Moderates win cities in Iranian election, hard-liners poised to win nation

Iranian moderate candidates are posed to win a majority of Parliamentary seats representing the country’s major cities following an election on February 26. Whereas moderate candidates favor opening relations with the West, hard-line candidates prefer to keep the country the way it has always been.

According to the New York Times, though more than half of Iran’s population lives in eight major cities, these cities only have 57 seats in the country’s 290-seat parliament. Iran’s state television on Sunday declared that hard-liners had won most of the seats in Parliament outside of the nation’s cities and thus had won most of the country’s seats in Parliament. However, it remains to be seen whether the state television network will prove to be accurate in its prediction.

Hesston latest site of mass shooting

Four were killed and 14 injured during a shooting in Hesston on Feb. 25. Cedric Ford, the assailant in Hesston, shot several random people before opening fire in the mower factory at which he worked. Police speculate that a restraining order barring Ford from his former girlfriend was the motivation for the attacks.

Residents of Hesston were shocked by the attacks, and city administrator Gary Emry, in an interview with the Wichita Eagle, expressed grief about the situation.

“Not only as a nation have we suffered far too much because of these senseless random acts of violence,” Emry said. “We now suffer as the next community to become victim to it. Now is the time to recover. This community understands tragedy and devastation.”

Starbucks to open first Italian locations

On Friday, Howard D. Schultz, chairman and chief executive of Starbucks, announced that his company plans to open locations in Italy within a year. Starbucks currently operates in over 70 countries with Italy poised to be its 71st, according to the New York Times.

In an interview with the New York Times, Schultz stated, “There are very few markets and stores that I’m as intimately involved in as this… We’re going to come here with great humility.”

Orlando Chiari, owner of a local coffee bar, expressed his thoughts to the New York Times.

“I doubt [Starbucks] will become a major player in Italy… We worship coffee in Italy, while Americans drink coffee on the go in large cups,” Chiari said. “It’s two extremely different cultures.”

ISIS attacks Baghdad market

Seventy people were killed on Sunday by a twin suicide bombing at a market in Sadr City, a Shi’ite district of Baghdad. The two attackers rode motorcycles into a mobile phone market before detonating their bombs.

ISIS issued an online statement claiming responsibility for the attacks, stating, “Our swords will not cease to cut off the heads of the rejectionist polytheists, wherever they are.”

Iraqi Prime Minister Hader al-Abadi argued that the attacks were prompted by ISIS’s recent defeats in battle.

On his official Facebook page al-Abadi wrote, “This gang targeted civilians after it lost the initiative and its dregs fled the battlefield before our proud fighters.”