TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Thousands gathered on the streets of Taipei on Saturday for the Taiwan Pride parade, one of Asia’s largest annual celebrations of inclusivity.
Attendees, many dressed in colorful costumes, walked waving flags and banners with messages of support for gender equality. Some hailed from across the region, from places like Vietnam, Hong Kong and Japan.
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Participants attend the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Participants revel through a street during the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Participants revel through a street during the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Participants revel through a street during the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Participants revel through a street during the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Participants revel through a street during the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Participants attend the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
A participant poses during the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Participants attend the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Participants attend the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Taiwan Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim, center, cheers during the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Taiwan Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim, first from right, cheers during the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Participants revel through a street during the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Participants attend the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Participants pose during the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Participants attend the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Participants attend the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Taiwan has built a reputation as one of Asia’s most gender-inclusive places. The island democracy in 2019 was the first in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage after a yearslong campaign by gay rights advocates.
Saturday’s parade overlapped with Halloween celebrations, with some attendees’ costumes pulling double duty for both events.
“More and more people come to participate in the parade every year,” said an attendee who only gave his first name, Daniel, citing fear of stigmatization, and wore a winged centaur costume and vampire teeth.
“Gender equality … is very important, especially in Asia where there are still many conservative countries,” he added. “Taiwan is relatively democratic and free, so everyone comes to Taiwan to participate in the parade for gender equality and speak up for equal rights.”
Nick Van Halderen, a drag performer from New Zealand who lives in Taipei, expressed excitement about reuniting with friends from across the region.
“I feel like after COVID, it’s just very special to have everyone come from overseas again,” Van Halderen said. “It still feels like quite a novelty.”
The Taiwan Pride parade began in 2003 with just 700 participants gathering in a park in central Taipei — most of them wearing face masks to avoid stigmatization.
Organizers of Saturday’s event said they hoped to create a safe space where everyone felt comfortable to express themselves.
Associated Press writer Simina Mistreanu contributed to this report.
Participants attend the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Participants revel through a street during the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Participants revel through a street during the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Participants revel through a street during the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Participants revel through a street during the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Participants revel through a street during the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Participants attend the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
A participant poses during the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Participants attend the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Participants attend the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Taiwan Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim, center, cheers during the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Taiwan Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim, first from right, cheers during the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Participants revel through a street during the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Participants attend the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Participants pose during the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Participants attend the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
Participants attend the annual Taiwan LGBT Pride parade in Taipei, Taiwan, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump warned Iran to open the crucial Strait of Hormuz by his Monday deadline and Tehran called his threat “unbalanced and foolish." The search for a missing U.S. military pilot continued Saturday in a remote part of the Islamic Republic.
Trump has called Tehran “beaten and completely decimated " in the war, now in its sixth week, but the downing of two U.S. warplanes on Friday and Iran’s call to find the “enemy pilot” have again raised the stakes.
“The doors of hell will be opened to you” if Iran’s infrastructure is attacked, Gen. Ali Abdollahi Aliabadi with the country's joint military command said late Saturday in response to Trump’s renewed threat, state media reported. In turn, the general threatened all infrastructure used by the U.S. military in the region.
The war began with joint U.S.-Israel strikes on Feb. 28 and has killed thousands, shaken global markets, cut off key shipping routes and spiked fuel prices. Both sides have threatened, and hit, civilian targets, bringing warnings of possible war crimes.
“We will continue to crush them,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, and confirmed that Israel's military struck a petrochemical complex in Mahshahr that he said helps to fund the war. Five people were killed and 170 injured, Iranian state media reported, citing a provincial security official.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said that an airstrike hit near its Bushehr nuclear facility, killing a security guard and damaging a support building. The head of Russia’s state nuclear corporation, Rosatom, said that 198 workers were being evacuated. It was the fourth time the facility was targeted.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Tahir Andrabi, told The Associated Press that his government’s efforts to broker a ceasefire are “right on track" after Islamabad last week said that it would soon host talks between the U.S. and Iran.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said that Iranian officials “have never refused to go to Islamabad.”
Mediators from Pakistan, Turkey and Egypt were working to bring the U.S. and Iran to the negotiating table, according to two regional officials.
The proposed compromise includes a cessation of hostilities to allow a diplomatic settlement, according to a regional official involved in the efforts and a Gulf diplomat briefed on the matter. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss closed-door diplomacy.
