Israeli minister sparks anger by praying at Jerusalem holy site

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You're listening to the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.

Hello, I'm Oliver Conway.

This edition is published in the early hours of Monday, the 4th of August.

A controversial visit by far-right Israeli Minister Itamar Ben-Gavir to the Al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem is condemned by Arab nations.

Dozens of African migrants have drowned after their boats sank off the coast of Yemen.

And the trial of the deposed Bangladeshi Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, has begun, but she's not there.

Also in the podcast, as Pope Leo addresses a million or so young Catholics in Rome, we meet the influencers who are spreading the word online.

Hi guys, I'm Father Manuel.

I'm a Franciscan Catholic priest.

Recently I wrote a song on It's a Rap song and it was really a banger.

The Al-Aqsa Mosque and Temple Mount compound in Jerusalem is an extremely sensitive site, holy to both Jews and Muslims.

Under a decades-old convention, Jewish worshipers can visit, but they're not allowed to pray there.

On Sunday morning, Israel's far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gavir, broke that agreement by traveling to the compound and reciting Jewish prayers along with at least 1,000 others.

While he was there, he spoke about the recent Hamas videos of starving Israeli hostages in Gaza.

These horror videos are an attempt to put pressure on the state of Israel, he said.

From here at the Temple Mount, we should send a message and make sure we conquer the whole of the Gaza Strip and encourage voluntary emigration.

The visit's been called provocative by the Palestinians and condemned by Arab nations.

I heard more about the controversy from our correspondent in Jerusalem, Hugo Bashega.

It's not the first time that Itamar Bengavir visits the Alexa compound in the old city of Jerusalem, but today it was the first time that he was seen leading prayers at the site.

And this is a violation of a long-time arrangement that allows Jews to visit the site.

They know this site as the Temple Mount, but they're not allowed to pray there.

So this is obviously, you know, has been seen as a major provocation by Palestinians, by the Jordanians who are in charge of the site.

And today is an important day for Jews.

It's the day they mourn two ancient Jewish temples that stood at this site centuries ago.

So this is perhaps the reason why he was there today.

Of course, it also comes at a time when Israel is under pressure over the war in Gaza, reports that negotiations might be about to resume.

What does it mean for the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?

Because he relies on Itmar Bengavir to shore up his government.

Exactly, and I think for some of his observers, the Prime Minister has been held hostage, perhaps, by not only Bengavir, but also Betsalis Motrich, who is also a far-right member of his coalition.

They are against any kind of deal with Hamas.

They've been threatening to quit the government if there is any kind of deal.

And this could lead to the collapse of the coalition of the Prime Minister.

And a lot of people believe, including the families of the hostages, that the Prime Minister is prolonging the conflict to save his governing coalition.

But I think now the situation is different because Israel is under a lot of pressure.

The country is facing growing international isolation because of the catastrophic situation in Gaza, the humanitarian crisis, the hunger crisis in Gaza.

There many believe, including some of Israel's allies in the West, that has been created by Israeli policies policies in Gaza.

So it is a very difficult situation for the Prime Minister now.

And obviously, the recent news emerging from Gaza in terms of the hostages, we've seen two videos that have been released by Hamas showing two hostages in a very difficult situation, emaciated.

That is putting more pressure on the Prime Minister to strike a deal with Hamas because the families of the hostages say that time is running out to save the hostages who are still alive.

Now, during the visits, Itamar Ben-Gavir repeated his demand that Israel conquers the whole of the Gaza Strip and said we should encourage voluntary emigration, to quote him.

What do you make of that?

I mean, it's very interesting because some people will say, Well, look, these are radical views of radical members of the government.

You should dismiss these remarks.

But the point is that these are comments that have been made by a high-profile member of the government.

And experts say that any kind of voluntary migration of Palestinians, as he describes it, would amount to the forced displacement of civilians, and this could be a war crime.

Hugo Beshege in Jerusalem.

Well, the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza reported six more deaths from starvation on Sunday, while hospitals there said Israeli forces had killed at least 27 Palestinians trying to get aid.

The Israeli Prime Minister has requested the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross in getting food and medical care to the Israeli hostages in Gaza.

