UNITED STATES
Sardine death a mystery
Thousands of slimy, reeking sardines gurgled to the surface of an increasingly murky southern California marina on Thursday as crews kept scooping and vacuuming tonnes of fish that perished in a huge, unexplained die-off. Volunteers and city workers scrambled for a third day to remove the bloated fish that bobbed to the surface of King Harbor. It could take about a week to clean up the mess. “The virtue is we can get them easier,” police Sergeant Phil Keenan said. “The vice is they smell.” An occasional breeze carried the stench from the shallow marina where the fish died late on Monday. By Thursday evening, 85 tonnes of fish had been removed, Redondo Beach Mayor Mike Gin said.
UNITED STATES
Teen survives bridge jump
A California high school student visiting the Golden Gate Bridge on a Thursday morning field trip climbed over a railing, jumped and somehow survived the 67m plunge into San Francisco Bay that kills dozens of people each year. Most jumpers die a grisly death, with massive internal injuries, broken bones and skull fractures. Some die from internal bleeding, while others drown. However, the 17-year-old lived, and a statement from his school said he suffered no severe injuries beyond bruising and tenderness. He was rescued by a surfer who paddled over and took him ashore, a police officer said.
UNITED STATES
Twins give birth in tandem
Twin sisters have given birth to baby girls only two hours apart — and in the same Indianapolis hospital. WTHR-TV in Indianapolis reported that 22-year-old Charron and Chardee Hampton welcomed their daughters to the world on Monday at St Vincent Women’s Hospital. Charron Hampton was past her due date and went to the hospital to be induced. Shortly after, Chardee Hampton went into labor and rushed to the same hospital. WRTV says both babies were born in an uncommon face-up position and measured 53cm long. The sisters are both engaged and are deciding if they should get married on the same day.
UNITED STATES
Mom charged with murder
A prosecutor in the state of Washington said a 25-year-old woman had been charged with first-degree murder in the death of a baby boy born prematurely and found decapitated. Lewis County Prosecutor Jonathan Meyer said Laura Lynn Hickey was charged on Thursday in Superior Court. Bail was set at US$1 million during a brief court appearance and a lawyer was appointed to represent her. Lawyer Ken Johnson did not immediately return a call for comment. Hickey was arrested on Wednesday after a weeklong investigation, which included a post-mortem examination of the baby by a forensic pathologist. Officer John Panco said the pathologist concluded the 21-week baby was alive at birth, but “suffered fatal injuries by decapitation.”
UNITED STATES
Pothole death compensated
The state of Alabama has paid US$1 million to relatives of a woman who was killed when a chunk of concrete from a pothole flew through the windshield of a vehicle on Interstate 20 almost a year ago. State officials said the money was paid to compensate for the death of Jo Maureen Fisher in the freak accident. Fisher, 33, was traveling through the state with her husband and two young children on their way home to south Carolina. No lawsuit or claim was filed. Instead, the state made the payment in a negotiated settlement with the family.
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
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
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