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This is the Global News Podcast

0:43

from the BBC World Service. I'm

0:48

Alex Ritzen and at 13 hours

0:50

GMT on Wednesday the 23rd of

0:52

April these are our main

0:54

stories. Long queues are forming

0:56

outside St Peter's Basilica in Rome

0:58

as pilgrims wait to file past

1:00

the coffin of the late Pope

1:02

Francis. The US Secretary of

1:04

State cancels his trip to London for

1:06

Ukraine peace talks with both sides far

1:08

apart. Also

1:12

in this podcast, this from

1:14

the head of the Palestinian

1:16

Authority, Mahmoud Abbas on Hamas. And

1:21

finds totaling

1:24

$800 million in

1:26

Europe for

1:29

US tech giants

1:31

Apple and

1:34

Meta. The

1:39

doors of St Peter's Basilica are

1:41

open as thousands of Catholics from

1:44

Rome and beyond line up to

1:46

pay their respects to Pope Francis. His

1:48

body lies in state in an open

1:50

coffin dressed in red robes and a

1:52

white mitre. There he will

1:55

remain until his funeral on Saturday.

2:05

Bells rang and people applauded as

2:07

the procession made its way

2:09

through St. Peter's Square, led by

2:11

Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who announced

2:13

the death on Easter Monday. As

2:16

Camalingo, he gave a liturgy before

2:18

the Basilica was open to the public.

2:33

These mourners are among thousands of

2:35

Catholics queuing outside the Vatican. It's

2:38

like a member of the family, isn't it?

2:40

Somebody very close to our heart, somebody who

2:42

made the church very accessible to everybody and

2:44

inclusive to everybody. And we are meant to

2:46

have an audience with him today, and

2:48

we will do, but not

2:50

in the way that we expected.

