Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City continue, days after famine declared there

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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.

I'm Will Chalk, and in the early hours of Sunday, the 24th of August, these are our main stories.

As we record this podcast, Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City continue just days after a famine was officially declared there.

Nigerian forces have attacked a bandit camp in the north of the country, freeing over 70 kidnapped victims.

There have been scuffles between police and protesters during demonstrations held across the UK against asylum seekers being housed in hotels.

Also in this podcast.

Inside this habitat, four intrepid crew members are surviving in a foreign, isolated home.

We're starting in Gaza.

Days after a UN-backed body confirmed for the first time there was a famine in Gaza City, the Israeli bombardment is continuing.

The Hamas-run health ministry in the territory says 61 people have died over the weekend as a result of Israeli airstrikes and malnutrition.

In one attack on a a displacement camp in Khan Yunis, 19 people were killed, including an entire family.

Israel denies there's a famine.

Our correspondent in Jerusalem, Amir Nada, reports.

Mourners at Nassau Hospital in Khan Yunis said an entire family were killed when their tent was hit by an Israeli strike.

Attacks were also reported in Deir al-Bala in central Gaza and in the north of the Strip.

In Gaza City, local journalists shared videos of airstrikes hitting the outer neighbourhoods of Sabra and Zaytoun, where a number of buildings were reported to have been destroyed.

The desperate sounds of children at a food kitchen.

The UN's Palestinian refugee agency, UNRWA, said that the famine in Gaza City could be stopped if Gaza was flooded with aid, calling on Israel to allow more food in.

But Israel's leaders continue to make clear they intend to carry out the controversial attack on Gaza City.

Yusuf Mitwali lives in the city.

He's threatening to invade Gaza.

What remains in Gaza?

There's nothing, just a sea and some houses.

They occupied 70 to 80 percent of Gaza.

The crossings are closed, no food, no life.

Even the kids don't have a life to live.

He's threatening to, but he's already invaded.

Israeli media reports say the army is allowing Palestinian workers to begin renovating a damaged hospital in the south of the Gaza Strip, ahead of the planned forced displacement of Gaza city's one million residents, which aid agencies have warned will further devastate a people already suffering from famine.

Amir Nada.

Now let's look at the European response to what's happening in Gaza right now.

James Kumar Asami spoke to Andreas Modsfeld-Kravik, State Secretary to Norway's Foreign Minister, Espen Bart Ada.

Recently, the Norwegian government has made comments about the situation in Gaza.

So what is Norway doing now in this respect?

Well, I think the most important thing we can do at the current moment is to advocate for a full humanitarian access to Gaza.

We have been extremely concerned about the dismantling of the humanitarian system.

When the international community was responsible for distributing aid, we had 400-plus plus distribution points.

Now this has been virtually dismantled and it has been replaced by this humanitarian Gaza Foundation, which is not working, which is not operating in conformity with international law.

And this is very concerning.

So we have made it clear both directly to the Israeli authorities but also publicly that this is a clear violation of international law.

It's unacceptable and it needs to change.

So this is, I think, public diplomacy now is probably the most important thing that we and other countries can engage in.

But is it having any impact?

Well, we are dependent on the Israeli government being more accommodative to international law and the principles enshrined therein, and also to just basic humanitarian principles.

And thus far, we have been unsuccessful.

I think it's obvious that we haven't succeeded.

We're now in the middle of a famine.

We are seeing hostilities still being conducted.

I think people are right to be frustrated.

We're frustrated, but it's not an excuse for letting up.

We're determined to do the opposite.

So we're increasing our public campaign against this operation, both the military operation and also what has been done in terms of humanitarian access or lack thereof.

But that campaign, that diplomacy, as discussed, does not seem to be having an impact.

Do you need to go further?

Does Norway, do other European countries need to match their words with more actions?

Yes, I think we need to look at all tools in the toolbox.

We have relatively recently with the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, we initiated sanctions against two ministers, Minister Ben Givir and Smutric, the two most I think radical ministers in the Israeli cabinet responsible for some of these policies.

