The Influencers

Jim Otto, the Hall of Fame center known as “Mr. Raider” for his durability through a litany of injuries, has died, the team confirmed Sunday night. He was 86. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The cause of death was not immediately known. “The Original Raider,” the club said in a statement posted on the social platform X.

The death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash raises the immediate question of who will succeed him in running the government. Raisi was not only expected to succeed the 85-year-old Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, but his death also has consequences for the future of one of the most powerful positions in the Middle East. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Read More: The List of Potential Suspects in the Mysterious Death of Iran’s President Raisi What is the difference between Supreme Leader and President? The Supreme Leader, also known as the Velayat-e Faqih in Shia Islamic theology, is the ultimate ruler in Iran and is responsible for making all major decisions concerning the state.

Ebrahim Raisi, whose helicopter crashed in the northwest of Iran on Sunday, was both the President of Iran and a candidate jockeying to succeed the elderly actual ruler of the country, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Both political positions carried an elevated risk level roughly comparable with that of traveling by air inside Iran—where aviation safety, compromised by decades of sanctions and uneven maintenance, has claimed the lives of almost as many senior Iranian officials as its shadow war with Israel, which also loomed over Raisi’s reported demise. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The cause of the crash—which also killed Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, the governor of Iran’s East Azerbaijan province, and others—is pending investigation.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman postponed a planned four-day trip to Japan due to concerns over the king’s health, Japan’s top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said. The trip set to start Monday was to have been the crown prince’s first visit to Japan since 2019. Hayashi said at a regular news briefing in Tokyo the two nations would reschedule the visit, without indicating when.

New Taiwan President William Lai Ching-te urged China to stop its intimidation of the democratic island, comments aimed at calming a dispute at the heart of a geopolitical rivalry involving the world’s two biggest powers. “I call on China to stop intimidating Taiwan verbally and militarily, and, together with Taiwan, to shoulder our responsibility to the world to do our utmost to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the region,” Lai said Monday in his inaugural address on an overcast day in Taipei.

Bruce Nordstrom, who as head of Nordstrom Inc. for four decades helped transform the family-run company from a regional shoe seller into one of the largest U. S. apparel retailers, has died. He was 90. The former company chairman died Saturday at his home, his sons Pete and Erik Nordstrom said in a statement.