A female student stripped to her underwear outside her university in Iran in what some student and rights groups say was a protest against the country’s strict Islamic dress code.

A video circulating on social media and shared by rights group Amnesty International shows the woman sat outside the university in her underwear and with her hair uncovered.

She gestures toward her fellow students, many of whom are female and wearing headscarves, before strolling around the premises.

Another video shows her walking down a road, still in a state of undress, before a group of men surround her, bundle her into a car, and drive away.

Amnesty said Saturday the woman had been “violently arrested” after she protested the “abusive enforcement” of the dress code at Tehran’s Islamic Azad University.

The woman had previously been harassed by members of the Basij, an Iranian volunteer paramilitary group, inside the university’s grounds, according to an Iranian student social media channel, the Amir Kabir newsletter,. It claimed members of the force had ripped her headscarf and torn her clothes.

Citing eyewitnesses, state-run Fars news agency reported that the student took off her clothes after two security personnel “calmly talked” to her and warned her about flouting the dress code.

The university’s public relations director said the woman was suffering from mental health issues.

Mai Sato, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Islamic Republic of Iran, said on X that she would be “monitoring this incident closely, including the authorities’ response.”

The wearing of a hijab (or headscarf) in public is mandatory for women under Iran’s strict interpretation of Islamic law that is enforced by the country’s so-called morality police.

Iranian women can be subjected to harsh punishment, even for minor infractions.

Protests erupted across Iran in 2022 against the dress code following the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who died in the custody of the morality police after being arrested for allegedly not wearing her headscarf properly.

The subsequent violent crackdown by the Iranian regime killed hundreds of people. Since then, many Iranian women have protested by removing their headscarves in public.

Amnesty called for the immediate and unconditional release of the Azad University student and demanded she be given access to her family and lawyer.

“Allegations of beatings and sexual violence against her during the arrest need independent and impartial investigations,” the human rights campaigners said in a statement on X. “Those responsible must (be) held to account.”

Azad University’s public relations director Amir Mahjob said in a post on X that the university’s security team had intervened “after the indecent act by one of the students” and had taken her to a police station.

In a later post citing a police report, he said the student “was under severe mental pressure and had a mental disorder.”

He also said the student was a mother-of-two, separated from her husband, and that he hoped her family’s reputation would not suffer from online “rumors.”

Angry residents booed and threw eggs at Spain’s King Felipe and Queen Letizia as they visited the Valencia region, where more than 200 people have died in devastating floods.

The king faced chants of “murderers” as he hard-hit visited Paiporta, just outside of Valencia city, along with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and regional governor Carlos Mazon, where locals accuse authorities of a lax response to the disaster.

After they posed for a photo, the crowd began hurling insults at the king, Mazon and Sanchez. The crowd surged forwards as security opened umbrellas to try and protect them from projectiles.

Confronted by one resident, Felipe remained calm and lowered his umbrella to listen to him as police struggled to control those gathered. Queen Letizia also also spoke with furious residents and seemed visibly shaken, holding her head in her hands.

The Royal Family’s social media channel released video in the aftermath of the protest, showing the king and queen embracing distraught residents. One man fell weeping into the king’s arms and in another shot, the King is seen hugging two crying women.

It is unusual for a Spanish king to face such fierce anger up close. Felipe is a relatively popular figure, who ascended the throne after the abdication of his father.

The anger appeared largely directed at Sanchez and Mazon, who left early even as the king insisted on staying on despite the chaos.

Sanchez’s office in a statement said that the prime minister had been taken away, following security protocol. In a statement on X, Mazon said he understood the anger and praised the “exemplary” conduct of the king.

At least 214 people are now confirmed dead from the floods and the toll may climb higher. Among the latest victims was a 70-year-old woman whose body was found more than 12 kilometers (seven miles) from her house

The slow and uncoordinated response to the crisis has infuriated many in Valencia. Text alerts came hours after warnings of flooding from the weather service.

On Saturday, Sanchez ordered 5,000 more troops to help with salvage efforts in flooded areas, calling the storm the “worst natural disaster” in the county’s history.

He addressed the anger and frustration at the slow response by authorities, admitting it was “not enough”.

