Zelensky rules out giving up Donbas

Summary

Global News Podcast Summary Episode: Zelensky Rules Out Giving Up Donbas
Release Date: August 13, 2025
Host: Valerie Sanderson | BBC World Service

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1. President Zelensky Firmly Rejects Donbas Territory Concessions

In the opening segment, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine unequivocally rejects any Russian proposals that would compel Ukraine to cede territory or withdraw its troops from the eastern Donbas region. Speaking at a youth forum in Kyiv on [03:20], Zelensky emphasized his commitment to retaining Donbas, highlighting its strategic importance:

“I would not give up the Donbas. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have lost their lives there” – President Zelensky [03:37].

The discussion further elaborates on the upcoming summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska. While Trump hints at potential land swaps beneficial to Russia, Zelensky remains steadfast, believing any agreement without Ukraine's territorial integrity is untenable.

Former U.S. National Security Adviser, Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, cautions Trump against placating Putin, warning of Russia's manipulative tactics:

“President Putin knows exactly how to flatter his US Counterpart to serve his own agenda” – Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster [07:11].

2. United States Targets Haitian Gang Leader with $5 Million Reward

The podcast highlights a significant move by the U.S. government, which has issued charges against Jimmy Barbecue Cherizier, a notorious gang leader controlling most of Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince. The U.S. is offering a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.

US Attorney Janine Pirro states:

“We are coming after you if you give money to Cherizier” – H.R. McMaster [17:22].

Valerie Sanderson provides background on Cherizier, detailing his rise from a former elite policeman to the head of a powerful gang alliance, Vivan Sa, known for forcibly recruiting children and disrupting humanitarian aid.

3. South Korea's Former First Lady Arrested on Corruption Charges

In a landmark case, South Korea's former First Lady, Kim Keon Hee, has been arrested on multiple charges, including stock manipulation, election meddling, and bribery. This marks the first instance of a South Korean presidential spouse being jailed.

Kim is accused of accepting luxury gifts from a shaman associated with the influential Unification Church in exchange for business favors. Her husband, former President Yoon Seok Yeol, was previously impeached and is currently serving time for insurrection charges.

4. UN Report Exposes Systematic Torture in Myanmar

A newly released United Nations report sheds light on widespread and systematic torture of civilians by Myanmar's authorities. The Burmese military junta, which seized power in 2021, has intensified its crackdown on dissent, leading to the detention and torture of thousands.

Imogen Foulkes reports from Geneva:

“This report is really, really shocking, the amount of repression that has been taking place” – Imogen Foulkes [09:31].

The UN team, led by Nicholas Kumjian, has amassed evidence from over 1,300 sources and 600 eyewitnesses, including harrowing videos of executions. Despite government resistance in granting access, the report aims to bring perpetrators to international courts.

5. Europe Suffers Intense Heatwaves and Devastating Wildfires

Europe is grappling with unprecedented heatwaves, leading to record-breaking temperatures and widespread wildfires across the continent. Countries like Portugal, Spain, Italy, Croatia, and France are experiencing severe impacts:

• Spain: Multiple regions hit with temperatures exceeding 44°C, resulting in extensive property damage and loss of life. Firefighters in Tarifa and Madrid are combating ongoing blazes [12:38].

• Italy: An intense heatwave is wreaking havoc, with fires on Mount Vesuvius persisting for days and significant ice melt causing dangerous rockfalls, as explained by climate journalist Marta Fragierio [13:38].

• Croatia: Prolonged fires are disturbing the Adriatic Sea's ecosystem, threatening marine life and altering tourist patterns favored towards cooler lake and mountain destinations [13:49].

• France: Paris faces extreme heat with temperatures soaring to 44°C. Journalist Peter Young highlights the city's vulnerability, especially in impoverished suburbs like Aubervilliers, where inadequate infrastructure exacerbates the crisis [13:51].

Experts warn that Europe is warming twice as fast as the global average since the 1980s, with scientists predicting continued extreme weather until the end of August [15:56].

