Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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World of Secrets, the child cancer scam from the BBC World Service. Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts. This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Celia Hatton, and in the early hours of Friday, the 5th of December, these are our main stories.
Several countries have pulled out of next year's Eurovision Song Contest after it was confirmed that Israel could participate. A prominent Palestinian militia leader and Hamas opponent has been killed in Gaza. Members of the U.S. Congress have reviewed classified video of a strike on an alleged drug boat which killed two shipwrecked men.
Also in this podcast, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo sign a peace deal in Washington and... There are estimates which suggest that there are about 200 people dying every hour globally because of these type of infections. Why a hospital in Britain is telling people not to wash their hands.
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Chapter 2: Why are four countries boycotting Eurovision over Israel's inclusion?
And there was a fear that if they were kicked out of the contest, then that would mean there would be a cut in funding, tighter controls over its output.
Mark Savage. Let's turn to the latest from Gaza, where a prominent Palestinian militia leader who opposed Hamas has been killed. Yasser Abu Shabab was a Bedouin tribal chief who led a group operating in Israeli-controlled territory near the southern city of Rafah. Hamas had accused him of collaborating with Israel.
He'd been one of several men jostling for power as the region prepares for the second phase of the U.S. ceasefire plan. His militia, the Popular Forces, said he was shot while trying to resolve a family dispute. But Venetia Mingus, a journalist with The Times of London who recently interviewed Yasser Abu Shabab, says there are reports that he may have been assassinated.
Yasser Abu Shabab was a 35-year-old smuggler from Rafah in southern Gaza who, at the start of the war in Gaza, was in a Hamas prison on drug trafficking charges. So quite an unlikely figure to end up leading a militia. However, in May last year, he emerged as leader of what he called the Popular Forces.
He declared the group to be an anti-Hamas militia working towards a terrorism-free future for the Strip. But it is worth noting he never really had the support of Gazan's civilians, even though many are anti-Hamas, as he's seen as a collaborator with Israel. Now, when I interviewed him...
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of the US military's recent strikes in Gaza?
He denied this, although it is clear he's been working with Israel as he has been operating under their areas of control. And he said that he was funded and supported by powerful members of the Tarabin tribe, who are a Bedouin tribe which stretch from Egypt to the UAE. And he said they provided the weapons and the money to keep their group going.
So a lot is left to be verified regarding the circumstances of his death. However, I spoke with Israeli sources today who have coordinated with him and they said it is indeed true he has been killed. I believe the most likely theory is that his group participated was infiltrated by Hamas, who then used their access to attack the group and capture members of his group.
We know that his death occurred in the area under his control in Rafah, which is beyond the yellow line. So it's in an area controlled by the Israelis. So that makes this quite significant as he was Hamas's number one target and was assassinated within the Israeli area of control. And this definitely reflects
undermines their image of dominance and leaves the other anti-Hamas militias within their area fearing that the Israelis cannot protect them. Venetia Mingus. To elsewhere in the Gaza Strip now, Gaza City in the north where Palestinians have begun initial work despite a lack of construction materials on restoring two cultural heritage sites destroyed by Israel during the war.
The hope is that ultimately they can rebuild the Great Omari Mosque, the oldest mosque in the territory, and the historic Pasha's Palace. International journalists are not allowed to report freely inside Gaza, so Yolanel is following their progress from Jerusalem.
With pickaxes and wheelbarrows, dozens of Palestinian workers are clearing rubble from the ruins of the medieval Great Omari Mosque in Gaza City. Its distinctive octagonal minaret is now just a broken stump. The Israeli military says it bombed what it called a tunnel shaft and terror tunnel during the war against Hamas. Since the Gaza ceasefire, work's begun to clear and sort the stones.
But Israel isn't yet allowing building materials to enter Gaza, and that limits what can be done, says Hosni Amasloum, an engineer from Rewak, a local cultural heritage organisation.
The challenges we face are first of all scarcity of resources, iron and construction materials. Then we're using primitive tools and being very careful because the stones here are 12 or 1300 years old.
Nearby in the old city, another Palestinian team is taking away buckets of rubble from what's left of the Pasha's palace, exposing the mosaic floor. Gaza's history stretches back some 5,000 years.
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Chapter 4: What peace deal was signed between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo?
The palace was originally an historic fort, where it said Napoleon stayed in 1799. The Israeli military told me it had no information about why it targeted this site in the war. Dr. Hamouda Addaqda, who's in charge of the cleanup, says Palestinians care deeply about their heritage. We are dealing with a building that expresses the identity and memory of the Palestinian people.
We are determined to preserve what's left of this important landmark. UNESCO's verified damage to 145 religious, historic and cultural sites since the start of the war, including Roman cemeteries, the ruins of early churches and an ancient Greek port. It will be a long time before any meaningful restoration can take place. But the start of work marks a step forwards. Yolande Nell, to the U.S.
now, where the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is facing sustained political pressure. Much of it centers around his involvement in a September attack on what the U.S. says was a drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean.
Chapter 5: How did Vladimir Putin influence the Novichok poisoning inquiry?
After the initial hit on the boat, two survivors left clinging to wreckage were killed in a follow-on strike. The White House has already said Mr. Hegseth authorized the attacks but did not give the order to kill. To clarify exactly what happened, the man in command of the operation, Admiral Frank Bradley, has shown a select group of U.S. lawmakers an unedited video of the incident.
