Politics
Thousands protest in Paris over death of migrant worker
Several thousand people protested in Paris on Sunday over the death in custody of a Mauritanian immigrant worker, yelling slogans against “a police force that kills us”, an AFP journalist saw.
The controversy over his death is just the latest in a series of cases in which activists have accused French police of racism and violence.
The demonstration gathered at the shelter in the northeast of the capital where the man, El Hacen Diarra, 35, had been living and in front of which he was violently arrested by police on the night of January 14.
Video filmed by neighbours, shared on social media, showed a policeman punching what appears to be a man on the ground as another officer stands by and watches.
The protesters, gathered to support Diarra’s family, members of whom also took part, unfurled banners reading “Justice” and “RIP”, before marching to the local police station.
The family has filed a legal complaint accusing security forces of “intentional violence that led to a death”, their lawyer, Yassine Bouzrou told AFP a week ago.
Paris police have launched an internal investigation into what happened.
France’s Interior Minister Laurent Nunez on Sunday again rejected calls for the officers concerned to be suspended until there is clear evidence they did something wrong.
“The officer who, in the footage, throws two punches will have to explain himself,” he told Sunday´s edition of Le Parisien newspaper.
“But nothing indicates, at this stage, what the causes of death are,” he added.
‘Kind, smiling’ man
According to the family, Diarra had been drinking a coffee outside the shelter when he encountered police officers and the situation deteriorated.
Prosecutors say police alleged they had seen Diarra roll a cannabis joint and proceeded to arrest him when he refused a body search.
He was taken into custody for allegedly resisting arrest and allegedly possessing “a brown substance resembling cannabis” and “forged administrative documents”.
While waiting on a bench at the police station, officers said Diarra was seen to pass out and paramedics were called who tried to revive him, but he was pronounced dead.
At the protest, Diarra’s cousin, Diankou Sissoko, told AFP: “I don’t believe at all that we will see justice, because even before El Hacen died there were other deaths and there has never been justice.”
She described Diarra as “kind, smiling” and “quiet”, nothing like the police account that described him as aggressive.
There have been an increasing number of allegations of police violence in France in recent years, notably during the “yellow vest” protests between 2018 and 2019.
Activists have repeatedly accused French police of violence and racism, but few cases make it to criminal court in France, as most are dealt with internally.
Prosecutors have called for a police officer to be tried over the 2023 killing of a teenager at a traffic stop, in a case that sparked nationwide protests.
A court is to rule in March whether he will face a criminal trial over the killing of 17-year-old Nahel M.
In 2024, a judge gave suspended jail sentences to three officers who inflicted irreversible rectal injuries to a black man during a stop-and-search in 2017.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that if the US attacked Iran, it would become a regional conflict, state media reported on Sunday, amid heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran.
The US has built up its naval presence in the Middle East after President Donald Trump repeatedly threatened Iran with intervention if it did not agree to a nuclear deal or failed to stop killing protesters.
“[Trump] regularly says that he brought ships […] The Iranian nation shall not be scared by these things, the Iranian people will not be stirred by these threats,” Khamenei said.
“We are not the initiators and do not want to attack any country, but the Iranian nation will strike a strong blow against anyone who attacks and harasses them.”
A diplomatic solution remains on the cards, with Tehran saying it is ready for “fair” negotiations that do not seek to curtail its defensive capabilities.
The US Navy currently has six destroyers, one aircraft carrier, and three littoral combat ships in the region.
The protests, which started in late December over economic hardships but morphed into the most acute political challenge to the Islamic Republic since its establishment in 1979, have now abated after repression.
Official numbers put the unrest-related death toll at 3,117, while the US-based HRANA rights group said on Sunday it had so far verified the death of 6,713 people. Reuters was unable to independently verify the numbers.
Khamenei likened the protests to a “coup”, saying that the goal of the “sedition” was to attack the centres that govern the country, state media reported.
