BRAZIL
‘Revenge’ attack at polls
A man was shot to death in what officials called a settling of scores while he stood in line to vote in the presidential runoff election on Sunday, police said. The attacker shot the 20-year-old as he lined up to vote at a school in Mossoro in the northeastern state of Rio Grande do Norte. “We suspect it was a private revenge attack. It does not have anything to do with the election,” a state police official said. Voting at the polling station was suspended after the shooting while authorities removed the body, radio network CBN reported. The government deployed army troops to beef up security in 224 cities for Sunday’s contest between President Dilma Rousseff and Senator Aecio Neves. Rousseff won by a narrow margin, officials said yesterday.
CHILE
Baby buyer, seller face trial
Santiago prosecutors have charged a man with buying a baby girl over the Internet for US$102, court documents showed on Sunday. An indictment said the baby was handed over by her 18-year-old mother on Nov. 6 last year, two days after she was born, in return for the money and the cost of giving birth at a Santiago hospital. The case came to the attention of authorities in January after the baby’s biological father told authorities the infant had been kidnapped. In the meantime, the alleged buyer, Juan Carlos Pacheco, had registered the baby in his name, and she was living with him and his partner “as if she were his own daughter,” the indictment said. Prosecutors are seeking two years in prison for Pacheco, who goes on trial on Nov. 11 along with the baby’s mother, Veronica Carrera. Also charged as accomplices were the mother’s grandmother and aunt.
HONDURAS
Murders average 12 a day
At least 12 people are murdered every day in the nation, figures showed on Sunday, reinforcing the country’s grisly reputation as the most violent nation in the world. More than 60,000 people died of homicide between 2000 and last year, the national commission of human rights CONADEH said. Attacks involved firearms, knives or blunt weapons. The figures are about 10 times higher than the global average in terms of homicides per capita, CONADEH said, although the explosion in violence has slowed in recent years. The country has a population of 8 million people. President Juan Orlando Hernandez, in power since January, has promised to “restore peace and tranquility.”
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Traveler carried US$140,000
A woman arriving from Belgium was arrested at an airport with 55,500 euros (US$70,440) hidden in her stomach and 54,600 euros in her luggage, police said on Sunday. The 40-year-old, a Spanish national of Dominican origin, was caught at an airport in Punta Cana after flying in from Brussels, the National Drug Control Office said. Officials had been told about her arrival and the cash in her stomach — contained in 16 bags — was confirmed by X-ray. Travelers are allowed to bring in a maximum of US$10,000 without reporting it.
UNITED STATES
Horse plunges into pool
Arizona firefighters say a horse wandering outside of its pen on Saturday last week fell into a backyard swimming pool and became stuck. Mesa Fire Captain Forrest Smith says firefighters, with the assistance of a veterinarian, tranquilized it before pulling it out. Smith says the horse was not injured.
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