UN condemns attack on key Sudanese city

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.

0:46I'm Alex Ritson and on Thursday 30th October, these are our main stories. The leader of Sudan's paramilitary RSF promises an investigation after acknowledging abuses by his forces in El Fasher. The US-China trade war appears to be de-escalating after what President Trump said was an amazing meeting with President Xi in South Korea, and new arrests in France over the audacious jewel heist at the Louvre in Paris. Also in this podcast... Hospitals destroyed, libraries, police stations, courthouses. So the south-east, south-western end of the island has had serious devastation. Jamaica counts the cost of Hurricane Melissa.

1:32Civilians who fled El Fasha in western Sudan have said that children were killed in front of their parents as bodies lay in the streets and families hid in trenches when the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces took control of the city on Sunday. The RSF captured the Sudanese army's last stronghold in the region of Darfur. Caroline Bouvard, the Sudan country director of the aid group Solidarity International, told the BBC that some people have fled to the nearby town of Tawila. They're highly malnourished, highly dehydrated. Many of them are sick or injured and they're clearly traumatised with what they've seen either in the city or on the road.

2:10And we believe that actually many people are stuck currently in different locations between Tawila and El Fasher and unable to move forward, either because of the physical condition or because of the insecurity on the road where militias are unfortunately attacking people who are trying to find safe haven. Tom Fletcher is the head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Speaking at an emergency session of the UN Security Council in New York, he said that he'd been in contact with TACES, which is an alliance of Sudanese anti-government political factions and paramilitary forces.

2:46Mr Fletcher made this plea. Those who want to leave El Fesher must be able to do so safely. Those who remain must be protected. There must be accountability for those carrying out the killing and the sexual violence. For those giving the orders and those providing the weapons should consider their responsibilities. Just an hour ago, I spoke to the senior representative of the Tassiz coalition, who informed me that the RSF has launched an investigation into ongoing violations and that arrests have been made. He also assured me of their commitment to protection of civilians. It remains difficult for now to identify this commitment amidst the appalling news that continues to come out of North Darfur.

3:29The RSF has denied accusations of killing more than 400 people at a hospital in El Fasher. A spokesman said that civilians had fled and no hospitals were operational when the RSF seized the city. But it has admitted abuses, as I heard from our global affairs reporter, Richard Kagoy. The RSF leader, General Hamdan Dagalow, say that he does acknowledge reports that the abuses that are committed by his troops during the takeover of El Fasha. What he said is that he's forming a committee that is going to investigate the atrocities that are committed by his forces. And I think this is really because of a lot of pressure that has been coming internationally about the wide scale attacks that were committed against civilian populations that were trapped within El Fasha and those that were fleeing to the town of Tawila, which is just about 60 kilometers west of El Fasha.

4:26What is the latest on the ground in El Fasha? It's very difficult, really, just to get like up to the minute update in terms of what's really happening there because of a communication decade. But what we are hearing is that the humanitarian situation has become worse. A lot of people have been fleeing in their thousands to that town, which I did mention is called Tawila. And what we're hearing is that those who have attempted to flee have been attacked by militants. They have been robbed and some of them have been sexually assaulted. Others have been taken and the militants have demanded ransom.

5:01So the situation really looks quite desperate. The fact that there is no access for humanitarian agencies to deliver critical assistance to the civilian population. A lot of them are hydrated and majority of them are really malnourished because really it's been a couple of weeks since the RSF encircled the city completely and blocked all access routes into El Fasha. So it's a very desperate situation. and we don't really know because the city was hosting nearly a quarter of a million people and slightly over 100 ,000 were children. What about these reports that the UAE, the United Arab Emirates, are arming the RSF?

5:38Yeah, that's really been the accusation from the Sudanese army. They're saying that the UAE has been backing the RSF by providing them with logistical and material support and through that they have been able now to put up their defences and even carry out the military operations targeting the Sudanese army. The RSF has denied these allegations. And what the Sudanese army has said is simply because what the UAE is doing, this is in return, you know, because of minerals that are extracted from the vast Darfur region in return. So that's really been the argument. But of course, the UAE has also vehemently denied those allegations.

