All language subtitles for Global.Eye.S2025E01.1080p.iP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-HiNGS_track3_[eng]

Hello and welcome to the first
edition of Global Eye

from the BBC World Service.

Every week we'll come to you from
a different country

and bring you the very
best of our investigative journalism

from every corner of the world.

Stories that uncover
the harshest realities

and those that shine a light
on hope and resilience.

I'm Nawal Al-Maghafi.

And for our first edition,

I'm somewhere that doesn't make
the headlines every day,

despite being gripped by violence,
hunger and disease.

The UN has even called it the
world's worst humanitarian crisis.

I'm really glad to be back here
reporting from Sudan.

It's a place that warrants
a lot more attention than it gets.

Since war broke out between the army
and a rival paramilitary group,

the RSF, over two years ago,

over 150,000 people have died

and more than 12 million people
have fled their homes

to escape the violence.

I'll tell you more about that later
in the programme.

And we'll be in India to bring you
the story

of these trailblazing
female athletes,

defying all odds to compete on
the international stage.

Whilst I am in this busy market
in Sudan,

we'll first go to Ukraine,

where the diplomatic efforts
continue

to try and bring the war to an end.

What's it like for ordinary people
living on the front line?

Well, my colleagues at BBC Eye
asked residents of Kharkiv,

a city that's right at
the epicentre of the conflict,

to document their lives
over nine months in video diaries.

Here are the stories of two
of those families.

In February 2022, Russian troops
entered the Ukrainian city

of Kharkiv, just 20 miles from
the Russian border.

Parts of the city of
Kharkiv were occupied for six weeks

as Ukrainian forces fought back.

Half of the city's two million
residents fled.

Those who remained have continued
to experience irregular

drone attacks, as Russia intensifies
its campaign on the city.

Two women who have refused to leave
Kharkiv since the war began

agreed to document their lives
for BBC Eye.

These are the personal stories of
people battered by decisions

made far away.

You're gambling with the lives...
I'm the president in a war.

..of millions of people.

You're gambling
with World War III.

Anna lives alone with her Doberman
Hector and her parrot, Kira.

On Christmas Day, Kharkiv was hit by
a major missile attack

targeting its energy infrastructure.

Half a million
people were left without heating,

as temperatures hovered just
above freezing.

Maryna is a single mother
to twins.

Kharkiv has a multicultural history

and for generations the city's
Russian and Ukrainian populations

have lived side by side.

After the invasion,
Maryna made the decision

to stop speaking Russian.

Eight weeks later, President
Zelensky hoped to seal the deal

when he visited President Trump
in the Oval Office.

You've allowed yourself to be
in a very bad position

and he happens to be right about...

From the very beginning
of the war...

You're not in a good position.

You don't have
the cards right now.

With us, you start having cards.
I'm not playing cards.

But right now, you don't...
I'm very serious, Mr President.

You're playing cards,
you're playing cards.

You're gambling with the lives
of millions of people.

I'm the president in a war.

You're gambling with
World War III.

Mr President, is there no
deal? Mr Zelensky...

After Zelensky is expelled from
the White House,

the Trump administration stops
all military aid

and intelligence sharing
with Ukraine.

As the international community
tries to mend the rift,

Maryna focuses on preserving
a sense of routine for her children.

She takes them to visit
an animal sanctuary

on the outskirts of Kharkiv.

CHILDREN LAUGH

EXPLOSION

The US resumes military aid
and intelligence sharing

with Ukraine after Kyiv
agrees to a 30-day ceasefire.

SIREN BLARES

Moscow does not.

It's been a year
since Anna last saw her daughter.

Now Sasha has made the journey
to Kharkiv from her home in Israel.

With no commercial flights running
to Ukraine,

it's a difficult journey.

Ukrainian authorities
say Russia attacked

the city with 48 drones,
two missiles and four bombs.

President Trump announces
a major shift

in US policy by pledging billions

in military aid
and threatening Russia with tariffs

unless Putin agrees to
a ceasefire within 50 days.

My conversations with him
are always very pleasant.

I say, "Isn't that a very lovely
conversation?"

