Intelligence chief of Iranian Revolutionary Guard killed

This episode of the Global News Podcast covers a high-stakes geopolitical crisis as the intelligence chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps, General Majid Khademi, is killed in a U.S.-Israeli airstrike, escalating tensions ahead of Donald Trump's deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz. The assassination, claimed by Israel's Defense Minister, has sparked fears of further escalation, with Iran threatening devastating retaliation and the U.S. warning of targeting civilian infrastructure. Despite diplomatic efforts mediated by Pakistan, Egypt, and Turkey, analysts remain skeptical of a breakthrough, citing Iran's desire for guarantees against future attacks and its strategic leverage over the Hormuz waterway. The episode also highlights humanitarian tragedies, including a Russian drone strike in Odessa that killed a mother and child, and the trapping of 41 miners in occupied Ukraine. In a powerful human interest segment, Ukrainian veterans with severe war injuries perform a theatrical adaptation of Virgil’s Aeneid as a form of healing and reintegration. Elsewhere, the podcast explores NASA’s Artemis II mission reaching the lunar sphere of influence, India’s controversial proposal to deploy crocodiles and snakes along its border with Bangladesh to deter smuggling, and island nations like Jersey and Mauritius pursuing offshore wind energy to achieve energy independence amid climate and economic volatility.