About 1,000 people in Tehran have been charged in connection with the anti-government protests that have engulfed Iran, the city’s chief prosecutor says. Suspects accused of “acts of sabotage”, including murdering security guards and arson, face open mass trials this week. Authorities have not said how many have been arrested nationwide, but rights activists have put the total at 14,000. The announcement came as two teenage protesters allegedly killed by security forces were buried in north-east Iran. Kumar Daroftateh, 16, was shot at close range at a demonstration in the city of Piranshahr and died in hospital on Sunday night, according to Kurdish human rights group Hengaw. At his funeral on Monday, mourners shouted slogans against the government.(BBC)…[+]

Brazil has taken a turn to the left as former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva beat far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in the presidential election. After a divisive campaign which saw two bitter rivals on opposite sides of the political spectrum go head to head, Lula won 50.9% of the votes. It was enough to beat Jair Bolsonaro, whose supporters had been confident of victory. But the division which this election has highlighted is unlikely to vanish. It is a stunning comeback for a politician who could not run in the last presidential election in 2018 because he was in jail and banned from standing for office. He had been found guilty of receiving a bribe from a Brazilian construction firm in return for contracts with Brazil’s state oil company Petrobras. Lula spent 580 days in jail before his conviction was annulled and he returned to the political fray. “They tried to bury me alive and here I am,” he said, kicking off his victory speech. Since the announcement, congratulations have been coming in from leaders around the world, including US President Joe Biden, who noted the result came “following free, fair, and credible elections”. He added he was looking forward to continuing co-operation. Russian President Vladimir Putin also  offered his “sincere congratulations”, saying the results had confirmed Lula’s “impressive political authority”.(BBC)…[+]

An artwork by the abstract Dutch painter Piet Mondrian has been hanging upside down in various galleries for 75 years, an art historian has said. Despite the recent discovery, the work, entitled New York City I, will continue to be displayed the wrong way up to avoid it being damaged. The 1941 picture was first put on display at New York’s MoMA in 1945. It has hung at the art collection of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Düsseldorf since 1980. Curator Susanne Meyer-Büser noticed the longstanding error when researching the museum’s new show on the artist earlier this year, but warned it could disintegrate if it was hung the right side up now. New York City I is an adhesive-tape version of the similarly named New York City painting by the same artist.(BBC)…[+]

Elon Musk declared on Friday “let the good times roll” after he completed his $44bn (£38.1bn) takeover of Twitter. The purchase of the social media firm by the world’s richest man was confirmed in a filing with the US government. The deal follows months of public – and often hostile – wrangling between Mr Musk and Twitter management. Senior figures at Twitter have already begun to leave the company with finance chief Ned Segal announcing his exit. Chairman Bret Taylor has also left and there are reports that Twitter’s chief executive Parag Agrawal has gone. On Friday, Mr Segal tweeted that his time at the company was the “most fulfilling of my career” and reflected on the strain caused by the uncertainty of the last six months. “You learn so much when times are challenging and unpredictable, when we are tired or feel our integrity questioned,” Mr Segal said, alluding to Mr Musk’s public criticism of the company’s leadership. I have great hope for Twitter,” he added. Mr Musk has signalled he wants widespread change at Twitter. A self-styled “free speech absolutist”, he has said he sees the platform as a forum for public debate, signalling a willingness to restore controversial users such as former president Donald Trump.(BBC)…[+]

A high-profile Republican candidate for the US Senate, standing on a strongly anti-abortion platform, faces claims from a second woman that he paid for her to have a termination. The former American football star, Herschel Walker, hopes to unseat the Democratic incumbent in Georgia in the mid-term elections next month. The latest accuser called him “a hypocrite” unfit to be a US senator. The ex-NFL star has denied both claims, calling the latest one “foolishness”. Mr Walker, who has the backing of former US President Donald Trump, is running neck and neck with Democrat Raphael Warnock in November’s mid-term race. The second woman spoke anonymously to reporters over Zoom, saying Mr Walker pressured her into ending her pregnancy. Neither woman has revealed her identity publicly. The woman, who is being named by her lawyer only as “Jane Doe”, told reporters on Wednesday that she had a years-long relationship with Mr Walker while he was married and that he had driven her to a clinic.(BBC)…[+]

The controversial Russian ban against promoting so-called “gay propaganda” looks set to be extended to all adults. The move represents a toughening of an existing 2013 law, which makes providing information about being LGBT to children a criminal offence. Those convicted face large fines for promoting what Russia calls “non-traditional sexual relations”. The initial approval of the extension was voted through by the Russian State Duma unanimously. Earlier this week, officials had urged politicians in Russia’s lower house of parliament to enact the extension – portraying it as part of a broader battle over civilisational values with the West and linking it to the decision to invade Ukraine. Under the proposal, information about “non-traditional lifestyles” or “the rejection of family values” would be considered legally the same as pornography, the promotion of violence, or stoking racial, ethnic and religious tensions. It also bans the “propaganda of paedophilia” – which the Russian government often conflates with being gay.(BBC)…[+]

People protested in front of government buildings in a north-west Iranian city after one of the biggest nights yet of demonstrations. The human rights group Hengaw said police shot dead a male protester in Mahabad and another in Sanandaj. The BBC has not verified this. Widespread unrest has rocked Iran since Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini died in police custody 40 days ago.

A cemetery near Kharamabad was also a flashpoint for Thursday’s protests. Demonstrators gathered at the cemetery to mourn another young woman, Nika Shakarami, who disappeared soon after Amini’s death and has become another symbol of the protest movement. Videos from Kharamabad showed protesters chanting anti-state slogans including “down with the dictator”, a reference to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei. Overnight, tens of thousands of people took to the streets in major cities, as well as other places where demonstrations had subsided recently. It is the most serious challenge to the Islamic republic since its inception.(BBC)…[+]

The two sides in Ethiopia’s civil war have begun formal peace talks for the first time since the conflict started nearly two years ago. The African Union-brokered talks are being held in South Africa, where a spokesperson for the president confirmed the news. The fighting in and around Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region is thought to have left tens of thousands dead. It has also created a humanitarian emergency in its aftermath. Soldiers from both sides – the federal government and Tigrayan forces – have also been accused of war crimes and carrying out atrocities. There are few details of what exactly happening in the negotiations or what is on the agenda.  The talks have been “convened to find a peaceful and sustainable solution to the devastating conflict in the Tigray region” and will end on Sunday, Vincent Magwenya, spokesman for President Cyril Ramaphosa told reporters. The AU, along with the UN and US, has been urging the Ethiopian federal government to sit down with its Tigrayan opponents for months.(BBC)…[+]

Clothing giant Adidas has cut ties with rapper Ye, known as Kanye West, saying it does “not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech”. Adidas’s Yeezy brand collaboration with Mr West was put under review, after he showed a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt design at Paris Fashion Week. Days later, the rapper posted antisemitic comments on his Twitter account. His products will be pulled from sale with immediate effect, said Adidas. The sportswear brand has previously said the Yeezy brand collaboration with Ye was one of the most successful in the company’s history. Cutting the partnership means Adidas will make a net loss of £217m in 2022 as a result, it said. Ye had previously accused Adidas of stealing his designs, in a now-deleted Instagram post. In a statement on Tuesday, Adidas wrote: “Adidas does not tolerate antisemitism and any other sort of hate speech. Ye’s recent comments and actions have been unacceptable, hateful and dangerous, and they violate the company’s values of diversity and inclusion, mutual respect and fairness.”(BBC)…[+]