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Global News Podcast

Six-day state funeral for Jimmy Carter begins in Georgia

Sun, 05 Jan 2025

Description

A motorcade carrying the body of the former US president, Jimmy Carter, has arrived in Atlanta -- the capital of his home state, Georgia. He will lie in repose for a few days for the public to pay their respects.

Audio
Transcription

00:00 - 00:03 Advertisement voice

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.

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00:23 - 00:34 Narrator

Our lives today can feel like miniature versions of this relentless churn of activity. We find we're rushing around more crazily than ever. Somewhere, when we weren't looking, it's like busyness became a way of life.

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00:34 - 00:40 Oliver Conway

Start listening to Oliver Berkman, Epidemics of Modern Life. Available to purchase wherever you get your audiobooks.

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00:42 - 01:15 Janet Jalil

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Janat Jalil, and in the early hours of Sunday, the 5th of January, these are our main stories. The six-day state funeral of the former US President Jimmy Carter has begun in his home state of Georgia. Coalition talks between Austria's two biggest centrist parties have collapsed. The Chancellor has said he'll resign.

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01:16 - 01:35 Janet Jalil

Rwandan-backed rebels have made rapid advances in the mineral-rich Democratic Republic of Congo, capturing two towns in two days. Also in this podcast, if you thought typewriters were obsolete... They weigh between five and a half and six kilos.

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01:35 - 01:38 Alan Thorpe

It's there for learning to read and for writing.

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01:38 - 02:16 Janet Jalil

We tell you about one type that's still very much in use. We begin in the US state of Georgia, where America has begun bidding a long farewell to the former president, Jimmy Carter. The band of the 282nd Army played America the Beautiful in Atlanta as the coffin was carried into the Carter Presidential Center for a service and prayers.

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02:16 - 02:21 Janet Jalil

Jimmy Carter's eldest grandson was the first to address the congregation.

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02:21 - 02:36 Jimmy Carter's Grandson

All of us have been thinking about this day and planning for it for a long time, but it is obviously still hard for all of us. For us, my family, and I'm sure I can see on your faces for many of you, I appreciate that.

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02:37 - 03:00 Jimmy Carter's Grandson

But just know that while we mourn my grandfather's passing, I know in my heart, and you all do, that his legacy will live on, not only because of the millions of people that he touched across the globe, but very specifically because of your spirit and your knowledge and the work and the track record that you do every day.

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03:00 - 03:05 Janet Jalil

Pastor Tony Loudon remembered cherished times with the former president.

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03:06 - 03:30 Pastor Tony Loudon

Today's Saturday, and usually every Saturday I'm making the pilgrimage down to Plains, Georgia, and sitting beside President Carter in the compound. And you walk in the room, he's wrapped in a blanket that has Psalms 23 on it, one of his favorite psalms.

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03:31 - 03:38 Janet Jalil

Then the former president's son, Chip Carter, paid tribute to his father and also his late mother, Rosalyn.

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03:39 - 03:51 Chip Carter

He was an amazing man. And he was held up and propped up and soothed by an amazing woman. And the two of them together changed the world.

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03:51 - 04:00 Chip Carter

Because it was an amazing thing to watch from so close and to be able to be involved in. And I thank you for your service.

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04:05 - 04:22 Janet Jalil

Earlier, the cortege carrying the former president's coffin, accompanied by his children, his grandchildren and his great-grandchildren, passed by the small farm in the town of Plains where he grew up. Our correspondent, Carl Nasman, has been covering events throughout the day from Atlanta.

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04:23 - 04:44 Carl

We're right outside of the Carter Presidential Center and Library here in Atlanta. This is really the headquarters, if you want to think about it that way, of his post-presidency, where over many decades, far longer, of course, than when he was in the White House, Jimmy Carter, along with his wife, Rosalind Carter, worked to combat many different things.

