China claims it's uncovered a CIA spy in its network

00:00: Hello, this is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service with reports and analysis

00:05: from across the world, the latest news seven days a week.

00:09: BBC World Service podcasts are supported by advertising.

00:13: This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.

00:18: I'm Valerie Sanderson and at 13 hours GMT on Friday 11 August, these are our main stories.

00:24: China says it's uncovered a spy working for the US intelligence agency, the CIA.

00:30: We have a special report on the effect of the military coup in Niger.

00:34: The world's sky-jamboree plagued with problems, including a heat wave, winds up with a pot concert.

00:43: Also, this podcast takes a lot of mental power, physical power and emotional power to even make it to this world stage. have to be the best.

00:55: Pokémon's coming home to Japan as the world championships get underway.

01:03: We begin the podcast with the tale of espionage.

01:07: China says it's uncovered a spy recruited by the US intelligence service, the CIA.

01:12: The state security ministry said the Chinese national, known only by the surname Zung,

01:17: was employed at a military organization and was taken on by the Americans during a work trip to Italy.

01:24: Ariesia Pacific editor will Leonardo is with me in the studio.

01:28: Tell us more about what China is saying about this agent.

01:31: So yes, this is a statement from the Chinese security ministry.

01:33: It says this man called Zong in his 50s, who worked for a watch

01:37: described as a military industrial group, was sent to Italy.

01:40: And there he was alleged to have met a US Embassy official by the name of Seth.

01:44: It appears they lived it up together in Italy.

01:46: They went to the dinner parties, they went on outings, they went to the

01:49: up together. And there's some interesting wording in the statement that says that Zong

01:52: became psychologically dependent and succumbed to Western values. Seth is then, is then said

01:57: to have offered Zong a large sum of money and immigration to the US for himself and

02:01: his family. And Zong signed an espionage agreement to provide sensitive material about Chinese

02:06: military once back in China. Once back in the country he met up with CIA agents to

02:11: select multiple times to provide what's been described as a large amount of core intelligence.

02:16: no word on what that is. The Ministry said it was taking compulsory measures against

02:20: the UN and would be handed to prosecution services soon, but there's been no independent

02:24: confirmation and no word from the US authorities, although it's unlikely that they'll be speaking

02:28: a lot on this topic. And what is the state of play between China

02:32: and the US when it comes to espionage? Well, there seems to be a rare detailed disclosure

02:37: from China, even though Beijing has long claimed foreign forces are trying to undermine the

02:42: It recently expanded its definition of espionage, made it slightly more vague to include things

02:47: in the private sector, including US firms and that sort of thing.

02:50: And it comes as you say amid heightened tensions between the two great powers over trade, over

02:54: military, we've had those restrictions of chips to China by the US authorities.

02:59: And it's also the latest accusation of espionage from either side.

03:02: So last week we had two US Navy sailors arrested in California for allegedly providing material to Chinese authorities.

03:10: And also, it comes a few months after the CIA director Bill Burns said the agency was

03:15: trying to expand its Chinese network after a catastrophic exposure event in which several spies were lost.

03:21: Thanks Will, we'll Leonardo.

03:24: The authorities in Hawaii's island of Marui say it will take many years and billions

03:28: of dollars to repair the damage caused by devastating wildfires.

03:34: 55 people are now known to have died.

03:36: She was visiting from Kansas City in the United States.

03:40: Once our car started exploding, we had at least 50 cars there, like a line up right behind

03:47: us and each car was just pop, pop, pop, pop.

03:50: It started shooting debris to us.

03:52: We had to move even more down.

03:54: This time we're in the water.

03:55: Water is hitting harder and harder.

03:57: So it hit us, it kept pushing us back and forth.

04:00: I got a big scrape from my bottom all the way down to my cans and the rocks is really

04:06: The military coup in Niger has caused huge concern, resulting in West African heads of

04:18: state meeting in Abuja to discuss the situation.

04:21: The group, comprising the regional block ECOWAS, has agreed to assemble a standby force to intervene if necessary.

04:29: International partners have cut aid to the country and some have imposed sanctions to try to

04:33: to convince the army leaders in Niger to step down.

04:37: But the junta appears to have popular support

04:39: because it's opposing the influence of France,

04:42: Niger's former colonial ruler.

04:44: Some people are even calling for closer ties with Russia instead.

04:48: Our Africa correspondent Catherine Bieder Hanger

04:50: has this report on how the coup is affecting daily life in Niger.

