NEW ZEALAND
Storm delays evacuation
Efforts to evacuate an ill American woman from the South Pole have been delayed because of a storm. Doctors suspect Renee-Nicole Douceur suffered a stroke or brain tumor. She had hoped to fly to the city of Christchurch, but she said via e-mail that a flight that was supposed to head to the South Pole from a base in Antarctica was grounded on Saturday because of bad weather. She said she hoped to take a later plane and arrive in Christchurch today or possibly tomorrow. Doctors say a tumor may be causing her vision and speech problems. Officials rejected her earlier evacuation request because of bad weather.
CHINA
Police probe transplants
Three doctors have been arrested for allegedly carrying out illegal organ transplants at a private clinic, local authorities and state media said yesterday. Acting on a tip-off, police in Bazhou city, Hebei Province, arrested the doctors last month as they prepared to remove a kidney from a man, a local Chinese Communist Party official and police said. The case is under investigation, they said. Beijing banned organ transplants from living donors other than spouses, relatives and adopted family members in 2007, Xinhua news agency said. The country launched a trial program last year to allow people to voluntarily donate their organs after death in order to meet increasing demand, Xinhua said. An estimated 1.5 million people are waiting for transplants but only about 10,000 people have registered so far as donors, it said. According to previous state media reports, hospitals have carried out illegal transplant operations for about 100,000 yuan (US$15,700).
HONG KONG
Iconic swim race reinstated
Hundreds of swimmers took part yesterday in a new version of the territory’s iconic harbor race, which had been suspended for 33 years because of concerns about water pollution in one of the world’s most beautiful ports. In calm seas and under partly cloudy skies, the swimmers negotiated the 1.8km course linking Lei Yue Mun in Kowloon to Quarry Bay on Hong Kong island. Hundreds of spectators cheered them on at the finish line. “I had heard everything about the cross-harbor race,” 22-year-old David Wong said after completing the competition. “It was wonderful having the chance to finally participate in it.” The cross-harbor race was first held in 1906, when the territory was still a British colony, and suspended after the 1978 race because of the pollution concerns. In recent years, the government has engaged in a major effort to clean the harbor, putting special emphasis on controlling raw sewage.
PHILIPPINES
Man shoots wife, kids, maid
A man shot dead his wife, three of their daughters and their maid in a fit of rage before turning the gun on himself yesterday. Police said a drunken Emmanuel Ponce had a heated early morning argument with his wife Melinda, triggering the fatal confrontation in the central city of Talisay, police said. After shooting his wife, Ponce gunned down three of their daughters, aged 18 to 26, and the maid, but spared the youngest daughter aged 14, police said. The family help was also killed, police said. Police said it was not yet clear what sparked the confrontation that led to the shooting, which they described as among the most shocking involving members of one family in the relatively peaceful central region.
UNITED KINGDOM
Weapons smugglers foiled
Knuckledusters, imitation firearms and even a meat cleaver are among the array of weaponry visitors have attempted to bring into the British parliament, the Sunday Times newspaper reported. Lawmakers in the Palace of Westminster are used to the cut and thrust of political debate — and a security crackdown has turned up an impressive haul of blades. About 371 knives were recovered between January 2009 and last month, along with a cosh and a truncheon, the newspaper reported, citing information obtained from the parliamentary authorities. In July, one person attempted to bring a catapult into the lower House of Commons. In August last year, a visitor tried to smuggle a meat cleaver past security, while another member of the public tried to gain access carrying a bullet. In the Commons, there are red lines on the floor in front of the government and the opposition benches, traditionally supposed to be two sword-lengths apart.
BOSNIA
Fire destroys wildlife park
Fire has engulfed much of the Hutovo Blato nature reserve, killing many birds and animals, the park manager said on Saturday. The blaze broke out early on Friday in an inaccessible section of the park and was fanned by strong winds across 80 percent of the nation’s largest reserve before being extinguished on Saturday afternoon. “The fire killed many birds, as well as mammals and reptiles. The vegetation was destroyed totally and the feeding chain is completely disturbed,” said Nikola Zovko, manager of the park that attracts thousands of tourists every year. “The damage is enormous.” He said the fire may have been started deliberately. Hutovo Blato is on the list of Bird Life International’s Important Bird Areas.
