Australia: thousands attend Bondi Beach vigil

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

I'm Janet Jalil, and at 16 hours GMT on Monday, the 15th of December, these are our main stories.

The Australian government moves to further tighten gun laws in the wake of the Bondi beach attacks, in which 15 people were killed by two gunmen.

Police in Los Angeles are investigating the deaths of the Hollywood director, Rob Reiner, and his wife as apparent homicide.

Also, in this podcast, the air which I'm breathing is really heavy. The visibility has dropped sharply, so it's like I'm standing inside a cloud of dust and smoke.

We go to Delhi, where once again, people are trying to cope with hazardous air quality.

The Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, has said his government will move to tighten his country's already strict gun laws in the aftermath of the Bondi Beach attacks, in which 15 people were shot dead by a father and son.

The older man, who was killed, legally owned several weapons. The younger one, who is critically wounded and in custody, had been investigated in the past for his links to the Islamic State Group.

But Mr. Albanese said the two men who targeted a Jewish celebration at Bondi Beach were not part of a wider extremist cell.

The victims include a 10-year-old girl, an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor, a man who saved his wife's life by shielding her from gunfire, a retired police officer, and two rabbis.

With more on the investigation and how people are coming to terms with this attack in a place that they thought was safe, here's our Australia correspondent, Katie Watson.

We've travelled about an hour from Bondi to southwest Sydney, a place called Bonnyrig. Now, this is where both gunmen are believed to have lived.
This house was one of two that got raided overnight.

It's a single-storey brown brick house with a terracotta tiled roof with a large car port on the side and a cream fence right out in front. It's a very suburban area, very quiet area.

Speaking to the neighbours, they say it's a very mixed area with Asian families and Arab families. It's very Australian, as one person put it.
But certainly people here are shocked at what happened.

Oh my goodness,

no, can't be,

can't be them, because I noticed the boy comes out most of the time and brings the rubbish out.

They look normal. Yeah, they look normal people.

A helpful son. Yeah,

yeah. But now I fear for them who died.
Yeah, it's very sad.

Not far away, though, another house has been taken over over by police officers. I'm standing outside a grey single-story house, and it's here that the police say the gunman prepared the attack.

It's a short-term rental property that the two men came to in the weeks running up to the attack.

And several police officers have just come out of the house with several large bags of what looks like evidence. They're now driving off.

Authorities name the gunman today, Father Sajid Akram, who was shot dead at the scene, and his son Naveen Akram, who remains in hospital under armed guard.

According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, he was examined over close ties to a Sydney-based Islamic state cell. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had this to say about the investigation.

The son first came

to attention in October 2019.

He was examined on the basis of being associated with others and the assessment was made that there was no indication of any ongoing threat or threat of him engaging in violence.

More than 25 people remain in hospital.

One of those is a man named Ahmed al-Ahmed, now a hero. After he bravely wrestled the gun off one of the attackers, his dad spoke to the ABC.

My son is a hero.

When he saw people laying on the ground and the blood everywhere, immediately his conscience and his soul compelled him to pounce on one of the terrorists and to rid him of his weapon.

I feel pride and honour because my son is a hero of Australia. Among the 15 dead, a 10-year-old girl Matilda, described as bright and joyful.

British-born Rabbi Elie Schlanger was a father of five, killed two at the Hanukkah event in Bondi.

And Alexander Clayton, a Holocaust survivor. We know many of them, fellow rabbis in the community and fellow community members.
Rabbi Yossi Shuchat organised an evening vigil.

And may I add also many people who are innocently participating in an event and their children have seen most horrific and horrible scenes. But I think it's fair to say that we are all shocked.

As the sun's gone down, the crowds have got bigger here in Bondai Pavilion. There's a sea of flowers in the middle with some cards written to those who died.

By love they're remembered and in memory they live, reads one.

Another reads, What the world needs now is love, sweet love, shalom, and peace to Australia and the world. And there's a small card, to the families and victims, our hearts break with you.

This day has been full of grief, but this evening has been one of celebration and remembrance for those who died.

That report by Katie Watson.

And for more reporting on this story, you can go to YouTube, search for BBC News, click on the logo, then choose Podcasts and Global News Podcast. There's a news story available every weekday.

Tributes have been paid to the renowned Hollywood director, Rob Reiner, and his wife Michelle, who have been found dead at their home. He was 78, she was 68.

Los Angeles police say they're treating the deaths as apparent homicides. Rob Reiner directed much-loved films, including This Is Spinal Tap, When Harry Met Sally, and The Princess Bride.

He also found fame as an actor. In later life, he became a passionate activist on issues ranging from climate change to gun control.

I got more details from our correspondent in Los Angeles, Peter Bose.

