Iranian security forces arrested three critics of the government, summoned another and confiscated their electronic devices, media reported on Monday. Iranian news outlets, including the private, pro-reform Shargh daily, said that security forces in separate operations raided the homes of journalist Parviz Sedaghat, 61, Mahsa Asadollahnejad, a sociologist, and Shirin Karimi, a translator. The Shargh report said authorities confiscated electronic devices of Mohammad Maljou, a 53-year-old economist, and summoned him to appear before security officials. It said there was no information about Maljou after he willingly left his home to appear before the security body. Reportedly the four are leftist...
California Father Who Killed His 7-Month-Old Son Sentenced To More Than 30 Years In Prison
A Southern California father who pleaded guilty to killing his missing 7-month-old son was sentenced Monday to more than 30 years in prison. Jake Haro, 32, was sentenced after he pleaded guilty last month to the second-degree murder of his son, Emmanuel, the Riverside County District Attorney’s office said in a statement. A monthslong investigation has failed to locate the child’s remains. Haro and his wife, Rebecca, had reported the baby was kidnapped outside a store in Southern California in August, saying Rebecca Haro was attacked and left unconscious while changing the boy’s diaper. The case drew widespread attention as authorities and members of...
First Clinical Trial Of Pig Kidney Transplants Gets Underway
The first clinical trial is getting underway to see if transplanting pig kidneys into people might really save lives. United Therapeutics, a producer of gene-edited pig kidneys, announced Monday that the study’s initial transplant was performed successfully at NYU Langone Health. It’s the latest step in the quest for animal-to-human transplants. A second U.S. company, eGenesis, is preparing to begin its own pig kidney clinical trial in the coming months. These are the first known clinical trials of what is called xenotransplantation in the world. To protect the study participant’s identity, researchers aren’t releasing information about when the NYU surgery was performed or...
Powerful 6.3 Earthquake Hits Northern Afghanistan, Killing 20 And Damaging Historic Blue Mosque
A powerful 6.3 magnitude earthquake shook northern Afghanistan before dawn Monday, killing at least 20 people and injuring more than 640 others, as well as damaging the historic Blue Mosque, officials said. The numbers of people killed or injured could rise, officials said. In the town of Khulm, near the epicenter, people dug through the rubble of collapsed mud brick homes with shovels and picked through debris to salvage what belongings they could. Local resident Ahmad Zia said the air was polluted from all the dust that rose from the ruins of houses. “We pulled the bodies of two people from the...
Israel Hands Over Bodies Of 45 Palestinians After Hamas Returns The Remains Of 3 Soldiers
Israel handed over the bodies of 45 Palestinians on Monday, the Red Cross said, a day after militants returned the remains of three hostages. Israeli officials identified the three as soldiers who were killed in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023 that triggered the war in Gaza. The exchange marked another step forward for the tenuous, U.S.-brokered ceasefire intended to end the deadliest and most destructive war ever fought between Israel and Hamas. Since the truce took effect on Oct. 10, Palestinian militants have released the remains of 20 hostages, with eight now remaining in Gaza. For each Israeli hostage returned, Israel has been...
Israel Rocked By Scandal As Top Military Lawyer Resigns, Goes Missing, Is Found And Thrown Into Jail
Until last week, Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi was the Israeli army’s top lawyer. Now she is behind bars and at the center of a scandal rocking the country after a bizarre sequence of events that included her abrupt resignation, a brief disappearance and a frantic search that led authorities to find her on a Tel Aviv beach. The soap opera-worthy saga was touched off last week by Tomer-Yerushalmi’s explosive admission that she approved the leak of a surveillance video at the center of a politically divisive investigation into allegations of severe abuse against a Palestinian at a notorious Israeli military prison. The video shows...
Trump: There’s no religious genocide in Nigeria, says Governor Sule
Reacting to the recent post by US President Donald Trump on truth social, Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has said that there is no any religious genocide in Nigeria. Speaking as a guest on Arise TV on Monday as monitored in Lafia, Governor Sule said Trump must have been misinformed about the true situation of things in Nigeria. According to the Governor, having lived in Houston, United States, he is knowledgeable about how the system works in the US. “I think it’s just unfortunate. It is a process of governance. I lived in the United States. We sponsored congressmen....
NATO Member Romania Signs Agreement With Germany’s Rheinmetall To Build A Gunpowder Plant
NATO member Romania signed an agreement Monday with German defense company Rheinmetall to build a gunpowder factory in central Romania, as Europe races to rearm itself in the face of an increasingly provocative Russia. After signing the deal, Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan hailed the joint venture between the Romanian state and Europe’s largest arms producer as a sign that Romania is “emerging as a player with potential in the defense industry of Southeast Europe.” Construction of the 535 million-euro ($616 million) plant in the town of Victoria in Brasov County is expected to start in 2026, take three years to complete...