Tens of thousands protest housing crisis in Spain

0:00Hello, I'm Celia Hatton, and this is NewsHour from the BBC World Service coming to you from our studio in Central London. We have a lot in this edition of the program, including the latest details emerging from that dramatic passenger flight from Dubai that was forced to land in Saudi Arabia this week. We'll tell you what we're learning happened inside the cockpit of that plane that was carrying dozens of Israeli passengers. And first, we're going to start in Spain. Now, as the demonstrations are starting now in the capital Madrid and beyond, the protest focused on what many consider to be the country's biggest issue, the high cost of housing. Rents there have doubled in the last decade. That's according to idealista, Spain's biggest real estate website. And the push to bring down those costs and give more rights to renters has a human face

1:03now too. 87-year-old Mary Carmen Abbascal, she's a wheelchair user who was evicted from the Madrid home she's lived in for more than 70 years after her landlord, a private company, imposed a sharp rent increase. The public outcry over her case sparked protests and she's since been told she can return to her home. But there's no immediate solution to Spain's wider housing crisis. On Friday, a plan by the governing socialist led coalition to curb unfair housing practices was defeated in parliament. As cast 350 votes in favor, 172 votes against 178. No abstentions. Consequently, the royal decree law is hereby repealed. Opright there as the motions are defeated.

2:05Well, in a moment, we're going to go live to Madrid to speak with our correspondent there. But first, let's hear from Hannah Fakir, one of the people who's joining in today's demonstration. She's a member of Madrid's tenants union. It's a mixture between being outraged because of the housing situation in Spain and also really hopeful for what's to come, right? I am also one of the victims of the housing crisis. Me, my friends, everyone around me, my family. So I thought something had to do to be done about it. Can you tell me more about what you've experienced and also the people around you when it comes to trying to secure affordable housing? Something that everyone is talking about, especially around my age, approaching 30, is that we cannot live on our own. We cannot get out of our parents' house because we don't earn enough to pay what rent costs today. There's also a lot of silent evictions. We like to call them silent evictions, which is you can't afford anymore of the rent

3:07so you have to switch neighborhoods, maybe go back to your parents' house to fundamentally change your lives because you cannot afford something that should be a right and something that's in this Spanish Constitution. So we think it's our wages. We think it's our wages that you cannot even afford something that's a right. We consider healthcare to be a right. We consider education to be a right. But housing is also a right. We shouldn't. Housing is not something that's optional. I heard you say earlier that you've made some progress in your movement. I see that Mary Common has been allowed for now to move back into her home. But the legislation that was put forward last night was voted down. So where now? How do you feel about the rejection of those proposals? Well, honestly, it was unsurprising giving the different parties that are in parliament. There was a high chance that it would be rejected. But we're still going to fight on the streets.

4:08We're looking to go on a general strike all throughout the country until our needs are met. Take me through what you see as a solution to this problem because we've heard from some parties that oppose the legislation that they felt it went too far in restricting landlords ability to make money by asking for rents, by raising rents, and that landlords would react by taking properties off the market. So what do you see as a solution? So the first problem is that housing shouldn't be in a market to begin with. Housing should be a right and should be guaranteed to every single person in the country. There was a point in this country where housing wasn't seen as something that you could speculate with, but something that was essential to everyday life. So you can charge rent without it being speculative and without it being higher than an average Spanish salary. So what's happening right now is that we cannot afford rents because it's higher than what

5:12the average person makes. There's no problem in charging a normal amount of rents that an average person could pay. What's happening is people are just using housing as a way to speculate and make an incredible amount of money. It's not even like regular for like any working person in this country. So that is what should change. What do you think will happen if Pedro Sanchez calls a snap election based around this issue? We think that even if elections are common, even if elections are not common, we are still going to pressure. It doesn't matter who's in government. It doesn't matter who's in parliament. We're still going to pressure so that whoever is in charge of the country knows that this is an issue. This is a problem and everyone is rallying around it. And we're not going to stop pressuring until you know our needs are rent. Well, that was protestor Hannah Fakir speaking to me a short time ago. Well joining me live now from Madrid is Guy Hedgeko, the BBC's Spain correspondent. Guy, I wonder if you can give us the lay of the land there.

