this is you know we news live from berlin unrest in iran the government tries to turn the tide and change the narrative tens of thousands hit the street in a show of force for the government at least twenty one people have been killed and hundreds arrested during a week of anti-government protests that have boiled the country also coming up a step towards dialogue on the korean peninsula north korea reopens

a hotline to the south ahead of next month's winter olympic games in south korea and closing the gap iceland introduces a new law making it illegal to pay women less than men for this thing work. thank you very much for your company we start our broadcast in iran worth ortiz are trying to turn the tide against some of the biggest antigovernment protests in almost a decade on the nearly a week of violent unrest has left at least twenty one people dead and hundreds under arrest all now iran state media are broadcasting pro-government demonstrations held in several cities. now iran's leadership has also mobilize support thousands of demonstrators in abo's in southwestern iran took to the streets to show their support for the government protestors yelled death to the usa

and death to israel state television show demonstrations like these taking place across the country posters of the ayatollah khomeini are on display everywhere on tuesday the country's supreme leader blamed foreign powers for the unrest now his supporters are claiming they're ready to give their lives for him and some are calling for those who demonstrated against the government to be executed still anti-government protests continue some of them violently this footage shows a house going up in flames it allegedly belongs to the paramilitary revolutionary guard and is for one province meanwhile more than a thousand anti-government demonstrators have supposedly been jailed a government spokesperson has emphasized the more liberal message of president hassan rouhani saying legal protests are allowed but that those who break the law will be punished washington's u.n. ambassador has called for emergency security council talks we must not be found on

the people of iran are crying out for freedom all freedom loving people must stand with their current state run media in iran has focused their attention on pro-government rallies in the country rather than on the anti-government demonstrators. while iran is still reeling from the protests after correspond eric randolph isn't errani can tell us more about the your current situation there around us it's clear that the government is eager to change the narrative of the year pro-government demonstrations helped save that goal. well there has been an impressive show of force by authorities today hundreds of thousands were released tens of thousands of people marching in cities across the country. relies very quickly and very effectively. show what you know there is going to do they want to bring people out of the strips and in the last few minutes just have the head of the revolutionary guards and i'll say that today is the end of the sedition and

total zero only fifteen thousand people took part in the rest entirely across the country last week so what does that mean they have effectively cracked down on all the anti-government protests but it's very hard to tell information is still very hard to get from about what was happening out in the provinces this was focused more on outlying areas not so much in toronto but it's sad to say these were huge on the scale the last two demonstrations in two thousand i. assume whole the whole radical form of protest vote by a form of protest that that perhaps didn't reach out to the large numbers of people who were out on the less frustrated about the economy but don't want to go course up violent protests fizzled out we should it was a rule out the perhaps more protests still to come right can you tell us a little bit about what motivated the iranians to come out and protest against

their government although they're small and i just want to know what are some of their grievances. well the protests are small the grievances the drove them definitely widespread and go across the iranian society very high on a plug as high school as you decide for young people. very high rates of inflation is slow progress by the government approving the economy a lot of promises that have been kept a lot of general dissatisfaction which we hear a lot from tehran is on the street you know people that want to take part in the protests and so it will take a lot of work for the government to tide and reassure people that it's actually responding to them listening to the well is that has the government expressed any ever set of miss to a listening to some of their demands. one of the key points is that these protests

came just three weeks of the budget was announced by the president had a couple of very unpopular measures and like the fuel prices cutting subsidies but well. we've already got a part of this and now what increasing those fuel prices. we're likely to see other parts of that budget repeat with as well as the government tried the government has accepted more needs to be done to help suddenly poor people and to do more to talk to problems with the high cost of living in iran i know erica as you have mentioned a little earlier the start of our conversation the last time such a protest broke out but an a and a bigger scale was back in two thousand and nine the international community's response at that time was very new did do you feel that some of the protesters now feel emboldened with the us putting its weight behind them. it's hard to say don't trump is a burial. here in iraq thanks to the travel by those on the right

a year ago followed by. the phrase arabian gulf few weeks ago rather than go that went down very. few off is probably. listed so he doesn't have a lot of currency with you right and the fact that he's just told that these protests is been a pinch of salt good deal of skepticism by many europeans but that's not saying there are parts of the protest movement i'm sure were glad to out so for what it's done to support it all right eric randolph reporting from tehran thank you thank you. art would like to tell you about some of the other stories that we're following for you right now. a suicide bomber has killed at least eleven worshippers in a mosque in northeastern nigeria the bomber attacked a mosque in the town of gum bluer laz not yet been

