Erfan Soltani, 26, is reportedly facing imminent execution, as rights groups fear for more than 18,000 people detained in the crackdown

• Iran protests: live blog updates

• Hundreds of gunshot eye injuries found in one Iranian hospital

• Iran protests: what we know so far about the anti-government demonstrations

Donald Trump has threatened to “take very strong action” if Iranian authorities begin executing anti-government protesters this week, as the reported death toll from the crisis surged past 2,500.

“If they do such a thing, we will take very strong action,” Trump told CBS News in an interview broadcast on Tuesday night, hours before the US president was due to be briefed on the scale of casualties inside Iran.

How do you retain a space of democracy in a world that is reverting to violent conquest? By building a protective moat of federalism around it

‘He keeps encouraging me … to choose between Europe and the US. That would be a strategic mistake for our country,” Keir Starmer said in response to Ed Davey’s question in the House of Commons last week, about whether a US move against Greenland would mean the end of Nato.

What about Europe, though? As Danish and Greenlandic ministers prepared to face JD Vance in the White House, the question was would Europe finally choose between Europe and the US? Will its leaders have the courage to tell the full truth – that the US isn’t simply abandoning its allies and destroying the international order but is now in the position of active and hostile predation by force – and more importantly, to act on it? To offer Denmark moral and material backing, and Greenland a future of self-determination and membership, rather than subservience to US resource plunder?

Donald Trump has already set the tone by saying the US will seize Greenland “one way or the other”, and no part of the triumvirate around him is trying to hide their imperial intentions any more. Not the nepotists and grifters amassing ever greater private fortunes. Not the white supremacist ideologues drawing inspiration from Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer! to post “One Homeland. One People. One Heritage”, via official US government social media accounts. Not the techno-nihilists salivating to mine every bit of Greenland’s mineral resources and rule their own neofeudal city states on its coast.

When Trump says that the only constraint on his exercise of power is “my own morality”, that means there is no constraint. Like Vladimir Putin, he will keep grabbing until someone imposes a limit on him.

Alexander Hurst writes for Guardian Europe from Paris. His memoir, Generation Desperation, is published this month

After a 21-year-old employee was raped and killed by her supervisor in 2021, campaigners ensured conditions at the factory were overhauled. But its order book never recovered

Ask the women working at Natchi Apparels in the historic city of Dindigul in Tamil Nadu and many will describe the turnaround in their working conditions in the garment factory over the past five years as extraordinary.

On 5 January 2021 the decomposing body of Jeyasre Kathiravel, a 21-year-old Dalit woman who was an employee of Natchi, then an H&M Group supplier, was found on a strip of farmland a few miles from her village after she failed to return home following a shift on New Year’s Day.

Sam Nelson is ready to beat some more bad guys – and this time he’s on the Berlin metro. Shenanigans will ensue!

Do you remember the lazy, hazy days of summer 2023, when Idris Elba got on a plane and it was hijacked? It was in a programme called Hijack. For seven effortlessly bingeable hours supposedly showing the adventure in real time, our man on the pressurised inside deduced complex situations from misplaced washbags, sent coded messages via fruit cartons and dying men’s phones, saved lives, averted disasters, and got Kingdom Flight 29 landed safely by Holly Aird so that he could return to his family, even though viewers agreed the scenes with them in between the plane bits were very boring indeed.

And he wasn’t even a policeman like Bruce Willis in Die Hard or a counter-terrorist federal agent like Kiefer Sutherland in 24! Or a pilot, which might also have been useful. He was Sam Nelson, a business negotiator. He had extreme business negotiating skills and he beat the bad guys. Who turned out not to be terrorists but a crime syndicate that wanted to short shares in the airline. Which was a bit weird, but never mind. And one of the bad guys escaped, but the point is Sam was a hero and Elba was the only man who could have played him and made it work. He was a mighty, implacable force. The rock on which this fragile, teetering edifice of nonsense was built.

Society should only eject fellows for fraud or other defects in their research, says Paul Nurse

The president of the Royal Society has reignited a row over Elon Musk’s association with the body by arguing that fellows should only be ejected for fraud or other defects in their research.