6:14We've heard Hannah's anger there. If people are really riled up about the housing crisis across Spain, then why did the government fail to put through emergency housing legislation just a few hours ago on on Friday evening? Well, I think the failure of that legislation reflects the deep polarization and fragmentation of the country's parliament and the fact that it's a weak government at the moment, a left-wing coalition minority government. And it needs the support of other smaller parties in order to get legislation through. Its majority has been falling apart in recent months and the failure of that, those measures on housing specifically, was of confirmation of that. I think a lot of people were particularly in opposition, were saying, well, why you've had eight years in government, why didn't you do something about this beforehand or take some longer term measures beforehand? The parties on the right believed they said during the debate that the measures being presented

7:19were counterproductive because they were intervening too much in the market and they were going to spook landlords who would then take their properties off the market for Enkel. So it's difficult, one politically, for any government, I think, in Spain. And on the other hand, you have this big social movement, which has really swelled in the last week or 10 days or so, and underlined the fact that this is the number one priority for Spaniards. But politically, there's not a consensus on the measures to be taken. Even though you go out to the protest today, I'm just right near the protest here in Madrid. There are thousands of people out in the street who want to see bold measures, the kind of measures that the government presented or even bolder than those, and yet they haven't managed to get through Congress. So what's the follow-up now for the Spanish leader Pedro Senches now that those proposals were struck down? What's next? Will these protests make a difference?

8:20Well, obviously it was a huge disappointment for the people who have been campaigning on this issue. They clearly believe that they've managed to make this the political priority, the social priority in Spain, polls show that it's the number one priority for Spaniards anyway. So I think they see a result there that this is an issue that's not going to go away, whether it's Pedro Senches governing or anyone else. The problem for them, though, is what kind of measures can get through. If the measures presented yesterday couldn't get through, what alternatives are there? They're talking now about trying to force a general strike on this issue, trying to persuade labor unions to take part and so on. That, of course, would be very dramatic. That would up the ante on this issue, but it's still not clear how you can get the kind of measures, the kind of fairly drastic measures that these campaigners want to see in place,

9:20how you can see them implemented in the housing market. Okay, Guy, thank you for taking us through that. I know that the protests are just getting underway across the country just about now. That was Guy Hegeco, the BBC's Spain correspondent speaking to us from Madrid. A lot more information on that developing story available on the BBC News website. Well, now the latest details coming from that dramatic story that took place just a few days ago, the passenger plane carrying mostly Israeli citizens that was making its way from Dubai to Tel Aviv when it was forced to make an emergency landing in Saudi Arabia. Authorities in the UAE say the co-pilot on the fly Dubai plane used a cockpit crash axe to attack his captain. We're also receiving more details about the attacker's identity. Our Middle East analyst Sebastian Usher joins us now. Sebastian, first, tell us more about the co-pilot, what we're learning about him. What we're learning about him in the moment isn't anything official.

10:23It's not the UAE, it's not the Amani's, it's not the Saudis or even Israel who are telling us officially. There is information that has been leaking out. Some of it to do with a LinkedIn profile that he had that was deleted. I mean, we're verifying the moment, but other news agencies have essentially printed a photo from there, printed some information from there. What that essentially is pointing to is that this man who's been named as Hamam al-Hamami had indications of extremism, of Islamic extremism. Now there is one report saying that Oman al for whom he worked had barred him from flying with him over those views, not that long ago, and many got a flight at fly Dubai. There are some extraordinary elements coming into this and some which raise big questions about the kind of security that there was, both with fly Dubai, and to some extent with Israel.