The police are saying relatively little about their investigation at the moment, apart from stressing that it is in its early stages.

They have confirmed that two people were found dead at the Reiner household they say it'll be up to the Los Angeles coroner to release more information to formally identify them and to release information about the causes of death but the police did say that they were not seeking anyone as a suspect or person of interest that no one had been detained and no one questioned now i don't think we should read too much into that again they were stressing that there's there are protocols to go through and at the point that they were giving the news conference, there was certainly little they could say in terms of making information public.

So, there is a lot more, I think, to learn about this.

But we have heard from the family a brief statement saying that it is with profound sorrow that we announce the tragic passing of Michelle and Rob Reiner.

We are heartbroken, they say, by this sudden loss, and we ask for privacy during this unbelievably difficult time. And that feeling of heartbreak is a sentiment shared by many.

The Los Angeles Mayor has been paying tribute to Rob Reiner. Just

tell us about his career, because he was well known as an actor, but even better known as a director.

Yes, he started as a writer and as an actor on American television, but it will certainly be his directing work that people will remember him for.

Some really giant films when Harry Met Sally, that late 80s, classic, that memorable restaurant scene featuring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan, A Few Good Men, that was the early 90s, the courtroom drama, stunning performance by Jack Nicholson.

It all started for him in terms of directing, really, with that cult classic mockumentary, This Is Spinal Tap. That was in the mid-80s.
In fact, they've just made a sequel to that.

It didn't do particularly well at the box office, but they are just a few of the titles that he will be remembered for as an incredibly versatile filmmaker at home initially on screen himself, but certainly behind the scenes.

And then there was a whole new part of his life that people knew and respected him for, and former President Obama has been talking about this, and that was his political work, his social activism.

President Obama posting, Michelle and I are heartbroken by the tragic passing of Rob Reiner and his beloved wife, Michelle.

He goes on, Rob's achievements in film and television gave us some of our most cherished stories on screen, but he says, beneath all of the stories he produced was a deep belief in the goodness of people and a lifelong commitment to putting that belief into action.

Peter Bose. And as we record this podcast, it's emerged that Rob Reiner's son, Nick, has been arrested.

In our earlier podcast, we brought you the news of the victory of the far-right candidate José Antonio Cast in Chile's presidential election.

In his first speech as president-elect, he promised to free Chile from crime, an issue that has dominated the election campaign and helped him to defeat his communist rival.

So what do Chileans expect of their new leader? Our South America correspondent, Ione Wells, reports from the Chilean capital, Santiago.

There's jubilation here, a gathering in Santiago, where supporters of Jose Antonio Cast have been watching the election result, watching their candidate win.

People are waving Chilean flags, taking selfies, some wearing red caps saying, make Chile great again.

After three attempts, Jose Antonio Cas will be the next president of Chile, the most right-wing president since democracy was restored in 1990.

We've been trying to win an election for years, and finally, we did it. We're really happy.
We're hoping the promises will actually be kept and we'll have security this time.

In Chile, you used to be able to go out on the streets and walk around peacefully. Lately, we've experienced a problem with insecurity.

The first thing he has to do is sort out the immigration problem.

It's very bad. Not only for Chileans, but for the immigrants, because they're having to wait two, four, five, six years for nationality.

They're not being able to work.

This Antonio caste has promised radical change in the country.

Criminals, delinquents, their lives are going to change. We're going to look for them, find them, judge them, and then we're going to lock them up.

Chile will once again be free from crime, free from anguish, free from fear. We want to welcome migrants, but only if they comply with the law.

Chile is one of the safest and more stable countries in South America, but a rise in immigration and organized crime in recent years has concerned many voters. Caste often drew links between the two.

Chile's murder rate is now falling and some studies suggest those born abroad on average commit fewer crimes, but the perception of growing insecurity motivated some of Caste's supporters.

We're turning into another Colombia. Lots of terrorism, thieves, robbery.
Society is very unsafe. It may sound harsh to say it, but we need the government to continue Pinochet's work.

Human rights abuses existed, that's true, but as a government it was good. We used to have peace.

His critics though say the problem is being exaggerated.

I feel like a false sense of insecurity is becoming widespread. In other countries, there are much worse things happening than here.
It just doesn't add up for me.

Casp will be the most right-wing president since Chile's dictatorship ended, and he has praised the country's former dictator, Augusto Pinochet.

The left-wing Janet Hara said democracy had spoken loud and clear and wished Mr. Cast success.
Some of her supporters fear a return to Chile's far-right past.

Cast's family helped the dictator Augusto Pinochet. I lived through Pinochet's dictatorship.
It was brutal.

Cast had pledged mass deportations, maximum security security prisons, and a border wall.

