AUSTRALIA
Lack of towels at nude swim
A towel shortage yesterday morning added an extra chill to a nude midwinter swim in Sandy Bay in Hobart, Tasmania. More than 1,000 people turned up at dawn to mark the winter solstice with a quick dip in the Derwent River as part of the Dark Mofo arts festival. The water temperature was a cool 14?C, but the air was 7?C. The event requires preregistration and supplies towels, but the unprecedented number of attendees meant that the towels quickly ran out.
VIETNAM
Official sacked over spill
The director of the Environment Protection Management Department has been fired for negligence over a toxic waste dump that killed tonnes of fish in a major crisis last year, according to officials and state media. Luong Duy Hanh is the latest official to be punished over the toxic leak, which was blamed on the Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp plant, a unit of Taiwan’s Formosa Plastics Corp. State media yesterday reported that Hanh was sacked because he failed to properly oversee the steel plant project. He was blamed for not “consulting and supervising the implementation of the environmental protection unit during the construction and pilot operation” of the plant, according to the state-controlled Thanh Nien daily.
INDONESIA
Anti-terror laws tightened
The government has drafted a law allowing authorities to jail for up to 15 years citizens coming home after joining militant groups abroad, lawmakers said yesterday. “The new criminal code adopts the principle of universality, which means that wherever an Indonesian citizen commits a crime, they can be legally processed in Indonesia,” lawmaker Arsul Sani said.
The legislation is likely to be approved in September.
UNITED KINGDOM
No ‘sticking point’ in talks
There is no one sticking point in talks between Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservatives and Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, but a deal to support May’s minority government could take some time, her deputy said yesterday. “There’s no individual sticking point. Talks are progressing,” First Secretary of State Damian Green, who is effectively May’s deputy, told the BBC. “So we have a lot in common, but we are two different parties and so it will take some time to reach a deal.”
UNITED STATES
Castile footage released
The release of dashboard camera video of a black motorist’s fatal shooting by a Minnesota police officer is renewing the pain of the event for many people. Investigators on Tuesday released the video from police officer Jeronimo Yanez’s squad car. It was part of their investigation into 32-year-old Philando Castile’s death. The footage was made public just days after Yanez was acquitted in the case. Castile was shot in July last year in the St Paul, Minnesota, suburb of Falcon Heights after informing Yanez he had a gun. Minneapolis Urban League president Steven Belton said the video showed “a 21st century lynching.” Yanez testified that Castile ignored his commands not to pull out his gun and he feared for his life. The video does not show what happened inside the car.
ARGENTINA
Fernandez launches party
Former president Cristina Fernandez has returned to the nation’s political stage, launching a new party and promising to fight the economic policies of her conservative successor. The woman who governed Argentina from 2007 to 2015 told a rally in Buenos Aires on Tuesday that the party would be called Citizens Unity and would compete in October’s midterm elections. President Mauricio Macri was elected on a platform to clean up corruption and regenerate the economy with a pro-business government that would reverse some of the policies of left-leaning Fernandez.
HAITI
Sheeran to lead fundraising
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed former UN World Food Programme executive director Josette Sheeran as his special envoy for Haiti, with a mandate to raise money for a trust fund to help victims of a cholera outbreak that has afflicted more than 800,000 people. Guterres on Tuesday announced that Sheeran, who heads the Asia Society, would be “fully engaged” in fundraising for nation, which she visited for the World Food Programme and as US undersecretary of state. The UN is seeking US$400 million to aid affected communities and help eradicate cholera in the country, but as of late last month only US$2.67 million had been contributed to the fund.
UNITED STATES
Sapp to gift brain to science
Pro Football Hall of Famer Warren Sapp is donating his brain for medical research. Sapp on Tuesday announced on social media that his brain would go to the Concussion Legacy Foundation after his death. The 44-year-old said in a statement that he has started to feel the effects of the many hits he took during his 13-year NFL career. He said he has specifically become concerned about his memory. Sapp said he hopes his donation can help prevent concussions and permanent brain damage for future football players. Sapp played defensive tackle from 1995 to 2003 for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
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