11:23Because originally, and I've certainly put it this way, apart from the extraordinary story, the passenger, the Indian captain, their courage, their herrism, etc. But also very good for these already premised Abedin Netanyahu. He was on the ropes, he was in difficult situation. He's a Prime Minister, a leader at a moment of a great national rising in a sense is how it's being seen. But security questions, just as we've looked over seventh and I'll begin to emerge a bit about this as well. I guess security questions being raised to and we're hearing more about what happened inside the cockpit of that flight. Can you tell me more about that? Yes, I mean, that's the kind of main public line that we've had today is one of the big questions was what was the co-pilot using in this attack? The passengers originally suggesting it was a knife and then again security question, how an earth to the co-pilot with this incredibly stringent security get a knife on board. So that may have been answered. I mean, the UAE with its preliminary investigation is leading the investigation because it was an Emirati plane says it was this thing called a crash ax, which is a tool which is standard

12:28in co-pits. If pilots are in a situation where they cannot get out except by smashing the window, that's what they use. Sebastian, thanks for taking us through that. That was our Middle East analyst, Sebastian Usher. Thanks for joining us on NewsR Lots More to come. Coming up, how swimming is helping amputee children in Gaza to recover? I stopped playing. I stopped moving around. I stopped walking. I stopped going out with my friends. Swimming gives me freedom and I swim well. I swim very well. I'm going to be a little bit more comfortable. That's coming up in about five minutes time. Other stories are newsroom is covering this hour. Demonstrations are taking place in Spain over the national housing crisis.

13:28After Parliament rejected the government's proposals to protect tenants, to Graham Rebels are reported to be abandoning their capital, Mikaile, in the face of an Ethiopian government counter-offensive. And as you've heard, authorities in the UAE say the co-pilot on the fly Dubai plane used a crock pit crash-axe to attack his captain, as more details emerge about the attackers' identity. Listening to NewsHour, it wasn't too long ago that President Donald Trump was threatening to annex Greenland and by force, if necessary. But last month, a deal was reached, signed by President Trump and also by the Prime Ministers of Denmark and Greenland. Washington now has wide-ranging powers to secure and defend Greenland, expanding its military presence for as long as it wants. In exchange, the deal recognizes Denmark's sovereignty and territorial integrity and the

14:29Grilandic people's right to self-determination. It's a fantastic deal, according to President Trump. But is it? And why exactly did Greenland sign it? My colleague, Julian Warker, has been speaking to Jens Friedrich Nelson, who's the Prime Minister of Greenland. I also look at the deal as a fantastic deal if you think about where Greenland was standing just a year and a half ago. And now, where we have made an agreement on something we actually agree on, that we need to do more in terms of security in our region. So this deal we have made now that's a build on to the existing defense agreement we have with the United States, where Greenland is an equal part, where Greenland is respected as people, and our right to self-determination is respected. The livelihoods of Greenland people and our environment are so-on are respected. So we are very happy for the deal. What's actually changed? First of all, the Transatlantic Partnership or Alliance is stated 10 times in this deal,

15:33and then our right to self-determination is clearly mentioned in this deal. And that's, of course, something we think is fantastic in a Greenland perspective. And then in the 51 agreement, Greenland, we're not signing the deal. Denmark was signing on behalf of the Kingdom of Denmark. Now we have a deal where three equal parts sign for themselves, and that's also something that means a lot for the Greenland people. On security specifically, Donald Trump said this at the time, and I'm quoting him here, he said, if you take a look outside of Greenland right now, there are Russian destroyers, there are Chinese destroyers, there are Russian submarines all over the place. We're not going to have Russia or China occupy Greenland, and that's what they're going to do if we don't. Did you see any of those destroyers and submarines nearby? We don't have the same look at the situation around our coastline as the Americans have

16:34at that time. But if you are looking at the truth in what the concerns are, it's true that the Russians have a lot of bases placed in the Arctic region, and actually that they have been building up in the Arctic region for the last 10 years, for the last decade, that is true. So the security aspect around Greenland is something we need to take seriously, and something NATO need to take seriously. And that's also what we have agreed on here. One final one, if I may, which takes us back to what has led up to where we are now. It was not that long ago that President Trump even speculated about the possibility of taking Greenland by force. We're now in a situation where a deal has been done, and you have described it as President Trump has, as being fantastic. Has that risk completely gone away now? Now we have a legally binding document that we all have signed, both me, the Danish Prime Minister and the President, Donald Trump, has signed a deal where we are going to respect

