AUSTRALIA
Boeing P-8A delivered
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has taken delivery of the Royal Australian Air Force’s first Boeing P-8A surveillance and anti-submarine aircraft. Turnbull said the airplane that landed at Canberra air force base yesterday would take a frontline role in preventing asylum seekers from reaching the Australian coast by boat. The air force is to receive 12 of the modified Boeing 737 jets by March 2020 for A$5 billion (US$3.77 billion). The airplane is to take over the coastal surveillance role that the Lockheed P-3 Orion has carried out since 1968. Australia expects a new wave of asylum seekers to come from Indonesia by boat after a weekend announcement that the US had agreed to resettle up to 1,600 of the nation’s refugees.
INDIA
Swaraj receiving treatment
Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj yesterday said that she is being treated for kidney failure and undergoing tests for a possible transplant. Swaraj, one of the country’s best-known female politicians and a veteran leader of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, said on Twitter that she was undergoing dialysis at a private hospital in New Delhi. “I am in AIIMS [All India Institute of Medical Sciences] because of kidney failure. Presently, I am on dialysis,” the 64-year-old said from her verified Twitter account, which has more than 6.5 million followers. “I am undergoing tests for kidney transplant. Lord Krishna will bless.” The Press Trust of India news agency said Swaraj, who suffers from chronic diabetes, had been admitted to AIIMS on Monday last week.
NEW ZEALAND
Drone makes pizza delivery
The world’s first pizza drone delivery was yesterday claimed by the local division of fast-food giant Domino’s, as it looks to grab a slice of a potentially hot future market. Domino’s said it used a drone to deliver two pizzas to a customer at Whangaparaoa, just north of Auckland. Domino’s Pizza Enterprises CEO Don Meij said drones were set to become an essential part of pizza deliveries. “They can avoid traffic congestion and traffic lights, and safely reduce the delivery time and distance by traveling directly to customers’ homes,” he said. “This is the future. Today’s successful delivery was an important proof of this concept.” He said tests would continue at Whangaparaoa this week, with a view to expanding the delivery area next year.
VIETNAM
William arrives for meeting
Britain’s Prince William has arrived on his first visit to the nation, where he is to take part in an international conference on illegal wildlife trade in the fight to protect elephants, rhinoceroses and other endangered species from extinction. The Duke of Cambridge, who is president of United for Wildlife, was yesterday to meet Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh before attending the two-day conference starting today in Hanoi. “He knows the people of Vietnam will share his concern that we have less than 25 years to save some of our most iconic species from extinction. He believes Vietnam has a real opportunity to be leaders in wildlife conservation,” the prince’s office said in a statement on Tuesday. On Saturday, authorities destroyed 2,253kg of seized elephant ivory and rhinoceros horns, sending a message that the government wants illegal wildlife trafficking stopped. The Hanoi conference on illegal wildlife trade is to bring together leaders and senior officials from more than 40 countries, as well as experts from international wildlife conservation groups.
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