Celia Hatton
๐ค SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
Four astronauts are back on Earth after the first ever medical evacuation of the International Space Station.
In the last edition of this podcast, we brought you an exclusive BBC report on a split at the top of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
In a leaked recording, the group's supreme leader, Haibatullah Akanzada, warns that the divisions could bring down his government.
The story is the result of a year-long investigation by the BBC's Afghan service.
And now we want to bring you more details from one of the journalists who worked on it, Zia Sharir.
He told us that while the Taliban has denied the split, it could have huge ramifications for the 44 million people within Afghanistan and how they experience the Taliban's harsh rule.
Within the body of the government, they will set people against one another.
They will criticize each other, so that the system becomes weak and divisions increase.
As a result of these divisions, the Emirate will be destroyed and will simply come to an end.
OK, so now that we're aware of this apparent division within the Taliban, this lack of unity, what difference could this make for people living in Afghanistan?
What's been the Taliban's response to your reporting?
Zia Sharir.
Well, to Iran now.
The state now claims there is calm on the streets after weeks of angry protests, though human rights groups say thousands of people were killed to bring the demonstrations to a halt.
Donald Trump's threat to take action and even use lethal force in support of protesters still looms over Tehran.
Iran closed its airspace for five hours overnight, and its foreign minister has urged the U.S.
president to choose diplomacy, not war.
Where does that leave the protesters?
Iran has not allowed foreign journalists into the country, and a communications blackout has made it difficult to speak to people there.
But Jiar Gol of BBC's Persian service has been piecing together videos and messages from protesters to gain a fuller picture of the violence they've faced.