¶ Intro / Opening
This BBC Podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.
I canära presenterar runt Hörnette-effekten.
Nej, du ska bara köpa lite grejer till middan. Men du hade jättebra pris på tvättmedel. Och så den där osten du gillar.
När en butik är så bra som gika nära, är det lätt att plocka på sig mer än du. Det är det vi kallar runt hörneteffekten. Välkommen in till din ika nära!
Om du kunde prata med din plånbok, vad skulle den säga om din relation till ekonomin?
Vi är inte riktigt överens om pengar, det är vi inte. Ibland känner jag mig bara som en plånb som ska betala, vilket jag i och säg är men ändå.
Ett första steg mot en bättre relation till sin plånbok kan vara att jämföra innan man lånar.
Ja men precis!
Jämför innan du lånar på lendo.se
verloren.
🎵 Music
¶ Venezuela Earthquake Devastation and Response
Hello and welcome to NewsHour Live from the BBC World Service in London. I'm Rebecca Kesby. And we start the programme with the very latest from Venezuela struggling with the effects of Wednesday's powerful double earthquake. Striking within just a minute of each other. The Venezuelan government is now saying that well over nine hundred people have been killed, with thousands more injured than
But the United Nations is putting the number of people still unaccounted for at fifty thousand. So there is an anticipation that those casualty figures will rise Possibly quite substantially. Well rescue teams from around the world have been arriving in significant numbers today with specialist equipment, but it is a race against time to reach survivors.
still trapped in the rubble. Meanwhile, thousands of people have been made homeless by the quakes and health services are overwhelmed. Local people have been trying to help dig people out of the rubble themselves. There were cheers as this woman, Gracia La Mora, was rescued in La Guera. She was pulled out as she described what happened to her uh and how she tried to comfort her friend who was badly injured. She actually held her hand as she died beside her.
¡Bienvenidos a mi hermano!
When the earthquake started I clung as tightly as I could to the door frame so tightly that I broke my finger. I held on tight, really tight to the door frame until all the floors collapsed.
que cayó todos los pisos.
I saw her hand like that and grabbed it so that she could go. And it still hasn't given up.
Me a chance to cry.
Eric Paul Martinez Santos was also rescued, he had to help dig himself out of the rubble.
I was in the building for four hours before I was rescued by someone. I think they were from the civil defence, but I'm not sure. They didn't have many tools. They couldn't find the chisel, the drill, the grinder, so they went at it with their nails. I also could help because they handed me a tool. I was only saved because I had a lot of furniture in my home that protected me from the wall.
Me protegieron de él.
Well, doctor Franklin Rodriguez spoke to us while he was travelling from Caracas to La Guera. He works at a hospital there and has been hearing from his fellow doctors about the desperate situation they're trying to work in.
The current hospital crisis, complete collapse. The two main hospitals in Vargas state are completely overwhelmed and collapsed. There is a critical lock of medicine and medical supplies. Medical facilities do not have the capacity to handle the massive volume of people and many people are still trapped under the trouble.
Well for its part, the United States says it's deploying two warships, transport planes and helicopters, as well as mobilizing one hundred and fifty million dollars in aid for what President Trump called our new and great friends. The BBC's Vanessa Silva is in La Guiera State, which is the worst affected by the quakes on uh Venezuela's Caribbean coast. She spoke to us from there earlier and described the situation around her.
Well yes, we are here in La Wide Astray a state where the destruction is really staggering and also the testimonies are harrowing and Here we can see how the the the level of the devastation of these massive earthquakes that hit the country on Wednesday and it's today forty uh eight hours after that we can see that the help uh the really start to To arrive here.
We can see heavy machinery arriving along the day. Uh at my side I have uh like a big uh truck with a hydraulic arm removing big uh blocks of concrete of one of the building. in front in this building I spoke with the mother that between in tears she mentioned that um a group of family were there, including her only child, a child of only a year and a half old.
uh an another building beside because this is a coastline and it's uh just one building beside another building completely collapsed or or about to collapse. and then another one was a mother uh looking for their two daughters that working there as a manicurist and a father looking for a son. So there's a lot of people desperate but also with us leave deprivation, hoping, keeping the hope, praying to go to find their loved ones here. This state we can also see there's a lot of military presence.
uh with also police and people that came from other states to help.