Hamas has said it will allow the Red Cross access, providing that aid corridors are open for all areas in the territory.

A boat carrying 150 migrants has sunk off Yemen's southern coast, killing more than 50 people, with many others missing.

Reports say the migrants were Ethiopian and the boat capsized in bad weather.

Temeskin Debesai reports.

Yemeni security forces say they're conducting a major operation to recover the bodies of Ethiopian migrants who drowned off the coast of Abiyan while attempting to enter the country illegally.

Numerous bodies have been found along beaches, with others still feared missing at sea.

Despite ongoing conflict, Yemen remains a key route for migrants seeking work in Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The UN's International Organization for Migration reports that tens of thousands remain stranded in Yemen, often facing abuse and exploitation.

A solar-powered device broadcasting biblical messages in Spanish and Portuguese has been discovered deep in the Brazilian Amazon in protected indigenous territory.

The item was found in a village belonging to the Corubo, a recently contacted group living in the remote Javari Valley.

Missionary work in these areas is is illegal.

This possible attempt at covert evangelizing was uncovered by The Guardian and Oglobo newspapers, as I heard from journalist John Reed.

The device is about the size of a cell phone, and it has loaded on it the Bible in two languages, in Spanish and Portuguese.

It also has a torch that is sort of, if you looked at the top edge of your phone, that's where the torch would be.

And it has a solar panel on the back so that it can be recharged in a remote location.

And this was found in an area where people aren't really supposed to go.

Who do you think put it there?

Now, that's the big mystery, Oliver.

We interviewed Indigenous people who've been involved with missionary organizations in the past.

We solicited comment from those organizations.

And we went and talked to the manufacturer of the device, which is a religious organization in the United States.

And all they were able to tell us is that they don't go into these restricted areas, but they weren't able to help us to figure out who might have taken it there.

But the intention seems to have been someone trying to spread news of Christianity to these uncontacted or recently contacted people.

That's what we think is a reasonable conclusion.

The devices aren't for sale, so they're distributed through missionary organizations.

And all that's on the device is the Bible plus some religious doctrine lectures by a Baptist minister in the U.S.

So it really isn't serving any other purpose.

And they hope that someone wanders along, listens, is able to understand, and then what, maybe converts to Christianity?

That's the idea.

The villages where the Karubo people live, most of the people, they were contacted anywhere between 10 and 30 years ago.

So very few of them speak either Spanish or Portuguese.

But some of the teenagers, some of the young people have become conversant in Portuguese and so could

understand at least what is being said, if not understand the religious doctrine that's being communicated.

And what's been the reaction of the authorities to the uncovering of this device?

My colleague Daniel Biaceto from the Globo newspaper has spoken with authorities in the federal public ministry in Brazil, and they were shocked.

They hadn't heard about this, and they are investigating it.

Yeah, and just give us an idea of the terrain and how difficult it would be for someone to get in and plant this device.

And it was just one of several.

Yeah, we were able to confirm one device because the video and photo files that we have, none of them show two devices together.

We heard of more devices being in the village.

As far as the terrain goes, the Javari Valley is an area the size of Portugal.

It's massive.

The Karubo people, though, live fairly near to the entrance point to the territory, really not that far from Brazilian cities.

Now, one hypothesis is that somebody snuck in there and deposited it in the village.

Another is the Karubo are frequently transported to the nearby city of Tabachinga for health care, and health workers are often visiting the villages.

So there could have been somebody who brought it in who is providing services to the Karubo.

John Reed of the Guardian newspaper.

Around the world, many countries are facing a shortage of nurses, with experts warning the profession is at breaking point.

The issue has been highlighted by a film called Late Shift about overworked nurses in a Swiss hospital.

The low-budget project has already been a box-office hit in German-speaking Europe, and it's opening in the UK and Ireland this week.

Stephanie Prentice has the details.

The film Late Shift set out to imagine the consequences of one missed shift on a busy night at a hospital.

But its director, Petra Volp, said in doing so, she found herself making a disaster movie.

Main character Floria arrives at work and hears another nurse has called in sick, compounding her workload and driving up the likelihood she'll make a potentially fatal mistake.

