Over 100 Israeli settlers attack a Palestinian village and other top stories | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the Global News podcast from. the BBC World Service. Hello, I'm. Valerie Sanderson and this is what's. coming up. Israeli settlers attack a. village in the occupied West Bank, stopping a Palestinian family from. returning home. >> I think it just is a very clear. illustration of how the Israeli. authorities are struggling or indeed. failing uh to deal with uh settler. violence. Spain plans to ban evictions. until 2030 following nationwide protests.

over an 87year-old woman being forced to. leave her home. >> I'm in central uh Madrid in Puerto Rol. square where hundreds of people have set. up tents angry at the the situation with. the rental market. >> Open AI scraps the launch of its next. artificial intelligence model over. safety concerns. Malaysia begins sending. 5,000 asylum seekers back to Myanmar. A sharp upsurge in violence by Israeli. settlers against Palestinians in the.

occupied West Bank has been gaining. international attention. The latest. example is an assault by a 100 Israeli. settlers who've attacked a Palestinian. village there, preventing a family going. back to their home which had been seized. by settlers. The return of the. Palestinians to the village of Jaloud. had been coordinated with the Israeli. army after a high court ruled in their. favor. Our correspondent in Jerusalem, Yolan Nell, told me more. >> The Tbasi family had been forced to.

leave their two homes on the edge of the. village of Jaloud, which is just south. of Nablas in the West Bank. That was. back in July. um and they had been. subjected to months of harassment and. settler attacks um when they fled. Now, the Israeli high court had ruled in. their favor earlier this month um really. putting out a strongly worded statement. calling for the rule of law um to be. reinstated and uh calling on Israeli.

authorities to uh get this family back. to their homes. Now we were told by um. Mahmud at Bassi that he was called uh. late at night and told that that. coordination had come through at around. midnight local time. Um so he one of his. sons and his wife uh rushed off to these. houses. They were being escorted by. Israeli soldiers and Israeli police. But. it seems that what happened at the same. time that one of the WhatsApp groups. used by these extremist settlers to.

coordinate their actions put out an. alert saying that the family that they. had managed to force out was indeed. returning and calling um on settlers to. come and join an action to stop uh that. return from happening. Uh the family. told us that they had just inspected the. extensive damage to one of their. properties. They sent us a video where. you could just see how, you know, settlers have torn it apart, smashing. the toilet, smashing up the doors,

pulling out the electrical fittings. Um, and just as they were in the process of. that inspection, uh, settlers started to. throw stones at the house. They were. told that they said there were more than. a hundred of them. That is the same as. the statement that's come from the. Israeli military. Uh the family said. that there were actually five or six. soldiers that helped them initially to. get into an Israeli military vehicle so. that they could leave the scene. That. vehicle was attacked with its tires. slashed, they said. Um and then they. were put into an armored vehicle and.

taken away after they left. Their houses. were set on fire. >> How are the Israeli authorities reacting. to this? Because this happened following. a high court ruling that the family. should return. >> That's right. And I think it just is a. very clear illustration of how the. Israeli authorities are struggling or. indeed failing uh to deal with uh. settler violence particularly under the. government of uh Prime Minister Benjamin. Netanyahu who you know with the farright.

elements in his government has really. promoted rapid settlement expansion and. the UN is saying that settler violence. in the West Bank is at an all-time high. Now, the Israeli prime minister did put. out a statement strongly condemning what. had happened, but he was referring to. the attacks on the Israeli security. forces. Um, three border police were. lightly injured, we're told. The Israeli. president has said there has to be. decisive action and said this is a moral. stain, particularly coming at the time.

of the Jewish high holiday of Sukkot. The Spanish government has approved a. proposed ban on evictions until 2030. amid protests across the country over. housing. The issue came into sharp focus. when an 87year-old woman who'd lived in. her Madrid apartment for decades was. evicted when she could no longer afford. the massive increase in her rent. Her. situation drew huge publicity and now. ministers have decided to introduce new. housing decrees which they say are in.

response to the demands of the people. The case of pensioner Mari Carmal. Abascal itself seems resolved. We heard. more from our correspondent Guy Hedgeko. who's in Madrid. Clearly uh the backlash. against this company and a backlash. against the eviction overall played a. part in in all of this and seemed to. persuade uh this company uh that it was. a good idea to allow Marman Abascal to. return uh to her flat. Should point out. she's been in hospital ever since she. was evicted last week undergoing tests.

