Erdogan calls Turkey protests 'evil' as unrest continues

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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Jackie Leonard and in the early hours of Tuesday the 25th of March, these are our main stories.
Large crowds of protesters again marched through the Turkish city of Istanbul in support of the jailed mayor, who's the main opposition presidential candidate. The United Nations says it's reducing its presence in Gaza because of Israel's renewed bombing campaign.
And the Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD says its revenue topped $100 billion for the first time last year, overtaking Tesla. Also in this podcast, the White House has confirmed that a prominent journalist was

sent classified military information by mistake, giving advanced details of a US attack on the

Houthis in Yemen. Pete Hegseth, if you think we should do it, let's go.
Let's just make sure our

messaging is tight here. And if there are things we can do up front to minimise risk to Saudi oil facilities, we should do it.
We begin in Turkey and more protests in the city of Istanbul. Large crowds gathered again to demand the release of the city's mayor, Ekrem Emarmalu, Turkey's main opposition presidential candidate.
He was arrested last week and charged with corruption. The chairman of his CHP party, Özgür Özel, told the crowds the protest was an act of defiance against fascism.
But the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said the demonstrations had turned violent. Earlier, Turkish police said 1,100 people had been detained

following Mr Amarmalu's arrest.

Our senior international correspondent, Orla Girin,

spent the day among the protesters.

Turkey's deep divisions, painfully exposed.

Police versus protesters, night after night.

These are pockets of trouble in largely peaceful demonstrations.

But the arrests keep coming.

Over a thousand people detained in just five days.

As the mayor of Istanbul was before them.

Ekrem Imamoglu's poster still flies from City Hall. But the Turkish leader's greatest rival is now locked away.
The mayor's supporters gathering once again to demand his release. And they say, defend democracy.
So what happened on Wednesday was a direct attack on our democracy. It was a

coup and we are here to protect our rights. We are here to fight for them.
We are here to support our mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. This 21-year-old wanted to speak out but not to be identified.
It's about an injustice being done at such a large scale that you know we just had just had to speak up about it. And you hear it on the news every day, you hear it on, you get notifications, oh, this guy got arrested, this person got arrested.
And finally, I feel like it has reached a breaking point for most people. There's plenty of energy here, plenty of enthusiasm.
A lot of those who've gathered are young and they've been coming day after day. The question is how long can they keep gathering? How long will the authorities let them? For both sides, this is becoming a test of strength.
Ekrem Imamoglu was the picture of composure, even as police massed outside his door. He said he was entrusting himself to his nation and he would not bow to tyranny.
Turkey says its courts are independent. Taking it all in his stride, Turkey's ageing leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, he accused the mayor and his party of being a movement of violence and predicted their show would eventually end.
He's hoping the protests will peter out, but Turkey may be facing a fork in the road. Can it be a functioning democracy or is it headed for all-out autocracy? That was all a gear in Turkey.
And as we record this podcast, we are seeing some reports that police and protesters have again clashed in Istanbul. Next to Saudi Arabia, where high-level delegations from the US and Russia worked on Monday to hammer out the details of a proposed partial ceasefire in Ukraine.
Despite US optimism regarding a deal, Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said that no major diplomatic breakthrough should be expected at the moment and that the talks will instead focus on reaching a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea. Our security correspondent Frank Gardner is in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
Today has been the day of the Russians sitting down with the Americans. They've spent at least 10 hours, probably more, closeted in this luxury hotel, the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh, the city I'm in now.
I managed to get into the hotel and talk to some of the Ukrainian delegation. They haven't mixed at all with the Russians, as you can imagine, the Americans trying to keep them apart.
Otherwise, it's a kind of French farce. The Ukrainians are pretty upbeat.
They had their own talks with the Americans yesterday. And these are at a technical level.
It's not a senior level. These aren't familiar names, apart from the Ukrainian defence minister.
He brought a big team with him, 25 people, energy experts, naval experts, military officers, diplomats. And what they've been doing is mapping out which energy facilities they want protected in a partial ceasefire.
And obviously, there will have to be Russian ones as well that are immune from attack as part of this deal. They've also been looking at the Black Sea, at shipping lanes.
We don't yet know exactly what their demands are because almost nothing is coming out of the Russians at the moment. The Ukrainians have been talking.
They would love to do a press conference. We may still get some kind of a statement.
And then, of course, we've got to read between the lines. If it says frank discussions, it means they argued.
If it says productive, it means just a little bit of progress was probably made.

