Trump’s envoy Jared Kushner in Israel for Gaza talks with Netanyahu | Global News Podcast

This is the Global News podcast from the. BBC World Service. I'm Celia Hatton and. at 14 hours GMT on Monday the 17th of. August, these are our top stories. President Trump's son-in-law Jared. Kushner has held talks with the Israeli. prime minister [music] as he seeks to. advance a US back peace plan for Gaza. China's leader has praised the bloody. suppression of 1989's Tian Square. demonstrations, a rare mention of the. protests that briefly [music] threatened. the ruling Communist Party. And Hayden.

Panitier, best known for her roles in. the TV shows Heroes [music] in. Nashville, has died at the age of 36. Also in this [music] podcast, Britain's. prime minister exchanges messages with. an impostor. >> [music]. >> Was that a prank or was that much more. seriously possibly a national uh. security service trying to compromise. him? Could his phone have been. compromised? Many questions that we. don't know the answer to. [music]. We start in the Middle East and the.

Trump administration's attempts to. revive the floundering peace plan for. Gaza. The US Middle East envoy Jared. Kushner has taken on that task. He. arrived in Israel and has been meeting. the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin. Netanyahu for talks. Last month, Donald. Trump announced that his Board of Peace. had reached an historic deal for Gaza, but progress ground to a halt after. Israel bluntly rejected the proposal. On. Sunday, Jared Kushner gave an indication. of how far the US is willing to go to.

put the deal back on track when he had. traveled to Egypt for an unusual meeting. with Hamas officials. Mr. Kushner is. reported to have pushed Hamas for a. disarmament that would be verifiable. That's a key demand of Israel, which has. refused to withdraw from Gaza until the. group gives up its weapons. Earlier, I. asked our correspondent Yolanell in. Jerusalem if there are any signs of. progress towards a deal. A spokesman for. the Israeli prime minister only. confirmed to the BBC that this meeting.

between Jared Kushner and the Israeli. prime minister was underway earlier, but. this happens after he met Hamas. officials in this rare meeting in Egypt. along with other senior representatives. of the Board of Peace, Nikolai Maddenov, who's the high commissioner for Gaza, and also the former British prime. minister Tony Blair. uh they were in. Egypt along with regional mediators. meeting this Hamas delegation reportedly. for about two hours um to discuss Hamas.

commitments. Now Hamas has been saying. that it will not implement this roadmap. that it's agreed with the Board of Peace. that would see it completely disarming. unless Israel signs up to the deal. It. involves a phased withdrawal of Israeli. troops from Gaza. And of course the. Israeli prime minister totally rejected. that road map. um speaking in meetings. with his cabinet. Uh that's quite. unusual for Israel uh to completely defy. its closest ally, the US and President.

Trump. >> So, we've heard some opposition from. Israel so far, but there is growing. pressure from the United States for. Israel to accept some sort of deal. What. can Jared Kushner do to nudge Benjamin. Netanyahu towards agreeing to this. proposal? That's right. I mean, they really want. to show these members of the Board of. Peace that they can keep President. Trump's 20point peace plan for Gaza. announced in a great ceremony uh last.

October as a ceasefire plan uh took. hold. Uh they want to show that this is. still alive. Um and they'll be giving. reassurances from Hamas about its. commitment to disarmament and about the. verification process um that has been. agreed as part of this road map. I think. they will also be looking uh to Israel. to meet um Hamas's demands in terms of. making sure that they stick to their. commitments for the first stage of the. already agreed um ceasefire when it.

comes to humanitarian matters when it. comes to stopping um military attacks on. Gaza because although there was a brief. lull in those about a week ago, they. have resumed in recent days with Israel. saying that it is targeting what calls. terrorists from Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Uh really when you look in the Israeli. media about uh what Israel's concerns. are here, they say that Israel wants um. also reassurances that these weapons.

will be put um fully out of use. So many. of them will be uh destroyed uh not just. stored by this Palestinian technocratic. committee that is due to go into Gaza. They want reassurances that Qatar and. Turkey will not be too involved in the. verification process to make sure that. Hamas meets its commitments because. there is mistrust there. And when it. comes to sequencing, you know, they have. been saying that they want to have. genuine disarmament, full disarmament by.

