EU chief proposes Canada as first 'associate member'

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0:30The truth, we don't make it free. The Fix, now playing in theatres. Get more with BBC Podcasts, wherever you listen. Be the first to listen to your favourite shows, like Evil Genius, Good Bad Billionaire and You're Dead to Me, with a subscription to BBC Podcasts Premium on Apple Podcasts. You can also enjoy a range of our podcasts ad-free with an Amazon Music subscription. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Celia Hatton, and on Wednesday, the 16th of September, these are our main stories. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announces proposals for Canada to become the first associate member of the European Union.

1:15The Civil Defence Agency in Gaza says at least 20 people, including five children, have been killed after the collapse of an apartment block weakened by previous Israeli airstrikes. Saudi Arabia says it shot down a drone that was heading towards Mecca, Islam's holiest site. The kingdom blames the Houthi rebel group, but the Houthis deny launching the attack. Also in this podcast... Four years ago, if someone had told me that one day I would see women walking down the streets bravely and without the hijab, I probably wouldn't have believed them. It's been four years since the death of Masa Amini at the hands of morality police in Iran.

1:57Her death sparked huge protests. What's changed since then?

2:05We'll begin with what could be the start of a new global alliance, one between Canada and the European Union. The EU's chief has backed a proposal for Canada to become the union's first associate member. Here's Ursula von der Leyen speaking in Strasbourg. Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, was in the audience. We want to bring the relationship with Canada to the highest level possible. And dear Mark, I said we must urgently reimagine our partnerships. So I would like to work with you on opening the door for Canada to being the first associate member of the European Union. This possible new partnership comes as Canada is fighting a hugely costly trade war with the United States, the country that normally takes in more than 70 % of its exports.

2:59Mark Carney has promised to fight that battle by finding new markets for Canadian products. He's also pledged to make Canada safer by forging new security ties, as Donald Trump continues to threaten to make his northern neighbour, the United States, 51st state. So that's the view from Canada. But what could the EU get from this new link? I asked our correspondent in Brussels, Nick Beek. I think this all boils down to the fact that at the moment, many Europeans, particularly Ursula von der Leyen, the commission president, really feels that Mark Carney in particular is a kindred spirit, that they're on the same page.

3:36They're dealing with the same sort of threats, that from China, but notably, as you were saying, from President Trump, an unpredictable Donald Trump, whether it's the waging of tariff wars or hitting out supposed allies, whether they're just across the border in Canada or across the Atlantic in Europe. And so what's being put forward today by Ursula von der Leyen is something completely novel, because at the moment there's no such thing as associate membership for anyone who wants to join the European Union. So this would be something that's not in the EU treaties at the moment, not in EU law.

4:12So really, there are a lot of unknowns around this. But certainly, both sides feel that there would be this added protection in the face of economic aggression. And also potentially, when it comes to defence in the years and decades to come, that this sort of union could be mutually beneficial. Yeah, fascinating, isn't it? I mean, Mark Carney does have experience on both sides of the Atlantic. He's the prime minister of Canada now, but he worked in England. He was the governor of the Bank of England in the UK. I wonder, you said that this is a brand new venture in theory. So is this symbolic? What would it take for Canada to become an associate member?

4:54Is it fait ou complet? Well, it would take years, that's for sure. And the idea of associate membership, although it's not been implemented. It's something actually that was raised a few months back by Chancellor Mertz of Germany. Now, he was talking about Ukraine in that context, saying that maybe the Ukrainians could be brought on board, not with all the benefits of EU membership, but some of them. Now, the thing with this is that at the time, people were saying, well, hang about, there's a long queue of other countries who are going through this very laborious, long process, trying to make sure that all their laws and and basically the way their countries work, I'm thinking about in the Balkans in particular, that they are hitting all the goals needed, the European standards needed, so that they can progress and ultimately become members of the European Union.

5:42So it's hard to see how this thing would be fast tracked. And of course, there's the thorny cost of membership. You know, how much would it cost to be part of this club, even if it's not full membership? Do you get the sense that this is a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to the EU and Canada's strained ties with the US, with Donald Trump, rather than a desire to build closer relationships between Canada and the EU? I think certainly it's in keeping and chimes with the relationship that's emerged between Canada and the EU over the past couple of years. Earlier in the year, Mark Carney was saying that middle powers, middle countries should club together in the face of aggression and muscular activity by the much bigger superpowers, the United States and China.

