Europe tells US ‘Greenland belongs to its people’

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1:27on Ukraine's security if a ceasefire is agreed with Russia. It's emerged no proper safety checks were carried out for five years at a bar in Switzerland, where 40 people died in a fire. Venezuela's exiled opposition leader says she'll return. Also in this podcast, as the new year prompts people to get fit, why does the fitness challenge High Rocks appeal? It's very addictive, and many people, when they first try it, they absolutely get hooked straight away. They see how fun it is, how many people they can meet, and how much they can get involved in it.

2:06As Donald Trump doubles down on his territorial ambitions for Greenland, European leaders gave what sounded like a warning to the US president. In a joint statement, France, Germany, Britain and others declared firmly that the Danish territory is out of bounds, saying only the people of Denmark and Greenland themselves can decide what happens to their land. Speaking ahead of a meeting in Paris to discuss post-war plans for Ukraine, Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Denmark could count on European solidarity. We are very keen for any potential disputes to be resolved through friendly dialogue between NATO members.

2:45European solidarity and respect for the integrity of European states are fundamental issues. So, of course, Denmark can count on the solidarity of all Europe. We must do everything to ensure that European-American ties do not suffer in the coming days and months as a result of various announcements, decisions or misunderstandings. Some EU leaders have faced criticism for not taking a tougher stance with President Trump over the US military action in Venezuela. and the seizure of Nicolas Maduro. But there's been steadfast support for Ukraine. Another draft statement was released which talks of binding commitments to support Kiev in the case of a future armed attack by Moscow.

3:29The hope is that President Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, will support that view at the summit in Paris. Our correspondent Hugh Schofield in the French capital told me more. There was an awful lot of criticism of leaders like President Macron for being mealy-mouthed, woolly in their reaction to Venezuela. President Macron, for example, in his initial statement, said nothing about international rights or sovereignty. He played it a very, very cool hand and did not publicly attack America at all. That angered a lot of people in Europe, certainly in France, where other leaders, including the far-right National Front, were much more forthright in criticising America.

4:12and so there's as a result I think pressure on people like Macron and others in Europe to say something and to stand by Denmark of course which is at the heart of all of this but you know the point is that Macron and the others are playing a very delicate balancing act because they need to keep America on board at a very crucial time in the Ukraine talks that's what's happening here now in Paris the Elysee the palace where I am now is where Steve Witkopf, Jared Kushner, Vladimir Zelensky, Emmanuel Macron are right this moment, possibly settling the future of a kind of structure for security guarantees for Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire.

4:51So at this key juncture, Macron has clearly decided he does not want to antagonise President Trump, because right now he's absolutely crucial to their plans for securing a deal in Ukraine. And that is what, as you said, these talks today in Paris are all about. What can realistically be achieved, do you think? Well, I mean, for the first time, there is a measured degree of optimism, notwithstanding the cataclysmic events which have taken place in Venezuela and the threat to Greenland. But, you know, now there is the possibility by the end of today, and certainly this is what the French and British are hoping for, that the Americans come on board publicly with a guarantee for a security structure for Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire.

5:41Now, this plan, this guarantee would involve support for the for the Ukrainian armed forces with with American backing for that support to the Ukrainian armed forces. It would involve a multinational force, not including the Americans, though that's not ruled out on the ground in parts of Ukraine, helping with Ukrainian air and sea power. British, French, Turks may be involved in that. It'll involve as well some kind of juridically binding guarantee to act in some undefined way if there is a breach by Russia of this putative ceasefire. We won't have anything written down and explaining point by point what will happen, who will be where and so on.

6:24That's not going to happen. They cite reasons of military secrecy and so on for that. maybe it's more that the language is in itself fuzzy and needs to be fuzzy because they haven't actually agreed on all the fine points. But nonetheless, what they hope is at the end of the day, for the first time, there will be American commitment and signature on this plan. Hugh Schofield in Paris. And for more on this story, you can go on YouTube, search for BBC News, click on the logo, then choose podcasts and Global News Podcast. There's a new story available every weekday. Next to Switzerland, where officials have admitted that the bar in which a catastrophic fire took place on New Year's Day had no regular fire safety checks for years.