Um we're still waiting to hear uh if she. does actually want to return to the. flat. You would imagine so. Um but we're. still waiting to hear confirmation uh of. that. But she has become very much a. symbol of this protest movement um. linked to the housing crisis here. I'm. I'm in central uh Madrid in quer square. where hundreds of people have set up. tents as part of uh this protest angry. at the the situation with the rental. market. Um and this is just part of a.

broader uh protest movement which seems. to have been triggered really purely by. the case of uh Micascal. I mean we have seen demonstrations and. protests over the last couple of years. regarding uh the housing issue. It has. been sort of an underlying problem uh. for Spaniards particularly younger. Spaniards who struggle to get uh to find. affordable housing. Um but it's been a. big issue for a while. Um and this. really um has shone a light on it and.

made it, you know, absolutely the. political priority uh for this. government. Um and these protesters here. said they wanted an immediate response. from the government. And so today what. we have is a decree from the coalition. government of Pedro Sanchez. A decree. which I should point out needs to be. approved then by Congress in order to. remain in place. But the the details. that have come out so far do suggest. that uh this decree does include a. number of the demands that were being. made by these activists here uh and by.

the the SDA in Kilinas which is the. organization which has been campaigning. very hard on these issues. So we don't. yet have a formal response uh from the. activists here but so far it does seem. as if those some of those measures for. example which you me you mentioned there. um you know protecting people from. further evictions until 2030 the. automatic extension of rental contracts. Those are some of the things which these. activists have been demanding. >> One of the biggest issues in the news is.

artificial intelligence and one of the. biggest questions is how much of a. threat AI poses to us. Now a key player. in the world of artificial intelligence, OpenAI says it's scrapped the planned. release of its next model due to safety. concerns. The firm says GPT6.1. Astra, which performs tasks like. browsing the web and using apps by. itself, didn't quite meet the bar of the. company's standards. Our technology. reporter Shauna Macllum spoke to Anita.

McVey. Fundamentally, this new Astra. model fell short of the safety. requirements that OpenAI had. And um you. know, just to give you a bit of an idea. of what these models can do, they can. browse websites, they can uh use apps. for you, they can make decisions for. you. And OpenAI said, look, at this. point in time, this AI model had not. been safe enough. um it hadn't reported. back exactly what it had been doing and.

um for that reason they decided to. pause. Now. >> so were they worried about it going. rogue Shona as we've seen in other. incidents recently? >> Well I think this points to this bigger. debate of scrutiny around these AI. agents and of course these incidents. that we've covered extensively of them. going rogue. We've also seen OpenAI. apologize for its involvement with. getting into some of the Australian.

government websites as well. Now, that's. not a suggestion that that that this. pause of this AI agent is anything to do. with that, but I think it just shows. that there is more scrutiny on these. companies. I mean, should these. companies be the ones to set the bar and. test against the bar and ultimately. decide if they have got over the bar for. safety? And that's what's happening just. now. OpenAI have obviously said look at. the moment Astra is not ready for. release and we'll pause it for now. So. we're seeing that scrutiny in action but.

again it is in house at the moment and. it's not external and that's what. governments are deciding whether or not. you know we need regulators or external. auditors on this technology as it is. advancing so rapidly. >> Yeah, you mentioned that breach of an. Australian government health portal. Sha, it's interesting today that the. Trump administration is launching. America.go gov which will see greater. integration of AI into various systems. there. So we know that President Trump. has taken a rather skeptical view of.

these concerns around AI safety, but it. it no doubt is a question that. governments right around the world uh. will be considering. >> Absolutely. I mean, President Trump. called this a hoax and has definitely. been on the side of the tech companies. wanting to continue with the pace of the. development of this tech as it's going. I mean, I was at the King's AI summit a. couple of weeks ago where the king was. using his soft power to get all of these. tech company bosses around the table to.

try and get them to discuss the way. forward for this tech. I mean AI can be. used in for good in so many ways and. that's why we see it becoming more part. and parcel of government operations um. health tech operations etc. But the fact. that some of these agents are going. rogue and that there needs to be more. scrutiny is definitely a conversation. that governments are having right across. the world as these tech companies are. going as fast as they can to develop the.

next model. Still to come, the US. journalist Evan Gishkovich tells us. about his arrest and imprisonment in. Russia. >> They told me that I was under arrest by. the Federal Security Service of the. Russian Federation. This is the full. name of the FSB, which was formerly the. KGB during the Soviet Union. For many years, there was strong public. sympathy in Malaysia for the. approximately 750,000 Rahindas driven. out of Myanmar by the military in 2017.

