Russia's president is making a rare visit to Iran today as his war in Ukraine rages on. Europe is struggling to deal with raging wildfires and record heatwaves that sweeping across the content. And, amid a rise in gun violence across the country, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives finally has a permanent director.

An investigative report by a Texas legislative committee outlined a series of "systemic failures" and says law enforcement "failed to prioritize saving the lives of innocent victims over their own safety." Trump's onetime chief political strategist, Steve Bannon, is on trial for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee. And, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired his spy chief and the nation's top prosecutor citing hundreds of cases of alleged treason and collaboration with Russia.

When Randy Schiefer was hospitalized in March 2020 with COVID-19, his chances at survival didn't look good. After nearly a month in a medically induced coma he pulled through, but an experience he had while unconscious left him forever changed. Randy shares the story of his near-death experience and psychiatrist Dr. Bruce Greyson shares what he's learned from 50 years of studying what happens when people are close to death.

To learn more about Dr. Greyson's research visit his website or the International Association For Near-Death Studies.

President Biden wraps up his trip to the Middle East with a visit to Saudi Arabia to discuss the nation's security and energy interests. Ukraine calls the Russian long-range missile strike on Vinnytsia that killed dozens of people an act of terrorism. A new national hotline launches to meet the needs of people with mental health emergencies.

The inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security says the U.S Secret Service deleted texts sent during a two-day period surrounding the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, shortly after the texts were requested. President Biden is in the occupied West Bank meeting Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. And Russian missiles killed and wounded dozens of civilians, including children in Vinnytsia, Ukraine.

President Biden is set to expand security ties with Israel. Companies report their second quarter earnings which could indicate how the economy is doing. And Sri Lanka is in a political turmoil as demands for a change in leadership continue.

The House committee focused on the former President Trump and his allies attempts to embolden the far-right groups to protest on January 6th. President Biden's trip to the Middle East begins with a first stop in Israel. And a newly released surveillance video from Robb Elementary in Uvalde shows police officers gathering in the hallway for more than an hour and not attempting to stop the gunman.

In its seventh public hearing, the House select committee will examine the role of far-right extremist groups in the January 6th attack. Mexican President Lopez Obrador is visiting the U.S. for talks with President Biden. And NASA's Space Telescope James Webb reveals new images from the earliest galaxies in the universe.

Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party and its allies have won Japan's parliamentary election, just days after his assassination. The new Omicron subvariant known as BA.5 dominates the US now. And we take a look at two groups that are behind many of the anti-abortion rights laws.

In this Peabody Award-winning episode, Throughline shifts the perspective on Afghanistan, looking not at a country devastated by war and famine but at a place and a people at the center of the world. A country where countless civilizations have intersected, weaving a colorful tapestry of foods, languages, ethnicities and visions of what Afghanistan was and could be.

This is Part 1 of the Throughline series on Afghanistan. The series continues with Part 2 and Part 3.