17:38each other. And of course, it was a critical moment for Greenland when an ally said that they couldn't rule out invading our country. I'm not going to lie, that was of course critical. But in Greenland we can now lower the shoulders because we have a legally binding document that concludes that we will work together in a respectful manner, in respect for the Greenland people. The people of Greenland have been in this process very afraid, and we all know when we are afraid, the next phase of being scared is to be met and angry. So we have a lot of feelings we need to work on here in Greenland, but we can conclude this deal is very good for us. Greenland's Prime Minister Jens Friedrich Nielsen speaking to Julian Warker. Let's focus on what's happening inside Gaza now. Over the past three years, the war between Israel and Hamas has taken a heavy toll on children there, and there's little support for their psychological trauma.

18:41But a local swimming school, the Tantish swimming academy, is trying to help. It's working with an NGO, Heel Palestine, to offer special classes for children who've lost their limbs in Israeli attacks. They're also offering classes to those who've lost their parents. The UN says up to 4,000 children have had limb amputations, and more than 60,000 have lost at least one parent. Our Middle East correspondent, Yulaneh reports. Rebuilding broken lives in Gaza, with the healing power of water. He's swimming lessons cater especially for children who've lost their limbs in Israel's intense bombing campaign. Mahmoud Abu Shaddak, who's 15, was hit in the leg by Shrapnel a year ago. He says it's too difficult to go back to school, but he comes to this pool in Khairnunis, which made it through the war intact.

19:41In the water, I know how to dive, swim, float and do everything. Bow outside the water, I can't do much. I just sit around and sound like, hey, my darling girl. 13-year-old Abdul Rahman and Ashash is also becoming more confident. He lost his leg in an air strike while he was looking after a relative's food stall. My stopped playing, I stopped moving around, I stopped walking, I stopped going out with my friends. Swimming gives me freedom and I swim well. I swim very well. Gaza now has the highest concentration of child and puties relative to its population, the UN says. And with the collapse of the medical system and restrictions on aid, those with serious injuries are struggling to get rehabilitation and the supplies they need from wheelchairs to crutches and prosthetic limbs. When coach here knows what that's like first hand, pharmacist Nouradine Keshekash says

20:42he was injured while working with a medical team at the start of the war. His leg was amputated, but he insists it won't stop him pursuing his goals. I'm a living example. I was once an ordinary person with two legs. Today I'm the person with one leg. I was able to change. As long as I can do it, I can help bring about change. Other lessons take place on Gaza's sandy beaches. There are few swimming pools in Gaza and none of the usual swimming aids. It's well tightly restricts what's allowed into the strip. It says for security, so instructors here make do using sandbags just off the coast to create a safer shallow area for beginners. Amjad Pantish runs the swimming academy. So we start with them in the safe sea pools, south ring Gaza, and then prepare them to eventually swim in the sea

21:44after mastering the basic of swimming and floating. The sea became the only escape for children here in Gaza. For children who've lost loved ones, this is desperately needed therapy. And for many other children displaced in tents on the coast, it's also about safety. Aline Al-Kalani, who's 12, has stopped thinking about the sea as a place of danger. And while there's always a return to Gaza's harsh realities at the end of classes, at least some cares have been washed away. Our Middle East correspondent Yolana Nell bringing us voices from the Tanteesh swimming academy in Gaza. You're listening to NewsHour on the BBC World Service. Stay with us.

23:00Welcome back to NewsHour. To Italy now, almost two decades ago, the government there decided to come up with a novel way to revitalize once vibrant villages. It decided to sell some homes and dire need of renovations for as little as one euro, or just over a dollar. The scheme, which was first launched in 2008 by the town of Selemi and Sicily, resulted in a lot of media excitement and was quickly adopted across Italy as a way to repopulate empty towns. But what's the real cost of buying a one euro home? Adriana Urbano traveled to Muscle Millions central Sicily to find out more. I'm in Muscle Mill today, as a civilian town of less than 10,000 people about one hour from the coast. What you can hear are a state agent Natalie Milazzo's keys. She's taken me to see what is left, a one of Italy's most successful one-year home schemes.

