UNITED STATES
Fireworks stolen from train
Federal authorities are investigating the disappearance of 227kg of explosives, in the form of commercial fireworks, missing from a CSX freight train, a spokesman for the company said on Friday. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is investigating the disappearance of the fireworks from a train that originated in Chicago, bureau spokesman Rob Doolittle said. The explosives were determined to be missing on Wednesday. “CSX reported the theft as soon as it was discovered, upon the train’s arrival in Detroit,” Doolittle said. No cars were detached from the train; the material was unloaded, Doolittle said. Doolittle said a “quantity” of fireworks were stolen, but did not elaborate. A CBS report said that at least 32 cases were missing. The commercial fireworks are classified as explosives, Doolittle said.
UNITED STATES
Family dog kills baby
A three-day-old boy in San Diego was mauled to death by the family dog while they were in bed with the child’s parents, police said on Friday. The parents were in bed watching TV with their newborn son and dog on Thursday night when the mother coughed. The coughing startled the dog and it unexpectedly bit the baby, Police Sergeant Tu Nguyen said. He said the parents pulled the animal off and took their only child to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. “At this time, we’re looking at this as nothing more than a tragic incident,” said Nguyen, a member of the child abuse unit. An autopsy is underway to determine the cause of death. Animal control officers took the two-year-old dog, a neutered male American Staffordshire terrier-mix named Polo, into custody, said Dan DeSousa, deputy director of the county Department of Animal Services.
UNITED STATES
Freeway suspect cleared
Prosecutors have decided to dismiss charges against a man suspected in freeway shootings that rattled Phoenix last year. Maricopa County Attorney’s Office spokesman Jerry Cobb on Friday said that the office filed a motion to dismiss all charges without prejudice against Leslie Merritt Jr. Cobb said authorities and prosecutors identified additional forensic investigation that needs to be completed in order for the case to proceed. Prosecutors may refile charges. Merritt was released from jail on Tuesday after a judge reduced his bond to zero. He was allowed to return home under electronic monitoring. Merritt’s defense attorneys have said ballistic tests cast doubt on authorities’ claims that he was behind four of the freeway shootings. The shootings caused panic on Phoenix-area freeways, where 11 vehicles were hit in August and September last year.
UNITED STATES
Guitarist Lonne Mack dies
Connie Mack, a musician whose instrumental recordings influenced guitar players including Stevie Ray Vaughan has died in Nashville, Tennessee, aged 74. Alligator Record Label said in a statement that Mack died on Thursday of natural causes. He lived in Smithville, Tennessee, about 100km east of Nashville. Born Lonnie McIntosh in West Harrison, Indiana, Mack played sessions for record labels in Cincinnati with blues and R&B greats such as James Brown, Hank Ballard and Freddie King. His 1963 recording of Chuck Berry’s Memphis became a radio hit, and he followed that with Wham!, which inspired the nickname “whammy bar” for the tremolo bar he had on his Gibson Flying V.
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
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