Day: January 4, 2024
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NPR News: 01-04-2024 4AM EST
The Iranian Embassy in Yerevan will open a condolence book from 10 am to pm on Friday, January 5, after deadly blasts in the city of Kerman that claimed dozens of lives.
The Embassy has lowered the flag to half-mast in respect to the victims of the tragedy.
According to latest updates, at least 84 people were killed and 284 were injured on Wednesday when two bomb blasts went off ten minutes apart near the burial site of Iran’s top commander General Qassem Soleimani in Kerman, where a large crowd of people had gathered to mark the fourth anniversary of his death.
Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, vowed the “terrorist attack” would be met with a “harsh response”.
There were no immediate claims from any groups for what is believed to have been the deadliest such attack in Iran in 42 years.
Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian has announced that Iran is taking “immediate legal and international actions” through the United Nations over the terror attacks in Kerman that left dozens of people dead.
“Based on preliminary information from official sources, this ministry has initiated immediate legal and international actions through the United Nations regarding the terrorist attack in Kerman,” Amirabdollahian said in a statement posted on X on Thursday.
Donald Trump has asked the US Supreme Court to reverse a Colorado ruling that barred him from running for president in that state, the BBC reports.
Colorado’s top court said last month Mr Trump was not an eligible candidate as it said he had engaged in insurrection over the US Capitol riot.
His appeal comes a day after he challenged a similar decision by Maine.
Dozens of lawsuits have been filed in multiple states seeking to disqualify Mr Trump from the November 2024 ballot.
Courts in Minnesota and Michigan have dismissed similar efforts to disqualify the former US president.
In other states, such as Oregon, cases revolving around the current Republican frontrunner’s eligibility are still pending.
A US Supreme Court ruling on the issue of Mr Trump’s eligibility would be binding nationwide.
In Maine and Colorado, Mr Trump was removed from the ballot after legal challenges that accused him of inciting the US Capitol riot of 6 January 2021.
The 14th Amendment of the US Constitution bans anyone who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” from holding federal office.
In a statement, the Trump campaign accused the Colorado Supreme Court and President Joe Biden, a Democrat, of “doing all they can to disenfranchise all American voters by attempting to remove President Trump”.
“This is an un-American, unconstitutional act of election interference which cannot stand,” campaign spokesman Steven Cheung added.
“We urge a clear, summary rejection of the Colorado Supreme Court’s wrongful ruling and the execution of a free and fair election in November.”
