** IRNA DAILY
-- Raeisi calls for closer Iran-China ties amid U.S. unilateralism
China says opposed to unjustifiable, unilateral U.S. sanctions
President Ebrahim Raeisi called for the expansion of bilateral relations between Iran and China as two independent countries that oppose unilateralism and interference in internal affairs of other countries.
In a Saturday message to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, Raeisi extended good wishes to the Chinese president and people on the National Day of the People’s Republic of China, saying Tehran is ready to strengthen its bilateral and multilateral cooperation with Beijing, Press TV reported.
-- North Korea fires fourth missile in a week as South flexes military muscle
North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea off its east coast on Saturday, hours before South Korea staged a large military show, displaying stealth fighters and its own missiles.
Pyongyang’s fourth launch in a week comes amid a flurry of military muscle-flexing by countries in the region, including joint anti-submarine exercises on Friday by the navies of South Korea, the United States and Japan, Reuters reported.
The rival Koreas are in a regional arms race that has seen a major increase of weapons and military spending.
-- Iran FM calls for ‘immediate’ release of citizen arrested in Saudi Arabia
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian called for the “immediate” release of an Iranian citizen detained in Saudi Arabia during the Hajj pilgrimage.
Amir-Abdollahian made the call in a phone conversation with his Omani counterpart Sayyid Badr Albusaidi on Friday as the two exchanged views on the latest developments in regional issues and Tehran-Muscat relations, Press TV reported.
** TEHRAN TIMES
-- A Syria recipe for Iran
Over the last two weeks, Iran has been in the throes of nationwide unrest that started peacefully but quickly turned violent, something that bears striking resemblance to what happened in Syria and Libya nearly a decade ago.
On Friday, the wave of unrest in Iran took a new turn when a terrorist attack rocked the southwestern province of Sistan-Baluchistan. The terrorists attacked police stations and public properties in Zahedan after Friday prayer rituals. Hossein Modarres Khiyabani, governor-general of Sistan-Baluchistan, said 19 people were killed and 20 wounded in the clashes in Zahedan. General Seyed Hamid Reza Hashemi, the head of IRGC intelligence in the province who goes by the pseudonym of Seyed Ali Mousavi, was gunned down during the terrorist attack.
-- The not-so-suspicious Nord Stream blasts
Since the outbreak of the Ukraine war and many years before the conflict even erupted, the signs were clear. The United States was and continues to wage economic war against Russia and all other countries, such as China and Iran, that pursue independent foreign and economic policies.
-- Iran’s Intelligence Ministry says U.S., UK “directly” complicit in recent riots
Iran’s Intelligence Ministry has stated that the United States and the United Kingdom were “directly” involved in the recent unrest in certain cities in the country. In a statement released on Friday, the ministry said that during the recent disturbances, dozens of terrorists connected to the Zionist regime and anti-revolutionary organizations had been apprehended.
** KAYHAN INTERNATIONAL
-- Biggest Rail Strike in Decades Hits UK
Workers on Saturday took part in the biggest rail strike in Britain for decades, with unions combining industrial action for the first time this year.
No trains were running in many areas, with no direct services at all on some intercity routes between London to Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh.
With drivers as well as signalers on strike, only about 11% of normal schedules were in operation. Disruption was significantly worse than during other rail strikes this year, as members of the RMT, Aslef and TSSA unions went on a 24-hour strike – timed to coincide with the start of the Conservative conference in Birmingham.
-- Zionist Regime Green-Lights Drone Assassinations
The occupying regime of Israel has given the green light for the use of armed drones to carry out assassinations against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, in an escalation in aggression by Zionist troops.
According to the Jerusalem Post, Israeli commanders will now be allowed to use the platforms not only as cover and intelligence gathering during operations but also to carry out strikes against Palestinians.
-- ‘Stop Hazara Genocide’: Afghan Women Protest
Women from Afghanistan’s minority Hazara community protested in the capital Saturday after a suicide bombing a day earlier killed at least 35 people - mostly young women from the ethnic group.
A terrorist blew himself up on Friday at a Kabul study hall as hundreds of pupils were taking tests in preparation for university entrance exams in the city’s Dasht-e-Barchi area.
The western neighborhood is a predominantly Shia Muslim enclave and home to the minority Hazara community - a historically oppressed group that has been targeted in some of Afghanistan’s most brutal attacks in recent years.
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