■INDONESIA
Rare rhino found dead
The carcass of a critically endangered Javan rhino was found two weeks ago, conservationists said yesterday, bringing the world’s scarcest mammal one step closer to extinction. The remains of the male rhino were found in Ujung Kulon National Park in West Java, home to the species’ last viable population of less than 50, experts said. Its horn was intact, meaning it probably was not killed by poachers, he said.
■CAMBODIA
Jungle girl found in toilet
A woman whose story gripped the nation after she apparently spent 18 years living in the jungle has been found in a dugout toilet 11 days after she disappeared again, her father said yesterday. Rochom P’ngieng, 29, was reported missing late last month by her family, who at the time said they believed she had fled back into the forest. She was found in an outdoor toilet about 100m from her home after a neighbor heard her crying, Sal Lou, the man who said he was her father, told reporters by telephone. “She was discovered in a 10m deep toilet. It’s an unbelievable story. She spent 11 days there,” he said, adding that her body was soaked with excrement up to her chest.
■INDONESIA
Police hunt for escapees
Police hunted yesterday for 26 prisoners who escaped from jail in Papua Province — the second such breakout in less than a month. The inmates, serving a maximum of 17 years behind bars, used tied-together bed sheets and clothing to scale the 2.5m fence surrounding the Abepura prison in the provincial capital of Jayapura over the weekend. Liberti Sitinjak, the chief warden, said lazy guards were to blame. Of the seven scheduled to work on Saturday, only three showed up.
■MEXICO
Youngest bullfighter debuts
A 12-year-old French-Mexican boy has become the youngest novice bullfighter to perform in Mexico City’s main ring. Michel “Michelito” Lagravere killed his first bull, which weighed 405kg. However, the novillero lost his footing and was knocked around the sand by a second 385kg animal and was taken from the ring for X-rays. His father said he suffered only bruises and was due to be released late on Sunday. The father, also a bullfighter, said that he felt both fearful and proud watching his son in the ring. The boy told reporters as he was taken away on a stretcher that he left “with a good taste in my mouth” from his appearance.
■UNITED STATES
Bomb comment delays flight
Authorities say a man “made a comment about a bomb” on a flight from Chicago to New York’s MacArthur Airport, forcing passengers to get off the plane while authorities inspected the aircraft. No devices were found. The man was taken into custody after the Sunday afternoon incident on Southwest Airlines Flight 373. Police say the 75-year-old suspect was arrested on a charge of first-degree falsely reporting an incident. Southwest spokeswoman Olga Romero says the suspect made the comment to a flight attendant while disembarking. The flight was delayed about two hours while police inspected the aircraft.
■UNITED STATES
Oswald’s getaway cab sold
The Checker cab Lee Harvey Oswald took after president John F. Kennedy’s assassination has been sold at auction to an Illinois museum. Canadian auction house RM Auctions said in a statement released on Sunday that the 1962 Checker Marathon was among the holdings sold on Saturday from the defunct Pate Museum of Transportation near Fort Worth, Texas. The former Dallas cab sold for US$35,750 for display at the Historic Auto Attractions museum in Illinois. Checker Motors Corp donated the vehicle to the Pate museum in 1979. Oswald hailed the cab moments after Kennedy was fatally shot on Nov. 22, 1963.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Fox attacks twin baby girls
Twin baby sisters were in hospital yesterday in a serious but stable condition after being injured by a fox as they slept at their home in east London, police said. The attack on the nine-month-old girls happened in Hackney on Saturday night while their parents were watching television, newspapers reported. The fox is believed to have entered the house through patio doors, which had been left open because of hot weather. The animal was later caught in a trap set in the family’s garden by pest controllers and put down, police said. Animal welfare consultant John Bryant told BBC radio he had never come across a fox attack in his business of dealing with them as urban pests. “I’ve only heard of two cases in my 40 years of dealing with foxes — one of which turned out to be a German Shepherd and the other a cat.”
■GERMANY
Iranian filmmaker found
Police say an exiled Iranian artist and filmmaker has turned up in Cologne after being missing for nearly two weeks. Police spokesman Andre Fassbender said Daryush Shokof was found completely drenched near the Rhine late on Saturday. Fassbender said yesterday that the 55-year-old Berlin resident was taken to hospital but is in a stable condition. He said police are looking into the case. A committee of Shokof’s friends said in an e-mail on Sunday night that he had apparently been kidnapped.
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