia is at fault
And what we have heard from a variety of sources is that they are members of President Assad's forces, officers and soldiers, and maybe also some members of their family. And the reports that we have had, again, this hasn't all been officially confirmed, but from various security officials, that they were found during an inspection of a truck in in Jebel, which is a town in the north of Lebanon.
Global News Podcast
Putin apologises over plane crash, without saying Russia is at fault
And they are among a pretty sizable number of Syrians connected to the Assad regime who've crossed the border into Lebanon. They've also been people who've crossed into Iraq. And it's the first cooperation between the Lebanese security
Global News Podcast
Putin apologises over plane crash, without saying Russia is at fault
officials and the new Syrian authorities in this drive by the new powers to round up essentially as many of the kind of leading regime officials that they can in order to bring them to justice. And we've seen this in Syria itself. in the West, in Tartus particularly, where there's been, in some ways, almost a kind of manhunt that's been going on.
Global News Podcast
Putin apologises over plane crash, without saying Russia is at fault
That has caused some unrest there as well amongst the Alawite community to which the Assad's belong.
Global News Podcast
Putin apologises over plane crash, without saying Russia is at fault
I mean, what they're saying in public is... is that they want people to be brought to proper justice. So that implies that there'll be trials and they don't want Syrians themselves to take justice into their hands to commit acts of personal revenge. I mean, there've been videos circulating again, none of them really confirm of some lynchings. So there is a concern that,
Global News Podcast
Putin apologises over plane crash, without saying Russia is at fault
inside Syria and obviously outside, that this drive for justice against the Assad regime, which doesn't degenerate into essentially a form of revenge in which violence becomes the main way that it's meted out. I mean, that would be seen
Global News Podcast
Putin apologises over plane crash, without saying Russia is at fault
obviously as a failure of the new authorities to impose their idea of law, of a new free Syria where they say people can breathe easily, which is what one hears on the streets.
Global News Podcast
Putin apologises over plane crash, without saying Russia is at fault
I mean, I think they're keen to establish a new relationship with Syria. But the government, the authorities want to open up. you know, a new page, one in which Syria, and this is what the new de facto leader of Syria, Ahmed al-Sharaf, said, that Syria will no longer have a negative influence in Lebanon.
Global News Podcast
Putin apologises over plane crash, without saying Russia is at fault
So this kind of cooperation would be an effort to show from a Lebanese side that they're willing to help the authorities and the hope would be that that would build confidence.
Global News Podcast
Israel delays scheduled release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners
After the sixth hostage was released, Hisham al-Sayed, the process of releasing the more than 600 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails would normally have started as we've seen in other hostage handovers, but it hasn't.
Global News Podcast
Israel delays scheduled release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners
Und wir hören von israelischen Medienrechten, dass der israelische Premierminister Benjamin Netanyahu eine hohe-Level-Sicherheitsmeetung hält, die sein Verteidigungsminister Israel Katz anbietet. And the release of the prisoners will be discussed during that. Also the next stage in the ceasefire deal. So it may be that big decisions are taken then.
Global News Podcast
Israel delays scheduled release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners
I mean, there's been speculation in the Israeli media that the delay may be payback, perhaps to the way in which Hamas had said that it was handing over the body of Shiri Bibas on Thursday. I mean, it turned out not to be her body. Hamas subsequently did say Das ist in der Antwort auf das.
Global News Podcast
Israel delays scheduled release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners
Yes, I mean this was a little bit different from what we've seen in the past few weeks of hostage handovers. It took place in three locations. Zwei der Events waren, was wir jetzt von Hamas erwarten haben, sehr stage-managed. Der erste war in Rafah, in dem Tal Shoham, der am 7. Oktober 2023 in einem Hamas-leuten Angriff verhaftet wurde.
Global News Podcast
Israel delays scheduled release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners
Er wurde verabschiedet und gleichzeitig wurde Avera Mengistu, der von Hamas in Gefängnis gehalten wurde, für mehr als eine Dekade verabschiedet. Er wurde verabschiedet, nachdem er in Gaza geflogen wurde. Es gab viele Spekulationen darüber, warum er so lange gehalten wurde, aber er wurde endlich verabschiedet.