2:52

Pope Francis was an ordinary, beautiful

2:54

man who lived his life as

2:56

a follower of Jesus in his

2:58

most sincere way. I'm

3:01

from Ghana. I think the

3:03

Pope has done his best. Now

3:06

we are supposed to pray for

3:08

him and also to continue the good

3:10

works that he has done. Thank

3:12

you. Thank you for being a great

3:14

shepherd. Thank you for guiding

3:16

the church in this trying time. Thank

3:18

you for being a peace builder. Thank

3:21

you for being a face of Christ

3:23

in the world. Our correspondent Sarah

3:25

Rainsford is in Vatican City. I think you

3:27

can probably hear the sound behind me,

3:29

the crowds here. I haven't seen it like

3:31

this since the news of the Pope's

3:33

death. There is really a big crowd building

3:35

here and there's a huge queue that

3:37

is coiling around St Peter's Square going back

3:39

and forth. It's actually quite hard to

3:41

actually tell where the end of that queue

3:43

is but I can see the beginning,

3:45

the front of the queue and it's a

3:47

long way away on the steps of

3:49

St Peter's. So people here are going to

3:51

be standing under the sunshine for several

3:53

hours before they get anywhere near the Basilica

3:55

and a chance of of course, to

3:57

then file past the coffin of the Pope

3:59

and to say their goodbyes and to

4:01

say their prayers. Talking to people

4:04

here, you know, that's clearly why they've

4:06

come. I spoke to one family who'd

4:08

broken off a holiday in Northern Italy,

4:10

an Irish family who had taken the

4:12

train and rushed here to St Peter's

4:14

Square because they wanted, this moment, they

4:16

wanted to say goodbye and to say

4:18

thank you to Pope Francis. They talked

4:20

about a humane Pope as they're from

4:22

Ireland. They said also it was important

4:24

that Pope Francis had come to their

4:27

country and had apologized. for the sexual

4:29

abuse scandal, child sex abuse scandal in

4:31

the Catholic Church in Ireland, they felt

4:33

that was really important and that's why

4:35

they respected Pope Francis and they wanted

4:37

to say their goodbyes. So everyone here

4:39

has their own reason for being here

4:41

but of course all of them are

4:43

brought together by a deep affection I

4:45

would say for Pope Francis. And Sarah,

4:48

more details have been coming through about

4:50

the funeral on Saturday. Well the

4:52

funeral on Saturday will follow these

4:54

three days of lying in state. So

4:56

the Pope will lie in his

4:58

coffin, a simple wooden coffin on the

5:00

ground level in St Peter's Basilica

5:02

for three days to give all these

5:04

people their best chance of seeing

5:07

the Pope and saying goodbye. Important

5:09

to note I think the symbolism of that,

5:11

that Pope Francis has adapted the

5:13

service here, the rituals, the traditions. He

5:15

wanted to be on a level with

5:17

the people rather than above them and

5:19

that I think is symbolic of how

5:21

he tried to lead the church during

5:23

his papacy. In terms of the funeral,

5:25

it will of course be a giant

5:27

international affair. There'll be world leaders here

5:29

from Donald Trump to the leader of

5:31

France, the British Prime Minister. There'll be

5:33

royalty here from Spain and from the

5:35

UK. They'll all be here of

5:37

course with many, many thousands of Catholics

5:39

who are expecting to cram into the

5:41

square. here, that the service itself, the

5:43

funeral service, will be on St Peter's

5:45

Square, but then the Pope's coffin will

5:47

be taken to another church in the

5:49

centre of Rome to be buried. In

5:54

his home country of Argentina, masses

5:56

and memorials are being held to

5:58

honour the first ponte from Latin

6:00

America, from the church where he

6:03

once served, to the football team

6:05

he passionately supported. He

6:07

never made it back to Argentina

6:09

during his papacy, but he left

6:11

a legacy there of someone who

6:13

helped the most vulnerable in society.

6:15

From Buenos Aires, here's our South

6:17

America correspondent, Ione Wells. Outside

6:21

the cathedral here in the centre of

6:23

Buenos Aires, the man is etched the

6:25

face of Pope Francis into the street

6:27

with chalk, candles, posters and photos plastered

6:29

at the front of the building. One

6:31

here reads that he reminded us, in

6:33

La Inglésia hay lugar para todos, todos,

6:35

todos. In the church there is room

6:37

for everyone, everyone, everyone. He

6:45

wrote us closer to the church, because

6:47

many of us were skeptical of a

6:49

lot of things. Everyone here has memories

6:51

of him, many personal, like this woman,

6:53

from his time as Archbishop of Buenos

6:56

Aires. I met

6:58

him on the subway once.

7:00

Obviously, he was Jorge Vargoglio

7:02

of them. He was very

7:04

empathetic. It was wonderful. For

7:08

many, like this missionary from Indonesia, who's

7:10

lived in Argentina for 15 years, he

7:12

leaves a legacy of tolerance and inclusion.

7:17

He's a pope for everyone. He

7:19

went to Indonesia last year. He

7:21

even inaugurated a tunnel from the

7:23

cathedral in Jakarta to the mosque

7:26

for Muslims. What an

7:28

image of tolerance. This

7:30

woman, who migrated to Argentina from

7:32

Venezuela during its economic and political

7:34

crisis, said he encouraged empathy. As

7:39

a Venezuelan, I felt deeply proud

7:41

that we had a Latin American

7:43

Pope. The day he was appointed,

7:45

we celebrated a lot in Venezuela

7:47

and today we felt a great

7:49

loss. He was very concerned

7:51

about the migrants that were losing

7:54

their lives. Many lives.

7:56

He was always emphasized that

7:58

aspect of migration. He

8:00

was always a great human being.

8:05

He might be best remembered here

8:07

for his work, helping the poor,

8:09

visiting soup kitchens, prisons, advocating for

8:11

wealth, redistribution. But locals here remember

8:14

him too as a fan of his local

8:16

football club San Lorenzo. Oscar

8:18

Luciini is the architect of the chapel at

8:20

the football ground. Imagine

8:22

that the first archbishop from

8:24

Argentina is also a member

8:26

of your club. For us,

8:28

it was an important honor

8:30

and for him it was

8:32

a pleasure, something he wanted

8:34

to do in his life.

