New Year, New Hope

Happy New Year
Global Recap readers!

Time really flies, doesn’t it? Almost too fast.

• Scrolling through New Year’s celebrations around the world, I was struck by how the same rituals unfold again and again, hour by hour, as the clock hits midnight across the map.

• And then the calendar turns, and the world turns with it: back to bickering online, and violence on the ground.

In Iran, while others light up the sky with fireworks, a different kind of fire is spreading across the country, unfortunately. 👇🏼

🇮🇷 IRAN
Day IV: New Hope
Amid Shutdown and Fire

Iran’s leadership tried to stop that rapidly-spreading protest wave with a one-day shutdown across much of the country, but that’s not stopping people from burning things down.

• Signals: Videos circulated online from multiple cities, showing crowds chanting slogans like "Death to Khamenei" and clashes in packed streets, while the state also leaned on visible shows of force like helicopters overhead in at least one hotspot.

• Flashpoint: In Fasa, in south-central Iran, footage showed people forcing open the gate of a local government building. Reports suggest four detainees and three wounded security force members from the incident, while opposition accounts described security forces opening fire after crowds pushed into the governor's office.

• Spread: The government ordered closures of businesses, universities, and offices across 21 of Iran’s 31 provinces, including Tehran.

• Shakeup: Pezeshkian appointed Abdolnaser Hemmati to lead Iran's central bank, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei named IRGC Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi as deputy commander in chief of the Revolutionary Guards, signaling both an economic and security reset mid-crisis.

Reza Pahlavi

Here is the exiled crown prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, addressing Iranian protesters.

🇫🇷 FRANCE
Under-15
Social Media Ban

Following the footsteps of Australia, France is also teeing up a nationwide ban on social media accounts for kids under 15, with officials aiming for a September 2026 start date.

• Timeline: The draft bill is expected to hit Parliament in January 2026, and the government is pointing to the start of the 2026-27 school year as the moment this becomes real.

• Mechanics: This is reportedly built around age verification, meaning platforms would have to stop under-15s from opening or keeping accounts.

• Schools: But that's not all. France also wants to tighten its phone rules by extending restrictions to high schools, layering school-day enforcement on top of the online account rules.

• Backstory: France already passed a “digital majority” law in 2023 that requires parental consent for under-15s, but enforcement has been technically difficult, and the government is now clamping down for a cleaner, harder line.

• Why? Macron has argued social media is feeding youth violence and other harms like bullying, sexual content exposure, and wrecked sleep. On top of all this, he is also pushing for EU-wide minimum-age rules.

🇫🇮 FINLAND
Snapped Cable,
Ship Captured

Finland just grabbed a cargo ship after police suspected sabotage of an undersea telecoms cable in the Baltic Sea. The vessel, Fitburg, was sailing from Russia when investigators say it was dragging its anchor near the damaged line.

• Cable: The damaged telecoms link runs from Helsinki to Estonia across the Gulf of Finland, a busy, shallow stretch of seabed that is increasingly treated like critical infrastructure, not just "the ocean floor."

• Ship: Finnish authorities say Fitburg was en route from St Petersburg to Israel when it was directed into Finnish territorial waters after the incident. The cable belongs to Finnish telecom group Elisa.

• Crew: Investigators said all 14 crew members were detained, with nationalities listed as Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan. The ship sails under the flag of St Vincent and the Grenadines.

• Spillover: Estonia’s justice ministry said a second Finland-Estonia telecoms cable also went down the same day, and Sweden’s Arelion confirmed it had an outage, though it was not immediately clear if the incidents were connected.

🇧🇬 BULGARIA
Euro Switch Splits Bulgaria

Bulgaria just joined the eurozone, swapping out the lev for the euro after years of political back-and-forth and a population sentiment split down the middle.

• Shift: Bulgaria is now the 21st eurozone member, the E.U.’s poorest country taking the final step from NATO and E.U. entry, through Schengen, to the single currency.

• Timeline: Through January you can pay in lev or euros, but you are meant to get change back in euros. From February 1, paying in lev is no longer allowed.

• Divide: Younger, city-based, business-minded Bulgarians see convenience and opportunity. Older and more rural communities are more likely to see the change as a loss of control and a setup for price hikes.

• Prices: Since August 2025, shops have been legally required to show prices in both currencies, with €1 pegged at 1.95583 lev.