India's deadly nightclub fire

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Speaker 12 This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.

Speaker 12 I'm Pete Ross, and in the early hours of Sunday, the 7th of December, these are our main stories. Police in India say more than 20 people have been killed in a fire at a nightclub in Goa.
And the U.S.

Speaker 12 Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issues a fresh justification of attacks on alleged drug trafficking boats.

Speaker 12 Also, in this podcast, we have the latest from peace talks on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. The Vatican returns indigenous cultural artefacts to Canada.

Speaker 13 These are not simply artifacts. They are our belongings, our ancestors, vital indicators of our nation's histories.

Speaker 12 And we've an update on the schedule for next year's World Cup.

Speaker 12 As we record this podcast, Indian emergency workers are gathered outside a popular nightclub in Goa, where a fire has killed at least 25 people.

Speaker 12 The police deputy general said it was an unfortunate incident.

Speaker 12 Alak Kumar said the fire in Arpura was reported a few minutes past midnight when ambulances and fire trucks rushed to the scene. He said the blaze had been contained.

Speaker 12 Videos on social media show rescuers carrying the dead and injured on stretchers down the narrow stone staircase of the building. The BBC's Vickus Pandni is at the scene in Goa.

Speaker 15 This is Birch Club in Goa behind me where a deadly fire broke out between 1 and 1.30 a.m. last night.

Speaker 15 Now one eyewitness who was just outside on the road here told us that he heard a lot of screaming and shouting and people rushing out of the club.

Speaker 15 And when he reached the gate he saw one of the buildings had turned into a complete fireball, and it was total mayhem after that.

Speaker 15 Now, this morning, what we're hearing is that all the bodies have been moved to Goa Medical College, where the difficult process of identifying them will begin now.

Speaker 15 Now, this is an area which has a lot of clubs, it's a favorite spot for party goers. It also gets a lot of migrant workers from across the country and even in Nepal.

Speaker 15 Now, that might make the identification process a bit difficult, but officials are telling us that is their next focus.

Speaker 12 Our reporter, Devina Gupta, told me more.

Speaker 10 The initial reports from officials suggest that there was a gas cylinder that exploded in the kitchen of this nightclub, sending flames rapidly through the ground floor of the venue.

Speaker 10 Most of the bodies, officials have told the BBC, were found near the kitchen, and some were on the stairs as well, suggesting that many of the victims were staff who were working at that time.

Speaker 10 Six others, we believe, are being treated in hospital and are in a stable condition as of now.

Speaker 10 But the extent of the blaze is can be seen because with the fact that the rescue teams worked through the night combing the wreckage and trying to bring this fire under control.

Speaker 12 And what else do we know, Davina? We're hearing reports that are problems with safety rules or even that the club wasn't licensed to operate?

Speaker 10 Well these are again initial reports because local authorities have so far said there could be indications pointing towards negligence.

Speaker 10 Now this is a place which is filled with nightclubs as Vikas was just talking about.

Speaker 10 It's a popular party destination and these clubs open during Christmas time to cater to local tourists and these are also makeshift clubs some of them which are dismantled as soon as the party season is over.

Speaker 10 So Goa's chief minister has confirmed that a formal inquiry is underway and that anyone found responsible will face action.

Speaker 10 The venue is among many such beach clubs, so there is an expectation there would be a review of these clubs as well, and there would be more answers to what exactly went wrong shortly.

Speaker 12 Davinagupta.

Speaker 12 There have been protests around the world and outside the White House itself over the US military's actions off the coast of Venezuela.

Speaker 12 A wave of strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific have killed more than 80 people since September.

Speaker 12 The Trump administration says the strikes are targeting so-called narco-terrorists, and the Defense Secretary is doubling down.

Speaker 12 At the Reagan National Defense Forum, Pete Hegseth compared drug traffickers to the terrorists behind 9-11 and vowed the U.S. would continue killing them.

Speaker 16 Right now, the world is seeing the strength of American resolve in stemming the flow of lethal drugs to our country. Here again, we've been focused and here we've been clear.

