IRAN
Four men executed
The government yesterday executed a man convicted of leading a human trafficking and prostitution ring, a day after hanging three men linked to protests triggered by Mahsa Amini’s death, the judiciary said. “Following confirmation of the sentence of Shahrouz Sokhanvari, aka Alex, in the supreme court, he was hanged this morning,” the judiciary’s Mizan Online news Web site said. Sokhanvari was charged with “corruption on Earth” for “establishing and managing a wide network of prostitution at the international level, which has been attracting Iranian and foreign girls,” Mizan added. Sokhanvari’s execution came a day after Iran hanged three men found guilty of waging “war against God” for shooting dead three members of the security forces at a demonstration in the central city of Isfahan on Nov. 16 last year.
RUSSIA
Obama among 500 banned
Moscow on Friday said it banned entry to 500 Americans, including former US president Barack Obama, in response to sanctions imposed by Washington. “In response to the anti-Russian sanctions regularly imposed by the [US President Joe] Biden administration ... entry into the Russian Federation is closed for 500 Americans,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, adding that Obama was among those on the list. Among those listed were television hosts Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers.
UNITED STATES
Adidas to sell off Yeezys
Adidas on Friday said that it would begin selling its more than US$1 billion worth of leftover Yeezy sneakers later this month, with the proceeds to be donated to various anti-racism groups. The German sportswear brand said that recipients would include the Anti-Defamation League, which fights anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination, and the Philonise & Keeta Floyd Institute for Social Change, run by social justice advocate Philonise Floyd, the brother of George Floyd. “After careful consideration, we have decided to begin releasing some of the remaining Adidas Yeezy products,” said Adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden in a statement. “Selling and donating was the preferred option among all organizations and stakeholders we spoke to. There is no place in sport or society for hate of any kind and we remain committed to fighting against it.” Adidas terminated its partnership to make the sneakers with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, in October last year following anti-Semitic comments on social media and in interviews.
AUSTRALIA
Tasering draws outcry
Police will not release bodycam footage of an officer tasering a 95-year-old great-grandmother with dementia inside her nursing home, a state police chief said yesterday. The woman, Clare Nowland, is in a critical state in a hospital, three days after being shot with an electronic stun gun in a confrontation that shocked Australians and made international headlines. Asked about political calls for police body-worn video of the tasering to be released, New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb told a news conference: “I am not sure why they want to see it,” adding that an investigation was under way. New South Wales Senator David Shoebridge demanded police release the video. “My reaction, like millions of Australians who have heard this news is shock and disbelief,” he said. “How can it be reasonable use of force for police to be tasering a 95-year-old woman with dementia in a walking frame in a nursing home?”
‘UNUSUAL EVENT’: The Australian defense minister said that the Chinese navy task group was entitled to be where it was, but Australia would be watching it closely The Australian and New Zealand militaries were monitoring three Chinese warships moving unusually far south along Australia’s east coast on an unknown mission, officials said yesterday. The Australian government a week ago said that the warships had traveled through Southeast Asia and the Coral Sea, and were approaching northeast Australia. Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles yesterday said that the Chinese ships — the Hengyang naval frigate, the Zunyi cruiser and the Weishanhu replenishment vessel — were “off the east coast of Australia.” Defense officials did not respond to a request for comment on a Financial Times report that the task group from
Chinese authorities said they began live-fire exercises in the Gulf of Tonkin on Monday, only days after Vietnam announced a new line marking what it considers its territory in the body of water between the nations. The Chinese Maritime Safety Administration said the exercises would be focused on the Beibu Gulf area, closer to the Chinese side of the Gulf of Tonkin, and would run until tomorrow evening. It gave no further details, but the drills follow an announcement last week by Vietnam establishing a baseline used to calculate the width of its territorial waters in the Gulf of Tonkin. State-run Vietnam News
DEFENSE UPHEAVAL: Trump was also to remove the first woman to lead a military service, as well as the judge advocates general for the army, navy and air force US President Donald Trump on Friday fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General C.Q. Brown, and pushed out five other admirals and generals in an unprecedented shake-up of US military leadership. Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that he would nominate former lieutenant general Dan “Razin” Caine to succeed Brown, breaking with tradition by pulling someone out of retirement for the first time to become the top military officer. The president would also replace the head of the US Navy, a position held by Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman to lead a military service,
Four decades after they were forced apart, US-raised Adamary Garcia and her birth mother on Saturday fell into each other’s arms at the airport in Santiago, Chile. Without speaking, they embraced tearfully: A rare reunification for one the thousands of Chileans taken from their mothers as babies and given up for adoption abroad. “The worst is over,” Edita Bizama, 64, said as she beheld her daughter for the first time since her birth 41 years ago. Garcia had flown to Santiago with four other women born in Chile and adopted in the US. Reports have estimated there were 20,000 such cases from 1950 to
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