We didn't just want to make a film that's where you can sit back comfortably.

We really wanted to put the audience into the shoes of a nurse.

I did so many premieres in Germany and Switzerland, and the audience was full with nurses, and they would all say, this is actually our everyday life.

The idea for the film came after the director lived with a nurse, watching her coming home exhausted after her shifts and being shocked at the magnitude of the role.

The sad thing is there's such a distorted image of nursing in media.

In hospital series usually they're somewhere in the background, you know, they fall in love with the doctor or they put up an IV and that's about it.

But actually the nurses are at the center of a functioning healthcare system and hospital.

Like if you don't have good aftercare after a successful operation surgery, you can still die.

The film has been praised by critics and sparked debates over policy reform in health services.

The production team spent time at a hospital in Switzerland and worked with nurses on the script and said workers reported feeling demoralized and overworked and that's why many nurses are leaving the profession.

But the film's intention isn't to put people off.

I think if somebody is put off by the film they would never survive the job.

A lot of young nurses who watched the film they felt very empowered because finally they felt seen and I think that's also the sadness that a lot of nurses they don't feel seen.

It's historically been a woman's job.

So I think it's symptomatic that it's a labor that's been pushed to the brink, that's been exploited.

And I think it's definitely connected to the fact that it's women doing this job.

Petra Volp calls her finished project a love letter to nursing and wants it to cause change not just at government level but on the hospital floors.

There's more and more violence against nurses.

People are very impatient.

They think they're the only patient on the ward.

We hope that the film really also creates better patients to show the patients when the nurse leaves your room, she isn't just going to drink coffee, she's leaving because she has three other patients waiting.

That report by Stephanie Prentiss.

Still to come on the Global News podcast, researchers in Australia solved the World War II mystery about a gift to Winston Churchill that never arrived.

They liked keeping certain animals from across the world.

Because of this interest, he had requested a platypus be sent from Australia.

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The trial of the deposed Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has begun in the capital, Dhaka.

She's facing charges of committing crimes against humanity during a mass uprising last year.

1,400 people die during the nationwide protests which led to her overthrow.

Sheikh Hasina, who denies the charges, is being tried in her absence.

She fled Bangladesh and is being sheltered by India, despite protests by the interim Bangladeshi government.

Our South Asia regional editor, Anrasan Eti Rajan, spoke to Julia McFarlane.

As you may remember, there were weeks of protests against her rule a year ago, in which hundreds of people were killed, many of them in clashes between police and protesters.

And the UN and other agencies are talking about more than 1,400 people killed in the violence.

And following this intense protest, she fled to India.

And since then, an interim government is in place.

And this trial marks a formal legal process, a key moment in the legal proceedings against Ms.

Hasina, because the interim government, led by Professor Mohammad Yunus and other political parties, they want to show the world that there is a formal legal process against Ms.

Hasina and they want to go through, interview, or bring witnesses to the courtroom to prove the charges.

On the other hand, Ms.

Hasina and her supporters say the entire trial is a farce and it is politically motivated and they didn't even get any formal legal notices.

So this trial is being keenly watched in Bangladesh and many people want to know answers to the questions about what happened to the loved ones who were killed during the protest.

And Bharatan, it's been a year since those mass uprisings.

What has changed in Bangladesh since Ms.

Hasina's rule?

It was a momentous change for Bangladesh for the last one year because nearly 15 years Ms.

Hasina was ruling with a very iron hand and there were allegations of human rights abuses and how the dissent was curtailed with a very, very firm hand using security forces.

Now in the past one year what what many people would say it's been a mixed bag with the economy stabilizing to a certain extent, with political parties operating freely and many of them released from prison.

On the other hand, some would also point out the law on order situation, particularly

street crimes, have increased, and then the interim government should focus more on establishing law and order in the streets.

And Marasan Etirajan, our South Asia Regional Editor.

Two months ago, a huge landslide wiped out the Swiss village of Blatten, causing shock across the Alps.

Climate scientists have long warned that global warming is making alpine regions more prone to natural disasters as the permafrost thaws and glaciers melt.

