GABON
Nigerien stabs two Danes
Two Danes were on Saturday wounded in a knife attack in Gabon’s capital apparently committed in retribution for “US attacks against Muslims,” a rare assault in a Central African nation that has escaped extremist violence. The two men, who were working for the National Geographic channel, were stabbed while shopping in a market popular with tourists, Minister of Defense Etienne Massard said, adding that the attack appeared to be politically motivated. “According to the first testimonies at the scene, the assailant, a 53-year-old Nigerien man, shouted ‘Allahu Akbar’ [Arabic for ‘God is great’] during the attack. He was arrested on the spot,” Massard said.
CHILE
Mudslide kills at least five
A mudslide fueled by heavy rains on Saturday swept over a village in the south, leaving at least five people dead and 15 missing, officials said. Rain caused a river to overflow and the side of a hill to collapse, burying 20 of the 200 houses in Villa Santa Lucia in the Los Lagos region, 1,272km south of the capital, Santiago. President Michelle Bachelet declared the region a catastrophe zone and confirmed the number of dead and missing. She met with her team of ministers to coordinate rescue and assistance efforts. Earlier on Saturday, Deputy Secretary of the Interior Madmud Aleuy said there were three people dead, including an unidentified tourist, and 15 others missing.
PHILIPPINES
Thousands stranded by storm
Thousands of people heading home for Christmas were yesterday stranded by Tropical Depression Kai-Tak, a day after the storm killed three people as it pounded the nation’s eastern islands. The storm has weakened, with gusts of up to 90kph, after cutting off power and triggering landslides in a region devastated by Super Typhoon Haiyan four years ago, state weather forecasters said. Disaster officials yesterday said that more floods and landslides were possible and that 15,500 passengers were stranded because ferry services remained suspended in parts of the country.
LIBYA
Refugees rescued at sea
The coast guard rescued at least 270 refugees off the country’s shores, a navy official said on Saturday, bringing to more than 450 the total number of refugees they have rescued in less than a week. El-Hadi Kheil said that the Arab and African refugees, who included women and children, were found at sea in an area between the coastal towns of Garabulli and Zliten, east of the capital, Tripoli, where they were taken to a naval base. “We were lost and didn’t know where to direct our boat,” Omar Yusef, a Sudanese refugee, told reporters. “We called the coast guard and a helicopter came and guided us.”
UNITED STATES
Burros caught in wildfire
Nine burros that are a favorite of visitors to South Dakota’s Custer State Park have been burned in a wildfire and it is not known if all of them would survive, a park official said on Saturday. The park reported that all nine burros had been found — a day after three of them were reported missing and feared dead in the wildfire that has consumed more than 218km2, but all nine were burned and are being treated by a veterinarian. Some were not injured as badly as others, but their chances of survival and the severity of their injuries might not be known for some time, park visitor services program manager Kobee Stalder 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
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