Protests at COP30

0:00This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. If 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. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.

0:48I'm Charlotte Gallagher and in the early hours of Sunday, the 16th of November, these are our main stories. Thousands march outside the COP summit in Brazil to demand stronger action on global warming. Mexican cities see protests over growing violence and insecurity, and how the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza is being made worse by heavy rain. Also in this podcast, Pope Leo celebrates cinema as he hosts the Stars of Hollywood at the Vatican. Do not be afraid to confront the world's wounds. Violence, poverty, exile, loneliness, addiction, and forgotten wars are issues that need to be acknowledged and narrated.

1:35Let's start in Brazil.

1:43Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Belém on Saturday, where the UN's climate conference, COP30, is taking place. Activists converged on the Amazonian host city, urging delegates to take more decisive action in the fight against global warming as discussions reached the halfway stage. Some of the protesters included indigenous Brazilian communities, youth groups and climate activists from around the world. Here's what two of them had to say.

2:13We keep fighting for life. Our struggle is for life, for the life of nature, for the life of the springs, the river sources, so we can have a good planet, a planet that's healthy for everyone.

2:29I wish world leaders would understand that there is no point in exploiting more oil, more mining, because the forests can no longer endure abuse. The climate is not negotiable. The demonstrations outside the conference hall were among the first major protests at a COP summit in four years. Our correspondent, Aini Wells, was there. Thousands and thousands of protesters have turned out on the streets of Belém. Some are indigenous groups from both here in Brazil but also around the world. Others are climate activists getting here to call for various things as we mark halfway through the COP30 climate summit.

3:06Some of the banners and posters here are calling for a more rapid phase out of fossil fuels, some calling for reparations from richer nations or even from oil companies, energy companies, towards areas that have been damaged by the impacts of climate change. This is actually something which we haven't really seen at cop summits over the last couple of years. The last ones in Azerbaijan, in Egypt, in the United Arab Emirates, protesters were afraid that they may face arrest, even detention, if they went out on the streets like this. Here, though, in Brazil, this kind of civil action has been something that has been encouraged somewhat by the Brazilian authorities that have been some protests in and around the conference center.

3:47There have been two indigenous protests at the conference center itself, one of which did break through the security line, Here, though, the main message from people going in to the final week of COP30 summer negotiations will be, how are they actually going to deliver on some of the promises that have been made at previous COPs? This includes things like how are richer nations going to finance foreign nations' transition away from fossil fuels? And how are some of those wealthier nations as well going to move away from fossil fuels in their energy systems? These are things that have been agreed in the past, but now this COP is really about how do they get implemented?

4:24Is Ecuador about to allow US troops on its soil again? Well, that question will be answered as the country votes on Sunday in a referendum to decide whether to change the constitution and allow foreign military bases, which have been banned since 2009. President Daniel Noboa has said such bases are key to fighting organized crime, as Ecuador has become a major drug trafficking hub and the US has launched a military campaign in the region. BBC Monitoring's Latin America expert Luis Fajardo told me more. President Daniel Novoa of Ecuador had campaigned basically on the issue of security. Ecuador has been suffering a great deal of drug-related violence in the last few years, even though it had traditionally been one of the more peaceful countries in the region.

5:14And the central piece for many people of this referendum is, as you mentioned, presenting to the people the option of allowing again US bases in Ecuador. They had been present for a few years, but a few years ago, a leftist government ordered the removal of US bases there and a constitutional prohibition, which is now what is being considered for potentially repeal during this referendum. And why does the US want bases in Ecuador? It is seen as a very important post to try to control drug trafficking. Of course, there has been a lot of recent attention to the U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean, in another coast of South America, as part of what the U.S.

6:05describes as a counter-narcotics effort there. But, however, the fact is that most of the cocaine leaving the area lives from the Pacific coast. and Ecuador is a crucial point in this drug trafficking. It does not produce a lot of cocaine, but it is next door to Colombia and a lot of Colombian cocaine uses the Ecuadorian coastline to leave towards markets in North America and eventually in Europe. So it is seen as a very important potential point for the US to try to counter this flow of narcotics leaving South America. And something that certainly stood out to me, Luis, about this was where it could be built, this base?

