Chris Barrow

While pupils in Western countries return to school after the Christmas break, in Gaza many children are going back to school for the first time in more than two years. Most of the strip's 658,000 school-aged children have had no formal education since the outbreak of war with Israel in October 2023.

According to the UN Children's Agency UNICEF, over 97% of schools have been damaged or destroyed. But after a so-called ceasefire was announced, and despite hunger, shortages and displacement, many Palestinian families are choosing education first. Shaima Khalil has been following their stories.

Lähtökohtaisesti, heillä on pieniä armeita, jotka kytkevät toisistaan. Puput ovat vahvistuneita, kun he käyvät Gaza-yhteisöön. Kaksi vuotta sitten, Gaza oli enemmän ymmärrettyä lapsista, jotka kytkevät. Nyt, koulujen kohdalla, jossa on paljon puput, on takaisin. Tämä yhdistysyhteisö on vanhassa, israelilaisissa tukissa. Yhden kuukauden päivän jälkeen se antaa jotain pahaa.

Israeli security official referred us to the prime minister's office, who did not respond to our questions. Despite the ceasefire, Israel's bombardment of Gaza continues with almost daily strikes, in response to what it says are Hamas violations of the deal. But still, these children keep coming to class.

Kholud Habib is a teacher at the school in Gaza City. She explains why being here is paramount to the lives of Gazans. Education. There is no debate that it is the foundation of our lives as Palestinians. It is our capital in this life. We lose homes, we lose money, we lose everything, but knowledge is what we invest in our children.

A report by Shaima Khalil. Aldrich Ames was the worst traitor in the history of the CIA. He was jailed for life in 1994 for giving the Soviet Union the names of at least ten Soviet agents who were working with American intelligence during the Cold War, which led to them being executed for treason. It was a hugely damaging breach of security, not least because Ames was head of the CIA's Soviet counterintelligence branch.

The US government banned the press from talking to him, but prison staff didn't get the message. So they allowed the Washington Post reporter Pete Early to interview him. And he's been speaking to my colleague James Menendez. Like all these spies, he wanted to tell his story because it gave him a chance to rationalize and justify and talk about how it's just a game and it's just a matter of us catching them and them catching us. He minimized that completely.

How did he rationalize sending so many agents to their deaths? His attitude was, look, I betrayed my country. The US was going to try to catch me. And if they caught me, I'd be in prison the rest of my life. And the same was true about the Soviets who had volunteered to help us. And so in his eyes, it was either them or us.

He claimed that he picked out three people who the Russians had tried to send us that he knew weren't real spies. He gave those names to them. Then it dawned on him that once he had gotten paid by the KGB, our spies over there would see his name, recognize that he was in the CIA and a traitor,

ja siirrytään häneen. Sitten hän meni yhtäkkiä ja antoi russilaisille nimiä kaikkien yhdysvaltojen, jotka olivat työskennellä meille. Hän lopetti meidät ylös Moskoon melko pitkän ajan. Hän oli vastuullinen noin 10 henkilöä, jotka olivat valmistuneet. Hän rauhoittaisi noin 20 enemmän, jotka olivat ympäristössä. Hän eläi moraalisessa rauhallisessa. Se oli kaikenlaista.

He had a fellow who was a good close friend of his. He had recruited as a matter of fact. And he turned that guy over to the KGB. They didn't execute him. He escaped the country. He got to Canada. He called Ames. And they were good friends. And told Ames, you know, he wanted to get back in the United States. And what did Ames do? He called the KGB and told them, hey, this is where he is in Canada. Was it just for the money? Was that his motivation, do you think?

Kyllä, hän lähti ensimmäisenä vanhempansa kanssa ja oli todella rakastunut Rosarioista, tämän vahvan latinoista Kolumbiasta. Hän tarvitsi 50 000 dollaria, jotta hän voisi pysyä lopuksi ja rakastaa Rosarioa. Hän sanoi, että totuus on se, että hän teki sitä rakastusta ja myös rauhallisuutta. Hän tuli maailmanlaajuisempaan mysteeriin, johon voin vaikuttaa historiassa ja niin edelleen. Hän halusi olla joku, ja hän ei voinut uskoa, että joku saa häntä.

Mikä tuli hänelle loppuun? Oli se vain hänen kohdallisuutensa?

Yes, it was the levels of spending and good detective work. And also, he covered his tracks well. Pete Early, the author of Confessions of a Spy, the real story of Aldrich Ames. Professional tennis tournaments, including Grand Slams like Wimbledon, have wildcard entries, which are spaces in the draw usually reserved for players like local stars or perhaps big names that have fallen out of the rankings. They certainly bring in big crowds, but they haven't managed to qualify through the normal route.

One, however, has turned out to be wilder than most. She's a 21-year-old Egyptian called Hajar Abdul-Qadar, whose first round match at an International Tennis Federation event in Nairobi is quite something to behold, especially because the prize money for the tournament is $30,000.

Footage on the ITF website shows her struggling to hit the ball. Her German opponent, ranked 1026th in the world, dropped only three points in her six-love, six-love win, and unbelievably two of them were double faults. So just how bad was it? James Kamarasami put that question to Tamara Prenn, a sports writer with the British Daily Mail newspaper.

And that's all from us for now. There'll be a new edition of the Global News Podcast later on. If you'd like to comment on this podcast and the topics we're covering, do send us an email. Our address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. This edition was mixed by Nick Randall. The producers were Paul Day and Nikki Verrico. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Chris Barrow, and until next time, thanks for listening. Goodbye.

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Chris Barrow, and at 14 GMT on Tuesday 17th December, these are our main stories. A Russian general sanctioned for using banned chemical weapons in Ukraine has been killed in a bomb blast. Kiev said they carried it out. We have the latest.

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Chris Barrow, and at 14 GMT on Tuesday 17th December, these are our main stories. A Russian general sanctioned for using banned chemical weapons in Ukraine has been killed in a bomb blast. Kiev said they carried it out. We have the latest.

A powerful earthquake flattens buildings and cuts communications on the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu. And the pop star Adele has been accused of copying a Brazilian composer. Also in the podcast... Christian worship continues in Syria but how are people feeling after a tumultuous week in the Middle East?