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LONDON — Iran’s government has spent months violently cracking down on protests gripping the country. The first known executions of people arrested over the monthslong protests prompted an outcry from Western governments and human rights activists, but they came as little surprise to those involved in the demonstrations or carefully watching them from afar. Human rights groups and Western governments say Iran’s judicial system is based on sham trials behind closed doors. A week earlier, Iran executed another man, Mohsen Shekari, for allegedly blocking a road in Tehran and stabbing a pro-government militia member who required stitches. Around a dozen others have been sentenced to death, according to human rights groups.

DOHA, Qatar — Qatar's soccer World Cup appeared to be a public relations disaster. The event has become a magnifying glass for the tiny petrostate's human rights record, highlighting rather than airbrushing its treatment of LGBTQ people, women and migrant workers. "Qatar has a plethora of political objectives by hosting this event," said Danyel Reiche, a visiting associate professor at Georgetown University in Qatar, who co-wrote the book "Qatar and the 2022 FIFA World Cup: Politics, Controversy, Change." Qatar has used soccer to "overcome the invisibility of a small state," he added, allowing it to "become more influential in international affairs." Other authoritarian states hoping to burnish their global image may also view the event as a potential blueprint.

☆ Once a mighty empire, Britain today sees millions struggling simply to live
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Alex-Smith-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Alexander Smith | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Britain is the world’s sixth-largest economy, a top-tier industrialized power that still sees itself as a cradle of the postwar welfare state. Britain once compared itself to giants like France and Germany; today many of its metrics more closely resemble Eastern Europe’s weaker economies. One in six British households are on social security checks, and almost a third of British kids live in poverty, government figures show. He is on public benefits for a range of physical and mental health issues, from diabetes to post-traumatic stress disorder from his time in the armed forces. I’ve got nothing to look forward to.”Poverty is closely linked to an increase in mental and physical health problems, according to the Centre for Mental Health charity.

Iran said Thursday it had executed a person arrested over the monthslong protests gripping the country, the first known death penalty carried out related to the unrest. At least 475 people have been killed and 18,000 others arrested, according to the watchdog Human Rights Activists in Iran, which is based just outside Washington. It "must be met with STRONG reactions otherwise we will be facing daily executions of protesters," Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the director of the Oslo-based activist group Iran Human Rights, said in a tweet. The news agency alleged that Shekari was offered money to wield the machete and take part in the protests. Iran executed 314 people last year, the most in the world after China, according to data compiled by Amnesty.

She died in hospital three days after being arrested by the country's morality police for allegedly breaking its strict dress-code laws. However, Iran's main state media agencies haven’t covered the remarks, potentially signaling they were not sanctioned by the political establishment. The morality police have not been prominent on the streets of Tehran and other cities for roughly two months. The United States was similarly skeptical that Iran is loosening its hijab laws, according to a senior Biden administration official. They said that it was possible the announcement was made to diminish attendance participation in the three days of strikes this week.

On Tuesday, those criticizing the team made their voices heard: This was the Islamic Republic's loss, not Iran's. Meanwhile, there were thousands of tweets in Persian, or in English from prominent Iranians, saying how happy they were their own team had fallen at the first hurdle of the competition. Dean Mouhtaropoulos / Getty Images"For 43 years the regime brainwashed Iranians to hate America," Masih Alinejad, a New York-based Iranian journalist and activist, tweeted . "But see how people across Iran are celebrating the victory of the U.S. soccer team against the Islamic Republic." Reuters TVWhere the Iranian soccer team fits into all this has been a subject of debate among Iranians and those watching from abroad.

☆ Iran's violent crackdown against protesters escalates in parts of the country
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Alex-Smith-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Alexander Smith | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

The group, which focuses on human rights in Iranian Kurdistan, said that at least 1,500 people have been injured. Scenes from reported clashes in the northeastern Iranian city of Javanrud, shared by a Kurdish human rights group on Tuesday. The regime-aligned agency blamed the violence on “rioters” and “Kurdish separatists” who infiltrated crowds of protesters and attacked an IRGC base. Some protesters have called for an overthrow of the regime and “death to the dictator” — meaning Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. These have been condemned by Kurdish officials and the Iraqi government, despite the latter being dominated by parties close to Iran.

