NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
_1 Mayor confesses: A former mayor of Tehran, who once served as one of Iran’s vice presidents, has been arrested on suspicion of murdering his wife, who was found dead in her bathtub Tuesday, shot several times. The former mayor, Mohammad Ali Najafi, 67, was handed over to prosecutors Wednesday, according to the staterun news outlet IRNA. The news outlet reported that Najafi had turned himself over to the police and had confessed to shooting his second wife, Mitra Ostad, 35. Gun crime is rare in Iran, and Najafi’s prominent political status has made the crime all the more shocking. Najafi has held several prominent ministerial positions in the Iranian government and served as vice president for cultural heritage and tourism under President Hassan Rouhani from 2013 to 2014.
_2 Boat disaster: Seven people were confirmed dead and at least 20 were missing early Thursday after a sightseeing boat carrying at least 32 South Korean passengers and two crew members collided with another vessel and sank in the Danube River in downtown Budapest. Rescue officials said seven bodies had been recovered. Pal Gyorfi, spokesman for the National Ambulance Service, said seven people were rescued and hospitalized in stable condition following the accident Wednesday night. Dozens of rescue personnel, including from the military and divers, were involved in the search.
_3 Hells Angels ban: A Dutch court has outlawed the Hells Angels motorcycle gang, calling it a violent organization that is a danger to public order. Wednesday’s ruling by the Central Netherlands Court in Utrecht banned the Dutch arm of the gang and its international mother organization. It is the latest in a series of court decisions outlawing motorcycle clubs in the country. It remains unclear how the ban will be enforced.
_4 Nigerian president: Muhammadu Buhari began his second term as head of Africa’s most populous nation on Wednesday, facing heightened pressure to defeat Islamic extremism and boost the oil-dependent economy amid concerns over his health. The 76-yearold former military dictator read the oath of office from a card. He did not make a speech. Governors also were sworn in across the West African nation, though the ceremony was canceled in Buhari’s home state of Katsina in the north because of security concerns. Buhari won the February election despite having spent more than 150 days outside the country for unspecified medical treatment during his first term. Along with a 25% unemployment rate and widespread poverty, Nigeria continues to confront a multitude of security threats that loom over Buhari’s second term.
_5 Vatican correction: The Vatican communications office on Wednesday corrected the Italian transcript of Pope Francis’ comments about disgraced ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. Earlier, it had omitted Francis’ claim that he didn’t remember if he had been told in 2013 of McCarrick’s penchant for sleeping with seminarians. The omission gave the impression that Francis flatly denied knowing anything about McCarrick, whereas the full comment, provided initially only in the Spanish version, makes clear he didn’t remember. That distinction is at the root of the scandal over the Vatican’s years-long cover-up of McCarrick. Francis in February defrocked McCarrick after a church investigation found that he had sexually abused minors as well as adult seminarians. From 1986 to 2000, McCarrick was Archbishop of Newark, N.J.