European show of unity over illegal migration

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1:12Hello, I'm Anka Desai and at 15 Hours GMT on Tuesday the 4th of August, these are our main stories. EU member states put on a show of unity over migration after tens of thousands of Moroccans illegally entered a Spanish territory last week. Ukraine carries out a series of further attacks on logistics warehouses and oil infrastructure in Russia. The Saudi state-owned oil giant Aramco sees its profits soar, despite the war in the Middle East. Also in this podcast, exports of air conditioning units from China into the EU have risen more than 40 % on last year. The question is how to get them to Europe quickly.

1:52We transported some units, some thousand units by train. We will not make much margin, but at least we can provide some of the port-a-splits because of these big demands. And how a fake judge in Egypt remained undetected for three years.

2:13The influx of migrants into the Spanish territory of Sueta may have abated, but the human and political storm it has created is still playing out. Many of those who crossed into Sueta last week have returned to neighbouring Morocco, but several thousand remain, prompting residents to question who will look after them. Susanna Rupp is a nurse working in a community health centre in the territory. There is a lot of people wandering through the streets without a place to stay. They have a place for 500 immigrants, but there are almost 3 ,000. So as you can imagine, the situation is really dramatic for them and also for the people in the city, Spanish people, because this is not a normal situation.

3:00In the past few hours, EU interior ministers have been meeting via video link to try to calm the anger among some member states. The European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration, Magnus Brunner, said the ministers had supported Spain and praised Europe's handling of the migration issue. By every measure, Europe has not had this much control over illegal migration in a decade. But of course, the events from Ceuta, that's also pretty clear, show that dramatic images beat actually the best statistics. Our Europe correspondent Nick Beek is following developments and spoke to Rajini Vaidyanathan.

3:42It does seem that all the main parties here are downplaying any sort of row among the member states. And, you know, that is a massive departure from the past three or four days where there has been a bitter disagreement between some of those key countries, Italy really going for Spain. And over the weekend, we had 22 countries, including Italy, writing this letter, suggesting that the policies of the Madrid government had acted as a sort of pull factor for some of the tens of thousands of mainly young men who tried to get to Ceuta last week. They were suggesting that the whole sort of integrity of the borderless Schengen zone within the European Union was a threat because of what the Spanish were doing.

4:24And today, I mean, the language is really different. You've got Denmark and Italy suggesting that they're satisfied with Spain and that really they're all in this together. And I suspect, Regine, what's happened here is that governments across Europe have seen how hard right and far right parties really sort of leapt on the extraordinary issues we saw last week. and also the suggestion that a lot of Russian disinformation was really amplifying what was being reported online and also a suggestion that in the first place this surge was caused by some sort of internet hoax that was telling people to try and make this journey because they might well get a banished passport which of course was simply not true.

5:05And Spain have said, haven't they Nick, that they've already returned to Morocco 70 ,000 of the 72 ,000 migrants who reached Suta. Yes. And I mean, Ceuta is a place where obviously right on the tip of northern Africa, it's not in the Schengen zone separated by the Strait of Gibraltar. So you've got 25 kilometers or so of seed separating that city, a Spanish city from the Spanish mainland. But yet there was, you know, such a large reaction to this. And in terms of, you know, how the governments play it from now on in, you've really got the feeling that prime ministers and presidents across Europe felt they had to say something because immigration for so many electorates is a really crucial, important issue.

5:51We know that it's one that the hard right have been picking up votes on. And so a lot of politicians felt compelled to speak. And I think now in the cold light of day, there's been a dialing down of the temperature. Nick Beak reporting. And for an in-depth look at what really lay behind the surge of migrants into the Spanish territory of Sueta, search for our sister podcast, The Global Story, wherever you listen. Russians are getting used to waking up to news that there's been another Ukrainian drone attack on their soil. And although Ukraine has always denied targeting civilians, several people, including children, have been killed in the last couple of days, some on a busy beach.

6:28There have also been attacks on warehouses near Moscow and St. Petersburg, belonging to Russia's biggest online retailer, Wildberries. Russia, meanwhile, has continued launching attacks on residential areas and cities in Ukraine, including in the capital, Kiev. So it feels like the war is intensifying. A suggestion I put to our Russia editor, Steve Rosenberg. It certainly is intensifying, I think. And you can tell that from the reports today. So Russian officials said that overnight drones attacked an industrial park south of Moscow, a warehouse caught fire. The local governor, the governor of Moscow region, said that five people were killed.

7:08There was no official confirmation about who runs that particular warehouse. But later came more reports of two other drone attacks in two other parts of Russia, one near St. Petersburg, the other in the Tfere region, both targeting warehouses belonging to Wildberries, Russia's biggest online retailer. And that fits into a pattern because since last month, Ukrainian drones have been attacking a whole string of Wildberries warehouses. It seems that Ukraine wants to try to disrupt the operations of what is a massive Russian company, which is used by tens of millions of Russians to buy things and hundreds of thousands of Russian sellers to sell their goods.