UNITED STATES
Amish seek police help
Prosecutors in Ohio are continuing their investigation into hair-cutting attacks against several Amish people with assistance from members of the deeply private religious group. It is unusual, but not unheard of for the Amish to enlist the help of law enforcement. The Amish believe they must be forgiving and often times that means handing out their own punishment and not reporting crimes to law enforcement. Authorities say the Amish turned to them because they did not think the attacks could be stopped any other way. Five men from a breakaway Amish group have been charged with forcefully cutting the beards and hair of several Amish men and women in recent weeks. Beards are held in high esteem within in the Amish community. They are grown and kept long based on Biblical teachings.
UNITED STATES
Mystery illness kills seals
Scientists are hoping to uncover answers behind a mysterious disease that has emerged in Arctic seal populations, causing skin lesions, lethargy and death, officials said on Friday. Since July, there have been at least 107 recorded cases of stranded ringed seals on the north coast of Alaska, said researchers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries and other international groups. The seals have been seen with skin lesions, hair loss and skin ulcers, while some have exhibited lethargy and labored breathing, officials said. Nearly half of the animals were dead when found, or died shortly after, said NOAA in a statement. Lab tests for the disease’s origin have been “inconclusive,” and officials said it “is not known if the condition can be passed on to humans.”
UNITED STATES
Ex-con wins boxing debut
Dewey Bozella, who spent 26 years in jail for a murder he did not commit, made his pro boxing debut a successful one on Saturday by beating Larry Hopkins in a cruiserweight fight. The 52-year-old Bozella won by a unanimous decision, despite giving away 22 years in age to Hopkins, who was competing in his fourth professional fight. Bozella didn’t get the knockout he was looking for, but he dominated the fourth and final round, landing a flurry of blows, including an upper cut just before the bell that sent Hopkins’ mouthpiece sailing through the air. “This is the greatest moment of my life,” Bozella said.Bozella was sentenced to 20 years to life in New York’s Sing Sing prison after being wrongly convicted in 1983 of breaking into the house in 1977 of a 92-year-old woman and killing her. In October 2009, his conviction was overturned when witnesses recanted their stories.
VENEZUELA
Chavez has tests in Cuba
President Hugo Chavez said he was scheduled to visit Cuba yesterday to undergo a thorough medical exam after multiple chemotherapy visits to treat his cancer. Before traveling, “I wanted to make some decisions with my ministers and Vice President Elias Jaua, sign some things,” Chavez told VTV television. He has undergone four rounds of chemotherapy since an operation, but little information has been provided about the nature of the cancer, raising questions about the state of his health. The exact nature of his illness has been shrouded in secrecy ever since he had a cancerous tumor removed on June 20 in Havana, with officials saying the tumor was taken out of the president’s “pelvic area,” but providing no other details. Chavez, who has been in power since 1999, maintained that he would recover in time to win re-election next year.
MEXICO
Twenty dead in prison riot
A bloody, hours-long fight in a prison in the border city of Matamoros on Saturday left 20 inmates dead and 12 injured, state officials said. The fight apparently started with a dispute between two inmates. When other prisoners joined in, chaos broke out that lasted until authorities retook control of the facility, which sits across the border from Brownsville, Texas. A statement from the Tamaulipas State Public Security Department said officials were notifying the families of those killed and injured. It also said there would be an investigation. The violence lasted from about 8am to 10:30am before soldiers and marines took control, according to a state official who was not authorized to comment.
UNITED STATES
Desert bull run held
It’s not the streets of Pamplona, Spain, but a few hundred people got a similar thrill by running from bulls in the Arizona desert on Saturday. About two dozen bulls chased more than 200 people in the first of several runs on a 400m, fenced track in the small town of Cave Creek. Based on the annual running of the bulls in Pamplona, the weekend-long event drew dozens of spectators and hundreds of runners — some of whom paid to do all the runs. As in Spain, numerous runners showed up dressed in red and white. Organizers said the Cave Creek version was safer because the bulls are rodeo animals. However, participants were still required to sign a lengthy liability waiver and medical form.
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