By Parisa Hafezi

DUBAI (Reuters) -On Tehran's bustling streets, signs of change are unmistakable. Women walk unveiled in jeans and sneakers, men and women linger together in cafés where Western music hums softly, and couples stroll hand-in-hand — subtle acts that chip away at the rigid social codes that have long defined the Islamic Republic.

But beneath the surface, a darker reality is unfolding. Iran's clerical rulers are intensifying a crackdown on political dissent to instil fear and prevent unrest, four activists inside Iran told Reuters.

By Peter Hobson and Valerie Volcovici

CANBERRA/BELEM, Brazil (Reuters) - Australia risks undermining efforts to establish itself as a leader in the green energy transition and letting down its vulnerable Pacific island neighbours if its bid to host next year's biggest climate summit fails, diplomats and analysts say.

Australia was long considered the front-runner to hold the COP31 conference, aiming to bolster its ambitions to become "a renewable energy superpower" and highlight issues faced by Pacific island nations which it plans to co-host the conference with.

At least $50 million for the freedom of an Emirati sheikh: that is the king's ransom paid two weeks ago to jihadists linked to Al-Qaeda who are pushing to topple the Malian government and impose Islamic law.

Alongside a crippling fuel blockade, the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, known by its Arabic acronym JNIM, has made kidnapping wealthy foreigners for a ransom a pillar of its strategy of "economic jihad".

Crammed under a tattered tent on rough wooden benches, Yemeni children are learning Arabic grammar -- lucky to receive an education at all in a country hammered by years of war.

The children, some without shoes or textbooks, were born into a divided state where fighting has destroyed nearly 3,000 schools. Those that remain are plagued by power cuts and a lack of running water.

Al-Ribat al-Gharbi school near Aden, in Yemen's government-controlled south, is a typical case, with lengthy power outages, no water supplies and a lack of trained teachers.

By Tarek Amara

TUNIS (Reuters) -The family and lawyers of jailed Tunisian opposition leader Jawhar Ben Mbarek accused prison authorities on Wednesday of brutally assaulting him to try to force an end to his two-week-old hunger strike.

Ben Mbarek, one of the most prominent opponents of President Kais Saied, was detained in 2023 and sentenced this year to 18 years in prison on charges of conspiring to overthrow the president; he has denied the charges, which he said were fabricated.

By Erin Banco

NEW YORK (Reuters) -The U.S. gathered intelligence last year of Israeli officials discussing how their soldiers had sent Palestinians into Gaza tunnels the Israelis believed were potentially lined with explosives, according to two former U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

The information was shared with the White House and analyzed by the intelligence community in the final weeks of former President Joe Biden's administration, the officials said.

International law prohibits the use of civilians as shields during military activity.

(Reuters) -The U.S. on Wednesday sanctioned individuals and entities in several countries related to their support of Iran's ballistic missile and drone production, in the latest attempt to pressure Tehran.

A total of 32 individuals and entities based in Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, China, Hong Kong, India, Germany and Ukraine that operate multiple procurement networks are being targeted in Wednesday's designations, the Treasury Department said in a statement.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) -A coalition led by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani came first in Iraq's parliamentary election, two electoral commission officials with knowledge of the results told Reuters on Wednesday.

Sudani was seeking a second term in Tuesday's election but many disillusioned young voters saw the vote simply as a vehicle for established parties to divide up Iraq's oil wealth.

TUNIS/PARIS (Reuters) -Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has granted a pardon to French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal following a request from German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the Algerian presidency said on Wednesday.

Algerian authorities arrested Sansal a year ago and a court sentenced him in March to five years in jail for undermining national unity.

Sansal, 81, who has long been a critic of Algerian authorities and had been living in France, denied the charge against him, saying he never intended to offend Algeria or state institutions.

VIENNA (Reuters) -Iran still has not let inspectors into the nuclear sites Israel and the United States bombed in June, the U.N. atomic watchdog said in a confidential report on Wednesday, adding that accounting for Iran's enriched uranium stock is "long overdue".

The IAEA's own guidelines stipulate that it should verify a country's stock of highly enriched uranium, such as the material enriched to up to 60% purity in Iran, a short step from the roughly 90% of weapons grade, every month.