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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran marked the 47th anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution on Wednesday as the country's theocracy remains under pressure, both from U.S. President Donald Trump suggesting sending another aircraft carrier group to the Mideast and a public angrily denouncing theirbloody crackdown on nationwide protests.

Trump made the suggestion in an interview published Tuesday night as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, long an Iran hawk, visited Washington to push the U.S. toward the strictest-possible terms in any agreement reached with Tehran inthe fledgling nuclear talks.

A top Iranian security official planned to visit Qatar on Wednesday after earlier traveling to Oman, which has mediated this latest round of negotiations.

On Iranian state television, authorities broadcast images of thousands taking to the streets across the country Wednesday to support the theocracy and its 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. But on Tuesday night, as government-sponsored fireworks lit the darkened sky, witnesses heard shouts from people's homes in the Iranian capital, Tehran, of "Death to the dictator!"

Commemoration comes under crackdown

In the streets, people waved images of Khamenei and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, alongside Iranian and Palestinian flags. Some chanted "Death to America!" and "Death to Israel!"

Iran's reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, who earlier ordered the country's foreign minister to enter talks with the Americans, was expected to later give a speech at Tehran's Azadi Square.

Among Iran's 85 million people, there is a hard-line element of support for Iran's theocracy, including members of its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which crucially put down the protests last month in a bloody suppression that killed thousands and saw tens of thousands detained. Others often take part in demonstrations as they are government employees or to enjoy the carnival atmosphere of a government-sponsored holiday.

As the commemoration took place, senior Iranian security official Ali Larijani left Oman for Qatar. That Mideast nation hosts a major U.S. military installation that Iran attacked in June afterthe U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear sitesduring the 12-day Iran-Israel war.

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Qatar also has been a key negotiator in the past with Iran, with which it shares a massive offshore natural gas field in the Persian Gulf.

Speaking to the Russian state channel RT, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran still does "not have full trust for the Americans."

"Last time we negotiated, last June we were in the middle of negotiation then they decided to attack us and that was a very very bad experience for us," Iran's top diplomat said. "We need to make sure that that scenario is not repeated and this is mostly up to America."

Despite that concern, Araghchi said it could be possible "to come to a better deal than Obama," referencing the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers Iran reached when former U.S. President Barack Obama was in office. Trump in his first term unilaterally withdrew America from the accord.

Trump suggests sending another carrier to Mideast

The United States has moved theaircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, ships and warplanes to the Middle East to pressure Iran into an agreement and have the firepower necessary to strike the Islamic Republic should Trump choose to do so.

Already, U.S. forcesshot down a dronethey said got too close to the Lincoln and came to the aid of a U.S.-flagged ship that Iranian forces tried to stop in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf.

Trump told the news website Axios that he was considering sending a second carrier to the region, noting, "We have an armada that is heading there and another one might be going."

It remains unclear what carrier could go. The USS George H.W. Bush has left Norfolk, Virginia, according to U.S. Navy Institute News. The USS Gerald R. Ford remains in the Caribbean after the U.S. military raid that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro.

By Greg Torode and James Pomfret

HONG KONG, Feb 11 (Reuters) - The Chinese captain of a Hong Kong-registered cargo ship pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to a charge of criminal damage, following allegations that his vessel damaged undersea cables ‌in the Baltic Sea.

Wan Wenguo, 44, the captain of the container ship NewNew Polar Bear, is alleged to have damaged ‌an underwater natural gas pipeline and submarine telecom cables between Finland and Estonia in October, 2023, according to a Hong Kong charge sheet reviewed by Reuters.

The charge ​sheet stated that Wan had been "reckless" and "without lawful excuse damaged the property belonging to another".

Finnish investigators said the container vessel had dragged its anchor to sever the Balticconnector gas pipeline. Finnish police later retrieved a broken anchor from the seabed near the pipeline, and technical examinations showed it belonged to the container vessel that was missing an anchor.

