The year's 'second country' in news ... perhaps for not so pleasant reasons is Iran :::: No Internet ---- "No reception on phones, no antenna. It’s like you are living in the middle of nowhere"

 Iran’s internet shutdown, now in place for 36 hours as the authorities seek to quell escalating anti-government protests, represents a “new high-water mark” in terms of its sophistication and severity, say experts – and could last a long time.

Even Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system, which was a lifeline for Iranians during the 2022 protests over the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody, was being jammed, 

As the blackout kicked in, 90% of internet traffic to Iran evaporated. International calls to the country appeared blocked and domestic mobile phones had no service, said Amir Rashidi, an Iranian digital rights expert.

This is far from the first time a country has blocked the internet for political reasons. Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak blocked the internet for six days during the 2011 Tahrir protests, and the Taliban shut down Afghanistan’s for 48 hours in September, ostensibly to curb “immorality”.

But the level of shutdown in Iran is unprecedented and in some ways far harsher than its 2019 digital blackout, which internet observers described at the time as the most “severe disconnection” they had seen anywhere.

There is no reception on the phones. There is no antenna. It’s like you are living in the middle of nowhere.

Why Iran women are lighting cigarettes from burning Khamenei photos amid protests

Iranian women seem to have ignited a new protest trend, lighting cigarettes from burning photos of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei amid the bloody unrest that has gripped the Middle Eastern nation.  

The bloody mass uprising in Iran has witnessed a new trend. Visuals of Iranian women lighting cigarettes from burning photos of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have become one of the lasting images of the anti-government protests that have rocked the Middle Eastern country for the past two weeks. 

The trend has become a symbol of defiance in a country known for rigid social restrictions and curbs on women's rights.

The development comes as protests against the theocratic regime of 86-year-old Khamenei have only swelled in recent days in defiance of a crackdown. 

The protests, which erupted over the economy and soaring prices, have quickly snowballed into a broader agitation against the Khamenei regime and corruption. 

Unlike the past, the protesters are not merely seeking reform, but rejecting the Islamic Republic itself.