European leaders denounce Moscow over attacks

0:00This BBC Podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. I'm Paul Moss and at 14 hours GMT on Wednesday, the 2nd of September, these are our main stories. European leaders have condemned Russia as it's held responsible for the attack on a German airport. Meanwhile, a Russian strike on the city of Odessa has left more than 300,000 Ukrainians without power. The man accused of murdering the American conservative activist Charlie Kirk last year has appeared in court and pleaded not guilty.

1:00Also in this podcast, the Hong Kong Democracy Activist facing a possible lifetime jail sentence, and the simple cancer test which could save thousands of lives. Patients are at risk of having bladder cancer, can be diagnosed earlier and treated more quickly. Europeans are faced with a hard truth ahead of the EU said, this is the new normal. Ursula von Delein was speaking after Russia was blamed for an attempted attack on a German airport last month. When a drone full of explosives was found near a Ukrainian cargo plane in Leipzig, Miss von Delein was joined at a news conference by the NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, with a similar message and a similarly grim warning. Russia has grown increasingly reckless. As they continue their terrible war against Ukraine, we have seen more drones and missiles crossing into our airspace along our eastern flank,

2:01creating increased risk. We have also seen an increase in malign activities, targeting our territory directly. Whether it is fires, set in factories, producing defence equipment for Ukraine, or indeed, the Russian hybrid attack in Leipzig. On the ground in Ukraine, Velodomir Zelensky says Russian drones have struck targets across his country. Reports suggest hundreds of thousands have been left without electricity and Odessa on the Black Sea. Alexander Kholosyuk from the emergency services there describe what happened. Throughout the night Russia carried out a massive attack on Odessa and the region. Residential buildings and energy infrastructure came under attack. A 24-story residential building was hit. The blasts also damaged nearby parked cars. So more attacks both in Ukraine and it seems on NATO member states this time Germany. But amidst all the protesting, what a Western leaders actually going to do.

3:05A question I put to our diplomatic correspondent James Landale, who's in Kiev. I think initially what they're trying to do is to be more explicit in trying to attribute responsibility to Russia for alleged actions against Western countries. The so-called hybrid war, one of the key defining characteristics is that a lot of the actions are unattributable. It's unclear who was responsible. Was it a Russian proxy? Was it, you know, we've got mysterious parcels exploding in warehouses. You've got cyber attacks, information campaigns. Where are they coming from? That's the space in which Russia is accused of operating. And I think what we're seeing is a clear attempt with Germany. And now the EU and NATO waiting behind it is to say, well, on this case, the alleged attack on Leipzig Airport, they are trying to attribute responsibility. But I'm saying, look, there is clear evidence that Russia was behind this, essentially, to try and impose greater cost on Russia to try and deter future attacks. But what are they actually going to do? I mean, yes, attributing it to Russia not mincing their words or beating around the bush,

4:08but is there any action that they promised they'll actually take now? In the short term, there will be diplomatic maneuverings. I'm very Russian ambassadors will be summoned, I think, relations between Germany and Russia will deteriorate. There'll be a pulling back. There'll be any kind of cultural connections. They might be damaged by it. But in the longer term, I think the interesting question is whether or not any European nations use this to try and galvanize greater support for Ukraine. Because at the moment, so for example, there is more talk about having another look at whether or not European nations can use all those frozen Russian assets that are trapped largely in Belgian financial institutions. Can they get a greater unity within Europe to use those, to exploit that money to support Ukraine beforehand? Europe has been pretty divided on that. So I think it'll be interesting to see in coming days how various European nations use this greater unity against Russia to actually have policy decisions as a result.

5:08What's going on in Kiev, where you are? We've heard of sirens. We've heard reports of explosions there. Well, there's another alert going on right now at the moment. There've been alerts all morning. We've spent the day so far going around seeing some of the outcome of those strikes. We've seen strikes pretty close down the road from where we are here, where a building quite close to the center was hit. We know that a university has been hit in the city here. We've also been to see a customs warehouse that was struck. Clouds are smoke pouring out. In other words, this is day seven of consecutive Russian daytime attacks. It's their new tactic. James Landale in Kiev. So the ship was arrived in port. Its crew are finally walking on dry land once again after a record 250 days at sea. The US aircraft carrier, the Abraham Lincoln, is in Thailand. It was serving as part of the US force attacking Iran. But the carriers' ever-lenthening deployment became a political issue itself.

