i'd like to talk for a minute about kimia alizadeh, the taekwondo champion.tioned her name to the shopkeeper, would i be able to get into a deep conversation about the champion‘s taekwondo moves? is she that famous? she is not that famous in iran but, if you look at the last several defections, they've tended to be younger iranians, whether the taekwondo champion, or the chess masters. look iranian people have no future in that country. the regime provides nothing for them, especially if you are a woman, you are a second class citizen because of gender apartheid. so a shopkeeper might not recognise this taekwondo champion but they get the story, they understand where she is coming from. we do not really know where she is at the moment but let's talk about the pressures on iranian athletes in general. i know that when they compete abroad, they face problems because their own country does not allow them to face israeli athletes, for an example. it is a tough situation to be an internationally renowned iranian athlete, is it? it is terrible. they get very little

kimia alizadeh, if i went into a shop in tehran and mention her name, would i be able to get into a deeps not that famous in iran but if you look at the last defections, they tended to be younger iranian, the tae champion, chess masters. young people do not have a future here. the regime does not provide a future. especially if you are a woman you are a second plus citizen. you are a woman you are a second plus citizen. they may not know her but understand where she is coming from. we do not know where she is at the moment the pressures on iranian athletes, when they compete abroad, the face problems because for example they are not allowed to face israeli athletes. it is a tough situation? it is terrible. they get very little state support. you will be surprised how many would live in poverty. the careers are constantly damaged because they have to follow the regime's narrow ideology towards israel. if you are a younger person, you are trying to make something of your life and the islamic republic is trying to make it to something you do not want to so naturally you would want to defect

iran's only female 0lympic medallist kimia alizadeh has announced she's defecting.ccount she said she's left her homeland saying ‘dear iranian people, i did not want to climb the stairs of corruption and lies.‘ the taekwondo champion won bronze at the 2016 rio 0lympics. she claims the iranian government exploited her medals politically but then humiliated her. she hasn't confrimed which country she's gone to. serena williams has won her first tennis title in three years at the auckland classic in new zealand. she's donating her prize money to help the relief efforts for the australian bushfires. williams won her final in straight sets. it's her first title since becoming a mum in 2017. a dramatic release of ash and steam from a volcano in the philippines has led the authorities there to order 8,000 people to leave the area. sped—up footage of the taal volcano, south of the philippine capital he manila shows the plume of white smoke that's several kilometres high. as tremors shook the area — sped up footage shows a volcanic lightning storm in the column of steam and

iran's only female olympic medallist, kimia alizadeh, says she's defected because she didn't want toe history for iran in 2016 when she won a bronze medal in taekwondo at the rio olympics. in a post on instagram, alizadeh, who has not revealed where she is, said authorities in the islamic republic had used her success as a propaganda tool. the rugby league community gathered together at headingley stadium in honour of leeds rhinos legend rob burrow who's been diagnosed with motor neurone disease. burrow held back tears as he took to the field in front of more than 20,000 people at a special pre—season friendly featuring current and former players of the rhinos and bradford bulls. i have been lucky enough to win some trophies, but today, bringing the kids out is something beyond that. i've had an absolutely lovely day. there's more on the bbc sport website including the latest from snooker‘s masters, where there's been a shock defeat. but from me, goodnight. and that's it from us. now on bbc one it's time for the news where you are. 00:22:37,983 --> 4294966103:13:29,430 goodnight. hel

iran's only female 0lympic medallist kimia alizadeh has announced her defection.f posts on her social media account, she said she had left her homeland saying "dear iranian people, i did not want to climb the stairs of corruption and lies." the taekwondo champion who won bronze at the 2016 rio 0lympics said the iranian government exploited her medals politically but then humiliated her. alizadeh did not confirm which country she had gone to. serena williams has won her first tennis title in three years at the auckland classic in new zealand and donated her prize money to help the relief efforts for the australian bushfires. williams won her final in straight sets against fellow american jessica pegula. it's her first title since becoming a mum in 2017. bushfire conditions eased in australia over the weekend, giving firefighters some temporary respite. but with more than 100 fires still ablaze in new south wales alone and more hot weather is on its way, the crisis is far from over. prime minister scott morrison has been heavily criticised for his government's slow

moreover, they lost their top female athlete kimia alizadeh has just defected to the west. >> what morepport those protesters and does the united states now basically support a policy of regime change? >> the people of iran will have the ability at some point to elect their own government and be governed by the leaders they choose. we hope that around the world. but that's not our policy. we're going to support human rights. the best thing we can do for the iranian people and for the world is to continue our maximum pressure campaign to ensure the iranian regime never obtains a nuclear weapon. top the terrorist activities in the region. we'll work with our allies. we'll see some additional assistance on that front coming out of europe that's not been forthcoming in the past. you'll see the europeans getting onboard in the coming weeks. >> we got a new poll out this morning showing a majority of americans are concerned about the administration's iran policy. not convinced that it's going to make americans safe and the world safer. we just spoke with nancy pelosi and other members of cong