At least three killed in fire at Iran chemical plant
At least three people have been killed and two others admitted to hospital after a welding accident led to an explosion and fire at a chemical factory in Iran, officials say.
The accident occurred shortly after 11am local time (07:30 GMT) on Wednesday in a methanol storage unit at the Kaveh Petrochemical Company in Bandar Deyr, a city in the southern Bushehr province, Iran's state news agency IRNA reported.
A fire broke out after welding on a barge at the site ignited an explosion, Kourosh Dehghani, the provincial head of the crisis management organisation, told Iranian state television.
He said firefighters had contained the blaze and were now working to cool the site. No further casualties were expected, he added.
Footage from the blaze carried on state media showed large clouds of thick black smoke rising from the site, as firefighting units trained their hoses on the fire.
The chemical plant, situated on a 200-hectare (494-acre) site in the Gulf region, is a key producer of methanol, making up to 2.3 million tonnes of the highly flammable chemical each year, according to its website.
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An investigation accused a senior State Department official of having ties to Russia. Here's what we know
Rumors that Darren Beattie — a senior official in the U.S. State Department — had personal ties to Russia spread in June 2025. Posts across multiple platforms (archived, archived, archived, archived) claimed that the uncle of Beattie's wife, a Russian woman named Yulia Kirillova, had roles in Russian government and even once received a personal "thank you" message from Russian President Vladimir Putin. The posts pointed to an investigation (archived) published by U.K. news outlet The Telegraph on June 3, claiming that Beattie — whom the investigation asserted shut down the U.S. government's Russian disinformation unit — had links to the Kremlin. Below, we break down Beattie's history, what the investigation alleged, how Beattie's wife responded publicly to the claims and what evidence exists to support them: Beattie is not new to public controversy. He worked in the first administration of President Donald Trump as a policy aide and speechwriter, but left the White House in 2018 after CNN broke the story that he spoke at the 2016 H.L. Mencken Club Conference, an event attended by white nationalists such as Richard Spencer. Less than a year after Beattie's firing from the Trump administration, then-U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz hired him to work as a special adviser for speechwriting (archived). Trump then appointed Beattie in 2020 as a member of the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, a position from which the administration of then-President Joe Biden forced him to resign in 2022 after several groups — including the Anti-Defamation League — denounced his appointment given his antisemitic history and the position's responsibility to identify and preserve international heritage sites, including historic sites of the Holocaust. (In his X account's bio, Beattie wrote that he is a "Proud Jew.") In February 2025, Trump appointed Beattie as the under secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, a top position in the State Department. By April, Beattie had spearheaded the effort to shut down the Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Disinformation office — a department responsible for combating foreign information interference, particularly regarding claims of Russian interference in U.S. elections, as well as monitoring Iranian and Chinese influence. In an interview with conservative activist Michael Benz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio credited Beattie with leading the effort to shut down the office, saying it had "nearly destroyed America's long free speech history." Before his role in the government, the Telegraph investigation claimed, Beattie was consistently vocal on his social media regarding his pro-Russia views. The Telegraph reported that Beattie's social media showed staunch support for Putin with posts praising him as "brave and strong" and claiming Putin had "done more to advance conservative positions in the US than any Republican." His official government page is, as of this writing, publicly viewable on the State Department website (archived), indicating that he still has a senior position in the department. The Telegraph's investigation made two major claims: that Beattie married a woman from Russia, and that she is the niece of a businessman with close ties to Putin. According to Florida public records The Telegraph acquired, Beattie married Kirillova in 2021 in a ceremony in Broward County. Kirillova's apparent Facebook profile — which matches the profile picture reported by The Telegraph — indicates she moved