Now, you said that the Ukrainians were sounding upbeat before,

but Russia's been downplaying hopes of progress, hasn't it?

Yeah, there is a big gap between how the Americans portrayed this and how the Russians.

Steve Witkoff, President Trump's special envoy to these peace talks,

a man who, I have to say, does not have a very good grasp of the areas. He couldn't even name the five oblasts, the five provinces in Ukraine that Russia has seized.
And the narrative that he has been telling people in an interview that he did in the States over the weekend is basically the Kremlin's narrative. And that did worry people.
Nevertheless, the team that's over here, that's here in Riyadh, say they've had really good discussions with the Americans. They get on well with them.
Some of the Ukrainians have been to US universities. They've spent time working and living in the States.
So there is a kind of commonality there. The question, I think, the big question is how much pressure, if any, is the US side going to put on Russia to sign up to even this partial ceasefire? We already know they won't do the full 30-day land, sea and air ceasefire because that was presented to Putin and he said, not until lots of other questions are answered.
So I think there is a concern in Europe and on the Ukrainian side that the US might be less than an honest broker here,

that the Trump administration is more sympathetic to Putin's narrative than it is to Ukraine's.

That was Frank Gardner in Saudi Arabia.

Well, against this background, this was the situation in Ukraine on Monday.

Even as the talks continued in Saudi Arabia, missiles rained down in the Ukrainian town of Sumy, damaging residential areas and infrastructure, including a children's hospital. Our correspondent James Landale is in Kiev.
There may be ceasefire talks in Saudi Arabia, but on the ground in Ukraine, the firing continues without cease. Today, it was the turn of Sumy in northeastern Ukraine.
It's long been the subject of Russian attacks. It's just over the border from the Kursk region of Russia, occupied by Ukraine last year.
But the missile strike that laid waste to parts of the city this afternoon was exceptional. The authorities said a school, hospital and apartment blocks were damaged.
Scores were injured, including children. So far, there have been no reports of any deaths.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister, Andrei Sobya, asked how Moscow could speak of peace while carrying out such brutal strikes. Instead of making hollow statements about peace, he said, Russia must stop bombing our cities and end its war on civilians.
For its part, Ukraine destroyed four Russian attack helicopters in a missile attack on the Belgorod region. And Russia's defence ministry accused Ukraine of targeting energy infrastructure in the Krasnodar region.
For now, the fighting goes on. That was James Landale in Kiev.
And just to remind you that we're getting together again with our friends at BBC Ukraine cast on Friday the 4th of April, and we would like you to be part of it. Do send your questions about what's happening to globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk.
And if possible, please record your question as a voice note. The number of United Nations international staff in Gaza is to be reduced by about a third after recent Israeli strikes.
A spokesman, Stéphane Dujaric, said the move, which was a temporary measure, was being taken for security and operational reasons. He stressed that the UN remained committed to helping the people of Gaza.
As you know, in the past week, Israel carried out devastating strikes on Gaza, claiming the lives of hundreds of civilians, including United Nations personnel, with no humanitarian aid being allowed to enter the Gaza Strip since early March. As a result, the Secretary General has taken the difficult decision to reduce the United Nations footprint in Gaza, even as humanitarian needs soar and our concern over the protection of civilians intensifies.
We are not leaving Gaza. I repeat, the United Nations is not leaving Gaza.
We remain committed to continuing to provide aid that civilians depend on for their survival and for their protection. Meanwhile, Hamas has posted a video of two hostages as the Israeli military continues its bombardment of Gaza.
The hostages were abducted from a music festival during the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023. Palestinian officials say more than 60 people have been killed in the past 24 hours.
In northern Israel, a man in his 70s has been shot dead in what police say was a terrorist attack. Our Middle East regional editor Sebastian Usher reports from Jerusalem and begins with the hostage video.
In the latest video posted by Hamas, the two hostages, Elkanah Bohbot and Yosef Hayim Ahana, are shown in considerable distress, calling on another hostage who was recently released to speak up for them. They also describe how during the ceasefire in Gaza, conditions had greatly improved, but that now they felt in danger again.
Israel has condemned previous videos of hostages released by Hamas as psychological warfare. There seems little doubt that Hamas is trying to put pressure on the Israeli government to return to a ceasefire.
But there seems little sign of this, with the Israeli military continuing airstrikes across the territory. Two local journalists have been killed in the past few hours.
One of them, Hossam Shabbat, was a well-known reporter for the pan-Arab news network Al Jazeera.

