UNITED KINGDOM
Leadsom pulls out of race
Junior minister Andrea Leadsom yesterday abruptly withdrew from the contest to succeed Prime Minister David Cameron, leaving Home Secretary Theresa May as the only candidate for the Conservative Party leadership. Leadsom, 53, had been strongly criticized over a newspaper interview in which she appeared to suggest that being a mother meant she had more of a stake in the nation’s future than May, who has no children. She read a statement to reporters in which she said she was pulling out of the race because a nine-week campaign was highly undesirable at such a critical time. Graham Brady, head of the 330-strong Conservative faction in parliament, said there were still constitutional procedures to be observed before May’s appointment could be confirmed, but he aimed to make a confirmation announcement “as soon as possible.”
SPAIN
Solar plane heads for Cairo
The Solar Impulse 2 took off from Seville early yesterday on the penultimate leg of the first ever fuel-free round-the-world flight. The single-seat plane lifted off from Seville en route for Cairo, a trip expected to take 50 hours, 30 minutes. On its journey, which began in Abu Dhabi and is due to end there, it has been piloted in turns by Swiss aviators Andre Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard. Borschberg is piloting this run over the Mediterranean Sea.
ISRAEL
Netanyahu probe opened
The attorney general is looking into suspicions surrounding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which are reportedly linked to a large transfer of money to the Israeli leader or one of his family members. The investigation, announced late on Sunday, could prove a new challenge for Netanyahu, who has been fighting off accusations of shady dealings and financial mismanagement against him and his wife. The Ministry of Justice did not disclose what the suspicions against Netanyahu were, but media reports have said that Netanyahu or one of his family members received large sums of money, allegedly unrelated to political campaigns.
BRAZIL
Police rescue eight people
Rio de Janeiro police say they have rescued eight people who were being forced to work in a sex-trafficking ring at the beaches near the main Olympic venue. Police said in comments published on Sunday that three of the people were 15 or 16 years old. They had been forced to work as prostitutes at the beaches of the Recreio neighborhood. Investigator Cristiana Bento told O Globo at the weekend the operation was part of a larger sweep before the Olympics to prevent child prostitution.
UNITED STATES
Journalist Schanberg dies
Sydney Schanberg, a former correspondent for the New York Times awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the genocide in Cambodia in 1975 — and whose story of the survival of his assistant inspired the film The Killing Fields — has died. He was 82. The Times reported that Schanberg died on Saturday in Poughkeepsie, New York, after suffering a heart attack on Tuesday last week. “Sydney Schanberg was an historic and courageous correspondent,” Times executive editor Dean Baquet said in a statement. “He was part of a generation of war correspondents who made America understand what was truly happening in Vietnam and Cambodia.” Schanberg won two George Polk Memorial awards and two Overseas Press Club awards.
INDIA
Flash floods kill 22
Flash floods triggered by torrential rain have killed at least 22 people and forced more than 170,000 from their homes, officials said yesterday, as forecasters predicted more downpours in coming days. Twenty people were killed in the central state of Madhya Pradesh where 70,000 people were left homeless as water rose to dangerous levels along parts of the Narmada River. “Thousands of people will be evacuated today,” Additional Home Secretary Basant Singh said in Bhopal, the state capital. Heavy rain also pounded Assam, killing at least two people and forcing about 100,000 to take shelter on higher ground.
NEW ZEALAND
Beach achievement ‘surreal’
A man whose ambitious crowdfunding campaign raised millions of dollars to buy a pristine South Island beach and make it public parkland yesterday said it was “surreal” to see his dream realized. Duane Major’s push this year to take Awaroa beach out of private hands and make it a national park quickly went viral, attracting 40,000 donations to raise a total of NZ$2.3 million (US$1.7 million). Major, a pastor, was present on Sunday when the beach was officially incorporated into the Abel Tasman National Park at a Maori ceremony. Awaroa inlet is an 800m stretch at the top of South Island that is accessible only by boat or helicopter.
PAKISTAN
Adulterer suffocates
A man who was having an affair with his cousin accidently suffocated in a trunk after hiding after other relatives woke up late on Saturday night, police said on Sunday. Married father Mushtaq Ahmed Baloch, 22, was having an affair with his cousin Rani Bibi, a mother of two, and came to her house at night, police said. The noise as Baloch entered the house woke up Bibi’s father-in-law and brothers-in-law, prompting her to hide him in a large tin trunk in her room, which she padlocked. Her in-laws searched the room, and although Baloch began calling for help, they did not open the trunk and he died within 15 minutes, police said. The father-in-law and two sons have been arrested on murder charges.
AUSTRALIA
Climate killing mangroves
Thousands of hectares of mangroves in the remote Gulf of Carpentaria have died, scientists said yesterday, with climate change the likely cause. About 7,000 hectares or 9 percent of the mangroves in the area perished in just one month in late November or early December last year, according to researchers from Australia’s James Cook University. The so-called dieback was confirmed by aerial and satellite surveys and was likely to have been the result of an extended drought period, said Norm Duke, a mangrove ecologist at the university. Local rangers told scientists they were seeing creatures like shellfish dying and that turtles and dugongs that are dependent on the ecosystem could “be starving in a few months,” Duke said.
AUSTRALIA
Rat biter sentenced
A man who filmed himself biting the head off a live rat and posting the video on Facebook was banned on Monday from owning pets for three years and ordered to do 100 hours of community service. Matthew Maloney, 25, was charged following a raid by RSPCA investigators after the bizarre stunt in January, which attracted hundreds of thousands of online views. Brisbane Magistrate Suzette Coates said that Maloney was a “narcissist.”
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
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number