A lawyer for Wan, Jerry Chung, earlier said 18 prosecution witnesses would be called to ‌testify in the case that includes one charge ⁠of criminal damage, as well as two charges of failing to ensure the ship complied with safety requirements under the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea.

Wan also pleaded not guilty to those ⁠two charges. The next hearing is on May 5.

These witnesses include crew members, Hong Kong officials, and experts in maritime matters, Chung added.

The Baltic Sea region has been on high alert for sabotage after a series of outages involving power cables, gas pipelines and telecom links since Russia invaded Ukraine ​in ​2022. NATO has boosted its military presence with frigates, aircraft and naval drones.

When asked ​about possible Russian involvement in the case, a prosecution ‌lawyer told reporters that there had been no indication so far in court of such a claim.

But Nordic and Baltic authorities have struggled to prove intent and convict anyone including Wan for the incidents.

"There has been no response to the legal assistance request that Finland sent to Hong Kong," Finnish state prosecutor Ari-Pekka Koivisto told Reuters by email. "As far as I understand, Estonia's legal assistance request has also not been answered."

The NewNew Polar Bear first severed three telecom cables; a Russian one linking St Petersburg to Russia's Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad; and ‌two others connecting Estonia to Finland and Sweden on Oct. 7-8, 2023, before ​hitting the gas pipeline on its way to a port near St Petersburg, Russia.

Estonian ​police have investigated the damage to Estonian telecom cables, ​while the owner of the Russian cable, state company Rostelecom, has said it won't seek compensation.

Early on, China's ‌foreign ministry promised both Finland and Estonia to assist ​with the investigations, while calling for ​an objective and fair probe.

Ian Chan, a prosecution lawyer for Hong Kong's Marine Department that has regulatory oversight over the port city's maritime industry shipping registry, told reporters that he had not made contact with Finnish or Estonian authorities regarding the case.

He ​noted, however, that Wan's ship, when it ‌sailed from Russia to China, had been missing an anchor, and it had failed to report daily to its shipping ​company, as is required under maritime regulations.

(Reporting by James Pomfret and Greg Torode in Hong Kong; Anne Kauranen in ​Helsinki; Editing by Anne Marie Roantree, Christopher Cushing and Kim Coghill)

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — President Recep Tayyip Erdogan carried out a surprise mini Cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday, replacing the justice and interior ministers.

The Official Gazette announced that Istanbul Chief Prosecutor Akin Gurlek will serve as justice minister, replacing Yilmaz Tunc, while Mustafa Ciftci, governor of the eastern province of Erzurum, has been appointed interior Minister, succeeding Ali Yerlikaya.

No official reason was given for the shake‑up, though the Official Gazette said that Tunc and Yerlikaya had "requested to be relieved" of their duties.

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The changes come as Turkey is debating possible constitutional reforms and pursuing a peace initiative with the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, aimed at ending a decades‑long conflict. Parliament is expected to pass reforms to support the process.

Gurlek's appointment is considered controversial. The former prosecutor has led high‑profile trials against several members of the main opposition party, the Republican People's Party, or CHP.

Dozens of officials from CHP‑run municipalities have been arrested in corruption probes. Among them was Istanbul's mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, widely seen as Erdogan's chief rival, who was arrested last year.

Critics argue these prosecutions are politically motivated, while the government insists the judiciary acts independently.

SHANGHAI, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Eli Lilly has won Chinese regulators' approval for ‌its drug to treat chronic inflammatory ‌bowel disease, expanding the treatment's use to the world's ​second-largest pharmaceutical market, it said on Wednesday.

The drug, mirikizumab, is authorised as a treatment for moderately-to-severely active Crohn's disease and ‌ulcerative colitis, the ⁠U.S. drugmaker said in a statement on its official WeChat account.

The ⁠decision marks its China branch's first approval for an innovative medicine in the ​digestive immunity ​field, according to ​the statement. The drug ‌is already approved for treatment in several other countries, including the U.S.

