Russia scales back Moscow Victory Day parade

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0:30listen to The Global Story on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. Hi, I'm Ankur Desai and on the afternoon of Wednesday the 29th of April, these are our main stories. Russia has announced that its annual military parade in Moscow, which commemorates its victory at World War II, will be scaled back this year. The Kyiv regime is now engaged in full-scale terrorist activity and therefore all measures are being taken to minimise the danger. The British government rules that a woman abused by the late Harrods owner Mohamed El-Fayed was a victim of modern slavery.

1:12We'll be hearing from her. Also in this podcast... Inspire the next generation. Perhaps just inspire the people of today to actually care that little bit more for wildlife. They're so critical to us and we know populations are declining. London Zoo will for the first time allow visitors to watch live procedures inside a planned state-of-the-art animal hospital. And do women's footballers need their own stadium? One English club have released their plans for Europe's first purpose-built women's football stadium.

1:46We start this edition in Moscow, which is gearing up for Russia's annual Victory Day parade on the 9th of May. It's usually an occasion to show off the country's military might, with hundreds of tanks and thousands of soldiers parading in step through Red Square.

2:11But for the first time in nearly two decades, the Kremlin has announced there will be no military equipment on display this year. I asked our global affairs reporter, Paul Moss, why they're doing this. Well, I can give you the official reason, which is that there is a threat of a terrorist attack. Now, in some ways, this parade has always presented an obvious target. I mean, you have military kit going down the streets, as you said, tanks, also missiles, some of the country's top troops, not to mention lots of dignitaries all in one place. And if you don't mind me being crass, it's sort of presenting all your putting all your eggs in one basket.

2:44Now, it seems the Russia's defence people are taking the threat of an attack more seriously. This was the Kremlin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov speaking on Wednesday.

2:56It's all about the operational situation. The Kiev regime, which is losing ground on the battlefield every day, is now engaged in full-scale terrorist activity. And therefore, against the background of this terrorist threat, of course, all measures are being taken to minimise the danger. It's an interesting claim there, isn't it, that Ukraine is losing ground on the battlefield. Therefore, Russia needs to take more precautions protecting this parade. I mean, I'm not quite sure of the logic there. But the context, of course, is Ukraine having a lot more success recently with its drone attacks. I mean, as we speak, there's a fire still burning at an oil refinery in the Russian Black Sea port of Tawap.

3:35So that was hit on Tuesday. Overnight, Ukraine said it hit a pumping station in the city of Perb. Now, if that's true, it's a major development because Perm is 1 ,500 kilometers inside Russia. And Ukraine's President Zelensky has said that they're going to continue to increase the range. All of this said, there could be another reason why this parade is being scaled back, nothing to do with threat of attack. And that's simply, as some have speculated, because they don't have spare military kit to parade through the streets or spare numbers of troops because they're all out at the front. But either way, there must be a very good reason to make this scaling back because, as you suggested, this parade has always been an excuse to show off, to show off Mount Russia's military strength, to have dignitaries along from all over the world.

4:20Last year, they had China's Xi Jinping, Brazil's Lula da Silva. President Putin will not be happy that it's a more modest affair this year. So how's this speculation then, Paul, about kit shortage come out of the blue somewhat? Well, not really. There has been general speculation the last few weeks that Russia and particularly Vladimir Putin are feeling under pressure. One sign of this is there's been a lot more boldness of people criticising what's going on within Russia. We've seen articles and bloggers suggesting things aren't going well. Bear in mind that at some points that's been a one-way ticket to a Russian Labour camp for anyone saying anything negative.

4:54If people are now feeling they can speak out, say things aren't going well, suggest that there are shortages, I think we can be sure that's a sign that they're not happy on the domestic front. Our global affairs reporter, Paul Moss, reporting. The BBC understands that the British government has for the first time acknowledged that a woman abused by Mohammed Al-Fayed, the late owner of the luxury London department store Harrods, was a victim of modern slavery. Rachel Lowe says she was trafficked by the Egyptian businessman and his brother Salah in the UK and in multiple areas of France over a three-year period.