So we initiated sanctions against them.

That sends a clear signal.

We're also open to various initiatives.

With all due respect, they're ignoring it, aren't they?

Yes,

I think your questions are spot on.

We have been ignored, but at the same time, the international community is increasing its pressure.

And we have been at the forefront of that pressure campaign.

And I think the only country to, in all honesty, the only country which can now really get Israel or convince Israel to change its course is the United States.

So we are also liaising with President Trump and his administration, trying to get them to have the Israeli government take a different course.

But this is a complex situation, and it's impossible to see a change on the ground unless the Israeli cabinet decides to operate in a different way.

And thus far, we haven't been successful in convincing them to operate in conformity with international law.

Andreas Motzvell-Kravic.

The Nigerian military says it's carried out an airstrike on a bandit camp in Katsina State in an operation to rescue dozens of kidnapped victims.

Lack of security has remained a serious problem in much of Nigeria, despite a promise by the government to tackle the issue.

More from David Bamford.

Reports say 76 people were able to escape as a result of the airstrike.

One child died during the rescue.

The military operation on Friday evening took place at a location known as Power Hill, from where the criminal gang has been raiding local communities.

Last week, they shot dead 30 civilians in a mosque in the town of Malumfashi, and 20 others were killed in surrounding villages.

The gangs kidnap people for ransom and exact retribution on communities that do not pay.

David Bamford.

Now, here in the UK, protests have been taking place in around a dozen towns and cities about whether asylum seekers should be housed in hotels.

They've been relatively small, but they've emphasised just how divisive the issue of immigration has become.

It began earlier this week when a regional council in southern England won a legal battle to stop one of its hotels being used, and now some demonstrators are calling for similar bans where they live.

These protesters in the city of Bristol, in southern England, condemned anti-racism campaigners who staged a counter-rally.

They're sticking up for the wines who's coming along the boats in hotels.

And us, the taxpayer, we're paying for it.

The unemployed, the people that have lived on the streets, why aren't they thinking of them?

They're the people that should be put, you know, in these hotels, put on jobs and everything.

Well, our UK political correspondent is Ian Watson.

I asked him what these protests mean for the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, and the governing Labour Party.

Of all the political parties, it's actually very difficult for Labour to be trusted on this issue.

They've been working very hard to do so.

They've promised to smash the gangs that are bringing people to this country across the English Channel.

But I think this issue, the concern over asylum hotels, has put a renewed focus on Labour's record since they came to office.

They've said they'll clear the asylum hotels not until 2029, but if you look at the recent statistics, they're making very little progress.

There's also a record number of asylum applications in this country, and this is allowing their political opponents effectively to focus on Labour's record and to suggest that they could do better as a result.

I think the other problem which the current Labour government has is this.

Some of their MPs are telling me that in areas which are traditionally ones which they would win at a general election, some people are now becoming so concerned about this issue of migration, especially the small boat crossings, that they're not listening to the party and other issues.

And they're facing some regional and national elections next May.

They're very concerned that unless they make greater progress on this issue, they'll start losing support to other parties.

Yeah, you say it's not a natural issue for Labour, maybe.

It's definitely a natural issue for further right parties, such as the Opposition Reform Party, led by Nigel Farage.

He's outlined proposals for mass deportations if he were to be in power.

How would they work?

Well, that's right.

He'd actually campaigned on that at the last general election last year, but I think he's recycling this now, given all the concern about asylum hotels and what you've been setting out.

But he has added some more details.

So he said anyone arriving here by an irregular route would not be able to claim asylum.

He also says he wants to see new detention centres and disused military sites and he wants people deported, including to countries such as Afghanistan and Eritrea, which have got appalling human rights records.

But he says he's not responsible for the world's problems.

I think one of the reasons he's saying that is to get clear blue water with the other party on the right, the Conservative Party.

