The series is set in Los Angeles in the year 2007. The United States has become an unstable mix of oligarchy, anarchy and police state, which sounds about right. Technology has gotten scary: from virtual-reality spectacles to holographic karaoke. Perhaps in reaction, Angelenos are retro-obsessed: dumb-looking Edwardian collars, ’60s rock, premillennial cars. This sounds plausible, too; it also saves on production costs (no cars-of-the-future to design and build) and makes a salable soundtrack album....

Line: Iowa State -6.5 Total: 145 MORE: College hoops live odds | ATS standings Trends: Iowa State 22-11 SU, 16-13-1 ATS, 14-16 O/U. ALR 30-4 SU, 20-10 ATS, 11-19 O/U. KenPom efficiency ratings: Iowa State 18 (overall), 4 (offense), 105 (defense). ALR 43, 85, 26 Effective FG percentage: Iowa State 56.8, ALR 52.1 EFG% against: Iowa State 49.6, ALR 45.3 Pick: The Linemakers’ Micah Roberts is taking Little Rock at +6....

Last Friday, we detailed a hilarious unsettling string of diplomatic gaffes–by far the most of any 2008 presidential candidate–that sort of, like, contradicted Hillary Clinton’s reputation as a steady hand on foreign policy. There was the whole “calling the current prime minister of New Zealand the former prime minister of New Zealand while comparing her to a cockroach” thing. And the “claiming Vladimir Putin doesn’t have a soul” thing. And the “mispronouncing the name of Putin’s successor” thing....

The U.S. Justice Department said 16 Iranians are in U.S. facilities, while four Iranian American dual nationals are being held in Iran. “These negotiations have progressed significantly and we are waiting for them to be summed up,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a news conference on Monday, according to Radio Free Europe. The prisoner negotiations are happening in parallel with the nuclear talks in Vienna. The U....

Iran’s three-day Zolfaghar 99 drill began Thursday. The naval exercises will take place in more than 772,000 square miles in the Strait of Hormuz, Makran coast, Oman Sea and the north Indian Ocean, Iran’s Mehr News Agency reported. Rear Admiral Shahram Irani—the spokesperson for the exercise—told reporters Thursday that Iran’s air defense force had warned all foreign drones to avoid the area during the planned drills. “The Air Defense Force warned all foreign drones flying near the exercise site to leave the general area of Zolfaghar drill,” Irani said....

Many hopeful migrants start in Afghanistan’s western city of Herat, then make the treacherous 300-mile journey south through deserts and mountains, where they cross into Pakistan, then Iran. The International Organization for Migration found that Iran’s number of deportations as of the end of November is 30 percent higher than the total number of deportations in 2020. Iran has had to send back an average of 20,000 to 30,000 Afghans per week, the AP reported....

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and Venezuelan Foreign Minister Felix Plasencia Gonzalez met Monday in Tehran, where they “discussed bilateral issues and the expansion of cooperation between the two countries,” according to the Iranian Foreign Ministry. The pair “decided to hold a joint economic commission of the two countries in the near future and to compile and finalize a comprehensive plan for the 20-year economic cooperation between the two countries....

An Iraqi intelligence official told Newsweek that the demonstrations were “not an Iraqi uprising.” “This is not short of military planning by the IRGC-Quds Force”—a reference to the elite expeditionary branch of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guard, commanded by Qassem Soleimani—the official said, speaking under the condition of anonymity, as they were not authorized to discuss publicly. “They wage war not only against American soldiers and civilians, but most of all they wage war against the poor and helpless Iraqi citizens who are against the Shiite Islamic state of Iran,” the official said....

Speaking on the sidelines of the 98-Guardians of Velayat Sky joint exercises, Iranian Army Air Defense Brigadier General Alireza Sabahifard said Thursday that the maneuvers were being held across an area of some 416,000 square kilometers—roughly the size of the U.S. state of California—mostly in the northern province of Semnan. He said his forces “will practice the toughest and most realistic combat conditions,” simulating a conflict in the Persian Gulf, especially the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important oil chokepoint....

