This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. I'm Nicola Cocklan and for BBC Radio 4, this is History's Youngest Heroes. Rebellion. Risk. And the radical power of youth. She thought right, I'll just do it. She thought about others rather than herself. Twelve stories of extraordinary young people from across history.
There's a real sense of urgency in them that resistance has to be mounted, it has to be mounted now.
I'm Danny Goggson at 14 hours GMT on 1 January 2025. These are our main stories. 10 people have died and 35 injured. After a pickup truck drives into a crowd in the US city of New Orleans. The flow of Russian gas into the European Union through Ukraine has stopped after President Zelensky refused to renew transit contracts. South Korean investigators have finished extracting data from one of the black boxes
of the Jeju Air passenger plane that crashed on Sunday, killing 179 people. Also in this podcast, Belgium becomes the first European Union country to ban sales of disposable vapes, while Milan bans all outdoor smoking. Promoting healthy lifestyle habits, accustomed people to respect themselves and others in the environment are important commitments for all of us.
As we record this broadcast at lunchtime on New Year's Day, the US City of New Orleans has reported that 10 people have been killed and more than 30 injured after a pickup truck drove into crowds celebrating New Year. It occurred on a popular nightlife strip in the French Quarter. The New Orleans Police Department said the attacker was hell-bent on creating the carnage and the damage that it did.
and it's now working alongside the FBI. Speaking at a press conference, Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick of the New Orleans Police Department confirmed the incident was not an accident.
This event started at about 315. It did involve a man driving a pickup truck down Bourbon Street at a very fast pace and it was very intentional behavior. This man was trying to run over as many people as he possibly could. It was not a DUI situation. This is a more complex and more serious based on the information we have right now.
What I also can tell you is that this man, this perpetrator, he fired on our officers from his vehicle when he crashed his vehicle. Two of our officers have been shot. They are stable.
That was Anne Kirkpatrick of the New Orleans Police Department. She declined to take any questions and said the FBI was now taking over. For more on what we know, I spoke to our North America correspondent, Rowan Bridge. This incident happened in the early hours of this morning on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. It was about 3.15 in the morning.
Now, Bourbon Street, for those who don't know it, is a part of the city in the French Quarter, which is popular with tourists and no doubt there would have been throngs of people out celebrating the new year. Also worth mentioning, there is a large American football game due to take place in the city, which would have also drawn in crowds. And what police say is that a man drove a pickup truck deliberately at speed into the crowds, as the police officer put it, they were hell-bent on trying to kill people.
After crashing that person then fired on police officers and video circulating on social media shows, casualties on the ground. And you can see people running from the scene and the sounds of gunfire. We know that at least 35 people have been injured, taken to a number of local hospitals. And as you say, 10 people so far have been confirmed dead.
What's the latest on the reasoning behind this? Is this a terrorist attack? There seem to be conflicting reports. The mayor said it was, the FBI said it wasn't. Yeah, I mean, I think what you often get in an unfolding situation like this is that there is a fog around events at the beginning, and that I think you saw play out this morning. So as you say, you had the police describe it as a terrorist incident. The FBI then come forward and kind of contradict that.
The FBI are involved in this investigation and they said in the news conference this morning that an improvised explosive device was found at the scene that's now being tested and they've asked people to stay away from the scene. It's heavily cordoned off if you look at the police footage of the area and the authorities say they've been in contact with the White House who have been kept abreast of development.
Rowan Bridge and American Media are just reporting that the suspect is dead. We'll bring you more news of this developing story on our next podcast.
Russian gas supplies flowing through Ukraine to Europe have been switched off this morning after President Zelensky refused to renew a transit deal because of Moscow's invasion of his country. This marks the end of an era of cheap Russian gas in the EU. The European Commission says the impact will be limited due to careful planning and alternative supplies. Our central Europe correspondent Nick Thorpe has the details.
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky gave the European Union a year to prepare for this unilateral move, the closing down of a major pipeline which has, for decades, funneled cheap Russian gas to the EU. Ukraine says it can no longer tolerate EU payments worth €5 billion a year to its Russian enemy.
Slovakia is the most upset. It will not only lose cheap gas, but lucrative transit fees, as the gas used to supply Austria, Hungary, and Italy. Instead, more expensive US, Qatari, a Norwegian liquefied gas, LNG, will satisfy EU gas demand.
Russia has lost an important market, but the Russian president Vladimir Putin says EU countries will suffer most. President Zelensky has said that Ukraine is capable of achieving a just peace in its struggle against invading Russian forces despite facing a difficult situation in the East. In a new year's speech, he said he had no doubt that Donald Trump was capable of ending President Putin's aggression.
