INDIA
Elderly inmate released
Prison authorities have released the country’s oldest inmate, 108-year-old Brij Bihari Pandey, who was convicted of a murder he committed at the age of 84, officials said yesterday. Pandey, a Hindu priest, was freed on Friday by a court in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh on humanitarian grounds as prison officials were finding it difficult to provide regular medical treatment to the “oldest prisoner in the history of Indian prisons.” “It was getting difficult to take care of a 108-year-old prisoner. We moved an application for his release and the court accepted it,” said S.K. Sharma, superintendent of Gorakhpur Jail, 300km from Lucknow. At the age of 84, Pandey along with 15 others, many of them his nephews and family members, killed four people over the inheritance of a Hindu religious institution. In 2009, he was convicted and sent to Gorakhpur Jail but the weak and infirm centenarian convict had to be frequently rushed to hospital and was mostly bed-ridden. Pandey expressed delight over his release on Friday by smiling and giving a warm hug to his fellow inmates, who in turn garlanded him.
MYANMAR
KNU blamed for bombing
Myanmar’s government has blamed ethnic Karen rebels for a bombing in a market in the capital, Naypyidaw, last week that injured three. State radio and TV reported on Friday the suspect was arrested within 48 hours of the June 10 blast. The suspect allegedly escaped on a motorcycle after exploding a timed bomb in a public toilet. The report said the man confessed he was paid and provided with explosives by the Karen National Union (KNU). The government last month also blamed the KNU for an explosion on a train that killed two passengers and injured nine. No group has claimed responsibility.
ISRAEL
Dog sentenced to stoning
A Jerusalem rabbinical court condemned to death by stoning a dog it suspects is the reincarnation of a secular lawyer who insulted the court’s judges 20 years ago, Ynet Web site reported on Friday. According to Ynet, the large dog made its way into the Monetary Affairs Court in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea Shearim, frightening judges and plaintiffs. Despite attempts to drive the dog out of the court, the hound refused to leave the premises. One of the sitting judges then recalled a curse the court had passed down upon a secular lawyer who had insulted the judges two decades earlier. Their preferred divine retribution was for the lawyer’s spirit to move into the body of a dog. Clearly still offended, one of the judges sentenced the animal to death by stoning by local children. The canine, however, managed to escape.
ZAMBIA
Chiluba, 68, passes away
Frederick Chiluba, the nation’s first democratically elected president, who fought off corruption charges after standing down, has died aged 68, local media reported yesterday. The cause of death was not immediately clear. Chiluba suffered from a chronic heart problem and had been hospitalized in the past. A former trade unionist, Chiluba led the country for a little more than a decade after ousting liberation hero Kenneth Kaunda in multiparty elections in 1991. Hailed as a democrat for helping dismantle Kaunda’s single-party rule of 27 years, Chiluba was later charged with stealing nearly US$500,000 of public funds. He was acquitted of all charges in 2009.
ITALY
Ex-male makes appeal
A former male has appealed to new Bologna Mayor Virginio Merola to help her fight a court decision that annulled her marriage, news reports said on Friday. Alessandra Bernaroli ran into trouble when she tried to have her marriage record reflect her gender change. However, local authorities instead annulled the union on grounds that same-sex marriages are not recognized in the country. Bernaroli and her partner fought the decision and a local court upheld the union, stating that a mayor’s office has no authority to cancel a marriage. Earlier this month, a Bologna appeals court reversed that decision saying that the country has no same-sex marriage. Bernaroli has now brought her case to the highest court and to Merola. During his recent mayoral campaign, Merola said that he would urge the mayors’ association to lobby to legalize gay marriage.
SOUTHERN SUDAN
Road rules mix-up kills 28
Police said at least 28 people died in a bus collision in Southern Sudan. Police spokesman Johnson Kirama said two buses hit each other head-on about 50km from the border in Southern Sudan on Friday. He said 17 Ugandans and 11 Sudanese were among the dead and more than 20 people were rushed to a hospital near the border. Kirama said that the buses collided because the bus from Uganda was on the left side of the road, as is the law in Uganda, but vehicles drive on the right side in Southern Sudan.
