4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 5 April 2025
⏱️ 28 minutes
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Kate Adie introduces stories from Sudan, Greenland, Lebanon, the Vatican and France.
An estimated 3.5 million people have fled Khartoum since RSF rebels took control of the Sudanese capital two years ago - but it is now back under the control of the army. Barbara Plett-Usher joined a military convoy, travelling deep into a city devastated by war, but found relief among remaining residents who say they are 'learning to live again'.
The eyes of the world have turned to Greenland this year as Donald Trump has made aggressive overtures about taking over the Danish territory. Andrew Harding travelled to the capital, Nuuk, where locals keen for independence are now concerned about the threat of new outside interference.
The Lebanese militia group, Hezbollah, is in its weakest position for years after 13 months of conflict with Israel, during which time many of its senior leaders were killed. Hugo Bachega visited Hezbollah's strongholds to weigh up how solid its support is today.
Pope Francis is back home after a five week stay in hospital. He remains visibly frail, and amid uncertainty about his long-term future as head of the Catholic Church, there’s speculation about a possible successor. David Willey considers the broader challenge facing the Vatican when it comes to an ageing priesthood.
The decision by a French court to block the far-right politician Marine Le Pen from standing in the next presidential election, after she was found guilty of misusing EU parliamentary funds, has proven hugely divisive. Hugh Schofield summarises the national mood, by setting the scene being played out in homes up and down the country.
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0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
0:05.3 | Hello. Today we're in Greenland, where locals longing for independence are apprehensive about President Trump's proposed takeover. |
0:15.0 | In Lebanon, we travel to the Hezbollah Heartland, where supporters are divided about the group's future. |
0:22.5 | In the Vatican City, we hear how the Catholic Church copes with an ever older cohort of cardinals. |
0:29.4 | And finally, in France, an imagined dinner party tells the tale of the country's current |
0:35.6 | political divisions. But first, after two years, the Civil War in Sudan may be edging closer to an endgame. |
0:44.3 | The country's military recently recaptured Khartoum after weeks of intense urban combat. |
0:50.3 | Its rival, the paramilitary rapid support forces, or RSF, had seized the city earlier in the war. |
0:58.7 | The UN says more than three and a half million people have fled the capital since the conflict started. |
1:05.9 | Many of those who stayed are now celebrating the end of RSF control, but the core of the city is in ruins. Barbara |
1:14.5 | Plet-Ushar ventured in with a Sudanese army convoy. I was in Sudan when the battle to take back the |
1:21.0 | capital began last September. The army launched its offensive across the bridges over the Nile, |
1:26.9 | that connect the three cities which make up greater Khartoum. |
1:30.2 | And I was there again a few weeks ago when soldiers gathered for the final push. |
1:34.4 | We were taken to a rallying point in the middle of the night. |
1:37.7 | The troops were in high spirits, singing and chanting. |
1:41.1 | But it was the destruction, not the military victory, that overwhelmed me when I finally entered |
1:46.6 | the battered city center. Government ministries, banks, and towering office blocks stand blackened |
1:52.8 | and burned. The tarmac at the international airport is a graveyard of smashed planes, |
1:58.1 | its passport and check encounters covered in ashes. Everything eerily silent. |
2:03.6 | We drove slowly, weaving around unexploded ordinance in the road. At one intersection, |
2:09.6 | we passed body parts lying in a jumbled heap. This city might be rebuilt, I hope it's rebuilt, |
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