8:36

His father was a basketball

8:38

player for San Lorenzo, so

8:40

he inherited his fandom for

8:42

the club. Through

8:51

years of hardship, some Argentines here feel

8:53

sad that he never returned to his

8:55

home country as Pope. There's a speculation

8:58

he feared a visit becoming politicized, with

9:00

some conservatives accusing him of being too

9:02

aligned with social justice and left -wing

9:04

politics. A supporter paying respect at

9:06

his former church felt he was wise not

9:08

to visit. They

9:11

will have been implicated in

9:13

all the problems we have here

9:15

in Argentina. The criticism

9:17

bothers me. Because politicians criticise

9:19

him, they would like to use

9:21

him. I think it's great that

9:23

he didn't come to Argentina. This

9:25

country is very political. His

9:29

views, his outspokenness and at times his criticism

9:31

of politicians was as divisive here as it

9:33

was globally. But one thing that unites people

9:35

in Argentina is their memory of him as

9:37

a local who grew up in a house

9:39

in the city close to the people that

9:42

he served and the problems that they knew.

9:46

I only well as reporting from

9:48

Buenos Aires. And if you

9:51

have any questions about how

9:53

the new Pope has chosen,

9:55

we're planning... A special conclave

9:57

edition of the Global News

9:59

Podcast will examine the process,

10:01

the timetable, who looks likely

10:03

to succeed Pope Francis and

10:05

what changes might be in

10:07

store for the Catholic Church.

10:09

Send us a voicemail or

10:11

an email to globalpodcast at

10:13

bbc .co .uk. You can

10:15

also find us on x at

10:17

BBC World Service. Use the

10:19

hashtag Global NewsPod. The

10:22

US vice president has said explicit

10:24

proposals have been issued to both Russia

10:26

and Ukraine as Washington pushes for

10:28

an end to the war. JD Vance

10:30

said it was time for both

10:32

to agree, warning that if not, the

10:35

US would walk away from the

10:37

process. We put together a very

10:39

fair proposal. We're going to see if the

10:41

Europeans, the Russians, and the Ukrainians are

10:43

ultimately able to get this thing over the

10:45

finish line. I feel pretty optimistic about

10:47

it. I think everybody has been negotiating in

10:50

good faith, but it's now time, I

10:52

think, to take, if not the final step,

10:54

one of the final steps. Earlier,

10:56

a high -level meeting in London

10:58

between the US and Ukraine and

11:00

some of its main European allies

11:03

was downgraded, uh, Europe

11:05

regional editor Danny Aberhart told

11:07

me what this means. Well,

11:09

effectively the talks were going to

11:11

be attended by the US Secretary

11:13

of State Marco Rubio and the

11:15

main envoy for Russian talks from

11:17

President Trump, Steve Wittkopf. They both

11:19

pulled out of the talks and

11:21

then effectively the British Foreign Secretary,

11:24

for example, won't be attending now

11:26

and the talks will be held

11:28

behind closed doors at a technical

11:30

level between officials. So very much

11:32

not the sort of talks that

11:34

we saw, for example, last week

11:36

in France, which were much more

11:39

high level. This is clearly a

11:41

bad move from a European perspective.

11:43

It's a step backwards. It signals

11:45

that there's a lot of discontent

11:47

about the state of the talks

11:49

as they exist at the moment.

