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You're listening to the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm Oliver Conway and this edition is published in the early hours of Tuesday the 16th of July. At the Republican National Convention, Donald Trump names Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate for the US presidential election.
The Pakistani government moves to ban the party of the jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan. And lawmakers in The Gambia defy religious conservatives to uphold a ban on female genital mutilation.
Also in the podcast... Most of the knowledge we have about polar bear movements and habitat selection and behaviour comes from female bears. So these tags give us a window into seeing what these males are doing during different times of the year. The tracking device scientists hope will give them a new insight into the world's largest land-based predator. And could a cave on the moon provide shelter for astronauts?
Just two days after Donald Trump narrowly escaped assassination, his Republican Party has begun its big pre-election jamboree in the swing state of Wisconsin. Delegates and alternate delegates, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 2024 Republican National Convention.
Proceedings began with a state-by-state roll call of delegates officially nominating Donald Trump as their presidential candidate. One of the first up was chairman of the Republican Party in Iowa, Jeff Kaufman.
Over the next four days, we will hear about the many failures of the Biden-Harris administration. The sustained criticism does not proceed from a mean or narrow partisanship, but from the broad and sincere concern for the well-being and safety of our fellow Americans. More importantly, we will also hear about Donald Trump's broad and inspiring vision for our country. This is not a program just for Republicans, but
but one for all Americans. Well, later in the afternoon, the excitement continued as news emerged of Donald Trump's choice of running mate. The vice presidency is an office of sacred trust. The man who accepts this nomination accepts with it the awesome responsibility to give wise counsel to the president, to represent America abroad.
to preside over the Senate, and to be ready to lead our nation at a moment's notice. J.D. Vance is such a man.
Well, J.D. Vance, author of the best-selling book Hillbilly Elegy, had been a so-called never-Trumper. He even called Mr Trump an idiot and compared him to Hitler. But he changed his tune and, with Mr Trump's blessing, became senator for Ohio last year. Now he's on the ticket to become Mr Trump's vice-president. I asked our North America correspondent David Willis why the former president had picked J.D. Vance.
Very good question, Oliver. And in a lengthy posting on his Truth Social social network, Donald Trump hailed the achievements of his new running mate, J.D. Vance, and he added that Mr. Vance will, as he put it, be strongly focused on the people of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota and beyond. That's significant, I think, Oliver, because that's a clear indication that
that the former president believes that this is a man who can boost his campaign in what are known as the Rust Belt states here, those states where the presidential race is at its closest.
To directly answer your question, however, I think another reason that J.D. Vance has been selected is his age. He is 39 years of age. That is roughly 40 years younger, would you believe, than Donald Trump. And some are saying that this represents a sort of passing of the torch, perhaps.
as far as the MAGA right wing is concerned on the part of Donald Trump. This is a man who supports that make America great again doctrine of right wing populism. And Mr. Vance wasn't always, as you mentioned, a fan of Donald Trump. He once likened the former president to Hitler, but he's since become a full throated fan.
defender of the Trump agenda. And why does Mr. Trump think he'll do well in those battleground states? Is it because his background in Ohio and that book he wrote, Hillbilly Elegy? That's it. That's in large part the reason. And there is, of course, the age. I think it's particularly that, that his policies so echo those of Donald Trump. This is a man who
who served in the military. He's a former venture capitalist, best-selling author. And I suppose the big question is, can he win over sceptical suburban housewives, given that he doesn't necessarily exactly personify those sort of widespread calls we've had since the shooting on Saturday for a more unified approach to national presidential politics? Mr Vance is much more
an attack dog in the words of some. And this, as one commentator here put it, Oliver, this is not a kumbaya pick as far as J.D. Vance is concerned. And have we had any democratic reaction to his nomination? Well, we've had a brief word from Joe Biden basically saying that this man is a
clone of Donald Trump, as he put it. But otherwise, the president is preferring to keep his counsel on the selection of J.D. Vance, who was a short while ago welcomed onto the stage, I might add, at the Republican National Convention alongside his wife. Our North America correspondent, David Willis. Well, hours before the convention opened, Donald Trump was handed a major legal victory by a Florida judge that he had appointed.
