Read the daily news to learn English

Iran protests appear to slow under weight of brutal crackdown

Iran’s nationwide protest movement appeared to have slowed on Thursday under the weight of a brutal crackdown by authorities that has left thousands dead and put tens of thousands in prison. In Tehran, Iranians reported relative calm on the streets as the sound of gunfire faded and fires were extinguished – a marked contrast from the weeks before when large crowds confronted security forces. The slowdown of protests came just two days after Donald Trump urged Iranians to “keep protesting – take over your institutions”, promising “help is on its way”. Intelligence assessments had indicated that the US was preparing to strike Iran, a move Trump had threatened if Iran’s government killed protesters. But on Wednesday night Trump appeared to walk back from the brink of a military intervention, telling reporters that Iranian authorities were halting executions. “We’ve been told that the killing in Iran is stopping – it’s stopped – it’s stopping. And there’s no plan for executions, or an execution, or execution – so I’ve been told that on good authority,” Trump said. The White House later claimed that 800 executions scheduled in Iran had been halted. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump and his team had warned that there would be “grave consequences” if killings continued. “The president understands today that 800 executions that were scheduled and supposed to take place yesterday, were halted,” she said. But Trump continues closely watching the situation, she said. “All options remain on the table for the president,” Leavitt said. The US ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, echoed those sentiments at a meeting of the UN security council on Thursday night, saying the US stands by the “brave people of Iran” and Trump “has made it clear all options are on the table to stop the slaughter”. Hossein Darzi, the deputy Iranian ambassador to the UN, blasted the US for what he claimed was its “direct involvement in steering unrest in Iran to violence”. “Under the hollow pretext of concern for the Iranian people and claims of support for human rights, the United States is attempting to portray itself as a friend of the Iranian people, while simultaneously laying the groundwork for political destabilisation and military intervention under a so-called ‘humanitarian’ narrative,” Darzi said. Russia’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, accused the US of convening the meeting in a bid to “justify blatant aggression and interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign state”. Russia defended Iran’s actions, the only member of the council to do so. France’s UN ambassador, Jérôme Bonnafont, called for the immediate release of all those arbitrarily detained and the suspension of the death penalty, while Britain’s deputy ambassador, Archibald Young, said “Iran must urgently change course” and respect the fundamental rights of Iranians, “including the right to protest without fear of violence or repression”. At least 2,637 people have been killed in the protests, according to the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. Among them was an Iranian Red Crescent staffer who the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said was killed in northern Iran on Saturday. Five other Red Crescent staffers were wounded, prompting the organisation to call for the protection of humanitarian workers. It is understood Trump reviewed the full range of options to strike Iran but was unconvinced that any single action would lead to decisive change. Trump has pulled off misleading feints with Iran in the past. In June, he suggested US officials were fully engaged in negotiations with their Iranian counterparts over its nuclear programme, when in reality he was preparing the strikes for the 12-day war last summer. Iranian authorities also toned down their rhetoric on Wednesday, after a week of threatening retaliatory strikes against the US, with the foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, urging the US to engage in negotiations. Araghchi added that the authorities had no plan to hang people, Iranian state media reported on Thursday. Iranian state media claimed that 26-year-old Erfan Soltani, the first protester sentenced to death, would not be executed. Soltani had been scheduled to be put to death on Wednesday and had become a symbol for the repression of protesters in Iran around the world. Despite Trump’s comments that the killing would stop, Iranian authorities have continued to go after protesters. Iranian media trumpeted the arrest of protesters it labelled “terrorists”, while the internet shutdown entered its seventh day – surpassing communication blackouts during previous protest movements. Authorities were reportedly searching for Starlink satellite dishes, posting pictures of shipments of the devices they said they had seized, cracking down on one of the only ways to communicate with the outside world. Rights groups expressed concerns about forced confessions among arrested protesters, as state media showed the hardliner chief justice, Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, personally questioning detainees. Ejei, who has been placed under sanctions by the US and EU, is accused by opposition groups of being involved in the 1988 mass execution of political prisoners. Footage broadcast on Thursday showed Ejei interrogating women, one of whom stood accused of sending a message to the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Another woman, accused of dropping concrete blocks on security forces, said as Ejei interrogated her: “I don’t know what happened, why I did something so foolish.” From the very beginning, state media have broadcast footage of such confessions, as authorities attempt to cast the protests as a foreign-instigated movement to destabilise Iran. The Norway-based Iran Human Rights group said: “Confessions that were obtained under coercion and torture being aired prior to legal proceedings violate the right of defendants to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.” Protests started on 28 December after a sudden slide in the value of the country’s currency, and quickly expanded to demands for political reform and even an end to the Iranian regime. The protest movement spread to all 31 provinces. It is the most serious bout of unrest the government has faced in decades. Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said on Thursday that the government was trying to ameliorate living conditions in the country and address the issues that sparked the protests. He vowed to target corruption and price gouging, which he expected would improve Iranians’ purchasing power. Iran’s national currency has lost two-thirds of its value over the past three years while the price of basic goods has soared, with food prices increasing by 72% since last year. Analysts have said that while the protests point to underlying systemic issues in Iran that will be problematic for the Iranian regime in the long term, state collapse is unlikely. The concern was echoed by Israeli and Arab officials, who told the US administration in recent days that the Iranian regime was not yet weak enough for American strikes to topple it, NBC reported on Tuesday. Trump was lobbied hard by leaders in the Middle East not to go ahead with strikes that would have been certain to lead to an Iranian counterstrikes on US bases across the region. On social media, some Iranians expressed disappointment with Trump’s seeming about-face on military intervention. An AI photo of Trump pulling off a mask to reveal the former US president Barack Obama, whom Iran’s diaspora depicted as soft on Iran, was widely shared. Foreign ministers from the G7 said they were “prepared to impose additional restrictive measures” on Iran over its handling of the protests and the “deliberate use of violence, the killing of protesters, arbitrary detention and intimidation tactics”.

