US Vice-President: We must disarm Hamas and rebuild Gaza

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

Hello, I'm Oliver Conway.

We're recording this at 15 hours GMT on Wednesday, the 22nd of October.

J.D.

Vance meets Benjamin Netanyahu warning of a tough task ahead to disarm Hamas and rebuild Gaza.

Peru's new president declares a state of emergency emergency to combat rising crime.

And the former French leader Nicolas Sarkozy gets police protection in jail following alleged death threats.

Also, in the podcast, why people in Venezuela are being encouraged to snitch on their fellow citizens.

The government said that during a moment of rising of what they describe as imperialist actions against Venezuela and has moved towards trying to contain both external and internal threats.

And people were not stepping out of their homes because of the heavy rains and destruction.

But still, Kamla came to vaccinate our child.

That is an act of real bravery.

The Indian health worker who risks her own life to vaccinate babies.

The visit to Israel by the U.S.

Vice President J.D.

Vance is seen as an attempt by the Americans to keep the Gaza ceasefire on track amid reported concerns that the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nesanyahu wants to collapse the agreement and restart the fighting.

Despite an outbreak of violence on Sunday, the U.S.

Vice President said he was optimistic the truce would hold.

And arriving for a meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister in Jerusalem, he said the U.S.

was determined to stay the course.

As the Prime Minister said, these are days of destiny, and we're very excited to sit down and work together on the Gaza peace plan.

We have a very tough task ahead of us, which is to disarm Hamas, but rebuild Gaza to make life better for the people in Gaza, but also to ensure that Hamas is no longer a threat to our friends in Israel.

That's not easy.

I think the Prime Minister knows that as well as anybody, but it's something that we're committed to in the Trump administration.

And I think that we've even in the past 24 hours had a lot of good conversations with our friends in the Israeli government, but also, frankly, with our friends in the Arab world.

Israel and Hamas have accused each other of repeated breaches of the truce amid outbreaks of violence and disagreements over the pace of returning hostage bodies.

According to the Hamas Ran Health Ministry, Israel has killed at least 87 Palestinians since the ceasefire began.

In central Gaza this morning, drone footage showed a mass burial site for the bodies of unidentified Palestinians handed over by Israel in exchange for the remains of dead Israelis.

We heard more about that from our Middle East correspondent Yoland Nell, but first she told Lucy Hawkings about day two of the US Vice President's visit.

JD Vans came here amid lots of media speculation that this was really part of a US effort to try to stabilize the fragile ceasefire, particularly after those flare-ups that that we saw on Sunday.

He said that things were going positively better than he himself had anticipated.

But we think that in the meetings that he's had with both the Israeli Prime Minister and the Israeli President in the past few hours, there's been a lot going on behind the scenes where the US is really trying to press for some concessions by Israel as well in advancing President Trump's 20-point peace plan.

When it comes to issues like the make-up of an international stabilisation force, there's been a lot of discussion of that while J.D.

Vance has been here when it comes to issues related to the future governance of Gaza, how to disarm Hamas.

And we see that Washington also has been urging some patience from Israel when it comes to this very sensitive issue about the return of the bodies of deceased hostages and the pace of Hamas returning those.

Today, we've seen quite heart-wrenching pictures from Derabala of some kind of burial taking place.

Can you tell us what was happening there today?

Yeah, so as as well as the bodies of hostages being returned by Hamas via the Red Cross to Israel, which we have focused on quite a lot in terms of the ceasefire deal, there have in return been bodies passed back of dead Palestinians by Israel to Gaza.

And in many cases, very few details are given about exactly who these bodies belong to, what may have happened to these individuals.

More than 120 bodies have gone back so far, and only only a small number of them have actually been identified.

And there are pictures that are put up by the Hamasran Health Ministry on a website for families to look at these.

You can see in many cases the bodies are decomposed, some of them appear to be mutilated.

There's lots of concern about what happened to some of these individuals while they were in Israeli custody.

And because at the moment there is no ability to carry out real forensic testing or DNA tests in the Gaza Strip, what's happened is that a large number of these bodies have just been buried in a mass grave in the center of the strip.

And we're told that DNA samples have been taken, so that might enable them in future to be identified as families are able, perhaps later on, or with foreign help, to give DNA samples themselves and see if any of their missing relatives are among those dead.

Yolanel in Jerusalem.

Following the clashes on Sunday, Israel said it would stop aid deliveries into Gaza, though it later relented, apparently under US US pressure.

Today, the head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adenom Gebreyeses, told us that despite the ceasefire agreement, not enough aid and medical supplies were getting into the Strip, and he called on Israel not to impose restrictions.

He spoke to Anna Foster about conditions in Gaza.

If you take the famine and then combine it with a mental health problem that we see which is rampant, the situation is a crisis for generations to come.

