--:-- Asma Khalid: This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Lowe's knows how to help make your home holiday ready for less. Get Select Style Selections vinyl flooring for just $1.99 per square foot and have it installed before the festivities begin. Our team can help you every step of the way. See a Lowe's Red Vest Associate or visit lowes.com slash holiday install to get started. Lowe's, we help you save. Basic install only. Date restrictions apply. Subject to availability. Install by independent contractors. See associate for details. Contiguous U.S. only.
--:-- Asma Khalid: America is changing. And so is the world. But what's happening in America isn't just a cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere. I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, D.C. I'm Tristan Redman in London. And this is The Global Story. Every weekday, we'll bring you a story from this intersection, where the world and America meet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
--:-- Asma Khalid: car crash in Spain. Thailand has a new prime minister after days of political turbulence. A UN rapporteur accuses some of the world's biggest companies of complicity in war crimes in Gaza. Also in this podcast, a Zimbabwean journalist is arrested for a satirical article about the president. And after the Dalai Lama says China shouldn't have any say in choosing his successor, this is Beijing's response. The reincarnation of the Dalai Lama must take place inside China and with final approval from the central government.
--:-- Asma Khalid: The Liverpool footballer and Portuguese national player Diogo Jota has died in a car crash in Spain. His younger brother Andrei, also a footballer, was also killed when their Lamborghini went off the road overnight in northwestern Spain. Spanish police say a tire blew out while he was overtaking another car and the vehicle then caught fire. Diogo Jota was 28, just days ago he married his long-term partner with whom he had three children. The footballing world and in particular fans in Liverpool are mourning his death.
--:-- Mirade Smith: Our correspondent Mirade Smith is at the Liverpool stadium here at Anfield. In the last months fans were gathering because this was a place to celebrate the league win and today it is a place where fans are gathering to lay flowers, to pay their respects to their lad from Portugal. He was just 28 years old and he had such an important role to play in the club. He signed for the team in 2020. That was when Liverpool last won the league behind closed doors during COVID. But fans took him under their wing. They created a song for him almost instantly and it was sung right throughout this stadium when he played here and when he travelled for away games.
--:-- Mirade Smith: But today it is tragic here. Fans in tears as they remember what he meant to them. Flowers from other football clubs, scarves from other football clubs, as well as people gather here today. And just in the last few minutes, even more flowers, even more fans gathering in silence in front of that shirt bearing the number 24, Diogo Jota.
--:-- Nigel Adderley: Football commentator Nigel Adderley interviewed Diogo Jota during his rise to the top of English football. He told me he was an exceptionally selfless player. If you speak to anyone who played with him, whether it was for Wolverhampton Wanderers, for Liverpool or for the Portuguese national side, He was somebody who always put the team before himself. And while he scored plenty of goals, he made even more for others. And he was someone who seemed to overcome every challenge that was put in front of him.
--:-- Nigel Adderley: He arrived in English football in the second tier at Wolverhampton Wanderers as a very young player, quickly helped them into the Premier League, helped to establish them at the highest level, then moved on to Liverpool and was part of a very successful team. Last season, they won the Premier League. He played his part in that. And also for the Portuguese national side, he won the UEFA Nations League with them only last month alongside Cristiano Ronaldo.
--:-- Nigel Adderley: His passing will be mourned right across the football world because he wasn't just a very fine footballer. He was a very popular one as well. And this is going to leave a massive hole in both the Liverpool and the Portugal sides. It certainly will. And I think that his importance to both teams was writ large When you look at the success that they've had, he's been part of a successful team wherever he's played, both at club and international level.
--:-- Nigel Adderley: And while he's had his injury problems in recent years, when he's come back into the team, for Liverpool in particular, he has always made an impact and he's always been the sort of player that Arna Slott, their coach last season, could really rely upon. because he was a very clever footballer, one of the true modern footballers who could drop into space and create opportunities for others.
--:-- Nigel Adderley: Nigel, you interviewed Diogo Jota, didn't you? A couple of times, I think. I did when he was playing for Wolverhampton Wanderers in the championship, but he was just an incredibly likeable figure. He was always happy to give time to the media. He spoke very well about football and even in some short snatch conversations with him, you could see just how dedicated he was to improving himself day by day and also helping to improve his teams in every game he played.
--:-- Nigel Adderley: So tributes are already pouring in from the world of football and I think they reflect just what a good footballer he was but also just what a decent human being he was as well. And Diogo Jota's loss will be felt across the world of football for some time.