Many made their way eventually to. Malaysia in search of sanctuary and. work. And it's thought about 200,000. live there, eking out a living. But now. the Malaysian government has started. repatriating around 5,000 asylum seekers. from Myanmar, including many Rahindas. under a controversial deal agreed with. Myanmar's military ruler. A Southeast. Asia correspondent Jonathan Head gave me. the details. >> Well, this is the first stage, the. first, 1476 people who have been taken.

by bus already to the Malaysian port of. Lumut. It's a Navy port. They're being. put on board three Myamar Navy ships uh. and will then have a very long we think. it might take them a week journey across. the Anaban Sea to take them back to. Myanmar. What we don't know is exactly. who these people are. They've been held. in detention centers. Um there are more. than 10,000 people being held in. detention centers around Malaysia. They. are Myamar nationals. Um Prime Minister. Amwar Ibrahim has said they include.

Rahindas. Um but at this stage Malaysian. authorities are not confirming or. denying because Rahindas are not viewed. as citizens by the Myamaran government. and are not allowed to live anywhere in. Myamar aside from Rakine state which. currently is a a war zone with intense. conflict going on. No one can work out. how Rahindas could be sent back. But the. real issue in Malaysia relating to um. immigrants from Myanmar is particularly. focused on the Rahindas. there have been. some very nasty social media campaigns.

against them. There's a lot of public. hostility. Uh and so that's where the. focus has been. So we'll wait to see. what the composition of these uh these. these returnees is. U perhaps we might. get more information when the rest of. them get sent back in the next few. weeks. >> But human rights groups have condemned. this repatriation, haven't they? >> They have. Um, and the UN refugee. agency, the UNHCR, has said it has been. barred from having any involvement at. all in this. Malaysia is increasingly. keeping the UN refugee agency out and.

wanting to control the process of. whether somebody is or isn't a refugee. itself because there's been no. independent screening. It's impossible. to say that this is voluntary. Now, human rights groups also say anyone get. going back to Myamma now is vulnerable. either to persecution, to getting caught. up in the violence of the civil war or. being dragged into forced conscription. which the Myamar military imposes if. they're men. Um, but that obviously if. Rahindas were included in that, the fact. that they cannot even go back to most of. Myanmar and that if they went to even.

the small part of Rakine state under. government control, they'd be confined. to miserable camps would make their. plight even greater. But the my the. Malaysian government has said we've got. too many. They have to go. It's not been. listening. >> Is it surprising it's happening under. Prime Minister Anra Ibrahim himself a. political prisoner and a defender of. human rights in the past? >> Well, some of his former supporters have. called him out on this and said, "You're. betraying the very principles you stood. by." But he's not alone. In the past,

all Malaysian leaders when there was a. lot of public sympathy for the Rahindas. tended to say we need to support them. and there was an unofficial policy of. tolerance. The public mood has shifted. sharply. There's been a real increase in. hostility towards Rahindas. They're. about thought to be about 200,000 of. them in Malaysia. And Prime Minister. Anoir himself is politically embattled. He leads a fragile coalition. He's been. in power for nearly four years. His. popularity has plunged. I think the. reason they're not saying whether a.

hinges are are not on board this first. consignment is precisely because he. wants people to believe they are on. board and that he's addressing these. public concerns about immigration. >> Next to a story from the United States. that started tragically with the murder. of 19-year-old Colleen Surmer in 1995. and may end on Wednesday with the. execution by lethal injection of her. killer, Christa Pike. She was just 18 at. the time and has been on death row for. 30 years. On Monday, the governor of.