6. Gaza Experiences New Offensive Amid Humanitarian Crisis

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced a new offensive targeting the entire Gaza Strip, beginning with Gaza City. Civilians have been advised to evacuate as intense military operations continue.

Orthopedic surgeon Frank Gardner, stationed at Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza City, describes the dire conditions:

“It looks like a sci-fi movie, post-apocalyptic” – Frank Gardner [20:20].

Due to severe equipment restrictions, Gardner and his team have resorted to recycling surgical components from deceased patients to perform urgent surgeries. The humanitarian situation remains bleak, with escalating malnutrition and limited medical supplies exacerbating the crisis.

7. Assassin from the US Convicted in UK Murder Plot

Amy Betrough, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Wisconsin, has been found guilty of conspiracy to murder for her role in an attempted assassination in the UK. In 2019, Betrough, disguised in a niqab, attempted to shoot a member of the Sir Canda Ali family but failed due to a gun malfunction.

Surveillance footage captured her second attempt shortly after, leading to her eventual conviction despite her defense claiming mistaken identity and coincidental presence in the area [24:16].

8. AI-Powered Systems Prevent Elephant Fatalities in India

Wildlife officials in southern India have successfully implemented AI-powered early warning systems to protect elephants from deadly train collisions. Installed along major migration routes in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, these surveillance towers detect elephants within 30 meters of railway tracks, triggering alerts for train operators to slow down and for officials to guide the animals to safety [26:48].

Since their deployment in November 2023, these systems have effectively eliminated elephant deaths on rail tracks in the monitored regions and are being expanded to other parts of India and African countries [26:48].

9. Epic Games Scores Partial Legal Victory in Australia Against Apple and Google

Epic Games, the developer behind Fortnite, has achieved a partial court victory in Australia regarding the removal of its game from Google and Apple's app stores. The removal was due to Epic's attempt to bypass standard in-app purchase commissions, allowing users to buy in-game content directly from Fortnite at reduced prices.

While the court ruling spans 2,000 pages with mixed outcomes, Epic views it as a triumph for developers and consumers, potentially paving the way for Fortnite's return to Australian app stores. However, both Apple and Google have yet to determine their next steps following the decision [28:09].

Joost van Drunen, a games business professor at NYU Stern, describes the legal battle as a "David versus Goliath" scenario, emphasizing the significance of Epic's stand against tech giants [29:41].

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Conclusion

This episode of the Global News Podcast provides comprehensive coverage of critical international issues, ranging from geopolitical tensions in Ukraine and humanitarian crises in Myanmar and Gaza, to environmental catastrophes in Europe and significant legal battles in the tech industry. Through expert interviews and on-the-ground reporting, the podcast offers in-depth analysis and diverse perspectives on the most pressing global matters of August 2025.

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For more updates and detailed reports, subscribe to the Global News Podcast and stay informed with the latest headlines and expert insights from around the world.

Transcript

[Valerie Sanderson]

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[Jonathan Beale]

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Valerie Sanderson and in the early hours of Wednesday 13th August, these are our main stories. President Zelensky vows to reject any proposal from Russia that would mean Ukraine giving up territory or withdrawing troops from the eastern Donbas region. The US has issued charges against a gang boss who controls most of the capital of Haiti and offered a 5 million dollar reward for information leading to his capture. The wife of South Korea's jailed former president has been arrested on charges of stock manipulation, election meddling and bribery. Also in this podcast we've downloaded these videos of executions.

[Adil Khalil]

I hope that every perpetrator of those crimes is concerned that their name is in our files and in our evidence.

[Jonathan Beale]

A new UN Report details torture of civilians by the authorities in Myanmar, days before a summit between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. President Zelensky says his forces will not leave the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian army has been defending the area against Russian aggression since 2014, long before Mr. Putin's full scale invasion. The Donbass is prized by the Russian president and may be a key demand when he meets President Trump in Alaska. But on Tuesday, the White House tried to lower expectations of what could be achieved. On Friday, Mr. Trump's press secretary, Caroline Levitt, told reporters that the summit in Alaska is one step towards peace.

