Hundreds injured in explosion at Iranian port, officials say
Smoke rises after a massive explosion that ripped through the Shahid Rajaee Port as officials conduct operations on April 26, 2025. More than 500 people have so far been injured in a massive explosion (Photo by Iranian Red Crescent/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Hundreds of people were injured following an explosion at one of Iran’s most important ports, according to officials.
The explosion originated in a container at the Shahid Rajaee port in Bandar Abbas, according to state media outlet Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting.
At least 516 people were injured in the explosion and subsequent fire, according to state outlet the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), which cited a spokesperson for Iran’s emergency services.
Video posted to social media shows damaged buildings filled with smoke.
Emergency services rushed to the scene following the explosion. The port plays a key role in trade in the country and is responsible for the vast majority of loading and unloading of goods in Iranian ports.
The cause of the explosion is under investigation, said Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, a crisis management official in the area.
It is unclear whether there were fatalities as a result of the explosion.
Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images
(BOSTON) — A doctor who was arriving in the United States to teach medicine was detained at Boston’s Logan International Airport on March 13, according to legal documents obtained by ABC News.
Dr. Rasha Alawieh had a valid H1B visa, or work visa, that had been issued on March 11. A Lebanese citizen, she was employed by Brown University as an assistant professor of medicine.
A kidney transplant specialist, Alawieh had also previously trained at both the University of Washington and Yale University.
The legal filing claimed that Brown’s Division of Nephrology was “extremely distressed.”
“She is an assistant professor and has serious responsibilities,” the document attested. “Her colleagues have been covering for her, but that is no solution. Dr. Alawieh is an outstanding academic in Transplant Nephrology, and she is needed at Brown Medicine.”
Also according to the legal documents, DHS officials gave no reason for her detention.
Customs and Border Protection did not respond to ABC News’ questions regarding her whereabouts and did not disclose why she was denied entry into the U.S.
However, Hilton Beckham, CBP’s Assistant Commissioner of Public Affairs, shared a statement saying, “Arriving aliens bear the burden of establishing admissibility to the United States. Our CBP Officers adhere to strict protocols to identify and stop threats, using rigorous screening, vetting, strong law enforcement partnerships, and keen inspectional skills to keep threats out of the country. CBP is committed to protecting the United States from national security threats.”
A U.S. district court judge in Massachusetts ordered that Alawieh should not be deported without 48 hours’ notice and a reason why from DHS.
Instead, according to a notice of apparent violation, DHS “willfully” disregarded the court order and deported Alawieh to France, with a scheduled flight to continue on to Lebanon. It is unconfirmed if that deportation took place as planned.
(NEW YORK) — Astronomers have confirmed the existence of four planets orbiting a star less than 6 light-years away with help from some of the world’s most powerful telescopes.
Research published in October 2024 revealed that one planet was rotating around Barnard’s Star, the second-closest single star system to Earth. But a combination of telescopes all over the world confirmed the presence of four small exoplanets, according to a study published last week in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The Gemini Telescope in Hawaii and the Very Large Telescope in Chile were used to detect the additional rocky planets, the astronomers said.
“It’s signaling a breakthrough with the precision of these new instruments from previous generations,” said Ritvik Basant, Ph.D student at the University of Chicago and lead author of the paper, in a statement.
The first planet was detected using a 27-foot diameter telescope at the European Space Observatory’s Paranal Observatory in Chile and a spectrograph that could quickly detect changes in the star’s velocity, according to the 2024 paper, published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
Barnard’s Star, a low-mass red dwarf, was discovered in 1916. Since then, astronomers have discovered that at least 70% of all stars in the Milky Way are this type of star, which is why researchers want to know about the types of planets that orbit them, according to the University of Chicago.
“It’s a really exciting find — Barnard’s Star is our cosmic neighbor, and yet we know so little about it,” Basant said.
The planets are 20% to 30% the mass of Earth and make a full orbit around the sun in days, according to the paper. They are likely rocky planets, rather than gas.
Since they are so close to Barnard’s Star, they are likely too hot to sustain life. The researchers ruled out the existence of other planets within the habitable zone of Barnard’s Star.
The planets are difficult to detect because their stars shine so brightly next to them, the researchers said.
Scientists from the Gemini Observatory, National Science Foundation NOIRLab, Heidelberg University and the University of Amsterdam calibrated and analyzed data taken during 112 different nights over three years, where they found “solid evidence” to the existence of the additional planets orbiting Barnard’s Star, according to the paper.
“We observed at different times of night on different days,” Basant said. “They’re in Chile; we’re in Hawaii. Our teams didn’t coordinate with each other at all.”