6:28So there are benefits for both sides here. But of course, in the longer term, whether the Canadian people want this, whether the people of the European Union want this is another matter. But yes, if not knee-jerk, certainly this is a response to the current political temperature. And of course, Donald Trump won't be around forever. And Ursula von der Leyen and Mark Carney in the future won't be at the helm. So yeah, this is something that's put forward, making a lot of headlines today. But let's see how it progresses in the weeks and months to come, in the years to come. And potentially they may feel they don't need this because at the moment there's already this big trade deal between Canada and the European Union.

7:05The EU is actually the second biggest market for the Canadians. So already there are these deep ties. There is this trade agreement that's been in place, although not fully ratified. That's been there for nearly the past decade. Nick Beacon, Brussels. To Gaza now. A multi-story building has collapsed in Gaza City with people inside. Before the structure crumbled, it had been functioning as a makeshift home for several displaced families. The large building had been previously attacked by an Israeli airstrike, which had left it damaged. The territory's civil defence agency says dozens of people are missing, at least 20 people, including five children, have died.

7:42Despite the Israel-Gaza ceasefire, conditions inside Gaza do not appear to have improved. The U.S.-created Board of Peace was meant to oversee the ceasefire and initiate reconstruction, as well as a gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from the territory. But Israel has expanded its control and still limits what reconstruction materials go into the Strip. Our Middle East correspondent Yolan Nell told me the latest. We're speaking to local journalists there, and they're saying that this building collapsed overnight. It's one which was known to have structural damage, according to Gaza's civil defence.

8:18Yet families had been living there really because of the very harsh conditions and the lack of suitable shelters around. People had chosen to live in a building that they knew was unsafe, rather than living in the tents around them to try to take shelter from the strong sun during the summer, from the wind and the elements. and we're hearing that there are 10 families that have been living in this building and that dozens of people are still unaccounted for, many of them children. But there are rescuers there saying that they can hear voices from within the rubble so there is some hope of finding some more survivors.

8:56So emergency teams are on site, but what kinds of challenges do rescuers face when this kind of collapse happens? I mean, you can see from some of the video footage that people are just using their bare hands to try to go through the rubble of at least six floors of this building that have now been sandwiched together. There are some heavy equipment teams arriving there. They are from the UN and also from an Egyptian relief agency. The civil defence told the BBC that it's really struggling to get heavy equipment for any kinds of jobs like this because of Israel's tight border restrictions, which it says are in place for security reasons to stop Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups being able to use this equipment, being able to rearm, to re-establish tunnels in the Strip.

9:47But there's also a shortage of spare parts for machinery, a shortage of fuel to run the machinery. And that causes real problems with events like this happening. And the civil defense is saying that there are about 2 ,000 buildings where people have been told not to live in them, but they know that there are families inside. Yolanao. Now to another fast-changing story in the Middle East, the growing conflict between the Houthi rebel group in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. The Saudi military says it shot down a drone flying in western Saudi Arabia towards Mecca, Islam's holiest site. The Saudis blamed the Houthis for what they claim is an attempted attack.

10:28It's an unproven accusation which the Houthis have denied. But the Saudis say the Houthis have crossed a red line. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation has also condemned the alleged attempted attack as heinous. Mustafa Noman is the deputy foreign affairs minister of the internationally recognized government of Yemen. It might be not a main goal, but to try to say that they can reach anywhere in Saudi Arabia, whether it's holy and sacred to all Muslims or is it military side. So I think it's part of their propaganda and just to show off of their power and their capability to reach anywhere they decide to reach.

11:08Meanwhile, the Houthis are claiming to have shot down a Saudi fighter jet in Yemen's Marib province using locally made weapons. The Saudis are yet to comment. It's all adding to an escalation in the conflict, so much so that for the second time this week, the United Nations Security Council has been calling for a de-escalation in violence following Houthi attacks in and around the Bab al-Mandab Strait on the Red Sea, which has disrupted the vital maritime corridor. So what more do we know about Yemen's alleged attacks? I spoke to our security correspondent, Frank Gardner, who's following developments.

11:44There is no evidence on either side of this, not to say that it hasn't happened. But until we see the evidence, I think we're going to have to take a degree of skepticism about it. Because as your previous guest said there, there is an element of propaganda about this. if the houthis really did fire a drone at mecca the holiest city in islam the birthplace of the prophet muhammad that is very bad optics for the houthis it makes them look really bad but the houthis are busy denying this because they know how you know they are fundamentalists um muslims their slogan is god is great death to america death to israel a curse on the jews uh victory to Islam.

