Deadly ferry explosion in the Philippines and other top stories | Global News Podcast

This is the Global News podcast from the. BBC World Service. I'm Celia Hatton, and. on Thursday, the 10th of September, we'll go to the Philippines, where. dozens of people are missing after an. explosion on board a ferry. >> The problem is they could not approach. the vessel at this point until the fire. has been completely extinguished. >> The Houthi rebel group has captured a. port city vital to international. shipping. We'll speak to our. correspondent in the region. And we'll. go to the Republican National. Convention, where Donald Trump has.

promised to pay voters if his party wins. the midterms. >> It's not clear that it's legal to make a. promise like that, because it is against. the law to try and offer a payment to. anybody to influence how they're going. to vote. >> Also in this podcast, the EU confirms. record-high temperatures across Europe. And two of the Artemis astronauts hang. up their spacesuits for the last time. We'll tell you why.

We begin in the Philippines. It's. nighttime there as we record this. podcast, and rescuers are frantically. searching for around 90 people missing. after a passenger ferry caught fire. after an explosion. Five people have. already been found dead. The ferry, the. MV June Aster, is afloat but tilting. heavily to one side. The Philippine. Coast Guard has held a news conference. Its spokesperson, Commodore Naomi. Cayabyab, says thick smoke continues to. billow from the vessel, and that's. preventing rescuers from boarding the.

ship. >> The challenge we are seeing right now is. the strong winds. So, that is limiting. our response. No matter how much we put. out the fire, there are external factors. that could reignite fire. According to. our Coast Guard station commander in the. area, there are no longer flames inside. the ship. What we are taking into. consideration is smoke in the ship. If. our personnel get on board, they could. be suffocated. >> The Philippines is an archipelago with. thousands of islands, so it's dependent.

on boat travel. Fairies are a cheap way. to move people and cargo between. islands, some of which are inaccessible. by air. But, as we'll hear, it also has. a very bad record for deadly marine. accidents. Karen Lema is the Reuters. bureau chief in Manila. When I spoke. with her, she began by telling me more. about that news conference. >> We heard from the spokesperson about. their conversation with one of the. survivors who reported hearing an.

explosion before the blaze quickly. spread. in the ferry. That is the thing. It still remains. unclear what caused it. He she didn't want to speculate. obviously on what might have. or the reason behind the explosion. So, that is still a question that remains to. be answered by the Philippine Coast. Guard. >> And what more can you tell us about the. rescue effort? Have emergency crews made. it on board the ship yet?

>> No, yes. Interestingly, they have. definitely deployed a lot of vessels. It's become a comprehensive rescue and. search. The problem is they could not approach. the vessel at this point until the fire. has been completely extinguished. You can see from these images how. charred the vessel is and there's still. thick smoke that is that continues to. billow. from the vessel making it difficult for.

the rescuers to attempt to enter the. vessel. So, that's complicating and. hampering the rescue efforts. They're. worried about the extreme heat that. rescuers might experience and there's. also concern that there might be. explosions. inside the vessel. So, we're still. waiting on that. According to the Coast. Guard, they're hoping that they could do. that before the end of the day. Um but yeah, but it's been uh it's it's. been complicated by that. >> Karen, why are marine accidents a.

recurring problem in the Philippines, a. country that is so dependent on boat. travel? A ferry capsized in January, killing at least 65 people. Why can the. authorities not get a handle on this. issue? >> Well, um you know that the Philippines. is an archipelago of more than 7,600. islands. So, um. inter-island travel uh is very common. A. lot of people rely on it to go as a.

means of transportation. It's an. obviously it's a cheaper option. But if. we've seen the track record of the. country, it's it's a bit patchy. Um. Um. and a lot of it is due to overloading, overcrowding, lax uh regularization. regular reg. um lax regulations in in terms of. enforcement. But of course, we hear from. officials that they've been trying to. tighten this. Uh they've been doing a. lot of screening. And in fact, the Coast. Guard.

uh official just told us today that the. the the vessel actually passed uh safety. compliance assessment that they've. conducted. Um it should have enough It. passed um when they did the checks, it. it says that they've had enough life. vests. for for the passengers. So, but that has. often been the case. Um. overcrowding, overloading was a common. reason. Um and yeah, the enforcement of. regulations, which I you know, officials.

are saying that they've been trying to. address. >> Now to a major military development in. Yemen. The government there has been. battling the Houthi rebel group for more. than 10 years. And today, a strategic. port hub has fallen to the rebels. Houthi fighters have seized the city of. Mocha on the coast of a key shipping. route linking the Red Sea and the Indian. Ocean. That change comes after days of. increased escalation and fighting. between the government backed by Saudi. Arabia and the Houthis who are backed by. Iran. Our global affairs reporter is.

