■NEW ZEALAND
Dad fined over club visit
A man who left his 18-month-old boy unattended in a car while he visited a strip club has been convicted of leaving a child without reasonable supervision and fined NZ$200 (US$142.00). The boy, who had a heart condition, was in a locked car with the windows up for 40 minutes before a passer-by called police at about 3:00am on April 13, police said. Defense lawyer John Tannerhill said Wayne Ricardo Schwamm, 42, went to the club to pick up a friend who worked there and that he stayed longer than intended because the friend had to work overtime. Schwam did not indulge in “fantasies of desire” at the strip club, Tannerhill told the court. “On the surface this appears quite sinister, but it is not.”
■AUSTRALIA
Mobster killed in prison
The country’s most notorious mobster, jailed over a string of gangland killings that captivated the country and left 30 people dead, was himself killed in a prison bashing yesterday, police said. Carl Williams, a cherubic-faced underworld killer known widely as “Fat Boy,” died after he suffered head injuries and went into cardiac arrest. Williams, 39, had been serving a 35-year minimum jail term after pleading guilty in 2007 to the murder of three gangland rivals. “Police believe an altercation occurred between Williams and another inmate. Homicide squad detectives are at the scene and are investigating the circumstances,” a police statement said.
■CHINA
Expo song on hold
Shanghai’s 2010 World Expo has hit the pause button on a promotional song for the event after accusations the tune may have plagiarized an older Japanese composition. Expo organizers have suspended plans to use the song Right Here Waiting For You 2010 after they “noted disputes over copyright,” a statement released at the weekend said. The song is not the official tune of the event but had been selected this year to be used in a promotional push during the 30-day countdown to the expo, which starts on May 1. “[We] have decided to suspend the use of the song for the time being out of an abundance of caution,” the statement posted on the official expo Web site said. Internet users have alleged the song — credited to Chinese composer Miao Sen — sounded suspiciously similar to a single released by Japanese pop singer-songwriter Okamoto Mayo in 1997, Chinese media reports had said earlier.
■AFGHANISTAN
Temblor strikes in north
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck in mountains north of the capital early yesterday, killing at least seven people and injuring 30, officials said. The temblor hit just before 1am in Samangan Province, about halfway between Kabul and the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, according to the province’s deputy governor, Kulam Sakhi Baghlani. Roads and communications are sparse in the area, and casualty reports take time to reach authorities. Baghlani said three districts of scattered mud-walled villages were affected, with more than 300 homes damaged and dozens of head of livestock killed. Landslides sparked by the quake had blocked roads, making even more arduous what was already an eight-hour drive along winding mountain trails from the provincial capital of Aybak. Baghlani said three civil defense units had been dispatched to check on the damage and casualties.
■NEPAL
Team to clean death zone
Twenty local climbers are setting off to Mount Everest this week to try and remove decades-old garbage from the mountain in the world’s highest ever clean up campaign, organizers said yesterday. Many foreign and local climbers have cleaned Mount Everest in the past, but Namgyal Sherpa, leader of the Extreme Everest Expedition 2010, said no one had dared to clean above 8,000m, an area known as the “death zone” for the lack of oxygen and treacherous terrain. Sherpa and his team of seasoned climbers, carrying empty rucksacks and special bags, will risk the zone’s thin air and freezing temperatures to pick empty oxygen bottles, gas canisters, torn tents, ropes and utensils lying between the South Col and the 8,850m summit. “This is the first time we are cleaning at that height, the death zone. It is very difficult and dangerous,” said Sherpa, who has climbed Everest, the world’s tallest peak, seven times.
■SAUDI ARABIA
Prince appears in TV ad
The appearance of a young prince, a grandson of the king, in a television commercial may have raised eyebrows in his country, but it shows that the royal family is slowly changing. Prince Abdullah bin Meteb’s lead role in an advert for the country’s second-biggest mobile phone operator Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) has sparked a debate among diplomats and locals alike on what it could mean for the absolute monarchy, which has always been secretive about its internal affairs. “Why is a Saudi prince on a television commercial? And why did it have to be the grandson of the king and not someone else?” one Riyadh-based Western diplomat asked. The advert starring Prince Abdullah, a professional rider, and his sponsorship deal with Mobily, exposes discreet changes that have been affecting the royal family in recent years as it becomes ever larger and younger, an analyst who is familiar with some royals said.
