A week of protests around the country irans Supreme Leader accuses enemies of the nation of meddling in its affairs also coming up. With just over a month to go until the Winter Olympics south korea offers to hold talks with the north to discuss letting pyongyangs athletes participate in the games. And germanys new hate speech law is put to the test as Twitter Suspends the account of a far right lawmaker over her anti muslim tweet. Plus saudi arabia prepares for a year of changes as it introduces major reforms among them women will finally be permitted to get behind the wheel but does lifting the ban on driving go far enough. And welcome to the program we start in iran. Antigovernment protests are sweeping the country at least twenty one people have been killed and hundreds of demonstrators have been arrested the countrys Supreme Leader has blamed foreign meddling as Security Forces struggle to contain the boldest challenge to irans clerical leadership in almost a decade but after six days of demonstrations protestors are showing no signs of backing down. The violent unrest which is rocked to run for nearly a week appears if anything to be escalating state television says six people were killed as protesters stormed this Police Station in the Central Province of is for what began as protests against poverty has also drawn in opponents of irans religious establishment. Supreme leader ayatollah ali how many accuses enemies of iran of stirring up the unrest. Bush man. To me is poised for an opportunity a breach to penetrate through look at the incidents in the past few days all those who are against the Islamic Republic of iran those with cash and politics weapons and intelligence operators you join hands to create trouble. How many didnt name any specific enemies but a senior official said britain saudi arabia and the u. S. Were behind the riots President Donald Trump had this to say on twitter the people of iran are finally acting against the brutal and corrupt Iranian Regime all of the money that president obama so foolishly gave them went into terrorism and into their pockets the people have little food big inflation and no human rights the u. S. Is watching. Some dramatic unverified footage from inside iran has reached georgia vella through the messaging Service Telegram one apparently shows a protest chasing a cleric. The crisis which has been raging for the past few days shows no signs of easing. For more on this were joined by adnan tabata by from our studio and by hes a political analyst on Iranian Affairs thanks for joining us were days into these protests people have died and the government is suggesting it will crack down on protesters how much of a threat though are these demonstrations to the religious leadership specifically i dont think the establishment of the Islamic Republic is in danger right now however these protests have shaken the country and Political Leadership is yet to find. A proper strategy to tame them ok and president rouhani has been considered the moderate all along while these protests weaken his progressive path do you think. I mean at least he has acknowledged the grievances of people who took to the streets wreaking about economic problems but also about the needs of people for more transparency transparency and openness in the country so he will have to show however tangible solutions to all these problems that people are talking about so that the demonstrators have the feeling that they they are listened to ok and how do you compare these demonstrations that started because an economic concerns to those the happened in two thousand and nine following the election in two thousand and nine we had a political event which was the president ial elections and weeks and if not months before the elections the socalled Green Movement has already taken shape there was a clear political agenda the Reform Movement was behind it we dont see such political such a political framework now its more about economic social economic grievances that doesnt mean that its less relevant but there is no real political strategy behind it and therefore i think it will probably end rather sooner than later. So there is a lack of clear leadership which is one of the differences from last time as you mentioned and perhaps the messaging as well what do we know about the specific demands besides the economy i think regardless of which kind of slogans we are hearing we have to keep in mind that it all started juju social economic grievances unemployment high food prices low purchasing power of ordinary citizens these are the things people want to find in the be taken care of by the Political Leadership and this is something that the government has to address properly with tangible Solutions Advantage by thank you very much pleasure. And helena is here now for more on how the economy is sparking that on restaurant right abbie what weve been seeing is that people were already angry about the state of the economy in the country then we saw that uptick that spike in food prices and that is what has got people really frustrated in the country now president has found rouhani acknowledge the publics anger over the economic turmoil in the country and want to run did benefit from his nuclear deal with world powers in twenty fifteen most iranians just didnt feel the benefit themselves as Living Standards in the country remain stagnant. The protests began thursday in response to a forty percent price increase for eggs and poultry the government also announced plans to raise fuel prices the moves would have