[Adil Khalil]

The goal of this meeting for the president is to walk away with a better understanding of how we can end this war and the president said at this podium Yesterday, when he joined all of you in the room, that he hopes in the future there can be a trilateral meeting with these three leaders to finally bring this conflict to an end. But this is a listening exercise for the president. Look, only one party that's involved in this war is going to be present. And so this is for the President to go and to get again a more firm and better understanding of how we can hopefully bring this war to an end.

[Jonathan Beale]

Nevertheless, President Trump has said that any peace deal would likely involve some swapping of territories with Russia keeping land it has seized in the invasion, a position Mr. Zelensky has always rejected and did so again at a youth forum in Kyiv on Tuesday.

[Adil Khalil]

As for the negotiations, they are important.

[H.R. McMaster]

At the level of leaders, but it's.

[Adil Khalil]

Impossible to talk about Ukraine without Ukraine, and nobody is going to accept this.

[Jonathan Beale]

On Wednesday, Mr. Trump will take part in a virtual call with Mr. Zelenskyy and other European leaders ahead of Friday's summit in Alaska. In Kyiv, Mr. Zelenskyy spoke to journalists. Among them are defence correspondent Jonathan Beale.

[H.R. McMaster]

A lot of what he was saying was restating what he said when he heard about those talks first between President Trump and President Putin in Alaska, which is that essentially he's not been invited and he's not sure exactly what they will be speaking about. He said it was a personal victory for President Putin to be invited on US Territory. He's already stated, President Zelenskyy, that any deal without him, in his words, is a dead deal. He also has made clear that ceding Ukrainian territory goes against the constitution. Today he was more emphatic, saying he would not give up the Donbas. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have lost their lives there. The areas of Luhansk and Donetsk. And the reason why President Zelensky said he would not give up the Donbas is because he says he believes in future it could be used as another launchpad for Russia to launch another attack in the future, just like he said Crimea was used to launch the full scale invasion. So that is essentially what he is saying ahead of that meeting with Donald Trump, who is talking about land swaps. Certainly President Zelensky at the moment not entertaining thoughts of a land swap. He welcomes Donald Trump's efforts for a ceasefire, but he wants a ceasefire before negotiations start.

[Jonathan Beale]

Well, you mentioned the Donbass, and there are reports coming in that Russian forces have breached Ukrainian defenses in the strategic area of Pogromsk in Donbas. Is that what you're hearing where you are?

[H.R. McMaster]

Yeah. So President Zelensky again addressed this, and what he said had happened was that small groups of Russian soldiers, I think he said three groups in all of about 20 to 30 Russian troops had made an advance of about 9 to 10 kilometers. One of those groups, he said, had been hunted down, had killed or captured. He said the other two would be hunted down as well. But he admits that the situation in Pokros is difficult. He says the city of Pogros has not been surrounded as some people have suggested. But he admits the fighting is difficult and he is sending more troops there. And he is also clearly worried that Russia will be sending more troops to take more territory in that part of eastern Ukraine in the future, because he says their focus was for some time Russian forces retaking Kursk troops are now being deployed to that Pokrovsk region. And clearly, in his view, he thinks President Putin wants to show President Trump ahead of those Alaska talks that Russia is winning this war and Ukraine is losing. Now, he says that's just information warfare, but that is clearly his concern.

[Jonathan Beale]

Jonathan Beale, President Trump's former national security adviser, has warned him about President Putin ahead of Friday's summit. Lt. Gen. H.R. mcMaster told the BBC that it could be a mistake if the president fails to directly convey to Vladimir Putin the concerns Mr. Trump has already been airing in public. General McMaster warned that President Putin knows exactly how to flatter his US Counterpart to serve his own agenda. Here's our security correspondent, Frank Gardner.

[Adil Khalil]

Lt. Gen. H.R. mcMaster, a highly decorated former U.S. army general, served in the first Trump administration.

