BBC News Briefing

2 August, 2024

Sofia Lotto Persio

Hello. President Vladimir Putin awaited on the tarmac as Russians released as part of a prisoner exchange touched down in Moscow. Steve Rosenberg explains why the Russian leader sees the swap as a victory. As Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was buried in Qatar, in Gaza Palestinians were also mourning two local journalists and a boy killed in an Israeli air strike, writes Yolande Knell. From Kenya, Basillioh Rukanga reports on controversial cat licences. Finally, both Andy and I scored 5/7 in the weekly news quiz. Give it a go.

GET UP TO SPEED

Kamala Harris has officially secured enough delegates to clinch the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. Meanwhile, former North Korean diplomat Ri Il Kyu, who defected in 2023, has told the BBC the secretive country's ruler Kim Jong Un would like to see Donald Trump back at the White House.

A black female soldier who fronted British Army recruitment campaigns has spoken for the first time about how years of racist abuse and bullying made her life in the military “a living hell”.

More than 4,000 churches have been closed down over the last month in Rwanda for failing to comply with health and safety regulations, including not being properly soundproofed.

QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Putin claims win in prisoner swap

Vladimir Putin walks alongside a woman and her daughter who have disembarked the plane carrying Russian citizens exchanged in the prisoner swap

The two children of Russian secret agents were included in the prisoner swap along with their parents. Credit: EPA

Ten people, including spies, sleeper agents - and their two children - and a convicted assassin landed at Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport on Thursday night, as part of the largest prisoner swap between Russia and the US and its allies since the Cold War.

Steve Rosenberg, Russia editor

What kind of welcome did they get upon arrival?

For the returning Russians there was a red carpet reception and a guard of honour. There were bouquets of flowers and - for some - hugs from the president. Mr Putin embraced Vadim Krasikov, the FSB hitman who’d been serving a life sentence in Germany for assassinating a Georgian-born Chechen dissident.

Russia released more prisoners than it received. Why is Mr Putin celebrating this as a victory?

Russia got what it wanted… it got its agents back, including the man who was No.1 on its wish list, Krasikov. The German authorities had initially been unwilling to release a convicted assassin, who - according to a German court - had acted on behalf of the Russian authorities.

What message does the prisoner swap send?

The message the Kremlin wants to send to its agents and spies is: if we send you on missions abroad, and things go wrong, we’ll find a way of getting you home. There’s another message the pro-Kremlin press is putting out right now: good riddance to those Russia has freed from its prisons and who’ve been flown abroad.

Read in full

Watch: How the prisoner swap unfolded, explained in 60 seconds.

Human rights in Russia: Increasingly draconian anti-LGBT laws have forced people like Ada to leave the country, not knowing if or when she might go back.

US citizens held abroad: Dozens of Americans are currently being held hostage or wrongfully detained in 16 countries across the world.

PICKS OF THE WEEK

Kiyomi Iguro has grey curly hair and is seen close up, smiling

'Atomic bomb hell must never be repeated'

The last survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings share their painful, distressing accounts with the BBC.

Read now >

An empty grocery trolley stands at the end of an aisle filled with products

Looking for the truth about ultra-processed food

There is a growing body of evidence that these foods aren’t good for us. But experts can’t agree exactly on how they affect us.

Read why >

Elisabeth Oxfeldt has long blonde hair and dark-rimmed glasses. She wears a dark coat over a thick white scarf, and is smiling as she leans against a tree trunk in a small wood

'Not every Norwegian feels guilty but many do'

Oil has made Norway one of the world's richest countries and discomfort at its wealth is evident in books, films and TV.

Read more >

A banner reads: 'Trump's Project 2025 Agenda 47'

Your weekend listening: Trump rejects Project 2025

The Trump campaign has disavowed a think tank's ultra-conservative policy agenda.

Listen now >

FROM THE SCENE

Gaza

'We could hear his voice on the radio'

The journalists' last assignment was gathering reactions to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh's killing. Credit: Reuters

Al Jazeera correspondent Ismail al-Ghoul was killed in his car in a targeted Israeli air strike on Wednesday that also killed his cameraman, Rami al-Rifi, and a boy passing by on a bicycle, Khalid Shawa. The Israeli military described Ismail al-Ghoul as a “Hamas military wing operative", accusations Al Jazeera strongly rejected as “baseless”.

Yolande Knell, Middle East correspondent

As Friday prayers in Gaza were dedicated to the late Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in the Iranian capital Tehran, some Palestinians said they were also thinking about those who had been killed closer to home.

‌

“I am truly heartbroken about Ismail [al-Ghoul],” commented Maha Sarsak, who has been displaced from Shujaiyeh to the centre of the strip. “I was keeping up on the news in the north through him on social media. We didn’t always have a TV, but we could hear his voice on the radio.”

Read the story

Haniyeh's funeral: Hamas's political chief has been buried in a Muslim ceremony in Qatar.

Drone strike: An Australian government review has found that "serious failures" by the Israeli military led to an attack on a humanitarian convoy that killed seven aid workers in Gaza in April.

Continuing the lineage: Increasing numbers of bereaved parents in Israel are asking for sperm from the bodies of their sons - many of them soldiers - to be extracted and frozen.

A man in a black-and-red wetsuit balances on a surfboard, while in the background a female surfer in a dark wetsuit is visible

FOR YOUR DOWNTIME

'Cold Hawaii'

An old-school fishing town in Denmark is attracting surfers from around the globe.

Here's why

And finally... in Kenya

There's an impending "cat-astrophe" in Nairobi, at least according to some pet owners. Authorities in the Kenyan capital want cat owners to shell out 200 Kenyan shillings ($1.50; £1.20) for an annual licence - dubbed a "cat tax" by opponents, among other requirements. Basillioh Rukanga's report has the details - and plenty of bad puns.

Medal Moments

Your daily newsletter guide to the Paris Olympics, from global highlights to heroic stories, throughout the Games.

Subscribe here

MORE BBC NEWSLETTERS

The Essential List: The week's best stories, handpicked by BBC editors, in your inbox twice a week. Subscribe.

In History: The past comes to life through the BBC's unique audio, video and written archive, each Thursday. Subscribe.

US Election Unspun: Cut through the noise in the race for the White House, every Wednesday. Subscribe.

Thanks, as ever, for reading. Send us what you think of this newsletter. We read everything, even when we don’t have the time to reply. And feel free to send it to your friends and family, who can subscribe by clicking this link.

Also, you can add newsbriefing@email.bbc.com to your contacts list and, if you're on Gmail, pop the email into your “Primary” tab for uninterrupted service. Thanks for reading!

‌

– Sofia

You've received this email because you've signed up to the BBC News Briefing newsletter.

Click here to unsubscribe

To find out how we use your data, see the BBC Privacy Policy.

BBC Studios Distribution Limited.

Registered Number: 01420028 England

Registered office: 1 Television Centre, 101 Wood Lane, London, W12 7FA, United Kingdom