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04:44 - 05:06 Carl

They worked to promote democracy across the world, combat imperialism. infectious disease, worked towards all kinds of different diplomatic missions. This really is the center of his life after 1981 when he left the White House. But what we're seeing today is an outpouring of tributes and memorials for the former president. Just watching that motorcade go through these

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05:07 - 05:19 Carl

very rural areas of Georgia, Plains, Georgia, where he grew up, his boyhood town, the boyhood farm where he grew up, where there was no running water or electricity back in 1924 when Jimmy Carter was born there.

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05:20 - 05:40 Carl

Many people remembering his legacy and what he meant as a president, but also as a diplomat, as someone who advocated for civil rights, someone who advocated for health care and vaccines around the world. So Jimmy Carter left quite the legacy behind. And those are the stories and memories that, of course, are being shared today here, not only in Georgia, but across the country.

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05:40 - 05:45 Janet Jalil

And tell us what we're expecting to see over the course of the next few days.

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05:45 - 06:07 Carl

This is just the beginning of a multi-day state funeral here in the United States. It will then move on to the Capitol, Washington, D.C. He'll be lying in repose in the Capitol building for a couple of days before a big national memorial. We know that Jimmy Carter personally asked President Joe Biden to deliver the eulogy for him at that memorial service in the National Cathedral. And then...

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06:07 - 06:19 Carl

After all that pomp and circumstance, appropriate, a very humble man from humble beginnings will return back to that small town of Plains, Georgia. That's where he wishes to be buried alongside his late wife, Rosalyn.

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06:20 - 06:25 Janet Jalil

And briefly, in this polarized age, he has been a unifying figure.

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06:25 - 06:45 Carl

Yeah, Jimmy Carter, when he left the White House, really wasn't a very popular president. His approval ratings were some of the lowest that we've ever seen historically for a president. But ever since then, Jimmy Carter has earned respect for the work that he has done building houses with a group called Habitat for Humanity. Of course, his work through the Carter Center.

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06:46 - 07:06 Carl

has always had that kind of respect as a person, a very religious man, who even taught Sunday school into his later years, just years before he ended up passing away. Jimmy Carter even got the respect of someone who he has not always agreed with, the next president, Donald Trump, who paid his respects in a very gracious way just a couple of days ago in a social media post.

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07:06 - 07:11 Carl

So those memories being shared in the White House now and in the future White House too.

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07:12 - 07:27 Janet Jalil

Carl Nasman in the U.S. state of Georgia. Talks between Austria's two main centrist parties on forming a coalition government collapsed on Saturday, prompting the conservative chancellor, Karl Nehammer, to announce that he would step down.

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07:29 - 07:48 Karl Nehammer

After the breakdown of the talks, I will therefore do the following. I will resign as Chancellor and also as leader of the People's Party in the next few days, thus enabling an orderly transition. This transition is particularly important to me because I have always stood for stability in our country and in the People's Party.

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07:49 - 08:09 Janet Jalil

A third party, NEOS, had walked away from the talks a day earlier on Friday. The negotiations had been complicated by the decision of these parties to exclude a far-right party, the FPO, that won the largest share of the vote in elections last year. Here's our Vienna correspondent, Bethany Bell.

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08:10 - 08:34 Bethany Bell

The head of the Conservatives, Chancellor Karl Nehammer, said his party and the Social Democrats had failed to agree on key issues. He said he would resign as Chancellor and party leader in the coming days. The far-right Freedom Party, the FPO, won the general election in September, but Mr Nehammer and the other parties had ruled out forming a coalition with the FPO leader, Herbert Kickle.

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08:34 - 08:44 Bethany Bell

Analysts say the collapse of the talks means that likely options could be a coalition between the Freedom Party and the Conservatives or a snap election.

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08:45 - 08:59 Janet Jalil

Bethany Bell. And Austria is not the only European country struggling to form a stable government as the far right is on the rise again. Germany is holding its own snap elections next month and it seems that Elon Musk wants to get involved.

