BBC News Briefing

14 February, 2025

Sofia has long brown hair and brown eyes. She is wearing a green top and is angled away from the camera slightly

Sofia Lotto Persio

Hello. US Vice-President JD Vance's speech at the Munich Security Conference took aim at European democracies. Frank Gardner reports on the reactions from the room. In Hollywood, residents who lost their homes in last month's wildfires tell Regan Morris how the entertainment industry can help in rebuilding efforts. Also, BBC Korean's Yuna Ku profiles the first K-pop boy band to feature North Korean defectors. And finally, the man who survived being swallowed by a whale opens up about the ordeal.

TOP OF THE AGENDA

European leaders react to Vance's speech

JD Vance wears a suit and tie while standing on the blue and white podium of the Munich Security Conference, addressing the audience seated in front of it.

Vance said he feared there'd been a retreat of "fundamental values" - such as free speech - in Europe and the UK. Credit: Reuters

US Vice-President JD Vance was expected to speak about the Trump administration's plans for Ukraine. Most of his speech at the Munich Security Conference was instead dedicated to scolding European allies over democratic values. His words were poorly received in the room. A joke comparing Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg to billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk was met with absolute dead silence, writes security correspondent Frank Gardner. Afterwards, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said: "Comparing conditions in parts of Europe with those in authoritarian regions... that is not acceptable."

Vance's speech summary

GET UP TO SPEED

A composite image of three men. The men on the left and on the right both have a beard and brown hair. The man in the middle is bald.

Hamas releases names of hostages due for release

Three hostages are due to be freed on Saturday in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israel.

Here's what we know >

A white, damaged mini cooper is lifted onto a yellow truck. A group of people, several of who, are wearing high-vis jackets, stand around the truck.

Jihadist motivation in Munich attack

Prosecutors say an Afghan man has admitted to carrying out a car attack in the German city in which 36 people were hurt.

Read more >

A view of the exterior of Vnukovo International Airport. The front of the building is made of glass and steel and the rooftop features a structure that curves downwards.

US man held in Moscow, Russian state media say

The man was reportedly detained last week after airport security discovered cannabis-laced sweets in his luggage.

Find out more >

A young woman is wearing a beaded necklace, denim overalls and a fanny pack seats at a stall selling various merchandise, including a tshirt bearing the name and effigy of Pablo Escobar.

Colombia considers ban on Pablo Escobar merch

A proposed law seeks to ban the sale of memorabilia celebrating the former drug lord and other convicted criminals.

Get the details >

AT THE SCENE

Los Angeles, US

Restoring Hollywood to former glory

A man with grey hair and beard wearing a blue sweater and grey jeans observes the fire-ravaged rubble that used to be his home among the hills of Topanga Canyon

Matthew Ferraro says that after the fires, restoring Hollywood to its heyday is "wishful thinking". Credit: BBC

Hollywood's studios and streaming services have donated more than $70m (£56m) to relief efforts following the wildfires in Los Angeles last month. Many say this is not enough. Nearly 20,000 people have signed a "Stay in LA" petition urging the temporary removal of caps on tax incentives for LA County to boost local productions.

Regan Morris, BBC News

Film editor Mindy Smith, the co-founder of Stay in LA, likens the decline of Hollywood productions to the fall of Detroit, whose once formidable automotive industry collapsed, leaving much of the city desolate and impoverished. "Once you ruin that infrastructure and that legacy, it's not so easy to build it back again," she says. "If we let Hollywood die, it could be for good."

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Others think it's naïve to suggest that any incentives will usher in a new Golden Age of Hollywood. Pointing out the melted remains of what used to be his piano and his drum set in the music studio of his incinerated Topanga Canyon home, composer Matthew Ferraro wipes away tears for what he and his wife have lost.

Read in full

Watch: Large debris and mud flow has pushed a Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) vehicle into the Pacific Ocean in Malibu.

PICK OF THE WEEK

North Korean defector turned K-pop star

Yu Hyuk has black hair and black eyes. He wears a small earring in the shape of a cross in his left ear lobe and a pearl necklace. He is wearing a white shirt and he looks sweaty as if he is in the middle of a dance rehearsal.

Hyuk escaped from North Korea in 2013 to join his mother in the South. Credit: Jungmin Choi/BBC Korean

Yu Hyuk was just nine years old when he started begging on the streets of North Hamgyong, one of the poorest provinces in North Korea. His life was so consumed with survival that it left little room for dreams. But dream he did. Later on this year, the 25-year-old will debut in the US as a member of the first K-pop boy band to feature North Korean defectors.

Meet 1Verse

Actress Renée Zellweger in a scene from the Bridget Jones film. She is sat on a settee with her legs underneath her. She has her blond hair tied up and is wearing stripey pyjamas with a dark cardigan on top. She is smiling at the camera and writing in a large red book.

SOMETHING DIFFERENT

The Bridget Jones debate

For some, she is a "misogynist role model" - for others, the "voice of a generation".

Read now

And finally... in Chile

Earlier on Friday we shared a video capturing the moment a kayaker was briefly swallowed by a whale. Adrián Simancas has now talked about his ordeal to my BBC Mundo colleagues. "I closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, I realised I was inside the whale's mouth," he said. Read the interview here.

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– Sofia

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