School roof collapse in Pakistan kills more than 30 pupils and other stories | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the global news podcast from. the BBC world service. I'm an Asai. Here's what's coming up. >> We're in Pashawa in northwest Pakistan. where more than 30 children and a. teacher have been killed after a school. roof collapsed. >> A cracking sound was heard by the people. and they rushed over to the school and. they saw that part of that building was. collapsed. This was in a very. dilapidated condition. An investigation. by BBC Verify finds that hundreds of IDF. reviews into killings and alleged abuses. have no public outcome. And.

>> Prince Harry and Meghan Markle make. their first public outing since their. return to the UK visiting charities. close to their hearts. >> Without them, I don't think we would be. here. You know, the support they've. given us has driven the kids to do more, to want to be more. Also in this. podcast, a dog that hunts invasive sea. vomit is honored as animal of the year. >> When I got her out into the field, she. just blew me away. She was finding. [music]. really, really cryptic, really, really. difficult to spot colonies of the sea.

squirt. [music]. We begin in Pakistan where a roof has. collapsed at a school in Pashaw, killing. at least 32 students and a teacher. The. children were all under the age of 13. Officials say at least 19 others are. injured, some critically. This man, Sahel, told us his niece was inside the. building when it happened and how she. survived. >> My young niece had left the school to. buy a pencil. She told me that on her. way back to school. She stepped onto the. stairs and the roof collapsed. She.

managed to get outside and told me the. school has collapsed. When I arrived to. the scene, I saw around 10 to 15. children trapped beneath the rubble with. debris piled up to their necks. We. quickly pulled them out. There were huge. chunks of debris everywhere. >> Police say the owner of the school has. been arrested and the site is under. investigation. I got the latest from a. reporter at the scene, Aziz Zulahan. >> We are seeing that lot of people are. visiting over here into the uh the. school area where the building has been.

collapsed. There was a two floor. building over there and this was very in. the dilapidated conditions because there. were lot of students were there but we. police have told us that about 110. students were over there and they were. in the in the in the classrooms over. there and at that time it's quarter to 9. I think so uh when the cracking sound. was heard by the people and they rushed. over to the school and they saw that uh. uh there was a building a part of that.

building was collapsed. When we saw this. building, this was in a very dilapitated. conditions. This was constructed in the. first floor was constructed with the T. iron and garders where rest of is. constructed with the mud and the wooden. things. So, so it it cannot bear the. weight of the students because there was. one 110 students was over there and it. get collapsed over here. The still the. rescue process is still here but the. injured and the dead bodies were rushed. to the lady reading hospital in Pishaw. This is one of the congested area over.

here in Pishawa that the capital of the. Kabakuna province. Uh the hospital says. that they have received 33 dead bodies. whereas about 22 were injured and the. still there says that the death toll can. be uh getting higher because some. injured were in a critical conditions. over there. uh we have talked to the. police officials and when we find out. that how the no objection certificate. was given to this school that how it was.

working over here when this was in a. such a bad condition they say that we. have put this proposal to the. administration and the government to. think over it that how it can happen. when uh such conditions building was. there is a lot of students mostly poor. students of this area. >> um what more do we know about the. investigation that's currently being. undertaken. Um I'm seeing reports that. the owner of the school has been. arrested as investigations are carried. out regarding the structure of the.

building. I have spoke to the senior. superintendent of the police Farhan. Khan. Uh they have taken the principal. of that school. Uh and the first. information report the police have. registered the case as well. And uh he. was saying that uh investigation would. be started the education department uh. they have also cons constituted an. inquiry committee to find it out that. how it happens over here. Similarly, I. have spoke to the information minister. of the Kha promis Harun Bord and she.

says that this inquiry is going to be. conducted and we will find out that how. it get this school was working over here. and similarly how it was given the no. objection certificate where was the. monitoring team where was the education. department authorities were there and. where was the government that why it has. not been taken into the in into the. account to find it out that how such. kind of a a bad condition. Building was. working over here.

