UNITED STATES
Drinker kills one at party
A man holding a gun in one hand and a bottle of beer in the other on Sunday opened fire on people around a swimming pool in a San Diego, California, apartment complex, killing a woman and injuring eight other people before police shot him dead, media said. The man launched his attack at about 6pm during a birthday celebration in the complex in the University City section, NBC News’ San Diego affiliate reported. One resident, who identified himself as John, told KFMB-TV that he saw the gunman “sitting, drinking a beer in one hand with a gun out in the other” in the pool area. He said he and his wife saw “three people laying on the ground shot,” and one wounded victim trying to crawl to another to give assistance. Two police officers arrived and confronted the gunman, who exchanged gunfire with the officers before he was shot, the witness said. Some of the victims were taken away in cars to hospital before paramedics made it to the scene. The gunman was killed after pointing his weapon at police, San Diego Police Chief Shelley Zimmerman told reporters. She did not identify the suspect or mention a possible motive.
VENEZUELA
Maduro gives away favors
President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday hiked wages and handed out hundreds of free homes amid his efforts to counter a strengthening protest movement seeking his removal. On his regular television show, Sundays With Maduro, the president ordered a 60 percent increase in the country’s minimum wage starting yesterday. It was the third pay increase he has ordered this year and the 15th since he became president in 2013. He also announced a special “economic war” bonus to retirees to make up for what he says are attempts by the opposition to sabotage the economy. He also repeated a pledge to hold gubernatorial elections soon, perhaps as early as this year.
CUBA
Castro attends last parade
The government’s traditional Workers’ Day parade yesterday was the last to be overseen by President Raul Castro — and the first without his late brother and revolutionary predecessor, Fidel Castro. The May 1 rally traditionally draws hundreds of thousands of Cubans into Havana’s Revolution Square in a sea of red, white and blue national flags, and portraits of Fidel Castro. However, he died in November last year and Raul Castro, after just more than a decade in power, has said he will step aside in February next year. Yesterday’s parade in Havana was expected to make a show of support for Venezuela’s leftist government, which is facing violent opposition protests, top Cuban labor union leader Ulises Guilarte said.
FRANCE
Macron visits memorial
Presidential candidate and former economics minister Emmanuel Macron on Sunday paid homage to the tens of thousands of French Jews killed in the Holocaust with a somber, simple message to voters: “Never again.” Chants of “Macron, President” mixed with tears of sorrowful remembrance as he visited the Holocaust Memorial in Paris, walking past panels bearing the names of those deported to death in Nazi camps, while Holocaust survivors and children of its victims looked on. It was the second time in three days that Macron visited a site tied to the nation’s wartime history, as he seeks to remind voters of the shame of its Nazi collaboration — and especially of the anti-Semitic past of his rival Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Front party. The two face a presidential runoff on Sunday.
PHILIPPINES
Duterte visits Chinese ships
President Rodrigo Duterte yesterday visited Chinese warships docked in his home town of Davao City, highlighting his fast-warming relations with Beijing. Duterte boarded the missile destroyer Chang Chun, which arrived with two other vessels on Sunday for a three-day goodwill visit. “Goodwill games” of basketball and tug-of-war are being staged between the Chinese sailors and their Filipino counterparts in Davao, the navy said in a statement. The visit of the Chinese vessels to Davao instead of Manila is seen as a personal gesture to Duterte. Opposition legislator Gary Alejano, a former military officer, said “the president is trying everything to appease China. It is not about an independent foreign policy. It is about selling out and capitulating to China.”
UNITED STATES
Civilian toll updated
Combined Joint Task Force airstrikes aimed against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria have “unintentionally” killed 352 civilians since the offensive began in 2014, according to the Pentagon. The tally did not include findings from an investigation the coalition said it had launched into one allegedly particularly deadly strike on March 17 in west Mosul. The statement released on Sunday said 42 reports of civilian fatalities were still under review. From November last year to March 9 this year, coalition strikes killed 45 civilians, the statement said. The Pentagon said 80 civilian casualties caused by US-led strikes in Iraq and Syria from August 2014 to date had not previously been publicly announced.
TUNISIA
Two militants die in raid
A militant linked to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) blew himself up on Sunday and another was shot dead during an operation by security forces, the National Guard said. Both men were “dangerous terrorist elements,” and one, probably a foreigner, was a leader in a group linked to AQIM, guard spokesman Khalifa Chibani said. The second man was wearing an explosives belt, but was shot dead before he could detonate it. The operation took place in the central town of Sidi Bouzid as a house was being raided in a security sweep after weeks of surveillance, he said. Three people suspected of links to the AQIM were detained, he said.
INDIA
Mob lynches two Muslims
Police officials yesterday said two Muslim men were beaten to death by a mob in Assam state on Sunday over allegations of cow theft, the latest in a series of similar attacks across the country. Senior Assam police official Mukesh Aggarwal said that police have filed a criminal complaint and are trying to identify the members of the mob. No arrests have been made so far. The attack took place in Nagon district when a mob accused the two men of trying to steal cows and began beating them with sticks and rocks. Police in the district said that by the time they reached the scene the men were already in critical condition, and were declared dead at a hospital.
JAPAN
Golden link to ‘Star Wars’
Tokyo jeweler Ginza Tanaka is offering a life-size Darth Vader mask made of 24-karat gold for ¥154 million (US$1.4 million) to mark the 40th anniversary of the release of the first Star Wars movie. The mask is 26.5cm wide and 30cm high. The mask is not designed for wearing — at about 15kg, it would be too heavy — and it also has no opening for a head.
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