hit the poor especially hard at a time of Economic Uncertainty inflation is at ten percent unemployment is high and young iranians face weak job prospects this despite the high hopes that many expressed as International Sanctions began to be lifted in the wake of Irans Nuclear deal. With the sanctions being lifted we hope that foreign capital pours into the country. That will allow us to reopen factories. And then it will be easier for young people to find a job that suits their taste is surely the idaho where it is but thats not what happened Foreign Investment did increase but not to an extent that would allow the broader population to live a better life one reason is the country is still decrepit Banking SectorInternational Money transfers are difficult and many Credit Institutions are essentially bankrupt so far the government has failed to build a stable trustworthy financial sector. Threats from the u. S. To reintroduce sanctions have also made Foreign Investors wary many iranians once place their hopes for reform in president has done rouhani but now they see him as an ineffectual leader unable to stand up to the islamic hardliners who really run the country. Well and hilarity we spoke to the economist fatah and he told us that despite the lifting all of those economic sanctions in the wake of the nuclear deal and runs a column a still has a long way to go round isolated by round a bald at least one de cade out of the World Economy and right before it was a versified economy really relate to and dependent on imports and also on exports and so there is the need for a catching up process which already began. And i say that sport brings people together but the question is could it possibly bring enemies north and south korea closer together. Sports diplomacy has worked elsewhere and with the Winter Olympics just over a month away south korea has offered to hold talks with the north on whether pyongyang can send its athletes to the games south koreas president moon j n said his country is ready to negotiate on letting north korea join next month china lympics hosted by the south but he stressed that north Koreas Nuclear threats would be a major point in any talks. Lets go straight to seoul now and reuters Senior Correspondent josh smith is good to see you could this moment theres a limb pick diplomacy signal some kind of breakthrough in actually reduce tensions. Well thats certainly what officials here in seoul are hoping this is something that south korean president. Has been pushing for some time he has proposed to the americans for example to delay a major joint springtime military. Drills until after the olympics theyre hoping that kims new years speech may be that opening that theyve been looking for just a day to day per pose on january ninth to meet with north korean officials and discuss possibilities for their athletes visiting the games however theres been no response to that overtures from the north just yet ok and theres a bit of a time crunch as we mentioned earlier theres about a month away until those games how likely is it that the north will actually be able to send a team. Well both sides do seem to be making at least some effort to make that happen obviously up until just a few days ago there had been no movement on behalf of the north although south korea as well as other unpick officials had repeatedly extended the invitation to the north now what remains to be seen is whether you know all this can be worked out you know a way that. Works for both sides is likely to face at least some criticism from many members of the International Community who worked out for months now to try to isolate the regime in north korea over what they see as a rogue nucular Weapons Program you mentioned the criticism and theres been some negative reaction already to the idea of north korea participating in the games i like to read out a tweet now from us republican senator Lindsey Graham he said this earlier allowing kim jong uns north korea to participate in the Winter Olympics would give legitimacy to the most illegitimate regime on the planet im confident south korea out will reject this absurd overture and fully believe that if north korea goes to the Winter Olympics we do not. Thats the response from one senator in the u. S. How much influence can statements like this have on salt when it comes to engaging with its neighbor briefly if you can well there are certainly very powerful amendes that have expressed criticism one of the leading. Members of all of this however will be u. S. President jiang trump who just today what you did as well but he said that it could or could not be a good move so obviously remains to be seen again just how influential some of these more hawkish members of the International Community will be. In seoul thank you very much. Now to some of the other stories making news around the world hundreds of protesters have gathered in ukraines capital kiev to demand an investigation into the death of a prominent lawyer irina skull was found dead on new years day she faced threats for helping to convict a well connected man in a case that was seen as a test of the ukrainian justice system. At least nine people have died and more than a dozen did after rival gangs clashed at a jail in brazil Officials Say the violence erupted when inmates from one wing invaded another some hundred prisoners managed to escape during the fighting and a few dozen have been recaptured. A new campaign against Sexual Harassment has just been launched in hollywood and its already raised thirteen