Canada could become EU ‘associate member’ amid Trump tension and other stories | Global News Podcast

This is the Global News podcast from the. BBC World Service. I'm Celia Hatton. Here are the headlines. The European. Union chief backs a proposal for Canada. to be its first associate member as. tensions rise with the US. We'll go to. Brussels. >> Many Europeans, particularly Ursula. Vanderelion, the commission president, really feels that Mark Carney in. particular is a kindred spirit. >> Officials in Gaza say at least 20 people. are dead in the collapse of a building. weakened by Israeli strikes. We'll speak. to our Middle East correspondent.

>> People are just using their bare hands. to try to go through the rubble. >> Saudi Arabia shoots down a drone that it. claims was fired at Mecca by the. Iranbacked Houthis. >> If the Houthis really did fire a drone. at Mecca, the holiest city in Islam, the. birthplace of the prophet Muhammad, that. is very bad optics. And the former. president of Kosovo, Hashim Thatchi, is. found guilty of war crimes by the. International Criminal Court.

We'll start with what could be the start. of a new global alliance, one between. Canada and the European Union. The EU's. chief has backed a proposal for Canada. to become the union's first associate. member. Here's Ursula Vandonder speaking. in Strasburg. Mark Carney, the Canadian. Prime Minister, was in the audience. >> This is not a partnership against anyone. else, but for our common strength. In.

short, we want to bring the relationship. with Canada to the highest level. possible. And dear Mark, I said we must. urgently re-imagine our partnerships. So I would like to work with you on. opening the door for Canada to being the. first associate member of the European. Union. This possible new partnership comes as. Canada is fighting a hugely costly trade.

war with the United States, the country. that normally takes in more than 70% of. its exports. Mark Carney has promised to. fight that battle by finding new markets. for Canadian products. He's also pledged. to make Canada safer by forging new. security ties as Donald Trump continues. to threaten to make his northern. neighbor the United States 51st state. So that's the view from Canada. But what. could the EU get from this new link? Earlier I asked our correspondent in.

Brussels, Nick Beak. This all boils down. to the fact that at the moment many. Europeans, particularly Ursula. Vanderelion, the commission president, really feels that Mark Carney in. particular is a kindred spirit that. they're on the same page. They're. dealing with the same sort of threats. that from China, but notably, as you. were saying, from President Trump, an. unpredictable Donald Trump, whether it's. the waging of tariff wars or hitting out. at supposed allies, whether they're just. across the border in Canada or across.

the Atlantic in in Europe. And so what's. being put forward today by Ursula. Vandonderion is something completely. novel because at the moment there's no. such thing as associate membership uh. for anyone who wants to join the. European Union. So this would be. something that's not in the EU treaties. at the moment, not in EU law. So really. there's there are a lot of unknowns. around this but certainly uh both sides. feel that there would be this added. protection in the face of economic.

aggression and also potentially when it. comes to defense in the years and. decades to come that this this sort of. union could be mutually beneficial. As I. say, a lot of a lot of this is simply. unknown, but certainly it made an impact. today when it was announced at this big. political setpiece event when Ursula. Vandereline was giving her speech in. Strasburg. >> Yeah. Fascinating, isn't it? I mean, Mark Carney does have experience on both. sides of the Atlantic. He's the prime. minister of Canada now, but he worked in. England. He was the governor of the Bank.

of England in the UK. I wonder you you. said that this is this is a brand new. venture in theory. So is this symbolic? What would it take for Canada to become. an associate member or is it fail. complete? >> Well, it would take years, that's for. sure. And the idea of associate. membership, although it's not been. implemented, is something actually that. was raised a few months back by. Chancellor Mertz of Germany. Now, he was. talking about Ukraine in that context,

saying that maybe the Ukrainians could. be brought on board, not with all the. benefits of EU membership, but some of. them. Now the thing with this is that at. the time people were saying well hang. about there's a long queue of other. countries who are going through this. very laborious long process trying to. make sure that all their laws and. basically the way their countries work. I'm thinking about in the Balkans in. particular that they are hitting all the. goals needed the European uh standards. needed so that they can progress and. ultimately become members of the.

European Union. So, it's hard to see how. this thing would be fasttracked. And. we've seen actually in the past decade. or so how there was real animosity from. some countries within the within the EU. to the British after Brexit having some. sort of cherry-picking the benefits of. EU membership without signing up to all. the rules and regulations. And of. course, there's the thorny cost of. membership. You know, how much would it. cost to be part of this club even if. it's not full membership? Hm. Do you get. the sense that this is a bit of a. knee-jerk reaction to the EU and.