Ukraine war briefing: Russian attack destroys Kharkiv energy facility as UK pledges emergency support

Russian forces destroyed a large energy facility in Ukraine’s second-biggest city, Kharkiv, the mayor said on Thursday, the latest target of a winter air campaign by Moscow that has plunged millions of Ukrainians into darkness and cold. Kharkiv mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram that emergency crews were working around the clock, while he did not specify what sort of facility had been hit. Regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said officials were assessing the extent of damage. Volodymyr Zelenskyy proceeded with a drive to tackle the damage inflicted by Russian strikes, chairing a meeting aimed at securing quick decisions from regional leaders. The Ukrainian president said there had been new strikes on the capital into the evening. Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said about 300 apartment buildings remained without heat after a 9 January attack knocked out heating to half the city’s high-rises. The UK on Friday announced new emergency energy support of £20m ($27m) for Ukraine after Zelenskyy declared a state of emergency following sustained attacks on the country’s power infrastructure. He acted as emergency crews worked to restore heating and electricity in Kyiv and other cities after last week’s attacks by Russia knocked out supplies during sub-zero temperatures. The British support includes funding aimed at keeping electricity and heating on in homes, hospitals and schools across winter. The Ukrainian prime minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, introduced measures to deal with power and heating outages, reducing overnight curfews and allowing businesses and government institutions to import more power. School holidays in Kyiv were extended until 1 February. Foreign minister Andrii Sybiha said the foreign and energy ministries had organised an appeal for funds to help tackle Ukraine’s energy problems, similar to periodic meetings on arms supplies. Norway, he said, had made an initial grant of $200m. The International Monetary Fund chief is in Ukraine for the first time since 2023 for high-level meetings, the fund said on Thursday, as Kyiv awaits approval on key funding nearly four years since Russia’s invasion. IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva was in Kyiv for a “short visit” during which she would meet with Zelenskyy and other top leaders, an IMF spokesperson said. Nato secretary general Mark Rutte spoke to Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss the latest Russian attacks on Ukraine. Rutte posted on X that they talked on Thursday “about the energy situation in Ukraine, with Russia’s attacks causing terrible human suffering, as well as on the ongoing efforts to bring an end to the war”. He also said: “We’re committed to ensuring that Ukraine continues to get the crucial support needed to defend today and ultimately secure a lasting peace.” In his account of the conversation, Zelenskyy said he discussed the “serious challenges” posed by the latest Russian strikes and the need to bolster Ukraine’s air defences. Anti-corruption investigators have reportedly accused Yulia Tymoshenko, the prominent Ukrainian opposition figure and former prime minister, of organising a scheme to bribe MPs – said to include figures from Zelenskyy’s own party – to undermine him. A spokesperson for the specialised anti-corruption prosecutor’s office (Sapo) said on Wednesday that Tymoshenko had been charged after the offices of her Fatherland party were raided late on Tuesday night by officers from Sapo and the national anti-corruption bureau, report Peter Beaumont and Artem Mazhulin. Tymoshenko has not been formally identified but she released a statement denying any accusations. Zelenskyy said on Thursday that Ukraine was not an obstacle to peace, pushing back against comments made a day earlier by Donald Trump. “We also talked about diplomatic work with America – Ukraine has never been and will never be an obstacle to peace,” the Ukrainian president said in his nightly video address.

