Protests in Iran: State-run live TV hacked by protesters
Iran's state-run broadcaster was apparently hacked on air Saturday, with a news bulletin interrupted by a protest against the country's leader, BBC reported.
A mask appeared on the screen, followed by an image of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei with flames around him.
The group called itself "Adalat Ali", or Ali's Justice.
It comes after at least three people were shot dead when protesters clashed with security forces in new unrest over the death of Mahsa Amini.
Ms Amini was detained in Tehran by morality police for allegedly not covering her hair properly. The 22-year-old Iranian Kurd died in custody on 16 September, three days after her arrest.
Her death has sparked an unprecedented wave of protest across the country.
One of the captions read "join us and rise up", whilst another said "our youths' blood is dripping off your paws".
The interruption lasted only a few seconds before being cut off.
Such displays of rebellion against Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are historically rare, and he wields almost complete power within Iran. But following Ms Amini's death, there has been some open dissent.
Also on Saturday, social media videos emerged which seemed to show female students at a university in Tehran chanting "get lost" during a visit by President Ebrahim Raisi, according to BBC.
Earlier in the day, two people were killed in Sanandaj, including a man shot in his car after he sounded his horn in support of protesters. A video shared online also showed a woman shot in the neck lying unconscious on the ground in Mashhad.
On Friday, Iran's Forensic Medicine Organisation said Ms Amini had died from multiple organ failure caused by cerebral hypoxia - and not from blows to the head, as her family and protesters contend.
Rights groups say more than 150 people have been killed since the protests in the Islamic Republic began on 17 September.
Shops in several cities have shut in support of the protesters, including in Tehran's bazaar where some set fire to a police kiosk and chased the security forces away, BBC reported.
The protests reaching the bazaar in Tehran will ring alarm bells with Iranian leaders who have counted the merchants as among their supporters.
Crimean bridge: Excitement and fear in Ukraine after bridge blast
Ukraine is exploding with excitement this morning.
Videos of the damaged Crimean bridge have spread like wildfire on social media; this is already being compared to the sinking of the Russian warship Moskva in April.
"The guided missile cruiser Moskva and the Kerch bridge - two notorious symbols of Russian power in Ukrainian Crimea - have gone down," tweeted Ukraine's ministry of defence.
"What's next in line, Russkies?" it went on.
Ukraine's inventive social media activists are gleefully pumping out memes to celebrate the occasion, BBC reported.
And Ukraine's second largest bank, Monobank, says it has already issued a new debit card design featuring the collapsed bridge.
Oleksii Danilov, Secretary of Ukraine's National Security Council, wasn't the only one noting that the attack came just a day after Vladimir Putin's 70th birthday, tweeting a video of the damaged bridge next to Marilyn Monroe's famous performance of Happy Birthday, Mr President from 1962.
The sense of excitement is palpable.
Coming on the back of weeks of mostly good news from the battlefront, where Ukrainian forces continue to take back territory seized by Russia back in February and March, the sight of the crippled, burning bridge is a massive additional boost to morale.
How was this done? Any number of theories are doing the rounds - from a Ukrainian special forces operation to the work of partisans in Crimea, a missile strike, or even a suicide bomb.
"This is a masterpiece of clandestine sabotage," a former senior British army explosives expert told me.
"A well-planned attack from below may have been the cause," he said.
Ukrainian officials are giving little away, happy to apply the same level of ambiguity that followed a mysterious attack on the Russian airbase in Crimea in August.
But the attacks on the Saky base and the bridge are all part of the same wider effort: to undermine Russia's ability to use Crimea as a launch pad for its war in southern Ukraine.
The road and railway bridges are vital links in Russia's supply chain. Without them, Moscow will find it even harder to send troops and equipment to repel Ukraine's offensive north of Kherson, according to BBC.
Kyiv is also saying to Moscow: Crimea is ours and eventually we are going to take it back.
For all the giddy delight ricocheting across social media, some Ukrainians are anxious.
People there suspect that they are being punished by Russia as Moscow lashes out after its recent military failures. They fear the coming days may bring more, BBC reported.
Speaker Sapkota not to file candidacy for upcoming election
Speaker Agni Prasad Sapkota has decided not to file candidacy for the upcoming election. Organizing a press conference in the Capital on Saturday, Sapkota said that he will not file candidacy for the upcoming parliamentary election. Sapkota, who was elected directly from Sindhupalchok-2 in the Constituent Assembly election in 2007 and 2013, was chosen the lawmaker from Sindhupalchok-1 in 2017. He was an aspirant for the ticket this time also. Along with Sapkota, the Maoist Centre had recommended the name of Madhav Sapkota. Mohan Bahadur Basnet of Nepali Congress was also the aspirant of ticket from Sindhupalchok-1.
UML and JSP agree to forge electoral alliance in upcoming elections
CPN-UML and Janata Samajbadi Party have agreed to forge an electoral alliance in the upcoming federal and parliamentary elections. In an agreement signed between UML Chairman KP Sharma Oli and JSP Chairman Upendra Yadav on Friday, the duo had agreed to forge an electoral alliance on two seats in Province 1, 14 seats in Madhesh Province and one seat in Lumbini Province. The JSP has decided to forge an electoral alliance in Morang-5, Sunsari-1, Saptari-1, 2 and 4, Siraha-2 and 4, Dhanusha-1, Mahottari-3 and 4, Sarlahi-1 and 4, Rautahat-2, Bara-2, Parsa-1 and 2 and Rupandehi-4. Likewise, the UML and JSP have agreed to forge electoral alliance on four seats in Province-1, 32 seats in Madhesh Province, five seats in Lumbini and one seat in Sudurpaschim Province.
