Moldovans back joining EU by razor-thin majority
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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.

I'm Valerie Sanderson and at 1300 Hours GMT on Monday the 21st of October, these are our main stories. In Moldova, a referendum on a commitment to join the European Union appears to have been won very narrowly by the yes vote. A US special envoy has arrived in Beirut for talks with Lebanese leaders about bringing the war between Israel and Hezbollah to an end.

We look at the issues and groups dominating the US presidential election campaign. Hello, I'm Marianna Spring and we'll be discussing online fandoms that could sway the US election. Also in this podcast, we discuss the legacy of Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, who was accused of masterminding the 2016 coup attempt in Turkey.

We start in Moldova, where the result of the referendum on a commitment to join the European Union has been on a knife edge. Shortly before we recorded this podcast, President Maya Sandu confirmed a majority yes vote of 50.28%.

But polls in the lead-up to the vote had indicated that the country would commit to joining the EU with a comfortable margin. And, speaking at a news briefing, President Sandu said there'd been outside attempts to buy votes and that more needed to be done to combat corruption. In the last few weeks, police in the country have accused Russia of interference after large amounts of cash was seized at airports with connecting flights from Moscow.

I got the latest from my Eastern Europe correspondent, Sarah Rainsford, who's in the country's capital, Chisinau.

It was an extremely close vote, as you say. I mean, last night when the first results came in, it actually looked like this was going to be a no to the EU from Moldova. And there was a very, very subdued mood in Maya Sandu's headquarters, her campaign headquarters, for much of the time that we were there. And she herself, when she came out last night about one o'clock in the morning, she also was looking very, very tense. Nothing then was decided. And then it was overnight, only by about eight o'clock this morning, we started to see

a slight shift towards a pro-EU result. And now what we've got is basically a majority of just a few thousand votes from almost one and a half million people casting their ballots.

So just a few thousand more of those people voting in favour of essentially writing Moldova's sort of EU direction, EU path into the constitution of this country, kind of cementing that as a national goal. Very, very tight vote. And we've just heard from Maya Sandu here a few moments ago, and she's described a tough fight. She admitted it was a really difficult battle, but she was smiling today, trying to be optimistic, presenting it

as a result that in the end was a vote for the European Union and condemning what she called criminal groups for attempting to buy votes and to distort this vote and to try to steal this kind of EU ambition and goal from the Moldovan people. Will it be accepted, do you think, Sarah? I mean, what is the immediate reaction? There's no demand for a recount or anything.

Not at the moment. Not at the moment, no. But I think, you know, there's going to be a lot of questions. Such a such a tight vote. And interesting as well, of course, this comes after police and prosecutors.

showed us essentially a scheme whereby they say they documented payments coming from Moscow specifically to buy votes here in Moldova. The president didn't talk about Russia directly today when she made her statement. She talked about foreign forces. She talked about our enemies, as she put it, and criminal groups. And I asked her directly, you know, are you saying Russia? And again, she just said...

But she did talk very, very firmly about the need, as she put it, to defend democracy. She said, you know, if it's easy for people to damage or relatively easy to damage the democratic process in a small country like Moldova, then she said once that's been tried and tested, that method, that could be tried in other countries. So she was suggesting, you know, all Western democracies essentially need to protect their systems from these kinds of attempts to distort the vote and, as she put it, to mount a kind of assault system.

on democracy and freedom is the words that she used to describe what she believes has happened here. Sarah Rainsford in Moldova.

After attacks on Hezbollah strongholds and on branches of a bank that Israel says helps finance the group, comes the latest attempt to find a way through the conflict. It's arrived in the form of President Biden's special envoy, Amos Hochstein, who's in Beirut and who'll be meeting Lebanon's prime minister. Mr. Hochstein told a news conference that the U.S. wants a long-term solution to the conflict.

