IRAN
Presidential runoff held
Iranians yesterday went to vote in a presidential runoff amid voter apathy and heightened regional tensions. The run-off follows a June 28 ballot with historic low turnout, when more than 60 percent of Iranian voters abstained from the snap election for a successor to Ebrahim Raisi, following his death in a helicopter crash. The low participation is seen by critics as a vote of no confidence in the Islamic republic. Yesterday’s vote was seen as a tight race between low-key lawmaker Masoud Pezeshkian, the sole moderate in the original field of four candidates, and hardline former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili. Polls opened at 8am and were to close at 6pm, but they are usually extended until as late as midnight. The final result is to announced today.
SOUTH KOREA
Stabber gets 15 years
A man who stabbed an opposition leader in the neck earlier this year was yesterday sentenced to 15 years in prison, court officials said. The knife-wielding man attacked Lee Jae-myung, head of the liberal Democratic Party, the nation’s biggest political party, in January after approaching him asking for his autograph at an event in Busan. After being detained by police, he told investigators that he wanted to kill Lee to prevent him from becoming the president. The Busan District Court said the man was handed the prison term after being found guilty of attempted murder and a violation of an election law. The court said the man and prosecutors have one week to appeal. The attack happened ahead of the parliamentary elections in April, which ended with the Democratic Party and other opposition parties winning a massive victory against President Yoon Suk-yeol’s conservative governing party.
UNITED STATES
Diddy sued for sex assault
Superstar rapper and music industry mogul Sean Combs has been sued by a former adult film star for sexual assault and sex trafficking, court filings showed. Combs is the target of several civil lawsuits that characterize him as a violent sexual predator who used alcohol and drugs to subdue his victims, and his homes were raided this year by federal agents. The hip-hop artist, known as both Puff Daddy or Diddy, used actress Adria English as a “sexual pawn for the pleasure and financial benefit of others” during his lavish “White Parties” in the Hamptons and Florida between 2004 and 2009, the complaint alleged. The latest lawsuit, filed in Manhattan on Wednesday, brings to nine the number of claims against Combs since November last year.
? PAKISTAN
Paraglider falls to death
A Brazilian paraglider plummeted to his death in northern Pakistan, an official said yesterday, the fourth foreign adventurer to die in the area since last month. Northern Pakistan, home to towering peaks including K2, the world’s second-highest mountain, attracts tourists from across the globe with its breathtaking scenery. Chaddad Raineri Rodrigo, 55, was part of a seven-member team trekking to the base camp of K2, but was the only one who chose to paraglide. “When he started paragliding his parachute burst and he fell,” local police spokesman Muhammad Nazir said by phone from Shigar, where the accident happened. The man’s body has been recovered and would be returned to Brazil after consultations with his family, Nazir said. Three Japanese climbers also died in two separate incidents earlier this summer climbing season.
RALLYING CRY: Former US president Donald Trump has raised suspicions about why Chinese migrants are going to the US and advocacy groups worry about his rhetoric The US Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday said that it sent 116 Chinese migrants from the US back home in the first “large charter flight” in five years. The flight, which happened over the weekend, comes as Chinese immigration has become the subject of intense political debate in the upcoming US presidential election. “We will continue to enforce our immigration laws and remove individuals without a legal basis to remain in the United States,” US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. The department said it was working with China to “reduce and deter irregular migration and to disrupt
‘ONE FELL SWOOP’: Overturning a landmark ruling that said judges should defer to experts would ‘cause a massive shock to the legal system,’ a dissenting opinion said Prosecutors overstepped in charging Jan. 6, 2021, rioters with obstruction for trying to prevent certification of the 2020 presidential election, the US Supreme Court said on Friday, throwing hundreds of cases into doubt, while another controversial ruling struck down 40 years of legal precedent on federal agencies’ ability to regulate critical issues. The matter was brought to the court through an appeal by former police officer Joseph Fischer, a supporter of former US president Donald Trump who entered the Capitol with hundreds of others in 2021. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts said prosecutors’ interpretation of the law would “criminalize
The US yesterday wrapped up its first multidomain exercise with Japan and South Korea in the East China Sea, a step forward in Washington’s efforts to enhance and lock in its security partnerships with key Asian allies in the face of growing threats from North Korea and China. The three-day Freedom Edge increased the sophistication of previous exercises with simultaneous air and naval drills geared toward improving joint ballistic-missile defense, anti-submarine warfare, surveillance and other skills and capabilities. The exercise, which is expected to expand in years to come, was also intended to improve the countries’ abilities to share missile warnings —
SOUTH CHINA SEA DISPUTE: The Philippines prefers to handle operations on its own, and would exhaust all possible options before asking for help, the military chief said The Philippines has turned down offers from the US to assist operations in the South China Sea, after a flare-up with China over missions to resupply Filipino troops on a contested shoal, its military chief said. Tensions in the disputed waterway have boiled over into violence in the past year, with a Filipino sailor losing a finger in the latest June 17 clash that Manila described as “intentional high-speed ramming” by the Chinese coast guard. The US, a treaty ally, has offered support, but Manila prefers to handle operations on its own, Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief General Romeo Brawner told