FRANCE
Food kills four at rest home
Four residents at a retirement home in the south have died and more than a dozen others were sickened in a suspected case of food poisoning, officials said yesterday. Twenty-two people at the Cheneraie Residence in Lherm, a town south of Toulouse, began showing symptoms including vomiting after dinner on Sunday, police said in a statement. Fifteen of the 82 residents at the site remained in serious condition. “We suspect food poisoning because these events occurred after the meal,” deputy prosecutor Marie-Paule Demiguel told BFM television. The site has an operating license from the government, but is run by the private firm Korian, which has more than 800 sites, or 78,000 beds, in five countries.
PERU
Bus fire kills at least 20
At least 20 people on Sunday night were killed and about 10 injured in a bus fire at an illegal transport terminal in Lima, emergency services said. A number of the victims burned to death, trapped on the upper level of the interprovincial bus, firefighters said. Passersby described scenes of panic and cries of terror. Much of the vehicle was reduced to a skeleton, and the corpses of some victims could still be seen in the seats. Others asphyxiated on the stairway connecting the upper and lower levels. The tragedy reflected the chaos of Peru’s public transport system, particularly in the capital of 10 million people where authorities are overwhelmed by transport problems. One unidentified man, broken by grief, told local television that he had lost six family members including his wife, children and grandchildren. One woman was photographed weeping, her face buried in her hands, while paramedics checked her. Lima Mayor Jorge Munoz visited the injured in the hospital and announced an investigation to punish those responsible, saying: “I am totally outraged.”
UNITED STATES
Avenatti to face court
A week after Michael Avenatti’s shocking arrest in New York, the attorney famous for representing porn star Stormy Daniels in legal battles against US President Donald Trump was once again back in federal court yesterday to face fraud charges in California. The brash lawyer faced a hearing in Santa Ana on charges that he fraudulently obtained US$4 million in bank loans and pocketed US$1.6 million that belonged to a client. Avenatti has long faced allegations from a former client and a former partner that he was hiding money to avoid paying what he owed. Federal authorities are adding their voices to that chorus, with the specter of a long prison sentence that could mean the lawyer’s downfall. Avenatti, 48, is charged with wire and bank fraud. He has said he expects to be exonerated.
JAPAN
Robot puts up three-pointers
Although unable to dribble or perform a slam dunk, Toyota’s basketball robot hardly ever misses a free throw or three-pointer. The 207cm tall machine made five of eight three-point shots in a demonstration in a Tokyo suburb yesterday, a ratio that its engineers said was worse than usual.
Toyota Motor’s robot, called Cue 3, computes as a three-dimensional image where the basket is, using sensors on its torso, and adjusts motors inside its arm and knees to give the shot the right angle and propulsion for a swish. Efforts in developing human-shaped robots underline a global shift in robotics use from pre-programmed mechanical arms in limited places like factories to functioning in the real world with people.
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