He set the inauguration in March as a deadline for irregular migrants to leave if they ever want the chance to come back.

With about 336,000 irregular migrants in Chile and no majority in Congress, his policies could prove tricky in practice. But supporters say his iron fist approach will bring change.

That report by Ione Wells in Santiago.

Well, as we've been hearing, the issues of migration and of asylum and refugees have become increasingly divisive, with many countries cutting the support they give to those fleeing violence or persecution.

A global forum on refugees is beginning in Geneva today.

Hosted by the UN Refugee Agency, the meeting is designed to assess what progress is being made in supporting those who have been forced to flee their homes.

It brings together government leaders, UN officials, aid agencies, and refugees themselves. Imogen Folks reports from Geneva.

A record number of people, more than 117 million, are currently displaced, most of them hosted by low- and middle-income countries.

In the wealthy countries that take the fewest refugees, the issue has become increasingly politicised. The UN Refugee Agency says fear and division seem to be drowning out compassion.

This meeting is supposed to assess international progress to support refugees. The signs are not positive.
Almost half of all refugee children are not in school.

Many refugees continue to be denied the right to work, and funding cuts have forced the UN Refugee Agency to act support programmes and thousands of jobs.

Conflict, displacement, and immigration are more complex than they were in 1951 when the Refugee Convention was created, but that's not a reason, the UN argues, to abandon refugees.

Instead, it wants fair and durable solutions for people who have lost everything through no fault of their own.

Imogen folks.

Still to come in this podcast, the rental giant Airbnb is given a massive fine by the Spanish government for advertising unlicensed apartments.

There's a fine that's thought to be equivalent to about six times of what the Spanish government has said would be the illegal profit made by Airbnb between the time the company warned against these offending adverts and the time they were taken down.

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The authorities in the Indian capital Delhi have raised their assessment of air pollution in the city to grade 4, the highest possible level.

Residents, especially children and people with respiratory problems, have been urged to stay indoors. Our reporter, Devina Gupta, did venture outside and described what it was like to Gideon Long.

The air which I'm breathing is really heavy. The visibility has dropped sharply, so it's like I'm standing inside a cloud of dust and smoke.
If I reach out to it, I can feel this dust in my my hands.

It's that bad. The longer I stay here, I can feel it that there is a tightness in my throat.
It's difficult to breathe this air. My eyes will start stinging in a moment as well.

This is something which has become a normalized situation for nearly 30 million residents of the city.

It happens almost every winter, especially in November and December months, because the weather conditions are such that they trap the pollutants in the air.

There's very little wind, so emissions say from vehicles or construction or industries simply hang in the air, creating this grey kind of atmosphere around.

On top of that, there are farmers in neighboring states that burn crops double to clear fields for the next planting season.

So that's also adding to the smoke that's drifting straight into the city and creating this kind of toxic air.

And Davina, obviously this affects everybody in Delhi and the surrounding area, but how specifically does it affect business?

Well, what we do see is that when such conditions become more severe, the government here triggers something called a graded response action plan. Now, it's got a level of restrictions.

So right now we're on the fourth stage, which is the most severe restriction, and that means that construction work would stop. So any kind of real estate, renovation work stops.

So that impacts the daily wagers who are involved with this kind of work. You will also see that officers are advised to work in a hybrid working arrangement.

So, a lot of people have to work from home. Now, that also adds on to the productivity loss that we see.

There's been a study by a global consultancy firm, Dahlberg, which has put the costs to Indian businesses at around $95 billion each year.

That's around 3% of the GDP because of the reduced productivity, work absences, and then also there is a long and hefty health bill which people with respiratory diseases have to pay so that impacts budgets of families we also see that consumer economy takes a hit a lot of people don't want to go to markets to shop and that's where the consumption sees a fall and delhi alone loses as much as six percent of its gdp every year as per this study so it's got an overall impact on the city's economy on the national economy and an interesting study by a World Bank actually mentioned Gideon that had India halved its pollution level over the past 25 years in other cities as well, its GDP would have been 4.5% higher.

And this was the study done for the year of 2023. So one can figure out that this gap isn't just economic, it's existential, it's real.

And the impact of this pollution for people living in this country is also real.

Davina Gupta.

Spain is facing a housing crisis with many people in the popular tourist destination blaming the high number of visitors for pushing up costs and pushing locals out of the property market.

Now, the rental giant Airbnb has been given a massive fine by the Spanish government for advertising unlicensed apartments. Some of them banned rental properties.

Our global affairs reporter, Mimi Sweebe, told me more about why Airbnb has been hit with this fine of more than $75 million.

The Spanish Consumer Affairs Ministry found that more than 65,000 adverts on Airbnb, the housing platform for rentals, were basically for unlicensed properties.