But what risk is too big, and when is the cost of reconstruction too high?

Our correspondent Imogen Folks has gone back to the disaster zone.

Looking down at the disaster zone now, it's hard to believe a village stood there for 800 years.

All I can see is a vast stretch of rock and mud, and here and there a bulldozer.

It's tiny in comparison.

It's pushing rubble out of the way, and the whole thing seems kind of futile.

Blatten's 300 residents were luckily evacuated just before the disaster, and of course, now they want to go home.

I'm on my way to see Blatton's mayor, Matthias Belvault.

He's determined the village will be rebuilt exactly where it was.

He's a mountain man, and he dismisses the suggestion that climate change might make that too risky.

Life itself is risky.

None of us survived that.

What happened here was a once-in-a-thousand years event, and disasters can happen anywhere.

In the cities, you can have floods or earthquakes.

But the clean-up and rebuild of this one small village will take years with a price tag of hundreds of millions of dollars, maybe even a million per resident.

Is it worth it when glacier experts like Matthias Hus say such disasters may happen again and again?

This can quite clearly be linked to climate change because the warming has resulted in changes in the permafrost and also the glacial retreat has led to the fact that the glaciers stabilized the mountain less efficiently than before.

It is not the very first time that we're seeing seeing big landslides in the Alps.

But what should be worrying us is that these events are becoming more frequent, but also more unpredictable.

But the people of Blattner are doing everything to keep their community alive.

The village choir now sings in a neighboring church.

The mother and toddler group is up and running.

Three-quarters of Swiss Swiss live in cities, but they remain deeply attached to their alpine regions.

The cities, in fact, subsidise life here in the mountains, and you can see the investment.

A regular bus service, a schoolhouse, a doctor's local shops, and they're all connected by masterpieces of Swiss engineering, railways, tunnels, cable cars, high alpine passes.

Boris Previsich of the University of Lucerne's Institute for Alpine Cultures says some Swiss may have begun to believe they had tamed the alpine environment.

In the past, we thought we can do everything without infrastructure, and now there is no technical mean to adapt to this situation.

You cannot hold back the whole mountain.

That's impossible.

But Latin's residents clearly want to stay put.

Most now live in neighboring villages as close as possible to their destroyed homes, waiting to go back.

Imogen, folks.

In the biggest event of his papacy so far, the new American head of the Catholic Church, Pope Leo XIV, has celebrated Sunday Mass for an estimated one million young Catholics.

The Vatican says worshippers came from around the world for the event, which is part of the Church's Jubilee Year.

The pontiff travelled by helicopter and Pope Mobile to the Tor Vagata field on the outskirts of Rome, where he delivered this message to the faithful: We are with the young people of Gaza.

We are with the young people of Ukraine.

With those of every land bloodied by war.

My young brothers and sisters, you are the sign that a different world is possible.

A world of fraternity and friendship, where conflicts are not resolved with weapons, but with dialogue.

The Pope.

Well, as part of the event, the Vatican has been hosting a gathering of a thousand Catholic influencers.

These young believers are attracting big online followings on Instagram and YouTube by sharing their thoughts on prayer and worship, often via music.

Our Rome correspondent, Sarah Rainsford, met some of them.

I'm Father Raphael Capo.

I'm a priest of the Archdiocese of Miami.

I've been bodybuilding and weightlifting all my life since I was in high school.

I mean, I have to say, it's a bit unusual for me to look on Instagram and see a priest kind of like flexing enormous muscles and, you know, in your shorts and your vest and so on.

It's not kind of your traditional image of a Catholic priest.

Yeah, I know it's not a traditional image but it's another image, a different image that for young people, especially young men, it impacts them because they do understand it.

It's not just strength in your body, but also strength to be a better man in mind and soul.

I'm stopped all the time with young people telling me how a post about fitness and spirituality inspire them to help them strive to be a better human being and to work harder.

So it's beautiful.

Yo, listen up, let me tell you about the kid.

Carlo Coot is here, the bro on the grid, a modern-day saint.

Hi, guys.

I'm Father Manuel.

I'm a Franciscan Catholic priest.

