PAKISTAN
Taliban claims attack
The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for a suicide attack that on Saturday killed 11 soldiers and wounded 13 in the Swat Valley. Authorities said the attack was the first in more than three years in the northwestern region once ruled by militants. In a statement sent to media, the Taliban said a lone suicide bomber carried out the attack to avenge the killing and arrests of fellow militants. The bomber detonated his explosive vest near an empty lot where soldiers were playing volleyball. Muslim militants ruled the valley from 2007 until a massive military operation routed them in 2009. Pakistan has said that militants who escaped from the valley and elsewhere are now operating out of neighboring Afghanistan’s Kunar Province.
EGYPT
Tomb thought 4,400 years old
Archeologists in Egypt have discovered a 4,400-year-old tomb near the country’s famed pyramids at the Giza plateau just outside Cairo, the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities said on Saturday. The tomb was found in a wider area of Giza’s western necropolis, which is known to be home to tombs from the Old Kingdom. It likely belonged to a woman known as Hetpet, who archeologists believe was close to ancient Egyptian royals of the Fifth Dynasty. The tomb, unveiled on Saturday, is made of mud brick and includes wall paintings in good condition depicting Hetpet observing different hunting and fishing scenes.
PAKISTAN
Singer killed after refusal
Police said three gunmen on Saturday shot and killed a female singer who refused to accompany them to a private party. The incident happened in the northwestern city of Mardan, Police official Saeed Khan said. The artist, known only as Sumbul, was shot multiple times and killed at her home, after the gunmen broke in and asked her to perform for them at the party, he said. The perpetrators fled the scene of the killing and police are searching for them, he said. There have been similar attacks on female artists in the same region in the past.
MEXICO
Police detain 300 migrants
The authorities have taken into custody more than 300 Central American men, women and children who were being smuggled to the US without water or food, officials said on Saturday. The largest group — 198 people crammed into the bottom of a truck — was found in Tamaulipas in the northeast, just south of Texas, Mexican immigration enforcement officials said. The migrants from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador “were traveling in grossly overcrowded conditions without enough ventilation, food or water,” they said. Among the child migrants, 55 were with their relatives, while 24 were making the dangerous journey alone.
COLOMBIA
Shelter built for Venezuelans
The government on Saturday opened its first shelter for Venezuelans, who are pouring across the border in ever-larger numbers to escape their nation’s economic crisis. The bare-bones shelter near the border city of Cucuta is to provide shelter to 120 people each day for up to 48 hours. Pregnant mothers, the elderly and minors who entered the country legally are to be given priority. It is to be administered by the Red Cross. Cucuta has been overwhelmed in recent weeks by an increasingly large exodus of Venezuelans. Many are sleeping on the streets and crime in the city has spiked as gangs recruit and take advantage of the desperate migrants.
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
IN PURSUIT: Israel’s defense minister said the revenge attacks by Israeli settlers would make it difficult for security forces to find those responsible for the 14-year-old’s death Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday condemned the “heinous murder” of an Israeli teenager in the occupied West Bank as attacks on Palestinian villages intensified following news of his death. After Benjamin Achimeir, 14, was reported missing near Ramallah on Friday, hundreds of Jewish settlers backed by Israeli forces raided nearby Palestinian villages, torching vehicles and homes, leaving at least one villager dead and dozens wounded. The attacks escalated in several villages on Saturday after Achimeir’s body was found near the Malachi Hashalom outpost. Agence France-Presse correspondents saw smoke rising from burned houses and fields. Mayor Amin Abu Alyah, of the