Hamas before there'll be Israeli troop. withdrawal. They're not agreeing to a. phased withdrawal at this time. Yolan, what more can you tell me about. the domestic political calculations that. Benjamin Netanyahu is making? We know. he's moving towards a general election. for Israel in late October. That's right. And in that general. election, polls indicate that the prime. minister's L could party. struggling in the polls. uh there's a.

lot of pressure coming from members of. um the coalition, the governing. coalition, especially those on the far. right to take a much harsher approach. when it comes to Gaza. So, it's been. much commented on how the uh national. security minister Bengavir has just. recently given a podcast interview in. which he's calling for targeted. assassinations to resume in Gaza on a. nightly basis, killing 30 to 40 people. and he's um specifying they don't need. to be those who pose an immediate threat.

to Israel. So that gives you a taste of. some of the political discourse right. now. >> And Yolan, last, why do you think the. United States is trying to revive a push. towards a peace plan for Gaza right now? Some might say, well, actually the Trump. administration should be focusing on the. conflict with Iran. I mean, this is really, you know, part. of President Trump's desperation to show. that he has got um a a foreign policy.

win here. He really hailed it last month. as being a major breakthrough, which is. something that many analysts agreed with. at the time uh this idea that he had. secured um through the the Board of. Peace a commitment from Hamas to to full. disarmament because this has been seen. as being a major sticking point. I think. there are many in the US administration. that really want to advance President. Trump's peace plan and of course it is. um indirectly related to achieving a. broader regional peace because Iran has.

been demanding um that a ceasefire um. with between the US and Israel and Iran. should also apply to other countries in. the region where it has proxies whether. it's Hezbollah and Lebanon and also when. it comes to to Gaza and Hamas. >> Let's go to China now. The country's. leader, Cinping, has made a rare. reference to events that happened in. 1989 when an undisclosed number of. pro-democracy demonstrators were killed. by the Chinese military near Beijing's. Tianan Square. The BBC's Kate 80 was in.

Beijing. Then she described at that time. the famous images of an unidentified man. blocking a column of military tanks. >> Just after midday, the tanks rolled out. of the square. A lone young man stood in. front of the first one. The tank faltered, came to a stop, the. others behind. On Monday, Sidinping made a speech to. mark the 100th anniversary of the birth. of the former leader Jang Zamin, who.

died four years ago. In it, he praised. the ruling Communist Party's decision to. clamp down on the Tian protests, events. which eventually fueled Mr. Dang's. elevation to the highest office in. China. Addressing thousands of party. officials and delegates in Beijing's. great hall of the people which is right. on Tianaman Square, Mr. C also called on. his country to show a fighting spirit as. it faced what he described as tough. times. Our China correspondent Steve. McDonald joined us from Beijing.

>> This is what I think it's all about. Let's talk in a moment about Tanaman. Square in 1989 and those events, but. really what this is all about is. Xiinping trying to neutralize. the impact on his government from. another leader who's already dead. Now, the reason is that this is the. anniversary of Jang Zamin's birth. And. there've been these documentaries on.

television. Now he came in and took. control of China immediately after those. Tanaman Square events. But following. that the period of his leadership is. considered by many people in China to. have been a fantastic time reform and. opening up. Everything's getting better. and better. The economy is improving. Everyone's freer. At least you know. that's the the imagery of it. And the. contrast of course will be to the. current leadership and his style when.

things are seen to be being more clamped. down. The economy is not going as well. What's made this even worse is that Jang. Zamin's number two leader Jurong Ji he. died just a couple of days ago and his. funeral is tomorrow. And so this puts. even more emphasis on that previous. government, their way of doing things. And so for Xigin Ping, he doesn't want.

people to be talking all about the. reform and opening up, how good the. economy was. He wants to try and refocus. attention dutin. was a tough communist leader just after. Tenement Square. Now, people would. debate about whether or not he was or he. wasn't, but you can see he he's trying. to sort of make out that there's this. unbroken connection between the great. things that Jang Zamin did and the great. things that I'm doing instead of people.

