Thousands march in US to back Iranian anti-government protesters

Thousands in the United States staged large demonstrations Sunday denouncing the Iranian government’s deadly crackdown on anti-government protesters in the Islamic Republic.Several thousand people marched in Los Angeles, home to the world’s largest Iranian diaspora, while several hundred others gathered in New York, AFP journalists in both cities reported. US protesters could be seen carrying signs condemning a “New Holocaust,” a “genocide in the making,” and the “terror” of the Iranian government.”My heart is heavy and my soul is crushed, I’m at loss for words to describe how angry I am,” said Perry Faraz at the demonstration in Los Angeles, the second-largest city in the US.The 62-year-old payroll manager, who fled Iran in 2006, learned this week that one of her young cousins had been killed during the overseas rallies held in her native country.”He wasn’t even 10 years old, that’s horrible,” she said.Demonstrations sparked by anger over economic hardship exploded into protests late December in what has been widely seen as the biggest challenge to the Iranian leadership in recent years.The rallies subsided after a government crackdown in Iran that rights groups have called a “massacre” carried out by security forces under the cover of a communications blackout that started on January 8.Norway-based Iran Human Rights says it has verified the deaths of 3,428 protesters killed by security forces, confirming cases through sources within the Islamic Republic’s health and medical system, witnesses and independent sources.The NGO warned that the true toll is likely to be far higher. Media cannot independently confirm the figure and Iranian officials have not given an exact death toll.- Calls for US intervention -“This mass murdering of the population is terribly upsetting,” Ali Parvaneh, a 65-year-old lawyer protesting in LA said. Like many protesters, Parvaneh carried a “Make Iran Great Again” sign and said he wanted US President Donald Trump to intervene by targeting the country’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).Some in the crowd in LA went as far as to call for the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has been in power for more than 25 years. After having attacked Iranian nuclear sites in June, Trump sent mixed signals on possible US intervention this week. The Republican first threatened to intervene if Iranian protesters were killed, but then said he was satisfied by Iranian assurances that demonstrators would not be executed.”I really hope that Trump will go one step beyond just voicing support,” Parvaneh said.Many protesting in the Californian city chanted slogans in support of the US president and Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former Shah of Iran who was deposed by the popular uprising in 1979.- ‘Don’t need a puppet’ – Parvaneh echoed Pahlavi’s popularity among some segments of Iran’s exiled and expatriate population.”Had the monarchy stayed in place, it would be much different and Iran would be in a much better situation,” he said.Pahlavi’s support base is concentrated abroad while his political sway within Iran is limited.The former Shah’s son, who lives in exile near Washington, said this week he would be ready to return to Iran — but it is unclear if most Iranians want this.The Iranian opposition remains divided, and memories of the Shah’s brutal repression of his left-wing opponents remain vivid. Last week, a man caused minor injuries when he drove a truck into a demonstration held by Iranians in Los Angeles, carrying a sign that read: “No Shah. No Regime. USA: Don’t Repeat 1953. No Mullah.” The sign was referring to the 1953 coup that saw Iran’s government overthrown in a US- and UK-backed operation that had seen Pahlavi installed as the country’s leader.In Los Angeles’s Westwood neighborhood, nicknamed “Tehrangeles,” Roozbeh Farahanipour believes the diaspora must support Iranians without infringing on their “right to decide their own future.””They don’t need a puppet implanted by the West,” said the 54-year-old restaurant owner.Others in California also share that view.”Trump is playing the Iranian people,” said poet Karim Farsis, a resident of the San Francisco Bay area. Farsis, an academic, stresses that it is US sanctions — including those imposed by Trump — and the Republican’s ripping up of a nuclear deal that have contributed in large part to the suffering of the Iranian people.She also criticized the almost complete ban on Iranians entering the US since June.”We’re living in a really twisted moment,” she said. “Trump is saying to Iranians: ‘Keep protesting, take over your institutions.'”But if they find themselves in danger, they can’t even find refuge in the United States.”

