2 dead in shooting in northern Canada, no active threat: Officials
(NEW YORK) — Two people are dead from a shooting in the Cree First Nation community of Mistissini in northern Quebec, Canada, officials said, adding that it is not considered an active shooter situation.
Two men in their 30s who live in the Mistissini community were found fatally shot in a car overnight, according to Hugues Beaulieu, a spokesperson for Quebec’s provincial police, the Sureté du Québec.
Although no arrest has been made, there is no active threat to the general population, Beaulieu told ABC News, explaining that police are working under the theory that the murders were related to organized crime and drug trade.
The community’s chief, Michael Petawabano, said earlier that all schools and community buildings were closed and residents were advised to remain in their homes.
The remote town has a population of roughly 4,000 people.
“Our hearts are heavy with grief for the lives lost and the families affected by this tragedy,” Petawabano said in a statement. “We ask all community members to remain calm, stay indoors, and cooperate fully with police as they conduct their investigation.”
“The lockdown will remain in effect until law enforcement confirms it is safe to resume normal activities,” Petawabano said.
People gather during protest on January 8, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. Demonstrations have been ongoing since December, triggered by soaring inflation and the collapse of the rial, and have expanded into broader demands for political change. (Anonymous/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — The Trump administration said Thursday it is sanctioning five top Iranian officials who they say are responsible for the nation’s “brutal crackdown on peaceful demonstrators.”
“Our message to the Iranian people is clear: Your demands are legitimate,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a video on social media about the action. “You are protesting for a noble cause, and the United States supports you and your efforts to peacefully oppose the regime’s mismanagement and brutality.“
The targeted security officials include Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme Council for National Security, who the Treasury said was “one of the first Iranian leaders to call for violence in response to the legitimate demands of the Iranian people.”
Commanders with the Law Enforcement Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were also targeted, according to the Treasury Department.
“The officials sanctioned today — and their organizations — bear responsibility for the thousands of deaths and injuries of their fellow citizens as protests erupted in each of these provinces,” the Treasury Department said in a statement.
As part of the sanctions, the State Department said the U.S. is also designating the “notorious” Fardis Prison.
“As the brave people of Iran continue to fight for their basic rights, the Iranian regime has responded with violence and cruel repression against its own people,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said in a statement, which added, “We will continue to deny the regime access to financial networks and the global banking system while it continues to oppress the Iranian people.”
As of Wednesday, 18 days of protests and a resulting crackdown by security forces had seen 2,615 deaths and 18,470 people arrested, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA). Among the dead were 13 children and 14 non-protesting civilians, HRANA said.
On the government side, HRANA said it had confirmed the deaths of 153 members of the security forces.
Another 882 additional deaths remain under investigation, HRANA said.
The HRANA data relies on the work of activists inside and outside the country. ABC News cannot independently verify its numbers.
Iran briefly issued a notice, known as a NOTAM, closing its airspace to most flights, after U.S. President Donald Trump hinted at possible action against Iran and in support of anti-government protests which have roiled the country in recent weeks.
Iran’s Civil Aviation Organization confirmed on Thursday morning that flights were back in operation over the country, according to a statement carried by Iranian state-aligned media.
Protests have been spreading across the country since late December. The first marches took place in downtown Tehran, with participants demonstrating against rising inflation and the falling value of the national currency, the rial. As the protests spread, they took on a more explicitly anti-government tone.
The subsequent security crackdown has included a sustained national internet blackout, which — according to online monitoring group NetBlocks — had been in place for 156 hours as of Thursday morning.
On Wednesday, Cloudflare’s threat-intelligence unit said in a statement that it had “observed Iranian authorities targeting Instagram accounts with tools that perform bulk extraction of follower lists and account activity.”
Estimates of the death toll from the protests have varied, with the internet and communications blackout making it difficult to establish clear figures.
Stephane Dujarric, the spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told reporters at a briefing on Wednesday, “We’ve seen numbers vary from 2,000 to 12,000. All of those numbers are horrendous, but I don’t have a number to share with you.”
Trump has repeatedly threatened military action against the government in Tehran — which is headed by its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — in response to violence against protesters.
Trump said Wednesday that he had been informed that the “killing” in Iran had stopped and that anticipated executions of arrested protesters would not take place.
The information was coming from “very important sources on the other side,” Trump said during an event in the Oval Office on Wednesday. “We’ve been told on good authority, and I hope it’s true. Who knows, right?” he added.
Asked by a reporter if this means that military action was now off the table, Trump responded, “We’re going to watch and see what the process is. But we were given a very good statement by people that are aware of what’s going on.”
On Tuesday, Trump had addressed protesters on social media, urging “Iranian Patriots” to “TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!” He added, “HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”
Khamenei and top Iranian officials have said they are willing to engage with the economic grievances of protesters, though have framed the unrest as driven by “rioters” and “terrorists” sponsored by foreign nations — prime among them the U.S. and Israel — and supported by foreign infiltrators.
