UNITED KINGDOM
Royals have magical day out
The nation’s young royals had a magical day out on Friday with a visit to the studio where the Harry Potter movies were filmed. Prince William, the Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry toured Warner Bros Studios Leavesden near London. The royals, accompanied by 500 children and adults from charities they support, had a wand lesson, visited the Great Hall of Hogwarts School and saw props, costumes and models from the Potter series in the company of the boy wizard’s creator, author J.K. Rowling. In a speech to Warner Bros executives, 30-year-old William said he was “over the moon just to have seen the real Batmobile and Batpod.” “On the other hand, Harry is just excited to see a real life talking owl in the Harry Potter studios,” William said of his 28-year-old brother. “I haven’t told him yet that Harry Potter is fictional, so please keep the secret for a little longer?”
UNITED KINGDOM
Churchill to be on bank note
Here is a choice not likely to be too controversial: Officials say wartime prime minister Winston Churchill’s portrait will be featured on a new £5 note. Bank of England Governor Mervyn King made the announced on Friday at Chartwell, Churchill’s former home, surrounded by members of the late leader’s family. King called Churchill “a truly great British leader, orator and writer.” The bank says the note is likely to be issued in 2016. It will be based on a famous portrait photographed by Yousuf Karsh in Ottawa in 1941. The note will also bear Churchill’s wartime declaration that he has “nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”
france
Tunisian makes best baguette
If you want the best baguette in Paris, go see Ridha Khadher. The 42-year-old baker has been turning out the long, golden rods of bread since he was 15, and has just been awarded the Grand Prix for his labor. Khadher, born in Tunisia, said on Friday that he had decided at the last minute to enter the annual competition for the best traditional baguette in the city. He was among 203 candidates, though 52 were swiftly eliminated for failing to meet strict criteria that include length of the baguette. Besides the acclaim, and likely extra business, the winner gets to deliver his baguettes to the presidential palace for a year. His secret is not the ingredients, because they do not change, he said. “The secret is hard work,” he said. Khadher came to France at the age of 15 and quickly entered the bakery business with his brother, becoming an artist of the most French of symbols.
sweden
Gender-neutral space opened
Officials in a liberal Stockholm suburb that discourages gender stereotypes have decided to open a gender-neutral changing room in a local high school to avoid students being classified as male or female. Patrik Biverstedt, headmaster of the Soedra Latins upper secondary school, says they decided on the cubicle where one person can change at a time after students proposed it last year. It will be ready by May 6. Students’ union member Camille Trombetti says the changing room is not only “for transsexual” students, but any student who wants privacy when changing for school activities. Soedra Latins is in the same affluent Sodermalm district where children at the Egalia preschool are encouraged to avoid using “him” and “her” and to call others “friends” instead of girls or boys.
UNITED STATES
‘Pulp Fiction’ car recovered
Authorities say the classic Chevrolet convertible featured in the film Pulp Fiction has been found nearly two decades after it was stolen. The San Bernardino County Sun reports movie director Quentin Tarantino’s 1964 Chevelle Malibu was recovered in the San Francisco Bay area earlier this week. John Travolta’s character drove the cherry red car in the movie. Sheriff’s Sergeant Albert Anolin said an investigation into an old Malibu in the desert city of Victorville on April 18 led detectives to another Malibu in the Oakland area. They then confirmed that vehicle belonged to Tarantino and was reported stolen in 1994. Authorities say the car’s current owner is not believed to be involved in its theft and is considered to be a victim of a fraud.
UNITED STATES
Manning will not be marshal
The army private charged in a massive leak of secrets to the WikiLeaks Web site will not be an honorary grand marshal of San Francisco’s annual gay rights parade after all. San Francisco Pride Board president Lisa Williams announced in a statement on Friday evening that an invitation extended to imprisoned intelligence specialist Bradley Manning this week had been the work of an employee who acted prematurely based on internal discussions. Williams says a committee of former San Francisco Pride grand marshals did select the 25-year-old Manning, who is openly gay, for the distinction. However, she says the Pride Board decided his nomination was a mistake. The parade recognizes about a dozen celebrities, politicians and community organizations as honorary grand marshals each year for their contributions to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities.
UNITED STATES
Tsunami debris confirmed
A Japanese fishing boat washed across the Pacific following the 2011 tsunami has been confirmed as the first piece of debris to reach the coast of California, officials said on Friday.
The 6m skiff, found this month near the northern Californian coastal town of Crescent City, belonged to the Takata High School in the Japanese city of Rikuzentakata, in Iwate Prefecture. Japan’s consulate in San Francisco helped the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirm where the boat came from, after it was spotted washed up on a local beach. The boat was covered in pelagic gooseneck barnacles. Experts at California’s Humboldt State University also helped to identify it, said NOAA spokeswoman Keeley Belva. The vessel is the 27th item of debris so far confirmed on the US West Coast, and the first in California.
BRAZIL
Robbers burn dentist
A dentist died in her suburban Sao Paulo office after three robbers set her alight with alcohol because they could steal only US$15 from her, a police spokesman said on Friday. The spokesman said that three assailants burst into the office of 46-year-old Cinthya Magaly Moutinho de Souza on Thursday and demanded money. The trio stole the dentist’s credit card, but were only able to withdraw US$15 from a nearby automated teller machine. They returned to the office to demand more money from the dentist, who said she had none, the spokesman said. “The suspects then set the dentist alight. Military police who rushed to the scene found her dead,” he added. The spokesman said a witness saw the assailants escape in a black car and police were still hunting for them. He said one of the suspects was identified thanks to security cameras.
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