Ukraine has come under further Russian attacks overnight. Wilburn and reports from Kiev. As the sun rose over the capital, Ukrainians were greeted by a familiar sound.
Russian attack drones caused explosions in two city districts, injuring several people, including a pregnant woman. The strikes came at the beginning of what will undoubtedly be a challenging year for Kiev. Russia is steadily gaining ground in the east, and Ukraine has a critical shortage of men for the front. A new US president brings more uncertainty. Donald Trump has been publicly skeptical of continuing support for Ukraine. In his new year addressed to the nation,
President Zelensky reassured his people that Mr Trump wants to end Russian aggression. The concern here, what price will be paid for peace.
Also this morning, Poland takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union. It comes at a time when the challenges for Europe and the EU specifically are mounting, ending the Ukraine war, dealing with Donald Trump and his potential tariffs. Then there's this surging national populism across both the east and west of the continent, and long-term economic stagnation. That's quite an inbox for Radek Sikorsky, the Polish foreign minister who spoke to my colleague, Emil Rajin.
You have to admit that it's a pretty peculiar situation that gas was flowing until recently between countries that were at war with each other. Member states of the EU have developed alternative routes of supply. Poland built an LNG terminal. We're importing gas from the United States, from Qatar, from the North Sea. As far as I understand, all these countries have alternative routes of satisfying their customers.
ending that war is obviously going to be a priority in 2025. How do you think that war can be ended? The war can be ended in five minutes by President Putin ordering his forces out of Ukraine. I mean, we fought two bloody world wars to establish a taboo that you may not send in tanks on the pretext of protecting national minorities. So yes, that would be the best outcome. Anything short of that should be a Ukrainian decision.
How do you intend to forge the best possible ties with President Trump in Washington?
It appears that President Trump looks at trade relationships only in terms of manufactured goods in which indeed Europe has a huge trade surplus. But of course, the United States is a huge exporter of services, Hollywood, social media and so on. And when you take both of these dimensions into account, Europe and the United States are roughly in trade balance. So this shouldn't be so alarming.
The European Commission exclusively represents member states in trade negotiations and the European Commission is very skilled in drafting politically targeted sanctions against those who sanction us. I know you've written it great length in recent years that there is this populist wave across Europe. Why is it that national populism seems to be surging across Europe?
Well, Brexit was an outcome of national populism. In America, President Trump is part of that phenomenon. And yes, we have it in both Western and Eastern Europe. I think number one issue is migration. People from outside Europe seem to like our values, our law-abiding circumstances, our way of life. But the pace, the origin, and the rules of this migration should be
firmly under control of nation states or groups of nation states are people demand that we take control. You have to do what people want you to do otherwise populists will rise up and take advantage of what the establishment has neglected.
With the turning of the new year, Bulgaria and Romania have just become full members of Europe's border-free Schengen area. That means that up to 25 million more people can now travel freely without a passport. The zone covers all European Union countries, apart from Ireland and Cyprus, and a handful of non-EU states, our regional Europe editor Danny Abahart reports.
It's been a long wait for Romania and Bulgaria. The European Parliament and Commission cleared them to join Shengen more than 13 years ago, but some countries objected. In late March, they finally joined at least as far as air and sea travel were concerned. In December,
Austria lifted objections to freeing up land borders too, after reassurances from Romania and Bulgaria about tackling irregular migration into and out of their territories. Ceremonies have been held at border posts, to mark an occasion both countries see as historic.
Danny Abahad. Two South Korean hour where investigators have extracted data from the cockpit voice recorder of the plane that crashed on Sunday, killing 179 people. Officials will also need access to the damaged flight data recorder as they try to piece together what made the aircraft crash land and smash into a wall. Wang Bi Li is the editor of the BBC Korean Service and updated me on the investigations.
The authorities, the investigation team has identified everyone. So 179 victims have been identified. However, the process of returning the bodies to the families is taking more time because they want to make sure the DNA results are in and they're not making any more mistakes.
Are the families still putting pressure on the government for more answers? I think at the moment they're not putting additional pressures after the acting president has said they will put the best effort in fastening the investigation process and returning the bodies to the families. Also, I think the government has been more proactive in the last day or so.
in answering the family's request. However, now it has become a long-term investigation and the government will have to answer specific details about compensations or identifying the exact cause of this tragic incident.
And what's the latest on the investigation itself? Is it still focusing on a possible bird strike?
