FTS 16:30 20-05: Iran declares 5 days of mourning after president's death
*ICC prosecutor demands arrest warrants for Israeli PM and Hamas leadership.
*Assange wins bid to appeal U.S. extradition ruling.
teleSUR
These and more stories now!
Visit our website: https://www.telesurenglish.net/ Watch our videos here: https://videos.telesurenglish.net/en
*Assange wins bid to appeal U.S. extradition ruling.
teleSUR
These and more stories now!
Visit our website: https://www.telesurenglish.net/ Watch our videos here: https://videos.telesurenglish.net/en
Category
đź—ž
NewsTranscript
00:00 In Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei approved the appointment of first vice president Mohammad
00:15 Mugber as the country's interim president and declared five days of mourning for the
00:19 death of President Ebrahim Raisi.
00:25 The International Criminal Court prosecutor demanded arrest warrants against Israeli Prime
00:29 Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Joav Galant and the top Hamas authorities
00:36 for war crimes.
00:41 And in the United Kingdom, the London High Court ruled Monday that Australian journalist
00:46 Julian Assange has the right to appeal his extradition to the United States.
00:50 Hello and welcome to From the South, I'm Alejandra Garcia from Tel Azzur Studios in
01:00 Havana, Cuba.
01:02 We begin with the news.
01:03 The leader of the Islamic Revolution in Iran, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, approved the
01:08 appointment of first vice president Mohammad Mugber as the country's interim president
01:13 on Monday.
01:14 Through a communique, the highest Iranian political authority assured that the vice
01:18 president is in the position of directing the executive power and is obligated to agree
01:24 on the election of a new president within a maximum period of 50 days.
01:29 In this regard, Khamenei declared five days of national mourning for the martyrdom of
01:33 President Sayyed Ebrahim Raisi after the helicopter in which he was being transported was involved
01:39 in an accident.
01:40 On the other hand, it was confirmed that the until now Iranian deputy foreign minister
01:45 Ali Baghdadi Kani will serve as acting foreign minister after the death of foreign minister
01:51 Hossein Amir Abdullahi.
01:55 Earlier, the Iranian government confirmed the death of President Ebrahim Raisi after
02:02 the helicopter in which he was traveling crashed near the border with Azerbaijan.
02:07 In an official statement, Iranian authorities said that the 73 rescue teams reached the
02:12 wreckage of the presidential helicopter and found no sign of life of any of the crew members
02:18 on board.
02:19 The Iranian government also emphasized that the search efforts were carried out in difficult
02:23 weather conditions with dense fog and extreme cold.
02:31 Let us review the route taken by the helicopter carrying Iranian President Sayyed Ebrahim
02:35 Raisi from his visit to the Qisqalasi Dam to the crash site.
02:40 The Sunday, Iranian President Sayyed Ebrahim Raisi traveled early in the morning to the
02:45 Qisqalasi Dam, located 220 kilometers northeast of the city of Tabriz on the Aras River joint
02:53 border between Azerbaijan and Iran.
02:56 On the way back, two of the three helicopters landed in the capital of the province of eastern
03:00 Azerbaijan, while the aircraft carrying the Iranian president reportedly crashed in the
03:06 mountainous area of Pindavur.
03:12 Ebrahim Raisi, 64 years old, served as national president since 2021 when he won the elections
03:19 with 61% of the votes in his favor.
03:22 He was also a member of the Assembly of Experts since 2007 and served as attorney general
03:28 between 2014 and 2016.
03:30 He also held the position of vice president of the Supreme Court from 2004 to 2021.
03:37 Under the mandate of Ebrahim Raisi, the state developed a strong foreign policy committed
03:41 to peace and regional stability.
03:43 He deeply rejected the Israeli genocide against the population of the Gaza Strip.
03:48 In the internal order, he managed to confront the sanctions imposed unfairly by the United
03:53 States.
03:54 Ebrahim Raisi grew up in Mashhad, home of the holiest Shia shrine in Iran.
03:59 Coming from a clerical family, he participated as a teenager in the 1971 revolution that
04:05 overthrew the Shia backed by the West.
04:11 In the absence of the president, the incumbent vice president takes over the responsibilities
04:16 of the executive branch, as provided for in the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of
04:21 Iran.
04:22 In Article 131, the Iranian constitution mandates that upon the death, dismissal, resignation,
04:28 absence or illness for a period of more than two months of the president, the vice president
04:34 should assume the reins of the country subject to the consent of the Supreme Leader of Iran.
04:41 In this regard, the temporary president should form a council with the presidents of the
04:46 Islamic Consultative Assembly and the judiciary, as well as the vice president, which in turn
04:51 in a period of no more than 50 days will proceed to elect the new Iranian president.
