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The World in Brief from The Economist

Swiss officials blame sparklers for deadly fire; Tesla slips behind BYD in EV race, and more

The World in Brief from The Economist

The Economist

News, Daily News, News & Politics, Global News

4.11.2K Ratings

🗓️ 3 January 2026

⏱️ 5 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Donald Trump warned that America would intervene if Iran “violently kills” peaceful protesters, saying his country was “ready to go”

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

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0:00.0

The Economist

0:04.2

Hello, you're listening to the free edition of the world in brief from The Economist.

0:11.2

As a reminder, if you subscribe to The Economist, you'll get access to a deeper look at the day ahead, updated three times a day.

0:20.0

If you're already an Economist subscriber, visit

0:22.9

economist.com slash espresso or visit our Espresso app to start listening. Here's today's

0:29.4

free edition.

0:34.6

This is the world in brief from The Economist.

0:42.9

Our top stories, Tesla lost its spot as the world's largest electric vehicle maker to B.D, a Chinese rival.

0:53.3

Tesla delivered 1.64 million EVs in 2025, 8.6% fewer than in

1:00.2

2024 and its second consecutive annual decline. BYD said it shipped 2.26 million EVs last year,

1:09.9

up by more than a quarter from the prior year.

1:13.9

Swiss authorities said new findings pointed to sparklers on champagne bottles

1:18.9

as the likely cause of a fire on New Year's Eve at a bar in a ski resort,

1:24.5

in which at least 40 people died.

1:27.4

Investigators said flames spread rapidly

1:30.2

after sparks reached the ceiling and warned that identifying victims would take time. Dozens of

1:37.8

injured revelers were transferred to hospitals across Europe. Donald Trump warned that America would intervene if Iran, quote,

1:47.4

violently kills peaceful protesters, saying his country was, quote, ready to go. His warning came as

1:54.8

protests over Iran's weak economy turned deadly, with clashes reported nationwide.

2:02.0

Masoud Peschkian, Iran's president, said his government would take action to, quote,

2:08.0

resolve the issue of people's livelihoods.

2:11.7

Yemen's Southern Transitional Council, a separatist group, supported by the United Arab Emirates, said it intended to hold

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