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October
Events in Iran since Mahsa Amini's arrest and death in custody
Written by Nur Yasmin
Iran's clerical rulers have faced the biggest protests in years since Mahsa Amini died last month in the custody of the morality police who enforce the Islamic Republic's strict dress code.
Following is a timeline of events since her arrest:
Sept. 13 - Mahsa Amini, from Iran's Kurdistan region, is detained by morality police in Tehran, the Iranian capital, because of her "inappropriate attire".
Sept. 16 - Amini dies after falling into a coma. Police say she suffered a heart attack after being taken to a station to be "educated". Her family deny she had any heart problems. Her father later says she had bruises on her legs, and holds police responsible for her death. President Ebrahim Raisi demands an investigation. Protests begin on social media and in the street.
Sept. 17 - Protests erupt during Amini's funeral in Saqez, her hometown in Kurdistan. Security forces fire tear gas. Protests spread to the provincial capital. Chants of "death to the dictator" are heard, with some women removing headscarves.
Sept. 18 - Demonstrations spread. Hundreds gather around the University of Tehran, shouting "Woman, Life, Freedom".
Sept. 19 - Protests intensify, taking place in Rasht, Mashhad, Isfahan and Tehran, where security forces and demonstrators clash.
Sept. 20 - An aide to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says he visited Amini's family to pay condolences and that Khamenei was pained by her death. An official blames terrorist groups for deaths in Kurdistan.
Sept. 21 - Authorities curb access to Instagram and WhatsApp. Official sources confirm eight deaths in the unrest, including a member of the police and a member of the Basij militia.
Sept. 22 - Protesters in Tehran and several other cities torch police stations and vehicles. Raisi says "acts of chaos" are unacceptable. The United States imposes sanctions on Tehran's morality police.
Sept. 23 - The state organises rallies in several cities with marchers calling for protesters to be executed. The army vows to "confront the enemies' various plots". State TV says the death toll is 35.
Sept. 24 - After accusing armed Iranian dissidents of involvement in the unrest, the Revolutionary Guards carry out the first of several attacks on Iranian militant opposition bases in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq.
Raisi says Iran must deal decisively with protests. State TV says the death toll is 41.
Sept. 27 - Security forces clash with demonstrators in dozens of cities. Despite the crackdown, social media from inside Iran continue to show protesters chanting, "Woman, Life, Liberty", while women wave and burn veils.
Sept. 30 - State TV says militants fire on a police station in the southeastern city of Zahedan, prompting a shootout. State TV says 19 people are killed. The Guards say four of its forces and the Basij are killed. Amnesty International later says security forces killed 66 people, including children, in the deadliest day since protests started.
Oct. 3 - In his first comments on the unrest Khamenei backs the security forces. He says Amini's death "deeply broke my heart" and calls it a "bitter incident" provoked by Iran's enemies. Defying his warning, Iranians in several cities chant "We want regime change" and "death to Khamenei".
Oct. 7 - Authorities deny reports security forces killed a 16-year-old girl, saying she committed suicide. It is the second time in a week they said a teenage girl died falling from a roof. A coroner's report denies Amini died from blows to the head and limbs while in custody, linking her death to pre-existing conditions.
Oct. 8 - Female students chant "get lost" as Raisi visits their university campus in Tehran.
Oct. 10 - Protests spread to Iran's energy sector, according to reports on social media showing workers at Abadan and Kangan oil refineries and Bushehr Petrochemical Project demonstrating.
Oct. 13 - Members of the Basij militia, troops which have been at the forefront of repressing popular unrest for decades, deploy in Kurdish areas where seven people are killed in protests. (Reuters)
October
Pakistan summons US ambassador over Biden's nuclear remark
Written by Nur Yasmin
Pakistan's foreign minister on Saturday said the U.S. ambassador to the country had been summoned after President Joe Biden said in a speech that Pakistan is "maybe one of the most dangerous nations in the world" as it has "nuclear weapons without any cohesion".
The minister, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari said he was surprised by Biden's comments and a misunderstanding was created by a lack of engagement.
Bhutto-Zardari said he didn't think the decision to summon the U.S. Ambassador will negatively affect relations with the United States.