Canada's straightened ties with the US. with Donald Trump rather than uh desire. to build closer relationships uh between. Canada and the EU EU? >> Well, that's an interesting question, Silian, and I think certainly it's in. keeping and chimes with the relationship. that's emerged between Canada and the EU. over the past couple of years. Earlier. in the year, Mark Carney was saying that. middle powers, middle countries should. club together in the face of aggression. and muscular activity by the much bigger.

superpowers, the United States and. China. So it appears that it is mutually. beneficial for both these politicians, Mark Carney and Ursa Vanderelion. Mr. Carney, as you say, was in Strasburg. today and he's going to be making a big. speech on Thursday. So there are. benefits for both sides here. But of. course in the longer term, whether the. Canadian people want this, whether the. the people of the European Union want. this is another matter. But yes, if not. knee-jerk, certainly this is a response. to the the current political uh.

temperature and of course Donald Trump. won't be around forever and Vander and. Mark Carney in the future won't be at. the helm. So yeah, this is something. that's put forward making a lot of. headlines today. But let's see how it. progresses in the weeks and months to. come in the years to come and. potentially they may feel they don't. need this because at the moment there's. already this big trade deal between. Canada and the European Union. The EU is. actually the second biggest market for. the Canadians. So already there are. these deep ties. There is this trade. agreement that's been in place, although. not fully ratified, that's been there.

for nearly the past decade. to Gaza now. A multi-story building has collapsed in. Gaza City with people inside. Before the. structure crumbled, it had been. functioning as a makeshift home for. several displaced families. The large. building had been previously struck by. an Israeli air strike, which had left it. damaged. The territory's civil defense. agency says dozens of people are. missing. At least 20 people, including. five children, have died. Despite the. Israel Gaza ceasefire, conditions inside.

Gaza do not appear to have improved. The. US- created Board of Peace was meant to. oversee the ceasefire and initiate. reconstruction as well as a gradual. withdrawal of Israeli troops from the. territory. But Israel has been expanding. its control and still limits what. reconstruction materials go into the. strip. Our Middle East correspondent. Yolan Nell told me the latest. We're. speaking to local journalists there and. they're saying that um this building. collapsed overnight. It's one which was.

known to have structural damage. according to Gaza's civil defense. Uh. yet families had been living there um. really because of the very harsh. conditions and the lack of suitable. shelters around. people who had chosen. to live in a building that they knew was. unsafe um rather than um living in the. tents around them to try to take shelter. from uh the strong uh sun during the. summer from the wind and the elements. And we're we're hearing that there were.

10 families that have been living in. this building. Um and that dozens of. people are still unaccounted for, many. of them children. But uh there are. rescuers there saying that they can hear. voices from within the rubble. So there. is some hope of finding some more. survivors. >> So emergency teams are on site. But what. kinds of challenges do rescuers face. when this kind of collapse happens? >> I mean you can see from some of the. video footage that um people are just. using their bare hands to try to go.

through the rubble of at least uh six. floors of this building that have now. been sandwiched together. There are some um heavy equipment teams. arriving there. Um they are from the UN. and also from an Egyptian relief agency. the the civil defense told the BBC that. it's really um struggling to get heavy. equipment for any kinds of jobs like. this uh because of Israel's tight uh. border restrictions which it says are in.

place for security reasons to stop um. Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups. being able to use this equipment um. being able to to rearm to uh reestablish. tunnels in the strip um but there's also. a shortage of spare parts for machinery. a shortage. um of fuel to run the machinery and that. causes real problems um with with events. like this happening. And the civil. defense is saying that um there about. 2,000 buildings where people have been. told not to live in them, but they know.

that there are families inside. Now to another fastchanging story in the. Middle East, the growing conflict. between the Houthi rebel group in Yemen. and Saudi Arabia. The Saudi military. says it shot down a drone flying in. western Saudi Arabia towards Mecca, Islam's holiest site. The Saudis blamed. the Houthis for what they claimed was an. attempted attack. It's an unproven. accusation which the Houthis have. denied, but the Saudis say the Houthis. had crossed a red line. The Organization.

