UNITED STATES
Shots force chopper down
A Border Patrol helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing in Texas after it was allegedly fired upon. The incident happened at about 5pm on Friday while the aircraft was patrolling the Rio Grande River near the border city of Laredo. Webb County Sheriff Martin Cuellar told the Laredo Morning Times that out of five shots thought to have been fired at the helicopter, two hit. Border Patrol spokeswoman Sara Melendez said no one aboard the aircraft was injured and the helicopter landed safely. There was no immediate word on whether the gunfire came from the Mexican side or the US side.
UNITED STATES
Iglesias recovers from injury
With a photograph flashing a red “Thank You” written in the palm of his unharmed hand, Enrique Iglesias thanked his fans on Instagram for their support while he recovers from a finger-slicing accident. “Wanted to do something special to thank all you guys for your love and support this week. Leave your questions on this post!” the Spanish performer wrote. Hundreds of followers immediately flooded the post with good wishes and questions, like: “When are you resuming your tour?” “My hand is getting better little by little,” he wrote in Spanish. “I am going to Mexico at the beginning of July, so see you there!” Iglesias sliced his fingers by grabbing a drone in flight at a show last weekend.
MEXICO
Mummified body found
Mountaineers have found another mummified body on the nation’s tallest peak, making it the third cadaver found there in recent months. The remains are turning up as the glaciers and ice pack retreat on the 5,610m Pico de Orizaba mountain. Virgilio Vazquez, spokesman for Chalchicomula de Sesma, the town nearest the volcanic peak, confirmed that the body was brought down from the mountain on Thursday. Vazquez said the person’s identity was still being confirmed. The body appeared to be wearing dress clothing, awakening speculation that the person was in an airplane that crashed in the 1990s. The find comes three months after a team found two other mummified bodies elsewhere on the mountain. They apparently were climbers lost in a 1959 avalanche. Those remains were not recovered.
ARGENTINA
Law puts clowns in hospitals
Tapping into the healing power of laughter, specially trained clowns are to be hired by public hospitals in the nation’s largest province thanks to a new law that requires they be available to help treat young patients. Andres Kogan, a pediatrician who oversees a hospital program with clowns, said on Friday that the law passed last month would be implemented over the next several months. Kogan said clowns do not just make children and their families feel better about being in a hospital, but also help doctors elicit information from children who are shy, have been abused or are not able to communicate for other reasons. Alejo Lacone, a nine-year-old who was paralyzed after being hit by a car in March, is a good example of how that works. Because of a tracheotomy, the boy cannot speak. However, three clowns at a hospital on the outskirts of Buenos Aires are able to get him to smile by “acting out.” The clowns come to the hospital on Thursdays, making rounds to rooms with children. “The clowns put on their noses and invite you to play with them,” hospital director Carlos Kambourian said, adding that the therapeutic method is based on one used by Miami Children’s Hospital.
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
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
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