He added, “That gives us a lot of assurance that these aren’t phantoms in the data.”
(WASHINGTON) — Vladimir Putin said Ukraine must surrender after President Donald Trump urged the Russian leader to spare the lives of Ukrainian soldiers, following ceasefire talks between the U.S. and Russia in Moscow.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump called Thursday’s discussions with Russia “very good and productive” and said there is a “very good chance that this horrible, bloody war can finally come to an end.”
He also claimed that thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are surrounded.
“AT THIS VERY MOMENT, THOUSANDS OF UKRAINIAN TROOPS ARE COMPLETELY SURROUNDED BY THE RUSSIAN MILITARY, AND IN A VERY BAD AND VULNERABLE POSITION,” he said.
“I have strongly requested to President Putin that their lives be spared. This would be a horrible massacre, one not seen since World War II,” he added.
Trump seemed to be referring to the sticking point in Russia’s Kursk region, something Putin has discussed as an issue in the talks. He also appeared to echo remarks Putin made in response to the U.S.-Ukraine ceasefire proposal on Thursday that Ukrainian troops are encircled in Kursk — a scenario Ukraine strongly denied.
Putin responded to Trump’s remarks on Friday, saying the soldiers need to surrender to be spared.
“[In] the event of a ceasefire and surrender, they will be guaranteed life and a worthy treatment in accordance with the norms of international law and the laws of the Russian Federation,” he said.
Ukraine pushed back Friday against the claims that its troops are surrounded in the Kursk region, where Putin this week ordered forces to “destroy” all Ukrainian formations remaining in the contested border region.
“The reports about the supposed ‘encirclement’ of Ukrainian units in the Kursk region are false and are being fabricated by the Russians for political purposes and to put pressure on Ukraine and its partners,” the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said in a statement on Friday.
“The threat of encirclement of our units is absent,” it added.
The statement comes a day after Putin referred to an “encirclement” in the Kursk region while remarking on the U.S.-Ukraine ceasefire proposal.
“We are for it. But there is a nuance,” Putin said of a 30-day ceasefire during a press briefing. “First, what are we going to do with the encirclement in the Kursk region?”
He said the situation in Kursk is “completely under our control, and the group that invaded our territory is in isolation,” and that it would be “very good for the Ukrainian side to reach a truce for at least 30 days.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy countered Friday that Putin is “lying” about the conflict and is blocking any diplomatic efforts to end the war.
“Putin is lying about the real situation on the battlefield, he is lying about the casualties, he is lying about the true state of his economy, which has been damaged by his foolish imperial ambitions, and he is doing everything possible to ensure that diplomacy fails,” he said.
“Putin cannot exit this war because that would leave him with nothing,” he continued. “That is why he is now doing everything he can to sabotage diplomacy by setting extremely difficult and unacceptable conditions right from the start even before a ceasefire.”
The claim that Ukrainian forces are surrounded was also shot down by defense analyst Michael Kofman, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment who focuses on the Russian and Ukrainian militaries, who called it “simply untrue.”
Ukrainian forces pushed into Kursk last August in a surprise offensive, seizing the town of Sudzha and surrounding villages. Kyiv’s troops have repelled months of Russian counteroffensives, but recent weeks have seen their salient crumble and Russian forces retake significant ground.
During a visit to a command center in Kursk on Wednesday while clad in military fatigues, Putin said, “Your task is to completely destroy the enemy, which has entrenched itself in the Kursk region and is still conducting warfare here, and fully liberate the Kursk region’s territory within the shortest possible time.”
On Wednesday, Russian troops raised their flags over central Sudzha in Kursk as Ukrainian forces hurriedly retreated toward the shared border.
Russian advances to the border in the Kursk Oblast appeared to have slowed on Thursday compared to recent days, according to the latest assessment from the Institute for the Study of War.
The general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said Friday that the situation “has not undergone significant changes over the past day,” and that troops are “regrouping” and have withdrawn to “more advantageous defense lines.”
“Our soldiers are repelling enemy offensive actions and delivering effective fire damage with all types of weapons,” it said.
Russian officials have indicated they will not engage in peace negotiations while any of Kursk remains under Ukrainian control.
Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Putin in Moscow on Thursday to discuss the proposed 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine — a step leaders in Kyiv and Washington, D.C., hope will facilitate a larger peace deal to end Russia’s three-year-old invasion of its neighbor.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said there is “reason to be cautiously optimistic” about a ceasefire and said Putin and Trump now need to talk. The timing of that conversation will be determined once Witkoff reports to Trump, he said.
