The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, rejects an immediate and full ceasefire in Ukraine, agreeing only to halt attacks on energy infrastructure. Also: Nasa astronauts return to Earth after nine months in space.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic of this episode?
This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Jannat Jalil and in the early hours of Wednesday the 19th of March, these are our main stories. In a much anticipated phone call with Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin has rejected an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine but agreed to halt Russian attacks on energy infrastructure.
Amid international outrage over Israeli strikes on Gaza that have reportedly killed more than 400 people, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says this is just the beginning. Two NASA astronauts who've been stranded in space for nine months have landed safely back on Earth.
Also in this podcast, an Italian newspaper says it's become the first in the world to offer a daily edition produced by artificial intelligence.
Tuesday's inaugural edition provides a scathing look at President Trump and a selection of AI-generated letters from supposed readers.
It was a highly anticipated phone call.
We begin today at the White House for a high-stakes phone call between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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Chapter 2: What were the outcomes of the Trump-Putin call?
A White House advisor... We are following some breaking news in Washington. In a statement out moments ago, the White House says, quote, the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire. This morning's...
In the course of a lengthy conversation between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, the Russian president agreed to halt strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure for 30 days, but stopped short of agreeing to the unconditional 30-day ceasefire that the US had been calling for.
Ukraine's leader, Vladimir Zelensky, said his country had always supported a truce on attacking energy infrastructure, but that Russia wasn't ready to end the war.
We'll support any proposals that lead to a sustainable, just peace. But for this, we have to understand what's at stake, what are the details. And I hope to God that we know all these details so that the partners talk to us. Because there are two sides in this war, Russia and Ukraine. trying to negotiate without Ukraine, in my view, will not be productive.
I asked our State Department correspondent Tom Bateman for his assessment of the call.
Well, the first thing to say is this was a very long call, possibly up to two and a half hours between Presidents Trump and Putin. The sort of tangible outcome is that Mr. Putin has agreed, as you say, to what appears to be an immediate cessation of what is basically long-range missile fire on the power grid in Ukraine. Now, that is not... inconsequential.
That has been a significant part of his attacks on Ukraine since the full-scale invasion. However, what seems to have happened here is that President Trump has got agreement from now the Ukrainians and the Russians on two completely different ceasefires. So what he had agreed with the Ukrainians last week was an immediate full 30-day ceasefire.
They said, quote, you know, the ball is now in Russia's court. He's had this call with Vladimir Putin and seems to have significantly retreated on that position. So the language from the White House in the statement they put out after the call makes no mention at all of a full 30-day ceasefire. And instead, you know, we have the clarification from Mr Putin on their statement on the call.
that there is this agreement or that Mr Putin says he will stop missile strikes on energy infrastructure, although we don't yet know if the Ukrainians will also agree to that far, far lesser form of truce than they said they were ready for with the Americans.
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Chapter 3: How did Germany's parliament vote impact defense policy?
This vote was being called absolutely crucial, a day of destiny, a historic opportunity by various people, politicians, journalists, others. It needed to pass by two thirds, and it did. It's passed by 71%. This is the lower house. So the parliament, the Bundestag, it's still got to get through the upper house, the Bundesrat, on Friday, but that's thought to be now something of a formality.
But it has been a race against time because this is the outgoing German parliament. The new one that sits for the first time on... The 25th of March, in a week's time, has got a stronger representation from the AfD, the Alternative for Deutschland, that's the far-right party, and Linke, the far-left party, both of whom strongly oppose these measures.
This is a really radical departure for Germany to spend so much on its military. It's a move that could revive Europe's largest economy, but some say it's also a move fraught with risks, given Germany's Nazi past.
Well, yes. I mean, there are two reasons why Germany has been averse to this in the past. One is, as you rightly say, the historic reasons going back to 1945. And there is a strong neo-Nazi movement in this country. There is that risk politically, but also economically. Germany has been incredibly conservative for over a decade.