Richard Cutgoi. >> The port city of Mocha has been now. overrun by the Houthi fighters. The city fell to the Houthi fighters on. Thursday morning and what has happened. is that government forces have. reportedly withdrawn from the city. together with their allied fighters and. they're heading south to a town called. Zuhab. So this is a very strategic town.

on the Red Sea coast in Yemen. >> Tell us more about the importance of. this port and and why there's been so. much fighting over the status of this. port. >> Yeah, there's been fighting actually and. this was a re-ignited last year on. Thursday and between the government. forces and the Houthi fighters. What has. happened is that the militants have been. targeting to gain more control of. strategic towns along the Red Sea coast.

So the end game basically is to gain. control of the Bab. al-Mandab Strait which is on the Red Sea. coast and it's a very key passage that. links the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean. So it's an important shipping lane where. you know ships are transiting from the. Gulf with goods and also heading to. Europe and also heading to Asia and. normally pass through. And so this has. been a spillover of the conflict that. we've been seeing.

in the other strait. That's the Strait. of Hormuz where we've been seeing the. fighting between US forces and Iran. So. this has been it's it's It's a strategy. for them uh to push and to gain control. over this strategic uh pathway. And it's. because also they've intensified. attacks across the border in Saudi. Arabia within the southwestern uh. regions. >> Richard, as you've been reflecting, this. conflict has global implications,

doesn't it? What's it been doing to the. price of oil? >> Absolutely. Um you know, the price of. oil has risen sharply in the past a. couple of days and are now slightly over. a hundred dollars per barrel. What this. really means is that uh we're going to. see a global inflation. Uh also the. delivery of this critical uh supply, because what has happened is because of. the fighting uh in the Strait of Hormuz, what has happened is that the Saudi.

Arabian authorities have been shipping. out the precious commodity now through. uh the Red Sea. But now with this sort. of disruptions, we're likely to see uh. the rise in global inflation. I was. expecting to hear from the European. Union Central Bank if they're going to. be announcing a new interest rate. So, everybody at the moment is watching and. I was really hoping for a bit of relief, but now with the surge in fighting, it. just in the entire region, it's really. going to cause a massive disruptions in.

terms of logistics and also the supply. of oil. >> To the US now, President Trump has. promised $5,000 to every adult American. citizen if the Republicans win the. midterm elections. It's unclear where. the money, totaling around $1.3. trillion, would come from or if. President Trump is breaking the law by. offering it. He made the announcement at. a Republican Party Convention in Texas, which the Democratic Party has described. as a flashy distraction from real.

issues. Our North America editor, Sarah. Smith, was at the convention. >> Donald Trump has just finished his big. speech to supporters at this Republican. convention and he told them the midterm. elections that are coming up in November. are going to be one of the most. important elections in American history. And then to try to guarantee a. Republican victory in those elections, he made a rather surprising promise. He. said he would pay $5,000 to every adult.

in America if and only if the. Republicans win those midterm elections. >> So if the Republicans win, you win with. us and you get $5,000. It will be called. the Trump dividend. We'll call it the. Trump dividend. But the only condition on the payment of. this dividend that we're going to be. making, so it's $5,000. to. every adult. The only caveat I have is that.

the dividend that we're making must be. spent in the United States of America. >> It's not clear that it's legal to make a. promise like that because it is against. the law to try and offer a payment to. anybody to influence how they're going. to vote. Donald Trump may say that this. is a an election promise rather than an. election bribe. But he didn't give any. details at all as to how he would pay. for this. It could cost a trillion. dollars to pay a $5,000 dividend to.

