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Iran: Teachers Demand Fair Wages, Better Working Conditions

Picture published by the Iranian Teachers Unions Coordination Committee of the protests in Sanandaj, west Iran
Picture published by the Iranian Teachers Unions Coordination Committee of the protests in Sanandaj, west Iran
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Iran: Teachers Demand Fair Wages, Better Working Conditions

Picture published by the Iranian Teachers Unions Coordination Committee of the protests in Sanandaj, west Iran
Picture published by the Iranian Teachers Unions Coordination Committee of the protests in Sanandaj, west Iran

Teachers in Iran marched in several cities, including Tehran, to demand fair wages, better working conditions, and the release of their jailed colleagues.

The Iranian Teachers Unions Coordination Committee stated that teachers organized protests in front of the education departments' headquarters in about 50 Iranian cities.

The committee's spokesman, Mohammad Habibi, wrote on Twitter that the security forces had arrested 70 teachers in Tehran.

The committee said that due to the security measures in Qarni Street, the security forces prevented gatherings and arrested about 40 teachers, and transferred them to a detention center.

One of the detainees was an 80-year-old retired teacher. Later, a spokesman announced that the authorities released all 70 detained teachers.

In its statement, the Coordinating Committee demanded the immediate release of all detainees and the dismissal of the minister of education.

Earlier this week, an Iranian court convicted and sentenced Rasoul Badaghi, a member of the teachers' union, to five years in prison and banned him from residing in the capital, Tehran, or its neighboring provinces.

Badaghi was arrested last November after participating in a protest. He is among the former detainees of the Green Movement protests against electoral fraud in the 2009 presidential elections.

Badaghi was convicted in September 2009 and sentenced to six years in prison on charges of "propaganda against the regime."

The government and the parliament are facing criticism from lawmakers for their inability to curb price hikes.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf blamed the previous government for the price hike.

Teachers chanted slogans against Ghalibaf, a former commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

Ghalibaf is facing criticism after photos of his wife, daughter, and son-in-law showed them at Istanbul airport.

The pictures were taken after an issue between the airline crew and Ghalibaf's daughter, who insisted on passing a shipment consisting of the baby's clothing.

Ghalibaf's eldest son, Elias, wrote on his Instagram account that the trip was undoubtedly an "unforgivable wrongdoing" given the economic conditions of the people, but he denied reports that the visit was to buy baby supplies.

The IRGC's Fars news agency said that the Ghalibaf family's visit to Turkey was not to buy baby supplies, asserting that the Speaker opposed his family's travel.

The reformist "Ibtikar" newspaper published a cartoon of the Speaker, while another daily demanded Ghalibaf to submit his resignation.

The case even divided the Speaker's allies, and his media advisor criticized what he described as including the "children's mistakes in the parents' record."

A video circulated online of a televised debate between Ghalibaf and former President Hassan Rouhani during the 2017 presidential elections.

During the debate, Ghalibaf blamed Rouhani after a minister's daughter imported children's clothing from Italy.

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Blinken Meets China’s Wang after Chiding Beijing’s ‘Escalating Actions’ at Sea

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the 57th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting at the National Convention Center, in Vientiane, Laos, July 27, 2024. (Reuters)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the 57th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting at the National Convention Center, in Vientiane, Laos, July 27, 2024. (Reuters)
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Blinken Meets China’s Wang after Chiding Beijing’s ‘Escalating Actions’ at Sea

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the 57th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting at the National Convention Center, in Vientiane, Laos, July 27, 2024. (Reuters)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the 57th ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Meeting at the National Convention Center, in Vientiane, Laos, July 27, 2024. (Reuters)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Saturday during a regional summit in Laos, hours after criticizing Beijing's "escalating and unlawful actions" in the South China Sea.

Blinken and Wang shook hands and exchanged greetings in front of cameras but made no comments before moving to closed-door talks in what will be their sixth meeting since June 23, when Blinken visited Beijing in a significant sign of improvement for strained relations between the world's two biggest economies.

Though Blinken had singled out China over its actions against US defense ally the Philippines in the South China Sea during a meeting with Southeast Asian counterparts earlier on Saturday, he also lauded the two countries for their diplomacy after Manila completed a resupply mission to troops in an area also claimed by Beijing.

The troop presence has for years angered China, which has clashed repeatedly with the Philippines over Manila's missions to a grounded navy ship at the Second Thomas Shoal, causing regional concern about an escalation.

The two sides this week reached an arrangement over how to conduct those missions.

"We are pleased to take note of the successful resupply today of the Second Thomas shoal, which is the product of an agreement reached between the Philippines and China," Blinken told ASEAN foreign ministers.

"We applaud that and hope and expect to see that it continues going forward."

GAZA SITUATION 'DIRE'

Blinken and Wang attended Saturday's security-focused ASEAN Regional Forum in Laos alongside top diplomats of major powers including Russia, India, Australia, Japan, the European, Britain and others, before heading to their meeting.

Blinken said earlier the United States was "working intensely every single day" to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and find a path to more enduring peace and security.

His remarks follow those of Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, who said the need for sustainable peace was urgent and international law should be applied to all. The comment from the world's largest Muslim-majority nation, was a veiled reference to recent decisions by two international courts over Israeli's Gaza offensives.

"We cannot continue closing our eyes to see the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza," she said.

More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting in Gaza since Israel launched its incursion, according to Palestinian health authorities, who do not distinguish between fighters and non-combatants.

Israeli officials estimate that some 14,000 fighters from armed groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have been killed or taken prisoner, out of a force they estimated to number more than 25,000 at the start of the war.

The war began when Hamas fighters attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting some 250 others, according to Israeli tallies.

Also in Laos, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said guidelines on the operation of US nuclear assets on the Korean peninsula were certain to add to regional security concerns.

Lavrov, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap, said he had not been briefed on the details of the plan, which was of concern to Russia.

"So far we can't even get an explanation of what this means, but there is no doubt that it causes additional anxiety," Russia's state-run RIA new agency quoted him as saying.

'THIS IS NOT SUSTAINABLE'

Ahead of Saturday's two summits, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong urged Myanmar's military rulers to take a different path and end an intensifying civil war, pressing the generals to abide by their commitment to follow ASEAN's five-point consensus peace plan.

The conflict pits Myanmar's well-equipped military against a loose alliance of ethnic minority rebel groups and an armed resistance movement that has been gaining ground and testing the generals' ability to govern.

The junta has largely ignored the ASEAN-promoted peace effort, and the 10-member bloc has hit a wall as all sides refuse to enter into dialogue.

"We see the instability, the insecurity, the deaths, the pain that is being caused by the conflict," Wong told reporters.

"My message from Australia to the regime is, this is not sustainable for you or for your people."

An estimated 2.6 million people have been displaced by fighting. The junta has been condemned for excessive force in its air strikes on civilian areas and accused of atrocities, which it has dismissed as Western disinformation.

ASEAN issued a communique on Saturday, two days after its top diplomats met, stressing it was united behind its peace plan for Myanmar, saying it was confident in its special envoy's resolve to achieve "an inclusive and durable peaceful resolution" to the conflict.

It condemned violence against civilians and urged all sides in Myanmar to cease hostilities.

ASEAN welcomed unspecified practical measures to reduce tension in the South China Sea and prevent accidents and miscalculations, while urging all stakeholders to halt actions that could complicate and escalate disputes.

The ministers described North Korea's missile tests as worrisome developments and urged peaceful resolutions to the conflicts in Ukraine, as well as Gaza, expressing concern over the dire humanitarian situation and "alarming casualties" there.