AUSTRALIA
Man stabbed in carjacking
Police yesterday arrested a man over the alleged stabbing of a chauffeur in front of shocked passengers at Sydney Airport in a carjacking gone wrong. Detectives said it appeared that the culprit, in his 20s, stole a rental car, but was forced to abandon it after he crashed into a mini-bus outside the arrival area at the domestic terminal on Monday evening. Barefoot, he ran from the wreckage to where the chauffeur was sitting in his own vehicle and tried to steal it, police said. “The chauffeur managed to kick the man away, however he was stabbed in the leg in the process,” police said in a statement. The man then sprinted toward a woman waiting nearby to load baggage into her car trunk, threatened to stab her and then fled in her silver Mercedes. Police said a man was arrested after a chase north of Sydney.
AUSTRALIA
Hogan settles tax suit
Crocodile Dundee star Paul Hogan has resolved his seven-year battle with tax authorities over alleged unpaid taxes dating back to his first international hit movie in the 1980s. Hogan and his friend and producer, John Cornell, said through their lawyer, Andrew Robinson, on Monday that the pair had reached a settlement with tax authorities to resolve more than A$150 million (US$156 million) in alleged unpaid taxes and penalties. Tax officials barred the Australian actor from returning to his Los Angeles home for two weeks over the matter in 2010, when he returned to Sydney for his mother’s funeral. Hogan’s lawyers eventually secured a deal that allowed him to leave Australia.
AUSTRALIA
NSW targets Hells Angels
New South Wales (NSW) is set to declare the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club a criminal organization within three weeks after a string of drive-by shootings believed to be linked to gang violence, police sources told the Australian yesterday. The state already bans motorcycle gang members, or “bikies,” from owning or operating tattoo parlors and barred them from wearing their colors at 58 pubs and other venues in Sydney’s red-light area of Kings Cross. Assistant commissioner Mal Lanyon told the newspaper that police were working on a declaration, but would not specify the club involved or when it would happen. If made a criminal organization, police could seek to ban individuals from the Hells Angels from associating and jail them for up to five years if they failed to comply. Wayne Baffsky, a lawyer for the club, said it would challenge any declaration in court.
JAPAN
‘The Cove’ to open park
The dolphin-hunting town of Taiji, made infamous by the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove, plans to open a marine mammal park where visitors can swim with the creatures, a media report said. The town intends to section off part of the cove and turn it into a place where people can swim and kayak alongside small whales and dolphins, Jiji Press news agency reported, calling it “a marine safari park.” The cove is the scene of an annual slaughter when the fishermen of Taiji corral dolphins, select a few dozen for sale to aquariums and marine parks, and kill the rest for meat. Activists continue to visit the town to protest the hunt. Taiji, in Wakayama Prefecture, aims to officially launch the project within five years after negotiating with the local government, which manages the bay, and with pearl farmers operating there, Jiji reported.
UNITED STATES
Sailors died from impact
Two sailors killed in a mysterious crash at sea that reduced their vessel to ruins during a yacht race from California to Mexico died of blunt-force injuries, while a third crewman drowned, coroners reported on Monday. The finding of blunt-force trauma in two of the deaths aboard the 11m sailboat Aegean was further indication the impact was a powerful one. A fourth sailor was still missing as investigators sought to determine if the yacht struck another vessel, presumably a larger ship, or a land mass. Race organizers said the Aegean disappeared from satellite tracking at about 1:30am on Saturday. The US Coast Guard said bodies and debris from the yacht were found near the Coronado Islands off the northwestern coast of Mexico.
UNITED STATES
Woman allegedly bites dog
A young woman who allegedly bit her bulldog during a drunken argument with her mother was charged with animal cruelty and domestic battery, police said on Monday. Neighbors called police after hearing loud screaming and pounding coming from the family home in Lake in the Hills, Illinois. Police said 19-year-old Analise Garner hit and scratched her mother’s face and bit her on the right hand during the altercation. The family’s 36kg English bulldog had three bite marks on its back that were visible through its white fur. “The bulldog finally did bite her back in self-defense,” Sergeant Mike Smith said. “There were no charges against the dog,” he quipped.
MEXICO
Fund for victims passed
Congress passed a law on Monday to recognize and protect the rights of crime victims, a longstanding demand in a country where more than 47,500 people have died in five-and-a-half years of drug-related violence, and thousands more have disappeared. The law covers the dead, wounded, kidnapped or missing, whether they are ordinary civilians or are members of drug cartels and other crime gangs. It would also cover victims of other crimes, like extortion. The measure has now been approved by both houses of Congress and must be signed into law by the president, who supports the move.
UNITED STATES
Mother, son die in accidents
A Wisconsin woman and her adult son were killed in separate traffic crashes just hours apart in a Milwaukee suburb, police said on Monday. Mary Moore, 45, died after she was struck by a vehicle. A friend was speeding her son, Thomas Olson, 22, to the hospital to see her when he struck three parked cars and overturned, Deputy Chief Charles Padgett said. Olson was killed in the crash at about 5:30am on Sunday. Padgett said Olson knew his mother had been hit, but he was not sure if Olson knew she had died. The driver of the car Olson was riding in was arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.
UNITED KINGDOM
Firebombing husband jailed
A “wickedly irresponsible” husband who tried to firebomb his estranged wife’s home by driving a fully laden fuel tanker into the bungalow while she was inside has been jailed for seven years. Hugh Billington, 51, plowed the 7.5 tonne vehicle through the front wall of his former marital home in Wool, England, in a “futile act of revenge” and was also planning to kill himself in the attack. His former wife, Christine Billington, 53, who had taken out a restraining order on him, jumped out of a back window to escape.
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