IRAN - President Trump has cancelled all meetings with Iranian officials and told protestors that 'help is on its way,' suggesting direct intervention on his latest Truth Social post. In a significant escalation of 'maximum pressure' rhetoric, Trump has shifted from diplomatic sanctions to an overt call for grassroots regime change by urging Iranian citizens to 'take over' their institutions. "Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING - TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price. I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY. MIGA!!!'," he wrote this morning. Since the nationwide demonstrations began on December 28, the US–based human rights organization HRANA reports it has confirmed about 600 fatalities, but according to other reports that number is more likely in the thousands.

IRAN - Americans have been urged to flee Iran as protests spread and President Trump announces “immediate” tariffs of 25 per cent on countries doing business with the regime. The US embassy, which operates remotely, noted that many airlines had suspended flights until Friday and told citizens to leave by land to Armenia or Turkey if they could. France is understood to have evacuated all its non-essential embassy staff from Tehran. The White House said earlier that the Iranian regime was using a “far different tone” privately to its defiant threats in public, in a sign it wants to negotiate with Trump, who has said he is considering airstrikes on the country.

IRAN - An Iranian is due to be executed tomorrow, just four days after he was seized for taking part in anti-government protests. Erfan Soltani, 26, was held on Saturday in a brutal crackdown by the teetering regime which has seen more than 500 protesters killed and 10,000 arrested. It is thought he was charged with ‘waging war against God’, which is punishable by death in Iran, following his arrest in the city of Fardis, near Tehran. Supporters say he has not been allowed legal advice and had no chance to defend himself before a verdict of death by hanging was delivered. He was allowed to see his family for just ten minutes yesterday to say goodbye, according to activists.

YEMEN - Yemen’s battlefield reveals deeper power struggle between Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates [UAE]. In Yemen, Saudi forces reclaim key territories from UAE-backed STC, showcasing the growing rift between Gulf powers over regional influence and governance. As of now, the Yemeni Southern Transitional Council’s bold gambit to seize control of the Hadramawt and Mahra provinces in the eastern deserts of the country has failed. Forces associated with the Presidential Leadership Council, and backed by Saudi air power, have reversed the recent, very substantial, territorial gains made by the STC in its lightning December offensive. Saudi-backed forces have now retaken the port of Mukalla. STC leader Aidarus al-Zubaidi appears to have retreated to his home province of Dhaleh, accompanied by his fighters.

ISRAEL - Twenty years after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged before the US Congress that Israel would wean itself off American economic aid, he now wants to do the same with US military assistance. “I want to taper off military aid within the next 10 years,” he said in an interview with The Economist on Friday, adding that he meant reducing it to zero from its current level of $3.8 billion a year. If Netanyahu fulfills that pledge – as he did the earlier one – it would constitute nothing less than a revolution in US-Israeli ties. It would also reflect the internalization of one of the central lessons of the seven-front war that followed October 7: Israel must reduce its dependence on others for arms and munitions, even when those others are its closest allies.

UK - As a former secondary school teacher well-served by a state education, I am home educating my own children. This isn’t because I hated school or because I think I know best, but because I feel my three children deserve better than our state education system can offer. I am not anti-school, I’m certainly not anti-teacher (I am married to one) and I probably value literacy more highly than most – so why does the fact my children have never set foot in a school feel so radical?

USA - The headline of this article is not a misprint. The reason why “affordability” has become the number one issue for US voters is because most of the population is being absolutely crushed by the rising cost of living. Just look at how much you are paying for electricity compared to five years ago. And just look at how much you are paying for food compared to five years ago. Housing costs have risen to absurd heights, property taxes have become absolutely insane in many areas of the country, and health insurance premiums have more than doubled for millions of Americans. It isn’t just a coincidence that so many people are bitterly complaining about the cost of living these days. The truth is that most of the country is experiencing very real pain.

