ISRAEL
No punishment for pork eater
The military on Tuesday scrapped a punishment for a US-born soldier who had caused a stink by violating kosher rules by eating a pork sandwich while in uniform. Earlier, the military said the soldier, whose name was not released, “violated rules and regulations,” which required him to be disciplined. The soldier was initially given an 11-day prison sentence. The punishment was later converted to being confined to base for the same duration — after relatives talked to the media and a lawmaker wrote to the defense minister about the case. However, the military then changed its decision yet again and canceled any punishment. Israel Radio said the soldier, who moved to the country from Boston, was unaware of the army’s strict dietary restrictions and was merely consuming a lunch his secular grandmother had made him.
GERMANY
Boss fired for drunk-driving
The head of the German unit of the world’s biggest brewery has lost his job over a drunk-driving incident, a spokesman said on Tuesday. Till Hedrich, who had run Anheuser-Busch InBev’s operations in the beer-loving country since January, is leaving the company “with immediate effect,” spokesman Oliver Bartelt said in an e-mail. He said Hedrich, 44, admitted to causing a car crash on a highway south of Munich on April 30 while he was “significantly under the influence of alcohol.” “You can imagine that we, as a company that produces alcohol, have strict internal rules and recommendations for consumers for the enjoyment of alcoholic beverages,” Bartelt said. These include a no-tolerance policy for employees driving under the influence, with a clause stipulating “career consequences” for any violations.
SOUTH AFRICA
Park stays open after killing
A wildlife park where a lion killed a US citizen has remained open and is “operating as usual,” an official said on Tuesday. The park was open to tourists and had received no queries about the attack that took place a day earlier, Lion park assistant operations manager Scott Simpson said. “The park is not closed and it is not closing,” he said. “We have closed off where the incident happened, so those lions won’t be seeing the public until we have had an investigation and we know what exactly happened.” A US woman was killed by a lioness on Monday when the animal attacked her through an open car window, also injuring the driver of the car, who remains hospitalized. The car’s windows were open, contrary to park rules. The lioness would not be euthanized, but moved to another property owned by the park away from tourists, Simpson said.
UNITED KINGDOM
Cohen’s fans look for label
Global fans of Canadian singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen are having fun on Facebook trying to come up with a collective name for themselves. The burst of fandom for the 80-year-old performer of Suzanne, Sisters of Mercy and Bird on the Wire followed a posting noting that Joni Mitchell, another celebrated Canadian musician, once called herself a “stone [committed] Cohenite.” Now Cohen’s official page is asking what a collective noun for such people should be — as in a pride of lions. Early suggestions have included a leonard, a contemplation, a melancholy, a Cohenista and a fedora. Others later suggested a sigh, referencing Cohen’s wry view on life, a Coherence and a suit. The fedora and suit proposals recall the performer’s dapper onstage presence.
UNITED STATES
Bison tosses Australian
For the second time in three weeks, a bison has seriously injured a tourist in Yellowstone National Park who apparently underestimated how quickly the big, burly animals can move when agitated. The bison tossed a 62-year-old Australian into the air several times on Tuesday morning. The unidentified man was flown by helicopter to a nearby hospital in Wyoming. He had serious, but not life-threatening, injuries. Several people crowded the bison as it lay on the grass near a paved sidewalk not far from the famous Old Faithful Geyser, park officials said. “The bison was already getting agitated,” Yellowstone spokeswoman Amy Bartlett said. The man snapped photographs with a tablet just 1.52m away from the animal, she said. When it charged, the man had little chance to escape. Bison can weigh 1,000kg and run three times faster than a person. Park officials recommend getting no closer to one than 25 yards.
UNITED STATES
Fortune-teller trial opens
A Pennsylvania woman on Monday went on trial for the rarely prosecuted charge of fortune-telling, accused of persuading a client that she could lift a cloud of “spells and curses” in exchange for thousands of dollars. April Uwanawich, 38, of Philadelphia, faces 55 counts of fortune-telling, theft by unlawful taking and theft by deception in the Chester County Court of Common Pleas. She is accused of approaching Jennifer Gardiner in 2009 at a convenience store, identifying herself as a fortune-teller and saying she could rid Gardiner of her “dark cloud,” according to a police complaint. Over the following two years, Gardiner met with Uwanawich on a regular basis, “continually paying Uwanawich to work on her life, to rid it of evil and to get rid of spells and curses,” the complaint read. Gardiner was persuaded to stop taking prescribed mental health medication and to buy candles, oils, perfumes and crystals to help ward off evil spirits, it said. Her financial loss probably ran into “tens of thousands of dollars,” but just about US$10,000 could be verified, the complaint said. Uwanawich has two previous arrests for fortune-telling fraud in Chester County, court records show.
UNITED STATES
Most fear misplaced: study
Drug overdoses and car accidents are more likely to kill citizens than events such as airplane crashes and cataclysmic storms, according to a report from a safety group that said people frequently misjudge the risks they take. “Americans worry about the wrong things — for example, 865 times more people are killed in motor vehicle crashes than in commercial plane crashes,” National Safety Council president Deborah Hersman said in a statement Monday. “While San Andreas was No. 1 at the box office, earthquakes are very rare events. Knowing the real odds of dying can empower people to make better choices and result in longer lives.” The lifetime odds of dying from a vehicular crash are about 1 in 112, while the figure is 1 in 234 for overdosing on opioid prescription painkillers, the council said. That compares with 1 in about 97,000 for commercial airplane crashes. For a cataclysmic storm, the figure is 1 in 6,780. “Making safe decisions can reduce the risks of being killed in preventable incidents,” the council said. “Wearing a seat belt, turning off cellphones and designating a sober driver can greatly reduce the risk of a fatal car crash,” it added. It released the report to coincide with the beginning of National Safety Month this month.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese