AUSTRALIA
Surfer punches shark
A novice surfer mastered a pro’s move on the first try: He punched a shark on the nose. The attack on Monday afternoon left Charlie Fry with superficial puncture wounds on his right shoulder and upper arm. Fry said he had watched a YouTube video in which Australian professional surfer Mick Fanning described his famous escape from a great white shark during a surfing competition in 2015. “So when it happened, I was like: ‘Just do what Mick did. Just punch it in the nose,’” Fry told Nine Network television. “So Mick, if you’re watching or listening, I owe you a beer. Thank you very much.”
SOUTH KOREA
US N Korea envoy arrives
The US’ top negotiator with North Korea yesterday arrived in South Korea, a visit that comes as hopes rise for an easing of tensions on the Korean Peninsula in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s visit and a lull in missile testing. US Special Representative for North Korea Policy Joseph Yun is to meet with South Korean and international officials, the US Department of State said, although there is no indication his visit will include talks with the North. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Yun is scheduled for talks with his counterpart Lee Do-hoon on Friday on the sidelines of an international conference on disarmament, jointly hosted by the ministry and the UN on the island of Jeju.
POLAND
Leader decries racist march
The president condemned expressions of xenophobia and racism at a weekend march by nationalists, saying there is no place in the country for anti-Semitism and “sick nationalism.” It was the strongest and first unequivocal condemnation by a representative of the nation’s conservative leadership of the white supremacist and racist views expressed by some of the 60,000 people who took part in a march on Saturday in Warsaw. Government members over the past two days had mostly described participants as patriots and played down the nature of the xenophobic messages. The event was organized by far-right groups and some carried banners with slogans like “White Europe of brotherly nations.”
SAUDI ARABIA
Riyadh backs off Yemen
The kingdom on Monday announced that the Saudi-led coalition fighting Shiite rebels in Yemen would begin reopening airports and seaports in the Arab world’s poorest nation, days after closing them over a rebel ballistic missile attack on Riyadh. The move came just hours after Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri gave an interview in which he backed off his strident condemnation of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah, saying he would return to the nation within days to seek a settlement with the Shiite militants. The two developments suggest that Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed bin Salman might be trying to pedal back from severe regional escalation.
SYRIA
Airstrikes kill at least 53
Airstrikes on a market on Monday killed at least 53 people, including children, despite a “de-escalation zone” in place there, a monitor said. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was not immediately clear whether the strikes on rebel-held Atareb had been carried out by Syrian warplanes or those of Damascus’ ally Russia. The monitor said three strikes hit the town’s market, adding that five children and three police officers were among the dead.
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