7:49So by disrupting the operations of Wildberries, Ukraine thinks it can put pressure on Russia. And Steve, Vladimir Putin hasn't responded to these latest events so far. Is he acting as if everything is normal? You know, it's such a contrast. We saw Vladimir Putin or pictures of Vladimir Putin yesterday. He was appearing at a youth event in Siberia, beaming, looking very happy, being cheered by young people in the audience. The Kremlin clearly is trying to project this image of Vladimir Putin as a super popular, super relaxed leader. Compared to the reports coming in of Ukrainian drone attacks in different parts of the country, He gives the impression of someone who is not about to U-turn, is not about to compromise, and appears determined to push on with the war until he secures what he considers to be victory, despite everything that is happening around.

8:43And yet what is happening is putting enormous pressure on him and on the country, just chatting to Russians this morning in the street. People are tired. People want peace. That was the message that so many people said to me. And I actually met one businessman whose company sells items via Wildberries. He was talking to me about how some of the goods of his company have gone up in smoke. Steve Rosenberg reporting from Moscow. The American-Israeli war against Iran has seen oil prices surging. That is bad news for customers, but good news for the Saudi state-owned oil giant Aramco. The company has reported a 44 % increase in profits.

9:21That's despite Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. I asked our global affairs reporter, Sebastian Usher, why are we seeing such big profits despite the war? I mean, essentially because of concerns about scarcity that's coming up. I mean, that is propelling prices up. But I mean, it's a double-edged sword, isn't it, for Saudi Arabia? I mean, Saudi Arabia is being threatened at security in a way that it never really has been before. This threat has been there from Iran in the past. Saudi Arabia has been hit by Iranian missiles, some targeting its energy infrastructure. It's been hit by proxies from Iran in Iraq, militias there and most importantly the Houthis in Yemen.

9:58So it has come under attack. It's energy infrastructure in a place called Yambo in Jezan. They've all had rockets come near them. But what we've heard from Aramco is that it hasn't really had any major impact on its ability to put out oil. And the way that Saudi Arabia's got around the blockade of the threat of Hormuz is it has a huge pipeline which goes from the east coast, which is where the Strait of Hormuz is, to the west coast, to the Red Sea. So it's been able to divert its oil through that route and then send millions of barrels a day via terminals from there. Sebastian, you mentioned the Houthis.

10:36How do Houthi attacks in the Red Sea affect all sea exports? Well, that's what we're seeing. As I said, this is the route that they've opened up to avoid the Strait of Hormuz. But now that has come under threat. The Houthis have for the first time during this latest outburst of conflict between Iran, Israel and the US have used that other key pinch point of a waterway for the world's energy and other supplies, the Bab-al-Mandeb Strait, which is near the coast of Yemen. It's fired at Saudi vessels there. So that was a key route that the Saudis were taking. They're now going up through Egypt and through the Suez Canal.

11:15We've also, there's been at least one attack on an Egyptian port. So there is a sense that that might also be in danger too. At the moment, Saudi Arabia is managing to get those barrels out. There is a concern that there could be issues with their ability to continue to produce and export that much oil in the coming months. And the whole global economy is obviously looking at that. Saudi Aramco is by no means the only oil giant, of course, which is posting these massive numbers. But most of those other ones, US ones in particular, aren't operating in the actual war zone, which is what Saudi Arabia is doing, which I think is why it almost seems counterintuitive that Aramco is doing so well out of this.

11:57But as I say, it's because it's managed to find these other ways of getting its oil out. Sebastian Usher. He presided in court and handed out sentences, but now an Egyptian man is standing trial himself for impersonating a judge. He did that for three years and he defrauded people, gaining about$200 ,000 in the process. I found out more from our reporter Yusuf Taha, who is himself Egyptian. This person who's unemployed and 33 years old has been impersonating a judge for nearly three years for the purpose of frauding people and making money out of it in the process. He persuaded people that he can allocate some government housing units for them, which they are not really entitled to.

12:42And he made all sorts of videos that he put out on social media and even persuading some chat shows on TV to host him so that he would promote himself as the judge who can get things done quickly and decisively. and people paid him for his services even though they are not exactly entitled to those housing units but they did pay him. However, after carrying on this for three years one of his alleged victims had cried foul because the so-called judge did not deliver. So this victim reported him to the authorities who of course went on the hunt for him and went through all those videos that he put out to find out that he was sitting in a courtroom because he managed to reach some deal and bribe three court officials in North Cairo who gave him access to the courthouse.