You talked about the ceasefire, because that is a moment that the World Health Organization and other organizations like yours have been waiting for the opportunity to try and get aid in again.

And it was supposed to scale up rapidly, but that doesn't seem to be happening yet.

In terms of what you can get in, what is happening on the ground?

There was a promise for massive scale-up and 600 drugs per day.

Now, the average is between 200 to 300.

So that's not really

what we expected.

And the other problem is the crossings.

We need multiple crossings, all available crossings.

So if there are no multiple crossings, then it's very difficult to scale up.

Speaking directly to those politicians who are making political decisions about aid, what is your message to them?

You know, the innocent people should not be impacted by these political decisions.

Food aid and medical services should not be weaponized unless you know the remains of some of the hostages are transferred.

Israel said wouldn't allow transfer of or scale up of food aid or humanitarian aid.

And this should not be, to be honest, put as a condition.

There should be unconditional transfer of aid to those who need it.

I ask Israel to not put conditions and scale up massively as agreed as part of the peace deal.

How long do you think it could take?

How much do you think you need to actually make Gaza livable again?

Bearing in mind, of course, the huge difficulties that there were in the Strip before the war even started?

There has been an assessment by the UN at large, and we're trying to operate as one UN.

And based on the destruction, I think the total amount needed to reconstruct Gaza is around 70 billion.

And of course, out of that, around 6 to 7 billion will be for the health sector.

Of course, this I don't think will be final.

There will be additional considerations, and what is needed could be even more than this.

We still want to underline that peace is the best medicine, and I hope this ceasefire will move into permanent peace.

Tedros Adanón Gabries.

The new President of Peru has declared a state of emergency in the capital, Lima.

Jose Heri said it was intended to combat rising levels of crime.

Compatriotas.

Fellow citizens, crime has grown excessively in recent years, causing enormous pain to thousands of families and also harming the country's progress.

But now it's over.

Today we begin to change history in the fight against insecurity in Peru.

We're moving from defensive to offensive in the fight against crime, a fight that will allow us to recover peace, tranquility, and the trust of millions of Peruvians.

So, how bad is crime in Peru?

Here's our Latin America editor for news online, Vanessa Bushruter.

Crime was not a huge problem for years, and it has risen massively.

In the last year, there was a 34 jump in the number of murders.

Now, the number of murders is still much lower than that of neighboring Ecuador, but of course the sensation that many Peruvians feel is that this jump has made their lives unbearable, especially the lives of people who get extorted by gangs.

Those are for example taxi drivers and bus drivers.

They're huge gangs that just specialize in extorting money from these public transport workers.

So how much difference will this state of emergency make?

Well I think that's what all of Peru is waiting to see because it is not the first time that a 30-day state of emergency has been declared.

A similar measure was taken in March under the previous president, Dila Bonuarte, and it didn't make much of a difference.

What the new president, José Gerrí, is trying to achieve with this is he is going to send soldiers out onto the streets to help the police.

It's a show of strength, really.

And he's also trying to target the prison gangs.

He says that much of this extortion and crime is planned from behind bars by people who are already in jail.

So he has also declared that communications from inside prisons should be barred, so there will be no mobile phones.

And in fact, he's going to turn off the power inside the jails so that they only have lighting but can't charge any mobile phones and therefore not pass on any messages to the outside.

Now, Jose Hari has only been in office for two weeks.

What else is he doing to change Peru?

This is actually his most visible measure so far.

In fact, a journalist friend from Peru compared these measures and this image that he's trying to portray to that of Nahib Bukele in El Salvador, the very popular but also very controversial president of that nation, who has managed to drive down crime over there, but who is also accused of breaching human rights in El Salvador.

So he is trying to model himself on Nait Bukele, but Peruvians will want to see some results before they make up their mind as to how this president is faring.

Vanessa Bouchletter.

France's interior minister has confirmed that the former President Nicolas Sarkozy is being protected by two security officers while he serves his five-year prison sentence in Paris.

More details from Mimi Swaby.

Mr.

Sarkozy reported to prison on Tuesday after being found guilty last month of criminal conspiracy involving alleged funding from the late Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, for his 2007 presidential election campaign.

The 70-year-old described his first night behind bars as frightening.

He's being held in Lassante jail's so-called VIP wing to avoid contact with other prisoners.

Special conditions include a daily walk outside his cell and visits permitted three times a week.

But he won't be alone.

Two security personnel are stationed in the cell next to him, providing 24-hour protection, albeit not exactly close protection.

The government says it's because of his status as a former president and supposed death threats against him.

The country's interior minister said the officers would remain at Mr.

Sarkozy's side as long as it is necessary.

They will be members of a team during rotating shifts in the prison.

Mr.

Sarkozy has faced a flurry of legal woes since losing his re-election bid in 2012, already being convicted in two other cases.

Mimi Swaby.

