KENYA
Minister dies in crash
Minister of State for Provincial Administration and Internal Security George Saitoti was killed yesterday alongside a junior minister and four others after a police helicopter crashed near Nairobi, Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka said. “It is unfortunate that we have lost honorable Professor Saitoti, assistant minister [Joshua] Orwa Ojode,” Musyoka told journalists. Orwa Ojode was assistant minister for internal security. The helicopter took off from Nairobi’s Wilson Airport and crashed at about 8:30am in the Ngong hills near Nairobi.
VENEZUELA
Health tests good: Chavez
President Hugo Chavez, whose health is in the spotlight ahead of a re-election bid, said on Saturday that tests taken after cancer radiation treatment in Cuba went very well. Last month, Chavez sought treatment in Cuba after the cancer that he had been suffering since last year recurred. He told reporters at the presidential palace that the tests were initially scheduled for the middle of this month, but he “took the decision to take them ahead of time” to show the results before today, when he formally registers to run for re-election for a third consecutive term on Oct. 7.
UNITED STATES
Prosthetic leg returned
A fisherman was surprised when he hauled up a prosthetic leg from the Gulf of Mexico and even more surprised when he was able to find its owner. The leg is emblazoned with the logo from the University of Kentucky and the school’s wildcat mascot. Fisherman Matt Willingham said he contacted the manufacturer about finding the leg’s owner. WKYT-TV in Lexington reported that it belonged to Fred Robinson, who played on the school’s football team in the 1980s and had lost his leg in a work accident five years ago. Robinson, who now lives in Florida, said he lost the prosthetic while swimming at the end of last month.
UNITED STATES
Pastor choked daughter
A police report said a teenage daughter of Atlanta-area megachurch pastor Creflo Dollar told authorities her father choked and punched her after an argument. The report said Dollar claims he tried to restrain his daughter, wrestled her to the floor and spanked her after she became disrespectful. The father and daughter argued early on Friday over whether she could go to a party. The 15-year-old told a Fayette County sheriff’s deputy that she went into the kitchen and her father came in and asked why she was crying. She said when she said she did not want to talk, her father choked her, threw her to the ground and hit her, according to the report. Her 19-year-old sister corroborated most of that account. Dollar faces misdemeanor charges of simple battery and cruelty to children.
UNITED STATES
Guitarist Pete Cosey dies
Pete Cosey, an innovative guitarist who brought his distinctive distorted sound to recordings with Miles Davis, Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters, died, his daughter said. He was 68. Mariama Cosey says her father died on May 30 of complications from surgery in Chicago. Pete Cosey was born in Chicago and later moved to Arizona, where, according to a Chicago Tribune article, he started to develop his unique sound. In the 1960s, Cosey was a member of the studio band at Chess Records in Chicago, where he played with Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. Cosey also played on many of Davis’ boundary-pushing recordings in the 1970s.
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