11:53

JD Vance, the US vice president,

11:55

he said that a very

11:57

explicit proposal has been issued to

11:59

both the Russians and the

12:01

Ukrainians and it's time for them

12:03

to either say yes to

12:05

those proposals or for the United

12:07

States to walk away from

12:09

the process. We don't know

12:11

for sure what some of those

12:13

proposals are, but the media reports, some

12:15

of which was the idea that

12:17

U .S. could recognize Crimea as sovereign

12:20

Russian territory. That's a non -starter for

12:22

Kiev. It's a non -starter

12:24

for Europeans, allies of

12:26

Ukraine. It could be

12:28

that the U .S. is pushing

12:30

for territorial concessions that Ukraine

12:32

would de facto recognize the

12:34

state of play in eastern

12:36

and southern Ukraine and other

12:38

things. For example, Ukraine renouncing

12:40

ambitions to join NATO. The

12:44

tech giants Apple and Metta have

12:47

been ordered to pay hundreds of millions

12:49

of dollars in fines by the

12:51

European Commission for violating new digital laws

12:53

in the EU. It's

12:55

the first time penalties have been

12:57

handed down under Europe's Digital Markets

12:59

Act, which aims to preserve fairness

13:01

and competition in the tech industry. Our

13:04

technology reporter Chris Valance told

13:06

me about the reasons these

13:08

companies are being punished. Apple's

13:10

500 million euro fine was

13:12

essentially over its app store

13:14

and rules that prevented app

13:16

makers from pointing to cheaper

13:18

options outside of Apple's own

13:20

store, whether on websites or

13:22

in other services. It

13:24

said it would appeal the decision, a

13:26

pretty strong reply. It said it

13:28

was an unfair decision that was bad

13:30

for the privacy and security of

13:32

its users, bad for products and forced

13:34

the company to give away its

13:36

technology for free. It

13:39

said it had tried to work with

13:41

the Commission, but accused the Commission of

13:43

essentially moving the goalposts every step of

13:45

the way, so a pretty strong response

13:47

there. And the

13:49

matter? Metta's

13:51

$200 million fine was essentially

13:53

about advertising. The commission was

13:55

unhappy that if users wanted to

13:58

avoid cookies, that they're a key

14:00

part of how the companies, the

14:02

platforms, targeted ads are served. They

14:04

faced essentially a sort of a

14:06

binary choice, if you like, either

14:08

accept the ads or pay a

14:10

subscription. So that was the reason

14:12

behind that fine. Again,

14:14

a strong response from

14:17

the company. It said

14:19

that the European Commission was attempting

14:21

to handicap a successful American

14:23

business. The Commission was forcing

14:25

it to change its business model, effectively

14:28

imposing a multi -billion dollar

14:30

tariff on the company,

14:32

it said, while requiring it

14:34

to offer an inferior

14:36

service. So again, a

14:39

pretty feisty response from Metta. These fines

14:41

come to major US companies, just

14:43

as Donald Trump is, of course, ramping

14:45

up tariffs on foreign imports. Is

14:47

this a tit for tat, or actually

14:49

could these fines have been a

14:51

lot worse? Well, the fines

14:53

could certainly have been a lot worse. You

14:56

know, there are, within the Digital

14:58

Markets Act, you can find percentages of

15:00

annual revenue, which would be much

15:03

more than these fines. As to whether

15:05

there's a link to tariffs, well,

15:07

the EU explicitly denies this. We remains

15:09

to be seen whether the White

15:11

House will see it the same way.

15:13

But I think it is significant

15:15

that that Facebook, that meta response, mentioned.

15:18

tariffs. And

15:20

the White House has been very

15:22

negative about EU fines and EU

15:25

regulations. I mean, in February it

15:27

issued a memorandum that was titled

15:29

defending American companies and innovators from

15:31

overseas extortion and un -fine fines and

15:33

penalties. So you don't need to

15:35

read the memo to kind of

15:37

get the drift of that. And

15:40

Mark Zuckerberg earlier this year

15:42

said he looked forward to working

15:44

with Trump to sort of

15:46

counter excessive EU regulation of of

15:48

his American business. So it'll

15:50

be interesting to see the reaction

15:52

from White House officials. Chris

15:55

Valance Coming up,

15:57

we look at the

15:59

success of YouTube

16:01

on its 20th birthday.

