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Tensions between China and Taiwan have intensified after one of America's most senior politicians, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, visited the self-declared separate state.

The trip provoked the Chinese to carry out military exercises in the Taiwan Strait - causing concern among the international community.

On the Sky News Daily podcast, Saima Mohsin explores what China wants from Taiwan and what the future holds for cross-strait relations with Amanda Hsiao, a senior analyst for the International Crisis Group specialising in China, and Oriana Skylar Mastro, who is a China and security expert at the Institute for International Studies at Stanford University.

Producer: Emma Rae Woodhouse
Interviews producer: Madeleine Drury
Podcast promotion producer: David Chipakupaku
Editor: Philly Beaumont

After big energy companies BP, Centrica, and Shell announced billion-pound profits, many have wondered why their energy bills are still increasing.

On the Sky News Daily, Saima Mohsin is joined by our business correspondent Helen-Ann Smith to help explain why profits don’t mean lower bills.

Also on the podcast are Ecotricity founder Dale Vince, Dr Adi Imsirovic, a senior research fellow at the Oxford Institute of Energy Studies, and Gemma Hatvani, from Energy Support and Advice UK.

Producer: Soila Apparicio
Interviews producer: Madeleine Drury
Podcast promotions producer: David Chipakupaku
Editor: Philly Beaumont

Having been introduced to a new city and culture, how easy is it to establish yourself and make new friends? We hear from Ali who, along with his wife and son, were among the first Afghans to settle in Peterhead. Arriving in the most eastern part of the Scottish mainland, to storms and power cuts, will his mantra to ‘turn challenges into opportunities’ be enough to help them stay in the town? From processing paperwork to understanding accents, we hear how even the highly skilled arrivals have to adjust to a new system and establish themselves again. Who is best placed to adapt? And who and what helps new arrivals adjust? Meanwhile Malalai and her parents have made some new friends.

Presenter - Stuart Ramsay
Producers - Anne-Marie Bullock with Dominque van Heerden
Digital production - David Chipakupaku
Sound design - Will Chalk
Editor - Paul Stanworth

From first sight of the UK, to quarantine and being taken to a new city…families placed in Bristol share their experiences of starting from scratch in a new country and new city.

Yusef, Sherbano, Malalai and Afzal speak 1 about the level of support they have. We also hear from members of Bristol city council about learning hundreds of refugees would be arriving in hotels and how they’ve tried to find accommodation for them. From new babies, new jobs and new skills the refugees share how they’re helping each other find their feet and move forwards, but their minds are still with family left back in Afghanistan.

Presenter - Stuart Ramsay
Reporter – Lisa Holland
Producers - Anne-Marie Bullock with Dominque van Heerden
Digital production - David Chipakupaku
Sound design - Will Chalk
Editor - Paul Stanworth

First-hand accounts from two families who were caught up in the chaos of Kabul airport as they had to flee Afghanistan. Yusef had travelled to the UK in advance and was in quarantine when the Taliban seized control of the capital. His wife Sherbano was in shock when she saw them seize the police station and she was forced to leave their home and take their daughter Malalai and teenage nephew to the airport. Reports of crowd surges and deaths had already spread and she was terrified of what lay ahead. Nine-year-old Malalai also shares how they struggled to get through and saw Western military and Taliban forces face to face at the airport.

Afzal had not believed NATO forces would really withdraw from Afghanistan and was trying to get his passport on the day the capital was seized. His family were separated in the airport grounds and he shares his desperate struggle to unite with his pregnant wife and three children in the crowds and get them onto a flight before the deadline passed.

Presenter - Stuart Ramsay
Producer - Anne-Marie Bullock with Dominque van Heerden
Digital production - David Chipakupaku
Sound design - Will Chalk
Editor - Paul Stanworth

Seva learns that his friend is quitting his job as a lawyer to become a full-time soldier.
Returning by road from Belgium, Oksana dodges a series of air strikes.
Meanwhile, Ilyas reveals how he and fellow Ukrainians are combating the Russian disinformation war.

BACKGROUND

Seva, 40, is a company CEO and husband to Oksana. Before the war, he travelled across Europe for business. Now, he makes regular supply drops of medical aid and rations to Ukrainian troops on the front line in Eastern Ukraine. He’s originally from a small village near Dnipro.

Oksana, 35, works in overseas education. She lives with her husband, Seva, in an apartment complex in central Kyiv and has remained in the Ukrainian capital since the war started. 
Many of Oksana’s closest friends have left the country to begin new lives in Europe. Some may never return. She’s determined to stay.
 
Ilyas is an IT specialist and married father who fled from Kyiv to Lviv shortly after the war started. His wife Natalia, and two young sons are taking refuge in Poland.
As of August 2022, Ilyas is back living in the family apartment in Kyiv and working, in part, for the Ukrainian government on various projects.
 
Ukraine War Diaries uses first-person audio, recorded on the ground in Ukraine, to give an intimate day-to-day perspective of life in a war zone.

Week 18 diary entries were recorded using WhatsApp voice note.
 
From the producers of Sky News’ multi-award winning series – StoryCast.
 
Producer Rob Mulhern
Editing Paul Stanworth
Digital Promotion David Chipakupaku