Right-wing outsider wins Colombian election first round

0:00This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.

0:30at 1812 Sycamore Road and get a synthetic blend oil change with tire rotation for just$29.99. When your line is down, cost money. In metal fabrication, seized fasteners, rust buildup, and CNC faults don't just slow you down. They stop production cold. WD-40 Specialist Penetrant penetrates at least 50 % faster, reducing unplanned downtime, shortens preventive maintenance cycles, and keeps critical equipment running, from press brakes and laser beds to chains, bearings, and electrical panels. WD-40 specialist products are proven in high-cycle harsh environments. Schedule a WD-40 industrial site visit at WD-40.com slash industrial.

1:10This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.

1:16I'm Nick Mars, and in the early hours of Monday, the 1st of June, these are our main stories. A right-wing political outsider has won the first round of Colombia's presidential election. Israeli troops have made their deepest incursion into southern Lebanon in a quarter of a century, capturing a strategically located castle. And researchers have developed a pill that can almost double the survival time of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer. Also in this podcast. You wake up in the morning. The first thing you do is you get the dust fan and brush out as you go walking around trying to find the dead mice in your home.

1:55That's not as good as getting a nice cup of coffee, I can assure you. We hear about purgatory in the form of a plague of mice in Australia and in Poland why people will now be able to take the 666 bus again.

2:14Who can save Colombia from the escalating violence caused by militant groups and drug gangs? That was the question voters were grappling with as they went to the polls in the first round of the country's presidential election. It's hardly surprising. Despite a peace agreement with the largest of the country's rebel factions in 2016, dissident groups have made parts of the country almost ungovernable. Already this year, hundreds of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced by fighting. With results in from Sunday's vote, we know that two men will contest a second round in three weeks' time.

2:50It will be a stark choice. either the philosopher-turned-senator Ivan Severa, who's been endorsed by the outgoing president, or the now front-runner Abelardo de la Espriella, a businessman-cum-lawyer who idolises Donald Trump and calls himself the tiger. Here he is talking to supporters after the results were announced. Here's your tiger.

3:19Let him roar and bite. Thank you, Colombia. My heart goes out to you. Thank you for your passion. We'll confront, defeat and punish Colombia's enemies who seek to destroy our homeland. Petro's out. Don't you dare keep trying to reject the election results because the people will rise up and punish you. I spoke to our South America analyst, Luis Fajardo, about the character of Abelardo de la Espriella. He is a flamboyant, a very, very colorful character, as he has been described. He made a big impact on social media. He was originally a criminal defense lawyer. And he became famous by flaunting both his professional success as a lawyer and his substantial wealth.

4:09He traveled around in private jets. He was very, very outspoken. And he became very well known before finally joining this presidential election, where he campaigns as an outsider under the promise of reforming Colombian politics. And as he says, imposing new hardship on what he calls the left that is that in his words is destroying the country. So his policy and Mr. Cepeda, his contender now in the second round, those two policies, very, very different, distinct in terms of the major problem that Colombia faces, all this violence. How are they going to do it? Extremely different, as you say. Mr.

4:50Cepeda, who's running for the governing historic pact, the pact of the political party of the current president, Gustavo Petro, Mr. Cepeda says he wants to continue with the signature policy of Petro, which was trying to establish dialogue with a number of Colombian illegal armed groups, both Marxist guerrilla groups and criminal organizations. These have not been successful, these talks, during the Petro administration. Instead, Mr. De Las Priegas says he wants a very hard-line law and order approach, which he says is basically going to be a military crackdown on these illegal armed groups and also very harsh criminal policies.

5:31For example, establishing large jails similar to the ones that have been set up in El Salvador to fight the problem of criminality. So again, extremely different diagnosis and extremely different solutions proposed for the problem of Colombian violence, which, as you mentioned, has continued all these years. I mean, Donald Trump has been very critical to date of this softer approach to the rebels and the drug gangs, perhaps in part because cocaine production in Colombia has rocketed over the last year in particular. So he could make life quite difficult for Mr. Cepeda, should he become president?

6:05There's been a lot of discussion about what the U.S. government would do in the event of a Cepeda administration. One of the things that observers have noted, however, is that Mr. Trump has not intervened directly in this election in a way similar to what had happened in other Latin American countries, where the Trump administration definitely took a very, very explicit and also controversial position back in one of the parties. In this specific election, he has not taken a side openly, even though most people would think that Mr de la Sprella would be a lot closer to the Trump administration policies.