And still to come on the Global News podcast.

We are not saying the word 6'7 anymore.

If you do, you have to write a 67-word essay.

6-7!

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Venezuelans are no strangers to online surveillance, but President Nicolas Maduro has gone a step further by ordering the armed forces to create a new app so that citizens can inform the authorities about, quote, everything they see and everything they hear 24 hours a day.

It'll be part of an an existing government platform set up to report issues about local services.

Tensions are high in Venezuela at the moment after the US began attacking alleged drug boats near its territorial waters.

James Cottonll heard more from Tony Frangimoad, a Caracas-based journalist from the podcast Venezuela Weekly.

The government created this app so people could put public claims on problems and services, but on last year, after disputed elections, where overwhelming evidence shows that the government actually lost to the opposition, The app was used by the bases of the government to snitch and report on neighbors that were protesting or were participating in opposition activities.

Was the president then absolutely explicit that this was being done in response to the tensions with the U.S.?

Or was that just something that everyone in the country read into it that way?

The government said that during a moment of rising, of what they describe as imperialist actions against Venezuela, and of course of tensions with the increasingly close relationship between the U.S.

government and the opposition, led by Maricorino Machado, who recently won the Nobel Peace Prize, the government has moved towards trying to contain both external and internal threats to their control.

So it's also happening in a moment of rising paranoia from the authorities.

For example, a week or two weeks ago, we saw that a group of hikers were detained for more than 24 hours because they had a badge of a U.S.

flag on their backs.

That kind of stuff is happening within Venezuela, and the government today announced that because of the possibility of CIA corporate actions, as President Trump announced a few days ago, they would be looking for suspicious activities and infiltrations within the country.

And of course, to find any possibility of the opposition doing some sort of clandestine organization within.

Would you anticipate people using the app a lot?

I mean, have people used it to report on anti-government protesters in a large way?

We have to understand that this is limited to a very political, very loyal, yet very small base of government supporters.

On last year's election, it's estimated that the government only got around less than 40% of the vote or around that number.

And it's usually from client-solicit networks they tend to mobilize.

So, actually, the group of people that are still very loyal to the government and are willing to snitch on others and act is small.

But, nevertheless, they are a very mobilized and active group of party members that could actually work towards this and to snitch and report on neighbors and people around them.

And we all know about the power, the might of the U.S., and President Trump seems pretty determined.

What are President Maduro's options right now, do you think?

It seems that all negotiations have completely collapsed at this point between the U.S.

and Venezuela.

The New York Times reported that President Trump ordered his special envoy Richard Grinnell to halt all conversations with Nicolas Maduro.

So at this point, either Maduro can try to wait and see if the U.S.

is eventually going to back down, as it has already done before in previous escalations, never as large as this one.

Or maybe if the government will either be forced to accept a sort of negotiated transition before it escalates into a direct military conflict with the United States.

But as I said, it will depend on how farther the Trump administration is willing to go.

Many are expecting a new level of drug operations in land, but that doesn't mean that the Trump administration is moving towards military or state assets in Venezuela.

If that's the case, then it would mount a new level of pressure against the government and it will definitely force the government to either negotiate or face a conflict with the U.S.

or even within its own ranks.

Venezuela analyst Tony Franji Mawat.

Next to a video that's been widely shared of an Indian health worker risking her life to cross a flooded stream.

She was on her way to vaccinate a two-month-old baby in a remote Himalayan village.

Despite their life-saving benefits, vaccines are controversial in many countries.

Our correspondent, Davina Gupta, traveled to the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.

Deep in the Himalayas, I'm walking with 41-year-old Kamla Devi.

He's a health worker on a vital mission.

Trekking along this route is quite dangerous.

The monsoon rains have washed away the roads, and I'm walking between muddy and slippery stones.

This is what Kamla does every month, traveling on foot to meet children in remote mountain villages and vaccinate them against diseases like measles and chickenpox.

It's a question of a child's life.

If we miss even one dose, they won't have the protection to fight these diseases.

There can be no excuses.

Whether it rains or the roads are closed, we have to go.

She carries a cold box that must stay at the right temperature to keep the shots affected.

I have ice packs in this box to keep vaccines between 2 to 8 degrees Celsius till it's given to the child.

I've just been told there's half an hour more of this steep climb in the rocky terrain.

I'm out of stamina, but we'll make it.

As Kamala goes to these lands to vaccinate children, across the world, childhood vaccines are facing a growing debate after U.S.

President Donald Trump questioned their safety and effectiveness.

the World Health Organization has warned that misinformation on children vaccines could undo years of progress, especially in countries like India.

People who are living today, many of them have not seen the consequences of smallpox, which we have eradicated.

They have not seen how tetanus behaves.

They have not seen how whooping cuff kills people.

Professor Rakesh Agarwal is the chair of Southeast Asia Immunization Group with the World Health Organization.

