Transcript of US soldier arrested in UK on suspicion of spying for Russia

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Alex Ritson, and in the early hours of Wednesday, the 11th of November, these are our main stories. A senior American soldier is arrested in Britain on suspicion of spying for Russia. U.S. Republicans block efforts to impeach the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Same-sex intimacy between men is no longer illegal in Trinidad and Tobago after a ruling by a UK court.

If I told you run, run, okay?

I've got you.

We meet the Peaky Blinders drone unit fighting on Ukraine's front line. And is this worth $150?

We got six scrunchies. Six bobby pins. Three normal hair ties. Two hair clips. Two bra strap headbands. Four keychains and a piece of rubber. This is terrible.

Skims or scam? Fans lash out at Kim Kardashian's advent calendar. A U.S. soldier has been arrested in Britain on suspicion of spying for Russia. The unnamed man was detained during a joint counterterrorism operation in Western England and is currently in custody at a London police station. Our correspondent, Daniel Sanford, told us what we know so far.

The man arrested is a 41-year-old man who's been described by the U.S. Army as a senior soldier with access to sensitive intelligence. And he was working at Imgene Barracks, which is the headquarters of NATO's Allied Rapid Reaction Corps. And that's a body which is designed to be deployable across Europe for major land operations. So clearly a very significant strategic part of the NATO forces in Europe. He was arrested in Gloucestershire, presumably either at Imgene Barracks or close by.

Andrew Barrine is a former senior U.S. intelligence official. He gave us this assessment of the arrest.

It fits a pattern of really significantly spiked Russian activity in Western Europe. And this is an absolutely vital time as Ukraine moves toward winter, with 1.5 million people being denied power and Russia making conversations about increased activity on the Ukraine war front and certainly really significant concerns about the Baltics and Estonia and Lithuania and any other places where the Russians could be probing not just hybrid warfare, but actual conventional readiness of the NATO forces.

Former U.S. intelligence official Andrew Barrine. The U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is safe from impeachment for now. The Republican-led House of Representatives has voted to refer the impeachment process to a committee for further consideration rather than allowing a vote on it, which could have eventually led to a trial in the Senate. Pete Hegseth has defended his role in the Iran war and other recent U.S. military operations. President Trump hailed the procedural defeat as an exoneration of a great American patriot.

It's disappointing, but not surprising. Pete Hegseth is not fit to serve as the Department of Defense head. He's done so many things to hurt everyday Americans, and he's keeping us less safe. And so he should be gone. The president refuses to fire him. And in this case, the Republican Congress could have done something about it, but instead they continue to hold a bag for President Trump.

So is the impeachment process now blocked? I asked Robert Jimmison, the congressional correspondent for The New York Times.

The short answer is yes, it has been derailed. And this is the end of that chapter. The effort that was launched by Representative Thomas Massie, the Republican from Kentucky, has come to an end. The technical answer to that question and how it came to an end was the procedural motion was to refer this resolution back to the House Judiciary Committee. All the committees in Congress currently, at least for the next two months, are still under control by Republicans, which Republicans are highly unlikely to call up this resolution, which for all intents and purposes at this point means the resolution is dead.

But is it likely that he will be impeached further down the road? Because the Republicans were only able to do this because for the next two months they're still in control of Congress. But that won't be the case once the new representatives take their seats.

That's exactly right. So in January, Democrats will control both chambers of Congress, both the House and the Senate. And a resolution like this would have had a simple majority if this were to take place in January. There are other resolutions that members have filed, and you could see a different outcome if they choose to pursue that path.

And of course, the actions of Pete Hegseth can't really be separated from those of Donald Trump. They are so closely aligned.

I think that was a key reason on why you did not see any Republicans cross over on this. There were a number of Republicans who expressed concern that the eight articles, you know, were so closely linked in the chain of command to duties of the commander in chief as well as the Secretary of State. And they worried that by voting on this resolution that they could possibly implicate the president as well when that was not the focus of their frustration as it had been at the same level of Secretary Hegseth.

Because there had been speculation that Pete Hegseth would ultimately be the fall guy for Donald Trump. Could that still happen?

There was. But I think what you've seen play out, especially with his performance during the news conference he held on Tuesday, was, you know, a pure defender and attack dog on behalf of President Trump. He said several times he made statements that linked him as close as possible to the president by saying, you know, Democrats have tried this multiple times against President Trump, and I'm proud to join the crowd along with the president as a target. I think the spectacle of surviving this impeachment process could actually backfire and could raise his stock in the Trump administration.

Where are the Democrats on this? And is this is the whole sort of impeachment process? Is this what the American people are wanting to see at the moment?

I wonder now if the results tonight will affect the way that they're talking about this and messaging on this. Because we do know voters really want to see decisive action to lower costs for their everyday lives. And if they're not able to draw a direct line between how impeaching Secretary of Defense Hegseth will result in relief at the gas pump or in relief on, you know, wages, it's going to be a hard sell to a lot of those moderate voters who really did deliver the majority for Democrats.

