Setup: A first-hand statement from Chao Qun Fu, a China Democracy Party member, says activists arrived around 3:00 p.m. to start a protest after another rally ended nearby.

Threats: Three armed guards with pepper spray and shields reading "Luocheng Security" confronted the group, with one guard taunting them and making a gun-like hand gesture while saying, "Can you die three times?"

Spray: The guard then discharged pepper spray directly into multiple people's faces at close range.

Arrest: The Epoch Times reported that the Los Angeles Police Department said it arrested a suspect in connection with the alleged misuse of a tear gas weapon under California law.

Briefing: Rubio delivered the message in a closed-door session with congressional leaders after worries spiked that the administration’s recent rhetoric was sliding from pressure tactics into something more concrete. And of course, we cannot the U.S.'s recent arrest of Venezuela's dictator Maduro likely made people take Trump's threats more seriously.

Signals: The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said Trump was weighing “a range of options,” and did not rule out military force, which is exactly the kind of sentence that makes European diplomats start checking their phones.

Pressure: Rubio’s line was that the play is bargaining, not boots, with Denmark as the negotiating partner over an autonomous territory that Greenland’s leaders insist is not for sale.

Backlash: In their Joint Statement on Greenland European capitals have reacted with alarm at the idea of force being used against a NATO ally, warning it would strain the alliance and rattle long-standing security cooperation.

Public: Polling often shows Greenland’s population largely opposing joining the United States.

Document: Signed in Paris by Starmer and Macron alongside Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, it is a formal “declaration of intent” that sets the legal and political runway for British, French, and partner forces to operate on Ukrainian soil after a deal.

Footprint: The pitch is “military hubs” and protected sites for weapons and equipment across Ukraine, plus support for air and sea security and rebuilding Ukraine’s armed forces, not front-line combat.

Backstop: The U.S. has formally backed this plan for the first time on Tuesday, positioning itself as the lead monitor for any truce, while still ruling out US troops.

Risk: Russia has repeatedly warned that foreign forces in Ukraine would be “legitimate targets,” which is why this plan is explicitly conditional on a peace deal and wrapped in deterrence language. It is designed to prevent the next invasion, but it could also dare Russia to test the guarantee.

Abdanan: Abdanan is a small city of about 24,000 in Ilam province near the Iraq border, where opposition-linked accounts say protesters controlled key streets after clashes with security forces, calling it the first city effectively taken during this protest wave.

Clashes: Those accounts say an Ofogh Kourosh grocery store was set on fire, police and security personnel retreated to the local station, and electricity was cut. State-linked outlets, meanwhile, described the incident as a riot and looting at a store, not a political takeover.

Numbers: Rights groups tracking the crackdown say the toll is mounting fast, with at least 25 to 35 deaths reported so far and more than 1,200 arrests, alongside protests logged across hundreds of locations in dozens of cities.