KENYA
Monkey blamed for blackout
The state-run power generation company said a monkey caused a three-hour nationwide blackout. Kenya Electricity Generation Co said in a statement on Tuesday that a monkey climbed onto the roof of the Gitaru Power Station and fell onto a transformer, tripping it. The company said this caused other machines in the station to trip, resulting in the loss of 180 megawatts from the plant, triggering a national blackout. The statement did not say whether the monkey survived. The blackout lasted more than three hours before power was restored. The company said that its facility is secured with an electric fence and that this was an isolated incident.
MALAYSIA
Insults bring prison term
A man on Tuesday was sentenced to a year in prison after he admitted 14 charges of insulting one of the nation’s royal families, local media reported. Muhammad Amirul Azwan Mohd Shakri, a 19-year-old laborer, posted on Facebook derogatory comments about the royal family in March and April, the New Straits Times said. He was charged according to multimedia laws. It was not immediately clear what forms the insults took. Malaysia, a parliamentary democracy, has a unique system in which sultans serve as the ceremonial royal rulers of nine of the 13 states.
CHINA
Plane crash claims four
The State Oceanic Administration said four officers were killed when a marine surveillance plane crashed into a mountain along the east coast. The accident occurred on Tuesday during a routine mission to monitor conditions in Zhejiang Province, whose coastline is dotted with hundreds of islands, the administration said in a statement on its Web site. The type of plane was not identified, although the Marine Surveillance agency operates aircraft including helicopters and Harbin Y-12 turboprops. The administration said the wreckage was found early on Tuesday evening after a search involving 18 ships and four helicopters. Two pilots and two enforcement officers were killed, it said.
NEW ZEALAND
Climber dies after fall
A climber has died after plummeting from a mountain, with police yesterday identifying him as French national Victor Roucher. The 25-year-old plunged to his death on Mount Taranaki in the North Island on Tuesday with a companion, also French, who sustained only minor injuries, police said. They said Roucher, who had been in New Zealand for six months, was near the summit of the 2,518m-high peak when he fell. Taranaki area inspector Keith Borrel told Fairfax New Zealand that it appeared Roucher had lost his footing in icy conditions on the dormant volcano.
UNITED STATES
Locked car stymies escape
Police in Delaware said they arrested a suspect in a bank robbery after he locked himself out of his getaway car. State police said in a news release that 21-year-old Joseph Rosado of Wilmington entered an Artisan Bank in Wilmington brandishing a handgun on Monday afternoon. Rosado demanded cash from two tellers, who gave him an undisclosed amount. Troopers said Rosado left the bank and ran to a car, but had locked himself out. He ran away, but was caught by a New Castle County Police officer. Media outlets report Rosado, who police have linked to other armed bank robberies, is charged with six counts of first-degree robbery, among other charges. He was being held on US$501,100 bail.
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
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
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