CHINA
Bus crash kills 36
At least 36 people were killed and 13 injured when a packed bus slammed into a wall at the mouth of an expressway tunnel in Shaanxi Province, authorities said yesterday. The coach crashed at the Qinling tunnel in Ankang on Thursday night, the State Administration of Work Safety said. Photographs published by Xinhua news agency showed the front of the red bus pushed in by the force of the crash. It was unclear whether the crash occurred inside or just outside the tunnel. The photos showed a tow truck at the scene along with rescue workers surveying the damage on the road just outside the tunnel near forested hills. Twisted metal was strewn in front of the bus, several windows were broken and a front tire was blown out. The bus had a capacity of 51 and was carrying 49 people, the statement said. Local media said two children were onboard.
CHINA
US sail-by protested
Beijing expressed its “strong dissatisfaction” with the US over the US Navy’s latest freedom of navigation operation in which a warship sailed past an artificial island in the South China Sea. Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Geng Shuang (耿爽) said in a statement late on Thursday that the US move “severely undermines China’s sovereignty and security, and severely endangers the safety of frontline personnel of both sides.” Geng added: “China has the firm determination to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime interests.” The US move will “compel China to take measures to further raise its capacity to defend national territory,” he said. A US Navy official told reporters that the destroyer USS John S. McCain sailed past Mischief Reef (Meiji Reef, 美濟礁) in the Spratly Islands (Nansha Islands, 南沙群島), which Taiwan also claims, on Thursday, but gave no details. US officials say the military will continue to sail, fly and operate wherever permitted by international law. Geng said the People’s Liberation Army Navy “identified the US warship, warned and expelled it.”
PHILIPPINES
Quake strikes near Manila
A strong magnitude 6.2 earthquake rocked the region south of Manila yesterday, causing buildings in the capital and nearby areas to sway, seismologists and witnesses said. The quake struck just off the coast of Lian Town at 1:28pm at a relatively deep 173km, the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology told reporters. The US Geological Survey measured it at magnitude 6.2. “Due to its depth, we do not expect any damage,” institute director Renato Solidum said on government television. A rescue official at the town closest to the epicenter also reported no damage or casualties.
UNITED STATES
Brownlee to play at Armory
New York’s Park Avenue Armory has a different kind of weapon in its arsenal these days: music. The massive brick building housed the first militia answering former US president Abraham Lincoln’s call for troops to fight slave-owning states. The armory was yesterday evening to host an African-American tenor singing songs and talking about his experiences as a black man. Lawrence Brownlee grew up with gospel in Youngstown, Ohio. He is now one of the world’s top classical singers on stages from Carnegie Hall to those in London, Paris, Moscow and elsewhere. However, the Niceville, Florida, resident has not forgotten his heritage. The program by the Grammy-nominated artist was to start with classical pieces, followed by a discussion touching on the topic of “Black Lives Matter,” with accompanying songs. Also to be featured was jazz pianist Jason Moran, a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant
UNITED STATES
Khosla ordered to open road
A San Francisco Bay Area billionaire needs to open an access road to a beloved beach, upholding a lower court ruling against a cofounder of a giant tech company, a California appeals court ruled on Thursday. The California Court of Appeal for the First District ruled 3-0 that Vinod Khosla violated state law when he bought a US$32.5 million beachfront property surrounding Martins Beach, south of Half Moon Bay, and blocked the public from accessing it. The appeals court judges ordered Khosla to open the gates immediately in a ruling released. The California State Lands Commission has been negotiating with Khosla, a venture capitalist who cofounded tech company Sun Microsystems, to purchase a public right of way.
UNITED STATES
Washington upholds gun tax
The Washington Supreme Court on Thursday upheld Seattle’s so-called “gun violence tax” against a challenge from gun rights groups, leaving the city as one of the only places in the country that taxes the sale of firearms and ammunition to raise money for gun violence research. In an 8-1 decision, the justices ruled that the levy fell within the city’s taxing authority and its primary purpose was to raise revenue for “the public benefit.” The tax, which took effect last year, adds US$25 to the price of each firearm sold in the city, plus US$0.02 or US$0.05 per round of ammunition, depending on the type. It raised less than US$200,000 in its first year, with the money earmarked for gun violence research. One gun shop cited the tax in moving out of the city.
IRELAND
Goat to be crowned ‘king’
For a few days this week, a goat will be king of a small town in the rural southwest. Billed as one of the nation’s oldest festivals, the Puck Fair sees locals in the town of Killorglin pluck a wild mountain goat from its habitat and crown him “King Puck” for the duration of the event. This year’s king was on Thursday paraded through the town, where he was crowned by the “Queen of Puck” — an honor bestowed on a local schoolgirl. He appeared relaxed, if occasionally bemused, during his coronation. “I’ve seen it for the last 11 years so it’s nothing new, but when I first moved here from England I thought it was strange,” 25-year-old festival-goer Ben Henry said. “I heard a fella today saying he’s been coming to Puck for 57 years, so that says a lot!”
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
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
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