EL SALVADOR
Ex-president’s trial finishes
The trial of former president Elias Antonio Saca over the diversion of more than US$300 million during his term concluded on Wednesday, with sentencing set for Sept. 12, a court spokesman said. Saca — who was in power from 2004 to 2009 — previously pleaded guilty to embezzlement, and money and assets laundering in exchange for an abbreviated trial and reduced sentence. As part of the agreement, prosecutors requested a 10-year sentence and the return of US$300.3 million by Saca and his six collaborators as a “civic duty,” the court press office said in a statement. They also asked that former communications secretary Julio Rank return US$8 million to the state and that former president of the state water company Cesar Funes hand back US$886,697.
MEXICO
TV reporter shot dead
A television reporter was on Wednesday shot dead in Cancun, becoming the eighth journalist to be killed this year in a country notoriously dangerous for the media. Javier Enrique Rodriguez Valladares worked as a cameraman and reporter for Canal 10. The station said that his family had confirmed his death. The government of Quintana Roo State said that another man was also shot dead with him, reportedly while the pair were walking down a street in the city center. Canal 10 said he was mainly a cameraman, but also did interviews and features on political issues. Rodriguez Valladares is the third journalist to meet a violent death in the state in the past two months. Ruben Pat, editor-in-chief of the Playa News weekly, was shot dead outside a bar in Playa del Carmen last month, not far from the tourist hotspot. And on June 29, Playa News reporter Jose Guadalupe Chan was shot dead in a Mayan indigenous village in the south of Quintana Roo.
UNITED KINGDOM
Energy drink ban mulled
The sale of high-caffeine soft drinks to children could be banned in England, the government said yesterday, citing public health concerns. The so-called ‘energy drinks’ contain high levels of sugar and caffeine, and have been linked to obesity and a range of other health issues. “With thousands of young people regularly consuming energy drinks, often because they are sold at cheaper prices than soft drinks, we will consult on banning the sale of energy drinks to children,” Prime Minister Theresa May said in a statement. Adolescents in the nation who drink energy drinks consume about 50 percent more than their counterparts in mainland Europe, the statement said. The government launched a consultation seeking views on the subject, including at what age the ban should apply. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland would not have to follow the ban and are free to set their own policies. The ban would apply to drinks containing 150mg of caffeine or more per liter.
UNITED STATES
Glider crashes in mountain
A glider has crashed in the mountains in Vermont, killing all three people on board. State police said search and rescue crews reached the wreckage near the summit of Sterling Mountain late on Wednesday and discovered the bodies of the glider pilot and two passengers. Morrisville police received a report that the glider was missing shortly before 2pm. It was later spotted about 305m from the summit of the mountain. The glider was owned by Stowe Soaring. The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.
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