At Least 25 Killed at Pakistan's Pro-Iran Weekend Protests

Security personnel fire tear gas as Shiite Muslims shout slogans during a protest outside the US consulate in Karachi after the death of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei amid US-Israel strikes. Asif HASSAN / AFP
Security personnel fire tear gas as Shiite Muslims shout slogans during a protest outside the US consulate in Karachi after the death of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei amid US-Israel strikes. Asif HASSAN / AFP
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At Least 25 Killed at Pakistan's Pro-Iran Weekend Protests

Security personnel fire tear gas as Shiite Muslims shout slogans during a protest outside the US consulate in Karachi after the death of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei amid US-Israel strikes. Asif HASSAN / AFP
Security personnel fire tear gas as Shiite Muslims shout slogans during a protest outside the US consulate in Karachi after the death of Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei amid US-Israel strikes. Asif HASSAN / AFP

The death toll from Pakistan's violent weekend protests over the killing of Iran's supreme leader has reached at least 25, according to an AFP tally on Monday.

Demonstrations erupted in several major cities in Pakistan, including the southern megacity of Karachi where some protesters attempted to storm American diplomatic buildings.

An AFP journalist witnessed hundreds of pro-Iranian protesters trying to enter the United States consulate, prompting clashes with police.

At least 10 deaths were reported and over 70 were injured, the office of the Karachi police surgeon said, while a hospital toll seen by AFP listed nine people as having died from gunshot wounds.

In Pakistan's northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, at least 13 people were killed in clashes between protesters and police, officials said.

Seven people were killed in Gilgit, a rescue official said, while six others died in Skardu, a doctor told AFP on Monday.

Authorities have imposed a late-night curfew, which will remain in place until Wednesday in Gilgit and Skardu, where the army has been deployed on the streets.

Two more people were killed as thousands of people gathered in the streets of the capital, Islamabad, many holding photos of the late Iranian leader Ali Khamenei.

AFP journalists saw police firing tear gas to disperse crowds near the diplomatic enclave housing the US embassy on Sunday afternoon.

- 'Grief and sorrow' -

Israel and the United States launched their military operations on Iran early Saturday, quickly killing the long-ruling supreme leader and prompting outrage in neighboring Pakistan.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who has close ties with both the United States and Iran, said on Sunday evening that the killing of Khamenei was a "violation" of international law.

"It is an age old convention that the Heads of State/Government should not be targeted," Sharif wrote on X.

The "people of Pakistan join the people of Iran in their hour of grief and sorrow and extend the most sincere condolences on the martyrdom" of Khamenei, he added.

At Sunday's Karachi protest, people chanted slogans against the United States, Israel and their allies.

"We don't need anything in Pakistan that is linked with the US," a protester, Sabir Hussain, told AFP.

Earlier a crowd of young people climbed over the main gate and gained access to the driveway of the consular building, smashing some windows.

Police fired tear gas at the protesters, who dispersed, the AFP journalist saw.

The embassies of the United States and Britain both urged citizens in Pakistan to be cautious in the country.



EU Plans Measures to Help EU Banks Build Scale and Compete with US Rivals

European Union flags flutter outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium Februrary 26, 2026. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
European Union flags flutter outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium Februrary 26, 2026. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
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EU Plans Measures to Help EU Banks Build Scale and Compete with US Rivals

European Union flags flutter outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium Februrary 26, 2026. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo
European Union flags flutter outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium Februrary 26, 2026. REUTERS/Yves Herman/File Photo

The European Commission aims to limit political interference in European Union banking mergers and remove obstacles to cross-border banking within the bloc to allow EU banks to compete more effectively against larger US rivals.

An EU executive report released on Friday says internal barriers are preventing EU banks from expanding, leaving them at a disadvantage to US lenders that have benefited from economies of scale in a more integrated US market. EU mergers remain largely within national borders.

"This leads to an outcome where many banking groups in the EU are large relative to the size of their home economy, but not relative to the size of the EU or the banking union economy or international competitors," the report said.

Unjustified national interventions in cross-border bank mergers were preventing banks from acquiring scale at the EU level to reach a critical size, it said. The criticism comes after Germany rejected in June an offer from Italy's UniCredit to take over Commerzbank. UniCredit began its pursuit of Commerzbank back in September 2024, but has faced strong opposition - highlighting how hard it is to pull off cross-border banking deals in Europe.

While Germany officially cited the price offered by the Italian bank as the reason for its rejection, the government has also made clear that Commerzbank is a key lender to German companies and should remain under German ownership.

"It is a mistake from our point of view. If it's okay by the supervisor and the competition authority, cross-border mergers are good things," a senior EU official said, adding that US banks were outcompeting European peers across many business lines in Europe.