Gas discovery provides boost to Philippines fast-dwindling reserves

Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos said Monday that a “significant” discovery of natural gas had been made near the country’s sole producing offshore site.About 98 billion cubic feet (2.8 billion cubic metres) of natural gas — enough to provide power to 5.7 million homes for a year — has been found east of the Malampaya Field near the island of Palawan, Marcos said.The Philippines has some of the region’s highest energy costs and faces a looming crisis as the Malampaya gas field, which supplies about 40 percent of power to the archipelago’s main island, Luzon, is expected to run dry within a few years.The discovery — five kilometres (three miles) east of the Malampaya Field  — is the first in more than a decade and suggested the potential to produce even more, Marcos said.”This helps Malampaya’s contribution and strengthens our domestic gas supply for many years to come. Initial testing showed that the well flowed at 60 million cubic feet per day,” Marcos said in a statement.The Philippines — regularly affected by electricity outages — relies on imported carbon-belching coal for more than half of its power generation.Kairos Dela Cruz, executive director of the Manila-based Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities, told AFP that while the find was “relatively small”, it could point the way to finding other nearby gas resources.”The discovery of these other gas fields will provide new indigenous supply and increase energy security,” he said.”It also helps extend the operating life of the 500-kilometre undersea gas pipeline, long enough for larger gas fields in the area to be discovered.”A former industry executive who spoke on condition of anonymity estimated the new find could extend the Malampaya Field’s life by two to three years.Long-term, the country will still need to increase its focus on renewables ranging from solar to hydro to offshore wind projects, Dela Cruz said.In 2022, then-president Rodrigo Duterte called a halt to oil and gas exploration in areas of the South China Sea disputed with China.Beijing has ignored a 2016 international tribunal decision that declared its historical claim over most of the South China Sea to be without basis.

China’s 2025 economic growth among slowest in decades

China’s economy grew at one of the slowest rates in decades last year, according to official data released Monday, as officials struggle to overcome persistently low consumer spending and a debt crisis in the country’s property sector.While the five percent expansion was in line with Beijing’s annual target — a low-ball figure analysts have likened to a political comfort blanket — observers warned it was driven largely by exports and masked weak sentiment on the ground.And in a sign of the work ahead for leaders, the data also showed a significant slowdown in the last quarter of the year, growing at 4.5 percent as expected.”The impact of changes in the external environment has deepened,” admitted National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) official Kang Yi.”The domestic contradiction of strong supply and weak demand is prominent, and there are still many old problems and new challenges in economic development,” he told a news briefing.While the reading was in line with the government’s target of “around five percent” — allowing officials to declare victory, Chinese consumers remain jittery about the wider economy and high unemployment.That is despite officials relaxing fiscal policy and subsidising the replacement of household items in a sputtering bid to boost spending.Policies and measures to boost consumption would continue into 2026, Kang noted, including a trade-in scheme for old household appliances.”The gradual implementation of policies to clear unreasonable restrictions in the consumption sector will support consumption growth,” he said.- Overstated strength -Figures on Monday also showed growth in retail sales, a key indicator of consumption, slowed to 3.7 percent last year from four percent in 2024.And for December, the reading came in at 0.9 percent on-year — the weakest pace since the end of 2022, when stringent zero-Covid measures ended.The decline in sales likely reflects the waning impact of consumer subsidies, Zichun Huang of Capital Economics wrote in a note.But overall figures likely “overstate the strength of the economy”, she said.Meanwhile, industrial output expanded 5.9 percent in 2025, a slight slowdown from the previous year, while the 5.2 percent increase seen in December was an improvement on November’s pace.”The December activity data suggest that output growth gained some momentum at the end of the year, but that’s largely driven by resilient exports,” Huang said.”We expect growth this year to be at least slightly softer than in 2025,” she added.Officials were keen to point to China’s factory activity, which ticked up slightly in December to provide an unexpected silver lining to an otherwise lacklustre year’s end.A key measure of industrial health, the manufacturing purchasing managers’ index, ticked up to 50.1 last month, according to NBS data, just above the 50-point mark separating contractions from expansions. The figure had not been positive since March.But China’s crucial property sector, once a major indicator of the country’s economic strength, has failed to overcome a debt crisis despite interest rate cuts and loosened restrictions on homebuying.Fixed-asset investments in China shrunk 3.8 percent in 2025, reflecting a rebalancing following decades of heavy spending on property and infrastructure.The broader housing market remains sluggish, with real estate investment down 17.2 percent last year.- Trillion-dollar surplus -The return of Donald Trump to the White House last January and the revival of a fierce trade war between the world’s two largest economies added to Beijing’s problems.Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump reached a tentative truce when they met in late October, agreeing a pause to painful measures that included lofty tit-for-tat tariffs.Official data showed Chinese exports to the United States plunged 20 percent in 2025, but that had little impact on demand for Chinese products elsewhere.Robust exports remained a bright spot in the cloudy economic picture despite the bruising trade war.China’s trade surplus hit a record $1.2 trillion last year, with officials lauding a “new historical high” filled by other trade partners.Shipments to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations rose 13.4 percent year-on-year, while exports to Africa surged 25.8 percent.Exports to the European Union were also up 8.4 percent, though imports from the bloc dipped.

