A young radio producer in Afghanistan is given an impossible task: to create a brand new, revolutionary talent show in just two months.

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To purchase original Afghan Star artwork visit www.awastudios.com/afghanstar — proceeds go to support The Noor Initiative, who are on a mission to ensure every Afghan girl has access to education and opportunity.

Music at the end of this episode from Afghan musician Qais Maroof, contestant on The Voice of Afghanistan.

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Check out this new podcast from Mangesh's good friend and collaborator Jo Piazza! 

Every family has an origin story – for author Jo Piazza (Under the Influence, Wilder) her family's is a murder mystery. For as long as she can remember the Piazzas have told the story of their Sicilian roots going back over a hundred years ago: one by one the sons and then their father sailed off to America to carve out a better life. Their mother, Lorenza Marsala was supposed to join them – but she never made it. She was murdered by the Sicilian mafia, they said. The truth of what happened has morphed like a game of telephone through the generations. Various versions of the story claim she was killed by the Black Hand, others insisted she was a witch, killed over a bad spell. Now, Jo is determined to untangle the twisted narrative which just might bridge the gap from cinematic mob fantasies to an unexpected reality. Join her in Sicily on a family vacation/fact finding mission in which she goes to the scene of the crime, confronts mafia experts, consults mediums, and tracks down Italian officials, determined to set the record straight on her great, great grandmother’s mysterious disappearance.

Listen here and subscribe to The Sicilian Inheritance on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!

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They seemed like superheroes. When a group called the Love Commandos leapt into the public eye in India, they pledged to do something that most government agencies and police departments couldn't do: protect and shelter young lovers on the run. Our friends over at NPR's Rough Translation in their final season takes us on a rare look inside that secret shelter with its strange mix of revolutionary ideas, petty grievances and old traditions that die hard. The stories from couples who lived there will make you ask yourself: How much are you willing to sacrifice in the name of love?

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Miles and the team learn how Vassilis and his gang pulled off the biggest bank robbery in Greek history without firing a single shot.

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When music promoter and DJ Jean-Claude Olivier is shot outside a club in Miami, Little Haiti wonders – how much further is this going to go?

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In this final episode, Mangesh makes some trips to an old family home, a seaside town in South Goa,  and visits with a Tantric astrologer (it's not what you think!), as he tries to get closure. 

We made you a mixtape. Listen to Sounds from Skyline Drive Vol 1 and Vol 2. 

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Mangesh travels to India to find a horoscope written about him centuries ago and waiting for him in a shop in rural Tamil Nadu... but it isn't long before everything starts going wrong! 

Listen to the Skyline Drive mixtape Vol 1 and Vol 2. 

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Traveling at five miles a second, 250 miles above the Earth’s surface, Soviet cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev wakes to a message from his handlers on the ground: the Soviet Union is collapsing. And so is the Soviet Space agency. You have a choice: come down as planned and abandon the world’s only space station to an unknown fate. Or stay, protect the final outpost of a falling empire and risk your life? 

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As George navigates the Los Angeles dating scene, one thing keeps derailing his relationships: every girl he’s into is "too into astrology." Plus, Mangesh’s mom tells him about a bizarre curse that’s been plaguing his family for generations, and we discuss why your astrologer might ask you to get married to a tree. 

Listen to the Skyline Drive mixtape Vol 1 and Vol 2. 

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As Annie attempts to clean out her parents’ garage and sort their finances, she has an unusual question for our astrologer. Meanwhile, Mangesh learns how astrology is affecting the world of C-sections, discusses reading babies' palms in utero, and hears a surprising story from his sister.  

PLEASE NOTE: there are explicit lyrics and curses in this episode. (Keep your hands over your kiddos’ ears! Or hit pause until they walk out of the room.) 

Listen to the Skyline Drive mixtape Vol 1 and Vol 2. 

Like what you hear? Follow us @kscope_nyc on Instagram and Twitter.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.