6:43Luis Fajardo, Israel has made its deepest incursion into Lebanon in a quarter of a century, taking over the medieval castle of Beaufort. The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, called it a dramatic shift in the campaign against the militant group Hezbollah. Our forces crossed the Litani River. They seized controlled areas. They occupied the Beaufort Ridge. And now my instruction is to deepen and expand our grip on the places that were under Hezbollah's control. The capture of Beaufort is a dramatic stage and a dramatic shift in the policy we're leading. We broke the barrier of fear. The French president Emmanuel Macron said nothing justified what he called Israel's major escalation in southern Lebanon and has requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Monday.

7:34Our correspondent in Jerusalem, Sebastian Archer, told us more about Belfort Castle and its strategic importance. It's on a high ridge overlooking the Litani Valley, so it's a very commanding position. That's why the Crusaders built it there 900 years ago. If you have that position, you can control the sight lines pretty much of a whole region. As Bula, when it was in control of it, was able to do that to an extent and now Israel believes it will be able to use it in the same way. I mean, you could say the way that the war is being conducted, mostly through airstrikes of ever ground operation by Israel, is growing, and on the Hezbollah side by drones.

8:11It's not as significant as it was maybe 30 or 40 years ago. And that brings me to the second element of what Mr Netanyahu was talking about, symbolic significance. Both he and his defence minister, Israel Katz, when they celebrated the capture of both at Castle, referred back to 44 years ago when the Israeli army captured it during what they call the First Lebanon War here. And after that time, it became really the nexus of Israel's occupation of its so-called buffer zone in the south of Lebanon, which it held right up until 2000. Now Hezbollah, which didn't even exist at the time that the First Lebanon War began, developed from that, and it began essentially a war of attrition against the Israeli troops there.

8:58And those images through the mid to the late 90s of helicopters having to come down to take wounded Israeli soldiers, Israeli soldiers who'd been killed away from there, back to Israel, they were repeated week after week. And that had a huge effect on public opinion in Israel. And essentially, Mr Netanyahu referred to that when he said that it was both a symbol of heroism, Beaufort Castle, that victory 44 years ago, but it was also a symbol of division within Israeli society. Increasingly during that period of occupation of a buffer zone, there was a movement within Israel, a very large movement, that was against it and went out onto the streets.

9:39Peace Now, for example, which was big in those days, calling for Israel to make peace with its neighbors, not to continue to use military means. Now, Mr Netanyahu is comparing that time, at least in his terms, with now, saying that now Israel is united. Now it is coming back with a different sense of purpose. Whether that's true or not, we will have to see. I think it's true to say that just as the Iran war is generally backed in Israel, where people feel that Iran is an existential threat to Israel, and with Lebanon, to a similar, perhaps slightly lesser extent, Hezbollah representing that threat, And that threat, which was meant to have been eliminated in 2024, when Israel launched a major campaign against Hezbollah, which decimated its leadership, it was meant to have curbed the power of Hezbollah, the ability of Hezbollah to stage those attacks.

10:31But that hasn't happened. Hezbollah has, to some extent, been able to rebuild its capabilities. and just in the past week or so it's intensified its attacks both on Israeli troops down in this southern zone and also on the communities in northern Israel, maybe 20, 25 rockets being fired a day. That's led here to new restrictions being brought in in those areas right up close on the border, similar to restrictions during the war. Sebastian Usher. The rapid decolonisation of Africa during the 1960s 60s, brought liberation for many, but it spawned dozens of separatist movements and civil wars as well.

11:11None was as deadly as the Nigerian civil war that began in 1967, lasted for three years and left between half a million and three million people dead. The war started after Nigeria's oil rich eastern region attempted to break away and form a new nation called Biafra, following waves of ethnic violence. Now, some of the last surviving soldiers from that conflict that followed have been speaking to the BBC's Princess Abu Meri. You may find some of their testimony distressing. We are the survivors of the Nigeria-Biafra Civil War. I'm 85 years old only. Godwin Alabi Isama was 27 years old when the war broke out in 1967.

11:55He was fighting on the side of the Nigerian army and became a commander. When the war started, I think the whole Nigerian army was less than 10 ,000. They recruited prisoners. Even if you had only one eye, we just recruited everybody. Sasa Ugumba Ngoke was a teenager in the Biafran army. When I joined the Biafran army, it was excitement in the air. Everybody was involved in the war, the women, the men, the Children! How old are you? I'm 10 years. 10 years old? Do you know why Biafra is fighting? Biafra is fighting for survival. Is it going to win? Yes, sir. Her Royal Highness handed over sovereignty to a new nation.