Eileen Cannon threw out the secret documents case against him. The decision came just weeks after the Supreme Court ruled that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution. I heard more from Ione Wells in Washington. Well, this case really centred around the fact that dozens of classified files, essentially documents containing sensitive national security information, were found in Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, including in a shower and a storage cupboard in
And he was facing multiple charges here of mishandling these classified documents, essentially holding on to them after he left office and left the White House after he lost the last election. He was also accused of obstructing efforts by the government to try and get back some of this sensitive information. Now, these were very serious allegations. It would have been accusations of federal crimes, potentially involving prison sentences if found guilty. And he was the first former
president to be prosecuted by the government in a case like this. And why has Judge Eileen Cannon thrown it out? Well, what's interesting is her ruling doesn't centre around the merits of the case and whether the actual case and accusations have merit themselves. It centres around the prosecutor who was put in charge of this. Mr Smith, who was essentially the lawyer leading the prosecution, is the reason that Judge Cannon has thrown out this case. She argues that because he had not been named
to be the sort of special counsel by the president or confirmed by the Senate, his appointment broke what is described as the appointments clause of the US Constitution. Essentially, she argues that the Justice Department appointing this prosecutor violates the US Constitution. Now, it is likely that the prosecution are going to appeal this ruling, but it's very significant. In the meantime, another big win for Donald Trump in Washington,
a series of legal challenges that he's facing at the moment after earlier this month, the Supreme Court had also ruled that former presidents were granted some immunity from cases during his presidency. Yeah, I mean, interesting ruling in Florida. Isn't he also the prosecutor in the storming of the Congress case?
That is right. And this ruling today doesn't apply to that case. But as you say, there are kind of numerous other cases that Donald Trump is facing. There is, as you say, this question of whether Donald Trump conspired to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Joe Biden. The allegation is that he pressured officials to try and reverse the results.
knowingly spread falsehoods about election fraud and also sought to exploit those capital riots on the 6th of January in 2021 to try and delay Mr Biden's victory and stay in power. Now, he has denied any wrongdoing and he's also claimed that the Biden administration is behind that particular prosecution. Now, that one isn't affected by today's ruling. However, it does look like with that particular case, there isn't likely to be a trial anytime soon. He's launched an appeal of the case and
as we've discussed already, claimed he has broad immunity from prosecution as president. Ione Wells in Washington. Moving away from the US now, and the government of Pakistan says it intends to ban the political party of the former Prime Minister Imran Khan. He has been in jail for nearly a year on a variety of charges, all of which he says are politically motivated.
It looks like that on the heels of relief given to the PTI by the top court, that is Supreme Court of Pakistan in the reserved seat case. According to PTI, they're saying that the move appears to be an attempt to prevent former Prime Minister Imran Khan's party from becoming the
single largest party in the National Assembly. While talking to media, the information minister of Pakistan, Atta Tarar, said that the PTI and Pakistan cannot move together because we are going to put a ban on this party because there are so many cases against them, like a Cypher case, 9th May, Royt cases, all
and foreign funding cases. So he mentioned a few of the cases and said that we are considering to put a ban on this party. And we are also going to challenge the decision that was in the favour of PTI from Supreme Court about reserve seats. And we're going to challenge it after getting an approval from the cabinet. And what
If any response has there been from the PTI? Well, according to PTI, they're saying that we are looking into this and they're saying that it looks like they're just left with this option as they can't stop our party to become a single largest party in National Assembly. There is also a strong reaction from the supporters of PTI. And not only PTI, there are a few of the people, ex
political leadership that belongs to the governing party, they also criticized this decision. And they said that it looks like the government is left with no option to stop PTI from becoming one of the largest parties. So they're also calling this decision of banning party and challenging this reserved seat issue in the Supreme Court as a nonsense decision. Taha Bhaskar in Pakistan.
Last month, Parliament in Indonesia passed a bill extending maternity leave from three to six months under certain conditions. Many see it as an improvement in women's welfare, but there are others who fear the policy might lead to discrimination against female workers. Hannah Samasir has this report from Jakarta. Sleeping soundly in her parents' embrace, baby Gia has no idea that her life is about to change.
