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Sign up for your £1 per month trial at Shopify.com.ukau.ukes slash Spotify. It's Thursday, the 8th of January. Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker,

your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right. Let's get briefed. First up, violent clashes are spreading across Iran as nationwide protests enter their 12th day, with demonstrators crossing a dangerous new line by openly attacking one of the regime's most sacred symbols. I'll have those details. Later in the show, an ICE officer shoots and kills a woman in Minneapolis, sparking anger,

protests, and renewed scrutiny of federal immigration enforcement.

But first, today's afternoon spotlight.

Violent clashes erupted across Iran last night as anti-government protests moved into their

12th day, with security forces and demonstrators confronting each other in multiple

cities nationwide. Now, I want to point out that dev developments on the ground in Iran are

changing and happening minute by minute. This is a very fast-breaking situation. So we will be

providing further updates tomorrow and as it continues.

Iran's semi-official Farrs News Agency, which is closely aligned with the regime's Revolutionary

Guard Corps, the IRGC, reports that two police officers were shot and killed by armed individuals

in the southwestern town of Lortigand.

Now, videos circulating on social media show tense standoffs between protesters and security

forces with gunfire clearly audible in the background.

In other footage, security forces appear to fire live rounds and tear gas into crowds,

while demonstrators respond by throwing stones.

According to the U.S.-based human rights activists news agency, protests have

now spread to 111 cities and towns across all 31 of Iran's provinces now. Those facts alone, of course,

for the regime would be alarming, but what's happening next is even more telling. In some of the

most dramatic footage to emerge so far, protesters are seen

toppling and burning statues of late General Qasem Soleimani. Now, Soleimani wasn't just a

...