UNITED STATES
Computer crash grounds UA
United Airlines (UA) passengers across the country were stranded for at least five hours on Friday following a computer crash that grounded flights. Earlier the airline confirmed the problem on Twitter. United spokesman Charles Hobart did not elaborate on the nature of the problem.
Agencies
UNITED STATES
‘Bandit’ pleads guilty
A teenager dubbed the “Barefoot Bandit” pleaded guilty on Friday to a string of audacious crimes across the country, which ended with his arrest in the Bahamas. Colton Harris-Moore, 20, confessed to his crimes in Washington State, where he was flown last year following his arrest after a high-speed boat chase. Harris-Moore — whose nickname stems from the discovery of bare footprints at his crime scenes — admitted seven charges including bank robbery, stealing an aircraft, flying a plane without a license and stealing a boat. Under a plea deal he is expected to be jailed for up to six-and-a-half years.
CANADA
Mother of Terry Fox dies
The mother of cancer research activist Terry Fox, whose marathon cross-nation run inspired a global fundraising effort to fight the disease, has died. Betty Fox, who was in her early 70s, died on Friday morning, her family said in a notice posted on the Terry Fox Foundation Web site. Terry Fox was a young bone cancer survivor with an artificial leg who set out in 1980 on his “Marathon of Hope” to raise money and awareness about the disease. Betty Fox kept her son’s cancer-fighting legacy alive by organizing runs, raising funds and helping launch the research institute and foundation that promotes Terry Fox Runs across the globe.
CANADA
Kissing couple identified
Flanked by police with shields and batons battling a riot following Vancouver’s hockey championship loss on Wednesday, a young couple kissed. Lying in the middle of a downtown street in Vancouver amid the fracas, fires and looting were Canadian Alex Thomas and her Australian boyfriend Scott Jones. “They were between the riot police and the rioters and the riot police were actually charging forward, and Alex got knocked by a [police] shield and fell to the ground,” Scott’s father Brett Jones Brett told CBC. Scott “was comforting her and gave her a kiss to say: ‘It’s going to be OK,’ and the photographer just took the shot at that moment. They are both just totally stunned ... [that the photograph] has just completely gone viral around the world,” the father said.
GUATEMALA
Former general arrested
Police on Friday arrested a former military chief of staff in the mass killing of government opponents during the country’s 36-year civil war, the highest-ranking official yet detained for massacres in the 1980s. Retired General Hector Mario Lopez, 81, was allegedly involved in about 200 massacres committed while he was chief of staff of the military between 1982 and 1983, prosecutor Mynor Melgar said. He faces charges of genocide and forced disappearance, a category of crime in which the victim has never been found.
CANADA
Priest arrested for scam
Police on Friday charged a Ukrainian Orthodox priest, his wife and another man with illegally recruiting foreign workers and skimming at least C$1 million (US$1 million) from their wages. The alleged immigration scam involved bringing 60 Polish and Ukrainian welders and machinists into the country starting in December 2005 and then subcontracting them out to companies in Alberta Province. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the three shareholders of Kihew Energy Services pocketed about C$1 million in just six months. Police have charged the three with possession of proceeds obtained by crime and organizing illegal entry into the country.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose
A documentary whose main subject, 25-year-old photojournalist Fatima Hassouna, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza weeks before it premiered at Cannes stunned viewers into silence at the festival on Thursday. As the cinema lights came back on, filmmaker Sepideh Farsi held up an image of the young Palestinian woman killed with younger siblings on April 16, and encouraged the audience to stand up and clap to pay tribute. “To kill a child, to kill a photographer is unacceptable,” Farsi said. “There are still children to save. It must be done fast,” the exiled Iranian filmmaker added. With Israel
Africa has established the continent’s first space agency to boost Earth observation and data sharing at a time when a more hostile global context is limiting the availability of climate and weather information. The African Space Agency opened its doors last month under the umbrella of the African Union and is headquartered in Cairo. The new organization, which is still being set up and hiring people in key positions, is to coordinate existing national space programs. It aims to improve the continent’s space infrastructure by launching satellites, setting up weather stations and making sure data can be shared across
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