MOROCCO
Water cannons used on blind
Police spraying water cannons stopped 13 unemployed blind university graduates from setting themselves on fire in Rabat on Wednesday in protest against a public sector hiring freeze. The 13 had tied themselves together with ropes around their necks to block a main street, poured fuel over their clothes and threatened to set themselves on fire. Police moved in quickly to spray the protesters with water cannons to dampen the fuel before chasing them away using batons. Hundreds of chanting protesters demanding jobs in the public sector joined them in support.
CHINA
Tigers killed for shows
More than 10 tigers have been killed as “visual feasts” to entertain officials and rich businesspeople in Zhanjiang, Guangdong Province, the state-run Nanfang Daily reported on Wednesday. Zhanjiang police seized a freshly slaughtered tiger and multiple tiger products in a raid this month, the paper said. Officials and successful businesspeople gathered to watch the tigers being killed to show off their social stature, it said. Video footage of a killing two years ago showed a tiger in an iron cage having an electrified iron mass prodded into its mouth with a wooden stick and passing out after being electrocuted for more than 10 seconds, the paper said. Police said a butcher hired to cut up the tiger carcasses — who jumped to his death while trying to escape arrest in a raid — had killed more than 10 animals.
AFRICA
Gorilla plan outlined
The Cross River gorilla, the world’s rarest gorilla sub-species, which is believed to be down to less than 300 remaining individuals, can be saved with a US$10.5 million action plan, conservationists say. The gorillas live in a hilly rainforest area along the Nigeria-Cameroon border. World Conservation Society experts believe the sub-species population could remain stable and even increase if a new five-year plan is put into place to protect it from poachers who hunt it for bushmeat, and habitat loss. The plan calls for more research into the gorillas’ distribution, more local-led conservation efforts, monitoring of disease, ecotourism developments and safeguarding of “corridors” between the species’ main sites.
GUINEA
Ebola outbreak contained
Government officials said on Wednesday that an outbreak of Ebola fever has been stopped from spreading beyond the country’s remote southeast, although the number of deaths from suspected infections rose to at least 63. UN agencies and medical charities such as Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) have scrambled to help the country. An MSF spokesperson said the number of suspected infections had risen by just two from Tuesday to 88, according to government figures.
NEW ZEALAND
Kim Dotcom forms party
Internet tycoon Kim Dotcom, who is battling extradition to the US, launched his own political party yesterday to campaign for a “free and fair” society. The flamboyant 40-year-old German-born founder of the Megaupload file-sharing site claimed his Internet Party would “play an important role” in the general election scheduled for September. “This is a movement for the freedom of the Internet and technology, for privacy and political reform,” he said. The party was for “people who haven’t voted before, who have been disappointed by voting, or who don’t like the political choices on offer,” he said.
UNITED STATES
Abuse gun ban upheld
The Supreme Court upheld a federal law on Wednesday barring anyone convicted of even a minor domestic violence charge from ever owning a gun. In a unanimous ruling, the nine justices ruled against James Castleman, who argued that his past conviction in Tennessee of misdemeanor domestic assault against the mother of his child should not keep him from owning a firearm under federal law. Castleman had been charged with illegal possession of a firearm when he and his wife were later accused of trafficking weapons on the black market. One of these weapons was found at the scene of a crime in Chicago.
JORDAN
Kerry meets with Abbas
US Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a bid to salvage foundering Mideast peace talks. Kerry and Abbas spoke for more than four hours over a working dinner in Amman that US officials said were “constructive.” Kerry flew from Rome to Amman to see Abbas as negotiations approached a critical April 30 deadline for a settlement. The Palestinians have threatened to walk away before then unless Israel releases a group of prisoners, as it agreed to, by tomorrow. Wednesday’s announcement by the Arab League, blaming Israel for a lack of progress in the Mideast peace process, put up another roadblock. The communique also rejected “the continuation of settlements, Judaization of Jerusalem and attacks in its Muslim and Christian shrines.”
UNITED STATES
Autism starts before birth
A small study that examined brains from children who died found abnormal patterns of cell growth in autistic children. The research bolsters evidence that something before birth might cause autism, at least in some cases. Clusters of disorganized brain cells were discovered in tissue samples from brain regions important for regulating social functioning, emotions and communication — which can all be troublesome for children with autism. The abnormalities were found in 10 of 11 children with autism, but in only one of 11 children without the disease. The authors said the clusters, detected with sophisticated lab tests, are likely defects that occurred during the second or third trimesters of pregnancy. “Because this points to the biological onset in prenatal life, it calls sharply into question other popular notions about autism,” including the scientifically debunked theory that childhood vaccines might be involved, lead author Eric Courchesne said.
UNITED KINGDOM
Man wins suit with lender
A Scottish man on Wednesday won a 16-year court battle sparked by a wrangle over a loan he had taken out to buy a computer. Richard Durkin bought a laptop from a store in Aberdeen in 1998, using a credit agreement with lender HFC Bank for about £1,500 (US$2,485). He returned the computer the next day because it lacked an internal modem, and tried to cancel the credit deal. The bank said he could not, and after he refused to pay, declared he had defaulted. Durkin said the bad credit rating meant he was unable to buy a house. Durkin took legal action, and in 2008 a court awarded him more than £100,000. That decision was overturned by appeals judges, and case eventually wound its way to the Supreme Court. The saga ended on Wednesday when five Supreme Court justices awarded him £8,000 in damages, a fraction of his initial award. Durkin estimated he had spent £250,000 on the case.
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