Lilly, which also sells drugs in China for other diseases, including Alzheimer's, diabetes and obesity, did ‌not immediately respond to ​a Reuters request for ​comment on ​a launch date or costs.

The ulcerative ‌colitis therapy market in ​China will ​see "considerable growth" over the next decade, fueled by the launch and adoption ​of targeted ‌medicines like Lilly's drug, according to Clarivate.

(Reporting ​by Andrew Silver in Shanghai; ​Editing by Harikrishnan Nair)

HONG KONG (AP) — A Chinese sea captain of a Hong Kong-flagged vessel accused ofdamaging undersea cablesand a gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea in 2023 pleaded not guilty Wednesday in a Hong Kong court.

Wan Wenguo, captain of the Newnew Polar Bear container ship, appeared at a Hong Kong magistrate court and pleaded not guilty to one count of criminal damage. He also pleaded not guilty to two separate charges relating to violations of marine safety requirements for his vessel.

Cases of critical undersea cable and gas pipelines sabotaged in the Baltic Sea since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022 have raised security concerns among governments.

Finnish authorities previously determined the Newnew Polar Bear vessel was responsible for damaging the Balticconnector gas pipeline, which connects Finland and Estonia, in October 2023. Finland also sought China's cooperation in the investigation.

A charge sheet seen by The Associated Press accused Wan, who is in his 40s, of damaging a natural gas pipeline and submarine telecom cables between Finland and Estonia "without lawful excuse" and said he was "reckless as to whether such property would be damaged."

The case was heard at a Hong Kong court because the vessel was registered there. Around 18 witnesses could be called to testify, the court heard Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is refusing to consider Moderna's application for a new flu vaccine made with Nobel Prize-winning mRNA technology, the company announced Tuesday.

The news is the latest sign of the FDA'sheightened scrutiny of vaccinesunder Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., particularly thoseusing mRNA technology, which he has criticized before and after becoming the nation's top health official.

Moderna received what's called a "refusal-to-file" letter from the FDA that objected to how it conducted a 40,000-person clinical trial comparing its new vaccine to one of the standard flu shots used today. That trial concluded the new vaccine was somewhat more effective in adults 50 and older than that standard shot.

The letter from FDA vaccine director Dr. Vinay Prasad said the agency doesn't consider the application to contain an "adequate and well-controlled trial" because it didn't compare the new shot to "the best-available standard of care in the United States at the time of the study." Prasad's letter pointed to some advice FDA officials gave Moderna in 2024, under the Biden administration, which Moderna didn't follow.

According to Moderna, that feedback said it was acceptable to use the standard-dose flu shot the company had chosen — but that another brand specifically recommended for seniors would be preferred for anyone 65 and older in the study. Still, Moderna said, the FDA did agree to let the study proceed as originally planned.

The company said it also had shared with FDA additional data from a separate trial comparing the new vaccine against a licensed high-dose shot used for seniors.

The FDA "did not identify any safety or efficacy concerns with our product" and "does not further our shared goal of enhancing America's leadership in developing innovative medicines," Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said in a statement.

It's rare that FDA refuses to file an application, particularly for a new vaccine, which requires companies and FDA staff to engage in months or years of discussions.

Moderna has requested an urgent meeting with FDA, and noted that it has applied for the vaccine's approval in Europe, Canada and Australia.

In the last year, FDA officials working under Kennedy have rolled back recommendations around COVID-19 shots, added extra warnings to the two leading COVID vaccines — which are made with mRNA technology — and removed critics of the administration's approach from an FDA advisory panel.

Kennedy announced last year that his department would cancel more than$500 million in contractsand funding for the development of vaccines using mRNA.