Yeah, it sounds really harrowing, uh, Vanessa. Obviously desperate uh attempts to try to reach people, but I mean we're hearing that the number of missing could be very large indeed. Um can can you tell us about uh about that?
de nombre es increasing as the hours are passing by among the the ones that are founding death or or the números of disappearance It's more than four thousand uh people homeless, more than three thousand people injured and the exact number of people disappear we d know this moment.
Mm. Goodness me. I mean the line's very difficult for obvious reasons, but uh we heard from the interim president today, Dulcie Rodriguez, she was talking of militarizing the state. What do you think she meant by that?
Well what she meant is that uh uh attempts of looting were happening in the after hours of the earthquake. So today uh when we were arriving to the state and we can see a lot of militar with long arms and um army tanks also going around the state maybe to protect the the rescue laborers and the desperation uh of of those that lost everything. Uh here we we see also people queuing for food. We see um uh the the supplies that was gathering in Venezuela, water supplies, food supplies.
arriving in small trucks to to along this stage.
That's the BBC's Vanessa Silva in La Guerra State, the worst affected area in Venezuela. Well, as she was saying they're managing a disaster, even of one earthquake, never mind two. would be a major challenge for any government. But Venezuela is in an odd position because in January this year the United States seized its president Nicolas Maduro and appointed his deputy in his place.
Added to that, many don't even consider that government to be legitimate because it lost the last election. The government has promised that aid will reach affected areas, but already criticism of their response is growing. Our Genes has been uh looking for survivors in Caracas.
Non è possibile chiamare militares.
Isn't it possible to call the military to say come here, help us with this? The military officers that are right here get on a tank and come help the people. That's what we want.
¶ Venezuelan Government's Crisis Response Criticized
Well, Marianne Jimenez is an assistant professor of politics at Maynooth University in Ireland. She's actually Venezuelan herself and happens to be in Caracas at the moment. I asked her what she made of the Venezuelan government's response to the emergency.
This is a very good question. It's uh related to the more historical, let's say capacity of the state or incapacity now of the state. to respond to the needs of the population, right? So let's just bear in mind that Venezuelan's population is going through for years now through a humanitarian crisis, public services have become very fragile and collapsed around the country. It's a de facto in a way a privatized society where if people don't have money, they also don't have access to quality
Public services. It wasn't always like this. So I think that's important to bear in mind. And so when this sort Yeah, crisis and cat catastrophe comes around. This is the limitations that the state is going in and the government is going into this crisis. So the natural disaster in a way is amplified by the government's very limited Limited response.
Is there a a sense of confusion almost in terms of who actually is running the country?'Cause obviously we saw that uh the previous president Nicolas Maduro was seized by US forces back in January. Trump at the time President Trump said earlier this year that uh the US would be effectively running Venezuela. Is there any evidence that the United States is sending people there to try and help or i is there a a sense of confusion about Who has the authority in in this instance?
I think actually Venezuelans know very well that there isn't much of an authority on the ground, right? There is a lot of disrespect for the state and for the government. In fact it is a very unpopular government. We know that the government low lost the election in twenty twenty four and that reality hasn't really changed. So I think there isn't much of an expectation really from the government, even though there is need of the government uh responding to the needs of
uh the Venezuelan people. So actually in fact you can see that in the individual response from other societal forces who are very quickly responding, uniting and collecting, you know, um age relief. to provide that kind of help um that is being slowed down um because of all these other, you know, constraints that we were uh talking about.
Some um help is already on the way from different countries, uh including the US but also other uh Latin American countries and I think uh it's important that that aid comes in. Um but it's also important to understand that the government isn't isn't popular, right? And and even if they try to sort of manage this crisis a little better, even if they could, I think that kind of rejection that's already reached, you know, a peak across sectors wouldn't wouldn't change much, I'm afraid.
you mentioned the the sort of legitimacy or lack thereof of the current government in Venezuela. I mean it's a effectively a puppet government, I guess, um b after the um the intervention of the United States earlier this year. Does this crisis expose the fragility really of the state and the mistrust of the authorities that ordinary people have.
The crisis really puts the multiple crises, if you will, that are going on here in Venezuela, right? Much of the conversation on Venezuela has long been on whether Maduro is removed from power or not. And I think What uh the earthquakes really put on the table is the inequality, is the poverty, is the fragility of the state, it's all the needs the Venezuelans really have to get by.
the economy, the inflation, you know, the kind of unequal response across communities that they're getting from from the state, right? So, you know, while some people have running waters, others don't have any. While some people have a mobile phone to try and find their loved ones or try to, you know, figure out how to communicate, others don't have that at all or don't have reception.
