IRANIAN ACTIVISTS REJECT CLAIM MORALITY POLICE ABOLISHED

Campaigners backing Iran's protest movement on Monday dismissed a claim that the Islamic republic is disbanding its notorious morality police, insisting there was no change to its restrictive dress rules for women.

There were also calls on social media for a three-day strike, more than two months into the wave of civil unrest sparked by the death of Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, 22, after her arrest by the morality police in Tehran.

Iran's Prosecutor General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, in a surprise move at the weekend, was quoted as saying that the morality police units -- known as gasht-e ershad (guidance patrol) -- had been closed down.

But activists were sceptical about his comments, which appeared to be an impromptu response to a question at a conference rather than a clearly signposted announcement on the morality police, which is run by the interior ministry.

Moreover, they said, their abolition would mark no change to Iran's headscarf policy -- a key ideological pillar for its clerical leadership -- but rather a switch in tactics on enforcing it.

Scrapping the units would be "probably too little too late" for the protesters who now demand outright regime change, Roya Boroumand, co-founder of the US-based Abdorrahman Boroumand Center rights group, told AFP.

"Unless they remove all legal restrictions on women's dress and the laws controlling citizens' private lives, this is just a PR move," she said, adding that "nothing prevents other law enforcement" bodies from policing "the discriminatory laws".

EU EMBARGO OF RUSSIAN OIL, G7 PRICE CAP TAKE EFFECT

Europe and the US started enforcing on Monday two of the toughest measures aimed at curbing Russia’s income from oil, the principal source of cash used to fund its nearly 10-month-old war in Ukraine. The first, a price cap initiative led by the US, aims to increase economic pressure on the Kremlin while avoiding a global oil shock. The limit was set at $60 per barrel, and endorsed by the G7 countries, Australia, and the EU.

he second is an embargo under which European nations will no longer be able to buy most Russian crude as of Monday. It was a step that the EU had agreed to months ago but that it phased in to prepare member nations.

Analysts and traders are skeptical about how well the price cap will work because it may be difficult to administer and will mainly hit large customers for Russian oil like India and China. American officials have argued that they are trying to avoid a sudden contraction of supply, and the resulting spike in gasoline and heating oil prices, as the EU embargo takes hold. Russia has said it will not accept a price cap and has threatened to cut off supplies to countries that comply with the arrangement. Analysts say that Russia has been building a so-called “shadow fleet” of old tankers to export its oil and avoid the sanctions, but they are skeptical that it can assemble a large enough flotilla. If it can’t, Russia may need to begin closing down wells.

RULING NEPALI CONGRESS EMERGES AS LARGEST PARTY

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s Nepali Congress emerged as the largest party by winning 57 seats in Nepal’s parliamentary election as the counting of votes under the direct system concluded on Monday, brightening the party’s chances of forming the new government.

Elections to the House of Representatives (HoR) and seven provincial Assemblies were held on November 20 to end the prolonged political instability that has plagued the Himalayan nation. The counting of votes started a day later.

In the 275-member House, 165 will be elected through direct voting, while the remaining 110 will be elected by a proportional electoral system. A party or a coalition needs 138 seats for a majority.

According to Nepal’s Election Commission, the Nepali Congress has won 57 seats under direct voting, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist) (CPN-UML) has secured 44 seats, while the CPN-Maoist Centre and CPN-Unified Socialist have emerged victorious on 18 and 10 seats, respectively.

Similarly, the Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP), the Rastriya Prajatantra Party (RPP) and the Janata Samajwadi Party (JSP) have won seven seats each. Likewise, the Loktantrik Samajwadi Party and Nagarik Unmukti Party have won four and three seats, respectively, it said.

Rastriya Janamorcha, Nepal Workers and Peasants Party and Janamat Party have won one seat each. The independent candidates have won five seats, it added.

The counting of votes for all 165 HoR seats under the direct voting method has ended, Election Commission spokesperson Shaligram Poudyal said.

However, the vote counting under the proportionate voting system for two constituencies is still going on, the official said.

Under the proportionate voting system, the CPN-UML has won the highest number of votes 27,91,734, followed by the Nepali Congress with 26,66,262.

UKRAINE WAR: RUSSIAN MISSILE STRIKES FORCE EMERGENCY POWER SHUTDOWNS

Ukraine is switching to emergency shutdowns to stabilise its power grid after Monday's Russian missile attacks, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

He said many regions were affected, and the local authorities warned that about half of the Kyiv region would remain without electricity in the coming days.

Overnight, more missiles hit critical infrastructure and residential houses near the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, regional officials said.

