Iran's ex-president pens letter to Trump

TEHERAN • Iran's former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad published an open letter to Mr Donald Trump yesterday, welcoming his criticism of the US political system but taking issue with his visa ban and attitude towards women.

Much of the letter is spent exhorting the new US President to end interventions in the Middle East and ditch the "arrogance" of past US administrations.

Many Iranians see Mr Trump as cut from the same cloth as Mr Ahmadinejad, who shocked the establishment with his sudden rise to power in 2005, combining hardline rhetoric and populist economic policies to win a powerful following among Iran's lower classes.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

German rams car into pedestrians; one dead

FRANKFURT • One person was killed and two were injured when a man rammed a car into pedestrians in the southern German city of Heidelberg, said police, adding that it did not appear to be a terror attack.

After last Saturday's crash, the driver, a 35-year-old German man, fled on foot armed with a knife on a busy city centre street but was shot and wounded by police.

Germany has been on high alert since a Tunisian allegedly rammed a truck into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin in December, killing 12 people, before being shot dead days later by police in Italy.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

28 injured after truck ploughs into parade

WASHINGTON • A suspected drunk driver ploughed a pickup truck into a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans, leaving 28 people injured, including children, officials said.

The driver drove into the crowd just before 7pm last Saturday as spectators watched the Krewe of Endymion parade, which is part of the city's famous Mardi Gras celebrations.

New Orlean's "Krewes" are private organisations that lead parades and host balls during the city's carnival season.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE