TURKEY
Shots fired at US embassy
Shots were fired at a security booth outside the US embassy in Ankara early yesterday, but US officials said no one was hurt. Private Ihlas news agency said four to five rounds were fired from a moving white car and targeted the booth outside Gate 6. Police were searching for the car. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman condemned the attack and said it was a clear attempt to “create chaos.” The embassy is closed this week as the nation celebrates the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.
SPAIN
Man attacks police station
Police yesterday said they had shot a man armed with a knife as he tried to attack a police station in the northeastern region of Catalonia. Regional Mossos police said on Twitter the man had entered the station in Cornella “with the aim of attacking the agents,” adding he had then been shot. They did not say whether the attacker was killed, but a wrapped-up body was seen being carried out of the station and placed in a mortuary van.
UNITED STATES
Ex-navy officer arrested
A retired navy captain in Hawaii has been indicted on federal charges of receiving at least US$145,000 in bribes from Malaysian defense contractor Leonard Francis, nicknamed “Fat Leonard.” David Haas is the latest former or current navy official to be caught up in a wide-ranging bribery and fraud scandal, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported on Saturday. Haas used his influence to steer ships to ports controlled by Francis’ company and otherwise advance Francis’ interests, according to the indictment released on Thursday. In return, the Department of Justice alleges that Francis paid for expensive dinners, prostitutes and alcohol for Haas and others on different occasions in 2011 and 2012.
UNITED STATES
Family demands probe
Authorities say a Chicago teenager killed himself after being chased by police, but his family thinks the officers shot him and they are calling for an independent investigation. The Chicago Tribune reports that police say 15-year-old Steve Rosenthal fled on Friday when officers who allegedly saw him holding a handgun tried to question him. They say shortly after that he fatally shot himself on the back stairwell of his West Side home. The teen’s family said that based on witnesses’ accounts, they believe the officers shot him. The family’s attorney, Andrew Stroth, on Sunday said that the officers killed Rosenthal “without cause or provocation” within moments of rushing up the stairwell. The family demands a “full, independent and transparent” investigation, he said.
EUROPEAN UNION
Brexit to proceed: official
Britain’s vote to leave the alliance could “in theory” be reversed although there is a still a strong probability it will go ahead, European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici said yesterday. Moscovici was replying on French radio to a question related to a move by the cofounder of fashion brand Superdry to donate £1 million (US$1.28 million) to the campaign for a referendum on the final Brexit agreement. Asked whether the Brexit vote could be reversed, Moscovici told France Inter radio: “It is, in theory ... it is up to the British themselves who have made the decision to leave, to decide ultimately if they will or not, and how they will do it.” Asked if there would definitely be a deal regarding the terms of Brexit, Moscovici also replied: “Not necessarily.”
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