04:59: Zara Kadar stars a pot of food at her small outdoor restaurant in Niamay, the capital of Niger.

05:05: A few customers seated on wooden benches way to be served.

05:13: She and other ordinary people are beginning to feel the impact of the four-louths from Niger's

05:18: crew. Sanctions have cut off imports causing the prices of popular staples to go up,

05:25: and major cities are facing rolling electricity blackouts.

05:31: The price of rice has increased but also that of cooking oil.

05:34: An increase of four US dollars in just one week.

05:37: This causes us problems because if I prepare the rice I can't sell it.

05:41: No profit on the losses.

05:43: Since the military took power we no longer have electricity.

05:47: When I tried to find out I was told that it was Nigeria that cut electricity

05:50: to denounce the coup d'état that had taken place in our country.

05:59: Niger's soldiers seized power two weeks ago.

06:05: A series of rallies, including at the National Stadium,

06:08: have been attended by thousands of people, suggesting widespread backing for the coup that ousted the democratically elected government.

06:17: Israfeu Amaru is one of the supporters.

06:20: We like our army. Now we are free now.

06:23: We don't need the France. We don't need anything.

06:26: We like Russia. We like our country.

06:32: The Militia takeover has unleashed already present anti-French sentiments.

06:37: They have seen protesters stream the streets in support of the coup.

06:42: They have held stones and set parts of the French embassy on fire.

06:47: Some protesters carried Russian flags, calling on Moscow to step in as their preferred international ally.

06:58: Russian propaganda networks promoted as a fairer partner for African countries.

07:04: It has built close relationships with Niger's neighbours, Mali and Bukina Faso,

07:09: which are also led by military regimes.

07:16: Ibrahim Suleiman, who is a tailor in Niyame,

07:20: says Russian flags have been on demand since the military took over.

07:26: It was with advent of the Tienic coup that they started seeing flags, especially for Russia.

07:32: People come to buy a lot of them because they use them to support our soldiers of taking power.

07:38: people by them because we are in conflict with France.

07:41: For years, France has only caused us problems

07:45: and the military wants to put an end to it.

07:47: There's a worry, France and Western countries

07:50: are losing influence to Russia in this region.

07:53: But there are other Nigerians who support the deposed president,

07:57: Mohammad Basoum.

07:58: African countries and international allies

08:01: have called for him to be released for military detention and to be reinstated.

08:06: Ibrahim Mahazaki says the coup is not justified.

08:12: I condemn this coup because currently we have no problem in the country.

08:16: Not only are services working well, insecurity has decreased a lot.

08:20: There aren't labor strikes like before and financially, there is no crisis, so we have no worries in the country frankly.

08:27: Someone can't just come up and stage a coup for their own personal interests.

08:32: France, Nichea's former colonial ruler has some 1,500 troops stationed in the country.

08:38: It sees Nichea as a close ally in the fight against a growing Islamist insurgency in this part of Africa.

08:47: But the former colonial power is accused of unfairly benefiting from Nichea's natural resources

08:54: and wielding and due influence over the country's economy and politics.

08:59: anti-french sentiments are widespread across its former colonies on the

09:04: continent. Six countries from Guinea in West Africa to Sudan in the

09:08: Horn of Africa have experienced coups since 2020. Five of them are former French

09:15: colonies. Marie-Racheille Billois is a West Africa political analyst.

09:20: Unlike other colonial masters who managed to take more distance with their

09:24: their colonies after independence, France has had a very hard time accepting to loosen

09:31: grip on those countries. So very conveniently the Puchist and the elite in the Sahel traditionally

09:39: tend to scapegoat the French for their own failures like corruption or mismanagement.

09:46: And France has now its own scapegoat which is Russia and the Vatua militia. It used to to stir the anti-French resentment?

09:55: The worry is that should another coup in Africa succeed.

09:59: It will encourage other ambitious soldiers.

10:03: Catherine Biaraghanger.

10:05: South Africa's former president, Jacob Zuma, was supposed to be serving an 11-month jail sentence for contempt of court.

10:11: He reported to his local prison, but in an hour later, the authorities released him.

10:15: A correspondent in South Africa, Namsama Seko, has more on what led to that decision.

10:20: The former president came in at 6 o'clock and he left at 7 o'clock.

10:29: And he left after...