Robert Jimmison from The New York Times. Haiti's Prime Minister has praised Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele after his country's troops helped destroy a property alleged to be the headquarters of a powerful Haitian gang. Haiti has been unable to control worsening gang violence for years, with armed groups running the majority of the capital Port-au-Prince. On Tuesday, El Salvador officials shared footage of an aerial assault on a large building. It claims is the residence of Wilson Joseph, known as Lanmo Sanju, who runs the 400 Morozo gang.

So he said on social media that most of them ran away without even trying to fight. What cowards. And a very dramatic video underneath. This attack would be the first on a target since El Salvador deployed more than 2,000 soldiers to Haiti last month in response to four Salvadoran aviation technicians who have essentially gone missing. They were ambushed by very heavily armed men. It's unclear whether they were kidnapped or whether they have run away and escaped.

Haiti has been lawless for some time. Even the president, Juvenal Moïse, was assassinated. There have been various international efforts to try and bring the place back under some sort of rule of law, but all up to now have failed. But last week a gang leader was killed. Now this. Is there a change? Is something happening?

There have been multiple internationally led multinational forces. Previously, there was a Kenyan-led multinational force which seemingly failed at most of its targets. Like the new force has been deployed, UN-backed, to work with the Haitian police and work with the Haitian armed forces. A new force, the Gang Suppression Force, is currently on the ground. It has under 1,400 troops currently deployed but could have more than 5,500 that's been authorized.

Briefly, Mimi, through most of my journalistic career, Haiti has been one of the poorest, most troubled places on Earth. What's the goal here?

I think the goal for many Haitians is just to live in peace. Speaking to people on the ground is just the sense of exhaustion when it comes to violence. There are so many aspects of violence as well. Gangs not only rule over villages, but sexual violence is rife, murders, kidnapping, extortions. At every level of society, gang violence and gangs as large organized crime groups have infiltrated life and completely ruined it. Schools, hospitals, any kind of infrastructure in the country has completely crumbled.

Mimi Swaby. A court in the UK has overturned a colonial era law in Trinidad and Tobago which criminalized sex between men. The Privy Council, which is the final court of appeal for the Caribbean nation, ruled it violated the fundamental right to respect for private and family life. Gay rights campaigners say they hope it will lead to similar legal action in other former British colonies in the Caribbean and wider Commonwealth. The case was brought by Jason Jones, who's from Trinidad and Tobago and now lives in Britain.

I think the ruling is a stepping stone in the right direction. What needs to happen now is the actual work to make the ruling a particularly important point in the politics of not just the country of Trinidad and Tobago, but the entire Commonwealth. Fifty percent of Commonwealth nations still criminalize using British colonial buggery laws. So we need to take this victory and make it resonate across the entire Commonwealth.

Because if the Commonwealth is a family of nations, then it's not right that someone in one nation can have more rights than someone living in another nation just because of their sexuality.

Exactly. Exactly. We should all be ruled under the same judgments, under the same ideologies.

And are you confident that people are listening, that the government is listening?

No.

No, you're not?

No, absolutely not. And, you know, I'm really frustrated by successive British governments over the last three decades that have done nothing to help dismantle this heinous history of hate that Britain spread across the globe through colonization. What people need to understand is that these laws of 500 years, they did not impact on us personally. The police were not coming into our bedrooms and arresting us.

Jason Jones. Still to come in this podcast.

Twice the gestapo came for me, and twice I slipped through their hands. It was my bicycle that helped.

We remember the French resistance heroine who courageously fought against Nazi occupation.

This is the Global News Podcast. There have been some positive noises about the latest round of US-led peace talks in Abu Dhabi aimed at ending Russia's war in Ukraine. President Zelensky saying he's very happy to see a change in approach by the American delegation after previously expressing concern over their closeness to Moscow. But huge differences remain, and the diplomacy is providing little hope to Ukrainians who've now lived through more than four years of fighting. Our defense correspondent, Jonathan Beal, sent this report from the devastated frontline city of Sloviansk.

This is now one of the most dangerous roads in Ukraine, the road to Sloviansk, to Ukraine's fortress belt, its last line of defense. We're going to meet a unit calling themselves Peaky Blinders.

My name is Tatiana, but military name Nika.

Tatiana, who's just turned 21, and her colleague Yasha, who's armed with a shotgun, are going to escort us into the city.

If I told you run, run, okay?

I've got you. We're just walking down this main street in Sloviansk. Pretty much every building you look at has been hit by something. Tatiana shows us a video taken on a phone just a few days ago. The sound of several drones buzzing overhead met by a volley of small arms fire. A look of outright fear etched on her young face.

Stressful.

We meet Inga, who's lived here all her life.

Honestly, I don't even know what to say. I simply have nowhere to go, and I don't have the money to leave or support myself afterwards. And then there is the fear of the unknown. You don't know how you're going to live or support yourself in the future.

So we're just going to go in and get some coffee. As you can hear, it's the generator that's keeping this business going. This is one of two coffee shops still operating in Sloviansk. It's where 63-year-old Irina works.

I'm forced to walk around crying. How can they do this? I will not leave Sloviansk. This is my home.

