Trump launches Board of Peace

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0:46I'm Anka Desai and on Thursday the 22nd of January, these are our main stories. Donald Trump has presided over a signing ceremony for his Board of Peace, which he says will usher in glorious and everlasting peace for the Middle East and the wider world. But critics say it's designed to replace some of the UN's functions. This board has the chance to be one of the most consequential bodies ever created, and it's my enormous honour to serve as its chairman. I was very honoured when they asked me to do it. Denmark's Prime Minister has insisted her country's territorial integrity must be respected, a day after President Trump said a possible deal on Greenland will achieve everything he wants.

1:25Wildlife rangers in Pakistan have seized 11 lines illegally kept in Lahore after one of the animals escaped and attacked a girl. Also in this podcast, several people, including children, are missing after a landslide engulfed a campsite on the North Island of New Zealand. I heard this huge tree crack and all this dirt come off behind me and then I look behind me and there's a huge landslide coming down. I'm still shaking from it now. It's like the scariest thing I've ever experienced in my life. And we look ahead to the runners and riders for this year's Academy Awards as the nominations come out and one film makes Oscars history.

2:02Some of the most powerful leaders in the world are continuing to spend these winter days in the Swiss Alps. This is certainly no apres ski holiday, but rather another day of diplomacy at the World Economic Forum in Davos. President Trump began today's agenda by hosting a signing ceremony for the charter of his Board of Peace, a body that was initially formed to oversee the rebuilding of Gaza following the U.S.-brokered ceasefire last October. But the U.S. president says that he sees the body as going beyond Gaza to address global challenges. Speaking on a stage full of leaders, including the Hungarian president Viktor Orban and Argentina's Javier Millet, although notably no Palestinian leadership or major European powers were present.

2:46Today we're announcing more details regarding the Board of Peace, so important. This board has the chance to be one of the most consequential bodies ever created. And it's my enormous honor to serve as its chairman. I was very honored when they asked me to do it. And every country, just about every country wants to be a part of it. The room has also shown a new Gaza slideshow presented by Trump advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner. It showed futuristic seaside high-rise buildings on the current Gaza Strip. The board also has a$1 billion price tag for a permanent membership although it's not clear where this money will go.

3:25So far, Qatar, Turkey and Egypt are among countries that have announced they would join the board. Israel has also publicly confirmed its participation. Many critics say this body is going to replace the United Nations. Martin Griffiths is the former Undersecretary General of Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator for the UN. He has big reservations about the Board of Peace. We must all welcome the activism of Mr Trump on wars. I mean, that is an energy which we have lacked in the past. It's a good thing. Gaza is the first outing. Gaza is the first test. I'm not sure it's going to work.

4:03I don't think Gaza is an easy one anyway. And I think the test of this grand new scheme, which is a grand new scheme, is going to be whether it moves to phase two properly in Gaza. The signs are not good. The UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told the BBC that the country wouldn't be a signatory today, citing concerns about the involvement of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russia's news agency TASS reports that President Putin is ready to send$1 billion of Russian assets frozen in the US to Trump's Board of Peace. Earlier I spoke to our security correspondent Frank Gardner. I asked him what stood out to him from President Trump's speech.

4:42This is very much his day. You know, this is a lot of this is about Donald Trump and his vision of the world and his incredible self-belief as a not just a dealmaker, but a peacemaker. You know, he, of course, says that he has solved eight wars around the world, a figure that is disputed. I think Martin Griffith's concerns are very well founded. To give Donald Trump his credit, he was able to get through, push through phase one of his 20 point peace plan for the Middle East, for Gaza primarily. And that worked. It stopped the war. He got a ceasefire in place. He got the Israeli hostages out and large numbers of Palestinian prisoners released.

5:24Phase two is going to be a lot harder. That's the really tricky bit. And I'm not certain that this great big diplomatic razzmatazz is going to achieve that because you need people who really understand the situation on the ground and can understand the other side's view. That is something that's been one of the reasons why the Gaza issue is so intractable, is that so many moderate Israelis, I've spent a bit of time there since the October the 7th, 2023, Hamas-led raid into Israel, and so many previously moderate Israelis who were prepared to live side by side with a Palestinian state are no longer prepared to because they just are still so traumatized by what happened in that raid.

6:08and for Ghazans who have suffered more than two years of being pummeled from the air and artillery and bulldozed and are still living in appalling conditions. The proof for them in this great big razzmatazz board of peace is, is it actually going to make their lives any better? Are their conditions going to improve? Is there going to be any light at the end of a tunnel towards building a peaceful Palestinian state that can live side by side with Israel and not threaten Israel? And frankly, we've only got 30 seconds, but what sort of authority does it have if many European countries and no Palestinians are on it?

