Iran’s Khamenei Praises Basij Forces for Confronting ‘Riots’

A police motorcycle burns during a protest over the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by the country's "morality police", in Tehran, Iran September 19, 2022. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
A police motorcycle burns during a protest over the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by the country's "morality police", in Tehran, Iran September 19, 2022. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
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Iran’s Khamenei Praises Basij Forces for Confronting ‘Riots’

A police motorcycle burns during a protest over the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by the country's "morality police", in Tehran, Iran September 19, 2022. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
A police motorcycle burns during a protest over the death of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by the country's "morality police", in Tehran, Iran September 19, 2022. WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Saturday Iran's Basij militia forces have sacrificed their lives in what he called riots, the wave of protests sparked by the death in custody of a young Iranian Kurdish woman in September. 

The protests that began after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini while in the custody of Iran's morality police on Sept. 16 have turned into one of the boldest challenges to the clerical leadership since the 1979 revolution. 

Challenging the regime’s legitimacy, protesters from all walks of life have burned pictures of Khamenei and called for the downfall of the republic. 

The Basij forces, affiliated with the country's Revolutionary Guards, have been at the forefront of the state crackdown on the unrest in the past weeks. 

"They have sacrificed their lives to protect people from rioters ... the presence of Basij shows that the revolution is alive," Khamenei said in a televised speech. 

Iran's clerical establishment has blamed the country's foreign enemies, particularly the United States, and their agents for the unrest. 

On Saturday, videos posted on social media showed renewed protests at several universities in the capital Tehran and the central city of Isfahan. Reuters could not verify the footage. 

Meanwhile, a group of 140 Iranian eye doctors issued a statement warning that birdshot and paintball bullets used by security forces were blinding many protesters in one or both eyes, according to the reformist news website Sobhema and social media postings. 

Amnesty International has said Iran's security forces have been using unlawful force, including live ammunition and birdshot, killing dozens of people. Iranian authorities have blamed some shootings on unidentified dissidents. 

The activist news agency HRANA said that as of Friday 448 protesters have been killed, including 63 children. It said 57 members of the security forces have also been killed, and an estimated 18,170 people arrested. 

Authorities have not provided a death toll for protesters, but a senior official on Thursday said 50 police had been killed in the unrest. 

Iran's hardline judiciary has sentenced at least six protesters to death and thousands have been indicted for their role in the unrest, according to officials. 

Football team 

After many Iranian fans on social media accused the national football team of siding with the violent state crackdown on the unrest, Khamenei applauded the squad for their win in their World Cup match against Wales on Friday. 

"Yesterday, Team Melli (the National Team) made our people happy. May God make them happy," said Khamenei. 

The team sang along to Iran's national anthem before Friday's match, unlike in their first match against England in the opening game earlier this week when they chose not to sing, in apparent support for protesters at home. 

Akram Khodabandehlou, captain of the national Iranian women’s taekwondo team, said in an Instagram post on Saturday that she was leaving the team after a 12-year run in the team. She said she was doing so for "respect for my people’s sad hearts in these difficult days". 



UK Deputy Prime Minister Resigns over Tax Error

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner exits a vehicle in Downing Street in London, Britain, March 26, 2025. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner exits a vehicle in Downing Street in London, Britain, March 26, 2025. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo
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UK Deputy Prime Minister Resigns over Tax Error

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner exits a vehicle in Downing Street in London, Britain, March 26, 2025. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner exits a vehicle in Downing Street in London, Britain, March 26, 2025. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo

UK deputy prime minister Angela Rayner resigned Friday after an independent inquiry found that she fell short of the standards expected of government ministers over a tax error on a recent house purchase.

Rayner, who acknowledged on Wednesday that she didn't pay enough tax on her purchase of an apartment in Hove, on England’s south coast, conceded that she should have sought more specific advice, while stressing that the report found that she had acted in good faith.

“I take full responsibility for this error," she said in her resignation letter to Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “I would like to take this opportunity to repeat that it was never my intention to do anything other than pay the right amount.”

In response, Starmer voiced his sadness, but said that Rayner had made the right decision to stand down, The AP news reported.

“I have nothing but admiration for you and huge respect for your achievements in politics,” Starmer wrote. The handwritten letter signed off “with very best wishes and with real sadness.”

Rayner will remain a U.K. lawmaker on the back benches. She referred herself to the independent adviser on ministerial standards, Laurie Magnus, on Wednesday, who delivered his report to Starmer on Friday.

Though Magnus concluded that Rayner had “acted with integrity and with a dedicated and exemplary commitment to public service,“ he said that “with deep regret” she had breached the ministers’ code of conduct.

In the U.K., levies are charged on property purchases, with higher charges due on more expensive homes and secondary residences. Reports have suggested that Rayner saved 40,000 pounds (nearly $54,000) by not paying the appropriate levy, known as a stamp duty, on her 800,000-pound ($1 million) purchase.

