Israel marks three years since 7 October attacks 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. We're in Israel. as people mark three years since the. Hamasled attacks of October the 7th. >> We choose life and uh we got to live. with it. And our job is just to always. remind them who they were and tell their. story. >> Across the border, Gazins count the cost. of Israel's war on Hamas. >> As Palestinians, we are like people. buried alive. This is our apartment now.

Look at it. >> International calls for transparency. from Russia after the death of a lab. worker at a plague research center in. Siberia. [music]. Also in this podcast, this year's Nobel. Prize for chemistry goes to two. scientists for showing how chemical. reactions can produce a mirror image. form of a molecule. >> This is the most exciting day in my. life. I'm very glad to share as a prize. with Professor Andy Kabala.

>> It's October 7th, the anniversary of a. day when things changed for many in the. Middle East. Today marks 3 years since. Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups. launched a brutal attack on Israel. In. total, around 1,200 people were killed. and 251 others taken as hostages, making. it the single deadliest day for Jews. since the Holocaust. Israel responded by. launching a military offensive in Gaza, triggering a war in which more than.

74,200. Palestinians have been killed. That's. according to the Hamas run health. ministry. Our correspondent John Donison. has this report. At first light on the Gaza border, Israelis were remembering the dead. A national trauma that three years on. still stings at the site of the Nova. Music Festival. Now there was silence. Daniel Lev was remembering his brother.

Adam just 22 years old when he was. killed by Hamas gunman along with his. girlfriend Sha Amin. It makes a good. It's like a comfort because it's we're. all together. You're not uh feeling this. pain alone. Uh so it makes you feel a. little bit better. It's not going to get any easier. Uh but. you know uh we choose life and uh we got. to live with it and our job is just to. always remind them who they were and.

tell their story. The October the 7th attack with Hamas. rampaging across the border had been. unimaginable. for Israel's military and its. intelligence agencies. It was a. catastrophe. The biggest loss of life in a single day. in the country's history and 251 people. taken hostage. Who should be held accountable will be a.

key issue in this month's Israeli. elections where Prime Minister Benjamin. Netanyahu is fighting for his political. survival. Inevitably, he hit back hard. A. three-year long assault on Gaza that has. never really ended. Almost 75,000. Palestinians have been killed by Israeli. strikes. According to Gaza's health. ministry, the territory lies in ruins. and hundreds of thousands remain. homeless amid a humanitarian crisis.

And in Gaza today, there was little sign. of commemoration. >> Today, as Palestinians, we are like. people buried alive. This is our. apartment. Now look at it. Today is the. 7th of October. For me, it's the day of. sorrow, the day of catastrophe, the day. of Palestinians catastrophe. At this. moment, we are living in graves while. still alive. The repercussions of October the 7th.

have been felt across the region. An. unresolved war in Lebanon and in Iran, too. With so many lives lost, grief and. suffering has hardened people's. attitudes. Peace between Israelis and. Palestinians seems more elusive than. ever. >> Our Middle East correspondent, Yolan. Nell, is at the site of the Nova Music. Festival where hundreds of Israelis were. gunned down. She told me what's been. happening there today.

>> So, we've seen many moving scenes here. of bereaveved parents cleaning and. putting candles the memorials of their. lost loved ones. Right behind me is the. dance floor of the Nova Festival. It was. turned into really a killing field three. years ago today. Now it's been. transformed into a memorial. And for. each of those people who were killed, uh. mostly Israelis in their 20s and 30s who. just come here uh for a party at the end.

of the Jewish holidays, there have been. uh big sort of posts put up which have. their names, their stories and pictures. of them. And we have seen buses of young. Israelis coming here, some of them with. school groups. We've seen Israeli. politicians arriving to pay their. respects on this day of reflection, visiting foreign dignitaries have been. here as well. This became Israel's. single most deadly site on its deadliest. ever day. And there have also been other. commemorations that have been taking.

place in the kibbutim close uh to the. border. There are about 20 communities. that were infiltrated in these Hamasled. attacks and of course Israeli military. posts as well. Yolan, you mentioned politicians. arriving uh where you are. We're just a. few weeks away from some crucial. elections in Israel. How have the legacy. of those Hamas attacks affected the. discussion that's being had inside. Israel now?

