Former 'richest man in Asia' gets life in prison, and Russia strikes Kyiv | Global News Podcast

This is the Global News podcast from the. BBC World Service. I'm Celia Hatton and. on Thursday, [music] the 20th of August, these are our top stories. Kyiv comes. under bombardment from Russia as Ukraine. continues to plead with its allies for. more air defense missiles. [music]. Disgraced property tycoon Hui Ka Yan, once Asia's richest man, is sentenced to. life in prison in China. And a surprise. announcement from Prince Harry and. Meghan, they're moving back to the UK. We get reaction. Also in this podcast, we hear about the effects to preserve a.

geological marvel in Northern Ireland, removing the coins that tourists wedged. into the rocks. >> [music]. >> We begin this podcast in Ukraine and the. devastating impact of Russian. bombardment in the capital Kyiv. overnight. At least 13 people were killed when a. school, apartment blocks, and a. children's hospital were hit. The mayor. of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, spoke to the. BBC. >> It's apartment's building. You see in.

this building. died so many people. Tonight, tonight, in this minute, we can talk about 12. people, civilians. I'm talking just. about civilians that died from last. night. And. it's main reason. to destroy. resistance of Ukrainian, to bring whole. society to depression, and the main goal. of Putin. >> [snorts]. >> Our Ukraine correspondent Dan Johnson. spoke to us from one of the bombed. buildings in Kyiv. >> There are tower that have been totally.

destroyed by the waves of Russian. missile strikes that hit this city. around midnight, 1:00 a.m. There were a. number of locations that were hit, but. here we've got about four or five. eight-story buildings that are almost. totally destroyed, still standing. somehow, but the recovery teams were. showing me pictures from the roof that. show where the missiles actually went. straight in through the roof and then. essentially destroyed these flats from. the inside out. The recovery teams are. going through this wreckage. The noise.

you can hear is them throwing bits of. rubble down as they try to clear their. way through these apartments searching. for the bodies of those who are believed. to have been killed here and checking if. there is anybody else trapped. There are. lots of evacuated residents who are. gathered here just really stunned by. what they experienced last night and. what they're witnessing now in terms of. the devastation of their homes. They're. counting the cost, they're considering. what their future is, whether they can. ever potentially return to live here. It. looks unlikely. I've been in one of the. ground floor flats just around the.

corner. There was a huge shard of glass. that was actually embedded in the wall. The owner of that flat, Valeria, doesn't. have a bomb shelter. She was telling me. how they were cowering in the corridor, in the hallway last night, but if she'd. stayed in her bedroom, that shard of. glass may have cost her or her her. 13-year-old daughter their lives. They'd. actually moved to Kyiv having been. bombed out of their home in Mykolaiv. Now they're considering whether they. even have a safe future at all in. Ukraine. >> And Dan, Ukraine is constantly pleading with the.

United States and its allies for more. interceptors. This is proof, I imagine, that it's. still not getting what it needs. >> Yes, absolutely. The intense barrage of. Russian ballistic missiles that hit this. city last night were able to get through. and cause this damage and destruction. because of the lack of American-made. Patriot missile interceptors. They are. key in defending these skies against the. fast-moving ballistic missiles that. Russia has. Ukraine has been successful. in shooting down Russian drones, but in.

terms of defending itself against. ballistics, the plea from the president, from the mayor of Kyiv, from everybody. in Ukrainian politics is for greater. supplies of those interceptors so they. can try to stop this devastation and. loss of life. >> Now for news that just a few years ago. would have been unimaginable in China. The sight of Hui Ka Yan, once Asia's. richest man, in a courtroom flanked on. both sides by police being sentenced to. life in prison. Chinese television broadcast the.

sentencing as headline news. A court in. the southern city of Shenzhen also. issued a $1.3 billion fine to Hui's. company, Evergrande, for multiple. crimes, and a sister company was fined. another $1 billion. It was once a rags-to-riches story. Hui. emerged from poverty and built a. property giant, Evergrande, from the. ground up. He turned it into a global. real estate company that was worth $50. billion on the Chinese stock market,

commandeering a sizable chunk of the. Chinese economy. So, when Evergrande collapsed, it hit. the real estate sector hard. A lot of. ordinary Chinese people lost money. In April, Hui pled guilty to. embezzlement and bribery. His company is. guilty of concealing debt and falsifying. records to make it look like its. investments were healthier than they. were. Our China correspondent, Stephen. McDonell, is following the story. >> People already knew that Hui Ka Yan had. been found guilty, but now that he's.

