Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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I'm Krasivanova Twig from the Global Jigsaw podcast from the BBC, where we are talking Persian poetry in politics. With its abundance of lovers and wine, Persian poetry sits uneasily with Iran's theocratic rulers. Yet occasionally, even they turn to verse. We ask why. The Global Jigsaw looks at the world through the lens of its media. Find us wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Celia Hatton, and at 16 hours GMT on Monday, the 22nd of December, these are our main stories. A top Russian general is killed in an explosion in Moscow. Cambodia and Thailand head back to the negotiating table, months after signing a failed peace deal alongside Donald Trump.
And nearly 600 people are arrested across Africa in a cybercrime investigation. Also in this podcast... Videos posted online show Ukrainian soldiers, battle-hardened men in well-worn uniforms, tearing into presents and beaming with joy. Bringing some Christmas cheer to the front lines in Ukraine. And the residents of a small Indonesian island seek justice for climate change.
We're starting in the Russian capital. Officials in Moscow say a Russian general has been killed in a car bomb explosion. These people live nearby.
I woke up and panicked. I saw policemen, firefighters and ambulances arriving. I thought somebody needed help, so I went outside and asked the neighbours if they needed any assistance. It was frightening. At first, I thought a Shahid or some other Ukrainian drone had been shot down. I started reading the news, but there was no information about the incident.
So I only learned about it this morning.
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Chapter 2: What happened in Moscow involving a Russian general?
They said they don't have to listen to anyone. As you heard, the Thai foreign minister, Siasak, has just effectively reprimanded the Americans in his very polite diplomatic ways, a very diplomatic man, for rushing Thailand. the big announcement they made in Kuala Lumpur. We all knew when we covered that it was being done for show for President Trump that the Thais were very unhappy with it.
And in effect, what the foreign minister is saying is we will do it in our own time. But there will be this meeting between the commanders, the military commanders on both sides. under what's called the General Border Commission. This is an already established bilateral process where they can sit down actually on the border and start working out their differences.
And I think that will be the point at which Thailand will start to scale down. The Thai military has gained small amounts of territory, but given itself significant advantages up on the sort of mountainous northern border of Cambodia. It's pushed Cambodian forces back. It's inflicted really quite a lot of damage on Cambodian infrastructure there.
If the Thai intention was, and we've kind of heard that sentiment from some of its military commanders to teach Cambodia a lesson for its view for failing to observe the previous ceasefire, I think they probably figure they've reached that stage. But this, you know, this is pretty profound stuff for ASEAN.
I mean, in 58 years of history, ASEAN member states have never fought each other like this before. The whole organization is built on the premise that that you manage your differences peacefully, and they've done it for 58 years. So the Thais, in particular, with this rather aggressive approach in this round of fighting, have really gone against that ASEAN spirit. Jonathan Head.
Cybercrime, in which criminals target individuals or companies, is a growing problem across Africa. Often it's done by sending malicious links in emails or text messages. Now, a huge police operation, codenamed Operation Sentinel, across several African countries has led to nearly 600 arrests and the recovery of millions of dollars.
Our correspondent in Johannesburg, Mayeni Jones, told us more about it.
It was coordinated by Interpol, which is the international policing organization. And it involves 19 African countries that range from kind of South Africa, which is the continent's most industrial countries, to less developed countries like South Sudan, the DRC, Republic of the Congo. And basically, they focus on three main areas.
So one of them is what they call business email compromise, when somebody kind of impersonates a senior person at a company and tries to get employees at that company to wire money or share sensitive information.
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Chapter 3: How is Ukraine being implicated in the Russian general's death?
In court, what Hort seems to be arguing, firstly, it says it doesn't think this is a matter for the courts, that it's really up to politicians to legislate on this issue. which many other companies have argued as well. But in court, it's been saying if it were forced to cut emissions, then other companies would just come in, fill that market gap and overall emissions wouldn't go down.