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09:00 - 09:17 Janet Jalil

The world's richest man is due to host a conversation with the leader of the far-right German party, the AfD, which polls suggest could come second in the elections. Mr Musk has also attacked Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Here's our Berlin correspondent Jessica Parker.

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09:18 - 09:39 Jessica Parker

The Chancellor Olaf Scholz told a German magazine he's staying cool about Elon Musk's activities. He added it's the will of citizens that counts, not the erratic statements of a billionaire. Elon Musk has previously described him as a fool and recently penned a controversial opinion piece endorsing Alternativa für Deutschland or the AFD.

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09:40 - 09:57 Jessica Parker

The AFD is a far-right party that's even classed as extremist in certain German states by domestic intelligence. Mr. Musk dismissed such allegations and claimed he'd earned the right to speak out on German politics because of his significant investments in the EU's largest economy.

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09:58 - 10:19 Jessica Parker

Notably, Mr Musk's electric car-making brand Tesla has a huge factory in the eastern state of Brandenburg, just outside Berlin. Now, this coming week, Mr Musk is expected to hold a live online discussion with the AFD's candidate for Chancellor, Alice Weidel. This all comes just weeks ahead of Germany's snap federal election.

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10:19 - 10:43 Jessica Parker

The vote will take place on February the 23rd, following the collapse of Germany's bickering three-way coalition that comprised of Chancellor Scholz's Social Democrats, the Greens and the FDP Liberals. The AFD, despite polling second, has little prospect of taking power because other parties won't work with it, while Olaf Scholz's chances of retaining the chancellery have long looked slim.

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10:44 - 10:52 Jessica Parker

Nevertheless, Germany looks set to be the next electoral testing ground for Elon Musk's apparent willingness to wade in to national politics.

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10:53 - 11:13 Janet Jalil

Jessica Parker, let's turn now to political turmoil, not in Europe, but in Asia. The freezing cold weather in South Korea's capital, Seoul, is not taking the heat out of the political crisis there. A month after its president, Young Sung-yool, stunned this young democracy by trying to impose martial law.

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11:14 - 11:39 Janet Jalil

A day after investigators were forced to abandon an attempt to arrest the impeached president after being blocked by hundreds of his security personnel, protesters turned out in force again on Saturday. The demonstrations, which went late into the night, were both for and against the suspended president.

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11:41 - 11:51 Karl Nehammer

What kind of situation is this country suffering right now? Eight years ago, they unjustly removed the president. Now they're trying to remove President Yoon as well, based on absurd charges.

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11:54 - 12:05 Protester

In this kind of unjust society, we're not just going to comply. We're holding this protest to oppose the government. I hope every one of us will come together so that our country moves towards a true democracy.

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12:06 - 12:16 Janet Jalil

This comes as the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, is on his way to South Korea. Our Asia-Pacific editor, Mickey Bristow, told me more about the latest demonstrations there.

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12:17 - 12:32 Mickey Bristow

Tens of thousands of people have come together as we heard there, protesters from both sides of the divide. That's people who want to see the suspended president not only arrested, but they want to see him prosecuted and completely removed from office.

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12:33 - 12:51 Mickey Bristow

There are also his supporters who want to see the impeachment, which was voted for by the National Assembly, still got to be approved, but they want to see that impeachment rescinded. So both sides are of the divide out protesting throughout Seoul, central areas mainly, but also around the presidential compound.

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12:51 - 13:07 Mickey Bristow

And that's complicated matters about trying to arrest the president or this former president because investigators want to speak to him. They want to arrest him. They haven't been able to do that yet. And these protesters out on the streets are making that even more complicated.

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13:07 - 13:17 Janet Jalil

And South Korea is supposed to be a democracy. And yet somehow the president seems to be able to resist this attempt by the investigating authorities to arrest him.

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13:17 - 13:35 Mickey Bristow

Yeah, it's all quite complicated. And it does appear to be that scenario. They've had impeached presidents before, but never before has a sitting president faced this kind of situation where he is essentially wanted by the authorities who want to arrest him. That hasn't arisen before.

