Hamas releases the bodies of four Israeli hostages who had been held in Gaza. Also, the scammers working under duress in Myanmar
Chapter 1: What are the key stories covered in this episode?
This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Paul Moss and at 1400 GMT on Thursday, the 20th of February, these are our main stories. Hamas has released the bodies of four Israelis. We look at what this means for the ongoing peace process. What chance of improved relations between Ukraine and the US as President Zelensky prepares to meet America's special envoy.
How fog could be used as a source of water for parched cities. Also in this podcast, the former head of Spanish football is found guilty over kissing the player Jenny Hermoso without consent. And many of those carrying out phone and email scams are themselves working under duress. We take a look.
You will literally have anywhere from hundreds to thousands of people packed into these centers and they will be held in extremely harsh conditions, particularly if they are not able to meet the goals that are set to them by their captors.
Chapter 2: What is the significance of Hamas releasing the bodies of four Israelis?
It was a macabre display. This morning, amidst the bombed out ruins of Khan Yunus in Gaza, four black coffins were laid out on a specially constructed stage. Inside were the bodies of Israelis, ready to be returned as part of the ongoing peace deal. And behind these coffins was a large caricature of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
als Dracula, mit Blut, das von seinen Fangen fliegt. Die Post hat eine Begründung gemacht, wie die Hostagen gestorben sind. Der Kriegskriminal Netanyahu und sein Nazi-Armee haben sie, so sagt es, mit Missilen aus den Zionistischen Kriegsplänen getötet. Als wir diesen Podcast recordieren, haben sich die Identitäten der Körper noch nicht bestätigt.
Aber es wird gedacht, dass sie 84 Jahre alt sind, Odette Lifshitz, ein Veteranenjournalist und Friedensaktivistin. but also two children from the Bibas family, kidnapped from their home near the Gaza border on October 7th along with their mother Cherie. The previous release of living hostages has prompted celebrations in Israel.
Chapter 3: How is the Israeli public reacting to the handover of bodies?
But today's handover has predictably been a very different affair, as I was told by Natalie Blenford, a journalist who lives in Tel Aviv.
Today the national mood is very muted, very, very sad. It's become a sort of macabre routine on a Saturday. You wake up, you switch on the news and you watch the hostages being released. But today, dead bodies in black coffins, but still in the middle of a propaganda ceremony. It's absolutely not what people were hoping for.
And President Herzog just recently said, agony, pain, there are no words, in a message where he asked for forgiveness for the four slain Israeli hostages. And I think that does accurately sum up the mood. Agony, pain, there are no words. People are very, very distressed.
You mentioned the what you call propaganda effort of having these four coffins on the stage in Gaza. Have I got this right that this wasn't actually shown much on Israeli television?
Yes, that's correct. So there was a sort of decision taken not to broadcast this because as the bodies have not been formally identified by Israel. We didn't quite know, the authorities here didn't know what they were receiving. We've been told there were four bodies, but actually there was no proof of who was inside.
And because in the Jewish religion there are various rituals that are followed when somebody dies, to do with the sanctification of human life and the soul and the spirit, there are sort of procedures that are followed. And I think it was thought that it would be inappropriate to show a handover ceremony where there wasn't the presence of the religious aspect involved.
Es war nicht auf TV, es gab Wege, es online zu sehen, aber nicht auf nationaler Television.
In any conflict people do want the bodies of the dead returned to them. But I guess what you said about the particular rituals of the Jewish faith mean that there was particular emphasis on getting these bodies returned, seen as a crucial part of the peace process.
Yes, there's an emphasis here on returning all hostages, the living for rehabilitation and the dead for a dignified burial. That is what the families want. And there have been other bodies taken out of Gaza. The IDF have rescued... Some hostages who sadly had died and they brought them back. But because this was part of the deal, it's been orchestrated in a sort of different way.
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Chapter 4: What are the prospects for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process?
And I think there will be a sense of closure for the families who received back their loved ones. But of course, it's not the result they were hoping for. And the rest of the afternoon is going to be quite stressful because the bodies are now at a forensic institute called Abu Kabir in Tel Aviv. Well, they're certainly on their way there and there will be several hours there.
Natalie Blenford, you heard her there mentioning the reaction of Israel's President Isaac Herzog.
He issued a statement in response to the release of the bodies. We voiced it up.
