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

I'm Valerie Sanderson and in the early hours of Monday the 29th of April,

these are our main stories.

Russia pounds Ukrainian forces which have fallen back to

new positions as Kyiv waits for arms from the US and other Western allies.

Cracks in the Israeli government as divisions over a deal for a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza are laid bare.

Hardliners want to attack the remaining Hamas battalions in Raffa and there is an increasing voice in Israel who think the Israeli

government should prioritise getting hostages released through some sort of deal.

Unbearable heat in Gulf's Southeast Asia again.

People are really going to have to adapt scientists say to this new normal because of climate change,

wearing looser clothing, adjusting their work in school days.

Also in this podcast, the winner of this year's top prize for Arab literature is announced.

And the former wife of Canada's Prime Minister, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, on her life and survival.

We should maybe embrace the difficult times with more certainty, knowing that we have the

resilience as human beings to walk through it and that if we

have each other's minds and backs and hearts we will be able to not only adapt but

thrive. We start in Ukraine in Ukraine.

That's the sound of explosions around a village in the eastern Don Bass region.

Despite all the promises of money and support, the outlook for Ukrainian forces at the front at present is bleak, especially in

Don Bass. That's according to Ukraine's commander-in-chief General Alexander

Sierski and even if temporary he says the pressure is fierce and

Ukrainian forces have had to withdraw from several positions. Our correspondent in

...