So yes, in a way the earthquakes just put on the table again the really fragile situation, not just of the government, but that everyone really is in.
Marianne Jimenez there, Assistant Professor of Politics at Maynooth University in Kildare Island. She was speaking to us from Caracas where she's visiting at the moment. There's more details on this story, some amazing rescue attempts and efforts, people being... dugout of the rubble there on the BBC website. Uh lots more details. Um there are teams coming from all sorts of countries the Netherlands, the US, Switzerland, Colombia.
Sending specialised teams to try to help out and time really is of the essence because we're being told that around 50,000 people are still unaccounted for.
🎵 Music
Coming up later in the programme, the conductor of a leading symphony orchestra in the United States talks to us about the new trend of playing film scores live alongside the movie. So what's it like?
I find them fascinating, a real interesting intellectual and physical challenge. Uh, and I've really loved uh getting to do them because in addition to being a great conductor challenge, they're they're just some of the best music ever composed full stop.
More on that to come. A treat for music fans. Our headlines this hour, as we've been hearing the Venezuelan authorities say, more than 900 people are known to have died in Wednesday's two huge earthquakes. United Nations are saying that uh more than fifty thousand people remain unaccounted for. And Israel and Lebanon have signed a framework agreement that has been brokered by the United States. We'll be getting the details on that later in the programme.
🎵 Music
¶ World Cup Match Amidst Pride Debate
This is Rebecca Kesby with NewsHour live from the BBC. Now football fans heading to the crucial World Cup match between Egypt and Iran in Seattle later today. Have been told that they can fly gay pride flags, despite the fact that the football federations of both teams have objected to the presence of rainbow flags at the match.
Homosexuality and any symbols of pride are criminalized in both countries, but local organizers in Seattle have told fans the match is part of the city's general pride celebrations. FIFA is distancing itself uh from the row though, saying it's just another World Cup match. Well, even uh as uh the pride celebrations take place around the match, our North America correspondent Shima Khalil reports from Seattle.
There is plenty of excitement here at one of Seattle's fanzones. Supporters in different shirts gather in front of a giant screen cheering as yet another team edges closer to the knockout stages at the World Cup. And that is exactly what Egypt and Iran are hoping to do. Both teams face each other in a crucial match. It also marks the start of Seattle's Pride Weekend, a celebration of LGBTQ communities. That both countries' football federations have objected to on cultural and religious grounds.
This is not a FIFA Pride match. Simply another World Cup game taking place in a city marking Pride Weekend.
I I don't see it being uh you know, the main the main part of the game. Right now it's about two teams trying to get to the next round. So pride match or no pride match, that's not that's not what matters.
Welcome to Seattle.
This is how we practice.
All humans
Seattle organizers insist the timing was not designed to provoke. Pride weekend had been planned long before the World Cup draw paired Egypt and Iran in the city, and they say the answer to discomfort is curiosity rather than retreat.
We're excited to have you in Seattle. You are welcome in Seattle. While you're here, learn about who we are. Learn about our culture.
Heda McClendon is a senior official on Seattle's World Cup 26 Local Organizing Committee.
curious about our culture. Ask questions. It might not be how you want to live or how things are in your country, but this is something that makes us unique and we want you to experience it and be curious.
On the pitch, there's plenty at stake. The Egyptian squad comes into this match with momentum after beating New Zealand and with a real chance of taking control of Group G. At the pre-match press conference, Egypt manager Hosam Hassan would not engage with questions about the pride-related celebrations. Insisting his focus was on football.
Iran, meanwhile, arrive in a very different mood. Their tournament already shaped by politics, travel restrictions, and complaints about preparation time. Even if they have now been allowed to get to Seattle earlier than before. Their head coach, Amir Kalonoi, also refused to engage with questions about the pride related celebrations.
We are here to play football, not for other things. We think about football. Our concentration is on the match and on being successful. As for things that are forbidden in our religion and do not exist, we do not want to talk about them. We only talk about the match, football and the beauty of the game.
As Egypt and Iran try to edge closer to the knockout stages, this match here in Seattle is a glimpse into what happens when a World Cup lands in a city celebrating one set of values. while two of the teams taking part arrive carrying very different ones of their own.