Speaker 16 If you're working for a designated terrorist organization and you bring drugs to this country in a boat, we will find you and we will sink you.

Speaker 16 The days in which these narco-terrorists, designated terror organizations, operate freely in our hemisphere are over.

Speaker 16 These narco-terrorists are the al-Qaeda of our hemisphere, and we are hunting them with the same sophistication and precision that we hunted al-Qaeda.

Speaker 16 We are tracking them, we are killing them, and we will keep killing them so long as they are poisoning our people with narcotics so lethal that they're tantamount to chemical weapons. weapons?

Speaker 12 Our correspondent in Washington, Sean Dilley, was listening to the keynote speech.

Speaker 1 It was a speech Pete Hexeth was making to military personnel, but clearly one that was intended to be heard the world over.

Speaker 1 The language he was using was quite strong, talking about narco-terrorists and likening people who he said were parts of organizations who wanted to smuggle drugs into the USA with the 9-11 terrorist organization Al-Qaeda.

Speaker 1 And his message to anyone he said who wanted to bring drugs into the US and poses that threat is, we will find you and we will sink you.

Speaker 12 What do you think was behind today's speech by Pete Hegseth? He's come under increasing pressure, it seems. Some have described what the US is doing in the region as a war crime.

Speaker 12 Do you think that's significant to some of the language and some of what he had to say today?

Speaker 1 Yeah, one way or another, I'd describe it as an argument around the legality of lethality.

Speaker 1 There are so many professors from so many universities of law talking about whether it's a war crime or not, because obviously obviously would international law apply if it's not actually in the theatre of conflict.

Speaker 1 And those details really don't matter in the wider picture of Pete Heckseth's stool to US military and the world more generally, because he's painting a picture of people posing a real and present danger to the United States and setting out his stool, I guess, on behalf of the United States and his boss, President Trump.

Speaker 1 There's been an awful lot of controversy about one particular boat strike on the 2nd of September where it was struck a second time where where two people were clinging to a shipwreck, which appeared to be very distressing to many of the lawmakers who had seen it.

Speaker 1 But it's not just about that strike, there is the question of under what circumstances is it lawful and reasonable to use that force, and certainly a very strong defence of the US position from Pete Exeth.

Speaker 12 Sean Dilley.

Speaker 12 Ukraine's President Zelensky has had a long telephone conversation with the US peace envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner to to discuss bringing an end to the war with Russia.

Speaker 12 Mr. Zelensky called the talk substantive and very constructive.

Speaker 12 But as Russia continues to bombard Ukraine with missiles and drones, ripping up energy sites, roads and railways, is the Ukrainian leader being realistic about the prospect of peace?

Speaker 12 That's a question I put to our correspondent Joe Inwood.

Speaker 17 There are two ways of looking at this. Either that is because there genuinely is progress being made and things really have been agreed.
That would be the positive interpretation.

Speaker 17 Or the other way of looking at it is it is inevitable he's going to be positive, even if nothing was agreed.

Speaker 17 Because one of the things that Kyiv needs to be seen to be doing is to be contributing towards talks. If President Zelensky is seen by the U.S.

Speaker 17 administration, by Donald Trump, as being in some way opposed to peace, opposed to a deal, well, he risks incurring his wrath.

Speaker 17 And we've seen what happens when you get Donald Trump coming at President Zelensky. People remember the White House confrontation.

Speaker 17 It was not pretty, and it actually had real consequences for Ukraine on the battlefield. battlefield.

Speaker 12 You talk about President Zelensky being wary of President Trump's wrath. You could also perhaps say the same about European leaders.

Speaker 12 And Zelensky is due to meet some European leaders on Monday, I believe.

Speaker 12 They're obviously also treading a fine line between trying to remain positive and keep things going, but watching out for Donald Trump and how he reacts to all of this.

Speaker 17 Yeah, it's really interesting you say that.

Speaker 17 It's notable now whenever you see any statement from a European leader, they go out of their way to praise Donald Trump, even when it doesn't seem necessarily appropriate at that time.

Speaker 17 They are very, very keen to emphasise to the White House that they appreciate what he is doing in order to find peace. And there really clearly are efforts being made.