every American. No details of where that. money would come from. Um but Donald Trump clearly knows that. the cost of living is really weighing. heavily on people's minds and the war in. Iran which is helping drive prices up. So he said that he thinks the war in. Iran won't be over before the midterm. elections but very shortly after that. and he promised prices would plummet as. soon as that conflict is wrapped up. And then in a sign that he clearly. thinks he's still a big vote winner for.

the Republican Party. He asked voters to. pretend that he is running for election, to pretend that his name is on the. ballot, and come out and vote. accordingly in November. >> Next to the news that two of the four. astronauts on the Artemis two space. mission are retiring from space flight. Back in April, the crew broke a major. record in human space flight, traveling. further away from Earth than ever. before. The Artemis project eventually. aims to reach Mars, but now only one of.

the four astronauts originally on board. will continue with space flight. So, why. would the others stop now after the. mission around the moon was such a. success? I asked our reporter, Alfie. Hopper-Sheahan. >> You could be eventually going to Mars, so why quit now? We're going to deal. with that in a second, but first let's. look at who's quit. One is the pilot, Victor Glover. He's going to be taking. on a teaching job at a university in. California now. And the other one, the. commander, Reid Wiseman. He's going to. be continuing on more at base camp now.

He'll be helping out with some of the. operations and planning, but not flying. himself. Um as you alluded to in your. introduction, another one, the Canadian. um astronaut, that's Jeremy Hansen. He. was also part of this fantastic four, let's call them. He retired earlier this. year, as well. So, we've only got one. left, Christina Koch. She's the only. woman to travel around the moon. And in. terms of why, why is there only one left. now who's still willing to fly? Well, it's actually not unusual after sort of. a major space mission like this for. astronauts to stop. And part of the.

reason for that is even the training to. get to this point, it can take over a. decade, especially or longer than that. for something so complicated like this. If you think about the operational. equipment, the medical training, understanding the kind of scientific. side of space, and then. preparing your body, as well. I mean, when you're in when you're up there in. space, your bone density can change, your muscles can shrink, you're exposed. to radiation. So, you know, and that's. not even to mention the mental side. It's hard for me and you to imagine here.

in London what it is like being in the. darkness with three of your colleagues. for such a long time staring at the. earth looking so small like a sort of. tennis ball or smaller than that. So, you know, that really came across that. those challenges and Reed Wiseman, that. commander who's retired, that really. came across when he spoke to the media a. day after they landed. >> I have absolutely no idea what to say. This is. 24 hours ago the earth was that big out. the window and we were doing Mach 39 and. here we are back at Ellington at home.

Victor, Christina, and Jeremy, we are we are bonded forever. and no one down here is ever going to. know what the four of us just went. through. And it was the most special thing that. will ever happen in my life. >> So, what now? A new crew is set for this. project. What are the next steps? When. will it set foot on the moon and. eventually Mars? >> Okay, let me take you through the grand. plan. So, the first of all we've got a.

bit of a dress rehearsal, that's next. year, that's Artemis 3. That's going to. not go to the moon, it's going to stay. quite near to the earth's surface, but. really practice some of these. operational challenges like docking to. lunar landers. Then the big one, 2028, that is when the plan is for humans to. set foot on the moon for the first time. in over 50 years, you know, it's since. Apollo 17 in 1972. So, it really is a. big deal. But of course, you don't want. to spend billions just to repeat what's. been done. It wants to go much, much. further than that. They want to set up a. sort of a permanent base on the moon and.

really carry out experiments to. understand what it is like for humanity. to live somewhere that's not earth with. Mars on the horizon. So, very, very. ambitious, a little bit far-fetched, Celia, I would say, but um undoubtedly. very exciting, undoubtedly pretty. whimsical. >> Still to come, the famous medieval work, the Bayeux Tapestry, goes on public. display in the UK to sold-out crowds. Now to a story in the city of Portsmouth.

here in the UK where over 30 angry. demonstrators gathered outside a hotel. after hearing false rumors that a group. of migrants had arrived there by bus. It. was in fact Pakistan's under-19 cricket. team that are on tour in England. Portsmouth has been shaken by. anti-migrant protests since Sunday. Hundreds of people, many wearing face. coverings, clashed with police and. blocked roads in an attempt to stop. buses carrying migrants from leaving the. city. Our Pakistan correspondent, Carrie.