That's the BBC's Shimer Khalil there reporting from Seattle and that match gets underway later.
🎵 Music
¶ Ukraine Officer Convicted of Treason
Now a senior Ukrainian intelligence officer has been convicted of high treason for spying for Russia. Colonel Dmitro Kozyura had been the chief of staff for the security service. of Ukraine's anti terrorism centre or SBU now he's been sentenced to life in prison. The operation to catch him was codenamed Operation Rat, and it involved his own colleagues effectively spying on him.
Without him realising, bearing in mind of course he was an expert in espionage. Well Doctor Hannah Shaylest is a director of security studies at the Foreign Policy Council in Ukraine and she gave us more on the background to this story.
He'd been arrested.
In February twenty twenty five and it was quite a uh wide publicised case because the head of the security services of Ukraine, General Maluch, arrested him personally. So it was also the case of the personal dignity for the service to arrest such a uh high level uh traitor. Uh he'd been uh um connected by the Russians back in 2018, so prior to the full-fledged war, and uh uh for some time he he was more of the sleeping agent, as we know now from the uh court case.
And uh starting from twenty twenty four, he've been actively um connected again with Russians through one of the um former MP uh assistants. From the party of regions. Uh uh, if you remember that was the party of the former president Yanukovych who is now living in uh Russia. And uh for about a year it was the communication among them and luckily Uh he was identified much earlier and de facto being, as we call it here, fed with the disinformation to be delivered to his creator.
Oh right. Okay, so the the Ukrainian authorities were kind of using him towards the end then. I mean we'll we'll get on to the how he was captured in a moment. First though, I mean did it come out in the court case what his motivation was?
Uh at least officially what we hear it is the money. Uh but at the same time uh we can assume that uh because through whom he've been contacted, uh through the party of region people, that's also can be uh some of the political motivation that Maybe he has not recognized the revolution of dignity back in 2014. So it could be this mix of motivations behind.
Right, but he was very senior. Um they had to capture him you know, b behind his back literally. Um the the operation to get him must have been quite uh difficult, I should imagine.
Surely because uh the fact uh anti terrorist uh uh department uh uh and you need to uh understand that for quite a long time since two thousand fourteen a lot of of the actions against Russia been uh uh labelled as terrorism. So the anti terrorist department was involved uh not only with the classical terrorism, but also with the Russian Ukrainian war. So these guys had quite a serious access uh to the information connected with the Russian activities uh in Ukraine.
and also had quite a serious counterintelligence uh support within his activities.
And Ukraine has had a few spy issues throughout this war, I think.
Uh yes, unfortunately. Uh uh but uh uh Th that's n normal if you can say it like this during the war, that the enemy is uh trying to penetrate uh your system. Uh and don't forget that for decades Russia been doing it. It's not something fresh or from twenty twenty two. Uh the biggest amount of the agents being arrested after two thousand fourteen. And then definitely many of the new one being uh um activated in twenty twenty two and a lot of of the counterintelligence
uh took place because many of uh these people had all contacts between the Russian and Ukrainian intelligence services. Some uh from the older generation served together in the Soviet armed forces. So there were connections through which it would be possible to recruit people who could be dissatisfied with plenty of reasons. It can be personal dissatisfaction, career dissatisfaction, ideological dissatisfaction, or just money or blackmailing.
So in this case uh uh it's it's it's time of the war when all of us are facing uh this issue.
And that was Dr. Hannah Shayless, the Director of Security Studies at the Foreign Policy Council in Ukraine, giving us the background on that story today breaking uh from Ukraine. That a senior intelligence officer has been convicted of high treason for spying for Russia.
🎵 Music
How did a boycott Jimmy become a billionaire from posting videos?
On Good Bad Billionaire, we're gonna find out how the world's most popular YouTuber, Mr. Beast, made his fortune.
He's buried himself in a coffin for days.
to a hundred thousand on camera.
And even recreated Squid Games all in an attempt to go viral on the air.
But it all started when it was
So is he a philanthropist reshaping capitalism or is it?
the attention economy.
on Good Bad Billionaire.
From the BBC World Service.
Listen now.
🎵 Music
Hon älskade Felix nya krispiga pommas.
Krispiga pommes. En riktigt god och
🎵 Music
Om du kunde prata med din plånbok, vad skulle den säga om din relation till ekonomin?