05:00 Now let's look at the profile of Mohammad Mugber, Iranian first vice president.
05:05 According to Article 131 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, he assumes
05:11 the acting presidency with the approval of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
05:16 Mohammad Mugber is an Iranian politician currently serving as the vice president of Iran as of
05:22 August 8th, 2021.
05:24 He was head of the execution of the order of Imam Khamenei.
05:29 Mugber holds two doctoral degrees, one in international law and one in administration.
05:35 He also serves as chairman of the board of directors of a major banking institution and
05:40 is deputy governor of the province of Uzbekistan.
05:43 He served as an officer in the medical corps of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps during
05:48 the Iranian-Iraq war.
05:56 Let's take a short break, but remember you can join us on TikTok at Telesur English,
05:59 where you will find news in different formats, news updates and more.
06:03 All the stories coming up, stay with us.
06:05 Welcome back.
06:33 In the Netherlands, the International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan demanded arrest
06:38 warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav
06:42 Galant.
06:43 Today, that I have reasonable grounds to believe on the basis of evidence collected and examined
06:51 by my office, that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense
06:59 Yoav Galant bear criminal responsibility for the following international crimes committed
07:06 on the territory of the State of Palestine from at least the 8th of October 2023.
07:14 The crimes include starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, willfully causing
07:20 great suffering, serious injury to body or health or cruel treatment, willful killing
07:28 or murder and intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population, as well as
07:35 crimes against humanity of extermination and/or murder, persecution and allegations of crimes
07:44 of committing other inhumane acts.
07:49 The ICC prosecutor also pointed out as criminally responsible for war crimes and crimes against
07:54 humanity the head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Yahid Jassinwar, the commander-in-chief of
08:00 the Qasem Brigades, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, and the head of the Hamas political
08:05 bureau, Ismail Haniyeh.
08:07 Prosecutor Karim Khan further stated that no one can act with impunity or justify starving
08:13 civilians as a method of warfare and stated that international humanitarian law is the
08:18 fundamental basis of human conduct in conflicts.
08:26 In Palestine, the Israeli army intensified its attacks on the Gaza Strip during the last
08:31 few days, causing the forced displacement of 810,000 people from Rafah.
08:36 Two hundred and twenty-seven days after the beginning of the genocide on the Gaza Strip,
08:41 the Israeli air raids and artillery bombardments targeted Palestinian homes in Rafah, Hebalia,
08:47 the city of Gaza, and the Nusayrat camp, among other places in the territory.
08:51 In this context, Doctors Without Borders reported that after an attack on the Hebalia refugee
08:57 camp, 34 patients arrived at Al-Auda Hospital, which no longer has drinking water.
09:03 For its part, the United Nations Agency for Palestine Refugees warned that the failure
09:07 to open land crossings foreshadows the continuation of catastrophic humanitarian conditions in
09:13 the Gaza Strip.
09:18 In Palestine, with a new land incursion that began about two weeks ago, the Israeli occupation
09:24 army killed more than 100 Gazatis.
09:27 Our correspondent Huda Hegassi gave us the details.
09:31 Yes, well, in the last few hours what the Israeli army has done is to increase the attacks
09:38 in the north and south of the Gaza Strip, and most of all they have given the order
09:44 of a new incursion in the government of Rafah, and therefore it will be expanded, this new
09:50 land incursion that began about two weeks ago, and with this the brigades of the Israeli
09:56 army which are in the Gaza Strip will increase to nine.
10:01 In the same context, in the last 24 hours, the Israeli army began to murder 106 Gazatis,
10:08 and about 300 wounded, a number that we haven't seen in the last few weeks, and has increased
10:15 in the last 24 hours.
10:17 And we're seeing even more attacks of the Israeli army here in the Gaza Strip.
10:26 On the Gaza Strip, dozens of men, women and children line up Monday outside a charity
10:31 in Mouassi in the southern city of Kanjounis to get some food amidst severe scarcity as
10:36 a result of the ongoing war.
10:37 Due to the shortage of cooking gas, people carried plastic containers to be filled with
10:43 pasta cooked in giant pots set over firewood.
10:47 The humanitarian situation worsened in early May, when the Zionist troops launched an operation
10:52 in the southern town of Rafah on Israel's capture of the main border crossing linking
10:57 the Gaza Strip to Egypt.
10:59 Rafah was the main entry point for fuel.
11:02 In this context, Israeli Defence Minister Joav Galant said Monday in talks with the
11:07 U.S. envoy that the army would expand its operations in the southern Gaza town.
