Former Tehran mayor sentenced to death for killing wife

17:37, July 30, 2019

• 

  Deaths as bomber detonates in Mogadishu mayor’s office

  Medical workers help civilian on stretcher who was wounded in suicide bomb, at Madina hospital, Mogadishu, Wednesday, July 24, 2019. (Photo: AP)A suicide bomber walked into the office of Mogadishu’s mayor and detonated explosives strapped to his waist, killing several people and badly wounding the mayor, Somali police said Wednesday.The attack occurred shortly after the new United Nations envoy to Somalia, James Swan, had paid the mayor a “courtesy call” and left the compound, an official at the mayor’s office told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.The UN mission in Somalia in a tweet before the bombing postedphotosof the smiling mayor and new envoy, saying Swan had received an overview of the “challenges” in the region.The mayor, Abdirahman Omar Osman, and his deputy were rushed to a hospital with critical wounds and two district commissioners were among the dead, said police Capt. Mohamed Hussein.It was not clear how the bomber managed to enter the mayor’s office during a security meeting. Some security officials said the attacker might have coordinated with corrupt officials, offering them bribes for access.The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group claimed responsibility. It often targets government buildings such as the presidential palace and other high-profile parts of Mogadishu with bombings.The security officials said Wednesday’s attack appeared to be a shift in tactics, as the extremists in the past had rarely managed to infiltrate heavily fortified government buildings without first detonating one or more vehicle bombs.The Somalia-based al-Shabab was chased out of Mogadishu years ago but still controls parts of the Horn of Africa nation’s south and central regions and is a frequent target of US airstrikes.

• 

  Mayor: Hawaiian leaders want to meet again on telescope

  In this Sunday, July 14, 2019, file photo, the sun sets behind telescopes at the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. (Photo: AP)The man tasked with trying to find a way out of an impasse over the construction of a giant telescope in Hawaii says he met with Native Hawaiian leaders. But the only issue they reached a consensus on was to meet again.Hawaii County Mayor Kim said Monday he met Native Hawaiian community leaders, including many from Oahu.He says the group didn’t include protesters currently blocking a road to Mauna Kea’s summit, where an international consortium has a state permit to build a telescope. Kim says he met with protest leaders earlier when he visited the spot where they are blocking the road.Hawaii Gov. David Ige last week asked Kim to take the lead on finding common ground with protesters. The protest is on its 15th day.

• 

  NYC mayor calls for probe as many wait for power to return

  New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called for an investigation Monday of power outages that came at the end of this weekends oppressive heat, saying he no longer trusts utility Con Edison after it decided to turn off power to thousands of customers.Citizens sit across the street from their apartment building on West 64th Street after losing power during a major blackout on July 13, 2019 in New York City. (File photo: VCG)Around 30,000 customers in Brooklyn were taken off power Sunday, so the utility could make repairs and prevent a bigger outage, de Blasio had said earlier.On Monday, he offered a blistering assessment of that decision."This should not have happened," he told reporters, "and we need to make sure it doesnt happen again."De Blasio said the private company is "not accountable to the public in a way a public agency would be.""Con Ed is very haughty about this," the mayor said. "They dont give real answers, and they dont feel they have to."The company defended its decision, saying in a statement to The Associated Press that it was "necessary to prevent longer outages to the impacted customers that would have occurred as a result of additional equipment damage.""We are completely focused on getting customers back in service, and we regret the distress they are under," spokesman Allan Drury wrote in an email.De Blasios remarks came as Con Ed was working to restore power to about 19,000 customers, many of them in southeast Brooklyn.The utility said in an emailed statement that it was working to restore power to everyone by the afternoon.At one point, less than 8,000 remained without power, mostly in Brooklyn, but a line of severe thunderstorms rolled through the area, downing some power lines and flooding streets. By 10 p.m. Monday, roughly 18,000 customers had no power, with most of the new outages affecting Queens.Like much of the East Coast, New York City experi...