This is the Global News Podcasts.

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

I'm Keith Adams and at 430 GMT on Friday the 9th of January, these are our main stories.

Iranians are taking to the streets in the biggest

anti-government protests in years. The government in Venezuela says it's begun releasing political

prisoners in order to promote peace. Colombia's president tells the BBC he believes there is a real

threat of US military action against his country.

Also in this podcast, Star Trek like sick bays, we maybe need doctors on the staff, surgeons, robotic surgery, all those sorts of things.

As NASA prepares to evacuate the sick crew member from the International Space Station,

we'll ask how to keep a growing number of space travellers healthy.

Tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets of Iran

in the country's biggest demonstration for years.

The rallies began nearly two weeks ago

with shopkeepers railing against a sharp fall in the value of the Iranian currency against the

dollar. But protesters are now calling for the removal of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini.

At least 40 demonstrators and five security personnel have been killed,

and President Trump has threatened to strike Iran very hard

if the authorities continue to kill those demonstrating.

Our world affairs correspondent Caroline Hawley has more details.

In towns and cities across Iran, protesters have taken over the streets, tens of thousands of

them in extraordinary scenes posted on social media. For days, there's been unrest in Iran, sparked

by an economic crisis. But what's happening now, the numbers involved, is on an altogether

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