TURKEY
Roadside bombs kill six
Roadside bombs killed at least six people in two separate attacks on security forces on Monday in the largely Kurdish southeast, security sources said, adding to the violence that has flared across the region in the past 24 hours. One bomb hit a passing police vehicle in the town of Silopi in Sirnak Province near the border with Iraq, the sources said, hours after Turkish warplanes struck camps belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq. Four civilians were killed and 19 people were injured, including five security force members, in that attack, the sources said.
NETHERLANDS
LRA rebel to face ICC trial
A top commander of Uganda’s rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) will go on trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in December charged with keeping sex slaves and recruiting child soldiers, among other crimes. Dominic Ongwen, a former child soldier who became one of the most LRA’s most feared leaders, is charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity over his role in the group’s reign of terror in northern Uganda from 2002 to 2005. His trial is to start on Dec. 6, the Hague-based ICC said, with prosecutors starting to present their evidence in January.
FRANCE
Gardener jailed for murder
A court on Monday sentenced a gardener to 30 years in jail, with no possibility of parole for 20 years, for the murder of his British former boss and lover. Jean-Louis Cayrou, 54, was convicted of murdering Patricia Wilson at her home near the southwestern city of Toulouse, in an act portrayed as the work of a “jealous” man who could not accept that Wilson had ended their relationship. The 58-year-old woman was last seen alive on August 17, 2012, at her home in Vabre-Tizac village, on her return from a trip to England. Although police found her clothes and traces of blood, Wilson’s body was never found.
UNITED STATES
Huge alligator scares golfers
An exceptionally large alligator has been filmed taking a casual stroll across a golf course in Florida, as terrified golf players looked on. Charles Helms was enjoying a relaxing afternoon of golf with a friend at Buffalo Creek Golf Course in Palmetto when he spotted the 4.5m-plus reptile heading their way. He immediately reached for his mobile phone and started filming the beast. Initially, the colossal size of the creature made him think it was part of a practical joke. “I was stunned and silent,” he told ABC Action News. “I didn’t know if we were being punked or something... It was just laying down, resting, when it got up and started moving towards the big lake.”
POLAND
Polanski case relaunched
Warsaw yesterday relaunched a procedure to extradite Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski to the US to face sentencing for a 1977 case of statutory rape. Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro told national public radio that he would appeal to the Supreme Court to overturn a previous decision that Polanski should not face extradition. A Krakow court in October ruled that Polanski should not be sent to the US, a decision prosecutors agreed was “justified.” The court was fiercely critical of the US probe into Polanski’s case, saying the US judges and prosecutors had flouted “the rules of a fair trial.” Polanski is still wanted by the US for sentencing over the statutory rape of then 13-year-old Samantha Geimer after a photo shoot in Los Angeles.
INDIA
Depot fire kills 17
A fire broke out at a major ammunitions depot in the west of the country early yesterday, causing fatalities, officials said. Local news reports said at least 17 army personnel were killed and at least 19 injured. The fire at the Pulgaon ammunitions depot started before dawn, said an official at the local police station, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
HONG KONG
Bag fetches US$300,000
A diamond-encrusted crocodile-skin Hermes handbag with white gold details has broken the record for the world’s most expensive ever sold at auction, fetching nearly US$300,000. The rare Himalaya Niloticus Crocodile Diamond Birkin 30 went to an unknown phone bidder late on Monday for HK$2.32 million (US$298,655), beating a pre-sale estimate of HK$2 million, the auction house Christie’s said. “It was the world record price for any handbag sold at auction,” Christie’s spokesman, Bingle Lee, said. Designer handbags are increasingly seen as investment opportunities and are the latest craze for collectors, taking global auction houses by storm and scoring record prices. The new record beat one set last year, also in the territory, when a fuchsia-coloured Hermes bag sold for US$222,912. The handmade bag — described by the London-based auctioneers as the “rarest, most sought-after” — is encrusted with diamonds, while the buckle and trademark mini Hermes padlock are made of 18 carat white gold.
THAILAND
Tigers removed from temple
Wildlife officials have begun removing some of the 137 tigers held at a Buddhist temple following accusations that the monks were involved in illegal breeding and trafficking of the animals. Wildlife Conservation Office Director Teunjai Noochdumrong said three tigers were tranquilized and transported on Monday in an operation involving about 1,000 state personnel that is expected to continue for a week. The animals will be taken to three government animal refuges elsewhere in the country. The temple, a popular money-earning tourist attraction in Kanchanaburi Province, has been criticized by animal rights activists because of allegations it is not properly set up to care for the animals and flouted regulations restricting their trade. The monks resisted previous efforts to take away the tigers, and impeded the effort again on Monday morning. They relented after police obtained a court order.
AUSTRALIA
Kangaroo ruptures implants
A kangaroo jumped onto a woman cycling in South Australia, rupturing her breast implants and using her as a “little airbag,” she told local media yesterday. Sharon Heinrich, 45, was on the Riesling Trail in the Clare Valley with her friend when the “cute” kangaroo she nicknamed “Skip” jumped from an embankment and landed on her, she told local newspaper the Northern Argus. “I saw him and thought: ‘Oh, isn’t he cute’ — then he was on top of me. I’m 5’4” [1.63m] and he was taller than me, and so heavy. Once he landed on me, he used me to launch off again, which caused more damage.” Heinrich said the kangaroo then bounded on her friend. “He ... took our cycles out and used myself as a little airbag and then [has] taken Helen out and hopped away into the wilderness,” she told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Heinrich said she suffered ruptured breast implants, three cracked ribs, grazes and a numb leg, while friend Helen Salter had concussion and whiplash.
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