Speaker 17 In terms of the meeting on Monday between Friedrich Mertz of Germany, Emmanuel Macron of France and Sakir Starmer of the UK, along with President Zelensky, I think they're going to be talking about a few things.

Speaker 17 Most importantly, these talks that are going on, because the Europeans have been sidelined to some extent over recent weeks by the Americans and by the Russians, and they're keen to reinsert themselves into that conversation, although quite how they do that is difficult to see.

Speaker 17 More than that, though, they're going to be trying to demonstrate to all audiences, whether they're in Moscow or Washington or Kyiv, that they still back President Zelensky.

Speaker 17 I mean, President Zelensky has had a very, very difficult few weeks, not just on the battlefield, not just in terms of missile strikes, but also in terms of these corruption allegations really that have gone to the heart of his administration.

Speaker 17 And I think this is going to be a much needed boost. An arm round his shoulder, which is a strategy we've seen the Europeans use many times in the past.

Speaker 17 And I think they'll be doing that again this Monday.

Speaker 12 Joe Inwood. Negotiations are also continuing over the war in Gaza.

Speaker 12 A ceasefire came into effect nearly two months ago, but Hamas has yet to return the remains of one hostage, and there have been constant Israeli airstrikes in the Strip.

Speaker 12 More than 350 Palestinians have been killed since October. The warring parties haven't decided how to move on to the next phase of the peace plan.

Speaker 12 Qatar has said negotiations are at a critical moment and called for the IDF's full withdrawal. Another mediator, Egypt, said an international stabilisation force must be deployed as soon as possible.

Speaker 12 So what should we make of all of this? Our Middle East analyst Sebastian Usher has been speaking to Jeanette Jalil.

Speaker 6 I think this is very much the mediators from the Palestinian and the Arab side, one could say, trying to put across their sense of elements of the Trump US administration peace plan not being fulfilled from the Israeli side.

Speaker 6 I mean we've heard from a US side and the Israeli side that Hamas is breaching the violations, they haven't returned all the hostages, as you were saying, a very slow process.

Speaker 6 This was Qatar and Egypt saying that Israel is essentially not honoring this. They have to withdraw in the next phase of a ceasefire.

Speaker 6 There's no sign of that at the moment, much further than they have. They're still in control of more than 50%

Speaker 6 of the territory. And there's no sign at the moment that's going to change.

Speaker 6 In fact, this yellow line, as it's called, that Israel has drawn down almost the middle of Gaza, we're hearing reports almost daily that it's being widened a bit more into the part that Israel hadn't been controlling.

Speaker 6 So there's that, and also the urgencies, as you were saying, of its international stabilization force getting in, and that will be going in essentially to the side that isn't controlled by Israel at the moment to try and ensure that Hamas does step back, it's meant to disarm in the next phase, and that some kind of stability is there, some sense that for Gaza and their people there, things have improved.

Speaker 6 But who wants to join the stabilization force with the possibility that they might have to face up actually in direct conflict with Hamas or other militants? Egypt, which has been

Speaker 6 talked about as being the likeliest leader of it, is hesitant about that. Turkey was also at this meeting.
They've been playing a part in mediation recently.

Speaker 6 Now they want to, but Israel doesn't want them.

Speaker 18 And the critical thing will be the return of the last hostage, that last dead Israeli in Gaza. Then we should be able to move on to the second phase.

Speaker 18 But as you say, there are so many issues that still need to be resolved, not least allowing in more aid into Gaza.

Speaker 6 Yes, no, there is that.

Speaker 6 I mean the Rafah crossing in the south that has been talked about being opened finally, but that's just for Palestinians, presumably with medical conditions, being allowed to leave, Palestinians outside not being allowed back in and aid not coming in.

Speaker 6 It is true to say that the aid that would come in the south is coming through another crossing, but it's still nowhere near, as far as aid agencies are saying, what's needed.

Speaker 6 So there is a sense from both sides that this process has been drawn out to stop getting into the second phase.

Speaker 6 This last Israeli who's left, a police officer, you know, who's dead, he was killed on October the 7th.

