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BBC News with Chris Barrow.
Anti-government unrest is continuing in Iran for a 13th night despite a crackdown by the authorities. Reports from Tehran say large crowds have returned to the streets in defiance of a communications blackout. One resident said tear gas had been fired. The Revolutionary Guard has said it will no longer tolerate the situation. Jiyar Gol, world affairs correspondent at BBC Persian, says despite the blackout information is coming out of Iran. Some people risk their life to call us. A doctor said he has treated numbers of protesters for gun wounds or have seen many people die. Another person in the city of Karaj, a major city an-hour drive from Tehran, he said he went to the morgue looking for his friend. He has seen tens of bodies. Rights groups say at least 48 demonstrators and more than a dozen security personnel have already died since the unrest began. President Trump has met international oil executives to discuss plans to develop Venezuela's huge energy reserves a week after U.S. forces removed Nicolás Maduro from power. Mr. Trump wants oil companies to invest a hundred billion dollars in the country and says he'll decide which firms will be involved. One of those at the meeting, Exxon CEO Darren Woods, was cautious about working in Venezuela quickly. "If we look at the legal and commercial constructs and frameworks in place today in Venezuela, today it's uninvestable and so significant changes have to be made to those commercial frameworks, the legal system. There has to be durable investment protections and there has to be a change to the hydrocarbon laws in the country." Other figures in the industry have stressed the need for security guarantees before they invest. President Trump has said the United States must own Greenland in order to prevent Russia or China taking control of the Arctic island. Speaking to journalists in the White House, he insisted something would have to be done about the territory. "If you take a look outside of Greenland right now, there are Russian destroyers, there are Chinese destroyers and bigger, there are Russian submarines all over the place. We're not gonna have Russia or China occupy Greenland and that's what they're gonna do if we don't. So we're gonna be doing something with Greenland either the nice way or the more difficult way." Greenland is a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark which has rejected Mr. Trump's repeated assertion that he wants to bring it under U.S. control. New video footage has emerged of the incident in which a woman was shot dead by a U.S. immigration officer in Minneapolis on Wednesday. He was filmed by the agent who fired the fatal shots, killing Renee Nicole Good as she tried to drive away in her car. The U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance shared the clip saying it proved the agent had acted in self-defense. Local officials have insisted the woman posed no danger. This is the world news from the BBC. The Syrian army says it's renewed a military operation to take control of a Kurdish suburb in the northern city of Aleppo. The area is currently controlled by Kurdish forces who are resisting attempts by President Ahmed al-Sharaa to bring their fighters under central authority. European Union members have confirmed that they've provisionally approved a huge trade deal with the South American bloc Mercosur despite opposition from farmers in several European countries. The accord is the product of three decades of negotiations but still requires final approval by the European Parliament. Several European countries led by France rejected the deal. The United Nations is warning that next week's elections in Uganda will take place in an environment of widespread repression and intimidation. A new U.N. report says the Ugandan authorities have used restrictive laws and security forces to curb dissent ahead of the vote. Richard Kagoe reports. It highlights restrictions on political parties, particularly the National Unity Platform of leading opposition figure, Bobi Wine. The report details the law for use of live ammunition to disperse gatherings as well as roadblocks, raids and arbitrary arrests. It also notes the continued detention of the veteran opposition leader, Kizza Besigye, on contested treason charges since his abduction from neighboring Kenya two years ago. The U.N. human rights chief, Volker Türk, says those responsible for election-related abuses must be held accountable. President Yoweri Museveni is seeking another term after nearly four decades in power. A church in Wenzhou in eastern China has been scaffolded and had its cross removed as part of broader crackdowns by Beijing on unregistered churches. Human Rights Watch say about 100 members of the Yayang Church were detained over five days in December. Twenty-four remain in custody. Another church in the central city of Chengdu was raided on Tuesday. That's the latest BBC News. |