6:17Richard Kagoi in Nairobi. President Trump has returned to the United States following his five-day trip to Asia. His visit culminated in a bilateral meeting with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea, which focused on trying to resolve their trade war. They agreed that China would suspend export restrictions on vital rare earth minerals for one year. America would reduce tariffs on Chinese goods, which are linked to the supply of chemicals used in the production of the opioid fentanyl. The US has accused China of ignoring the illegal trade in the drug, which Beijing denies. Speaking on board Air Force One after leaving South Korea, Mr Trump said agreement on rare earth minerals didn't just benefit China and the US.

7:01We have a deal. Now every year we'll renegotiate the deal, but I think the deal will go on for a long time, long beyond the year. We'll negotiate at the end of the year, but all of the rare earth has been settled, and that's for the world. I mean, you know, worldwide. I guess you could really say this was a worldwide situation, not just the US situation. Also on board was the BBC's Anthony Zucker, who sent this report from a refueling stop in Anchorage, Alaska. Donald Trump came back to the press cabin on Air Force One within minutes of taking off from South Korea, having just concluded a nearly two-hour sit-down with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, his first since 2019.

7:46He was all smiles. He touted what he said was a really good meeting, rating it a 12 on a scale of 1 to 10. He said agreements had been reached on reducing fentanyl exports, resuming Chinese purchases of U.S. soybeans, and maintaining foreign access to Chinese critical mineral resources. In exchange,

8:14The day before his meeting with Xi, Trump had told me he was optimistic that the U.S. and China would resolve ongoing trade disputes that at times this year had sent global stock markets reeling. As Trump met with his Chinese counterpart on Thursday, Xi acknowledged that the U.S. and China do not always see eye to eye, but that it's normal for the world's largest economies to have frictions now and then. That was a sunnier view of what has been a somewhat tumultuous period of relations between the two nations, a period that was triggered by Trump's attempts to impose high tariffs on Chinese goods and by China's resistance and willingness to cause America its own political and economic pain.

9:01Now it appears there may be progress towards something more stable, a de-escalation on both the American and Chinese sides in the face of what could have been mutually assured economic distress. Anthony Zerka. President Trump's trip took in Malaysia for the ASEAN Summit, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Amid an ongoing trade war with the US, Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney used the event to pitch his country's energy exports to the Asian market. But with nearly all of Canada's oil and natural gas historically going south of the border, can Canada really become an energy superpower?

9:40From the Port of Vancouver, Sam Gruett has been finding out. It's a real hive of activity here. There are forklifts whizzing around, giant orange cranes lifting and stacking shipping containers and in the distance, those big cargo ships, several hundred of which leave from here every year, carrying lumber, grain and minerals. But increasingly, what's fueling this port and the country's ambitions is energy. We will be up to 50 million tonnes annually of LNG by the end of this decade. In July, Canada's first cargo export of liquefied natural gas, or LNG, left the West Coast bound for Asia. It's cooled to a liquid and shipped rather than transported as gas via pipelines.

10:26We have the LNG Canada terminal now operating, now shipping across Asia. We have two other LNG terminals currently under construction and two other very significant LNG terminals that have received approval from both the British Columbia and the Canadian governments. And now we're looking for a final investment decision, hoping to secure those long-term contracts with those Asian allies. For Heather Exner-Perrault from Canadian think tank, the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, expanding LNG exports by targeting orders from Asia is a no-brainer amid US trade tensions. There's not a lot of bright spots in the Canadian economy these days, but LNG and investment in natural gas is one of those where you're really seeing growth and you're really seeing foreign interest.