7:08Forty mostly young people were killed when the fire ripped through Le Constellation Bar in Kranz, Montana. The authorities say 83 people remain in hospital, some of them with horrific burns. At a news conference at the Alpine Ski Resort, the mayor of Kranz, Montana, Nicolas Ferrault, said he was profoundly sorry that adequate checks had not been carried out. As you can see, periodic inspections were not conducted between 2020 and 2025. The Municipal Council became aware of this fact when it consulted the documents submitted to the Public Prosecutor's Office this weekend. We bitterly regret this.

7:49A correspondent in Switzerland, Imogen Fuchs, told me more about that news conference. The entire town council of Cramontana was there, including the safety officers, but it was only really the mayor who spoke to us journalists. As you said, no inspection since 2019, no explanation of why that had happened. They're supposed to be carried out in places like bars and restaurants every year. There should be a regular inspection. There was no note of the sound insulation foam. It hadn't been viewed to be a risk, I think, even when the bar was last inspected. But what is really, I think, is going to be very shocking for Swiss people is that town council appeared not to know why there had been this gap in inspections, but it's their responsibility.

8:44Town councils have big powers in Switzerland. The people vote for them and they like this devolved system. So the Swiss journalists at this press conference were quite, well, I wouldn't say hostile, but they repeatedly asked the mayor whether he'd considered resigning. He said no, he wanted to take part in the investigation. He bitterly regretted the fact that the inspections hadn't taken place and that the law would have to take its course. So what measures are being introduced immediately? So immediately they are banning these sparklers and indoor fireworks, which are quite common in Switzerland at New Year.

9:25They will be banned immediately, but there will still be questions about what was in fact widespread social media pictures well before this fire from 2024, even, I believe, of people on each other's shoulders, waving sparklers very close to this ceiling. I think they, you know, you would think a town council would notice some of this in a very popular bar where hundreds of people, you know, danced and had fun regularly. So there are questions. People are really, really asking questions. It's not a surprise that one of Switzerland's major newspapers is just within hours of that press conference come out with a picture of the mayor and a headline just saying complete disaster.

10:15Obviously, it's not for us to judge the investigation and what prosecutions there might be. But I think there are many, many questions about whether local authorities are really taking their powers as seriously as they need to. Imogen, folks, the international figurehead of Venezuela's opposition has described the capture of President Maduro as a huge step forward for humanity. Speaking to Fox News in her first televised interview since the dramatic events of Saturday, the exiled politician and Nobel Peace Laureate Maria Corina Machado pledged to return to Venezuela. I'm planning to go back to Venezuela as soon as possible.

10:53Every day I make a decision where I am more useful for a cost. That's why I stayed in hiding for over 16 months and that's why I decided to go out because I believed that at this moment I'm more useful to our costs, being able to speak out from where I am right now. But I'm planning to go as soon as possible back home. But over the weekend, President Trump dismissed the idea of working with Ms. Machado. He said she didn't have the support within the country. Ms. Machado has warned that Nicolas Maduro's deputy, Delce Rodriguez, who's been formally sworn in as the country's acting president, can't be trusted.

11:30Venezuela's new interim leader faces huge challenges, as she walks the tightrope between keeping her socialist base in the country happy while also avoiding conflict with Washington. Our Latin America correspondent Will Granch reports. Delcy Rodriguez Gomez, for usted. At almost the exact moment Nicolas Maduro appeared in court in New York, his former vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, was sworn in as his replacement. With that, she became Venezuela's first woman president and only the third person to lead the country this century, barring a short-lived coup in 2002. Yet she showed no signs of celebration.