6:42And what are the functions of this board? Well, there is a sub board on that that is the Gaza Executive Board, and they will be looking at trying to push through some of the aims of the Trump peace plan, such as getting a stabilization force in there, disarming Hamas, rebuilding Gaza. The good thing is that you have got some very important Middle East nations involved. You've got Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain, all involved, all on the border piece. And that's a good thing. Our security correspondent Frank Gardner. EU leaders are expected to hold an emergency summit in Brussels to discuss Donald Trump's framework of a future deal over Greenland.

7:21The US president announced the proposal after talks with the head of NATO, Mark Rutter, although details remain unclear. In a statement, the Danish Prime Minister Meta Fredriksen said her country wished to engage in a constructive dialogue with allies on Arctic security, as long as it respects the kingdom's territorial integrity. In Greenland, these people spoke of their caution about President Trump's announcement. I'm very thrilled to hear that, first of all, because he has been saying a lot of stuff about taking Greenland with Forrest, like he'll do it the hard way, which is so scary to hear.

7:57And I'm just thrilled that he has now announced that, but I'm also keeping my hopes down. For me, it doesn't feel like everything is over just because a statement like that is out. So I still feel like everything can happen. Our Europe correspondent Nick Beak is following developments from Brussels. I think the big concern, Anka, is that a lot of the Europeans don't have that detail and they'll be really keen to find out when they have this emergency meeting in Brussels tonight. I mean, certainly President Trump's position has changed in a heartbeat because at this speech yesterday in Davos, he was saying he absolutely had to own Greenland.

8:38Nothing less would satisfy him and that was a non-negotiable. But now he's saying that a deal has been reached or the framework of a deal has been hammered out after he had a chat with Mark Rutter, the NATO boss. The Danes are saying that as far as they're aware, nothing to do with their sovereignty has been put up for negotiation. Of course, that is the position of the wider Europeans. And this is how we got in this crisis in the first place. The thought that Donald Trump was going to put tariffs on the European countries that were most vocally supporting Greenland. just for standing up for their territorial integrity.

9:15There are so many key players there as well. What's the reaction been? You mentioned Denmark. There needs to be, I guess, a response from Greenland at some stage and obviously other European leaders too. Yeah, that's right. And I think they coordinate their response. A lot of the heat and the tension has been taken out of this because we got from Donald Trump yesterday that double climb down, if you want to put it like that, or certainly a change of position twice, where he said he wouldn't use military action and he wouldn't apply these tariffs on these eight European countries from the 1st of February.

9:48But in terms of the reaction from the Europeans, they haven't said a huge amount yet. They've kept their powder dry. I mean, we got a pretty understated reaction from the Danes yesterday, the foreign minister saying that the day had ended in a much better way than it had started. And I think, yeah, you know, that's certainly an understatement because there was real concern about what might come next. But, you know, this has not been solved by any means because there are these counter tariffs that the Europeans had lined up ready to go or certainly ready to be discussed at the top level. And as a sort of casualty of all of this or certainly a complication, there was a trade deal that was hammered out between the EU and the US last summer.

10:30and the sort of ratification of that, the signing off of that by the European Parliament has been put on hold as a result of this crisis that blew up this week between the US and the EU. Nick Beak reporting. And for more depth on some of our stories like that one, check out our YouTube channel. Search for BBC News, click on the logo, then choose podcasts and then click on the Global News podcast. There's a new story available every weekday. Now, staying in Davos with negotiations about Greenland ongoing and President Trump officially inaugurating his Board of Peace, attention is also on Ukraine and efforts to end the war there.

11:08Donald Trump held a meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the Davos meeting. The Ukrainian president described the meeting as positive and said documents aimed at ending the war are nearly ready. Right now we are working actively with partners on security guarantees and I'm grateful for that. But those are for after the war ends. Once the ceasefire begins, there will be contigions and joint patrols and partner flags on Ukrainian soil. And again, everyone is very positive, but, always but. but the backstop of President Trump is needed. The other half of the American team will be in Moscow for talks with Vladimir Putin.

11:56Here's a U.S. envoy, Steve Witkoff. I think we've made a lot of progress. I think in the beginning of this process there was a little bit of confusion. I was going to Moscow quite a bit, but I think it was important that we go there because we're at the end now and I actually am optimistic. To the Ukrainian people here, you have an amazing negotiating team. We spent a lot of time together. I don't know how much, but it could be 100 hours together. And I think we've got it down to one issue. And we have discussed iterations of that issue. And that means it's solvable. Earlier, I spoke to our BBC Russia editor, Steve Rosenberg.

