UNITED STATES
Victims sue lottery winner
Two alleged victims of a registered sex offender have filed a lawsuit seeking damages for pain and suffering after the man won US$3 million in a Florida Lottery jackpot. Timothy Poole purchased the winning ticket earlier this month in Mount Dora, near Orlando. He took a lump sum payment of about US$2.2 million. Poole was accused of sexually battering a nine-year-old boy in 1999. Poole denied the allegations, but pleaded guilty to attempted sexual battery and was sentenced to time served. His probation was revoked in 2003 after he failed to show up for counseling. The lawsuit was filed by two brothers, who were aged 9 and 5 when Poole was arrested. In 2010, the Florida Legislature eliminated a statute of limitations for victims of sexual battery younger than 16.
VENEZUELA
Merida’s Coromoto closes
An ice cream store listed by Guinness World Records for its 863 different flavors has become the latest victim of Venezuela’s economic crisis. “We are closed during the season due to shortage of milk,” the famous Coromoto ice cream store in Merida posted on its Facebook page. Locals confirmed that the shop, hugely popular among tourists for its exotic and strange flavors, ranging from beer to beans, had been closed since Christmas Eve. A sign on the door asked customers’ forgiveness “for not attending you due to the lack of milk.” The country has been suffering acute shortages of basic goods, from toilet paper to spare tires, all year due to an economic slowdown, the highest inflation in the Americas and the impact of strict currency controls.
UNITED STATES
San Antonio fire kills five
Five people died on Sunday after a fire broke out at a senior-living apartment building in the San Antonio suburb of Castle Hills, authorities said. Ten other residents of the Wedgwood Apartments were hospitalized, and at least one is in critical condition, according to Bexar County Fire Marshall spokeswoman Laura Jesse. About 150 additional residents of the 11-story high-rise were taken by city buses to a local high school, and about 100 people remained there on Sunday afternoon. A total of 150 firefighters from San Antonio and six other fire departments responded to the blaze, which was reported shortly after 6am, San Antonio Fire Department spokesman Christian Bove said. The cause of the three-alarm fire is under investigation, but appears to have originated on the third floor, Jesse said. Not all of the 216 residents listed on the building’s rent rolls have been accounted for yet, Jesse added.
MEXICO
Vigilante leader arrested
The leader of one of Mexico’s first anti-crime vigilante groups was arrested along with 26 supporters over a shootout that killed his son and 10 others, authorities said. Hipolito Mora was taken in on an arrest warrant on Saturday for “probable murder” in the bloody Dec. 16 episode with a rival group, Michoacan State Special Commissioner Alfredo Castillo said. Another 26 vigilantes were also apprehended for their involvement, he said. Mora put up no resistance, according to prosecutors, as he was arrested for his involvement in the shootout between two vigilante groups that turned on each other in La Ruana. Six of Mora’s followers, including his oldest son, died, as well as five members of a rival vigilante group led by Luis Antonio Torres, known as El Americano, who is also wanted for arrest and whose whereabouts are unknown.
PHILIPPINES
Liberal pope shirts pulled
ABS-CBN, the nation’s largest broadcaster, pulled souvenir T-shirts for an upcoming papal visit from its stores yesterday, after drawing fire from Catholic bishops irked by the words “No religion” emblazoned on the garments. Pope Francis, who has been praised for being reform-minded, is to visit the country next month. The T-shirts printed by the network bore the statement: “No race. No religion. I embrace diversity” and were marketed with the hashtag #PopeTYSM, which stands for “Thank you for the compassion” in Tagalog. While acknowledging that the statement was intended to convey Francis’ “openness,” the message was “misleading and quite frankly erroneous,” said Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of the Philippines. “[Francis] has never said and taught that religion and race do not matter, because they most certainly do. It is what selfish, uncharitable and judgemental people do with religion and race that is a problem,” Villegas said.
JAPAN
New bird flu case sparks cull
Tokyo yesterday ordered the slaughter of about 42,000 chickens after officials confirmed the country’s second bird flu outbreak in less than a month. DNA tests confirmed the presence of the virus’ H5 strain at a farm in Miyazaki Prefecture after its owner on Sunday reported that several chickens had died suddenly, the local government said. Officials began the slaughter yesterday and asked farms within a 10km radius not to move their poultry outside of that perimeter. It is uncertain whether there is a link between the first outbreak and the second, a Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry official said, adding that further testing would be conducted.
CHINA
Collapse at school kills 10
A scaffolding collapse at one of Beijing’s most prestigious high schools killed 10 construction workers and injured four others yesterday, officials said. The accident occurred at the start of the school day at Tsinghua High School, but did not affect any classrooms or other buildings used for instruction, Beijing’s Municipal Propaganda Bureau said. It added that the injured were in stable condition. A school official surnamed Jiang (江) said all the victims were building a gym at the school and that no teachers or students were hurt. Xinhua news agency said an initial investigation found that steel bars used to reinforce concrete had collapsed and caused the accident. It said police had detained several people, but gave no details about their identity.
BANGLADESH
Striking activists fight police
Opposition activists clashed with police during a nationwide strike yesterday, leaving one woman dead and several injured, as tensions grew ahead of the first anniversary of controversial elections. Police said a female teacher died after she was hit on the head by a rock thrown by an opposition protester in Noakhali District. The streets in Dhaka were largely deserted during the strike, with offices and schools closed and highways empty. The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and 19 allies, including Islamist outfits, called the strike to protest a crackdown against their leaders and supporters by the security forces. BNP spokesman Rizvi Ahmed said that at least 400 party officials and activists have been arrested since Wednesday to thwart protests to mark the first anniversary of the Jan. 5 elections that the party boycotted. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League has ruled out polls before the end of her new term in 2019.
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