The United States wants to end this conflict absolutely as soon as possible. That's what President Biden wants. That's what we all are working towards. And what we're working with the government of Lebanon, the state of Lebanon, as well as the government of Israel, is to get to a formula that brings an end to this conflict once and for all.

that puts the mechanisms in place that will enable this conflict to not just be over today and start again next week or next month or next year, but rather will be over. I spoke to our correspondent in Beirut, Lina Sinjab, first about Israel's latest attacks.

It seems the plan for them, they wanted to stop any Hezbollah power. They've started with attacking their leaders, their military leaders, and now they want to cripple their economy. Qard al-Hassan, which is the Hezbollah setup, started as a charity and then it turned into like a non-profit bank.

is the main hub that helps Hezbollah finance. Hezbollah provides support for, you know, the Shia community mainly, provides credit, provides loans. So for Israel, they see this as funding, you know, military activity or activity for Hezbollah. They've issued a warning of 24 locations in the short time of a 50-minute

and then they've attacked like 16 of them, all targeting al-Hassan banks. And then, you know, they've targeted these buildings. I mean, locals here say that Hezbollah have withdrawn its assets, its money, and relocated it to secure its own finance. But these attacks created big damage for all these banks in different parts of Lebanon, in Dahia in south of Beirut, and also in the south in Bekaa Valley and southern Lebanon.

A US envoy is in Beirut to discuss possible diplomatic solutions with Lebanese politicians.

What can you tell us about that meeting? The feeling here is that any decision to stop the war should be taken by the US because they are the only ones who can pressure Prime Minister Netanyahu from launching attacks against Lebanon. The visit today is seen as like the last attempt to find a solution. It's reported locally that he's going to try to

you know, not only discuss peace, but like push to have a Lebanese president who can put the country together and pull it together. But at the end, also the sense in Lebanon is that Israel is the one who will decide when this war is going to stop, regardless of any U.S. efforts to find diplomatic solutions. Thank you.

And the U.S. media is saying that Israel presented President Biden's administration with a list of conditions for peace last week. What do we know about that? Obviously, from the beginning of the war for Prime Minister Netanyahu, for Israel, they want to eliminate the power of both Hezbollah and Hamas, that they don't want to see any resistance or armed resistance, you know, on their own borders or threatening their own existence.

But at the same time, they might have like expansionist, you know, aims. They want to push, you know, Hezbollah like to the north of Litani River, which is something that they've requested before. So it's all, you know, about what makes Israel feel safe, but not what could provide a lasting peace, both for the Palestinians and the Lebanese. Lina Sinjab in Beirut.

It's just over two weeks to go until the US presidential election. The polls are consistently tight in the handful of battleground states which will decide the outcome.

Among voters' top concerns in this election are immigration, the economy and abortion. In the swing state of Arizona, the latter is being hotly contested with a ballot initiative that would protect abortion rights. It's a state that Joe Biden won by only 10,000 votes back in 2020, so every single vote is crucial and could make a difference regarding individual issues as well as to who wins the White House. Our North America editor Sarah Smith sent us this report from Arizona.

So I'm writing a book, yes, in big letters, on part 139. Abortion is a very personal issue, so campaigners in Arizona are appealing directly to voters at this brewery, Happy Air, by writing out individual postcards, one by one, explaining why they support the right to have an abortion. Arizona's abortion ban prevents doctors from providing essential health care. Have a healthy 2024.

Arizona is one of 10 states where the ballot paper in November will ask voters to determine what the law should be. The proposed law would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. Kamala Harris supporters are hoping that in this crucial swing state of Arizona, it will motivate some people to get out and vote and that they'll cast a ballot for Kamala Harris while they're there.

Or he be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. Abortion opponents are maintaining daily vigils outside family planning clinics as they urge people to vote against the proposal that would protect abortion rights. And abortion has proved to be a winning issue for Democrats ever since Roe v. Wade was overturned two and a half years ago. Right.

If you don't want to have an abortion, you don't need to have an abortion. This divisive issue is now being argued out on the streets. Outside the clinic, we came across Anai, a young woman taking on the anti-abortion campaigners over reproductive rights. I don't know why we're going back in time. I really don't understand it. Yeah.