5:29Hundreds of women have accused Mohammed Al-Fayed of rape and sexual assault. He died three years ago, aged 94, having never faced charges. Rachel Lowe, who's waived her right to anonymity, has been speaking to Sarah Montague about the implications of the British government's decision. It's a validation and a vindication of a two-year struggle to have it confirmed officially on the record that I was a victim of modern slavery. and this is a significant development in the survival struggle to have our cases recognised as modern slavery and within that context, victims of human trafficking. The fact that you are now recognised by the state as a victim of modern slavery and of human trafficking, What difference does it make to your hope of a wider justice?

6:27Because Mohammed al-Fayed and his brother Salah are both dead. The lens of a trafficking investigation is much different from just going after a few of the individuals. There are layers to this. There were locations that women were moved to. We were flown on airplanes from airport to airport. There were doctors. There were accountants. There were security forces. There were very, very many people that knew and enabled it. And unless this is investigated as trafficking, the true extent and accountability will never be known. Rachel Lowe, our correspondent Ellie Price, has been following the story.

7:20She gave this update to Owen Bennett-Jones. There had been rumours over the years, but I think the big moment was that BBC documentary about two years ago, which heard from more than 20 female former Harrods employees who said Mohamed Al-Fayed had sexually assaulted them or raped them. That became the tip of the iceberg. Hundreds of women have now come forward. Mohamed Al-Fayed, who owned the iconic luxury department store in London between 1985 and 2010, of course, died in 2023, aged 94. And he never faced any charges or justice. And that's why I think it's so important for many of the survivors I've spoken to to get the next best thing, if you like, when it comes to justice.

7:59If not him, then looking into those who may have aided and abetted him. Right. So what actually is the significance of the British government's decision? Well, as you heard from Rachel there, I think, first of all, it's psychological. She said it was validation and vindication. And I've spoken to three other women going through this process. And I think that official recognition is really important to them. They want to look into what they believe was this network of facilitators. and the point they tell me about trafficking is it's more than just about the perpetrators and the victim. It's about the potential network that allowed it and identifying who was in that network.

8:33Of course, there are practical implications too. Legal experts have told me that a decision like this lends credibility to a witness in a criminal court and may have an impact on the way that the police investigate such a case. What have the Metropolitan Police, the main police force in the UK, what have they said? Well, the Metropolitan Police, London's police force, as you said, said it had broadened its fired abuse investigation to include human trafficking. It's understood it's to have strengthened that team of officers by adding extra officers with a background in modern slavery. Met police told me that there is no automatic requirement for them to refer a suspected victim of trafficking to the Home Office.

9:08That's the Interior Ministry here in the UK. If the offences took place before a new law of modern slavery was brought in in 2015. but the force says it will contact victims who it feels it can now refer to the Home Office. The investigation known as Operation Corn Poppy was launched in the autumn of 2024. The Met says it's now had 154 people who's reported into that investigation. Right, and just sort of bringing all this together, where are we in this fight for justice for the survivors? Well, it's a good question, isn't it? In March, the Metropolitan Police announced that three women and a man had been interviewed under caution over offences, including human trafficking for sexual exploitation and facilitating rape.

9:51Separately, there are ongoing civil cases going on here in the UK. Harrods says it's settled more than 70 claims so far. Harrods, by the way, said it welcomed all steps forward in the police investigation. And like I say, I think we'll hear more from the different civil claims. Of course, there's this broader question mark about trafficking networks. We've heard plenty about Jeffrey Epstein and his victims. I think there is now a lot of obvious parallels between rich, well-connected men and the potential networks that may have enabled their behaviour. And I think an official recognition like this from the government only adds to growing calls by some survivors and even MPs here in the UK for a public inquiry into trafficking networks like that.

10:31Ellie Price reporting. New reports suggest extreme heat, wildfires and record sea temperatures have affected much of the continent of Europe. Scientists at the Copernicus Climate Change Service, which looks at the environment for the benefit of European citizens, says at least 95 % of the continent has been experiencing above-average temperatures. Dr Samantha Burgess, the Deputy Director at the Copernicus Climate Change Service, spoke to Justin Webb about the findings. Europe is the fastest warming continent on Earth. And last year, in 2025, the Arctic Circle hit 30 degrees and had a heat wave for over three weeks.

11:10This has never happened before. Wildfires across Europe burned over a million hectares. Our seas are the warmest on record for the fourth year running. But at the same time, wind and solar outproduced fossil fuels in Europe for the third year in a row. So the transformation is happening, but so is the climate emergency. Why is it happening faster in Europe than elsewhere, do you think? So there's four reasons, really. One is our proximity to the Arctic. The second one is our changing weather conditions, so changing atmospheric dynamics. The third one is changing albedo, so how reflective Europe is, both in terms of snow loss and cloud loss.