More than 200 media workers have reportedly been killed in Gaza since the war began.

At the weekend, Hamas health officials said the total number of Palestinians killed in the conflict had passed 50,000.

All this amid new reports that Egypt is trying to revive the ceasefire in a proposal

that would see five living hostages released in exchange for an extended pause in the fighting. That was Sebastian Usher.
The White House has confirmed that a prominent journalist was accidentally texted classified military information. A spokesman said the administration was reviewing how Jeffrey Goldberg's phone number was inadvertently added to a chain.
Earlier, Mr Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, revealed that he had received classified military plans for U.S. strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen from the U.S.
Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth. He says it contained precise details of weapons packages, targets and timing two hours before the first bombs struck.
A number of messages from the group chat has emerged. Let's hear the messages that appear to have been sent by the US Vice President J.D.
Vance and Pete Hegseth, the US Secretary of Defence. They've been voiced up by BBC producers and you'll hear J.D.
Vance first. Pete Hegseth, if you think we should do it, let's go.
I just hate bailing Europe out again. Let's just make sure our messaging is tight here, and if there are things we can do up front to minimise risk to Saudi oil facilities, we should do it.
VP, I fully share your loathing of European freeloading. It's pathetic.
But Mike is correct. We are the only ones on the planet,

on our side of the leisure, who can do this. Nobody else even close.
Question is timing. I feel like now is as good a time as any, given POTUS' directive to reopen shipping lanes.
I think we should go. But POTUS still retains 24 hours of decision space.
The Mike, the US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth referred to, appears to be Mike Waltz, President Trump's national security advisor. It appears the Atlantic journalist Jeffrey Goldberg only published a little bit of the conversation and held some back, saying it was too sensitive.
Owen Bennett-Jones asked the BBC's Namir Iqbal in Washington, D.C. for more on what the military chat has revealed.
It is just so staggering, actually. I mean, just to remind Goldberg said that he received a connection request by someone named Michael Waltz, who is the National Security Advisor to President Trump.
He was then added to it. I mean, he also mentioned how Mr Hegs had posted posted a detailed war plan in which he gave a certain time for when the first bombs would be dropped in Yemen.
And then two hours later, explosions were heard in the country. I do think it was pretty notable that VP Vance, who has been in lockstep with President Trump, actually disagreed with some of the president's approach in that chat.
But I think one of the really extraordinary things about this is that Jeffrey Goldberg left the group. That's how they knew he was in it.
And so it raises the question, if he hadn't left the group of his own accord, would they have spotted him? Yes, I didn't get that bit. I mean, the other thing was that this journalist, you know, this editor of The Atlantic was saying, yeah, he basically thought it was a hoax and that someone was trying to trick him into doing something and he'd be discredited in some way.
And it's not a hoax. It's not.
And the reason why he might have thought that as well is because Donald Trump isn't a big fan of the Atlantic, nor is he a big fan of Jeffrey Goldberg over the years. He has really sort of made it quite clear how he doesn't like him.
So I can see why Mr Goldberg might have thought that it was some kind of hoax. And especially on that particular chat app, you never quite know.
But the White House did confirm that they are now looking to quote them how an inadvertent number was added to the chain. But this is potentially illegal, isn't it? Well, here's the thing.
Disappearing messages on signal to coordinate military operations that could have violated the Espionage Act and other federal laws. And so Congress are now demanding an investigation into it.
The BBC's Nomiya Iqbal in Washington. There has been quite a lot of reaction on social media.