16:03

300 videos uploaded to YouTube

16:05

every minute and more than

16:08

5 billion of them viewed

16:10

every single day. In

16:18

a scathing attack on Hamas in

16:20

Gaza, the Palestinian President Mahmoud

16:22

Abbas had this to say. about

16:25

children, about the children, children!

16:28

of dogs just release whoever

16:30

you're holding and be done

16:32

with it. Shut down their

16:34

excuses and spare us. Speaking

16:37

in Ramallah in the West Bank, the

16:39

leader of the Palestinian Authority

16:41

said the militant group must also

16:43

give up responsibility for Gaza

16:45

and hand over its weapons to

16:47

the Palestinian Authority. He was

16:49

also sharply critical of the Israelis

16:51

and the Prime Minister Benjamin

16:53

Netanyahu. The BBC's Sebastian Usher in

16:55

Jerusalem told me more. Well

16:57

I think to be honest much

16:59

of what else he said

17:02

he said before I think what's

17:04

actually got the attention and

17:06

I mean the Palestinians and beyond

17:08

is the. tone in which

17:10

he spoke. This is the strongest,

17:12

fiercest way that he's spoken

17:14

against Hamas since the Gaza war

17:16

erupted. This

17:18

is an 89 -year -old man, remember,

17:20

who hasn't faced any elections for years

17:22

and years and years, heading a Palestinian

17:24

authority that most Palestinians in the occupied

17:27

West Bank see as in irrelevance. So

17:29

he's been trying to re -establish that

17:31

relevance, been trying to insist time

17:33

and time again that the PA

17:35

is ready to take the reins

17:37

in Gaza if and when the

17:39

war ends. Israel doesn't accept that.

17:41

Some of the international community does favor

17:43

that. But he's not coming from

17:45

a great position of strength there. The

17:47

issues between Hamas and the PA

17:49

go back, of course, decades. They

17:52

had a violent confrontation back

17:54

in 2007 when Hamas took

17:56

complete control of Gaza. They've

17:58

never healed their differences since then.