And then the missiles go off
that night.

EXPLOSION

EXPLOSION

You can see
the full film on YouTube.

I was here in Sudan
this time last year

and so much has happened since then.

Back then, the Rapid Support Forces
controlled the capital,

Khartoum, and the government
had been pushed out

and was forced to sit up here
in Port Sudan, on the Red Sea.

But in May this year,
the army fought its way back

and it retook the capital.

It was a major turning point
in this war.

But still, the RSF hasn't gone away

and it continues to hold large
parts of the country.

And so the violence continues,

and the impact this war
has had on civilians is staggering.

Out of a population of
46 million people,

12 million are displaced in Sudan.

It's one of the largest displacement
crises in the world.

And with so many people searching
for shelter,

rent prices have tripled
and the costs of food,

fuel and medicines have skyrocketed,

leaving millions struggling
to survive.

The current conflict
began over two years ago,

when Sudan's de facto leader,
General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan,

and his deputy,
General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo,

leader of the government's
paramilitary Rapid Support Forces,

entered a power struggle
for supremacy.

After fighting between
the two sides began,

the government declared the
100,000-strong RSF a rebel group.

The two sides have been battling

for control of
the country ever since,

with allegations
of war crimes on both sides.

Here in the capital, Khartoum,

it's been an epicentre of fighting
since the conflict began.

I've been speaking to people here
and they've told me

how much harder daily life
has become.

Parts of the city have become
completely uninhabitable,

and many of
the suburbs are now ghost towns.

Water plants have been destroyed
in drone attacks by the RSF,

and as a result, the cost of water
here for a family has skyrocketed

to more than $15 a day,
and cholera is rife.

And these aren't the most
badly affected areas of Sudan.

The province of Darfur
has suffered reoccurring violence

for decades due to tribal
and ethnic conflict.

It's a stronghold for the RSF

and a constant
scene of terrible fighting.

It's impossible to enter the capital
of North Darfur, El Fasher.

But earlier this year,
a World Service team was able

to get cameras
to some residents before they fled.

You can see
the full film on YouTube.

While the world's focus is on other
conflicts around the world,

like in Ukraine and Gaza,

the UN has called for an end to
the flow of weapons into Sudan

and renewed international mediation

to put an end to what's clearly
a fast escalating crisis.

Every week on this programme,

we want to give you a guide to some
of the most compelling content

the World Service has produced
across the last few days.

I recommend you listen to
the new series of our daily podcast,

The Global Story,
which has just launched,

exploring America and the world
and how each is shaped by the other.

And on the BBC website,
you can hear about life inside Gaza

from the local journalists
risking their lives

to bring us news from
the war's front line.

Our colleagues at BBC News Arabic
have spoken to reporters

who are facing their own challenges
of finding shelter,

water and food for themselves

and their families
on top of doing their jobs.

And here's something else we want
to share with you

from our BBC Hindi team based
in Delhi.

India's been experiencing
something of

a Paralympic revolution over
the last few years,

from winning four medals in Rio
in 2016

to bagging 29 at
last year's Paris Games.

And there's a new
generation of Indian athletes

now competing
in international competitions.

Well, my colleague Divya Arya
has been following two

remarkable women who have fought
to overcome unique challenges.

How do you run on a track
that you cannot see?

Follow straight lines,
turn when they curve,

and stop at the finish.

Athletes without vision,
or impairment, use a guide runner.

For Rakshitha, that is Rahul.

For Simran, Abhay.

The only two Indian female athletes
with vision impairment

to qualify for
the Paris Paralympics.

It's early 2024 and sprinter
Simran Sharma's training

is going full throttle.

Simran is partially sighted.

When she started,
Simran used to run alone.

Three, one, two.

The aim was clear,
to reach the top.

And she was supported
by her husband,

whom she met while training
and later became her coach.

I had asked Simran even
before our marriage,

"What do you want from life?"

And she said, "I want to run."

But I had decided that I will take
her all the way to the Paralympics.

In 2021, Simran became
the first Indian woman to qualify

for the 100m race at
the Tokyo Paralympics.

But when she ran,
she couldn't follow her line.