ABU DHABI: The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque recorded a historic surge in visitors in 2025, welcoming nearly seven million worshippers and tourists, the highest annual figure since the landmark opened.
According to official figures, the total marked a 4% increase compared with 2024, reflecting the mosque’s growing status as one of the Middle East’s leading religious and cultural destinations.
More than 1.53 million people performed prayers at the mosque during the year, while over 2.4 million visitors attended for iftar and religious activities.
Foreign visitors accounted for 82% of the total, while UAE residents made up 18%. By region, Asia ranked first with 49% of visitors, followed by Europe at 33% and North America at 11%.
During Ramadan and Eid ul Fitr, more than 1.89 million worshippers and guests visited the mosque, where over 2.6 million iftar and suhoor meals were distributed as part of humanitarian initiatives.
The Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Centre also organised more than 4,000 cultural tours and programmes and hosted 335 high-level delegations throughout the year, reinforcing its role as a global hub for faith, tourism and intercultural dialogue.
WASHINGTON: Travel misery was set to continue Sunday as a powerful snowstorm blasted southern US states, bringing subzero temperatures to regions not accustomed to the deadly winter conditions.
The latest bout of extreme weather came about a week after a monster storm pummeled a wide swath of the United States, killing more than 100 people and leaving many communities struggling to dig out from snow and ice.
Heavy snow fell in North Carolina and neighbouring states Saturday, as authorities urged residents to stay off the roads and warned oceanfront structures were threatened by the storm.
All of North and South Carolina, and portions of Georgia, eastern Tennessee and Kentucky, as well as southern Virginia were under a winter storm warning.
North Carolina saw 750 car crashes on Saturday, the highway patrol said.
Faust, North Carolina recorded 14.5 inches (37 cm) of snow, while West Critz, Virginia got 12.5 inches. Harrisburg, Tennessee received more than nine inches of accumulation.
In the North Carolina town of Cape Carteret, high winds sent thick snow blowing sideways, prompting the National Weather Service to warn that travel was “Treacherous and Potentially Life-Threatening especially if you become stranded.”
In dramatic footage released by police in Gastonia, North Carolina, a train ploughed at high speed into a semi-truck that had gotten stuck on the tracks, crushing the vehicle. No one was hurt.
The weekend storm forced more than 1,800 flight cancellations Saturday and Sunday at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, a major hub for American Airlines, data from the tracker FlightAware showed.
A 300-strong “snow team” was working to clear runways, taxiways, roads and sidewalks, the airport said Saturday.
More than 600 flights were cancelled Saturday at Atlanta’s international airport, the world’s busiest. About 50 flights in and out of Atlanta were cancelled in the early hours of Sunday.
“An explosively deepening coastal cyclone will continue to bring moderate to heavy snow, high winds, and possibly blizzard conditions for the Carolinas,” the National Weather Service said Saturday.
“An intense surge of arctic air behind the coastal storm will send below freezing temperatures down toward South Florida by Sunday morning.”
Davis, West Virginia recorded the lowest temperature in the lower 48 states on Saturday — a frigid minus 28°F (minus 33°C).
About 156,000 customers remained without power early Sunday, mostly in the south, according to poweroutage.us, with Mississippi, Tennessee and Louisiana hardest hit.
In North Carolina, the National Park Service announced the closure of campgrounds and some beaches at the Outer Banks, a series of barrier islands off the coast of the southern state that are vulnerable to storms.
It said oceanfront structures were threatened, and a section of highway that threads through its dunes was closed.
In Mississippi, Governor Tate Reeves said the US Army Corps of Engineers helped to install generators at critical sites, and authorities were opening 79 shelters and warming centres across the state.
The freezing weather forced Nasa to postpone a key fueling test over the weekend of the 322-foot (98-metre) rocket that is on the Cape Canaveral launch pad in Florida.
That in turn is likely to push back by at least a couple of days a planned manned Moon flyby slated for this month.
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