Global News Podcast
Israel delays scheduled release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners
Und dann ein bisschen später im Zentrum von Gaza, in Al-Nusarat, Elia Cohen, Omar Shemtov und Omar Venkat wurden verabschiedet. Diese Männer waren alle in ihren 20er-Jahren und sie wurden auch am 7. Oktober vom Nova-Musikfestival verabschiedet. Sie sahen alle in guter Form aus, muss man sagen.
Global News Podcast
Israel delays scheduled release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners
Und dann gab es einen privaten, für die erste Zeit gab es eine Verleihung eines Hostels, der aus der Sicht des Publikums in Gaza gemacht wurde. Das geschah in der Stadt Gaza. Und das war von Hisham al-Sayed, der auch, wie Avera Mengistu, für rund eine Dekade von Hamas gehalten wurde. In Gaza, again, for a very similar reason. He had crossed over from Israel into Gaza.
Global News Podcast
Israel delays scheduled release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners
Again, questions over why he was held so long. He also appears, from what we've heard in the past, not to be in very good physical condition. Whether that's the reason that it was done in private or the fact that he's a member of the Arab-Israeli community, that might also have played a part.
Global News Podcast
Syria's new leader says armed factions will come under state control
Hakan Fidan is the first foreign minister to go to Damascus since the toppling of Bashar al-Assad and the taking of power, essentially, for now at least, by Ahmad al-Shara and his HTS group. Now, what he was saying is, in one sense, a continuation of his efforts...
Global News Podcast
Syria's new leader says armed factions will come under state control
to portray himself as a pragmatist, as a moderate, as a man who wants the future of Syria to be very different from its past, to see a unified Syria after the years of conflict and division. And, of course, that is something to be expected and something that would be welcomed by the rest of the world. And it is a very difficult situation. I mean, there are a number of military groups involved.
Global News Podcast
Syria's new leader says armed factions will come under state control
that are operative in Syria. They include HTS and other similar factions, factions down in the south, which also rose with HTS in the toppling of Bashar al-Assad. ISIS is still operative to an extent. And most importantly, I think perhaps, Is the SDF for Kurdish-led forces over in the northeast?
Global News Podcast
Syria's new leader says armed factions will come under state control
Now, that's where it gets complicated, because essentially, as we're saying, Turkey was perhaps the key backer of HTS and Ahmad al-Shara, and it sees the SDF as simply an offshoot of the Kurdish separatists in Turkey and regards them as a terror group and has actually mounted several invasions into the north of Syria over the past years. to push them back.
Global News Podcast
Syria's new leader says armed factions will come under state control
So it's interesting that Ahmad al-Shara in this meeting with the Turkish foreign minister should make such a priority of the SDF and that they should give up their weapons. Obviously, if Syria is to be united, that is going to have to happen.
Global News Podcast
Syria's new leader says armed factions will come under state control
But whether taking on the SDF now, endangering some of the gains that the SDF has actually made in terms, I mean, remember that this is the group that with US support essentially defeated ISIS. And it has run the northeast of the country, probably in just about the most efficient way that any part of the country has been run during the conflict. So there's a lot to lose.
Global News Podcast
Syria's new leader says armed factions will come under state control
And the SDF certainly feels that its position. has coming under more and more attack. It never really took on Assad's forces, but it's certainly now very much the focus of the attentions of Turkey and of Ahmad al-Shara.
Global News Podcast
Syria's new leader says armed factions will come under state control
Obviously, Ahmad al-Shara will hope that there will be no new armed conflict over this, but that is a possibility because the SDF, the Kurdish administration there, feels it has a lot to lose.
Global News Podcast
Five dead and 200 injured in Magdeburg Christmas market attack
When Israel launched the major part of its offensive, including the ground offensive against Hezbollah back in October, it targeted mainly the southern suburbs of Beirut, the Bekaa Valley in the east, parts of which are under Hezbollah control, and the south. So in all of those areas, the Lebanese army has been clearing roads, opening roads, clearing rubbish and debris,
Global News Podcast
Five dead and 200 injured in Magdeburg Christmas market attack
There are parts of South Lebanon which are almost flattened by the Israeli airstrikes that took place. And also the unexploded munitions from Israel in particular. Today it staged about a seven-hour operation. devoted to that in several areas. So all of these are building some confidence in Lebanon and outside that this ceasefire deal, despite many violations that have taken place, may hold.
Global News Podcast
Five dead and 200 injured in Magdeburg Christmas market attack
But the real challenge that lies ahead for the Lebanese army is when it makes a full deployment, particularly down in the south.