Iranian officials have also threatened retaliatory strikes against U.S. and Israeli targets in the event of any outside intervention.
On Wednesday, a U.S. official confirmed to ABC News that some personnel had been advised to leave al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar due to increased tensions in the region.
Meanwhile, Tehran has signaled an intent to proceed with expedited trials and executions for those arrested during the protests.
The head of Iran’s judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, said Wednesday, “If we want to do a job, we should do it now. If we want to do something, we have to do it quickly,” in a video shared online by Iranian state television, according to The Associated Press.
“If it becomes late, two months, three months later, it doesn’t have the same effect,” Mohseni-Ejei said.
Speaking to Fox News on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi acknowledged that “hundreds” of people had been killed and again characterized the protests as an “Israeli plot” and a “terrorist operation.”
Araghchi said that the protests had died down and that the government is “in full control.”
ABC News’ Ayesha Ali, Morgan Winsor, Somayeh Malekian and Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
People gather during protest on January 8, 2026, in Tehran, Iran. (Anonymous/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — More than 2,500 people have died during nationwide protests in Iran over the past 17 days, activists said Wednesday, as U.S. President Donald Trump expressed his support for demonstrators and hinted at potential American intervention against the government in Tehran.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said it had verified a total of 2,571 deaths — and is reviewing reports of 779 other deaths — since the protests began on Dec. 28.
The confirmed deaths include 2,403 adult protesters, 12 protesters under the age of 18, 147 government-affiliated personnel and nine non-protesting civilians, HRANA said.
Another 1,134 protesters have been seriously injured, HRANA said, with at least 18,137 people arrested.
The HRANA data relies on the work of activists inside and outside the country. ABC News cannot independently verify these numbers. The Iranian government has not provided any civilian death tolls related to the ongoing protests.
As casualties mounted, Trump wrote on social media on Tuesday, “Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING — TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price.”
“I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY,” Trump added.
When later pressed by a reporter during a visit to Michigan on Tuesday on what he meant by help is on its way, Trump responded, “You’re gonna have to figure that one out, I’m sorry.”
Trump said he thought it was “a good idea” for Americans to evacuate from Iran. The State Department on Tuesday said that all U.S. citizens should leave the country.
Trump said he hasn’t been given an accurate number of how many people have been killed so far in the protests, but said “one is a lot.”
“I think it’s a lot. It’s too many, whatever it is,” he said.
Later Tuesday, he told reporters that he will be receiving “accurate numbers” on how many protesters have been killed in Iran soon and “we’ll act accordingly.”
Trump on Monday announced a 25% tariff on any country doing business with Iran. The president and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt suggested other options are also still under discussion.
One U.S. official told ABC News that among the options under consideration are new sanctions against key regime figures or against Iran’s energy or banking sectors.
Members of Trump’s national security team — including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and CIA Director John Ratcliffe — met Tuesday morning to discuss Iran, according to Leavitt. Trump did not attend the meeting, nor was he scheduled to, she said.
Vice President JD Vance also led an Iran strategy meeting on Tuesday afternoon with the National Security Council principals committee, a source with direct knowledge of the meeting confirmed to ABC News.
Iranian officials have threatened retaliatory strikes against U.S. and Israeli targets in the event of any outside intervention.
Protests have been spreading across the country since late December. The first marches took place in downtown Tehran, with participants demonstrating against rising inflation and the falling value of the national currency, the rial.
As the protests spread, they have taken on a more explicitly anti-government tone.
Government forces have responded with a major security crackdown. A sustained national internet outage has also been in place across the country. Online monitoring group NetBlocks said on Wednesday that the blackout had surpassed 132 hours.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and top Iranian officials have said they are willing to engage with the economic grievances of protesters, though have framed the unrest as driven by “rioters” and “terrorists” sponsored by foreign nations — prime among them the U.S. and Israel — and supported by foreign infiltrators.
The head of Iran’s judiciary, Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei, suggested Wednesday that there would be expedited trials and executions for those who have been arrested in the nationwide protests.
“If we want to do a job, we should do it now. If we want to do something, we have to do it quickly,” Mohseni-Ejei said in a video shared online by Iranian state television, according to The Associated Press.
“If it becomes late, two months, three months later, it doesn’t have the same effect,” Mohseni-Ejei said.
On Wednesday, President Masoud Pezeshkian was quoted by state media telling a meeting with Economy Ministry officials that if economic conditions were improved, “we wouldn’t be witnessing their protests on the streets.”
Dissident figures abroad have urged Iranians to press the protests and topple the government in Tehran.
Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi — who from his base in the U.S. has become a prominent critic of the Iranian government — on Monday appealed to Trump to act in support of the protesters.
On Tuesday, Pahlavi called on members of the Iranian military to join the protests. “You are the national military of Iran, not the military of the Islamic Republic,” he wrote on X.
