logo
Iran founds new Supreme National Defense Council after June attacks by Israel

Iran founds new Supreme National Defense Council after June attacks by Israel

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran founded a new defense council after attacks in June by Israel and the U.S., Iranian state media reported Monday.
Iran's Supreme National Security Council, the country's highest security body, made the decision to establish the Supreme National Defense Council, which will be headed by President Masoud Pezeshkian, the report said.
The council will handle defensive plans and improve the capabilities of Iran's armed forces. Members will include the speaker of Parliament, the head of the judiciary and the chiefs of military branches and related ministries, the report said.
The defense, intelligence and foreign ministries are expected to be council members, although the report did not provide those details.
Iran's decision follows a 12-day air war by Israel and the U.S. that led to the deaths of nearly 1,100 people including military chiefs and commanders. A ceasefire has been in force since shortly after the airstrikes targeted Iran's major nuclear facilities.
Iran had a similar council during the 1980s war between Iran and Iraq that left nearly 1 million casualties on both sides.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Afghanistan's Taliban have ‘weaponized' the judicial system to oppress women, UN expert says
Afghanistan's Taliban have ‘weaponized' the judicial system to oppress women, UN expert says

Winnipeg Free Press

time12 minutes ago

  • Winnipeg Free Press

Afghanistan's Taliban have ‘weaponized' the judicial system to oppress women, UN expert says

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Afghanistan's Taliban rulers have 'weaponized' the legal and judicial system to oppress women and girls in what amounts to 'crimes against humanity,' the independent U.N. investigator on human rights in the country said. Richard Bennett said in a report to the U.N. General Assembly circulated Wednesday that after seizing power in 2021 the Taliban suspended the 2004 constitution and laws protecting the rights of women and girls. These include a landmark law that criminalized 22 forms of violence against women, including rape and child and forced marriage. The Taliban dismissed all judges under the previous U.S.-backed government, including approximately 270 women, replacing them with men who share their extreme Islamic views, lack legal training and hand down decisions based on edicts issued by the Taliban, he said. In addition, he noted that the Taliban have assumed full control over law enforcement and investigative agencies, systematically purging Afghans who worked for the previous government. Bennett, who was appointed by the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council, focused on access to justice and protection for women and girls in his report. He said he held meetings, focus-group discussions and one-on-one interviews with more that 110 Afghans inside and outside the country. He did so remotely because the Taliban have refused to grant him a visa to travel to Afghanistan. Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan, their crackdown on women and girls has been widely reported and globally denounced. Taliban leaders have barred education for women and girls beyond sixth grade, banned most employment, and prohibited women from many public spaces, including parks, gyms and hairdressers. New laws ban women's voices and bare faces outside the home. The Taliban remain isolated from the West because of their restrictions on women and girls and have only been recognized by Russia. Bennett said the Taliban did not respond to an advance copy of the report and a request for information about their efforts to ensure access to justice and protection for women and girls. The Taliban defend their approach to justice by claiming they are implementing Islamic sharia law, but Islamic scholars and others have said their interpretation is unparalleled in other Muslim-majority countries and does not adhere to Islamic teachings. They say protecting the legal rights of women is a priority. Bennett said, however, that women have virtually no rights. 'Today, there are no women judges or prosecutors and no officially registered female lawyers, leaving women and girls with fewer safe channels to report abuse or seek redress,' he wrote. 'Coupled with a lack of female officials in the police and other institutions, the result is widespread underreporting of violence and discrimination against women and girls.' Bennett said access to justice for girls 'is further undermined by the dismantling of key legal safeguards and institutions protecting the rights of children,' including juvenile courts and juvenile rehabilitation centers. The Taliban requirement that a woman must be accompanied by a male relative also creates barriers to filing complaints and attending court proceedings, he said, and disproportionately affects widows, women who are the heads of their households, the displaced and disabled. 'Women who engage with the Taliban court system — whether as victims seeking redress, to resolve family issues, to obtain official documents or as alleged offenders — face a hostile environment,' Bennett said. 'Courts often reject complaints made by women and are especially reluctant to accept cases relating to divorce, child custody and gender-based violence.' Facing these obstacles, Bennett said, women increasingly turn to traditional and informal justice mechanisms, including formal jirgas and shuras — community councils of elders — and informal mediation by religious leaders, community elders or family. But these are all male-dominated and raise 'serious concerns about the rights of women and girls,' he said. He said international forums offer the best hope for justice. He pointed to the International Criminal Court's request on Jan. 23 for arrest warrants for two senior Taliban leaders accused of crimes against humanity for persecution 'on gender grounds.' And he urged all countries to support efforts to bring Afghanistan before the International Court of Justice, the U.N.'s highest tribunal, for violating the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

