ah ah ah ah ah, this is dw news live from berlin, new deaths in iran's crack down on descent as de la mc republic hangs 2 more prisoners detained during nationwide. protests in all 4 have now been put to death and many more are facing execution. also coming up in worse guard ukraine.

orthodox christmas is celebrated on both sides of the front lines, even if a holiday truce declared by russia hasn't stopped the violence. so i did. congratulations. i've gotten after 15 ballots. republican kevin mccarthy wins a vote to become the speaker of the us house of representatives, but his concessions to hold outs could have repercussions around the world. ah, i'm pablo for lily as welcome to the program. iran has executed to men involved in antique government protests. state media said the 2 were hanged in the early morning. it said they had been convicted of killing a security official. their execution follows that of 2 other men hanged at last

month. amnesty international has described the trials as a sham, designed to intimidate protesters. well for more in this, we're joined now by comrade martin. he is a senior lecture of international relations at the university of sussex in the u. k . and is an expert on politics in iran camera and welcome to dw. so 1st and foremost, what can you tell us about the men who were executed today? yes, these were mohammed committee tell me who was 20 or 22 years old and they said you professional karate champion. and the 2nd man was how much was saying, who was 39. they were both arrested back early november during a protest in the city of courage in the ups gets up to the wrong during which a member of a seach militia, a part of the gc revolution got, was killed. so nice to were part of

a group of 1616 people who are arrested or in relation to that case. 3 others have been also sentenced to death. and the other ones also facing charges which carries this penalty potentially come around what legal support to imprison the protesters receive if any well, as i'm going to think national but also human rights center and iran have consistently made clear political prisoners, prisoners arrested the relation to protest are denied proper judicial support. they are usually given court appointed lawyers who i do not do their job properly because they are close to the court and the officials or when they do want to put some effort into representing them. they are actually not given enough time in this particular case, one of the,

those who was hang today. mm hm. economy was, in fact, had been on hunger strike for part 4 days in protest to being denied access to his chosen lawyer. the other person's lawyer, court appointed lawyer, was, was reported saying that when he met him in prison, how much seni, his client was in tears reported torture. and even the court appointed law in this case, had said that this his, his confessions had no really the legal standing given that it was extra extracted on the, on the torture and pressure now come on human rights activists. these executions are intended to silence political opposition and of i'm discouraged. the protesters do you believe they're having that effect? well, i mean the protests had already sort of slowed down

a bit in terms of intensity scale before the 1st execution took place. and this i believe, had more to do with the harsh repression which regime carried out, especially in so called ethnic minority regions and correspond and baluchistan in particular. now making kind of a showcase for the rest of iran, how the regime would potentially track down on the protests. but the fact is that the process actually is still continuous sporadically. even last night there were reports on video footages processing. and, and so the protest, i think that says are more like regrouping and reflecting their methods rather than protests having, being and fully by the regime at this point camera. martin, an expert on politics in iran. thank you. thank you very much. orthodox christians have packed churches for christmas eve services,

a holiday darkened for many by the conflict raging between neighbors, russia and ukraine. in keith. hundreds of people, including men in military uniform, have attended a historic service at the famed, picturesque lover amana street, which was under moscow's jurisdiction until the beginning of the war. at the eastern front line, russian troops have also been attending services. after president vladimir putin called for a holiday, troops just want to speak with d, w, correspond mcsaunder, who joins us live from cave max. great to see you. so as we mentioned there it's orthodox christmas, and we've seen some images of the religious services taking place in ukraine, but how have ukrainians actually been marking the day? ray you just mentioned at the orthodox church of ukraine, held its 1st christmas mass mass in the contested monastery of caves here in key if and that was an if the this imitation was followed by several 100 believers as well

as the culture culture minister. so all across the country where possible a church service is taking place. people are indeed celebrating orthodox christmas . today it's been a credibly difficult year for ukrainians with the beginning of the full scale invasion of ukraine. with many people witnessing the fighting family members having fled, having lived under occupation and more recently here in the cattle key in other places, every now and then a harsh attack. so with russian rockets they also can, are taking place in other parts of the country and not despite this, but because of this, some people tend to want to mark this day, celebrates, come together with their family, if possible. and yet just spend the day and spend some few hours with their, their loved ones in peace and quiet, hopefully with without further russian attacks. max, tell us,