No casualties were reported.

Four people were killed in Monday's attacks.

Ukraine is now seeing snow and sub-zero temperatures in many regions, and millions are without electricity and running water. There are fears that a number of people may die of hypothermia.

In his video address late on Monday, President Zelensky said 70 Russian missiles were fired on Monday, and "most of them were shot down".

The Russian defence ministry said it hit all 17 of its intended targets during its "massive strike using high-precision weapons".

He said "the biggest number of shutdowns is in Vinnytsia, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Khmelnytskyi and Cherkasy regions", referring to the regions spanning the length and breadth of the country.

But he pledged that the authorities "will do everything to restore stability".

OVER 500 PEOPLE ALREADY EXECUTED BY IRAN IN 2022: REPORT

Nicosia, Cyprus: Iran has executed more than 500 people so far in 2022, far more than in the whole of last year, a rights group said Monday.

Norway-based group Iran Human Rights told AFP at least 504 people had now been executed in Iran this year and that it was still working to confirm additional cases of people said to have been hanged.

The figure comes as concern grows that the authorities will make extensive use of the death penalty against people involved in the anti-regime protests that have erupted in Iran since September.

IHR's count includes four people who official media said were put to death on Sunday accused of working with Israel's intelligence service.

The rights group said they were executed in Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj outside Tehran -- also known as Gohardasht -- within just seven months of arrest.

"These individuals were sentenced to death without due process or a fair trial behind the closed doors of the Revolutionary Court," said IHR director Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam in a statement. "Their sentences lacked all legal validity."

"These executions are intended to create societal fear and divert public attention from the Islamic republic's intelligence failures," he added.

Another of those recently hanged was a woman executed on Saturday in Dastgerd in central Iran accused of murdering her father-in-law, IHR said.

Rights groups have expressed alarm over the numbers of women executed in Iran, often on charges of murdering parters or relatives in abusive relationships.

IHR said that the numbers executed this year are already the highest in five years.

PAKISTAN EMBASSY ATTACK SUSPECT HELD

A member of the militant Islamic State group has been arrested in last week’s shooting attack targeting the Pakistani Embassy in Afghanistan’s capital of Kabul, the spokesman of the Taliban government said.

The attack, in which shots were fired at the embassy from a nearby building, triggered anger in Pakistan, and increased tensions between the two South Asian neighbors.

The regional affiliate of the Islamic State group, known as the Islamic State in Khorasan Province and a rival of Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban, has claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack.

The Islamic State group said two of its fighters attacked “the renegade Pakistani ambassador and his guards” while they were inside the embassy’s yard.

Mujahid said the suspect is a foreign national and that the attack was organized jointly by IS and “rebels,” apparently a reference to anti-Taliban groups in Afghanistan.

INDIA TO ALLOW E-VISAS TO UK NATIONALS AGAIN

Just before the upcoming winter holidays, India is prepared to resume its e-visa service for the citizens of the United Kingdom (UK) for the first time since the COVID-19 outbreak in March 2020. The visa website will be ready in the near future so that applicants can apply for their visa on the same, the High Commission of India in London informed.

It is to be noted that this service was reinstated for practically all nations earlier this year with the exception of a few, notably the UK and Canada.

In a video tweeted by the High Commission of India in London, Vikram K Doraiswami  the High Commissioner to the UK said, "We are rolling out e-visas once again and this service will be made available to you forthwith. (Dates will be announced shortly). That should enable friends from the UK far more easily to India. So welcome back, e-visas are up ahead and all of our other services including visa at your doorstep remain available to you. We look forward to a good winter season in which everyone gets to celebrate their festivals in India which is the land of festivals."

The caption of the video reads, "Team @HCI_London is delighted to confirm that e-Visa facility will again be available for UK nationals travelling to India. System upgrade is underway & the visa website will soon be ready to receive applications from friends in the UK."

ITALY POPULATION DROPS BELOW 59M

Italy’s population has dropped below 59 million and the country is aging at a much faster rate than its EU peers, national statistical agency Istat said on Monday. A shrinking and aging population is a major worry for a stagnant economy like Italy as it is linked to falling productivity, less innovation and higher welfare bills among other things.

AUSTRALIA BEGINS WORK ON ITS RADIO TELESCOPE TO SOLVE SPACE MYSTERIES

Australia started building a network of antennas which planners say will become one of the most powerful radio telescopes. When complete, these antennas and a network of dishes in South Africa will form the Square Kilometre Array, a massive instrument that will untangle mysteries about the creation of stars and galaxies.