Hillary Clinton, who faced a storm of criticism and media coverage over an email server system she used at her New York home while Secretary of State, linked to the article along with an eyeball emoji and wrote, you have got to be kidding me. The Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD has overtaken the American giant Tesla in total revenue, pulling in more than $100 billion last year.
Here's an excerpt from a promotional company video released last year. Simply an unforgettable model I've ever seen.
It's the most reliable companion to cross the Antis way. Who is BYD to you? This is BYD.
So how big a turnaround is this? A question for our North America business correspondent, Erin Delmore. It's quite a big turnaround.
When we separate out the numbers here, we see that BYD's total revenue for the year amounted to $107 billion. Rival Tesla came in just shy of $98 billion.
And, you know, these are the two big names in electric vehicles right now. But it's different how they're going about their businesses and where they're dominating sales.
So why has this turnaround happened? And how much might it be about the owner of Tesla, Elon Musk? There are a number of factors. And we can start by saying that the cars made by BYD, broadly speaking, are cheaper to build and cheaper to buy.
And they also have a technology advantage. The company recently announced a new EV battery charging system that would refill most of the battery, a 400-kilometer ride, in about five minutes.
And it's cutting-edge technology like that that consumers are looking for. High-tech features like advanced driver assistance technology, even in base models.
And meanwhile, some criticisms of Tesla include an aging fleet, which is, you know, a byproduct of being first on the scene and having some very popular models out for a long time now. And, you know, as you mentioned, Elon Musk has become a bit of a polarizing figure.
Either he is receiving support from people in the United States, especially those who are fans of President Donald Trump, who he is working for now, or blowback. And we have seen some violence, some vandalism at Tesla dealerships, and we have seen some Tesla owners selling their cars for that reason.
And has there been any comment at all from Elon Musk? He said recently in an interview when he was asked how he was managing all of his companies and all of his endeavors with great difficulty, acknowledging that he has taken on a lot of responsibility and a lot of work. But one of the most interesting things that I think he says commonly is that Tesla is not just a car company.
He talks instead about the technological advances that Tesla is making, this pivot toward autonomous vehicles, driverless cars, and a lot of the technological advances that the company is seeking to integrate to its products down the line. If we take it back to nuts and bolts here, one of the interesting things about BYD surpassing Tesla in revenue is that BYD sold more cars.
When it came to EVs, they were pretty close to neck and neck, actually. But when you start talking also about hybrids and other passenger vehicles, that's where BYD really sold more individual vehicles.

That was Erin Delmore.

Still to come.

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allaboardbayarea.com The head of the United Nations AIDS program has warned that there could be nearly 9 million new AIDS infections in the next four years as a result of the Trump administration's decision to cut funding from the UN's global health program. Speaking in Geneva, Winnie Byanyima said that 2,000 new cases of AIDS-related diseases a day would be diagnosed.
Imogen Folks reports from Geneva. In 2004, HIV-AIDS claimed more than 2 million lives.
In 2023, deaths were down to 600,000. The US funding cuts risk reversing years of progress and allowing infections to surge unchecked.
UNAIDS programmes across Africa received stop-work orders in January, and already mother and child prevention clinics have closed and treatment centres have run out of drugs. Winnie B.
Anima pleaded with the US, the single biggest funder of HIV programs, to reverse its decision immediately and even offered President Trump what she described as a deal to market a new U.S.-developed antiretroviral injection to millions of people. It is reasonable for the United States to want to reduce its funding over time, But the sudden withdrawal of life-saving support is having a devastating impact across countries, particularly Africa, but even in Asia and Latin America.
We urge for a reconsideration and an urgent restoration of life-saving services.