11:08And the obvious answer to that is Asia. Some environmentalists oppose LNG and see any increase in natural gas production as harmful for long-term climate goals. Others, like Conservative opposition leader Pierre Polyev, want to see an expansion of Canada's oil exports, something supported by Deborah Yedlin, president of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce in the oil-rich province of Alberta. From an economic standpoint, this is a very, very important part of our economic opportunity. And so why not pull that lever and increase the access to new markets via pipeline? But more oil could be a hard sell for Prime Minister Carney, as Reuters Canada energy reporter Amanda Stevenson explains.

11:53Oil pipelines are not unanimously supported in Canada, far from it. So I think that Mark Carney, if he is interested in such a proposal, he's going to have to, you know, kind of balance the interests of environmentalists and the economy. And I'm not sure, you know, how easy that's going to be. This balance, Amanda says, will be a hurdle in whether Canada can become an energy superpower. What is clear is that Canada has abundant energy resources and the potential to tap those resources even further. Energy demand globally continues to rise. However, there are climate concerns, there are political concerns.

12:34So whether or not Canada can truly become an energy superpower, that remains to be seen. Sam Gruet reporting there. And to hear more about Canada's energy ambitions, search for Business Daily wherever you get your podcasts. Five more suspects are being questioned by police in Paris after they were arrested in connection with this month's robbery at the Louvre Museum in the French capital. Two other men have partially confessed to stealing priceless jewels. Hugh Schofield is in Paris. What we know is that last night, in addition to the two who were arrested on Saturday, five more people have been arrested.

13:11Now, one of these people is believed to have been in the gang, in the group of four who carried out the robbery on nearly two weeks ago now. And it was DNA again, which exposed him and led the investigators to finding him last night. The other four, we don't know what their role is. All the prosecutor's officer said is that they may help to provide information in understanding how it all took place. Now, remember, these are arrests, They're not charges. And it's possible that the four others who've been brought in may not in the end face charges, but they can be held for a period of four days.

13:46And it's hoped that their interrogation will lead to information as to the whereabouts of the hall and other facts. So that's where we're at. Certainly an impression that things are accelerating and a good morale booster for the investigation. Hugh Schofield. Coming up in this podcast. This is an historic election result because we've shown not only to the Netherlands but also to the world that it is possible to beat populist and extreme right movements. The Netherlands swings to the centre in elections at the expense of the far-right Freedom Party.

14:29If 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.

15:07As we've been hearing for much of this week, Hurricane Melissa has devastated parts of Jamaica before battering Cuba and Haiti. Dozens of people have died and the scale of the damage is still emerging. The United States has said that it's sending disaster relief teams to the region. Our correspondent Ned Atorfic is in Miami and reports on the impact the hurricane has had on Jamaicans. After living through the most powerful hurricane to ever hit their homeland, Jamaicans spent the day surveying the full extent of the damage. But with three-quarters of the country still without power and roadways blocked by fallen debris, it's been no easy task.

15:47Most of the island has been spared the worst, though several deaths have been confirmed. Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew Holmess did an aerial and ground tour of the most affected area in the southwest of the island, St. Elizabeth Parish and the town of Black River. Dramatic footage shows buildings underwater in some places. Other parts completely flattened, roofs ripped from homes and downed utility lines.

16:19On social media, his office posted his interactions with medical staff at Black River Hospital, where dozens of patients had to be evacuated after the facility lost power and its roof. At one point, you would think that you have some missiles just letting go in the glass. Afterward, he spoke to the BBC about what he saw. In particular, one town, Black River, has been, you could literally say, totally destroyed. I would say about 80 to 90 percent of roofs were destroyed, hospitals destroyed, libraries, police stations, courthouses. So the southeast, southwestern end of the island has had serious devastation.

17:02Many are still just hearing news from loved ones and friends. One of my best friends just told me that he's okay. Well, thank God. God is good. Jason Henzel evacuated Treasure Beach, where his family, who came to Jamaica from England in the 1920s, owns Jake's hotel. With roads impassable, he plans to take a helicopter to survey the damage. But already, he said his staff have broken down with a motion describing the impact of Hurricane Melissa. Treasure Beach, I'm looking at about a three-month repair. So I think we're going to open in stages. The sad part about it is, you know, we have like the Anglican parish church in Black River, which was like, you know, the beautiful old church, which was like the center of the town.