In many parts of Spain, you need a license to rent out a property if that's for a short-term rent or a longer-term rental. So, this fine has now been put in place and it can't be impealed by Airbnb.

And it's a fine that's thought to be equivalent to about six times of what the Spanish government have said would be the illegal profit made by Airbnb between the time the company warned against these offending adverts and the time they were taken down.

It's also said that Airbnb must also correct the wrongly published adverts, withdraw unlicensed properties, and also publicly announce the fine.

And this is all part of a crackdown by the Spanish Government on trying to regulate its mass tourism and trying to protect, as we've heard, individuals, Spanish citizens who themselves are in a housing crisis.

And has there been any reaction yet from Airbnb? From Airbnb, no, but we've heard from the minister that he said that this is a good move.

A few benefit from these rental properties, while many Spanish citizens in hotspots like Barcelona and other areas of Spain, they're on the brink.

And although mass tourism has driven kind of the buoyancy of the economy, it really has fueled local concern around increasingly scarce and unaffordable housing, as well as changing neighbourhoods.

And it really is a top priority of this minority coalition government to address the housing crisis. Spain does need tourism.

It was the world's second most visited country in 2024, and it hosted around 94 million tourists. And that is actually thought to be surpassed by the end of this year.

So, even more tourists arriving in Spain. So, it's a little bit of a double-edged sword.

They need tourism on hand, but they also need to protect their own citizens and make sure there is a fair housing and rental market for both. Mimi Swabi.

Once again, intensive negotiations are being held on how to end the Russia-Ukraine war.

Ukraine's President Vladimir Zelensky has held talks in Berlin with the US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to discuss Washington's proposed peace plan.

And as we record this podcast, he's expected to meet European leaders, including those of Germany, France and Britain. But as Jonathan Beale explains, there's no easy path to agreement.

President Putin has made very, very clear he wants the entire Donetsk region. So that is something that is going to be very hard to resolve for the American negotiating team.

And the worry, of course, for I think Europe and also Ukraine is that the longer this goes on, the more likely it is that President Trump will lose interest and potentially pull the remaining support, the intelligence support, he gives Ukraine.

Meanwhile, there's been no let-up in Russia's attacks on Ukraine's infrastructure, as Vitaly Shevchenko reports.

About half a million people remain without electricity in Ukraine's southern Odessa region following a major Russian attack on energy infrastructure over the weekend.

It also disrupted water and central heating supplies in the southern port city, where locals have been forced to use shops and so-called resilience centers set up by the government to charge their phones and get warm.

Over recent months, Russian attacks have destroyed warehouses supplying the vast majority of Ukraine's pharmacies.

Just one strike on a storage facility in the city of Dnipro earlier this month destroyed more than $110 million worth of medicines, or up to 30% of Ukraine's monthly supply.

Ukrainian authorities accuse Russia of deliberately targeting hospitals, ambulances, medics and rescue workers, claims Moscow has denied.

On the front line, the fiercest fighting has been taking place outside the town of Bokrovsk in eastern Donetsk region, where the Ukrainian authorities are reporting 47 Russian assaults there on Sunday alone.

Vitaly Shevchenko and before him, Jonathan Beale. Now, do you worry about rising food prices?

Well, here in Britain, the Royal Horticultural Society has predicted that next year, more people will be growing tabletop vegetables, bonsai-type plants in small containers which provide fresh produce.

They say these dwarf varieties are easy to grow in the house or in window boxes for people who don't have gardens. Guy Barter from the Royal Horticultural Society told us more.

Mostly these small squashes and tomatoes, peppers have been bred to be easy to grow. But because there's not a lot of top growth, there's not a lot of root growth either.

So, you have to be careful not to forget to water it and give it a bit of feeding once a week. And then, if it's got enough light, they pretty much grow themselves.

So, a patio, a sunny balcony, or even the bay window, if you're lucky enough to have a conservatory, that's ideal. Anywhere with a bit of warmth and shelter for these summer season crops.

If you can buy them as seeds, you don't get many seeds of the hybrids, of course, but how many plants do you need for a patio? You can buy them as plants, or you can buy them as plug plants by post.

And then later in the summer, at a rather higher cost, you can buy them already grown, but they are very beautiful plants as well.

A pepper plant covered in ripening fruit is very attractive, as good as a flower plant, so it's very decorative, and that appeals to people too.

And that was Guy Barter of the Royal Horticultural Society.

And that's all from us for now, but there will be a new edition of the Global News Podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast, you can send us an email.

The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk.

This edition was mixed by Rosenwyn.rell. The producers are Alice Adelie and Oliver Burlau.
The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Janat Jalil.
Until next time, goodbye.

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