>> I mean, security is really a major issue. going into this general election. It's. the first election that will be taking. place since the 7th October attacks. And. many people were surprised actually at. that the government's choice of timing. which in the end means that the. elections come just when this. anniversary will be very much in. people's minds. But there have been. demands particularly from those who were. personally affected by what happened on. that shocking day for a state commission. of inquiry that has not happened up to.

now from the government of the Israeli. prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and. his political rivals are really accusing. him of being responsible for many of the. failures in security that led to the 7th. of October attacks. >> across the border in Gaza. Loud bangs. were heard early on Wednesday. Israeli. air strikes on the territory have. continued despite a US brokered. ceasefire between Israel and Hamas last. year. Palestinian officials say two.

people were killed in the latest strike. overnight. So how are Palestinians. feeling today on the third anniversary. of the October 7th attacks? I spoke to. our Gaza correspondent Rashi Abu Alof. who's in Istanbul. Hundreds maybe. thousands of Palestinians use the social. media platform to mark that day. People. are posting before and after. Before. when they used to enjoy the life in Gaza. despite despite all of the difficulties. and after when they since October the 7.

they are not enjoying one day of full. you know peaceful despite a year of a. ceasefire. Uh the situation continue to deteriorate. humanitarian situation in Gaza is very. bad. People still after 3 years queueing. to get a clean water and uh food. Many. of the twoird of the population they. live in a makeshift houses and tents. across Gaza. And the majority of the.

people lost their homes, their loved. ones. uh despite the ceasefire about. 1,500 people have been killed in a. continuous Israeli like targeting mainly. Hamas but many civilians are always. caught in the Israeli strikes in in. Gaza. So it is a day that has changed. their life once and forever. These. people marked this today in their post. They were saying that we are still stuck. in that morning and we are still stuck.

in in the 7th of October and no one. whether you still live in Gaza or. outside Gaza or wherever this is a day. that change people's life since then. people are you know suffering and they. seems to be they will continue to suffer. for a long time because there is no. solution clo in the horizon there's no. negotiation everything is you stopped. >> The US President Donald Trump has said.

he'll speak to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, soon about the death of. a lab worker at a plague research center. in Siberia. The World Health. Organization says it has requested more. information from the Russian authorities. over reports that a second employee at. the laboratory had also contracted. pneumonia. The WH is seeking. clarification on the cause of the severe. pneumonia and the pathogen involved. Our. Russia editor Steve Rosenberg has more.

>> This is Shelikov. Not the most famous. town in Russia, but a woman's death here. has attracted global attention. She was a lab worker at this institute. 10 miles away in Kutsk, where they. research a deadly disease, plague. She'd. fallen ill and died. As a precaution, dozens of staff were placed in. quarantine. >> In Moscow, the Kremlin spokesman's been.

commenting. >> Donald Trump, >> I asked him, "President Trump says this. is a big problem for Russia and has. offered to help. Your reaction, offers of mutual assistance, Dimmitri. Pescov says, are always good. But when I suggest a lack of official. information is fueling rumor and. speculation, he hits back. Our public health watchdog, he says, is.

providing comprehensive information. So what are the Russians saying? According to official information here, the lab worker died not from the plague, but from pneumonia of unknown origin and. no further infections of a similar. nature have been detected. In other. words, the message from Moscow is. there's nothing to worry about. There's. nothing to see here. Washington still isn't sure about that. >> It's incumbent upon Russia to obviously.

share more information with the world. That's what they should do. That's what. we hope they will do. Russians are. hoping they're being given accurate. information and that they'll stay safe. >> And there's lots of excitement, I'm. sure, in parts of France and Japan today. after the Nobel Prize in chemistry was. awarded to the French scientist Enri. Kagan and the Japanese organic chemist. Kenzo Soy for their work providing a. solution to the chemical mystery of.

life's asymmetry. Our science. correspondent, Palab Goch, told us more. >> Think about a molecule. It's a kind of. stringy thing that's a bit of a funny. shape. Um, it is a particular type of. shape. It's left-handed. If if you put. your left hand in front of you and then. next to it, put your right hand in the. middle of it. If you put a mirror, you. can see that one's a mirror image of. another. So, there's this whole world of. mirror molecules that largely don't.