Million Dollars the times up initiative has the backing of a list power players like Reese WitherspoonJennifer Aniston and Shonda Rhimes it aims to help victims of Sexual Misconduct working in low income industries. And here in germany a member of parliament and leading figure in the far right alternative for Germany Party could face charges for an angry tweet on new years eve in the tweet beatrix fun store she made a reference to quote barbaric gang raping hordes of muslim men post came as a new german law aimed at cracking down on online hate speech came into full effect twitter promptly removed the tweet and temporarily suspended store shoes account. New years eve celebrations passed without serious incidents this year but two years ago hundreds of women reported being sexually attacked many of the perpetrators were migrants since then police in cologne have pushed the slogan respect they use social media to spread the word in many languages including arabic bad to expunge voice a leading member of the far right alternative for Germany Party mom the action in a tweet and criticize the police do you think it is to appease the barbaric gang raping hordes of muslim men twitter deleted the entry immediately cologne holies regard the tweet is anti muslim prosecutors are now assessing whether to charge one story with incitement to hatred that is an inside is on those that is especially difficult in this case because the hurdles sent by the constitution i scored are very high when it comes to stating political opinions especially for career politicians. Was on the whole said with a politician like the first step would be to lift her parliamentary immunity experts say her tweet was typical for her. Regularly attempts to incite racial hatred of migrants muslims and socalled other is that something germany experienced with anti semitic slogans in the Weimar Republic in the one nine hundred twenty s. And it can be dangerous to the republic if it is not stopped the in danger because it twitter suspended the f. T. Politicians account for several hours acting under authority of the new law that requires social media firms to promptly delete suspected criminal hate speech. Lets bring our Political Correspondent rupert parts what more can you tell us about this new german law that goes into effect. All this network and foresman law is the outcome of a very long debate we have seen in germany on how to tackle the increase of hate speech and fake news especially on social media it is a political full social networks bigger than well who have more than two million users here in germany so in the end it affects mostly facebook and twitter and it makes them responsible for all the content that has been published on these platforms by the users so what they have to do is they have to monitor themselves what the users are publishing and if a complaint comes in they only have twenty four hours to delete or block any unlawful content and if this content is disputable if its just this beautiful things content is unlawful they have seven days to delete and block this content and if they dont do so there are large fines that can be imposed on them fines up to fifty Million Euros fifty Million Euros a half the fine theres been a lot of reaction on social media to this new law but what is the f. T. C. About it. Well the alternative for germany is a right wing populist party and they have made it to political tactic to victimize themselves whenever they they use a provocative statement and then being criticized for it but they call it of course censorship something they always do but this time i think they certainly do have a point because criticism does not only come from the far right it also comes from civil Rights Groups who say that this net focus network and force and law is introducing censorship through backdoor they say that as the state wants to make the providers deputies for legal prosecution and imposes large fines on them this could mean that these providers could eliminate any opinion which they think could be provocative or disputable just to avoid the fines and this in the end could mean that. The mainstream opinions could find it much harder to be heard or seen on social media ok and weve seen how social media plays a role in politics and other nations what kind of role does it play here in germany. Social media as in any other modern country of course is plays a major role and we have already seen it as specially within the far right populist movement movements that social media has become a major tool for political communication so that the and the a of d. A specially has made it a political tactic to use social media especially to place provocative statements and use the public outcry of criticism after that to victimize themselves rupert reader waldemar parliamentary studio thank you you know what. Now to kick off the beginning of the new year well youre bringing you a preview all this week of what to expect from top Global Players in two thousand and eighteen today we take a closer look at germanys chancellor Angela Merkel topping her agenda is forming a new government its now been more than one hundred days since september the election later this week merkels conservatives are set to start exploratory talks with the center left social democrats but even if the talks are successful it could take months before a government is it put in place. Each day a new record is broken here in berlin never before has it taken so long falling an election to build a new government. And in the middle of it all chancellor.