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13:35 - 13:53 Mickey Bristow

We have people around President Yoon who essentially were given the job as presidential security service, given the job of protecting him. That's what they are doing. Everyone's doing their job, but it's not clear how this legal situation is going to be resolved.

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13:53 - 14:08 Janet Jalil

And meanwhile, you've got a country that's reeling from a devastating plane crash. A lot of people are very concerned about the short-lived attempt last month by the suspended president to impose martial law. Is the absence of clear leadership being felt?

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14:08 - 14:29 Mickey Bristow

Well, obviously, the absence of any clear leadership in any country is going to be a problem, and particularly in South Korea, which faces a number of important threats. North Korea, for one thing, and in fact, the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, is on his way to Seoul He's going to be holding talks on Monday to discuss a number of issues. North Korea will be among them.

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14:29 - 14:53 Mickey Bristow

So clearly, Antony Blinken will want to go to Seoul and he wants to have a conversation with somebody who's in charge, who can affect and make decisions and understand what the latest thinking of the South Korean government is. It doesn't appear from the outside that person exists. But having said that, South Korea is not a one-party state. I'd imagine the country is still getting on with the

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14:54 - 15:01 Mickey Bristow

basic levels of government, but at the higher levels, it seems function is broken down.

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15:02 - 15:16 Janet Jalil

Mickey Bristow. The world's oldest person has died in Japan at the age of 116. Tomiko Ituka died in a nursing home near Osaka, the city where she was born. Grant Ferrett reports.

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15:17 - 15:40 Grant Ferrett

The local mayor paid tribute to Tomiko Ituka, saying her long life had given hope and courage to others. Born in 1908, she went on to fit a pattern common to many supercentenarians. She stayed close to her birthplace for much of her 116 years. She also ate healthily, expressing a fondness for bananas. Exercise was an important part of her life.

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15:41 - 15:54 Grant Ferrett

She was into her 70s when she became interested in mountaineering. And unlike many Japanese pensioners, she avoided social isolation, living with her daughters for several decades. Grant Ferrett.

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15:54 - 16:16 Janet Jalil

It's just a couple of weeks or so before Donald Trump is due to be sworn in as US president. His campaign promise to deport millions of immigrants has many people living in fear and trying to get their paperwork in order. Nowhere more so than in California, which has the largest immigrant population in the US. But the Democratic governor there says he will protect them.

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16:16 - 16:18 Janet Jalil

Reagan Morris reports from Los Angeles.

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16:19 - 16:20 Reagan Morris

Good morning.

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16:20 - 16:22 Chip Carter

Buenos dias, familia. Como estan?

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16:23 - 16:37 Reagan Morris

Immigrants packed into a public school in Los Angeles to get free legal advice. Workshops to help immigrants get their papers in order have been held across California since Donald Trump was elected in November. Many here say they are afraid of being deported.

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16:37 - 16:47 Andrea

I am feeling anxious about what is going to happen in the next four years. I'm worried of my safety.

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16:47 - 16:56 Reagan Morris

Andrea is 33 and came to the U.S. from Mexico as a child. Like everyone else at this workshop, she didn't want her full name used to protect her identity.

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16:56 - 17:12 Andrea

I want one day for my kids to come home, and I'm not home because I was deported. So, yeah, it's just because I'm worried and I have a family here. I pay my taxes. I'm a teacher as well.

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17:14 - 17:32 Reagan Morris

Like many people in California, some members of Andrea's own family supported Donald Trump for president, including her mother, who herself is vulnerable to deportation. Although unable to vote, Andrea's mother urged others to support Trump because she believes he will be better for the economy and that he will only deport criminal immigrants.

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17:35 - 17:57 Reagan Morris

Since the election, Californians have come out demonstrating in support of immigrant rights, and the state has vowed to defend its immigrant population. California sued the Trump administration more than 120 times last time Donald Trump was president, and California Governor Newsom convened a special session of the legislature to prepare for possible future lawsuits.

