COLOMBIA
Police spoil cannabis rally
Riot police on Thursday broke up a pro-marijuana demonstration in the capital city, as the South American nation takes a harder stance on drugs. Dozens of people showed up at Bogota’s planetarium with posters and small amounts of marijuana to stage a “smoke-a-thon” to defend recreational use of the plant. However, the crowd was dispersed by police in riot gear minutes after protesters began to light up their marijuana cigarettes. At least half a dozen people were arrested as clashes broke out. The constitution enables marijuana users to possess small doses meant for personal consumption, but President Ivan Duque is tightening drug laws and recently issued a decree that enables police to confiscate any drug consumed in public.
ECUADOR
Quake injures one person
A magnitude 6.3 earthquake on Thursday struck central Ecuador, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said, injuring one person and disrupting power supply to nearby areas. It hit 94km south of the city of Ambato at a depth of 112 km, the USGS said. The quake knocked down power cables, leaving the areas of Puertas Negras, Guano and Chunchi without electricity, the Risk Management Secretariat said in a statement. There was slight damage to homes and landslides hit a road, it said. A resident of Babahoyo town suffered a broken bone and authorities were assessing whether any houses had collapsed, the secretariat said. Tremors were felt in the capital, Quito, and in the industrial port city of Guayaquil, where people ran into the streets, a Reuters witness said. The nation’s geological institute said the earthquake, which hit a remote area with a low population, caused five smaller aftershocks. The Andean nation has frequent seismic activity. In 2016, a devastating magnitude 7.8-earthquake struck Ecuador’s Pacific coast, killing more than 650 people.
PARAGUAY
Israel move ‘exaggerated’
President Mario Abdo Benitez on Thursday urged Israel to reconsider the closing of its embassy in Asuncion, calling it an “exaggerated” response to the South American nation’s decision to move its embassy back to Tel Aviv. The diplomatic dispute began in May when then-president Horacio Cartes authorized moving the Paraguayan embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, as the US and Guatemala had already done. The move pleased Israel and Washington, but infuriated the Palestinians and their supporters. Benitez had yet to take office when Cartes announced the move in one of his final acts as president and said he would review the decision. On Wednesday, he reversed it. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately ordered the closure of the Israeli embassy in Asuncion.
UNITED STATES
Burt Reynolds dies at 82
Actor Burt Reynolds, best known for his roles in Deliverance and Boogie Nights, died on Thursday, his publicist said. The 82-year-old actor died in a hospital in Florida, his manager, Erik Kritzer, told the Hollywood Reporter. Reynolds, whose career spanned six decades, received an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of porn director Jack Horner in the 1997 film Boogie Nights. Last year, he received critical acclaim for his performance in the indie movie The Last Movie Star. Reynolds was considered box office gold in the 1970s and early 80s with such hits as Smokey and the Bandit, Starting Over and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
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