exist in life. So why should that be? Something must have happened in deep. time to favor the world of left-handed. molecules and left-handed plants and. animals and life. And so this is this. mirrorness has been a mystery in. chemistry for about 100 years. And in. the 80s and 90s, these two scientists. began to solve just what happened back. then to make life as it is. >> Fascinating. I mean they they won the.

award together today but actually they. didn't work together did they? One made. some breakthroughs and then the other. followed on about a decade later. >> Well that's right. That's how Nobel. prizes work. That's how science works. It you know you might have heard the. expression on the shoulders of giants. Um Albert Einstein's theories built on. the work of Isaac Newton. And so the. Nobel Prize celebrates something that. usually happens a long time ago. Not. always, but in this case, the first. piece of work was done in the 1980s.

They do that just to see if it really. has a big ramification. So, uh, Oric. Kagan did the initial work to show that. certain types of chemical reactions. magnify a particular type of handedness. And then, uh, so I uh found out that if. you have a bit of one type of. handedness, there's a feedback effect. You get more and more of it. So, it's. like a snowball getting bigger and. bigger. So, somewhere in the gloopy mess. that resulted in eventually you and me.

talking, um, there was a series of. reactions that favored one kind after. another. Still to come, do we trust male. AI agents [music] more than female ones? to Ukraine now where a wave of Russian. missiles and drones pounded residential. buildings, industrial facilities, and. infrastructure overnight. Ukrainian. officials say at least 20 people were. killed. President Zilinski has described.

the attacks as the Russian army's. birthday gift for Vladimir Putin. Vitali. Shvchenko, chief analyst at BBC. monitoring, told me more about what's. happened. It happened in a town called. Brol which is just east of Kiev where a. Russian missile hits a fivetory. apartment block and. um I would say a couple of dozen.

households have been reduced to a heap. of rubble. Um so far the authorities say. that um 14 people at least 14 people. have been confirmed dead there including. four children and at least uh 50 uh. wounded elsewhere in in Kenchuk for. example further east um part of a street. was uh completely erased by um more.

Russian uh missiles and um more. Apartment blocks were hit there as well. Two people uh dead. Um overall um at. least 20 people have been confirmed dead. in strikes across Ukraine overnight. >> Vitali, are we entering an era where. Ukraine simply unable to defend itself. against Russian missiles and Russian jet. powered drones? >> It's an endless game of cat and mouse,

if you like. a tragic game where it's it. all comes down to uh quantity and. quality. In terms of quality, Russia's. weapons, they are getting better. They've started installing jet engines. on their drones, but they also have. ballistic missiles, which uh Ukraine is. struggling to intercept. It needs. American Patriot interceptor missiles. It doesn't have enough of them. There's. also glide bombs which are all but. impossible to intercept. So Russia has.

really good weapons and uh it's got a. lot of them and it's really bad news for. Ukraine. It's really struggling to come. up with interception means. >> Malaysia used to be one of the strongest. critics of the military regime in. Myanmar. But in a signal of changing. regional alliances, Myanmar's ruler. Minong line is in Malaysia for talks. with the Malaysian Prime Minister Anoir. Ibrahim. The two-day visit comes as.

Malaysia's pushing ahead with a. controversial move to repatriate. thousands of migrants from Myanmar, many. of them Muslim Rohinda refugees. The. repatriation is happening even though. rights groups and UN experts have warned. those people could face danger and. persecution back in Myanmar where a. civil war is being fought. I asked our. Southeast Asia correspondent Jonathan. Head in Bangkok to tell me more about. Malaysia's U-turn on Myanmar. Malaysia.

is the fifth member of ASEAN now to. accept official visits by Minong line. since he held his much criticized. election earlier in the year cementing. his position as president. Um Malaysia. is the most significant because of its. previous stance such strong stance. against the military government and its. legitimacy. Malaysia still doesn't. officially recognize the government. It's bizarre that he's getting this. official state welcome and yet his. government is not legally recognized. Malaysia's ambassador doesn't actually.

