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.
The Philippine Department of Justice yesterday labeled Vice President Sara Duterte the “mastermind” of a plot to assassinate the nation’s president, giving her five days to respond to a subpoena. Duterte is being asked to explain herself in the wake of a blistering weekend press conference where she said she had instructed that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr be killed should an alleged plot to kill her succeed. “The government is taking action to protect our duly elected president,” Philippine Undersecretary of Justice Jesse Andres said at yesterday’s press briefing. “The premeditated plot to assassinate the president as declared by the self-confessed mastermind
Texas’ education board on Friday voted to allow Bible-infused teachings in elementary schools, joining other Republican-led US states that pushed this year to give religion a larger presence in public classrooms. The curriculum adopted by the Texas State Board of Education, which is controlled by elected Republicans, is optional for schools to adopt, but they would receive additional funding if they do so. The materials could appear in classrooms as early as next school year. Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has voiced support for the lesson plans, which were provided by the state’s education agency that oversees the more than
Ireland, the UK and France faced travel chaos on Saturday and one person died as a winter storm battered northwest Europe with strong winds, heavy rain, snow and ice. Hampshire Police in southern England said a man died after a tree fell onto a car on a major road near Winchester early in the day. Police in West Yorkshire said they were probing whether a second death from a traffic incident was linked to the storm. It is understood the road was not icy at the time of the incident. Storm Bert left at least 60,000 properties in Ireland without power, and closed
CONSPIRACIES: Kano suspended polio immunization in 2003 and 2004 following claims that polio vaccine was laced with substances that could render girls infertile Zuwaira Muhammad sat beside her emaciated 10-month-old twins on a clinic bed in northern Nigeria, caring for them as they battled malnutrition and malaria. She would have her babies vaccinated if they regain their strength, but for many in Kano — a hotbed of anti-vaccine sentiment — the choice is not an obvious one. The infants have been admitted to the 75-bed clinic in the Unguwa Uku neighbourhood, one of only two in the city of 4.5 million run by French aid agency Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Kano has the highest malaria burden in Nigeria, but the city has long
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