NEPAL
Avalanche buried up to 300
Body parts are strewn on the slopes of a mountain in Nepal and up to 300 people, many of them foreigners, are believed buried there by an avalanche set off by last month’s devastating earthquake, an official said yesterday. Rescuers pulled out six bodies from the Langtang Village area, 60km north of Kathmandu, on Wednesday, but operations were being hampered by bad weather, assistant district administrator Gautam Rimal said. About 100 bodies were recovered in the area on Saturday and Sunday, and Rimal had previously said about 120 more were buried, but yesterday he said the number could be as high as 300, including 110 foreigners. “There are body parts, broken limbs and pieces of flesh scattered in the area,” he said. The government has said 7,759 people were killed in the April 25 earthquake and more than 16,000 injured.
INDIA
Lawmakers in vote gaffe
A group of lawmakers from the ruling party were given a dressing down in front of their peers in parliament after they accidentally voted against a key government bill. The 12 lawmakers from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party hit the red button instead of the green in the lower house of parliament on Wednesday during voting on a tax reform bill. Visibly upset Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pratap Rudy was seen rushing over to the confused lawmakers, before giving them instructions on how to use the machines, the Press Trust of India said. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley urged the speaker to allow a revote on a clause of the goods-and-services tax bill as the opposition heckled the chastised lawmakers from the benches, the news agency said.
INDIA
Factory explosion kills 11
An explosion at an illegal fireworks factory has killed 11 people and injured six others, a senior police officer said yesterday. Police arrested the factory owner over the explosion which happened late on Wednesday at a village in West Bengal, about 130km from the state capital Kolkata, Inspector General Anuj Sharma said. Fireworks are a major feature of religious and other celebrations held throughout the year in India. Fatal accidents are common in often makeshift and illegal factories, or in people’s homes where sparklers, firecrackers, bottle rockets and other fireworks are put together. “Eleven people were killed and six injured in [an] explosion at an illegal firecracker factory at Pingla,” Sharma said. “One person was arrested in connection with the incident.”
UNITED KINGDOM
Errol Brown dies aged 71
Hot Chocolate lead singer Errol Brown has died at the age of 71 after suffering from liver cancer, his manager said on Wednesday. Hot Chocolate were known for hits such as Emma, Every 1’s a Winner and You Sexy Thing. The singer passed away at his home in the Bahamas with his wife, Ginette, and daughters, Colette and Leonie, by his side, manager Phil Dale said, describing him as a “gentle man.” “Errol was a lover of life and obviously music. I never went into his home, car or a hotel room without music playing,” Dale said in a statement. Brown was made a Member of the British Empire by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II in 2003 for his services to popular music. A year later, he received an Ivor Novello award for his outstanding contribution to British music. You Sexy Thing was first released in the 1970s and featured in the 1997 British film The Full Monty about six unemployed men who form a striptease act.
UNITED STATES
Off-duty cop bites testicles
A Maryland police officer allegedly bit a man’s testicles during an off-duty fight outside a Baltimore bar and has been charged with assault, according to court documents made public on Wednesday. Anne Arundel County police officer Michael Flaig, 31, was arrested and charged on Tuesday night after the incident involving a person who was not named by Baltimore police. The alleged fight stemmed from an argument that began after Flaig was accused of making unwanted sexual advances toward the victim’s roommate, police said in the charging documents. The victim told Flaig to stop and the two got in an argument. The man left the bar and Flaig attacked him in an alley, police said. He attempted to punch the victim, missed and fell down. The victim pinned Flaig down, straddling his upper body and neck area, police said. Flaig then bit the man’s testicles, the court documents said. The victim was treated at the scene for injuries to his testicles, knees, elbows and lip. Flaig was found at a nearby bar with blood on his shirt after fleeing and was arrested on misdemeanor charges of second-degree assault, public intoxication and endangering the victim’s safety, police said. Flaig, an officer for 10 years, has been placed on paid administrative duties.
UNITED STATES
Woman orders pizza, help
A woman in Highlands, Florida held by a knife-wielding boyfriend was rescued thanks to the plea for help she included in her online pizza order, authorities said on Wednesday. Cheryl Treadway on Monday was allegedly being held against her will with her three young children by estranged boyfriend Ethan Nickerson at her home. Nickerson, who had confiscated her smartphone, briefly gave it back to her when she asked to place a pizza order. Treadway used the comments section of the online form to make a plea for aid. “Please help! Get 911 to me,” she wrote in the message received by workers at a nearby Pizza Hut. Police officers dispatched to the home found Treadwell outside, with one child in her arms, and the other two trapped inside with Nickerson. He surrendered after about 20 minutes of negotiations. “We have never seen that before,” Pizza Hut manager Candy Hamilton, told TV reporters. “I have been here 28 years and never, never seen nothing like that come through.”
UNITED STATES
Blast forces evacuation
A manhole explosion near New York City’s Penn Station on Wednesday morning forced the evacuation of The New Yorker hotel and the studios of al-Jazeera America, snarled traffic and affected area telephone, Internet and cable service. Fire officials say there were no injuries in the midtown Manhattan blast. The explosion produced flames that quickly dissipated, but smoke and an acrid odor hung over the area.
UNITED STATES
Humpback hit-and-run?
Scientists say a ship might have hit and killed a young humpback whale that washed up at a San Francisco Bay area beach on Monday. Marine Mammal Center spokeswoman Laura Sherr said the 9.75m female whale had four fractured vertebrae and other injuries. Scientists from the center, the California of Academy of Sciences and the University of California, Davis, examined the whal, which was the second dead whale to wash ashore in Pacifica since the middle of last month. It landed within sight of the carcass of a 15.24m sperm whale that was discovered dead last month.
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