UNITED STATES
Twain fairy tale to sell
More than a century after his death, Mark Twain’s publishing life continues. Doubleday Books for Young Readers on Friday announced that it has acquired a fairy tale only recently discovered. The book is called The Purloining of Prince Oleomargarine and is scheduled for release on Sept. 26. The work is based on 16 pages of notes written by Twain in 1879 that were spotted at the Mark Twain Papers & Project at the University of California, Berkeley. The prize-winning team of Philip Stead and Erin Stead have expanded the unfinished story to an 11-chapter, 152-page illustrated book. The story tells of a boy who can talk to animals and their joint effort to rescue a prince.
AUSTRIA
Attack thwarted: minister
Minister of the Interior Wolfgang Sobotka on Friday said that authorities had averted a potential “terror attack” in Vienna with the arrest by armed police of an 18-year-old suspected Muslim militant. “Our police forces managed in quick time to arrest a suspect and so prevent a potential terror attack in the federal capital Vienna,” Sobotka told reporters. He told public television later that the Austrian citizen is from the country’s ethnic Albanian minority and there were “some indications” that he was in contact with Islamic militant groups. Sobotka said there were “leads suggesting that ... a larger network could be behind him.” Vienna’s metro system was among possible targets, he said.
CHINA
Hotel collapse kills two
At least two people have been killed and 10 were missing after a hotel in central China was buried in a landslide. The government of Nanzhang County in Hunan Province said that crews were working to dig out those trapped in the Mirage Hotel that was struck a tabout 7:30pm on Friday. Three people had been rescued and were recovering in a hospital. The Xinhua news agency said 3,000m3 of debris tumbled down a slope behind the three-story hotel. It said the cause of the collapse was under investigation. Xinhua said rescuers pulled five survivors from the debris, two of whom died in hospital.
PAKISTAN
Market hit by explosion
Authorities said a bomb exploded in a market in a northwestern tribal region that borders Afghanistan, killing at least 20 people and wounding 51. Sabir Hussain at the Parachinar main hospital said 11 critically wounded people brought from the blast yesterday morning at a vegetable market died during treatment. He said there are still several people in serious condition who were being shifted to other hospitals for better care. Government official Shahid Khan said that the explosion took place while the market was crowded.
INDIA
Bull wrestling reinstated
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has overturned a Supreme Court ban on a bull-wrestling festival that fueled massive protests by people who called it an attack on their culture. The court outlawed the Jallikattu festival last year after a plea by animal rights groups, which have long accused participants in the event — held every year in different parts of southern Tamil Nadu — of cruelty to the animals. Tensions have escalated in recent days as thousands of protesters gathered in Chennai and other cities, prompting Tamil Nadu’s chief minister to travel to Delhi to ask Modi to overturn the ban.
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