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.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was