Biden made the remarks at a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee reception on Thursday. (Reuters)
October
G20 chair Indrawati says 'huge gaps' remain on Ukraine war, geopolitical issues
Written by Nur Yasmin
The Group of 20 major economies has "quite a lot of huge gaps" to bridge over geopolitical divisions, including the war in Ukraine, but remains in agreement over many financial issues, the group's chair said on Thursday.
Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati told a news conference after another G20 finance leaders' meeting ended without a joint statement that the group this year has nonetheless been able to maintain its status "as a premier global forum for economic and financial policy."
Indrawati said that the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors agreed on the need to improve its common framework for debt restructuring to bring more predictability into the process and to use resources and capacity to respond to the needs of many developing countries. The group also reaffirmed its commitment to a global deal struck last year to reform international corporate taxation, she said. (Reuters)
October
U.S. grants Philippines $100 million in foreign military financing
Written by Nur Yasmin
The United States has made available $100 million in foreign military financing to the Philippines, its ambassador in Manila said on Friday, part of efforts to boost the Southeast Asian country's defence capabilities and military modernisation.
The new military financing underscores improved defence ties between the treaty allies under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, whose predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, shifted his country's foreign policy away from the United States to pursue warmer ties with China.
"The United States has now made available $100 million in foreign military financing in part for the Philippine military to use as it wishes," Ambassador MaryKay Carlson told a media briefing aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, which was on a scheduled port call in Manila.
Carlson added the Philippines could use the allocation to "offset" its decision to scrap a 12.7 billion ($227.35 million)deal with Russia. Manila is looking to buy heavy-lift Chinook helicopters from the United States.
The Philippines is by far the largest recipient of U.S. military assistance in the Indo-Pacific region, having received$1.14 billion worth of planes, armoured vehicles, small arms, and other military equipment and training from 2015 to 2022. The amount includes $475.3 million worth of foreign military financing to Philippines, among the biggest in Southeast Asia.
President Marcos, who met his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden last month, said in a speech read by a foreign ministry official at Friday's briefing that he welcomed the visit of USS Ronald Reagan, and reiterated he was committed to maintaining peace and stability in the South China Sea.
The port call, the first in three years, by the nuclear-powered warship leading a carrier strike group, followed its participation in joint maritime exercises between the United States and South Korea. (Reuters)
October
South Korea president pledges to build strong readiness against North Korea threats
Written by Nur Yasmin
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on Friday said his government has been working on building a watertight readiness posture against North Korea's provocations since he took office, following North Korea's missile test and deployment of military aircraft that flew near the border dividing the two countries. (Reuters)
October
IMF urges most Asian central banks to tighten policy further
Written by Nur Yasmin
Most Asian central banks must tighten monetary policy further as rising commodity prices and their currencies' depreciation, driven by steady U.S. interest rate hikes, push inflation above their targets, the International Monetary Fund said on Thursday.
China and Japan are exceptions, where the economic recovery has been weaker, slack remains substantial and inflation has not risen as sharply as elsewhere, said Krishna Srinivasan, director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department.
Many Asian currencies depreciated "quite sharply" as U.S. monetary tightening led to widening interest rate differentials, helping push up import costs for the countries, he said.
"While our baseline is for inflation to have peaked by end-year, large exchange-rate depreciations could lead to higher inflation and greater persistence, particularly if global interest rates rise more forcefully, and require faster monetary policy tightening in Asia," Srinivasan said in a news conference during the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Washington.
Large currency depreciations and rising interest rates could also trigger financial stress in Asian countries with high debt, Srinivasan said.
"Asia is now the largest debtor in the world besides being the biggest saver, and several countries are at high risk of debt distress," he said.
Most of the rise in Asia's debt is concentrated in China, but also seen in other economies, Sanjaya Panth, deputy director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific Department, told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.
"Some form of market stress cannot be ruled out. But the relatively strong position of many economies gives us comfort," he said, pointing to their low levels of external debt, higher reserves and resilient financial systems. (Reuters)
October
New Zealand to assess progress vs workplace bullying in parliament
Written by Nur Yasmin
The New Zealand government said on Friday it would commission an independent review to assess parliament's workplace culture after a study three years ago found widespread bullying and harassment.