They've had the results already from the voice cockpit recorder. Have they revealed any answers? Not yet. They said they have retrieved the communication record, but I think they are sending the FDR, which is part of the black box to the US to work with the National Transportation Safety Board in the US to find the exact cause. There are some missing data in the currently retrieved recorder.
So i think they would need additional analysis to find out the exact cost. Normally this time of year is very colorful and so how did this impact this year's new year celebrations. It was very gloomy even before this tragic incident happened there were political turmoil happening in Korea with impeachment and people citizen going on street to protest and on top of that now with this tragic incident on people were.
feeling very depressed. And usually during the new year, there's a big festival events, but all of those have been canceled in South Korea and this national morning period till next Tuesday, January 6. Wong B Lee of the BBC Korean Service. Coming up in this podcast, a big year for the railways.
Blow whistles, ring bells and joining what's the start of a 200 year anniversary.
For just as long as Hollywood has been Tinseltown, there have been suspicions about what lurks behind the glitz and glamour. Concerns about radical propaganda in the motion pictures. And for a while, those suspicions grew into something much bigger and much darker. Are you a member of the Communist Party? Or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?
I'm Una Chaplain, and this is Hollywood Exiles. It's about a battle for the political soul of America and the battlefield was Hollywood. All episodes of Hollywood Exiles from the BBC World Service and CBC are available now. Search for Hollywood Exiles wherever you get your podcasts.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, the UN estimates that 17,000 children have been left alone or separated from adults who should care for them, usually because their parents have been killed, wounded or arrested. In a chaotic situation amid bombings and mass displacement, families often struggle to find each other.
The UN's children's agency, UNICEF, has reunited 63 children with their parents or guardians. The BBC followed the story of four cousins, aged one to nine years old. Here's our Middle East correspondent, Yulan Nell.
They're giggling now, but the children of the Masri family have survived horrors. Six weeks ago, an Israeli bombing killed the mother of Zena, Jana and Maria, aged two to nine, and both parents of their baby cousin, Jamal. Already Israeli forces had arrested the girl's father. After they were rescued, like thousands of children in war-torn Gaza, they were alone. This is the story of how they were reunited with their grandma, Kalfa.
In this cribable how joyful I am, but my joy is mixed with sadness. They came back with all their parents.
Israel is three months into an offensive in northern Gaza, which it says is to stop Hamas regrouping. Beit Lakhia, where the Muslims come from, is now largely in ruins. After they were treated for injuries, distant relatives took the bereaved cousins to Gaza City. Later, they were recorded for us saying an emotional farewell.
Staff from the UN Children's Agency had Israeli coordination to take the children further southwards across a strip of land which is under full military control by sexting Gaza. It's done this for a few dozen children and Rosalia Bolinov-Unicev says it's trying to help more.
Family reunifications are a critical priority for UNICEF and Gaza. We estimate that the entire child population of Gaza is deeply traumatized and extremely, extremely vulnerable, but those children who are on their own or who are with adults that aren't related to them or even would extend that family are even more vulnerable than other children.
Medics also play a part in trying to connect their patients with loved ones. Nearly a year ago, we reported on a newborn who'd been delivered by Caesarean section after her mum was killed in an Israeli airstrike. Nameless and alone, she was being cared for at Aluxa Marta's hospital.
Such cases have become common in the war, says Dr. Shorif Al-Harazian. But happily, in this case, the baby was tracked down by her father. We're told she's doing very well.
There are happy cries as aunts and uncles celebrate the arrival of the Musri children with the UNICEF convoy. It's been over a year since they last saw them. The family was split up after Israel's military ordered people to leave the North at the start of the war.
A journalist working with the BBC visits the children a few days after they've moved to their new home, a tent in a displaced people's camp near Hern Eunice. Their grandmother now tries to be a mother to them all and worries about them constantly.
As they play, it's more secure for the cousins here, but nowhere in Gaza is truly safe. Kalfa Al-Masri says she hopes for a ceasefire and for her grandchildren to rebuild their lives, not to become part of a lost generation.
or at least correspond to your land now. Zam-zam refugee camp in western Sudan is falling into a desperate state as the paramilitary rapid support forces continue their siege in North Darfur state. One of the residents, Abdul-Manan Hamo had spoke to the BBC.
Many people were killed and many people were injured. These days people have been living in very distressed situations because the market has been closed and all the station has been closed. As Hamo had said, at least 20 people had been killed in recent days and he was uncertain how much longer Zam Zam would be able to hold out. Our correspondent James Copnole has been following conditions in Sudan.