12:38In 1960, Nigerian gained independence from Britain. The colonial rulers had left a tense group of tribes, the main ones being Houses in the north, Yorubas in the west, and the Igbos in the eastern region. Six years later, following two military coups and widespread political chaos, thousands of Ibus were killed in waves of ethnic violence. Ngwoke witnessed the scenes. I saw a headless man. I thought I was dreaming. I looked again. I saw kids. They chopped off their arms and chopped off their legs. The killing sparked tens of thousands of Ibus to return to their ancestral homeland in the oil rich east of Nigeria, where in 1967 they declared the creation of an independent rebel nation.

13:25It was called Biafra. The Nigerian government then declared war. Martin Bell was a journalist covering the conflict for the BBC. When I think about the geopolitics, the whole colonial apparatus, of course oil played a significant part. We didn't give much coverage to the extent that the federal armed forces were supported by the British. The firepower lay on one side, top of the line, armoured vehicles, and they had the aircraft, and the spirited, improvised guerrilla fighting was on the other side. The Afrans admit it is an oil war. The Nigerian government did capture the oil-rich industrial hub, Potakot, and they imposed a blockade, Alabi Isama again.

14:10The blockade of the Atlantic Ocean, the airports, of the land route, was to make sure they did not get supplies. Supplies included ammunition and their food. Bombs rained down on the people of Biafra, and there were accounts of people fleeing, not knowing where to run. It's the first really nourishing food these refugees have seen. But what impacted the children the most was the famine that came. Constance Nwoke was seven years old then. We, the children, were eating rats, were eating crickets, maggots, all manner of things. The Nigerian government said the blockade was vital to maintain the country's unity.

14:51Obafemi Awolowo was the finance commissioner then. But we are certainly not going to end the war on account of people being stabbed. All is fair in war, so we are told, and that is the position. The number one priority is the unity of the country. After two and a half years under siege, Biafra surrendered on the 15th of January 1970. The Nigerian government claimed there was no victor, no vanquished. For Nwoke and Alabi Isama, though, the war had been a disaster. Victory is usually celebrated. This was the first time in my life I saw victory that turned to tragedy. I prefer peace. We have fought the war.

15:32We gain nothing out of it. Those who benefited did not even step out of their house. That report was by Princess Abu Meri. You can watch the full documentary, BBC Africa Eye, Surviving Biafra, Voices from the Nigerian Civil War, on the BBC News Africa YouTube channel. Pancreatic cancer is one of the most deadly forms of the disease. Just one in 20 people diagnosed with it survive more than five years. The main reason for that is that it's often spotted very late, making it difficult to treat. Now, though, there has been a significant breakthrough. Results of a clinical trial of a daily pill for patients in advanced stages of the disease show that it can double the survival time and has fewer side effects than chemotherapy.

16:18Dr. Emil Liu is an oncologist at the University of Minnesota in the US. He's been speaking to James Menendez. This clinical trial evaluated patients who had received treatment for metastatic stage four forms of pancreas cancer, received at least one form of therapy that no longer worked. But for the results to be as impactful as they are in that setting, when patients have previously received chemotherapy, often treatments don't work more than just a few months. But in this case, it exceeded one year. In layman's terms, how does it work then? It's kind of like an out of control car where the accelerator is constantly on and you can't put on the brakes.

16:53We're trying to slow down the car and drive it maybe at the speed limit. KRAS is the signal. It drives more than 20 % of all cancers, more than 90 % of all pancreas cancers. and it's been very elusive as a drug target. Now the drugs hit the target and this is important because it helps to slow down the car, so to speak. In this clinical trial, approximately 250 patients who received the drug exceeded one year in terms of their survival, nearly 13 months, and that's about six and a half months longer than patients who received standard of care chemotherapy alone. So it slows down the spread of the cancer and you mentioned that this KRAS is present in other forms of cancer.

17:28Does this mean that this drug might be used to treat those too? Absolutely. And I know clinical trials are underway and I think are going to expand at a very accelerated pace in the weeks and months and years to come. This is really the tip of the iceberg that we hope that the learnings of what we've seen here can also be extended to similar types of cancers for individual patients that also have the same signal gone awry in their own tumors. A long time in the making. How quickly might it be available to patients? We're really hopeful that in the coming weeks it will be available. My understanding is it might be more towards end of summer.