Anahí was debating local campaign leader Nancy Brady. There are a lot of people on the other side of the argument from you who would say each abortion is a deeply personal decision for the woman and her family and the government shouldn't have anything to do with it. Well, I'm happy that our government, our state, local, federal government steps in sometimes and creates laws to protect vulnerable people.

So all they talk about abortion... Donald Trump lays this issue really carefully. Because we've done something that nobody else could have done. He does boast about his role in ending the right to abortion, but he also tries not to sound like he supports the very strict bans that he knows are unpopular with most voters. It is now where it always had to be, with the states and a vote of the people. APPLAUSE

Here in Arizona, opinion polls suggest that Donald Trump does have a very slight lead, even though a majority of voters are likely to support restoring abortion rights. As many as one in five may well vote in favor of abortion and also cast a vote for the former president. Tonight, we are learning more about the death of Amber Thurman. The death of Amber Thurman was likely preventable. Campaign ads for Kamala Harris feature the case of Amber Thurman, a

A strict abortion ban in her home state of Georgia meant that when she wanted one, she had to travel hundreds of miles to North Carolina to get a termination. Five days later, Amber went into hospital with complications. She ultimately died in surgery. A recent review by an official state committee concluded Amber's death was preventable and had doctors treated her sooner, she would likely have survived.

Her best friend since they were five years old, Rickaria Baker, had driven with Amber to North Carolina to terminate her pregnancy. I'm never going to get my best friend back because of something that could have been prevented. And I would hope that nobody else have to feel this pain of losing a best friend this way. And now Amber's name is being used by politicians like Kamala Harris when they're talking about the dangers of these abortion bans.

How do you feel when you hear your friend's name coming from politicians like Ms. Harris? We were not really political people, but if it's going to change this forever and her name is at the forefront of it, it's good. Neither Rukaria nor Amber could ever have imagined finding themselves at the heart of a major political debate.

But this very raw example of the unintended consequences of abortion restrictions is now central to one of the biggest election issues in America. Sarah Smith in the United States.

While many election issues are playing out at the grassroots level, in bars and outside abortion clinics in swing states, as we just heard there, the battle to become the next US president is also taking place online. That's the subject of the second series of the BBC podcast, Why Do You Hate Me USA, presented by our disinformation and social media correspondent, Marianna Spring.

For the final episode, she's exploring the power of online fandoms and whether Swifties could sway the result. Well, with me is Marianna Spring. So tell us about the Taylor Swift fans that you've met. So Swifties, as you described them, are kind of pretty well known for just how devoted and committed they can be online. They create loads of content and they are absolutely obsessed, and I think they'd say this themselves, with the megastar Taylor Swift. They're not the only fandom that exists. In fact,

There are loads that revolve around not just pop stars, but also other prominent figures, billionaires, actors, TV shows, and even politicians, actually. Political supporters feel like they operate a bit like fandoms. And it was for that reason that I really wanted to understand...

what impact these kinds of fandoms could have. There's quite a lot of scepticism about celebrity endorsements more generally. And when Taylor Swift came out to support Kamala Harris, who's running as the Democratic nominee for president, there was a fair bit of people saying, well, what difference is that actually going to make? The one thing that I had noticed was that the Swifties, her fans, had really,

really kind of jumped on it. Even before that, they were creating all kinds of content, sharing advice on how you can register to vote and so on. And so I spent some time with one particular Swifty. Her name is Irene Kim. And when I first met her in New York, she was at that stage unrecognisable.

just a mega fan. And over the course of the summer, she found herself evolved into a political strategist who's now running this campaign, Swifties for Kamala, even heading out to swing states now to try and convince voters to vote Democrat. We have designed a mailer to go out to voters in Pennsylvania that will encourage people to vote. And if they've

pledged to vote for Kamala Harris, they get a friendship bracelet. And Mariana, is she a childless cat lady? She very much describes herself as such and quite a few of the other Swifties do as well. And they've really enjoyed the way that Taylor Swift in particular has kind of played into that. When she endorsed Kamala Harris, she referred to herself as a childless cat lady, referencing J.D. Vance, Trump's running mate, who had...