>> The BBC investigation has found that. there has been no public outcome to. hundreds of incidents where the Israeli. military has been accused of deaths and. injuries even though the IDF said it. would investigate. There have been 254. incidents identified by BBC Verify. across Gaza, Lebanon, the West Bank, and. Israel in which the IDF was accused of. harm. BBC Verifi's Merlin Thomas. reports. Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, the Israeli military has faced many. accusations of misconduct when it's. killed or injured people. Often, it's.

responded to these individually, and. they've told me time and time again that. an incident is under review or a. variation of those words. Now, I wanted. to find out just how many investigations. there were and what happened to them. Israel has carried out extensive. military operations in Gaza following. the October 7th Hamasad attacks three. years ago in which about 1,200 people. were killed and 251 others taken. hostage. More than 74,000 Palestinians.

have also been killed according to the. Hamas run health ministry. Meanwhile, the conflict has spread to Lebanon and. violence continues in the occupied West. Bank. Our investigation has identified. hundreds of deadly incidents the Israeli. military has said it would review. But. what were the outcomes of those reviews? To try and find that out at BBC Verify, we developed a custom AI model to scan. thousands of news articles dating back.

to the start of the war to identify. cases where the IDF said it would. investigate or check an incident where. it had been accused of killing or. injuring people. From there, we removed. duplicates and manually checked every. single one of them. That left us with a. list of 254 incidents without any public. outcome on the IDF's website. Remember, this wasn't an exhaustive search, and. it's likely that there are more. investigations into incidents of harm.

that weren't captured. One of the deadliest was a strike on the. Tabain school complex where the Hamas. run civil defense agency said at least. 93 people were reportedly killed, including six women and 11 children. At. the time, the IDF said a Hamas command. and control center had been embedded in. the school building and the IDF soldiers. killed 31 fighters in the instant. The. Israeli military told us this was still. under review. In August, the IDF published a rare.

report detailing internal probes into. five incidents in Gaza, including the. case of Hind Rajab. She was a 5-year-old. Palestinian girl who was killed along. with several of her family members and. two paramedics who tried to save her. when they came under fire by the Israeli. military in Gaza in 2024. The IDF said. the case has been referred for criminal. investigation. That incident is one of. the few whose status we know within the. IDF's investigative system. But what.

about all the other cases we found? I. put the findings of our investigation to. the Israeli military weeks ago. We. approached the IDF about each case. multiple times, but only received. information on two instant. The IDF said. it takes every allegation about conduct. that may be inconsistent with the law or. IDF directives with the utmost. seriousness. It says it publishes. information about the outcomes of. investigations when possible subject to. legal, operational, and privacy.

considerations. It also says so far 150 incidents have. been assessed and referred to the. military advocate general call for. review. The IDF didn't tell us if these. 150 incidents overlap with the ones we. found. It adds that certain incidents. are reviewed by the military command to. establish a sequence of events, identify. failures, and learn lessons. One. international humanitarian lawyer told. me, "The Geneva Convention specify a. party to armed conflict is responsible.

for investigating its own.". I think it's more important that we have. the Geneva Conventions um and that they. give us these kind of clear bottom. lines. And the clear bottom line is that. it's absolutely the responsibility of a. party to armed conflict to investigate. and potentially prosecute its own. Remember, some of the incident without. public outcome are nearly 3 years old, which experts say in cases where. allegations of misconduct can be upheld. makes it difficult to get answers.

>> The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are. carrying out their first joint. engagement since moving back to the UK. from California. Harry and Meghan Markle. and their two children set up home in. England over the summer, six years after. they stopped life as working royals and. went to the United States. Our role. correspondent Nonangji reports. Prince Harry and Megan arriving at a. charity in Nottingham this morning. In. Megan's first official public appearance. since returning to the UK, she and Harry. took selfies with fans, including.

children, and collected flowers before. entering the Community Record Studio, a. charity which uses music and sport to. mentor young people. It's been 9 years. since the couple last visited Nottingham. together in what was their first. official royal duty after their. engagement. It is here that Megan was. officially launched into public life in. the UK. Since moving back to the UK in August, it is Prince Harry who has been out and. about on charity engagements, supporting.