Under Indonesian law, Gia's mother, Emma, has three months of maternity leave and her father, Samuel, has two days of paid parental leave. By the new law, Emma can prolong her maternity leave up to six months under special circumstances like health complications. With no complication, Emma has to return to work in August when her baby is less than three months old.
Adding to Emma's frustrations, her husband has to be back at work while she is still recovering from a C-section and adjusting to motherhood. In other countries, the government gives more paternity leave so the fathers feel a sense of belonging as they are involved. But here, the father is forced to return to work in two days, even though the husband's role is really important.
Indonesia is still behind other countries such as the UK, which requires up to a year of maternity leave and up to two weeks of paternity leave. In Singapore, working parents are entitled to four months of maternity leave and two weeks of paternity leave. But other countries such as the United States don't even mandate paid maternity leave. However, the maternity leave regulations spark further concern in Indonesia.
I am now in a busy station at the heart of Jakarta where workers are rushing to their offices, including working mothers. Many female workers are currently worried that the new maternity leave regulation could trigger discrimination against women. There is a concern that women will find their job prospects hampered as companies prefer men who do not require up to six months of maternity leave.
In search of confirmation, I met Shinta Kamdani, the chairman of the Indonesia Employers Association. She admitted that this concern had begun to emerge among employers.
Regulations like this may also impact in terms of the women itself. I mean, if you imagine, you know, right now we want to increase the opportunity for women in the workforce. But this kind of regulation may even jeopardize, you know, their working opportunities. Companies might decide, oh, it's too difficult. Maybe we just hire more men rather than women.
A women's health activist, Nanda Duinta, said that this concern raises the question of whether Indonesians have sufficient awareness regarding gender equality to implement this rule. Have we prepared things like awareness at all levels of society? Decision makers, local governments and the private sector. Are they aware that there is a health aspect to this? It should no longer be a stigma or even discrimination against women.
For now, Emma just wants to enjoy her time with her baby, but she realizes that time is running out. She's worried that she will be left behind in her career if she is away for too long on maternity leave.
No matter how hard we try, we won't be able to catch up with people who work full year. So we as working moms are also in a dilemma because there may be no companies in Indonesia that are ready to implement it. Hannah Samasir reporting from Jakarta. And still to come on the Global News Podcast, the rainforest perched on the top of a mountain in Mozambique which is set to become a conservation area.
Thank you.
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Lawmakers in the West African nation of The Gambia have upheld a ban on female genital mutilation, despite pressure from religious conservatives. Human rights groups in the UN had urged MPs to retain the ban, saying a bill scrapping it would undermine years of progress in the Muslim-majority nation. I heard more about the debate from our reporter Ashley Lyme.
The bill was actually tabled by a member of parliament who was seeking to have the FGM ban repealed. There's been a lot of heated exchanges between MPs. Last week, the Joint Committee of Health and Gender tabled a report highlighting the disadvantages of FGM after conducting several studies and even going to Egypt to find out the harmful effects of FGM. So it's been a battle of words here and there.
But from last week when the report was tabled, MPs were able to agree with what was presented because of the serious violation of the right to help and also that FGM is causing severe physical and emotional harm to women and girls. And that's how they ended up changing their stance on FGM and actually rejecting the bill.
Yeah, so the ban remains. What does that mean for women and girls in the Gambia? Because FGM is still practised there, I understand.
Yes, FGM is still practiced in the Gambia, but at least the fact that the ban has been maintained will mean that maybe the Gambian government will actually implement it. Because throughout the debate, I was following it through Facebook live stream, and I could see the exchanges between citizens who are actually commenting on the comment section and saying that we don't care whether you ban it or not, we shall still practice it because it's in our culture.
Some were even quoting Islam as supporting FGM. So it will depend on whether the government will implement this ban after what Parliament has decided to do. Yeah, has there been any reaction to the decision by MPs? Yes, there's been a lot of reaction. The citizens who are following online were exchanging words. Rights groups and lobby groups were actually happy.
that the parliament was able to uphold a ban because this would have taken Gambia miles and miles back considering the work that has been done by lobby groups and activists around the country. And what does this mean for the battle against FGM across the whole of Africa?