use that word in a not very nice way to describe some women. What's interesting I think particularly about these 50s is the way that they are trying to go toe to toe really with some of Donald Trump's own supporters who operate a lot like a fandom too Donald Trump is no stranger to very effective social media movements. His fans will often reach millions and millions of people and they are kind of like fans actually I would describe them in that way rather than simply supporters they create memes, videos and it's worth remembering too that he's got other endorsements for example Elon Musk who's

very supportive of Donald Trump at the moment. And he also has a very active following of people who are now creating and generating a huge amount of content. So it feels like this election is a little bit online, at least the battle of these fandoms, these groups of online supporters. And do you think these online fandoms could be a secret weapon? I think so. And I think what's

to think about is what kinds of social media content can sway people. I think a lot of people, certainly people I've spoken to, find that paid for adverts aren't so convincing. They know they're coming from the political parties. They know that they're paid for. Whereas content that feels like it's coming from someone like you or other voters that's authentic or genuine, whether that's pro-Trump supporters or pro-Harris supporters, I think that that can be effective. And what these fandoms are doing, whether it's the Swifties or the Muskies, for want of a better word,

whichever fandom you are, you're making content that's popping up on people's social media feeds. And crucially, and I spoke to quite a few people who've been liking some of these posts and said, what impact has it had? And quite a few of them were people who were otherwise feeling quite lethargic about the election. They weren't very motivated to go out and vote. And they said this kind of content made them think, actually, I feel quite positive. I want to get involved. That's the thing that possibly could make the difference here, rather than necessarily convincing someone from the other side to vote for your preferred candidate.

Thanks, Marianna. Marianna Spring, and you can listen to Why Do You Hate Me USA wherever you get your podcasts. Coming up in the Global News Podcast... King Charles is heckled by an Indigenous senator in the Australian Parliament.

Deep in the ocean, an orca pod is on the hunt. But these aren't your average orcas. These guys are organized. Marketing team, did you get those social media posts scheduled for the seal migration? Aye, aye, Captain. We even have an automated notification for all pod managers when they go live.

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The world's biggest nature protection conference is getting underway in the Colombian city of Cali, with representatives from 196 countries under pressure from the UN to uphold their commitments to stop the rapid loss of biodiversity by 2030.

The two-week-long United Nations Biodiversity Conference, or COP16, will be the first such summit since the last gathering in Montreal two years ago, when negotiators reached an historic deal to reverse worldwide declines in nature. I asked Naveen Singh Khadka what COP16 will involve.

This is about protecting nature. And they did this massive deal back in 2022, 30% of land, sea to be protected and restore 30% of degraded ecosystems. Now that was done, but have they actually done it? So that monitoring is to be done. So that framework, that's where they need to agree on. But the thing is,

As they gather there to agree the framework, we are receiving figures that hardly around 30 countries have submitted those strategies and many of them haven't. So one of the reasons we have found is that money is a big deal. 200 billion U.S. dollars needed annually by 2030. Now, compare that with the annual 100 billion dollars required for climate finance, which countries claim they haven't received yet or it's quite disputable.

So this thing about money is a massive issue, but there are other issues about genetic resources, how can they rein in businesses, and so on and so forth. We keep hearing these summits. The message is always the earth is in a dire strait.

Is anything going to change this time around? Do you think much concrete can be achieved? You see, the thing is, on paper, if you look at them, then they all look so nice. But the implementation is where it's all about, like I said, the money is a massive issue. Getting businesses on board, that's not happening. But again, you know, when we talk about all this, what we are also told this time is that this is just not about nature, nature per se. Business, the gross domestic product overall.

of the earth massively, massively depends on natural services, on nature itself. So business point of view, it's all there. And also benefits to communities, indigenous people, another massive issue. We've been hearing this since 2014 when they signed the Nagoya Protocol. Have those communities received anything? No. And that is where, you know, all this fight, all this tension is all about. So what is the main aim of this conference, do you think?

