A helicopter carrying the Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, and his foreign minister crashed on a fog-covered mountainside, with search and rescue teams rushing to the area as state media called for nationwide prayers.
State TV reported that the helicopter had been found on Sunday evening, well after dark, and quoted an official as saying that at least one passenger and one crew member had been in contact with rescuers.
Still, details were scant and sometimes conflicting, including Iranian Red Crescent rescuers later saying no helicopter had been found.
With no published information of whether the president was alive or dead, the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – who holds ultimate power in the Islamic Republic – sought to reassure the nation.
Iranians should not worry or be anxious, he said, adding: “No disruption will occur in Iran’s state affairs.”
The Pacific territory of New Caledonia is "under siege", the mayor of its capital has said, following days of rioting that has left six people dead.
Nouméa mayor Sonia Lagarde said numerous public buildings on the archipelago had been set on fire and that, despite the arrival of hundreds of police reinforcements, the situation was "far from getting back to calm".
French gendarmes have launched a major operation to regain control of a 60km (37-mile) road between Nouméa and the airport, France's interior minister said.
The unrest began last week after lawmakers in Paris voted through changes that will allow more French residents to vote in local elections, a move indigenous leaders say will dilute the political influence of native people.
BBC
South Africa's former President Jacob Zuma put on a show of strength in the historic township of Soweto as he campaigned for votes in the build-up to the 29 May general election.
Zulu warriors marched around Orlando Stadium with their spears and shields, men in camouflage sang and danced to revolutionary songs, while some of South Africa's famous singers - including rapper Big Zulu - provided entertainment to the near capacity crowd at Saturday's rally.
For Mr Zuma's supporters a major coup was the presence of the man known as a disco king, Papa Penny.
Having announced his resignation from the governing African National Congress (ANC) last week, he has now joined the former president's new party, uMkhonto weSizwe, which translates as Spear of the Nation.
Al Jazeera
The Israeli army has stepped up attacks across Gaza, killing dozens of Palestinians in the central part of the besieged enclave, as US national security adviser Jake Sullivan travelled to Israel to hold talks with senior officials.
Sullivan was expected to press Israeli leaders on Sunday to take a more targeted approach in the country’s Gaza offensive and avoid a wider-scale assault on the southern city of Rafah.
He met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and was also expected to hold discussions with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed to move forward with the Rafah offensive despite warnings from the United States.
Al Jazeera
Voters are heading to the polls in the Dominican Republic to cast ballots for the country’s next president, in what is expected to be a referendum on incumbent Luis Abinader and his government’s hardline policy on the country’s border with Haiti.
Up to eight million eligible voters will decide on Sunday which candidate is best suited to take on the fallout from the humanitarian crisis next door, tackle corruption in government and tame inflation and inequality in the Caribbean’s top tourist destination.
Abinader, a former businessman and leader of the Modern Revolutionary Party, is seeking re-election as one of the most popular leaders in the Americas.
He has staked his claim on his handling of the COVID-19 crisis, while his stance on Haiti and a crusade against corruption have helped give him a strong leg up over his two main opponents.
Deutsche Welle
The military of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) said on Sunday that its armed forces had prevented a violent takeover of power.
It follows an armed attack on the residence of Congo's Economy Minister Vital Kamerhe in which three people were killed.
...
"An attempted coup d'etat has been stopped by the defense and security forces," said army spokesman General Sylvain Ekenge in a message broadcast on national television.
"The attempt involved foreigners and Congolese. These foreigners and Congolese have been put out of action, including their leader," he said, without specifying whether "out of action" meant killed or detained.
Ekenge did not provide additional information.The United States Embassy issued a security alert on Sunday warning of "ongoing activity by DRC security elements" and reports of gunfire in the area.
The Agence France-Presse news agency reported that gunfire was heard near the Palais de la Nation, which the official residence of Congo's president.
Deutsche Welle
As Germany's 16- and 17-year-olds wait for a train these days, they're regularly faced with numerous posters designed especially with them in mind.
The 1,000 posters are part of a nationwide competition to encourage young people to vote in June's European elections.
One of the winning posters has the ambiguous slogan "First kiss, first time, first vote" and was created by media design students Maja Steinbach, Maria Viktoria Junker and Fabian Navarro.
"We want to show that the election is a positive, exciting experience, that you can try something new," they told DW.