Part of the problem has been political. Mazon and Sanchez are from different parties, and under Spain’s political system, Spain’s federal government cannot release emergency funds and resources without the authorization from a regional government. That didn’t happen until Saturday, four days after the floods hit.

Thousands of volunteers meanwhile have answered the provincial government’s call for help to clear flood debris. Authorities seemed unprepared and overwhelmed, quickly running out of supplies and scrambling to find more buses to transport people.

Volunteers waited hours only to be turned away, frustrating many. Pedro de Juan, 18, had only seen scenes like this in the movies but he showed up before 7 a.m. to board the volunteer buses. He voiced the frustration many are feeling.

“The military and police are helping but not as much as we hoped and they are days late.”

The number of new marriages recorded in China is on course to fall to the lowest level in decades this year, official data shows, as the country’s demographic crisis deepens despite a sweeping government campaign to boost matrimony and encourage births.

Plummeting marriages – and births – pose a major challenge to Beijing, which is increasingly worried about the impact of a shrinking workforce and aging population on the country’s slowing economy.

Some 4.74 million Chinese couples registered their marriages in the first three quarters of 2024, a decrease of 16.6% from the 5.69 million recorded in the same period last year, according to data released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs on Friday.

The decline is consistent with a falling trend from a 2013 peak of more than 13 million new marriages, and in line with predictions by Chinese demographic experts that the number of marriages in 2024 will drop to the lowest level since the 7.2 million recorded in 1980.

A rebound in marriages last year after stringent Covid restrictions were lifted appears to be an anomaly largely driven by pent-up demand.

China’s population has shrunk for two years in a row and its birth rate last year was the lowest since the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949. In 2022, the country was surpassed by India as the world’s most populous nation.

Chinese officials see a direct link between fewer marriages and falling births in the country, where social norms and government regulations make it challenging for unmarried couples to have children.

To reverse the decline, Chinese officials have rolled out a raft of measures, from financial incentives to propaganda campaigns, to nudge young people to tie the knot and have children.

Officials have organized blind dating events, mass weddings, and attempted to curtail the tradition of large “bride price” payments from the groom to his future wife’s family that put marriage out of reach for many poor men in rural areas.

Since 2022, China’s Family Planning Association has launched pilot programs to create a “new-era marriage and childbearing culture,” enrolling dozens of cities to promote the “social value of childbearing” and encouraging young people to get married and give birth at an “appropriate age.”

But so far, these policies have failed to convince Chinese young adults who are grappling with high unemployment, the rising cost of living and a lack of more robust social welfare support amid the economic slowdown.

Many are postponing marriage and childbirth – and a growing number of young people even choose to eschew them entirely.

The decline in both marriages and births is partly due to decades of policies designed to limit China’s population growth, which resulted in fewer young people of marriageable age, according to Chinese officials and sociologists.

In 2015, China announced an end to its decades-long one-child policy, allowing couples to have two children, then increased that to three children in 2021 – but both marriage and birth rates continued to drop.

The stubborn downward trend is also a result of changing attitudes to marriage, especially among young women who are becoming more educated and financially independent.

Faced with widespread workplace discrimination and patriarchal traditions – such as the expectation for women to be responsible for childcare and housework – some women are growing disillusioned with marriage.

Since 2021, China has mandated a 30-day “cooling-off” period for people filing for divorce, despite criticism that it could make it harder for women to leave broken or even abusive marriages. In the first nine months of this year, some 1.96 million couples registered for divorces, a slight decline of 6,000 year-on-year, according to data from the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

China isn’t the only country struggling with falling rates of marriage and birth. In recent years, Japan and South Korea have also introduced measures to encourage births – such as financial incentives, cash vouchers, housing subsidies and more childcare support – with limited success.

Maumere, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency said Monday that at least six people have died as a series of volcanic eruptions widens on the remote island of Flores.

The eruption at Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki just after midnight on Monday spewed thick brownish ash as high as 2,000 meters (6,500 feet) into the air and hot ashes hit a nearby village, burning down several houses including a convent of Catholic nuns, said Firman Yosef, an official at the Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki monitoring post.

