• Iranian apex court rejects defendant’s appeal, reports media outlet.
• Court says corruption on earth charges proved against Choubi-asl.
• Executions increased this year; at least 10 hanged in recent months

Iran executed a man named Bahman Choubi-asl on Monday, the judiciary’s news outlet Mizan said, saying the defendant was “one of the most important spies for Israel in Iran”.

Entangled in a decades-long shadow war with Israel, Iran has executed many individuals it accuses of having links with Israel’s Mossad intelligence service and facilitating its operations in the country.

“The main goal of Mossad in attracting the defendant’s cooperation was to obtain the database of governmental institutions and create a breach in Iranian data centres, along with which it also pursued other secondary goals, including investigating the route of importing electronic equipment,” Mizan said.

The Supreme Court had rejected the defendant’s appeal and confirmed the death sentence on charges of “corruption on earth”, it said.

The Iran-Israel conflict escalated into a direct war in June when Israel struck various targets inside Iran, including through operations that relied on Mossad commandos being deployed deep inside the country.

Executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel have significantly increased this year, with at least 10 death sentences carried out in recent months.

Two people died and 17 others were missing after Typhoon Bualoi hit Vietnam on Monday, with houses damaged and power grids knocked out as the storm brought flooding rains and huge swells before losing some of its strength as it headed towards Laos.

Bualoi had moved along the country’s northern central coastline before making landfall early on Monday, causing waves as high as eight metres, according to the national weather agency.

One person died after being caught in floodwater in Hue city, and another was killed by a falling tree in Thanh Hoa province, the government’s disaster management agency said.

Seventeen fishermen were missing after huge waves hit two fishing boats off Quang Tri province, while another fishing boat lost contact during the storm, according to the agency.

“I’ve witnessed many storms, and this is one of the strongest,” said 45-year-old Nguyen Tuan Vinh in Nghe An province as he was cleaning up debris.

Vinh’s neighbours said they stayed up all night trying to protect their homes, even as the power to their apartment building went down.

“I stayed awake the whole night fearing the door would be pulled off by strong winds,” said resident Ho Van Quynh.

By 11am (0400 GMT), the typhoon was moving over Nghe An province into Laos, with maximum wind speeds weakening to 74 kph from 117 kph when it made landfall, the weather agency said.

Bualoi has so far damaged 245 houses, inundated nearly 1,400 hectares of rice and other crops, and cut off access to several areas, the disaster management agency said in a report.

No major damage to industrial properties was mentioned in the report, though there are some large factories in or near Bualoi’s path, including those owned by Foxconn, Luxshare, Formosa Plastics and Vinfast.

Ahead of the typhoon hitting, the government had evacuated more than 28,500 people, while hundreds of flights were cancelled or delayed as four airports in central provinces were closed.

The cyclone has triggered heavy rains across most of Vietnam since Saturday, and authorities have warned of the risk of severe floods and landslides.

Rainfall in several parts of the country was forecast to hit 500 millimetres from Sunday night through Tuesday, according to the weather agency.

With a long coastline facing the South China Sea, Vietnam is prone to typhoons that are often formed east of the Philippines, where at least 10 people died after Bualoi hit there last week.

President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he plans to tell a gathering of US generals and admirals in Quantico, Virginia, that they are valued leaders who must remain strong, tough, and wise.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has called senior US military leaders from around the world for a rare meeting in Quantico on Tuesday, bringing the nation’s top military leadership together in one location.

“I want to tell the generals that we love them, they’re cherished leaders, to be strong, be tough, be smart, and be compassionate,” Trump told Reuters in an interview. “That’s all it is—esprit de corps. It’s about time somebody did that.”

Trump’s attendance could overshadow Hegseth, who is expected to address the importance of maintaining a “warrior ethos” throughout the military and touch on other strategic priorities.

The US maintains troops across the globe, including in South Korea, Japan, and various parts of the Middle East, under the command of two-, three-, and four-star generals and admirals.

Hegseth often emphasizes the “warrior ethos” and the need for the US military to uphold a strong warrior mentality.

Earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order to rename the Department of Defense as the “Department of War,” reverting to a title it held until after World War II, when officials sought to emphasize the Pentagon’s role in preventing conflict.

Hegseth, a former Fox News host, has moved with stunning speed to reshape the department, firing top generals and admirals as he seeks to implement Trump’s national security agenda and root out diversity initiatives he calls discriminatory.

Officials have told Reuters that the event is expected to take place at the Marine Corps University in Quantico, Virginia.

Some of the senior-most officials, who are provided US military aircraft for official travel, are expected to fly into Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

It is unclear why the gathering could not have taken place virtually, and it will likely cost at least millions of dollars to transport and protect the large gathering.