WEST BANK
Army kills two Palestinians
Israeli forces yesterday killed two Palestinians in a raid on a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian medical officials said. The Israeli military said its troops had opened fire after coming under attack. “During an IDF [Israel Defense Forces] operation in the Jenin refugee camp, Palestinian gunmen opened fire at the forces and assailants hurled explosive devices at the forces,” the military said in a statement. “In response to the immediate threat, forces shot towards the attackers.” The Palestinian health ministry said the two people killed by the troops were aged 21 and 16, and that a third person was shot and wounded in the leg. Camp residents made no mention of any Palestinian gunfire in their accounts of the raid in which they said rocks were thrown at the troops.
TURKEY
Five killed in IS cell raid
Police yesterday killed five Islamic State (IS) militants in a raid on a house in the city of Konya and four police officers were slightly wounded, the provincial governor’s office said. Special forces police launched the operation at the house in Meram District at 5:15am because they believed the militant cell was planning an attack, Dogan news agency said. It said there were suspicions that those killed might have been planning to target events being held this week to commemorate the anniversary of an attempted military coup on July 15 last year. A gunfight broke out after those in the house resisted the police and five Kalashnikov rifles, a pistol and ammunition were seized during the raid, the governor’s office said in a statement.
PHILIPPINES
Nine killed in rebel clash
Philippine troops yesterday clashed with communist rebels in the south, leaving eight rebels and a soldier dead, officials said. The fighting erupted after patrolling troops encountered about 40 New People’s Army rebels in Compostela Valley, army spokesman Captain Alexandre Cabales. The guerrillas later fled, leaving behind the bodies of eight rebels and six high-powered guns. A wounded soldier died on the way to a hospital, he said.
AUSTRALIA
Flyer checks-in beer
A beer-loving man has managed to check-in a can of lager as his only luggage on a domestic flight, with the brew arriving safely thanks to courteous baggage handlers. To the amusement of ground staff at Melbourne Airport, the can of Emu Export Lager was tagged and made its way along the conveyor belt to the plane as the only check-in item for passenger Dean Stinson on Saturday last week. Stinson said he concocted the plan with a friend who worked at the airport “just for a laugh,” adding he was pleasantly surprised that his precious cargo survived the four-hour journey.
CHINA
Dozens arrested over fraud
Authorities have detained 35 Japanese in Fujian Province for alleged fraud, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. “We were informed that local authorities notified the Japanese consulate-general in Guangzhou on July 3 that they had taken 35 Japanese nationals into criminal custody on suspicion of fraud,” a ministry official who asked not to be identified said. The Japanese were accused of being involved in scams targeting residents in Chiba Prefecture, the Nikkei Shimbun said, adding that it could be the largest Japanese telecom fraud group found operating in China, in terms of the number of people detained.
DR CONGO
Envoy reports new arrests
Ambassador to the UN Ignace Gata Mavita on Tuesday said investigations into the killing of two UN experts in March have led to 11 new arrests, including eight people who allegedly “played a direct role” in the murders. Mavita told the UN Security Council that “justice will be delivered” for the two experts as well as the four Congolese men accompanying them, whose bodies have never been found.
GERMANY
Arrests made after heist
Special police commandos yesterday arrested several people during raids in Berlin over the robbery of a 100kg gold coin, worth about US$4 million, from Berlin’s Bode Museum in March. Pictures showed armed police in balaclavas and paramedics outside a property in the Neukoelln area. “We are at the moment conducting searches and executing arrest warrants in several places in Berlin concerning the break in at the Bode museum in March,” police said. The robbery was at one of Berlin’s most prestigious museums in the center of the capital and from behind bullet-proof glass. The Canadian coin, named “Big Maple Leaf,” which bears the image of Queen Elizabeth II, is made out of pure gold with a material value of about US$4 million. Its face value is about US$1 million. The coin, 53cm in diameter and 3cm thick, even made it into the Guinness Book of Records for its unrivaled degree of purity. It was loaned to the Bode Museum in December 2010. Local media showed a picture of a man being led away by police with a white garment over his head.
UNITED STATES
Request prompts standoff
Police said that a man with an axe showed up outside a Massachusetts radio station demanding that the song My Axe be played and held off responding officers for three hours. Witnesses and station employees said the man arrived at Kiss 108 in Medford on Monday and unsuccessfully requested the station play the song by Insane Clown Posse. Officers found the 38-year-old man in his car in the station parking lot. The man surrendered at about 4:30pm. WBZ-TV reported that he had minor, self-inflicted cuts on his arms.
UNITED STATES
Thoreau stamp issued
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. The rest are observing the 200th birthday of Henry David Thoreau, the author who penned that line. The Postal Service yesterday marked the occasion with a new postage stamp honoring the “Walden” and “Civil Disobedience” writer, philosopher and naturalist. Thoreau was born in Concord, Massachusetts, on July 12, 1817. Concord postmaster Ray White and officials from the Thoreau Farm and Birthplace were to be on hand to dedicate the stamp. They said it was in tribute to Thoreau’s “personal example of simple living, his criticism of materialism and the timeless questions he raises about the place of the individual in society.”
UNITED STATES
MSNBC host quits party
MSNBC host and former Republican congressman Joe Scarborough said he is leaving the Republican Party. The Morning Joe cohost has become a sharp critic of President Donald Trump. Scarborough on Tuesday said during an interview with CBS Late Show host Stephen Colbert that “I’ve got to become an independent.” He appeared as a guest with his cohost and fiance, Mika Brzezinski, who has faced criticism from the president.
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