But in addition to that, not only I think is he trying to turn the Labour government's headache and asylum hotels into something of a political migraine, if you look at polling, around 46% of people in a YouGov poll earlier this month had suggested that they might be open to this idea of sending a lot of people who'd come here as migrants back out of the country.

But when you look at his own base, the Reform UK base, and they've been rising in the polls recently, that figure goes up to 86%.

So he knows he's got a willing audience, but also he thinks he can exploit some of the difficulties which the current government's experiencing.

It's Ian Watson.

Sri Lanka's former president, Runil Vikramara

has been moved from prison to the intensive care unit of Colombo National Hospital after a bail hearing.

He was arrested on Friday on suspicion of misusing state funds to finance private travel.

He denies the charge.

Kethaki Masalamani reports.

Mr.

Vikramasinghe's lawyers said he was suffering from a severe heart condition, diabetes, and high blood pressure.

He was transferred from prison to the National Hospital for specialist treatment.

Former president denied corruption charges when he appeared before a magistrates court in Colombo.

He's been accused of disguising a trip to London where he attended his wife's graduation ceremony at the University of Wolverhampton, a private event, as part of an official tour.

That's Kethaki Musalamani.

Now, how far would you go for an escape?

Would you consider taking a year off life on Earth and live on Mars?

Well, for anyone who finds that idea appealing, NASA are offering something fairly close as they expand their Mars simulation program at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, ahead of a planned crewed mission to the real Mars.

Stephanie Prentice has this report.

Inside this habitat, four intrepid crew members are surviving in a foreign, isolated home.

Like a highly scientific movie set, the Chapia Simulator is designed to mimic potential human life on Mars.

And it's a commitment.

Four volunteers live in close quarters for a full year, undergoing various challenges like growing food, equipment failure, and living with three other people in a confined space covered in sand.

Chapia was actually 3D printed with a concrete solution.

Suzanne Bell is on NASA's team that run the project.

The technology was mimicking how we might make a habitat on Mars from the Mars regolith or soil.

The space has a simulated Martian terrain for conducting Mars walks and a 3D printer for making pieces of equipment, as well as four bedrooms, a shared living room and a workspace with farming facilities.

And farming is crucial.

Why that's important is you're always restricted on what you can send to Mars.

We don't have endless ability to supply and so the more you can use things that are already in the Martian surface or that you can recycle over time are a great opportunity to save that payload for other things that you would like to send.

The whole environment is a sensory test.

It's noisy with constant sounds of machinery and all fragrance is banned as it may impact equipment.

For anyone wanting to unwind with a phone call to home, there's a 22 minute communication delay with Earth.

NASA have a team monitoring the crew's physical and emotional health.

Brian Krushian is one of them.

So obviously the isolation, the long duration, these are the things that make Chapia such an amazing analogue and aid us in characterizing the effects that those stressors in concert have on human physiology.

If this all sounds a bit impossible, it's actually worked before.

The first crew to try it praised the immersive environment.

We have a window that we use.

It uses a TV with a video feed of the outside of our habitat.

And we can see the Martian sunrise,

and we eventually see the shadow of our habitat on the ground.

And eventually, throughout night, we see the stars.

And it's really pretty.

If I could sum up Chapia in just a couple of words, the words would be almost Mars.

While their new life has its limits, the volunteers are allowed luxuries that would be denied on actual Mars, like oxygen, and of course the chance to be part of history as NASA stress tests its plans to have a crew exploring Mars in the next decade.

Chapia 2 launches next month, but selection for Chapia 3 is open to the public to anyone with what NASA calls astronaut-like qualities.

That report by Stephanie Prentiss.

Still to come.

For the conductor Gustavo Dudamel, this is a continuation of his mission to push the boundaries of where classical music can be performed.

Now the man described as the closest thing to a rock star in the world of classical music is teaming up with Coldplay.

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The two most populous U.S.

states are locked in a race to create new electoral districts.

Now, on paper, I know it sounds like a dull bit of bureaucracy, but by adding congressional seats in areas likely to vote for their party, Republicans in Texas and Democrats in California believe they could sway the direction of national politics.

