This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service.

I'm Jackie Leonard and in the early hours of Saturday, the 11th of March, these are our

main stories.

Iran and Saudi Arabia restored diplomatic ties after seven years.

The US sees its first major bank failure since the 2008 financial crisis and Donald Trump

has been invited to testify to a grand jury over the Stormy Daniels case.

So in this podcast, the story of how a young Afghan woman and her family escaped from

the Taliban to safety in Germany.

Every moment whilst I was in Afghanistan, I was scared that someone is looking at me.

I was worried that someone would spot me.

There have been years of diplomatic dispute, political posturing and proxy warfare, but now

the Saudis and Iranians are turning over a new page and have agreed to reestablish diplomatic

relations.

The rapprochement comes after Beijing broke out talks in China.

Speaking in Beijing, Ali Shambhani, secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council,

said he hoped the agreement would bring the two countries together.

At the end of the talks, we reached a conclusion to start a new chapter after seven years of

severed relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia.

We considered the matters of the two countries and the security and future of the region

to prevent meddling from countries outside the area and western states and consistent

meddling from the Zionist regime in the region.

Our security correspondent Frank Gardner gave us his assessment.

...