Around 48 hours before it kicks off the soccer World Cup, officials made the shock announcement Friday that Qatar is banning alcohol sales from its stadium perimeters. FIFA, the sport's troubled international governing body, said in a tweet that the decision had been made "following discussions between host country authorities and FIFA." Budweiser beer kiosks at the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha stand empty on Friday. It also presents a major headache for sponsor, Budweiser, which has a $75 million advertising deal with FIFA. FIFA's statement thanked AB InBev, Budweiser's parent company, for its "understanding and continuous support" to "cater for everyone" during the World Cup.

☆ Iran protests endure night of violence as killings reported across two cities
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Alex-Smith-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Alexander Smith | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

A night of violence flared across at least two Iranian cities as anti-government protests challenging the regime on an unprecedented level entered their third month. State media and local officials, including Hayati, said the people were shot dead by two "terrorists" riding motorcycles. Amini's death sparked protests that morphed into wider anti-government demonstrations that have swept the country, arguably the biggest challenge to the theocratic Islamic Republic since its founding in 1979. The state-run Islamic Republic News Agency reported that protesters had gathered in different parts of Izeh, 280 miles south of the capital Tehran, and started chanting anti-government slogans. According to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group, at least 342 people, including 43 children and 26 women, have been killed during the protests so far.

☆ Rishi Sunak becomes British prime minister after meeting with King Charles III
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Alex-Smith-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Alexander Smith | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

Truss became the 15th prime minister of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign just 49 days ago — the shortest term in British political history. Her short time as prime minister had, she said, left her "more convinced than ever that we need to be bold and confront the challenges that we face." "Rishi Sunak really is facing an absolutely gargantuan challenge," Tim Bale, a politics professor at Queen Mary University of London, told NBC News. "He does face really, really big problems that are not just economic but also, of course, electoral." At 42, Sunak will be the youngest prime minister in more than 200 years.

LONDON — Former finance minister Rishi Sunak won the race to be Britain's next prime minister Monday and will become the third leader in seven weeks of a country upended by political and economic chaos. Sunak, 42, will become the latest leader of the ruling Conservative Party to enter the revolving door of No. 10 Downing St., following Liz Truss' resignation just 44 days after taking office. "Rishi Sunak is therefore elected as leader of the Conservative Party," Graham Brady, the Conservative lawmaker who oversees the party's leadership elections, told his colleagues, who banged on tables and cheered at the announcement. The son of African-born Hindus of Indian descent, Sunak will be the country's second ethnic minority leader, after 1800s Jewish prime minister Benjamin Disraeli, who was a practicing Christian.

But the theme of the event is continuity — of President Xi Jinping as leader, and with that the likelihood of friction with the U.S.-led West. Xi, China’s most powerful leader in decades, is poised to secure an unprecedented third term at this week’s twice-a-decade National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing. “Those achievements have certainly strengthened the president’s leadership.”Under Xi, China’s gross domestic product has more than doubled to $17.7 trillion. Born in Beijing in 1953, Xi enjoyed a privileged youth as the second son of Xi Zhongxun, a Chinese communist revolutionary. “The long-term goals of President Xi, as well as general attitudes in the West, will make it very difficult for us to have more cooperation during his third term,” she said.

Saudi Arabia has suggested the United States asked it to wait a month before cutting oil production, defending a move heavily criticized by the White House as helping Russia's war in Ukraine. Bandar Al-Jaloud / AFP - Getty ImagesAs the de facto head of OPEC+, Saudi Arabia rejected that appeal, with the alliance instead announcing earlier this week it would be cutting global supply by 2 million barrels. John Kirby, National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, said that Saudi Arabia was trying to "spin and deflect" on the issue. "Other OPEC nations communicated to us privately that they also disagreed with the Saudi decision, but felt coerced to support Saudi’s direction." Like many Western governments, Washington has long sought to balance reliance on Saudi Arabia, the world's second largest oil producer, with holding it to account on human rights.

“Are you ashamed of what you’ve done?” one listener on BBC Radio Kent asked. Truss spoke to eight radio stations in all, spending between five and 10 minutes with each. The new prime minister did not answer many of the questions directly; instead, she gave the same semi-scripted answers, often punctuated with notable pauses and silences. “People like it when politicians are honest,” Sarah Julian, the presenter on BBC Radio Nottingham, said as she opened her segment. “As prime minister, I have to do what I feel is right for the country,” Truss told one of the radio stations, BBC Radio Norfolk, based in eastern England.