Could Labor’s hate speech laws damage Australia’s free speech? Here’s what you need to know about the contentious bill

Labor’s hate speech bill has alarmed free speech advocates, who say it could have unintended consequences because it was rushed through without enough consultation. Labor says the bill, which would criminalise hate speech, create a new “hate group” listing, establish a gun buyback and create new grounds to reject or cancel visas, would strengthen national security and national unity. But the pathway through parliament looks increasingly difficult, with the Liberals calling the bill “pretty unsalvageable” and the Greens warning they would not pass it “in its current form”. Labor would need either party to pass it through the Senate. In a statement Greens deputy, Mehreen Faruqi, said the “legacy of the appalling violence at Bondi cannot be the undermining of civil and political rights”, objecting to laws that can be used to “weaponise” racism and hate against Australians. Sign up: AU Breaking News email Here’s what you need to know. Could the bill limit free speech? Concerns have been raised around whether adding the concept of “hatred” in speech to criminal law could be too open to interpretation by the courts. The new racial vilification law, in its current form, would require a court to find that an individual charged with that crime had “intent” to cause hatred, and that the conduct would cause a “reasonable” person from that targeted group to “fear harassment, intimidation or violence, or for their safety”. Peter Kurti, a researcher at the Centre for Independent Studies, said that the second part could be problematic. “This invites subjective or politicised judgments about emotional impact rather than objective harm,” he told the parliamentary inquiry examining the bill on Wednesday. Human Rights Commissioner, Lorraine Finlay, also warned that the wording of the legislation needed to strike the right balance between protecting groups and protecting freedom of speech and expression. “The Bathurst review did raise concerns around the introduction of concepts like hatred and whether that introduces imprecision and subjectivity to criminal law,” Finlay told the parliamentary committee on Wednesday. The New South Wales Council for Civil Liberties has warned the bill will impose “significant limits” on free speech, with no guarantee they will improve social cohesion. The council also warned the racial vilification offence and the hate group listing would give a minister extraordinary powers along with “a remarkable lack of accountability”. “Criminalising speech in this way is potentially problematic in allowing for selective or biased enforcement by individual members of law enforcement agencies,” the group wrote in its submission to the parliamentary inquiry. But University of NSW law professor, Luke McNamara, said there was some balance within the legislation between outlawing hate speech and protecting free speech, calling criminalisation in this scenario a “high bar”. “I think it’s an important way of reassuring members of the community, the wider community, that the Australian government remains committed to the idea that there should be lots of room for people to express their political views but that there are certain legitimate limits.” Who could be inadvertently effected? Kurti also raised concern about the new listing for “hate groups”, which would criminalise membership or support of a designated organisation, suggesting it could capture academics and journalists. “‘Support’ is so broad that it could capture academic analysis or journalistic inquiry. I think this moves us from criminalising acts to criminalising association and alignment, with heavy executive discretion and limited judicial oversight,” he said. While the laws currently provide an exemption for the export or import of objectionable goods, for example banned symbols, for “a religious, academic, educational, artistic, literary or scientific purpose”, that same exemption does not exist for the racial vilification law. In its submission to the parliamentary inquiry, Universities Australia called on the government to provide an exemption within the new racial vilification rules to allow academic teaching, research and debate to be done “in good faith”. “Universities are required to facilitate rigorous examination of complex, contested, and at times, divisive issues and the provision may have a chilling effect on such debate, particularly given the lowered threshold for a determination that a communication is hate speech,” they wrote. The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance said the bill could undermine “core principles of press freedom and freedom of artistic expression”, and said it poses a threat to Australia’s democracy. What protections do we have? Citizens have an implied right to the freedom of political communication, but not a constitutional right to free speech. This is different to a country such as the United States that has protected freedom of speech and religion within amendments to their constitution. Australians do have the right to “freedom of religion” within the constitution. The human rights to freedom of expression, freedom of association and the right to peaceful assembly are protected under international law, under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which Australia has agreed to comply with. McNamara said that while critics might point to the free speech rights in the US, it is an “outlier” and most countries “recognise that there are legitimate reasons for restricting free speech in a variety of contexts”. Did Labor give us enough time to consider the bill? The Australian Human Rights Commission supports criminalising hate speech, but its president, Hugh de Krester, said allowing only three days to examine the bill was “insufficient”. “These are complex issues and so, if they’re rushed, the risk is that you get unintended consequences or the law is not as effective as it should be in achieving its aim of promoting safety and addressing hate speech, while avoiding unnecessary limitations on other rights, like freedom of religion, freedom of expression, freedom of association and protest rights,” de Krester told the parliamentary inquiry on Wednesday. Gemma Cafarella, President of Liberty Victoria, said not enough had been done to consult with and inform the wider public, and warned that the new powers which she described as “poorly considered and draconian measures” would probably be challenged by the high court. “We are extremely concerned by the federal government’s rushed approach to these proposed laws … Laws that inappropriately limit freedom of speech, religion and association are only going to further drive division.” But the the ECAJ co-chief executive, Peter Wertheim, has encouraged Ley to “not allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good” on the draft laws, saying the bill would offer urgent new protections, including through powers for legal designation of hate groups.

