International Glance
An extraordinarily violent crackdown by Iranian security forces appears to have succeeded for now in driving protesters from the streets, according to activists and analysts who mahttps://abcnews.go.com/International/bloody-crackdown-appears-quelled-iran-protests-now/story?id=129287014naged to speak with people inside the country despite the information blackout.
Demonstrations began in late December with protesters chanting in Tehran against rising inflation and the falling value of the national currency before spreading across Iran and becoming more explicitly anti-government. Authorities have shut down the internet in Iran for more than a week as security forces moved to crush the protests.
The internet blackout in Iran continues to make it very difficult to get a clear picture from the ground, but accounts are emerging from people now able to use phone lines, those few with access to working Starlink satellite terminals and Iranians who have recently left the country.
These people describe an eerie calm over Iran's cities, where heavily armed security forces are deployed on the streets enforcing what many are describing as a de-facto curfew.
Mehdi Yahyanejad, an Iranian activist based in Washington, D.C., says he has helped send in hundreds of Starlink terminals to citizen journalists and others in Iran to help get around the government blackout.
How the U.S. and Israel Are Trying to Co-opt Iran's Protests
Wildfires Race Across Chile, Leaving 18 Dead And Forcing Thousands To Flee
Wildfires raging across central and southern Chile on Sunday left at least 15 people dead, scorched thousands of acres of forest and destroyed scores of homes, authorities said, as the South American country swelters under a heat wave.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric declared a state of catastrophe in the country’s central Biobio region and the neighboring Ñuble region, around 500 kilometers (300 miles) south of Santiago, the capital.
The emergency designation allows greater coordination with the military to rein in two dozen wildfires that have so far blazed through 8,500 hectares (21,000 acres) and prompted 50,000 people to evacuate, according to Chilean Security Minister Luis Cordero.
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Trump slaps tariffs against European countries in bid for Greenland
President Donald Trump on Jan. 17 announced tariffs against eight European countries as the latest pressure tactic for the United States to purchase Greenland.In a Truth Social post, Trump said Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland will have a 10% tariff on all goods sent to the United States effective Feb. 1. The tariff is set to increase to 25% on June 1, Trump said.
Trump has repeatedly said Greenland is vital to American security due its strategic location and large mineral deposits. He hasn't ruled out using force to take the island, which is a semiautonomous part of Denmark.
European countries recently sent military personnel to Greenland at the request of Danish officials. Top European officials have backed Denmark, warning the Trump administration’s attempts to seize Greenland can upend the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the group created for members to jointly defend each other.
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European troops arrive in Greenland as Trump throws another curveball
European troops were arriving in Greenland on Thursday in a show of support, as leaders scrambling to respond to President Donald Trump’s threats were thrown another American curveball.
Trump pushed ahead with his aim of “conquering” one European territory, Denmark’s top diplomat saihttps://www.nbcnews.com/world/greenland/european-troops-arrive-greenland-trump-throws-curveball-rcna254166?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-usd after a high-stakes meeting in Washington on Wednesday.
The president then sided with the man who invaded another, casting Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy rather than Russia’s Vladimir Putin as the obstacle to peace, in his latest reversal on the conflict already raging on the continent.
Trump's comments drew new pushback from leaders in Europe, whose alarm over U.S. actions had for weeks been focused farther north.
Small numbers of military personnel from France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Finland, Norway and Sweden were arriving in the Arctic island early Thursday.
Polish Consulate in Odesa Damaged by Russian Strike
Russian strikes damaged the Polish consulate in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa overnight, according to Poland’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Maciej Wewiór.
"As a result of the overnight bombardment, the Polish consulate in Odesa was damaged,” Wewiór wrote on X, describing it as “another night of Russian terror.”
He added that no consulate employees had been injured and praised the diplomats’ work, saying: “Great respect for the entire [Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs] team working in Ukraine.”
Russia overnight struck cities across the country in one of its largest attacks of the yr so far.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Moscow had launched almost 300 drones, 18 ballistic missiles and seven cruise missiles in the sweeping attacks which affected eight regions and targeted energy-generation facilities and substations.
Four people were killed in Kharkiv when missiles and drones hit a postal terminal.
At least five people were injured in Odesa as temperatures dropped to –7°C and fires broke out at a residential building, a fitness center and a garage, causing extensive damage.
Emergency psychologists were forced to assist 14 people, including one child.
‘Our Commitment is Crucial’ – Berlin Tests Washington’s Resolve as Red Lines Blur on Ukraine, Greenland
Ukraine was a priority, not the priority, as Germany’s foreign minister Johann Wadephul touched down in Washington early this week.
Russia’s war is entering a more fragile phase, European anxiety is rising, and Berlin wanted to hear directly how firmly the US still sees itself anchored to Kyiv’s defense.
The visit came just days after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged Europe to “raise the price of the war in Ukraine” to force Russia into accepting a ceasefire – a signal that patience in Berlin is wearing thin.
Wadephul’s meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio opened with Ukraine, according to officials familiar with the talks, reflecting Germany’s concern that the conflict might slip amid a crowded global agenda.
Venezuela Crisis Four tankers that had left Venezuela in 'dark mode' are back in its waters
At least four tankers, most of them loaded, that had departed from Venezuela in early January in "dark mode" — or with their transponders off amid a strict U.S. blockade — are now back in the South American country’s waters, according to state company PDVSA and monitoring service TankerTrackers.com.
A flotilla of about a dozen loaded vessels and at least three other empty ships left Venezuelan waters last month in apparent defiance of an embargo imposed by President Donald Trump since mid-December, which has dragged down the country’s oil exports to minimum.
One of the ships, the Panama-flagged supertanker M Sophia, was intercepted and seized by the U.S. this week when returning to the country; while another, the Aframax tanker Olina with a flag from Sao Tome And Principe, was intercepted but released to Venezuela on Friday, state company PDVSA said.
Three more of the vessels that had departed in that flotilla, Panama-flagged Merope, Cook Islands-flagged Min Hang and Panama-flagged Thalia III, were spotted by Tankertrackers.com in Venezuelan waters late on Friday through satellite images.
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- Assata Shakur, A Fugitive Black Militant Sought By The U.S. Since 1979, Dies In Cuba
- Ukraine Spy Agency Predicts Kremlin Will Soon Conduct Mass Casualty Op, Killing Civilians
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