Arson attacks in Bangladesh before general election

At least 14 polling stations in Bangladesh have reportedly been set on fire a day before the general election. The main opposition, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, is urging people to boycott the polls and join a two-day strike.

Also in the programme: a reports shows thousands of Afghan women and young girls are joining online study programmes despite the Taliban's government ban on female education; and are advanced running shoes making life too easy for athletes?

Joining presenter Paul Henley are Yasmeen Serhan, a US-born foreign affairs writer for Time magazine, based in London and Olly Haynes, a British freelance journalist and writer who covers 'social movements'.

(Picture: Firefighters and local people work together to extinguish fire after a passenger train caught fire, ahead of the general election, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, January 5, 2024. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain REFILE - QUALITY REPEAT )