Celia Hatton

It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories. I'm Helena Merriman, and in a new BBC series I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story. What did they miss the first time? The History Bureau, Putin and the apartment bombs. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Available now on the documentary from the BBC World Service.

This is the Global News Podcast. To the US now. Ghislaine Maxwell is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for her role in Jeffrey Epstein's illicit world, including the sex trafficking of underage girls. She's reportedly indicated that she would be willing to testify before a US congressional committee about her knowledge of Epstein's activities. Our US correspondent Peter Bowes told me why the committee would want to hear from Ms. Maxwell.

Ghislaine Maxwell on brittinen vanha sosiaalisti, joka on usein tunnettu hänen yhteistyönsä Jeffrey Epsteinin kanssa. Hän oli syntynyt juuri neljä vuotta aiemmin syrjinnässä, jossa oli syrjinnä, jossa oli syrjinnä, jossa oli syrjinnä, jossa oli syrjinnä.

The committee wants to hear from her in the hope that she will shed light on the scope of what Epstein did, perhaps identify others who may have been complicit or aware of his crimes, and perhaps shed light on how he managed to evade scrutiny for such a long period of time. So it seems, though, that she's listed a string of demands attached to her appearance, her testimony. Are they public knowledge?

Kyllä, he ovat. Hänen järjestelmän hän on aiemmin sanonut, että hän ei saa vastata kysymyksiin hänen järjestelmäänsä, jos hän ei saa järjestelmäänsä. Jäljellä komitea ei saa vastata kysymyksiin hänen järjestelmäänsä, jos hän ei saa vastata kysymyksiin hänen järjestelmäänsä.

Other demands reportedly are that she gets access to the committee's questions in advance. Also a suggestion reported that her demands could include a change of location for the deposition. And she has reportedly offered full cooperation in exchange for clemency or a pardon from President Trump. And how likely is that? Could President Trump pardon her? Would that be even politically possible for him?

Well, technically possible, but whether politically plausible or politically prudent on the part of President Trump, that is open to a big question. Her only route to leave prison early would be a presidential pardon unless she is able to persuade a judge to amend her sentence. The White House has denied that Donald Trump is considering granting her clemency. However, Mr. Trump himself has said that he has not ruled it out.

And just briefly, Peter, what's the latest about the former president Bill Clinton and the former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and their appearance in front of the committee?

He have offered to cooperate with this committee but have refused to testify in person. Of course it's well known that Bill Clinton flew on Epstein's plane several times, has said that he knew nothing about his criminal activity. The Clintons have said that they believe that the committee's investigation is a partisan exercise aimed at protecting President Trump. For its part, the committee, which is Republican-led, has recommended contempt proceedings against Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Seuraava stage on täysin hallituksen puolustajat, myös suurimmat republikanit, jotka nyt päättävät, onko Clintonin puolustusjohtajana mahdollista kriminaaliprosekuutiota.

Our US correspondent Peter Bowes. To Ireland, where Michael O'Leary, the chief executive of the low-cost European airline Ryanair, has described his recent spat with the billionaire Elon Musk as great for bookings. He's even offered the US tycoon a free ticket to thank him for what he said was a wonderful publicity boost. More from our business correspondent Theo Leggett.

Theo Leggett. Well, staying with planes, if you've ever watched Leonardo DiCaprio's 2002 film Catch Me If You Can, based on the true life tale of the prolific con artist Frank Abagnale Jr., this next story might sound familiar to you. A Canadian man has been accused of posing as a pilot to get hundreds of free flights. Our reporter Anna Aslam told us more.

Anna Haslam. And some incredible news that could tell us about the birth of human creativity. Researchers say they found the world's oldest known cave painting. And it's on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. The artwork is a red outline of a hand that's been changed to resemble a claw.

Researcher say it dates back at least 67,800 years, so up to 1,100 years older than paintings in Spain that, until now, were the earliest ones on record. Jill Cook is from the British Museum, and she's a specialist in Ice Age art and human evolution.

It's a terrific discovery made by the Griffiths University from Brisbane in Australia, who have been pursuing research on Sulawesi for a little while. A few years ago now they made a wonderful discovery of an animal drawn on a cave wall.

as well as hand stencils. And now working on a different part of the island, they've made some more discoveries with scientific dating, taken the date of those discoveries back even further. So what does this mean? I mean, had the presumption been that art started in Europe and all those who sort of said, well, you know, this is the origin story, the home of art is Europe. I mean, that's all been blown out of the water, right?

Well, yeah. I mean, when you've got no evidence from anywhere else, that's how it looked. And because most of the work was going on in Europe, which is where the museums and universities were, that was how it looked. And then a few years ago, we had huge discoveries in Southern Africa, not of cave art, but of symbolic thought in painting and drawing on small objects and jewellery, so decorative arts.

And now the Australian universities have got involved. The global south is coming into the picture. People like me who don't know much about this may have thought that sort of the development of art was kind of done in a linear fashion. But this suggests something else that the need to create art and human beings ability to use their imagination can sort of spring up anywhere.

Kyllä, se on täysin totta. Meillä on sellainen tunne, että tämä on evoluutio. Tietysti taiteen ei ole biologinen organismi, se ei kehity. Yllättävän asia taiteen kanssa on se, että kun se näyttää, se on aina niin täysin luotettava. Se ei menetä kohdallaan sellaista kehityksen tasoa, jota näet esimerkiksi, kun lapsi oppii tekemään. Se näyttää aina täysin luotettavan.

It does so because it comes when people need it. What art does for us is part of our way of communicating and symbolizing our world. It may be about anxieties. It may be about joy and happiness. It may be about what we believe. It can be about so many things, but we do it when we need it. Jill Cook speaking to James Menendez.