6:47Because there was talk about the Galapagos Islands and obviously, of course, their ecological treasures. What would that mean for the environment if they were built there? Certainly a lot of controversy over that specific point you're mentioning. Of course, Galapagos being a very environmentally sensitive area. It is true that during World War II, the United States actually had a military base there. At that time, the main issue was trying to exercise surveillance over the area near the Panama Canal, which was, of course, a very sensitive area. Now, of course, it is about drug trafficking, and there is a lot of opposition to any possibility of the bases being actually located there in Galapagos.

7:29There have been many other sites, apparently Manta, which is in the Pacific, in the coastline of Ecuador, and a place where the base, where the U.S. base, used to be located until 2009. That is talked about as a possible site for the military installations, the U.S. military installations, if they are eventually authorized. So there's a lot of resistance. The Ecuadorian president has also been saying that it is not clear that it would eventually be in Galapagos if the bases are finally allowed in Ecuador. And is it likely to pass this referendum? Polls say that it is a mixed picture. It is not clear at this point.

8:07That was Luis Fajardo. Representatives of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group have signed a new framework for peace in eastern Congo. The agreement was signed in Doha following mediation by Qatari officials with support from the US and African Union. David Bamford reports. The fighting caused by the M23's resurgence in eastern Congo has displaced millions. Speaking in Doha, the American Africa envoy Masad Boulos said the framework document covered eight protocols. These include a ceasefire, prisoner releases and ways to ease disputes over resources and ethnic tensions.

8:48The agreement does not include any binding commitments. Kinshasa is demanding the withdrawal of Rwandan troops from Congolese territory. Kigali says this can happen once the ethnic Hutu FDLR militia that threatens Rwanda is disbanded. David Bamford. Protesters in Mexico City have been clashing with police in front of the government palace.

9:16The rally had been organised by young people angry with the increasing violence, insecurity and corruption in the country. One protester told us the state is dying, while another said it's a country where you can be murdered and nothing happens. Terry Egan reports. With a series of high-profile killings, Mexicans say security is the country's most pressing issue. Protesters kicked and banged on fortified metal barriers surrounding the National Palace in Mexico City. Security forces have used tear gas to control the crowd. People also chanted slogans against President Sheinbaum's party. Marches are also being held in other cities.

9:58Mexico's government says the march is backed by a paid digital campaign from abroad and by opposition and business figures. While youth groups, known as Generation Z, have been spearheading the rallies, they've also attracted support from other organisations angry about high-profile killings, including the murder of the outspoken anti-crime mayor of Uruapan, Carlos Manso. The 40-year-old was gunned down during a public event earlier this month, shocking the entire nation. He'd been demanding tough action against the armed cartel members who terrorise the country. President Shane Baum has been acting against cartels, but resisting calls for another all-out war on drugs.

10:45Previous attempts by her predecessors have ended with bloody results. Terry Egan, next.

11:03That's one of the most famous poems in Iceland put to music. It's from the 13th century. And we're playing it because the former Prime Minister, Katrin Jakob Dottir, has told the BBC she's concerned her native language is under threat. She said the 350 ,000 people who speak Icelandic need to do more to fight for its future. We have seen radical changes in our society for the last decade or so, simply because of new technologies. The younger generation is really surrounded by all sorts of material, mainly in English, because English is, of course, the lingua franca in this part of the world. They're playing video games.

11:45They are watching TikTok videos, YouTube stuff. And of course, all this is just one click away. So I can absolutely understand that it's fascinating. And it's good that they learn to speak English. However, when we don't have the same amount of material in Icelandic, it's very difficult to compete to preserve the Icelandic language. That's really part of our history because Iceland used to be part of the Kingdom of Denmark, a Danish colony, if you like. And then the Danish language was very influential in Icelandic. So there was quite a movement here in Iceland of those who wanted to preserve the Icelandic language and connected it with our fight for independence.

12:27It's important that we learn other languages too. And not least coming from a small island. We need to understand the rest of the world, but we also need to continue to write in Icelandic. You know, I find it more difficult, obviously, to speak English than Icelandic. We talk differently about weather and we talk a lot about weather. We use verbs a lot in our language. It's based on using verbs. We have a certain tradition of descriptions of people. So there are all sorts of differences between languages, which makes it so beautiful to study them. Katrine Jakob Stottier. Still to come on this podcast.

13:10We started setting some particularly awkward questions and very difficult songs on the music round and stuff and then they were still getting them right. How to catch a cheat at a pub quiz.

13:31If 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.