focusing on the differences. >> Interesting though, but Cining did. mention some serious challenges facing. China right now. Without going into. detail, do we know what he was referring. to? Well, nobody can deny that the. economy is not going great for China, even though it it's weathered the storm. of tariffs from the US pretty well. I. mean, look, youth unemployment, the. property crisis keeps going. Uh there's. just such an overall problem with.

domestic demand and o just not a spirit. of optimism. He's got to acknowledge. that because otherwise he would seem. like he's in La La Land. Now, it's not. desperation stakes, but the problem is. all the things that are going really. well with the economy, all the new. stuff, whether it be robotics or, you. know, electric vehicles or AI, they. don't employ that many people. And so, they're not soaking up all the. graduates. They're not putting money in. the pockets of that many ordinary.

Chinese people. And while things are. going okay, they don't feel like they're. getting better and better and better and. better as they were during Jung Zamin's. time. Hence the need to, as I said. before, neutralize that threat. >> Stephen, just briefly, do you think it's. a bit risky for Cinping to bring up the. events of 1989 to revive people's. memories of what happened back then? Cuz. it's right now it's quite taboo to to. mention it in China. >> Yeah, it is funny. I mean, as you know, like it hardly ever gets mentioned. And.

he didn't really specifically he didn't. use the word tenement square or uprising. or anything or crushing that or anything. like that. He just spoke about the. problems during that time. So it was. pretty opaque, although most Chinese. people would get the reference. >> Around the world, people in the film and. television industry are paying tribute. to the American actress Hayden Penetier, who's died at the age of 36. It's not. yet clear how she died. Miss Penetier's. career spanned three decades. She began.

when she was a young child and went on. to score roles in hit television shows. and films including the Scream horror. franchise in the TV series Heroes and. also Nashville. She spoke to BBC. Breakfast in 2013 about Nashville and. the difficulty she faced in the. spotlight. There's a lot of judgment, which is interesting because people ask. me all the time where I pull this. character from, whether it's a country. music artists, other country music. artists, and I go, actually, just. because I didn't grow up in the country.

music industry, you know, we're all in. the same lunchroom. We're just eating at. different lunch tables. I still grew up. a young person in the spotlight dealing. with a lot of scrutiny and a lot of. judgment. >> Our culture reporter, Yasmin Rufo, told. me more. She really did have such a. varied career, but also a career that. spanned almost her entire lifetime. Back. in May, she told CBS News that she was. just eight months old when her mom was. taking her to auditions. By the time she. was five, she'd appeared in 50 odd. commercials. Um, like you mentioned.

there, she was four when she appeared in. the US soap One Life to Live. She then. went on in her teenage years to star in. A Bug's Life and Remember the Titans. with Denel Washington before becoming. that household name as cheerleader. Claire Bennett in that hit sci-fi series. Heroes. Then in Nashville like you heard. in that clip there. It was a totally. different side of her playing an upand. cominging country singer Juliet Barnes. She actually performed the songs on the. show as well which will end up in uh in. the charts at the time and she earned. two Golden Globe nominations and then.

you know she was in countless other. films the Scream franchises uh the Bring. It On All or Nothing and you know. various other TV and film throughout her. career. >> I mean she did so much in her career. it's hard to believe that she's now died. at just at the age of young age of 36. I mean can you tell me more? She talked. about struggles going on in her life. Yeah, I think one of the important. things is that her legacy isn't just. being this incredible actress, but also. being someone that was very open about. some really extremely difficult periods.

in her life. She published her memoir in. May, uh, this is me, a reckoning, it's. called, and in that she really details. things like growing up in the industry. and how difficult that was for her, addiction that she battled, substance. abuse, and her later recovery. Um, she. also spoke a lot about the postpartum. depression she experienced after giving. birth to her daughter in 2014. and then. later her decision to give her. daughter's uh father, Ukrainian boxer. Vladimir Klitschko, full custody of the. child. Um, and I think one of the the.