“Even if one day there is a need for 90 percent enrichment for a reactor, we do not have any problem and we are able,” Rouhani said, according to the IRNA, a state-run news agency. “We can do anything in the peaceful path.” Rouhani made the claim while speaking to the nation’s Cabinet Wednesday. He also castigated the nation’s theocracy for not permitting the government to reinstate a 2015 nuclear deal, which provided a reprieve from the U....

Observers have predicted low turnout among Iranian voters, whether as a protest against the theocratic government or out of indifference. The regime has endured a turbulent year, buffeted by American sanctions following the collapse of the nuclear deal and subsequent economic strain, mass civil unrest subdued by brutal force, and a military stand-off with Washington that resulted in the assassination of Major General Qassem Soleimani and the accidental downing of a passenger plane in which 176 people were killed....

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javid Zarif arrived Tuesday in Moscow for talks in which he sought the renewal of a two-decade agreement for cooperation between the two countries. The contents of the pact were not made public but it follows a landmark deal involving oil and arms sales, as well as nuclear cooperation signed on March 12, 2001, by Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami....

The Persian hashtag #DontExecute began spreading around the world on Tuesday, rising to the top of the international trending list according to Radio Farda. Soon after, internet monitoring websites reported access being throttled across the country. A broad range of groups and activists took up the call, including exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi—the son of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi who was deposed by the Iranian Revolution—who circulated the English version of the hashtag: #StopExecutionsInIran....

Being a trusted member and representative of the community, however, Habib, the first Iranian American to be elected to statewide office, told Newsweek that he received word of the situation unfolding at the U.S.-Mexico border station the same way many in the local Iranian American community did: from friends that he cared about. On Saturday, Habib said he started receiving worrying text messages from fellow Iranian Americans, whom he had known for years, saying they or their family members had been stopped at the Peace Arch border crossing and questioned about their connections to Iran....

Gunmen had lured Mohammed to their car with an offer to buy the gasoline he was selling on the curb, and then they opened fire. “I saw him covered with blood,” recalls Salman. The police refused to help, because they were too afraid the gunmen would return, so Salman drove his brother to the hospital. Mohammed died three weeks later. Salman’s big brother, 38 when his life ended, had been persistent, resourceful and lovable....

That should be cause for hope, since Hakim now leads the most powerful Shiite party in Iraq, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council. As U.S. Gen. David Petraeus constantly emphasizes, the U.S. troop “surge” can at best dampen the violence that plagues Iraq. Only the country’s political leaders can truly stabilize the situation, by using that breathing room to forge lasting compromises between Iraq’s various factions. The fact that they have not is at the core of growing Republican disillusionment over the war....

The Iraqi Foreign Ministry released on Tuesday two identical letters sent to the U.N. Secretary-General and the U.N. Security Council in response to U.S. airstrikes that targeted five sites across central Iraq that reportedly killing at least six people, including a civilian, and wounding others. The Thursday strikes came in response to a Shiite Muslim militia’s Katyusha rocket attack that killed two U.S. personnel and a U.K. service member at the military camp north of Baghdad....

Curfews were imposed on the capital, Baghdad, as well as other cities scattered across the country. Internet connectivity fell to 70 percent and major social media cites such as Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp and Instagram were blocked according to NetBlocks, an independent digital inclusivity activist organization. Al Jazeera correspondent Imran Khan reported that the curfews are generally working. “The protesters have been trying to gather in different areas of Baghdad throughout the day, but every time they reach crowds of 50 to 60 people, the security forces disperse them....

This was two years ago, but today the legacy of the Tishreen (October) movement that precipitated the women’s march is as important than ever. It revitalized the history of women-led struggles in Iraq, largely overlooked by the West, and inspired a politically active new generation who are determined to change Iraq for the better. Despite years of various anti-government protests around the country dating back to 2011, the Tishreen movement that erupted in 2020 was larger than any other protest movement Iraq had seen in recent history....