11:48And we're losing cloud cover, particularly low-level cloud cover, because we've invested a lot of effort in improving our air quality, which is having a direct benefit of saving lives. What is the longer-term balance? And if you're looking ahead, I don't know, five years, 10 years. Can you predict things from the findings that you're talking about this morning? Yes, so the trajectory is clear. At the current rate of warming, we are incredibly likely to reach the 1.5 degree Paris threshold before the end of this decade. And that's more than 10 years earlier than was anticipated when the agreement was signed 11 years ago.

12:28Dr Samantha Burgess. Police in Colombia say they've arrested a guerrilla leader accused of orchestrating the country's deadliest bomb attack on civilians in decades. 21 people were killed in the assault on Saturday. Images posted by the Colombian authorities show Jose Vitonco wearing a bulletproof vest, being escorted by heavily armed police. Warren Ball reports.

12:54Hundreds of mourners accompanied vehicles carrying the coffins of victims of Saturday's bomb attack in the southwest of Colombia before they were buried. 21 people died and dozens were injured in the assault on a highway in Cajabillo, in the largest loss of civilian life in a single incident in the country since 2003. Soldiers joined police in the operation to capture its alleged perpetrator, Jose Vitongo, which was announced by the head of the National Police, General William Rincon. In a police intelligence operation, we've captured Jose Vitongo. He's the head of the criminal network Dagoberto Ramos.

13:34The capture of this terrorist was carried out between the town of Palmyra and Palo Alto. Colombia's president, Gustavo Petro, who came to power vowing to tackle drug gangs with force, has praised the security operation. He said José Vitoñco was the leader of a cocaine smuggling group with links to Colombia's most wanted criminal, Iván Mordisco, who rejected the landmark 2016 peace deal signed by the FARC. Ten years on, there's a renewed sense of uncertainty among Colombians as they prepare to elect a new president in May, and insecurity has once again become the country's biggest concern. Warren Bull reporting.

14:10In London, two people have been injured after a man armed with a knife ran through a Jewish neighbourhood, Golders Green, attempting to stab people outside a synagogue. A man has been arrested. The police have called it a terrorist incident. It's the latest in a series of violent attacks on Jewish communities in Britain. Regina Vaidyanathan is at the scene. I'm just looking out at the police cordon here on Golders Green Road. It's usually a very busy, buckling street. I'm looking out at the kosher supermarket, a butcher's, a fruit shop, a baker's. This really is the hub of the Jewish community in this part of Golders Green in northwest London.

14:51And in the distance, I can see police officers at the junction of the road where we understand these stabbings took place. Now, police say that they happened just after 11.15 in the morning here. a man with a knife was seen running down the high street attempting to stab Jewish people. Witnesses say that one of the men who is being treated was stabbed outside a shop. Near the bus stop where we understand the stabbings took place is where just a few weeks ago there was an arson attack on a number of ambulances you might remember run by the Jewish medical charity hatzola so for people here this is just another example of how they feel that their Jewish community is being targeted and there have been in recent weeks as well other incidents in northwest London of arson attacks near a synagogue or at a synagogue so I think the sense here is there's already heightened heightened security for many people if they want to get into their worship but they have to go through layers of security and I think the question again is how much more than people do to try and protect themselves.

16:05So I think this definitely is a community that's in shock. Rajini Vaidyanathan reporting. Still to come in this podcast, is this familiar? Incessant, constant, obsessive thoughts about food and about eating. It is the inability to switch that off. It is constantly dominating your thoughts and how you approach everyday life. Food noise. Can we switch it off without using weight loss jabs?

16:40This is the Global News Podcast. The United Nations says that since the start of the US-Israel war on Iran, the Iranian regime has executed at least 21 people and arrested more than 4 ,000. Gabrielle Sungailate has this report. Since the start of the war, the Iranian regime has used the conflict to intensify internal repression, especially against activists and journalists. Many of the detainees have been arrested under Iran's vaguely written national security law. The UN statement said most prisoners were victims of forced disappearances and torture, as well as televised confessions and mock executions.