Speaker 6 There was pressure being put again by Israel just a couple of days ago on the mediators saying that Hamas knows where the body is, they need to give the body.

Speaker 6 Israel has been saying throughout that Hamas has been trying to slow the process down in order to be able to rebuild, regroup.

Speaker 6 That's true, but from the Israeli perspective, you could say that the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in in no great hurry to move on to that second phase either.

Speaker 12 Sebastian Usher, as peace talks continue, the holy city of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank has begun its first public celebrations of Christmas in two years, lighting up a giant Christmas tree.

Speaker 12 All of its traditional festivities were cancelled when the war in Gaza began. Our correspondent, Yolan Nell, is in Manger Square.

Speaker 9 With the pipes and drums of a traditional Palestinian scout band, the Christmas festivities suspended for the past two years were back on.

Speaker 9 A large crowd gathered outside the Nativity Church, built on the spot where Christians believe Jesus was born.

Speaker 9 The fragile ceasefire in Gaza hasn't ended the suffering and hardship of Palestinians there.

Speaker 9 But the Palestinian mayor, Mahar Kanawati, said restarting Christmas celebrations should be seen as a symbol of hope.

Speaker 19 This is reigniting the spirit of Christmas that was never supposed to be cancelled. And we also have have grief for Gaza.
The people of Gaza are our people. Gaza is Bethlehem.
Gaza is Palestine.

Speaker 9 The war has caused an economic crisis in Bethlehem, which relies heavily on tourism. Nearby, in the West Bank, Israeli settlements seen as illegal under international law have expanded.

Speaker 9 With regional tensions still high, this Christmas, Palestinians say they're praying for peace. And switching on the lights of the Christmas tree in Manger Square is bringing some comfort and joy.

Speaker 12 Yoland Nell.

Speaker 12 Still to come. Everything is sacrifice.

Speaker 12 You just have to pray you don't sacrifice the wrong thing. The Independent Films Picking Up Awards and Oscar Buzz.

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Speaker 12 People in Hong Kong are voting for new lawmakers, but the election comes just a week after one of the city's deadliest fires.

Speaker 12 Political campaigning was abruptly paused when a blaze tore through apartment blocks, killing at least 159 people.

Speaker 12 The turnout on Sunday will be seen as a key measure of public opinion of the government's response.

Speaker 12 Our correspondent Danny Vincent told me only a fraction of the seats are directly elected and all under China's patriots-only rule.

Speaker 22 I'm currently standing outside a polling centre in the northeast of Hong Kong, and I'm watching people come in and leave after casting their vote.

Speaker 22 There are also police officers outside and some officials welcoming people to vote.

Speaker 22 Now this is the second election that Hong Kong has held since the authorities overhauled and reformed the electoral system.

Speaker 22 Currently in Hong Kong only people deemed patriotic to China are allowed to stand as candidates. That means there's a vetting session.
Now many people have criticised this.

Speaker 22 They say that this is not really a

Speaker 22 it doesn't really represent a wide range of views in this in this election.

Speaker 22 Hong Kong has transformed drastically since the introduction of a national security law in 2021.

Speaker 22 Many opposition voices, people that traditionally would have been in Ledgeco, people that would have been standing in this election today,

Speaker 22 many of them have been detained. Many are living in exile.
So the city has transformed drastically.

Speaker 22 But then on top of that, people are seeing this election, especially they're looking into the turnout, and I think that will be somewhat of a sign of how people feel about the authorities and in a sense, a vote of confidence.

Speaker 12 Also, this is happening in the shadow of that devastating fire. What sort of impact has that had?

Speaker 22 That's right. When the fire first broke out 11 days ago, there was some speculation that this election would actually be postponed.

Speaker 22 I think the authorities have recognised that this city is essentially in mourning. This was the worst fire that the city has seen in 80 years.
It was a horrific fire. There was a huge loss of life.

Speaker 22 The fire itself burned for 40 hours. So it's been a real tragic period of time here in Hong Kong.
However, the authorities went ahead with this election.

Speaker 22 They said they think it's necessary to bring in new lawmakers to try to oversee the changes and the reforms of some of the industries related to the fire.