And you can hear him striking a notably apologetic tone. On behalf of the State of Israel, I bow my head and ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness for not protecting you on that terrible day. Forgiveness for not bringing you home safely. May their memory be a blessing.
Those words inevitably raise the question of how soon the other hostages might be returned to Israel, those both living and dead. And that in turn depends on the course of the ongoing peace deal. By now Israeli and Palestinian negotiators were supposed to be discussing the second phase of the agreement, but those discussions haven't even started. Indeed, some wonder whether they ever will.
There are plenty of Israeli politicians who instead want to resume the bombing of Gaza, along with further ground-based attacks. And according to our correspondent in Jerusalem, Sebastian Usher, those voices may be emboldened by the scenes Israelis have just witnessed.
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.
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.
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
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Chapter 5: What are the dynamics between Ukraine, the US, and Russia?
Driving into Tver, the first thing I notice are the soldiers. Oder eher die Bilder davon. Sie sind überall. Auf Billboards, an den Seiten von Gebäuden, an Busstoppen. Porträts mit den Worten »Hero of Russia« und Poster von Truppen mit Kalaschnikow-Rifeln, die den Publikum ermutigen, zu lieben, zu verteidigen und in der Mutterlande zu haben.
In anderen Worten, sich aufzunehmen und in der Ukraine zu kämpfen. But the front line is hundreds of miles away. And so, even after three years of war, there are many people here, like Mikhail, a teacher, who find it easy not to think about the fighting.
Aber Anna denkt über den Krieg.
Sie sagt mir, sie kennt viele Leute, die weggegangen sind, um zu kämpfen, und die nie wieder zurückgekommen sind. Larissa sagt, sie ist für die besondere Militäroperation und würde selbst volunteerieren. Clearly, she hasn't so far. She says she wants Ukraine's capitulation. The police turn up and they want an explanation. What is a team from the BBC doing in this city? How long will you be here?
We show them our documents, everything's in order. But they question our driver. They look inside our car and they ask me to make a statement. I have to note everything down, the officer says.
Suddenly a camera team from state television appears and starts filming us.
We were just passing and spotted you, the reporter says. Where have you been so far? What have people been telling you? As you see, we have a free country, freedom of speech.
No one gets in your way, do they? Well, I reply, apart from you and the police next to our car. So, what do people in Tver make of President Trump? Valja sagt mir, dass mit all dem Gespräch über einen möglichen Trump-Putin-Summit sie für ein positives Ergebnis hofft und dass die Kämpfe bald enden werden. Aber Michael, der Lehrer, ist nicht optimistisch.
Trump hat keinen Plan. Leider. Er ist ein Improvisator. Er weiß nicht, was er tun wird. Meine Sympathien sind mit ihm. Aber wenn man über diesen einzelnen Präsidenten spricht,
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Chapter 6: How could fog serve as a water source for dry cities?
Es ist in einer sehr trockenen Region, weniger als fünf Millimetern Regen pro Jahr fallen im Übrigen in dieser Region. Und viele urbische Bereiche in Nordchile, inklusive Alto Ospicio, bekommen die meiste ihrer Wasser aus Untergrund-Aquifers. Und es gibt eine Menge Anforderungen auf diese Aquifers, nicht nur aus Städten, sondern auch aus Industrie und Mining.
So this research team that's led by scientists at Universidad Mayor in Santiago has carried out tests of fog harvesting systems and combined their results with satellite images and weather forecasting in Alto Ospicio.
And what they've come up with is exactly where you should place large-scale fog harvesting setups and how much water they could be expected to collect on average every day in the city.
The researchers worked out that with 17,000 square meters of fog-harvesting mesh erected in large areas in foggy hotspots around this desert city, which there is plenty of room for around Alto Ospicio, you could provide enough drinking water for all of the urban slums in the city.
They're now also working on a fog map of the entirety of Chile, because they say that in places with the right conditions, particularly where you have mountains that meet the ocean, we should be harvesting from the clouds to provide much needed clean water for people who need it.
Still to come... Her new life is to be reefed off the coast of Florida. But to prepare for that, Okaloosa County will take the ship from the pier and take her down the east coast, tow her around the tip of Florida to Mobile, Alabama.
The ocean liner destined to become an underwater reef.
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Das ist Ihre Millionenchance. Jetzt im Lotto-Jackpot. 14 Millionen Euro. 14 Millionen Euro. Lotto Bayern. Nimm dein Glück in die Hand.
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