ISRAEL
Force-feeding law passed
Parliament passed a law that would permit the force-feeding of inmates on a hunger strike. The law, passed yesterday in the Knesset, allows a judge to sanction the force-feeding or administration of medical treatment if there is a threat to an inmate’s life, even if the prisoner refuses. Palestinians held in jails have held rounds of hunger strikes over recent years, protesting their detention. Many have been hospitalized and their failing health has caused tensions to flare among Palestinians. The nation fears that a hunger striking prisoner’s death could trigger unrest.
United states
‘Rolling Stone’ faces lawsuit
Former fraternity members and graduates from the University of Virginia have sued Rolling Stone magazine over a gang-rape story that sparked outrage and eventually had to be retracted, the New York Times reported. The defamation lawsuit came as news emerged that the editor who oversaw the flawed story — which was retracted after unprecedented criticism and scrutiny of the iconic publication — was leaving the magazine. Managing editor Will Dana is to leave more than eight months after the story alleging a gang rape on campus was published, the Times also reported on Wednesday. Titled “A Rape on Campus,” the story horrified many when it appeared in November last year with its explosive claims of a violent gang rape at a fraternity house, as recounted by the anonymous victim, identified only as “Jackie.” Three former members of Phi Kappa Psi, the fraternity from the University of Virginia where Rolling Stone had said the alleged rape took place, filed their lawsuit against the magazine saying the story had a “devastating effect” on them, the Times said.
United states
Teen charged with murder
Prosecutors charged a 15-year-old boy with murder, kidnapping and rape on Wednesday in the death of an eight-year-old girl in an artists’ complex in a California beach town. Police said Adrian Jerry Gonzalez lured Madyson Middleton into his family’s apartment from a courtyard where she had been riding her scooter over the weekend. Once inside, he tied her up, sexually assaulted and killed her, according a charging document. Gonzalez remains in custody at the Santa Cruz County juvenile detention center, where he has been held since the girl’s body was found in a recycling bin on Monday evening.
United states
Study moots fat as taste
Fat needs its place alongside the basic tastes of sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami because it evokes unique sensations, US researchers said in a new study. The sixth flavor should be known as oleogustus, a combination of oily and taste in Latin, according to Purdue University scientists who published their study in the journal Chemical Senses. “The taste component of fat is often described as bitter or sour because it is unpleasant, but new evidence reveals fatty acids evoke a unique sensation satisfying another element of the criteria for what constitutes a basic taste,” science and nutrition professor Richard Mattes said. In the study, researchers asked participants to organize foods according to basic tastes. The testers determined that fat was unique and different from other tastes. Mattes said that in high doses, the taste of fat is unpleasant and can seem rancid. “At the same time, low concentrations of fatty acids in food may add to their appeal, just like unpleasant bitter chemicals can enhance the pleasantness of foods like chocolate, coffee and wine,” Mattes said.
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion