Iran protests: Germany calls for sanctions over violent crackdown

Germany's foreign minister has called for action against those responsible for the violent crackdown on protests in Iran, BBC reported.

Annalena Baerbock said Germany would ensure the European Union froze assets and imposed entry bans.

She described those "who beat up women and girls on the street" as standing on "the wrong side of history".

EU foreign ministers are expected to decide on sanctions on 17 October, according to Reuters news agency.

Speaking to a German newspaper, Baerbock also criticised those who "condemn to death people who want nothing other than to live free".

She told Iranians: "We stand by you, and will continue to do so."

The proposed sanctions come after the death of Mahsa Amini sparked demonstrations throughout the country.

The 22-year-old died in custody after being detained by Iran's morality police on 16 September.

Dozens of Iranians have lost their lives after taking to the streets to protest Ms Amini's death, according to BBC.

The Iran Human Rights group, based in Norway, said at least 185 people - including 19 children - had died since the unrest began.

Iran's state media say 20 members of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps, police and security forces have been killed.

Videos and images circulating on social media over the weekend appeared to show Iran's security services entering schools and universities.

Female students at a university in Tehran were reported to have chanted "get lost" to President Ebrahim Raisi when he visited on Saturday.

Saturday also saw the country's state television channel hacked.

Viewers saw a mask appear on their screens followed by an image of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, surrounded by flames, BBC reported.

Many in Iran are now calling for the end of Islamic clerical rule.

EC makes public closed list of candidates for PR system

The Election Commission has made public the closed list of the candidates for the proportional election system. The Commission on Sunday morning made public the list of the House of Representatives and Province Assembly submitted by the political parties. According to the Election Commission, 48 political parties have submitted the closed list for the proportional election of members of the House of Representatives. Candidates will file nominations for the first-past-the-post (FPTP) seats of the federal and provincial elections today.

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.

Saturday's TV news bulletin was interrupted at about 18:00 local time with images which included Iran's supreme leader with a target on his head, photos of Ms Amini and three other women killed in recent protests.

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.

In Sanandaj, a police official said a man had been killed by "counter-revolutionaries", the state-run news agency IRNA reported.

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.

"With structural demolition, you always plan a 'collapse mechanism' which lets the weight of the structure do the majority of the work."

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.

This morning, we left the city of Zaporizhzhia, which is still in shock after Russian missile attacks on Thursday, which left at least 17 civilians dead.

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.