Her vision had deteriorated.

The 100m track is
a straight line,

but in the middle there
is a line that bends.

Three or four times
it happened to me that when I ran,

I ran to the left.

They said,
"Now you need a guide runner."

But it's not easy for two bodies
to run as one.

The para athlete's style,
pace and technique

need to be perfectly matched by
the guide runner.

After a few false starts...
WHISTLE BLOWS

..Simran finally spotted
a young athlete, Abhay.

But born in a family with
modest means

in a small town in central India,

Abhay had never even met
an athlete with visual impairment.

When I ran for the
first time, they sent me videos.

I'm a fast learner and after
watching them I thought,

"I'll easily do it," but it's very
different in practice.

There was a
nervousness.

I thought, "How would I do it?"

Because it's not easy to run
with another person.

And it all got tested when Abhay
and Simran ran together at

the 2024
World Para Athletics Championships.

They struck gold.

Simran became the world champion
in the 200m T12 category.

But they were disqualified
in the 100m race.

It was our first
competition together,

so we didn't realise.

He thought he had to stop
to let me cross the line first.

So he stopped completely
and let me go ahead,

which meant we got disqualified.

Combination.

Time is ticking for the
2024 Paris Paralympics

and there is a lot to learn
before they're fully synchronised.

A task made even harder
for Rakshitha Raju,

an athlete who is fully blind

and has to place full faith
in her guide and their tether.

I can't see anything.

I can't see anything.

So I believe
in my guide runner more than myself.

I have a lot of confidence
in my tether.

The guide and I hold on to
the tether

and that protects me when I fall.

Rakshita has come a long way
to be able to form this trust.

It's not easy to reach the remote
village in southern India

where she grew up.

Born without vision,
she lost her parents

when she was young
and was raised by her grandmother,

who is speech and hearing impaired.

Their disabilities formed
a strong bond.

My grandmother says
growing up, she didn't have parents.

Neither did Rakshitha.

She says she doesn't want Rakshitha
to end up like her.

Rakshitha's physical education
teacher in her village school

spotted athletic talent in her

and took her
to the metropolitan city Bangalore.

There she'd get better resources
and find her guide runner

and coach Rahul.

Unlike Abhay,
he came with experience.

He had run as a guide
with another blind athlete,

Shawadh, almost a decade earlier.

I ran with Shawadh...

I ran
as a guide runner with Shawadh

at the 2014 Asian Para Games
in Incheon.

He won a bronze medal.

That is when I realised that
if the athlete wins,

I win a medal for the country too.

I felt proud.

Rahul and Rakshitha ran together
and won gold

at the 2018 Asian Para Games.

What was the reaction
in her village?

I will show some videos
in my mobile.

Seeing Rakshitha, many people wanted
to inspire and do sports.

So many schools
and colleges were there.

Everyone came and congratulated her.

In 2023, they bagged their second
gold medal at the Asian Para Games.

But a Paralympic medal remained
out of their reach in Paris.

Yet hope remains,
because Rakshitha has

the certainty of a dedicated
guide runner and coach in Rahul.

Because there are many
like her in villages,

they don't know much about sport.

She should be a role model
for other people, other athletes.

For Simran and Abhay,

there was mixed success at
the Paris Paralympics.

They were well beaten in the 100m.

But in the 200m race
they won bronze and made history.

Simran became the first Indian woman
with visual impairment

to win a Paralympic medal.

I just thought, "I have
to run today

"and not take any pressure."

So I ran
and I didn't even know about

the finish till my guide told me
we ran my personal best timing,

24.7 seconds.

When I saw that she'd
won a medal, I couldn't stop myself.

I jumped down from the stands
with the Indian flag.

I need to change
this colour to gold.

That's my dream.

Or if you can dream it,
you can do it.

It's a shared dream.

And with two minds
and two bodies driving it,

they're determined
to make it a reality.

So that's all from us in Sudan.

You can see my full reporting
from here across BBC News platforms.

And next week we'll be
in South Korea,

which has been embroiled
in political turmoil

since martial law
was imposed last year.

Thanks for joining us
and we'll see you next week.