VATICAN
Holy See rebukes cardinal
The Vatican has chastised retired Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen (陳日君), who accused the Holy See of “selling out” to Beijing for reportedly promoting bishops endorsed by the Chinese government. The cardinal suggested in his statement that the pope was not kept informed of actions he does not approve, a charge Vatican spokesman Greg Burke denied on Tuesday. “The pope is in constant contact with his collaborators, in particular in the Secretariat of State, on Chinese issues,” Burke said in a statement, adding that Francis was informed “faithfully and in detail.” However, Burke did not comment on the alleged Vatican requests to the underground bishops.
COSTA RICA
Christian candidate leading
A conservative Christian congressman best known for his opposition to gay rights remains the favorite in next month’s presidential election, a poll released on Tuesday night showed. Fabricio Alvarado, a 43-year-old ex-television host, led in several runoff scenarios in the poll conducted on Monday and Tuesday by OPol Consultores. Election experts say a second round runoff is likely as no candidate is expected to win at least 40 percent of the vote in Sunday’s election. A run-off featuring the top two vote-getters would take place in early April. In a hypothetical match-up against Antonio Alvarez of the National Liberation Party, Alvarado would win with 37 percent support compared with Alvarez’s 34 percent, the poll showed.
UNITED STATES
Helicopter crash kills three
A helicopter on Tuesday crashed into a southern California home shortly after takeoff, killing three people and injuring two others, officials said. The four-seat Robinson R44 went down in a gated community in Newport Beach, about 72km southeast of Los Angeles. Four people were on board the helicopter. One of the killed or injured people was a bystander on the ground outside the house, authorities said. The injured were taken to hospitals, but there was no immediate word on their condition.
UNITED STATES
‘Glee’ star Salling dies
Mark Salling, one of the stars of the Fox musical comedy Glee, has died of a possible suicide at age 35, a few weeks before he was scheduled to be sentenced in Los Angeles on child pornography charges. Salling’s lawyer, Michael Proctor, said the actor died on Tuesday. He did not reveal the cause of death. A law enforcement official not authorized to speak publicly said Salling was found hanging in a riverbed area in the Tujunga neighborhood of Los Angeles. The official said the actor’s death was being investigated as a suicide. Salling pleaded guilty in December to possession of thousands of images of child pornography. He was scheduled to be sentenced on March 7.
ISRAEL
Group fights Lorde boycott
A local legal rights group says it is suing two New Zealanders it credits with convincing pop singer Lorde to cancel her June concert in the nation. Shurat HaDin yesterday said it filed the suit in a Jerusalem court on behalf of three concert ticketholders. The group says the lawsuit intends to give “real consequences to those who selectively target Israel and seek to impose an unjust and illegal boycott against the Jewish state.” The three ticketholders are seeking about US$13,000 in damages. The two New Zealanders — one Jewish, one Palestinian — had appealed to Lorde in an open letter to “join the artistic boycott of Israel.”
AUSTRALIA
Crashed plane off course
A seaplane that crashed in Sydney on New Year’s Eve killing six people, including the CEO of British catering company Compass Group PLC, was off course, but the cause of the crash remains undetermined, investigators said yesterday. In its preliminary report, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said the plane was about 1km off the standard course before the pilot turned the plane sharply right. Shortly afterward, the plane nose-dived into the Hawkesbury River, north of Sydney. The bureau said there was no evidence of a collision or bird strike and there was no sign of any problem with the controls.
AFGHANISTAN
Quake kills child, injures 10
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake yesterday struck the northeast, killing a child and injuring several people in Badakhshan Province as well as in neighboring Pakistan, officials said. The quake struck 270km northeast of Kabul in the Hindu Kush mountains, at a depth of 180km, the European Mediterranean Seismological Center said. A baby girl was killed and 10 people were injured when roofs of mud-walled houses collapsed in the southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan, district deputy chief Shabbir Megnal said. There were no immediate reports of any serious damage in Afghanistan.
RUSSIA
Bear paw smugglers seized
A group of local and Chinese smugglers were arrested over the weekend near the border with China in possession of a tonne of bear paws as well as tiger, deer and frog parts, an animal protection group said on Tuesday. The smugglers were arrested with 870 of the bear paws “and the remains of at least four Siberian tigers” in their three vehicles, said the Amur Tiger Center. They also had bear teeth, deer tails and penises and other animal parts as well as arms and ammunition and an amount of amber, center said. The smugglers were headed for China when they were stopped near frozen Lake Khanka on the border.
NEW ZEALAND
Over 80 on sunken ferry
More than 80 people were aboard the ferry MV Butiraoi that sank almost two weeks ago in the Pacific Ocean, officials confirmed yesterday, as a senior Kiribati lawmaker called for an independent inquiry into the vessel’s disappearance. A multinational rescue operation is scouring vast swathes of ocean for survivors, but only seven people have been found alive so far and hopes are fading of locating any more. Initial estimates of how many people were on the Butiraoi when it went missing ranged from 35 to more than 100, but officials said the numbers were slowly becoming clearer. “Kiribati authorities have confirmed that about 80 passengers plus crew of likely about five were on the ferry,” Rescue Coordination Centre NZ said in a statement.
AUSTRALIA
Sydney ferry renamed
A Sydney Harbor ferry christened Ferry McFerryface three months ago has been renamed after a political squabble. New South Wales Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Andrew Constance said in November last year that McFerryface came second place in a competition after the now-famous choice, Boaty McBoatface. However, Constance yesterday said that McFerry was only a temporary name to entertain children during the summer and the ferry had been permanently renamed after children’s author May Gibbs. “Over the summer period, we decided ‘let’s have a bit of fun with the kids with Ferry McFerryface’ and now I’ve named the ferry May Gibbs,’’ he 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