AUSTRALIA
Surfer suffers shark bite
A 23-year-old surfer suffered “serious injuries” yesterday in a shark attack off the south coast of Western Australia, authorities said. The man was taken to hospital after the encounter at Wylie Bay, Western Australia police told reporters. He was believed to have lost one arm as well as his second hand and also suffered cuts to his leg, local newspaper the Esperance Express reported. “It has been confirmed that at about 11 o’clock this morning, a man suffered serious injuries after being bitten by a shark, unknown species, at Wylie Bay,” the Western Australia Department of Fisheries said in a statement. “The department is currently preparing to deploy equipment in an effort to catch the shark.” The department urged people to “stay out of the water,” adding that beaches in the area were closed following the attack.
UNITED KINGDOM
Queen looking for cleaner
Buckingham Palace has revealed a sticky reality — Queen Elizabeth II is looking for a cleaner who can oversee the removal of chewing gum left by visitors to a royal residence. Among the duties for the job at Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh is: “To arrange for the removal of chewing gum from the Historic and State Apartments by the porters,” the palace said on its Web site. The part-time position, which is paid £15,912 (US$25,763) a year, would also involve cleaning the palace toilets and the “washing of all crockery required for visits to the palace.” The candidates must be “physically fit and meticulous” and the post holder “will need to have a flexible approach to working hours when The Queen, members of the Royal Family and the High Commissioner are in residence.” Holyroodhouse is the queen’s official residence in Scotland.
UNITED STATES
Loud music shooter gets life
A Florida man faces life in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder at his retrial for the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager during an argument over loud music in 2012. Michael Dunn, a 47-year-old white man, was found guilty of attempted second-degree murder in February, but a racially mixed jury was deadlocked on the more serious first-degree murder count he was convicted of on Wednesday. Jordan Davis, 17, was shot three times after an altercation in a gas station parking lot in November 2012 over what Dunn described as loud “thug music.” In testimony Dunn said that he approached the teens, who were in a sports utility vehicle, and asked them to turn down the music, but the teens refused. Dunn said he feared for his life when one of the teens started to get out of the car and approached him. Dunn pulled a pistol out of his glove box and opened fire. Police found no evidence of a gun in the teens’ vehicle.
UNITED STATES
Man welcomes fugitive
A Silicon Valley homeowner unwittingly welcomed a fugitive into his home and shared a meal with the wanted man as California law enforcement officers canvassed the neighborhood in a manhunt, police said on Tuesday. Police in Palo Alto launched the search after receiving an emergency call on Monday about a possible fraudulent bank transaction linked to a man wanted in Oklahoma for a sex crime with a minor, the city’s police department said. Officers tried to nab 35-year-old Dominique Tabb of San Francisco at the bank, but he hopped a fence and ran into a residential neighborhood where officers began a yard-to-yard search, Palo Alto Detective Sergeant Brian Philip said. A homeowner in his 60s saw Tabb in his yard with some minor scrapes, and Tabb told him that assailants had beaten him up and that he was trying to escape, police said. The homeowner was driving Tabb to San Francisco or a nearby train station when they were spotted by a patrol officer, who arrested Tabb.
UNITED STATES
Intruders kill 920 chickens
Intruders beat to death more than 900 chickens during a break-in at a commercial poultry farm in central California, authorities said. The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office said the suspects pulled back part of the fence to enter the Foster Farms facility. “Once inside, the suspects used a golf club, and possibly another similar type instrument, to slaughter the birds,” it said in a statement, adding that 920 chickens were killed. Livingston, California-based Foster Farms said it was “an unconscionable act of animal cruelty” that appears to be a random act of violence. “Foster Farms is working with local law enforcement ... and is offering a US$5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of the persons responsible,” it said. The incident happened on Sept. 20, but only came to light on Tuesday after the sheriff’s office called for the public’s help in identifying those behind the crime.
UNITED STATES
Casket ‘thief’ arrested
A Texas man suspected of stealing a casket to play a prank on his sister by making her think he had dug up their dead father was arrested after she called police, Dallas police said on Tuesday. Once police received the call from the sister who was concerned about what her brother had brought home, they linked the incident to a report of an assailant stealing an empty casket out of a hearse parked in the lot of Hughes Crown Hill Funeral Home, they said. The man was arrested for public intoxication and is likely to be charged with theft, police said.
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