Deceased include a pop singer, a governor, and former Major League Baseball player

International news via Reuters:

A catastrophic roof collapse at a nightclub in the Dominican Republic’s capital killed at least 113 people on Tuesday and emergency crews were working frantically after nightfall to pull survivors from the rubble.

About 155 people were injured.

Families of the victims gathered near the Jet Set nightclub seeking information about their loved ones.

“I still have family members that are still in the rubble, and we don’t know what happened to them,” Pedro Martinez, a 17-season Major League Baseball player, said in a video shared on his Instagram account in the evening.

The deceased include a popular singer, a provincial governor and former Major League Baseball pitcher Octavio Dotel, authorities said.

Juan Manuel Mendez, head of the Dominican Republic’s emergency operations center, said earlier on Tuesday that the exact number of people inside the club at the time of the collapse remained unclear.

The emergency crews’ capacity was increased as “more heavy equipment has been used to speed up the removal of debris and continue the search efforts”, presidential spokesperson Homero Figueroa said in a statement.

The disaster struck during a concert by popular Dominican merengue singer Rubby Perez, whose body was found on Wednesday morning, according to authorities. The event was attended by politicians, athletes and other prominent figures.

The son of the Dominican minister of public works and communications Eduardo Estrella, Eduardo Guarionex Estrella, was also found among the deceased on Wednesday, authorities said.

Another victim was Nelsy Cruz, the governor of the northern Monte Cristi province, President Luis Abinader said. Cruz was the sister of former baseball player Nelson Cruz, a seven-time MLB All-Star.

Former MLB players Octavio Dotel and Tony Blanco also died in the collapse, local authorities confirmed.

Dotel died en route to a local hospital after being pulled from the debris, a spokesman for the nation’s sports ministry said.

Dotel, 51, debuted for the New York Mets in 1999 and played until 2013 for more than a dozen teams.

“Thinking about our people in the Dominican Republic,” Carlos Mendoza, manager of the Mets, said at a press conference.

Relatives were receiving psychological support and the cause of the roof collapse remained under investigation, officials said.

Reporting by Paul Mathiasen and Erika Santelices in Santo Domingo; Writing by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez, Natalia Siniawski and Isabel Teles; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne, Kevin Liffey, Matthew Lewis, David Gregorio, Lincoln Feast and Alex Richardson

Jackie Chen was a member of the Battlefield Social Worker group during major 2019 protests

International news via Reuters:

A Hong Kong court sentenced a prominent social worker on Wednesday to 3 years and 9 months imprisonment for rioting during the city’s 2019 pro-democracy protests, following a retrial.

Jackie Chen was convicted by Deputy District Judge May Chung in March. She had pleaded not guilty and declined to testify during her retrial, which was ordered after she was found innocent of the charges in 2020.

Chung said in her judgment that as Hong Kong is a society with rule of law, the sentencing imposed by the court must have a deterrent effect.

Chen was initially cleared of rioting in the Wan Chai and Causeway Bay districts on August 31, 2019, after District Court Judge Sham Siu-man ruled that the prosecutors had failed to establish a prima facie case against her.

Three other defendants Lai Pui Ki, Chung Ka Nang, Jason Gung were sentenced to 2 years and 5 months after pleading guilty at retrial. They were also initially acquitted by Judge Sham.

Months of sometimes violent pro-democracy protests rocked the global financial hub in 2019 and sparked a Beijing-imposed security crackdown.

Chen, a member of the Battlefield Social Worker group during the 2019 protests, was frequently seen by witnesses with a loudhailer, liaising between protesters and police officers, monitoring police action and offering emotional support to people.

Judge Chung noted Chen’s use of a loud hailer, saying she encouraged the riot through shouting.

Chung also said she had taken into account the fact that Chen was under mental stress from the retrial, would have her social worker’s licence revoked and that she had been a social worker for years.

Rioting is capped at a maximum of seven-year sentence at the District Court.

Seperately, Chow Kim-ho, a former member of the pro-democracy group League of Social Democrats, was jailed on Tuesday for one year for posting seditious comments on three social media platforms under the city’s homegrown national security law. He had pleaded guilty.

Reporting by Jessie Pang; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan

Iran has had tense relations with Western powers since its 1979 Islamic Revolution

International news via Reuters:

Weary from long years of biting sanctions and worried about U.S. threats of military action, Iranians have responded to the prospect of talks this weekend with expressions of hope that have boosted their stock market and depressed currency.

The talks in Oman are to address the long dispute between Iran and the West over its nuclear programme, though Iranian officials are sceptical of progress and U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to bomb if no deal is reached.

Many people in Iran to whom Reuters spoke by phone remained pessimistic about the future. But even the slim chance of a deal with an unpredictable U.S. president who has often boasted of his negotiating skills has given some people a little optimism.

Trump announced the talks on Monday. By Wednesday Iran’s rial currency, which had sunk to a record low of 1,050,000 to the dollar and whose value often tracks Iran’s geopolitical shifts, had strengthened slightly to 999,000 to the dollar.

Tehran’s stock exchange rose by 2.16% on Tuesday, its best performance since January, as investors shifted from safe havens in gold and foreign currency to domestic shares. The market had risen by another 1.1% in early trading on Wednesday.

Iran has had tense relations with Western powers and other major countries for much of the decades since its 1979 Islamic Revolution, particularly since 2003 when the dispute over its uranium enrichment programme moved to centre stage.

“For years, we have suffered over this dispute. It is time to end this standoff. We want to live a normal life with no hostilities and particularly no economic pressure,” said Amir Hamidian, a retired government employee in Tehran.

“I don’t want my country to be bombed … Life is already too expensive. My purchasing power is shrinking every day,” said the father of three, whose monthly salary equates to about $120.

Despite their tough rhetoric, the Islamic Republic’s clerical establishment feels compelled to agree to talks because of fears that anger over the deteriorating economy could spark protests, four Iranian officials told Reuters in March.

Economists believe that sanctions relief could lower import costs and boost export prices for Iranian firms, but wary investors are sticking to short-term bets amid doubt over the outcome of the talks scheduled for Saturday.

ANXIETY

Many ordinary Iranians, who have seen repeated fruitless efforts to resolve the government’s standoff with the West, voiced little faith in the outcome of the discussions.

Minou, a 32-year-old housewife and mother of two in the central city of Isfahan, was pessimistic.

“There will be no deal. There is a huge gap between the sides. Trump is going to bomb us. What should we do? Where should we go? I have withdrawn all my savings from the bank to have cash at home if the U.S. or Israel attack Iran,” she said.

Trump has signalled the renewal of his “maximum pressure” approach to Tehran, which during his first term in 2017-21 helped crash Iran’s economy with sanctions on its oil exports though it has also found ways to evade the embargo.

President Masoud Pezeshkian has repeatedly said the sanctions have made Iran’s economic problems more challenging even than during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

“I am worried to death. Enough is enough. Just reach a deal and end our misery,” said Mahsa, 22, a university student in the northern city of Sari.

Since 2017, Iranians have staged periodic nationwide demonstrations over poor living standards, calling for “regime change”.

But some hardliners are putting their faith in Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who – in the Islamic Republic’s complex power structure – has the final say on matters of state.

“Our Supreme Leader is fully aware of the situation and he will lead us out of trouble. Whatever he decides, we will support it,” said Mohammad Amin Hosseini, 27, from the northeastern city of Mashhad.

Writing by Parisa Hafezi; editing by Angus McDowall and Mark Heinrich