24:01There are only 10 to 15 one-year homes left. Today, we mainly sell newer properties in better conditions because the one-year homes that are left are in bad shape. The newer homes need little work and are really affordable. And here it is. One of the last homes left in Muscle Millions for one euro. It's in a street in the town centre, peppered with other empty homes. She's letting me in with a massive ancient eye and key, twice the size of my hand. So I'm now walking down three old steps, past a metal door and what is clearly an old basement, hence the echoey sound. The rest of the property is small and abandoned. I can even see bottles of homemade sauce left behind by previous owners. Natalie tells me it needs new wiring, new plumbing and a new floor, which should cost around 40,000 euros. That's roughly the same price of a so-called premium property.

25:03But what about the one-year homes in better condition? George Lang is from the UK. He has bought four one-year homes in Muscle Millions, which is now renovating himself. He has amassed over 800,000 followers on social media where he gives advice to people interested in buying a one-year home in Sicily. So all in, you know, it's about three and a half, four thousand euros for a house. You can do all the work yourself as long as it's not structured. With this rugged countryside, an almost two hours away from an airport, well, similarly isn't always what people think of when they picture Sicily. But many tell me it's the town's community spirit that sealed the deal. Though many buyers are only here for the summer, their presence is shaping the town. Laura Janko is 32 and has lived here her whole life. She says the one-year-a-home buyers have brought new energy and projects to Muscle Millie. Muscle Millie prima era como se fue, Muscle Millie was practically dead. The situation here has changed a lot, and so has people's mindset.

26:05There is more to do and that's especially helpful for teenagers. I think this could lead to a revolution, really positive change. Adriana Urbana reporting to us from Central Sicily. Stay with us on NewsHour. I'm Celia Hatten coming to you live from Central London with NewsHour. News from Russia's Far East now. We're almost 200 people in the Russian region of Eirkhusk have been placed under medical observation. That's after a laboratory technician is reported to have died of pneumonic plague. The local governor did not confirm the disease, calling it simply a particularly dangerous infection, but said he'd been working closely with the head of the Public Health Watchdog. Reports say the 28-year-old technician worked at the Eirkhusk anti-plague research institute of Siberia

27:06and may have broken a test tube containing the plague pathogen in a laboratory. These reports are obviously very hard to verify themselves, but based on what little we know so far, what can we learn about this possible threat? I'm joined now by Professor Javier Pizarra Serda, director of the plague research unit at the Pasteur Institute in Paris. Professor, when most people hear about the plague, they might think about front stories dating back to the Black Deaths in Europe and Asia in the 14th century, but tell us about the pneumonic plague. What is it and how common is it now? Hello, thank you. So indeed, bubonic plague has been until now the most common form of plague and we think that it was very prevalent in Europe in medieval time. But plague is still around us. It's a disease that is endemic in several countries, like Madagascar, democratic republic of Congo, where still bubonic plague is most common form,

28:08but from time to time there are cases of a pneumonic plague when the bacteria reach the lungs of the person. So it's very rare form of disease, but it can happen today in natural settings. So apparently we have one supposed death in Russia, but 200 people under observation. Would you agree with this response? Is it proportional? Well, plague is a very dangerous disease. In the case of pneumonic plague, we think that there is 100% of letality if people are not treated with the right antibiotics early enough. So I think that is reasonable to investigate 200 potential contact people because these disease can be transmitted from person to person like COVID via droplets, via aerosols. We're hearing reports that this was a lab technician,

29:08a 28 year old lab technician, who may have broken a test tube containing the plague pathogen. Why would a lab have samples of this disease to begin with? Well, I have to say that there are several labs, including ours around the world, who still work with plague because there are no licensed vaccines, universally approved around the world. There have been vaccines which have been used in the past, but today they do not comply with current standards. So we are several labs working on the development of a new plague vaccine. And we are also working on developing more sensitive and more rapid diagnostic tests so that we can detect the disease very early. And so what should we be looking for if this plague spreads? If this story continues to grow, how will we know if this is a real issue? I don't think that it's going to be a real issue because even if it's a disease that can be transmitted from person to person,