Vi är inte riktigt överens om pengar, det är vi inte. Ibland känner jag mig bara som en plåmbug som ska betala. Vilket jag i och säg är men en.
Ett första steg mot en bättre relation till sin plånbok kan vara att jämföra innan man lånar.
Ja men precis!
Jämför innan du lånar på lendo.se Sveriges största jämförelsetjänst för lån
🎵 Music
¶ Cape Verde's World Cup Underdog Success
Welcome back to NewsHour. Anyone watching events at the Men's FIFA World Cup will have heard of the amazing story of Cape Verde, the little island nation that has burst onto the scene in this tournament holding football giant. Spain to a nil all draw and Uruguay to a two all draw. In the next few hours they go up against Saudi Arabia, but with a population of fewer than a million people, it's the ultimate underdog. But could it be about to reach the knockout stages of the World Cup?
The BBC's Paul and Gia has been looking at Cape Ved's football development program.
At a training facility in the capital Praia, young aspiring players are honing their football skills. They are passing the ball to one another, controlling, shooting and running around separate parts of a refurbished artificial pitch.
Yeah.
Several years ago, football was mostly played on the bare ground. But thanks to the technical support and funding from FIFA, some sports facilities here were modernized.
One control, one attempt. So now do two attempts. Let's go.
Bola Prafrente Academy founder and head coach Silvia Nnedio says such projects are laudable.
Calcentágio ali, hoje ele é prova viva.
Okay.
This training centre is living proof that it was built with the future in mind. I started working here in twenty ten, two years or so after I founded the academy and today kids that were here back then at the age of eight and nine are now part of the Blue Sharks team. I never stopped offering training here. I've been doing this for 15 years.
Já a gente tem 15 anos, tô treinando e nascendo tarde.
Among the key players in the academy is a 12-year-old striker called Gianluca McCollin, who Coach Neja describes as a rare case. He may look small for his age, but I'm told he's quick, dribbles well, and has impressive goal scoring abilities.
Football has always been a dream. While growing up, I saw many players playing. I got inspired, I started playing, then I decided to join Bola French. Academy. The player that inspired me the most since I started playing is Messi. I like him a lot. Without the Academy, I wouldn't have played in tournaments, I wouldn't have won the prizes that I got. I believe without it, I wouldn't be the person that I am today.
Academies play a crucial role in nurturing young players in the country. But despite efforts from the government and the Football Federation, analysts say more needs to be done to develop the sport locally, including making the Football League more professional.
Mas também não tem nossos objetivos, nossos objetivos imediatos.
Mario Semido, president of the Caverian Football Federation, tells me he's got a plan.
acho que sempre porque Não só cria motivação.
I think it will not just create motivation around local football, but another advantage of our World Cup participation is that we will also invest part of the FIFA bonus into developing local football.
Yeah.
🎵 Music
¶ Europe's Extreme Heat and Climate Action
You're listening to News Hour live from the BBC. I'm Rebecca Kesby. Now as we've been reporting all week, Europe is in the grip of a dangerous heat wave at the moment. To date, Germany's weather service Reported the hottest June temperatures on record at forty one point three degrees Celsius. That's a hundred and six.
Fahrenheit.
The authorities in Paris have banned the sale of alcohol this weekend in an effort to stop hospitals being overwhelmed, and here in London in the epitome of irony, an event at London's Climate Action Week on how to deal with extreme heat. was cancelled due to extreme heat. Well across the continent people are being forced to change their plans and habits.
We are actually going to leave a little early. We're going to leave Paris early because it's too hot. They're very uncomfortable.
And the sad things is that we just couldn't go out during the day. It doesn't really cool off in the evening either.
Like hopefully it doesn't get that much out'cause then you need to find somewhere else to live.
Les décès, et donc je le redis.
Emergency measures are necessary for our own protection and to stay hydrated and above all not to believe that one is invulnerable.
Well Europe is now the fastest warming continent in the world, that's according to the European Environment Agency, threatening food security, infrastructure, water resources, and of course people's health. So is Europe doing enough to tackle climate change? I've been speaking to Tom Rivert Karnak. He's former strategist for the UN Convention on Climate Change.
First of all, we should just acknowledge how unprecedented what uh is being experienced right now in Europe really is. I mean, a hundred and fifty million people have been experiencing temperatures above thirty-five degrees in Europe. Over the course of the last few days. Parts of Western and Central Europe are as much as eighteen degrees above the seasonal average.
