Witkoff praises Putin as 'a humanitarian'

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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Charles Haverland and at 13.30 GMT on Wednesday the 21st of October, these are our main stories. Vladimir Putin has met Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg in another bid to end the war with Ukraine. A day after, Mr. Witkoff held talks with Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky in Oslo. Hungarian police have arrested a former central bank governor. Judge Matolche on suspicion of fraud and abuse of office. And a mascot of the port city of Busan in South Korea has finally swum away. Also in this podcast. Do I think it would be a good idea? Yes. But at the end of the day, the shareholders have to be supportive of this. And that's quite a high hurdle to try to achieve. Elon Musk says SpaceX and Tesla are exploring the largest corporate merger ever in history. But it's not. It's not without its obstacles. While the past week and a half laid bare a widening rift and fierce rhetoric from Donald Trump towards Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky, Wednesday morning's events presented a radically different diplomatic relationship. That's Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump's envoy, being greeted in St. Petersburg by the Russian president. Vladimir Putin, all smiles, was praised in connection with the highly controversial diesel deal between Washington and Moscow. It was then announced that a retired American teacher, Stephen Hubbard, detained by Russian forces four years ago in Russian-occupied Ukraine, would soon be on his way home. An announcement that triggered this reply from Mr. Witkoff. You talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian. You are a. I am a humanitarian also, sir. And I salute that. I commend you and I thank you again. Our Russia editor, Steve Rosenberg, in Moscow, gave me his assessment of the ever-warming U.S.-Russian relationship. I mean, you mentioned American pressure on Ukraine. Well, today we've seen American praise for Vladimir Putin. This meeting between Steve Witkoff and Vladimir Putin is underway now in St. Petersburg. Russian state TV just showed the opening. remarks at the start of the meeting, which was really interesting. I mean, it began with Steve Witkoff praising President Putin for the release of the U.S. citizen, Stephen Hubbard, and Mr. Witkoff said, you are a humanitarian to Vladimir Putin, which were great with many, considering we're now sort of approaching five years of Russia's war on Ukraine. As regards the war itself, Mr. Witkoff said he brought some papers with him, some proposals, from Oslo. He said, read them at your leisure, which suggested that we're not going to get an outcome here on the war as a resolution today. Steve Witkoff said there was some degree of momentum, he thought, in peace discussions after Oslo. Oslo, he said, had been a step forward, and he suggested to President Putin possibly the resumption of trilateral talks, Russia, Ukraine, the United States, as a next step, but on a technical level. Now, yesterday, the. The Norwegian prime minister suggested that the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, and the United States got together for a trilateral meeting. We seem to be a long way from that. And then they went on to discuss business cooperation, and Mr. Witkoff talked about the wonderful possibilities of cooperation in the world of business between Russia and the United States, and they talked about the diesel deal between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Which has put a big smile on the face of Russian officials. So, again, the U.S. envoy actively praising the Kremlin and not putting great pressure on it over the Ukraine war, it seems. Where does this leave Ukraine itself under potential peace deal? Well, I think, you know, based on what Vladimir Putin has been saying in his speeches and his statements and in comments in recent weeks and over recent months. He has given no sign of wanting to compromise on the war in Ukraine. He seems to believe that he has the initiative. He knows the winter is approaching, and Russia's continued attacks on Ukrainian towns and cities will put increasing pressure on Ukraine during the winter months. Steve Rosenberg in Moscow. A former governor of the Central Bank of Hungary has been detained on suspicion of fraud. George Matolche, who had also been arrested on suspicion of fraud, was also arrested in Moscow. The former governor of the Central Bank of Hungary has been detained on suspicion of fraud. George Matolche, who had also been arrested on suspicion of fraud, was also arrested on suspicion of fraud, was also arrested on suspicion of fraud. who had also served as finance minister, led the National Bank for 12 years. The government of Prime Minister Peter Mogier, who defeated the right-winger Viktor Orban in April's general election, has said the central bank's past operations must be investigated. A long-time associate of Mr Orban, George Matolci led the National Bank of Hungary for 12 years until 2025. Our global affairs reporter, Joanna Keane, told me the latest. The first we heard was from George Matolci's lawyer, who actually spoke to a Hungarian news website and confirmed this arrest. The statement said, my client is suspected of the criminal offence of economic fraud, causing significant financial loss and misdemeanour of using a forged private document. Also revealed that he would be questioned later. Now, George Matolci, as you said there, was head of the Hungarian National Bank between 2013 and 2025. Before that, finance minister 2010 to 2013. The crucial thing is he was a close ally of the former prime minister, Viktor Orban. George Matolci has always denied any wrongdoing. The local media in Hungary also reporting that several other people have been detained. They include