The former empress of Iran, widow of the shah deposed by the Islamic revolution, on Tuesday urged the Iranian security forces to support protests shaking the clerical leadership that ousted her husband.
Farah Pahlavi, 87, echoing calls made by her son the former crown prince Reza Pahlavi, said she believed "light will triumph over darkness" despite a crackdown by authorities that activists fear has left hundreds dead.
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Dawoud Abu Elkas
CAIRO/GAZA, Jan 13 (Reuters) - A rainstorm swept across the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, flooding hundreds of tents, collapsing homes sheltering families displaced by two years of war and killing at least six people, local health officials said.
Medics said five people, including two women and a girl, died when homes collapsed near Gaza City’s beach, while a one-year-old boy died of extreme cold in a tent in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza.
Widespread destruction, massive military spending and plummeting oil and gold revenues have left Sudan's economy in "very difficult times", army-aligned finance minister Gibril Ibrahim said, nearly three years into the army's war with rival paramilitary forces.
In an interview with AFP from his office in Port Sudan, Ibrahim said the government is eyeing deals for Red Sea ports and private investment to help rebuild infrastructure.
BRUSSELS, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The EU will "swiftly" propose further sanctions on those responsible for the repression of demonstrations in Iran, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday.
"The rising number of casualties in Iran is horrifying. I unequivocally condemn the excessive use of force and continued restriction of freedom, " von der Leyen said on social media platform X.
"Further sanctions on those responsible for the repression will be swiftly proposed."
By Samia Nakhoul
DUBAI, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Despite Iran's nationwide protests and years of external pressure, there are as yet no signs of fracture in the Islamic Republic's security elite that could bring an end to one of the world's most resilient regimes.
Adding to the stress on Iran's clerical rulers, U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened military action over Tehran's severe crackdown on the protests, which follow an Israeli and U.S. bombing campaign last year against Iran's nuclear program and key officials.
By Joe Cash
BEIJING, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Donald Trump's threat to slap a 25% tariff on countries that trade with Iran risks reopening old wounds with Beijing, Tehran's top partner, challenging Chinese leader Xi Jinping's global image and resolve to defend China's commercial interests.
By Emma Farge
GENEVA, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The U.N. human rights chief said on Tuesday that he was "horrified" by mounting violence by Iran's security forces against peaceful protesters, with the U.N. citing its own sources as saying that hundreds have been killed so far.
The Islamic Republic's clerical authorities are facing the biggest demonstrations since 2022 and on Sunday a rights group said that unrest has killed more than 500 people. An Iranian official indicated on Tuesday it was higher, at around 2,000.
DUBAI, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Around 2,000 people were killed in Iran protests, an Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday, blaming "terrorists" for the deaths of civilians and security personnel.
(Reporting by Dubai Newsroom)
GENEVA, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The U.N. children's agency said on Tuesday that over 100 children have been killed in Gaza since the October ceasefire, including victims of drone and quadcopter attacks.
“More than 100 children have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire of early October," UNICEF spokesperson James Elder told reporters at a U.N. briefing by video link from Gaza.
"Survival remains conditional, whilst the bombings and the shootings haveslowed, have reduced during the ceasefire, they have not stopped."
BEIRUT, Jan 13 (Reuters) - In a packed Beirut nightclub, electronic beats pulsed alongside projected videos of popes in white robes as Catholic priest Father Guilherme Peixoto spun tracks on the turntable.
The performance drew 2,000 attendees, but it also sparked opposition from some Christians in Lebanon, the first time the man known as Padre Guilherme to his 2.6 million Instagram followers says he has faced such vocal objection.