Gambia right now is a model against FGM in Africa because it is a practice that is very prevalent and we have typically girls 15 years and younger are the ones who are going through FGM and sometimes occasionally we have adult women. So about 200 million girls and women globally have undergone FGM and in Africa we have women undergoing FGM in about 28 countries which includes Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya,
Tanzania and Uganda. So Gambia right now is a model for Africa to fight against FGM that has no medical benefits of any sorts in this continent and in the world. Ashley Lyme in Nairobi.
First identified by scientists 20 years ago, the largest piece of rainforest in southern Africa is to become a conservation area. Mabu Forest in northern Mozambique is perched on the top of a mountain. Researchers have discovered dozens of new species living there. The designation is part of a global biodiversity commitment that almost all countries have made to protect 30% of the world's land and sea by the year 2030. Our environment correspondent, Jonah Fisher, takes up the story.
Welcome to Eden. Welcome to the centre of Mabu Forest. This is about as good as it gets. There are still places on Earth that humans have hardly touched. The forest is in excellent condition. The water is crystal clear, beautiful for drinking and washing. Mabu Forest in northern Mozambique is one of them.
Protected by the country's long wars and its remote location, the forest here was for a long time only known to locals. Then, 20 years ago, a mysterious dark green patch was spotted on satellite images by explorer and ecologist Professor Julian Bayliss. Oh my God, I mean, what have we discovered here? When Professor Bayliss went there on the ground...
He couldn't believe his eyes. We found the largest rainforest in Southern Africa.
What came next was a race against time to reveal Mabu's secrets in the hope that it would lead to the forest being protected. We joined Professor Baylis and a team of scientists on their latest expedition, looking for new species in the very heart of Mabu forest. Mount Mabu is an isolated patch of rainforest area
almost like an island. Professor Ara Monagem is from the University of Eswatini. This isolation has meant that the animals that live here have lived here in isolation and have evolved uniquely to adapt to the Mount Mabu environment. There it is, OK, wait. To date, more than 25 new species have been found. Come here, don't go away. Including at least 10 of Professor Bayliss's favourite, butterflies. Butterflies.
There have also been new species of snakes, bats, crabs and chameleon.
It's a chameleon which is only found on Mount Mabu. In the stream by our tents, Erica Tavella found what she thinks is a new freshwater catfish. I hope that we have a new species for this area. That's very exciting. Amazing!
You guys, are you sure you want to...? There's something very unique about the team's dung beetle expert, Dr Jim O'Daniel. Hold on, hold on, I want to put my gloves. He says he's found more than 15 new species and puts his success down to his choice of bait. Basically, I'm using my faeces as a bait to attract dung beetles here in the forest. So all over this part of the forest...
There are probably dung beetles smelling your poo thinking it's lunchtime. That's correct. I think this time around the bee is brunch. The good news is that the scientists' work is making a difference. When we speak to the Mozambique authorities, they confirm for the first time that all the new discoveries have convinced them that Mabu Forest should become a conservation area.
For Professor Baylis, it will mark the end of a two-decade-long journey. We've now arrived at the end goal of protecting this forest. This is a conservation success story. It's nice to have one. Yes, it is. Hidden for so long, thanks to science, Mabu's secrets should live on. Jonah Fisher in northern Mozambique.
Scientists have discovered a cave on the moon and they believe it could be used to house humans. The researchers think it's just one part of an entire underground system that could be an ideal location for a permanent base. Our science reporter Georgina Ranard has the details. Countries are racing to establish a permanent human presence on the moon, but astronauts will need protection from radiation and extreme temperatures. This moon cave, the first ever found, could be the perfect shelter.
It is at least 100 metres deep, with a skylight in the lunar surface and overhanging walls. Scientists have long thought that the Moon had an underground world. Professor Leonardo Carrere at the University of Trento in Italy helped identify this cavern using radar. The history of humanity, we started from caves. And because it's a natural shelter, it's just already an engineering feature.
And so if you bring this idea to the moon, a lot of things are already sort of sorted out, the protection from meteorites, from radiations and so on. Like you don't need really complex engineering solutions to solve this problem. It's already solved by nature in a way. The team also visited volcanic caves on the Spanish island of Lanzarote, the closest thing we have to this moon cave. It's located in the Mare Tranquilitatis, a vast rocky plain visible to the naked eye from Earth.
