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UN Supports Initiative of Building Bridges of Understanding, Peace between East and West

UN Sec-Gen Antonio Guterres with MWL Sec-Gen Mohammed al-Issa (Asharq Al-Awsat)
UN Sec-Gen Antonio Guterres with MWL Sec-Gen Mohammed al-Issa (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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UN Supports Initiative of Building Bridges of Understanding, Peace between East and West

UN Sec-Gen Antonio Guterres with MWL Sec-Gen Mohammed al-Issa (Asharq Al-Awsat)
UN Sec-Gen Antonio Guterres with MWL Sec-Gen Mohammed al-Issa (Asharq Al-Awsat)

UN Sec-Gen Antonio Guterres affirmed his full support for the Muslim World League (MWL), especially in promoting the values of moderation around the world.

Guterres received the MWL Sec-Gen Mohammed al-Issa following the initiative's launch: "Building Bridges of Understanding and Peace between East and West."

Issa launched the initiative at the UN Headquarters, with the participation of the UN Presidency and its General Secretariat, the High Representative of the Alliance of Civilizations, and the presence of senior international, religious, political, and intellectual leadership.

The UN Sec-Gen said that religious leaders have a significant role in supporting peace and harmony, stressing that religions are not the cause of wars in the world, but rather they bring people together.

The meeting witnessed a discussion of issues of common interest between the UN and the MWL and enhanced prospects for bilateral cooperation.

They addressed the outputs and programs of the initiative and the mechanisms for activating them.

It witnessed the interaction of international and UN leaders and religious, intellectual, and academic leadership, who reiterated the importance of this initiative in their speeches.

The leaders announced their full support for expanding the initiative's scope as part of the international institutional activity pivotal to the peace and harmony of the world and its societies.

They also asserted the importance of activating the initiative's ideas on the ground, including launching a global day for the Alliance of Civilizations between East and West, stressing the importance of respecting the specifics of each civilization's religious and cultural identity.

Issa praised the wisdom of the United Nations in dealing with religious issues around the world and harnessing the provisions of its charter to bring about peace, sensing the importance of the significant religious contribution.

He stated that about 80 percent of people worldwide respect religions and believe in their contribution to peace and harmony, especially the enhancement of coexistence.

The MWL leader commended the UN Charter and expressed his appreciation to the UN Secretary-General for supporting the League's latest conference: "Building Bridges of Understanding and Peace between East and West," at the headquarters in New York.

He warned against the danger of the discourse on the civilizational conflict between East and West and the division of the world into warring camps, calling on the countries worldwide to work for the success of their UN Charter.

Issa's speech addressed the dangers of materialistic exploitation of religion, shedding light on the League's efforts as regards climate files, immigrant and displaced issues, and other pressing issues in the world.

Issa declared that the UN Secretary-General affirmed his full support for the work of the League, especially in promoting the values of moderation around the world.

"The international organization is working to combat Islamophobia and hatred of the other."

The UN Secretary-General confirmed that there is an unreal image of Islam and that social media sites increase hatred due to posting many lies at the expense of correct information.

 

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World

Iran Arrests Nobel-Prize Winning Activist Narges Mohammadi

A picture of the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi is projected on the facade of the Grand Hotel before the Nobel Banquet in Oslo, Norway, 10 December 2023. (EPA)
A picture of the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi is projected on the facade of the Grand Hotel before the Nobel Banquet in Oslo, Norway, 10 December 2023. (EPA)
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Iran Arrests Nobel-Prize Winning Activist Narges Mohammadi

A picture of the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi is projected on the facade of the Grand Hotel before the Nobel Banquet in Oslo, Norway, 10 December 2023. (EPA)
A picture of the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi is projected on the facade of the Grand Hotel before the Nobel Banquet in Oslo, Norway, 10 December 2023. (EPA)

Iranian security forces on Friday "violently" arrested the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi along with at least eight other activists at a memorial ceremony for a lawyer who died earlier this month, her supporters said.

Mohammadi, who was granted temporary leave from prison in December 2024, was detained along with eight other activists at the ceremony for lawyer Khosrow Alikordi, who was found dead in his office last week, her foundation wrote on X.