Texas has just approved its new slew of seats.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has vowed to, in his words, fight fire with fire.

He's also been criticizing the U.S.

President Donald Trump in the foreign media, as we heard from our North America correspondent, Arunade Mukherjee.

All of this might be talking about specific states, but they have wider national political ramifications, and I think that is why this is all important, especially ahead of what is likely to be a very closely fought midterm election next year.

That's why you've seen the kind of statements sort of being thrown around.

Now, the state of California, which is likely to follow suit, and the governor there, Gavin Newsom, has been fairly vocal about the plans that might possibly throw up five Democrat-leaning seats.

And what that would do is that would cancel out the five Republican-leaning seats that the Republicans in Texas have managed to generate.

So Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, has been very vocal about it.

He's clashed with Donald Trump in the past as well.

He's been speaking to a Danish television network where he outlined not just issues relating to California, but also larger national political issues.

I'm embarrassed by the childish behavior of my president.

He is the president of the United States.

I respect the office of presidency, but I wish he would grow into it.

The assault on the rule of law, on assaults on institutions.

I think the biggest assault that's occurring in the United States of America is against cultivation of individual thinking.

He's going after universities.

He's rewriting histories, Smithsonians, censoring historical facts, attacking his enemies, threatening them, trying to incarcerate them.

His behavior is that of a bully.

You saw it not just in Greenland, but you saw it down in Panama, the assertion that somehow he was going to invade and take over Canada, one of our great allies and partners, the way he browbeats and talks down to the EU

and member countries.

It's an extraordinary moment in world history.

But I hope folks know and take a moment to know that's not universal opinion in the United States of America.

He does not represent, from my perspective, that majority.

He represented the majority of people that turned out on the election day.

But he is now singularly the most unpopular president in U.S.

history, objective truth.

Just two days ago, Donald Trump had accused Gavin Newsom of destroying, quote, the great state of California.

So both of them have sparred, especially earlier this year when you saw those anti-immigration protests that took place in Los Angeles, where Donald Trump had also deployed the National Guard.

But what is also important is the kind of issues that Gavin Newsom is talking about.

He's not restricting himself in that interview, as you saw, to simply California-related issues.

He's talking about national issues, which is why this is very significant, because in many political circles, this is also going to be seen as this person also harboring presidential ambitions, pitting himself against Donald Trump, as he has in the past, by using bigger national issues, not just issues relating to redistricting of congressional maps.

Arunade Mukherjee in Washington.

As we heard in the earlier podcast, the US Justice Department has released a transcript of an interview with the convicted sex offender Ghillaine Maxwell, the ex-girlfriend of the late paedophile and financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Epstein's friendships with wealthy individuals, including President Trump, have fueled conspiracy theories.

Maxwell has said she never saw any involvement by Mr.

Trump or former President Bill Clinton in crimes committed by Epstein.

Here is an excerpt of an audio recording of the interviews last month, which Maxwell had with the Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, a former personal lawyer of the president.

Here she is speaking about Donald Trump.

I actually never saw the president in any type of massage setting.

I never witnessed the president in any inappropriate setting in any way.

The president was never inappropriate with anybody.

In the times that I was with him, he was a gentleman in all respects.

Maxwell also denied the existence of any client list kept by Epstein.

She is seeking a pardon from President Trump and has been accused of lying to federal officials.

Glenn Thrush reports on the Justice Department for the New York Times.

Julian Warwicker asked him for his thoughts on what the Maxwell transcripts contain.

It was a very unusual interview.

This is the president's personal attorney who's now become a senior official at the Justice Department.

It really feels almost like a guided conversation that was intended to exonerate President Trump, to demonstrate that he did not have any improper or illegal interactions with women or girls associated with Jeffrey Epstein.

It began unprompted with Jelaine Maxwell saying that she considered Trump to be a quote-unquote perfect gentleman and that she had had no visual experience in seeing him interacting with people in an inappropriate way.

But I think one of the really interesting elements of this is as this went forward, you really got a sense of Maxwell's desperation.