18:00

But this tone is new. And certainly,

18:02

I mean, Palestinians that I've been speaking to

18:04

essentially saying, well, the man seems to

18:06

have woken up. He also had

18:08

some choice words for the Israelis. Well,

18:11

again, that's part of the course. And I

18:13

mean, what what he was saying about

18:15

Hamas and his his his attack on them

18:17

was that what Hamas is doing by

18:19

keeping the hostages and you know, he said

18:21

this about their massacres on October the

18:23

7th, 2023, was that it was giving Israel

18:25

an excuse to carry on its its

18:27

strategy against the Palestinians, not just in Gaza,

18:29

but in the occupied West Bank as

18:32

well. So and that was really the message

18:34

that he was sending. Sebastian Asher. There's

18:36

a huge manhunt underway in

18:38

Indian -administered Kashmir a day after

18:40

at least 26 people were killed

18:42

in an attack on domestic

18:45

tourists. Gunmen burst out of forests

18:47

and opened fire on visitors

18:49

with automatic weapons. India's Home

18:51

Affairs Minister Amit Shah has visited

18:53

the Himalayan resort of Pahalgam where

18:55

there is outrage on the streets

18:57

after the attack. These people took

19:00

part in protests. Whoever has

19:02

done this, he is an enemy

19:04

of Kashmir, he is an enemy of

19:06

our soil and in no case

19:08

should this go unpudished. I wish I

19:10

had a stronger word than this

19:12

word condemn. I wish there was some

19:14

bigger word. Word condemn probably is

19:16

not sufficient for this what has happened

19:18

today in Kashmir. But my hope

19:20

is the people of India know what

19:22

Kashmiris are, what we believe as

19:24

Kashmir, how we have always treated our

19:26

guests from India. The shootings coincided

19:28

with US Vice President JD Vance's visit

19:31

to the country. The Indian

19:33

Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, is to

19:35

hold an emergency cabinet meeting. Arundhé

19:37

Mukherjee reports from Delhi. Narendra

19:39

Modi, who cut short a visit

19:41

to Saudi Arabia to return to Delhi,

19:43

has sent a tough message, saying

19:45

those behind the attack will not be

19:47

spared. There's been no official confirmation

19:49

yet on who was involved, but some

19:51

reports have pointed to an organisation

19:53

based in Pakistan. Pakistan's defence

19:55

minister, though, has denied his country

19:58

had any role. The attack

20:00

has sparked protests in the city of Srinagar. There

20:02

are concerns that tourism, a key source of

20:04

revenue for the region, could be hit. India

20:07

and Pakistan both claim Kashmir,

20:09

but control only parts of it.

20:11

Since the 1990s, an armed,

20:13

separatist insurgency against Indian rule in

20:15

Kashmir has claimed tens of

20:17

thousands of lives, including civilians and

20:19

security forces. We

20:40

think that it's very

20:42

likely because both sides

20:45

are serious and they've

20:47

shown their interest and

20:49

we've seen some steps

20:51

taken in recent weeks.

20:53

For example, the Doha

20:55

summit between the two

20:57

presidents. This took place

20:59

just a few weeks ago

21:01

and they had not met one

21:04

-on -one for at least three

21:06

years. We've also seen

21:08

another sign. which is quite

21:10

positive in the last couple of weeks, is

21:12

the withdrawal of the M23

21:15

from the town of Walikali,

21:17

which was affecting one of

21:19

our major interests there, one

21:21

of the biggest tin mines

21:23

in the world, Al

21:25

-Famin. And

21:28

they withdrew for more

21:30

than 100 kilometers east. And

21:33

for the first time, we're seeing such

21:35

withdrawals, such retreat. Massad

21:37

Boulos, US Senior Advisor

21:39

for Africa. Let's

21:41

return to the reaction following the

21:43

death of Pope Francis. During his

21:45

papacy, Pope Francis was known for

21:47

his progressive stance on social justice,

21:50

care for the poor and his

21:52

efforts to modernize aspects of the

21:54

Catholic Church, including expanding the role

21:56

of women. While he made

21:58

historic moves, such as appointing women

22:00

to senior Vatican roles and granting

22:02

them voting rights in the Synod,

22:05

many still debate how far his

22:07

reforms truly went. Let's hear now

22:09

from the Vatican from from Sister

22:11

Nathalie Bakutt. She's the first woman

22:13

to hold the position of Undersecretary

22:15

for the General Secretariat of the

22:17

Synod at the Vatican and the

22:20

first to have voting rights in

22:22

the Synod too. Look,

22:24

we, Sir Burak, asked for

22:26

her reflections on the Pope's

22:28

death. I was on St.

22:30

Peter Square for Easter Mass

22:32

on Sunday. It was fragile, but

22:35

of course it was a shock

22:37

and it's like someone from the family

22:39

because it was so close to

22:41

everybody, especially the poor, but also

22:43

close to those who were working with

22:45

him at the Vatican. So

22:47

we are now experiencing this

22:49

time of mourning, but also giving

22:51

thanks for his life and

22:53

all he has given to the

22:55

world and to the church.

22:58

And he gave two to women

23:00

as well. So I'd

23:02

like to know under his leadership, what

23:04

did it mean for you? Well,

23:06

it was a surprise. And

23:09

through me, you know, he

23:11

really wanted to underline the importance

23:13

of having women in leadership,

23:15

not only at the Vatican, but

23:17

at all levels of the

23:20

church. And after me, he continued

23:22

to name all the women

23:24

in leadership, including as number one

23:26

of some decastry or the

23:28

governorate of the Vatican. And

23:31

for him, he really said

23:33

many times that there is

23:35

a need to move forward and

23:37

to be together as men

23:39

and women, as well as

23:41

young and older in the church

23:43

and in you. And he

23:46

was repeating also that every time

23:48

he's asking a woman to

23:50

be in leadership, going

23:53

better. And not only

23:56

for the church, he was also

23:58

convinced that for peace buildings, the

24:00

key is to involve women. And

24:02

that was a man

24:04

really doing all his

24:06

pontificate, was calling for

24:08

peace, peace building, dialogue,

24:11

justice, because that's the way.

