Helicopter carrying Iran’s president Raisi suffers ‘hard landing’: State TV
Iranian interior minister says search operations under way after incident near Jolfa in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province.
A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi has suffered a “hard landing”, state television reported, as officials said search operations were under way but were being impeded by poor weather conditions.
Iranian state media said the incident occurred on Sunday near Jolfa in Iran’s East Azerbaijan province.
The semi-official Fars news agency urged Iranians to pray for Raisi and state TV carried prayers for his safety.
Raisi was returning from a visit to neighbouring Azerbaijan, where he had travelled to inaugurate a dam alongside the country’s President Ilham Aliyev.
Brazil counts cost of worst-ever floods with little hope of waters receding soon
Death toll in southern state of Rio Grande do Sul increasing daily as authorities plan four ‘tent cities’ for 77,000 displaced people
Three weeks after one of Brazil’s worst-ever floods hit its southernmost state, killing 155 people and forcing 540,000 from their homes, experts have warned that water levels will take at least another two weeks to drop.
The death toll across Rio Grande do Sul is still increasing daily, and more than 77,000 displaced people remain in public shelters, prompting the state government to announce plans to build four temporary “tent cities” to accommodate them.
On Friday, the state’s governor, Eduardo Leite, said the costs to rebuild will be “much higher” than the 19bn reais (£2.9bn) he initially estimated.
Dominican Republic elections overshadowed by Haiti crisis
The election in the Dominican Republic is widely seen as a referendum on the highly popular incumbent and anti-corruption crusader, Luis Abinader. The crisis in neighboring Haiti dominated the election campaign.
Voters in the Dominican Republic head to the polls Sunday to choose the next president and members of parliament. With widespread support for his tough stance on migration from troubled neighbor Haiti, President Luis Abinader is poised for a comfortable re-election.
Voting officially began at 7:00 a.m. local time (1100 GMT) and will continue until 5:00 p.m., with the first results expected a few hours later.
Opinion polls show Abinader with 60% of voter support against 25% for his closest rival, Leonel Fernandez, a 70-year-old three-time ex-president. If Abinader exceeds 50% of the vote, he will win another term without the need for a second-round runoff vote.
Dissident Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof flees to Europe ahead of Cannes premiere
Iranian film director Mohammad Rasoulof said Monday he had left Iran after being sentenced to jail on national security charges, a day ahead of the opening of the Cannes Film Festival where his new film is in the main competition.
"I am grateful to my friends, acquaintances, and people who kindly, selflessly, and sometimes by risking their lives, helped me get out of the border and reach a safe place on the difficult and long path of this journey," Rasoulof, whose film "The Seed of the Sacred Fig" is to premiere at Cannes, wrote on his official Instagram page.
Rasoulof was sentenced by an Iranian court to eight years in jail, of which five were due to be served, on charges of "collusion against national security", his lawyer Babak Paknia said last week.
"I can confirm that Mohammad Rasoulof has left Iran and will attend the Cannes festival," Paknia told AFP on Monday.
Documents trace secret 1960 deal on U.S. warships carrying nukes
By NAOTAKA FUJITA/ Senior Staff Writer
May 19, 2024 at 19:01 JST
Japan allowed U.S. nuclear-armed warships to call at its ports without prior consultation in a secret agreement during Cold War negotiations leading to a revision to the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty in 1960, U.S. documents show.
The Japanese government has adamantly denied such a secret arrangement existed.
Takashi Shinobu, a professor emeritus at Nihon University in Tokyo and an expert on the history of Japan-U.S. diplomacy, analyzed more than 20 U.S. government documents obtained after 2004 from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration and the National Security Archive, a U.S. nonprofit organization.
The Israeli military says its forces are fighting and carrying out strikes across Gaza
From Michael Schwartz in Jerusalem
The Israel Defense Forces has given further details of its ground operations around the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza, now into their second week.
The IDF said it has made dozens of strikes in the area to assist the forces who are fighting "armed terrorist cells" on the ground.
The military said “the soldiers have located large quantities of weapons, including explosives, anti-tank missiles, AK-47s, drones and grenades.”
The Israeli military has re-entered parts of northern and central Gaza, it says, to combat efforts by Hamas to re-establish itself in these areas.
Reports from the ground: Displaced Palestinians in Jabalya tell CNN that heavy Israeli bombardment has wrought "death and horror" at the camp. Some 300 houses were completely destroyed over the course of seven days, according to Mahmoud Bassal, a spokesperson for the civil defense emergency services in Gaza.
Bassal's teams had recovered at least 150 bodies and rescued hundreds of wounded people at the refugee camp as of Saturday, he told CNN.
In southern Gaza: The IDF said the Israeli Air Force killed a senior Hamas operative in Rafah. The IDF claims he was actively involved in the smuggling of weapons and funds in the Gaza Strip.
Overall, the IDF said the Air Force had struck dozens of targets, including what it claimed were "two tactical-level Hamas commanders who were preparing to attack IDF troops in the Rafah area."
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