12:29So it's not a good look for them if they fired a missile at the holiest city in Islam, whether or not it got there. But it may be that this is something that has been concocted to make them look bad. Even if we're still looking into reports surrounding this drone, but also the accusations that or the claims by the Houthis to have shot down a fighter jet, a Saudi fighter jet, it's clear that tensions are rising between the two sides. How evenly matched are they? Are the Houthis really capable of taking on Saudi Arabia? So Saudi Arabia has by far the most powerful air force. It's got powerful American-made F-15s, McDonnell Douglas, F-15 strike eagles.

13:13And we don't know if one of those was shot down or not, but it was claimed that it was shot near Marib, which is an area where the Saudis have been active inside Yemen. The Houthis have got a lot of Iranian-supplied and Chinese-supplied weaponry. They've got the ability to threaten shipping, passing their coastline. And this is why all of this is kind of catching world headlines at the moment, because the Houthis last week made a lightning advance down the coast of the Red Sea to seize areas close to the narrow choke point, the Babal Mandet, the waterway that separates the Arabian Peninsula from the Hall of Africa.

13:52And it's through that narrow choke point that shipping has to pass to get from Europe or from Saudi oil export terminals like Yambu to markets in Asia. So even though the Houthis, visually, when people see them, you know, they don't look like a professional army. They're wearing flip-flops and carrying 1970s-era weapons. And yet they've got the strategic ability to harm the global economy. Frank Gardner. With this next story, we'll go back to something that happened four years ago, the death of a young woman in Iran, Masa Amini, three days after she was arrested by Iran's morality police for allegedly wearing her hijab improperly.

14:35The 22-year-old's death sparked huge protests and the ongoing Woman Life Freedom Movement. So what's changed for women's rights since those demonstrations and now with the U.S. war with Iran. The BBC Persian Service's Gonche Habibi Azad sent this report.

14:56Women, life, freedom. It was the defining chant of a protest movement sparked by the death of a young woman while in custody of Iran's morality police.

15:08After the death of Mahsa Amini, Videos of women dancing and appearing in public without mandatory hijabs went viral. Across Iran, women ripped off and burned their headscarves in solidarity.

15:23The authorities responded with a brutal crackdown. The UN says more than 500 protesters were killed. The mass protests eventually subsided. But the movement did not simply disappear from Iran's society. Speaking out is not safe. So all the voices you'll hear have been voiced by BBC Persian producers, like this 20-year-old from Tehran. I think what connected us to Mahsa was the fact that she was one of us. Four years ago, if someone had told me that one day I would see women walking down the streets, bravely and without the hijab, I probably wouldn't have believed them. And these changes are not limited to the capital.

16:06A young woman in Rashid, a city in northern Iran, told us, You can see it in the way the city looks. Some families have become a bit more open-minded too. These days, they left their daughters go out wearing tops or even short skirts. There is more freedom than before, in shops, in taxi and cars. But that greater sense of freedom does not mean the mandatory hijab law has gone away. You won't take my daughter anywhere, a distressed mother shouts. This video was sent to us from Tehran two years ago. A woman is being taken away by the morality police, just like Masa. Away from the streets, women are still being monitored online.

16:47And while arrests in public appear to be less frequent, some fear they could flare up again. They stopped my friend's car and asked, where's your headscarf? I'm scared. I'm scared the crackdown will happen all over again. And honestly, I don't have the mental capacity for it. The war with the US and Israel appears to have changed the government's priorities. And one senior Iranian figure says enforcing the hijab law is currently a lower priority. The changes have also sparked a backlash. One young man I spoke to who lives near Tehran said the issues had become polarising. Dressing appropriately is different from wearing the hijab in my opinion.

17:29but it feels like some women are taking their resentment towards the hijab to an extreme. An opposition to the changes now seen on Iranian streets is then confined to men. A group of religious women gathered in central province of Isfahan recently. Man, where is your dignity? Where is your wife's hijab? They chant.

17:53The hijab law must be enforced, another chant says. But their views are far from universal inside Iran. And this young woman from Tehran echoed many of those we spoke to. Women are taken much more seriously now. They seem more confident and more willing to push boundaries. It's almost like people have learned that women can be important too and that they can do whatever they want, wear whatever they want. Gonche Habibi Azad. Still to come in this podcast, We've got one of the oldest figures in the world, about 40 ,000 years old, made out of mammoth cast, the Lion Man. And we've put it next to this little Star Wars figurine.

18:38London's world-famous Natural History Museum reopens a gallery that's been sealed off to the public for 80 years. We'll tell you what's there now.

