NORTH KOREA
Kim visits Chinese embassy
Leader Kim Jong-un on Monday visited the Chinese embassy in Pyongyang to express “deep sympathy” over a bus accident that killed 32 Chinese tourists, four locals and critically injured two more Chinese, the Korean Central News Agency said yesterday. Kim also visited the hospital where the injured were being treated, it said, adding that he “personally learned about the treatment of the wounded.”
UNITED STATES
Waffle House suspect caught
Tennessee police on Monday captured the man suspected of gunning down four people at a Waffle House near Nashville. Travis Reinkingwas captured in the early afternoon after a more than 24-hour manhunt. “A tip from the community is what led to the arrest,” Nashville Mayor David Briley told a news conference. Reinking, 29, faces four counts of criminal homicide charges.
CHINA
Man arrested for KTV arson
Police in Qingyuan, Guangdong Province, have caught a man suspected of setting a fire at a three-story building early yesterday morning that killed 18 people and injured five. The city’s Public Security Bureau said authorities arrested a 32-year-old man named Liu Chunlu (劉純露) in Yingde. Police had offered a 200,000 yuan (US$31,713) reward for the man they accuse of starting the fire. The bureau did not provide a motive for the arson, but China Central Television (CCTV) reported the suspect had set fire to a karaoke parlor after an argument. The suspect blocked the sole entrance to the karaoke parlor with his motorcycle and then ignited the building, CCTV said.
UNITED STATES
No copyright for monkeys
Monkeys lack standing to sue for copyright protection and an animal rights group cannot act as legal guardian in such matters, an appeals court in California ruled on Monday, in a battle over ownership of a smiling selfie taken by an endangered macaque. The dispute stemmed from a famous image that Naruto, a rare crested macaque who lives on an nature reserve in Indonesia, snapped using a camera that British photographer David Slater left mounted and unattended. “The panel held that the monkey lacked statutory standing, because the Copyright Act does not expressly authorize animals to file copyright infringement suits,” said the judges of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco. Their opinion added that People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which filed as a plaintiff on behalf of Naruto, was not a “next friend” of the monkey in a legal sense.
UNITED STATES
Asian plant thieves caught
State wildlife officials said they uncovered an international plant heist involving thieves from South Korea and China slipping into northern California’s wild landscapes to pluck succulents they then sell in a thriving black market in Asia. The Mercury News in San Jose reported that the stolen Dudleya farinosa fetch up to US$50 per plant in Asia, where a growing middle class is fueling demand. Investigators said organized smuggling rings based in Asia are behind the thefts. Since an investigation started in December last year, state officials have apprehended suspects from China and South Korea in three separate thefts along the coast of Humboldt and Mendocino counties. Admired for their tenacity, the plants burst into beauty when they bloom, erecting a tall stem and a candelabra-like cluster of yellow flowers.
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