UNITED STATES
Muhammad Ali’s son held
A lawyer said the son of legendary boxer Muhammad Ali was detained by immigration officials at a Florida airport. Chris Mancini told the Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky, that 44-year-old Muhammad Ali Jr and his mother, Khalilah Camacho-Ali, the second wife of Muhammad Ali, arrived at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Feb. 7 after returning from Jamaica. Mancini said officials questioned Ali Jr for nearly two hours, repeatedly asking him, “Where did you get your name from?” and “Are you Muslim?” Mancini said officials continued questioning Ali Jr after he acknowledged that he was Muslim. Ali Jr was born in Philadelphia and holds a US passport.
UNITED STATES
Drone sparks elk stampede
Wildlife refuge officials said a man with a drone caused 1,500 elk to stampede 800m. The stampede happened on Monday at the National Elk Refuge in western Wyoming. Elk and bison often congregate at the refuge to eat feed put out to help them survive the winter. This winter has been especially harsh. More than 90cm of snow has piled up, conditions that can be very stressful for all kinds of animals. Disturbing wildlife is a serious offense punishable by a fine up to US$5,000. Refuge spokeswoman Lori Iverson said on Thursday refuge officials gave the man from Washington a US$280 ticket after he launched the drone from a highway pullout and flew it over the resting elk herd.
MEXICO
Vigilantes kill car thieves
Prosecutors in the southern state of Chiapas said residents of a town have killed three men who had allegedly tried to steal a car. The Chiapas state attorney’s office said in a statement on Friday that the men were caught in the act by the car’s owner and taken by residents to the central plaza of the San Lucas community in Chiapilla township. They were then beaten to death. Prosecutor Enrique Mendez Rojas condemned the act and said authorities are working to identify those responsible.
MALAYSIA
N Korean diplomat sought
The nation yesterday said it would issue an arrest warrant for a North Korean diplomat wanted for questioning over the murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half-brother Kim Jong-nam if he does not voluntarily cooperate with the police. “Reasonable” time would be given for the diplomat to come forward before police take further action, Selangor State police chief Abdul Samah Mat said. On Wednesday, Malaysia said 44-year-old Hyon Kwang-song, a second secretary at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, was wanted for questioning over Kim Jong-nam’s death.
UNITED STATES
Marathon gamer dies
Police are investigating the death of a popular Virginia gamer who died during the home stretch of a 24-hour marathon video game session he was streaming online to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. News outlets report that 35-year-old Brian Vigneault was about 22 hours into playing World of Tanks live on Twitch.tv when he stood up from his computer on Sunday last week to take a smoke break. He never returned. Vigneault was found unresponsive at his Virginia Beach home later that evening and was pronounced dead at the scene. Virginia Beach police spokeswoman Tonya Borman said police do not suspect foul play in his death. His cause of death is unclear.
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