received this life sentence, it's really. sinking in. And you only have to go back. a few years to see him as the darling of. the property sector here. I mean, his. company, Evergrande, was one of the key. pillars of the economy here, and with. properties right across the country, when it finally all came unstuck, the. impact has been huge, and the collapse. of this company alone has been a key. factor in starting the property crisis.

here. Now, all of China's real estate. developers, basically, they were. building stuff in places where there. wasn't enough demand. Then, when the. creditors came after them, that is, the. banks, the way they decided to tackle. this was to build even more to try and. stay ahead of the creditors. Now, Evergrande did all of this and more. So, according to this judgment, uh Xu Jiayin. is. pledged guilty to bribery, but also. issuing documents which inflated the.

health of the economy, fraudulently raising money on the basis. of this. And now he and 56 others from the. company, including two of his sons, have. been given custodial sentences, plus. more than 2 billion US dollars worth of. fines to pay. I I mean, it's just such. an enormous turnaround for this company, which you know, was sort of the pride of. the nation at.

at one stage. It was uh. heralded as as such a mighty sort of a. giant of the Chinese economy. And and. now here we are. >> Yeah, Stephen, we have to remember that. Evergrande wasn't just in China, that it. had global investments as well. What's. been the impact of its downfall. globally? >> Yeah, [snorts]. one of the reasons it's it's so mega, and one of the reasons that the party, the Communist Party, was so proud of it. is because it was extending its.

investments overseas. And to see how. sort of. how. much this has been judged by the courts, I suppose. You just have to look at this. judgment today that said that the size. of the amount of money that people have. been defrauded of, the losses imposed on individuals, but. also the damage to Chinese society, that. it's been so great, that's why there had. to be such a serious punishment. That is. life imprisonment for the founder and.

all these other jail sentences. I should. add that for the 56 others, some of. these sentences are as little as sort of. 1 and 1/2 years, one 1 year and 8. months, but some of them 18 years. So, very serious sentences indeed for the. sort of the entire upper echelon of. Evergrande. >> The Giant's Causeway in County Antrim in. Northern Ireland is one of the world's. most striking landscapes and one of the. most visited sites in the UK. Over the. years, tourists have taken to jamming.

coins between the columns and into. cracks, either for luck or for love. But as the coins rusted, they started. causing physical and chemical damage to. the rocks. A conservation project was begun and. now, with the help of volunteers, the. equivalent of 10,000 coins, way more. than 20 kg, have been removed. Dr. Kirstin Lemon from World Heritage is. helping to restore the site. >> Myself and colleagues from the British. Geological Survey undertook a survey to.

to assess the damage that the coins were. doing in the first place. So, by looking. at the coins, where they are, what's. happening around them. So, what's been. happening since then. program to try and remove those coins. And I think the sheer scale of what. we've been able to remove and the depth. of which they've been stuck into the. Causeway has really, I suppose, surprised us all. But we've actually. engaged the services of a local. stonemason who is very familiar with. working with this kind of stone and he's. literally gone at it a bit like a.

dentist, removing material from within. the little joints in the rocks. So, he's. basically used picks and taking one out. painstakingly, one by one. We've got a. grind but we think about 10,000 of the. coins out in total and it is only in one. area because there are coins actually. all across the Giant's Causeway and the. Causeway Coast World Heritage Site. >> Still to come [music] in this podcast. >> It's like so bad that it's so good. >> A homemade animated film about a baby. cow that's become a surprise hit in.

China. >> [music]. >> A tanker has reportedly been hijacked. off the coast of Yemen. Maritime. authorities say six armed men boarded. the vessel, seized control, and diverted. it towards Somalia. The condition of the. crew is currently unknown. Our Africa. correspondent Barbara Plett Usher is. following developments. >> The UK Maritime Security Agency says. that this happened 136 6 nautical miles. off the coast of Yemen in the Gulf of.

Aden. Uh as you mentioned, six uh armed men. boarded the vessel and then redirected. it towards Somalia, which is on the. other side uh of the Gulf. We don't have. any information about the state of the. crew. We don't have any further. information about where the ship um has. ended up or what kind of flag uh it was. carrying. What I can say is that um. there has been a resurgence of Somali. piracy over the past couple of months, since about March or April, a number of.

vessels have been hijacked, and this was. after quite a long period. uh uh of the security, much better. security um. in in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, given how big a problem Somali piracy. was uh about 10 years ago. Um and this. is also happening at a time, of course, when there are threats to maritime. shipping. uh not just in the Gulf of Aden, but. also especially in the Strait of Hormuz, uh and as well uh threats to the. possibility uh of security in the Red.