[Will Grant]

As his national security adviser for 13 months.

[Adil Khalil]

Speaking to the BBC today, he voiced.

[Will Grant]

His fears that Friday's Trump Putin summit.

[Adil Khalil]

Risked playing into the Russian leader's hands.

[Frank Gardner]

I hope that the people preparing President Trump for this are saying, hey, don't engage in this serial gullibility with Vladimir Putin, because Putin will try to appeal to your ego. He will flatter you. He will hold out the prospect of a big deal. Frank. What he'll say is, would it be great, Donald, if we could work together on nuclear weapons and reduce nuclear weapons, and maybe I can get China to come in?

[Will Grant]

Reducing nuclear weapons stockpiles and reducing global.

[Adil Khalil]

Tensions would certainly be a welcome byproduct of any future ceasefire or peace deal in Ukraine. But European leaders worried that any deal reached with Putin should not come at the price of Ukraine's freedom.

[Will Grant]

Asked if he thought those leaders still.

[Adil Khalil]

Had the ear of the US President, he said they did, especially Sir Keir Starmer and the NATO secretary general. But HR McMaster added that they must convince Donald Trump that the outcome of the war in Ukraine was inextricably tied.

[H.R. McMaster]

To Europe's security and that what he.

[Adil Khalil]

Called the axis of aggressors, that is Russia and its allies, were working together to help it prevail.

[Jonathan Beale]

Frank Gardner Security forces in Myanmar are systematically torturing people, according to a new investigation by the United Nations. Its latest report says there's significant evidence of widespread torture. The Burmese army overthrew the elected government in 2021 and is thought to have detained tens of thousands of people in order to crush dissent. The UN team leader, Nicholas Kumjian says the testimony they've gathered makes it possible to identify who committed some of the atrocities.

[Frank Gardner]

We have an awful lot of evidence.

[Adil Khalil]

And an awful lot of names in our database and so much information is on social media and on the Internet. We've downloaded these videos of executions. I hope that every perpetrator of those crimes is concerned that their name is in our files and in our evidence.

[Jonathan Beale]

The UN report was published in Geneva, where our correspondent Imogen Foulkes gave us more details.

[Imogen Foulkes]

This report is really, really shocking, the amount of repression that has been taking place. We hear reports of terrible, terrible torture in prisons, things like electric shock treatment, people having there fingernails pulled out, sexual violence, gang rape, people being strangled, many people who have died as a result of torture and also the kind of fear that is being instilled in the population, for example, that children are sometimes detained and tortured to put pressure on their parents, who are perhaps seen as dissidents.

[Jonathan Beale]

And we're talking about what, tens of thousands of people being involved.

[Imogen Foulkes]

Many, many thousands. Yes, but I think one of the most interesting things about this report is that the UN investigators, although they were not allowed in by the regime into Myanmar, they have 1300 sources and over 600 eyewitnesses. They also have really extensive electronic evidence from, from social media. They've had videos of people being executed inside detention. So they know and they have also been able to identify some of the perpetrators. They're not naming them in public, but they know that the people committing these violations are very often Myanmar security forces. They know their names, some of them are senior. And this is evidence which they say they will pass to international courts like.

[Jonathan Beale]

The International Criminal Court and the government in Myanmar. It was overthrown, wasn't it, back in 2021?

[Imogen Foulkes]

That's right. But we shouldn't forget that UN Human Rights has been investigating Myanmar, keeping its eye on Myanmar long before 2021. We had an investigation team set up after the events of 2017. When a million Rohingya Muslims were hounded out of Myanmar and they are still living in Cox's Bazaar in Bangladesh. And all the reports show that terrible violations took place then. So Myanmar, to put it bluntly, has a very poor human rights record. What the UN investigators on this latest report are offering to do is share their new evidence, which continues to show systematic, patterned, planned human rights violations of the most serious, serious nature.