I think the first thing to understand about Zam Zam is that it has been around for many years. So most of the people living there fled the Darfur Civil War more than 20 years ago and have been living there ever since. Children have grown up in that camp. And more people have come since the start of this latest conflict in Sudan that broke out in April 2023.
And so people talk about 500,000 people there. Some people think the number is actually much bigger, and it's very difficult to tell exactly because of the war. And for the last few months, Zanzam is on the outskirts of El Fasha, and that's the largest main town in Darfur, still being held by the Sudanese military. It's been besieged by the rapid support forces, the RSF, which has been fighting against the Sudanese army for the last couple of years now.
And so it's been incredibly difficult to get food into the camp, and that's why a few months ago, famine was declared there. And so people there face daily artillery shells, they face the threat of an invasion, a full-scale invasion by the RSF, and they face the daily struggle to get enough to eat. It's a bleak start to the new year. Are there any dilemmas of hope when it comes to ending this conflict?
Not many, it has to be said. There has been something of an upsurge in international attention being paid to the crisis in Sudan. The Americans in particular pushed the last months of last year to attempt to get some sort of peace agreement going but with no success. Right now it seems like both sides, the Sudanese military on the one hand and the RSF on the other,
are making, well, I believe to be a miscalculation, that they will be able to win the war militarily. Now, Sudan's history shows that that just isn't possible. There were two north-south civil wars that lasted for many, many years before South Sudan became independent. The Darfur civil war is over 20 years old, still not fully resolved. Every conflict in Sudan's history is not resolved militarily. It comes to an end with some sort of peace deal.
But for now, both sides want to continue to fight to make gains, and so do people suffer five areas of the country, including Zam Zam, now have famine conditions, and 25 million Sudanese need food aid.
James Cobbnell. Milan in Italy has banned all outdoor smoking in some of the world's toughest laws on tobacco. If someone is caught smoking on the city streets or in a crowded public area, they'll face a fine. Anascavuso, Milan deputy mayor, told the BBC why they're making the move.
Milan is the city of fashion and finance, but also the city is very committed to sustainability. Sustainability means health, environment, improvement of quality of life and well-being. And so protecting those workers from passive smoking, promoting healthy lifestyle habits, accustoming people to respect themselves and others in the environment are important commitments for all of us.
Well, as the smoking laws come into force in Milan, Belgium has become the first European Union country to ban sales of disposable vapes, or Europe regional editor Warren Bull reports. Health experts say the effects of vaping are less damaging than those of regular tobacco cigarettes. But this has made vapes attractive to people who've never tried smoking. In Belgium, government data shows that more than half of young people start on electronic vapes rather than cigarettes.
These Belgian teenagers explained why. It's really the taste I like, the fruity taste, I like it, and that's it. Yes, actually, I always buy disposable ones. I never buy refillable cigarettes because those are also harder to get for people who are underage. I do regret that, but I plan to stop. I think a lot of teenagers will suffer because of the ban.
Supporters of electronic cigarettes say they play a vital role in helping even long-term tobacco smokers cut down and eventually quit. But medical research has shown that vaping is not risk-free. It damages the lungs, while nicotine can harm brain development, raise blood pressure and narrow the arteries. One of the other worries expressed by parents is that their children are able to buy disposable vapes very easily and get rid of them without their family knowing.
Stephen Pomerank, who owns an e-cigarette shop in Belgium, agrees. For young people, it's actually easy to get hold of this type of product, because once it's empty, they can throw it away, so there are no traces or batteries left in their bedroom and all that, so it actually makes it easier to access. And then there is the environmental cost. Belgium's health minister, Frank van der Brucker, says this was one of the reasons for the ban on disposable e-cigarettes.
The European Commission already pointed out that disposable easy grids create three types of waste. There is plastic waste, obviously. Secondly, there is e-waste. You have the battery, you have the circuitry. And thirdly, there is hazardous waste because the chemicals that still are there. So it's really also an environmental issue.
While the Belgian ban is the first in the European Union, other countries including Brazil and India have already stopped using them. A ban on single-use fapes will take effect in the UK from June. War on Bull reporting. Now if 2025 has just left the station with all its whistles and bells, you might be interested to know that it's also the 200th anniversary of train travel.
It was in 1825 that the world's first public railway using a steam train began operating in the north of England, but coming down the track is a whole year of commemorations and the railways taking part include those in the Netherlands, South Africa and Sierra Leone. Jane McCubbin got aboard one of the oldest lines here in the UK.