"The main driver of competitiveness is not the rulebook ... it's the absence of scale," the official said.

The EU executive, the report said, will propose a range of measures in the first quarter of 2027.

These include plans to crack down on EU members that breach EU rules limiting the circumstances under which they can intervene in proposed mergers.

Other proposals would allow cross-border banking groups to meet capital and liquidity requirements more at the parent level, rather than the current system with additional requirements for subsidiaries. Removing such constraints could release €230 billion ($263.1 billion) of liquid assets, the report said.

It will also replace its proposal from a decade ago to create a European deposit insurance scheme with a new plan to simply deposit insurance measures in the bloc.

The banking industry gave the report a mixed reception. French banking lobby FBF described the report as containing "several positive orientations" but said concrete measures on key issues were required, including better regulatory coordination and limits on country-specific rules. Christian Sewing, Deutsche Bank CEO and president of the Association of German Banks, urged swift action, calling for adjustments to the lower limit on capital requirements known as the output floor, relief for trade finance and improvements on software investments, as well as urging a review of financial stability buffers.


Iran Urges Citizens to Cut Electricity Use after US Strikes

FILE PHOTO: A man walks next to a symbolic mockup of an Iranian missile and an Iranian flag at Imam Hussein Square in Tehran, Iran, July 12, 2026. Reuters
FILE PHOTO: A man walks next to a symbolic mockup of an Iranian missile and an Iranian flag at Imam Hussein Square in Tehran, Iran, July 12, 2026. Reuters
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Iran Urges Citizens to Cut Electricity Use after US Strikes

FILE PHOTO: A man walks next to a symbolic mockup of an Iranian missile and an Iranian flag at Imam Hussein Square in Tehran, Iran, July 12, 2026. Reuters
FILE PHOTO: A man walks next to a symbolic mockup of an Iranian missile and an Iranian flag at Imam Hussein Square in Tehran, Iran, July 12, 2026. Reuters

Iran's energy ministry called on citizens to reduce electricity use on Friday after the power grid came under strain following US strikes on energy infrastructure in the south, AFP reported.

The ministry in a statement urged people to switch off air conditioners in peak hours "to help ensure a stable electricity supply in the southern provinces, which are currently facing extreme heat and attacks on electricity supply facilities".


UN Agency: Transport of Dead Bodies Within Congo Risks Further Ebola Spread

FILE PHOTO: A health worker in personal protective equipment stands near displaced people waiting for the burial of suspected Ebola victims at the Kigonze displaced persons camp, one month after an outbreak was declared, in Bunia, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, June 18, 2026. REUTERS/Gradel Muyisa Mumbere//File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A health worker in personal protective equipment stands near displaced people waiting for the burial of suspected Ebola victims at the Kigonze displaced persons camp, one month after an outbreak was declared, in Bunia, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, June 18, 2026. REUTERS/Gradel Muyisa Mumbere//File Photo/File Photo
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UN Agency: Transport of Dead Bodies Within Congo Risks Further Ebola Spread

FILE PHOTO: A health worker in personal protective equipment stands near displaced people waiting for the burial of suspected Ebola victims at the Kigonze displaced persons camp, one month after an outbreak was declared, in Bunia, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, June 18, 2026. REUTERS/Gradel Muyisa Mumbere//File Photo/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: A health worker in personal protective equipment stands near displaced people waiting for the burial of suspected Ebola victims at the Kigonze displaced persons camp, one month after an outbreak was declared, in Bunia, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, June 18, 2026. REUTERS/Gradel Muyisa Mumbere//File Photo/File Photo

The transport of Ebola victims' bodies between different areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo, often for funerals in their home communities, risks further spreading the virus, the UN migration agency said on Friday.

More than 2,000 Ebola cases and 700 deaths have been recorded in Congo and neighboring Uganda as of July 14, and around two-thirds of the deaths occurred outside clinics or ⁠hospitals, said the International ⁠Organization for Migration.

The often fatal viral disease spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids from infected people or animals, and causes symptoms that can include high fever, vomiting and internal and external bleeding. This ⁠particular epidemic is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus.

Ebola remains highly infectious after death, making funeral practices a critical component of outbreak control.

"If we don't really manage the dead bodies well, if we don't engage the community ... then it means there will be more spread within the community," Reuters quoted Andrew Mbala from IOM as saying.

IOM officials said the ⁠transport ⁠of bodies across districts within Congo was a particular challenge as families seek to bury relatives in their home communities.

"There hasn't been any crossing of dead bodies to another country, but we have seen a lot of crossings of dead bodies within the country," said Mbala.

Such movement risks carrying the virus into new areas if bodies are not handled safely, the IOM warned.