Briefly

IRAN

Weather blamed for Raisi helicopter crash

The helicopter crash that killed Iran's president Ebrahim Raisi was primarily caused by weather conditions that included thick fog, Iran's state TV said on Sunday. The main cause of the crash was the "complex climatic and atmospheric conditions of the region in the spring", the special board investigating the dimensions and causes of the helicopter accident said, according to state broadcaster IRIB. The report added that "the sudden emergence of a thick mass of dense and rising fog" caused the helicopter's collision into the mountain. It ruled out deviations from the flight route, incorrect route information and external interference as factors in the crash.

UNITED STATES

Hotel staff in walkout as contract talks fail

Some 10,000 US hotel workers began a multiday strike in several cities on Sunday after contract talks with hotel operators stalled, the Unite Here union said. Workers at 24 hotels are on strike in some major travel destinations, including San Francisco, Honolulu and Seattle, it said. The strike comes amid a 9 percent increase in domestic travel for the Labor Day weekend compared with last year, according to AAA booking data. Strikes could also soon start in Baltimore, New Haven, Oakland and Providence, the union said, as hotel workers and operators struggle over wages and pandemic-era job cuts.

Agencies - Xinhua