reasons that she's been so vocal on this. is that she said she's always wanted. other people to know that they weren't. alone in that situation. So, she opened. up about postpartum depression as a way. to help other people talk about it. Similarly, she's spoken about things. like the domestic abuse she's. experienced in her life as a way to help. inspire other people. So, I think it's. really important to see her legacy, not. just as one of a successful actress who. was in all of these brilliant TV and. film shows, but as someone that really. wanted to talk honestly and willingly. about some of the experiences and the.

challenges that come with growing up in. the spotlight. Still to come in [music] this podcast, it's a Ferrari, but not like you've. previously known it. And it's just sold. for. >> [music]. >> $40 million. The rapper Tupac Shakur was gunned down. on the Las Vegas strip nearly 30 years. ago, becoming an unsolved killing that. has haunted the world of hip hop for. three decades. Now, Dwayne Kei Davis, a. self-described former gang leader, is.

standing trial for his murder. The BBC. Sha Khalil is following the case. Tupac. Shakur is still one of the most. influential rappers of all time. In. 1996, he was at the height of his. career. That same year, he was gunned. down, shot on the Las Vegas strip. His. older brother, Mim Shakur, remembers. getting the call. >> Worry. I was just worried how bad it. was. All I had known, he got shot. So, until I reached Vegas, I didn't know.

the status of things. And um Pac was a. tough little dude. He had already been. survived being shot five times. And um I. was just praying that it wasn't as worse. as it was. >> Nearly 30 years on, the only man ever. charged over his killing is on trial. Dwayne Keid Davis has pleaded not. guilty. This all goes back to the night. of September the 7th, 1996 when cameras. captured Tupac and his entourage. attacking Keid's nephew in the MGM Grand.

in Las Vegas. Hours later, a white. Cadillac pulled alongside the car Tupac. was in. The rapper was shot four times. and died six days later. >> Tubac was just a fascinating character. I mean, every aspect of him, he provides. uh good just just dance tracks just make. you feel just like you want to just, you. know, cruise with your windows down. But. he also makes you want to stop and think. about, you know, social justice issues. and sit down and actually parse his. lyrics.

>> Hey, Keith, Metro Police, come over. here. >> For decades, there was no arrest and no. trial. that in 2023, Kefi D was. arrested, charged with first-degree. murder, which he denies. >> That foot up, you ready? >> I'm a blow, dude. >> Much of the evidence against Kefi D. comes from his own words. In his memoir, he says that Tupac's attacking his. nephew was the ultimate green light to. do something. He then describes being in. the Cadillac and supplying the gun. Prosecutors say this is his account of. masterminding the attack, but Kei D now.

says this was fiction to sell books. Prosecutors must now convince the jury. that Keid's story was an admission, not. an invention. Mopim says he's cautiously. optimistic, but says no verdict can give. him what he truly wants. >> I want my brother back. Period. Dot. I. want my I I want my little brother back. Pac didn't get a trial. He just got a. death sentence. the amount of of pain, distress, heartache, um that the family.

has gone through and Pox fans have gone. through. Um. it's it's unmatched. >> Now to a potential hoax involving the. British Prime Minister, Andy Burnham. He's reported to have exchanged messages. with someone posing as a senior member. of the US government, the White House. Chief of Staff, Susie Wilds. But that. person was not who they were pretending. to be. Our political correspondent Damen.

Grammaticus is following this for us. >> What we do know is that Andy Burnham. engaged in some sort of message. exchange. Uh and uh it appears that he. was responding something and as you say. thought that that was Donald Trump's. chief of staff. Officially the. government here will not comment because. they say that this is a national. security matter. But what we understand. from conversations is that we're told. that nothing of significance was. exchanged. There was no verbal.

communication. Uh and that this uh was. then reported to security authorities uh. as soon as suspicions were raised. But. real important questions, why did Andy. Burnham engage with someone it seems he. didn't know? Uh why then uh did he sort. of exchange messages with them? Was that. a prank or was that much more seriously. possibly a national uh security service. trying to compromise him? Could his. phone have been compromised? Many. questions that we don't know the answer.

to. >> And I'm sure some embarrassment on the. Burnham side as well. But this isn't the. first time, is it, that a UK highlevel. politician has been tricked into. messaging with someone who isn't who. they thought they were. >> No, absolutely. And that is also I think. instructive here because two years ago. the then foreign secretary David Cameron. who had been prime minister he messaged. and then exchang took part in a video. call with someone who he thought was a. prior Ukrainian president Petra.