a lawyer and the owner of a construction company. We have had a statement from prosecutors. They say they're carrying out coordinated operations as part of an ongoing investigation into the offence of embezzlement, causing particularly significant financial loss. So we know there there's a wider investigation. What they haven't given is any details about these arrests. So we are waiting for that. Now, the arrest has actually been confirmed by the prime minister, Peter Modja. What's the significance of that? That's right. This came on social media from Peter Modja. Now, we have to remember he won elections in April. He came to power on an anti-corruption platform sworn in, so just six months later, he's making very clear this is his priority. He wants to bring those responsible for past abuses committed during Viktor Orban's time to justice. Now, he has faced some criticism for being too slow. Just a day ago, he gave an interview saying he understands that Hungarian people are frustrated. They want to see results. But he says efforts are underway to recover assets. And he says this push for accountability must, follow the rule of law and it will take time. But he has also stressed that he believes members of government, business people connected to the previous government, did commit serious crimes, both with national and crucially with EU funds as well. Joanna Keane. After months of uncertainty, Britain has approved drilling in a controversial gas field in the North Sea, despite fierce opposition from environmental campaigners. London says the Jackdaw gas field, 240 kilometres off Aberdeen, in North East Scotland, will begin supplying gas to homes and businesses as soon as the end of this month. The decision's been accelerated by global energy shocks from the Middle East conflict. Tessa Khan leads Uplift, a climate group campaigning for a quick phase-out of British oil and gas production. The Jackdaw gas field won't do anything to bring down our energy prices. It won't make a material difference to our energy security. It's not going to address the long-standing crisis in jobs decline, that's been affecting Aberdeen northeast of Scotland in particular, for a long time. And it also comes on the back of really severe and concerning impacts caused by climate change that ordinary people have been picking up the bill for over the summer. I asked our UK political correspondent, Rob Watson, to explain why the government is going ahead with this project. So it's got three basic arguments for it. And you're right, it's controversial. And they realise, the government, that they need to make these arguments. One is that although Britain, yes, is moving towards a more renewable system of energy now, and in the future, it says, the government says, look, it's going to need gas for decades to come. So doesn't it make more sense to drill your own rather than import it from the other side of the world? The second argument is that it's good for jobs, that it maintains jobs in that part of Scotland. And then the third argument, and I think this is really important for the government, is it needs the money. I mean, the profits from gas revenues are taxed incredibly heavily, and the government says it will use at least some of that tax bonanza that it's going to get to fund changes to more renewable sources of energy. Now, what do the opponents of drilling in the Jackdaw gas field, what do they say? Charles, you can guess what they say. They say that just any form of taking fossil fuels is just nuts. I mean, completely nuts and unacceptable, particularly after the scorching summer we had here in the UK, that it just doesn't make any sense. You can never justify it. They say that it also eats away at Britain's desire to be a global champion for the idea of moving towards more renewable energies. How can you do that when you're opening up or opening up new supplies of gas? They also say that it won't make any difference to energy security. They point out that it will only be 3% of the UK's gas needs. So what on earth is the point? And that it won't save many jobs either. Now, this is a deeply divisive issue, isn't it? Not just in society, but within the political scene in Britain. It is very much so. I mean, and it tends to divide pretty much, along left-right lines. And you have, as well as the environmentalists, those inside the governing Labour Party who are very uncomfortable about this. And it was really noticeable, Charles, that when the government was announcing what it was intending to do, that while those on the opposition benches, a lot of them cheered, there was distinct silence behind the Prime Minister. But, you know, the government has decided it needs to go ahead and do this. And I don't think it's going to back away from it. Rob Watson. Next, one of South Korea's newest celebrities, Bukhangi the shark, has finally decided to seize the day and end her accidental city vacation in Busan. Authorities successfully pulled off a massive third rescue operation to guide her out of the canal, where she had been stranded for over a month. The shark had become a massive tourist attraction, drawing more than a million visitors to the port city. But biologists were eager for her to return home because of her deteriorating health and the immense stress engendered by her adoring fans. Our correspondent Jake Kwon sent this report from the harbour. After two failed attempts and an eight hours of effort, the rescue workers have finally completed the mission to drive the famous shark back out into the open part of the harbour. And you still see the crowd gathered behind me trying to get a glimpse of the shark in that water. I just saw the shark swimming about in the dark water right there. And this has been really a phenomenon. It has been a while since this city of Busan has seen this much excitement. Earlier, there were hundreds of people gathered here to say