"Young people are currently in a phase of life where they are making their first important decisions," they said. "We want to reach them in that phase, and the ambiguity is our hook — the first kiss, the first relationship, the 'first time' — to have a poster that stands out, showing all the benefits of the EU."
NPR
An order of nuns affiliated with Benedictine College rejected Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison's Butker's comments in a commencement speech there last weekend that stirred up a culture war skirmish.
"The sisters of Mount St. Scholastica do not believe that Harrison Butker's comments in his 2024 Benedictine College commencement address represent the Catholic, Benedictine, liberal arts college that our founders envisioned and in which we have been so invested," the nuns wrote in a statement posted on Facebook.
In his 20-minute address, Butker denounced abortion rights, Pride Month, COVID-19 lockdowns and "the tyranny of diversity, equity and inclusion" at the Catholic liberal arts college in Atchison, Kan.
NPR
WASHINGTON — U.S. troops ordered out of Niger by the West African country's ruling junta will complete their withdrawal by the middle of September, the Pentagon and Nigerien defense officials said Sunday.
The timeline was the product of four days of talks between the countries' defense officials in the capital city of Niamey, according to a joint statement.
Niger's decision to kick out American forces dealt a blow to U.S. military operations in the Sahel, a vast region south of the Sahara desert where groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group operate.
The Guardian
When Larry Callies went to the movies as a boy in Rosenberg, Texas, the heroes riding horses and wearing 10-gallon hats were all white men.
But the real cowboys Callies knew were Black. His great-grandfather Lavel Callies was an enslaved cowboy who worked with horses professionally after emancipation. “We’re cowboys for three generations back,” says Callies, 71, who runs the Black Cowboy Museum.
Historians estimate that 20% to 25% of the people who settled the continental US west – a region from Washington state to Montana and New Mexico to California – were Black men and women. They moved cattle on horseback, settled towns, kept the peace and delivered the mail in the wild, wild west. But Black cowgirls and cowboys have been pretty much invisible to most. For nearly 200 years, two separate cowboy narratives, one Black and one white, have trotted side by side in the US. The two have rarely crossed paths. Until now.
The Guardian, UK (Post Brexit)
Post-Brexit border checks will cost UK businesses £470m a year, the government’s public spending watchdog has said.
Plans to bring in border checks on goods coming from the EU faced “significant issues” including critical shortages of inspectors before their introduction last month, the National Audit Office said in a report.
The UK has said it hopes to have the “world’s most effective border” by 2025, but the NAO said the strategy lacked “a clear timetable and an integrated cross-government delivery plan”, with individual departments responsible for implementing different aspects.
The report found that the Cabinet Office’s confidence in physical checks on plant and animal imports being introduced in April had been rated as “amber” at the start of the year. The department, which monitors the government and business readiness for the changes, said the amber rating meant that while the implementation was “feasible”, there were “significant issues that required management attention”.
Reuters
TAIPEI, May 20 (Reuters) - Lai Ching-te took office as Taiwan's new president on Monday, facing an angry and deeply suspicious China that believes he is a "separatist", and a fractious parliament with an opposition champing at the bit to challenge him.
Lai was sworn in at the Japanese-colonial-era presidential office in central Taipei, taking over from Tsai Ing-wen, having served as her vice president for the past four years.
Lai will express
goodwill towards China in his inauguration speech on Monday morning, and call for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to pursue peace, according to a senior official briefed on the matter.
Beijing views proudly democratic Taiwan as its own territory, and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control. Lai has offered talks, which have been rebuffed, and says only Taiwan's people can decide their future.
CNN
Most art galleries and museums are famous for the art they contain. London’s National Gallery has Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers”; “The Starry Night” meanwhile, is held at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, in good company alongside Salvador Dalì’s melting clocks, Andy Warhol’s soup cans and Frida Kahlo’s self-portrait.
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, however, is now more famous for the artwork that is not there, or at least, that is no longer there.
On March 18 1990 the museum fell prey to history’s biggest art heist. Thirteen works of art estimated to be worth over half a billion dollars — including three Rembrandts and a Vermeer — were stolen in the middle of the night, while the two security guards sat in the basement bound in duct tape.
The crew of the Overnight News Digest consists of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, jeremybloom, Magnifico, annetteboardman, Rise above the swamp, Besame and jck. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) eeff, Interceptor 7, Man Oh Man, wader, Neon Vincent, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), rfall, ScottyUrb, Doctor RJ, BentLiberal, Oke (RIP) and jlms qkw.