6:09With reports that sailors weren't getting the most basic supplies like soap and toothpaste, there apparently wasn't even enough food on board. For some sailors, it was apparently too much. According to Natalie Oliveario, the Pentagon corresponded for the military times. There have been several reports of sailors attempting to jump overboard. Some for alleged suicide attempts, others for alleged cries for help, so to speak. So you're looking at people who have been inside the interior parts of the ship for nearly nine months straight. So without singland, without stopping, without having any time off at all, they've really been burning the candle at both ends. The Navy's own plan. It says that every 36 months, only eight months should be spent deployed out at sea, so that everything can stay on course. But with the USS Gerald R. Ford and now the USS Abraham Lincoln, those deployments are now being stretched, meaning that maintenance is being stretched,

7:12repairs are being pushed back, and sailors are being overextended past their threshold. The Abraham Lincoln has docked close to the Thai resort of Pataya, which has long been a place where American service members go to drink, to corrals, and let's be honest, the town has long had a thriving sex industry. That said, at least one American sailor when asked by reporters said that he had different sightseeing priorities. The first time visiting, I'm excited to see around what the cultures like, those sea sump temples relax. The BBC's Southeast Asia correspondent Jonathan Head is impotire, and told us what the atmosphere was like as this new cohort turned up for shore leave. It says, childrens as it always is in patia, I've looked this city absorb so many different kinds of people from around the world, from all kinds of activities, they're pretty confident that they can accommodate 5,000 U.S. sailors who are under a certain amount of regulation by their offices. There are places that they've been told not to go, they've been told to follow the normal code of

8:16conduct. We've seen quite a lot of them around, they're very conspicuous, walk around most, and carrying quite big backpacks looking a bit lost. The mayor has told us there are three streets, not very far from here, it's a bit further back going off. Very famous, soy six, soy six, slash one, soy seven, which are famous for their go-go bars. And we've just driven down a short while ago, it's absolutely packed with rather scantily clad women who are obviously applying their trade. I mean, prostitution is notionally illegal in Thailand, it's something the police have reminded at the U.S. cruise, but in practice, we think there are probably 25 to 50,000 sex workers in this city. They're not allowed to go to that street. Now, I don't know how strictly they'll police that, they can go to Patia's famous walking street, which is pretty racey as well, very colorful lots of neon lights, all kinds of different bars and restaurants there, when that starts up, just after sundown, it's a very, very vibrant scene, but in general, I think most of the city is open to them, they're not allowed to use the cannabis shops, there are a lot of those here now,

9:18and I'm sure in the sea here you can go, there's lots of sea sports like paragliding and jet ski, they're not supposed to do that either. Jonathan Head, and in our earlier podcast, we inadvertently referred to those on board the Abraham Lincoln as Service Men. Our listener, Amelia Goff, emailed to point out correctly that the crew is not just comprised of men. She said she was disappointed to hear such exclusive language, Amelia, you're right, and we'll pay more attention in the future. Now, as I mentioned earlier, the Abraham Lincoln had been deployed to the Persian Gulf as part of the U.S. forces attacking Iran. While that ship may have departed, the conflict there has flared up. Once again, the U.S. has struck targets in southern Iran, Iran then retaliated as it has before, by attacking American bases in the region this time in Jordan and Iraq. Kuwaiters said residential buildings there had been hit by Iranian drones, though without any injuries resulting. Meanwhile, Iran's foreign ministry has described a U.S. strike on a wedding in the south of the country as a war crime. The Iranian-red presence says

10:23shrapnel from the attack killed five people, and injured dozens more. The Pentagon has insisted it doesn't target civilians. I spoke about this to our Middle East correspondent Yalan Nell in Jerusalem. She says this latest round of fighting could mark a return to all-out hostilities. It looks like that pause that lasted about a month in open warfare between U.S. and Iran is over. This looks like a serious military escalation. The Iranian saying that they also attacked the United Arab Emirates. Already we've been hearing that Jordan, Bahrain, Northern Iraq, Kuwait had all reported Iranian attacks in response to the latest U.S. attacks on Iran. Of course, those countries are all U.S. allies in the region, and they have U.S. military bases there. Now there are reports coming from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard that four of its personnel were killed in the latest U.S. strikes. That's after local officials and the Iranian-red