In an interview with the Guardian, Paul Nurse defended the academy’s decision not to take action against Musk – who was elected a fellow in 2008 – despite claims the tech billionaire had violated its code of conduct, including by his role in slashing US research funding as part of the US “department of government efficiency”.

He had threatened her, locked her up and absconded with one of their daughters. Palmer knew she and her girls needed to escape – but it would involve huge risk and total reinvention

In the summer of 1989, Karen Palmer bought a used car for cash, filled it with belongings – some clothes, toys, one pot, one pan and a shoebox of photos – and “disappeared” with her new husband and two young daughters. She didn’t tell her mother, her friends or her neighbours where she was going. She gave no notice to her employers and landlord, leaving items out on her apartment balcony as a sign she still lived there.

“I have such a clear memory of the day we left Los Angeles,” says Palmer. “It was this weird combination of fear and exhilaration, heart pounding, driving into the unknown.” Palmer was fleeing her ex-husband, Gil, the man she feared, and the father of her two daughters, Erin and Amy, then seven and three.

On the anniversary of his death aged 69, stars from Sigourney Weaver to Sharleen Spiteri, Tom Felton to Harriet Walter, remember the wit, charm and endless generosity of one of Britain’s best-loved actors

Ruby Wax

Results for 2025 risk further unsettling economies about China’s trade practices and overcapacity, and their own over-reliance on Chinese products

China has reported a strong export run in 2025 with a record trillion-dollar surplus, as its producers brace for three more years of a Trump administration set on slowing the manufacturing powerhouse by shifting US orders to other markets.

Beijing’s resilience to renewed tariff tensions since Donald Trump returned to the US presidency last January has emboldened Chinese firms to shift their focus to south-east Asia, Africa and Latin America to offset US duties.

South Korean president Lee Jae Myung had his work cut out, picking up his drumsticks alongside Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi, a former heavy metal drummer

If international diplomacy is as much about tone as substance, the leaders of South Korea and Japan seem to have nailed it.

In a scene few anticipated, South Korean president Lee Jae Myung and Japanese prime minister Sanae Takaichi spent the last moments of a crucial summit seated behind matching drum kits in matching blue uniforms as they bashed out hit song Golden from Netflix’s K-Pop Demon Hunters and BTS’s Dynamite.

President speaks to CBS News about killing of woman by ICE agent and defends immigration crackdown

Donald Trump has defended his administration’s increasingly violent immigration crackdown, describing the 37-year-old woman killed by federal agents as likely a “wonderful person” whose “tough” actions justified a lethal response.

Trump’s comments, made during an interview with CBS News after his visit to a Ford factory in Detroit, came amid rising tensions between federal and local officials in Minneapolis after an ICE agent shot dead Renee Good at the wheel of her SUV on a residential street in Minneapolis last week.

Colvin refused to give up seat to white woman in Alabama in 1955, nine months before Rosa Parks’ act of defiance

US civil rights pioneer Claudette Colvin, arrested at age 15 for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white woman in Montgomery, Alabama, nine months before Rosa Parks’ similar but more famous act of defiance, died on Tuesday at age 86.

Although she remained a largely unsung figure in the civil rights movement for decades, Colvin’s 1955 act of rebellion inspired Parks and others and helped form the basis for the federal lawsuit that outlawed racial segregation in US public transportation.

Protests began over the fall in value of the currency have grown into wider demonstrations and calls for the fall of Iran’s clerical establishment

• Iran protests live updates

• Trump promises ‘help is on its way’ and tells Iranians to ‘keep protesting’

Administration issues warning to US citizens: ‘Leave Iran now’ – key US politics stories from 13 January at a glance

Donald Trump has told Iranians to keep protesting and said help was on the way, in the clearest sign yet that the US president may be preparing for military action against Tehran.

“Iranian Patriots, keep protesting – take over your institutions!!! … help is on its way,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday. He added that he had cancelled all meetings with Iranian officials until the “senseless killing” of protesters stopped.

‘We call on other countries to do the same’ says foreign minister; major fires after Ukraine targets Russian drone plant at Taganrog. What we know on day 1,421

The Estonian government has banned 261 Russians who fought in Ukraine from entering Estonia. “This is only the beginning,” said Markus Tsahkna, Estonia’s foreign minister. “We call on other countries to do the same.” Estonia, which borders Russia, has called for a Europe-wide visa ban on Russian veterans of the Ukraine war, and has gained support from Baltic and Nordic countries. Its interior ministry estimates as many as 1.5 million Russians have taken part in the invasion, about half of them having served on the frontline.