They don't seem to realize that if we don't vaccinate, these diseases can come back in no time.

Remember, 40% of our gain in survival and childhood has come from vaccines over the last four decades.

And that's why India has poured millions of dollars into training and deploying health workers like Kamala to reach the last mile and deliver free vaccines to newborn kids.

After an hour of journey, we finally reached the village of Swar.

The health center is a yellow-colored hut with a tin roof.

Families have gathered outside, waiting for Kamala.

Among them is Preeti Baby.

She remembers how, in August, when floods washed away a wooden bridge, Kamala jumped across rocks to reach her son.

People were not stepping out of their homes.

Even we were scared to go to the markets because of the heavy rains and destruction.

But still, Kamala came to vaccinate our child.

That that is an act of real bravery

Kamala is now giving the second dose to this baby

a quick jab and it's done

India is the world's largest vaccine manufacturer yet its infant mortality rate is five times higher than the US Tamla worries that growing vaccine misinformation could make her work even harder.

If children miss their vaccines, they're at a greater risk of falling sick.

Philip Pullman is one of Britain's most popular novelists, thanks to his fantasy trilogy, His Dark Materials, and now the follow-up series, The Book of Dust.

Well, the story of heroine Lyra reaches its conclusion this week with the publication of the third part of the second trilogy, The Rose Field.

Philip Pullman has been talking to our culture editor, Katie Razzle, about his much-loved protagonist, how AI algorithms are using his work, and about truth in today's world.

It's a truth meter, and it works by means of the three hands which are moved by these knobs like that.

Philip Pullman, in his tiny study, is showing me his alethiometer.

And then, once you've got your question set up, a model of the truth-telling device he invented for his fictional heroine, Lyra.

It's made of gold, which is heavy.

And over the years, since you came up with the alethiometer, it's felt that truth has been a little bit more in dispute, we might say.

Well, we all need an alethiometer.

We need something to test the truth against.

Lyra, with her demon Pan, a kind of companion spirit in animal form, first appeared 30 years ago, travelling across worlds worlds in northern lights.

She's always curious and inquisitive.

I think it's a very important quality.

We should encourage it in children.

It was the start of Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, which the BBC dramatised for TV.

Now, after 3,000 pages of her adventures and 49 million copies sold globally, his latest work, The Rose Field, completes Pullman's second Lyra trilogy, in which the shadowy Magisterium is waging war on on imagination.

Who and what do you see in real life as the enemies of imagination?

The education policy of the government, which insists on learning things off by heart and sitting in rows and walking silently down corridors.

Is imagination more than make-believe?

We know that children have it and we often lose it as adults.

A lot of people think that it's just the power of making things up.

I think imagination is a form of perception.

What I call the rose field is a sort of field in which things exist that you can only see with your imagination.

They're there, but you can't see them if you don't imagine them.

Such as love, such as fear.

That's what Lyra has discovered in the course of this book.

Some authors, other creators have been fighting back against artificial intelligence, the scraping of copyright.

Has your work been scraped by AI?

As far as I know, yes.

Everybody's work has.

Yes, scooping up everything that exists and then passing it off as something else.

Or rather just using it, just mashing it all down into a sort of manure that can fertilise the roots of whatever money-making scheme is hatching itself in your head.

That's immoral, but unfortunately, it's not illegal.

The truth lies deep inside her.

And when I asked him about the different ways that children and adults read his stories, he dropped a little hint.

When you're a parent yourself, of course, another perspective comes into view.

Lyra hasn't had a child.

Yet, there's a thought.

Author Philip Pullman.

Finally, do the numbers 6-7 mean anything to you?

Well, for those who are not or do not have children, 6-7 is the Gen Alpha phrase of the moment, a social media phenomenon.

Marion Strawn has the details.

The craze of blurting out 6-7, accompanied by a juggling of hands, has gone global.

In truth, it doesn't really mean anything, but it's such a thing that it's even hit the American TV series South Park.

It originated from this.

Doot Doot, a track by the rapper Skrilla.

That went viral as it was used to accompany videos of a basketball player who's 6'7.

For some teachers, the craze has become a huge distraction.

We are not saying the word six seven anymore.

If you do, you have to write a 67-word essay.

You are no longer allowed to say, What number do you think I'm going to say?

Bobby Siegel is a UK maths teacher and host of the Maths Appeal podcast.

He says the craze isn't all bad news.

If you play along with it, occasionally allowing them to have fun, I think these sort of memes and viral moments can actually, in a strange way, increase the bond between the teacher, usually maths, and the student.

Maths teacher Bobby Siegel, ending that report by Marion Strawn.

And that is all from us for now, but there'll be a new edition of the Global News podcast very soon.

This one was mixed by Mark Pickett and produced by Nikki Verico.

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

Until next time, goodbye.

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