30:12the ratio of transmission is not that important. And if the person has been already isolated and treated, I don't think that the risk of an outbreak, an important outbreak. So I don't think there were real reasons to be alarmed. Okay, thank you very much, Professor Javier Pizarro Serda, speaking to us from the Pastore Institute in Paris. Let's focus on Latvia now, an EU country that's focusing a lot on its politics and its immediate geography, a lot of its politics on its immediate geography with Russia on its eastern border and close Russian al-Ibele Rus directly south. Today is the final day for Latvians to head to the polls and parliamentary elections that are taking place amongst a backdrop of Russian security threats and Russia's fierce war with Ukraine. I spoke with Maris Anzans from the Center for Geopolitical Studies in Riga about the vote and I asked him how much Russia is factoring into this election.

31:13Yes, indeed, Russia looms larger with election. As you can see, Russia has raised a gray zone warfare against the Baltic states. There have been irson attacks. There have been weaponization, migration, and border with Belarus. Russia's shadow of lead ships have dragged their anchors on the sea bed of the Baltic Sea, severing communications, natural gas, and electricity, cables, and the list goes on. And well, also I must mention the drones. This trade drones have crossed in the Baltic airspace and NATO fighter jets have shut them down. So there is anxiety in the Latvian society, obviously. You mentioned the anxiety, but at the same time, there are some parties that have a bit of a pro-Russia till a party called sovereign power is likely to come second. Can you tell me more about sovereign power and that party's links to Russia? Oh, yeah. This party has been broadly discussed in Latvia and by reasons is that the father of the leader of the party

32:19has done it at more than 400,000 euros, which might not be that special, but the father he lives in Russia. And he's a businessman who has contributed also to Russia's war for its against Ukraine. So he has been involved in constructing fortifications for the Russian forces. So the policies of the party are slightly different from most other parties. For example, one of the issues is that they want to abolish the conscript service, so they draft service. So they consider that young people should not be conscripted in the army, that they should be able to join voluntarily and no one should force them. That's one of the issues. Then also issue on trade with Russian belters. So you have some parties which are arguing that we must sever all ties with Russia and Belarus. So we don't receive natural gas. I'll electricity anymore from Russia.

33:19So what should we trade? And this party considers that we should continue a cooperation and maybe even normalize relations in longer term with Russia. Morrison, recent years since the war in Ukraine, there's been more of an effort to phase out the Russian language in schools and to eliminate Russian as a second language. Could these types of policies actually make the Russian community feel marginalized? Might it push them to go to the ballot box and to vote a certain way? Well, that might be one of reasons why more Russian speakers might wish to cast a vote. This is not an amalgamated group. And obviously there is the satisfaction among some Russian speakers, not among all. As indeed, Latvia has banned Russia's television radio stations. The segregation of school system has been seized. So now you have only one language. So one main language. You can't use Russian language in ATMs to withdraw cash

34:23and the list goes on. But this is a continuous process that's started after Latvia regained independence in 1991. Again, you have many people who have lived in Russia's information space for many years. So they have obtained the education by many in Russian language. And if you were tied to that information space, which was freely available here. So obviously people still have sympathies for Putin and also other leaders of Russia. Maris Anzanz from the Center for Geopolitical Studies in Riga. Relations between the US and Canada have been tense ever since Donald Trump came into office and joked or threatened some say about making Canada his country's 51st state. The two sides are now engaged in a spiraling trade war. Ties are likely to deteriorate further. Now the US has banned a slew of Canadian imports, including some alcohol and dairy products and even motorcycles.

35:26Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney has stood firm imposing retaliatory tariffs. The geopolitical spat is impacting people and businesses based on both sides of the border. The BBC's Robin Levinson King reports starting on the US side. Let's go, both of them. Just across the Niagara River in upstate New York, the Buffalo Bills NFL team uniquely relies on its fans from the North. Mid-hyton political tensions. The US team extended their Canadian supporters in Olive Branch, playing the Canadian anthem at a recent National Football League game. A rarity for the All-American sport. American bills fans in this border city were keen to echo this feeling of solidarity with their neighbors. The tensions are absolutely all-at-trump-swalt.

