■CHINA
Mutated swine flu found
China has discovered eight people with mutated versions of swine flu but drugs are still effective against the new strains, a senior health official told Xinhua news agency. Shu Yuelong (舒躍龍), director of the Chinese National Influenza Center, said the first mutated strain of the (A)H1N1 virus was detected in June in a case imported from Britain and a similar strain was detected three months later in the Zhejiang Province. The mutation detected recently was an isolated case and the cases were not connected, Shu said. Scientists fear that mutations in flu viruses could cause more virulent and deadly pandemic flu. “This kind of mutant virus has been found in patients with slight and heavy symptoms as well as those who have recovered. The virus has not widely spread so far,” Yu Hongjie (余宏杰), an expert from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, told Xinhua.
■AUSTRALIA
Pig farts spark gas scare
A flatulent pig sparked a gas emergency on Thursday when a farmer mistook its odors for a leaking pipe, officials said. Fifteen firefighters and two trucks were called to a property at Axedale in Victoria after reports of a gas leak, the Country Fire Service said. “When we got there, as we drove up the driveway, there was this huge sow, about a 120-odd kilo sow, and it was very obvious where the gas was coming from,” fire service captain Peter Harkins said. “We could not only smell it, but we heard it and it was quite funny.” Harkins said the pig’s owner was “a little bit embarrassed to say the least,” and it took fire crews a little while to compose themselves.
■AFGHANISTAN
Police jailed for hashish
A court sentenced a border police official to 20 years in prison for possessing 40 tonnes of hashish, the tribunal said on Wednesday. The 37-year-old lieutenant colonel was convicted in Kabul on Tuesday, said the Criminal Justice Task Force, a special tribunal for drugs-related cases. The man, identified as the commander of the quick reaction battalion of border police in the southern province of Kandahar, was arrested in June after drugs were found in his home, tribunal spokesman Khalil-Ul Rahman Mutawakil said. “The said person was sentenced to 20 years in jail and fined two million afghanis [US$40,000] for possessing 40 tonnes of hashish,” the court said.
■TURKEY
Drug lord extradited
Albanian police said Turkey had extradited a suspected leader of a large drug-smuggling ring active across southeastern Europe. The alleged gang leader, Alfred Shkurti, has been charged in Albania with ordering more than 20 murders, as well as several kidnappings and desecration of graves. He faces a life in prison if convicted. Shkurti, 44, who is also known as Aldo Bare, was arrested in Turkey on an international warrant in March 2006, and extradited on Wednesday after losing a long appeal process.
■IRAN
Convicted rapist hanged
A man convicted of rape was hanged on Wednesday in a prison in the city of Karaj, ISNA news agency reported. It said Mohammad Orouji, 25, had also been convicted of consuming alcohol. The sentence included 80 lashes, but the report did not say whether Orouji was whipped before his execution. The latest hanging brings to at least 259 the number of people executed in the country so far this year, an Agence France-Presse count based on news reports said.
■MEXICO
Thief caught on toilet
A thief known as “El Tigre” was arrested while using the toilet during a robbery in the central city of Puebla, police said. The thief could not “resist the urge” to go and was discovered when police heard noises coming from the bathroom in the house he was robbing, authorities said. “As the uniformed officials took note of the facts, they heard noises inside the bathroom. They tried to open the door but the man told them he was busy,” a municipal police source said. The robber was arrested for theft and property damage, while the homeowner requested a new toilet, saying: “I don’t think it will be used again.”
■CANADA
Forgery labs found
Police said on Wednesday they uncovered elaborate laboratories at daycare centers in Montreal set up to forge passports, credit cards and driving licenses. Five labs in total were dismantled in morning raids involving 400 officers of area homes and businesses, including three nurseries, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement. Thirty-two individuals accused of belonging to a criminal network were charged with forgery, fraud, credit card theft and conspiracy. Each of them had a “specialized” role in the production and sale of counterfeit passports, driving licenses for several provinces and US states, permanent resident cards and other documents, police said.
■UNITED STATES
Hair-removal request nixed
A federal judge has denied a convicted murderer’s request for more hair removal treatments as she waits to find out if she can get state-funded sex change surgery. District Judge Mark Wolf ruled on Wednesday that Michelle Kosilek failed to prove “irreparable harm” or a “serious medical need” to continue electrolysis treatments. Kosilek hung her head and dabbed at her eyes when the decision was announced. Her lawyer expressed disappointment to the judge. Kosilek was named Robert when married to Cheryl Kosilek and was convicted of murdering her in 1990. Kosilek’s lawyers have argued that having facial hair is “intensely personally stressful” to her.
■UNITED STATES
Hezbollah supporters nabbed
Two Lebanese men were charged on Tuesday with attempting to provide material support to Lebanese militant group Hezbollah by exporting machine guns to Syria from Philadelphia, authorities said. Hassan Hodroj and Dib Hani Harb — along with Moussa Ali Hamdan of New York and Hasan Antar Karaki of Beirut — were also charged with conspiring to provide material support to Hezbollah, the Department of Justice said in a statement. The four men are accused of conspiring to give Hezbollah proceeds from the sale of fake passports, counterfeit money and stolen real money.
■UNITED STATES
State stays executions
Executions were suspended in Kentucky on Wednesday after its top court ruled the state must adopt and publish its protocols on the use of lethal injections. The case was brought forward by death row inmates who failed last year to convince the Supreme Court that lethal injections amounted to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Constitution. The Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that even though the state’s lethal injection protocols were subjected to “an extensive public vetting” in earlier court challenges, “this court cannot ignore the publication and public hearing requirements set forth in Kentucky statutes.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the