Spanish police break up gang that used swimmers to hide cocaine on ships

Spanish police have arrested 30 people and seized almost 2.5 tonnes of cocaine after breaking up a criminal network that used teams of young swimmers to hide the drugs on moving, Europe-bound ships which were then attacked and relieved of their unwitting cargo before reaching port. The 15-month investigation began in October 2024 when Policía Nacional officers found 88kg of cocaine in a vehicle in the southern Spanish town of Mijas. The drugs led them to three gangs, including a Balkan cartel, who were working together to bring huge quantities of cocaine into Spain from Colombia. “The gangs used the so-called ‘monkey’ technique to get the shipments of cocaine into maritime containers that were being transported on container ships,” the force said in a statement on Thursday. “The drug-trafficking technique involves using youngsters from poor backgrounds who are good swimmers to get the drugs on to ships while they’re at sea. “Members of the same organisation then headed to Spain in order to get to the containers by intercepting the ships carrying them before they reached the strait of Gibraltar.” One such attempt was thwarted in the middle of last year when a ship bound for the port of Cádiz informed the maritime rescue service that it had found stowaways on its deck, leading to the seizure of a container in which 1.4 tonnes of cocaine had been stashed. The stowaways turned out to be three men tasked with recovering the drugs, who then fled. Not long after, a ship passing through Portuguese waters reported armed stowaways on board. But the men managed to unload bundles of cocaine that had been hidden in a container and hand them to their accomplices before evading the authorities. In the autumn of last year, officer came across five men – three Colombians and two Spain-based members of the Balkan cartel – who were using speedboats and the “drop-off” method to collect their drugs. “This method involves throwing the merchandise from a merchant ship for collection by smaller vessels near the destination country, subduing the ship’s crew and extracting the drugs from inside the containers, using military techniques and weapons of war,” the statement added. The drugs were then hidden in towns and villages along the Gulf of Cádiz and later transported by road to other European countries. As well as confiscating 2,475kg of cocaine and various assault weapons during the operation, police seized boarding ladders, nautical equipment, eight high-end vehicles, more than €166,000 (£144,000) in cash and watches, and jewellery worth €100,000. On Monday the Policía Nacional announced its largest-ever seizure of cocaine at sea after officers found almost 10 tonnes of the drug hidden amid a cargo of salt on a merchant ship off the Canary Islands.