of Islamic Cooperation has also. condemned the alleged attempted attack. as heinous. Mustafa Nomman is the deputy. foreign affairs minister of the. internationally recognized government of. Yemen. >> It might be one of their uh not a main. goal but to try to say that they can. reach anywhere in Saudi Arabia whether. it's a holy uh and sacred to all Muslims. or is it military side. So I think it's. part of their propaganda and one of the.

just a show off of their power and their. capability to reach anywhere they decide. to reach. >> Meanwhile, the Houthis are claiming to. have shot down a Saudi fighter jet in. Yemen's Married province using. locallymade weapons. The Saudis are yet. to comment. It's all adding to an. escalation in the conflict. So much so. that for the second time this week, the. United Nations Security Council has been. calling for deescalation and violence. following Houthi attacks in and around. the Babal Mandab Straight on the Red.

Sea, which has disrupted the vital. maritime corridor. So, what more do we. know about Yemen's alleged attacks? I. spoke to our security correspondent, Frank Gardner, who's following. developments. >> There is no evidence on either side of. this. Not to say that it hasn't. happened, but until we see the evidence, I think we're going to have to take a um. a little bit of a kind of um uh a degree. of of skepticism about it because as. your previous uh uh person, your guest. in said there, there is a an element of.

propaganda about this. If the Houthis. really did fire a drone at Mecca, the. holiest city in Islam, the birthplace of. the prophet Muhammad, that is very bad. optics for the Houthis. It makes them. look really bad. It's not the first time. they did uh fire a ballistic missile in. the direction of Mecca in 2017 because. the Houthis fought a seven-year war with. the Saudis from 2015 to 2022. Um but the. Houthis are busy denying this because.

they know how, you know, they are. fundamentalist. um Muslims. Their slogan is God is. great, death to America, death to. Israel, a curse on the Jews, u victory. to Islam. So, it's not a good look for. them if they fired a missile at the. holiest city in Islam, whether or not it. got there. But it may be that this is. something that has been, as your other. person suggested, concocted to make them. look bad. H even if we're still looking.

into reports surrounding this drone, but. also the accusations that or or the. claims by the Houthis to have shot down. a fighter jet uh a Saudi fighter jet. It's clear that tensions are rising. between the two sides. How evenly. matched are they? Are the Houthis really. capable of taking on Saudi Arabia? >> So Saudi Arabia has by far the most. powerful air force. Um, it's got. powerful Americanmade F-15s, Macdonald. Douglas F-15 Strike Eagles. Um, and we.

don't know if one of those was shot down. or not, but it was claimed that it was. shot near Mahib, which is uh an area. where the Saudis have been active inside. Yemen. Um, the the Houthis have got a. lot of Iranian supplied and Chinese. supplied weaponry. They've got the. ability to threaten shipping passing. their coastline. And this is why all of. this is kind of catching world headlines. at the moment because the Houthies last. week made a lightning advance down the.

coast of the Red Sea to seize areas. close to the narrow choke point, the. bubble mandet that the waterway that. separates the Arabian Peninsula from the. Hall of Africa. And it's through that. narrow choke point that shipping has to. pass to get from Europe or from Saudi. oil export terminals like Yandu to. markets in Asia. And if if if Saudi oil. isn't able to get through that, oil. prices is going to go up. Supplies are.

going to dwindle and Asian markets are. going to suffer. So even though the. Houthies visually when people see them, you know, they don't look like a. professional army. They're wearing. flip-flops and carrying 1970s. era weapons and yet they've got the. strategic ability to harm the global. economy. >> Still to come, the rapper Mmore was. dropped from Ed Sheeran's tour for. saying free Palestine on stage. We'll. look at the follow. All of the support. acts for the rest of the tour dropped.

out. To a decision now from the International. Criminal Court at the HEG, the former. Kosovo president, Hashim Thatche, has. been found guilty of war crimes. committed in the late 1990s. He's a. former top commander of the Albanian. separatist Kosovo Liberation Army during. the country's war for independence from. Serbia. thought she was convicted by a. panel of judges in the HEG. The. presiding judge, Charles Smith,

announced his sentence. >> The panel now sentences you to a single. sentence of 25 years of imprisonment. with credit for time served. Mr. Tatachi, you may be seated. >> Our global affairs reporter Paul Moss. first told me about the background to. the case. >> Hashimachi was a leader of the Kosovo. Liberation Army during the the fight. that Kosovo fought for independence from. Serbia. This was part of the several. just one of the several conflicts which. broke out as Yugoslavia fell apart but. it was particularly uh pointed for the.