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17:58 - 18:09 California Governor Newsom

As it relates to the special session, that's a special session to focus on litigation, preparation. As it relates to the reality, it's not a theoretical exercise. We know what happened the last time Donald Trump was president.

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18:10 - 18:24 Reagan Morris

Although Donald Trump lost California, as was expected, he did better here this election than four years ago, with 38% of the Golden State's vote. And he won the presidency with the promise of deporting millions of people.

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18:24 - 18:33

I will rescue every city and town that has been invaded and conquered. I will launch the largest deportation program in American history.

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18:34 - 18:54 Reagan Morris

Critics say he will struggle to keep his promises. Immigration attorneys say the system is so backlogged that they don't see how anyone could deport so many people. Tess Feldman is an immigration attorney for the Los Angeles LGBT Center. She says many of her clients seeking asylum had their cases started under the first Trump administration.

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18:54 - 19:07 Tess Feldman

When I appear before a judge, I often request the first available court date for my client to be heard on their case. And oftentimes that's a two- or three-year scheduling wait.

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19:08 - 19:23 Tess Feldman

So to hear that hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions more people, families, children would be processed through this system that is already operating with a two-, three-, four-year lag, I am curious how this would be physically possible in this country.

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19:24 - 19:47 Reagan Morris

Many are curious how that will work. But critics say any attempt to Trump-proof California is premature and that people should focus on the facts, not the rhetoric. Although the Biden administration was blamed for letting the border get out of control, the fact is his administration deported more immigrants in 2024 than Donald Trump ever did, more than 270,000 people.

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19:47 - 19:52 Reagan Morris

That was the highest tally of deportations since Obama was in office 10 years ago.

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19:53 - 20:05 Janet Jalil

That report by Reagan Morris. Still to come, we hear why many highly qualified Chinese graduates are struggling to find work.

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20:05 - 20:18 Advertisement voice

China is now a country where your high school's handyman may have a master's degree in physics, where a cleaner could be qualified in environmental planning, a delivery driver perhaps studied philosophy.

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20:26 - 20:42 Oliver Conway

Discover how to lead a better life in our age of confusion. Enjoy this BBC audiobook collection, written and presented by bestselling author Oliver Berkman, containing four useful guides to tackling some central ills of modernity. Busyness, anger, the insistence on positivity and the decline of nuance.

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20:43 - 20:54 Narrator

Our lives today can feel like miniature versions of this relentless churn of activity. We find we're rushing around more crazily than ever. Somewhere, when we weren't looking, it's like busyness became a way of life.

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20:54 - 21:00 Oliver Conway

Start listening to Oliver Berkman, Epidemics of Modern Life. Available to purchase wherever you get your audiobooks.

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21:05 - 21:27 Janet Jalil

You're listening to the Global News Podcast. Even as there's been a renewed push yet again to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza war and secure the release of Israeli hostages, there's been a surge in Israeli attacks and the number of Palestinians killed. Israel doesn't allow foreign journalists independent access to Gaza so we have to rely on figures from the Hamas-run health authorities there.

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21:28 - 21:42 Janet Jalil

On Saturday, they said a total of 136 people had been killed over the past 48 hours, among them a family of 11, most of them children. Emma Nader is following developments from Jerusalem.

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21:43 - 22:01 Emma Barnett

A series of heavy Israeli airstrikes have hit the Gaza Strip as pressure builds on both sides taking part in the ceasefire negotiations in the Qatari capital Doha. In one attack at dawn, civil defence officials reported that around a dozen displaced people were killed when a building in Gaza City was hit by an Israeli strike. Ahmed Ayan lives nearby.

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22:01 - 22:22 Ahmed al-Sharra

At around 2am, we were woken by the sound of a huge explosion. And we were surprised to find that it was on the house of our neighbours. It was filled with people. Around 14 or 15 were staying there. Most of them are women and children. They are all civilians. There is no one there who shot missiles, nor is from the resistance.