Anger in Iceland over incoming US ambassador’s ‘52nd state’ joke

Thousands of people have signed a petition expressing anger after Donald Trump’s nominee for ambassador to Iceland reportedly joked that the Nordic country should become the 52nd US state. On Wednesday, hours before top officials from Greenland and Denmark were to meet with the US in the hope of warding off Trump’s threats to seize the Arctic island, the news outlet Politico said it had heard of musings regarding another Nordic island. “We heard that former Rep Billy Long, Trump’s nominee for ambassador to Iceland, joked to members on the floor last night that Iceland will be the 52nd state and he’ll be governor,” Politico wrote in its morning newsletter. The reaction in Reykjavík was swift. In a statement to the Guardian, Iceland’s foreign ministry said it had contacted the US embassy for clarification. “The ministry for foreign affairs contacted the US embassy in Iceland to verify the veracity of the alleged comments,” it said. In a petition calling on Iceland’s foreign minister, Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, to reject Long as ambassador to the country, critics said: “These words, spoken by Billy Long, whom Donald Trump has nominated as ambassador to Iceland, may have been said in jest. Still, they are offensive to Iceland and the Icelandic people, who have had to fight for their freedom and have always been a friend to the United States,” the petition read. Within hours of its launch, more than 3,200 people had signed the petition, backing the call for the US to “nominate another person who shows greater respect for Iceland and the Icelandic people”. On Wednesday Long reportedly apologised for the remarks in an interview with Arctic Today, a news website that covers the region. The outlet quoted him as saying the comments had been made in jest as others were joking about Jeff Landry, Trump’s US special envoy to Greenland. “There was nothing serious about that, I was with some people, who I hadn’t met for three years, and they were kidding about Jeff Landry being governor of Greenland and they started joking about me and if anyone took offence to it, then I apologise,” the publication quoted Long as saying. Though Long said he could understand why the comments would have set off a reaction, he was adamant they were a joke and should not be taken seriously. “I apologise and that’s my only comment, I look forward to working with the people of Iceland and I apologise it was taken that way. I was with a group of friends and there was nothing serious about it,” he added. On Thursday, Sigmar Guðmundsson, an MP for Iceland whose centrist Liberal Reform party is part of the country’s governing coalition, described the remarks as “not a particularly funny joke” given the tensions over Greenland. “It goes without saying that this is extremely serious for a small country like Iceland,” he told the Icelandic newspaper Morgunblaðið. “We must realise that all the security arguments that the Americans cite regarding Greenland also apply to Iceland. This is about the location of these two islands.” He described the comments as a sign of the growing disrespect in the US towards the sovereignty of small states. “Icelanders also have to have the courage, despite our very friendly relations with the United States, not least through Nato, to discuss where and how our security interests are best served in this changing world.”

G7 threatens more sanctions for Iran amid ’high level of reported deaths and injuries’ - as it happened

We are pausing our live coverage, thank you so much for reading along. Here’s a brief recap of the main developments: The head of the European Commission said the EU is considering further sanctions on Iran, as she described the killing of young people as a human tragedy. The UN security council will hold an emergency meeting to discuss Iran’s crackdown on protests, following a request by the United States, around 3pm ET. The Trump administration announced new sanctions against more than a dozen Iranian individuals and entities that it alleges are the “architects” of the regime’s brutal crackdown on protesters, and whom laundered the revenue generated by oil sales to foreign markets. A local Red Crescent staff member was killed and five others were injured while on duty in Iran, the global Red Cross federation said. A Canadian citizen died in Iran at the hands of the Iranian authorities, Canada’s foreign minister Anita Anand disclosed, but she did not give details of how or when. Condemning the regime’s violence, Anand said that peaceful protests by Iranians who are “asking that their voices be heard” have led the regime to “flagrantly disregard human life”. New Zealand’s foreign affairs minister said he is “appalled by the escalation of violence and repression in Iran” and condemned the “brutal crackdown” by the security forces, “including the killing of protesters”.

