LEBANON
Suicide bombers hit camps
Five militants blew themselves up during raids on two refugee camps in the east near the border with Syria, wounding seven soldiers, the army said. Four of the suicide bombers struck in one camp near the border town of Arsal, wounding three soldiers. Troops recovered four explosive devices during the raid on al-Nur camp. One militant blew himself up in a second camp near the town of al-Qariya, while another militant threw a grenade at troops, wounding four of them. The raids, which are aimed at “arresting terrorists and seizing weapons,” are still ongoing, army command said.
ROMANIA
Accident kills three soldiers
Three soldiers have died and nine were injured after their truck plunged into a ravine, the Ministry of National Defense said. The accident occurred late on Thursday when a truck traveling in a military convoy of four vehicles overturned near the village of Valea Urdii, about 190km northwest of Bucharest. Minister of the Interior Camen Dan said the driver reported that his brakes failed. The injured soldiers from the 30th Battalion of Mountain Hunters were hospitalized in Bucharest and the cities of Brasov and Pitesti, and were in a stable condition. Commemoration ceremonies were to be held yesterday morning for the soldiers at military bases across the nation, the defense ministry said.
UNITED STATES
Shootout livestreamed
A homicide suspect livestreamed on Facebook as he traded gunfire with police, eventually shooting a Los Angeles SWAT officer before a police round struck him, a law enforcement official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Both the suspect and officer are expected to survive, Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said on Thursday. The official said the video, which captured part of the encounter, showed the suspect shouting as he pointed a handgun at officers with gunshots ringing around him. At one point, he yells that the officers are “about to kill me.” The suspect was one of four people wanted in connection with a gang-related killing in late March, Beck said. The man led police officers from Los Angeles and Hawthorne on a brief chase in El Segundo, which ended with the shootout, the chief said. The wounded SWAT officer was shot in the hip and is expected to make a full recovery, Beck added. The suspect was taken to a hospital in serious condition, and is to be arrested in connection with the March killing and for investigation of attempted murder of a police officer, he said.
UNITED STATES
Seal gives birth on Waikiki
An endangered Hawaiian monk seal has given birth on a Waikiki beach — the first such birth in at least several decades. The seal was born late on Wednesday or early on Thursday, said Angela Amlin, coordinator for the Hawaiian Monk Seal Recovery Program. Mother and pup attracted dozens of onlookers as they rolled around on the sand. Volunteers kept people at a safe distance behind a rope barrier. The mother, known as RH58 and nicknamed Rocky, has lived on and around Oahu since 2002. She used to return to Kauai, where she was born 17 years ago, to give birth. This time, she had her pup at Kaimana, an area in Waikiki popular with Honolulu residents. It was the first seal to be born in the densely populated tourist district since the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration began keeping track in the 1970s, Amlin said, adding that monk seals normally like to give birth in quiet spots.
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
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the