If we don't do what it is still in our hands to do in the coming years and begin to really drive down emissions, then by the time my kids are my age, they're they could well be experiencing forty five degrees in London or even more.
So I mean, what's interesting there, Tom, is that traditionally Europe has had more political momentum, more political will and has been ahead in in the world in terms of trying to get, you know, things in place to tackle climate change. But has it done enough um or has it been lip service?
Well, it certainly hasn't been lip service and Europe has done a great deal both domestically across the countries in the European Union and the UK to drive down emissions, as well as to lead the world in that direction through financing and through examples.
to encourage other countries to come along with Europe. And that is the right role that should be played because actually the countries of the European Union and the UK are very responsible for causing this problem. And many parts of the world are not responsible for causing it. However, collectively, the planet has not done enough to avoid these catastrophes, which is why we're seeing them get worse.
Well you say that, Tom, but I mean we see the debate over whether or not drilling in the North Sea should start again, drilling for oil should start again. These are live political discussions and You know, there a few years ago perhaps there was a consensus that climate change was a bad thing and everybody had to work towards it, but there are politicians who are doing quite well in the polls across Europe who still would be described as climate change sceptics.
Yeah, you're totally right. And this is a relatively new phenomenon. If we'd gone back five or six years, there would have been much more consensus across Europe, across the political spectrum, that we had to do something on climate change. And we've seen that fracture in recent years. And even in recent weeks we've seen politicians like Tony Blair, uh, and former politicians like Rory Stewart come out and say we should abandon net zero targets and continue drilling in the North Sea.
Now the reason they're saying that is because they think this transition is costing money and and sacrificing GDP in the UK. And on one level, you can sort of see the argument that they're making because if you look in the very immediate short term, if we're going to invest to make a transition, you have to make investments in order to make that happen. But I actually think it's very sad that these myopic, small, unimaginative visions are now so prevalent in our political discourse.
This is a moment where we need to step in and say, We know this is the right direction for the world. We don't want to leave our children to deal with these problems. And the kicker at the end of that, by the way, is also that this is economically beneficial. We know that wind and solar are the cheapest forms of new power anywhere around the world. So politicians are gonna have to find a way.
to point out the economic benefits, to be consistent in their push towards action, because otherwise they are going to be the ones who are sitting in power while this window of opportunity to do something about this future that we have just had a taste of this week. is going to become inevitable and much, much worse for our kids.
Tom Rivert Karnak there, former strategist for the UN Convention on Climate Change.
¶ Israel-Lebanon Framework Agreement Analyzed
Now Israel and Lebanon have signed a framework agreement that has been brokered by the United States. It comes after four days of negotiations in Washington, during the fifth round of talks between the two countries. The US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, made this announcement.
We are happy to announce the a framework agreement between the sovereign government of of Lebanon and and of course the government of Israel with the mediation and support of the United States of America that begins to put in place a framework for lasting peace and security. And that's what these two nations deserve. The people of Lebanon have suffered tremendously now for decades as a result of outside interference in their affairs.
uh of of countries trying to use the country as a launch pad for attacks and this is not what the people of Lebanon want and that's not what they deserve. What they deserve to have is what they once had and of which there is recent history of and that is a prosperous and peaceful country.
I've been speaking to our Middle East specialist Sebastian Usher, so this does look like fairly good news on the surface, but what do we know about the deal?
I mean diplomatically I guess it has to be some good news. That as you say, there have been fifth five rounds of negotiations. The fact that Israeli uh and Lebanese government officials have been speaking face to face I I I mean that's it gets complicated, but the t the two countries are technically still at war, though to be honest Volebini's government is not at war with Israel, nor is the Israeli government technically I mean really at war with Israel. The war is between Israel and Hezbollah.
Now we heard really very little um substance from what Marco Rubio was saying there. I think Key talking about sovereign countries. I mean the thing is that Lebanon at the moment isn't really a sovereign country. Now the President Joseph Ooun has responded to this framework agreement being signed saying it takes us a step towards that, towards sovereignty.