Rayner, 45, had sought to explain that her “complex living arrangements” related to her divorce in 2023 and the fact that her son has “lifelong disabilities” underlay her failure to pay the appropriate tax.

In her resignation letter, Rayner said she also had to “consider the significant toll that the ongoing pressure of the media is taking on my family.”

Rayner’s journey from teenage single mother to trade union official to lawmaker and deputy prime minister is a rarity in British politics.

Her no-nonsense attitude and plain-speaking manner have been a distinct — and politically useful — contrast to the more pragmatic, lawyerly Starmer and she will be hard to replace. She had the ability to connect with sections of the public that Starmer had struggled with since he became prime minister.

Rayner, who held the housing brief in the Labor government, had often railed against those who deliberately underpay tax, particularly those in the preceding Conservative administration, which Labor replaced in July 2024.

Her previous comments had opened her up to charges of hypocrisy, particularly from current Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who said that Rayner's position had been “untenable for days.”

“The truth is simple, she dodged tax," Badenoch said in a video posted on social media. “She lied about it.”

Rayner is a hugely popular member of the Labor Party and was widely tipped to be a potential successor to Starmer. In addition to resigning as deputy prime minister, Rayner quit as deputy leader of the party, meaning that members will have to select someone new.

Starmer is undertaking a shuffle of his Cabinet following Rayner's resignation. He will be hoping that the political agenda can now move on after days of speculation surrounding Rayner's future.

His Labor government has seen its support fall sharply since it won last year's election following a string of missteps, particularly on welfare reform, and ongoing concerns about immigration.


Trump Says India and Russia Appear 'Lost' to 'Deepest, Darkest China'

US President Donald Trump attends an event to announce that the Space Force Command will move from Colorado to Alabama, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, September 2, 2025. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo
US President Donald Trump attends an event to announce that the Space Force Command will move from Colorado to Alabama, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, September 2, 2025. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo
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Trump Says India and Russia Appear 'Lost' to 'Deepest, Darkest China'

US President Donald Trump attends an event to announce that the Space Force Command will move from Colorado to Alabama, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, September 2, 2025. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo
US President Donald Trump attends an event to announce that the Space Force Command will move from Colorado to Alabama, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., US, September 2, 2025. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo

US President Donald Trump on Friday said India and Russia seem to have been "lost" to China after their leaders met with Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, expressing annoyance at New Delhi and Moscow as Beijing pushes a new world order.

"Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together!" Trump wrote in a social media post accompanying a photo of the three leaders together at Xi's summit in China.

Asked about Trump's post, India's foreign ministry told reporters in New Delhi that it had no comment. The Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment, and representatives for the Kremlin could not be immediately reached, Reuters reported.

Xi hosted more than 20 leaders of non-Western countries for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the Chinese port city of Tianjin, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Putin and Modi were see holding hands at the summit as they walked toward Xi before all three men stood side by side.

Trump has chilled US-India ties amid trade tensions and other disputes. Trump this week said he was "very disappointed" in Putin but not worried about growing Russia-China ties.

Trump has been frustrated at his inability to convince Russia and Ukraine to reach an end to their war, more than three years after Russian forces invaded Ukraine.

He told reporters on Thursday night at the White House that he planned to talk to Putin soon.


Police: Most of Those Killed in Lisbon Streetcar Derailment Were Foreigners

View of the site where a tourist streetcar derailed and crashed in Lisbon, Portugal, Friday, Sept. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
View of the site where a tourist streetcar derailed and crashed in Lisbon, Portugal, Friday, Sept. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
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Police: Most of Those Killed in Lisbon Streetcar Derailment Were Foreigners

View of the site where a tourist streetcar derailed and crashed in Lisbon, Portugal, Friday, Sept. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
View of the site where a tourist streetcar derailed and crashed in Lisbon, Portugal, Friday, Sept. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

Police in Portugal said Friday that 11 of the 16 people killed when a streetcar derailed were foreigners, as an initial investigative report examining what caused the popular Lisbon tourist attraction to crash was expected to be released.

The dead included five Portuguese nationals, three British citizens, two Canadians, two South Koreans, one American, one French, one Swiss and one Ukrainian, The Associated Press quoted police as saying in a statement.

A German man also thought to have died in Wednesday’s crash was found to be in a Lisbon hospital, police said. It didn't provide an explanation for the error.

The list of nationalities was published following forensic identification.

The distinctive yellow-and-white Elevador da Gloria, which is classified as a national monument, was packed with locals and international tourists Wednesday evening when it came off its rails. Sixteen people were killed and 21 others were injured.

Multiple agencies are investigating what Prime Minister Luis Montenegro has described as "one of the biggest tragedies of our recent past.”

The government’s Office for Air and Rail Accident Investigations said that it has concluded its analysis of the wreckage and would issue a preliminary technical report Friday. It wasn't clear how revealing the report would be.

Chief police investigator Nelson Oliveira said that a preliminary police report, which has a broader scope, is expected within 45 days.

The streetcar's wreckage was removed from the scene overnight and placed in police custody.