And that actually its emissions are a small drop in the ocean. We know that other courts have roundly rejected that in several cases and said, actually, even the smallest contributor is part of the bigger problem and you can't just brush that away.
How they'll deal with companies' broader commitments is yet to be seen. I know those subject to the predations of climate change say it's urgent, but from what I understand, it took three years even for the court in Switzerland to decide that it was going to take on this case. So presumably there's unlikely to be any rapid conclusion to it.
That's absolutely true.
These cases are slow. They're not a substitute for policy and change on the ground, but they can help to draw attention to the problem. And perhaps one day they can help people who need the compensation for real tangible changes which are being made to their lives in negative ways. Environment and climate change journalist Isabella Kaminsky.
Still to come in this podcast... I've just been thinking and I've come to a very important decision. These are the wrong sort of bees. A very special bear, Winnie the Pooh, turns 100. I'm Krasivanova Twig from the Global Jigsaw podcast from the BBC, where we are talking Persian poetry in politics. With its abundance of lovers and wine, Persian poetry sits uneasily with Iran's theocratic rulers.
Yet occasionally, even they turn to verse. We ask why. The Global Jigsaw looks at the world through the lens of its media. Find us wherever you get your BBC podcasts. So this Christmas, give your ears a treat with Dead Funny History. You can find it in the You're Dead To Me feed on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts.
A scam exploiting vulnerable families with sick children. I would have done anything to get the medicine for Khalil. The child is directed on camera to plead for help.
I want to be a normal kid. I want to go to school.
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Chapter 4: What recent developments occurred in the Thailand-Cambodia conflict?
Are they? Quite the wrong sort. So I think I shall come down. How? asked Christopher Robin. Winnie the Pooh hadn't thought about this. If he let go of the string, he would fall, bump, and he didn't like the idea of that. Children's author Frank Cottrell-Boyce and the writer James Campbell have been speaking to Nick Robinson about how the first story came to be published.
It was essentially a teaser after the huge success of the first Winnie the Pooh book when we were very young in 1924. They'd hoped to bring out the Winnie the Pooh book in 1925, but there were various delays. Evening News, which was then London's largest circulation paper, offered to print a story. Winnie the Pooh and the Bees, as Alan Bennett was beautifully reading, was the story chosen.
And it made a really big splash. It was right across the evening news on Christmas Eve. So in two days' time, Christmas Eve, 1925. And then repeated the following day, the BBC, then of course the British Broadcasting Company, an independent company as it was in those days, broadcast the story to all of its listeners on the home service on Christmas Day afternoon. So it was a really big splash.
It was equivalent to perhaps one of the Harry Potter launches today. And it really set the scene. And of course, it was the first story where the name Winnie the Pooh appears. Although the bear had appeared in When We Were Very Young under the name of Teddy Bear, this is the first name.
And we have loved the bear, but all the other characters ever since, Frank.
I mean, Winnie the Pooh is one of those things like you've already mentioned, Harry Potter, where you could be a Gryffindor or a... Ravenclaw or whatever. And I think the same with little women. People decide whether they're Meg or they're Jo or the Beatles. You decide whether you're John or you're Paul. It offers this sort of range of options. Are you a miserable Eeyore?
Are you a too bouncy Tigger? Or are you a... Pooh is more complicated than all of them, but Pooh is easy to identify with. He's called the bear with very little brain, but he's often solving problems. He's actually quite clever. What's fascinating, James Campbell, is that it crosses cultures, doesn't it?
When you first read it, it's very, very English, but it isn't in its appeal, is it?
Absolutely not. And interestingly, I'm talking to you today from Australia and I've been in Singapore a few weeks ago and I was absolutely fascinated by how much Winnie the Pooh material is on display, is up for sale. Here in Australia, sales of Winnie the Pooh books are 60% up on last year. HarperCollins' new Centenary editions are walking off the shelves like hot lamingtons.
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