Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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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. Hi, I'm Ankur Desai, and on Monday 29th December, these are our main stories.
The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, says the United States has offered security guarantees against Russia lasting 15 years, but he would like them to last a lot longer. Elsewhere, Taiwan has put its forces on high alert after China began a live-fire rehearsal of a blockade of the island. And after these protests in India last week...
India's Supreme Court stops the suspension of the life sentence given to a former regional BJP legislator for raping a 17-year-old girl. Also coming up in this podcast, we hear from the man who disarmed a gunman on Bondi Beach in Sydney after 15 people died when two men opened fire at a Hanukkah gathering at the famous beach location in mid-December.
And football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is still enjoying playing, he says, and he won't stop until he's scored 1,000 career goals. We begin with our top story and the ongoing efforts to find a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. The US says an agreement is getting a lot closer. Moscow says negotiations are at a final stage.
And Ukraine's President Zelensky described recent meetings with Donald Trump as great. So a lot of optimism then, but it doesn't seem to have reached the streets of Kiev just yet. That's according to these Ukrainians. Unfortunately, the talks won't have an effect. They're good for the people to understand what's going on, but I don't think the war will end soon.
And yet we have to wait for the deal to be reached. Even after a deal, Russia could attack Ukraine.
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Chapter 2: What security guarantees did the US offer Ukraine?
The war games have come after the largest ever US arms sales to Taiwan. In a press conference, Taiwan's defence ministry described the war games as unacceptable, saying it had detected 89 Chinese military aircraft and 28 vessels near the island. I spoke to our China correspondent Stephen McDonald for more details. So what we have are these huge war games going on.
And in the same way that they have in years gone by, it's all around Taiwan. So we've got these five zones. We know there's five zones because maps have been released. And what they're doing is practicing blockading Taiwan. So I guess it's a practice of a precursor to an attack. But then also, at some point, it would enable an invasion of Taiwan.
Chapter 3: How is Taiwan responding to China's military exercises?
So this is also practicing for that attack. Now, Taiwan has already been tense. This comes two weeks after the US had its biggest ever arms sale to Taiwan. And before that, the Japanese prime minister said that she couldn't rule out Japanese involvement. if the People's Liberation Army tried to take Taiwan by force.
Now, this was an answer to a hypothetical question, but nevertheless, it upset Beijing. And so now it's kind of trying to, I guess, show its authority again by flexing its muscles in such a significant way with the Air Force, with the Navy, with the rocket force. I suppose what the view is, is that it would deter others from getting involved.
What about the impact then on Taiwan and the Taiwanese response? You know, it's funny, in Taiwan, these drills for the average people there seem to be a bit like sort of water off a duck's back. They're used to it now and you might expect that it might drive them nuts.
I mean, for example, the government in Taiwan has said that this is going to affect commercial aviation, that it's not safe for commercial aviation.
Chapter 4: What recent developments occurred in India's Supreme Court regarding a high-profile rape case?
Over the next two days, it might disrupt flights. And you've got this propaganda from the People's Liberation Army, for example. They've released these images in conjunction with the drills, with these shields which have got the Great Wall of China on them, with the message that anyone who confronts this shield, i.e. the People's Liberation Army, will be annihilated. So blood-curdling threats.
And yet, I mean, after years and years of this, of a combination of threats and statements from the Chinese government... Most people in Taiwan, according to opinion polls, according to the election results we've seen, they don't want to unify with mainland China. They would prefer to have their independent judiciary, their free courts, their democratic elections.
And so despite all the bluster from Beijing, it doesn't seem like it's had any impact in terms of convincing the vast majority of people in there that their lives would be better if they were to unify with mainland China. What can we expect next in terms of either a retaliation or a response from either side, really?
Well, we've had the government in Taipei straight away criticising these drills, saying that they're potentially in breach of international law because of the disruptions to commercial aviation. In China, I think, again, for ordinary people, they're kind of used to these drills. Now we've seen them. And although they're getting bigger, it's kind of the same.
And then in a couple of days time, when the shooting's over, things will go back to normal in inverted commas. And yet it is increasing the pressure, though. As I said earlier, there has been a lot of tension around the Taiwan issue. And no doubt having big war games like this, it'll only increase that pressure. Our China correspondent Stephen McDonald.
Now to India, where a decision by the High Court in Delhi last week to suspend a life sentence given to a former regional BJP legislator for rape was met with big protests. Kuldeep Sengar was sentenced to life in 2019 after being found guilty of luring the 17-year-old girl to his home and then attacking her. Demonstrators outside Delhi's High Court voiced their anger over the turnaround.
Well, now the Supreme Court has stepped in to halt the suspension of the man's sentence. Our South Asia specialist Ambarasan Ethirajan told me more about the case.
This was one of the high-profile rape cases in India at that time, between 2017 and 2019, when the details started emerging. So this former legislator, an MLA from Uttar Pradesh state, from the governing BJP party, and he was convicted of raping a 17-year-old girl. And later on, her family also went through very difficult times.
Her father was beaten by a group of men after she filed this complaint. And then he died in custody while he was being held by police on a trumped-up charge. And later on, she also met with a road accident in which two of her aunts got killed. So this triggered outrage across the country how someone influential can behave this way.
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Chapter 5: What are the unresolved issues in the Ukraine-Russia peace talks?
Available now wherever you listen to 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. They were going to upload it to social media. Millions of dollars pour in, but the families never receive the money. He told us it wasn't successful. As I understood it, the video just didn't make any money.
They used to raise funds for their own benefit.
World of Secrets, the child cancer scam from the BBC World Service. Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts. More than a year has passed since the ousting of Syria's longtime dictator, Bashar al-Assad.
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Chapter 6: What was the outcome of the meeting between Zelensky and Trump?
But huge challenges remain for a country that has been shattered by almost 14 years of war. During the conflict, about 6 million Syrians fled the country. More than half a million have now returned home from neighboring Turkey. It took in more than anyone else, with the number of Syrians rising to 3.5 million at its peak, causing political tension and, on occasion, xenophobic attacks.
Syrians in Turkey have temporary protection, not refugee status, but President Erdogan has insisted no Syrian will ever be forced to leave. The decision to return home or not is a complicated one, as our senior international correspondent Ola Geren reports from the Turkish border city of Gaziantep. It's a cold, grey morning. We're at the border, at a crossing into Syria.
I can see the hills of Syria just in front of me through the gates. The people going through this border gate are going home to visit. They have Turkish nationality, so they can come and go. Can I ask you to tell me your name and how long you've been here in Turkey?
My name is Mahmoud Sattouf and my wife is Suad Halal. We are living in Turkey for about 14 years. And we were very happy in Turkey because they are very good people.
Do you think you will go back to live in Syria?
We are going to return to our country because we love our country. It is our country in general. We say in English, east, west, home is best.
I'm standing by a stone wall in the shadow of an ancient castle which watches over Gaziantep. I've come here to meet a 32-year-old Syrian woman, Aya Mustafa. She fled here with her family from the Syrian city of Aleppo when she was just 18 years old.
Every hour, every day, we spoke about this point. We're talking about how we can return to Syria. But it's still a big decision. For me, for example, I have my grandmother with me. I have one, my disabled sister. And we are a big family. Almost we are 10 members in the same house. At least we need the basic needs, as electricity, water. work to have our income.
Do you think a day will come when you can go back?
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