Google Cloud Speech-to-Text API (Chirp) + Gemini 2.5 Flash Non-Thinking. Treat it as a searchable index of what was broadcast, not a quotation record.
00:00:14These are the latest headlines from BBC News in an exclusive interview to
00:00:18the BBC, El Spencer stands by his claims
00:00:22that the then Prince Charles sounded giddily
00:00:25elated on the night that Princess Diana
00:00:27died. At least two. people are killed in the Moscow region
00:00:31after a massive Ukrainian drone attack overnight. The mayor of
00:00:34Moscow claims 450 drones were directed at the city. Russia says it's
00:00:38an attempt to disrupt the country's parliamentary elections.
00:00:42German chancellor Fredrick Murz faces growing political pressure as local
00:00:45elections are taking place in two German states. opinion pole suggests the
00:00:49chancellors parties at risk of damaging defeats raising questions about his
00:00:53political future. And Sheeren apologizes to fans for what
00:00:57he calls mistakes as he performs for the first time. one of his opening
00:01:00acts was dropped from making pro-palestinian remarks on stage.
00:01:16once considered one of the world's most dangerous countries, el
00:01:19salvador has seen violent crime fall
00:01:22dramatically. now on bbc news, global eye
00:01:25asks what lies behind the headlines:
00:01:50Hello and welcome to global eye from the BBC World
00:01:53Service. Each week we bring you the best of the world
00:01:57services investigative journalism and
00:02:00missable reporting from BBC teams around the globe. I am Joan
00:02:03Felette and this week we're in
00:02:05Brazil.
00:02:08The country is deeply divided ahead of an election that pits President
00:02:11Lula against the son of his old rival Jair
00:02:14Bolsonaro who is now serving a 27-year sentence for plotting
00:02:18a coup after the last election. And she
00:02:21has hundreds of thousands of followers, millions of views
00:02:24and powerful voice in Brazil's election campaign,
00:02:28but the viral political pundit. as Dona Maria is not
00:02:32all that she seems. Also, on the program, as Bolsonaro
00:02:35Hails El Salvador as a model for how to be tough on gang
00:02:39violence will investigate the Crackdown's disputed
00:02:43silent, that's what legacy. The murder rate has plumited, but at what
00:02:46cost.
00:02:49This is the Liberdade Avenue right in the heart of São Paulo,
00:02:53and every two years it gets very colorful because of all the political
00:02:57ads that are put up here ahead of an election. "and
00:03:00the election we're having in October is very big
00:03:03one. Brazilians are basically choosing between very different
00:03:07views for the country, and this isn't important just for
00:03:10Brazilians. Brazil is the biggest economy in Latin
00:03:14America, it's one of the largest democracies in the
00:03:18world, and it's home to the largest portion of the
00:03:21Amazon rainforest. So what happens here can affect
00:03:25things well beyond the country, from climate and
00:03:28trade to the fight..."
00:03:34Brazil's left-wing president Lula, who is running for reelection is
00:03:38leading in several polls, among his main proposals are
00:03:42expanding social programs and investing in public education and
00:03:46healthcare.
00:03:49The other leading candidate is right-wing senator Flavio
00:03:52Bolsonaro, the son of former president Jair
00:03:55Bolsonaro, he says he will stay true to his father's
00:03:58controversial legacy and take tough approach to crime,
00:04:02the outcome could have major consequences for the country and
00:04:05his father who is currently serving a 27 year sentence for
00:04:09plotting the failed coup that saw his supporters storm Brazil's government
00:04:12buildings in 2022, but one of
00:04:15the most talked about figures in this election campaign is not a
00:04:19candidate at all. for over year now, millions of
00:04:22brazilians have been sharing and discussing the views of Dona
00:04:26Maria, an elderly black woman who emerged on social
00:04:29media, and within weeks went viral, but Dona
00:04:33Maria doesn't actually exist, my colleague Luis
00:04:36Fernando Toledo has been exploring how an AI generated
00:04:39avatar became a prominent voice in Brazil's political debate
00:04:43and what that means for the
00:04:44election.