Speaker 22 There's of course an investigation going into what caused the fire, so the authorities see this election as very crucial.

Speaker 12 Danny Vincent. The Vatican has returned dozens of indigenous cultural artefacts to Canada, a century after they were taken by the Catholic Church.
Our reporter Peter Goffin has more details.

Speaker 2 First Nations Inuit and Métis leaders in traditional buckskins, feathered headdresses, and beads gathered on the snowy tarmac of the Montreal airport as 62 artefacts arrived from Rome.

Speaker 2 Most of the pieces had been taken by the Catholic Church between 1923 and 1925, after Pope Pius XI called on missionaries around the world to collect indigenous artifacts for a special Vatican exhibition.

Speaker 2 Some have spent decades in storage.

Speaker 2 Others were displayed in Vatican museums, including gloves embroidered with the ornate floral designs of the Cree people and a sealskin kayak used by the Inuit to hunt whales in the far north.

Speaker 2 The artifacts will be taken to the Canadian Museum of History near Ottawa to be unpacked and examined by experts before long-term homes are found for them.

Speaker 2 Katisha Paul from the Union of British Columbia Chiefs was part of the delegation that flew with the items.

Speaker 13 These are not simply artifacts. They are our belongings, our ancestors, vital indicators of our nation's histories.

Speaker 13 We are all looking forward to seeing our belongings feel the mountains, winds, the warmth of the sun, and the cleansing energies of our lands and our waters.

Speaker 13 Now that they are back home with us, our nations will assert their rights to determine how best to take care of them.

Speaker 2 The Catholic Church has long been criticized for its role in what many Canadians see as the destruction of Indigenous culture.

Speaker 2 It was a driving force behind the early colonization of Canada by French explorers and missionaries.

Speaker 2 And beginning in the 1870s, the church operated dozens of Indigenous boarding schools on behalf of the Canadian government, part of a scheme to take Indigenous children from their families and forcibly assimilate them into white culture.

Speaker 2 A Truth and Reconciliation Commission has found that physical and sexual abuse at these residential schools was rife. In 2022, Pope Francis apologized for the church's actions.

Speaker 2 I humbly beg forgiveness, he said, for the evil committed by so many Christians against the Indigenous peoples.

Speaker 12 Peter Goffin. Next, looking ahead to the Men's Football World Cup in June.
In the last edition of the Global News podcast, we reported on the draw.

Speaker 12 Now football fans know where their teams will be playing. But with matches spread all across the US, Canada and Mexico, it's likely to be a logistical nightmare and an expensive tournament.

Speaker 12 Laura Williamson, who's editor-in-chief of the New York Times digital sports outlet The Athletic, told Sean Lane the weather could also be a significant factor, as some of the matches are scheduled to be played when temperatures will be nudging 30 degrees Celsius.

Speaker 5 I think they've done a really good job overall of trying to keep players and fans out of the searing midday and early afternoon heat in the US, Canada, and Mexico.

Speaker 5 But the one exception is the final, which will take place at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on the outskirts of New York City on July the 19th.

Speaker 5 And it's going to kick off at three o'clock in the afternoon. And the average temperatures there at that time of year are well above 30 degrees.

Speaker 5 I've covered matches there, it is so exposed, so hot, and such searing heat. So, as a spectacle, that could really damage it.

Speaker 5 But the other thing that teams are going to have to think about is trying to minimise travel wherever possible because obviously, it's an incredibly large place and not easy to get around.

Speaker 5 Spain, for example, play twice in Atlanta, which is obviously quite far south in the US, but then they go to Monterey and Mexico. Teams will also boeing about between Canada and the US.

Speaker 5 The tournament is split into three regions, roughly west, central and east.

Speaker 5 But that could take you all the way from Seattle, for example, in the northwest of the United States, all the way down to California and San Francisco.

Speaker 5 So these are big areas for teams and fans to try and navigate.

Speaker 12 Does it feel like it's going to be a fans tournament?

Speaker 5 It doesn't. I think with more teams, more games, all this extreme travel, it is going to be bigger than ever, but that comes with a lot of caveats.