11:13 We don't have food and water, so we ask for help, and people can see that we can't eat,
11:22 nor eat when it comes to us and the food.
11:27 We can't find food or water, and we take our children to the hospitals.
11:33 This pot will be used for sometimes they fill it half full, and sometimes they fill it full.
11:39 We were in Rafah, then came to Kanjounis.
11:42 Life is difficult because there is nothing here.
11:44 In Rafah, everything was available.
11:46 We live on canned food now that we bring from charities.
11:49 Had it not been for charities, we would have starved to death, me and my grandchildren.
11:56 On Sunday, thousands of Moroccans demonstrated in Casablanca their support for the Palestinian
12:01 people.
12:02 Social activist and human rights defender groups reiterated their call to the Prime
12:06 Minister of Morocco, Assis Kanoj, to break all kinds of relations with the government
12:12 of Tel Aviv.
12:13 It should be noted that the North African nation established diplomatic relations with
12:17 Israel in the framework of the Abraham Accords, mediated by the United States, which saw similar
12:24 movements by the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
12:27 In effect, the demonstrators highlighted the courage of the Palestinian people and rejected
12:32 the Western powers and the Zionist occupation.
12:37 We are here today to say to the valiant Palestinian resistance, to the steadfast Palestinian resistance
12:45 in the face of Zionist occupation and Western imperialism, to say that the Moroccan people,
12:51 as always, are always on the side of the Palestinian resistance.
12:55 In the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader was elected president for a second term with
13:10 over 59% of the votes.
13:13 Abinader obtained a wide advantage over Leonel Fernandez, who received 27.30% of the votes,
13:21 while Abel Martinez obtained 10.41%.
13:24 Likewise, both candidates recognized the victory of Luis Abinader.
13:29 Electoral authorities reported a turnout of 24.31%.
13:39 Dear Dominicans,
13:41 Thank you, dear Dominicans.
13:43 Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
13:46 The civic spirit and the participation of each one of you have been fundamental to strengthen
13:51 our institutions and to present once again the image of the exemplary country with deep
13:55 democratic convictions that we are.
14:00 Now let's go to topics of the United States, violence, insecurity and the use of firearms
14:05 that continues to be one of the main issues ahead of the presidential elections in November.
14:10 The US organization Gun Violence Archive pointed out that so far in 2024, mass shootings are
14:15 more common nationwide.
14:17 In this context, the organization reported 165 mass shootings in the first five months
14:23 of the year.
14:24 11 out of the total shootings registered so far have resulted in mass murder.
14:29 A total of 6,289 deaths have been the result of homicide, suicide or unintentional injury,
14:38 where guns have been the cause of death.
14:40 A total of 528 minors, including children and teenagers, have been victims of gun violence
14:46 in 2024.
14:52 We have a final short break coming up, but before we invite you to join our WhatsApp
14:56 community for our English speaking audience, you can scan the QR code on screen to join
15:00 directly and share the link to reach more people.
15:02 Consent to this coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the rest of
15:06 the world.
15:07 Stay connected and informed with Telesur.
15:09 Final short break.
15:10 Don't go away.
15:10 Stay connected.
15:20 Welcome back to From the South.
15:21 In the United Kingdom, the London High Court ruled Monday that Australian journalist Julian
15:26 Assange has the right to appeal his extradition to the United States.
15:30 Two London High Court judges granted Assange permission to appeal, having previously asked
15:35 Washington to provide satisfactory assurances about free speech protections at any U.S.
15:40 trial.
15:41 The journalist will now face another court battle in his long-running legal case after
15:45 the U.K. government approved his extradition in June 2022.
15:50 His defense attorney told the court that they did not accept assurances given by U.S. prosecutors
15:55 that Assange would be able to rely on First Amendment rights and protections.
16:00 Assange is wanted by Washington for publishing hundreds of thousands of secret U.S. documents
16:05 exposing their war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq.
16:12 In the meantime, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the United Kingdom's High Court of
16:16 Justice in support of journalist Julian Assange.
16:19 The ruling was welcomed with cheers and slogans in support of Julian Assange.
16:23 The journalist's legal team indicated that in case of an unfavorable outcome, Assange
16:28 could have been on a plane to the United States in less than 24 hours.
16:33 Stella Assange expressed her intention to take the case to the European Court of Human
16:37 Rights.
17:00 In this regard, the Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva posted and ex the following.
17:05 "Julian Assange, the journalist who should have won the Pulitzer Prize for revealing
17:10 the secrets of the powerful, has been in prison for five years in England condemned to the
17:15 silence of all the press that should defend his freedom in the framework of the fight
17:20 for freedom of expression.
