Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Charlotte Gallagher, and at 16 hours GMT on Thursday, the 12th of February, these are our main stories. China's annual carbon emissions have fallen for the first time, raising hope they may have peaked.
And Ukrainian skeleton Bob Racer is disqualified from the Winter Olympics for planning to compete wearing a helmet depicting athletes killed by Russia. Also in this podcast, a woman abused by Jeffrey Epstein calls on the British royal family to do more.
They can contact me and the other victims they can contact. The thing is, I just hope they're not just saying this. I would like to see them actually taking action.
And has the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un chosen his teenage daughter as his heir? China may still be the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide, but levels have been falling due to a push for clean energy. And now new data says 2025 was the first full year to show a decline. The reported drop in emissions is small, but campaigners say it could be a milestone.
Our climate editor, Justin Rowlett, spoke to Oliver Conway about the figures.
The first year ever, China emissions have actually fallen back. They've fallen back by 0.3%. Now, that really, really doesn't sound much. But what we're seeing is against a background of level of falling emissions for almost two years now, for 21 months. In fact, they sort of peaked in kind of spring of 2024 and then have fallen back a bit more significantly since then.
So what people are saying is, and look, it's couched around with caveats, but it appears we might be seeing the beginning of... of certainly peaking of emissions in China and possibly even the beginning of a decline in emissions in China. Set that in context, China is far and away the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, notably coming outside the biggest greenhouse gas.
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Chapter 2: How has China's CO2 emissions changed recently?
China has an amazing expertise at efficient manufacturing technology. And it brought that to bear on this challenge of producing clean technology and has delivered unbelievable results.
And for more on this story, you can go on YouTube, search for BBC News, click on the logo, then choose podcasts and Global News Podcast. There's a new story available every weekday. The Ukrainian skeleton racer banned from competing in the Winter Olympics has said he still doesn't understand which rule he violated.
The IOC says it withdrew Vladislav Hariskevich's accreditation because he intended to wear a helmet in featuring athletes killed in Russia's war on his country. Our reporter Sarah Mulkerins told us more.
It's been ongoing since Monday here in Italy, when on this first, this initial training run, the Ukrainian skeleton and athlete wore the helmet. It features images of athletes killed during Russia's invasion of his home country. The IOC have been in conversation with Hereskovich and his father Mikhailov since then about reaching a compromise to allow him to raise...
because the IOC says the helmet breaks its rules regarding political statements in the field of competition. He was told he couldn't wear it, but he could wear a black armband instead.
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Chapter 3: What is the significance of Vladyslav Heraskevych's disqualification?
However, the athlete did not agree with this, insisting that his tribute is no different to those that some other athletes have displayed during these games, such as figure skater Maxim Nomov. He held up a photo of his parents, who were among... 67 people killed in a plane crash in Washington, D.C. just over a year ago.
And he held that up while waiting for a score to be announced earlier this week. Now, this morning, the IOC president, Kirstie Coventry, met Oreskevich for more conversations with the athlete just prior to his event. But no agreement could be reached. And so the skeleton racer was banned. He could not compete.
Responding to this on social media he wrote that this is the price of our dignity and he also spoke to the BBC about the situation.
Emptiness and yesterday was amazing training.
Chapter 4: What calls for action have been made regarding Jeffrey Epstein's victims?
Before yesterday was also very good training. I could be among the medalists in this event but suddenly because of some interpretation of the rules which I'm not agree with I'm not able to compete while other athletes in the same situation were able to compete and they didn't face any sanctions.
Vladislav Horescovich ending that report from Sarah Mulkerins. The messaging service WhatsApp is very popular in Russia. The company says it has more than 100 million users there, but the Russian authorities have confirmed today that they're blocking it. Critics say the move is aimed at pushing its users onto a state-owned app, which is seen as less secure.
Olga Ifshina from BBC Russian has been telling us what the Kremlin says are the reasons for its decision.
As always, you know, they say that the companies are not following the regulations, not cooperating enough with the Russian authorities. To be honest, WhatsApp has been significantly slowed down for several weeks now. And actually, people were quickly migrating to other messengers, which in turn have been slowed down or blocked as well.
So is there a reluctance from a lot of Russians to join this state-backed platform? They want to use other ones that they see as more independent.
Yes, so exactly as you mentioned, you know, it seems that all this big trouble started after the Kremlin has introduced its approved messenger called Max, and they are strongly, strongly, strongly encouraging everyone to join.
Also using, so to say, administrative resources, so many like school chats, kindergarten chats, where teachers inform parents about certain things, have been moved to Max, so people still have to join. On the other hand, people are very much reluctant because...
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Chapter 5: Why do spy agencies believe Kim Jong Un is passing power to his daughter?
There were a lot of independent reviews about Max, and a lot of IT specialists raised significant concerns about data breaches, and it's unclear how much authorities can see and think through that messenger. So yeah, Russians are trying to use alternative messages, but they're being slowed down or blocked.
So the biggest news of yesterday for the Russian speakers, for people inside Russia, was the fact that Telegram, another very popular messenger where many people moved after WhatsApp was slowed down. Telegram, it was significantly slowed down yesterday. And some experts believe that that's all part of the big strategy of the Kremlin.
And is there a feeling that since the start of the Ukraine war, people's internet use in Russia is being more surveilled?
Yes, definitely. Since the start of the invasion, Kremlin has introduced draconian laws restricting freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and also introducing de facto censorship in the media. That's why people migrated to other platforms, including Telegram, where a lot of Independent journalists or bloggers were posting the news.
So people trying to diversify their access to information, but they are meeting significant pressure from the Kremlin.
Olga Ivshina from BBC Russian. The actions and the friends of the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein continue to make headlines around the world. We've also been hearing from one of his many victims. Juliet Bryant, who's a former model from South Africa, was groomed and abused by Epstein from 2002 to 2004.
She says if the British royal family are concerned for his victims, they should take action by helping to search the emails of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who lost his royal titles over his relationship with Epstein. She's been speaking to the BBC's Mayenne Jones.
Although it's been over 20 years since she was abused by Jeffrey Epstein, Juliette Bryant still remembers that period vividly. And the recent release of some three million files relating to the convicted paedophile has thrust her into the limelight once more.
I feel, I suppose, vindicated in one way, but in other ways I feel just shattered because I was almost hoping that it wasn't going to all be true. And also, it's even darker than what I realised, which has been very, very hard to deal with emotionally and physically.
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