17:46And that is completely and totally demolished. It was built from stone. It's probably 250, 300 years old and it's leveled. So we're losing a big piece of our historical heritage and culture. And that's hard to see. I don't have money in the bank to start building one kitchen, much less build back a home. I don't have that. Harmony Wedderburn-Rose learned from her neighbor that her home in Savannah Lamar is completely destroyed. She evacuated with her five-year-old daughter, but her mother stayed behind. Harmony last heard from her mother Tuesday morning, but got word that she's safe. I've heard from someone that my house is totally destroyed, as well as many others from where I live.

18:31I'm not sure how affected my mom is because she has a partially concrete structure, but I had a board structure. It's not good down there. The hospital is damaged, the clinic is damaged, many houses are damaged, the shelters are damaged, and gas stations flattened, police station ruined. While Jamaica's two and a half million residents are just starting to tally the needed repairs, the storm barrels on. It lashed Cuba with 125 mile per hour winds and battered significantly less developed Haiti, where more than 20 people died. Downgraded to a storm, it is now headed towards Bermuda. Nedda Torfik.

19:11A general election in the Netherlands has shown that it's deeply divided, with D66, a social liberal party founded in the 1960s, expected to form the next government ahead of the anti-Islam Freedom Party led by Geert Wilders. Rob Jetten, the leader of D66, who is set to become the Netherlands' youngest ever prime minister, said that Dutch voters had rejected the politics of hate. This is an historic election result because we've shown not only to the Netherlands but also to the world that it is possible to beat populist and extreme right movements and I'm very eager to cooperate with other parties to start an ambitious coalition as soon as possible.

19:51D66 made huge gains with promises on housing, education and a commitment to deal with concerns about immigration in order to take votes from Mr Wilders. A final result isn't expected until Monday evening. Our correspondent Anna Holligan is in The Hague. It's fascinating because these two characters, both in terms of personality but also their politics, are a polar opposite sides of the political spectrum. So Rob Yetten, 38 years old, he's clean cut, charismatic, and throughout the campaign had used this motto, Canvel, it is possible, which obviously has generated a likeness to Obama. And he has talked about this kind of reclaiming of the Dutch flag, which was turned upside down during farmers' protests, and which was used by Geert Wilders as a symbol of nationalism, populism.

20:43And now we have Geert Wilders, one of the longest serving politicians in the Netherlands, who has always had this anti-migration, anti-Islam rhetoric, divisive. But when Rob Yetten says this is an optimistic vision for the future of the Netherlands, it's important to note that they are neck and neck. So while 17 % of the vote have supported Rob Yetten, 17 % have also supported Geert Wilders. So this is a deeply polarised society. Yeah, D66 isn't even part of the current coalition that governs the Netherlands, but from what you're saying, it's really tapped into some major issues. Rapid rise to prominence, and that's partly down to Rob Yessen.

21:23They used to call him Robot Yessen here because critics said he was so robotic in the way he spoke. It was almost like he was a Kendall, but he's really kind of mastered this public persona. He's worked out how to speak to the media, how to speak in public. And so it's partly testament to his campaign, the support around him, the network. But it's also that people I'm speaking to here in the Netherlands, they're frustrated with the stagnation and the lack of progress over the last few years with the government kind of at odds over how to deal with these really complex problems of the overflowing asylum system, 400 ,000, too few homes, various other issues.

22:01So the fact that he's performed so well, his party has performed so well, suggests that he will have first dibs at trying to form the next governing coalition because most other parties, mainstream parties, have ruled out going into coalition with Geert Wilders again because he collapsed the last government and also because some of his policies, they say, are unconstitutional. And so if that's the case, it could be quite a sea change for this country and also within Europe that they appear to have chosen a direction that is more progressive, more left-leaning, more green, more pro-EU. And, of course, they will be hoping that others across Europe will follow.