Well, basically, it's about, you know, checking on countries what they did after signing up to the global biodiversity framework. That's the main thing to bring them in. But then we are already hearing from countries that where is the money? The money was already an issue with climate. And now there's also massive issue with biodiversity and nature.

The world's largest mining company, BHP, is going on trial in London over its joint role in a dam collapse in Brazil nine years ago. The deadly incident in Mariana in Brazil led to toxic mud and waste flooding the surrounding area, killing 19 people and leaving hundreds more homeless.

Nearly 700,000 people are taking the companies to international courts in London and the Netherlands. The companies deny liability, although they have been part of rebuilding efforts. With more, here's our South America correspondent, Ione Wells.

Mariana is a quaint historic town in the mountains of southeast Brazil. Its windy cobbled streets and soundtracks of birds and church bells make for a peaceful setting. But nine years ago, it was making headlines, the scene of Brazil's worst environmental disaster. Nineteen people are still missing after the rupture of... One person has been confirmed dead, but at least a dozen are reported to be missing. The last words I heard from him was he saying to me...

Mom, did you know that you are the best mom in the world? I'm at the house now of Giovanna Rodriguez. Her son, Thiago, was seven years old when he was killed in the dam collapse. When the disaster happened, he was in the next town, where he stayed with his grandmother so I could work.

I heard the news, I ran there and I saw everything destroyed. Seven days and seven nights passed before I heard that they had found the body. I'm in Bento Rodrigues now, which is one of the towns that was completely destroyed by the disaster.

It's now basically a ghost town. Most of the houses here are complete ruins. Some of them still have mud all the way up the walls. Marcos Muniz, known as Marquinhos, is one of the people who used to live in this town. His house was completely washed away in the disaster. You can now only just see the tip of it poking out of the brown water. I arrived in Bento.

I arrived here when I was six with my family. Then, my dad bought the land where I built my house when I was older. I knew that here I would have the livestock, pigs and orange trees. Now, the house that I inherited from my father is inside the lake there. We were raised here. It was an accident! The valley kills the river, kills the fish and kills us!

Protests still take place regularly in Mariana. At this one, a group of people are gathering outside a court with banners, with megaphones, protesting against what happened. There is no justice for half of the citizens!

Vale and BHP have set up a foundation called the Hanover Foundation, responsible for compensating people. They've given people the option of money or a new house in a new city that they've constructed. Hundreds have been built already. They're big, modern houses. But it is a different feel in this community to the old Bento Rodriguez community.

Fernanda Lavarelo is the head of corporate affairs at BHP Brazil. What happened in 2015 was a tragedy. Since then, BHP never abandoned the country. And BHP is here since the beginning, since the one doing everything we can to repair the environment and the life of those families.

Some people are very happy here with their new way of life, their new home. But for people like Marquinhos, he wants a house on his own rural land again, not one in a new modern city with a different way of life. For Giovanna, nothing can compensate for losing her son. It's impossible, impossible, because nothing can bring a life back. There is no money in the world that can buy a life.

That report from Ione Wells.

The Turkish Muslim preacher Fethullah Gülen has died in exile in the United States at the age of 83. He was the leader of the Gülen movement, known in Turkey as Hizmet or Service, which he said promoted tolerant Islam. The Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused him of masterminding a bloody coup attempt in 2016, which resulted in tens of thousands of people being jailed and more than half a million prosecuted. Gülen consistently denied any involvement.

In a 2014 interview with the BBC, he spoke about the importance of voting for candidates who respect democracy. He was speaking ahead of presidential elections that year. I have had a chance to vote only once in my life. Either I was in jail or I was on the run or I was deprived of those rights. If I say something, it will be this. Vote for whoever stands for the rule of law and rights.

Whoever is upright and sound, whoever is respectful of democracy, whoever gets along with those around him, if I am to say something, it would be this. An English translation of Fethullah Gülen's words in 2014. Well, I spoke to Emre Temel from our Turkish service who told me about the circumstances surrounding his death.

Yes.

