Iranians mourn Hamas leader Haniyeh's death in Tehran

A mourning ceremony and funeral procession was held in Tehran on Thursday for top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Iran on Wednesday.

Hamas Politburo Chief Ismail Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards were killed early Wednesday when their residence was hit in Tehran, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said on the same day.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei presided over the mourning ceremony in Tehran, and martial law was imposed on nearby streets, with only pedestrians allowed.

Residents held up portraits of Haniyeh and the Iranian and Palestinian flags on streets to express their condolences for the late Hamas leader and their support for the Palestinian people, and called on the Iranian government to severely punish the murderer and take retaliatory actions against Israel.

"I think Iran should defend its rights against this injustice and respond to this crime so that Israel will not do this again in Iran," said Iranian resident Morad.

Many residents said that Israel has carried out many similar assassinations in Iran over the years, and this assassination of the top Hamas official in Iran is to divert the pressure Israel faces from the resistance front.

The resistance front is a term often used to refer to an unwritten regional coalition comprising mainly Shiite countries and groups in West Asia, which seek to fight Israel and end its occupation of the Palestinian territories and free the region from the West's domination.

"Israel has done many similar assassination operations and now they are trying to make up for their failure in Gaza, but Israel will not achieve anything they want to achieve," said another resident Mohammad.

Many also believed that the United States, as a supporter and ally of Israel, has continued to provide full support to Israel in various fields since the current round of conflict broke out, and the United States has always been the main factor causing unrest in the Middle East.

"If the United States could provide security for the region, there wouldn't be so many deaths in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. The United States will cause destruction wherever it goes. The United States, a country that claims to fight terrorism, is itself a major supporter of terrorists, their words are false," said Abu Gasim, a resident.

Haniyeh's body will be transferred to Qatari capital Doha ahead of his burial on Friday.

Iranians mourn Hamas leader Haniyeh's death in Tehran

The leading stars of '100 Yards,' a martial arts action movie, spoke in Beijing on Friday at the film's premiere about their challenging yet rewarding experience of learning martial arts.

The story, set in north China's Tianjin City in the 1920s, concerns the fierce fights between the son of a martial club's leader and his leading student.

Xiang Zuo and Tang Shiyi, the leading actor and actress of the film, shared their experience of learning martial arts from Liang Shaohong, their Kung Fu teacher in Zhuhai City, Guangdong Province, in southern China.

Xiang, a long-time action movie star, said that learning Wing Chun, a concept-based traditional southern Chinese Kung Fu style, and Bazhandao, a series of techniques using a pair of short swords, still posed a challenge for him.

"Wing Chun and Bazhandao use strength in the opposite direction compared with the martial arts I learned before. I had to relearn how to use my strength. So, my martial arts teacher Liang spent a lot of time teaching me, about three to six hours per day," said Xiang.

Tang, a professional dancer with no prior experience in martial arts, said that learning Kung Fu alongside fellow actors and actresses helped forge strong, genuine bonds within the film's production team.

"Because of the movie, director Xu Haofeng invited me to come to Zhuhai, and I am very honored to have learned Wing Chun from martial arts teacher Liang Shaohong. We learned a particular style of Wing Chun, and we learned it step by step from the teacher and the senior martial artists. We were just like a huge family and the atmosphere there was relaxed," said Tang.

"100 Yards" stars share their experience of learning martial arts