North Carolina Gov. Stein signs stopgap budget bill and vetoes opt-in bill helping school choice
North Carolina Gov. Stein signs stopgap budget bill and vetoes opt-in bill helping school choice

Toronto Star

time28 minutes ago

  • Toronto Star

North Carolina Gov. Stein signs stopgap budget bill and vetoes opt-in bill helping school choice

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein signed into law on Wednesday a stopgap spending measure while lawmakers remain in a state budget impasse. But he vetoed legislation that would direct state participation in a yet-implemented federal tax credit program to boost school-choice options, suggesting state Republicans acted hastily. The Democratic governor had already said this week he would sign the 'mini-budget' that the GOP-controlled General Assembly sent him last week. But he called it a poor substitution for a full two-year budget that House and Senate negotiators were unable to finalize before the new fiscal year began July 1.

Trump administration: El Salvador's Bukele not a dictator
Trump administration: El Salvador's Bukele not a dictator

Winnipeg Free Press

time42 minutes ago

  • Winnipeg Free Press

Trump administration: El Salvador's Bukele not a dictator

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Trump administration said El Salvador President Nayib Bukele should not be lumped together with leaders in other countries it considers dictatorships after his party and allies discarded presidential term limits. Bukele posted the statement of U.S. support on X Tuesday. On Wednesday, the U.S. State Department said in a statement to The Associated Press that the constitutional change axing term limits in the Central American country was made by a 'democratically elected' Congress and that 'it is up to them to decide how their country should be governed.' 'We reject the comparison of El Salvador's democratically based and constitutionally sound legislative process with illegitimate dictatorial regimes elsewhere in our region,' the statement said. The speedy approval of indefinite presidential terms last week generated warnings from watchdogs and El Salvador's beleaguered opposition that it spelled the end of the country's democracy. The Congress also approved extending presidential terms from five to six years. 'It's unfortunate to see the US government is defending efforts to establish an autocracy in El Salvador. This undermines the credibility of the State Department's criticism to other authoritarian governments and dictatorships in the region,' said Juan Pappier, Americas deputy director for Human Rights Watch. El Salvador's archbishop José Luis Escobar Alas joined those expressing concern on Wednesday and called on lawmakers to reconsider approving the overhaul 'without consulting' the Salvadoran people, which was crucial for the 'legitimacy' of the constitutional reform. The populist leader and his New Ideas party have spent years consolidating power, weakening checks and balances as they placed loyalists on the highest courts, undercut government watchdogs and pursued political opponents and critics. Bukele remains wildly popular, largely because his all-out pursuit of the country's once-powerful street gangs has brought security, though critics argue at the cost of due process. Bukele defended the constitutional changes last week, writing on X that many European nations allow indefinite reelection 'but when a small, poor country like El Salvador tries to do the same, suddenly it's the end of democracy.' Critics have said that is a false comparison, as those nations have stronger democratic institutions to serve as a check on executive power. Increasingly though, those critics are leaving the country out of fear of arrest. Watchdogs say an escalating crackdown on dissent is underway by Bukele, who has been emboldened by his alliance with U.S. President Donald Trump. After initially being critical of Bukele, the Biden administration also remained largely silent over human rights violations and concentration of power in El Salvador as the country helped slow migration north. But as Trump has reshaped American democracy, Bukele's critics say that lack of U.S. pressure and praise from Trump officials has offered the Salvadoran leader an opening to more rapidly consolidate power. In just a span of months, Bukele's government has detained some of it's most vocal critics, violently repressed a peaceful protest, and passed a 'foreign agents' law similar to those used by governments in Russia, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Belarus to silence dissent by exerting pressure on organizations that rely on overseas funding. More than 100 human rights activists, academics, journalists and lawyers have fled El Salvador in recent months, saying they were forced to chose between exile or prison.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store