sit as an ambassador in Myanmar. Anois. Ibrahim has done this. He says simply. because he said there are practical. requirements that there are things I. have to talk to the man who effectively. runs the government in Myanmar about and. that most critically is the number of. asylum seekers from Myamar in Malaysia. 200,000 Rahindas, tens of thousands of. other Burmese as well. And he says that. with unless I meet him, we can't address. this. And it's become an extremely. heated issue in Malaysia after this. toxic online campaign of hostility.

towards Rahindas back in June and July. at a time where Mr. Ammoir's popularity. has fallen sharply. He faces an election. within a year. Um you know it is it's a. very heated topic. So you can understand. why he sees the need to be responding to. the hostility towards migrants to be. doing something. The question really is. what's he going to get out of this. visit? And I would question whether he's. going to get anything meaningful at all. H well some migrants have already been. sent back to Myanmar. What awaits them. there.

>> was very unclear and we're not getting. much transparency from the Myanmar. government. I mean everyone knows about. the 1500 who went back in Myammar navy. ships last week. There have been. thousands of others who had to pay for. their own airfares who flown back and. know in those cases they probably got. some family support but some of the m I. mean none of the migrants who've gone. back by the way so far are rahindas who. are the target of hostility. So, Prime. Minister Anoir has let people believe. that these arrangements he's made to. send migrants back are targeting. Rahindas. There are none and there's a.

good reason for that because Rahindas. are not recognized as citizens and are. only allowed to live in Rakine state. which is in a complete state of war and. fundamentally out of the control of the. central government. So, when Prime. Minister Anoir says, you know, we're. going to negotiate to get the Rahindas. sent back, that just isn't going to. happen. But the other groups have gone. back also. Many of them come from war. torn parts of Myamar. There are Chins. there. There are ethnic Rakine. I mean. it's very unclear about whether they. will be able to go back home. And if. they are young men, they face the.

gruesome prospect of forced. conscription. The Myamar military is. engaged in a massive conscription drive. at the moment. They're quite literally. kidnapping people off the streets at. night to try and fulfill the quotas to. throw them into this dreadful meat. grinder of a civil war where new. recruits suffer very very high. casualties. So human rights groups are. quite right. They're definitely not in. going back to a safe and and stable. country. >> And last, we're finding more and more. uses for artificial intelligence in our. everyday activities, especially at work.

But is there a risk that gender biases. that exist in the real world can be. transferred onto how we feel about the. AI bots that shape our days? Dr. Mary. Housefeld from the University of. Limmerick in Ireland thinks so. She's. the co-author of some new research into. how we interact with AI assistants that. are presented to us as being male or. female. Behind the scenes, the AI agent. was the same exact AI model, but it was.

presented either as a robot or as a. human-like AI agent. And then the. humanlike agent, of course, was. gendered. There was a male presenting. version of Johan and a female presenting. version of Johanna. So, they worked on. these tasks together in collaboration. with their AI assistant. And we asked. them questions about um how much they. trusted their AI assistant uh how much. credit the AI assistant deserves for the. work. And then we gave them an. opportunity to um take their.

compensation which was a maximum of four. Swiss Franks and distribute it between. themselves and their AI assistant. And. what we found was that despite saying. that the male version and female version. of the AI deserved similar levels of. credit for the work, they actually paid. Yana about 10% less than they paid. Johan. >> That's incredible. And what else did you. learn about how much they trusted the. female presenting agent versus the male. presenting agent versus the the robot?

This part is really interesting to me. because what we found was that uh women. participants in our sample, which were a. um slightly fewer women than men, but. still a nice representation, uh tended. to trust Yan and Johanna similarly and. trusted them both more than the robot. But we found a different story for uh. their male participants who only trusted. Johanna about as much as they trusted. the robot. So, we saw a real difference.

in how much um Johanna was trusted, especially by male participants. We're. not exactly sure what explains this, whether Yeah, we're we're not exactly. sure what explains this, but it does. align with some other work in the gender. space um indicating that maybe women's. competence is less trusted. >> Interesting. Dr. Husfield, so what do we. all take away from this? Should we be. paying attention to how AI bots are. presented to us in our everyday lives? >> So, we have to be careful as we can't.

answer so many questions from just this. one experiment. But what our work does. show is that um giving an AI agent or. assistant a human-like identity and. assigning it a gender can change the way. that people interact with it, how much. they trust it, and how much value they. assign to its work and to its services. [music] 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 [music] time, goodbye.