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Thank you. It's Friday the 14th of March.

Welcome to the BDB afternoon bulletin.

I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage.

All right, let's get briefed.

First up, China and Russia are attempting to position themselves as mediators in Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons,

uniting on Friday to back the Islamic regime in the face of aggressive U.S. sanctions targeting Tehran's shadowy oil trade.

Later in the show, negotiations to extend the ceasefire in Gaza hit another snag on Friday, as Hamas said they would release an American-Israeli hostage,

but only if Israel agreed to work towards a permanent end to the war. Israel responded by slamming

Hamas for the conditional offer, calling it a, quote, manipulation and an act of

psychological warfare. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. China and Russia are coming to the aid

of Iran, condemning the Trump administration's attempts to pressure the Islamic regime into engaging

in nuclear negotiations and calling for an immediate lifting of what they called,

quote, illegal unilateral sanctions. The trio of American adversaries convened on Friday in Beijing

for high-level talks, well, that's quite the cabal. One wonders if they met in a secret evil

lair located underneath a dormant volcano.

But I digress.

...