10:30: The Commissioner of Prisons, Mahoti Tawakhale, held a press conference earlier today in

10:35: which he said that the former president was released under a special remission process,

10:42: means now that he's under correctional supervision and he's one of 9,400 other prisoners who were

10:51: sentenced for non-violent or low-risk crimes. And the government is saying that the reason why they

10:57: have done this is to try and tackle overcrowding in South African prisons. So we do also know that

11:04: the president, Sira Ramapur, says the one who actually signed into law that low risk

11:11: prisoners should be released. And he did this back in April, but today is actually the first day

11:18: that the first group of the more than 9,000 offenders are actually being released.

11:23: Now, Jacob Zuma, the former president, has been in an out of jail, hasn't he? Tell us about

11:28: his case and why this is all so controversial in South Africa.

11:33: Well, this is very controversial in South Africa because Jacob's most sentenced to 15 months

11:38: in jail for refusing to testify at a judicial commission of inquiry that was investigating

11:45: government corruption during his nine year term in office.

11:48: And that is why he got that prison sentence.

11:51: However, back in 2021, on the day that he was taken into custody, there were riots that

11:59: were sparked very violent riots. In fact, one of the worst that South Africa has seen

12:04: in a democratic dispensation in which more than 350 people died and hundreds of businesses

12:11: were looted and burned. Nomsat Maseko. And now to South Korea.

12:26: Where the world's skylight jamboree has closed with a pop concert at the World Cup stadium

12:31: in Seoul. The jamboree was plagued with problems, including bug-infested fields, dirty

12:36: lavatories and a heatwave before a looming-tie phone forced everyone to leave the campsite.

12:42: More than 40,000 people from 155 countries, many of them teenagers aged between 14 to 17

12:49: years old were at the event, the first global gathering of Scouts since the pandemic.

12:55: Speaking at the closing ceremony, the Secretary-General of the World Organization of the Scat

12:58: Movement, Ahmad Al-Andawi acknowledged the difficulties.

13:03: I know this wasn't easy on you.

13:07: No other event has faced this many challenges and extreme weather conditions.

13:14: But also, no other jamboree in history showed the determination, creativity and the resilience you have shown.

13:24: Our correspondent in South Korea is Jean McKenzie.

13:28: The pop concert started at 7 o'clock this evening.

13:31: came after a bit of a closing ceremony. So this is it, the jamboree officially drawing to an end,

13:37: which I think honestly, organisers and scout leaders will be breathing a slight sigh of relief over,

13:43: because as you say it's been absolutely played by problems from the start. They are going out with

13:48: the bang though, the South Koreans, organisers have kind of pulled out all the stops with this

13:52: K-pop concert this evening, hoping I think that the tens of thousands of teenagers who've gathered

13:57: here from around the world were at least end with happy memories. So they're seeing some of South

14:01: Korea's most famous K-pop groups including New Jeans. But some of those problems that you mentioned

14:07: there, I mean the head of the world scout organisation described this event to me earlier this week

14:12: as the unlucky as jamboree in their 100 year history. Because as you say it's had a heat wave

14:19: earlier in the week we had some flooding and then of course the whole thing had to be evacuated

14:23: because of this incoming typhoon and the UK scouts along with others like the US and the Singaporean

14:29: teams actually pulled out even earlier than that because they were so concerned about hygiene and safety

14:34: on the sides. Jean McKenzie. Still to come in this podcast. Boy shouldn't only be able to play football

14:42: girls who also get to play football. My team is really good. Who says girls can't play football?

14:48: the growing popularity of women's football across Asia.

14:59: Spain and Sweden are through to next week semi-finals in the women's world cup having beaten

15:04: the Netherlands and Japan respectively earlier today. Despite losing at the quarter final stage

15:09: this year, women's football in Japan is thriving and doing better than their male counterparts.

15:15: It's a situation replicated across Asia.

15:19: Nick Marsh watched the next generation of young female players

15:22: at the Singapore Football Club to try to find out why.

15:26: Two, three!

15:30: Asia loves football. World Cup, Premier League, you name it, people here, love it.

15:36: But the football teams in this part of the world, the men's football teams in this part

15:41: of the world, rather, are not so successful and that's putting it mildly.

15:46: The last time a country from Southeast Asia qualified for the World Cup was in Dinesia

15:52: nearly a hundred years ago. In fact, the idea of the likes of Vietnam or the Philippines,

15:57: even China qualifying for the men's tournament, well that's pretty far fetched.