A 2019 report uncovered systemic harmful behaviour in New Zealand's parliament, including by and between staff, managers, members of parliament, the media and the public.
Speaker of the House of Representatives Adrian Rurawhe said in a statement he believed the parliamentary workplace had improved over the past three years, and had commissioned the author of the 2019 study to review its progress.
"It is important that we take stock, as an institution, of the effectiveness of that work," said Rurawhe.
In August, a member of parliament from the ruling Labour Party accused other lawmakers from the party of bullying. Labour has denied the accusations and the member of parliament has been suspended.
Rurawhe said the review would catalogue gains made to date as well as areas where there was still room for improvement. (Reuters)
October
Russian women pay the price in protests against Putin's war
Written by Nur Yasmin
Women in Russia make up a rising proportion of those being detained in protests against President Vladimir Putin's mobilisation for the war in Ukraine, data show, as many Russian men fear being sent to the frontlines if they demonstrate.
Court documents also show more women in Moscow being charged in relation to anti-war protests in February and March in the early weeks of the conflict than in anti-Putin protests in previous years.
Among women protesters heading to central Moscow on the evening of Sept. 24 was 19-year-old Lisa. Before she joined the crowd a police officer in body armour grabbed her arm and threw her into a van. She spent a week in detention.
Three days earlier Putin announced a partial mobilisation of reservists to fight in Ukraine, prompting tens of thousands of Russian men to flee abroad, often by circuitous routes.
"When the war started, I felt like my future was not happening anymore," said Lisa, who asked to use only her first name for fear of repercussions. "But I also started feeling guilty for thinking about my own future when people in Ukraine felt much more fear every day."
Lisa showed Reuters documents and photos related to her detention.
Russian authorities say protesters are detained because unsanctioned rallies are illegal under Russian law, which also forbids any activity considered to defame the armed forces.
Women made up 51% of 1,383 people arrested in the Sept. 21 anti-mobilisation protest and 71% of the 848 detained on Sept. 24, according to data from OVD-Info, a Russian group that monitors protests.
The group, which described the Sept. 21 and Sept. 24 protests as the largest in a series of anti-mobilisation demonstrations, said the rising share of women detained on Sept. 24 came as some men feared being drafted if arrested.
DRAFT PAPERS
A Russian male journalist covering the demonstrations and two male protesters told Reuters they received papers summoning them to the military registration office after being detained.
One of them, 30-year-old Vladislav Staf, a historian with no military experience, said he and a dozen men who were put in the same police van were handed draft papers after being arrested on Sept. 21. He was released from detention a week later and fled Russia.
"It felt very dangerous to stay," said Staf, now in Montenegro. He showed Reuters a copy of his draft document.
OVD-Info said male protesters were drafted in at least 17 police departments on Sept. 21 and at least 16 departments on Sept. 24.
Reuters has yet to receive a reply to emailed questions about the OVD-Info figures and Staf's account, sent to the Russian interior ministry and its Moscow department on Thursday.
A Reuters analysis of court documents showed women who protested in the early weeks of the war in February and March made up at least 30% of those charged, up from at least 11% in protests in 2021 and at least 6% in 2019 protests.
Lisa protested for the first time in February, joining in with chants of "no to war".
The proportion of women was likely higher in all three years because Reuters was only able to determine the gender in about 80% of cases from protesters' surnames. Typical Russian surnames have different endings for women and men. Reuters analysed cases of the most common charges used against protesters.
FEAR OF CONSCRIPTION
Ella Rossman, a researcher at University College London's School of Slavonic and East European Studies, attributed the rise in the share of women at protests to fears of some men of conscription and to a growing Russian feminist movement.
Rossman, who is mapping out Russian feminist activism, counted 45 Russian feminist groups in 2021, up from about 30 in 2019.
Female protesters in Russia are particularly vulnerable to the threat of sexual violence, said OVD-Info lawyer Daria Korolenko. The group documented about 200 cases of women threatened with sexual violence, deprived of food or sleep or subjected to other mistreatment while detained over protests between Sept. 21 and 26.
Reuters has yet to receive a reply to emailed questions about the data on mistreatment of women, sent to the Russian interior ministry and its Moscow department on Thursday.