to Washington, D.C., in January 2025, just a week before Beattie's appointment. She also responded to The Telegraph's allegations after its investigation, speaking on behalf of herself and her uncle. "As for my uncle, who I believe was never even contacted for this piece, he has never held a position in the Kremlin or Russian government, ever," she told The Times in a story published on June 3. The Telegraph's investigation claimed Kirillova studied in Moscow before moving to Canada and eventually the U.S. These claims appear consistent with her Facebook page, which indicates she completed her education in Moscow before studying at the University of Calgary and then receiving a law degree from Georgetown Law School in Washington, D.C., in 2019. The Telegraph reported Kirillova is the niece of Sergei Chernikov, a Russian businessman with part ownership in the Bashkir Soda Co. The Telegraph alleged he had close ties to Putin and that he shared ownership of an apartment with Kirillova's mother. Kirillova legitimated the claim that Chernikov was her uncle when she responded to the assertions in a statement to The Times, saying: Far from being Kremlin-aligned, Putin publicly denounced my uncle and his ownership stake in Bashkir Soda, whereupon the Putin government stole his company from him. He has lived in exile from Russia for five years. I am deeply disappointed that the Telegraph would omit these material and publicly discoverable facts that completely undermine the suggestion that my uncle or I am Kremlin-linked — the narrative backbone of the entire piece. We reached out to Chernikov via his Facebook account for comment, and will update this story if we receive a response. A Russian news outlet published a story in 2023 that claimed Chernikov supported and participated in Putin's 2000 presidential election campaign, "for which he even received gratitude from the president" — echoing the Telegraph's claim that he "received a letter of thanks from Putin for his help in the election campaign which first brought the Russian leader to power." The Telegraph article detailed Chernikov's foray into politics as follows: The same year [2000], Mr Chernikov took his first step into politics, taking a role in the ministry of natural resources, before becoming deputy governor of the Nenets region in Siberia. From 2008 to 2010, he was a member of Russia's civic chamber, which was founded following a proposal by Putin and is notionally meant to scrutinise the activities of the Russian government. When the chamber was set up, critics claimed that it would be staffed by Kremlin allies and used to diminish a rival power base in the Russian State Duma. The claim Chernikov was involved in Russian politics originated before The Telegraph story. The Russian news story above, as translated by Google Translate, reads as follows: According to Chernikov's biography on the website of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation, of which he became a member in 2008, the businessman participated in Vladimir Putin's 2000 election campaign, for which he even received gratitude from the president. In 2000-2001, he managed to work as the first deputy head of the North-West Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources, and after several months he spent as the first vice-governor of the Nenets Okrug. However, from this experience, in his own words, he concluded that public service was not for him, and returned to business. We were unable, as of this writing, to find Chernikov's official biography on the website of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation. However, it was clear that by 2020, Putin publicly intervened in the Bashkir Soda Co., after protests erupted over the company's plans to continue mining limestone from a mountain sacred to local residents for the production of baking soda. A Russian court also determined the 2013 privatization of the company "was carried out with violations," and the vast majority of the company subsequently transferred to federal ownership. Putin then reportedly ordered the return of a portion of the shares to the trust management of the locale's authorities. It's unclear whether Russia officially forced Chernikov into exile and where exactly he lives, but according to the Russian news outlet, his social network profile lists Geneva, Switzerland, as his city of residence. Beattie — a historically vocal supporter of Putin — continues to hold his position in the U.S. State Department, and according to an investigation by The Telegraph, he married the niece of a Russian businessman — Chernikov — with reported links to Putin. A Russian news outlet previously reported several claims about Chernikov, including that he received a personal thank you from Putin for his support in the 2000 election and held some government roles years before The Telegraph's investigation made similar assertions. Reports indicate Putin intervened with Chernikov's chemical company, and Chernikov may be exiled from Russia, as of this writing. However, Snopes has not reviewed primary evidence related to these claims, and therefore cannot substantiate the claims in their entirety. 