12:36Interesting to hear Steve Witkoff's optimism there. He also said that the negotiations are now down to one outstanding issue. Without clarifying what that issue is, The Kremlin said it wouldn't like to comment this morning at this stage, but appreciates the peacemaking efforts of Donald Trump and his team. And the Russians always say they don't go in for megaphone diplomacy. So they're not saying much at all, but it'll be interesting to see whether the talks that are planned for tonight move or bring peace any closer. In terms of finding a peace deal, obviously we'll need a lot of players at the table as well.

13:13Could this be something that progresses quickly, swiftly in the coming days and weeks? Well, there have been so many moments over the last year where we've thought peace is very close and it hasn't happened. So I think we have to wait and see whether Vladimir Putin is offered the kind of deal that he believes he can agree to. Our BBC Russia editor, Steve Rosenberg. In New Zealand, the Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon, says that the country is heavy with grief and has called off engagements on Friday to visit the east coast after heavy rain has caused landslides on the north coast of the North Island.

13:48Searches have continued through the night for several people, including a child who are missing after a landslide at a camping ground at one of the country's most popular tourist destinations near Mount Manganui. Two people have also died after heavy rains at nearby Papamoa, which is also on the Bay of Plenty on the North Island. Katie Watson has sent this report. A tourist hotspot turned into tragedy. The landslide took out tents, caravans and a toilet block, with people still unaccounted for. It's peak summer holidays in New Zealand, the busiest time of the year. The campsite, right at the heart of Mount Mungunui volcano, its guests were enjoying the hot pools next door.

14:27I heard this huge tree crack and all this dirt come off behind me, and then I looked behind me and there's this huge landslide coming down. and I'm still shaking from it now. It's like the scariest thing I've ever experienced in my life. Authorities say this is still a rescue effort. One eyewitness told a local paper they heard people shouting for help initially. Then it went silent. At least one young girl is still missing. There has been a significant landslip at the base of the mount. This is an active and evolving incident and information may change as assessments continue. Our priority is life safety, followed by scene stabilisation and risk assessment.

15:09Urban search and rescue teams are on scene to provide specialist search, rescue and technical assessment capability. The weather on the eastern coast of the North Island in recent days has caused havoc. Some parts of the region saw as much rain in 12 hours as they would normally in a month. Thousands of residents are still without power. Authorities being tested in their response, with one minister comparing the damage to a war zone. Katie Watson reporting. Still to come on this podcast, the nominations for this year's Oscars have been announced.

15:47I've been all over this world. I've seen men die in ways I didn't even know was possible. The Film Sinners has set a new Oscars record with 16 nominations. We've got all the other headlines coming up.

16:12If 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.

16:51It's been an interesting few days for what diplomats like to call the rules-based international order, the architecture for managing global conflict that was established after the Second World War. Now, despite many a creak and groan, it has survived largely intact until now. Both President Trump's Board of Peace and his threats to NATO allies have left players and observers wondering what remains of the traditional way of doing things. David Charter is assistant editor of The Times and joined a conversation from Washington, D.C., alongside Gillian Tett from King's College, Cambridge, and is also a columnist with The Financial Times.

17:28She's in Davos. Johnny Diamond asked them how Mr Trump had changed things. I saw his art of the deal, actually, and what we've known since the mid-1980s when that book came out, building up Donald Trump as a great business thinker. where he basically was explicit about how he would use what he called truthful euphemisms, brackets, which the author of the book said really was a cover for lying, and would exaggerate and would frankly, he didn't use the word bully, but he set out how he would use every weapon in his arsenal to create a situation where his opponent would compromise when they didn't want to.

18:14And he would arrive at what his original demand was, because he'd made such exaggerated and almost crazed demands in the first place. This is what he's brought to international diplomacy. And of course, it's a wrecking ball for the way that international politics and diplomacy is normally run. It's not done like this in public, like the way Trump does it. And it's incredibly disruptive. Gillian, does it have a real world impact? I mean, David calls it incredibly disruptive. Does it change the system? Well, it certainly is changing the system quite profoundly. And what's become clear in Davos this week are three things.

18:50Firstly, as you just heard, the old rules-based order that we've become familiar with in the last few decades is, if not totally smashed apart, then definitely fraying. Mark Carney, the Canadian premier, said we're living through an era of rupture. And that's an understatement, I think. Secondly, within that new framework, Donald Trump and America are seeking to be absolutely dominant. And indeed, they are behaving like bullies. Some of the patterns are almost more like domestic abuse in terms of all the ranting and angry threats. And the fact that the person who's the victim of that is, you know, grateful that they don't get hit.

19:27I mean, that's been the mood for a lot of European leaders this week. You know, people are happy that Trump is actually not going to invade Greenland with the military force. And then thirdly, within this extraordinary new world, President Trump is indeed using tactics in a very aggressive way to uphold his strategy. And that is unlikely to disappear anytime soon. And it's making it very hard for companies and investors and governments to actually evaluate risks or the path forward. David, Europeans, I think, sense a deep antipathy to the way they do things. I think it was the Treasury Secretary, Scott Besson, who mocked the propensity of Europeans to form working groups, that sort of committee-based progress.

20:10Do you sense an attempt by the Americans simply to smash through that system of decision-making? I do. I sense a concerted effort to undermine the European Union, which is really, together with China, is the only economic power able to stand up to Trump. And we saw that, I think, this week. The impact of his sabre-rattling is bellicose threats on US markets, but it was also the European Union's threat to match tit-for-tat his tariff game that I think helped Trump see the light and do the deal. Yeah, I do think that they want to undermine the European Union, deeply ironic given America's role in setting up the European Union in the first place.

20:55Gillian, do you think the Europeans and others will simply have to change their ways? Well, I'd say two things. Firstly, I think David understates what's happened in Davos this week, because the Americans are not just critical of Europe, they are absolutely scathing. And they almost seem to enjoy provoking it and prodding it for their amusement. So there is a sense of extreme scathing attitude towards Europe. But secondly, the fundamental problem right now is that America is one single entity that revolves around President Trump. And in governance structure, it's very unified. I mean, you can see the symbols if you walk along the promenade right now with the 250-year anniversary of American symbols, which everyone revolves around.

21:38Europe, very fragmented. You know, it's very hard to find any common symbols that Europeans can revolve around. And the governance structure is incredibly convoluted and requires committees all the time. Gillian Tett from King's College, Cambridge. and we also heard from David Charter of the Times. Security fears continue to rise in Nigeria after authorities confirmed the kidnapping of a group of worshippers in Kaduna State, although the police had initially denied that any attack took place. Residents say that 177 worshippers were abducted from three churches, but that 11 later escaped. This is the latest incident in a wave of kidnappings that have increased across the country.

22:19The BBC's Medina Maishanu is in Kaduna and has been meeting some of the people affected. I visited the Kuruminwali community where the people were taken and the community there is still in a state of shock and hopelessness. They also alleged that some authorities have been trying to silence them from granting interviews or speaking to people about what had happened there. I also faced some issues trying to access the community after a politician stopped me and threatened me but I later insisted on access. And the governor of Goduna State, Ubasani, also visited the village on Wednesday while I was there.

22:55He came, he spoke to the people, and he tried to calm them down, and he assured them that he's doing everything in his power to get the abducted people back. But so far, no demands have been made, and there's really nothing that anyone has heard from the abductors, and no one knows who they are as of now. I spoke to many people in Kurminwali, many families, One of the most compelling stories that I heard, there was one of a father who managed to escape with his two-year-old daughter in his hand.

23:29My two wives and all my other children are still with the abductors. I only escaped with my two-year-old daughter. My daughter is in a terrible situation. She's always crying. If my family is not with me, then my life is worthless. and free of any joy. It's not an easy thing to lose your family, and you know they aren't dead, but they're in a dire situation. So his story was quite sad because while we were doing the interview with him, he broke down because his two-year-old daughter is devastated. She doesn't even eat food, and this is just one of the sad stories. I interviewed many people like him that were in a state of hopelessness.

24:13There was a woman I spoke to. Her husband was taken, all her children were taken, all her siblings were taken. So many people are very devastated in that town. But it's just coming at a time where there's a lot of tension going on, a lot of mistrust between the people and the government. Medina Meishanu reporting. Pet lines have long been a problem in parts of Pakistan, with wildlife officials cracking down on breeding farms after a woman and two children were attacked last July in Lahore. The BBC went to meet some of the team at the time. People breed lions and then sell the cubs to others, so these breeding farms are the root of the problem.

24:55But now it's happened again. An 11-year-old girl suffered head and leg injuries after a lion escaped from her house and attacked her. Investigators found 11 lions being kept illegally and three cubs. Our global affairs correspondent, Ambaras Netirajan, told me more. People complained about this young girl who was injured by a lioness. And then police launched a search operation and that led them to a factory where there was an embroidery work was going on the ground floor. And then when they went upstairs on the first floor, they found all these cages above, these 11 lions with the three of them cubs.

25:32So police now they have arrested two people for illegally keeping these big cats. And now they've moved all these animals to the Lahore Safari Park. And this also shows a big problem in a very normal place like an embroidery work factory where you have these very dangerous animals right in very close to the city of Lahore. And that's why the authorities are saying, you know, even though they had launched various operations, as you heard earlier as well, but still the problem persists where these kind of animals in different places of Pakistan causing real worry for wildlife authorities. And as you mentioned as well, there's been an illegal industry and a crackdown over this as well.