“You have a duty to protect the lives of your compatriots,” Pahlavi added. “You do not have much time. Join them as soon as possible.”
Tourist boats on the River Thames in London, UK, on Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. UK businesses ended 2025 feeling more upbeat about the economy’s prospects after they were spared much of the tax pain at last month’s budget. (Carlos Jasso/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — The River Thames winds 215 miles through England, carving out the curves and bends that define much of the geography, including London’s. For centuries, the river has been called “monster soup” and the “dirty old river.”
For thirty years, Lubos Grajciarik, known online as Urban Angler Lou, has stood on its banks with a fishing rod in hand.
“Originally, I came from Slovakia… and I have fished most of my life,” he told ABC News.
He has witnessed firsthand the river’s slow transformation, from Canary Wharf’s rise to the quieter stretches upstream at Richmond and at the weir Teddington Lock.
“Yes, there is improvement,” he said. “Water is still polluted. But it is significantly lower than in previous years.”
Further improvement, and the hope for an even cleaner future, now rests on a monumental infrastructure project beneath London: the £4.5 billion, or about $6 billion, Tideway Tunnel, also known as the “super sewer.” The 25-km tunnel — the largest upgrade to London’s sewers in 150 years — is, according to its designers, intended to intercept overflows and capture waste before it reaches the river.
Four of the tunnel’s 21 gates, which are valves that are designed to stop the waste before it enters the Thames, are operational, with more to open in the coming months.
“The newly completed Tideway Tunnel will reduce the volume of discharges entering the tidal Thames in a typical year by 95%,” said a spokesperson for Thames Water, the company responsible for London’s wastewater.
Optimism from those along the riverbank appears to be supported by science. For more than half a century, the City of London Corporation has collaborated with anglers and ecologists in a citizen science project to track fish populations.
Scientists estimate that more than 100 species now inhabit the Thames, a river once declared biologically dead. In 2024, volunteers caught 122 fish across five species — bass, flounder, eel, pouting and dab.
Grajciarik said his catches reflect that resurgence. “There is a mixture of both species,” he said. “Freshwater pike and perch coexist with occasional mullets, sea bus, sea route.” The Thames, where saltwater meets fresh, has become a rare brackish habitat — alive again, yet still fragile.
But beneath the river’s revival, a darker current still runs.
“In many ways, the Thames is a much healthier ecosystem than it was. Though there are other pressures, like pharmaceuticals, chemicals, [micro]plastics, in the sewage now, against heavy metals several decades ago,” said Dr. Alexander Lipp, an Earth and environmental scientist who created Sewage Map, a platform that tracks sewage overflows in real time.
“Only 6% of the rivers and streams in the Thames basin are classed as in ‘good ecological health’ by the Environment Agency,” a spokesperson for Thames21, an environmental charity working to revive rivers in the Thames Basin, told ABC News. “The primary culprit is physical modifications (straightening, deepening or even paving over rivers), followed by sewage pollution.”
Thames Water saw serious pollution incidents more than double in 2024 — to 33 from 14 a year earlier — according to the Environment Agency’s latest report, which was released before the new “super sewer” began opening. Out of nine water companies assessed, Thames Water alone earned a one-star rating, the lowest possible.
Officials at the Environment Agency — a government agency responsible to protect and improve the environment in the U.K. — attributed the decline in the rating to a mix of factors: unusually wet and stormy weather, years of underinvestment, poor infrastructure maintenance and more rigorous monitoring.
Thames Water said that “all discharges of untreated sewage are unacceptable” in a 2023 statement.
Addressing the low ratings, a company spokesperson said in an emailed response to ABC News, that “in 2024-25, Thames Water also made a record capital investment of £2.225 billion. We know we need to further improve for our customers, community, and the environment, which is why we have embarked on the largest ever investment programme, delivering the biggest upgrade to our network in 150 years.”
Yet those promises are shadowed by debt — nearly £17 billion, or about $22.3 billion, as of March 2025 — amid the growing pressure of climate change. The company said this month that its debt had grown to nearly £20 billion and that it was negotiating with its creditors.
“Any sewage discharged into the Thames negatively affects the river, increasing nutrient loading, bacteria, and plastic pollution,” the Thames21 spokesperson said.
“Climate change is something that’s going to make this worse,” Lipp said. He explained that London’s combined sewage system, where stormwater and wastewater share the same pipes, is easily overwhelmed by heavy rain. With more intense downpours expected, spills will likely become even more frequent.
Still, Lipp noted, “I would say that Thames is better than other companies when it comes to data transparency.”
The company says long-term recovery will take patience. “Transforming Thames is a major programme of work that will take time; it will take at least a decade to achieve the scale of change required,” a spokesperson said.
“I can see the people taking more responsibility for our waters,” said Grajciarik, the fisherman. He often reports oil from nearby boats or sewage spills to the U.K.’s Environment Agency’s hotline number.
But whether the massive investments and new infrastructure will be enough remains uncertain.