16:02: And yet, here they are representing themselves

16:05: admirably at this year's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

16:11: So why is this?

16:15: Football across the board is actually pretty inclusive in this part of the world.

16:20: It's common to find young female fans at stadiums.

16:24: in Japan's J-League, for example, 40% of those at men's games are women.

16:31: I'm so happy.

16:32: I'm so happy.

16:33: And it's this enthusiasm that's got elite clubs and sponsors investing in training, education and talent spotting in Asia.

16:43: For us to see that women's teams in Asia are getting onto the main stage to the world's biggest tournament.

16:49: It's a credit to the countries to the investment into football.

16:53: Shannon Maloney is an ex-player who now works for Tottenham Hotspur as their global development coach.

16:59: Backed by Tottenham's main sponsor, she runs football camps in places like Vietnam, Thailand,

17:05: Indonesia and Singapore.

17:07: I feel like being a role model to young girls, when they see me they can be me.

17:11: We are seeing so many young girls getting involved in football and for us it's about how

17:16: do we embed that into the community, how do we make that normal?

17:22: Singapore Football Club striker, 11-year-old Lulu Lane certainly agrees.

17:28: Boy, shouldn't only be able to play football girls who also get to play football.

17:32: My team is really good. Who says girls can't play football?

17:38: Good point. And in other football news, Argentina has announced measures to punish foreign

17:44: football fans who burn or tear banknotes as a way of taunting local supporters. They

17:49: now face prison sentences of up to 30 days.

17:52: Our America's regional editor Leonardo Rosha reports.

17:56: The burning and ripping up of money has become common among fans who travel to Argentina

18:01: to watch their clubs in South American club competitions, particularly Brazilians and

18:06: Chilians.

18:07: They tease their rivals about Argentina's economic crisis and the low value of the local currency, the Pezzo.

18:14: Argentina has one of the world's highest annual inflation rates. is currently more than 100%.

18:20: The local football authorities said such behavior was highly offensive and could inside violence.

18:26: Fans will be detained and the clubs they support may also be punished if the problem persists.

18:32: Leonardo Rosha

18:34: The list of weather-related crises is growing every day, including the wildfires in Hawaii,

18:39: initially Greece and Portugal, the floods in China and record levels of melting of the

18:45: Antarctic ice sheet.

18:47: and are assessing if there's a common thread linking these events across the world.

18:52: Professor Catherine Heo is chief scientist of the Nature Conservancy, a global environmental

18:58: non-profit charity. Within our lifetime, actually right even now, we are already starting to see

19:04: individual days where it is really too hot for humans to be outside. I'm speaking to you from

19:10: Texas right now, where almost 400 high temperature records have been broken across the state of Texas,

19:17: this summer alone, it has been over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, which is a nice round number,

19:22: but about, you know, 38 degrees Celsius. It's been over that for almost every single day since

19:28: the end of June. And it is just really, really difficult and unpleasant to spend time outdoors

19:33: in that weather. Well, that's the bad news and we've heard again about what needs to be done

19:38: to combat the threat on a global level. But Professor Heihou also has ideas about how we can in our urban environments.

19:46: There are already early warning heat systems in a number of major cities, and they have

19:52: been shown to significantly reduce the health risks and even the deaths associated with these heat waves.

19:59: There are also ways to reduce the urban heat island effect.

20:05: So many large cities are quite a bit warmer than their surrounding areas.

20:10: So if we can increase the green content of the city, trees, grasses, it increases evaporation, which cools the city down.

20:20: If we can increase the reflectivity of the city instead of having black top and black roofs

20:25: have light colored surfaces that reflect the sun's energy back to space instead of soaking

20:30: it up, we can actually lower the temperature of our cities just as climate change is pushing it up.

20:36: You still need to invest in communities to make sure there's, you know,

20:40: buddy systems where people call people, especially elderly people, and check up on them and ask if

20:45: they're okay. We need all of these resilient strategies, but we also have to reduce our

20:50: emissions as much as possible, as soon as possible. Professor Catherine Heo, Chief Scientist of the

20:55: Nature Conservancy. And finally, the Pokémon World Championships are taking place in the Southern

21:01: city of Yokohama in Japan. It's the first time it's been held in the country where the game

21:07: was invented. If you're not familiar with the phenomenon Pokemon is a game involving

21:11: little virtual creatures inhabiting a mythical universe shared with humans and it first became

21:17: popular about 20 years ago. YouTube streamed more than 9 hours of coverage from the opening day.

