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Iran President-elect to Be Sworn in on July 30

Iran's reformist president-elect Masoud Pezeshkian
Iran's reformist president-elect Masoud Pezeshkian
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Iran President-elect to Be Sworn in on July 30

Iran's reformist president-elect Masoud Pezeshkian
Iran's reformist president-elect Masoud Pezeshkian

Iran's reformist president-elect Masoud Pezeshkian will take the oath of office in parliament on July 30, a member of the legislature's presiding board, Mojtaba Yousefi, said on Wednesday.
“The swearing-in ceremony of Masoud Pezeshkian will be held on July 30,” state news agency IRNA quoted Yousefi as saying.
Yousefi had said earlier this week that the swearing in would be held on August 4 or 5.
The 69-year-old reformist won a second-round runoff against ultraconservative Saeed Jalili. But the President in Iran retains limited authority, as ultimate power rests in the hands of the country's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, who is considered head of the State.
The Iranian presidential election was called early after the death of president Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May and amid public discontent caused by the deteriorating economic situation due to international sanctions imposed on Tehran.
On Wednesday, Hadi Tahan Nazif, the spokesperson for Iran's Constitutional Council affirmed that in accordance with the nation's constitution and historical precedents set after the Iranian Revolution, the presidency will continue to have a four-year tenure.
Nazif clarified that the president's four-year term commences immediately following the election.
He cited that the First Vice President retains the executive responsibility of the country until the new president takes the oath.
Meanwhile, the Tasnim news agency cited an “informed source” as saying that former Iranian deputy foreign minister and chief nuclear negotiator Abbas Araghchi is likely to become Iran’s new foreign minister.
It said that advisors to President-elect Masoud Pezeshkian have “almost reached a final conclusion” about the foreign minister post, and “the most likely option” is Araghchi.
Sources also confirmed that Araghchi has directly consulted in recent days with Pezeshkian about holding contacts with officials of the resistance groups and a number of regional heads of states.
On Tuesday, former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said he would not serve as a minister in the new cabinet or as the vice president.
“Based on the decisions aimed at rejuvenating the administration, 60% of the ministers will be first-timers under 50 years old,” he revealed.
Meanwhile, Pezeshkian on Wednesday met with former Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani and with senior government officials and high-profile figures.
The president-elect also met with Chief Justice of Iran, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, who underlined his full readiness to assist Pezeshkian in forming a new cabinet that is “in line with the Iranian Republic.”
He also affirmed the Judiciary readiness to assist the government in the realization of social justice.
Pezeshkian had met with Ali Akbar Ahmadian, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC).
During the meeting, Ahmadian affirmed to Pezeshkian the Council’s readiness for cooperation in political and security affairs with the government, according to Nour News, the news outlet close to Iran's SNSC.

 

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World

Macron to Meet Zelenskiy, Starmer and Merz in London on Monday

A heavily damaged train station building is pictured in the town of Fastiv, Kyiv region, after an air attack, on December 6, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine (Photo by Serhii Okunev / AFP)
A heavily damaged train station building is pictured in the town of Fastiv, Kyiv region, after an air attack, on December 6, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine (Photo by Serhii Okunev / AFP)
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Macron to Meet Zelenskiy, Starmer and Merz in London on Monday

A heavily damaged train station building is pictured in the town of Fastiv, Kyiv region, after an air attack, on December 6, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine (Photo by Serhii Okunev / AFP)
A heavily damaged train station building is pictured in the town of Fastiv, Kyiv region, after an air attack, on December 6, 2025, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine (Photo by Serhii Okunev / AFP)

French President Emmanuel Macron said he would travel to London on Monday to meet Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy as well as the British and German leaders, to discuss the situation in Ukraine and ongoing negotiations under US mediation.

"Ukraine can count on our unwavering support. That is the whole point of the efforts we have undertaken as part of the Coalition of the Willing," Macron said on X.

"We will continue these efforts alongside the Americans to provide Ukraine with security guarantees, without which there can be no robust and lasting peace.

For what is at stake in Ukraine is also the security of Europe as a whole," he added. Macron also condemned "in the strongest possible terms" the strikes that targeted Ukraine last night, in particular its energy and rail infrastructure.

"Russia is locked into an escalatory approach and is not seeking peace ... We must continue to put pressure on Russia to force it to make peace," he added, according to Reuters.

Widespread military activities overnight affected Ukraine's electricity grid and prompted operating nuclear power plants to reduce output, the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Saturday.

Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant temporarily lost all off-site power overnight, the IAEA said, citing its Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi.

World

Protesters Arrested after Smearing Custard and Crumble on Crown Jewels Case at Tower of London

Members of an organization called Take Back Power hold a sign as they stand after they threw food at a display case containing the Imperial State Crown, at Tower of London, in London, Britain, December 6, 2025. TAKE BACK POWER/Handout via REUTERS
Members of an organization called Take Back Power hold a sign as they stand after they threw food at a display case containing the Imperial State Crown, at Tower of London, in London, Britain, December 6, 2025. TAKE BACK POWER/Handout via REUTERS
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Protesters Arrested after Smearing Custard and Crumble on Crown Jewels Case at Tower of London

Members of an organization called Take Back Power hold a sign as they stand after they threw food at a display case containing the Imperial State Crown, at Tower of London, in London, Britain, December 6, 2025. TAKE BACK POWER/Handout via REUTERS
Members of an organization called Take Back Power hold a sign as they stand after they threw food at a display case containing the Imperial State Crown, at Tower of London, in London, Britain, December 6, 2025. TAKE BACK POWER/Handout via REUTERS

Four protesters were arrested Saturday after splattering food on the display case of a priceless diamond-encrusted crown at the Tower of London.