18:01But obviously, I hope with the news spreading far and wide today, I hope that I can go back to my clinic in the coming weeks and be able to prescribe this readily under FDA approval and have it more accessible. Are we entering a new era for cancer treatment? I mean, does it feel like the corner has been turned, at least for some forms of cancer? I would say absolutely, yes. It is somewhat revolutionary to say that in some aspects, you can get away from chemotherapy and the targeted therapy even alone. And that magnifies the importance of these results. To achieve that without chemotherapy is really important.

18:33I would support the notion that we've turned a corner and making more inroads and a big advance this year. And as an oncologist, how does that make you feel? Overjoyed, thrilled. We've been waiting so long for this. I'm just thrilled for all the patients I get to go home to to say we have hope on the way. There is real hope. We have proof of it. We have evidence. I'm so excited to be able to do this and to have patients live longer, to enjoy quality of life hand in hand. I'm really thrilled for everyone who will benefit from this. Dr Emil Luh. Still to come in this podcast, a wine cellar that once belonged to Joseph Stalin has been officially unsealed by the Georgian government.

19:11So what did the Soviet dictator favour? He liked the sweet wines, hence why the camps are there and some port is there. Him being Georgian and Georgians know a lot about the wine, so he saw the value there, obviously, and did not destroy this unique collection.

19:47We'll be right back.

19:59flyer on Menards.com for all the great deals happening now. Save big money at Menards. This Father's Day, when you ship UPS Air at the UPS store, your items arrive on time with your money back, guaranteed at no extra cost. It's like the father of all shipping services. It shows up to the airport way too early just to play it safe. It's overprotective about all the things that truly matter, and it's always prompt, especially to be with family. Make it your first choice to celebrate your Dad. Ship UPS Air with our money-back guarantee exclusively at the UPS Store US retail locations. Visit the upsstore.com slash air shipping for full details.

20:35Terms and conditions apply.

20:41This is the Global News Podcast. Now to Australia.

20:49And that is the sound of hundreds of mice in a frenzy tucking into some cattle feed. A plague of the rodents is ravaging large areas of farmland in the country's south and west. It's wreaking havoc on farmers' crops and disturbing people's lives in rural towns. Karen Chappell is a local councillor in the town of Murrowa in Western Australia. It is just absolutely feral and it's just unbelievably horrid to live with. People talk about having mice in their beds. You wake up in the morning, the first thing you do is you get the dust fan and brush out as you go walking around trying to find the dead mice in your home.

21:27That's not as good as getting a nice cup of coffee, I can assure you. You know when you get that bubble wrap and you pop up? When you're driving at night time, that's what it feels like. You're driving over mice that are popping. Australia last faced a major mouse plague back in 2021, which caused hundreds of millions of dollars of agricultural and structural damage. The BBC's Lana Lamb has been following the story from Sydney. I spoke to her about what caused this latest problem. In Western Australia, where the plague is having the greatest impact on farmers, there's a few reasons. So in the past few years, they've had particularly big harvests, so record amounts of grain in the paddocks.

22:05And so when that gets harvested, grain gets spilt and left behind. And so those big crops mean there's a lot of built up food on the ground. In addition to that, over summer, which was December to February here, there was some summer rain, which led to green shoots growing. And so we had one farmer describe it as essentially giving the mice steak, which is the grain, but as well as that salad from the green shoots. And that created this almost perfect breeding ground for the mice. The other reason is mice are very good at breeding. So they can start breeding at just six weeks old and they can have between six to 10 babies basically every 19 to 21 days.

22:48When you get to plague levels of mice, it's typically 800 mice per hectare. And we've had farmers in Western Australia reporting 4 ,000, 8 ,000, up to 10 ,000 mice per hectare. And if you extrapolate up, that's millions of mice. And what impact are they having on the farmer's fields right now? So one farmer I spoke to, Geoff, who has a 14 ,000 hectare farm, He talked about how it's having a huge economic and psychological sort of impact. So the economic impact is that autumn, which we've just come out of, is crucial for farmers because they're planting their crops. And the problem is the mice then are going in and eating these freshly sown seeds.

23:32They then have to bait to try to get rid of the mice. But that costs money and time, which is something that they don't really have during this crucial period. He also talked about how it sort of plays with your mind. When you go to bed at night, you can hear them running around the house. And in particular, he talked about the smell of them. And I asked him to describe what do they smell like. And he said it's a strong and very unique smell. Essentially, he said it smells like a decaying body. And that is all pervasive, all day, every day. Another farmer I spoke to, Belinda, She talked about since February when she saw the mice numbers growing.