Recently, I wrote a song on it, it's a rap song, and it was really a banger.

Yo, yo, yo, Father Manuel on the block.

A one, a two, a three, a bro.

Yeah, I think joy is a very very important part of my being on social media because that is a little bit missing in the Catholic Church.

You can see why the Vatican has brought these people to town.

Influence of course is power.

Yeah, on Instagram I have got 464,000 followers.

In the church there are only 10 people sometimes for Mass.

Through my videos, also, some consider joining the priesthood.

Catholics really do watch this stuff.

Miriam tells me she converted because of it.

So I start

seeing Mass on YouTube and I really love that.

Do you follow any influences?

Yes, Frécois Adrian.

he's French because it's on YouTube.

Lots of people talk about the idea of very good-looking priests on Instagram.

Do you think that that helps?

If you're following someone just because he's good-looking,

you need more to listen to his message.

Father Giuseppe agrees.

He is another bodybuilding priest and he is covered in tattoos.

But Father Giuseppe told me he stopped posting gym pictures on his Instagram because they were distracting.

People would comment on his physique when it was God he wanted them to appreciate.

From hot priests to gospel readings, the content out there is vast, and the Vatican is catching on to its potential.

Which is why when all the influencers met here this week, they got a visit from Pope Leo himself.

With almost 19 million followers, he is still the biggest Catholic influencer of all.

Sarah Rainsford in Rome.

A woman in New Zealand has been arrested after she was found to be traveling with a two-year-old girl inside her luggage.

Our Asia Pacific editor Celia Hatton has the story.

The arrest took place at a rest stop for long-distance bus travelers in the town of Kaiwaka.

A female passenger had asked the bus driver if she could access her luggage, which had been stored in the bottom of the bus during the first part of their journey.

The driver then noticed the woman's suitcase was moving.

When he opened it, he discovered the two-year-old girl curled up inside, alive but extremely overheated.

She's been transferred to a hospital, and the 27-year-old woman has been charged with the child's ill-treatment and neglect.

Celia Hatton.

During the Second World War, as Japanese forces advanced, Australia was keen to secure help from Britain.

So a plan was hatched to try to win the favour of the British leader, Winston Churchill.

And in 1943, the Australians sent a ship carrying a single young platypus for his menagerie.

The creature never arrived, and its death remained a mystery until now, as Andrew Peach heard from Paul Zacchi of the University of Sydney.

Winston Churchill had something of an interest in exotic animals.

I think throughout his life he had something of a menagerie as well, so he liked keeping certain animals from across the world.

Because of this interest, he had requested a platypus be sent from Australia.

Just two days before the platypus Winston arrived to his namesake, the logbook of the ship notes that he was found dead in the water.

A myth arose that this was to do with some kind of German submarine attack.

Following the war, a number of articles were released saying that the death of this platypus was due to German submarines and the interference of depth charges with the electro-sensory system of the platypus, which is present in the bill and which is quite a unique property of the platypus.

How did you get involved in trying to work out what really happened?

We partnered with the Australian Museum in undertaking some research with some recently retrieved archives from the naturalist David Flay, who was an Australian scientist.

He, of course, is the one who was responsible for the sending of the platypus.

In this collection of his, which the museum was given in 2023, the museum found the logbook of the midshipmen who looked after the platypus on its voyage from Sydney.

So we found significant evidence to suggest that the platypus died from prolonged heat stress.

Temperatures well exceeded the temperature of 27 degrees Celsius, which for humans might not seem that hot.

But for platypuses, we found in the literature that is available on platypus thermal regulation, is very hot and is a temperature at which they start to exhibit really significant signs of heat stress, including unconsciousness and dilated blood vessels and things like that.

Those data that we have don't even represent the hottest temperatures that the platypus experienced on that voyage.

So, yeah, really good evidence to suggest that the poor platypus endured quite a lot of heat.

Paul Zaki.

And that is all from us for now, but the Global News Podcast will be back very soon.

This edition was mixed by Holly Smith and produced by Alison Davis and Paul Day.

Our editors, Karen Martin, I'm Oliver Conway.

Until next time, goodbye.

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