Global News Podcast
Five dead and 200 injured in Magdeburg Christmas market attack
I mean, this was only just over three weeks ago that the ceasefire happened. It was greeted, I think, far more jubilantly here in Lebanon than it was in Israel. There was great joy in the first days and people rushed down there. to the southern villages and towns that they'd had to leave.
Global News Podcast
Five dead and 200 injured in Magdeburg Christmas market attack
But I think what I find with lots of people here is a sense almost of unreality, that they can't believe that this can hold, that things can move in a positive direction, a sense that something is simmering, something unnamed is under the surface that may suddenly explode in everyone's faces.
Global News Podcast
Five dead and 200 injured in Magdeburg Christmas market attack
People here are wondering what Hezbollah might do next within the context of a country where politically things might move. People, I think they're enjoying the sense at the moment that, you know, the fighting has stopped, the risk to life, etc., has stopped. People have been coming back. I mean, all the flights, it was almost impossible. to find a flight, to come to Lebanon.
Global News Podcast
Five dead and 200 injured in Magdeburg Christmas market attack
And it's given them a great sense of humour about the way things go and also a sense of not ever taking anything for what it looks like on the surface.
Global News Podcast
US launches wave of air strikes on Yemen's Houthis
Sudan's army is preparing the ground for a final push on Khartoum. Shallowing positions of the RSF... In recent weeks, troops have retaken districts on the outskirts of the city, squeezing the remaining RSF fighters into the center. We're entering an area that was recently recaptured by the army, driving along dusty streets lined by houses that are mostly one story high, made of brick or cement.
Global News Podcast
US launches wave of air strikes on Yemen's Houthis
And as we pass by, there are women who open the doors, look out and wave politely.
Global News Podcast
US launches wave of air strikes on Yemen's Houthis
They were panicking, this woman tells me. But there's security now that the army's here. We were given the first raw accounts of what happened as RSF forces retreated. It was a shock. They came suddenly, says Intisar Adam Suleiman. They said they'd shoot anyone who's outside.
Global News Podcast
US launches wave of air strikes on Yemen's Houthis
Her son Mozamel is sitting next to the house with neighbors, right where he sat just weeks ago with his brother and his friend. The RSF fighters ordered them inside, then shot them in the back as they entered the gate, killing both of them. A bullet went through Mozamel's leg.
Global News Podcast
US launches wave of air strikes on Yemen's Houthis
A few blocks away, I meet Asma Mubarak Abdelkarim. She was with a group of women confronted by retreating RSF soldiers who sprayed gunfire around them, then pulled one woman into an empty house and raped her.
Global News Podcast
US launches wave of air strikes on Yemen's Houthis
The RSF denied these reports, stressing that the army has carried out mass atrocities. Both sides are accused of war crimes. The neighborhood next door is an affluent suburb that was home to senior members of the RSF leadership. It's now eerily empty. We've arrived at the mansion where the deputy commander of the RSF, Abdul Rahim, was living. There's a big, empty swimming pool in the yard.
Global News Podcast
US launches wave of air strikes on Yemen's Houthis
There are other empty houses around where RSF commanders were living. None as grand as this one, I don't think, but evidence that the top officials have moved on. The army says it believes that those still fighting for the heart of Khartoum are the junior commanders, the lower-ranking soldiers, and possibly foreign fighters.
Global News Podcast
US launches wave of air strikes on Yemen's Houthis
Behind them, the RSF forces left a trail of destruction. Zainab Osman Al-Haj shows me the wreckage of her house. They would come at night and break down the door. They stole everything in my house and then burned it, she says.
Global News Podcast
US launches wave of air strikes on Yemen's Houthis
There was theft and stealing and robbery. Outside, we meet Hussein Abbas, returning even though the area is not completely secured. He's nearly 70 years old, walking with a cane. So how does it feel to come back now after so much has happened?
Global News Podcast
US launches wave of air strikes on Yemen's Houthis
Survivors like Hussein are slowly coming back to try and salvage their homes. The army has the upper hand now in this terrible war, but there's much suffering still to come for Sudan's people.
Global News Podcast
Ukraine talks could see Europeans excluded
There are more and more issues about it, I think there's no doubt. And the substantial negotiations on it, discussions indirect between Israel and Hamas, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US, which were meant to start at the beginning of this month, the 3rd of February, haven't got underway yet. Now, there is hope and expectation that they will begin in the next two or three days.