Elizaveta, 27, who asked to be identified only by her first name, said she received a 12-day jail sentence after protesting in February. She spent nine of those days at a police station where she slept on the bare floor in a dark cell. There was no hot water and the only food was brought by friends. She showed Reuters documents and photographs relating to her detention.
Reuters has yet to receive a reply to an emailed request for comment, sent to the Russian interior ministry and its Moscow department on Thursday.
Elizaveta protested again on Sept. 22. Most of those with her that day were women, she said.
Women have not only protested the war on the streets.
Shortly after the conflict began Rossman formed a movement with other activists - the Feminist Anti-War Resistance. Its members post about the war on social media and distribute a newspaper in Russia, she said, adding that they also write anti-war slogans on rouble bank notes and on price tags in stores. (reuters)
October
UK PM Liz Truss's news conference after finance minister sacked
Written by Nur Yasmin
British Prime Minister Liz Truss fired her finance minister Kwasi Kwarteng on Friday and scrapped parts of their economic package in a bid to stay in power and survive the market and political turmoil gripping the country. read more
Below are some of the key quotes from Truss's news conference:
ON HER MISSION
"I want to deliver a low tax, high wage, high growth economy. It is what I was elected by my party to do, that mission remains."
"We recognise because of current market issues. We have to deliver the mission in a different way."
ON CORPORATION TAX
"We need to act now to reassure the markets of our fiscal discipline. I have therefore decided to keep the increase in corporation tax that was planned by the previous government. This will raise 18 billion pounds per year."
ON SPENDING
"Our public sector will become more efficient and deliver world class services for the British people. And spending will grow less rapidly than previously planned."
ON MINI BUDGET
"It is clear that parts of our mini budget went further and faster than markets were expecting. So the way we are delivering our mission right now has to change. We need to act now to reassure the markets of our fiscal discipline."
ON DEBT
"We will do whatever is necessary to ensure debt is falling as a share of the economy in the medium term."
ON ECONOMIC STABILITY
"I have acted decisively today because my priority is ensuring our country’s economic stability. As prime minister, I will always act in the national interest. This is always my first consideration.
"I want to be honest, this is difficult. But we will get through this storm."
ON NEW FINANCE MINISTER JEREMY HUNT
"He's one of the most experienced and widely respected government ministers and parliamentarians and he shares my convictions and ambitions for our country.
"He will deliver the medium term fiscal plan at the end of this month. He will see through the support we are providing to help families and businesses including our energy price guarantee that's protecting people from higher energy bills this winter." (Reuters)
October
Putin says no need for massive new strikes on Ukraine
Written by Nur Yasmin
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday there was no need for massive new strikes on Ukraine and that Russia was not looking to destroy the country.
Putin told a news conference at the end of a summit in Kazakhstan that his call-up of Russian reservists would be over within two weeks and there were no plans for a further mobilisation.
He also repeated the Kremlin position that Russia was willing to hold talks, although he said they would require international mediation if Ukraine was prepared to take part.
Taken together, Putin's comments appeared to suggest a slight softening of his tone as the war nears the end of its eighth month, after weeks of Ukrainian advances and significant Russian defeats. Wall Street shares opened higher as traders interpreted them as easing geopolitical tensions.
But Putin - who has said he would be ready to use nuclear weapons to defend Russia's "territorial integrity" - also warned of a "global catastrophe" in the event of a direct clash of NATO troops with Russia.
He was speaking after a week when Russia has staged its heaviest missile attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities since the start of its invasion of Feb. 24 - an action that Putin has said was retaliation for an attack that damaged a Russian bridge to unilaterally annexed Crimea.
"We do not set ourselves the task of destroying Ukraine. No, of course not," Putin said.
He said there was "no need for massive strikes" now because most designated targets had been hit.
Russia's faltering invasion has confronted Putin with the deepest crisis of his 22 years as Russia's paramount leader, as even loyal Kremlin allies have attacked his generals' failings and the chaotic nature of the mobilisation.
But he answered "No" when asked if he had any regrets, saying failure to act in Ukraine would have been even worse.
"I want it to be clear: what is happening today is unpleasant, to put it mildly, but we would have got the same thing a little later, only in worse conditions for us, that's all. So we are acting correctly and in a timely manner." (Reuters)