And she is somebody who is now 63 and is facing 20 years essentially in prison.

She very much wants to get out.

She has already succeeded after this interview in getting a better accommodation in prison.

The president has expressed sympathy for her plight and has not ruled out giving her a pardon.

So there is this tangible sense, audible sense actually, of somebody who is perhaps singing for their supper, who is trying trying to make the best possible impression on the president.

And she praises him in a way that many of his cabinet appointees praise him,

saying that she is enormously impressed with his political success and speaking of him in terms that are almost exaggerated, glowing.

So clearly, there is a transactional component in this interaction that is jarring.

And frankly, it doesn't seem that if people entered this with significant questions about Epstein about issues surrounding the end of the investigation or frankly President Trump's involvement with Epstein and Maxwell I don't think those questions feel fulsomely answered no which is why you write all of this is likely to raise as many questions as answers so it doesn't clear up much in in people's minds in your view no and i think this is a slow-motion political disaster.

At the beginning of this, I would say six weeks ago, when the Justice Department abruptly announced, after many key figures in the Trump administration had stoked these conspiracies, they announced this investigation was over.

I think there was an acute reaction on the right of people who typically praised Trump, criticizing him.

That has abated somewhat, and the White House has thrown up numerous distractions and big proposals and provocations in order to kind of of change the subject.

But in a way, there's an erosion of trust

in his base.

And I think there's another element here, too.

In the Epstein crisis and the backlash against the White House, there's this first whiff of a MAGA movement beyond Trump.

You seem to have people positioning themselves for a future beyond his political career.

Glem Thrush from the New York Times.

As we've watched US President Donald Trump's trade negotiations play out over the first half of this year, it's not always been clear how, where, and when shoppers will start feeling the pinch.

Well, now, some very tangible effects have started to come into play, with India the latest country to say it's temporarily suspending its postal service to the US on items valued above $100.

It's ahead of new tax rules on small packages coming next week.

I heard more from the BBC's Peter Goffin, who's been looking over the details.

And it means that consumers have been able to buy lots of trifling things-you know, clothes, jewelry, low-end housewares, and tech

from all over the world at very low prices.

In particular, Chinese-based online retailers like Xi'an and Timu have thrived by selling and shipping their products at a steep discount.

Now, as we've been reporting for months, Donald Trump came into his second term as president promising to get tough on China.

And within days of returning to office, he suspended the exemption for Chinese imports, saying he was concerned about drugs being smuggled in low-value items.

That quickly got expanded to ending the exemption for all countries.

His landmark package of legislation, what he called his big beautiful bill, said that de-minimis rules would expire in 2027.

But in July, Mr.

Trump then used emergency presidential powers to move that deadline up to the 29th of August, which is next Friday.

At that point, gifts worth less than $100 will still be exempt from import tax, but anything else will face whatever tariffs tariffs the Trump administration has set for the country of origin.

Right, and that gap between $100 and $800, there's a lot of products that are going to fall into that window that will now be affected.

So that's the US perspective that you've laid out.

We're now seeing, if you like, the reaction, aren't we, from countries such as India, and their solution is to suspend postal deliveries to the US.

Yeah, that's right.

What we've heard from postal services around the world is that these are just temporary pauses while they catch up and work out new systems to ensure the tariffs are complied with.

Now, some have said they still don't know how the new duties will be collected.

Others have said they anticipate having to create new IT infrastructure to deal with the changes.

So yeah, India has suspended parcel deliveries, but so have the UK, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Singapore, Australia.

The list goes on.

And U.S.

consumers are worried that they'll have to pay a lot more for the things they buy online.

But well, it's worth noting that a lot of retailers in the US are very happy about these changes.

Brick and mortar companies and high street shops do not want cheap foreign goods undercutting them.

And they say the taxing low-cost imports will help them be far more competitive in the US marketplace.

Peter Goffin.

An international Satanist movement that poses a threat to national security.

