The World This Hour - The World This Hour for 2026/01/02 at 06:00 EST

Episode Date: January 2, 2026

The World This Hour for 2026/01/02 at 06:00 EST

This ascent isn't for everyone. You need grit to climb this high this often. You've got to be an underdog that always over-delivers. You've got to be 6,500 hospital staff, 1,000 doctors, all doing so much with so little. You've got to be Scarborough. Defined by our uphill battle and always striving towards new heights. And you can help us keep climbing.

Donate at lovescarbro.cairbo. This is World Report. Good morning. I'm Martina Fitzgerald. It is the second of five days of official morning in Switzerland after a horrific New Year's Eve fire in the resort town of Cromontana. About 40 people were killed and more than 115 injured, many of them seriously. Forensic investigators are still searching the club, while friends, family, and locals gather to pay their respects.

World Report co-host John Northcott is following this story from London. John, what are we learning about the victims? Martina, we are watching the white sheets and barricades that are continuing to go up around the club. This as forensic investigators and searchers are trying to gain access to the facility. We understand a number of people are still missing, as many as eight or perhaps more. An exact number is not available for how many were in the club when the fire happened.

We do know that the injured come from all around the world, from France, from Italy, and from Australia. We also know that people are showing up on the scene to pay their respects and to tell stories. Those that showed up on the night of the fire like this young man who worked in the hospitality industry. He arrived on the scene to try to find his friend. He found her, but it was too late. She died in his arms. We tried to revive her. There were firefighters, there were police officers, everyone was everywhere.

It was insane, it was insane. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. We know the victims may be as young as 15 years old. Those in hospital, many of them suffering from third-degree burns, so much so that officials are bringing in experts from other countries to be able to treat those injured in hospital. John, do investigators have any more? clarity on what led to this inferno.

The investigation still very much in the early stages, but we do know that experts are increasingly pointing to this phenomenon of a flashover, where with the fire already underway, it spread even faster. We're also hearing from experts around a situation like this, where there is a fire in a crowded nightclub, that the ability to get out is absolutely key. And that's increasingly what we are understanding happened, with the flames spreading as quickly as they did with only a narrow staircase and people scrambling to get out. It proved deadly and it proved challenging.

Exactly what sparked the fire is still a question for investigators, one that they say already is going to take a long time to get to the bottom of. Thank you, John. That is World Report co-host John Northcott reporting from London. There was unrest across multiple cities in Iran with protesters taking to the streets, some calling for the overthrow of the government. Authorities are responding with force, with people killed and injured. Dominic Volaitis has the latest. Another night of protests in Iran.

Footage posted by BBC Persian shows people in Iraq taking to the streets shouting death to hominy. In Babul, protesters openly called. call for the overthrow of the regime and the reinstatement of the Iranian royal family. And footage verified by BBC Persian shows the authorities opening fire on a passing car in Mavdashed. The driver and his family appear to escape unharmed. Others, though, haven't been so lucky. Iranian media and rights groups say several people have. now been killed in the unrest.

Dozens more have been injured, many have been arrested. The protests, sparked by worsening economic conditions, erupted on Sunday. They're the biggest to hit Iran in three years, with violence reported in several cities. And with no sign of the unrest abating, U.S. President's Donald Trump has vowed to intervene if Iran uses lethal force against peaceful protesters. We are locked and loaded and ready to go, he said in a truth social post.