Gulf states and Turkey warned Trump strikes on Iran could lead to major conflict

Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Oman urged Donald Trump not to launch airstrikes against Iran in a last-minute lobbying campaign prompted by fears that an attack by Washington would lead to a major and intractable conflict across the Middle East. The warnings of chaos from the longstanding US allies appear to have helped persuade Trump late on Wednesday to hold off for the moment on a military assault. In the case of Saudi Arabia, its reticence led it to deny the US use of its airspace to mount any attacks. Continuing discussions, the Saudi Arabian foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, conferred by phone with his counterparts from Iran, Oman and Turkey on Thursday. Iran remains politically apart from the Gulf states, partly owing to its continued support for its weakened network of regional proxies, known as the axis of resistance, and its refusal to back a two state-solution for Palestine as well as disputes over three islands in the Gulf claimed by the United Arab Emirates, a claim backed by the Gulf Cooperation Council. But Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, has also undertaken a series of visits to Arab capitals that are said to have improved relations. Last year, for instance, he visited Bahrain, the first Iranian minister to do since 2010. He also visited Cairo four times last year in an effort to improve relations. The two sides had severed diplomatic relations in 2016. The Saudi-Iranian relationship, once the most fraught in the Middle East, has been on a recovery path for three years. Araghchi makes a point of being photographed sampling local cuisine in the Arab capitals he visits. All the Gulf states are further aware of the disruption Iran could cause to maritime traffic in the Gulf. Araghchi has recently been trying to persuade the Gulf states than Iran is less of a risk to global stability than Israel, a case made more plausible after Israel bombed Doha last September with the intent to kill the Hamas negotiators that have lived in the Qatari capital for nearly a decade. The Israelis failed to hit their primary targets, but reportedly killed five lower-ranking members of the group. The US, not informed of the strikes in advance, apologised directly to Qatar’s emir and offered new security guarantees for Doha designed to protect Qatar from further Israeli attacks. At the time, Qatar accused Israel of trying to sabotage every opportunity for peace in the region. The US special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is a supporter of the Qatari state’s self-appointed but often effective role as a global mediator. The US al-Udeid airbase, its largest in the region, is in Qatar, and as tensions mounted on Wednesday the US withdrew key personnel from the base. The withdrawal, after Tehran’s open threats to hit US bases in the region if attacked, underscores how static American land and naval bases in the region designed to project US power could also be a source of vulnerability. Iran persistently claims that the US ordered Israel to end its 12-day assault in the summer on Iran’s leadership and nuclear programme after Iran struck the US base. Araghchi has also managed to exploit the political capital he has invested in diplomatic outreach by ringing Arab leaders to explain Tehran’s rationale for the crackdown. Many of the states deeply resent the interference of Iranian proxy forces in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen. Yet by the same measure, few of them would welcome the example of an authoritarian regime being toppled by street protests riled by falling living standards, and leading to a new democratic transition, or even the fragmentation of a unified Iranian state. Saudi Arabia for instance has recently put down a rebellion in the south of Yemen that would have broken up the country. The Egyptian military leadership dedicates much its energy to suppressing calls for human rights reforms. The spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry, Majed al-Ansari, told reporters on Tuesday: “The big challenges in the region – and we are talking about internal and external challenges in different countries – require all of us to return to the negotiating table.” The Turkish foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, has called for dialogue. “Hopefully, the United States and Iran will resolve this issue among themselves – whether through mediators, other actors, or direct dialogue. We are closely following these developments.”