[Jonathan Beale]

Imogen Folks, we asked the Myanmar authorities for a response and we're still waiting for one. A prolonged heat wave in many European countries is stretching resources with firefighters scrambling to tackle outbreaks that are devastating huge swathes of land. Portugal reached a new national high of 46.6 degrees Celsius in June. And Spain also set new records with temperatures topping 44 degrees Celsius in several regions. Stephanie Prentice has this report.

[Adil Khalil]

Helicopters dumping water over the town of Tarifa in southern Spain, trying to put out the second major fire there in a week. Further north near Madrid, scorched earth in the city of Trecantos, where a fire that's still active has killed one man. It's one of many active blazes across Spain with thousands of people evacuated and firefighters working through the night. Across Europe, it's a similar story. An early onset of heat waves, record breaking temperatures and fires that are difficult to contain. In Italy, an intense heat wave is sweeping across the south with planes trying to put out fires on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius for a fourth day day and thousands more fires reported by officials than last year. Marta Fragierio, a climate and environmental journalist based near Milan, says the government is moving too slowly on climate goals. But the impacts of global warming can't be ignored.

[Will Grant]

Some people and the government are still.

[Adil Khalil]

Denying the impact of climate change, but the point is that tourists are choosing new destination in Italy, such as lakes.

[Will Grant]

And mountains over sea.

[Adil Khalil]

So it's also having a very big economic impact. Seaside are empty and tourists are choosing other destination. Parts of Croatia have been battling fires since the middle of June. Vedrana Simiciewicz is a Croatian climate journalist and mountaineer. One of the biggest consequences of heat waste in Croatia is warming of the Adriatic Sea, which is quite dangerous for the species in the sea. She's just been climbing Mont Blanc, a regular trip with a big difference this year. I have to say that it's really concerning and I'm talking specifically not only about glacier melting, but also about permaforce melting the ice inside of rock walls six or seven meters deep inside. And now because of the heat waves, this ice is thawing, melting, and because of that, we have really large rockfalls all over the place. In France, temperatures of up to 44 degrees have also been recorded, with some areas offering free entry to swimming pools. Paris is one of many European cities that residents say are not built for extreme heat, with historic architecture and limited air conditioning. Peter Young is a Paris based journalist who's been investigating how climate change could be driving inequality in the city. I think particularly in Paris, there's more of a feeling of being sick and tired of the seat. It's not something that is pleasurable at this point. And I'm particularly reporting in a neighborhood called Aubervilliers, a very poor suburb where there's a high number of immigrant communities. The housing is often old. It's quite a bleak picture and people are often sort of lacking any sort of resource. Europe is warming faster than any other continent at twice the speed of the global average since the 1980s, according to experts. Scientists warn of a dangerous cocktail of climatic conditions fueling the wildfires across the Mediterranean, with warm weather predicted until the end of August.

[Jonathan Beale]

Stephanie Prentice still to come, a surgeon operating in Gaza tells us he has to recycle surgical parts from dead bodies to save the living.

[Frank Gardner]

External fixator pins are being taken off of patients that have died or have had their X fixes removed and reused. The spinal equipment is incredibly limited and the screw sizes are completely random.

[Jonathan Beale]

Haiti is in an official state of emergency due to gang violence. Now one of the ringleaders is being pursued by the US Government with a five million dollar reward on his head. The notorious Jimmy Barbecue Cherizier runs Vivan sa, an alliance of gangs that have taken over most of Haiti's capital, Port au Prince. Many of his soldiers are children who he's forcibly recruited. The US government is accusing him of working with an associate in the US to channel funds to the gangs, bypassing US Sanctions. Announcing this, the US Attorney, Janine Pirro, said her department will also go after anyone else who helps him.

[Adil Khalil]

Haiti is a hotspot right now. There is incredible violence going on there.

[Frank Gardner]

Which is why the State Department has.

[Adil Khalil]

Gotten involved and why we have made.

[H.R. McMaster]

The decision to make it very clear that we're coming after you if you.

[Will Grant]

Give money to Chorizier.

[Jonathan Beale]

Our Central America and Caribbean correspondent Will Grant told me more.