the organizations he has continued to. work with while living in California. Megan has largely kept a low profile. with any insight into what she's been. doing largely coming from her social. media, including glimpses of family life. at their new home. And there was a meeting over tea at a. London hotel with campaigner Malala. Yusfsai ahead of a charity. collaboration. Relationships with the wider royal. family remain sensitive and in some.

places strained or completely broken. Harry and Megan will not join the royals. at Sandringham this Christmas. They will. spend the holiday privately with Megan's. mother. Tensions remain. Past conflicts. are unresolved. But Harry and Megan are. back for now. And today marks the start. of their return to public life in the UK. as a couple. >> Still to come, could the Iran war and. the cost of living impact Donald Trump. and the midterm elections? We speak to.

voters in Iowa. >> He's got us in the war. He's got prices, groceries high, skyhigh, gas skyhigh. [music]. Who is behind the restrictions on. Ukrainian access to Elon Musk's. company's militarygrade satellite. communications network Star Shield? Mr. Musk has suggested it was the US. government and the Ukrainian President. Vadimir Zalinski says he feels. personally betrayed by Donald Trump. after the US president recently lifted. sanctions on Russian diesel. The energy.

ceasefire announced by Mr. Trump is also. being ignored and Ukrainians are bracing. themselves for another hard winter. Meanwhile, EU leaders are meeting in. Brussels to discuss Russia's war against. Ukraine as well as European defense and. security. I asked our Europe. correspondent Nick Beak what Europeans. can do to help Keev apart from yet. another sanctions package. >> These European leaders are meeting at a. time when the relationship between. President Zilinsky and President Trump. really is in a very bad condition. It's.

probably the worst it's been since that. infamous bust up in the Oval Office in. February of last year. So, in the short. term, I think they're going to be trying. to to build bridges if they can, if. they've got any sort of um, you know, ability to do that with President Trump. if they're able to reach out to him. But. no, it's sanctions really that I think. they're talking about, a 23rd round of. sanctions that would um really squeeze. the Kremlin and its ability to pump. money into the Ukraine war. So, that's.

what they're going to be talking about. But already some of the leaders who've. been arriving at this two-day summit, for example, the the Dutch prime. minister saying that not all European. lead leaders, not all European countries. doing what they should to help the. Ukrainians and they need to to step up. and do more. But I mean, it's easy to. say, isn't it? Let's see what that. amounts to in practice. >> Yeah, absolutely. There's been EU. criticism of this diesel deal, but. collectively the EU brought more than. $200 billion worth of oil and gas from. Russia since 2022. >> Well, that's right, and that's something. that President Trump has mentioned. He's.

suggested that the Europeans are being. hypocritical because they really don't. like this uh deal that he announced at. the end of last week. The idea that the. Americans would be buying diesel, buying. Russian oil at a time when the Europeans. say that they're trying to turn the. screw and add more sanctions and reduce. the amount of revenue that President. Putin gets that he can then invest in. the war. But, you know, within this. there are these accusations of. hypocrisy. Uh, and if you're talking. about sanctions and tighter pressure.

coming on Moscow, if you look at what. happened just a few weeks ago, France. fought quite hard actually to. successfully get a Russian Usuzbck. billionaire taken off the existing EU. sanctions list and this happened and a. day later a French national was released. from prison in Azabaijan. So the French. really were accused of politicizing this. process. So let's see what these. European leaders uh work out over the. next couple of days. But President. Zilinski obviously in the short term his.

concern is that the Americans may be. with with with holding some vital. intelligence about incoming Russian. strikes and also the Ukrainians have. been talking about their concern that. their ability to use Starlink Elon Musk. product has been diminished in some way. and again that's harming them both on. the offensive and on the defensive as. well. The US president remains his usual. defined self, but inside there might be. some trepidation ahead of next month's. midterm elections. Recent polls show an. advantage for Democrats as they hope to.

flip vulnerable seats in the House of. Representatives and take control of the. US Senate. The state of Iowa has voted. three times for Donald Trump, a sign of. a deepening conservative base. But with. prices rising and policies some voters. may not like from Trump, could the state. switch? Our North America editor Sarah. Smith reports from Iowa. >> The Iowa Hawkeyes are the clear. underdogs in this American college. football game. Yet, their diehard fans. still gather early for a tailgate party.

