IRELAND
General election begins
Ireland yesterday began voting in a general election, with Prime Minister Leo Varadkar hoping to secure a new term on the back of Brexit, but voters likely to judge him more on his domestic record. About 3.3 million people are eligible to vote to elect 159 members of the Dail, the lower chamber of parliament in Dublin. Varadkar’s Fine Gael party has been in power since 2016, but polling has suggested they were trailing rivals Fianna Fail and republicans Sinn Fein. “This election is wide open,” Varadkar said at his final campaign stop in the western town of Ennis on Friday. “It’s a three-horse race, three parties, all within shouting distance of each other.” Varadkar launched his campaign after successfully helping to broker a deal cushioning Britain’s EU exit on Friday last week by avoiding a hard border with British-run Northern Ireland. Polls were to close after press time last night, with voting to begin today.
ANTARCTICA
High temperature reported
The temperature in Antarctica hit nearly 18.3°C, a likely heat record on the continent best known for snow, ice and penguins. The reading was taken on Thursday at an Argentine research base and still needs to be verified by the World Meteorological Organization. “Everything we have seen thus far indicates a likely legitimate record,” said Randall Cerveny, who researches records for the organization. Cerveny is waiting for full data to confirm, he said. The research base, called Esperanza, sits on a peninsula that juts up toward the southern tip of South America. The peninsula has warmed significantly over the past half century — almost 3°C, according to the organization. Cerveny said that the high temperature was likely due, in the short term, to a rapid warming of air coming down from a mountain slope. The previous record of 17.5°C was set in March 2015.
UNITED STATES
Fake police car stopped
A man driving what appeared to be a police car did not fool a suspicious sheriff in suburban Detroit. Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said he was driving away from a meeting on Thursday when he spotted a vehicle with police-style bumpers, an array of lights on the back and a decal that read “emergency response.” Bouchard activated his emergency lights and stopped the vehicle. He said there was a fake radar on the dashboard and a police-style computer. He also discovered a loaded gun and a large knife. “He looks at me and says: ‘Who are you?’ And I said: ‘I’m the sheriff. Who are you?’” Bouchard told WDIV-TV. The man was arrested, with charges pending. “We’re still trying to run down what he was doing with this vehicle or if he’s stopped anyone in the past,” the sheriff said. “He initially said that sometimes he helps police. I don’t know what that means.”
UNITED STATES
Facebook’s accounts hacked
Twitter on Friday said that the official Twitter accounts of Facebook Inc and its Messenger platform were hacked. A Twitter spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement that the accounts were hacked through a third-party platform. “As soon as we were made aware of the issue, we locked the compromised accounts and are working closely with our partners at Facebook to restore them,” the Twitter spokesperson said. Seperately, Facebook also confirmed that some of its official social media accounts were hacked. “Some of our corporate social accounts were briefly hacked, but we have secured and restored access,” Facebook spokesman Joe Osborne said.
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