[Valerie Sanderson]

I think we heard there in that clip just the fact that they believe that this was part of a grand conspiracy, a wide network of financing the gang network in Haiti led by Cherizier. The accusation is also against a naturalized US man living in North Carolina called Basile Richardson. He has been arrested last month in Texas and it was said that he was raising funds for the G9 and for VIVAL San, which was being channeled to barbecue in order to pay for his gang members and pay for illegal weapons in the country. Essentially the to hold down their control of the capital, Port au Prince, which is at somewhere like 90% control of the capital.

[Jonathan Beale]

And tell us more about Jimi Sharizier himself.

[Valerie Sanderson]

Well, he's a former elite policeman who in essence flipped to running the gangs in about 2019. He had pretensions, I think, of high office, still does, really is sort of almost a media personality, has given interviews and sort of so on. Is the most visible face of the gang issue in Haiti in that he is a media personality to an extent and certainly the best known of the gang leaders, although there are of course others. He is very powerful and he has of course created this alliance with another important gang group to create Vinson, and certainly is extremely ruthless. He controls the swathes of the capital and interrupts transport, for example, when it comes to aid coming in to help the beleaguered communities of the capital.

[Jonathan Beale]

So is Haiti essentially lawless?

[Valerie Sanderson]

It is looking very much so. I mean, let's cast our minds back to last year and earlier this year when it was hoped by the United nations that a Kenyan led police force would have some impact on the security situation in Haiti. So far it's had next to none. It has taken back control of the international airport, the presidential palace is on lockdown. But beyond that, when it comes to the law and order on the streets, there's very little difference at all going on. And the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate very, very fast.

[Jonathan Beale]

Will Grant, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says a new offensive to take control of the entire Gaza Strip will start soon, starting with Gaza City. Civilians have been advised to leave. Adil Khalil is an orthopaedic surgeon from Texas who's currently working at the Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza City. He told us that he's recycling surgical pins and plates from dead bodies because his equipment is restricted. Before his current visit, he previously worked in Gaza last November.

[Frank Gardner]

Even back in November. It just blew my mind how destroyed everything is. I mean, it literally looks like a sci fi movie, post apocalyptic. It actually seems worse this time around. I don't think there's really very many buildings left that have not sustained damage. So I mean, we go between hospitals to get cases done. So I do go out into the city a little Bit, you know, I do spine surgery, so that is being done at a neighboring hospital. And so we have to get in an ambulance and move to the other hospital and you just see the destruction around the city.

[Adil Khalil]

So we know that there have been these aid drops happening over the past couple of weeks and apparently more aid is getting into Gaza. But again today there's been an update on the number of people who have died from malnutrition. The Hamas run health authority putting it at 5 in the past 24 hours.

[Frank Gardner]

It's terrible. That's one of the most striking things I think. You know, it's largely a young population. Their capacity to withstand injury and recover is, was always pretty remarkable. I think now people's reserves are quite depleted. But we operated on an 18 month old whose hemoglobin just happened to be just over six on arrival, which is severely anemic.

[Adil Khalil]

What kind of injuries are you seeing this time around?

[Frank Gardner]

A lot of gunshot wounds and injuries that are a result of patients going to these aid distribution sites and getting shot. You know, I do orthopedics and spine, so we're seeing a lot of fractures from these gunshots and so significant amount of bone loss, large open injuries from entry wounds from these high caliber gunshots. When I came in November, it was largely explosive injuries. That's what stood out in the north, that there's been a very high level of bombardment. So a lot of it was explosive injuries. And now we're seeing quite a mix of explosive injuries plus a lot of gunshot wounds from these aid distribution events.

[Adil Khalil]

You are an orthopedic surgeon, you specialize in spinal surgery. Do you have the facilities you need to do that sort of surgery there?