13:39Now, what's likely to happen to him now then, Yusuf? Well, he's facing an urgent criminal trial ordered by the public prosecutor and during questioning, he did confess to impersonating a judge and also when they arrested him, they found that he had some unlicensed weapon firearm along with some ammunition as well in as much as they found some printed stationaries for his alleged post of a judge and counsellor at this court which he is not entirely entitled to and faking and impersonating a judge in Egypt is a big crime. Yusuf Taha. Still to come in this podcast we have the possibly surprising revelation of who did all the dangerous stuff for Matt Damon in his latest film, The Odyssey.

14:26My double was a woman, a female stunt performer. And when she came into the catering tent was the first time I met her. I went up and I hugged her and I thanked her for all the work.

14:45Chicago talks a lot. Hold on, let me step over here. People are talking too much. We debate about food, deep dish, tavern style, who's got the best beef. We yell across rooms, across blocks, across generations. Yes, nice earrings, Grammy. And now we're doing it on our phones, too. Video calls from the L train, group chats that never shut up. Neighbors texting you the score before your TV catches up. Come on! Get a load of this guy. Catch up. On a dog. Yeah, we've got thoughts. Too loud? In Chicago, you're gonna hear it. Because nothing here gets built without conversation. Nothing moves without connection.

15:22So if you think you know AT &T, it might be time to rethink that. Because their network has improved, like, a lot. So Chicago can keep speaking its mind with AT &T Wireless and AT &T Fiber. Chicago won't stop talking. Our improved network backs it up. AT &T, connecting changes everything. AT &T Fiber, limited availability in select areas. It's been five months since the deadliest civilian strike of the U.S.-Israel war in Iran. 120 children killed at a school. Experts say the evidence indicates it was American forces that hit the school, but the U.S. government has not admitted responsibility. I'm Asma Khalid, and I host the Global Story podcast on the BBC.

16:04The BBC has now visited the site of the school and spoken to Iranians about what they saw. For more, listen to The Global Story on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

16:19This is the Global News Podcast. A mass funeral has been held in Gaza City for 112 people whose bodies were trapped under the ruins of a residential block hit during an Israeli strike in 2023. Our Middle East correspondent Yolande Nel has the details. Huge crowds turned out for that mass funeral, which was held amid the rubble. All members of one extended family or clan in Gaza, the Haseina and Abusharia families. And it's said really to be the biggest funeral of its kind to have happened after one of these recovery operations. It took a couple of weeks. The operation led by Gaza's civil defence, which is part of the Hamas-run interior ministry, but also supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

17:09And this was a multi-storey building that had really been flattened by Israeli strikes back in November 2023, about six weeks after the Hamas-led 7th October attacks on southern Israel, which killed so many people. And really, families said that in the chaos of that day, many got trapped inside the building. Afterwards, the families were able to retrieve some bodies. But for all this time, there were others who remained there trapped. And the BBC was able to film this operation as it began with just a single bulldozer really picking through the rubble and still some of the civil defence workers having to use their hands to move bits of concrete and try to recover the remains.

17:54So at that funeral, you saw that remains had been identified, that they had been laid out in rows covered with the Palestinian flag and also in some cases pictures had been attached to the flags of some of the children in particular who had been killed. 40 children, 38 women and 7 people with disabilities, locals said, were among the 112 who were buried here. But poignantly there were still dozens more people missing so bodies still trapped in that rubble that they had not been able to recover from that one site in the Sabra neighbourhood. of Gaza City. And, you know, humanitarian groups are saying this shows how there are really thousands of Gazans who are still missing as a result of the war, their bodies believed to be trapped under the rubble.

18:40Yulan Nel reporting. A key selling point of the iPhone maker Apple has always been its better and more secure privacy. But now that's in danger, as the British government wants to have the right in very particular circumstances to access encrypted data. Apple have hit back and have launched a new legal challenge against this so-called backdoor policy. Privacy campaigners believe this sets a terrible precedent. Azamu Rajan heard from Silky Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch. It is wrong in principle for the government to want to be able to spy on millions of people at one time. It's not wrong for the government to want exceptional powers to invade an individual's privacy if they're a suspect of serious crime.

19:24And the security intelligence agencies already have exceptional powers, very strong powers, and rightly so, to be able to break into the phones of targets. But that's not what this is about. This is about creating a backdoor into a product that's used by around 35 million people in the UK, that allows the government to then dip into phones whenever it likes. And that's very different. That's a mass surveillance power. It's completely unprecedented in a democracy and it puts the privacy and security of millions of us at risk. And it's incredibly dangerous. And what's been worrying for a long time now is that the British government has created powers for extraordinary levels of mass surveillance of our phones, of all of our electronic communications, our Internet browsing.