goodbye to their beloved shark. And they are part of the 1.6 million visitors that this rarely known, rarely visited park has gotten in the past 33 days. And since then, the shark had spawned a merchandise collection. It has become an official mascot of the city. But the experts are saying that this, this concrete harbour is far from a natural habitat for this kind of shark, especially one that it is of the endangered species. And this shark was seen with bruised nose and this amount of attention, the lighting, this noise, it was becoming very stressful for the shark. And many people feared the health of this shark. And this is why the government had tried multiple times in the past to try to save the shark and push him back into the harbour. Now, it's going to be a while to know whether this, this rescue mission has been a complete success. Because last two times, the rescue effort did not succeed because the shark simply swam back into the harbour. And the biologists are saying that the ocean water is continuing to get warmer. And this is something that the sharks prefer. So this may not be the last time the city of Busan have seen a shark in its harbour. Jake Kwon. Still to come in this podcast. The wave is the spectacle and the people are the drama. If you think about it, there's something about all of Hokusai's work that's very human. Londoners can now view one of the most famous print series in art history, which has gone on show at a local gallery. This week on The Interface, millions of kids have grown up on camera with their childhoods turned into content. There's a new law in California that gives kinfluencers the right to be forgotten and it could impact adults too. And an attack on Russian data centers started, and there's been a rumor that all the evil disinformation bots had been deleted from the internet. This is the Global News Podcast. There's been outrage across Australia following Monday's allegedly deliberate attack against independent lawmaker, Helen Haynes. The 65-year-old politician was run over near her electorate office in Wangaratta and is currently undergoing treatment for grievous, life-changing injuries. Speaking to reporters this morning from a Melbourne hospital, her husband, Phil Haynes, gave an update on her condition. What took place on Monday was a horrendous incident and it's, as you know, caused Helen significant injuries. As a result of that, Helen's left leg was amputated on Monday. We had been hoping that her right leg would be saved, but as of this afternoon or this morning, the surgeons had to also remove her right leg. But the good news in all this is Helen is alive and she's stable. That is the most important thing for our family. There's been a court appearance by the man accused of wounding Mrs Haynes in an allegedly targeted attack. He faces several charges. Investigators are continuing to search for a motive. Our correspondent, Katie Watson, sent this update. It was a brief appearance for Brendan Nugent. It was about five minutes in all. Now, there wasn't much discussion about the charges themselves. His lawyer did talk about his client's mental health concerns, saying that he also has a neurological condition and that he is suffering from concussion. Now, it's not clear what the cause is. It's not clear whether that concussion was as a result of anything that happened on Monday, but there was discussion of that. Now, during the hearing, Brendan Nugent remained silent. He didn't appear to show any emotion. He looked around the courtroom up at a TV screen, showing that the hearing was being streamed. And he did stand when the magistrate addressed him. He nodded once when he was asked if he understood that he would be returning to court for another appearance in February. Now, he remains in custody, and there have been more charges. He has been charged with the growing and possession of cannabis after police searched his home yesterday. And the police have said they are not ruling out any further charges, including attempted murder of Helen Haynes, who remains in hospital in Melbourne in a critical condition. Katie Watson. The Trump administration is pressing forward with targeted deportation operations across Ohio, focusing enforcement efforts on thousands of Haitian immigrants facing removal from the U.S. The operations mark a significant escalation in President Trump's hardline immigration agenda, carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. It comes at a politically sensitive time, as November's crucial midterm elections loom. The crackdown follows the administration's systematic dismantling of Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, over the last 18 months. This could impact more than one million immigrants. Including roughly 350,000 Haitians, who previously held legal residency and work authorization. Our correspondent, Tom Bateman, reports from Ohio. It's before dawn in Columbus, Ohio, and I'm in a car with a group of ice watchers, as they call themselves. They try to track agents carrying out Donald Trump's mass deportation drive. Headlights. stream through the window, but the watches are about to become the watched an ice agent tails us he's getting out he's getting out yeah he's taking photos the agents just got out and photographed all of us photographed our bbc vehicle behind us and what we're being told here is that's the first time something like this has happened tend to drive fast like right next to us or they honk at us ice watcher cat says the immigration agency has widened its net now including many people from haiti the haitians she says were caught off guard because like haitians were here on tps they weren't preparing for this they didn't have the comms up in a lot of ways it's pure panic this shop is empty because i can't purchase right now merchandise because i don't have uh people in springfield ohio i meet pasha castelli originally from haiti these