The Crown Jewels display was temporarily closed after members of a group called Take Back Power smeared apple crumble and poured yellow custard — two staples on British dessert menus — on the case containing the Imperial State Crown worn by King Charles III as he left his coronation ceremony in 2023 and during his speech to open Parliament in 2024.

The hefty crown, containing 2,868 diamonds, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds, four rubies and 269 pearls, was crafted for the coronation of Charles' grandfather, George VI, in 1937.

Police said the protesters were arrested on suspicion of criminal damage. But the invaluable jewels that are a major tourist draw were unharmed, The Associated Press quoted Historic Royal Palaces as saying.

The civil disobedience group that advocates for a permanent citizens' assembly and wants to tax extreme wealth said two of its members had thrown the food and two others were also arrested and taken into “custard-y.”

The stunt is one of many that has targeted prized treasures and artworks to draw attention to a political cause. Petroleum protesters were imprisoned last year for tossing a can of tomato soup on glass protecting Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers” at London’s National Gallery.

Video of the act at the Tower of London, once a royal palace also known as the prison where Anne Boleyn, Thomas More and others were executed, showed two protesters attacking the case as other visitors stepped back in shock.

After an employee intervened and radioed for help, the two demonstrators unfurled a sign saying, “Democracy has crumbled. Tax the rich.”

World

Russia Unleashes Massive Drone and Missile Attack on Ukraine

An owner of a small private shop is seen through the broken window waiting for customers after Russia's night missile attack on a residential neighborhood in Vyshgorod, outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
An owner of a small private shop is seen through the broken window waiting for customers after Russia's night missile attack on a residential neighborhood in Vyshgorod, outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
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Russia Unleashes Massive Drone and Missile Attack on Ukraine

An owner of a small private shop is seen through the broken window waiting for customers after Russia's night missile attack on a residential neighborhood in Vyshgorod, outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
An owner of a small private shop is seen through the broken window waiting for customers after Russia's night missile attack on a residential neighborhood in Vyshgorod, outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

Russia unleashed a major missile and drone barrage on Ukraine overnight into Saturday, after US and Ukrainian officials said they’ll meet on Saturday for a third day of talks aimed at ending the nearly 4-year-old war.

Following talks that made progress on a security framework for postwar Ukraine, the two sides also offered the sober assessment that any “real progress toward any agreement” ultimately will depend “on Russia’s readiness to show serious commitment to long-term peace.”

The statement from US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner as well as Ukrainian negotiators Rustem Umerov and Andriy Hnatov came after they met for a second day in Florida on Friday.

They offered only broad brushstrokes about the progress they say has been made as Trump pushes Kyiv and Moscow to agree to a US-mediated proposal to end the war.

Russia used 653 drones and 51 missiles in the wide-reaching overnight attack on Ukraine, which triggered air raid alerts across the country and came as Ukraine marked Armed Forces Day, the country’s air force said Saturday morning.

Ukrainian forces shot down and neutralized 585 drones and 30 missiles, the air force said, adding that 29 locations were struck, The Associated Press reported.

At least eight people were wounded in the attacks, Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko said.

Among these, at least three people were wounded in the Kyiv region, according to local officials. Drone sightings were reported as far west as Ukraine’s Lviv region.

Russia carried out a “massive missile-drone attack” on power stations and other energy infrastructure in several Ukrainian regions, Ukraine’s national energy operator, Ukrenergo, wrote on Telegram.

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant temporarily lost all off-site power overnight, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Saturday, citing its Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi.

The plant is in an area that has been under Russian control since early in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and is not in service, but it needs reliable power to cool its six shut-down reactors and spent fuel, to avoid any catastrophic nuclear incidents.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that energy facilities were the main targets of the attacks, also noting that a drone strike had “burned down” the train station in the city of Fastiv, located in the Kyiv region.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said its air defenses had shot down 116 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory overnight into Saturday.

Russian Telegram news channel Astra said Ukraine struck Russia’s Ryazan Oil Refinery, sharing footage appearing to show a fire breaking out and plumes of smoke rising above the refinery. The Associated Press could not independently verify the video.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces later said Ukrainian forces had struck the refinery. Ryazan regional Gov. Pavel Malkov said a residential building had been damaged in a drone attack and that drone debris had fallen on the grounds of an “industrial facility,” but did not mention the refinery.

Months of Ukrainian long-range drone strikes on Russian refineries have aimed to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue the war.

Meanwhile, Kyiv and its western allies say Russia is trying to cripple the Ukrainian power grid and deny civilians access to heat, light and running water for a fourth consecutive winter, in what Ukrainian officials call “weaponizing” the cold.

The latest round of attacks came as US President Donald Trump’s advisers and Ukrainian officials said they’ll meet for a third day of talks on Saturday, after making progress on finding agreement on a security framework for postwar Ukraine.

Following Friday’s talks, the two sides also offered the sober assessment that any “real progress toward any agreement” ultimately will depend “on Russia’s readiness to show serious commitment to long-term peace.”

The statement from US special envoy Steve Witkoff, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner as well as Ukrainian negotiators Rustem Umerov and Andriy Hnatov came after they met for a second day in Florida on Friday. They offered only broad brushstrokes about the progress they say has been made as Trump pushes Kyiv and Moscow to agree to a US-mediated proposal to end nearly four years of war.