Those arrested at the ceremony in the eastern city of Mashhad included Mohammadi's fellow prominent activist Sepideh Gholian, who had previously been jailed alongside her in Tehran's Evin prison.

Also writing on X, Mohammadi's Paris-based husband, Taghi Rahmani, confirmed the arrests. The Hengaw rights group said the activists had been "violently detained and transferred to an undisclosed location".

"Narges was beaten on the legs and she was held by her hair and dragged down," one of her brothers, Hamid Mohammadi, told AFP in Oslo where he lives.

Alikordi, 45, was a lawyer who had defended clients in sensitive cases, including people arrested in a crackdown on nationwide protests that erupted in 2022.

His body was found on December 5, with rights groups calling for an investigation into his death, which Norway-based NGO Iran Human Rights said "had very serious suspicion of a state murder".

The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) posted footage of Mohammadi, who was not wearing the headscarf women are obliged to wear in public in the country, attending the ceremony with a crowd of other supporters of Alikordi.

It said they shouted slogans including "Long live Iran,We fight, we die, we accept no humiliation" and "Death to the dictator" at the ceremony which, in line with religious tradition, marked seven days since Alikordi's death.

Other footage broadcast by Persian-language television channels based outside Iran showed Mohammadi climbing on top of a vehicle with a microphone and encouraging people to chant slogans.

- Years behind bars -

Mohammadi, 53, who was last arrested in November 2021, has spent much of the past decade behind bars.

Her two twin children received the Nobel prize in Oslo on her behalf in 2023, and she has now not seen them for 11 years. Mohammadi said last month in a message marking the 19th birthday of her twins that she had been permanently barred from leaving Iran.

But she has remained defiant outside jail, refusing to wear the headscarf, addressing foreign audiences via video conferences and meeting activists across Iran.

Her temporary release in December 2024 was allowed on health grounds after problems related to her lungs and other issues. But supporters have warned she could be re-arrested at any time.

"In the prison, she had lots of complications. Her lungs, her heart, she has had some operations," said Hamid Mohammadi.

"I'm not worried that she is arrested. She's been arrested a lot of times, but what worries me most is that they will put a lot of pressure on her physical and psychological condition. And it might lead to again experiencing those complications," he added.

She won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of her two-decade fight for human rights in Iran and strongly backed the 2022-2023 protests sparked by the death in custody of Iranian Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini.

Mohammadi has also regularly predicted the downfall of the clerical system that has ruled Iran since the 1979 revolution.

The clerical authorities were shaken by the months-long protest movement calling for women to dress freely but also making wider political demands. It only dwindled in the face of an intense crackdown that was condemned by the international community.

In the birthday message to her twins, she said while Iranian authorities "stamp the word 'permanent' on our documents they themselves live each day in fear of the fall that will inevitably come at the hands of the people of Iran".

World

Iran Raising Fuel Prices for Heavy Users to Curb Consumption

Iranians drive during a heavy rainfall in a street in Tehran, Iran, 11 December 2025. (EPA)
Iranians drive during a heavy rainfall in a street in Tehran, Iran, 11 December 2025. (EPA)
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Iran Raising Fuel Prices for Heavy Users to Curb Consumption

Iranians drive during a heavy rainfall in a street in Tehran, Iran, 11 December 2025. (EPA)
Iranians drive during a heavy rainfall in a street in Tehran, Iran, 11 December 2025. (EPA)

Iran will raise the price of its heavily subsidized gasoline for heavy users on Saturday, state media reported, as the OPEC member seeks to control rising fuel demand without triggering public anger.

Proposals to increase Iran's fuel prices, some of the lowest in the world, have long been postponed amid apparent concerns that they might cause a repeat of widespread protests seen in 2019 that were crushed by the state.

The government will introduce a higher rate of 50,000 Iranian rials per liter (4 US cents under the free market rate) at midnight on Friday for most consumers requiring more than 160 liters per month, state television reported on Friday.

