HONG KONG
Bannon talk closed to media
Former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon yesterday spoke at a Hong Kong conference, but reporters were barred from listening to the media man. Reporters were not allowed to attend the almost hour-long session at the CLSA investor forum, an e-mail from firm spokeswoman Simone Wheeler said. Wheeler had said on Monday that media would be allowed to monitor Bannon’s comments via a live feed, with a subsequent moderated question-and-answer session off-limits to the media. Those plans “could change,” she said at the time.
YEMEN
Airstrikes kill children: group
An international rights group says the Saudi-led coalition waging an air campaign against Yemen’s Houthi rebels in the north are killing children in what amounts to war crimes. Human Rights Watch released a study yesterday documenting the deaths of 26 children killed in five airstrikes since June. The group said that despite promises by the coalition to abide by international law, the airstrikes have failed to do that and urged the UN to again place the coalition on its “list of shame.” The group also called for an international investigation into possible war crimes. The UN’s annual report showed that 785 children were killed and more than 1,000 others wounded in Yemen in 2015, with 60 percent of the casualties caused by coalition airstrikes.
TURKEY
Warrants issued for ex-agents
Authorities have issued detention warrants for 63 people, mostly former intelligence agency workers, for alleged ties to the US-based Muslim cleric accused of masterminding last year’s failed coup attempt, the state-run Anadolu Agency news agency said. Warrants were issued yesterday for 45 former employees of the National Intelligence Agency, MIT and 18 others suspected of being operatives of the cleric, Fethullah Gulen, Anadolu said. Anadolu said that nine of the suspects have been detained in Ankara.
DENMARK
Airport cleared over odd bag
Police early yesterday evacuated and blocked off a terminal at Copenhagen Airport as they investigated a suspicious piece of luggage, police and airport officials said. “Terminal 2 is closed until further notice — police are investigating odd size luggage,” the airport wrote on Twitter. Airport spokesman Morten Bro said “there has been an incident,” without elaborating. Police meanwhile tweeted: “Police working at Copenhagen Airport and terminal 2 is blocked off, which can lead to traffic problems.” The Terminal was reopened two hours later. Neither police nor airport officials provided further information.
BELGIUM
Mayor murdered in cemetery
Media yesterday said a teenager is suspected of killing a city mayor in a cemetery overnight by slashing his throat. State broadcaster RTBF, citing the crown prosecutor’s office, said that Alfred Gadenne, the mayor of Mouscron in western Belgium, was found dead in the cemetery near his home. It said the suspect, an 18-year-old man, apparently acted for personal reasons, without providing further details. RTBF said that Gadenne, 71, was a popular mayor who personally opened and closed the graveyard each morning and night. Prime Minister Charles Michel said in a tweet that he had learned with “dread of the brutal death of Alfred Gadenne. All my thoughts are with his family and loved ones.”
UNITED STATES
‘Pinocchio’ animator dies
Xavier “X” Atencio, an animator behind early Disney movies including Pinocchio and Fantasia, as well as the “imagineer” behind beloved Disneyland rides like “Pirates of the Caribbean” and “The Haunted Mansion,” has died at age 98. Disneyland spokeswoman Suzi Brown confirmed a company statement saying that Atencio died on Sunday. No cause or place of death were given, but Atencio lived and worked in the Los Angeles area most of his life. Atencio’s drawings on Pinocchio helped give Disney its permanent identity in film and culture. His contributions to “Pirates” included the words to the Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me) song that is sung throughout the ride and by parkgoers for days after. He was born Francis Xavier Atencio in Walsenburg, Colorado. Friends in his youth called him just “X,” the name he was known by the rest of his life. He was still a teenager with a gift for drawing in 1938 when he began working for Disney, a company that was even younger than he was and had just one feature film — 1937’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs — to its name.
UNITED STATES
Cold pizza prompts inquiry
Some New York City foodies say a neighborhood pizza festival has left them with a bad taste in their mouths. Prosecutors are looking into the New York City Pizza Festival after attendees fumed they paid US$75 each to eat cold slivers of pizza in a parking lot in Brooklyn on Saturday. The festival was promoted as a celebration of pizza. Attendees said on Facebook that they instead got cold slices of pizza “smaller than a sample size,” served with glasses of warm wine. A spokesman said that prosecutors opened an investigation on Monday. Festival organizer Ishmael Osekre said that event producer Hangry Garden delayed the event. The event producer said it was misled by the organizer and was not paid.
UNITED STATES
Teens seek climate action
A group of Alaska teenagers has sent a petition to the state Department of Environmental Conservation in hopes of tightening climate change policy. Alaska’s Energy Desk on Monday reported that the teens’ petition calls for the state to reduce carbon emissions, monitor what greenhouse gasses it does emit and come up with a strategy for the future. The group, named Alaska Youth for Environmental Action, delivered the petition last month.
SAINT MARTIN
People struggle after Irma
Hundreds of people across an island shared by Dutch St Maarten and French St Martin are trying to rebuild the lives they had before Hurricane Irma hit. Help was making it to the island from the Dutch and French governments, other nations and private organizations. A French military ship with supplies was to arrive yesterday, coinciding with a visit by French President Emmanuel Macron.
GUAM
Help for homeless sought
The government is asking owners of apartment buildings to submit bids to provide temporary shelter to homeless people on the island. The Pacific Daily News on Monday reported that the government is interested in finding out how many private businesses would lease an apartment complex with a minimum of 15 units to serve as a temporary shelter at night. Housing Corp president Christopher Duenas said the ballpark figure for the project is between US$250,000 and US$300,000.
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