--:-- Jonathan Head: It's been a turbulent year for Thailand. Slow economic growth, a slump in tourism, the looming threat of Donald Trump's tariffs, and this week, a political crisis. Veteran politician Poon Tham Weicha Yatchi has been sworn in as the second caretaker Prime Minister of the Week following the suspension of the actual Prime Minister, Peton Tham Shinawat, on Tuesday. She was dismissed following a leaked telephone call with Cambodia's former leader Hun Sen, during which she criticised the Thai army.
--:-- Jonathan Head: I heard more from our Southeast Asia correspondent, Jonathan Head. A complete political ingenue. She had no qualifications apart from her family name. Her father, Takson, of course, is the patriarch of the party. She was only put into the job because her predecessor, Seta Tawisin, was booted out by the courts after only a year. She's now been suspended, and I suspect the courts are likely to disqualify her as well.
--:-- Jonathan Head: The current Prime Minister, Pum Tam, is a very experienced hand. He's one of the veteran operators inside Ms. Pertong Tan's party, Pertai. He's probably as good a pair of hands as they could hope to have. But even he's only in the job until the court makes a ruling. When that happens, then a new Prime Minister must be found among a very limited list.
--:-- Jonathan Head: And all of this goes back to a constitution that was written under military rule and which tightly prescribes Thailand's democracy, makes it very difficult for elected governments to operate. This episode also underscores just how interventionist Thailand's courts are. These courts have sacked five prime ministers linked to Mr. Takshin. They dissolved reformist parties They intervened time and time again on what in most countries would be viewed as the smallest technicalities
--:-- Jonathan Head: And if it isn't the courts that intervene of course Thailand then has military coups of which has had more than most countries The fact is that democracy is only allowed to operate in Thailand, as long as the courts and the military are comfortable with who's sitting there.
--:-- Francesca Albanese: The UN's special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories has accused more than 60 companies, including major arms manufacturers and tech firms, have been complicit in war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank. Francesca Albanese says the firms are complicit in what she describes as a genocidal campaign against Palestinians.
--:-- Imogen Folks: Member states must impose a full arms embargo on Israel, suspend all trade agreements and investment relations, and enforce accountability, ensuring that corporate entities face legal consequences for their involvement in serious violations of international law. Imogen Folks reports from Geneva. thanks BNP Paribas and Barclays for underwriting Israeli treasury bonds throughout the conflict. Their involvement is lucrative, the report says, and helps Israel to continue the war.
--:-- Imogen Folks: Ms Albanese says all the companies should stop dealing with Israel immediately. Israel rejects the charge of genocide and has called the report groundless, defamatory and a flagrant abuse of office.
--:-- Laura Bicker: Journalists are restricted from reporting in Tibet and the BBC has been continually denied entry to the region. But our China correspondent, Laura Bicker, has visited the town of Abba in Sichuan province, which has been at the centre of Tibetan resistance against the Communist Party for decades.
--:-- Laura Bicker: We head to the monastery before dawn to avoid detection in this tightly controlled part of China. The monks gather for their morning prayers. Their low, sonorous chants reverberate through the hall as rain pounds the roof. You'll find no portraits of the Dalai Lama here. that would be illegal. Even talking to us is a risk, but it's one some are willing to take.
--:-- Laura Bicker: Things are not good, he says, but stops there. Others are more candid. The Chinese government has poisoned the air in Tibet. We Tibetans are denied basic human rights. The Chinese government continued to oppress and persecute us. It is not a government that serves the people. That's just the way it is. That's a reality.
--:-- Laura Bicker: China maintains Tibetans are free to practice their faith. But monks we spoke to claim their Buddhist culture, their very identity, is being eroded. Here in Abba and throughout Tibet, all children under 18 must be taught in state-run schools and learn Mandarin. Surveillance is pervasive.
--:-- Laura Bicker: I'm outside the Aguardin monastery. Our team is being followed by at least eight, maybe ten people. The reason they're keeping a close eye on this one is because reportedly the monks here have tried to push back. The Communist Party has tried to assimilate Buddhism with its own beliefs, its own ideals, and they say they're doing this in the name of party unity.
--:-- Mao Ning: The reincarnation of the Dalai Lama must take place inside China through a process of evaluation and with final approval from the central government. For any religion to survive and develop, It must adapt to the country's social environment and cultural traditions. Tibetan Buddhism was born in China and has its Chinese characteristics.
--:-- Mao Ning: There are fears the spiritual future of Tibet could become a geopolitical battleground. Inside the region, China has almost complete control over the flow of information, says Tibetan scholar Robert Barnett. They're trying to remove elements of Tibetan culture that they think are threatening to China's rule over Tibet.
--:-- Mao Ning: They're trying to get rid of Tibetans' memories of their history as an independent country. They want to keep certain parts of Tibetan culture, like Tibetan singing and dancing or beautiful monasteries in the mountains, this kind of touristic image. But of course, there is a risk that they could end up destroying or at least emasculating much of Tibetan culture as we know it.
