Latest News
- U.S. and Iran hold first talks since June amid ongoing conflict and school closures
- Father of suicide victim warns of ongoing risks from poison sellers
- United Nations General Assembly: ‘Iran has been the subject of terrorism’
- Elderly woman dies after monkey attacks her outside her home in Karnataka
- Russia strikes Kyiv and Odesa with drones, causing civilian casualties
- EU Commission proposes unlocking €4.2 billion for Hungary amid reforms.
- UN General Assembly quiz tests knowledge of famous quotes from leaders
- Bennett Bridge crash causes traffic standstill in Central Okanagan
Hunt for Tube hero who gave blind man his shoes after he lost one through the gap The hunt is on find an ‘absolute hero’
Get you up to speed: Iran War Updates: U.S. and Iran hold first talks since June after Trump threatens regime with annihilation
Students in Iran returned to schools and universities on Wednesday after months of closures due to the war with the United States, which included a strike on a school in Minab that killed approximately 120 children. Iran’s vice president for science and technology, Hossein Afshin, marked the start of the new academic year by ringing a bell at a primary school in Minab.
Classes in Iran resumed on Wednesday for the first time since the conflict began on February 28, with a notable ceremony at a primary school in Minab led by Hossein Afshin, the vice president for science and technology. Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei acknowledged the impact of the conflict on the educational community, highlighting the absence of students and faculty who lost their lives during the war.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei acknowledged the impact of the ongoing conflict, stating that “the absence of some students, professors, and teachers” would be deeply felt due to their deaths in the recent strikes. As schools and universities reopen, Iran’s vice president for science and technology, Hossein Afshin, rang a bell to commence the new academic year, a traditional gesture to welcome the country’s 16.5 million children back to school.
What remains unclear — It is unclear how the ongoing conflict will affect the long-term educational landscape in Iran.
U.S. and Iran hold first talks since June amid ongoing conflict and school closures
Students in Iran returned to schools and universities Wednesday after months of closures due to the war with the United States, which has seen major attacks including a strike on the first day of the conflict that hit a school, killing about 150 people.
Parents walked hand-in-hand with their daughters, in mandatory headscarves and uniforms, as they arrived at a girls’ primary school in western Tehran for the first day of the new academic year.
Classes were canceled after the U.S. and Israel jointly launched strikes on Iran, igniting the war, on Feb. 28. It was in that first wave of strikes that a school in the southern city of Minab was hit, leaving 120 children among the dead. A preliminary U.S. assessment not long after determined that American forces were “likely” responsible for the strike, though the school was not deliberately targeted.
In Minab on Wednesday, Iran’s vice president for science and technology, Hossein Afshin, rang a bell at another primary school to signal the start of the new term. The bell-ringing, normally carried out by Iran’s president, is part of traditional celebrations to welcome Iran’s 16.5 million children back to school.
A ceremony featuring Masoud Pezeshkian was held two days early this year, before he left for the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
On Tuesday, a statement attributed to Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei addressed the reopening, saying “the absence of some students, professors, and teachers” would be felt, referring to those killed during the conflict.
“This sorrow will guide our minds toward the true nature of the conflict between good and evil,” the statement said.
WTX/AFP
October 12, 2024
6:18 am
‘Cheer up, you caught the bad guy,’ says killer Virginia McCullough as she is arrested for murdering her parents
A woman who murdered her parents “in cold blood” before hiding them in makeshift tombs for four years told officers to “cheer up, you caught the bad guy” as she was arrested in her home.
Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John McCullough, 70, with prescription medication and fatally stabbed her mother Lois McCullough, 71, shortly afterwards in 2019.
She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and after their deaths, she continued to spend their pensions until she was finally caught in 2023.
In body-worn video footage released by police, a handcuffed – and eerily calm – McCullough told officers: “I did know that this would kind of come eventually.
“It’s proper that I serve my punishment.”
She said she had slipped something into her father’s drink then put his body under a bed on the ground floor, and put her mother’s body in an upstairs wardrobe.
McCullough, having been arrested on suspicion of double murder, told an officer: “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy.”