days his grocery store in the town has mostly empty shelves his customers are keeping their heads down more than a million immigrants in america from countries caught in war or disaster have had their years long but temporary protected status or tps ended by mr trump it means many have gone from being legal to unauthorized migrants overnight a customer comes in a warehouse worker who shows me a large ankle monitor that was attached to by ice i was given a choice he tells me wear the ankle monitor and report in every two weeks or sign my deportation order but haiti is not safe to go back to he says the administration calls the monitors an alternative to detention it says it is conducting law enforcement to keep americans safe and argues haiti is safe to return to a claim many experts dispute as we're leaving a neighbor spots us outside and fears an ice raid on pasha's store shirley hampton comes over to chat ice is putting ankle bracelet on people that do not have a criminal record i've lived here since i was nine years old and i'm 83 years old and i work every day and that's why i admire the haitian people they work driving a lot of cars and they're not allowed to drive around springfield you see america's immigration fault line the shuttered factories that boarded up homes from decades of industrial decline and then the areas immigrants have made home drawn by cheap housing and the demand for low paid labor we love america and we love americans any kind of americans for rick johnson who's lived in springfield his whole life the influx was too much too fast i mean if you come here you come here legally man i'm all about it if you're not supposed to be here it's time to go home but it a lot of these guys are have been here legally because they're on this temporary protected status yeah but it's over now ain't it the temporary protected status is done yeah the administration's stripped it right so it's time to go for donald trump springfield became a symbol he once repeated a debunked claim that immigrants here were eating pets now the president's been to ohio twice in this tightly fought midterm election campaign where his republican party's hold is under threat and he has doubled down on his deportation tactics oh yeah but it's money bro next time take your time bro this is 20 year old pierre damas bell in an instagram video he recorded he was an honor student and college cadet in springfield who'd come from haiti as a teenager pierre's family says he killed himself after the shame of being tagged with an ankle monitor days before he'd attended a haitian support center run by villas dawsonville he did everything all right to be here until they put the tag on him telling him that the sense of belonging he had was just an illusion outside an ice field office i watch as several haitians head to their appointments meetings that can lead to detention ahead of deportation it is a walk-in with no certainty of walking out meanwhile america's divisions on immigration enforcement are set to form one part of the coming midterm verdict on president trump's policy tom bateman now to a potential corporate colossus billionaire elon musk is hoping to merge two of his technology ventures in a deal that would bring about a combined entity valued at over three trillion dollars during an earnings call the tesla and spacex ceo said the consolidation had a lot of merit due to the overlapping ai initiatives but between the companies but he said there were some obstacles do i think it would be a good idea yes but at the end of the day the shareholders have to be supportive of this and and particularly on on the tesla side we will need a a 50 vote of all shares not just those who vote but of all shareholders and and that's a that's quite a high hurdle to to try to achieve our business correspondent in singapore spoke with my colleague rob young about how elon musk might benefit from this merger it's two different companies but the lines between them are blurring you know we're talking about tesla that makes cars batteries now robots and spacex that is a rockets company but also an artificial intelligence company which they're now calling super intelligence and it's the ai bit that's kind of you know bringing the two together and the two companies are already working together on a semiconductor project terra fab which makes ai chips spacex already buys tesla batteries and cyber trucks so there is already a lot of work to be done to make sure that the two companies are already some sort of synergy between the two companies and bringing them together kind of brings two massive giants 1.5 trillion dollars valuation for tesla 2 trillion dollars for spacex together to make a blockbuster where everything is under one umbrella the decision making could be faster and you know some of the money that tesla makes can be used to fund spacex artificial intelligence projects and you know infrastructure that they're building so a lot of it put together for musk under one umbrella and you know some of the money that tesla makes can be used to fund that umbrella right which is potentially a benefit then because the cost of money in america is going up particularly for artificial intelligence projects at the moment but elon musk has followed donald trump's leave and he's renamed ai si hasn't he super intelligence rather than artificial intelligence what about governance concerns he mentioned shareholders the real owners of the company he has large ownership stakes of both is that potentially a problem it could be a governance concern certainly because you know musk owns about 48 percent stake in spacex but has about 80 percent of the voting rights in tesla he holds about 20 percent and when you bring these two together a merger would give him even more voting control than he has at tesla which is something that the independent committee would weigh and that's the reason why you know he