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22:22 - 22:42 Emma Barnett

The Israeli military has said that in the past week it had struck more than 40 Hamas gathering points and command centres throughout the Gaza Strip, but hasn't commented directly on the latest strikes. Hamas has published a video of one of the hostages taken during its attack on the 7th of October 2023. It shows Liri Albag, who's 19. She had been serving in the Israeli military.

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22:42 - 22:59 Emma Barnett

In a still image which was released from the video by a group representing the families of the Israeli hostages, she is seen holding her head in her hands. In a statement, Lira Al-Bagh's parents said the video had torn their hearts to pieces and they appealed to the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make decisions as if your own children were there.

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23:00 - 23:15 Emma Barnett

In a call to Lira Al-Bagh's parents, the Israeli President Isaac Herzog said his country's delegation must remain at the negotiating table until all 100 hostages were returned home. The hostage families group believe there is pressure on both sides to reach an agreement ahead of President Trump's inauguration this month.

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23:16 - 23:21 Emma Barnett

The incoming president has warned they would be held to pay if a deal wasn't concluded by the time he takes office.

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23:23 - 23:44 Janet Jalil

Emma Nader. It's a country blessed with virtually every type of mineral, but for the Democratic Republic of Congo, its huge natural wealth has been a curse over the centuries. Having shaken itself free of the shackles of colonialism, Congo is still trying to fight off outsiders. Among them, a Rwandan-backed rebel group, the M23,

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23:46 - 24:03 Janet Jalil

which having taken vast swathes of mineral-rich territory in the past four years, has now taken two towns in North Kivu province in just two days, with the Congolese army and its allied militia apparently unable to stop them. Our Africa regional editor, Will Ross, told me more.

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24:04 - 24:27 Will Ross

I think the capture of Masisi is significant. This is the capital of an administrative area and we understand that the Congolese army sent a lot of ammunition there to try and defend this town. It's somewhere that's been very well defended before and has been seen as a kind of prize. But the army and the militias couldn't defend it. It was taken over by the M23.

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24:28 - 24:43 Will Ross

This is a group that's been imposing taxes on the mines that it captures in the areas it seizes. And people are looking at the map and kind of wondering where is next. But this is clearly part of a very rapid expansion by this M23 rebel group.

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24:44 - 24:47 Janet Jalil

And tell us about Rwanda's involvement with this group.

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24:48 - 25:10 Will Ross

So Rwanda initially denied being involved but doesn't really counter the claims now and there has been a lot of evidence that they're supporting this M23 rebel group. and that there have been Rwandan troops in Congo. Rwanda has always said that this Tutsi population in eastern Congo is under threat.

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25:11 - 25:33 Will Ross

And this is a Tutsi-led group, the M23, fighting to really protect the Tutsi population, which Rwanda says has kind of been discriminated against for many years. So the M23 itself says, you know, we are simply fighting for our rights. But then the whole mineral question comes in and people look at the minerals that are moving through Rwanda to get onto the global market.

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25:33 - 25:52 Will Ross

These are vital minerals for the whole energy sector and for our mobile phones. And the Rwandan government's also concerned about the presence of hydrocarbons. Hutu rebels in eastern Congo and it's always blamed the Kinshasa government for working with those rebels and not doing enough to stop them from being active and helping Rwanda.

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25:53 - 26:16 Janet Jalil

Will Ross. The once high-octane Chinese economy is currently struggling. As a result, many highly qualified graduates haven't been able to get the jobs they thought they would and are instead having to work as cleaners, couriers or waiters, often to the disappointment of their parents. Our China correspondent Stephen McDonnell went to meet some of these overqualified workers.

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26:19 - 26:40 Advertisement voice

China is now a country where your high school's handyman may have a master's degree in physics, where a cleaner could be qualified in environmental planning. delivery driver, perhaps studied philosophy, and where a PhD graduate from the prestigious Tsinghua University can end up applying to work as an auxiliary police officer.