Global News Podcast
Ukraine talks could see Europeans excluded
But President Trump, who is seen widely as instrumental in nailing down the ceasefire that has finally happened after so many months when it didn't, What he has been saying, not just this week, but bigger than anything, his plan, essentially, that the U.S. should take over Gaza, that all the Palestinians should be displaced, moved out, and that a resort should be built there.
Global News Podcast
Ukraine talks could see Europeans excluded
That's been roundly rejected very widely, particularly by Arab countries. And some of those countries, four of them, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, and the UAE, are going to meet later this week to discuss results. What they say is an alternative plan that would be essentially allowing the Palestinians to remain while the rebuilding begins.
Global News Podcast
Ukraine talks could see Europeans excluded
But we still have no idea what kind of governance would be acceptable to Israel, what role Hamas, who clearly still function from what we've seen each week so far, what role they can and will play. and whether the Israeli government, which has elements on the right who really want to get back to all-out war in Gaza, whether that can be controlled.
Global News Podcast
Ukraine talks could see Europeans excluded
I think the absolute defining thing at the moment, though, is still that the feeling in Israel is that nothing should get them away of getting the remaining hostages out.
Global News Podcast
South Korea's president impeached
The one other kind of interesting thing that he said there was that the U.S. has been in touch with HTS now, the main rebel group, direct contact, he said. Now, that's interesting because the U.S., as several other countries, still designates it as a terrorist organization. But he also said...
Global News Podcast
South Korea's president impeached
that the US had set out its principles, the ones we're talking about, the ones they talked about again today in Jordan to HTS, to say, you know, this is what we believe is the way forward. Powers both inside Syria and outside are trying as hard as they can to ensure that there is a smoother transition of power as possible. I mean, this is going to be difficult.
Global News Podcast
South Korea's president impeached
And so the word that they were saying, I mean, I think the key word is chaos. And they talked about that, that they don't want Syria to slip into chaos, understandably. And that we were hearing from some of the foreign ministers that they believe that that means that remnants of the Assad regime officials need to take part in the government.
Global News Podcast
South Korea's president impeached
It can't just be stripped away as we saw in Iraq, as I guess we saw in Libya. I mean, the Iraqi foreign minister mentioned Libya, said we do not want to see another Libya in the region. So I think that's a huge concern. There were eight Arab countries there, including Saudi Arabia, including the UAE.
Global News Podcast
South Korea's president impeached
And, I mean, the other message, which, again, we've been hearing again and again, is that this government needs to be representative of all Syrians. That means all the ethnic groups, all the different political groups. And, of course, there's still a big question mark over that. And we've been hearing from HTS that same message coming time and time again.
Global News Podcast
South Korea's president impeached
Some people are suspicious because of its past, but others just wonder if... in the circumstances which they're now trying to deal with, whether it's possible to navigate towards that kind of smooth transition, if it's possible to live up to those promises, even if the groups involved genuinely believe in them and genuinely want to work towards them.
Global News Podcast
Four Israeli hostages and 200 Palestinian prisoners released in Gaza deal
What Israel is essentially saying is that Hamas had agreed to release the civilians first and that includes these two women and the two young children. Now, it's Abel Yehud in particular, who is known to be alive, that is the real focus of this.
Global News Podcast
Four Israeli hostages and 200 Palestinian prisoners released in Gaza deal
And the Israeli army, the Israeli government said several hours ago now that the expected permission that was going to be given to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to start heading back north to what's left of their homes on Sunday... wouldn't happen until there was an absolute clarity about Abel Yehud being released.
Global News Podcast
Four Israeli hostages and 200 Palestinian prisoners released in Gaza deal
Since then, we've heard from Islamic Jihad, who are holding her, saying that they have given proof of life. And Hamas has said that she will be released next Saturday. Whether that is enough for the Israeli government to say that now we will allow the schedule to go ahead as before is open to question. We haven't heard from the Israeli government specifically about that for now.
Global News Podcast
Four Israeli hostages and 200 Palestinian prisoners released in Gaza deal
It is. But remember, we're only in the second stage of the first phase. There were 33 Israeli hostages to be released and 1,900 Palestinian refugees. prisoners. So we've seen seven Israeli hostages released so far. So there's a relatively bigger number still to be released over the coming weeks. There might be obstacles like this, which again, suddenly appear.
