UNITED STATES
Panda cub wows crowds
Giant panda cub Bei Bei (貝貝) is making his public debut at the National Zoo in Washington. The cub, which was born on Aug. 22, made his official debut on Saturday, although zoo members have been able to see him since Jan. 8. The cub is the third surviving offspring for parents Tian Tian (添添) and Mei Xiang (美香), which also live at the zoo along with their second cub, Bao Bao (寶寶), which was born in 2013. The couple’s first surviving offspring, Tai Shan (泰山), is in China. A twin cub born the same day as Bei Bei died soon after birth.
UNITED STATES
Cher pitches in with water
Cher is donating water to the residents of Flint, Michigan, as the city struggles with a drinking water crisis linked to lead contamination. More than 180,000 bottles are to be shipped to the city starting today, according to a statement Cher released on Saturday. “This is a tragedy of staggering proportion and shocking that it’s happening in the middle of our country,” the Oscar winner said. The city’s 100,000 residents have not had safe water to drink since 2014, when officials began drawing water from the Flint River as a cost-saving measure. However, the city did not treat corrosive water properly, which led to metal leeching from old pipes. The crisis prompted President Barack Obama to sign an emergency declaration on Saturday clearing the way for federal aid. Cher said she reached out to her friend Brad Horwitz, who is an investor in the water company Icelandic Glacial. He contacted company leaders who agreed to double Cher’s donation. The 181,440 bottles are expected to reach the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan starting on Wednesday.
UNITED STATES
Drummer opens coffee shop
A rock ’n’ roll-themed coffee shop owned by Aerosmith’s drummer is on schedule to open in the spring. The Sun Chronicle reported that Joey Kramer’s Rockin’ & Roastin’ Cafe is expected to open its doors in April. The venue is in North Attleborough, Massachusetts, about 64km outside of Boston. Aerosmith formed in Boston in 1971. Kramer has said the cafe will serve up organic coffee with a rock ’n’ roll ambiance. It is to feature Kramer’s drum kit and other Aerosmith memorabilia.
PUERTO RICO
Toddler survives poisoning
A Louisiana woman said her two-year-old daughter is recovering from a near-fatal poisoning from a necklace bead while she was on a Caribbean cruise. Samantha Gandy said her daughter Audrey apparently swallowed beads from a necklace her grandmother had received during a previous cruise from a vendor at the dock in Montego Bay, Jamaica. The Monroe, Louisiana, woman said the girl was drooling and burning with fever and was rushed to a hospital when the ship arrived Thursday in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She said tests confirmed the child had been poisoned by a crab’s eye necklace.
FRANCE
Ski-deaths teacher charged
A teacher who took students onto a closed skiing piste in the French Alps where an avalanche killed two of them and a Ukrainian tourist has been charged with involuntary homicide, his lawyer said on Saturday. The 47-year-old who was seriously injured in the accident was charged at his bedside in hospital in the south-central city of Grenoble in the presenceof the prosecutor, investigating magistrate, and court clerk in the case.
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