24:13

Was his approach to how

24:15

he wanted the church to

24:18

move forward? and your

24:20

appointment to those positions, was

24:22

it welcomed by other members

24:24

of the Church? I

24:26

think it was well welcomed by many

24:28

and I was so touched when

24:30

I was appointed by so many, so

24:32

many messages I received from all

24:34

over the world and not only from

24:36

women or sisters because they could

24:38

feel it's not me but through me

24:40

they could feel also they are

24:42

part of the mission of

24:45

the church and there already

24:47

are but also I received many

24:49

messages from priests, from bishops,

24:51

from cardinals and you know through

24:53

the synod one of the

24:55

main topic that was coming really

24:57

from the listening of all

24:59

the people who take part to

25:01

the consultation from all over

25:03

the world it was an urgent

25:05

call to give more participation

25:07

for women in the church especially

25:09

in governance. Sister Natalie

25:11

Bequart, the first woman to

25:13

hold the position of Undersecretary

25:15

for the General Secretariat of

25:17

the Synod at the Vatican. In

25:21

2005, as camera phones

25:23

gained popularity, three friends

25:25

in California stumbled upon

25:27

a problem. They wanted

25:29

to send videos to each other,

25:31

but there was no easy way how.

25:34

So they invented their own YouTube. 20

25:36

years later, the platform

25:38

has 2 .5 billion monthly

25:40

active users across more than

25:42

100 countries. On its

25:44

20th birthday, Chantal Hartle looks back

25:47

at the success of YouTube. The

25:49

numbers are staggering. 300 videos

25:52

uploaded to YouTube every minute

25:54

and more than 5 billion

25:56

of them viewed every single

25:58

day. It's the go -to

26:00

place for everything from music

26:02

videos and tutorials to gaming live

26:04

streams and documentaries. But

26:06

20 years ago today, it was

26:08

this 19 second grainy video

26:11

clip that started it all. Alright,

26:13

so here we are, one of the elephants.

26:17

The cool thing about

26:19

these guys is that

26:21

they have really, really,

26:23

really long trunks. And

26:25

that's cool. And that's pretty much

26:27

all there is to say. That's YouTube

26:29

co -founder Javed Karim describing the elephants

26:31

at San Diego Zoo, the first

26:33

ever video to be uploaded onto

26:35

the site. Suddenly, it

26:37

was possible for anyone anywhere with

26:39

a camera to share videos, no

26:41

matter how silly the content. As

26:44

YouTuber Kasper Lee explains, it was this

26:46

format that made the platform a more

26:48

attractive option for those considering a job

26:50

and television. When you build

26:52

a YouTube channel, being able to

26:54

have that instant feedback from hundreds,

26:56

if not thousands, if not millions

26:59

of people is really powerful. It

27:01

really allows you to make something

27:03

very unique and different to maybe

27:05

what you could have done through

27:07

the traditional gatekeeping of TV. In

27:09

2006, YouTube was sold to Google

27:11

for $1 .65 billion. This

27:14

allowed the site to monetize

27:16

videos, generating not only huge profits

27:18

for Google, but also providing

27:20

content creators with a share of

27:22

the cash. Today,

27:31

the highest -paid YouTuber worldwide

27:33

is MrBeast, known for his

27:36

high -production videos of challenges, stunts

27:38

and cash giveaways. Forbes

27:40

estimates that the American creator

27:43

earned $85 million last year. But

27:45

the views his videos attract

27:47

are nowhere near the most watched

27:49

YouTube video of all time, baby

27:52

shark. India has the

27:54

largest YouTube audience worldwide,

27:56

with approximately 491 million users,

27:58

followed by the US

28:01

and Brazil. It's by

28:03

far the most common type of

28:05

TV viewership in the US, surpassing

28:07

traditional TV and film streaming services.