Global News Podcast
Four Israeli hostages and 200 Palestinian prisoners released in Gaza deal
I think if the Palestinians who are straining at the leash to be able to go back to their homes, many of them saying we know that our homes aren't there anymore, but we'd rather be in a tent over what was left of our home than in a tent somewhere else. So that's where we have to go back. There could be issues over that.
Global News Podcast
Four Israeli hostages and 200 Palestinian prisoners released in Gaza deal
I mean, we've heard from Palestinian sources, there are some videos of this claiming that some Israeli soldiers opened fire when some Palestinians were on that edge waiting to go through. And there's a report that at least one person was killed. So we might see more of that. So it's in the interest of the mediators who had their operation room in Cairo.
Global News Podcast
Four Israeli hostages and 200 Palestinian prisoners released in Gaza deal
the Egyptians, the Qataris and the US, to resolve this as quickly as possible. What might potentially happen is that Abel Yehud, this 29-year-old woman, might be released before next Saturday in a special release in order to give Israel that clarity about what's going to happen to her. At the moment, we really don't know about this.
Global News Podcast
Four Israeli hostages and 200 Palestinian prisoners released in Gaza deal
It may not be a major stumbling block, but it is a sign that each stage of this, things can still go wrong.
Global News Podcast
Mike Johnson survives razor-thin vote to remain US House Speaker
Just a week ago, anyone taking the Mazna border crossing from Lebanon into Syria only needed their passport to be waved through with a smile by border guards who'd taken over from officials appointed under Bashar al-Assad's rule. That's just changed to some degree, with Lebanese nationals now needing a Syrian residency permit or official permission to enter.
Global News Podcast
Mike Johnson survives razor-thin vote to remain US House Speaker
It could be in response to recent border incidents, including a clash between armed Syrians and Lebanese troops. But it may also be a tit-for-tat measure for Lebanon, already only allowing Syrians with Lebanese residency into the country. Either way, it means that taxis are no longer able to drive the whole route between Beirut and Damascus.
Global News Podcast
Israeli airstrikes have hit several targets inside Yemen
What we're hearing from the HDS side, from the new authorities in Syria, is that they've launched a big operation in Tartus after the killing of 14 police security officers on Wednesday. And they're saying that these are remnants of the Assad regime and they're hunting them down in the woods and the valleys of Tartus. So not just in the port city, but in the province itself. As a whole.
Global News Podcast
Israeli airstrikes have hit several targets inside Yemen
And from the other side, from the Alawite side, I mean, you know, one can only go by some of the protests that there have been, which suggest that there is at least still quite a hard core of...
Global News Podcast
Israeli airstrikes have hit several targets inside Yemen
At best, people who are worried and unsettled by what's happened, because obviously President Assad belonged to the Alawite community and his future and their future very much seem to be bound up for years. I mean, the change very particularly is of this Islamist-led government that is now in place.
Global News Podcast
Israeli airstrikes have hit several targets inside Yemen
And whether it was self-serving or not, that was what President Assad had said for years and years. He was acting as a bulwark against, and I'm sure that many Alawites believe that. And we have had reports of attacks on Alawites in Damascus and elsewhere. We had big protests in Homs. There was a curfew that was put in place there. Again, that is seen specifically here.
Global News Podcast
Israeli airstrikes have hit several targets inside Yemen
to be in relation to the Alawites and their concerns and their fears and potentially their anger and the violence that might come out on the streets.
Global News Podcast
Israeli airstrikes have hit several targets inside Yemen
We have, yeah, and we've had a variety of officials from Lebanon, for example, becoming the veteran. Drew's leader, Wali Jumblat, was in Damascus just a few days ago. And, you know, the signals are we want a different relationship. This is from a new leadership in Syria. We want a relationship where we are not at odds, where we're not in conflict.
Global News Podcast
Israeli airstrikes have hit several targets inside Yemen
As far as Lebanon is concerned, what I'm hearing from a lot of people here is,
Global News Podcast
Israeli airstrikes have hit several targets inside Yemen
The events, both of the fall of President Assad, but also what's happened with Hezbollah, all of these things kind of coming to a climax in the past few weeks of sort of a recognition amongst many people, much more openly expressed than it had been, that they feel that it's Syria that was at the root of so many of their problems. Yes, Israel launched these attacks.