what's the latest status of this so called sees far right? essentially there is no real ceasefire here. this was a one sided announcement by the russians. it was never agreed on by the ukrainian site. in fact, they quickly dismissed it as a manipulative as, as i, as a rule. so to say um, since the beginning of or when since the beginning of or since the time that the seas for would have started yesterday. and there has been have been attacks on ukrainian cities on ukrainian settlements. there has been exchange of showing along the eastern front line, both from ukrainian and from russian side. the russians have announced that overnight a drone, a ukrainian drawer was down over russian occupied crimea. so it seems that the fighting does continue, and in fact, the ukrainian defense minister came out with a statement this morning announcing that the fighting continues at routine level

right now. so you can really, we can really talk about a ceasefire here. thanks, max max xander in keith let's take a look now at some of the stories making headlines around the world. demonstrators of blockaded highways throughout peru as unrest continues following the ousting and arrest of president little castillo in december. they called for his release the resignation of his successor at dina moreno, out of it, and constitutional reforms. the protests restarted following a christmas. lo, china has suspended or closed the social media cans of more than 1000 critics of the government's policies on the coven 19 outbreak. the ruling communist party ended its harsh locked ends, quarantine measures and mass testing last month, leading to a search, a new cases that have stretched medical resources to their limits.

well, the u. s. has a representatives finally has a new speaker, kevin mccarthy was elected to the post after days of turmoil. the republican was sworn in after facing fierce resistance from members of his own party. mccarthy clenched victory with 216 votes, but has been forced to compromise his agenda to secure the when the animal kevin mccarthy, of the state of california having received a majority of the votes cast is duly elected. speaker of the house of representatives. after days of deadlock and 15 rounds of voting, kevin mccarthy finally secured enough support to land the 3rd most powerful job in us politics. the republican struggle to win the vote needed for a majority as an arch conservative faction of his party held out. there were heated scenes in the chamber where mccarthy supporter,

mike rogers almost came to blows with fellow republican mat gates. ah after taking the oath of office install, mccarthy swore in new members of the house elected in last november as a mid term elections to the same as your chess speaking shortly afterward, emily mccarthy gave a controversial thanks to a former president of a v. i do wanna especially thank uh president trump. i don't think you should edge, anybody should doubt his influence. he was with me from the beginning. somebody wrote the doubt of where you was there and he was all it. but the celebrations of

the culmination of this protracted leadership struggle a likely to be short lived. mccarthy had to concede some powers to those in the right of his party. who will now have an inflated influence on big ticket issues, including government budgets, immigration policy, and how much congress is prepared to spend, to continue to support ukraine. the general music director of berlin state opera, danielle bowden boy, him has announced. he's stepping down, the acclaimed conductor and pianist says his health is deteriorated in the last year and that he's no longer able to deliver the performance required of the role. the 8 year old began performing as a pianist at the age of 10, before becoming a lead conductor, later in life. ah, but decades, daniel baron boyd's name has been synonymous with excellence in the arts, and

a willingness to experiment, can even occasionally break the rules. a polyglot with wonderful citizenship. his musical talent was obvious from an early age. ah, at 7, he gave his force cancelled in argentina. he was hailed as a child prodigy. the labels stuck even after his family moved to israel. under kin get fell. i like the term child prodigy. i feel like i can say the prodigy is gone, but the child is still here. if you believe, baron boy is also passionate about politics. holding both israeli and palestinian pos bolts. he's travelled frequently to israel and the west bank impulse he has said he hopes has raised that of good so of as a model for peace. in 1999 he founded an orchestra aiming to promote understanding between arabs and israelis. together with edward sy in the palestinian american

scholar, the vest eastern divine orchestra a symbol of reconciliation year there was a game or krista, every musician in the orchestra has exactly what a human being needs and what doesn't exist in the region. equality, right? everyone in the orchestra has that, does, ah, the orchestral remains barren boyens personal and political legacy highlights every year to fully booked concert at berlin's vall been, ah, in 2017, he found it the piano bullets found in berlin praised for its excellent acoustics and even better roster of world musicians, despite the criticism of his management style, his musical rank is undisputed in recent years barren boy has been struggling with the neurological illness. despite his resignation as general music director, he is not planning on giving up his baton completely and sees he plans to conduct the odd show in the future. oh, well here's

a reminder of the top story we're following for you. orthodox christians in ukraine have been celebrating christmas despite the war in chief, a christmas eve service was held at the historic patricia church glover, a monastery elsewhere. russian front line troops have also been attending service for that's all for now. of the next is doc filled with the great toilet battle detailing a revolution in human waste. don't miss that. i'll see again at the top of the next star, i can imagine how many portion of lunch are throwed out in the world. climate change division hoffman stores. this is my plan the way from just one week how much work can really get.