Other drivers can still purchase up to 60 liters of gasoline at the existing rate of 15,000 rials per liter and up to another 100 liters at 30,000 rials per liter.

According to local media, domestic fuel production of around 110 million liters per day lags rising demand which can go up to 140 million liters per day due to factors such as inefficient cars, smuggling to neighboring countries and heat in summer.

Government officials have warned that subsidized fuel prices in Iran are "not rational", impose a heavy burden on state finances and encourage suboptimal consumption as well as necessitating fuel imports.

Private drivers owning several cars will only be able to buy fuel at the lower-priced quotas for one of their vehicles, while most government-owned vehicles, many newly-produced cars and imported vehicles will have to use the more expensive rate.

Iran's economy risks staggering into simultaneous hyperinflation and deep recession, officials and analysts have said, as clerical rulers scramble to preserve stability with limited room to maneuver after a snapback of UN sanctions.

World

US Plan Sees Ukraine Joining EU in 2027, Official Says

Artillerymen of the 152nd Separate Jaeger Brigade fire a howitzer towards Russian troops, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the frontline town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine December 11, 2025. (Reuters)
Artillerymen of the 152nd Separate Jaeger Brigade fire a howitzer towards Russian troops, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the frontline town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine December 11, 2025. (Reuters)
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US Plan Sees Ukraine Joining EU in 2027, Official Says

Artillerymen of the 152nd Separate Jaeger Brigade fire a howitzer towards Russian troops, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the frontline town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine December 11, 2025. (Reuters)
Artillerymen of the 152nd Separate Jaeger Brigade fire a howitzer towards Russian troops, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the frontline town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine December 11, 2025. (Reuters)

Ukraine could join the European Union as early as January 2027 under the latest US plan to end the war with Russia, a senior source familiar with the matter told AFP on Friday.

The complicated EU accession process usually takes years and requires a unanimous vote from all 27 members of the bloc, and some countries, most notably Hungary, have consistently voiced opposition to Ukraine joining.

The idea of a speedy accession is included in the latest version of a US-led plan to end the war, which would also see Ukraine cede land to Russia, and has triggered a diplomatic frenzy across Europe in recent weeks.

"It's stated there but it's a matter for negotiation, and the Americans support it," the senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, referring to the US plan.

Washington has the leverage needed to convince leaders opposed to Ukraine's membership to change their stance, President Volodymyr Zelensky told journalists, including AFP, on Thursday.

"The United States can take steps to unblock our path to the European Union," he said, adding that "the US president has various levers of influence and that this will have an effect on those who are currently blocking Ukraine."

Kyiv has long strived for EU membership and has been implementing reforms since a pro-European 2014 revolution but has struggled to eradicate endemic corruption -- a core prerequisite for joining the bloc.

After completing a diplomatic tour across Europe last week, Zelensky was due in Berlin on Monday for more talks on the plan, full details of which have not been released.

"If the security situation allows, he'll be there", the senior official told AFP.

- A long road -

Moscow on Friday indicated it was suspicious about the efforts to amend the US plan, which it has largely been supportive of and heeded to most of its core demands.

"We have an impression that this version, which is being put forward for discussion, will be worsened," Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told the Kommersant business daily.

"It'll be a long process," he added, saying that Moscow had not seen an updated version of the plan since discussions between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Moscow last week.

Zelensky said Thursday that Washington wants only Ukraine, not Russia, to withdraw its troops from parts of the eastern Donetsk region, where a demilitarized "free economic zone" would be installed as a buffer between the two armies.

Russia, which has the numerical advantage in manpower and weapons, has been grinding forward on the battlefield for months, notching up its quickest advance for a year in November.

However on Friday, Ukraine claimed to have retaken two settlements near Kupiansk -- a strategically important city and a key railway hub in the northeast of the country.

Zelensky visited the troops near Kupiansk to congratulate them -- and recorded a video of himself on a road at the entrance to the southwest of the city.

The Russian army currently occupies about 20 percent of Ukrainian territory in the east and south, which has been decimated by years of fighting.

The war has killed tens of thousands and forced millions to flee their homes.