NIGERIA
Triple bombing kills 30
Thirty people were killed late on Sunday in a triple suicide bombing attributed to Boko Haram militants in the town of Konduga, Usman Kachalla, head of operations at the State Emergency Management Agency, said yesterday. Three bombers detonated their explosives outside a hall in Konduga where soccer fans were watching a match on television. “We have over 40 people injured,” Kachalla said, updating an earlier casualty toll of 17 people dead and 17 wounded.
INDONESIA
Struggle for wheel kills 12
Twelve people were killed and dozens injured early yesterday after a bus passenger tried to wrest control of the steering wheel from the driver following an argument, police said. The accident happened at about 1am on a toll road in West Java. The bus swerved into oncoming traffic, smashing into two cars and causing a truck to roll. About 43 people were injured, many seriously, including the 29-year-old man who had tried to seize the steering wheel. The bus driver was among the dead.
INDIA
Doctors strike nationwide
Hundreds of thousands of doctors around the country went on strike yesterday, demanding better working conditions and security at hospitals. It was triggered by an attack at a medical college in West Bengal state a week ago that seriously injured three junior doctors after a dispute with a family whose relative had died. Striking doctors protested outside hundreds of hospitals, holding placards and wearing black arm bands and bloodied mock bandages. The Indian Medical Association said almost all of its members had joined the protests.
AUSTRALIA
Oil spill lawsuit opens
A lawsuit filed by Indonesian seaweed farmers seeking more than US$137 million from Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production to cover damage they say they suffered after the nation’s worst oil spill opened in Sydney yesterday. The class-action suit represents more than 15,000 farmers who claim to have lost their livelihoods in the years after oil gushed into the Timor Sea for more than 74 days following an explosion at the Montara oil rig in August 2009. The trial is expected to last about 10 weeks.
AUSTRALIA
Appeal for missing teen
The father of a teenaged Belgian backpacker missing for more than two weeks yesterday pleaded for help as police called the disappearance baffling. Theo Hayez, 18, vanished after leaving a bar in Byron Bay late on May 31. “This is a question of providing assistance to a person in grave danger,” Lehore Hayez told reporters in Tweed Heads, 66km north of where his son was last seen. “We know that Theo used WhatsApp the night he disappeared,” he added, but without saying why he believed his son to be in danger. Police were notified of the disappearance on June 6 after Hayez failed to check out of his hostel.
ISRAEL
Settlement named for Trump
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday inaugurated a new settlement in the Golan Heights named after US President Donald Trump. Netanyahu unveiled a “Trump Heights” sign, featuring the flags of the two nations, to mark the site. The Cabinet had met earlier under a tent in the north of the Golan to name the planned settlement. “Thank you PM @netanyahu and the State of Israel for this great honor!” Trump tweeted.
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