So from a Lebanese perspective of a government, anything which gives them a sense that they are masters of their own destiny is a good thing, but in reality does it change anything on the ground? Has Buddha didn't sign up to this? uh a lawmaker from uh Hasbullah Hassan Fadlallah has essentially said that this is the wrong path because it's not connected
to what Iran is demanding as part of a deal with the US, which is a total end to uh Israel's war and a total withdrawal. And we heard almost immediately from the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a restatement of his position One which he doesn't uh you know, it's not unique to him. The opposition politicians in Israel have the same position, which is that this is not over, but Hezbollah
uh its threat has to be completely dismantled and it has to disarm. But we've been here time and time again. Who is going to disarm Hezbollah if it doesn't want to disarm the Lebanese government isn't capable, the Lebanese army isn't capable. That's why the Israel Israeli army keeps going back in. But the Israeli military, despite its you know, the fact that it decimated the leadership uh more than a year ago, it still isn't able to destroy Hezbollah on the ground.
Yeah, so i g given what you're saying there, I mean, it does sound as if both sides, Lebanon and Israel, are sticking to their respective positions, but then so is Hezbollah. I mean what needs to happen to actually get a a real deal?
I mean what would need to happen would be a change in the equation and a change in what the countries that are pulling the strings, that's Iran and Israel, want. Uh Israel says on one level that it just wants to eliminate any threat, particularly to its northern uh communities.
But it's tried this time and again and it's failed time and again. Hezbollah is saying it's a resistance movement. It does have still some backing obviously uh in Lebanon from a Shia community which it represents to to to to you know quite a large extent. But There's probably more of a majority in Lebanon which now thinks that it's it's keeps on pulling Lebanon back into wars that it's doing it no good.
So you have to really have Iran changing its strategy of stepping back from Hasbullah, but it shows no sign of that. You have to have uh y the US which could put real pressure on Israel stepping up to the plate and and ensuring that that pressure really counts for something. And but when they talk about restoring Lebanese sovereignty, they ensure that that happens. But at the moment
This framework agreement that seems very insubstantial doesn't seem to take us anywhere further except diplomatically. It it it it makes things sound a bit better than they were before.
That's our Middle East specialist Sebastian Usher.
🎵 Music
¶ On-the-Ground Venezuela Rescue Efforts
Let's return to our main story briefly: the earthquakes in Venezuela that have left hundreds of people dead, thousands homeless. and uh many thousands more still missing. We have been trying to speak to people in the affected areas all day. Getting through though by telephone or even on the internet is is quite difficult.
We did manage to contact uh briefly Freddie Careno, who's a professor of English. He's in one of the worst affected areas, La Guaera State. The line was very bad though, so we asked him to send us a voice note and uh he described what he's seeing.
On the ground.
Hay un área llamado Playa Grande que ha sido severamente afectada. Y otras, Caraballera, Caribe, Naiguita. Lots of buildings came down and there's uh some people m a lot of people trapped under the the collapsed building. It's difficult to tell the the exact figure, the exact number of people who are in this condition. Uh there are people uh doing rescue labor.
But they still need um the the necessary equipment, especially heavy duty equipment like cranes or something like that. Um because uh doing with with uh with the tools they are using is really is it's it's getting really hard. It's been more than twenty four hours since the earthquake and the the hope of finding survival is is still m is is already minimal by this time. But they they are trying to do it.
Resources are arriving but it's kind of slow. Uh government are do is doing their best to distribute the resources among people who have been suffering. There are a lot of people homeless. uh people have lost uh relatives and we still have lots of missing people. We don't we cannot find them.
Well Freddy then sent us another voice note telling us about some of the equipment people were using to try to look for survivors in the rubble.
I in fact have seen the people who are uh doing the rescue labor, but I cannot tell you the exact number of people who are doing that. And uh they are doing that with uh hand tool equipment. That's why it is very difficult for them to do it a a as fast as as fast as it should. But I don't know if government is going to implement a kind of of of program or or activity to help them try to rescue and get survivors.
But it's it's really difficult because there've been lots of building collapse and in every building there's a group of people trying to help so uh survivors or or rescue the corpses of people there.
Freddie Careno there speaking to us earlier. uh from Venezuela and there's more on that story on our live page. Lots of details about uh people being rescued and n more rescue teams arriving with better equipment. Uh We're keeping across developments on that story. That's it for this edition of News Hour from me and the whole team here in London to wherever you are in the world. Thanks for listening.
🎵 Music
Välkommen till
Vi just nu har extremt låga priser på. Vad sägs som svenska kvistomater för bara 1990 kg med Lid plus, eller vattenmelon för bara 99 kg med Lid plus? Det lönar sig.