Estonia’s interior minister, Igor Taro, said the threat posed was “not theoretical”, adding that the Russians had “combat experience and military training, and may often have a criminal background”. The interior ministry said those who had committed atrocities in Ukraine had “no place in the free world”. The move was praised the Ukrainian foreign minister, Andrij Sybiga, who called entry bans a “necessary security measure” and “a clear signal that impunity will not be tolerated”.

Ukraine said its forces struck a drone manufacturing plant in the western Rostov region of Russia where the governor reported a local state of emergency there after two “enterprises” were hit. Various reports identified the target as the Atlant Aero plant at Taganrog making Russia’s Molniya strike and surveillance drones as well as parts for Orion drones. Video footage and photographs showed buildings well ablaze.

Two Greek-owned oil tankers were hit in the Black Sea on Tuesday, one of which was scheduled to load Kazakh oil on Russia’s coast, officials said. The Maltese-flagged Matilda and Liberian-flagged Delta Harmony did not sustain major damage and there were no injuries, Greece’s maritime ministry told Agence France-Presse. The Matilda was headed to load Kazakh oil at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) terminal near Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk when it was attacked, Kazakh state energy firm Kazmunaygas said. Ukraine has previously targeted the shared CPC terminal as it seeks to deprive Russia of oil revenue.

Russia struck cities across Ukraine overnight into Tuesday in one of its biggest attacks of the new year so far, killing at least four people and knocking out heat and power, exposing millions to dangerous winter cold.

In speech, president delivers triumph assessment, claiming US prices are down despite official data showing otherwise

Donald Trump claimed victory on the economy after 12 months back in office on Tuesday, declaring it to be the “greatest first year in history” as many Americans express alarm over the cost of living.

In a stream-of-consciousness speech at the Detroit Economic Club, the US president delivered his gold-tinted view of how the economy has fared on his watch. Prices were down, he claimed, despite official data showing otherwise, and productivity was “smashing expectations”.

US president says ‘help is on its way’, as reported death toll rises into the thousands and concerns Tehran may carry out first protest-related execution, that of Erfan Soltani

• Trump promises ‘help is on its way’ and tells Iranians to ‘keep protesting’

• Hundreds of gunshot eye injuries found in one Iranian hospital amid brutal crackdown on protests

Starlink offers free service in Iran, activists say

Satellite internet provider Starlink now offers free service in Iran, activists said on Wednesday.

At least four displaced Palestinians killed when strong winds caused walls to collapse onto their tents and a one-year-old boy died of hypothermia

Strong winter winds collapsed walls onto flimsy tents for Palestinians displaced by war in Gaza, killing at least four people, as dangerous living conditions persist after more than two years of devastating Israeli bombardment and aid shortfalls.

A ceasefire has been in effect since October, but aid groups say that Palestinians broadly lack the shelter necessary to withstand frequent winter storms.

K-pop band to start tour in April after nearly four-year hiatus due to all seven members needing to complete South Korea’s mandatory military service

The BTS comeback is upon us: the K-pop septet has announced a 2026-2027 world tour, kicking off in South Korea in April and running through to March 2027 with more than 70 dates across Asia, North America, South America, Australia and Europe.

The tour marks the group’s first headline performances since their 2021–22 Permission to Dance on Stage tour.