18:52This is the Global News Podcast. To a decision now from the International Criminal Court at The Hague. The former Kosovo president, Hashim Thatshi, has been found guilty of war crimes committed in the late 1990s. He's a former top commander of the Albanian separatist Kosovo Liberation Army that was fighting during the country's war for independence from Serbia. Thatshi was convicted by a panel of judges in The Hague. The presiding judge, Charles Smith, announced his sentence. The panel has determined, A, a term of 15 years of imprisonment for the war crime of illegal or arbitrary arrest and detention, a term of four years of imprisonment for the crime of cruel treatment, a term of 20 years imprisonment for the crime of torture, and a term of 23 years of imprisonment for the war crime of murder.

19:40The panel now sentences you to a single sentence of 25 years of imprisonment. Our global affairs reporter Paul Mons first told me about the background to the case. As you say, Hashim Thatcher was the leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army during the fight that Kosovo fought for independence from Serbia. This was part of the several, just one of the several conflicts which broke out as Yugoslavia fell apart. But it was particularly pointed for the Serbs. They fought it with particular ardour because for Serbs, Kosovo wasn't just part of Yugoslavia, it was part of Serbia itself. So this was a very vicious, a very violent conflict in which there were accusations of atrocities on all sides.

20:19And yes, this Kosovo Liberation Army, effectively a guerrilla force, but Hashim Thatcher was very much its presentable face, very dapper, very suave. I remember interviewing him in the capital, Pristina. He's fluent in English, very, very convenient. And he was said to have charmed a lot of political leaders in the West. However, there were always allegations that not only the Serbs, but the Kosovo Liberation Army were committing atrocities in this conflict. So looking back, I suppose it maybe was inevitable that in the end, this KLA commander might end up accused himself of committing war crimes.

20:53So you've talked about the accusation, but today a conviction. What more can you tell us about the crimes that he's found to have committed? We heard that judge, didn't we, who was coming up with this extensive list? Yes, murdering people, opponents were tortured. And these weren't just some Serbs who were captured. They were Kosovans accused of collaborating with the Serbs. He was also accused of detaining, torturing and murdering political opponents. And that's important because Kosovo may have won independence de facto, but it's a country that's still very unstable. It's internationally rated as being corrupt.

21:27And therefore, the fact that their former prime minister and president has been found guilty of murdering political opponents, that's going to have an effect internally. I should also say the judges mentioned the fact that it was a trial that took place against a background of terrible witness intimidation. attempts to prosecute Kosovo leaders before have seen witnesses suddenly withdraw their testimony, go silent, in one case murder. And they made that point. This time they have successfully prosecuted someone. Paul, these are crimes that took place in the late 1990s. What now about the consequences for this decision?

22:01I think there are many. The Serbian side have always complained, why is it only our leaders, our military leaders and politicians who are prosecuted, people like General Mladic, who died only last month. Well, now that criticism no longer holds. They successfully prosecuted Kosovans as well. And that is important for people, I think, who believe in the idea of international justice, that it doesn't matter whether you're on the side in a conflict that people consider to be the right side. It doesn't matter whether you won or lost. You will be held to account for any crimes you commit. At the same time, he remains very popular, Hashim Thatchi.

22:36We've already seen protests breaking out, and there have been predictions there could be more protests by his supporters, both in The Hague, where the trial took place, and also in Kosovo itself. Palmos. To Germany now, Chancellor Friedrich Merz is under growing pressure following major electoral losses in the Saxony and Halt state elections to the far-right AFD party. Amid the pressure, the Chancellor cancelled his upcoming trip to the United Nations General Assembly in New York to attend a crisis meeting of his Christian Democratic Union alliance. Questions have been raised over whether he's too much of an electoral liability.

23:12He's vowed to carry on, but two further state elections this Sunday are being seen as an important moment for the chancellor. A resignation midterm in Germany would be highly unusual. So how likely is it that Merz could go? I asked our Berlin correspondent, Jessica Parker. Obviously Merz is saying that he's going to carry on. There's a lot of questions over how this would even happen, because this is not really something that German politics is known for. But this idea of a chancellor swap has been circulating through the summer and seems to have ratcheted up in the last few days. Is there somebody within the Conservative CDU party who could replace Chancellor Mertz and perhaps be a more successful leader for the party?

23:58And then this Sunday, the AFD could again top the polls in another eastern state, while the Conservative CDU are hovering at around 7 % in that state, Mecklenburg-Wappermann. And that puts them in danger of possibly falling out of Parliament altogether if they fall below the 5 % threshold. And they could lose power in Berlin, an election happening there as well. So whilst the chancellery and government sources have not given a precise reason as to why Mertz has cancelled his trip to New York, it is being widely read as the chancellery taking the situation quite seriously and wanting Mertz to be around in the aftermath of those votes on Sunday.