11:23crescent had said there are about a dozen people who were killed in the south of the country, including those who were at this wedding. As the U.S. has been saying that it was targeting military assets, it was targeting also air defenses and radar capabilities. The Iranian media reports have really been emphasising how there were also civilian targets that were hit, and they include a fish meal factory, a civilian airport, and this house in the south of Iran close to the state of Hormuz, where people were killed, including this child at the wedding. Now from both sides, what we're seeing are stronger attacks than we're seeing even at the weekend, when we had that first exchange of fire in a month, and more widespread attacks coming from Iran in retaliation, too, with lots of strong rhetoric. What is the U.S. saying about this suggestion that its attacks killed five people at a wedding? The U.S. has acknowledged that there are reports

12:25about this, but it says it never targets civilians and pointedly added unlike the revolution regards. So this is a new development, it's quite a large number of people who have been killed in these later strikes, according to the reports we're getting from the Iranian side. Iran also claiming that it's killed a number of U.S. soldiers, as of the U.S. authority said anything about that. So far the initial reports coming from U.S. officials are that there have not been U.S. service personnel killed in Jordan as Iran is claiming. They're saying that their initial reports are that there are no casualties in that case, and we have the Jordanian armed forces coming out saying that they had intercepted missiles that were fired at the country. There is video showing apparently one of those interceptions over the Jordanian southern port of Akhaba. We have previously seen the United States and Iran exchanging attacks, and yet negotiations continuing. Is that happening now? Do you think, or is this a sign that we're back to full scale conflict with no prospect of any kind of peace agreement?

13:30Well interestingly Pakistan, which has been such a key mediator between the U.S. and Iran, it has come out saying it remains engaged on talks and the conflict remains positive that there two sides will return to dialogue, but the message coming from President Trump when he was talking to Fox News was really that he was not trying to push Iran to go back to the negotiation table. He said, I think an agreement with them is not worth the paper, it's written on and writing on truth social, his platform and social media. He said, when are the Iranian people going to rise up and fight? As though he's looking back to an uprising in Iran, the prospects of possible regime change. When there was the Iranian President, Mastud Paseşkyan, speaking ahead of the latest U.S. attacks on Iran, he did say that Tehran was ready to return to that memorandum of understanding that was signed in June between the U.S. and Tehran. Of course that fell apart quite quickly, but he said that Iran was ready to go back to that if Washington would follow suit.

14:34Yalan now, every year nearly a quarter of a million people worldwide die from cancer of the bladder, but this is a disease which can be treated and indeed sometimes cured if it's caught in time. Now an at-home urine test has been developed which according to a new study can spot more than nine in ten bladder cancer cases. A medical editor, Furgus Walsh told me how it worked. When you have cancer in the bladder wall, then sometimes cells will break off, the fragment often be shed into the urine and what this test does, it looks for something like 450 genetic mutations across 23 genes which are associated strongly with bladder cancer and it tests for those. Now the contrast is that the standard, the gold standard way of diagnosing bladder is through what's called as a cystoscopy where a camera and instruments go up through the urethra

15:38and examine the bladder and that can be uncomfortable. Some people even turn it down and this would be a non-invasive way of testing the bladder cancer. So what happens now? I think there's going to be a larger survey that's going to be conducted, is that right? Yeah, so this is research which has been going on for over a decade at the University of Birmingham funded by cancer research UK and has then been commercialized to the company called Nonocursion in Birmingham. It's still at in some ways the research stage. Some hospitals in England are already using it but they're not using it as a replacement for the gold standard cystoscopy. They're using it alongside at the moment but if this new trial which has been conducted now if that comes out positively then it could spare a lot of people, thousands of people these invasive tests. Fergus you've been on this program