Serbs. They fought it with particular. ars. Kosovo wasn't just part of Yugoslavia. was part of Serbia itself. So this was a. very vicious a very violent conflict in. which there were accusations of. atrocities on all sides. And yes, this. Kosovo Liberation Army effectively a. gorilla force, but Hashim Thatche was. very much its presentable face, very. dapper, very swave. I I remember. interviewing him in the capital. He's. fluent in English, very very convenient, and he was said to have charmed a lot of.

political leaders in the west. However, there were always allegations that not. only the Serbs, but the Kosovo. Liberation Army were committing. atrocities in this conflict. So looking. back, I suppose it may was maybe was. inevitable that in the end this KLA. commander might end up accused himself. of committing war crimes. >> So you've talked about the the. accusation, but today a a conviction. What more can you tell us about the. crimes that he's found to have. committed? >> We heard that judge, didn't we? So sort. of coming out with this extensive list.

Yes. Murdering people. Opponents were. tortured. And these weren't just some. Serbs who were captured. They were. Cosans accused of collaborating with the. Serbs. He was also accused of detaining, torturing, and murdering political. opponents. And that's important because. Kosovo may have won independence, de. factor, but it's a country that's still. very unstable. It's internationally. rated as being corrupt. And therefore, the fact that their former prime. minister and president has been found. guilty of murdering political opponents,

that's going to have an effect. internally. I should also say the judges. mentioned the fact there was a trial. that took place against a background of. terrible witness intimidation. Attempts. to prosecute Kosovo leaders before have. seen witnesses suddenly withdraw their. testimony go silent in one case murder. and they made that point. This time they. have successfully prosecuted someone. >> Paul these are crimes that took place in. the late 1990s. What now about the. consequences for this decision? >> I think there are many. Um the Serbian.

side have always complained why is it. only our leaders, our military leaders. and politicians who were prosecuted, people like General Madic who died only. last month. Well, now that criticism no. longer holds. They successfully. prosecuted Kosans as well. And that is. important for people, I think, who. believe in the idea of international. justice that it doesn't matter whether. you're on the side in a conflict that. people consider to be the right side. It. doesn't matter whether you won or lost. you will be held to account for any. crimes you commit. At the same time, he.

remains very popular. Hashim that we've. already seen protests breaking out and. there have been predictions there could. be more protest by his supporters both. in the Hague where the trial took place. and also in Kosovo itself. >> To Germany now, Chancellor Friedrich. Merittz is under growing pressure. following major electoral losses in the. Saxony and Halt state elections to the. farright AFD party. Amid the pressure, the chancellor cancelled his upcoming. trip to the United Nations General. Assembly in New York to attend a crisis.

meeting of his Christian Democratic. Union Alliance. Questions have been. raised over whether he's too much of an. electoral liability. He's vowed to carry. on, but two further state elections this. Sunday are being seen as an important. moment for the chancellor. A resignation. midterm in Germany would be highly. unusual. So, how likely is it that. merits could go? I asked our Berlin. correspondent Jessica Parker. >> Obviously Mertz is saying uh that he's. going to carry on. There's a lot of. questions over how this would even.

happen because as you say, this is not. really something that German politics is. known for. But this idea of a chancellor. swap has been circulating through the. summer and seems to have ratcheted up in. the last few days. Is there somebody. within the Conservative CDU party who. could replace Chancellor Mertz and. perhaps be a more successful leader for. the party? Because as you say, they. suffered a very bad electoral defeat to.

alternative for Deutsand in the Saxony. Anhalt state election. uh very recently. And then this Sunday, the AFD could again top the polls in. another eastern state while the. Conservative CDU are hovering at around. 7% in in that state, Meckllinburgg. Vomman, and that puts them in danger of. possibly falling out of parliament. altogether if they fall below the 5%. threshold and they could lose power in. uh Berlin, an election happening there.

as well. So whilst the chancellory and. government sources have not given a. precise reason as to why Mertz has. canceled his trip to New York, it is. being widely read as the chancery taking. this situation quite seriously and. wanting Mutz to be around in the. aftermath of those votes on Sunday. >> So what's been the reaction to all of. this across Germany? How are people. feeling about merits in the wake of this. one election but these upcoming other.

