Iran
Massive protests in Iran today as tens of thousands of people took to the streets in the city of Isfahan to demand a dried-up river upon which the area depends be revived. Demonstrators, including farmers from across the wider province, stood on the parched ground where the Zayandeh Rud River once flowed, waving placards and shouting slogans. Locals blame drought and diversion of the water to another province for the situation, which they say is an existential threat to their livelihoods.
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China
China continues to plead ignorance over the disappearance of tennis star Peng Shuai, who went missing after accusing a former top government official of raping her. “I’m not aware of the situation,” foreign ministry spokesman, Zhao Lijian, told reporters today. Shuai made her accusation in a social media post on November 2nd. The post was quickly deleted and Shuai disappeared. An email purporting to be from Shuai to the CEO of the Women’s Tennis Association, Steve Simon, was later published by a Chinese state media outlet in which she said she was fine and the allegations she made were untrue. Simon has said he doesn’t believe the email to be authentic. The case has drawn growing international attention in recent days as tennis pros including Serena Williams, Naomi Osaka and Novak Djokovic began posting about it on social media using the hashtag #whereispengshuai.
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Israel-Palestine
In a grotesque tale, the Israeli army returned the wrong body to the family of a teenager it shot dead in October as he allegedly threw fire bombs near an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank. The body was being returned on humanitarian grounds because Amjad Abu Sultan was a minor. Israel, however, has a policy of not returning the bodies of Palestinians killed while carrying out attacks, which it says acts as a deterrent. The army called the incident “an unfortunate mistake.”
More from AP here.