It sounds like scary stuff, and it's the rhetoric that's been coming from Russian politicians and religious leaders to justify a new law banning Satanism.

Now, a man in southern Russia is thought to be the first person to be convicted for this.

Here is our Europe regional editor, Pulmos.

The crime wasn't serious, and neither was the punishment.

An unnamed man was found guilty of posting what was described as an image of the devil on social media, and a court in the Russian city of Korgan fined him the equivalent of $9.

But the conviction suggests Russia's Supreme Court was serious earlier this year when it declared Satanism to be part of an extremist international organization.

Critics denied any such organization existed.

They drew parallels with the so-called international LGBT movement, to which Russia also gave the extremist organization label.

It's perhaps no coincidence that both Satanism and the LGBT movement were said to be present in Ukraine, a presence which has been used to justify Russia's invasion.

Paul Moss.

Starbo Doudamel has been described as the closest thing to a rock star in the world of classical music.

The award-winning conductor is taking over the New York Philharmonic this autumn, and he's been leading the renowned Simone Bolibar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela as the opening act for Coldplay at its 10-day residency at Wembley Stadium in London, which began on Friday night.

The BBC's music correspondent Mark Savage caught up with Gustavo Dudamel during rehearsals.

Last-minute rehearsals in East London before the Simone Boulevard Orchestra plays 10 nights at Wembley supporting Coldplay.

I have the honor to have a friendship with Chris Martin from Coldplay.

We met years ago, and it's beautiful because that connection came from this orchestra when we did the mambo of Westside Story at the proms.

For the young players who've traveled from Venezuela, this is a dream come true.

When they say Coldplay, I was like,

no way.

I couldn't believe that, and my family, my friends, all of them were like, oh my god, hom dos 3.

For the conductor Gustavo Dudamel, this is a continuation of his mission to push the boundaries of where classical music can be performed.

Earlier this year, he took the Los Angeles Philharmonic to the Coachala Rock Festival in California.

Jumping from the 25th to El El Culje to Sin Tierivo.

I think the young people are hungry of culture.

Both Dudamel and the young musicians he's playing with in London are graduates of El Sistema, a programme created in Venezuela 50 years ago on the premise that music education should be free to everyone.

It's still saving the life of thousands of young people.

And I know you have been critical at times of President Maduro.

Do you feel that you have to sometimes be careful with your words?

Because it could affect the children who are currently in the programme.

Look, I think for me the most important is the young young people.

And in a turbulent moment that my country and the world is living right now, we need more of these programs that motivate you to find the best of the people.

I think we are living a crisis of empathy.

Everything becomes a little bit more separate, it's more aggressive.

And music is about making harmony together.

So there's a place for protest in music as well.

Absolutely.

Completely.

But in a super politicized world that we live right now, it's difficult because everybody's screaming.

And I believe what we do changes things.

It helped the country, our country, to be better.

Along with the rest of the creative industries, the world of classical music is grappling with the arrival of artificial intelligence.

If someone came to you and said, AI has just written a new Beethoven symphony.

We trained it on the previous works of the maestro, would you conduct that piece?

I don't know, but with the intensity of the life of Beethoven, especially, I don't think artificial intelligence can achieve that natural human thing.

For me,

I stay in the side of the handmaking music world.

The orchestra rehearsed a non-AI version of Beethoven as they sound-checked for the first of their 10 gigs with Coldplay.

Gustavo Dudemel says he hopes audiences are enriched by the experience.

These are great musicians, and what people will see

is not only a beautiful level of technicality, but a beautiful level of commitment to something that has changed our lives.

And I think that excitement we put in every note.

Gustavo Dudamel ending that report by the BBC's music correspondent Mark Savage.

And that is 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 or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email.

Please do.

The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk.

You can also find us on X at BBC World Service.

Use the hashtag globalnewspod.

This edition was mixed by Sid Dundon.

The producers were Liam McSheffery and Charles Sanctuary.

The editor is Karen Martin.

And I'm Will Chalk.

Until next time, goodbye.

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