Sep. 9 – Queen Elizabeth II — Britain’s longest reigning monarch and, at 96, the world’s oldest head of state — has died.
The royal came to Iran in 1961 with her husband Prince Phillip during a tour of South Asia, and was hosted by the Shah of Iran and his wife Empress Farah Pahlavi. Their son Reza Pahlavi shared the family’s condolences in a tweet, calling her a “noble force for both justice and progress.”
Queen Elizabeth passed away peacefully on Sep. 8 surrounded by her family at the Balmoral estate in Scotland.
A hacking group working for the Iranian government targeted Western journalists, Western government officials, former Iranian government officials, and the Iranian diaspora, according to new research published by US cybersecurity company Mandiant.
The report — which was published on Sep. 7 — focused on the activities of APT42, an Iranian state-sponsored cyber espionage group tasked with information gathering and surveillance.
Mandiant said it had identified 30 targeted operations since 2015, and that the group posed a threat to foreign policy officials and journalists working on Iran issues in the US, the UK and Israel.
An estimated 95 percent of abortions in Iran are carried out through “illegal” procedures, according to Saleh Ghasemi, the head of the Center for Strategic Research on Population in the country.
New laws limiting the already heavily restricted use of abortions in the Islamic Republic has led to women seeking out underground centers which often operate below accepted clinical standards to terminate their pregnancies.
The clampdown on abortions and access to contraception follows a decree by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei encouraging population growth.
And Lake Urmia, one of the largest saltwater lakes in the world located in Iran, is at risk of drying up completely, according to an environment official.
A reduction in rainfall, damn building and failures by the Iranian government to maintain the lake are responsible for the body of water’s critical condition.
Located in the mountains of northwestern Iran near the Turkish border, the lake has been classified as a site of international importance by the United Nations.