Sea, which empties into the Gulf. So, it. means that you have um quite an unstable. situation. >> Hm. Barbara, what's fueling that surge. in piracy? Are Are the Houthis behind. all of it? >> Well, the surge in Somali piracy uh is. partly because of domestic issues. So, you've got um according to reports, fishermen. um who are are are are angry at. international trawlers, uh illegal. trawlers that are decimating the fishing.

industry. And so they have taken uh to. piracy again to get money, basically. Um. but uh there are some defense analysts. that suspect that perhaps uh Houthi. rebels are coordinating with the Somali. pirates. There was one report of that a. couple of weeks ago um that there had. been some coordination. It wasn't clear. why and how that ended up, but what. everybody's thinking about, of course, is that Iran has threatened to ask its. Houthi allies in Yemen block shipping in.

the Red Sea, which flows into the Gulf. of Aden. uh because of the threats around the. Strait of Hormuz. Uh Iran had also. wanted to take control of the Strait of. Hormuz. The US has blocked shipping. there, and so um there's been some. question about whether that would also. happen in the Red Sea. And also, I would. say um there's just more traffic around. Somalia at the moment because of the of. the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and. the problems and threats in the Red Sea, there's more traffic in the Indian. Ocean, which is just out of the Gulf of.

Aden, so you have more access to. shipping. >> The UK woke up to a royal surprise. today. Prince Harry, his wife Meghan, and their children are reported to be. planning to move back to England over. the next few weeks. They won't be living. in a royal residence, but it will be. close to London. Their two young. children, Archie and Lilibet, have been. enrolled in schools for the new term. Harry and Meghan left for the United. States 6 years ago. Ilsley Anderson, a former press. secretary to the late Queen Elizabeth, says an earlier visit to the UK this.

year may have prompted Harry's return. >> That could have been maybe a test case. to see whether Prince Harry and the. Duchess of Sussex would have you know. breached that trust and actually. released images of them with the King. and Queen at Highgrove. Now, clearly. they didn't, but on the Duchess's. Instagram account, she did release. photographs of them in the UK at Prince. Harry's mother's ancestral home. So, she was sort of sort of teasing us a. bit, if you like, with those images. But.

again, I think maybe it was that, you. know, let's see what happened in July, and if that was a success, you know, let's come and move back to the UK. >> Our royal correspondent Nora Nanji stood. outside Buckingham Palace in London and. told us more about the decision. >> It's a really surprising announcement. I. think a lot of people were not expecting. this, and there are a lot of unanswered. questions. What we do know is that Harry. and Meghan and their two children, Archie and Lilibet, will be moving back. to the UK, and the children are enrolled. in a British school over here, so they.

will be starting school in September. So, as I say, it took a lot of people by. surprise. What's driven it? That's one. of the big questions. Why now? Why have. they decided to do this? Well, we've. been speaking to some people close to. the couple who say that the decision to. move back to the UK was taken relatively. recently. It's understood that that trip. that they made in July with the family. to the UK played a part in that. We know. that, of course, Harry, but Harry,

Meghan, and the children spent time with. the King and Queen at Highgrove, and. also with the Spencer family, uh, the. Princess Diana's. family at the estate in Althorp, and. that, uh, they really enjoyed that, and. so it's understood that that has played. a part in all of this. Also, we. understand that Harry and Meghan are. keen to educate their children over. here. And of course, Harry has spoken. extensively about his how much he misses. the UK. He said that as much in a BBC.

News interview last year, talked about. how much he like he likes the idea of. bringing his children back to his. country of birth. And so, all of those. factors, we think, has played a part in. this. >> Hm, it's interesting, Nora, because he. said in that same BBC interview that he. couldn't anticipate returning to live in. the UK. So, something has changed. What's been the reaction inside the UK. today? >> Well, I think it's a really good point. in this in terms of you know, one of the. reasons he expressed about not being. able to return here, he said was around.

it was all couched around the issue of. security because we know that that's. been a real sticking point for Prince. Harry for some time. He's been quite. angry about the way that his and his. family's security has been handled here. in the UK ever since they have moved to. the US and so the security arrangements. and how that is handled when they move. back here is going to be a really. interesting thing to watch. We know that. the Sussexes have a private security. team in the US that they hire. Whether. that team will then move to the UK, it. is not known. It's also not known if.