Helen Sharman, the first British astronaut to travel to space, told BBC News the cave has a lot of potential, but it's so deep that astronauts might need to abseil in and use jetpacks to get out. Scientists are now hoping to deploy robots to crawl around inside, taking pictures of this mysterious world. Georgina Ranart.
Researchers in Canada say they hope to learn more about the habits of male polar bears after developing a new type of tracking device. Normal satellite trackers tend to slip off the bears' heads. Tyler Ross at York University in Toronto told me how the new devices work.
These trackers are actually attached to the hair of polar bears, whereas conventional tags are usually fixed around their neck or in their ears. So these are quite novel in that they're attached to the actual hair of the bears. Another benefit of the tags is that they are temporary. So unlike the ear tags, which have to be removed by a researcher after the fact,
These fur tags are designed to remain on a bear for a maximum of one year. Polar bears molt sometime during the summer. So if you were to hit the timing just right and put it on just after they molted, in theory, they could last a full year, but they will come off when the bear molts. Yeah, how are they attached? There's two different types of fur tracking tags we used.
The first uses these little crimps. So we pull hair through the base of these plates, slide on these copper ferrules and crimp the ferrules in kind of two directions. So it ends up looking almost like a little ponytail. And so we do that 10 times around the base of the tags. The second method we use
We used pipe brushes, which we actually slide into the tag and twist and twist as hard as we can until we can't twist any further. And those pipe brushes really just snare the hair and grab onto them as we twist. And I'm guessing the bear has to be sedated while you do this. That's correct. They're sedated when we do this. Okay. And so why are these better than normal tags?
They're just a different tool in the toolbox that allows us to track particularly male bears. Conventional GPS collars aren't suitable for large male bears because the diameter of their neck is actually larger than that of their head. So the collars can just slip off. So these tags afford us the opportunity to track the movements of adult bears, which where we can't use these collars. Again, filling a pretty important niche there in terms of tracking.
in these animals. And what are you hoping to learn? We're hoping to learn, again, a lot about what the male bears are specifically doing. So most of the knowledge we have about polar bear movements and habitat selection and behaviour comes from female bears, given the constraints of being able to collar the males. So these tags give us a window into seeing what these males are doing during different times of the year.
And do you expect it'll be significantly different from what the females do? There's some evidence to suggest that there is some difference among males and females. Certainly during the on-land period, when they're spending a few months on the land in the southern part of their range, the male bears tend to stick close to the coast and seem to be doing different things than what the females are doing, which tend to move a little bit further inland. And so there certainly seems to be some divergence in terms of behaviour and where they're selecting to spend their time.
Now, we all know that the world has been getting hotter, certainly over the past year. Temperatures have been rising. What is the impact on polar bears as far as you're concerned? Certainly, there is an impact on bears. So they rely on the sea ice for many different things, particularly hunting their primary prey, which is ring seal.
And so if they don't have access to sea ice, that obviously is a major problem for bears. And so we have seen a reduction, of course, in sea ice in different areas of the Arctic. And so that's having an impact on the bears. The other implication, given that they're likely spending more time on land, there's more of an opportunity for them to encounter human beings living in communities along the coast.
And so that's, again, where these tags, I think, offer particular promise in monitoring and tracking bears that may be coming into contact with humans and mitigating those encounters or preventing them, ideally. Tyler Ross from York University in Canada. And that is all from us for now, but the Global News Podcast will be back very soon. This edition was mixed by Caroline Driscoll and produced by Oliver Burlough. Our editors, Karen Martin. I'm Oliver Conway. Until next time, goodbye.
Thank you.
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Did you know that it's 50 years this week since Richard Nixon became the first US President in history to resign from office? To mark this monumental moment, Witness History brings you 5 programs about influential events in US Presidential history. And with all the amazing twists and turns in the current race for the White House, what a time to bring you them. You'll hear about the closest US election in history,
and from the man who was in the Situation Room during the raid on Osama Bin Laden. That's Witness History from the BBC World Service. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