Parroenko. Uh now he became suspicious. after that. Two years before that, uh. the then defense secretary Ben Wallace. also had a video chat with someone he. thought was a Ukrainian prime minister. and even discussed uh UK possible. deployment of warships, nuclear weapons. issue with Ukraine that was blamed on. Russia. A video was released online and. an edited video. The uh interesting. thing here, I think, is that all those. were calls that were put through uh from. switchboards and government departments.

This was something that Andy Burnham. seems to have engaged in. again why. there are questions. >> Interesting. And andy Bernham is keen to. come across as someone who's very. approachable. But moving forward, do you. think his team is going to have to. change how they do things perhaps and. maybe do a little bit more vetting. before he engages and messages with. someone? >> Well, that certainly has been his sort. of public profile, if you like, has been. someone who's keen to to talk, keen to. engage, keen to listen and hear from. people. Uh I think the issue that this.

raises exactly is that why did he do. that in this case? But it appears to. have happened since he entered Downing. Street perhaps in the early days. Uh and. it appears that I'm sure his team will. have learned messages from this. Usually. in this instance I think you'd expect a. government-togovernment communication to. come through a dip through an embassy. through diplomatic sources through the. foreign office. Of course, leaders. nowadays do communicate back and forth. on WhatsApp, but certainly I think they. will be much more cautious here about. who he does engage with.

>> To Zambia now, let's get the latest on. the aftermath of the presidential. election last Thursday. With more than. half the votes counted, officials say. the current president is pulling ahead. But while the counting is going on, there's political turmoil unfolding. elsewhere. The government says the. security forces have arrested 11 people. involved in an alleged insurrection. plot. They say the main opposition. candidate was found at the scene of the. raid where they seized weapons. Ding. daba is in Zambia for us.

>> The details of this, you know, are quite. scanty at the moment. The government. issued a statement yesterday simply. saying that they found a group of people. who were in position of what they've. described as highgrade military. equipment, military weapons. And as a. result of that, there was some sort of. exchange of fire. There are no details. on whether or not anyone was injured. from there. But the opposition NRPUP. leader Bran Mundil says that some of his.

team members were shot and their. whereabouts are unknown. In fact, they've gone to the extent to suggest. that some of these people actually died. The government had initially refused. that there was any such thing. They. yesterday did come out to issue a. statement saying that a raid did in fact. happen on Friday. >> Now this is just the latest chapter and. what's been quite a dramatic election. with some criticizing how it's been. carried out. Can you take us through the.

campaign a and through some of the. challenges that we've seen with the. vote? >> The observers that have spoken out now. have said that the campaign period was. fairly peaceful even election day. itself. However, there were concerns. around how the election was conducted. with regards to fairness. The electoral. commission of Zambia had put out a. schedule within which presidential. candidates would campaign in various. parts of the country. But that schedule. was not applicable to the president and. vice president who would go anywhere at.

whatever time and you know some of these. stakeholders felt that that was unfair. Voting day itself brought its own issues. while it was largely peaceful, you know, counting of votes on Friday was. suspended and it was suspended by the. electoral commission of Zambia across. the country because they said there were. some polling stations where ballot. papers had been stolen, ballot boxes had. been stolen. Now there are no details of. where these ballot boxes were stolen. from and where this violence occurred.

And some observers have said this lack. of detail is creating the impression. that you know the electoral commission. may be hiding something. >> And now the incumbent is pulling ahead. in the vote count. Will that help settle. things? >> At the moment the situation in the. country is pretty calm. uh there's uh. police presence in a lot of densely. populated areas because there was some. sort of unrest on uh Friday on the 14th. of August when Brian Mundil had claimed.

victory of the election. Some of his. supporters had taken you know to the to. the streets and so there's been a. deployment of heavy police presence and. military presence actually in a lot of. the streets of densely populated areas. With regards to whether the vote has. credibility, there's already a dispute. The opposition NRPUP are saying that. what they're describing as uh industrial. scale rigging. That's what they're. calling it. They've not brought forth.

any evidence of it at the moment, but. they are clearly disputing what is being. announced by the Electoral Commission of. Zambia. And since we spoke to Dingan. Daba Boyoya in Zambia, the main. opposition party has rejected government. accusations that its members were. involved in plotting an insurrection at. the time of the election. Now, when you. think of a Ferrari sports car, you. probably think of the roar of an engine, usually accompanied by a tiny number of. passenger seats and a slick exterior.

