UNITED STATES
Romney to seek Utah seat
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is trying for a political comeback as he launches a Senate campaign in Utah. The former Republican presidential nominee on Friday confirmed his widely anticipated plans in an online video. The announcement features his leadership of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and says the conservative state and its residents can show Washington how to govern respectfully. He is considered a heavy favorite for the seat held by Senator Orrin Hatch, who is retiring.
UNITED STATES
NYCB’s Martins cleared
A two-month investigation has found no verifiable sexual harassment or physical abuse by former New York City Ballet (NYCB) leader Peter Martins. The New York Times reports that NYCB and its school also have announced new policies to assure that dancers “feel safe, respected” and able to freely voice their concerns. Martins says he was “gratified” by the findings of an outside counsel. Martins, who denied accusations of sexual misconduct, announced last month that he was retiring. He said the scandal had “exacted a painful toll” on him and his family. The findings were denounced on Thursday by two former NYCB dancers who had come forward with accusations.
BELGIUM
Facebook loses case
A Brussels court has ordered Facebook to stop collecting data about citizens in the country or face fines for every day it fails to comply, the daily De Standaard reported on Friday. The court upheld a national privacy commission finding that Facebook is collecting data without users’ consent. It said the court concluded that Facebook does not adequately inform users that it is collecting information, what kind of details it keeps and for how long, or what it does with the data. It has ruled that Facebook must destroy any data it has obtained illegally or face fines of 250,000 euros (US$311,500) every day it delays.
FRANCE
Confession reported
Serial killer Michel Fourniret has finally “confessed” to murdering British language student Joanna Parrish nearly three decades ago, the family lawyer said on Friday. Fourniret, who was jailed for life in 2008 for killing seven girls, was interviewed by two instructing magistrates in Paris and, according to lawyer Didier Seban, admitted murdering the 20-year-old Parrish and French teenager Marie-Angele Domece. “He made detailed and repeated confessions. He clearly recognizes, and this several times over, having killed Joanna Parrish and Marie-Angele Domece,” Seban said. “It’s hard [for the family] but the end of a long legal battle.” Fourniret had previously always denied involvement in the two cases. Seban said he hoped a trial would soon go ahead now. Paris prosecutors would not comment on the revelations with investigations under way.
PORTUGAL
Sobral says voice ‘fragile’
Eurovision Song Contest winner Salvador Sobral says his voice is “fragile” following a heart transplant, but is confident it will return. The 28-year-old singer underwent the operation in December last year, just seven months after winning Eurovision in Kiev. “This has influenced me in a very physical way, the medication and certain things have made my voice a bit fragile, but I think it will return to what it was,” Sobral said, adding that he is not sure if he will perform when his nation hosts this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in May.
AUSTRALIA
Brawling family ejected
Twenty-three members of a family were removed from a cruise ship near Sydney on Friday after a brawl that left several injured, reports said. Police removed the group, which included men, women and children, from the boat after it docked in Sydney on a 10-day South Pacific cruise. Video taken by passengers showed more than a dozen people fighting on the ship as crew members struggled to break up the violence. Other reports said the group had been terrorizing other passengers for days. “People were pulling their children out of the pool because they were crying and scared,” one witness told the Herald Sun newspaper. It said some of the group had been placed under “house arrest” on the ship before being ejected.
CHINA
Waste facility fire kills nine
Nine people died in a fire early yesterday at a waste processing facility in Guangdong Province’s Qingyuan City, Xinhua news agency said yesterday. One survivor was sent to hospital. Police have detained at least one person in connection with the fire and an investigation is ongoing, Xinhua said. Elsewhere, an explosion at a stall selling fireworks in Yunnan Province killed four people and injured another four at about 11pm on Thursday, authorities said on Friday. The cause is under investigation, the Tonghai County information office said.
IRAN
Rouhani rails against US
President Hassan Rouhani on Friday slammed the administration of US President Donald Trump for recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and urged Muslims to support the Palestinian cause. Rouhani also lashed out at the US for imposing a ban on travelers from six largely Muslim countries. He was addressing a congregation after Friday prayers at Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad during a three-day visit to India. Calling for unity, Rouhani said that Shiites, Sunnis and people of other ethnicities coexisted peacefully in Iraq and Syria for centuries until the West created discord there. Rouhani was to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi yesterday.
INDIA
Seven die of suffocation
Seven workers died of suffocation on Friday while cleaning an underground drainage pit at a poultry farm in Andhra Pradesh state, police said. Deputy Superintendent of Police Chowdesari said the deaths occurred in Morem village. After the first worker entered the drainage pit, he shouted for help because he had difficulty breathing. Chowdesari said the eight other workers entered the pit to help. Four died on the spot and three others succumbed later in a hospital. A large number of villagers gathered outside the poultry farm and demanded the arrest of farm officials. Police said they were investigating the deaths.
NIGERIA
Suicide blast kills 18
Three suicide bombers killed 18 people on Friday in the northeastern city of Maiduguri, epicenter of the Boko Haram insurgency, Borno State Police Commissioner Damian Chukwu said yesterday. The attack took place at a fish market on the outskirts of the state capital at about 8pm and also injured other people, he said. In other news, police said gunmen tied to cattle rustlers have shot dead at least 18 people in northwestern Zamfara state. State police spokesman Muhammad Shehu said an armed gang ambushed a group of residents in Birani Village after rustlers were stopped from stealing cows. Some local media reports put the death toll as high as 40.
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
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
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