GUATEMALA
Judge kills self: reports
Supreme Court Justice Cesar Barrientos, known for revoking dozens of death penalty sentences in a single year, reportedly committed suicide on Sunday by shooting himself in the head. Relatives said the incident occurred as Barrientos rode in the back of his car with two bodyguards, in the southwestern town of San Francisco Zapotitlan, media reports said. In 2012, the Supreme Court’s criminal chamber, led by Barrientos, revoked 53 death sentences on the ground that they violated prisoners’ “due process” and replaced them with 50-year prison terms, the maximum allowed in the country. Police and prosecutors are probing his death.
SYRIA
Spanish journalist freed
A Spanish journalist kidnapped by militants crossed the border into Turkey on Sunday, his newspaper, El Periodico, reported. The news of the Marc Marginedas’ freedom came as his captors, fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, fled areas near the Turkish border, leaving behind at least two mass graves, with one reportedly containing 17 bodies, activists said. Marginedas was abducted on Sept. 4 near the city of Hama by the fighters. He was “moved repeatedly” while in captivity and his captors accused him of being a spy before his release, the report said. The newspaper did not elaborate on how the reporter was released. It said he was undergoing medical tests in Turkey.
VENEZUELA
Activists continue marches
Thousands of antigovernment activists marched peacefully on Sunday to an upper-class Caracas district shaken by more than two weeks of unrest, trying to maintain the movement’s momentum during a long holiday break. Afterward, several hundred protesters erected barricades, burned tires and threw rocks and fireworks at National Guard troops, who responded with tear gas in what has become an almost nightly ritual of clashes. Two people were wounded by shotguns, district Mayor Ramon Muchacho tweeted.
FRANCE
Filmmaker Resnais dies
Alain Resnais, the filmmaker whose cryptic Last Year at Marienbad extended its influence across generations, has died at 91. Resnais was editing drafts of his next project even from his hospital bed, said producer Jean-Louis Livi, who was working on the film with him. Resnais, who died on Saturday, was renowned for reinventing himself during each of his full-length films, which included the acclaimed Hiroshima Mon Amour in 1959 and most recently Life of Riley, which was honored at the Berlin Film Festival just weeks ago.
UNITED STATES
Iditarod launches in Alaska
Nearly 70 competitors from around the world set off from a frozen lake in Willow, 80km north of Anchorage, on Sunday to challenge reigning Iditarod champion Mitch Seavey at the true start of Alaska’s famed and grueling sled-dog race. The 1,569km Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race symbolically began a day earlier when 69 mushers and their canine teams made a ceremonial jaunt through Anchorage. The race commemorates a 1925 rescue mission that carried diphtheria serum by sled-dog relay to the coastal community of Nome, which remains the final destination in the 42nd edition of the event. The mushers will travel in stages of between 29km and 137km as they guide teams of dogs from Willow northwest through 21 other villages on the road to Nome.
CHINA
Zhou’s brother detained
A brother of former security chief Zhou Yongkang (周永康) has been detained by investigators, the Beijing News reported yesterday, after a government spokesman declined to deny the retired political heavyweight was under investigation. Zhou Yuanqing (周元青) and his businesswoman wife, Zhou Lingying (周玲英) were taken away from their home in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, on Dec. 1 last year by “discipline investigators from Beijing,” the Beijing News said. The wife was a major investor in a multimillion-dollar Audi dealership and her success “had a lot to do” with Zhou Yongkang’s son, Zhou Bin (周濱), the newspaper added.
AUSTRALIA
Whalers attack ships: group
Environmental activist group Sea Shepherd yesterday said that Japanese whalers attacked its vessels in the Southern Ocean, and accused the government of “broken promises” to monitor whaling operations. Sea Shepherd said Japanese harpoon ships, the Yushin Maru and Yushin Maru 3, towed steel cables across the bow of its vessel the Bob Barker 11 times on Sunday in a bid to jam its propeller and rudder. It said that when the Bob Barker launched two small boats to defend the ship and cut the steel cables, a bamboo spear was thrown at crew members. Japan’s fisheries agency said its ships were dragging cables with buoys as a warning to Sea Shepherd to stay away.
AUSTRALIA
Snake eats crocodile
A huge snake won a life and death battle against a crocodile on Sunday, swallowing the animal whole after a lengthy struggle before amazed onlookers. Travis Corlis, who watched the fight at Queensland’s Lake Moondarra, near the mining town of Mount Isa, said the snake, thought to be a python, was about 3m long. The crocodile, which the snake coiled itself around, was about 1m in length, he said. “They had quite the struggle in the water,” he said. “It was an ongoing battle.” Corlis said several hours later, he saw the snake had pulled the dead crocodile onto the banks of the lake and released it. “About 10 minutes later, the crocodile was gone,” he said, referring to the creature being eaten.
PHILIPPINES
Rebel mines wound 16
Communist rebels using land mines have wounded 11 troops and five civilians in Davao del Sur province, military officials said yesterday. Army Colonel Marcos Norman Flores Jr condemned the attacks as a violation of international humanitarian law. New People’s Army guerrillas encountered troops on Sunday morning, triggering an hour-long clash. As troops maneuvered, the rebels exploded a land mine, wounding 11 soldiers, a military statement said. It quoted villagers as saying the rebels carried away four dead colleagues. The guerrillas later set off a land mine as three ambulances were heading to evacuate injured troops, wounding five civilian volunteers.
ISRAEL
Ultra-Orthodox Jews rally
Hundreds of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews rallied on Sunday in the streets of Jerusalem, blocking roads and paralyzing the city in a massive show of force against plans to require them to serve in the military. The ultra-Orthodox largely have been allowed to avoid military service, compulsory for most men. The government has been pushing for reforms that will require ultra-Orthodox men to serve in the army. Parliament is expected to vote on the conscription bill this month.
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