If this is your kind of thing, then today is absolutely made for you. I've come to the UK's oldest railway at Tamfield near Gateshead to prepare for today's whistle up. When trains and stations all over the country will be marking the 200th anniversary of the modern railway. We want everyone to join in the railway 200 whistle up and create a cacophony of sound, a fanfare of fun.
Alan Hyde from Railway 200, the organisers behind a year of special events wants everyone to join in. Blow whistles, ring bells and joining what's the start of a 200 year anniversary. It's a massive year for the railway, a real opportunity to shout long, loud and proud about all the things that the railway has done and we've got a really exciting programme of events and activities lined up coming down the track to you soon.
In 1825, George Stevenson's steam-powered locomotion number one carried hundreds of passengers 26 miles between Childen, Darlington and Stockton and the world was changed forever. It's fantastic because this is celebrating a snapshot in time when railways became something that revolutionised the country, whether it was moving passengers or goods. Anthony Cools is from the National Railway Museum.
It's now something that's an international phenomenon. Railways, revolutionised food, travel, time, gives us newspapers on the on the table, you know, food in the fridge, fish and chips, summer holidays. The railway encapsulates all of it and it touches every aspect of people's lives whether they travel by train or not. We are engulfed in the steam from the engines all around us.
describe the smell for people at Home Antony. Ah, it's a smell of vision, isn't it, Liz? There's something that if you could bowl this and sell it, you'd make thousands, wouldn't you, really? The romance of steam is hard to beat, and it's celebrated in full force here in Tanfield by an army of volunteers. Among them, Irene Reed. I've been told you are a bit of a steam anorac. Yeah, I do. I do like steam drinks.
And the glacier express, slept in Chattanooga. I had my bow as we knew on a train track. And also, I've run Casey Jones as well. That is commitment. Yeah. Not as good as Tanfield. Are you ready? Yeah. We're ready. Grab a whistle and head to a station near you.
Jane McCubbin getting to ride the trains for a living. Now, we'd like to end this podcast on a more upbeat note. Just how happy are we? And what impact might being happy, having our lives? It's a perennial question, and now a gigantic new study is looking to unearth some answers. With the help of a huge team of volunteers from across the globe, it's called the Global Happiness Mega Study. David Lewis has been finding out more.
The name says it all, the Global Happiness Mega Study. So how will it work? Well, the subjects will take part in quote, happiness interventions. These will be walks, readings, social interactions, basic pastimes really that are most likely to bring a smile to your face. Activities won't last more than 25 minutes and can be done at home, no specialist equipment needed.
analysts will then cross-check these by age, wealth and location to see how they stack up. The intention is that Dr Dun and her network will then be able to develop methodologies for different cultures that could spike happy feelings across the globe. And she should know, the academic has already co-authored a book called Happy Money the Science of Happiest Spending. This is her,
In my own work, we've demonstrated that even seemingly trivial social interactions can actually make a difference for our feelings of happiness. So for example, on a typical day, my feelings of happiness may be shaped not only by my interactions with my husband or my best friend, but it turns out also by the friendly chat that I have with the barista at my local Starbucks who makes me my perfect cappuccino, or this guy I always see at the dog park who kind of looks like his dog.
Other coffee chains are, of course, available. This certainly won't be the first academic mood measureer. Harvard University in the United States undertook one of the longest. Specialists there looked at the lives of over 700 men from the 1930s until now. Questions were asked and emotional states were probed every two years. President John F. Kennedy was part of the original group.
The big takeaway from this was that to attain happiness, close relationships were much more important than fame or fortune. Evidence from that data also suggested happier men live longer, but its subjects were western men, mostly professional and white. This study will be much more diverse, and Dr Dunne insists the goal is to make it the most comprehensive of its kind ever to be carried out, and the biggest.
It's like the Avengers, she says. Many of the top happiness researchers from around the world have come together to join forces. Well, we won't need long to see how it's going. The first results were expected over the next couple of years.
And that's all 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, you can send us an email. The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X app global news pod. This edition was mixed by Chris Hansen, the producer was Rachel Wright, the editor is Karen Martin. I'm Danny Cox. Until next time, goodbye.
For just as long as Hollywood has been Tinseltown, there have been suspicions about what lurks behind the glitz and glamour. Concerns about radical propaganda in the motion pictures. And for a while, those suspicions grew into something much bigger and much darker. Are you a member of the Communist Party? Or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?
I'm Una Chaplain, and this is Hollywood Exiles. It's about a battle for the political soul of America and the battlefield was Hollywood. All episodes of Hollywood Exiles from the BBC World Service and CBC are available now. Search for Hollywood Exiles wherever you get your podcasts.