14:10Pakistan has one of the highest number of child brides in the world, more than 19 million. But could that change? The country's province of Balochistan has passed a new law, making child marriages illegal with immediate effect. But opposition politicians tore up copies of the bill as it was tabled, claiming it violates Islamic law. Our global affairs correspondent, Anbarasan Atarajan, has been covering the story. And he spoke to my colleague, Alex Ritson. Now, this comes after years of campaign by civil society activists, government officials, and also various UN agencies. And it is being described as a landmark decision because Balochistan itself is a very conservative province where there have been a number of reported cases of child marriages, those who get married at the age of 14, 15.

15:04This creates huge complication. And we are talking about millions of people involved in this. and the UNICEF says it's one of the highest figures in the world. Now, the local government has passed this bill. Now, according to this new law, anyone found to be involved in child marriage, marrying any woman below the age of 18, they can be imprisoned up to three years, one. Number two, it is also applicable to anyone who is arranging the marriage from the family, anyone who facilitates, or even the government officials who register these weddings, They will also face imprisonment as well as fine.

15:43And the government officials have been instructed to check the identity cards of both males and females before they can register and solemnize the weddings. So these are the various rules and they are imposing now and also making it illegal with immediate effect because this is causing a huge problem within the society. But it is not without any resistance because opposition parties as well as Islamist parties, they were saying, you know, this was against Islamic law. So that is why there was a lot of opposition. This is a prevalent practice. What do ordinary people think of this? They see this as a first step towards stopping this practice because you need a legal framework.

16:23At least you have the law. This previous law was 1929 during the British colonial era. Now, both male and female should be 18 years of age. Now, even though the Pakistani government is centrally banned, then each province can have their own laws. Sindh province, for example, passed this about 10 years ago on Islamabad earlier this year. So it takes time even for a conservative country like Pakistan so that the rules are imposed step by step in various provinces. For ordinary people, especially for young girls, this means they can have access to education, they can have access to better health, they can continue to schools and universities.

17:01and many experts point out what kind of psychological and even physical impacts a child marriage is having, especially early pregnancies and then complications related to pregnancies. And then once you get married, all your lifetime opportunities come to an end. So this means a lot for the millions of young girls in Pakistan. Ambarsan Etarajan. As if the people of Gaza have not faced enough over the last couple of years, they're now having to cope with heavy rain. Over the last 24 hours, the water has got into tents housing displaced Palestinian families, leaving them with soaked bedding and belongings.

17:39The United Nations spokesperson, Stefan de Jarek, says that Israeli restrictions on getting supplies into Gaza are hampering their ability to help. Proper flood prevention requires equipment that is not available in Gaza, including tools to drain waterways from tents and also to clear solid waste and rubble. Millions of urgently needed shelter items remain stuck in Jordan, in Egypt, and Israel as well, awaiting approval to enter Gaza. Since the ceasefire began on October 10th, Israeli authorities have rejected 23 requests from nine of our partners to bring in nearly 4 ,000 pallets of critical supplies, including tents, ceiling and framing kits, bedding, kitchen sets and blankets.

18:26Yusra Abasharak is the Gaza coordinator for the International Network for Aid, Relief and Assistance. We are in the winter season officially in Gaza, but the intensity of rain was not expected to be like this. During the first few minutes of raining, the streets flooded, not only with water, but also with sewage, with the clay, with garbage as well, because the infrastructure of Gaza Strip is destroyed after two years of bombardment and operation. So it's very bad. People live in tents and makeshifts. They don't have anything to protect them. They didn't receive tents or tarpaulins to prepare for such season and such floods.

19:18and what makes it very difficult that the situation of people in Gaza is fragile and they are not prepared, not only with tents or the housing, but also with the clothes. The children and elderly and everyone don't have warm or heavy clothes to protect them from the weather conditions. Yusra Abu Shirek. In an escalation in Colombia, more than 200 dissidents from the FARC rebel group have used gunfire, drones and explosives to attack a police station. Several officers were wounded and dozens of homes and buildings destroyed in the fighting. Our reporter Mimi Swaby told Alex Ritson more. This is a massive attack and one which has shocked the country due to the number of militants.

