CUBA
Spanish king urges freedom
Spanish King Felipe VI has called for political diversity and freedom of expression during an official visit to the nation. The king, who wrapped up his trip on Thursday, said he hoped Havana would become a multiparty political model that guarantees media rights. At a Wednesday dinner with President Miguel Diaz-Canel, Felipe said Cubans would have to choose their future and that change could not be imposed from outside.
UNITED STATES
Trump Jr’s book tops list
Donald Trump Jr’s Triggered: How the Left Thrives on Hate and Wants to Silence Us is a No. 1 New York Times (NYT) bestseller, although not without an edge. The book came out last week and tops the hardcover nonfiction list that is to appear in the Times on Sunday next week. Among those celebrating was President Donald Trump, who tweeted: “Wow! Was just told that my son’s book, Triggered, is Number One on The New York Times Bestseller List. Congratulations Don!” Triggered also placed high on the weekly report compiled by NPD BookScan, which tracks about 85 percent of the print market. According to BookScan, Triggered sold 71,000 copies last week, second only to Jeff Kinney’s latest Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
UNITED STATES
Wife hid corpse in freezer
Authorities have arrested a woman whose husband’s corpse was found in a freezer in a bedroom inside their Missouri home, where it might have been stored for nearly a year. Barbara Watters, 67, of Joplin was arrested on Thursday, a day after she was charged with abandonment of a corpse, a felony that is punishable by up to four years in prison. A witness told police that Paul Barton’s body had been in Watters’ freezer since his death on Dec. 30 last year, a police officer wrote in the probable cause affidavit. Watters threatened to kill him if he notified police, the witness said, according to the affidavit, adding that she threatened to kill police, firefighters and emergency medical workers if they attempted to come into her house.
UNITED STATES
Privacy advocates protest
Privacy advocates who strapped cameras to their heads and walked around Capitol Hill on Thursday said that Amazon’s facial recognition technology successfully recognized a congressman — but also claimed to spot singer Roy Orbison, who died in 1988. The activists scanned thousands of faces inside and outside the Capitol to highlight the dangers of facial recognition surveillance and to urge lawmakers to restrict its use. They used commercially available software that Amazon has pitched to police, running it against a database of lawmakers, journalists, lobbyists and 1960s crooners. It recognized Representative Mark DeSaulnier, but misidentified others.
EL SALVADOR
Outrage over abuse ruling
Civic groups expressed outrage after a court reduced a sexual abuse charge against a judge to a misdemeanor. The judge allegedly touched a 10-year-old girl’s genitals through her clothes on a street in San Salvador in February. Prosecutors charged him with sexual abuse, which carry a prison term of eight to 12 years. However, the First Criminal Tribunal ruled that brief touching of a clothed person in a public space constituted a breach of public decency statutes, which is punishable by a fine. Legislators on Thursday said they would amend the law to specify such touching of a child would be subject to prison terms similar to sex abuse.
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