Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Celia Hatton, and at 16 hours GMT on Thursday, the 15th of January, these are our main stories. An exclusive BBC investigation in Afghanistan reveals a split at the top of the ruling Taliban. Videos and voice messages from Iran show the extent of the government's crackdown on protesters.
And the social media platform X announces new rules for its AI chatbot Grok over the creation of sexualized images of real people. Also in this podcast, Uganda's general election faces widespread delays as President Museveni seeks a seventh term.
And... Dragon, SpaceX, we see splashdown. On behalf of SpaceX and NASA, welcome home, crew 11.
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.
The Taliban are a very secretive government, one of the most secretive with a leader who is not showing his face and do not come out. Pictures are not taken from him. So what we tried to do was to look at into their daily operations and how they are governing Afghanistan. But also last year, there was a leaked audio that we obtained in the BBC and it
In that audio, the leader of the Taliban expresses concern about internal division inside the Taliban. His concern talks about the differences inside the Taliban that could eventually topple down their government.
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Chapter 2: What does the BBC investigation reveal about the Taliban leadership?
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?
It's a very important question, I think. And what we've tried through this investigation to, first of all, take the people and the people of Afghanistan into who are ruling them, because there is a lot of, should I say, secretive or there are secrets, ambiguity and discontent. They're not very sure who are ruling them because they cannot see the leader.
Because we have audiences, we have people who say that Hebatullah al-Ghazala doesn't exist at all because he doesn't show himself. So through this piece, we first confirm that he does exist. But we also go into, through eyewitnesses, through our sources, into his meetings, into his daily operation in Kandahar. How does he talk to people? Where does he go?
What's been the Taliban's response to your reporting?
So the Taliban main spokesman, Zabirullah Mujahid, responded to our questions and he denied flatly that there is any internal division among the Taliban. He said we are aware of what division would do to the Taliban or to any group or to any government. But he did say that there are differences of ideas inside the government.
And just like, as he put it, members of family who have differences on different things. But he said no division.
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.
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Chapter 3: How are the two factions within the Taliban differing in their policies?
to the reputation of the people building this... and indeed to Thailand's plans to modernise its infrastructure. You can see these kinds of building sites... and these kind of ambitious infrastructure improvements... going on all over the country.
And we've heard that only today, this morning, the day after the accident... there's been another very similar accident... on a major road improvement project south of Bangkok... which suggests that there are lingering problems with safety culture... in this country that still need to be addressed. Jonathan Head.
Four astronauts have arrived back on Earth after their mission at the International Space Station was cut short because of an unspecified medical issue. Their space capsules splashed down into the waters off the coast of California.
Dragon, SpaceX, we see splashdown.
SpaceX, Dragon, copy to Kerr. Splashdown and mains are cut. We are in 4.800.
SpaceX copies and we see the same. Mains cut. On behalf of SpaceX and NASA, welcome home, Crew 11.
This was the first medical evacuation that's ever been carried out since crews first started going to the station a quarter of a century ago. The newsroom's Peter Goffin was watching the return.
It started with the SpaceX Dragon capsule, which looks, by the way, like a big metal cone hurtling back into the Earth's atmosphere at around 190 kilometers per hour, deploying four parachutes and floating far more slowly down into the Pacific Ocean in total darkness. This was the middle of the night local time. Now, the capsule was met within minutes by a recovery boat. It was hoisted on board.
And there was this great moment of suspense when the capsule door opened, medical staff and a NASA photographer crawled in, and finally, the first astronaut, Commander Mike Fink, emerged. And then Zina Cardman, then the Japanese astronaut Kimia Yui, and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov. Now, NASA has not said what the illness on board the space station was or which of the astronauts is affected.
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Chapter 4: What impact could the Taliban's internal divisions have on the people of Afghanistan?
This edition was produced by Peter Goffin. It was mixed by Nick Randall. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Celia Hatton. Until next time, goodbye. If journalism is the first draft of history, what happens if that draft is flawed? In 1999, four Russian apartment buildings were bombed, hundreds killed. But even now, we still don't know for sure who did it.
It's a mystery that sparked chilling theories. I'm Helena Merriman, and in a new BBC series, I'm talking to the reporters who first covered this story. What did they miss the first time? The History Bureau, Putin and the apartment bombs. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. MUSIC