36:27Hopefully the next administration will heal the wounds up a little bit and we're back to where we live with Canadians because some of the finest people I've ever met by life. We've shared a lot of different things as countries, different countries. Now we're involving politics and everything else that's eroding that relationship. The majestic falls straddles the two countries. Separated by just a river, the communities and economies of these parts of New York and Ontario are deeply interwoven. But the recent disputes between Ottawa and Washington have seen those ties loosen. Business is zero. We are down millions across the board. Christine Geary is the owner of Maple Leaf Tours, a travel agency based in Eastern Ontario. Since the new administration in the US, our US tours have basically disappeared. We used to have departures into New York City. Monthly we have done tours to Nashville, Florida, Boston. And we have had nothing.

37:29We have lost everything into the US. This is part of a wider trend. National figures show trips from Canada to the US are down 25% with serious implications for the tourism sector. But there's one place along the border that seems to be thriving. The Canadian side of Niagara Falls. I think it's really boosted Canadian tourism and all of our departures in Canada because Canadians are wanting to spend their money at home. Tour operator Christine Geary has witnessed that shift in demand in her business. I think it has really bolstered the patriotic spirit and people wanting to see our country being very patriotic and loving our country and wanting to see more of it. And travelers from farther afield are also choosing Canada for similar reasons as German tourists Rosa Bayer told me. We like the continent North America. But at the moment we don't want to visit the USA

38:31because I don't like the political situation there. I haven't visited it before. Now we visit the Atlantic side and perhaps in the future we want also visit the West side. The Gulf between the two countries feels far more stark on the northern shore of Lake Ontario. Unlike at Niagara Falls, here the US isn't even visible on the horizon. Right now there's little evidence that President Trump's attempt to rename the body of water Lake America has caught on in the US states which border it. But regardless of the bonds between the two communities, the actions of the White House have left many Canadians determined to keep their distance from their southern neighbors. Robinson, Robin Levinson King. And last on NewsHour,

39:32let's take you to the streets of Xinjiang in July 2009. Hey! Xinjiang, region and China's far northwest. Those are the sounds of violent clashes between Muslim weagers and the majority ethnic group in China, the Han Chinese. Those riots left nearly 200 dead and hundreds injured and led to a tough crackdown by the communist authorities. That was a pivotal moment for the weagers. After that, the Chinese government severely tightened controls on them, sending many to live in harsh detention camps. In reaction, thousands of weagers fled Xinjiang. And as you'll hear, many of those people ended up thousands of kilometers away in Syria. Emily Fung, as a journalist with NPR, in her new book, Our Hearts Burnt for Home Weager Militants in Syria's Civil War, she's tracked the weagers' journey. And she says they played a crucial role

40:32in the downfall of Bashar Alasad's regime in Syria, at the end of 2024. A number of people I interviewed were politically active in Xinjiang. They were students, activists, writers. They were aware of diaspora civil rights movements to argue for greater civil rights for weagers still back in China. And they were hopeful that they could participate in that kind of discourse, particularly if they went to Turkey where a lot of weager diaspora live. But the events of July 2009, for a lot of the weagers I spoke to, convinced them that peaceful political change was never going to secure them greater rights and representation in China. And so most of the weagers I spoke to, although they found themselves in Syria, largely by circumstance, they very quickly embraced violent resistance. They very quickly looked for ways to train themselves militarily. And they felt because Syria was in the midst of a civil war with many, many different kinds of militias running around who all needed bodies to be frank,

41:35that they could easily find people who would take them in despite the fact that they didn't speak Arabic very well at that point and were obviously foreigners. There were foreigners of all sorts that were coming to Syria at the time and joining both sides of the civil war and the weagers became the largest group of foreigners that did so. I mean, so they were involved in the civil war. But you also talk about how they also kept this sort of independent mindset right up until September 2024. Can you take us to that moment and really what changed? Because you said they were affected by the civil war. They were involved in it to a certain extent. But what role did they play in helping to see an end to the Assad regime? They've been invited to join Hayat Tukhriha Shahn. This is the coalition of militias that the new Syrian president, Akman al-Shira, was head of, but the weagers never formally joined. They wanted to maintain some distance and be independent. But they were highly respected and they've always been very politically loyal to it.