[Frank Gardner]

No, it's very limited. The amount of equipment that is able to be brought in has been severely restricted. You know, when I came in April, we were able to bring equipment with us through the Rafah border in November. And this time we're limited to only bringing personal supplies and we do pack some what we can get in as far as what we need to do our daily work, but it's incredibly restricted. So external fixator pins are being taken off of patients that have died or have had their X fixes removed and reused. The spinal equipment is incredibly limited and the screw sizes are completely random. The amount of equipment that has been getting in is very insufficient.

[Adil Khalil]

Right, so you're effectively recycling things like pins and screws and the sorts of things that you use to fix these injuries from patients who have already deceased. You're having to do that?

[Frank Gardner]

Yeah, yeah.

[Adil Khalil]

You say you're being restricted. Can you just clarify exactly where those restrictions are happening at the border? Okay, so you're responding to the advice from the who, and they're responding to the. To the rules coming from the Israeli authorities?

[Jonathan Beale]

Yeah, the orthopaedic surgeon Adil Khalil speaking to Rebecca Kesbi from Gaza City. The Israeli military says it's examining reports of civilians being harmed while approaching aid distribution centers in Gaza run by the US and Israeli backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. South Korea's former first lady Kim Kan Hee has been arrested after a court issued a warrant. It means she and her husband, former President Yoon Seok Yeol, are the first presidential couple to be jailed. Jae Seung Ri has the details.

[Adil Khalil]

Kim Keon Hee is the first wife of a South Korean president to be arrested.

[Will Grant]

She's been accused of stock manipulation, election interference and bribery.

[Adil Khalil]

And she's said to have accepted luxury.

[Will Grant]

Gifts from a shaman from the very.

[Adil Khalil]

Influential Unification Church in exchange for business favors. Kim Conn Hee is the wife of.

[Frank Gardner]

The former President Yoon Sung Yeol, who.

[Will Grant]

Was impeached over that botched attempt to impose martial law last December.

[Adil Khalil]

Now he's already in jail. He's charged for insurrection.

[Jonathan Beale]

Jae Sang Lee, a US woman who was hired as a killer and tried to shoot a man in the UK at point blank range while using an Islamic headscarf to hide her identity has been found guilty of conspiracy to murder. Would be assassin Amy Betrough from Wisconsin flew into the country as part of a plot to attack a family in Central England in 2019 before going on the run for nearly five years. Joe Black reports.

[Adil Khalil]

Resembling a scene from a film. CCTV shows Amy Betrough wearing a niqab to disguise her face as she walks up to Secanda Alley and points a gun at him. She tries to shoot him at close range, but the gun jams and his car can be seen screeching away as he seizes the opportunity to flee.

[Frank Gardner]

Can I get a taxi?

[Adil Khalil]

Hours later, this is Betro ordering a taxi so she can return to the scene. Speak it up from where?

[Frank Gardner]

Letters, Fish and chips. I'm on the corner opposite of Asda.

[Adil Khalil]

And in the darkness of the early hours, she is picked up again on cctv. This is her second attempt as she shoots three rounds at the windows of Sir Canda Ali's family home, but the property is empty. The would be assassin flew to the UK as part of a revenge plot orchestrated by two men. Mohammed Aslam and his son Mohammed Nazir wanted to attack a rival family. The court heard they were involved in a feud with Sir Canda Ali's father, Aslat Mahumad, and wanted to kill him or a member of his family. Aslam and Nazir were found guilty at a separate trial. Betro's defence was that it was a coincidence that minutes after the attempted assassination she happened to be near the area and the perpetrator was another American woman who sounded like her, used the same phone and wore the same sort of trainers. She said she had been in the UK to celebrate her birthday and attend a boat party. The jury didn't believe her.

[Jonathan Beale]

Joe Black Wildlife officials in southern India say they've prevented dozens of elephant deaths after installing AI powered early warning systems along railway tracks. The surveillance towers were set up on known elephant migration routes in the border areas of Tamil Nadu and Kerala states. This report from our South Asia Regional editor, Anbalasan Ethanajan.

