UNITED KINGDOM
ATM hands out ‘free’ cash
Police were called to restore order after a bank ATM in eastern England started dispensing twice the money its customers were asking for. The Lloyds TSB cash machine in the town of Ipswich began dispensing “free money” to customers on Wednesday after the bank branch had closed for the evening. As word spread of the glitch, a crowd began to gather, prompting arguments among those trying to use the machine. Police were called in to keep watch until the bank’s staff could take it out of service. A Lloyds spokesman said the machine had been “misdispensing” cash for only a short time. About 30 people are thought to have benefited from the glitch. It is not clear how much money the bank lost, or if it will be able to recover the funds.
UNITED STATES
Artifacts returned to Nigeria
The government has returned 11 cultural artifacts to the government of Nigeria. Authorities said on Thursday that French customs officials tipped off the government in April 2010 about a shipment headed to New York’s Kennedy Airport. The 10 Nok statues and a carved tusk were seized from a Manhattan gallery owner, and an investigation determined they were genuine antiquities. The artifacts are to be displayed in Nigeria’s national museum. Nok statues are between 2,000 and 2,500 years old, among the oldest sculptures in West Africa. They were first unearthed in 1943 at a tin mine near the village of Nok in central Nigeria.
FRANCE
Madonna praises tolerance
US pop queen Madonna praised the country for its tolerance and welcoming attitude to minorities and said she knew far-right leader Marine Le Pen was “very angry with me” over a provocative video. “I know that I have made a certain Marine Le Pen very angry with me. It’s not my intention to make enemies,” Madonna told 2,700 fans at a sell-out concert at the Olympia hall in Paris on Thursday. The far-right National Front said earlier this month it would sue the singer over a video at an earlier Paris concert showing party leader Le Pen with a swastika on her forehead. The video, which served as a backdrop for Madonna’s performance of the song Nobody Knows Me, flashed a picture of Le Pen’s forehead superimposed with a swastika, followed by an image resembling Adolf Hitler.
UNITED STATES
Katherine Jackson is ‘fine’
Katherine Jackson’s (Michael Jackson’s mother) attorney said late on Thursday that he had met with his client face-to-face for the first time in several days and that she was doing fine despite familial squabbling that forced a judge to temporarily suspend her as guardian of her son Michael’s three children. “I had a long and productive meeting today with Mrs Jackson,” Perry Sanders Jr wrote in a statement. “I am pleased to report that she is fine and she laughed at the widely publicized report that she had suffered a stroke.” The description of Jackson suffering a stroke was included in a letter signed by five of her children calling on executors of Michael Jackson’s estate to step down. Since late last Saturday, when a relative reported Katherine Jackson missing, speculation has swirled about her whereabouts, her health and why she had not called her grandchildren for nearly 10 days. Rival factions in the family released dueling statements on Twitter and family members tussled in the driveway of her home in an incident that remains under investigation.
INDONESIA
Onlookers slow rescue
Rescuers yesterday fought to help a sperm whale stuck in shallow waters to return to sea, as their efforts were hampered by curious onlookers arriving on boats. The 11m whale has been stuck near Pakis Jaya beach in West Java since Wednesday, said Benvika, a rescuer from the Jakarta Animal Aid Network, which is leading the effort. “We almost set it free a few times yesterday, but the noise from the engines of dozens of boats bringing in local residents confused and disoriented the creature, and it couldn’t swim out to sea,” he said. “It is still breathing normally, but losing a lot of energy,” he said by telephone from the beach.
KOREAS
Koreas mark armistice
Ceremonies commemorating the Korean War armistice are under special scrutiny this year because of North Korea’s military reshuffling and its young leader’s newly introduced wife. Observances yesterday in both North and South Korea follow Kim Jong-un’s surprise dismissal of his military chief and his revelation that the mystery woman at his side in public appearances this month is his wife. The military moves are seen as an effort to build loyalty among the armed forces and solidify his credentials as commander. US and South Korean officials commemorated the armistice that ended the 1950-1953 war at the border village of Panmunjom.
AUSTRIA
Boa catch a fake
An Austrian applauded for capturing a 2.3m boa constrictor he said he discovered on a riverbank has admitted he made up the story to get rid of a pet snake he found too big to handle, an animal rescue group said on Thursday. “It turns out he wanted to get rid of it this way,” said Susanne Hemetsberger, head of the Austrian Animal Protection Association. The reptile was handed to an animal shelter. She said in hindsight the tale originally told by the Salzburg man, who has not been identified, that he had happened upon and bagged the 7kg boa last week, seemed suspicious. “No passer-by who isn’t familiar with snakes would ever grab a boa constrictor. On the contrary, they would scream, run away and call the police,” she said.
DR CONGO
Soldiers, rebels clash
Soldiers backed by UN helicopter gunships battled rebels on Thursday around a strategic army garrison near a mountain gorilla reserve in the east, as thousands of people continue to flee a three-month-old rebellion allegedly backed by neighboring Rwanda. Rwanda vigorously denies having anything to do with the rebels. UN Radio Okapi said rebels of the M23 movement on Thursday began attacking Rumangabo military camp, near the headquarters of the Virunga National Park.
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