DUBAI, Jan 17 (Reuters) - More than 3,000 people have died in Iran's nationwide protests, rights activists said on Saturday, while a "very slight rise" in internet activity was reported in the country after an eight-day blackout.

The U.S.-based HRANA group said it had verified 3,090 deaths, including 2,885 protesters, after residents said the crackdown appeared to have broadly quelled protests for now and state media reported more arrests.

US President Donald Trump on Friday gave a key role in post-war Gaza to former British prime minister Tony Blair and appointed a US officer to lead a nascent security force.

Trump named members of a board to help supervise Gaza that was dominated by Americans, as he promotes a controversial vision of economic development in a territory that lies in rubble after two-plus years of relentless Israeli bombardment.

By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON, Jan 16 (Reuters) - The White House on Friday announcednames of the so-called "Board of Peace" that will, under President Donald Trump's plan, supervise the temporary governance of Gaza, which continues to see deadly violence despite a fragile ceasefire that went into effect in October.

Jan 16 (Reuters) - Syria's President Ahmed al-Sharaa issued a decree affirming the rights of the Kurdish Syrians, formally recognising their language and restoring citizenship to all Kurdish Syrians, state news agency SANA reported on Friday.

Sharaa's decree came after fierce clashes that broke out last week in the northern city of Aleppo, leaving at least 23 people dead, according to Syria's health ministry, and forced more than 150,000 to flee the two Kurdish-run pockets of the city.

The clashes ended after Kurdish fighters withdrew.

Jan 16 (Reuters) - The United States is ready to restart mediation between Egypt and Ethiopia to help resolve the issue of Nile River water sharing, President Donald Trump said in a letter to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Friday.

"I am ready to restart U.S. mediation between Egypt and Ethiopia to responsibly resolve the question of 'The Nile Water Sharing' once and for all," Trump wrote in the letter, which he posted to his Truth Social account.

(Reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto, Editing by Bhargav Acharya)

From his tent in Gaza City, Mahmoud Abdel Aal said residents were frustrated and worried because nothing had changed in the Palestinian territory since the start of the US-brokered ceasefire's second phase.

In a post-apocalyptic landscape of bombed-out buildings and makeshift camps devastated by recent winter rains, Palestinians who spoke to AFP mostly expressed bitterness.

Though Israeli strikes have been less intense since the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel began in October 2025, bombs still fall every day.

French publisher Hachette on Friday said it had recalled a dictionary that described the Israeli victims of the October 7, 2023 attacks as "Jewish settlers" and promised to review all its textbooks and educational materials.

The Larousse dictionary for 11- to 15-year-old students contained the same phrase as that discovered by an anti-racism body in three revision books, the company told AFP.

US President Donald Trump thanked Iran's leadership on Friday after saying Tehran had called off the executions of hundreds of protesters arrested in a brutal crackdown.

"I greatly respect the fact that all scheduled hangings, which were to take place yesterday (Over 800 of them), have been cancelled by the leadership of Iran. Thank you!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social network.

Trump repeatedly threatened military action against Iran over the past two weeks to help protesters, where rights groups say Iranian forces have killed thousands of people.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa issued a decree on Friday declaring Kurdish a "national language", in an apparent gesture of good will towards the minority following clashes in recent days.

The decree is the first formal recognition of Kurdish national rights since Syria's independence in 1946.

It stated Kurds were "an essential and integral part" of Syria, where they have suffered decades of marginalisation and oppression under former rulers.

A top UK police chief who oversaw a contentious decision to ban Maccabi Tel Aviv football fans from a Birmingham match retired on Friday after public pressure for him to step down.

West Midlands Police and its chief constable Craig Guildford, 52, have been under mounting pressure about how they came to the decision to bar the fans from the November 6 UEFA Europa League match with Aston Villa.

The move sparked political outrage in Britain, including from Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and in Israel, with Israeli leaders denouncing it as "antisemitic".