USA - Fed Chair Powell says he’s under criminal investigation, won’t bow to Trump intimidation. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is under federal criminal investigation related to the $2.5 billion renovation of the central bank’s headquarters and his congressional testimony about that, Powell said. Powell said the probe was the result of the Fed “setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of” President Donald Trump. Senator Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, and Banking Committee member, said he would oppose any nominee by Trump to replace Powell, and any Fed board nominee, “until this legal matter is fully resolved.” Powell said the probe is the result of long-standing frustration by President Donald Trump over the Fed’s refusal to cut interest rates as quickly and as much as the President has demanded.

USA - Former Fed Chair Janet Yellen on Monday condemned an investigation into her successor, Jerome Powell, saying it compromises the central bank’s independence. “I’m surprised the market isn’t more concerned. It seems to me that the market should be concerned,” Yellen said, according to CNBC’s Sara Eisen. Yellen said using the Fed’s key overnight borrowing rate to manage the debt is irresponsible and “the road to a banana republic.”

USA - Mr Ackman, who has publicly supported Mr Trump: “My concern about capping rates at 10 percent is that doing so will inevitably cause millions of Americans to have their cards cancelled as credit card companies lose the ability to adequately price subprime credit risk. Consumers denied credit cards will be forced to turn to loan sharks whose rates and terms will be vastly worse for borrowers.”

USA - Google is emailing 13-year-olds instructing them on how to remove parental controls without consent from their parents. Google’s policy permits children to “graduate” from parental controls as soon as they turn 13, eliminating any safe search filters parents have applied to block access to inappropriate content and preventing parents from supervising their kids’ internet activity. Child safety advocates are sounding the alarm after screenshots of the email went viral online, accusing the company of “predatory” practices and “grooming” kids. “When your child turns 13 (or the applicable age in your country), they have the option to graduate to an unsupervised Google Account,” the site’s frequently asked questions page explains. “Before a child turns 13, parents will get an email letting them know that their child will be eligible to take charge of their account on their birthday, after which you will no longer be able to manage their account."

GREENLAND - British troops could be part of ‘Arctic Sentry’ operation to deter Trump’s threats to Danish territory. Germany is planning to set up a joint NATO operation in the Arctic in an effort to dissuade Donald Trump from annexing Greenland. The “Arctic Sentry” mission to monitor threats in the region could be modelled on NATO’s “Baltic Sentry” operation, which started last year to counter hostile activity and protect infrastructure in the Baltic Sea, sources told Bloomberg. Mr Trump has threatened – using military force if necessary – to take control of the mineral-rich autonomous territory of Denmark, a NATO member. The US president’s warnings, particularly in the wake of the US attack on Venezuela, have sparked concerns among European leaders and inside NATO. On Sunday, Lars Klingbeil, Germany’s vice-chancellor, urged the US to respect international law and Greenland’s sovereignty.

IRAN - The collapsing economy was the spark but the streets of Iran have filled with protesters because they are infuriated with government corruption and repression as well as incompetence. Despite the great personal risk involved, demonstrations have become a recurring feature of the 47-year-old Islamic regime, as has the cycle of violent subjugation, imprisonment, torture and use of the death penalty against those deemed “an enemy of God”. The difference this time is the greater fragility of the regime after Israeli and US strikes last summer which wrecked Iran’s nuclear programme, took out some key figures and exposed military weaknesses. Iran is also running out of friends with the fall of its regional ally in Syria and Israel gutting its proxy forces in Gaza and Lebanon.

VENEZUELA - The Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has asked Pope Leo “to intercede for all Venezuelans who remain kidnapped and disappeared”. The Pope met Machado on Monday, offering support to the woman who has been ruled out as Venezuela’s next leader by President Trump. Leo and Machado, wearing a rosary, were pictured smiling during the private audience at the Vatican, which came as she tours Europe after receiving the Nobel peace prize in October. A devout Catholic, Machado has long combined her faith with politics, appearing at rallies with rosaries before she was forced into hiding by Nicolás Maduro, the former Venezuelan president who was captured by US forces on January 3 and flown to New York to face drug trafficking charges.

EUROPE - “Civil death” was a punishment under ancient French law — abolished in 1854 — that extinguished the legal personality of the convicted individual: loss of property, family rights, and civil existence, while leaving the person physically alive. Civil death — cruel, total, annihilating — was believed to belong to a bygone era. The European Union has just reinvented it — and made it worse.