The head of the United Nations AIDS program, Winnie Byanyima, ending that report by Imogen Folks. Against this background, let's have a closer look at the effect of the US President Donald Trump's executive order stopping USAID projects worldwide.
USAID was the US government's main overseas aid agency, with bases in more than 60 countries and projects in dozens of others. Sam Fenwick has been exploring what the abrupt halt to funding means for the lives and livelihoods in some of those places.
So we're going to sign executive orders first. I'll revoke nearly 80 destructive and radical Barely moments after the ink dried on President Trump's executive order, emails like these began flooding the inboxes of aid organizations, charity groups and government offices across the globe.
Dear USAID Implementing Partners, In accordance with President Trump's executive order, The contracting slash agreement officer hereby issues an order for the contractor or recipient to immediately stop or suspend work under this contract. USAID has been instrumental in supporting Africa's largest slum, the Kibera community in Kenya.
Initiatives have focused on improving healthcare, education and creating jobs to boost economic opportunities. But the recent funding cuts have left residents facing an uncertain future.
My name is Sharon Akoth. I was a mentor, a facilitator, group therapy for girls.
It was on 27th January and I found an email that we stop operations. I was so disturbed.
I was so stressful because I was imagining how I was going to cope with my life because my mom is relying on me. I have rent to pay.
I have an healing father who is relying on me. I was wondering how I was going to cope with that situation.
I have fees to pay for my child and I was wondering if I'll be able to do that. My name's Lik Stito Vilembwa.
I'm a community worker, mostly implementing the HIV prevention programmes. To find a job, it's not easy because the rate of unemployment in our country is a bit high.
The only job you can find outside there is casual jobs. In 2023, the most recent year with complete official data, the United States provided Kenya with $850 million in aid.
It's young girls in particular who are most affected, says Ali Elivald, who leads the Safe Water and AIDS Project in Western Kenya. It is really heartbreaking because HIV positive girls who are under scholarship, they're now just being told it's not going to happen.
So their future is scattered really. One recurring criticism is that the funding can sometimes create dependency among local agencies, leaving them struggling to sustain programs when support is scaled back or withdrawn.
I contacted key US government figures for their perspective on this issue. Some were unavailable and others didn't respond to my request for comment.
Even aid organisations that haven't directly received USAID funding are feeling the ripple effects of these cuts. And this highlights a broader challenge, balancing the push for independence with the reality of reduced resources.
Dr Sheila Davis, CEO of Partners in Health, highlights this struggle. Her organisation currently operates 11 programmes across 10 countries, including Haiti, Peru, Rwanda, Mexico, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Malawi.
It received no more than 15% of its funding from USAID, but Dr. Davis says they're still feeling the impact of cuts.
In Lesotho, a place where we've worked for many years, I think there are about 1,200 direct frontline healthcare workers that lost their jobs. So nurses, lab techs, pharmacy techs, people who are doing the direct care, but there's not the staff there or there's one nurse rather than four.
There is no way that she can hold up this entire health system by herself. When you look at the collapse of the system, does it perhaps suggest that organizations and countries and governments were just too reliant on USAID? You know, I think we've set up this model and fed this model.
There's structures that have been set up for years. There was no other way that the aid was actually getting there.
This was the only thing that was there. And so I also think we need to take responsibility for how this has emerged.
You know, we all know that foreign aid could have been done in a more efficient way. I don't think anyone is denying that.
But the way that this has been done, it's been too much of a shock. Yeah, I think the way it was done is immoral.
Amidst the legal battles and policy debates surrounding USAID, one thing is clear. The ripple effects of these funding cuts affecting nearly all of their projects are being felt far and wide, challenging nations, organisations and individuals to adapt.
That report by Sam Fenwick. Nigeria continues to record high cases of Lassa fever, a deadly viral disease spreading across West Africa.
With no licensed vaccine and limited treatment options, the virus remains a serious concern. Researchers are racing to understand its rapid spread and develop a vaccine.
One survivor told the BBC's Makuochi Okafor how he's using his experience to protect others. In Ayede Obese village, a community in Undo state, Nigeria, Michael Olonite, a 64-year-old resident, is teaching villagers about Lhasa fever.
He stands under a tree near the local market showing pictures of the symptoms. Michael caught the fever several years ago and now educates others in the community about it.
I fainted. I couldn't eat.
I couldn't sleep. Lassa fever can be called hell on earth.
Michael, who is a church leader in the community, fell sick after visiting a church member who later died of Lassa fever. Determined to fight back, Michael now visits churches, mosques and markets to spread awareness.
You see anybody that has this science? Do you know that sometimes when somebody is sick, they do not go for diagnosis. They bring in a tradition and they say that maybe it is an attack, an evil attack.
Lassa fever is carried by the multi-mammoth rat and spreads through food contaminated by rat urine or dropping. It also spreads through contact with an infected person's blood, saliva or urine.
Most people recover, but Lassa fever can be deadly, especially if it leads to organ failure. The fatality rate is usually around 1%, but during major outbreaks in Nigeria, it can rise above 18%.
At Irua Specialist Hospital in Edo State, a major Lassa fever treatment center in the country, health workers fight to save lives. Some patients need dialysis due to kidney failure.
There is no licensed drug, only supportive care to manage symptoms. Professor Oko Benin has spent decades studying the disease and ones of its pandemic potential.