Admiral Bradley has also backed up the Trump administration's account, saying that he was the one who ordered the second strike on the boat. After the briefing, a visibly upset Democrat congressman, Jim Himes, told the media that he was horrified by what he'd seen.
What I saw in that room was one of the most troubling things I've seen in my time in public service. You have two individuals in clear distress without any means of locomotion with a destroyed vessel who were killed by the United States.
But the Republican Senator Tom Cotton, who also watched the footage, said he'd seen nothing illegal and called them righteous strikes. He also gave perhaps the most detailed description yet of what appears to have happened.
I saw two survivors trying to. Flip a boat loaded with drugs, bound for the United States, back over so they could stay in the fight. And potentially, given all the contacts we heard, of other narco-terrorist boats in the area coming to their aid to recover their cargo and recover those narco-terrorists.
So what exactly did lawmakers see and hear in this briefing? Our North America correspondent is Peter Bowes. This was a closed-door meeting for members of Congress from both the House of Representatives and the Senate, high-ranking members from the relevant committees, so the Armed Services Committee, the Senate Intelligence Committee.
They were shown classified, unedited video footage of the strikes, which happened on September 2nd. This is the strike that involved the two survivors attempting to climb back onto the boat, and the briefing shows included a review of the boat's condition, the presence of drugs, the threat assessment that is said to have justified this continued military action.
And the members were able to ask questions about the timeline, the legality and the operational decisions that were made during this incident. So are we closer to clearing up the confusion about what happened with this strike in September and who ordered it? Well, that appears to have been the main purpose of the briefing.
The lawmakers heard from Admiral Frank Bradley, who explained his reasoning for ordering the second strike. And he said that he acted within his authority, that he made the decision, not the Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. We know from an interview that Mr Hegseth gave a couple of days ago that he claims to have watched the first strike live, presumably by remote video.
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Chapter 6: What new evidence links a volcanic eruption to the spread of the Black Death?
said that there were now very few boats travelling on the water, including fishing boats and other vessels, which is a claim where he is suggesting that there is evidence that these strikes have drastically reduced this maritime activity and have therefore justified the action. Peter Bowes Still to come in this podcast, the mysteries of a medieval pandemic.
They have this coincidence that the only region they import their grain from happens to be infected already by plague.
Why a volcano may be to blame for the spread of Black Death. A scam exploiting vulnerable families with sick children. I would have done anything to get the medicine for Khalil. The child is directed on camera to plead for help. They were going to upload it to social media. Millions of dollars pour in, but the families never receive the money. He told us it wasn't successful.
As I understood it, the video just didn't make any money.
They used to raise funds for their own benefit.
World of Secrets, the child cancer scam from the BBC World Service.
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Chapter 7: Why is a UK hospital removing sinks from its intensive care unit?
Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Hello, Greg Jenner here, host of You're Dead to Me. In my new family-friendly podcast series, Dead Funny History, historical figures come back to life for just about long enough to argue with me, tell us their life stories, and sometimes get on my nerves.
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You can find it in the You're Dead to Me feed on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Discover brilliant podcasts from the BBC World Service.
We got a call from the bank and said, are you aware that there's no funds in this account?
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Chapter 8: How does antimicrobial resistance affect hospital infections?
A string of victims across the US stretching from coast to coast. The amount of victims in such a short time was unbelievable. Real people losing real money by the criminals, the ghosts. The anger, the frustration, the fear. From the BBC World Service, this is Cyberhack Evilcore. The story of a cybercrime case that stretches from small-town America to the back streets of Moscow. Listen now.
Search for Cyberhack wherever you get your BBC podcasts. A peace deal's been signed between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The ceremony in Washington was presided over by the U.S. President Donald Trump, whose administration helped broker the agreement.
The compact we're signing today, which will be known as the Washington Accords. Everybody sort of liked that name. Formalizes the terms agreed to in June, including a permanent ceasefire, the disarmament of non-state forces, provisions for refugees to return to their homes and justice and accountability for those who have committed illegal atrocities.
This could mark a turning point for the two African countries, which have been at odds for decades. Tensions spiked earlier this year when the armed rebel group, the M23, believed to be backed by Rwanda, seized Goma, a city in the DRC. But at the signing, Rwandan President Paul Kagame and DRC President Felix Chizikedi sounded cautiously hopeful the fighting would stop.
It's up to us in Africa. working with our partners to consolidate and expand this peace. There will be ups and downs on the road ahead. There is no doubt about it.
Rwanda, I know, will not be found wanting.
I want to believe that this day marks the beginning of a new path.
A demanding path, certainly difficult, but a path where peace is no longer just a wish, but a goal. The Democratic Republic of Congo will fully play its part with dignity, with awareness and consistency, and with the support of its partners. We remain vigilant, but not pessimistic. Clear-eyed, but resolutely optimistic.
The deal, negotiated by the Trump administration, includes economic incentives for both Rwanda and the DRC, and plans for U.S. companies to mine some of the DRC's valuable minerals. But will it secure a lasting peace? A question for our Africa correspondent, Shingai Nyoka. Many people who have been following this conflict for over the last 30 years agree that it is an important step.
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