Thousands protest in San Francisco against US strikes in Iraq

People take part in an anti-war protest in San Francisco, the United States, on Saturday to oppose the U.S. killing of a top Iranian military leader in Iraq. On Friday, a U.S. drone attack ordered by President Donald Trump killed Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, instantly inflaming the already strained Washington-Tehran tensions.China News Service

Iran mourns Soleimani, vows revenge

A tide of mourners wept and beat their chests in the Iranian city of Ahvaz on Sunday, paying homage to top general Qasem Soleimani, after he was killed in a U.S. strike in Baghdad.

“Death to America,” they chanted at a mass gathering in the southwestern city, where Soleimani’s remains arrived from Iraq before dawn, according to semi-official news agency ISNA.

Packing the streets as Shiite chants resonated in the air, mourners held up portraits of Soleimani, seen as a hero of the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war and for spearheading Iran’s Middle East operations as commander of the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force.

Ex-leftist PM wins Croatia election

Leftist former Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic, who has pledged to make Croatia a tolerant country turning the page on its wartime past, won Sunday’s presidential run-off vote, defeating the incumbent conservative leader.

Milanovic took 52.7 percent of the vote while President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic, who had tried to unite a fractured right wing, garnered 47.3 percent, according to results based on vote counts at nearly all polling stations released by the electoral commission.

The second-round election was held just days after Croatia took over the European Union’s helm for a six-month period, which will be dominated by Brexit and the bloc’s enlargement.

Ghosn used Turkish jets to flee

Ex-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn used two of its planes to illegally escape from Japan, with an employee falsifying lease records to exclude his name from the documents.

Ghosn left his Tokyo residence after a private security firm hired by Nissan Motor Co. stopped monitoring him, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Saturday.

MNG Jet said it had filed a criminal complaint about the incident, a day after the Turkish police detained seven people, including four pilots, as part of an investigation into Ghosn’s passage through Istanbul en route to Lebanon.

Israeli PM seeks immunity in graft cases

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week said he would ask the Israeli parliament to grant him immunity from prosecution in three corruption cases.

In a statement broadcasted live on Israel’s main TV channels, Netanyahu said he would submit his request to the Speaker of the Parliament Yuli Edelstein in order to “continue to serve you for the sake of the future of the State of Israel.”

He submitted the request only four hours before the midnight deadline on January 1.

New design flaw discovered in Boeing 737 Max

Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed on Sunday they are reviewing a wiring issue that could potentially cause a short circuit on the grounded 737 MAX.

Boeing spokesman Gordon Johndroe said on Sunday the U.S. planemaker “identified this issue as part of that rigorous process, and we are working with the FAA to perform the appropriate analysis.”

The New York Times reported Boeing is reviewing whether two bundles of wiring are too close together, which could lead to a short circuit and potentially result in a crash if pilots did not respond appropriately.(SD-Agencies)