17:21 I hope the persecution against Assange ends and he returns to freedom as soon as possible."
17:26 On Monday, Niger and the United States announced they have reached an agreement to withdraw
17:36 US troops deployed in the West African nation by 15 September at the latest.
17:42 The decision comes after the government of Niamey said their presence was illegal.
17:46 Precisely, Amadou Abdelhamade, spokesman for the military junta that governs Niger, announced
17:52 the end of the military cooperation agreement with the United States, taking into account
17:58 the aspirations and interests of the people.
18:01 The official also expressed that the US military presence violates all constitutional norms.
18:06 The United States has around 650 soldiers in Niger, with a major drone base near Agadez
18:13 in the north of the country.
18:14 Niger has already overseen the withdrawal of troops from France, the former colonial
18:19 power and traditional security ally.
18:24 "Niger Ministry of National Defence and the United States Department of Defence have reached
18:31 a disengagement agreement for the withdrawal of United States forces."
18:49 In Guatemala, forest fires destroyed more than 40,000 hectares of forest between the
18:54 end of 2023 and up to date.
18:56 According to the National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction, a total of 40,700 hectares
19:02 of green areas have been completely burned, which is 42% more than the 28,700 hectares
19:09 that were destroyed in the same period of the previous year.
19:12 They also warned that so far there have been 2,314 fires registered throughout 2024.
19:20 The fire crisis has been influenced by record temperatures that exceeded 40 degrees Celsius
19:26 and thermal sensations of 49 degrees Celsius.
19:33 In Bali, educational authorities suspended academic activities in several localities
19:38 of the country due to poor air quality caused by high temperatures, which led to the contamination
19:43 of the atmosphere with toxic smoke as a result of forest fires in the territory.
19:54 Let's go now to the world of sports to learn more about Latin American athletes and their
19:59 classification for the Olympic Games, because the double Pan-American champion Jocelyn Brea
20:04 secured her birth for the Paris 2024 Games.
20:08 The Venezuelan athlete surpassed the minimum mark of 14 minutes and 45 seconds needed to
20:13 qualify for the Olympic Games in the 5,000 metres race at the Grand Prix of Los Angeles
20:19 in the United States, securing her first Olympics with a national and South American record
20:24 of 14 minutes, 36 seconds and 59 hundredths.
20:29 With this result, Jocelyn Brea becomes the 26th athlete of the Venezuelan delegation
20:34 that will attend the summer event.
20:40 Another athlete who will be at the Paris 2024 Games is 57-year-old Shilian Tania Cheng,
20:46 who made history by qualifying for her first Olympic Games.
20:51 The achievement came after winning the gold medal in the second qualifying table tennis
20:55 tournament held in Lima, Peru.
20:58 It is worth noting that Cheng was a professional player in her youth and has been retired for
21:03 a long time.
21:09 In the NBA playoffs, Indiana Pacers defeated New York Knicks 130-109 to reach the Eastern
21:18 Conference Finals.
21:19 The Madison Square Garden hosted the seventh game with a strong performance by the visiting
21:24 team.
21:25 The locals could not respond to the Pacers' effectiveness in blocking and defense.
21:30 The Indiana Pacers will go head-to-head against the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference
21:37 Finals.
21:42 We move on to the Western Conference.
21:44 Timberwolves made history by defeating the defending champions the Ember Nuggets with
21:49 a historic comeback after finishing the game 98-90 in the seventh game.
21:55 With this result, current MVP Nikola Djokic said goodbye to the season with 34 points
22:02 and incredible 19 rebounds and 7 assists, while Karl-Anthony Towns stood out with 23
22:08 points and 12 rebounds.
22:10 The Wolves will face the Dallas Mavericks in the Conference Finals.
22:17 This way, everything is ready for the final four teams to face each other for their Conference
22:22 titles and to secure their trip to the finals.
22:25 In the West, Minnesota Timberwolves as the third seed will face the Dallas Mavericks
22:31 as fifth seed, while in the East, the Eastern defending champion Boston Celtics as the first
22:37 seed will take on the Indiana Pacers as the sixth seed.
22:42 It is worth noting that both series will be played best of seven and the winners will
22:47 play for the championship starting on June 6.
22:54 We have come to the end of this news brief, but you can find these and many other stories
22:57 on our website at www.telesudyinglish.net and join us on social media, Facebook, Instagram,
23:02 Instagram, Telegram and TikTok.
23:04 For Telesudy English, I'm Alejandra Garcia.
23:06 Thank you for watching.
23:07 [Music]