9 April and 11-12 April – Goyang, South Korea

17-18 April – Tokyo

25-26 April – Tampa, Florida

2-3 May – El Paso, Texas

7 May and 9-10 May – Mexico City

16-17 May – Stanford, California

23-24 and 27 May – Las Vegas

12-13 June – Busan, South Korea

26-27 June – Madrid

1-2 July – Brussels

6-7 July – London

11-12 July – Munich

17-18 July – Paris

1-2 Aug – East Rutherford, New Jersey

5-6 Aug – Foxborough, Massachusetts

10-11 Aug – Baltimore

15-16 Aug – Arlington, Texas

22-23 Aug – Toronto

27-28 Aug – Chicago

1-2 Sept and 5-6 Sept – Los Angeles

2-3 Oct – Bogotá, Colombia

9-10 Oct – Lima, Peru

16-17 Oct – Santiago, Chile

23-24 Oct – Buenos Aires, Argentina

28 Oct and 30-31 Oct – São Paulo

19 Nov and 21-22 Nov – Kaohsiung, Taiwan

3 Dec and 5-6 Dec – Bangkok

12-13 Dec – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

17 Dec, 19-20 Dec and 22 Dec – Singapore

26-27 Dec – Jakarta

12-13 Feb – Melbourne, Australia

20-21 Feb – Sydney

4 March and 6-7 March – Hong Kong

13-14 March – Manila, Philippines

Wood wins the award for fiction for his ‘utterly immersive’ novel Seascraper while Perry picks up the nonfiction prize for her memoir Death of an Ordinary Man

Booker-longlisted author Benjamin Wood has won this year’s Nero book award for fiction for his novel Seascraper.

Meanwhile, Claire Lynch won the debut fiction category for A Family Matter, and Sarah Perry’s Death of an Ordinary Man took the nonfiction prize. Jamila Gavin was awarded the children’s fiction prize for My Soul, A Shining Tree.

Research also shows teenagers in care are four times more likely to try to end their lives than peers with no care history

One in four teenagers in care have attempted to end their own life, and are four times more likely to do so than their peers with no care experience, according to a landmark study.

The research analysed data from the millennium cohort study, which follows the lives of 19,000 people born in the UK between 2000 and 2002, and considered how out of home care, including foster, residential and kinship care, affected the social and mental health outcomes of the participants.

From his competitive debut to his first spell as interim, the former midfielder has seen much at Old Trafford over the past two decades

23 August 2006, Charlton 0-3 Manchester United The 25‑year‑old new signing was eased into United’s midfield as a second-half substitute in the second game of the season, having picked up a small injury on the pre‑season tour. With Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes suspended, Sir Alex Ferguson started with John O’Shea and Darren Fletcher in central midfield, with the Scot (sporting a mullet) opening the scoring after Ryan Giggs and Cristiano Ronaldo had hit the woodwork. Carrick was one of four future United managers in the side, alongside Fletcher, Giggs and Ole Gunnar Solskjær, who rounded off the win with a late goal after Louis Saha had doubled United’s lead. Solskjær’s goal was his first in the league in three injury-hit years, and the Norwegian, also a substitute, should have had another when Carrick squared a perfect pass to the striker, only for Charlton’s Scott Carson to make an outstanding save. With Carrick an instant success at United that season, the club roared to the title in May 2007, their first in four years.

Trump officials announce ‘largest operation in DHS history’ as 800 border agents flood into city alongside ICE

Federal officers in Minneapolis used teargas and eye irritant against activists on Tuesday as the Department of Homeland Security announced it was carrying out “its largest operation in DHS history”, deploying hundreds of border agents on top of the thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents already in the city.

A DHS official told CBS News that there were currently 800 Customs and Border Protection agents and 2,000 ICE officials in the Minneapolis area as tensions have risen in recent days.

Eddie Howe was not exactly overjoyed to learn that, rather than being cup-tied, Antoine Semenyo was free to play for Manchester City here.

Sure enough the Newcastle manager’s worst fears were realised as the winger – who played in the competition this season for Bournemouth – scored City’s opener and had another “goal” disallowed before Rayan Cherki’s stoppage-time second put the smile back on Pep Guardiola’s face.

Groups say EEOC demand for names and personal details echoes dark history and threatens safety and civil rights

Several faculty groups have denounced the Trump administration’s efforts to obtain information about Jewish professors, staff and students at the University of Pennsylvania – including personal emails, phone numbers and home addresses – as government abuse with “ominous historical overtones”.

The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is demanding the university turn over names and personal information about Jewish members of the Penn community as part of the administration’s stated goal to combat antisemitism on campuses. But some Jewish faculty and staff have condemned the government’s demand as “a visceral threat to the safety of those who would find themselves identified because compiling and turning over to the government ‘lists of Jews’ conjures a terrifying history”, according to a press release put out by the groups’ lawyers.