PROTESTORS in Iraq blocked roads in Baghdad on Sunday, advocating regime change in a new wave of anti-government demonstrations.
Citizens blocked one main road with burning tyres and a banner reading “Roads closed by order of the people”.
Tens of thousands of people have gathered in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square recent days, calling for the overhaul of the political system established after the 2003 invasion.
Thousands of students have taken part in the actions, blaming the elite for widespread corruption, high unemployment, and poor public services.
Security forces have fired live ammunition at the protesters, killing more than 250 since early October.
Last week, President Barham Salih said Prime Minister Abdul-Mahdi is willing to resign once leaders agree on a replacement.
MEANWHILE, the trousers and leather jacket sported by Olivia Newton-John in Grease have been sold in the US for more than £300,000.
Both buyers wished to remain anonymous, though the jacket’s new owner told Darren Julien: “I’m proud to be the owner of this incredible piece of pop culture history.”
The jacket sold for $243,200 (£188,000) and the trousers $162,000 (£125,000).
The items sold alongside a poster signed by Grease stars Newton-John and John Travolta, and a Pink Ladies jacket given to the singer which fetched $50,000 (£38,000), 25 times its estimate.
The proceeds went to the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness and Research Centre.
IN Hong Kong, riot police stormed a mall to thwart protestors on Sunday as civil unrest continues.
As activists chanted slogans at the New Town Plaza shopping mall in Sha Tin, police said they moved in after some “masked rioters” vandalised turnstiles and smashed windows at the subway station linked to the mall.
Later on, police stormed the Cityplaza shopping complex on Hong Kong Island after a number of protesters sprayed graffiti at a restaurant. A human chain of dozens of people was broken up and angry shoppers heckled the police.
Most of the rallies were stopped as scores of riot police searched and arrested people, blocking access to a park next to the office of embattled chief executive Carrie Lam.
FINALLY, an Italian ship which rescued 151 migrants in waters off Libya has arrived in Sicily.
The Asso Trenta docked at Pozzallo on Sunday.
Hours earlier, a German rescue boat, the Alan Kurdi, dropped 88 migrants at Taranto on the Italian mainland.
A Taranto official, Gabriella Ficocelli, told Italian news agency ANSA the migrants included five unaccompanied minors who were “tired and tried by the voyage”.
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