--:-- Robert Barnett: In Abba, a line of ladies, most of them over 50, spin the prayer wheels clockwise on their way to work, singing as they go. Beijing claims it's not destroying Buddhist culture. It's investing in it. on the road to Abba a new high-speed railway is being built connecting the remote town to major cities and three other provinces.
--:-- Robert Barnett: Beijing also says sending Tibetan children to state schools prepares them for a life in a country where Mandarin is the main language But despite decades of effort there are still two worlds underneath this Himalayan sky, where heritage and religion collide with Communist Party hopes of unity and control.
--:-- Asma Khalid: The Trump administration says Haiti is now safe enough for half a million Haitian migrants in the US to lose their protected status and return to the impoverished Caribbean nation. But according to the UN, Haiti remains extremely dangerous and the security situation has in fact got worse.
--:-- Miroslav Jenka: The assistant UN Secretary General for the Americas, Miroslav Jenka, says gangs had tightened their grip and the capital, Port-au-Prince, was paralysed and isolated. We have continued to witness a sharp erosion of state authority and the rule of law. Brutal gang violence affects every aspect of public and private life.
--:-- Miroslav Jenka: Without increased action by the international community, the total collapse of state presence in the capital could become a very real scenario.
--:-- Will Grant: Our Central America correspondent is Will Grant. What I think stands out most about this is the stark nature of the language used by Mr Jenker to the Security Council. Of course we know that the gangs in Port-au-Prince have near complete control of the city, But it's the fact that he said after a visit to Haiti that the country and the city is becoming both isolated, as there are no international commercial flights, and paralysed because the strength of the gangs is now so absolute that he warned of a near total collapse of the state authorities.
--:-- Will Grant: But we can tell from the numbers, just looking at ourselves, how dire the situation is. More than 5.6 million people facing acute hunger. Some 1.6 million people have been internally displaced. I think, in essence, what this does is remind the Security Council just how severe this situation is, coming from one of their own people, as it were.
--:-- Will Grant: Now, you have been to Haiti. What would life be like at the moment for people living in the capital, Port-au-Prince? Just a day-to-day struggle. I mentioned there just how difficult it is to find enough food for hundreds of thousands of people on a daily basis.
--:-- Will Grant: When you combine this humanitarian situation with the security situation, the combination is extremely severe, extremely dangerous for tens of thousands of families. Young people simply can't go to school in many of the gang-controlled areas. Getting in, whether or not that's international aid agencies, journalists or ordinary people, Haitians who want to go home and maybe bring funds and support to their families back in Port-au-Prince, all of that is extremely difficult.
--:-- Will Grant: So taken together, the situation is about as bleak as it can be. Yeah. Can anything be done to improve security? I mean, there are several hundred Kenyan police trying to do their best. Yeah, I think that is exactly the point, isn't it? That this is all being said when the international community and the United Nations has backed a deployment, which was supposed to bring some measure of security back to the capital.
--:-- Will Grant: I think there was initial sense that it was doing something. It was stabilising the airport. A base of operations was created around the airport in the capital. But things don't seem to have moved much further forward. The difficulty is, of course, is that this coincides with a period in which the Trump administration is reducing to the minimum expression its international aid support for anything that's considered not in its own interests.
--:-- Will Grant: There is a suggestion by Secretary of State Marco Rubio that Haiti and the operations in Haiti will remain funded. But the truth of the matter on the ground is that aid is a problem, security remains a problem, and a kind of coherent international response remains simply absent.
--:-- James Copnall: A Zimbabwean journalist has been remanded in custody for publishing a satirical article criticising the president Emerson Mnangagwa. Faith Zaba is editor of the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper and was arrested on charges of allegedly undermining the authority or insulting the president.
--:-- Matt Shazi: I'll first describe it as the media on trial. It's a very unusual arrest. Not that I'm seeing a pattern, but it's worrying that this is the second journalist to be detained in the past few days of articles or the work that they're doing. So it's really scary.
--:-- Matt Shazi: And we are literally going back to where we were a few years ago when we thought we had made progress, but we're going backwards. On another note, it's very strange that we still have insult laws undermining or insulting the authority of the president, because those laws shield the president from criticism, them, they shield them from public scrutiny, and they can be abused to bring journalists to trial.
--:-- Matt Shazi: So it's really scary times. And we feel that the independent media, what is left of it, at least, is seriously under threat here in this country. Why do you think that is? If there is a challenge to independent media, why particularly now?
