Raeisi remarks
Iran’s president has blamed the Western media hype over the recent unrest in the country. He says enemies have failed in their new plots to hinder the country’s progress. Ebrahim Raeisi says the enemies launched a campaign to isolate Iran at a time when it was prevailing over economic problems and becoming more active on the regional and international stage. Earlier, the chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps also vowed a crushing response to "destructive" US, UK and Saudi media campaigns against Iran. Major General Hossein Salami said Iran’s enemies launched the political and media campaign to make up for the US decline. He also said they don’t want to allow the existence of a powerful, influential and sovereign country ruled by Islam.
Brazil presidential vote
People in Brazil are heading to the polls in one of the country’s most divisive presidential elections in decades. Voting is compulsory for over 156 million eligible Brazilians. Eleven candidates are on the ballot. But, the main contenders are far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro and leftist former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Campaigning has been bitter, with the two candidates exchanging insults. Opinion polls show Lula has a double-digit lead over Bolsonaro, putting him on course for an outright first-round victory. Upon casting his ballot, Lula said he is running for president to bring the country back to normal and establish peace. Bolsonaro, meanwhile, expressed confidence he would win, saying clean elections have to be respected.
Russia-Ukraine war
The Ukrainian president says the key town of Lyman in the eastern Donetsk region is now fully cleared of Russian forces. Volodymyr Zelensky made the announcement in a short video clip on his Telegram channel. Just a day earlier, Russia said it was withdrawing its troops from their months-long stronghold in the north of Donetsk region. President Vladimir Putin, days ago, officially declared the annexation of four Ukrainian regions to Russia. He said people in Donetsk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Luhansk will remain Russian citizens forever. Moscow says people in the four regions have voted overwhelmingly to join the Russian Federation in referendums held last week. But Ukraine and its Western allies have called the votes illegal and a sham.