VIETNAM
Disease outbreak kills 70
A health official says a surging outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease in the country has killed 70 people so far this year and infected more than 23,000, mostly children under the age of five. Nguyen Van Binh, head of the Ministry of Health’s Department of Preventive Medicine, was quoted by the Thanh Nien newspaper as saying most of the cases have been reported in the south. Enterovirus 71, or EV-71, is the dominant strain circulating in the country. This year’s outbreak is a sharp uptick from recent years.
NEW ZEALAND
Penguin passes health test
The country’s favorite penguin visitor has been given a health clearance to be returned to the wild. The news comes five weeks after he was found on a beach more than 3,200km from his Antarctic home. The emperor penguin nicknamed “Happy Feet” has been recuperating at the Wellington Zoo since he was discovered in the North Island. He is the first emperor penguin to be found in the wild in the country in 44 years. Zoo spokeswoman Kate Baker said the penguin has gained about 4kg and this week passed an X-ray and blood test. Baker said the penguin will likely be released offshore in the south of the country sometime in the next few weeks.
UNITED STATES
Butt surgery death accidental
An autopsy report has determined that the death of a Las Vegas woman who died after receiving a buttock enhancement injection in a makeshift medical office was accidental. Clark County Coroner P. Michael Murphy said on Thursday that 42-year-old Elena Caro died from an adverse drug reaction. He said the autopsy does not preclude criminal charges. Ruben -Matallana-Galvas and Carmen Torres-Sanchez of Colombia face charges of murder and practicing medicine without a license in Caro’s April death. Authorities allege the husband and wife were running a cosmetic surgery business in the back room of a tile store when they injected Caro’s buttocks with a gel substance. Caro was found roaming the streets in agony hours after the injection. She was taken to a hospital, where she died.
RUSSIA
Three killed in two attacks
Police say a village leader and an elderly couple have been killed in a restive Russian province in the North Caucasus. Vyacheslav Gasanov, a police spokesman in the republic of Dagestan, said village chief Rabadan Omarov in central Dagestan was killed late on Thursday night when an unidentified man stormed his house and gunned him down with an assault rifle. In southern Dagestan, a married couple in their 60s known, for having conservative Muslim beliefs, was stabbed to death by a man who attacked their house on the same night. Police suspect Muslim insurgents to be behind both killings.
ITALY
Minister says sorry for errors
Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti apologized in an open letter yesterday over his occupancy of a flat belonging to a former aide now under investigation for corruption. “Did I commit unlawful acts? As far as I’m concerned, no. Did I make mistakes? Yes, definitely,” Tremonti wrote in a letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper. Tremonti has faced growing pressure over his links to Marco Milanese, a close aide being investigated for graft and influence-peddling by Naples magistrates. Tremonti until a few weeks ago occupied a flat in Rome made available by Milanese, a former tax official.
HONDURAS
Cocaine recovered from sea
The navy, with help from its US counterpart, recovered 2.5 tonnes of cocaine from a submarine intercepted on its way from Colombia to the US, authorities said on Thursday. The drugs were on the vessel sunk off the Caribbean coast near Tegucigalpa about two weeks ago by its four-man crew after the coast guard caught up with the suspected traffickers. General Rene Osorio said the semi-submersible sub had been carrying about 5 tonnes of cocaine and that half of the narcotics shipment was still on board.
UNITED STATES
Doughnut burger unveiled
Want fries with that ... doughnut? A food booth in Syracuse will unveil the “Big Kahuna Donut Burger” at this year’s New York State Fair. For between US$5 and US$6, the adventurous eater will get a quarter-pound burger between slices of a grilled, glazed doughnut. Toss on some cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato and onion and you’ve got yourself a 1,500 calorie meal. State fairs can be counted on to provide foods featuring offbeat ingredient combinations. Wisconsin has chocolate covered bacon on a stick, you can get fried beer in Texas, Massachusetts provides fried jelly beans and North Carolina has the “Koolickle,” pickles soaked in Kool-Aid.
UNITED STATES
Madoff recoveries secured
A trustee recovering money for investors who lost billions of US dollars through Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff’s dealings says he has secured more than a billion US dollars through settlements with associates of the second largest feeder fund group to invest with Madoff. Trustee Irving Picard announced on Thursday the settlement would boost recoveries of money available to jilted investors to more than US$8.6 billion. He said that is nearly half the approximately US$17.3 billion in principal lost by Madoff, who pleaded guilty to fraud charges and is imprisoned in Butner, North Carolina.
IRAN
Hikers await final trial
The families of two imprisoned Americans are counting on a hearing tomorrow to end their ordeal. Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal are due for what Iranian authorities have said will be a final hearing in their espionage case. It comes two years to the day after they were arrested with another American while hiking along the Iraq-Iran border. Sarah Shourd was freed in September last year. Bauer’s mother, Cindy Hickey, said she will be up all night praying. The families are taking recent comments by Tehran’s top prosecutor as a good sign. He said officials hoped a final decision would be made at the hearing, but did not hint at the outcome.
COLOMBIA
Billions laundered each year
Nearly US$8 billion, roughly the equivalent of 3 percent of the nation’s GDP, are laundered in the country each year, Attorney-General Viviane Morales said on Thursday. Morales confirmed the figures, citing government estimates, at a Pan-American forum on money laundering and terrorism financing. She did not specify how much of the illicit funds come from the cocaine trade. The country is the world’s largest producer of cocaine with 350 tonnes exported last year, according to UN figures. Morales said money laundering has a negative impact on the economy and causes inflation and unemployment, as well as reduces domestic production.
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