12:13Instead, flanked by grim-faced military men, she denounced Maduro's removal from Venezuelan soil by elite US troops as a kidnapping. We have two heroes being held hostage in the United States of America, she said, of Mr Maduro and his wife Celia Flores.

12:36Earlier, to a packed chamber, the first deputy to speak was Nicolas Maduro Guerra, the son of the deposed former president, and he launched into a passionate defence of his father. If we normalise the kidnapping of a head of state, no country is safe, he said. Today it's Venezuela. Tomorrow it could be any nation that refuses to submit. This is a direct threat to global political stability, he added.

13:08Meanwhile, the Colombian government has ramped up its troop numbers on its side of the border, fearing regional instability. The Simon Bolivar bridge between the two neighbours is a buzz with traders, motorbike taxis ferrying people back and forth and foot traffic. and people here are getting on with the business of daily life. But this border region is largely controlled by left-wing guerrilla groups allied with the socialist government in Venezuela and many fear it could be affected by either an uptick in violence or an exodus of Venezuelans fleeing worsening circumstances and even more authoritarianism.

13:45We spoke to Venezuelans as they crossed the bridge into Colombia and most expressed quiet satisfaction at the removal of Nicolas Maduro, even if it came via US military power.

13:59We're in shock, said Nalgi, a Venezuelan who splits her time between the two nations. I don't see the intervention by the US as a negative thing, she added. I'm optimistic.

14:14Her friend Maricela was even more pleased. It's spectacular news, Maduro is gone, she said. The very best news. We've been waiting 25 years for this. What we've been through in Venezuela is unbelievable.

14:30Maricela added that she considered Delcidro Rodriguez to be a temporary fix and that eventually the Trump administration would install opposition leader Maria Corina Machado as president.

14:45That's what many might have thought when they heard Nicolas Maduro had been forcibly removed from power by Washington. President Machado announced within days. Donald Trump seems to have sidelined the woman who beat him to the Nobel Peace Prize, much to his apparent frustration. Instead, those dancing in the streets in Caracas were the socialists, celebrating acting President Rodriguez taking power and demonstrating against US imperialism. However, that support may soon ever weigh if she's as willing to do Washington's bidding as President Trump claims. Will Grant reporting. Despite the seizure of former President Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, his opponents have not been seen in big numbers celebrating on the streets.

15:32One reason, the colectivos, armed pro-government paramilitaries, continue to operate with impunity. The government don't want America's actions at the weekend to become the catalyst for a full-blown revolution, and nor perhaps do the Americans, who prize stability, especially if Venezuela's oil industry is to be revived. This man, who asked not to be named, previously participated in protests against President Maduro. But despite being pleased to see the back of him, he hasn't been celebrating publicly. There's a mix of emotions. There's an emotion of absurdity. There is an emotion of hope. I mean, people, we have lived under the same regime for 27 years.

16:10It has been a hard dictatorship for around 10 or 15 years now. We have tried everything, elections, nonviolent protests, march, and we are stuck. So people, a lot of people logically see this as an alternative, polemic as it may be. That procession needs to go on the inside, because on the outside, in the street, it is quiet, it is nervousness. You know, there is still the same secret police, the same political police, the same Gestapo, which is the Dehesim and the Serine, those guys are still the same guys in the street. So you can't really go out to protest. You know, I delete my phone every time I go out of my house.

16:49So although Mr. Maduro has gone, you don't feel able to go out onto the streets of Caracas and celebrate his departure? No, no, I don't feel it's safe to do so because I know Mr. Maduro's regime and what's left of it here. How optimistic are you feeling about the future now? Right now, it's a mixed bag. We're there is a chance that a transition happens via, you know, Trump's military threats were to have free elections. But it's going to be very tricky. The majority of Venezuelans just want democracy and normal lives, to have food, to have medicines. They just want the regime change. Like that massive route of popular support is what's going to make this go well, under the exception that Chavismo goes absolutely crazy and violent, which they have a tendency to do, which is the big threat here.

