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A video of a large crowd surrounding Iranian policemen in Tehran after they viciously beat up a street vendor and destroyed his small cart was widely circulated on social media on Wednesday. A group of young men surrounded the policemen who were sat in their car. People in the crowd are heard demanding that the policemen get out of their car, chanting “come out”, but they refuse and cover their faces so as not to appear on camera. Millions of Iranian citizens work as street vendors to make ends meet amid the rising poverty and ailing economic situation in the country.

It is a stark reversal in the US's policy toward ordinary Iranians. Taraji was the kind of middle-class, outward-looking family man that the Obama administration felt might encourage moderation in Iran, were the economy to benefit from the lifting of western sanctions. That was the logic behind the nuclear deal signed in 2015, under which the US, several European countries, Russia and China agreed to lift an effective economic blockade in exchange for Iran submitting to checks on its nuclear facilities. The agreement brought a string of billion dollar deals with Western firms for airplanes and oil exploration in Iran. But the benefits were largely stymied by a fall in global oil prices and the

MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte could step down if the son of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos succeeds in overturning his 2016 vice presidential election defeat, Duterte’s spokesman said on Thursday. At two separate events on Tuesday he said he was “ready to go,” expressing frustration about his failure to tackle illicit drugs and corruption in government. However, he said was reluctant to do that now because a constitutional succession would mean handing power to Vice President Leni Robredo, whom he said was not up to the job. Robredo, who leads the opposition party, was not Duterte’s choice for vice president and was elected separately having narrowly defeated Ferdinand Marcos Jr, the son and namesake of the ousted former ruler.

Saudi forces have arrested a heavily armed "extremist" after wounding him in an exchange of gunfire in the kingdom's conservative central heartland, the interior ministry said early Thursday. The man had embraced the Islamic State group's "ideology" and was found to be in possession of a machine gun, a pistol and multiple rounds of ammunition, the ministry said in a statement. The man in Al-Bukhariya city was also wearing what appeared to be an explosives-laden belt, state-run Al-Ekhbariya television reported. The incident comes as the kingdom prepares to host the annual hajj pilgrimage from August 19-24. The kingdom has seen numerous attacks in recent years by jihadists, including Al-Qaeda and

TORONTO/OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canadian Muslims traveling to the Hajj pilgrimage face delays coming back due to a diplomatic dispute with Saudi Arabia that is also prompting thousands of students from the kingdom to scramble to sell their assets and return home to meet a month-end deadline. As the stalemate continues, Canada is reaching out to its allies, including the United States and European Union, to rally support, and talking to Saudi Arabia to resolve the dispute. Riyadh abruptly severed diplomatic and trade ties earlier this month in response to Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland’s tweet demanding the release of civil society activists in the kingdom. Riyadh also ended state-backed educational

A sermon at the mosque where the Manchester bomber worshipped called for the support of armed jihadist fighters, according to two Muslim scholars. An imam at Didsbury Mosque in December 2016 was recorded praying for "victory" for "our brothers and sisters right now in Aleppo and Syria and Iraq". Scholars Usama Hasan and Shaykh Rehan said it referred to "military jihad". The imam, Mustafa Graf, says his sermon did not call for armed jihad and he has never preached radical Islam. The recording the BBC obtained is of Friday prayers at the mosque six months before Salman Abedi detonated a suicide bomb following an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena in May 2017. Abedi and his family regularly

The maker of Corona is betting that consumers want something more than beer and booze. Constellation Brands is spending $4 billion to boost its stake in cannabis company Canopy Growth. Constellation also owns a big wine business, SVEDKA vodka and Casa Noble tequila. It first invested in Canopy Growth last year, when it bought a 10% stake. Wednesday's move upped its holding in Constellation (STZ) to 38%, and leaves open the option to purchase a majority controlling share of more than 50%. Shares of Canopy (CGC), which trade on both the New York Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange surged more than 25% on the Constellation news. (Canopy's TSE ticker is WEED by the way.) Other publicly traded