17:20The UN human rights chief Volker Turk said the rights of Iranian people were being stripped away in harsh and brutal ways. Rights groups say Iran executes more people each year than any country in the world except China. Gabriel Sungailate. And we have more on our YouTube channel. Search for BBC News on YouTube and you'll find Global News Podcast in the podcast section. There's a news story available every weekday. Four Indonesian soldiers have been charged with serious premeditated assault for their alleged role in an attack last month on an activist. Andri Yunis, a vocal critic of moves to increase the power of the military in Indonesia's government, suffered serious burns when acid was thrown at him from a scooter.

18:07Lise Tambunan is in Jakarta. The four soldiers, dressed in official uniform, stood in court as military prosecutors read out the charges against them. They say the accused, all Army intelligence officers, were angered when Mr Yunis stormed a meeting to protest against the decision to allow more military officers to be appointed to government posts. The acid attack on Mr Yunus last month drew widespread condemnation in Indonesia and abroad. President Prabowo Subianto labelled the attack terrorism. But human rights watchdogs continue to criticise the fact that this case is being handled by a military court, saying that it may result in lenient sentencing for the officers.

18:46Lisa Tambunin reporting from Jakarta. The conservation charity which runs London Zoo is planning a new wildlife health centre with a public viewing gallery so people will be able to see everything from animal health checks to post-mortem examinations. The Zoological Society of London, which set up the zoo, is celebrating its 200th anniversary today. Here's an archive clip of a baby elephant arriving at the zoo's hospital in 1949. A mere six months old, this displaced person from the Indian jungle makes the crossing on condensed milk and corn plates. Bound for the London Zoo, Dumbo is first examined for traces of air sickness.

19:23But according to her pilot, she was the ideal passenger. The zoo says the new health centre will also support research into animal health and serve as a training hub for wildlife vets from around the world. Catherine England, who's the chief executive of the Zoological Society of London, told us the centre would help to demonstrate the value of its conservation work. What we're trying to do is bring what is actually quite a hidden discipline to the forefront of people's minds. But at the same time, we're really hoping that it will be able to inspire the next generation and perhaps just inspire the people of today to actually care that little bit more for wildlife.

19:59They're so critical to us and we know populations are declining. Our climate editor, Justin Rowlett, told us more about the veterinary hospital. I said to the head of the press at the Zoological Society of London, celebrating its 200th birthday today, I said, what sort of things might people be able to see? she said oh i don't know porpoise post-mortems and aardvark ultrasounds i thought that like that's one of those sentences you never expect to hear so i mean the idea is they get a viewing gallery and you see the kind of routine health checks the animals go through so that could be i don't know a giraffe getting its teeth checked or a penguin being weighed that kind of thing and then if there is and they say it's actually quite rare that they need to do surgery if there is some surgery that's needed they told me i said what sort of surgery have you done recently they said oh we did a gallbladder operation on a a a mountain banana frog was that no you know i mean just sort of utterly bizarre stuff and they said also you know if a i don't know a dolphin or a porpoise is washed up in the thames we might do an autopsy on that and the public would be able to see that as well so um that is one aspect of the work is drawing the public in and they say that obviously that's a really intriguing spectacle isn't it but also the idea is like they say just connect people to the work the vets do and understand better the kind of conservation work they do but there's a big wide much wider purpose as you heard from Catherine England the CEO there about studying research understanding how animals need to be conserved in the wild and also about bringing in conservation experts and vets from around the world to train them in the kind of state-of-the-art wildlife medicine so they see it as the kind of new heart of the zoo and trying to kind of give it a sense of purpose into the future you know projecting that message of conservation out into the world and there's been a huge donation as well today a mystery donation everybody seems captivated by the idea that it's a mysterious benefactor has given them 20 million pounds on their 200th birthday and the idea is that is going to be the basis for this new Wildlife Health Centre, so they're absolutely delighted to get this donation.

22:04But look, there are critics, we should say, there are critics who say look, you know, keeping animals, I mean I've just been at the Penguin Beach, the Penguin Pool, 71 penguins say they shouldn't be keeping animals in those kind of conditions. The zoo says, look, we're also about connecting people with the wonder, the miracle of nature and they serve an important function, is what they say. Justin Rowlett. Do women footballers need their own stadiums? One club in southern England certainly thinks so. Brighton and Hove Albion have released their plans for Europe's first purpose-built women's football stadium.