a claim of responsibility for the attack. a canadian man who was held hostage by talabani linked militants for five years has been arrested in ottawa joshua boyle is facing fifteen charges including assault and making death threats the alleged offenses offenses that took place between last october and december just after the thirty four year old his wife and three children were rescued. many businesses and schools in the indian financial hub of mumbai have been forced to close as protesters from a low caste community block traffic and staged sit ins for a second day daal its call to strike in protest against attacks by right wing hindu groups in the city of clinic on monday. north korea has reopened a suspended communications line with south korea and what may be a sign of thawing tensions north korean leader kim jong il ordered that the hot

line at the country's border be reconnected the two koreas have been making overtures to improving ties since new years that's when kim signaled that he wants to see north korean athletes cross the border and joint next month's winter olympics in the south. and with the world's eyes on the korean peninsula in a month's time when the winter olympics take place a lot is at stake honest mosler is a professor from the school of east asian studies at berlin's free university very good day thank you for spending time with us as with everything of course timing is key what's behind the surprise announcement first of all it's not a surprise at all that korea comes to north korea comes out at this point in time because also the foreign policy of north korea needs a direct contact a direct dialogue with its outer world in order to implement to realize goals now interesting if you if you look from the north korean perspective their

approach seems to be two pronged on the one hand they're dialing up tensions with the u.s. and there seems to be a slight warming up of relations between john yang and seoul. what's the tactic behind that are they trying to drive a wedge between those two allies. here is the board understand that it was always it has always been the strategy of north korea to have this wedge between the u.s. and south korea because there are conflicting interests here so that's nothing new but it's of course a very important good positive step that north korea came out and proposed these dial this dialogue with with south korea and i think it's a very good opportunity for deescalating the conflictual situation right now all right well on the opposite spectrum of course is that they're rushing it up of tensions because this brings us to that provoke of nuclear button comment by u.s. president donald trump in a tweet aimed at the north korean leader he disparaged the size of that country's

nuclear arsenal it was in response to a speech from kim in which he warned the u.s. that the nuclear launch button was always within easy reach this is what he said mr trump said i too have a nuclear button but it is a much bigger and more powerful one than his and my button works. i mean i don't know how helpful it is to start pushing each other's a buttons it's a tweet war for now on a serious note how how dangerous is it that this might actually get out of hand and somebody might actually push a button at some point. well i think first of all the common by donald trump was to be expected and that is his way of reacting to that kind of situation but after i would say it's still it's quite a positive or at least neutral reaction to to north korea and i hope it's stays on that level but of course it is a very very dangerous situation but if we look carefully at the new year's

statement of the north korean leader he tries between the lines he tries to to make clear that everything is under control so there would wouldn't be ok i would accept you asian where somebody by accident would push the but because he has it under his control i think he was very clear on that point so you think he's a much more rational leader than we give him credit for yes absolutely he has to be very rational because he has to deal he has to to work with very limited resources to to survive on the international. diplomatic world honest a muslim professor from the school of east asian studies at berlin's for university thanks. our next we had to ethiopia that country's prime minister has announced that the country will release its political prisoners and close a notorious law prisoner camp the announcement comes after months of anti-government demonstrations the protest led to

a state of emergency that has since been lifted is the first time the government has admitted holding political prisoners but it's e.o.p. has long been accused of arresting critical journalists and opposition leaders. and i sent the new year has brought a new law that's an international first state was already illegal to pay men more than women for the same work but now iceland is the first country in the world to make employers prove they're paying the sexes equally and impose a punishment for any employers who break the law. until now women in iceland have earned an average nineteen percent less than their male colleagues but those days are over equal pay for equal work has just become a must irrespective of gender ethnicity sexuality or nationality the new law will cover over one hundred fifty thousand workers. so far women have borne the cost of the gender pay gap and that cost is too high and to reach our goal we're all going

to have to work hard now we have the perfect chance to do so. the new law affects one thousand two hundred companies in iceland which employ at least twenty five workers who now have to publish their wage scales there are courses to help them implement the new rules on completion companies get a certificate which has to be renewed every three years. just because this will affect employers first and foremost they're offering the jobs and now it's up to them to shoulder their responsibilities. and be part of this mission with us a packet how do you that's what. it took to close the country's gender pay gap by twenty twenty two and the other countries have made similar moves for now iceland is the global pioneer. all right before i let you go when remind you of our made headlines right now. in iran tens of thousands have taken part in

a pro-government pro-government rallies following days of unrest targeting the government at least twenty one people have been killed and hundreds arrested during a week of anti-government protests. north korean officials have reopened a communications hotline at the border with the south the move comes amid a possible thought in tensions between the two koreas with leaders on both sides making calls for dialogue. and that doesn't personally like a rocket going on behalf of all of us thank you so much for spending this part of your day with us thank you. at the top of the hour. stories. the world over information they provide.