00:04:51ai generated Brazil's president Lula, aigenerated
00:04:54former president Jair Bolsonaro, aigenerated
00:04:57voter, deep fakes and
00:05:04Barrio 18, one of
00:05:13Some social media profiles used to promote AI content have millions
00:05:16of followers, these are voters who will be choosing the president of Brazil on
00:05:20October 4th. I spent four months investigating this market for
00:05:24AI generated videos to find out what is driving it and how it's
00:05:27influencing this year's general election. This is
00:05:31Dona Maria. On social media, she presents herself as an older
00:05:34woman outraged by the government of Brazilian President Lula and by
00:05:38ministers of Brazil's Supreme Court.
00:06:42The social algorithm delivers, you understand? If you make a video
00:06:46speaking a lot of truth, but without that
00:06:49spicy topping, it won't deliver, it's no use. Brazilians
00:06:53are used to seeing misfortune on the internet,
00:06:57you understand? Daniel said he created the AI character as
00:07:01a way to express his political views anonymously and earn extra income.
00:07:05I confirmed through court records that he did in fact work as a Uber
00:07:09driver. Didn't find any evidence that at the time of my report
00:07:13he was receiving money from politicians, the pages reach led Lula's Workers'
00:07:17Party and its allies to ask Brazil's electoral court to suspend the
00:07:20character's accounts. The main page was taken down a few weeks
00:07:23later. Danielle did not give up, he began using another
00:07:27account which already had more than 10,000 followers and
00:07:30started selling courses on how to produce videos with AI. He
00:07:34didn't tell me how much money, but his course costs 150
00:07:37BRL or 25 pounds and the last time I checked it
00:07:41had around 70 active students, this is 10,000
00:07:44BRL a month or 1,400 pounds, that is six times Brazil's
00:07:48minimum wage and three times the average earnings of a Uber driver in
00:07:52Rio, the electoral debate over the political use of AI
00:07:55during the campaign, Brazilian presidential candidate Flavio
00:07:58Bolsonaro, second in the opinion polls, used the avatar of
00:08:02his father, former president Jair Bolsonaro at the launch of his campaign. Brazil's
00:08:06future is Flavio
00:08:09Bolsonaro.
00:08:42but it can really hinder some campaigns,
00:08:46especially in the last few days, which is when these accusations,
00:08:50these last-minute attacks
00:08:53are likely to emerge.
00:08:58Brazil's election is taking place against the backdrop of a long-running battle
00:09:02with organized crime, gangs control territory in some of the
00:09:06country's biggest cities, and public safety remains a critical
00:09:09issue for voters here, many people are looking. beyond Brazil's
00:09:13borders to the country of El Salvador in Central America,
00:09:17where violent crime has fallen dramatically. For years,
00:09:20gangs terrorized the country and it was known as one of the most dangerous
00:09:24places on earth. Then a new president came and the numbers
00:09:28began to fall sharply. But what lies behind the
00:09:31headlines and what has this transformation really
00:09:34cost? For BBC Brazil, I travel to El Salvador to
00:09:38investigate.
00:09:47In this alley, five people were found dead,
00:09:51as if they were motorcyclists. We left for church with my
00:09:55children, and suddenly the commotion began, another
00:09:58dead person. So then we started to see that there were a lot
00:10:02of dead people in
00:10:03the neighborhood.
00:10:13live, it was a stronghold of
00:10:16the criminal gangs that terrorized people across
00:10:20the country. They would threaten them, they would
00:10:23skin the...
00:10:55After a mass deportation of these men, the groups made their way
00:10:58to El Salvador. Right and left-wing presidents took
00:11:02turns in power, trying different ways to deal with the gangs.
00:11:05Meanwhile, they grew stronger and tightened their
00:11:09grip on the neighborhoods.
00:11:11We stayed here, which was a gang,
00:11:14my relatives stayed in Apopa, which was the
00:11:17opposite. My mom spent almost 9 years only being able
00:11:21to see her in the market.