20:10And the agencies seem to have developed a culture of just collect it all. That's what we saw in the Snowden revelations from the NSA whistleblower over 10 years ago, is that this kind of culture had emerged of mass surveillance and eye-watering powers to collect all of our data all of the time. When you say mass surveillance by the British state, what's the new thing there that people ought to be worried about that wasn't happening, say, 20 years ago before iPhones came to market? Well, let's just remember as well, what was exposed just over 10 years ago is that even our own domestic agencies like GCHQ were, for example, creating web browsing profiles of every single visible user on the Internet.

20:48When we look at something like Apple's products being broken, it's incredibly worrying because the way in which we use them these days, the amount of private and sensitive data that we will use, the role that it plays in business and in our everyday lives means that if data is compromised en masse, there are national security consequences. I mean, it's really quite incredibly serious, let alone the consequences for individuals. And the powers that the agencies have also extends to, for example, accessing journalistic material and journalistic sources. So there's really serious implications for us as a democracy, too.

21:26This is a secret order, by the way. It's kind of a miracle that we even know that this landmark legal challenge is happening because Apple is committing a criminal offence if it even talks about the existence of this order from the British government to break into iCloud. So it essentially means that the agencies would be able to process and access the data of tens of millions of people in this country through our phone data. But it also actually has implications for everyone around the world that uses Apple's products. So it has serious consequences for Apple as a whole business. Silky Carlo.

21:58Europe has spent this summer trying to buy its way out of the heat. Exports of air conditioning units from China into the European Union hit nearly$3.8 billion in the first half of this year. That's up more than 40 % on last year. Many shops across the continent have sold out and prices have climbed. Sam Fennec has been following the money chain behind Europe's air con boom. This is a queue outside a discount supermarket in Paris one morning in July. The queue goes around the building. They're not there for freshly baked bread. They're there for a box with a fan in it. Within minutes, the shelves are empty.

22:40There are scoffles in the aisles and fights break out. Only about a fifth of European homes have air conditioning at all. In Northern Europe, it's more like one in ten. But France alone has had four heat waves since May. Most of Europe's air conditioning is made in China. Media is one of the biggest manufacturers. It sold out of portable units in June and is still not keeping up. The problem isn't making them, it's getting them here. By sea from southern China takes two to three months with customs, so a unit ordered when the heatwave starts arrives after the summer's over. Tobias Strobel is Media's Head of Innovation for Europe.

23:22We transported some units, some thousand units by train. We will not make much margin, but at least we can provide some of the port-a-splits because of these big demands. So this was the strategy. Air conditioners put on a freight train across Asia because the ships are too slow. That's how short of them Europe is. And then you switch the thing on, and everybody switches theirs on at the same time. A hot evening after a hot day when the sun's gone down and the solar power's gone with it. Dr Chris Roslow is a senior analyst at the energy think tank EMBA. Well, the most intense heat wave so far this summer happened in late June.

24:02And in the evening period especially, the grids came under quite a lot of pressure. So we had in France, power prices spiked above€300 per megawatt hour. In Belgium, we actually saw a spike up to€900 per megawatt hour. And just for context, power prices are typically around€50 to€100. So this is kind of several multiples above normal. That's the price to keep the lights on when the whole country turns its air conditioning on at once and gas has to fill the gap the sun leaves behind. Nobody lost power, but somebody paid for it that evening. Those spikes get averaged into what your supplier pays and reach you in your bill a few months later.

24:43The bigger cost is what comes next, because this isn't a one-off summer. Professor Diana Ulget-Vorseps is vice chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. By 2030, the International Energy Agency projects that cooling will add more new demand to our electricity than artificial intelligence. In fact, it's probably more like six times as much as artificial intelligence. You can imagine it's really very massive. In countries, most European countries, the peak demand used to be in the winter, but now we increasingly see that more and more countries reach this peak in summer during air conditioning and needs.

25:23And it changes when the grid is most under strain. Europe's grids were built for cold, dark winters. Now, the hardest moment of the year is a hot night in August, and they weren't built for that. Improving grid infrastructure and resilience costs money. And in Europe, that cost already sits with consumers. Network charges are roughly a quarter of what a household pays. And Europe's energy regulator says the amount being invested in the grid needs to double if energy needs are to be met. Sam Fenwick with that report. Even if you've not seen the film everyone's talking about, you probably have seen the poster for The Odyssey, in which a sword-wielding Matt Damon is confronting giant ironclad warriors, the Lestragonians.

26:09Now, except that's not Matt Damon. It's his stunt double, Devin Dalton, who's a muscle-bound woman just one meters, 30 centimeters tall. When Damon spoke to the happy, sad, confused podcast with Josh Horowitz, he paid tribute to his stunt double. Well, you know, when we did the forced perspective stuff of the Lace Dragonians, I don't know if there's been a thing about how we did it, but there were, you know, there were these kind of stuntmen who were all seven feet, right? And then they got stuntmen who were under five feet. And so my double was a woman, a female stunt performer who had the greatest arms I've ever seen.