This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.

I'm Paul Moss, and at 13 hours GMT on Wednesday the 14th of May, these are our main stories.

Donald Trump has met the Syrian leader Ahmed al-Shara after his surprise decision to lift

US sanctions on Syria. Israel has launched more fatal airstrikes in Gaza,

and a BBC investigation has found that Iran is using foreign criminal gangs like drug dealers

and even Hell's Angels to carry out assassinations. We hear why.

Also in this podcast...

They have transformed themselves from the dark days when they were first sentenced to prison.

And from that they have blossomed into incredible human beings.

Thirty-five years after murdering their parents,

the Menendez brothers have their sentences cut and could go free.

It wasn't expected to be a long meeting.

Donald Trump had merely said he would say hello to the Syrian president, Ahmed al-Shara,

during his visit to Saudi Arabia. But this was the first time in a quarter of a century that an

American leader met their Syrian counterpart. And more than that, Mr. Al-Sharah leads a group still listed

as a terrorist organization by many countries,

an offshoot of al-Qaeda.

But speaking afterwards, President Trump made clear that brief hello

is intended to be just the start of a new diplomatic era between the two countries.

We are currently exploring normalizing relations with Syria's new government, as you know,

beginning with my meeting with President Ahmed al-Shara

and Secretary Rubio's meeting with the Syrian foreign minister in Turkey.

...