L’incendiaire de la cathédrale de Nantes jugé pour l’assassinat d’un prêtre

Déjà condamné pour avoir mis le feu en 2020 à la cathédrale de Nantes, Emmanuel Abayisenga est jugé à partir de lundi devant la cour d’assises de Vendée pour l’assassinat un an plus tard du père Olivier Maire.Août 2021: sous contrôle judiciaire après avoir été incarcéré dans le cadre de l’enquête sur l’incendie de la cathédrale, Emmanuel Abayisenga, ressortissant rwandais, est hébergé par la congrégation des missionnaires montfortains de Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre (Vendée). Il vient d’effectuer un séjour de quelques semaines en hôpital psychiatrique. Le 9 août, en début de matinée, il se rend à la gendarmerie et s’accuse d’un meurtre. Le corps d’Olivier Maire, 61 ans, est retrouvé ensanglanté dans le bâtiment où lui et M. Abayisenga logeaient. D’après l’autopsie, la victime est décédée dans la nuit du 8 au 9 août des suites de coups violents portés à la tête. Entre ses aveux aux gendarmes et sa garde à vue – reprise en juin 2022 après un nouveau séjour en psychiatrie -, les explications du mis en cause ont varié sur les raisons de son passage à l’acte. Si lui a nié l’avoir anticipé, le magistrat instructeur a bien retenu la préméditation et renvoyé Emmanuel Abayisenga, aujourd’hui âgé de 45 ans, devant la cour d’assises pour assassinat. Les experts psychiatres qui l’ont examiné lors de l’instruction ont de leur côté retenu l’altération de son discernement au moment des faits. Parties civiles au procès prévu sur quatre jours, les deux frères d’Olivier Maire attendent “que la justice passe, qu’il y ait une déclaration de culpabilité et une sanction”, a déclaré à l’AFP leur avocate, Me Céline Party. “Ils se posent encore des questions, et surtout :+Pourquoi ?+ Ils espèrent des réponses”, a-t-elle ajouté. – Amertume -Né au Rwanda et arrivé en France en 2012, l’accusé a été bénévole pendant plusieurs années pour le diocèse de Nantes. Il est décrit par des témoins comme “serviable” et “discret”. Débouté à plusieurs reprises de ses demandes d’asile, il a écopé de quatre obligations de quitter le territoire français (OQTF) entre 2015 et 2019, selon l’enquête. Condamné à quatre ans de prison pour l’incendie de la cathédrale de Nantes, il avait déclaré lors du procès avoir été profondément marqué par une agression subie au sein de l’édifice fin 2018. Dans un mail adressé à de nombreux contacts le jour de l’incendie, il livrait son amertume face à sa situation administrative et cette agression. Avant le meurtre du père Olivier Maire, il avait confié à plusieurs personnes sa volonté de quitter la congrégation pour retourner en prison. Un prêtre de la communauté a toutefois déclaré aux enquêteurs que le mis en cause et M. Maire étaient “proches” et que ce dernier souhaitait “l’aider”, “l’accompagner”. Originaire du Doubs, Olivier Maire a été ordonné prêtre en 1990 et a séjourné par la suite en Ouganda, en Haïti et en Italie. Les témoins le décrivent comme un homme “calme”, “ouvert” et “cultivé”. Sa mort avait à l’époque provoqué un vif émoi, y compris au plus haut niveau de l’Eglise catholique: le pape François avait fait part de sa “douleur” lors de son audience publique hebdomadaire.