Prince Harry has now resolved his. long-running dispute with the Home. Office over the security issues. But as. I say, with the family due to move here. relatively shortly, we imagine all of. this will come out into the open quite. soon. And in terms of reaction, I mean, we. have heard this morning, for example, from the education secretary Lucy Powell. here, who said that she welcomed their. decision to move here. And I think there. will be a lot of interest in that side. of things, too. You know, where the. children will be educated. We know that, of course, their cousin, Prince George,

is going to be starting at Eton pretty. soon in in a couple of weeks. Where. Archie and Lilibet go to school will be. of a lot of interest. It won't most. likely be in London because we know that. the the family will not be living in. London, but it could well be where they. decide to locate. And we think the. rumors are that they could decide to set. up in the Cotswolds or sort of. Northampton area close to Althorp, the. the Spencer family estate. >> Interesting. And are Prince Harry and. Meghan expected to carry on with public.

roles once they move back? >> No, they're not really. The. understanding is that they won't become. working royals when they come in here. And the understanding is that the royal. household that doesn't have any major. appetite for a sort of half-in, half-out. role. So, they will carry on being. private citizens, not working royals. So, then that does beg the question of. what they will do when they're here. And. of course, there are people who are. questioning whether their move here has. been sort of perhaps. reflects the fact that perhaps it wasn't. working out for them in the US, and they.

have decided to therefore try again over. here. It's important to say that those. close to the couple say that's. absolutely not the case, that this. decision as I say has been motivated. more by questions around the desire to. be close to her Prince Harry's family, and also the the wish to educate them. over here, rather than any sense that. things haven't worked out in the US. >> To Australia, where there have been more. developments in the mushroom murders. trial. In Melbourne, an appeal hearing for Erin. Patterson, the Australian woman. convicted of killing three people by.

feeding them a beef Wellington lunch. laced with poisonous mushrooms, has come. to a close. While her lawyers have been. trying to overturn her conviction on the. grounds of an unfair trial, the. prosecution say she should never have. been allowed to leave prison. Our. Australia correspondent, Katie Watson, has the details. >> Two days of hearings have now wrapped up. in Melbourne. This was a double appeal. Erin Patterson was trying to overturn. her conviction, and the prosecution was. appealing against the sentence. Now,

much of Wednesday and today was spent. going over Erin Patterson's case for. appeal. Seven grounds for appeal, including issues with evidence, the. actions of the prosecution, and the. jury, and how her team going over in. quite granular detail using previous. cases to argue why they don't think that. she had a fair trial last year. Now, the. last 2 hours of today was the. prosecution's turn to argue why they. think the sentence handed out to her,

that's 33 years minimum before being. allowed a chance for parole, they think. that that is too lenient. They argue. that the sentencing judge made a mistake. in saying that she would face tough. conditions inside prison because of her. notoriety and would be spending uh quite. a considerable amount of time in the. foreseeable future in solitary. confinement. Now, uh the prosecution. argues that's not necessarily the case. Evidence didn't point to that uh and.

outlined that she has access to a prison. lounge, an exercise yard, and to. activities such as crocheting. Now, at. that point, the triple killer who is was. watching the hearing via video link. closed her eyes and shook her head. Now, we won't have a decision on this for a. while. They've reserved the decision, the appeal judges, so could take a. matter of weeks or even months. >> And last, [snorts] a crudely animated.

homemade film about a baby cow has. become an unlikely success at the box. office in China. New Li was made on a. low budget by a mother and son over 5. years. As of today, Thursday, it's. grossed the equivalent of more than $4. million. This 25-year-old American musician. working in Beijing summed up why he. liked the film. >> It's like so bad and it's so good. But. it's just like. You know what I appreciate? I appreciate. how like.

how bad it is. But there's some heart into it, so you. can't hate that. You can't hate heart, you know? >> Mong Chen Jiang from the BBC World. Services Global China unit told us more. about the film. >> So, the director Xing Yu Mong, he's. someone in his 30s and his mother, who. was born in the '60s, they are the main. crew and the cast behind the whole film. And the mother even sing the final song. in the movie, and she's also dubbing a. lot of the characters. And what's most.

interesting about this mother-son voice, they are having zero background and of. professional training animation or. filmmaking uh the sound from what we've. seen in Chinese reporting that he. studied. as he studied garden design and. architecture design. So, that has. nothing to do with actual filming and. animation. Uh and the mother we haven't. seen much reporting about her, but she's. not from a professional background. either. >> I love the fact that they worked on this.

together and it took them 5 years to. make it. How do you explain the popularity of. this film? Is it a rejection of things. looking too polished these days and AI. being used too much, do you think? >> I think that's definitely a very. important factor why people are getting. this surprise like you have seen a lot. of AI animated film on your phone that's. even better than what we've seen on the. big screen. So, that's a very big. surprise element there. And the other.

thing is well, AI's developing so fast. like Chinese AI softwares students they. can made almost like real people. And. when you see such simple animation. that's purely made by human, you can see. there's a very different contrast there. You can actually feel the human story. >> And that's it for this edition of the. global news podcast. If you'd like to. get in touch, our contact [music]. details are below. I'm Celia Hatton. Goodbye.