GERMANY
Refinery blaze injures eight
A fire yesterday erupted at a refinery in the country’s south following an explosion, injuring at least eight people and forcing authorities to evacuate local residents, police said. The explosion took place at about 5:30am at a site run by the Bayernoil group near the Bavarian city of Ingolstadt. Three of the victims suffered “medium or serious injuries,” police said in a statement. About 1,800 residents of the nearby towns of Vohburg and Irsching were evacuated as a precautionary measure. “The work to extinguish the flames is continuing,” police said. About 200 firefighters were at the scene, they added.
UNITED STATES
Obama, Bush nod to McCain
Late senator John McCain was yesterday to get a presidential farewell, but not from the sitting president. At his request, former presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush were to speak about the six-term senator at his final Washington event at the majestic Washington National Cathedral. President Donald Trump was told to stay away from all events during McCain’s five-day, cross-country funeral procession. Before the service yesterday, McCain’s procession was to pass the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, where McCain’s wife, Cindy, was expected to lay a wreath.
MYANMAR
‘Ghost ship’ found adrift
A rusting cargo ship empty of crew and goods and bearing the Indonesian flag was found drifting off the coast of Myanmar earlier this week, Yangon police said on Thursday. Fishers came across the vessel, bearing the name Sam Ratulangi PB 1600, floating in the Gulf of Martaban about 11km from the shore of the country’s commercial capital. The ship was being towed to neighboring Bangladesh, state-run media reported. Authorities and navy personnel boarded the vessel to investigate the situation, police said in a statement on Facebook. The ship’s transponder last reported its location off the coast of Taiwan in 2009.
UNITED STATES
Hanged hunter in coma
A 70-year-old Oregon hunter who was rescued after hanging upside-down for two days about 9m from the ground is in intensive care in a drug-induced coma. The East Oregonian on Friday reported that Eddie Voelker, of Prineville, was on a ventilator and has had a procedure to relieve pressure on his brain. Another hunter found Voelker suspended from the tree earlier this week. Voelker had fallen from his tree stand and become entangled in his safety harness. Crews used a bucket truck to reach him and his heart stopped during the rescue, the report said.
NICARAGUA
UN rights team expelled
The government of President Daniel Ortega is expelling a UN human rights team two days after the body published a critical report blaming it for the violent repression of opposition protests. A UN human rights official who was not authorized to speak publicly about the situation on Friday said that the team was told to leave the country. An official statement was expected later. The UN Security Council is to discuss the situation in the country on Wednesday, the official said. The report released on Wednesday last week by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights described repression that stretched from the streets to courtrooms, where some protesters face terrorism charges.
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