42:37Al-Shira, and that is paid off. And so I found out in the course of my reporting that in the late summer of 2024, the weagers were invited to participate and what was essentially a war council called by Shira on the Turkish border with Syria and he laid out an ambitious plan to mount a rebel offensive to take the city of Aleppo, one of the biggest cities in Syria. And the offensive long story short went so well and they took Aleppo so smoothly that there was a split-second decision by the entire rebel coalition, Andral Shira, to continue southwards. And we know the end of the story. You know, they marched southwards and they entered the capital, Damascus, and on December 8th, 2024, the Assad regime fell. And it was an astonishing turn of events for these weagers who had arrived, essentially as refugees, not speaking the language, to becoming part of this rebel coalition that overthrew the Assad regime. As you say, they were pivotal to this. They helped to change history, I think you say in the book. What's happened to the weagers now in Syria?

43:40And are they still focused on fighting Beijing, on returning to where they came from or where some of them came from, to Xinjiang? That is such a good question and it's a very sensitive long-amon the Weir community in Syria, because publicly, every single one of them will say, our goal is still to fight our way back to China and establish a weaker country of our own. But they also know deep down that that is practically and logistically almost impossible. And in Syria, they have opportunity. The weagers I spoke to have since joined the new Syrian Ministry of Defense. They're paid members of the Syrian army that's been reconstituted under Al-Shura's command. But this is a part-time job. And so a lot of them have gone and just starting their own businesses more than half of the weaker children in Syria were born in Syria. They've never seen Xinjiang. They've never seen this homeland that their parents talk about. And their ties to Syria for many of them are stronger than their emotional ties

44:41to a land that they've never seen before. And so I'm really curious about what the next generation will look like in Syria in terms of their illegally to stay. I know that there are ongoing conversations between the Syrian government and the weaker community as well as between the Syrian government and Beijing about what to do with them. And Beijing quietly has made it clear they do not want these weagers back. There were some reporting that Beijing had demanded the deportation of these weagers back to China. That's not happening. The Syrian government is not interested in doing that. These weagers were too loyal to them. They owe them too much. And also China doesn't want several thousand of these battle hard and militants and their families in China. That would be too much of a risk. So there's now this awkward conversation of do we let the weager stay? And if so, under what conditions, what are they allowed to do, not allowed to do, and do we give them passports? Are you aware of the weagers in Syria maintaining ties with relatives in Xinjiang?

45:42Are they able to contact them? Do they know what happened to the families that they left behind there? No. To a large extent, no. And one of the common themes that came up was this overwhelming sorrow of not being able to contact their families back in Xinjiang. Some people said that they had downloaded Chinese short video apps so that they could follow videos that their families were posting. But they couldn't message them or call them. Many of them decade, you know, a decade plus later, still remember by heart, the phone numbers and addresses of their family members, but they've never been able to actually follow up with them. And one of the weager language schools that I visited that the weager militant organization has set up for kids under the age of 12. One of the teachers that told me, I make it, I put in a lot of effort to teach weager children the words for different family members, like the words for relatives, because no one actually has a grandmother

46:43or knows their uncle in Syria. Those people are still back in Xinjiang, and I want to make sure that I teach them the vocabulary for that. And the idea behind it, even if none of us have extended family in Syria. And just to understand, they can't contact these people because they would put them in danger if they did. Absolutely. If they contacted their families in Xinjiang, their families would face questioning if not detention and imprisonment. I'm a leaf phone. Her new book, Our Hearts Burned for Home. I'm Celia Hatten. That's it for this edition of News Hour from the BBC World Service. Thanks for listening.