'Владимир Путин передал половину акций БСК Башкирии'. УФА1.ру, 8 June 2021, 'Следы ведут в Башкирию: разгадываем тайну самого дорогого памятника на Ваганьковском кладбище'. УФА1.ру, 10 May 2023, 'Darren Beattie'. United States Department of State, Accessed 10 June 2025. Kaczynski, Andrew. 'Speechwriter Who Attended Conference with White Nationalists in 2016 Leaves White House | CNN Politics'. CNN, 19 Aug. 2018, 'Как Башкирия отстояла Куштау (и потеряла БСК): хроника громких протестов в защиту шихана'. УФА1.ру, 15 Aug. 2021, Kelly, Caroline. 'Gaetz Hires Ex-WH Staffer Who Attended Conference with White Nationalists | CNN Politics'. CNN, 19 Apr. 2019, 'Long Live Kushtau Mountain and Its Defenders'. Greenpeace International, 4 June 2025, 'Protecting and Championing Free Speech at the State Department'. United States Department of State, Accessed 10 June 2025. Smith, Benedict. 'Trump Official Who Shut down Counter-Russia Agency Has Links to Kremlin'. The Telegraph, Steck, Andrew Kaczynski, Jennifer Hansler, Em. 'Trump Appoints Speechwriter Fired for Attending Conference with White Nationalists to Top State Department Role | CNN Politics'. CNN, 3 Feb. 2025, Taylor, Adam. 'Rubio Shuts State Dept. Foreign Disinformation Office, Citing Censorship'. The Washington Post, Washington, George Grylls. Russian Wife of US Official Denies 'Malicious Claims' of Kremlin Links. 3 June 2025, 'You Searched for Beattie - Page 3 of 81'. Revolver News, Accessed 10 June 2025. - YouTube. Accessed 10 June 2025. 'Путин передал акции "Башкирской содовой компании" фирме бывшего бизнес-партнера Ротенбергов'. УФА1.ру, 13 Apr. 2023,
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9 hours ago
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More arrests after third night of unrest in N. Ireland town
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Chinese woman detained over BTS Jungkook attempted break-in
A Chinese woman was briefly detained in Seoul for allegedly attempting to enter the home of BTS idol Jungkook, who was released from his military service a day before, police said Thursday. The septuplet BTS, South Korea's most lucrative musical act, has been on a self-described hiatus since 2022 while its members separately completed their military service, which is mandatory in the South for all men under 30. Thousands of fans of the K-pop supergroup have been gathering in Seoul this week, as four members of the band wrapped up their mandatory army duties and reentered civilian life, triggering a fan frenzy as the idols vowed to get back to performing. Six of the seven members of the group have now finished military service, with the final member SUGA, who was doing alternative service for health reasons, due to be released next week. The group will also hold its annual FESTA celebration Friday, which marks the anniversary of their debut and attracts thousands of fans, collectively known as ARMY, to South Korea. Its agency HYBE headquarters in Seoul have been wrapped with the slogan "WE ARE BACK". According to authorities, a Chinese woman is accused of pressing the keypad lock at Jungkook luxury apartment in Seoul's Yongsan district around 11:20 pm (1400 GMT) Wednesday. "She told us she wasn't trying to break in, but was curious if someone inside would respond when she pressed the keypad," an official from the Yongsan Police Station told AFP. "She was released this morning," the official added. A final decision has not yet been made on how the "case will be handled legally", he said. - 'Don't come to my home' - Jungkook has long struggled with stalkers and has repeatedly urged fans to respect his privacy. In one instance, fans attempted to send food deliveries to his home. In a livestream last year, he also expressed concern after finding YouTube videos detailing his move and new house. "Now that I've moved, I just hope people don't come to my home," he pleaded. "I'm asking you, please." Jungkook and fellow band member Jimin spent 18 months on the frontline with North Korea serving in the 5th Infantry Division Artillery Brigade. They were greeted by screaming fans and crowds of journalists after they left their base for discharge, still dressed in camouflage military uniforms. "It's been a while since I've been in front of a camera, and I'm a bit embarrassed because I didn't even put on makeup," said Jungkook Wednesday, looking slightly flustered at the mass gathering. The pair bowed to fans and media before getting into a black minivan and driving off, with Jungkook's apparent attempted break in coming just hours later. cdl-hs/ceb/hmn
