to desecrating the quran and insulting the prophet muhammad in 2021. rights groups report that iran has put more than 200 prisoners to death since the beginning of the year. and in a further crackdown on high profile figures iran has charged two well known actresses with violating its strict dress codes for women. the president of iran, ebrahim raisi, has ordered an inquiry into the widespread protests seen here triggered by the death in custody of a young woman, mahsa amini, last september. taraneh stone from bbc persian joined me earlier in studio. this wasn t related to a protest per se, but it s causing a lot of concern about the high number of executions that we re hearing here and there in the news lately. we have heard in the news about many executions, especially the execution of minorities. and they re raising concerns over the imminent execution of some minorities, like arab minorities. now, we know that iran is notorious for executions, for death penalties. and w
welcome to the programme welcome we begin in ukraine where at least three civilians have been killed and more than 1a wounded in the last 2a hours in the latest wave of russian missile and drone attacks. the overnight attacks across ten regions of ukraine were the fourth such wave in just over a week. the southern city of odesa has also been targeted. russia has stepped up its aerial attacks ahead of an expected offensive by ukraine. a ukrainian general in bakhmut said russia had intensified its shelling of the devastated city too. russia s wagner group boss says moscow has agreed to his demands for more ammunition days after he threatened to withdraw his men from bakhmut. russian troops and fighters from wagner, a private military company, have been trying to capture bakhmut for months despite the city s questionable strategic value. earlier, zhanna bezpiatchuk from the bbc ukraine service, told us more about the drone attacks to kyiv. we have seen already a ra
told the bbc his country will not be totally free as long as king charles iii remains head of state. dr terrance drew said he would welcome an apology from the monarchy for its historic role in the slave trade. there are 1a commonwealth realms or countries where the king remains head of state. eight are in the caribbean, where questions linger over the crown s role in the slave trade, and whether or not to become republics. our correspondent celestina olulode reports. the shifting tides of constitutional change. this tiny island is reconsidering its relationship with the crown. the prime minister of st kitts and nevis says he wants to give people a say on who their head of state should be. the head of state still resides in the monarchy of england. and so that aspect of it is telling us that we are not totally free yet. that consultation or discussion will start sometime during my leadership. the prime minister is also calling for an apology for the monarchy s historic rol