Iran Executes a Man Convicted of Killing a Security Force Member during 2022 Protests

A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)
A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)
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Iran Executes a Man Convicted of Killing a Security Force Member during 2022 Protests

A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)
A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)

Iranian authorities said Sunday they have executed a man convicted of killing a member of security forces during the 2022 nationwide protests that erupted after the death of a woman in custody of the country’s morality police.

Authorities said the fatal shooting took place during unrest in Tehran, where protesters blocked roads and clashed with security forces.

They said Aref Khoshkar was armed with a pellet gun and fired at security personnel, wounding Salman Amirahmadi, who later died in a hospital.

According to the authorities, Khoshkar confessed that he fired the gun from the roof of a house and threw it in a trash bin.

The execution is the latest reported in connection with the 2022 protests, which had spread after Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman, died in police custody following her arrest for allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code.

Rights groups have criticized the trials over the deaths of security forces during the protests, saying defendants were denied due process.



Türkiye Arrests 119 Accused of Links to ISIS

Turkish police officers (file photo/Reuters)
Turkish police officers (file photo/Reuters)
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Türkiye Arrests 119 Accused of Links to ISIS

Turkish police officers (file photo/Reuters)
Turkish police officers (file photo/Reuters)

Türkiye's interior ministry said on Saturday that authorities had arrested 119 people across the country accused of links to ISIS terror group.

"(The) 199 suspects were arrested in a police operation carried out in 30 provinces against the ISIS terrorist organization," including in Istanbul and Ankara, the ministry said, using another name for the ISIS militant group.

Charges levelled against those apprehended included ISIS group membership, posting ISIS propaganda on social media and financing ISIS through intermediaries or "so-called charities", the ministry said.

In late June, Turkish police killed a man suspected of ISIS links in an exchange of gunfire in the south of Ankara, two weeks before a NATO summit was held in the capital.

After that, 209 people suspected of links to the ISIS group or to far-left groups were arrested in Ankara on orders from the city's chief prosecutor.


7 Killed in Ukrainian Drone Attack on Russian Regions

17 July 2026, Ukraine, Kharkiv: Ukrainian police officers examine a charred vehicle following a russian 'banderol' missile strike on a road in Kharkiv's Shevchenkivskyi district. Photo: Yevhen Titov/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
17 July 2026, Ukraine, Kharkiv: Ukrainian police officers examine a charred vehicle following a russian 'banderol' missile strike on a road in Kharkiv's Shevchenkivskyi district. Photo: Yevhen Titov/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
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7 Killed in Ukrainian Drone Attack on Russian Regions

17 July 2026, Ukraine, Kharkiv: Ukrainian police officers examine a charred vehicle following a russian 'banderol' missile strike on a road in Kharkiv's Shevchenkivskyi district. Photo: Yevhen Titov/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
17 July 2026, Ukraine, Kharkiv: Ukrainian police officers examine a charred vehicle following a russian 'banderol' missile strike on a road in Kharkiv's Shevchenkivskyi district. Photo: Yevhen Titov/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

Seven people were killed and 51 others were wounded in Russia overnight by Ukrainian drone attacks, Russian officials said Saturday.

Kyiv's forces are continuing their relentless aerial campaign against energy infrastructure and military targets inside Russia, aiming to undermine Moscow’s war effort and make Russians feel the consequences of the Kremlin's all-out invasion of Ukraine that is well into its fifth year.

Two sprawling warehouses of Russia's major online retailer, Wildberries, were hit by Ukrainian drones overnight, according to Russian officials: one in the town of Kotovsk in the Tambov region, some 360 kilometers (roughly 220 miles) from the border with Ukraine, and another one in the city of Elektrostal, about 50 kilometers (some 30 miles) east of Moscow.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post on Saturday that Ukrainian long-range strikes hit two “significant logistical facilities in the Moscow and Tambov regions."

“These facilities were used by the aggressor to supply sanctioned components for the production of drones and navigation equipment,” he wrote. An oil facility was also hit, The Associated Press quoted him as saying.

Ukrainian special operations also conducted strikes against targets in the Sea of Azov and in occupied territory, Zelenskyy said.

Seven night shift workers were killed at the warehouse in Kotovsk, and 25 others were wounded, Tambov regional governor Yevgeny Pervyshov said. A total of 24 people were wounded in Elektrostal, according to the governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov.

Two more people were wounded in the Moscow region city of Noginsk, just north of Elektrostal, where an oil depot was on fire after a Ukrainian drone strike, Vorobyov said. A nearby maternity hospital was evacuated as a precaution, as well as one residential building, he added.

In the city of Vladimir, some 180 kilometers (over 110 miles) east of Moscow, a Ukrainian drone hit a residential building, sparking a brief fire, Vladimir governor Alexander Avdeyev said. There were no casualties, he added.

Overall, the Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses overnight intercepted 379 Ukrainian drones over 19 Russian regions, as well as the illegally annexed Crimea, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.


Rescuers Race to Find Survivors in the Rain after Deadly China Landslide

Rescuers use a heavy duty machine to clear the rubble to search for trapped victims at the scene of a landslide in Pengshui County in southwestern China's Chongqing on Saturday, July 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Rescuers use a heavy duty machine to clear the rubble to search for trapped victims at the scene of a landslide in Pengshui County in southwestern China's Chongqing on Saturday, July 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
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Rescuers Race to Find Survivors in the Rain after Deadly China Landslide

Rescuers use a heavy duty machine to clear the rubble to search for trapped victims at the scene of a landslide in Pengshui County in southwestern China's Chongqing on Saturday, July 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Rescuers use a heavy duty machine to clear the rubble to search for trapped victims at the scene of a landslide in Pengshui County in southwestern China's Chongqing on Saturday, July 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Rescue crews on Saturday raced to find survivors from a landslide in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing that killed at least eight people and left 34 missing.

The landslide occurred in Pengshui County on Friday morning on the outskirts of Chongqing municipality, when massive amounts of rocks and soil washed down a slope, burying more than 10 residential buildings, state broadcaster CCTV said. Ten people were rescued but sent to the hospital, while more than 1,100 people have been relocated.

Photos and Associated Press videos showed that one of the fallen rocks appeared larger than a multistory building, with ruins scattered across the steep terrain. One of the damaged buildings had its top part crushed and a car was seen half-buried near another building.

The landslide contained about 18,000 cubic meters of rocks and debris, and the largest single rock was around 3,000 cubic meters, Wang Chuanjun, head of Planning and Natural Resources in Pengshui County, told a news conference on Friday.

CCTV said persistent rain hit Pengshui from Friday night to Saturday morning and 19.2 centimeters (nearly 8 inches) of rainfall was recorded at a weather station. The unstable weather made the rescue operation more challenging, it said. As the rain eased slightly, rescue teams entered the site to conduct on-the-ground inspections of the collapsed buildings and riverbank areas.

While rescue operations are being carried out on one side of the massive rocks, teams will later need to look beneath them, where they may risk injury if the boulders become unstable and slide, CCTV reported. Once the search of the surrounding areas is complete, officers will drill into the boulders and fill the holes with explosives to break them apart, it said.

China's National Development and Reform Commission on Saturday allocated a relief fund of 30 million yuan ($4.4 million) to support the restoration of infrastructure and public service facilities following the disaster.

The rain-triggered landslide occurred near a stretch of the Wujiang River, which cuts through karst mountains peppered with small towns and terraces.

Pengshui County is located in the southeast part of Chongqing, bordering the provinces of Hubei and Guizhou.