16:42and others many times I know talking about developments in the treatment and diagnosis of cancer but it seems like this one really is being cited as a potential game changer for certainly for cancer Yes and I think it's the direction of travel we have about genomics and the UK has a very strong record on genetics, genomics and of course it's already been incorporated in terms of blood tests for some cancers, patients with breast cancer, bowel cancer, after surgery are often monitored now by looking for and what they call circulating tumor DNA in samples of their blood which help decipher whether or not their cancer has come back. So you know it makes logical sense with the bladder that you could use urine to keep an eye on whether or not an urgent referral really is urgent because there's cancer there or whether in fact it's less urgent and perhaps people don't

17:43need to undergo this invasive cystoscopy. Fergus Walsh still to come in this podcast Ariana Grande makes an emotional exit from her tour after announcing she'll step back from public life. She said that you know she'll always remember this time with her fans and that she hopes to see them you know at some other point she did not mention no when she would resume touring. Get more with BBC Podcasts wherever you listen. Be the first to listen to your favorite shows like Evil Genius, Good Bad Billionaire and You're Dead To Me with a subscription to BBC Podcasts Premium on Apple Podcasts. You can also enjoy a range of our podcasts ad-free Amazon Music Subscription

19:01with a shooting. A judge's rule prosecutors can seek the death penalty at trial. Ryan McBride from the Utah County Attorney's Office outlined the seriousness of the case as they see it. Hi, we're James Robinson shot and killed Charlie Kirk because he disagreed with him and he did it by firing a high powered rifle into a crowd of over 3,000 people which created a great risk of death that anyone would know about. Tuesday's appearance in court followed Nelia Week of legal discussions. Following all this was the CBS reporter Jared Hill. What we've been seeing over the past six or so days was this pre-trial hearing to decide one whether Tyler Robinson was going to be able to face a trial in this shooting case in this murder case and we saw the judge yesterday saying yes there was overwhelming evidence that would point to at least the allowance of the trial to continue. The other question here was whether he would face the death penalty potentially and the judge said yes. What we saw within this was the

20:05prosecution making an argument that because Robinson they say allegedly shot into such a large crowd of so many people when this shooting happened that he also endangered so many others which then they say resulted in why he should be allowed to be tried with the death penalty as a potential consequence in this case the judge said yes. So this was really just the first step to lay the groundwork to say if this thing could even go to trial. Robinson we have seen here from his defense are a couple of arguments again within this pre-trial hearing one saying that he should not be tried for the death penalty because they believe that there was one shot that was alleged here and that no one else was targeted no one else was being pointed at but then they also say that there's not enough evidence to convict him. The trial the date is still yet to be seen we're expecting for there to be another hearing in October where the judge will presumably set the date for this trial but this is just the beginning of what could potentially be a pretty long process.

21:08Jared Hill the end of prison had been inside for the Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong he's currently serving a near five-year sentence for subversion handed down after he and others tried to hold an election to choose candidates for Hong Kong's legislative council. Mr Wong was due to be released next year but he's just pleaded guilty to new charges which could earn him a life sentence. A reporter Mickey Bristo told me what these charges involved. He's agreed is pleaded guilty to colluding with foreign powers essentially what that is is that he's agreed that he tried to persuade the United States and other Western nations to put pressure on China to allow more democracy in Hong Kong. This charge was brought under something called the National Security Law that was imposed by Beijing on Hong Kong in 2020 essentially brought into kind of crack down on all the democracy activism that was going on at the time and essentially to crush it and to stop it dead. So that's the charge he faces. As you said there in the introduction

22:09the interesting bit about this is that he was well into a five-year sentence when this charge was brought. It was looking forward perhaps to being released early next year. This charge means now he could spend a long time behind bars and I think its illustrative shows that the Chinese government is in no way ready to be lenient or merciful with any activists in Hong Kong. Do we have any idea why Joshua Wong pleaded guilty? I mean other democracy activists have fought the charges that they were put to them. He hasn't answered that directly and neither is loyal but I think it's not too wide of the mic to suggest that perhaps he wants the court to show some leniency in the sentence towards him. He's only 29 years old. This sentence carries a lifetime in prison so he could be willing to into his old age before he comes out unless the court gives him a lenient sentence and in fact his prosecute to suggest that this perhaps was the reason for impleeding guilty. The defender suggested that they should give a sentence of no more than 10

