Middle East

Iranians take to the street following power outages during a heatwave. Officials blame the blackouts on surging demand for power and low rainfall cutting hydroelectric output.

The Zionist regime has carried out these actions to derail talks aimed at reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear, government spokesman Ali Rabiei says.

Fire erupts following a mysterious explosion in a factory in Karaj, west of Tehran. State media attributes indecent to electrical fire or one sparked when "consumer goods" stored in the warehouse caught fire over the extreme heatwave in Iran.

The United Nations will ensure that the monetary aid is distributed through banks that are not under Hamas rule, Palestinian sources say.

Demonstrators hope to inject new momentum into a protest movement sparked by the death of outspoken Palestinian Authority critic Nizar Banat while in the custody of security forces last month.

"They are provoking us," says one Western diplomat who follows the International Atomic Energy Agency closely, adding that inspectors should be able to have full access next week.

Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, says Palestinian Authority security forces used force last weekend against initially peaceful protesters, "including beating them with batons and firing teargas and stun grenades."

The UN investigator on human rights in Iran has called for an independent inquiry into allegations of state-ordered executions of thousands of political prisoners in 1988 and the role played by Iranian President-elect Ebrahim Raisi as Tehran's deputy prosecutor.