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

I'm Janet Gillil and at 13 hours GMT on Wednesday 24 May, these are our main stories.

A day after Russia said it defeated attackers from Ukraine, its western region of

Belgarut has been hit again this time by a large number of drones. The leading Islamic scholar,

Tariq Ramadan, is cleared of rape charges in Switzerland. The Hong Kong airline

Cafe Pacific has sacked staff members who reportedly made fun of Mandarin speakers sparking outrage

in China. Also in this podcast, why France is forcing some short haul flyers to take the train instead.

It's the biggest cross-border raid into Russia from Ukraine since Moscow launched its

full-scale invasion 15 months ago. The two-day incursion into the region of Belgarut occurred

far from the epicenter of the fighting in eastern Ukraine, where the Russians recently claimed to

have captured the city of Bakmut. On Tuesday, the Kremlin said it had defeated the saboteurs and

killed Ukrainian nationalists. But on Wednesday, Russian officials in Belgarut reported a large

number of drone attacks overnight. Kyiv has denied being involved. We got more from Sergei

Goryeshko from the BBC Russian service. We know that overnight there's been multiple

attacks on Belgarut and Belgarut region according to the claims by the local governor,

Vichlav Glatkov. So there's been a bomb which fell on the streets of Belgarut in the city center.

Nobody was injured, a vehicle was damaged, which was on the street.

Was another drone which was shot down nearby. And they were shellings of a couple of villages

which are located near the border and which constantly are underselling for almost a year now since

Russia started the invasion of Ukraine. Well, Moscow has released pictures of damaged

western military equipment it says was used by the saboteurs. But the US has distanced itself

from the incursion, saying it doesn't encourage or enable strikes inside Russia. Our security

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