Trump reminded Iran of his deadline in a social media post: “Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT. Time is running out — 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them."
The U.S. warplane, identified by Iran as a F-15E Strike Eagle, was one of two attacked on Friday. Iran’s joint military command on Saturday said that it also struck two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters, but the AP couldn’t independently verify that.
The search for the U.S. pilot focused on a mountainous region in Iran’s southwestern province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad. An anchor on a channel affiliated with Iranian state television urged residents to hand over any “enemy pilot” to police.
In an email from the Pentagon, obtained by the AP, the military said that it received notification of “an aircraft being shot down” in the Middle East. A U.S. crew member was rescued. The Pentagon notified the U.S. House Armed Services Committee that the status of a second service member wasn't known.
Trump told NBC News that what happened wouldn't affect negotiations with Iran.
A second U.S. Air Force combat aircraft went down in the Middle East on Friday, according to a U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military situation. It wasn't clear if the aircraft crashed or was shot down, or whether Iran was involved.
Iranian state media said a U.S. A-10 attack aircraft crashed in the Persian Gulf after being struck by Iran’s defense forces.
The Dubai offices of tech company Oracle was hit after Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened the firm. Footage verified by the AP outside the UAE showed a large hole in the building's southwestern corner.
The sheikhdom’s Dubai Media Office, which speaks for its government, noted a “minor incident caused by debris from an aerial interception that fell on the facade," saying there were no injuries. Oracle Corp., based in Texas, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Guard has accused some large U.S. tech companies of being involved in “terrorist espionage” operations against the Islamic Republic and called them legitimate targets. Amazon Web Services facilities in the UAE and Bahrain were hit in earlier drone strikes.
Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, issued a veiled threat late Friday to disrupt traffic through a second strategic waterway in the region, the Bab el-Mandeb.
The strait, 32 kilometers (20 miles) wide, links the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. More than a tenth of seaborne global oil and a quarter of container ships pass through it.
“Which countries and companies account for the highest transit volumes through the strait?” Qalibaf wrote.
More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began.
In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen people have died, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel and 13 U.S. service members have been killed. In Lebanon, more than 1,400 people have been killed and there have been more than 1 million displaced people. Ten Israeli soldiers have died there.
Jon Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Samy Magdy from Cairo. Munir Ahmed in Islamabad; Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia; and Konstantin Toropin, Seung Min Kim, Will Weissert, Michelle L. Price, Lisa Mascaro and Ben Finley in Washington, contributed to this report.
A displaced family, who fled Israeli bombings in southern Lebanon, make a bonfire next to a tent used as a shelter in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
People raise their hands during a protest calling for an end to the war in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Maya Levin)
People raise their hands during a protest calling for an end to the war in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Maya Levin)
A worker cleans an area within the Grand Hosseiniyeh complex, with the mosque visible in the background, that officials say was hit by U.S.-Israeli airstrikes Tuesday in Zanjan, Iran, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Followers of Iraq's Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr chant slogans as they wave national Iraqi flag during a protest against U.S. and Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran, in Tahrir Square, Baghdad, Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
A bedroom is damaged in a building struck in an Israeli airstrike in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Travelers arrive to cross into Turkey at the Razi border crossing, in Razi, Iran, Saturday, April 4, 2026.(AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Israeli security forces inspect damage at an apartment building struck by an Iranian missile in Petah Tikva, Israel, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Maya Levin)
A photographer takes pictures of damage at Shahid Beheshti University after U.S.-Israeli airstrikes Friday in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Travelers approach on foot the border crossing with Turkey at the Razi crossing in Razi, Iran, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
A row of chairs is seen through a hole left by U.S.-Israeli airstrikes Friday at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, April 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Israeli security forces and rescue teams inspect a site struck by an Iranian missile in Petah Tikva, Israel,Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
A boy who fled with his family following Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon sits inside the van they are using as shelter in Sidon, Lebanon, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
Iraqi women hold a portrait of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his son Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, during a protest against U.S. and Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran, in the Shi'ite district of Kazimiyah in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
A woman checks a destroyed house that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Saksakiyeh village, south Lebanon, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A bridge struck by U.S. airstrikes on Thursday is seen in the town of Karaj, west of Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
