IRAN
Mosque fire convict hanged
A man convicted of helping set fire to a major mosque in Tehran, and of collaborating with Israel and the US during pre-war protests was executed yesterday, the judiciary said. “Amir Ali Mirjafari ... one of the armed elements collaborating with the enemy who had attempted to set fire to the Gholhak Grand Mosque and was the leader of the Mossad network’s anti-security activities in that area, was hanged this morning,” the judiciary’s Mizan Online Web site reported. Mizan said the incident took place during protests that broke out in late December last year over rising living costs before evolving into nationwide anti-government demonstrations that peaked on Jan. 8 and 9. Tehran has in the past few weeks carried out multiple executions of people linked to the protests, whom authorities accused of acting on behalf of Israel, the US or opposition groups.
UNITED STATES
Labor secretary resigns
Lori Chavez-DeRemer on Monday resigned as labor secretary amid allegations of misconduct at the department. Her deputy, Keith Sonderling, is to serve as acting secretary, the White House said. “While my time serving in the Administration comes to a conclusion, it doesn’t mean I will stop fighting for American workers. I am looking forward to what the future has in store as I depart for the private sector,” Chavez-DeRemer said a statement. Her departure makes her the third to leave President Donald Trump’s Cabinet in recent weeks. Kristi Noem was fired as secretary of homeland security last month and Pam Bondi left as attorney general less than a month later. Trump had been weighing a broader Cabinet reshuffle as he grows increasingly frustrated with the political fallout from the war with Iran, five people familiar with internal White House discussions told Reuters earlier this month. Chavez-DeRemer’s tenure was fraught with allegations of misconduct at the department that resulted in the resignations of her chief of staff and deputy chief of staff. The department’s inspector general has launched a probe into Chavez-DeRemer and her aides, including claims that they sent personal text messages and requests to young staff members, the New York Times reported.
NICARAGUA
Ortega says Trump unstable
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega on Monday accused US President Donald Trump of being mentally unstable for his military offensive against Iran that has roiled the Middle East and the global economy. Ortega has a fraught relationship with Washington, which has branded the Nicaraguan government a dictatorship, accusing its leaders of seizing total power with a constitutional rewrite and crushing dissent. Ortega had maintained a measured tone on Trump following the start of the war in Iran on Feb. 28. “The war being waged in the way the current US president is waging it is typical of someone who has lost their mind and thinks they can do whatever they want, any kind of cruelty,” Ortega said during an event in Managua broadcast by state-run media. “It’s a problem of, let’s just say, mental instability. As we say here, he’s not in his right mind,” he added. The 80-year-old former guerrilla also criticized Trump for posting an artificial intelligence-generated image on social media depicting the US president as Jesus Christ. “He posted an image there in which he is dressed as Christ and is performing healings. How many has he actually healed? The American people and the people of the world will hold him to account to find out how many he has killed,” Ortega said of Trump.
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
Former Lima mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga, a Peruvian presidential hopeful, gathered hundreds of supporters in Lima on Tuesday and gave authorities 24 hours to annul the first round of the country’s election over allegations of fraud. Lopez Aliaga is locked in a tight three-way race with two other candidates for second place in Sunday’s vote. The election runner-up wins a ticket to June’s presidential run-off against front-runner Keiko Fujimori. “I am giving them 24 hours to declare this electoral fraud null and void,” said Lopez Aliaga, surrounded by a crowd of several hundred supporters. “If it is not declared null and void tomorrow,
Four contenders are squaring up to succeed Antonio Guterres as secretary-general of the UN, which faces unprecedented global instability, wars and its own crushing budget crisis. Chile’s Michelle Bachelet, Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan and Senegal’s Macky Sall are each to face grillings by 193 member states and non-governmental organizations for three hours today and tomorrow. It is only the second time the UN has held a public question-and-answer, a format created in 2016 to boost transparency. Ultimately the five permanent members of the UN’s top body, the Security Council, hold the power, wielding vetoes over who leads the
A humanoid robot that won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday ran faster than the human world record in a show of China’s technological leaps. The winner from Honor, a Chinese smartphone maker, completed the 21km race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, said a WeChat post by the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, also known as Beijing E-Town, where the race began. That was faster than the human world record holder, Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo, who finished the same distance in about 57 minutes in March at the Lisbon road race. The performance by the robot marked a significant step forward
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