Iran official points to more open elections
AFP, Tehran
A senior Iranian official has suggested in an interview with AFP that authorities may be more open than in the past in approving candidates for a looming parliamentary election.
“We don’t consider ourselves immune from criticism. We may also accept that mistakes have been made in the past,” said Guardian Council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodaee. “But for the next legislative elections we are trying to reduce our mistakes and respect the rights of candidates.”
Two children killed,
1 missing in Arizona as winter storm blankets US
Reuters, Phoenix
Two children were found dead and another was missing in Arizona on Saturday after the vehicle they were in became stuck while crossing a storm-swollen forest creek outside Phoenix, part of a post-Thanksgiving winter storm that pummeled wide swathes of the country.
The storm system has been slowly moving eastward across the United States, clogging the Midwest with snow and disrupting flights on the busiest travel weekend of the year.
Freed Taliban prisoner recounts SEAL rescue attempts
AP, Sydney
An Australian teacher held captive with an American colleague by the Taliban for more than three years believes U.S. special forces tried and failed six times to free them. Timothy Weeks was released last month in a prisoner swap along with Kevin King, ending an ordeal that began with their abduction in 2016 outside the American University in Kabul, where they worked.
Balkan countries rush to help in Albanian earthquake
AP, Tirana
In the initial hours after a deadly pre-dawn earthquake struck Albania, pancaking buildings and trapping dozens of sleeping people beneath the rubble, the country’s neighbors sprang into action.
Offers of help flooded in from across Europe and beyond, with even traditional foes setting aside their differences in the face of the natural disaster.
