The look at the stories making the headlines with insights from the BBC's global

network of experts. Search for the global story wherever you get your BBC

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

I'm Robin Brant and at 14 hours GMT on Friday the 8th of December these are our main stories.

There's an important announcement from Russia's leader.

Now is such a time when a decision needs to be made.

I will run for the position of President of the

Russian Federation. In completely unsurprising news Vladimir Putin says he'll

stand for another term as president. As Israel's military continues to bombard Gaza there are more deaths in the West Bank

and North Korea is using factories it operated with the South again but it didn't tell them. Also in this podcast is Saudi Arabia using vast sums of money in sports to change its image abroad.

We speak to a senior Saudi leader.

No one's perfect and we acknowledge that.

And we are reforming.

And these events help us reform.

And how do you find the best honey from bees?

Well it's obvious isn't it, ask the birds. But let's start in Russia where Vladimir Putin has

announced that he will stand for re-election as the country's president. During a televised meeting at the Kremlin

with Russian soldiers who had fought in Ukraine, Mr Putin was praised for his

determination and he was then asked whether he would run for president again in 2024.

His answer will have surprised just about nobody.

Thank you very much.

I won't hide that at times I had different thoughts, but now is such a time when a decision needs to be made.

...