And as you said, he had been accused of masterminding a coup attempt in Turkey in 2016, which resulted in deaths of more than 250 people. And Gülen was at the top of Turkey's most wanted terrorist list. And his movement was declared as terrorist organization following the coup attempt. And Gülen has been living in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania since 1999. And he was stripped of his Turkish nationality in 2017. Tell us more about his movement.

His movement, Hizmet Movement, which means service in Turkish, had a big network and Gülen built this powerful Islamic movement in Turkey and beyond. His movement has hundreds of schools in Turkey and other countries and has previously been accused of infiltrating and influencing Turkish police and the judiciary.

and Gulen himself and his followers use market and technology structures. They are very active users of social media, digital technologies, and public relations. However, over the past decade, Gulen and his followers faced a massive crackdown led by the Turkish government, and since the failed coup,

Gulen movement has been systematically dismantled in Turkey and its influence has declined internationally. And what is his legacy, do you think, Emre? Possibly a leadership struggle will await the movement. There is no outside clear-cut figure who can replace Gulen. And the movement had serious difficulties in both Turkey and the other countries. That's why we will wait and see who would replace him. Emre Temel.

More than 100 professional women's footballers have published an open letter calling on the world governing body FIFA to end its sponsorship deal with the state-owned Saudi Arabian oil giant Aramco. The Gulf Kingdom, which has been criticised for its human rights record, has invested heavily in sport globally. But the players say they object to the partnership on humanitarian and environmental grounds. Our sports correspondent Katie Gornall has more.

The players have come together from leagues across Europe and North America and have more than 2,000 caps between them. In the letter, they call FIFA's partnership with Saudi Aramco, signed earlier this year, a stomach punch to women's football. They also question how LGBTQ plus players, many of whom they say are heroes of the sport, can be expected to promote the company given that Saudi Arabia criminalises homosexuality.

They want the global governing body to instead consider sponsors they feel align more with gender equality, human rights and sustainability. The Netherlands and Manchester City striker Vivian Miedema is one of those to put her name to the letter. We always shout and FIFA always shout, they want the game to be inclusive and they want the game to lead by example.

Well, if so, then make sure that you align with sponsorships that are leading by example. In response, FIFA said it valued its partnership with Aramco and added that commercial revenues were reinvested back into the women's game at all levels. Aramco declined to comment. It already has sponsorship deals with Formula One, the Ladies European Tour, and is a partner of the International Cricket Council. Katie Gornall.

A politician in Australia has heckled King Charles during his visit to Parliament House in the Australian capital, Canberra. Lydia Thorpe, who's an independent Indigenous senator, shouted, you are not our king, as he sat down after making a speech. She was then escorted away. Our correspondent, Daniela Ralph, reports from Canberra.

Arriving in Canberra for a day that was always going to touch on this country's difficult history. But the King and Queen were faced with it more directly than planned. In my many visits to Australia, I have witnessed the courage and hope that have guided the nation's long and sometimes difficult journey towards reconciliation. Throughout my life, Australia's First Nations peoples have done me the great honour of sharing so generously...

their stories and cultures. I can only say how much my own experience has been shaped and strengthened by such traditional wisdom. But as the king finished, the event was interrupted to shouts of you are not our king. The voice of protest was a sitting politician here, Aboriginal Senator Lydia Thorpe. Security removed her from the Great Hall. Outside Parliament, she told the BBC why she protested.

I wanted to send a clear message to the King of England that he's not the king of this country. He's not my king. He's not sovereign. We are sovereign. To be sovereign, you have to be of the land. He's not of this land. Away from the protest, it had been a day when thousands had turned out across Canberra to see the King and Queen, including a lively alpaca.

Royal sources said they had been deeply touched to see so many people in Australia's capital. Daniela Relf in Australia.

And that's it from us for now, but there'll be a new edition of the Global News Podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, send an email. The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at Global News Pod. This edition was mixed by Tom Bartlett. The producer was Isabella Jewell. The editor, as ever, is Karen Martin. I'm Valerie Sanderson. Until next time, bye-bye.

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