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

I'm Jackie Leonard and in the early hours of Thursday, the 6th of April, these are our

main stories.

Taiwan's president has met the speaker of the US House of Representatives in California.

Despite threats of retaliation from China, Brazil's former president, Gyae Bolsonaro,

has been giving evidence to police about alleged attempts to bring millions of dollars worth

of jewelry into the country.

And one of the world's biggest online criminal marketplaces, Genesis Market, has been taken

down in an operation by police in 17 countries.

Also in this podcast, I honestly thought initially it was my water bottle leak.

And when I looked back down, I saw the head of the snake receding kind of needs to

seat.

The unsettling realization at 3000 metres up that there was a venomous snake on the plane.

Democracy is under threat.

A warning from the president of Taiwan, Tsaiying Wang, as she met the US House Speaker Kevin

McCarthy on Wednesday in California.

Mastai also said Taiwan was grateful that the United States was by its side.

It is no secret that today, the peace that we have maintained, and the democracy which

have worked hard to build, are facing unprecedented challenges.

We once again find ourselves in the world where democracy is under threat.

And the urgency of keeping the beacon of freedom shining cannot be understated.

Kevin McCarthy is the most high profile American official to welcome a Taiwanese president

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