UNITED KINGDOM
Hoax call to be investigated
The government said it was reviewing security procedures after a hoax caller claiming to be the director of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) eavesdropping agency was put through to British Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday. In a separate hoax call to GCHQ, also on Sunday, a mobile phone number for GCHQ director Robert Hannigan was given out. The government said the number provided is not used for calls involving classified information. “In neither instance was sensitive information disclosed,” a spokeswoman for Cameron’s office, No. 10 Downing Street, said in a statement. “Both GCHQ and No. 10 take security seriously and both are currently reviewing procedures following these hoax calls to ensure that the government learns any lessons from this incident.”
NETHERLANDS
Man with knives shot dead
Police on Sunday shot dead a man wielding a knife, who tried to stab pedestrians outside an art museum in the northern city of Groningen. The shooting happened at about 5:30pm outside the university city’s Groninger Museum, when the man threatened bystanders with a number of large knives, police spokesman Ernest Zinsmeyer said. “When police approached the man, he fled. Officers fired a warning shot, but the man tried to stab bystanders as he ran away and police shot him,” he said. The man then fell into a canal near the museum and was pronounced dead by the time police retrieved him from the water. Zinsmeyer said the suspect had not yet been identified and his motives were unknown. He said although a terror attack could not be ruled out, it was unlikely. As in other nations, police have been on high alert since a series of Islamic terror attacks left 17 people dead in Paris earlier this month.
VENEZUELA
Opposition leader visit foiled
Authorities have blocked former Colombian president Andres Pastrana and former Chilean president Sebastian Pinera from visiting jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez. The former Latin American leaders traveled this weekend to participate in a pro-democracy event organized by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s opponents. As part of their visit, the two conservative leaders on Sunday tried to visit Lopez in a military prison where he has been held for the past 11 months, accused of instigating violence in anti-government protests last year. After being informed by prison guards that their entrance was not authorized, Pastrana said Lopez’s basic human rights to receive visit from friends and family was being denied. Maduro on Friday accused the former presidents of having “blood on their hands” for allegedly supporting extremist groups trying to oust him.
AUSTRALIA
PM knights Prince Philip
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has dismissed criticism of his decision to make the husband of Queen Elizabeth II an Australian knight, saying that Prince Philip has a long history of service in Australia. Abbott’s announcement yesterday that the Duke of Edinburgh would be awarded Australia’s highest honor came on Australia’s national holiday, prompting questions over the wisdom of knighting an English royal on a day meant to commemorate Australians. Opposition leader Bill Shorten said the holiday was supposed to be about Australian identity, not British royalty. However, Abbott insisted the prince was a good friend of Australia and therefore a good candidate for the nation’s knighthood.
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
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the