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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

China Says It Opposes Outside Interference in Iran’s Internal Affairs

Iranians walk next to a billboard reading "Iran is our Homeland" at Enqelab Square in Tehran, Iran, 13 January 2026. (EPA)
Iranians walk next to a billboard reading "Iran is our Homeland" at Enqelab Square in Tehran, Iran, 13 January 2026. (EPA)
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China Says It Opposes Outside Interference in Iran’s Internal Affairs

Iranians walk next to a billboard reading "Iran is our Homeland" at Enqelab Square in Tehran, Iran, 13 January 2026. (EPA)
Iranians walk next to a billboard reading "Iran is our Homeland" at Enqelab Square in Tehran, Iran, 13 January 2026. (EPA)

China opposes any outside interference in Iran's ​internal affairs, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Wednesday, after US President Donald Trump warned that Washington ‌would take "very ‌strong action" ‌against Tehran.

China ⁠does ​not ‌condone the use or the threat of force in international relations, Mao Ning, spokesperson at ⁠the Chinese foreign ministry, said ‌at a ‍regular ‍news conference when ‍asked about China's position following Trump's comments.

Trump told CBS News in ​an interview that the United States would take "very ⁠strong action" if Iran starts hanging protesters.

Trump also urged protesters to keep protesting and said that help was on the way.

World

South Korea Vows Legal Action Over Drone Incursion into North

A North Korean flag flutters on top of a 160-meter tower in North Korea's propaganda village of Gijungdong in this picture taken from the Dora observatory near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Paju, South Korea, April 24, 2018. (Reuters)
A North Korean flag flutters on top of a 160-meter tower in North Korea's propaganda village of Gijungdong in this picture taken from the Dora observatory near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Paju, South Korea, April 24, 2018. (Reuters)
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South Korea Vows Legal Action Over Drone Incursion into North

A North Korean flag flutters on top of a 160-meter tower in North Korea's propaganda village of Gijungdong in this picture taken from the Dora observatory near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Paju, South Korea, April 24, 2018. (Reuters)
A North Korean flag flutters on top of a 160-meter tower in North Korea's propaganda village of Gijungdong in this picture taken from the Dora observatory near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Paju, South Korea, April 24, 2018. (Reuters)

The South Korean president's top advisor vowed on Wednesday to punish whoever is found responsible for a recent drone incursion into North Korea, after a furious Pyongyang demanded an apology.

North Korea accused the South over the weekend of sending a drone across their shared border into the city of Kaesong this month, releasing photos of debris from what it said was the downed aircraft.

And on Tuesday the North Korean leader's powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, demanded an apology over the incident from the "hooligans of the enemy state" responsible.

Seoul has denied any involvement but has left open the possibility that civilians may have flown the drone, a position reiterated by National Security Adviser Wi Sung-lac on Wednesday.

"Our understanding so far is that neither the military nor the government carried out such an operation," Wi told reporters on the sidelines of a summit between the leaders of South Korea and Japan in the Japanese city of Nara.

"That leaves us the task to investigate if someone from the civilian sector may have done it," he said.

"If there is anything that warrants punishment, then there should be punishment."

South and North Korea remain technically at war, as the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.

Wi noted that despite Pyongyang's criticism and its demand for an apology, the North has also sent its own drones into South Korea.

"There have been incidents in which their drones fell near the Blue House, and others that reached Yongsan," he said, referring to the current and former locations of the presidential offices.

"These, too, are violations of the Armistice Agreement," he said.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has ordered a joint military-police probe into the drone case.

Any civilian involvement would be "a serious crime that threatens peace on the Korean peninsula", he warned.

World

Iran’s Judiciary Signals Fast Trials and Executions for Detained Protesters Despite Trump’s Warning

This video grab taken on January 14, 2026 from UGC images posted on social media on January 13, 2026, shows dozens of bodies lying on the ground at the Tehran Province Forensic Diagnostic and Laboratory Centre in Kahrizak, as grieving relatives search for their loved ones. (UGC / AFP)
This video grab taken on January 14, 2026 from UGC images posted on social media on January 13, 2026, shows dozens of bodies lying on the ground at the Tehran Province Forensic Diagnostic and Laboratory Centre in Kahrizak, as grieving relatives search for their loved ones. (UGC / AFP)
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Iran’s Judiciary Signals Fast Trials and Executions for Detained Protesters Despite Trump’s Warning

This video grab taken on January 14, 2026 from UGC images posted on social media on January 13, 2026, shows dozens of bodies lying on the ground at the Tehran Province Forensic Diagnostic and Laboratory Centre in Kahrizak, as grieving relatives search for their loved ones. (UGC / AFP)
This video grab taken on January 14, 2026 from UGC images posted on social media on January 13, 2026, shows dozens of bodies lying on the ground at the Tehran Province Forensic Diagnostic and Laboratory Centre in Kahrizak, as grieving relatives search for their loved ones. (UGC / AFP)

The head of Iran’s judiciary signaled Wednesday there would be fast trials and executions ahead for those detained in nationwide protests despite a warning from US President Donald Trump.

The comments from Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei come as activists had warned hangings of those detained could come soon.

Already, a bloody security force crackdown on the demonstrations has killed at least 2,571, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reported. That figure dwarfs the death toll from any other round of protest or unrest in Iran in decades and recalls the chaos surrounding the country’s 1979 revolution.

Trump repeatedly has warned that the United States may take military action over the killing of peaceful protesters, just months after it bombed Iranian nuclear sites during a 12-day war launched by Israel against the Islamic Republic in June.

Mohseni-Ejei made the comment in a video shared by Iranian state television online.

“If we want to do a job, we should do it now. If we want to do something, we have to do it quickly," he said. “If it becomes late, two months, three months later, it doesn’t have the same effect. If we want to do something, we have to do that fast.”

His comments stand as a direct challenge to Trump, who warned Iran about executions an interview with CBS aired Tuesday. “We will take very strong action,” Trump said. “If they do such a thing, we will take very strong action.”

Meanwhile, activists said Wednesday that Starlink was offering free service in Iran. The satellite internet service has been key in getting around an internet shutdown launched by the theocracy on Jan. 8. Iran began allowing people to call out internationally on Tuesday via their mobile phones, but calls from people outside the country into Iran remain blocked.

“We can confirm that the free subscription for Starlink terminals is fully functional,” said Mehdi Yahyanejad, a Los Angeles-based activist who has helped get the units into Iran. “We tested it using a newly activated Starlink terminal inside Iran.”

Starlink itself did not immediately acknowledge the decision.

Security service personnel also apparently were searching for Starlink dishes, as people in northern Tehran reported authorities raiding apartment buildings with satellite dishes. While satellite television dishes are illegal, many in the capital have them in homes, and officials broadly had given up on enforcing the law in recent years.