Unrest began last Wednesday in Turkey when Istanbul’s mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, was detained on corruption charges. Also: top US officials shared classified Yemen strike plans with journalist in group chat.
Chapter 1: What sparked the protests in Turkey?
This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Jackie Leonard, and in the early hours of Tuesday, the 25th of March, these are our main stories. Large crowds of protesters again marched through the Turkish city of Istanbul in support of the jailed mayor, who's the main opposition presidential candidate.
The United Nations says it's reducing its presence in Gaza because of Israel's renewed bombing campaign. And the Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD says its revenue topped $100 billion for the first time last year, overtaking Tesla.
Also in this podcast, the White House has confirmed that a prominent journalist was sent classified military information by mistake, giving advanced details of a US attack on the Houthis in Yemen.
Pete Hegzeth, if you think we should do it, let's go. Let's just make sure our messaging is tight here. And if there are things we can do up front to minimise risk to Saudi oil facilities, we should do it.
We begin in Turkey and more protests in the city of Istanbul. Large crowds gathered again to demand the release of the city's mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, Turkey's main opposition presidential candidate. He was arrested last week and charged with corruption. The chairman of his CHP party, Özgür Özel, told the crowds the protest was an act of defiance against fascism.
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Chapter 2: What is the response of the Turkish government to the protests?
But the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said the demonstrations had turned violent. Earlier, Turkish police said 1,100 people had been detained following Mr Amarmalou's arrest. Our senior international correspondent Orla Girin spent the day among the protesters.
Turkey's deep divisions, painfully exposed. Police versus protesters, night after night. These are pockets of trouble in largely peaceful demonstrations. But the arrests keep coming. Over a thousand people detained in just five days. As the mayor of Istanbul was before them. Ekrem Imamoglu's poster still flies from City Hall. But the Turkish leader's greatest rival is now locked away.
Long live Ekrem Imamoglu!
The mayor's supporters gathering once again to demand his release. And they say, defend democracy.
So what happened on Wednesday was a direct attack on our democracy. It was a coup and we are here to protect our rights. We are here to fight for them. We are here to support our mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu.
This 21-year-old wanted to speak out, but not to be identified.
Right.
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of the US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia?
There's plenty of energy here, plenty of enthusiasm. A lot of those who've gathered are young and they've been coming day after day. The question is how long can they keep gathering? How long will the authorities let them? For both sides this is becoming a test of strength. Ekrem Imamoglu was the picture of composure, even as police massed outside his door.
He said he was entrusting himself to his nation and he would not bow to tyranny. Turkey says its courts are independent. Taking it all in his stride, Turkey's ageing leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He accused the mayor and his party of being a movement of violence and predicted their show would eventually end. He's hoping the protests will peter out, but Turkey may be facing a fork in the road.
Can it be a functioning democracy, or is it headed for all-out autocracy?
That was Ola Girin in Turkey, and as we record this podcast, we are seeing some reports that police and protesters have again clashed in Istanbul. Next to Saudi Arabia, where high-level delegations from the US and Russia worked on Monday to hammer out the details of a proposed partial ceasefire in Ukraine.
Despite US optimism regarding a deal, Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that no major diplomatic breakthrough should be expected at the moment and that the talks will instead focus on reaching a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea. Our security correspondent Frank Gardner is in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
Today has been the day of the Russians sitting down with the Americans. They've spent at least ten hours, probably more, closeted in this luxury hotel, the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh, the city I'm in now. I managed to get into the hotel and talk to some of the Ukrainian delegation. They haven't mixed at all with the Russians, as you can imagine.
The Americans are trying to keep them apart, otherwise it's a kind of French farce. The Ukrainians are pretty upbeat. They had their own talks with the Americans yesterday. And these are at a technical level. It's not a senior level. These aren't familiar names, apart from the Ukrainian defence minister.
He brought a big team with him, 25 people, energy experts, naval experts, military officers, diplomats. And what they've been doing is mapping out which energy industries facilities they want protected in a partial ceasefire. And obviously there will have to be Russian ones as well that are immune from attack as part of this deal. They've also been looking at the Black Sea, at shipping lanes.
We don't yet know exactly what their demands are because almost nothing is coming out of the Russians at the moment. The Ukrainians have been talking. They would love to do a press conference. We may still get some kind of a statement. And then, of course, we've got to read between the lines. If it says frank discussions, it means they argued.
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Chapter 4: How is the conflict affecting daily life in Ukraine?
The authorities said a school, hospital and apartment blocks were damaged. Scores were injured, including children. So far, there have been no reports of any deaths. Ukraine's foreign minister, Andrei Subir, asked how Moscow could speak of peace while carrying out such brutal strikes.
Instead of making hollow statements about peace, he said, Russia must stop bombing our cities and end its war on civilians. For its part, Ukraine destroyed four Russian attack helicopters in a missile attack on the Belgorod region. And Russia's defence ministry accused Ukraine of targeting energy infrastructure in the Krasnodar region. For now, the fighting goes on.
That was James Landale in Kiev. And just to remind you that we're getting together again with our friends at BBC Ukrainecast on Friday the 4th of April and we would like you to be part of it. Do send your questions about what's happening to globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk and if possible, please record your question as a voice note.