21:24: It's going to be the water main to move first with the Daizen's gleam and Urshiku

21:27: was also there just a touch faster naturally. So the

21:30: post confetti to the Golden Go just to be able to clean it up.

21:33: And that is going to be the match going to can.

21:35: Tato, Mata Moto. Well James Coppnell spoke to content

21:39: creator glitch who's attending the championship tournament.

21:43: The atmosphere at the Pokemon World Championships here in

21:47: Yokohama has been electrifying. And that's kind of

21:50: understating it a bit because the energy that has been just

21:54: spreading around especially since the openings are money such as been like incredible.

22:00: I, this is my fifth world championship, but first time in Japan, so this means a lot to me to

22:07: actually be here, be back with the fans after a year apart globally, and it's just been so exciting

22:14: to be here. Yeah, I can hear it in your voice. It feels like for many in Japan, a homecoming,

22:19: does it? The Pokemon has come home. Oh, yes, definitely. That's what it feels like, and

22:23: And the opening ceremony this morning felt like a very welcoming type of welcome party

22:30: because they were very excited to share their culture with the world.

22:35: And they share that through Pokemon.

22:37: And I think that's just incredible.

22:39: How does a championship work?

22:41: Because high level competition is often just that.

22:44: Competition, it's aggressive sometimes.

22:47: Is it like that in Pokemon or is there more of a sharing spirit?

22:50: It's a little bit of both.

22:52: So when you think of Pokemon, you think about it with chess, but it's very, very, you

22:56: know, colorful, fun, chess, and available to everybody of all ages.

23:02: And just the way to get the championship, it takes a lot of mental power, physical

23:08: power, and emotional power to even make it to this world stage.

23:12: You have to be the best, like no one ever was.

23:16: And the road to become a champion is a very tough and growing process for all ages because

23:23: it's not just adult cell play, it's also kids of all ages as well.

23:26: So you have different divisions and you have different, different age divisions, excuse me.

23:31: And they go through multiple challenges throughout the year just to get to the stage.

23:36: What are you expecting them from the next few days?

23:38: I'm expecting a lot of surprises actually because there are four titles being showcased

23:44: here at Pokemon World here in Yokohama. And I'm from North America from the United States.

23:51: I'm used to seeing the Pokemon that is being played there. We call this the meta, the Medigame.

23:58: But it is different for each region that is competing at world. So it's going to be very

24:02: interesting seeing, you know, North American teams go up against the A-PAC teams or up against

24:08: the European teams because they all play differently. Yeah. And so it's going to be really

24:13: interesting to see that come together and see how he match up against each other globally.

24:17: Pokémon Content Creator Glitch.

24:22: And that's it for us for now, but before we go, here's Jackie with news of the next happy pot.

24:27: Yes, in this edition we'll be checking in on the baby girl,

24:30: born beneath the rubble of her family home.

24:33: You became a symbol of hope after the devastation of the earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey six

24:37: months ago. We'll be meeting the teenager who has made it his mission in life to get get us all to recycle batteries.

24:44: The wonder of gazing back at Earth from the edge of space,

24:47: we will hear from the mother and daughter from Antigua and the British man with Parkinson's who have just made that trip.

24:53: Also, and I promise you all love this,

24:55: the world dog surfing championships have just taken place

24:58: in California, we will hear from one of the competitors while his human friend.

25:03: All in the happy God, available from Saturday,

25:05: August 12th.

25:07: And the dog too, I hope Jackie,

25:08: if you want to comment on this podcast

25:11: or the topics covered in it sends an email.

25:14: The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk.

25:17: You can also find us on Twitter at Global NewsPod.

25:20: This edition was mixed by Charlotte Dojimska and the producer was Iona Hampson.

25:25: The editor is ever is Karen Martin.

25:27: I'm Valerie Sounderson and till next time, bye-bye.

25:36: Do you ever feel a bit overwhelmed when you check the news on your phone first thing in the morning?

25:41: Whenever I open up my phone, they're just endless warnings of more extreme weather to come.

25:46: I'm Hannah, I'm the presenter of a new podcast called What in the World from the BBC World Service.

25:51: We're going to be here trying to help you make sense of the world around you,

25:55: so you can feel a little bit better about what's happening in the world.

25:59: You can find what in the world wherever you get your BBC podcasts.