INDIA
Building collapses in capital
A dilapidated building collapsed in New Delhi yesterday, killing at least four people, and rescuers were searching for others believed to be trapped. Police officer Madhur Verma said five survivors also have been pulled out so far from the debris of the four-story building. Three to four people were believed to be still trapped in the collapsed 50-year-old structure. The Press Trust of India news agency said the collapse was triggered by construction work on an adjacent plot of land. Building collapses are common in India, where high demand for housing and lax regulations have encouraged some builders to cut corners, use substandard materials or add unauthorized extra floors.
VIETNAM
Drug smuggler sentenced
An Australian of Vietnamese origin has been sentenced to death after trying to smuggle 4kg of heroin out off the country, state media in the nation said yesterday. Pham Trung Dung, 37, was caught with two suitcases containing the drugs at Tan Son Nhat airport in May last year while trying to return to Australia with his wife and children. Dung told a court in southern Ho Chi Minh City that he had been promised US$40,000 by two unidentified men to transport the drugs, an online report by the Tien Phong newspaper said. The nation has some of the world’s toughest antidrug laws. Anyone found guilty of possessing more than 600g of heroin, or more than 20kg of opium, can face death. Earlier this month, six people from a 25-member smuggling gang were handed death sentences for smuggling 620kg of heroin and 1,400 ecstasy pills in northern provinces. In January, authorities sentenced 30 smugglers to death in the country’s largest-ever narcotics case.
UNITED STATES
NASA to test ‘flying saucer’
NASA was scheduled to launch a “flying saucer” into Earth’s atmosphere yesterday to test technology that could be used to land on Mars. After several weather delays, the attempt off the coast of the Hawaiian island of Kauai was to test the disc-shaped vehicle and a giant parachute. Since the 1970s, NASA has used the same parachute design to slow landers and rovers as they streak through the thin Martian atmosphere. With plans to send heavier spacecraft and eventually astronauts, the space agency needs a much stronger parachute. NASA is testing the technology high in Earth’s atmosphere because conditions there are similar to that of Mars.
MEXICO
Top vigilante arrested
Forces on Friday arrested Jose Manuel Mireles, a senior leader of the powerful anti-crime vigilante group in Michoacan State. Mireles was detained in the Pacific coastal town of Lazar Cardenas after entering a town with more than 100 armed supporters. Mireles, who sported a thick moustache and wore a cowboy hat, was a cofounder of Michoacan’s vigilante or “self-defense” movement. He was arrested with “weapons of exclusive military use,” the Michoacan state government said via Twitter. Mireles entered the town of La Mira on Thursday with about 600 followers armed with automatic rifles. He claimed that the locals had called him for protection against criminal gangs. Vigilantes in Michoacan, mostly farmers and other civilians, took up arms in February last year claiming that the local police was too incompetent or corrupt to protect them from local criminal gangs, especially the cult-like Knights Templar drug cartel. The government was slow to react, but finally last month they agreed to give the vigilantes uniforms and weapons and legalize their movement, but vowed to arrest any armed group that failed to register with the authorities.
UNITED STATES
Beauty queens lose crowns
Beauty pageant winners in Delaware and Florida lost their crowns this week in separate, unrelated mix-ups. Amanda Longacre, who was named Miss Delaware, lost hers because she is older than the Miss America organization allows. In Florida, officials discovered a tabulation error that cost Elizabeth Fechtel her victory. The 24-year-old Longacre was crowned on June 14 in Delaware, but lost the crown on Wednesday. Miss America pageant rules require contestants to be between 17 and 24, and Longacre will turn 25 on Oct. 22, before the year’s end. Pageant officials said on Thursday that Longacre did nothing wrong and had accurately reported her birthdate on applications. Pageant officials said both Lewis and Longacre are to keep their US$9,000 scholarships.
CANADA
Diplomats seek asylum
Dozens of foreign diplomats have requested asylum in Canada, the daily French-language newspaper La Presse reported on Friday, citing secret government documents. They include 38 Afghan envoys and their families from 2009 to this year as well as 16 diplomats from countries such as Syria, Iraq, Greece, Honduras and even a US embassy staffer. Former head of Canada’s consular affairs Gar Pardy told the Montreal newspaper this is an “unprecedented number” of refugee claims by foreign officials. Experts said their reasons include the hope for a better life, or are aware of rights abuses in their homeland that they can no longer support.
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