Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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I'm Alex Ritson and in the early hours of Wednesday the 24th of December, these are our main stories. New laws on gun ownership in Australia's New South Wales after the deadly Bondi Beach attacks. We're not going to be done until we've done everything possible to keep the people of this state safe and we're prepared to take action and steps to keep the community safe.
Pressure on the UK government grows as hunger strikers from the banned group Palestine Action continue their protest.
Our loved ones are deteriorating in their health and it is vital that the government responds. They have chosen to ignore us and continue to decline any meeting with us.
In Bethlehem, Palestinians celebrate Christmas for the first time since the beginning of the war in Gaza. Also in this podcast, the Italian theatre company transforming the lives of people with mental disabilities.
Very often we are forced to be not ourselves. Maybe you are a bit weird, you show your fragilities. It's the best thing.
Ten days after the Bondi Beach Hanukkah attack in New South Wales, the Australian state has passed new laws on gun ownership and protests. Among the measures are limiting the number of guns anyone can own to four, though for farmers it's ten. Officials are claiming that the new laws are the toughest of their kind in Australia.
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Chapter 2: What new gun control laws were passed in New South Wales after the Bondi attacks?
I oppose genocide.'' Kamran Ahmed is one of the hunger strikers. His sister Shamina Alam sent the BBC this voice note about his condition.
Cameron is on day 44 of his hunger strike. Since the start of his hunger strike, he has been hospitalised four times, with the last two hospitalisations occurring in the last three days. His health has deteriorated to the point that the prison have moved him closer down to cells which are near the nurses' station to ensure he's able to have his vitals managed.
and respond to any emergency situations that can occur now as he is past day 30 of his hunger strike. Being past this point means that there can be sudden changes to the health as the body starts to eat away at the organs as it tries to sustain itself. Our loved ones are deteriorating in their health and it is vital that the government responds.
They have chosen to ignore us and continue to decline any meeting with us. This could be resolved very quickly and ensure the health and well-being of all of our loved ones. They are not asking for any exceptional treatment. They are asking for their basic rights as British citizens in this country.
Lawyers representing Palestine Action have called on the British government to meet them and hear their concerns about their treatment in custody. But so far, no meeting has taken place.
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Chapter 3: How are Palestine Action hunger strikers impacting the UK government?
So just how dangerous are hunger strikes? Dr Mike Strood is a professor of medicine and nutrition and a specialist on treating prisoners who are refusing food. My colleague Evan Davis asked him how long the human body can survive not eating. As long as you're getting liquids, you can withstand usually a minimum of 40 days. You might die then if you have started off very thin.
Perhaps more usually it's 50 to 60 days and occasionally longer if you started off overweight, although being overweight doesn't protect you quite as much as you might think. And what is happening in those, let's say, 40, 50, 60 days as the body adapts to having no nutritional intake? The body struggles to survive by shutting systems down.
And it starts doing that within three or four days, actually, but only at a slow rate and sort of choosing things that aren't essential. But all systems are affected. So your liver will stop processing things properly. Your kidneys will begin to fail slowly. Your heart will weaken. Your immune system weakens so that you become increasingly vulnerable to getting infections.
And we kind of all carry infections around with us all the time so that they can get you in the end. And your brain begins to shut down, too. And you progress towards becoming immune. well, you may be delirious or confused or actually lapse into a coma. Yeah, right. But Mike, what do they do in prisons?
Because they have, I mean, we've got these well-publicized hunger strikes underwear at the moment, but there are quite a number of hunger strikes in any year. What's the general approach? Are they force-feeding people? Are people put onto drips? Are those nutritional drips or just liquid drips? What's the normal practice?
Well,
You first establish that the striker understands what they are doing and you want them to know that they are putting their lives at risk. And assuming that they are competent, which most certainly will be at the outset of hunger strike, you can't actually overrule their desire and put up a drip or force feed them with a tube put into their stomach.
because that would be considered assault against their human right. Now, some might accept some measure of a drip or force feeding, but in general, if they're serious about their cause and their strike, they're not going to accept that, and there's very little you can do. Dr Mike Strood speaking to Evan Davis.
Bethlehem is marking Christmas for the first time since the beginning of the war in Gaza.
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Chapter 4: What happened to General Muhammad Ali Ahmad al-Haddad in Turkey?
Public celebrations had been cancelled for two years, but after a ceasefire was announced on October the 10th, the holy city where Christians believed Jesus was born... decided to bring them back, starting with the lighting of its traditional Christmas tree outside the Church of the Nativity a few weeks ago.
Bethlehem's economy, which is heavily reliant on tourism, has been battered by two years of war. While festivities return in the occupied West Bank, suffering continues in Gaza, including for its tiny Christian community.
According to UN reports citing the Gaza Ministry of Health, more than 400 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip since the October ceasefire came into effect. Shaima Khalil sent us this report from Bethlehem. I've been here in Bethlehem for the past two Christmases, and for those two years, Manger Square felt empty. It felt quiet, almost hollow, to be honest.
Now, it's different. I'm standing near Santa, who's ringing his bell, and there are children gathered around him for toys, and it's so nice to see the smiles on their faces. One of the biggest things that was missing was the city's famous giant Christmas tree, which I'm looking at right now for the first time.