22:37The club say the ground will provide a permanent home and identity for the women's team in an attempt to drive long-term fan growth. It will cost around$100 million and will open in time for the 2030-31 season. Former England international and current Brighton player Fran Kirby believes this is a positive and much-needed step for the women's game. It's another statement in the right direction. It's something that, you know, not many clubs are doing, probably not many clubs are thinking about doing either. And I think it just shows the ambition of the club. We've always known that Brighton want to be ambitious in women's football.

23:10It's something that they've spoke about so vocally, but to actually see something down on paper, to see the pictures, to see how beautiful the stadium would be, it's incredible. And I'm really, really proud to be a part of it. Zoe Johnson is Managing Director of Women's and Girls Football at Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club. We think it's really important to give the players the actual home, that's their own that's built bespoke for them and it's got the changing facilities which are right for female athletes but it's also a smaller and tighter stadium we know the game is and the trajectory that the game is on and it's growing but we want to be able to fill the stadium and and make them really feel the atmosphere to be able to perform we know the demographic is different to the men's game and we know the female audience is slightly different in terms of what they would like on the concourses when they come we've done a lot of research into looking at what they would what they would normally cook there's not a lot of pints being sold there's not a lot of pies is being sold so we've got to make sure we cater that to a female fan as well which isn't easy to do when you're in in the men's stadium because everything is catered towards the male demographic that's why we've come to this decision that we think it's right for the female players to have a stadium that feels like theirs and it doesn't feel like they're just a tenant or they're just being able to borrow the stadium for the day that actually when they walk in there it has a real sense of home and purpose for them.

24:18Zoe Johnson from Brighton and Hove Albion. Now do you ever find yourself wondering what is in the fridge, when you should be working, or thinking about whether you should open that packet of biscuits, or resist the temptation. This internal chatter is called food noise. Use of the term has increased significantly when weight loss injections like Wegovi and Munjaro became widely available back in 2022. Researchers are trying to figure out what exactly is food noise, where does it come from, and can we turn it off by other means and find out what causes obesity in the first place. Justin Webb has been speaking to Professor Giles Yeo, an obesity expert from the University of Cambridge, and Fran Fox, who writes on Substack about her experience of using weight loss drugs.

25:05I would say it's totally different to hunger. Food noise is incessant, constant, obsessive thoughts about food and about eating. It is the inability to switch that off. It is constantly dominating your thoughts and how you approach everyday life so it's really significant to then be able to turn the volume of that down or turn it off entirely because it changes your life to be able to do that to go from thinking about something all of the time to then barely giving it a second thought it is life-changing and in a sense professor yo then the the glp ones whether whether or not people are taking them, they've done us all a favour because we can at least identify and talk about this thing, which is a real thing.

25:52It is a real thing. But what's interesting is I've never heard of the term food noise till these GLP-1 medications have come along. But I think that we certainly within the field of obesity have been studying sort of a version of it. We've been studying appetitive drives, the drive to eat for a myriad of different reasons. I think what the GLP-1s have done is shone a light on this effect. And for some people, such as Fran, you can see it because suddenly it's no longer there. So I think that food noise is a new thing, but yet an old thing. Does it damage, Fran, your enjoyment of food and indeed of life?

26:30Because that's one of the suggestions, isn't it? That this thing, food noise, is part of a noise in people's lives that actually leads them to enjoy life and when you suppress it you suppress more than just your eating yes i think that on the balance of whether to have food noise or not a lot of people who have it would probably rather not have food noise um i think i certainly prefer my life now where i don't have food and eating dominating my thoughts so it does suppress that and that's what it's supposed to do. Does it suppress other parts of your life? Well, it's hard to know because I'm not measuring those things in a kind of before and after way as I am with the food noise.

27:15But what I would say is that even if I didn't lose weight using Manjaro or Wigovi, which I've also used, even if it just turned off the food noise, I would still do it because the significant difference is so great and is so worthwhile. And that's why I think it's brilliant that they're going to start researching this more and looking into it more, because if other people are out there thinking, well, that sounds a bit like me, but actually I don't want to lose weight, then to be able to switch that off and have medications that deal with just that would be a brilliant thing for people. How much hope do you have, Professor Yeo, that they will be able to identify something and identify causes of noise that are then in a sense treatable, but potentially treatable without drugs, without chemical intervention?