Authorities say a counterprotester demonstrating against a “Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City” event Saturday lit and threw a device at the protesting crowd after someone from that group used pepper spray on the counterprotest. New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the incident started late Saturday morning when someone from the anti-Islam protest associated with conservative influencer Jake Lang shot pepper spray into a counterprotesting group near Gracie Mansion. Tensions continued to heighten, she said, when someone in the counterprotest lit and threw a device she described as smaller than a football into the protesting crowd of about 20 people.
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Voting has been peaceful in Nepal's first nationwide election since a violent, youth-led uprising forced the government from power in September. Security forces are patrolling streets and guarding polling stations Thursday across the Himalayan nation of about 30 million people as voters line up to cast their ballots. Vote counting will begin later Thursday, with results expected over the weekend. Top election official says both election campaigning and voting have been peaceful and voter turnout expected to be around 65%. The election is widely viewed as a three-way contest with the National Independent Party founded in 2022 considered the front-runner.
Polls open in Nepal for first parliamentary election since 2025 protests that toppled the previous government.
The war in the Middle East has intensified Monday with attacks from Iran and Iranian-backed militias hitting Israel and Arab states. A senior Iranian official signaled that there would be no negotiations with the United States. Strikes by Israel and the United States continued in Iran and southern Lebanon in a war that began Saturday with the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Fallout from the fighting has been felt around the globe. There have been canceled flights, deadly protests and suspended shipping and stock markets.
Iranian doctors say that during last month’s deadly crackdown on nationwide protests, security agents swarmed hospitals in multiple cities, hunting for wounded protesters. The agents intimidated medical staff, prevented treatment and seized protesters from hospitals. Some doctors tried to hide wounded patients, recording false diagnoses in the records so agents wouldn’t find them. Other doctors ran clandestine clinics treating traumatic wounds. This story is based on AP interviews with three doctors in Iran and six Iranian medical professionals living abroad who are in contact with colleagues on the ground, as well as AP’s verification of more than a dozen videos posted on social media.
AP Wire
Iran has pushed back against U.S. President Donald Trump’s pressure tactics ahead of critical talks in Geneva over Tehran’s nuclear program. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman dismissed Trump's remarks at the State of the Union as “big lies.” Meanwhile, Iran's parliament speaker said on Wednesday that the U.S. could either engage in diplomacy or face the wrath of Iran if it attacks. America has assembled its biggest deployment of aircraft and warships into the Middle East in decades, part of Trump’s efforts to get a deal while Iran struggles at home with growing dissent following nationwide protests last month.
Oman says the next round of talks between the United States and Iran will be Thursday in Geneva. Oman previously hosted the indirect talks on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program and facilitated the latest round in Geneva last week. There was no immediate White House comment. Confirmation of the talks came shortly after Iran’s top diplomat told CBS that he expected to meet U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff on Thursday. The Trump administration has been pushing for concessions from its longtime adversary and has built up the largest U.S. military presence in the Middle East in decades. Meanwhile, there are new protests in Iran.
Iran held annual military drills with Russia as a second American aircraft carrier drew closer to the Middle East. Both the United States and Iran are signaling they are prepared for war if talks on Tehran’s nuclear program fizzle out. President Donald Trump said Thursday he believes 10 to 15 days is enough time for Iran to reach a deal. But talks on its nuclear program have been deadlocked for years, and Iran has refused to discuss wider U.S. and Israeli demands that it scale back its missile program and sever ties to armed groups. Indirect talks held in recent weeks made little visible progress, and one or both sides could be buying time for final war preparations.
Iranians are still reeling with shock, grief and fear after Iran's rulers unleashed the deadliest crackdown ever seen in the Islamic Republic last month. But a vein of defiance persists. In some districts of the capital and other cities, residents shout anti-government slogans from their roofs and balconies at night. And this week, memorials marking the passage of 40 days since protesters' deaths are being held, turning a traditional rite of mourning into political protests. In videos of some 40-day memorials, hundreds gather and often chant against the government.
Peru’s Congress has voted to remove interim President José Jerí from office as he faces corruption allegations. The move triggers a fresh wave of political instability just weeks before the April presidential and congressional elections. Jerí is under a preliminary investigation over his undisclosed meetings with two Chinese executives. The vote Tuesday was 75 in favor and 24 against with three abstentions. Lawmakers on Wednesday will choose a new president from among their members to govern until July 28, when the interim leader will be succeeded by the election winner.