■NIGERIA
Two Germans abducted
Gunmen abducted two German men in the OPEC member’s southeastern Abia state, security sources said on Sunday, the second abduction of foreign workers in the last 10 days. The two men, aged between 45 and 55, were abducted while at a local beach in the oil-producing Abia state. “The Germans were kidnapped at Azumini Beach strip at Imo River as they were heading to their vehicle,” a security source said. “This was likely an opportunist abduction as there was no security around, just a local driver.” Police could not immediately be reached for comment. The German foreign ministry said it was aware of the reports of the kidnapping and was looking into the incident.
■IRAN
Activists sentenced to prison
The official news agency said a court has sentenced three prominent political activists to six years in prison each for involvement in the country’s post-election turmoil. Yesterday’s report by IRNA said the activists — Mohsen Mirdamadi, Mostafa Tajzadeh and Davood Soleimani — were convicted of spreading propaganda against the regime. The court also banned them from any kind of political activity for 10 years. The three are among more than 100 opposition figures put on a mass trial in the wake of the disputed June presidential elections. The trial has led to a dozen death sentences so far. The opposition, led by Mir Hossein Mousavi, charges that the election was fraudulent and that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was not the rightful winner.
■UNITED STATES
Senator lobbies US airlines
US Senator Charles Schumer said on Sunday that he has commitments from five airlines to not follow the lead of Spirit Airlines by charging passengers a fee for carry-on baggage. Schumer said that in personal calls to airline top executives, he received promises from American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, United Airlines and US Air Airways not to charge fees for carry-on bags. “We have begun to put the brakes on runaway and out-of-control airline fees,” the New York Democrat said in a press release. Schumer said he planned to continue reaching out to US airlines to urge them to make similar commitments and is encouraging privately held Spirit to reverse its decision to charge up to US$45 for carry-on bags that do not fit under seats and which are stowed in overhead bins.
■COLOMBIA
Detention fuels tensions
A man and his son who were fishing on Venezuela’s side of a border river were briefly detained and mistreated by Venezuelan soldiers, the Colombian government said on Sunday. The incident added fuel to growing tensions between the two South American nations. Colombia said fisherman Adelis Pabon and his son Naiker, who has a hearing and speech impediment, were briefly detained on Saturday while fishing from a boat on the Arauca River. Colombia’s foreign ministry demanded an explanation for what it called an “unacceptable” detention in a statement that said the boy was “physically and verbally abused.” On Wednesday, Colombia warned of the dangers of visiting Venezuela after eight Colombians were arrested there and accused of spying on Venezuelan electrical and telecommunications installations.
■UNITED STATES
Bin Laden account disabled
Facebook said on Sunday it had disabled an account on the social networking site under the name of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, which posted extremist Islamic content and had garnered more than 1,000 “fans.” “People often attempt to register fake accounts under the name of famous or infamous people and we have a number of technical measures designed to prevent this behavior,” Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said in an e-mail. “Sometimes these fakes do get through, but there is no evidence to suggest that the account in question or the other dozens of people who have tried to present themselves as Osama Bin Laden have any relation to the terrorist.” The account had posted speeches and audio recordings of Islamic extremists, which were produced by the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Sahab Media Group, ABC News reported. The page referred to Bin Laden as the “Prince of Mujahideen” and put his location as the “mountains of the world,” ABC said.
■BRAZIL
Killer commits suicide
An ex-convict who last week confessed to the murder of six teenagers after being released for good behavior was found dead by hanging on Sunday in his police cell, officials said. Ademar de Jesus Santos, 40, was found dead hanging by the neck by strips of material from his mattress that he had knotted together, police spokesman Norton Ferreira said. Santos had been sentenced to 14 years in prison on pedophilia charges, but in December last year he was paroled early and just a week later began a killing spree that took the lives of six boys aged between 13 and 19 years. He told prosecutors he paid the boys for sex, led them to a secluded spot and beat them to death with sticks.
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
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number