Davies, told me more about the incident. >> So this information that I have received. came through Pakistan's Pakistan Cricket. Board's Chief Operating Officer and who. I spoke to this morning. He told me that. he'd got his information from the. manager of the under-19s cricket team. And according to him, that there had. been some outsiders on Tuesday night. that had come to the floor where the. team was staying and then began to knock. on the team's doors. Now he said that. the cricket team had responded. responsibly and they hadn't escalated. the situation. Now BBC's also been.

speaking to a local politician a reform. politician for the county council. Now. he had gone down there to try to help. diffuse the situation. He described what. was about 30 or 40 people outside the. hotel by the time he got there about an. hour and an hour and a half or so after. they'd first arrived. And he said the. whole situation had developed because. someone had seen and then taken a photo. and posted online of the cricket team. arriving in their coach to this hotel. and they had made the assumption that. this was a coach load of migrants that.

had come to this hotel and that's what. spread online and led to people coming. to the hotel to protest against as you. say this backdrop of anti-migrant. protest that we've seen particularly in. Portsmouth in the last week or so. So. that was what happened according to to. both of those two sides. The the um. local politician also said uh that he'd. spoken to the hotel and the hotel had. told him at the time that no one had. gone inside the hotel. So, slightly. different messages coming through, but. we ultimately know that this protest did.

happen. Now, according to the Pakistan. Cricket Board, they say that it's um uh. the responsibility of the the teams that. are that the board that are inviting uh. Pakistan over to make sure that the. security and safety is paramount, that. they've been speaking to the England. Cricket Board about it, and that they. say that things um that they think. that's being treated responsibly, uh and. they really hope that something like. this doesn't happen again. Meanwhile, this 2 and 1/2 weeks or so tour that the. under-19s have been on of England has. been continuing. They played a match the. following day after this incident.

happened, and they're still in the UK. for the next few days as well. >> We've reported a lot on the damage left. behind by the alarming number of severe. wildfires breaking out in Europe this. summer. Climate change and the effect of. El Niño, the periodic natural warming of. the Pacific Ocean, are thought to be. behind the unusually high temperatures. Now, the European Union's climate. service says August this year was the. joint hottest month ever recorded. For. more on this, I spoke to our environment.

correspondent Matt McGrath. >> Anybody who's been in the UK, Europe, parts of America, parts of Asia, parts. of Africa through the last few months. will have recognized the intense heat. that many parts of the world have been. suffering from and the related extreme. events such as storms, droughts that. have accompanied all those. So, it's no. real surprise that the data for August. shows that the temperatures for the. whole of the world, the global. temperature for the whole of the world, was the warmest on record. I think what. is surprising for scientists in some.

respects is the margin of the scale of. of the warming. They're saying uh the. Copernicus unit are saying that. basically it's 1.65 degrees higher than. pre-industrial times, since about 1880, 1850. And that number is really. important because. politicians in Paris. in 2015 agreed that they would try and. keep the global temperature under that. 1.5 degree level. The rise in global. temperatures would be kept under that. much. And now we see in this particular. month it's gone past that. Now, it's not.

a breach. Usually that temperature is. measured over 10 or maybe 20 years, but. it's. significant because of the direction of. travel and the scale of it. And I think. that's what's worrying scientists. >> Mm. Matt, we've been hearing this kind. of news a lot. The hottest day on. record, the hottest month on record. Can. you put this into context for us? How. worried should we be? >> I I think there's a number of things. that are different with this particular. piece of data. It's I think the scale of. the intense of events that we've seen. Normally, what used to be normal I guess.

back in the in 10, 15 years ago, you. might have one heat wave in the summer. or two. You know, across Europe and the. UK we've had five, potential four, potentially five big heat waves. And in. other parts of the world as well, it's. the intensity, the severity, the fact. that these are continuing to happen one. after the other, the sequence of them if. you like, the weather seems stuck in. places. And I guess behind all this is. what the scientists say is the onward. rise of carbon emissions that are doing. the most damage here. They are the key. factor in driving up this heat and.

