CHINA
Postal checks boosted
The postal service is ordering tighter checks on packages following a series of mail bombings that killed 10 people and injured 51. The State Post Bureau yesterday said on its Web site that mail carriers and overnight delivery services would be required to conduct further checks for explosives, dangerous chemicals, weapons, gunpowder and poisons. Closer cooperation with police will also be required. The order follows a series of 18 explosions in the southern region of Guangxi on Wednesday and Thursday blamed on a 33-year-old man, Wei Yinyong, who had long-standing disputes with neighbors and companies involved in stone quarrying. The explosions hit a hospital, markets, a shopping mall, a bus station and several government buildings. Wei was believed to have been killed in one of the blasts.
INDONESIA
Lesbians face rehabilitation
Islamic Shariah police in Aceh province said two suspected lesbians apprehended this week in a tourist resort are set to undergo rehabilitation instead of being charged with a crime. The law enforcement chief of the Shariah police, Evendi Latief, yesterday said that the two women confessed to being lesbians and were transferred to the Aceh police’s Women and Child Protection Unit. The women, 18 and 19 years old, were detained on Monday night in the province’s capital, Banda Aceh.
FRANCE
Channel Tunnel reopens
Traffic yesterday resumed through the Channel Tunnel to Britain, several hours after being suspended when 113 migrants entered the French side of the tunnel complex, the company operating it said. A Eurostar train coming from England entered the tunnel at 8:05am, a Eurotunnel spokeswoman told reporters, adding that full services would resume gradually. The tunnel had been closed shortly after midnight when a crowd of migrants stormed the entrance to the tunnel near the northern port city of Calais.
BRAZIL
Implant maker sanctioned
Health regulator Anvisa on Friday said it had suspended the production, sale and use of products made by breast-implant maker Silimed after an inspection found the company failed production standards. Anvisa acted a week after European regulators banned the sale of silicone implants made by Silimed Industria de Implantes after a German authority found some manufacturing surfaces contaminated with particles. Anvisa described the ban as “a precautionary measure” after a recent inspection confirmed the German authority’s findings. The regulator said it was carrying out tests on the products to assess any risks.
CHINA
Storm approaches Hainan
A strong tropical storm yesterday was bearing down on China’s southern resort island of Hainan at the height of the nation’s week-long National Day holiday. Tropical Storm Mujigae was expected to strengthen into a typhoon by the time it lands on Hainan at about noon today, with wind speeds of more than 151kph, according to the national meteorological agency. Heavy rain was expected for the island, as well as neighboring Guangdong Province. As of midday yesterday, the storm was moving northwest at about 22kph. Parts of northern Vietnam were also bracing for heavy rain and high winds before the storm is expected to dissipate on Tuesday.
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