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26:40 - 26:55 Advertisement voice

These are all real cases, and it's not hard to find others, like 25-year-old Sun Jian, who graduated with a master's degree in finance. We met him in the southern city of Nanjing, where he's employed as a waiter in a hotpot restaurant.

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26:57 - 27:04 Sun Jian

My dream job was to work in investment banking. If I could invest in some good company stocks, I could make a lot of money.

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27:04 - 27:26 Advertisement voice

And has he looked for such work, I asked. I've looked for such a job, but with no good results. China is churning out millions of university graduates every year, and in some fields there just aren't enough jobs to soak them all up. When Sun Zhan ended up as a waiter, this was met with displeasure by his parents.

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27:28 - 27:39 Sun Jian

My family's opinions are indeed a big concern for me. After all, I studied for many years and went to a pretty good school. For me to do a job with no threshold makes them feel embarrassed.

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27:42 - 27:59 Advertisement voice

Big-budget movies require lots of extras to fill out their scenes. And in China's famous film production town of Hongdian, southwest of Shanghai, there are plenty of university graduates looking for acting work, including one we met who studied computer programming.

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27:59 - 28:09 Graduates Interviewee

This is the situation in China, isn't it? The moment you graduate, you become unemployed. I've come here to find work while I'm still young. When I get older, I'll find a stable job.

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28:11 - 28:23 Advertisement voice

Another graduate who studied electronic information engineering spoke to us before heading off to play a bodyguard. The 26-year-old laughed that his good looks have helped him become employed as an extra.

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28:25 - 28:35 Graduates Interviewee

I mainly stand beside a protagonist as eye candy. I am a foreground actor with a good appearance who is seen next to the lead actors but with no lines.

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28:36 - 28:37 Advertisement voice

I asked if he likes it.

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28:38 - 28:41 Graduates Interviewee

I don't make much money, but I'm relaxed and feel free.

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28:42 - 29:02 Advertisement voice

He said people often come to Hengdian and work for just a few months at a time. In his case, he said it was just a temporary fix till he could find something permanent. 29-year-old Wu Dan says her Hong Kong University of Science and Technology classmates have all found it hard to secure decent positions after returning to the mainland.

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29:07 - 29:19 Wu Dan

The job market has been really tough. It's difficult to find work. For many of my master's degree classmates, it's their first time hunting for a job, and very few of them have ended up landing one.

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29:20 - 29:23 Advertisement voice

Even her friends who are employed can feel quite lost.

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29:25 - 29:39 Wu Dan

In fact, they are quite confused and feel that the future is unclear. Those with jobs are not satisfied with them. Also, they don't know for how long they can hold on to these positions.

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29:39 - 29:54 Advertisement voice

It's unclear when and even if this will all turn around in China. But in the meantime, you should never assume you know what has led this country's waiters or cleaners or movie extras to where they are today.

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29:55 - 30:18 Janet Jalil

That report by our China correspondent Stephen McDonald. In these days of laptops, tablets and smartphones, typewriters might seem like long-outdated technology. But one form of typewriter is still very much in use here in the UK. Despite advances in technology, the Perkins Braille typewriters are still a vital communication tool for blind users.

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30:19 - 30:45 Janet Jalil

Alan Thorpe is Britain's last certified fixer of them. He took some of the machines to a special conference to mark World Braille Day in Britain on Saturday and to mark the 200th anniversary of the Frenchman Louis Braille inventing embossed type. One of his machines dates back to the 1880s. Jane Hill asked Alan, who is blind to himself, to describe the Perkins Braille typewriter.

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30:46 - 31:12 Alan Thorpe

They weigh between five and a half and six kilos. It's used by people of all ages, from small children all the way through to pensioners and older generations. It's there for learning to read and for writing. So I've been using one for nearly 45 years. It's recuted that there are about 500 parts inside a Perkins Brailler.

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31:13 - 31:13 Reagan Morris

Wow.