Tennessee said he would not intervene in. the case and barring a lastm minute. reprieve, Christa Pike, who's now 50. years old, will be the first woman to be. executed in the state in more than 200. years. The BBC's Stephanie Heggerty has. been looking into the story for us. Colleen SLMur and Christa Pike met at a. training camp for troubled teens in. 1995. Colleen was 19, Christa was 18. Um, and they came to blows. Um, Christa.

was at the time accused Colleen of. trying to steal her boyfriend to Daryl's. ship and to Daryl and uh, Christa, Lord. Colleen into a wood where they really. brutally murdered and tortured her. There was a huge media frenzy around. this story at the time because to Daryl. Ship later um said that he carved a. pentagram into Colleen Surmer's chest. and this this was the time of the. satanic panic in the US where there was. a lot of fear around teenagers engaging. in Satanism. So it was a very big trial.

in Tennessee at the time. Tadarl Ship. was 17. So though he took part in the. murder and and torture as well, he was. never eligible for the death penalty and. he got life with the chance of parole. and he came up for parole last year. though it was denied whereas Christa. Pike on the other hand was 18 so she was. eligible for the death penalty and she. was convicted and sentenced to death in. 1996 there have been years of failed. appeals haven't there and her defense. team have always said that she was a. victim tell us about her case so this.

didn't come up uh so much in the trial. itself but in the years since Christa's. several defense teams who've been. representing Christa have uncovered um. much a lot of evidence of really severe. and traumatic childhood abuse. Now, this. was available to her defense team at the. time, but it wasn't presented, at least. not in great detail in the sentencing. part of her trial. So, it's emerged that. she was sexually abused um right back to. when she was a toddler by one of her.

grandmother's boyfriends, that she. suffered sign severe neglect at the. hands of her father and her her mother. Um her mother had many different. husbands and boyfriends, some of whom. abused Christa sexually and um and. physically. She was raped at 11, at 14, and again at 17s. So this was a a young. person who was extreme experiencing. extreme trauma at the time of the crime. The last rape that she experienced was. just a year before almost to the day a.

year before the crime. and uh Christa. Pike's current defense team have said. that all of this contributed to her. mindset at the time. She's also um since. the trial been diagnosed with bipolar. disorder. She's been been treated for. that in prison and her defense team say. since she's had the appropriate. treatment, she's a much different. person. For 16 months, the Wall Street. Journal reporter Evan Gerskovich was. held in a Russian prison. The first US. journalist to be charged with espionage. in Russia since the Cold War. He was. arrested in March 2023, a year after.

Russia invaded Ukraine, and was. eventually released in a prisoner swap. It was the images of a young man in a. glasswall dock and his newspaper. attempts to free him that made news. around the world. And now he's turned. that experience into a book called This. Cursed and Beautiful Land, a Russian. story. >> So, I'm sitting with the source in a. restaurant. I'm facing uh the dining. hall. he's facing me and it's you know.

half empty and a group of about half. dozen masked men march in uh and they. they say you know I think we booked that. table to us which you know caused us to. stand up and it's a really odd phrase. which I think is you know they play it. really well in that way it freezes you. in place uh and then they say uh as they. approach you realize they're wearing. actual you know I didn't realize when. they're marching they're wearing masks. but as they turned had approached the. table. I see that they're wearing.

balaclavas. Uh and at that moment they. said they told me that I was under. arrest by the Federal Security Service. of the Russian Federation. This is the. full name of the FSB which was formerly. the KGB during the Soviet Union. And. it's at that moment that you realize. immediately that something's really. serious because if it's local police, maybe they're suspicious of something. going on. They take you to the station. They rough you up. Uh they call Moscow. Moscow says, "Oh, let him go. That's a. foreign journalist." maybe you get. kicked out of the country, but when it's. the FSB, you know, it's really planned.

Um, and also at that moment, uh, the. source I was speaking with, this union. boss, he I notice him stepping away into. the crowd as I'm being dragged down. And. when I get taken into the FSB station, I'm not interrogated. I'm not tortured. I have no questions asked of me of the. source. I'm immediately presented with. charges uh that yeah I've you know I'm. accused of espionage that I violate the. espionage act and that I'm facing uh 12. to 20 years in prison and I have this.

odd moment that I described in the book. of a sense of relief uh flooding over me. and what I think that was you know I'm. still you know it's a sort of anim. animalistic fear that you're overcome. with at that point but I realized that. okay they're not actually treating me. like a real spy set me up fabricated. this case so that so I can be a valuable. hostage a pawn in a greater game and and. that means that okay this might take a. while but I won't be there for 12 or 20.

years uh swap cases you know they can. take a year they can take five years but. it's not going to be the full length of. of the actual charges. >> and that is it for this edition of the. Global News podcast if you'd like to get. in touch our contact details are below. I'm Valerie Sanderson until next. Goodbye and thanks for watching.