said during the conference call he said that he has a conflict of interest and that's why he's not part of the evaluation committee that the two companies have you know tesla shareholders have to clear this but they have backed him in the past we saw them you know last year clear the trillion dollar pay package as well and he said that he has a conflict of interest and that's why he's not part of the so there would definitely be a question of governance but possibly it could pass through archana shukla in singapore and finally one of the most celebrated print series in art history has gone on display at a south london museum visitors to the dulwich picture gallery can experience the depictions of japan's biggest mountain by the artist katsushika hokusai japan's most famous printmaker on show for the first time ever in britain is the complete set of 36 views of mount fuji which he created between 1830 and 1833 my colleague nick robinson has been speaking to jennifer scott the director of dulwich picture gallery and harry ross an opera librettist influenced by hokusai both described their experiences of seeing the works oh it's so exciting the highlight of this exhibition is three versions of the great wave that hugely famous image which you really feel the impact seeing three versions of it side by side and it helps to unpack why this is such a famous image and why hokusai was one of the greatest artists that ever lived and harry ross what's your involvement with him and inspiration with him i wrote an opera that was premiered by scottish opera in february that was about the life of katsushika hokusai and it was called the great wave because that's his most famous image and so we framed it around this very very dramatic piece where you can see three boats with men hunched over maybe in fear or maybe just in desperation or maybe they're just going about their day with this big wave why harry has it captivated us so much because i think always everyone listening will have in their mind now what you've just described but what is it that caught all of our imaginations is it the scale i suppose as you've just mentioned the scale of of the people in it compared with the wave i think the wave is the spectacle and the people of the think about it so there's something about all of hokusai's work that's very human and for us through western eyes having been to japan to research hokusai there's something that's very very different there's a sort of oneness with nature in hokusai's work as well it's like this wave is just there do you and those people are just there yes and it has influenced hasn't it jennifer scott art and artists far from japan shores yes in fact when van gogh first saw the great wave he described that towering crest of water as terrifying and claw-like, which then gives that sense of drama. I mean, for me, this is such a big story told so simply, the peril of the people in the boats in the path of that wave. But Hokusai also gives a sense of hope in this image, which is, I think, why it lingers and is so very popular, because it's universal. You have a view through the wave to Mount Fuji, which is a beacon of hope, reminding us to keep calm, even in the face of turmoil, even in the face of terror, because ultimately, if you have hope and keep a steady course, all will be well. Does it matter, Jennifer, that it's been ripped off so much? Because, I mean, it's one of those images, isn't it? Well, it's an icon, and it's just used everywhere. I think it makes it even more exciting, because it's so familiar, which breaks down those barriers to art, because people recognise it instantly, but it pulls you in, because it's got that sense of peril and drama, but the fact that it's overshadowed, and famous, makes it an uber-celebrity that people want to see, but also to unpack why it has such an impact. You say, Harry Ross, you went to Japan to research Hokusai. What did you discover about him? What sort of a person was he? Extraordinary. So, one of the main Hokusai museums is not in Tokyo, not in Edo, where he was from, but it was about 180 kilometres away in the mountains in Nagano province, and he walked there. And he walked there three or four times throughout his life. So, that's an extraordinary thing to have done. And he lived for an exceedingly long time. At the time, if you lived past 60, you would get a sort of reward. He lived well past 60. So, he died in 1849. Nick Robinson speaking to director of the Dulwich Picture Gallery, Jennifer Scott, and opera librettist, Harry Ross. That's all for this episode. But before you go, my colleague Celia Hatton has a special request for listeners of this podcast. Hi, I'm Celia Hatton. I'm Celia Hatton from the Global News Podcast. We're working on a new special edition of the pod that's looking at China and what lies ahead for its powerful leader, Xi Jinping. At the end of this month, the top ranks of China's Communist Party are meeting behind closed doors, and it's believed around that time, Xi Jinping could indicate the next generation of leaders to run the country. He's not stepping aside anytime soon, but we'll get a sense of what lies ahead for China, one of the world's superpowers. So, we're hoping for your questions, on China and its future. What do you want to know about Xi Jinping and how he operates? We'll try to tackle the answers for you. Send your emails and video and voice notes to the usual address, globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. And that's all from us for now. If you want to get in touch, you can email us at globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. You can also now watch our episodes in full. Just search for the Global News Podcast, on YouTube. This edition of the Global News Podcast was mixed by Chris Murphy, and the producer was Gigi Ahn. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Charles Haverland. Until next time, goodbye.