She added: “I know I don’t seem 100% evil.”
At the police station, she told officers where a kitchen knife was, which she described as a “murder weapon”, and a hammer which she said “will still have blood on it”.
McCullough, of Pump Hill, Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday with a minimum term of 36 years at Chelmsford Crown Court, after she admitted to their murders between 17 and 20 June 2019 at an earlier hearing at the same court.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard how she hid their bodies in makeshift tombs at the family home in Great Baddow in Essex, then told persistent lies to cover her tracks.
The court heard she cancelled family arrangements and frequently told doctors and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips.
But concerns over Mr and Mrs McCullough’s welfare were raised in September 2023 by a GP at their registered practice, and Essex County Council’s safeguarding team referred these to police.
The GP had not seen the couple for some time and said Mr McCullough had failed to collect medication and attend scheduled appointments. It was found McCullough had frequently cancelled appointments, using a range of excuses to explain her father’s absence.
Police said a missing persons investigation was initially launched and McCullough lied to officers, claiming her parents were travelling and would be returning in October.
It became a murder investigation, and when officers forced entry to the house in Pump Hill on September 15 2023, McCullough confessed that her parents’ bodies were in the house and that she had killed them.
Nicola Rice, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “McCullough callously and viciously killed both of her parents before concealing their bodies in makeshift tombs within their home address.
“She spent the next four years manipulating and lying to family members, medical staff, financial institutions, and the police, spending her parents’ money and accruing large debts in their name.”
She added: “This was a truly disturbing case, which has left behind it a trail of devastation, and I can only hope that the sentence passed today will help those who loved and cared for Lois and John begin to heal.”
To downplay the genocide, the israelis claim there’s only 20,000 people left in north Gaza, says
@MahaGaza
: the real number exceeds 400,000
Man of the right wing Nigel Farage taking more second jobs and freebie helicopter rides
Gosh he’ll soon be a true blue Tory at this rate
Or far far worse
The cost-of-living crisis is far from over, yet the government’s 50% increase to the bus fare cap is a political choice, adding hundreds to annual costs.
To address hardship & the climate crisis, the government must keep the £2 cap & make public transport accessible for all.
G20 waters down support for Ukraine amid pressure for peace talks
The Tech Titan Who Led His Company From a 68-Square-Foot Jail Cell
November 23, 2024
8:25 am
Defense alliance NATO chief Mark Rutte has met US President-elect Donald Trump to discuss global security issues, according to a NATO spokesperson.
The meeting took place in Palm Beach, Florida.
During his first term as US president, 2017-2020, Trump pushed for European NATO countries to spend more on defense and described the alliance’s cost-sharing as unfair to the US.
Rutte took over as NATO chief from Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg in November.
Before taking office in January, Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth for the post of defense secretary, which has raised eyebrows among many allies.
Hegseth, 44, has served as an infantry captain in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has no senior military or government officer experience.
November 23, 2024
8:25 am
November 23, 2024
8:17 am
Multiple missiles were fired in an airstrike towards a densely populated part of Lebanon’s capital early on Saturday.
The huge airstrike targeted Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood, and no prior warnings were given by the Israeli military. The largely residential area was struck last month.
At least one violent explosion was heard across the city, Reuters witnesses said, and plumes of smoke could be seen. Scenes of massive destruction at the site were shared online, including a massive crater in the ground.
“Beirut, the capital, woke up to a horrific massacre, as the Israeli enemy’s air force completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles on Al-Mamoun Street in Basta,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
The health ministry put the initial death toll at four, with 23 wounded. The number is expected to climb in the coming hours as search and rescue efforts continue.
It came after a long day of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been non-stop since last week.
The cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group escalated into a full-blown war in mid-September.
Israel has bombed southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Beqaa region, and has sent ground troops across the border. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets deeper into Israel.
What to Watch
Amazon prime - TV & Netflix
We give you the best picks to binge on this week.
What to Watch
Love Sports
Get your pizza ordered with the latest Live Sports schedule.
- Good News
Add A Comment
© 2026 WTX News.