But now, something new for the Italian. car company, a very quiet electric car. And the first one off the production. line is making headlines after being. sold at a charity auction. Mora Fogerty. is our Asia business editor in. Singapore. She told me how much that car. sold for. So the luch, which means light. in Italian uh at an auction in. California over the weekend, sold for. $40 million US. Now that's the highest. price ever at an auction for a brand new.

car. We've had higher prices of course. for kind of vintage cars, but for a. brand new car just off the production. line, uh this was the highest price. ever. Now, this luch had was designated. as a chassis zero, meaning it's the. first of its kind of this new series of. electric vehicles that Ferrari is. unveiling. So, it was quite surprising. that it sold for this amount of money. And I'm sure Ferrari is feeling pretty. good about it as well. All the proceeds. from the sale, according to SIB's. auction house, goes towards the Ferrari. Foundation's educational programs.

>> So, I guess this was a bit of welcome. news as well for Ferrari because the car. company did receive a bit of backlash. when it first announced it was going to. be making these cars. >> Yeah, that's right. And in fact, we saw. the share price of Ferrari drop after it. unveiled the car. And a lot of the. criticism was based over a few things. First was how it looked. Uh many people. or the critics of the car, the luch said. that the car looks like any other. vehicle. It looks like a normal electric. vehicle. It didn't look special. It.

didn't look Ferrari for example. Uh it. did have a very kind of star brand name. designer working with the luch and. that's Sir Johnny IV who worked at Apple. previously. He then started his own. design agency and worked with Ferrari on. designing the interiors of the car. So. the first criticism was around how it. actually looked. The second one was the. fact that Ferrari was making an electric. vehicle in the first place. That, you. know, it didn't have that combustion. engine roar of a sports car. It didn't. it had five seats for for goodness sake.

That was another criticism that it. wasn't a real car, a real Ferrari car. It was just any other car. So, the. criticisms were twofold. One around how. it looked and one around the fact that. it was diluting the Ferrari brand. because it wasn't a typical Ferrari car. and it was an electric vehicle. It's. interesting though to see that Ferrari. and some other European automakers are. starting to move into the world of. electric vehicles with real gusto, you. know, because in China, in the region.

where you're sitting right now in. Singapore, uh China is already. dominating the world of electric. vehicles uh by far. >> It certainly is. And it does show that. Ferrari and other European car makers. are trying to at least at the high end. of the market target a specific type of. buyer. Right. I should mention too that. when Ferrari announced the luche, it. said it had it didn't give exact. numbers, but there was an expectation uh. according to reports that it wanted to. sell just under 500 of these cars by the.

end of this year. Ferrari says it has. met those sales targets already. And. don't forget the actual luch sells for. about $640,000 US per car. Now, you. mentioned the uh the Chinese car market. or at least the Chinese EV suppliers. They definitely dominate the world when. it comes to electric vehicles. We've. actually seen the number of Chinese EVs. exported around the world. Just in the. first half of this year, I've got some. uh figures for you here. They were up. 120% in the first 6 months of this year. compared to the year ago period. So,

we're seeing Chinese car makers really. exporting as many cars as they can for. several reasons. One is because they've. got uh problems at home where you've got. the Chinese car buyer pulling back on. spending. And so we're seeing EV car. sales falling domestically, but overseas. and of course you've got the, you know, the conflict in the Middle East and. higher oil prices. That's all helping to. make the case for consumers to go. electric. >> And that's all for this edition of the. Global News podcast. If you'd like to.

get in touch, our details are below. I'm. Celia Hatton. Bye-bye. [music].