Iran Executes Dissident Journalist Ruhollah Zam

Iranian dissident journalist Ruhollah Zam. File photo
Iranian dissident journalist Ruhollah Zam. File photo
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Iran Executes Dissident Journalist Ruhollah Zam

Iranian dissident journalist Ruhollah Zam. File photo
Iranian dissident journalist Ruhollah Zam. File photo

Iran on Saturday executed Ruhollah Zam, a former opposition figure who had lived in exile in France and was convicted of fomenting violence in anti-government protests, state television said.

The broadcaster said the "counter-revolutionary" Zam was hanged in the morning after the supreme court upheld his sentence due to "the severity of the crimes" committed against Iran.

The Revolutionary Guards announced the arrest of Zam in October last year, claiming he was "directed by France's intelligence service."

State television said he was "under the protection of several countries' intelligence services."

Zam was charged with "corruption on earth" -- one of the most serious offences under Iranian law -- and sentenced to death in June.

The official IRNA news agency said he was also convicted of espionage for France and an unnamed country in the region, cooperating with the "hostile government of America", acting against "the country's security," insulting the "sanctity of Islam" and instigating violence during the 2017 protests.

At least 25 people were killed during the unrest in December 2017 and January 2018 that was sparked by economic hardship.

Zam, who reportedly lived in Paris, ran a channel on the Telegram messaging app called Amadnews.

His feed had more than one million followers.

Telegram shut down the channel after Iran demanded it remove the account for inciting an "armed uprising” but it later reappeared under another name.



Woman, Boy Drown off Greece After Migrant Boat Sinks

The Greek coast guard rescues refugees and migrants. (AFP/Getty Images)
The Greek coast guard rescues refugees and migrants. (AFP/Getty Images)
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Woman, Boy Drown off Greece After Migrant Boat Sinks

The Greek coast guard rescues refugees and migrants. (AFP/Getty Images)
The Greek coast guard rescues refugees and migrants. (AFP/Getty Images)

A boat carrying over 50 migrants sank off the Greek coast, killing a woman and a boy and leaving three others missing, the coastguard said Sunday.

"Fifty migrants have been rescued and are being cared for by the authorities," after the accident off the island of Ikria in the northern Aegean Sea, a spokeswoman said.

"A rescue operation with a coastguard vessel is underway, and a team of rescuers and divers is expected later today," she said.

Strong winds were hampering rescue efforts, according to public broadcaster ERT.

Ikaria lies close to Türkiye's western coast, a frequent setoff point for migrants trying to enter the European Union.

Many migrants also take the much longer route from Libya to Crete in southern Greece.

The perilous crossings are often fatal. In early December, 17 people were found dead after their boat sank off Crete and 15 others were reported missing. Only two people survived.

According to the UN refugee agency 107 people died or went missing in 2025 off the Greek coast. The International Organization for Migration says about 33,000 migrants have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean since 2014.


Cuba Defends Military Drills as Deterrent Against US Aggression

 A man pushes a tricycle past a jeep sporting a wheel cover with an image based on the US flag in Havana on January 23, 2026. (AFP)
A man pushes a tricycle past a jeep sporting a wheel cover with an image based on the US flag in Havana on January 23, 2026. (AFP)
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Cuba Defends Military Drills as Deterrent Against US Aggression

 A man pushes a tricycle past a jeep sporting a wheel cover with an image based on the US flag in Havana on January 23, 2026. (AFP)
A man pushes a tricycle past a jeep sporting a wheel cover with an image based on the US flag in Havana on January 23, 2026. (AFP)

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel defended his country's military preparedness exercises on Saturday as a deterrent against potential aggression from the United States.

US President Donald Trump this month warned that Cuba "is ready to fall" and told Havana to "make a deal" or pay a price similar to Venezuela, whose ousted leader Nicolas Maduro was taken to America by US forces in a January 3 bombing raid that killed dozens of people.

Venezuela was a key ally of Cuba and a critical supplier of oil and money, which Trump has vowed to cut off.

Diaz-Canel on Saturday supervised military exercises that included a tank unit from Cuba's armed forces.

He was accompanied by Cuban General Alvaro Lopez Miera, who is the minister of the armed forces, and other high-ranking military officials.

"The best way to prevent aggression is for imperialism to have to calculate the price of attacking our country," Diaz-Canel said in remarks broadcast on Cuban television.

"And that has a lot to do with our preparation for this type of military action... This takes on significant importance in the current circumstances," he added.

Cuba's National Defense Council, which is led by Diaz-Canel, recently met "with the objective of increasing and improving the level of preparedness and cohesion" among the country's leadership, according to an official government statement.

The council met to "analyze and approve the plans and measures for transitioning to a State of War," the statement added, without providing further details.

These military exercises are part of the country's preparation "under the strategic concept of the War of the Entire People," a term used by authorities for the mobilization of civilians in the event of armed conflict.


Indonesian Rescuers Struggle with Mud and Debris in Search for Dozens Missing After Deadly Landslide

Debris from destroyed houses remains after a landslide struck in Pasirlangu village, Bandung, West Java, on January 24, 2026. (AFP)
Debris from destroyed houses remains after a landslide struck in Pasirlangu village, Bandung, West Java, on January 24, 2026. (AFP)
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Indonesian Rescuers Struggle with Mud and Debris in Search for Dozens Missing After Deadly Landslide

Debris from destroyed houses remains after a landslide struck in Pasirlangu village, Bandung, West Java, on January 24, 2026. (AFP)
Debris from destroyed houses remains after a landslide struck in Pasirlangu village, Bandung, West Java, on January 24, 2026. (AFP)

Indonesian rescuers struggled Sunday with mounds of mud, debris and water‑soaked ground, searching for dozens still missing after a landslide triggered by torrential rains the day before on the country’s main island of Java killed at least 11 people.

The predawn landslide roared down the slopes of Mount Burangrang in West Java province on Saturday, burying some 34 houses in Pasir Langu village. On Sunday, 79 people remained missing, many feared buried under tons of mud, rocks and uprooted trees.

About 230 residents living near the site have been evacuated to temporary government shelters. Rescue workers retrieved two more bodies on Sunday morning, bringing the death toll to 11, according to Ade Dian Permana from the search and rescue office.

Videos released on Saturday by the country's search and rescue agency, known as Basarnas, showed rescuers using farm tools and bare hands to pull a mud-caked body from the ground and placing it in an orange bag to take away for burial.

Heavy equipment and excavators were mostly idle because the ground was too soft and unstable.

"If the slope does not stabilize; crews are prepared to continue manually," Permana said, estimating the height of the mounds of mud to be up to 5 meters (16 feet)

“Some homes are buried up to the roof level,” he added.

Visiting the area on Sunday, Indonesian Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka pledged that authorities would take measures to prevent similar disasters. He urged the local authorities in West Java and West Bandung to "address the issue of land conversion in disaster-prone areas,” including ways to reduce risks.

Basarnas chief Mohammad Syafii confirmed to reporters after visiting the devastated Pasir Langu village with Gibran, that the terrain condition and bad weather continue to complicate search operations on Sunday.

“We are at the mercy of the weather, and the slide is still mud ... flowing and unstable,” Syafii said. “With the area this wide, we’ll use every asset we have ... drones, K‑9 teams and ground units, but safety comes first.”

Seasonal rains and high tides from about October to April frequently cause flooding and landslides in Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains.