'Violence Erupts At Tehran Protest'

Witnesses say protesters and riot police are clashing in the streets around Iran's parliament.

Three witnesses told The Associated Press hundreds of protesters have gathered in a square next to the parliament building in defiance of government orders to halt demonstrations demanding a new presidential election.

The police beat the protesters with batons, released tear gas and fired gunshots in the air, the witnesses said.

Some demonstrators reportedly fought police while others fled to another of the city's squares about one mile to the north.

Another witness told Reuters news agency police and protesters clashed in Baharestan Square but said there were no casualties.

However, a woman who said she witnessed the violence told CNN: "This is a massacre."

Amateur video posted on the internet purportedly shows the chaos on the streets amid the renewed violence.

Young men and women can be seen throwing rocks and pushing barricades, one blazing, in the street.

Others shout: "Death to the dictator!"

It is not possible to verify the video because of government reporting restrictions.

Iran has ordered journalists for international news agencies to stay in their offices, barring them from reporting on the streets.

But Twitter users, who claim to be in Tehran, are also saying police are beating people on the streets and shooting "people like animals".

"I see many ppl with broken arms/legs/heads - blood everywhere - pepper gas like war," persiankiwi writes in English.



"They were waiting for us - they all have guns and riot uniforms - it was like a mouse trap - ppl being shot like animals."

Sky News does not know who this user is but they have supplied information over the last week which appears to suggest they are messaging from inside Iran.

Twitter user persiankiwi also reported seeing seven or eight militia using batons to beat a woman on the ground.

"She had no defence nothing - sure that she is dead."

The user goes on to say people are fleeing into alleys where militia are waiting for them, writing: "From 2 sides they attack ppl in middle of alleys."

Mousavi Urges Mass Iran Rally

Iran's opposition leader has reportedly called for a mass rally on Thursday in a direct challenge to the nation's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Defeated presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi is apparently urging his supporters to keep protesting over a disputed election and the alleged deaths of demonstrators.

New Phone Line To Pay Tax For Faster Internet

A tax on telephone lines will help pay for ambitious plans to rewire Britain so that super-fast broadband is available to all, it has been revealed.

The newly-released Digital Britain report proposes charging households with landlines an extra 50p a month to subsidise broadband provision in rural areas.

It aims to ensure every home in Britain has access to 2MB-per-second broadband by 2012 - a speed fast enough to use online shopping services and social networks.

Commenting on the levy, Sky's Ursual Errington said: "It is a form of tax and will have to go through legislative processes and a consultation period.

"This shows how seriously the Government is taking this idea of a broadband roll-out to as many people as possible."

Meanwhile, those who misuse broadband will be targeted by new measures outlined in the report.

They would give communications regulator Ofcom new powers to clamp down on people who persistently download music and films illegally.

Introducing the report, Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw told MPs that the Government intended to upgrade all national radio stations from analogue to digital by 2015.

He also spoke about changes to the licence fee spending, which could see part of the cash ring-fenced to pay for public service programmes on non-BBC channels.

This could amount to £130m a year from 2013 for ITV local news, shows for children and other important but less profitable programming.

The cash will come from the pot that had been put aside to pay for the switchover to digital - which is expected to come in under budget.

In an article written for the Times newspaper before the Digital Britain report release, the Prime Minister said he he believed there was an urgent need to invest in internet and telecoms networks.

"Just as the bridges, roads and railways built in the 19th century were the foundations of an Industrial Revolution that helped Britain to become the workshop of the world, so investment now in the information and communications industries can underpin our emergence from recession," he wrote.