The Peaky Blinders, a specialist drone unit, has spent the last eight months here. Their main task to destroy Russian drones. They've taken down more than 1,000. And abandoned buildings their refuge, where they return for hot food and a rest from the fighting. Every night, their commander, Oleksandr, says a prayer, thanks for their survival.

I really want this war to end. I want to live to see its end. And I want to start living a peaceful life again in my free country, the country we are fighting for and for which we have already paid a very high price. Do I believe these negotiations will succeed? No, I don't really believe they will.

Oleksandr, ending that report from Jonathan Beal. One of the last surviving heroes of the French resistance in the Second World War has died at the age of 104. Solange Alexandre was a rare female leader of the underground movement. Hugh Schofield looks back at her life.

Solange Alexandre was always extremely modest about her wartime work. Twice later, she was offered the Legion of Honor, and twice she turned it down, saying she'd only been doing her duty. In fact, she joined the resistance at the earliest possible moment, fired by General de Gaulle's famous appeal from London in 1940. For three years, she was a kind of courier, spying on German activities and passing on messages, as she recalled in an interview two years ago.

Twice the gestapo came for me, and twice I slipped through their hands. It was my bicycle that helped. When I joined the resistance in '41, I was cycling everywhere. There were no phones, no cars, so the bicycle was king.

Then in early 1944, with another man, she formed her own resistance group of about 30 fighters, and they took to the Maquis, living clandestinely in the countryside and, after D-Day, carrying out acts of sabotage and attacks on German troops. Not long before she died, at third time of asking, she accepted the Legion of Honor. President Macron said her duty, as she put it, had been the freedom of France.

Hugh Schofield with that report. A federal judge in Florida has ruled that Donald Trump's defamation lawsuit against the BBC for misleadingly editing one of his speeches can proceed. The US president is seeking $10 billion in damages. Our correspondent, Shima Khalil, has the details.

Judge Geoffrey Coons found Donald Trump's defamation allegations against the BBC to be sufficient for the claim to go ahead. Shortly after, the president posted on Truth Social calling this a huge victory. Now, Donald Trump and his team still have to prove that he'd suffered damages. This has to do with a multibillion-dollar lawsuit that Donald Trump filed against the BBC over a Panorama documentary in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election. And in it, it joined out-of-sequence clips from the January 6, 2021, speech ahead of the Capitol riot.

Shima Khalil. The Kardashian family is known for its business acumen and varied product lines, but now Kim Kardashian's multibillion-dollar brand Skims has had to refund fans after charging almost $150 for an advent calendar filled with things like hair ties and plastic keyrings and getting a huge backlash online, as well as accusations of ulterior motives. Our reporter, Stephanie Prentiss, told me more.

Well, Alex, we are going to listen to some Skims superfans in a second, unboxing those calendars. But for context, Skims, it's a hugely successful company. Kim Kardashian co-founded it, and it makes underwear and things like shapewear. So they're those tight little garments that contour the body. And these products aren't cheap, crucially. So a pair of smoothing shorts can cost up to $80, basic cotton underwear, about $20. So these fans were excited to get their hands on the Skims advent calendar.

So in total, by the way, we got six scrunchies.

Six bobby pins.

Three normal hair ties.

Two hair clips.

Two bra strap headbands.

Four keychains and a piece of rubber. This is terrible.

This is $150 worth of product. This is like stuff that my cat would collect behind a washing machine.

So that's just a couple of hundreds of these viral videos complaining about this. One of them actually has 65 million views. Lots of people calling it a scam, although there are some Skims apologists saying all of the content would have been listed on the website and it is down as an accessories calendar.

And Skims' response?

Well, Skims have released a statement acknowledging the backlash and offering refunds. And there is a separate corner of the internet that's finding all of this very amusing and saying this is an amazing PR move. It's really got people talking about the brand. So, Alex, could this be a scam or a stunt? Well, we asked marketing expert Kathryn Shuttleworth. She founded Savvy Marketing.

It's a very high-risk strategy, isn't it? Because one of the things that you do when you're a high-end brand, which Skims is, is you invest really heavily in how you present yourself and how shoppers talk about you, and particularly how they share you virally online on things like Instagram and TikTok. I mean, the market is worth about $1.4 billion, and it's got bigger over the last few years. I think what people are paying for is a sense of fun. And what they like is a little bit of luxury.

And Steph, I'm getting a sense of déjà vu with this.

Well, yeah, Alex. Kathryn mentioned there just how big the advent calendar industry really is. Two examples that really did fail spectacularly. So Chanel in 2021, their calendar cost more than $1,000. There were some mini beauty items, but it was otherwise full of things like stickers, a temporary tattoo. There was a magnet in there, I think. But probably the poster girl for advent calendar fails was the YouTuber Zoella that was back in 2017. She had to publicly apologize to her young audience for this calendar that was $65 and contained things like confetti.

Stephanie Prentiss. And that's all from us for now. If you want to get in touch, you can email us at globalpodcast@bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag globalnewspod. And don't forget our sibling podcast, The Global Story, which goes in-depth and beyond the headlines on one big story. This edition of The Global News Podcast was mixed by Holly Smith.