Ukraine's Zelensky to Join G7 Leaders Video Summit Wednesday

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky (AP)
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky (AP)
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Ukraine's Zelensky to Join G7 Leaders Video Summit Wednesday

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky (AP)
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky (AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will join a video summit later Wednesday with the leaders of the G7, chair Japan said.

"Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will host the G7 TV summit. In the meeting, in addition to the G7 leaders, Ukraine’s President Zelensky will join the first part,” government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters.

Zelensky unexpectedly cancelled on Tuesday a planned videolink appearance that he was scheduled to deliver during a US Senate hearing, where tough negotiations are underway over a new aid package for Ukraine that Kiev is relying heavily on to counter the Russian invasion.

Matsuno said that Kishida and the other leaders from the grouping of advanced economies will “discuss important issues for the international community such as the Ukraine situation, the Middle East situation and AI.”



Iran Police Commander Dismissed After Death in Custody

A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)
A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)
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Iran Police Commander Dismissed After Death in Custody

A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)
A view of the entrance to Evin prison in Tehran, Iran (Reuters)

Iran's police force has dismissed the commander of a city in the northern province of Gilan after the death in custody of a detainee, state media said on Saturday.

Mohammad Mir Mousavi, 36, was arrested on July 22 after being involved in a fight in Lahijan, police said in a statement carried by the official news agency IRNA.

"The police commander... was dismissed due to insufficient oversight of the conduct and behaviour of staff," the police said, AFP reported.

"Due to the complexity of the matter, the final conclusion on the cause of Mohammad Mir Mousavi's death depends on the medical examiner's final report.

The police said the station commander and several officers involved in the incident had been suspended.

"The behaviour of some law enforcement officers was against the professional policy of the police and that is not acceptable in any way, so they were referred to the judicial authority," the statement added.

The Norway-based Kurdish human rights organization, Hengaw, on Wednesday said Mir Mousavi "was killed under torture in the detention center".

On Thursday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian ordered an investigation into the case.

Dismissals of members of the security forces are rare in Iran.

In 2022, the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman who had been arrested in Tehran for an alleged breach of the country's strict dress code for women, sparked months of deadly nationwide protests.