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Again, text PDB to 989-89-898. It's Friday the 2nd. It's Friday the 2nd of January. I hope your new year is off to a very good start. Welcome to the PDB

afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed.

First up, protests in Iran turn deadly as security forces open fire, adding fuel to an already volatile situation,

and drawing a sharp warning from the White House. Later in the show, a New York Times investigation

has revealed how a marijuana boom in rural Oklahoma led investigators to New York,

shadowy ownership networks, and unexpected ties to China.

But first, today's afternoon spotlight.

Earlier this week, we told you about growing protests across Iran, demonstrations driven by a

collapsing economy, soaring prices, a lack of basic resources, and long-simmering anger toward the regime.

Now, those protests have taken a deadly turn. What began as scattered demonstrations as

escalated into violent clashes between protesters and Iranian security forces, leaving

multiple people dead and pushing an already volatile situation closer to the edge.

According to reports, protests erupted across several Iranian cities, as crowds gathered to

denounce economic mismanagement, corruption, and a steep decline in living standards.

Witnesses described chance targeting senior leadership, with demonstrators openly challenging the authority

of the Islamic Republic in a way that we haven't seen at scale since, well, since the nationwide

unrest of 2022. And the response from authorities has been swift and now lethal. Iranian security forces,

...