The number of United Nations international staff in Gaza is to be reduced by about a third after recent Israeli strikes. A spokesman, Stefan Duszarik, said the move, which was a temporary measure, was being taken for security and operational reasons. He stressed that the UN remained committed to helping the people of Gaza.
As you know, in the past week, Israel carried out devastating strikes on Gaza, claiming the lives of hundreds of civilians, including United Nations personnel. with no humanitarian aid being allowed to enter the Gaza Strip since early March.
As a result, the Secretary General has taken the difficult decision to reduce the United Nations footprint in Gaza, even as humanitarian needs soar and our concern over the protection of civilians intensifies. We are not leaving Gaza. I repeat, the United Nations is not leaving Gaza.
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Chapter 5: What is the UN's response to the situation in Gaza?
We remain committed to continuing to provide aid that civilians depend on for their survival and for their protection.
Meanwhile, Hamas has posted a video of two hostages as the Israeli military continues its bombardment of Gaza. The hostages were abducted from a music festival during the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023. Palestinian officials say more than 60 people have been killed in the past 24 hours. In northern Israel, a man in his 70s has been shot dead in what police say was a terrorist attack.
Our Middle East regional editor Sebastian Usher reports from Jerusalem and begins with the hostage video.
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.
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.
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.
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.
That was Sebastian Usher. The White House has confirmed that a prominent journalist was accidentally texted classified military information. A spokesman said the administration was reviewing how Jeffrey Goldberg's phone number was inadvertently added to a chain.
Earlier, Mr Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, revealed that he had received classified military plans for US strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen from the US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. He says it contained precise details of weapons packages, targets and timing two hours before the first bombs struck. A number of messages from the group chat has emerged.
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Chapter 6: How did classified US military plans get leaked?
Yes, I didn't get that bit. I mean, the other thing was that this journalist, this editor of The Atlantic, was saying he basically thought it was a hoax and that someone was trying to trick him into doing something and he'd be discredited in some way. And it's not a hoax.
It's not. And the reason why he might have thought that as well is because Donald Trump isn't a big fan of the Atlantic, nor is he a big fan of Jeffrey Goldberg. Over the years, he has really
sort of made it quite clear how he doesn't like him so i can see why mr goldberg might have thought that it was some kind of hoax and especially on on that particular chat app you never quite know but uh the white house did confirm that uh they are now looking to quote them how an inadvertent number was added to the chain but this is potentially illegal isn't it Well, here's the thing.
Disappearing messages on Signal to coordinate military operations, that could have violated the Espionage Act and other federal laws. And so Congress are now demanding an investigation into it.
The BBC's Nomia Iqbal in Washington. There has been quite a lot of reaction on social media. Hillary Clinton, who faced a storm of criticism and media coverage over an email server system she used at her New York home while Secretary of State, linked to the article along with an eyeball emoji and wrote, you have got to be kidding me.
The Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD has overtaken the American giant Tesla in total revenue, pulling in more than $100 billion last year. Here's an excerpt from a promotional company video released last year. So how big a turnaround is this? A question for our North America business correspondent, Erin Delmore.
It's quite a big turnaround. When we separate out the numbers here, we see that BYD's total revenue for the year amounted to $107 billion. Rival Tesla came in just shy of $98 billion. And, you know, these are the two big names in electric vehicles right now. But it's different how they're going about their businesses and where they're dominating sales.
So why has this turnaround happened? And how much might it be about the owner of Tesla, Elon Musk?
There are a number of factors. And we can start by saying that the cars made by BYD, broadly speaking, are cheaper to build and cheaper to buy. And they also have a technology advantage. The company recently announced a new EV battery charging system that would refill most of the battery, a 400-kilometer ride, in about five minutes.
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Chapter 7: How has BYD overtaken Tesla in revenue?
That was Erin Delmore.
Still to come... I was happy to see the trees. It's beautiful, really beautiful. I love Tokyo.
Japanese weather officials have declared the start of the much-anticipated cherry blossom season.
On our podcast, Good Bad Billionaire, we explain how the world's billionaires made all their money.
Pop stars and tech titans, founders and filmmakers, inventors and investors, we cover them all. And for the first time, we're talking about a video game designer.
Yep, we're talking about Marcus Persson, the Swedish coding king who programmed the world's most successful game, Minecraft, all by himself.
He made a billion, but is he good, bad, or just another billionaire? Find out on Good Bad Billionaire, listen on the BBC app, or wherever you get your podcasts.
The head of the United Nations AIDS programme has warned that there could be nearly 9 million new AIDS infections in the next four years as a result of the Trump administration's decision to cut funding from the UN's global health programme. Speaking in Geneva, Winnie Byanyima said that 2,000 new cases of AIDS-related diseases a day would be diagnosed. Imogen Folks reports from Geneva.
In 2004, HIV-AIDS claimed more than 2 million lives. In 2023, deaths were down to 600,000. The U.S. funding cuts risk reversing years of progress and allowing infections to surge unchecked. U.N. AIDS programs across Africa received stop-work orders in January, and already mother and child prevention clinics have closed, and treatment centres have run out of drugs.
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