Iranian police said 139 foreign nationals have so far been arrested in the central province of Yazd for their participation in recent protests, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Tuesday, without specifying their nationalities. Yazd, a predominantly desert province with a relatively small population above 1 million, was one of many provinces affected by nationwide protests in January. The protests, which started in December over economic hardships and quickly turned political, were repressed in the most violent crackdown since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The official death toll stands at 3,117, although rights groups say many more people have been killed. US-based rights group HRANA has said that nearly 50,000 people have so far been arrested. Authorities blame Israel and the United States for fomenting the violence. "These (foreign) individuals played an active role in organising, inciting, and directing riotous actions, and in some cases were in contact with netwo...
Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8432, which crashed while attempting an emergency landing near Aktau, Kazakhstan, on Wednesday, was hit by a Russian surface-to-air missile, Azerbaijani government sources confirmed on Thursday. The missile, fired during drone activity over Grozny, struck the aircraft mid-flight, causing shrapnel to hit passengers and cabin crew. Despite the pilots’ requests for an emergency landing, the aircraft was denied permission to land at any Russian airport and was ordered to fly across the Caspian Sea towards Aktau. Sources revealed that the aircraft’s GPS navigation systems were jammed during the flight, further complicating the situation. The missile was launched from a Pantsir-S air defence system, according to Baku-based outlet AnewZ. Russian sources confirmed that at the time of the incident, air defence forces were engaged in an attempt to shoot down Ukrainian UAVs over Chechnya. Chechen officials confirmed a drone attack over Grozny that morning but reported no casualties or damage. If these preliminary findings are confirmed, the incident would mark the second time in a decade that Russian forces have downed a commercial aircraft, following the 2014 MH17 disaster in Ukraine. The crash also claimed the lives of Russian citizens and nationals from neighbouring countries. The investigation into the crash is ongoing, with authorities expected to examine the circumstances surrounding the missile attack, the denial of landing at Russian airports, and the forced rerouting of the plane with damage.
from Latest World News, International News | Breaking World News https://ift.tt/GsPHD19
from Latest World News, International News | Breaking World News https://ift.tt/GsPHD19
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