[Adil Khalil]

Forest Department officials in two jeeps are trying to push a wild elephant away from a busy road in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It's not only on the main roads. Similar incidents happen along railway tracks as well. When elephants cross the track, any speeding train can hit them. In the past decade, 36 elephants were killed by trains in Tamil Nadu state alone. Then came the AI powered early warning system. Dozens of AI camera towers were established along accident hotspots. In November 2023, when elephants are detected within 30 meters of the railway track, alerts are sent to forest and railway officials. They then coordinate to slow down trains and guide the elephants away to prevent collisions. Since their installation, no elephant deaths on rail tracks have been reported in in that area. The early warning system has been installed in other parts of India as well.

[Jonathan Beale]

As in some African countries and Barasan Ettarajan. Every day around the world, tens of millions of gamers log on to Fortnite to fight huge battles in a virtual world. But in the real world, its developers, Epic Games, have been fighting battles of their own. And they've just scored another victory in a court in Australia. Will Chalk has the story.

[Frank Gardner]

Ladies and gentlemen, Fortnite fans from around the world, wherever you are watching from, welcome.

[Will Grant]

Since its launch in 2017, Fortnite has become less a game, more a huge ecosystem. Merchandise, tournaments, streamers, it feels like it's everywhere.

[Frank Gardner]

We got fans up in the building, we got the players on site.

[Will Grant]

But back in 2020, it's dominance was put under threat.

[H.R. McMaster]

Now, bad news if you like playing.

[Adil Khalil]

Fortnite on your phone. The game has been removed from Google.

[Will Grant]

And Apple's app stores in a row over Money. Both Google and Apple booted the app off their stores, meaning it could no longer be played on phones or iPads. Why? Well, Fortnite is free to download and play, but makes its money by selling different appearances for people's in game avatars. Usually when you buy something on an app on your phone, that payment will go through Apple or Google, who take a commission. Five years ago, Fortnite tried to bypass this and let people buy content cheaper direct from them.

[Adil Khalil]

Fortnite have said that they will sue.

[Will Grant]

The phone makers and sue they did. For five years now, Epic Games has been fighting legal battles against Apple and Google around the world, arguing the phone companies were misusing their market power, which lessened competition in app development. And they've been winning. Last year the game made it back onto the App Store in the eu. Earlier this year it was reinstated in the US and now it's won a partial court victory that looks set to pave the way for the same thing to happen in Australia.

[Adil Khalil]

To a cynical degree, anything that isn't.

[Frank Gardner]

Apple or Google getting their way is progress.

[Will Grant]

Joost van Drunen is a games business professor at NYU Stern School of Business in the us they are in fact.

[Frank Gardner]

In a David versus Goliath kind of battle because even though epic makes about $5 billion a year, that's a drop in the bucket for Apple, that's a drop in the bucket for Google.

[Adil Khalil]

These are trillion dollar companies.

[Frank Gardner]

What they do is extract a ren and it makes it very difficult for any company, including the Robloxes and the Microsofts that sit in these ecosystems to.

[Adil Khalil]

Have any kind of leverage.

[Will Grant]

We've got no word yet on exactly when the game is likely to return to app stores in Australia, but it's unlikely to be soon. The judgment, which hasn't been fully released yet, ran to 2,000 pages. And on many of the charges, Epic Games weren't successful. In statements, Apple welcomed that some of the charges were rejected while disagreeing on the ones that were successful, while Google said it will assess its next steps once it's read the full decision. Still, Epic Games has described the ruling as a win for developers and consumers in Australia. And as any gamer knows, you've got to take the wins when you can.

[Frank Gardner]

Get them separate stuff. But Acorn will not survive.

[Adil Khalil]

It.

[Jonathan Beale]

Will chalk reporting. And that's it from us for now. But there'll be a new edition of the Global News Podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, send us an email. The address is globalpodcastbc co.uk. you can also find us on XBCWorldService. Use the hashtag globalnewspod. This edition was mixed by Caroline Driscoll. The producers were Alison Davis and Peter Hyatt. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Valerie Sanderson. Until next time. Bye. Bye.