17:36An anonymous man speaking to Sean Le from the Venezuelan capital of Caracas. Still to come in this podcast. Craig the elephant was a majestic king of the landscape. Kenya mourns the legendary Super Tusca, an elephant called Craig, which has died at the age of 54.

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20:02If journalism is the first draft of history, what happens if that draft is flawed? In 1999, four Russian apartment buildings were bombed, hundreds killed. But even now, we still don't know for sure who did it. It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories. I'm Helena Merriman, and in a new BBC series, I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story. What did they miss the first time? The History Bureau. Putin and the apartment bombs. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

20:41The giant food company Nestle has issued a global recall of some baby formula products over concerns they contain a toxin which can cause food poisoning. Nestle said specific batches of its SMA infant formula and follow-on formula were not safe to be fed to babies. Ella Bicknell has this report. With the power to make you smile in an instant. SMA Follow-On Milk. The global market for infant formula is valued at more than$90 billion, and Nestle is one of its major players. Its warning goes out across several European countries, many of which sells Nestle's baby formula under different names, SMA in the UK and Ireland, and Biber & Alphara in Germany and Austria.

21:24The recall follows tests that detected a quality issue in an ingredient supplied to Nestle, which may potentially contain serolide. The toxin is heat-resistant and cannot be destroyed by boiling water. It can cause digestive symptoms, including nausea, vomiting and abdominal cramps. This time, Nestle has recalled 11 products in total, has listed batch codes on its website, and asked retailers to display recall notices in their shops. Consumers who have purchased affected products have been told not to feed them to their babies and to contact Nestle for a refund. In an online statement, the company said the move was made out of an abundance of caution and that the safety and well-being of babies is an absolute priority.

22:06Ella Bicknell. In Kenya, tributes have been paid to a beloved elephant, which became a symbol of the country's increasingly successful efforts to protect the animals from ivory poachers. The elephant, named Craig, died on Saturday at the age of 54. The Maasai community lived closely with Craig and described him as a gentle giant and a living symbol of Africa's natural heritage. Known as a super tusker, he was among the last elephants with tusks weighing more than 45 kilograms each. And so I spoke to Joel Nika, chief warden at Amboselli Conservancy, and asked him why this elephant was so special.

22:44Craig the elephant was a majestic, iconic king of the landscape, so to speak. So he comes from a lineage of elephants with big taskers. And just tell me about his relationship with the local community, especially the Maasai. The relationship between Craig and the Maasais was more spiritual and quite interesting because Craig stayed outside the park most of the time and he only ventures into the park during mating seasons. So he was very comfortable with herders, with a pastoralist, with a community. And he was a conflict-free individual. So I just want to say that he was quite friendly to the people.

23:29What would you say made him so? Because we often hear of human-wildlife conflict. It's not unheard of to hear conflict between people who have been injured by elephants. What made Craig so special? Was it training?

24:10And then they carried these huge tasks. I think it's been estimated that they were weighing 45 kilos per individual. How did they manage to survive for so long, especially Craig, without being poached? We have a network of community rangers who are always by his sides, but also because he never ventured. And in very few occasions, he just ventured close to Tanzania. But he was a lucky individual. He never broke his task. And with these long, huge tasks that were almost always resting on the ground, did that come at a... Really iconic. Really iconic, yes. And did that perhaps become a problem for Craig, you know, having to lift them and move around?

24:56Did it slow him down? I think there is always this dictum in our Maasai culture that people say that an elephant will never be tired of his task. His big task was not really giving him problem in terms of the weight because it was part of him. And the fact that he wasn't poached in spite of having these long, heavy tasks, what does it tell us about the anti-poaching efforts and habitat protection in the area where Craig lived? Remember, Amboseli, we have less than 40, so to speak, KWS rangers, but we have more than 600 community rangers or game scouts. So the security situation in Ambosele has been boosted by the role of communities getting involved and employed in the security surveillance of these majestic animals.