Iowa also has a tight electoral contest. coming with polls suggesting Republicans. might abandon the party because they are. so fed up with Donald Trump. >> Oh, he's got us in the war. He's got uh. prices, groceries high, skyhigh, gas. skyhigh. >> Many Republican candidates are feeling. the heat, not unlike this roasting. alligator. And by leading the campaign, Donald Trump risks detering some voters, not attracting them. >> I think it definitely puts voters off.

There's no doubt about that. And I do. think it probably raises the Democratic. side to a level that isn't always there. just because it's Donald Trump. Famed for its corn fields, Iowa is an. agricultural state and farmers have been. hit particularly hard. The price of. diesel has risen more than petrol, while. Trump's trade tariffs have added even. more costs. >> I do think he's. definitely a little more brash. >> Since Jason Rogers voted for Trump two.

years ago, he's seen his own costs rise. due to a war he doesn't believe the US. should be engaged in. He did start the. war in Iran, which I will say I don't. think we probably should be in that one. I don't I don't think that we need to be. a policeman of the world anyways. >> But most people are not single issue. voters. And Jason's disenchantment with. the president does not mean he wants to. punish every Republican who supported. the war. >> That I don't think the the war in Iran. is going to make me go, "Oh, I'm not. voting for them. They just they they. supported it. I can't vote for someone.

that supported it.". Voters definitely feel their country is. heading in the wrong direction and blame. that on President Trump. But right. across Iowa, the message I heard. repeatedly was that those frustrations. may not make people change how they. vote. The predicted Democratic wave. might not be the tsunami the party's. hoping for. >> Let's finish the podcast with a very. good girl. A mountain rescue dog that. has been trained to sniff out invasive. sea creatures has been named animal of.

the year. Six-year-old Labrador Skiha. was given the award by a wildlife. charity for her ability to track down an. organism with the rather unsavory name. of sea vomit. The BBC science. correspondent Victoria Gil has been to. meet her. >> When the tide goes out on the west coast. of Scotland. skier the ecology Labrador gets to work. >> Yes. Oh, good [laughter] girl. Yes. She's looking or sniffing for the carpet.

sea squirt, an invasive species that can. smother native wildlife. It's also. sometimes known as sea vomit because of. its rather revolting appearance. >> Is that it? >> If it's not controlled, it can devastate. marine environments and economies. >> Yes, it is. Skier is the beloved pet and. partner in marine ecology of Dr. Texas. Sim. The hardworking Labrador has just. been named animal of the year by the. International Fund for Animal Welfare. When I got her out into the field, she.

just blew me away. She was finding. really, really cryptic, really, really. difficult to spot colonies of the sea. squirt um that I wouldn't find. I just. and certainly if I was doing a a proper. survey, I wouldn't necessarily even have. the time with the tides uh to find those. colonies as well. See this dogs scent. detection skills are often used in. conservation on the land for tracking. endangered species or helping to. investigate environmental crime.

>> Yes, good. >> And at low tide, skier can dive down. under the seaweed. She's trained to. sniff out something that can be very. difficult for human ecologists to spot. >> I'm completely gobsmacked to be honest. I'm totally delighted. I mean, it's not. many people that um you know, everyone. loves their dog and everyone thinks. their dog is the best in the world and. they are to everyone that their dogs are. amazing and it's quite um humbling to. have her recognized by more people than. just me cuz I know she's great and it's.

it's it's just amazing. I'm I'm really. delighted. >> Dr. Sim's younger dog, Usha, has now. joined the small conservation team with. two marine sniffer dogs hunting the. carpet sea squirt. The hope is that this. invasive species can be controlled, perhaps even eradicated before it takes. hold. For Skia and her younger canine. colleague, all this is just a game on. the beach. 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 Andre Stein. Until next time, goodbye. [music].