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Iran's foreign minister said on Monday that the situation has come under total control after a bloody crackdown on nationwide protests in the country. Abbas Araghchi also said that the protests turned violent and bloody to give an excuse for US President Donald Trump to intervene. Araghchi offered no evidence for his statements, which came after activists reported more than 500 people in Iran have been killed during the past two weeks of protests the vast majority of them demonstrators. Araghchi spoke to foreign diplomats in Tehran. The Qatar-funded Al Jazeera satellite news network, which has been allowed to work despite the internet being cut off in the country, carried his remarks.
A crackdown on nationwide protests in Iran has killed at least 544 people and even more are feared dead, activists have said, while Tehran warned that the US military and Israel would be legitimate targets if America uses force to protect demonstrators. Another over 10,600 people have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency on Sunday, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces. With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran's government has not offered overall casualty figures. Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran's security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the
Nationwide protests challenging Iran's theocracy reached the two-week mark Sunday, as the death toll in violence surrounding the demonstrations reached at least 116 people killed, activists said. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency gave the new figure, saying arrests had reached more than 2,600 people as well. The agency has been accurate in multiple rounds of unrest previously. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has signalled a coming clampdown, despite US warnings from President Donald Trump that America could intervene to protect peaceful demonstrators. Tehran escalated its threats Saturday, with the Iran's attorney general, Mohammad Movahedi Azad, warning that anyone taking part in protests will be considered an enemy of God, a death-penalty charge.
Just after 8 pm Thursday, Iran's theocracy pulled the plug and disconnected the Islamic Republic's 85 million people from the rest of the world. Following a playbook used both in demonstrations and in war, Iran severed the internet connections and telephone lines that connect its people to the vast diaspora in the United States, Europe and elsewhere. Until now, even while facing strict sanctions over the country's nuclear programme, Iranians still could access mobile phone apps and even websites blocked by the theocracy, using virtual private networks to circumvent restrictions. Thursday's decision sharply limits people from sharing images and witness accounts of the nationwide protests over Iran's ailing economy that have grown to pose the biggest challenge to the government in years. It also could provide cover for a violent crackdown after the Trump administration warned Iran's government about consequences for further deaths among demonstrators. As the country effectively goes .
People in Iran's capital shouted from their homes and rallied in the street Thursday night after a call by the country's exiled crown prince for a mass demonstration, witnesses said, a new escalation in the protests that have spread nationwide across the Islamic Republic. Internet access and telephone lines in Iran cut out immediately after the protests began. The protest represented the first test of whether the Iranian public could be swayed by Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, whose fatally ill father fled Iran just before the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution. Demonstrations have included cries in support of the shah, something that could bring a death sentence in the past but now underlines the anger fuelling the protests that began over Iran's ailing economy. Thursday saw a continuation of the demonstrations that popped up in cities and rural towns across Iran on Wednesday. More markets and bazaars shut down in support of the protesters. So far, violence around the demonstrations ha
Farmers drove about a hundred tractors into Paris on Thursday morning to protest the European Union's intention to move forward with a free trade deal with five South American nations, the French Interior Ministry said. French farmers for years have denounced the trade deal with the Mercosur nations of Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay, arguing that the deal would hurt French farmers' livelihoods. Thursday's protest was staged by the Rural Coordination union to put further pressure on France's government, which has opposed the deal. Jose Perez, President of the Rural Coordination in the Lot-et-Garonne region in southwestern France, said, The goal today is to come to Paris to express our demands closer to those who have the power. It's a strong symbol, he told The Associated Press. The Interior Ministry said about 20 tractors were in the Paris city centre, some at the Arc de Triomphe monument and others in the Eiffel Tower neighbourhood, despite a ban issued by ...
Mukesh Awasti was all set leave for Australia to pursue a degree in civil engineering on a sunny day in September, but instead he joined a youth revolt against corruption in Nepal and lost his leg after being shot by security forces. Lying on a hospital bed at the National Trauma Center in the capital Kathmandu where his leg was amputated, 22-year-old Awasti said he regrets giving up so much for the little that has been achieved after the sacrifices of so many people. Violent protests in Kathmandu that began Sept. 8 left 76 people dead and more than 2,300 injured before the demonstrations fueled by Gen Z activists forced the appointment on Sept. 12 of Nepal's first female prime minister, Sushila Karki, a retired Supreme Court judge who has promised fresh elections in March. Since then, the interim government and its leader have come under criticism from many of the people who took part in the protests and expected major changes in the Himalayan nation. I am regretting my decision t
Animal rights activists and volunteers from various animal protection groups gathered for a peaceful demonstration at the Jantar Mantar on Saturday, demanding the Supreme Court reconsider its recent order to remove street dogs from public spaces. The protest, held ahead of a hearing on the matter in the top court next week, saw around 30 participants holding placards with creative visuals to highlight their concerns, with one wearing a dog costume to draw public attention, the organisers said. One of the participants termed the Supreme Court order to relocate street dogs from schools, hospitals and transport hubs both impractical and inhumane, which will result in millions of dogs getting confined to shelters for life. On November 7, 2025, the Supreme Court ordered to remove all stray dogs from railway stations, schools, hospitals, bus stops and other public areas, and relocate them to a designated shelter after due sterilisation and vaccination in accordance with the Animal Birth .
A Delhi court on Wednesday granted bail to one of the protesters arrested in connection with an agitation against air pollution at the India Gate on November 23, where slogans were allegedly raised in support of slain Maoist commander Madvi Hidma, saying he was not required for further investigation. Hearing the bail plea of Akshay E R, the court of District Judge Dharmendra Rana said, The applicant (Akshay) was arrested on November 23 and has been in continuous custody since then. It is submitted that the investigation is complete and thus no custodial detention of the applicant is required. The court noted that the co-accused in the case had been granted bail and that the accused had no past criminal antecedents. Considering the nature of the allegations, the period of incarceration, past criminal antecedents and on the ground of parity, the applicant is admitted to bail subject to furnishing of personal bond of Rs 50,000 with one surety of the like amount, the court said. The ..
Unidentified gunmen on Monday shot in the head a second leader of Bangladesh's violent student-led 2004 uprising in the country's southwestern Khulna city, days after the killing of prominent youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi. "The Khulna Division head of NCP (National Citizen Party) and central coordinator of the party's workers front, Muhammad Motaleb Sikdar, was shot a few minutes ago," NCP's joint principal coordinator Mahmuda Mitu said in a Facebook post. Mitu, a doctor, said Sarkar was rushed to Khulna Medical College Hospital in a critical condition. The Kaler Kantha newspaper, quoting hospital sources, said Sarkar was shot on the left side of his head, and he was bleeding profusely when he was brought to the facility, where the doctors started emergency treatment. The attack came days after Hadi, a prominent leader of the student-led protests last year that led to the ouster of the prime minister Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League government, was shot in the head on December 12 by