votes on Sunday? Yeah, I mean look, Chancellor Mertz's personal approval. ratings have been low and as you sort of. mentioned there are these fears within. the CDU party that he is something of an. electoral liability. He himself kind of. talked or slightly seemed to address. this in the aftermath of the Saxony and. health election saying government. communication uh needed to be improved. But uh I think for Germans, Germany,

they're obviously watching these. developments, watching these state. elections uh and seeing whether these. results do pile further pressure on the. chancellor. Um but if you did see. something like a a chancellor swap and. we are very much in the land of if, it. would be a pretty remarkable turn of. events and one that would have. significance well beyond Germany as well. given its key role in Europe. The. British singer songwriter Ed Sheeran is. currently touring the US, but now all. his supporting acts have quit. The. artists say it's in solidarity with the.

rapper Mackmore, who was dropped from. the concert lineup after making pro. Palestinian comments while playing at an. Ed Sheeran concert in New Jersey. >> I wanted to stand up here. on stages and stadiums across America. and say two words that are very near and. dear to my heart. free Palestine. >> For more on this story, I spoke to our. music correspondent Mark Savage.

>> So, this all started two weeks ago when, as you heard, MLmore was on stage in New. Jersey, the opening night of Edge here. in US tour, and he made these statements. about Palestine. The second night he. came out and doubled down on those. statements. He called Israel's action in. Gaza a genocide, which of course is a. term that Israel contests, but that. other people have endorsed, I guess. Um, that kicked off a huge wave of. criticism. Uh, pro-Israeli groups in. America said that Mlemore had ambushed.

fans with these images and with these. words. There were petitions calling for. him to be dropped from the tour. And. what we understand happened next was. that venue owners for future dates on. the rest of this tour started phoning up. Ed Sheeran's team and his promoters and. putting pressure on him to drop Mmore. Now in a statement uh on Tuesday, Ed. said that he had spent a week trying to. negotiate this, trying to build bridges. between the different sides, but the. ultimate result taken by his promoters. was to drop Mmore from the bill. and and.

in a very long statement, it was almost. 500 words, Edin was trying to say, "I. don't like this. I have my own views on. Gaza. I try not to speak about them. publicly, but kind of saying his hands were tied.". Um, it wasn't a very convincing. statement. It felt like he was trying. to, you know, trying to keep the peace, but not really doing it very. successfully. And within hours of that. statement dropping, uh, all of the. support acts for the rest of the tour.

dropped out. And not only that, but Ed's. backing band who play with him on songs. like Galway Girl and Jenny Mulligan, they also dropped out. Uh, and so. basically now he's left doing these 18. stadium shows completely on his own. >> Wow. So, as you said, this h this. started right at the start of of a big. tour. So, what does he face now? Will he. struggle to find any other supporting. acts, any other backup singers or or or. or musicians?

>> I mean, I think it'd be very difficult. for anyone to join this tour. I mean, look, there are a lot of artists who. would love that exposure, but I think as. soon as you sign up to it, you're going. to get caught up in this controversy and. you're going to face torrents of abuse. online uh because it will be interpreted. as endorsing either Edheron's point of. view or rejecting Mmore's point of view. It's just, you know, it's a it's a hard. situation to get yourself involved in. You'd have to have tough skin for that. As for Ed, he has a lot of experience of.

playing shows on his own. Um, I once saw. him at Wembley Stadium and he was the. only musician on stage for two hours. He. just plays his guitar and then uses. what's called a loop pedal to kind of. sample himself and build up tracks. He's. very capable of holding 80,000 people in. the palm of his hand for that amount of. time. But I do think for the remaining. three months of the year while he's on. the road, it's just going to be him. >> Wow. Three months. I I mean, underlying. all of this, we have to remember there's. a lot of big money that goes into these. tours and thousands of people have.

bought tickets. >> Yes. And that's what he said. You know, although he was disappointed about Mmore. leaving the tour, he said he owed it to. fans to continue with the gigs because a. lot of them have not just bought. tickets, but made travel plans, booked. hotels. And then there's a crew, you. know, a crew of more than a hundred. people on a on a tour like this who rely. on those concerts for their living and. they have families and so of course he. feels a responsibility to them as well. >> And that's all for this edition of the. Global News podcast. If you'd like to. get in touch, our contact details are.

below. I'm Celia Hatton. Until next. time, goodbye.