TEHRAN, 03 January 2023, (TON): Iranian police have resumed warnings that women must wear mandatory headscarves even in cars, media reported Monday, as unrest continues following the death of Mahsa Amini.

Protests have gripped Iran since the September 16 death of Iranian-Kurdish Amini, 22, after her arrest in Tehran for an alleged breach of the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women.

Tehran generally calls the protests “riots.”

Fars news agency quoted a senior police officer who said the “new stage” of the Nazer-1 program — “surveillance” in Persian — was being rolled out “across the country by the police.”

BEIRUT, 03 January 2023, (TON): The Israeli army carried out a missile strike on Damascus International Airport that killed four people, including two Syrian soldiers, according to a human rights monitor.

This is the second time in less than seven months that the Damascus airport, where Iranian-backed armed groups and Lebanese Hezbollah fighters are present, has been hit by Israel.

The attack which occurred around 2:00 am (2300 GMT) put the country’s main airport out of service, according to Syria’s state news agency SANA.

Israel carried out the strike with “barrages of missiles, targeting Damascus International Airport and its surroundings,” a military source told SANA, which reported that two Syrian soldiers were killed.

MEXICO CITY, 03 January 2023, (TON): Mexican authorities said on Sunday that at least 14 people died in an armed attack at a prison in the northern border city Juarez and two more died during a later armed aggression elsewhere in the city.

The Chihuahua state prosecutor said in a statement that among those who died in the prison attack were ten security personnel and four inmates. At the same time, another 13 were hurt, and at least 24 escaped.

It was not immediately clear who carried out the attack.

TEHRAN, 03 January 2023, (TON): Iranian activist and journalist Keyvan Samimi remains in detention, his family told said on Monday, denying earlier press reports that he had been freed.

On Sunday, the reformist daily Shargh reported the release of the 73-year-old, sentenced to three years in prison in December 2020 for “conspiracy against national security.”

His family said Samimi was still serving his sentence in prison in Semnan, more than 200 kilometers (125 miles) east of the capital Tehran.

The journalist was authorized in February 2022 to return home due to health problems.

SYDNEY, 03 January 2023, (TON): Authorities said “two helicopters collided in mid-air near a popular tourist attraction in Australia’s Gold Coast region on Monday, killing four people and critically injuring three more.”

Emergency services were called to the scene near the Sea World theme park at about 2 p.m. local time, Gary Worrell, acting inspector at the Queensland police, told a news briefing.

Worrell said the two aircraft crash-landed after the collision. “As a result of that, four people have lost their lives today.”

KYIV, 02 January 2023, (TON): The air force said “Ukraine shot down 45 Russian drones overnight as the pro-Western country rang in the New Year.”

In a New Year’s Eve assault, Moscow attacked Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities with missiles and Iranian-made drones.

Ukraine’s air force said in a statement that air defenses destroyed 45 “Shahed” drones.

Thirteen drones were shot down at the end of 2022 and another 32 in the new year, the statement said.

Ukrainian authorities did not say if some of the drones reached their targets.

JERUSALEM, 02 January 2023, (TON): The tourism minister of Israel’s new hard-line government promised to invest in developing the West Bank, calling the occupied area “our local Tuscany.”

Haim Katz made the comments days after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government took office, promising in its coalition guidelines to make West Bank settlement construction a top priority. His coalition includes far-right settler leaders in top posts.

Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war and has built dozens of settlements that are now home to roughly 500,000 Israelis.

SEOUL, 02 January 2023, (TON): South Korea and the United States are discussing possible joint planning and exercises using US nuclear assets in the face of North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile threats, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said in a newspaper interview.

The Chosun Ilbo newspaper quoted Yoon as saying the joint planning and exercises would be aimed at a more effective implementation of the US “extended deterrence.”

The term means the ability of the US military, particularly its nuclear forces, to deter attacks on US allies.

Yoon said “the nuclear weapons belong to the United States, but planning, information sharing, exercises and training should be jointed conducted by South Korea and the United States.”

RIYADH, 02 January 2023, (TON): On behalf of King Salman, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan participated on Sunday in the inauguration and swearing-in ceremony of Brazil’s President Lula da Silva.

Prince Faisal conveyed the congratulations and greetings of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the president and their wishes of progress and prosperity for the Brazilian government and people.

The foreign minister arrived in Brazil on Saturday and was received by Faisal Ghulam, the Saudi ambassador to Brazil, and the director general of the Middle East department of the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sidney Romero.

SEOUL, 02 January 2023, (TON): State media said “North Korea’s Kim Jong Un has called for a major increase in the country’s nuclear arsenal, including mass producing tactical nuclear weapons and developing new missiles for nuclear counterstrikes.”

The official KCNA reported “in a report at the end of a key party meeting in Pyongyang, Kim called “for an exponential increase of the country’s nuclear arsenal.”

Citing what it called US and South Korean hostility, the report said the North needed “mass-producing of tactical nuclear weapons” and to “develop another ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) system whose main mission is quick nuclear counterstrike”. Military tensions on the Korean peninsula rose sharply in 2022 as the North conducted sanctions-busting weapons tests nearly every month, including firing its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missile ever.