00:11:25November 16, 2009, was my graduation and
00:11:29that day we decided with my three friends to go
00:11:32bathe in the river, the river was already
00:11:36starting to be a boundary
00:11:40for another, let's say, gang, when suddenly
00:11:44three people with hoods
00:11:47arrived and without saying a word they started
00:11:51telling us to kneel and started shooting.
00:11:56I'm alive because at that moment I pretended
00:11:59to be dead, so when I didn't
00:12:03hear anything anymore, I tried to get up, but
00:12:06I couldn't walk anymore,
00:12:09and one of those bullets hit my spinal
00:12:12cord,
00:12:15leaving me, causing paraplegia,
00:12:19right?
00:12:21I mean, before I was a young man, a boy, right, who... loved
00:12:25soccer, who loved to run, and suddenly, because
00:12:28of an act of violence, right, I ended
00:12:31up using a wheelchair.
00:12:35in 2010, the war between the gangs reached a new level
00:12:39of brutality, gang members set fire
00:12:43to a microbus with its passengers
00:12:46inside.
00:12:4917 people were burned alive, anyone who tried to escape was
00:12:52shot, by 2015, El
00:12:55Salvador had the highest homicide rate in the
00:12:58world, setting the stage for a major shift in the country's
00:13:02politics.
00:13:10Politics in 2012 as left-wing mayor and later led the capital San Salvador. In
00:13:132019, after moving to a right-wing party, he was
00:13:17elected president of El
00:13:18Salvador.
00:13:25In his presidency, Bukele clashed with the opposition
00:13:28after lawmakers refused to approve a loan for a plan to
00:13:32fight the gangs. He responded by entering Congress
00:13:35alongside the military. Months
00:13:38later, Bukele won the power struggle when his political party
00:13:42secured more than two-thirds of the seats in the election to renew
00:13:46Congress. Five justices were replaced by people
00:13:49aligned with Bukele. With control of
00:13:52Congress and the judiciary, he had a
00:14:25country with the highest incarceration rate in the
00:14:28world, 2.5% of Salvadoran adults are
00:14:31currently behind bars. four years
00:14:34later, the state of exception remains in
00:14:36effect. here in Soyapango, the support for the
00:14:40president stands is widespread, with many saying
00:14:44it has materially improved their
00:14:46lives.
00:14:4824,
00:14:51the military is always watching.
00:14:55That gives us a guarantee, I feel safe,
00:14:58my business closes at 1 AM. In
00:15:012021, was re-elected president with
00:15:0585% of the vote. In
00:15:082025, Congress changed the constitution to
00:15:12allow unlimited reelection. President Bukele
00:15:15became a globally prominent figure. So I knew him as a very
00:15:19young man, now he's just young man, he's done a
00:15:22fantastic job. Mr. President, it's an honor. have you, but how have
00:15:26these security policies affected the daily lives
00:15:29of other Salvadorans and at what
00:15:32cost were they implemented? we began
00:15:36looking for answers by: meeting with an evangelical pastor who
00:15:39was interviewed by the BBC seven years ago,
00:15:43freed from custody into the arms of the church. In
00:15:472019, the BBC visited Ebenezar Church on the
00:15:51outskirts of San Salvador to learn about this pastor's work
00:15:55with former gang members.
00:15:58The church is in Ladina, a neighborhood, many fear
00:16:02to even enter.
00:16:05Here former gangsters find.
00:16:13what happened to those people? all that ended,
00:16:16that is, everything that refers to social insertion
00:16:20for gang members,
00:16:23opportunity to integrate ended
00:16:26in 2022, when the state of exception
00:16:29began and the
00:16:31government's policy of no more
00:16:35gang members free, right, even
00:16:39though many had served sentences and had already
00:16:42completed, had completed their sentences and that was the requirement to enter here,
00:16:46including everyone, everyone, without
00:16:49exception, right, everyone,
00:16:51everyone.