And I think there is a growing acceptance amongst many people, certainly in the leading main parties, that this has possibly held back the German economy, and they are hoping that this huge uptick in borrowing, although fiscally risky, is going to stimulate the German economy. The other part of this, and what was approved today, is taking off the debt breaks of...
on how much money Germany can borrow, can go into the market to borrow for defense. And there's no limit to that. It could be hundreds of billions. And this is crucial because the rest of NATO and the EU were all looking very closely at what happened today. If this had stumbled at the first hurdle, this proposal, then it would have dealt a pretty serious knock
to Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission's plans for a project called Rearm Europe. And that's for an 800 billion euro fund.
So, Frank, what does this mean for Ukraine?
Well, it's good news for Ukraine, this, because obviously Europe and Ukraine are extremely worried that the US support for Ukraine is shaky at best. And Europe has been scratching its head as to how they can try and fill that gap. Now, there are things that are going to be very hard to replace, like Patriot missile batteries and long-range artillery.
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Chapter 4: Why did Israel resume airstrikes on Gaza?
I asked our correspondent in Jerusalem, Eme Nada, what the latest was on the casualties caused by the Israeli airstrikes.
The number announced by the health authorities in Gaza has been rising throughout the day. Now over 400 dead is the latest figure we've had announced from those counted, bodies counted when they've arrived at hospitals. They've said amongst those figures over 260 women and children. The hospitals have been overrun with deaths.
queues of people trying to get surgery after being injured in the airstrikes. And, you know, we've heard reports throughout the day of entire families being killed in that very heavy series of bombardments that mostly took place through the night and continued into the day. Hamas has also acknowledged that a number of its...
Senior leadership have been killed in the airstrikes, around four or five, including the head of the government in Gaza, the kind of administrative government there. So it has been acknowledged that amongst the very heavy civilian casualties, Hamas has suffered some direct losses to its organisation.
And why has Israel decided to carry out such large-scale strikes now when there are still hostages being held in Gaza?
Well, that's a big point of contention. The Israeli government is saying that it's doing so in order to release the hostages. Now, in the clips we've just heard from, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said from now on negotiations will only happen under fire, and he's struck a very belligerent tone. He says that military pressure is a necessary condition of releasing hostages.
This comes after, obviously, just over two weeks of negotiations Israel preventing aid getting into Gaza. And there are critics, including the Hamas side, that say this is because Israel has tried to renegotiate the terms of the ceasefire that was agreed in January. The phase, the second phase of the ceasefire that...
was supposed to commence, had on the table that the Israeli troops would begin to withdraw from Gaza and it would lead to a permanent cessation of hostilities. Hamas has said it still would like to pursue that form of deal that would lead to a permanent cessation of hostilities.
Israel seems to be now opting for a different kind of ceasefire that would release more hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners being released, but would delay the negotiation of a permanent end to the war. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is making those statements despite the condemnation that we're hearing from Arab governments and indeed some European governments this afternoon.
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Chapter 5: What are the implications of Israel's military actions?
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.
You're listening to the Global News Podcast. Since returning to the White House, Donald Trump has frequently lashed out at judges who are trying to constrain his sweeping claims of presidential authority.
Now, in a rare public rebuke, the Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, John Roberts, has issued a statement in response to Mr. Trump's call for the impeachment of a federal judge who tried to stop deportation flights. Mr Roberts said that impeachment wasn't an appropriate response to disagreements concerning a judicial decision.
Our North America correspondent, Gary O'Donoghue, reports from Washington.
In a social media post, Donald Trump called Judge Boasberg a radical left lunatic, a troublemaker and an agitator, adding that he should be impeached, in other words, removed from office.
While not addressing the president directly, the statement from the Chief Justice, John Roberts, represents an unequivocal admonishment of the president's words and a significant intervention in what is shaping up to be a potential constitutional crisis. America's political system is based on three branches of government, the executive, congress and the judiciary.
And this separation of powers is designed to create a system of checks and balances so that no one branch can dominate the others. But in recent days, a number of senior administration officials have suggested the White House could simply ignore judicial decisions it doesn't like. with the border czar, Tom Homan, saying, We're not stopping. I don't care what the judges think.
What concerns many is that it's far from clear what could prevent the White House from ignoring the courts if it chose to do so. After all, judges have no means of enforcing their decisions, no army at their beck and call. Congress could impeach a president who took such a course, but the bar for doing so is high, and Mr Trump has already survived two such attempts before.
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