UNITED STATES
Thousands flee wildfires
Wildfires forced thousands to flee their homes across the West during a weekend of record heat. The fires on Sunday caused evacuations in Glacier National Park in Montana; compelled crews to rescue about 140 hikers who had spent the night in the woods after fire broke out along the popular Columbia River Gorge Trail in Oregon; and led firefighters to step up efforts to protect a 2,700-year-old grove of giant sequoia encroached by flames near Yosemite National Park in California. Fires burning up and down the Sierra Nevada and further to the northwest cast an eerie yellow and gray haze over much of California. Much of the state was under alerts because of poor air quality. Washington Governor Jay Inslee proclaimed a state of emergency across all counties as three major fires closed recreation areas and prompted evacuations.
FRANCE
Man charged with kidnap
Authorities in the city of Grenoble have handed preliminary kidnapping charges to a 34-year-old man following the disappearance of nine-year-old Maelys De Araujo, who went missing on Aug. 27 from a wedding celebration. The prosecutor’s office late on Sunday said that the man attended the same wedding last month. The man was last week detained for questioning alongside another suspect, but was released without charges. The office said the man denied any wrongdoing, but his explanation “did not convince investigation judges,” who charged him with “kidnapping, illegal confinement or arbitrary detention of a minor of less than 15 years.”
BRAZIL
Bus factory on fire
A large fire broke out on Sunday afternoon at the nation’s biggest bus factory and firefighters were working to bring the flames under control, owner Marcopolo SA said. Fire services instructed residents living next to the factory in Caxias do Sul, Rio Grande, to stay away from the area because of the risk of explosions, the firm said in a statement. The local fire chief’s office said there were no injuries as the production line was closed on Sunday.
ISRAEL
Ex-Netanyahu aide arrested
Police on Sunday said that they arrested six people, including David Sharan, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s former chief of staff, and former navy commander Eliezer Marom, as part of an investigation into alleged corruption surrounding the US$2 billion purchase of submarines from German maker Thyssenkrupp. Sharan was arrested on suspicion of accepting bribes, fraud, breach of trust and conspiracy. A court extended Sharan’s detention by five days. Three other suspects’ remands were extended as well.
UNITED STATES
Victim’s ashes in storage
Forty years after Lena Booth White Hat was slain in South Dakota, relatives in her native England now know what became of her remains. Her ashes are in a small box inside a storage drawer at a Rapid City funeral home, along with the unclaimed ashes of about 15 others, the Rapid City Journal reported. Booth, born in 1940, married Theodore White Hat, who was serving at a US Air Force base in England, in 1972. She was killed in South Dakota in 1977 by John Thomas Martin, who is still serving a life term for the murder. Theodore White Hat, who died in 1979, had authorized the cremation, but never took possession of the ashes. The funeral home owner is encouraging donations to cover the US$1,500 air freight cost to send her ashes to her relatives in England.
INDONESIA
Judge guilty of corruption
The Special Court for Corruption Crimes has sentenced one of the nation’s top judges to eight years in prison for taking a bribe. The corruption court yesterday said that Constitutional Court Judge Patrialis Akbar was guilty of receiving thousands of dollars from a meat importer to influence the outcome of a judicial review of the law on animal husbandry. The meat importer, Basuki Hariman, was earlier sentenced to seven years in prison.
CHINA
Ministry warns of fall smog
The Ministry of Environmental Protection on Sunday warned that unfavorable weather could raise the risks of smog over autumn and winter, and it vowed to improve its emergency response times to ensure its air quality targets for this year are met. In a notice posted on its Web site, the ministry said its weather forecast for autumn and winter was “not optimistic.” Higher rates of melting in the Arctic icecap, combined with Pacific Ocean warming, are expected to result in weaker than usual high-pressure cold fronts heading south into China from Siberia, the ministry said, meaning weather conditions are likely to be warmer and more humid than usual.
SAUDI ARABIA
Japanese taxi to practice
Japan’s soccer team had to scramble to training in taxis after their team bus failed to show up at their hotel. The Samurai Blue put a positive spin on the inconvenience ahead of today’s World Cup qualifier against the host nation in Jeddah. “I don’t think I’ve ever shared a taxi with team mates [to the training ground], not even in my youth team days,” defender Tomoaki Makino said. “But there are a lot of experienced players in our team and you have to enjoy this kind of situation. You can’t let it wind you up.” Japan Football Association officials told Kyodo that the bus was stuck in traffic caused by the end of the hajj pilgrimage.
UNITED STATES
Man burned at Burning Man
Nevada authorities are investigating the death of a man who died of his injuries a few hours after he rushed past layers of security officers into a massive fire at the Burning Man festival’s signature ceremony late on Saturday night. Aaron Mitchell, 41, broke through a two-layer security perimeter during the Man Burn event in which a giant, wooden effigy is set ablaze. Pershing County Sheriff Jerry Allen estimated that about 50,000 people were present when the festival’s crew of firefighters pulled Mitchell out of the blaze. He was airlifted to the UC Davis hospital burn center in California, where he died on Sunday morning.
ITALY
Mob boss caught in Uruguay
One of the nation’s most wanted mob bosses has been arrested in Uruguay after 23 years on the run from convictions for mafia association, drug trafficking and other crimes, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Rocco Morabito, 50, was considered the most wanted fugitive member of the Calabrian ’Ndrangheta. Dubbed the “cocaine king of Milan,” Morabito had been wanted since 1994 after he was rumbled paying 13 billion lire (US$8 million at the current exchange rate) to import almost a tonne of the drug.
UNITED KINGDOM
Another royal on the way
Prince William and his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, are expecting another child, Kensington Palace said yesterday. Kate canceled a London engagement yesterday because she has severe morning sickness, it said.
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