00:16:55under the state of
00:16:56exception,
00:17:01as much as 45 years, since the courts
00:17:04consider gang membership and
00:17:37innocent people detained, we are
00:17:40demanding an answer to the petitions, if the state of exception
00:17:44was only for gang members who really
00:17:47investigated and then arrested them, we
00:17:51would be happy, grateful and this country would be
00:17:54different, but here they have gone to arrest the righteous and the sinner, as
00:17:57we say, right, and now my daughter is part of the famous and
00:18:01so-called margin of error,
00:18:03margin
00:18:06of error was the expression.
00:18:23according to the government, but these families say many innocent people are still behind bars. Here we don't have a Supreme Court, what we have here is a supreme president of the
00:18:27republic who gives the orders for
00:18:30everything. Bukele believes he is the one, he runs the country
00:18:34like his own company, he here does not allow...
00:19:07denies the allegations and says she is a political prisoner. the
00:19:11NGO Kristo, where she worked, closed its office
00:19:15in El Salvador, mentioning risks to its
00:19:17staff. other activists and journalists
00:19:21have also left the country fearing retaliation.
00:19:24we asked the government about the allegations of persecution, but
00:19:28received no response.
00:19:32Personally, they have called me a dictator, in all the media they wanted
00:19:35and could, from the pamphlets. up to the
00:19:38international, most prestigious pamphlets. You know what, I don't
00:19:42care if they call me a dictator,
00:19:54I prefer them to call me a dictator than to see Salvadorans being killed in the
00:19:58streets. Ana Mercedes García
00:20:02Grandes' son, police in
00:20:042022. The only crime that...
00:20:37has put us in a very difficult situation,
00:20:40my case like mine, because I have no resources, because in a few
00:20:43words, I feel that I will not see my son
00:20:46again,
00:20:49because he is well. He could be dead, I
00:20:53could die from
00:20:54an affliction.
00:21:00The words of the detainee's mother echo concerns denounced by
00:21:04human rights organizations.
00:21:06According to these groups, more than 500 people detained
00:21:10under the state of exception have died in state custody before
00:21:14standing trial. We asked the government about these cases,
00:21:18but received no response.
00:22:20After several follow-ups, we were told it wasn't possible due
00:22:23to scheduling conflicts. We also
00:22:26contacted Congress, but were referred back to the
00:22:30presidency. In 2025, El Salvador
00:22:33had the lowest homicide rate in the
00:22:35Americas, but some question why the state of
00:22:39exception has remained in place for more than four years
00:22:43even as the government says, it has already defeated the
00:22:47gangs.
00:22:50that people often cannot even
00:22:54raise their voice, their right to protest,
00:22:57to demand their rights
00:23:01because there is a regime.
00:23:04For me, it's not a dictatorship, for me
00:23:07it's freedom, a freedom where we
00:23:11Salvadorans can go from corner to corner in our country
00:23:14and nothing happens, however, before we couldn't
00:23:18even leave our neighborhoods,
00:23:21but now we live in a free
00:23:24country.
00:23:29The regime is in place so that we don't speak and remain
00:23:33I understand about the regime, and you're not afraid to
00:23:37speak, I'm not going to tell you no, it would be
00:23:41a lie to tell you I'm not afraid, but at the same
00:23:44time my situation gives me
00:23:46courage.
00:23:49And if... not for telling the truth, it's going to be that they will even take
00:23:53me away. I lost my son, what else can happen to my life
00:23:56after
00:24:02so many decades of turmoil, El Salvador hopes to finally
00:24:06leave its violent past
00:24:08behind,
00:24:12but like a dormant volcano, all
00:24:15tensions still lie beneath the surface, and
00:24:18no one knows if... or when they might erupt
00:24:22again,
00:24:29five months ago, BBC broadcast damning undercover
00:24:33footage from a government hospital in Pakistan, footage that showed
00:24:36blood contaminated syringes being reused
00:24:39on children, some who were just babies. The investigation
00:24:43revealed that more than 300 children had been diagnosed with
00:24:47HIV after receiving treatment at this hospital.
