CHINA
Mine collapse toll hits 11
The death toll in a coal mine collapse in the country’s east has risen to 11, with 10 miners still trapped underground, state media reported. One week after the disaster, rescue crews were clearing fallen rock from the shaft, with the remaining miners believed to be 74m below the surface, the official Xinhua news agency said late on Friday. It said that rescuers were making progress, but gave no indication of when they expected to break through. More than 300 people were inside the mine at the time of the collapse. The country long had the world’s deadliest coal mines, but safety has improved considerably with more modern equipment, better training and the closure of most of the smallest, most dangerous mines.
IRELAND
O’Connor converts to Islam
Outspoken singer Sinead O’Connor has announced that she has converted to Islam. Having adopted the name Magda Davitt last year, the 51-year-old is now called Shuhada Davitt. She also changed her Twitter avatar to a black-and-white image of the Nike swoosh logo and the slogan: “Wear a hijab. Just do it.” “This is to announce that I am proud to have become a Muslim. This is the natural conclusion of any intelligent theologian’s journey,” she tweeted. Her Twitter account says the singer now lives in “Direland.”
UNITED KINGDOM
‘Magna Carta’ theft averted
A man suspected of trying to steal a Magna Carta from its display case at Salisbury Cathedral has been arrested after he was wrestled to the ground by cathedral employees, authorities said on Friday. Cathedral alarms sounded on Thursday afternoon when a person armed with a hammer tried to smash the glass box surrounding the Magna Carta, Wiltshire Police said. The document on display at the cathedral is one of four surviving originals. The dean of the cathedral said the suspect was able to smash through one of two protective glass screens housing the precious document. The 45-year-old suspect was arrested on suspicion of attempted theft, possession of a weapon and criminal damage, police said.
AUSTRALIA
Gay penguins become dads
Two male penguins entrusted with the care of a fostered egg have welcomed a tiny sub-Antarctic gentoo chick into the world, Sydney’s Sea Life Aquarium said on Friday. The pair, Magic and Sphen, made headlines around the world earlier this month when aquarium staff gave them the egg, following a successful trial with a dummy egg.
UNITED STATES
Iran-based pages taken down
Facebook on Friday said that it had taken down accounts linked to an Iranian effort to influence US and British politics with messages about charged topics such as immigration and race relations. The social network identified 82 pages, groups and accounts that originated in Iran and violated policy on coordinated “inauthentic” behavior, Facebook head of cybersecurity policy Nathaniel Gleicher said. There was overlap with accounts taken down earlier this year and linked to Iran state media, but the identity of the culprits had yet to be determined, Gleicher said. “It’s often hard to know who is behind this type of activity,” he said in a telephone briefing. Account owners tried to hide their identities by passing themselves off mostly as US citizens and in a few cases as British citizens, he added.
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
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number