20:08fighters from a breakaway faction of a mostly disbanded rebel group stormed the town of Mondomo in Cauca, that's near to Cali, and parts of the Pan-American highway are temporarily shut. And that is because militants supposedly blocked the highway using trucks and they also blocked ambulances from trying to respond to the attack by puncturing tyres. Police really quickly called for reinforcement and we understand that some officers have barricaded themselves in the police station. So a very scary scene and an eruption of violence, which is not uncommon in the Calca region. This is a kind of traditionally a stronghold for Marxist insurgents and other illegal armed groups and a hotspot for drug cultivation as well, sparking and fueling that violence.

20:53But on this scale really is something we haven't seen in a while. These sound almost like military tactics, but FARC was supposed to have been disbanded. What's going on? So the FARC was disbanded under a peace plan after decades-long armed conflict. However, we've seen numerous distant groups come from the FARC. So these smaller groups have splintered off and created their own kind of ideology and policies and fighting techniques and all of that under kind of former FARC ideology and training as well. And they have branched off into multiple areas of the country. So like I said, in Cauca, that really is a stronghold for some groups.

21:31but also in the Amazon region and further south, there are many areas across the country. And the left wing president, Gustavo Petro, a former guerrilla fighter himself, has really been criticised for not doing enough to tackle this violence, which is seemingly on the rise. Is this about politics or is it more about the drugs trade? So Gustavo Petro has recently stepped up military action to try and really squash and contain this violence, including airstrikes. But these airstrikes have also been condemned for sometimes killing innocent civilians. We saw this week alone that six children who are said to be victims of forced recruitment were killed in an anti-guerrilla strike in the southern Amazon region.

22:12But it's also part of pressure Colombia is facing from the US to crack down on drug trade. So yes, it is politics trying to kind of stop violence as it's terrorising many communities, just like in Mondomo that we saw this attack on the police station but it does all come down to drug trafficking, drug trading and groups fighting over control and against the government. Mimi Swaby, Pope Leo has hosted some of Hollywood's biggest stars at the Vatican describing them as pilgrims of the imagination. The Pope said films make a valuable contribution in reflecting humanity and inspiring hope and that his favourites are The Sound of Music, nuns of course, and it's a wonderful life.

22:54Our correspondent Sarah Rainsford sent this report. This was a first for the Vatican, a Pope hosting a celebrity crowd from the world of cinema. Beneath the stunning frescoes of the Clementine Hall, film stars and directors from Italy itself and from Hollywood. Cate Blanchett, Spike Lee, Monica Bellucci, just some of the names from a long cast list here to meet the first American Pope. Leo XIV told his guests that cinema had great power to bring hope and to entertain, but he urged them not to shy away from what he called the world's wounds. Good cinema does not exploit pain, it recognises and explores it.

23:39This is what all the great directors have done, giving voice to the complex, contradictory and sometimes dark feelings that dwell in the human heart is an act of love.

23:52There was a round of applause as he warned against cinemas closing around the world, calling them the beating heart of communities. Then came the individual greetings and the gifts. I gave the Pope a New York Knick jersey. He's the 14th Pope, so it was number 14. This is the first time probably the hope has ever talked about cinema. So it was very uplifting. It was a bracelet that I wear in solidarity with people who are displaced. His Holiness' words today were a real charge not to shy away from difficult, painful stories. And he was talking about tears that often people are unable to shed in their everyday life, as well as laughter.

24:35That often happens in the cinema. Leo XIV is still stamping his mark on the papacy. But six months in, he is clearly keen to engage. and today from Hollywood this was a sprinkling of stardust. Sarah Rainsford. Finally no one likes a cheat especially when it might cost you money or drinks at the bar. Now one pub in the north of England has banned a team from taking part in their weekly quiz after catching them not playing fair and the story has spread around the world. The newsroom's pub regular David Lewis has this report. It's a curiously British night out. Test your trivia, show off your jam-packed facts to your mates or date, and if you get lucky, win some cash.

25:20The Great British Pub Quiz has been a staple of entertainment and a way to get the punters in and drinking for generations. But honesty is the byword. Don't know the capital of Cambodia? Avoid looking it up on your phone. Unsure how many actors have played James Bond? Do not ring your roommate to find out. Now one public house, the Barking Dog in Manchester, has had enough after the same team kept winning and claiming a£30 bar tab. That's about$40. Awkward questions were asked. Who were these Brainiacs? How did they do it? Was something afoot? And it was impacting too. Some regulars gave up and turned it down, costing cash at the bar.