Virus mutates so easily.

Alasafiba has been recognized as a virus that mutates easily. It has several variants and a small mutation could give it real pandemic potential.

We don't want to see that.

Nigeria is working with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to speed up vaccine development. Mohamed Ali Pate is the Nigeria's Minister of Health.
A year and a half ago, we established a task force to begin the epidemiological studies and the research that is necessary to prepare for when we can get a vaccine that is developed

that can be demonstrated through clinical trial that it works.

Because if a vaccine is proven to be safe and effective against Lhasa fever,

that can change the game because people can be vaccinated to prevent it from happening.

Mohamed Ali Pate, Nigeria's health minister,

ending that report by the BBC's Makochi Okafor.

The French film star Gérard Depardieu has gone on trial in Paris,

accused of sexually assaulting two women during filming four years ago.

The actor, who's 76, has faced claims of improper behaviour from around 20 women.

But this is the first case to come to trial.

He has denied all the allegations.

The start of Jean de Florett and Green Card is the highest profile figure in French cinema to face accusations arising from the Me Too movement. From Paris, Hugh Schofield.
Suffering from diabetes and a heart condition and looking very overweight, Gerard Depardieu entered the courtroom leaning on the shoulder of his lawyer. Of the several sexual harassment allegations that have been made against him, these are the first to come to trial.
The plaintiffs, a set decorator and an assistant director on film made in Paris in 2021, say that he groped them using lewd language, touching their buttocks and breasts. Depardieu denies the charges and this afternoon his lawyer told the court that he would present witnesses from the film set who would testify that nothing untoward happened.
Gérard Depardieu is probably the best-known French actor alive today and in his time was revered for his instinctual masculine presence on camera. Hugh Schofield in France.
Japanese weather officials have declared the start of the much-anticipated cherry blossom season in the capital Tokyo. It's a major cultural event in Japan and helps attract foreign tourists.
Nathalie Labatt and her daughter Majeli Paulin travelled to Tokyo from Paris to see the blossom. I was happy to see the trees.
It's beautiful, really beautiful. I love Tokyo.
But the flowers are not quite there yet. There's only a few trees that have a few flowers.
It's not full blossom. No, but it's supposed to be on the 29th? 29th of March.
The trees bloom at different times across Japan. Our East Asia editor, Mickey Bristow, reports now on the history of this important Japanese event and how it's determined.
The announcement was made after six flowers appeared on the cherry tree at the Yasakuni Shrine in Tokyo that's used as the guide to the start of the season. Visitors at the tourist attraction broke out in applause when the news came.
A blossom arrived exactly on schedule this year. The date of its appearance has been recorded for hundreds of years and can be used to measure how the world is warming.
But for most people in Japan, the white and pink flowers are simply something to enjoy. That was Mickey Bristow.
And that's it from us for now, but there will be another edition later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, do please send us an email.
The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service and use the hashtag Global News Pod.
And before we go, hello, Angel, originally from Spain,

but now working as a designer in Silverstone in England.

And thank you for your kind comments about the podcast.

This edition was mixed by Caroline Driscoll.

The producer was Liam McSheffrey.

Our editor is Karen Martin.

I'm Jackie Leonard.

And until next time, goodbye.