Global News Podcast
Israeli airstrikes have hit several targets inside Yemen
Yes, Israel has done that in the past. But I've heard from many people from different countries, groups, different, I mean, not factions, but different communities saying that it was Syria that did far worse to Lebanon as a country over the years in its influence than anyone else.
Global News Podcast
Israeli airstrikes have hit several targets inside Yemen
So there's an appetite certainly here for a complete realignment and for Syria under its new leadership not to get involved, not to interfere in Lebanese internal politics, which it did for many, many years.
Global News Podcast
Israeli airstrikes have hit several targets inside Yemen
I'm 52. It's a kind of a nostalgia, right?
Global News Podcast
Israel accuses Hamas of 'evil' violation of ceasefire
Hamas has said that there is a possibility of an error, that there might have been human remains that got mixed due to Israeli airstrikes. Hamas has always said that the Bibas family were killed in an Israeli airstrike in November 2023, just a month or so after they were abducted on October the 7th. I mean, it's strange that they're saying that now.
Global News Podcast
Israel accuses Hamas of 'evil' violation of ceasefire
If they knew that beforehand, then they were taking a huge risk, perhaps a very provocative risk. If they still sent the body, they must have known that Israel was going to conduct a very intense forensic investigation. I mean, there are other possibilities. Again, it's speculation, but Hamas didn't actually abduct the Bebas family.
Global News Podcast
Israel accuses Hamas of 'evil' violation of ceasefire
They were taken by another armed faction and, as far as we know, were then passed on to another after that, but not Hamas. So, we've had this before when Hamas had been asked by Israel to give a precise list of all the hostages and their condition and things looked like they were about to fall apart.
Global News Podcast
Israel accuses Hamas of 'evil' violation of ceasefire
I mean, this was one of the things that broke apart ceasefire deals previously when it looked like they might happen. And, you know, it might have been then that Hamas simply didn't know those details in the past. And possibly this is the case again.
Global News Podcast
Israel accuses Hamas of 'evil' violation of ceasefire
But I think what's clear is that the Israeli government and the Israeli public won't take heed of what Hamas has said in any way for now, unless it provides serious evidence. And this demand that the body of Shiri Bebas is somehow returned to Israel was will continue.
Global News Podcast
Israel accuses Hamas of 'evil' violation of ceasefire
I think it might affect the wider ceasefire deal more than the exchange on Saturday. We'll have to see. I mean, we have received the notification from Hamas, which it's given to Israel, of of the six living hostages who are going to be released, who are due to be released on Saturday. So that part of a schedule is still going ahead.
Global News Podcast
Israel accuses Hamas of 'evil' violation of ceasefire
Hamas has also said that it is expecting just over 600 Palestinian prisoners to be released in exchange. We haven't yet received information about that. We haven't received anything from Israel saying that it would delay or somehow get them away of that. So at the moment... The expectation is that in the immediate future, the ceasefire deal, which is still in phase one, will go ahead.
Global News Podcast
Israel accuses Hamas of 'evil' violation of ceasefire
I mean, after Saturday, there's one more handover that's due to happen of the four remaining dead bodies of Israeli hostages. And then that will be all 33 alive or dead that were to be returned in the first phase. You know, I've been saying a lot and everyone else has phase two, which is due tomorrow. to start as soon as one assumes phase one comes to an end.
Global News Podcast
Israel accuses Hamas of 'evil' violation of ceasefire
The talks on that haven't begun in earnest. We've heard from the Israeli government that they are due to start this week, but we've heard nothing more since. And the issues that they have to deal with are potentially more intractable. So whether these developments are
Global News Podcast
Israel accuses Hamas of 'evil' violation of ceasefire
to do with the body of Sheree Bibas and also the accusation from the forensic investigation that her two children were murdered by those who were holding them captive. I mean, that, of course, raises the temperature too. Sebastian Asher.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-22-2024 10PM EST
Ahmed Alshara has promised to unite Syria after years of war and division, insisting that Syrians themselves must come together to work for a better future without foreign interference. That was how he framed his call for the state to take over all military operations. but he was speaking to the foreign minister of Turkey, which has given him vital support.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-22-2024 10PM EST
Ankara sees the Syrian Kurds as a terrorist group and wants to prioritise the dismantling of their armed forces. If Mr. Al-Sharaf follows the Turkish lead, it may result in new conflict.