22:39Anna Holligan. There's anger in Lebanon after reports that Israeli soldiers have invaded the border town of Bolida. Lebanese state media said the troops opened fire on the town hall, killing a municipal employee who was asleep. It comes as Israel has intensified its attacks on targets it said were linked to Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran. Our Middle East correspondent Hugo Boshaga is in Beirut. The Lebanese state agency said Israeli troops entered this town of Bleda overnight. After one o 'clock in the morning, they stormed the town hall and killed this worker, a man who has been identified as Ibrahim Salamah, who was sleeping there.

23:20And troops withdrew about two and a half hours later. Now, there has been a furious reaction here in Lebanon, and I think the most significant reaction came from the president, Josephine, who has now instructed the army commander to confront any Israeli incursion. And this would mark a significant shift in how the army has been dealing with the situation because it has avoided any kind of confrontation with the Israeli military. You know, Israeli soldiers have continued to carry out air attacks, also ground operations inside Lebanon. But up until now, this has been a conflict between Israel and Hezbollah without any involvement of the Lebanese national army.

24:01So this could mark a significant shift in terms of how the government is responding to what it has described as Israeli aggression. Now, there has been a statement by the Israeli military confirming that its forces had operated in this town. It said this building had been used by Hezbollah, that troops had identified a suspect during this operation that happened overnight. The statement described this person as a threat. Israeli forces then opened fire. The Israeli military said the incident was under investigation, but there has been no evidence to support the claims that this building, you know, the local authority building, was being used by Hezbollah.

24:39Hugo Boshaga in Lebanon. Meanwhile, back in Israel, there's growing discontent on another matter. Ultra-Orthodox Jewish students enrolled at religious schools, yeshivas, have always been exempt from military conscription. But now, because of the war in Gaza, there are demands for them to play a bigger role. Ultra-Orthodox Israelis are protesting against any changes to the legal exemption, as Sebastian Usher reports. Roads in and around Jerusalem have been shut down due to one of the biggest anti-conscription protests by ultra-Orthodox Israelis in years. It's bringing together disparate elements of the community, which makes up about 14 % of the Israeli population.

25:22What's uniting them is their opposition not only to moves to enforce conscription for more of their community, but also anger at hundreds of arrests in recent months of ultra-Orthodox men avoiding the draft. The Haredi believe that their age-old way of life could be under threat. With learning in the yeshiva, learning Torah, they led him to learn he shouldn't have to go to the army, because the army is not a place for Jews, for people who keep Torah and mitzvahs. Right now, people who refuse to go to the army, they take them to military prison. It's not so bad, but we're a Jewish country. You can't fight against Judaism in a Jewish country.

26:00It doesn't work. This is us. This is the way we are. You can't change us. You can't force people to do otherwise. It's no good. Many in Israel feel they haven't shared their fair burden in the war. Bringing them into the military would help with a shortfall in manpower. But there are also concerns in the idea that if too many ultra-Orthodox were to be conscripted, it could also have negative effects, with special dispensations needed to permit the Haredi to continue to adhere to the strict code of their religious beliefs. Sebastian Usher in Jerusalem. Universal Music Group has struck an unprecedented licensing deal with an artificial intelligence music generation startup to launch an AI creation platform.

26:44The company said the platform would be trained on authorised music. Composers and artists have long feared their work may be replaced by AI models, while rights holders have wanted guarantees that their revenue will be protected. But Universal has insisted its tie-up with Udio shows the way towards what it called a healthy commercial AI ecosystem, which it says will allow everyone to flourish. I heard more from Charlotte Gallagher. So Udio is an AI platform and it's online and you go on, you say, I would like a song about a radio presenter, for example. And then it says, do you want us to write the lyrics?