FDA for decades has allowed vaccine makers to quickly update their annual flu shots to target the latest strains by showing that they trigger an immune response in patients. That's a far more efficient approach than running long-term studies tracking whether patients get the flu and how they fare. In an internal memo last year, Prasad wrote that the streamlined method would no longer be permitted – leadingmore than a dozen former FDA commissionersto pen an editorial condemning the statements.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

At least two dozen U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees and contractors have been charged with crimes since 2020, and the wrongdoing includes patterns of physical and sexual abuse, corruption and other misuses of authority,a review by The Associated Press found.

While most cases happened before Congress voted last yearto give ICE $75 billionto hire more agents anddetain more people, experts say such crimes could accelerate given the volume of new employees and their empowerment touse aggressive tacticsto deport people.

Almost every law enforcement agency contends with bad employees. But ICE's rapid growth and mission to deport millions are unprecedented, and the immense power that officers exercise over vulnerable populations can lead to abuses.

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that wrongdoing was not widespread in the agency, and that ICE "takes allegations of misconduct by its employees extremely seriously." She said that most new hires have worked for other law enforcement agencies, and that their backgrounds were thoroughly vetted.

"America can be proud of the professionalism our officers bring to the job day-in and day-out," she said.

Here are some takeaways from AP's findings:

ICE's growth could lead to problems like the Border Patrol saw

ICE announced last month that it had doubled in size in less than one year, to 22,000 employees, after a frenetic hiring spree.

After the Border Patrol doubled in size to more than 20,000 agents over a 7-year period ending in 2011, it was embarrassed by a wave of corruption, abuse and other misconduct by some of the new employees.

Former U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske recalled cases of agents who accepted bribes to let cars carrying drugs enter the U.S. or who became involved in human trafficking. He said ICE will likely see even more serious problems.

ICE agents are particularly "vulnerable to unnecessary use of force issues," given that they are conducting enforcement operations while facing protests, Kerlikowske said. With the number of people in ICE detention rapidly growing to 70,000, there are more opportunities for misconduct involving employees and contractors responsible for overseeing detainees.

Several ICE officials have been arrested in the last year

Arrests of ICE personnel over the last year have been a headache for the agency, which has labeled many of the people they deport as the "worst of the worst" because of their rap sheets.

The AP found at least nine such arrests across the country. They include the assistant ICE field office supervisor in Cincinnati, who has been jailed since December after a judge found he was a danger to the public who had violently assaulted his girlfriend for years.

Two ICE employees in Minnesota faced federal sexual misconduct charges related to underage girls last year, including an employment eligibility auditor arrested in a sting operation in November. The auditor has pleaded not guilty. An ICE investigator in the state pleaded guilty to sending images and videos of himself having sex with a 17-year-old girl, whose background he searched in a law enforcement database.

Two ICE agents face charges for incidents that occurred outside Chicago while they were off-duty but which involved their agency work. One was charged last month with assaulting a protester who was filming him at a gas station. Another was cited for driving drunk shortly after leaving work at a detention center with his government firearm in the vehicle.

Many of the cases involve violence and sexual abuse

The AP's review found a pattern of charges involving ICE employees and contractors who mistreated vulnerable people in their care.

A former top official at an ICE contract facility in Texas was sentenced to probation on Feb. 4 after acknowledging he grabbed a handcuffed detainee by the neck and slammed him into a wall last year. Prosecutors had downgraded the charge from a felony to a misdemeanor.

In December, an ICE contractor pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a detainee at a detention facility in Louisiana. Prosecutors said the man had sexual encounters with a Nicaraguan national over a five-month period in 2025 as he instructed other detainees to act as lookouts.

Other charges involved corruption

Other similarities involved ICE officials charged with abusing their power for financial gain.

A deportation officer in Houston was indicted last year on charges that he repeatedly accepted cash bribes from bail bondsmen in exchange for removing detainers ICE had placed on their clients targeting them for deportation. He has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of accepting bribes and was released from custody while awaiting trial.

Two Utah-based ICE investigators were sentenced to prison last year for a scheme in which they made hundreds of thousands of dollars stealing synthetic drugs known as "bath salts" from government custody and selling them for profit through government informants.