keeping that heat high. And we're seeing. this intense played out across the world. in this summer, perhaps like we've never. seen before. >> Mm. I mentioned the wildfires that that. burned across Europe this summer. Do you. think that governments in Europe in. particular are waking up to the dangers. posed by climate change? >> I think it's interesting you see the. responses from governments. The. governments everywhere are very. concerned when they see the scale of the. heat waves that overwhelmed parts of. Europe in some respects. You know, nuclear power stations in France that. couldn't run because the river the level.

of the water in the rivers was too low. or too hot. We we've seen so many. aspects of this. Governments making. their responses on the uh reacting to. the events, but the bigger question of. whether they're taking action on the on. the driving force of this, the emissions. of carbon dioxide, that is still in. play, and governments are less. uh shall we say committed than they. were. Uh they're more distracted by. other things, the cost of living crisis, uh wars in various places. They're less. focused on the underlying issue here, and I think we'll see in the next few. months when political leaders get.

together just how stuck they are on this. particular issue. >> Mhm. And then, I mentioned the El Nino. weather phenomenon. It's also playing a. role, but the biggest impact of it is. still to come? >> Yes, that's right. I mean, the. scientists were saying that we're seeing. a rising a rapidly rising El Nino, and. it might be one of the strongest, possibly the strongest we've ever felt. in the world. And we're not really. seeing the full impact of that on. temperatures yet. That that's likely to. be at the peak when it's November, December later this year and into next. year that we'll see that heat coming up.

out of the oceans, mostly in the. Pacific, and impacting the atmosphere. >> And last, the Bayeux Tapestry, which. tells the story of the Norman Conquest. of Britain in 1066, has just gone on. public display in London. It's the first. time since being created almost a. thousand years ago that it has left. France. The tapestry has been loaned to. the British Museum until next July. John. Maguire was at the exhibition just. before it opened to visitors. He spoke. to some of the main people at the heart. of the exhibition. >> It may, as historians believe, have left.

these shores almost a thousand years. ago, but the Bayeux Tapestry is back at. long last and is proving hugely popular. These people were the first to secure. tickets online for the British Museum's. new exhibition. >> that took me about 40 minutes to be able. to get my tickets. Um and then later on, I'd sort of refresh my browser, and it. showed I was about 50,000 in the queue, and then 80,000. So, uh it was just. really busy. But say I was really lucky. >> This is a particularly momentous piece.

of history. So, and I've never had the. chance to see it before. So, yes, this. worked out perfectly. >> Depicting the French conquest of Britain. and the Battle of Hastings in, of. course, 1066, it's believed the tapestry. was woven here and then sent to France. The British Museum is particularly proud. of the specially-built display case, at. 70 m long, believed to be the longest in. the world, and showing the panels in a. continuous straight line for the first. time. >> And it allows you to appreciate just the.

sheer scale of the object and, you know, consequently, the monumentality of the. events it depicts, which were lived. through by the people who made the. object. So, it's really moving to think. about. >> Negotiating the loan from its usual home. in Normandy has taken years, with. caveats seemingly as long as the. tapestry itself, and its new setting is. unique. >> You get to see the length of the. tapestry right from the very start, and. you understand, um, the fact that it is. nearly 70 m long in its surviving.

length. It used to be longer. Whereas, at the, um, in the old installation at. Bayeux Museum, it was in a horseshoe. shape. So, you never really understood. the magnitude of it. >> Paramount was making sure it could cross. the channel safely and without damage. Last week, the King and President Macron. saw the exhibition. Warm words of. international cooperation provided the. narrative for their visit, a moment in. history.

>> While the tapestry tells the story of. how we become, you know, Britain today, I think it's where our monarchy goes. back to. It's that point of invasion. Everybody knows about 1066. So, to come. and see it in person for the first time. in Britain in 950 years, you know, it. it's a special day. >> A point not lost on the first to see it. this morning as they exited through the. gift shop. >> Just just comes to life in front of you, really, and it's just so moving to think. that that was all embroidered so long. ago and it's you know it's the cinematic.

history of its day. Um, and just just. beautiful but the color was incredible. >> Presented the whole story of the. well of the. the decline and death of Edward the. Confessor, the usurpation of the throne. by Harold and William's William's. conquest. >> It's thought more than a million people. will see the tapestry while it's here. A. chance to get close to a physical. manifestation of one of the most famous. periods in our history.

>> 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.