Russia will formally annex four regions of Ukraine partially controlled by its military, the Kremlin announced Thursday, in a major political escalation of the war against its neighbor. It comes after Moscow-backed authorities staged votes in the occupied regions of Ukraine's east and south that were widely denounced as a sham to justify a land grab following Russia's recent military setbacks. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russian President Vladimir Putin would attend a ceremony on the accession of the four regions — Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia — at the Kremlin's St. George's Hall on Friday. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has suggested it could be prepared to use nuclear weapons — a threat Putin has repeatedly made. Many Western experts see the moves as acts of desperation by Putin, whose armies have been pushed back by a lightning Ukrainian counteroffensive in recent weeks.

LONDON — If anyone thought Britain was due a period of calm after Boris Johnson’s tumultuous premiership, no one told his successor. But the proposed solution by new Prime Minister Liz Truss has quickly sent the economy spiraling into chaos, threatening consequences both immediate and long-lasting for many Britons. Prime Minister Liz Truss's government unveiled a financial plan last week that sparked market concern and public criticism. The nose-diving pound will also make everyday products in Britain more expensive as importers face spiraling costs. It wants to supercharge Britain’s sluggish economy by any means necessary — even if that means short-term shocks.

The United States has warned Russia there will be "catastrophic" consequences if Moscow uses nuclear weapons after setbacks in its war in Ukraine. National security adviser Jake Sullivan told NBC News' "Meet the Press" Sunday that the consequences "would be catastrophic if Russia went down the dark road of nuclear weapons use." Putin has made a string of nuclear threats against Ukraine and the West as a whole since he launched his invasion just over seven months ago. Russia has the largest nuclear arsenal in the world with almost 6,000 nuclear warheads and 1,500 of them currently deployed, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, an independent think tank that tracks global stockpiles. It has also triggered an exodus of Russians attempting to flee the draft, clogging border crossings and snapping up available flights.

But many campaigners believe King Charles III presents a unique opportunity: They think most royalism was actually fondness for the widely loved queen, and he — a new, less popular king — won't inherit this support. The English Civil War resulted in the beheading of King Charles I, before the "Glorious Revolution" saw English elites effectively choose a new monarch who gave lawmakers more rights. William, Prince of Wales, and Catherine, Princess of Wales, look at floral tributes to the queen at Sandringham Estate on Thursday. Some observers agree that Charles should be viewed in an entirely new light now that he is king. “The monarchy knows statesmanship is about knowing to give up what you can no longer keep,” she said.

LONDON — Even for a country that prides itself on pageantry, it was an occasion of majestic splendor. Yet, the ceremony and solemnity of the state funeral are already giving way to an unavoidable realization: The grandeur that marked Queen Elizabeth II's funeral and was seen by billions across the world is not the reality of the country that most woke up to Tuesday. Britain is facing myriad crises, from spiraling costs for food and fuel to an energy crunch that could cause blackouts this winter. “This has been 10 days of Britain being in suspended animation,” said Scott Lucas, a professor of American studies at England’s University of Birmingham who specializes in British and American politics. “The Brits are going to get an immediate shock and an immediate dose of reality.”

☆ Last two mourners to see Queen Elizabeth's coffin forged friendship that will 'last forever'
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-19 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Alex-Smith-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Alexander Smith | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON — They forged a friendship that will “last forever” while saying farewell to Queen Elizabeth II. Some mourners waited 12 hours or more for the chance to file past her coffin. Heerey and Mansouri found each other just after 1 a.m. Monday, they told Britain's Press Association news agency in a separate interview. “I call this place home and she made me feel like I was home here,” Mansouri said of the queen. Many lined up through the night to pay their final respects to Elizabeth who reigned for 70 years.

And Queen Elizabeth II will be laid to rest next to her husband, Prince Philip. ET) the last members of the public were allowed into Westminster Hall to see Elizabeth’s coffin lying-in-state. The hall, which was built more than 1,000 years ago, has now been closed in preparation for the grandest funeral in British living memory. Mourners gather along The Mall ahead of the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on Monday in London. From Westminster Hall, it will be taken in a procession to Westminster Abbey, just across Parliament Square, for the state funeral.

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