--:-- Matt Shazi: It's coming, if I can speculate, at a time when the president is literally consolidating his power. If you look in the past few years, he has enacted a law that makes it illegal to criticize some aspects of governance. We call it the Patriot Act. It's part of our penal code. He has also come up with the Private Voluntary Organizations Act, which makes it difficult for civil society, for charity organizations to hold into account.
--:-- Matt Shazi: And the registration process means that the watchdog role of civil society, the watchdog role of the journalists is now also under attack. So I think the last role now is journalism and the independent media, which is really, really tiny. It has to be dealt with, unfortunately.
--:-- Rachel Reeves: Clearly I was upset yesterday and everyone could see that. It was a personal issue and I'm not going to go into the details of that. But my job as Chancellor at 12 o'clock on a Wednesday is to be at PMQs next to the Prime Minister supporting the government and that's what I try to do.
--:-- Luke Trill: For some voters, I think what will concern them most most is, you know, the sight of the Chancellor in tears, but also the wider welfare row, the U-turn on winter fuel allowance, you will have some people thinking, gosh, part of the reason that we got rid of the Conservatives was that we were fed up of the sense of perma-political chaos.
--:-- Luke Trill: Are we, in fact, just going to see more of it with this government? And I think that could be quite dangerous for perceptions of this administration. On the other hand, though, we know that actually British people are generally fair-minded. They appreciate that someone like the Chancellor has a hard job.
--:-- Luke Trill: And I think both Starmer and Reeves have somewhat struggled to connect with the public on a personal level. And I just wonder if seeing those images might make some people think, you know, actually, she's got a hard job, she's doing her best, and like all of us, she's human.
--:-- Luke Trill: I remember when John Prescott, your own Attorney Blair's deputy, threw that punch. People said that he had lost it, that that was the end of his career. I think it rather boosted his reputation in the end. It is hard sometimes to predict. Absolutely.
--:-- Luke Trill: And of course, one of the other examples is Hillary Clinton during the 2008 presidential race after losing the Iowa caucuses. She had a teary moment before the New Hampshire primary. And actually, that moment is credited with humanising her and helping her to win that primary.
--:-- Professor Kimberley Plomp: About 10 years ago, a group of scientists came up with this hypothesis that the reason why certain humans get this malformation called the QI malformation, essentially what happens with that malformation is that the base of your skull is a bit too small to hold a modern human brain.
--:-- Professor Kimberley Plomp: And so a bit of the brain gets squished out the spinal canal. They hypothesized that the reason why some people get this malformation might be because in our lineage, in our history, we interbred with earlier hominins, hominins that were related to us, such as Neanderthal. We know that all humans that have ancestry outside of Africa have about 2 to 5 percent Neanderthal DNA.
--:-- Professor Kimberley Plomp: We also know some of those genes code for the shape of the human skull. And these abnormalities can lead to headaches. Is that right? So essentially what happens is that part of the brain just starts to be pinched. And if it's less than five millimeters of brain that herniates, you can get headaches, you can get dizziness, you can get numbing of the hands.
--:-- Professor Kimberley Plomp: If it's more than five millimeters and you can get more severe symptoms like paralysis. And if it's too much, it's not compatible with life and it's actually a fatal condition. And now you have taken a deeper look at this theory and actually you've managed to confirm it.
--:-- Professor Kimberley Plomp: Exactly. So we thought when we when we read this paper, we thought we actually have the technology nowadays to test this. So what we did was took CT scans of living humans with and without the malformation. And we ran statistical shape analyses, which is just a fancy way of saying that we use the computer to look at the shapes and look at patterns of the shapes.
--:-- Professor Kimberley Plomp: And we compared that with fossil hominin crania such as neanderthals and what we found is that the humans with the malformation are closer in shape to the neanderthal skulls than the humans without the malformation were and so what we interpreted this as is by supporting this hypothesis that there's some genes in modern humans that come from neanderthals come from those interbreeding events that happened a long long time ago that cause us to have a back of the skull that's a bit too small for a modern human brain.
--:-- Professor Kimberley Plomp: Interestingly, Neanderthals actually have larger brains on average than modern humans. So it's not about the size of the brain, it's about the shape of the brain and the shape of the skull. And what comes next? Eventually down the line, if we get funding, we would like to run a DNA analysis to see if we can actually identify genes that are related, that are similar within people with Chiari, that we might be able to identify as Neanderthal and influence a sheep in the skull.
--:-- Professor Kimberley Plomp: That might help us in terms of identifying people who might be predisposed to the condition.
--:-- Asma Khalid: America is changing. And so is the world. But what's happening in America isn't just a cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere. I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, D.C. I'm Tristan Redman in London. And this is The Global Story. Every weekday, we'll bring you a story from this intersection, where the world and America meet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