The Disaster Management Agency lowered the known death toll from an earlier report of nine, saying it had received updated information from local authorities. It said that information was still being collected about the extent of casualties and damage, as local media reports said more people were buried in collapsed houses.

Authorities also raised the danger level and widened the danger zone for Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki on Monday, following a series of eruptions that began last week.

The country’s volcano monitoring agency increased the volcano’s alert status to the highest level and more than doubled the exclusion zone to a 7-kilometer (4.3-mile) radius after midnight on Monday as eruptions became more frequent.

The agency said at least 10,000 people have been affected by the eruption in Wulanggitang District, in the six nearby villages of Pululera, Nawokote, Hokeng Jaya, Klatanlo, Boru and Boru Kedang.

In Ile Bura District, 4 villages were affected, namely Dulipali Village, Nobo, Nurabelen and Riang Rita, while in Titehena District it affected four villages, namely Konga Village, Kobasoma, Bokang Wolomatang and Watowara.

He said volcanic material was thrown up to 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) from its crater, blanketeing nearby villages and towns with tons of volcanic debris and forcing residents to flee.

A nun in Hokeng village died and another was missing, said Agusta Palma, the head of the Saint Gabriel Foundation that oversees convents on the majority-Catholic island.

“Our nuns ran out in panic under a rain of volcanic ash in the darkness,” Palma said.

Photos and videos circulated on social media showed tons of volcanic debris covering houses up to their rooftops in villages like Hokeng, where hot volcanic material set fire to houses.

It’s Indonesia’s second volcanic eruption in as many weeks. West Sumatra province’s Mount Marapi, one of the country’s most active volcanos, erupted on Oct. 27, spewing thick columns of ash at least three times and blanketing nearby villages with debris, but no casualties were reported.

A smog-choked province in eastern Pakistan has issued a rare plea for cross-border collaboration with India, as major cities in both countries endure severe air pollution that risks the health of millions.

Officials in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province of 127 million people, have drafted a letter to the Indian government to open a dialogue on the issue, Punjabi Secretary for Environment and Climate Change Raja Jahangir Anwar said on Monday.

“We are suffering in Lahore in a way due to the eastern wind corridor coming from India,” he said. “We are not blaming anyone, it’s a natural phenomenon.”

Pollution in northern India and eastern Pakistan ramps up each winter, when an ominous yellow haze blankets the skies due to a combination of farmers burning agricultural waste, coal-fired power plants, traffic and windless days.

India and Pakistan have for decades navigated fraught and at times hostile relations, but as the issue of toxic air worsens, the neighbors are being forced to confront their shared responsibility – and fate – when it comes to the climate.

Lahore, home to more than 14 million people, saw its air quality index surpass a record 1,900 in one part of the city on Saturday, according to IQAir, which tracks global air quality. That’s more than six times the level considered hazardous to health.

The extreme pollution prompted Lahore officials to close primary schools for one week and place restrictions on barbecue restaurants, motorcycle rickshaws, and construction activities.

In India, air quality in Delhi – which frequently trades places with Lahore as the most polluted city in the world – hit hazardous air quality levels above 500 Saturday and Sunday, partly due to people disregarding a local fireworks ban as they celebrated Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. However, warmer, breezier weather helped to mitigate the smog.

Breathing polluted air leads to increased risk of a host of diseases, including lung cancer, stroke, and heart disease, according to the World Health Organization. Experts say India’s air pollution is so bad that smog could take years off the lives of hundreds of millions of people.

“This is not just a political issue, this is a humanitarian issue,” Punjab’s Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz said last week. “The winds don’t know there’s a border in the middle.”

Air quality worsens in the winter because colder and drier air traps pollution, rather than whisking it away, as warm air does.

The beginning of winter also coincides with stubble burning season, a time when farmers intentionally set fire to crop debris to clear their fields, sending smoke billowing in the skies.

Both India and Pakistan have tried to clamp down on the practice, but it is still widespread.

Last month, India’s Supreme Court condemned the governments of India’s Punjab and Haryana states for failing to crack down on illegal stubble burning. Local officials claim they have reduced the practice significantly in recent years.

Pakistan’s Punjab is providing subsidized super-seeders to farmers to offer alternative methods for disposing of crop residue.