23:12years not to give a sentence that would crush Joshua Wong that would leave him with no hope of the future, no hope of getting out of prison. It suggested that he wanted to get out perhaps to look after his elderly parents so I think it's perhaps to get a lenient sentence. Joshua Wong again in prison, other leaders in prison, some of them in exile from the Prodemocracy movement and I just wondered does that Prodemocracy movement still function in in Hong Kong? Not really and I think it's worth reflecting about Joshua Wong and who he is. I think of all the protests that emerged from Hong Kong 2014, 2019. His teenage, bespectacled face appearing on magazine covers in newspapers, on television documentaries, probably he represented that movement more than anyone and I think the Chinese government's decision to kind of prosecute him so late into the end of one sentence shows that it's as I said earlier that they're not lenient. As far as the democracy movement broadly speaking is concerned China is really cracked down on

24:15everything there's very little chance of any kind of out showing of dissent or disagreement the Chinese authorities in Hong Kong, non-really whatsoever and I think this is just another example Mickey Bristow. It was called the Eternal Sunshine Tour but Ariana Grande's series of concerts were jaded on Tuesday night were anything but eternal. On the contrary the international superstar has said she'll now take a substantial break from performing with some suggesting it could be years before she takes to the stage again if ever. Grande has recently faced intense media speculation about her health while some suggest she's lost weight and may be fatigued. In her final concert in London though her thoughts with her fans. She may have been grateful to fans but Ariana Grande hasn't denied that her life in the spotlight is taking its toll although she's tended to play

25:17down suggestions of any serious health problems. Ami as it correspondent Mark Savage was at Tuesday night's concert a moving occasion he says. It was an incredibly emotional night because fans knew that this was potentially the last time they were going to see Ariana on stage for years potentially. You know she said even before all of the speculation about her health she'd called this tour one last hurrah and suggested she wanted to spend more time concentrating on film roles after her Oscar nominated turn in Wicked and so this was always going to be a bittersweet night and the fact that she's subsequently had to make this statement that she's withdrawing from public appearances she's cancelled a planned theater run in London next year. People were concerned but also there to express their support and you could feel that energy traveling between the stage and the audience and then right back towards Ariana and that's why giving that speech at the end she did start to

26:17tear up she said she wanted to express her gratitude without sobbing completely. The O2 and it's a huge venue vast crowds for any performer to to keep happy. Ami were there any signs of those ill health issues that had been reported when she was on stage? Well I mean the only real sign that she was suffering at all was that she was not performing in stilettos because she had cut her foot you know normally she's teedering around on the six inch heels sprinting up and down the stage and last night she was wearing very flat boots although often standing on tiptoe almost like she's in that famous scene from Barbie where the foot comes out of the stiletto but stays in the same shape and I have to say you know I've seen the show a couple of times during this tour she is full of energy she bonds around the stage with so much spirit and verve her voice and her vocals are just impeccable she's possibly the greatest singer of her generation and so you know while

27:17there is concern about her health and people have commented on her parents she's never said that she's suffering from from any specific condition and really the reason she's decided to step back because of what her publicist called the endless ongoing scrutiny. Given that Mark what about this break is it's going to be a brief hiatus and then back to normal service or do you think we are looking at much longer maybe years till she's seen on stage again? I mean I think certainly she wants to concentrate on her film career she's got a film coming out in November with Ben Stiller and Robert De Nero a sequel to the Meet the Fockers franchise and the suggestion from her prior to the speculation about her health was that she really wanted to concentrate on the acting side of her career she grew up as a theater kid so it's hard to say she seemed like she was having so much fun last night that it would be interesting to see whether she can resist going back onto the stage in the future. Mark Savage and that's all from us for now if you want to get in touch you can email us at globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk you can now watch all our episodes in full just

28:24search for the global news podcast on YouTube this edition was mixed by Robin Schroeder and the producers were Shavore Leighy and Shantal Hartle the editor is Karen Martin I'm Paul Moss until next time goodbye get more with bbc podcasts wherever you listen be the first to listen to your favorite shows like Evil Genius good bad billionaire and you're dead to me with a subscription to bbc podcasts premium on apple podcasts you can also enjoy a range of our podcasts add free with an amazon music subscription