Speaker 5 The ticket prices are so prohibitive for so many people. On the flip side, it would be argued that the opportunity is there to buy tickets because of the secondary resale market.

Speaker 5 But since we found out where people are going to be playing and what groups they're going to be playing in, you know, some tickets have gone up more than 100%.

Speaker 5 You're talking hundreds of dollars for even the least high-profile games.

Speaker 5 And yes, there's another ticket window coming up, which should give people the chance to hopefully buy tickets through a lottery. But it's a logistical challenge this World Cup.

Speaker 5 So it'll be interesting to see what happens in terms of fan zones and if the people living in the 16 host cities can actually feel a part of this tournament because ultimately that's what we want.

Speaker 5 It'll be here on the doorstep. Will people actually be able to see it is the question.

Speaker 12 Laura Williamson. Let's end with some glitz and glamour.
The film awards season is getting underway.

Speaker 12 There have been ceremonies handing out prizes in London and New York and as Tom Brooke reports many of the early winners are generating Oscar buzz.

Speaker 23 London's roundhouse is where the latest phase in movie awards season kicked off. At the British Independent Film Awards, there was excitement over the stories generated by Independent Cinema.

Speaker 23 Praise came from actor Emily Watson.

Speaker 13 It's really great to see that people are striking out and, you know, using a voice that's truly independent, asking awkward questions.

Speaker 7 Hi.

Speaker 23 The Picture Pillion took home four prizes at the British Independent Film Awards. Its screenplay was also recognised at the Gotham Awards in New York.

Speaker 8 How'd you get a man like that?

Speaker 12 Or have an aptitude for devotion?

Speaker 23 It's a story of submission and dominance between two men, starring Alexander Scarsgaard as a leather-clad biker. It's seen as a thought-provoking, boundary-pushing film.

Speaker 23 And Scarsgåd gives credit to the independent film community in the UK for getting the project off the ground.

Speaker 24 It's a small film about a subculture that's not often depicted on screen, especially not in this way. So the fact that movies like Philly can still get made makes me happy at least.

Speaker 23 Akanula Davis won the Best Director Trophy at the British Independent Film Awards for My Father's Shadow, centered on family relationships involving two young brothers and their father at a pivotal time in Nigeria in 1993.

Speaker 23 The film is the UK's official submission in the Oscars race. It also picked up two Gotham Awards.
It's a British-Nigerian film praised for its authenticity.

Speaker 23 Akhanola Davis sees himself as part of a new generation of British filmmakers.

Speaker 25 We're able to make films that reflect ourselves from an honest point of view.

Speaker 24 I think they're really important for all the communities here in the UK.

Speaker 3 My father is a really good director.

Speaker 3 But he's a

Speaker 13 very difficult person.

Speaker 13 We can't really talk.

Speaker 23 And one film getting considerable early awards season attention is the Norwegian picture Sentimental Value. Seen as a perceptive and finely crafted family drama with strong acting.

Speaker 23 It's expected to feature prominently in pre-Oscar contests.

Speaker 23 At the Gotham Awards in New York this week, originally set up to honor independent cinema, the picture It Was Just an Accident, a revenge drama from Iranian director Jaffa Panahi, was the big winner taking home three awards.

Speaker 23 The dissident filmmaker has spent time in jail in Iran for propaganda against the state and now faces a new sentence. His film was made in secret.

Speaker 23 But it was the latest work of an independent-minded American director, Paul Thomas Anderson, with his picture One Battle After Another, that took home the top best feature film trophy at the Gotham Awards.

Speaker 23 This action movie, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, laden with political and social satire, is one of the most critically praised films of the year.

Speaker 23 And at this stage, most Oscar prognosticators view it as the Academy Awards frontrunner.

Speaker 12 Tom Brooke.

Speaker 12 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 or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email.

Speaker 12 The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service.
Use the hashtag Global NewsPod.

Speaker 12 This edition was mixed by Zabihula Karush, and the producer was Stephen Jensen. The editor is Karen Martin.
I'm Pete Ross. Until next time, goodbye.

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