28:10

And the way people are watching

28:12

videos has changed too. YouTube says

28:14

viewers are now much more likely

28:16

to be watching content on TV

28:18

rather than on their phones. Despite

28:20

its success, YouTube hasn't escaped the

28:22

challenges facing other social media sites. It's

28:25

been criticised for allowing hate

28:27

speech, misinformation and conspiracy theories

28:29

to spread. The company

28:31

says it's introduced stricter content

28:33

moderation policies to counter this.

28:36

So what does its future look like?

28:38

YouTube chief executive Neil Moan recently

28:40

said the company hasn't even touched the

28:42

tip of the iceberg of what

28:44

it can do with artificial intelligence. Shantel

28:48

Hartle reporting. Winning

28:51

an Oscar is considered the highest

28:53

accolade in the film industry, but how

28:55

would it feel if you knew

28:57

Academy members voted for you without watching

28:59

your film or any of the

29:01

others in your category? In a major

29:03

shift to voting rules, Academy members

29:05

will now have to prove they've watched

29:07

all nominated films in a category

29:09

before they're allowed to vote. The move

29:11

is aimed at improving the integrity

29:14

and credibility of the awards process, as

29:16

I heard from Ella Bicknell. At

29:18

the core of this policy Alex is

29:20

the simple belief if you haven't

29:22

seen the films you're unable to judge

29:24

which is best and therefore probably

29:26

shouldn't be voting on them and the

29:28

Academy they're saying all of this

29:30

is to stop what they call coattel

29:32

voting so that's voting in a

29:34

way that awards maybe the actors and

29:37

directors you're more familiar with maybe

29:39

ones you've worked with before or maybe

29:41

your best friends with and they

29:43

want members to be more open -minded

29:45

and not to overlook those smaller films

29:47

that don't have those massive marketing

29:49

budgets and In their defence, they say

29:51

it's not about seeing every movie,

29:53

just the nominees and the categories you

29:55

choose to vote on. And there

29:57

is lots of crossover too. So for

30:00

example, this year's 2025 Oscars, the

30:02

10 films nominated for Best Picture. If

30:04

you saw them all, you'd be

30:06

eligible to vote in formal categories like

30:08

director, actress, supporting actress and film

30:10

editing. It does seem incredible though that

30:12

people who are voting weren't perhaps

30:14

watching all the films. Yes, so the

30:16

Academy's view that if they're to

30:18

remain in their words, the most prestigious

30:20

and coveted awards ceremony in Hollywood,

30:23

they need accountability like this. So the

30:25

way they're doing this is through

30:27

this private streaming platform called the Academy

30:29

Screening Room. The only criticism that

30:31

has been sort of raised is that it

30:33

means things like premieres, festivals, or

30:35

even a trip to your local cinema

30:37

won't count. You have to watch

30:39

it basically on a laptop. But on

30:41

the whole, the Academy says, There's

30:43

been no complaints and the feedback is

30:45

overwhelmingly positive for this accountability to

30:48

be brought forward into its membership. And

30:54

that's all from us for now,

30:56

but there'll be a new edition

30:58

of the Global News Podcast later.

31:00

If you want to comment on

31:02

this podcast or the topics covered

31:05

in it, you can send us

31:07

an email. The address is GlobalPodcast

31:09

at bbc .co .uk. You

31:11

can also find us on

31:13

X at BBC World

31:15

Service. Use the hashtag GlobalNewsPod.

31:18

This edition was mixed

31:20

by Masoud Ibrahim Khayel

31:22

and the producer was

31:24

Tracy Gordon. The editor

31:26

is Karen Martin. I'm

31:28

Alex Ritzen. Until next time, goodbye.