00:24:50reporter Gazal Abbasi has an update on this story
00:24:54and on the extraordinary impact that the BBC's journalism can have,
00:25:10syringes reused, unqualified volunteers on the
00:25:13children's ward and vials of blood contaminated medicine being
00:25:17injected into child after child. In April
00:25:202026, BBCI revealed that in less
00:25:23than a year at least 331 children in the
00:25:27city of Thonsa were diagnosed with HIV after receiving
00:25:30treatment at its government hospital.
00:25:34The investigation ran across the BBC World Service, in English,
00:25:38in Urdu and many other languages. It was streamed
00:25:41on YouTube, appeared on the BBC's website and was watched by more than
00:25:4511 million people on TikTok and Instagram, but in
00:25:49Pakistan. Story was just beginning. The first to pick up on
00:25:52the BBC's findings were political commentators, but soon
00:25:56doctors, celebrities and sporting heroes were speaking out, and
00:25:59Pakistan's TV news was not far behind.
00:26:32focus on HIV, but that didn't stop the scrutiny.
00:26:36The global fund to financed most of Pakistan's HIV programs
00:26:39announced it would visit the country to examine its handling of
00:26:42HIV. The prime minister also intervened,
00:26:46ordering a new national screening program for HIV and
00:26:49hepatitis across all government hospitals and confirmed that
00:26:5360 new specialist HIV treatment centers would be set up
00:26:57across the country.
00:27:00By July BBC investigation.
00:27:06from 2027, all syringes must auto-lock to prevent
00:27:09reuse, and conventional syringes must not be made or sold
00:27:13anywhere in Pakistan. Thanks to the reach and credibility of the
00:27:16BBC World Service, what began as a report on
00:27:19331 children in rural Punjab ignited
00:27:23a national conversation in Pakistan, a
00:27:25conversation about public health and poor governance, a conversation which
00:27:29changed the law and which will surely save children's.
00:28:08what was going through my mind that Monday morning was
00:28:12of all of the places that could have been affected, why
00:28:15specifically some hoke town in the middle of
00:28:18nowhere?
00:28:20without bringing new people into the game and and inspiring the younger
00:28:24generations the game won't continue. we take
00:28:27in about 150,000 tons of waste per
00:28:31annum, there's a bit of... out of sight, out of mind. He'll
00:28:35join a 6 to 12 week program of rehabilitation designed to get
00:28:39people off drugs and into work.
00:28:42Documentaries from around the world on BBC
00:28:45News.
00:28:49I've always been fascinated by science since I was kid
00:28:53really. It's just such a broad subject. Sometimes the
00:28:57science story can seem quite abstract, and once I've got my head
00:29:00around the story, it's really my job. to try and guide the audience step
00:29:04by step through it, but it's not just
00:29:07about explaining or understanding the difficult
00:29:10concepts, it's also about explaining why it matters. what I
00:29:14want to do was to bring the audience with us,
00:29:18the Artemis 2 mission was such a visceral
00:29:22experience seeing the engines fire, it was almost
00:29:26blinding, wow oh
00:29:28my goodness, it does feel like we're enter
00:29:32bringing into a new era of space
00:29:35exploration, and the Artemis 2 mission is just the
00:29:39start. There's no limit to how far science can take
00:29:43us, there is always more to discover.
00:30:06live from London, this is BBC News. German
00:30:09chancellor Frierick Merz is facing growing political pressure
00:30:13as local elections have taken place in two German states. The
00:30:17polls have just closed. We'll bring you the first exit polls
00:30:21shortly. Our Spencer tells the BBC,
00:30:24writing his book about his sister, the late Princess Diana was his duty as an
00:30:28eyewitness to history. He's defended claims he's made about King Charles.
00:30:33"I'm reporting every word in this book, I report exactly as
00:30:37I saw it and felt it at the time, and I was
00:30:41surprised at the giddiness of his tone.
00:30:44That's what I'm recording there. At least two people are
00:30:47killed in the Moscow region after a massive Ukrainian drone attack
00:30:50overnight. Russia says it's an attempt to disrupt the country's parliamentary
00:30:54elections. Musician Ed Sheeran's apologized to fans for what
00:30:58he calls a mistake."