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31:14 - 31:47 Alan Thorpe

Some tiny, tiny little springs the size of a grain of rice to larger bits, a drum for actually winding the paper round. It is fiddly work and I enjoy doing it. I'd like somebody else to learn. We never know what's round the corner for us. I've now just turned 60 and I think it's time that somebody else sort of took it on a bit and I'm self-employed and do this.

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31:47 - 32:10 Alan Thorpe

I'm probably not in a position to employ somebody to do it, but happy for somebody to come along and be shown how to do it. I would still be on hand, but more for somebody to become that entrepreneur themselves, learn how to do it, do some servicing under their own steam, and I support them as long as I can.

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32:11 - 32:22 Jane Hill

Alan, you talk about being self-employed, but is it partly a hobby as well? I mean, do you actually really love this and the challenge of working out what's wrong with the machine and then making it right again?

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32:22 - 32:36 Alan Thorpe

Yes. If a machine just comes for a service, it's just boring. It's just routine. The bottom off, the top, the back. The screwdriver knows its own way. It's been used that many times.

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32:37 - 32:39 Jane Hill

Not any screwdrivers I use.

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32:41 - 33:08 Alan Thorpe

But then actually trying to diagnose what the problem is, trying to get parts shipped over from America, because again, it's the only place you can get them from. There's quite hefty costs where there are some machines which are being used for donor parts because they've had a hard life. Yes, I've got a machine here that's nearly 70 years old and still working.

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33:08 - 33:14 Alan Thorpe

I've got a few which are probably 40 or 50 years old which are still working.

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33:14 - 33:21 Jane Hill

If an apprentice doesn't come along and if there isn't someone who comes to you who you can train up, what does that mean, do you think?

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33:21 - 33:46 Alan Thorpe

If nobody comes along, I would assume the servicing might still take place, but somebody to actually... and have the skills passed on for actually doing the major repairs, there probably wouldn't be anybody around. It's hard to imagine nobody being around for it, but it probably is the actual realistic answer.

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33:46 - 34:12 Janet Jalil

Alan Thorpe, who for now is Britain's last certified fixer of the Perkins Braille typewriter. And that's all from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the Global News Podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. This edition was mixed by Tom Bartlett. The producer was Liam McSheffery.

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34:12 - 34:16 Janet Jalil

The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Janette Jalil. Until next time, goodbye.

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34:26 - 34:40 Narrator

Yoga is more than just exercise. It's the spiritual practice that millions swear by. And in 2017, Miranda, a university tutor from London, joins a yoga school that promises profound transformation.

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34:40 - 34:47 Miranda

It felt a really safe and welcoming space. After the yoga classes, I felt amazing.

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34:47 - 35:00 Narrator

But soon, that calm, welcoming atmosphere leads to something far darker, a journey that leads to allegations of grooming, trafficking and exploitation across international borders.

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35:01 - 35:05 Miranda

I don't have my passport, I don't have my phone, I don't have my bank cards, I have nothing.

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35:05 - 35:11 Yoga Interviewee

The passport being taken, the being in a house and not feeling like they can leave.

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35:12 - 35:30 Narrator

World of Secrets is where untold stories are unveiled and hidden realities are exposed. In this new series, we're confronting the dark side of the wellness industry with a hope of a spiritual breakthrough gives way to disturbing accusations. You just get sucked in so gradually.

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35:31 - 35:59 Miranda

And it's done so skillfully that you don't realize. And it's like this, the secret that's there. I wanted to believe that, you know, that. Whatever they were doing, even if it seemed gross to me, was for some spiritual reason that I couldn't yet understand. Revealing the hidden secrets of a global yoga network. I feel that I have no other choice.

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36:00 - 36:29 Miranda

The only thing I can do is to speak about this and to put my reputation and everything else on the line. I want truth and justice. and for other people to not be hurt, for things to be different in the future. To bring it into the light and almost alchemise some of that evil stuff that went on and take back the power.

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36:32 - 36:37 Narrator

World of Secrets, Season 6, The Bad Guru. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

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