It stands proudly at the center with its golden and red ornaments and the nativity scene at the bottom.
A group of tourists are taking selfies in the courtyard outside the nativity church, ready to go in.
And yet, despite the buzz and the limited presence of pilgrims and visitors, the shadow of the war lingers heavily over the holy city. The city is a different vibe.
It's better. Last year there was nothing, no people, no movement. Now there's more of a festive atmosphere. The city is blossoming a bit, where happy people have started to come back again.
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Chapter 5: How is Egypt restoring a 4,000-year-old ceremonial boat?
When I come here, there is a war and that makes me feel sad about what happened to Palestine. We cannot forget our people in Gaza and we hope to see a different situation for them and this war will, inshallah, end as soon as possible for them. An hour's drive from Manger Square, the sound of drones hover above the Holy Family Church in Gaza.
Outside the church, a man finishes off the wire framing of the Christmas tree, the first in more than two years. Inside, almost 300 people have sought refuge in what was once only their place of worship. Even after the ceasefire, death is always near.
We can hear the sounds of pumping, the sounds of shells. I can see the pumpings are very, very close and near to us.
Hilda Joseph Ayad is a 20-year-old Christian Palestinian sheltering in the church school with her parents and two siblings. She used to be able to go to Bethlehem and describes Christmas before the war.
We used to decorate the tree inside our home, to put a nativity sense under the tree also. What do you miss most about Christmas before the war? My home. To be honest, my home, my memories with my family inside our home. All of us joined the table of the dinner, our meals, the gifts we used to give to each other. Do you miss Bethlehem? For sure, that's right.
We used to go to Bethlehem and celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ there on the church, but now we can't go anywhere. If you have one wish this Christmas or one message for the world, what would that be? We ask them to keep us in their prayers. What do you wish for yourself? There's no personal thing.
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Chapter 6: What unique approach does the Teatro Patologico take with actors?
The only thing we need is the love and peace in Gaza and all the world. That's the only thing we really, really need. Back in Bethlehem, Reverend Jack Sauer, president of the Bible College here, explains why celebrating Christmas is so important.
I think this is more about hope, it's more about resilience, and more about telling we exist, we are here. Christians and Muslims and everyone who lives here wants to declare that we are people who love life.
Every tree light in Gaza was present, whether it is in the prayers or the mentioning. What is your message to Christians around the world? And what is your personal wish this Christmas?
We want peace for our people.
Our people need their dignity. This is my prayer for my people. I want them to live life and life in its abundance.
The refleeting moments of joy here as light fills Bethlehem. A fragile hope resting on a fragile ceasefire. And a Christmas still being shaped by loss and grief. Still to come in this podcast, Egypt starts the process of restoring a boat buried 4,000 years ago near the Great Pyramid of Giza.
In a unique first for the Grand Egyptian Museum, visitors will have a live experience of the ship's assembly.
When we left for the winter holiday, I thought we would go by car first. But then we went by train and dad drove our car there. We were there in the train at night. The sleeping car was really nice, except I wanted to sleep upstairs. But my sister went there when she was older. And in the morning, when I woke up, we were together. Freedom travels on rails. VR. On a joint journey.
A scam exploiting vulnerable families with sick children.
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Chapter 7: How did the Bondi Beach attack influence community safety measures?
The story of a cybercrime case that stretches from small-town America to the back streets of Moscow.
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This is the Global News Podcast. Libya's army chief has been killed after his plane crashed shortly after taking off from the Turkish capital, Ankara. General Mohammad Ali Ahmed Al-Haddad was in Turkey for talks aimed at further strengthening military and security cooperation between the two countries. My colleague Ankur Desai heard from our Middle East analyst, Sebastian Usher.
There was a message, a tweet from the Turkish interior minister saying that radio contact had been lost with this business jet which was carrying the Libyan chief of staff, Mohammed Ali Ahmed al-Haddad and several other officials that had left Ankara. And he said that about 40 minutes after it had left, on the way back to Tripoli, the Libyan capital,
It had requested an emergency landing, but then there was radio silence after that. For some time after that, there wasn't any direct confirmation of what had happened. But then the Turkish interior minister again said that wreckage of the flight had been found about 70 kilometers from Ankara.
And what more do we know in terms of the ties and the relationship between the two countries and possibly the nature of these talks as well?
Well, talks were between the military staff, the other Libyan officials with him. Now, they're representing one part of a political scene which remains fractured in Libya. That's the internationally recognised government in Tripoli. You still have other forces that are very much at play there. And they were discussing closer military cooperation, also the extension of
of Libya's military presence in the country. That had also happened just as these talks were taking place. And really, I think it's all about Turkey in the sense that it has built up a more and more kind of dominant position in Libya. particularly since its intervention in 2019. Back then, there was a major turning point.
Forces from the east had essentially laid siege to Tripoli, and this internationally recognised government was really only in control of perhaps a few streets in Tripoli. It was the military intervention by Turkey which turned the tables on that, and this strongman, Haftar, who had been leading Turkey
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