YEMEN
Suicide bombers kill 12
Two al-Qaeda-linked suicide bombers targeting Shiite Muslims blew themselves up at a school and a protest march in the north on Friday, killing at least 12 people, the Ministry of Defense said. The attacks came less than a week after a suicide bomber in army uniform detonated an explosive belt at a military parade rehearsal in Sana’a, killing more than 90 soldiers and wounding at least 200 more. The US and its Gulf Arab allies have watched with mounting alarm as al-Qaeda-linked militants, emboldened by political instability in the country, have launched a series of audacious attacks in the impoverished state. A militant Sunni Islamist group affiliated with al-Qaeda said it had carried out both attacks in revenge for the killing of fellow Sunni Muslims in the north, a Shiite rebel stronghold bordering Saudi Arabia. Sunni Muslim militants affiliated to al-Qaeda view Shiite Muslims as heretics. One attack occurred in al-Jawf Province, where a suicide bomber drove into a school in which members of a Shiite rebel group, also known as Houthis, had gathered to pray, killing 12 people, a local official said. Earlier on Friday, another suicide bomber targeted a Houthi protest march in Saada Province. There were no casualties in the attack, the Houthis said in a statement.
UNITED KINGDOM
Knightley to wed Righton
Keira Knightley, the glamorous star of Pirates of the Caribbean, is engaged to marry musician James Righton, her publicist said on Friday. Publicist Sara Keene said the couple were not releasing any details of the proposal, and did not have any comment on wedding plans. Righton is a keyboard player for the rock group Klaxons. He and Knightley, 27, have been dating since early last year. Previously, Knightley dated actor Rupert Friend for several years. Knightley first won notice for her role as a soccer-playing teenager in Bend It Like Beckham. She went on to star in the first three Pirates of the Caribbean movies and was nominated for an Oscar in 2006 for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
TURKEY
Say faces blasphemy charge
The country’s state-run news agency says a prosecutor has proposed charging an internationally known pianist and composer with insulting Islamic religious values in comments he made on Twitter. Anadolu Agency said on Friday that an Istanbul court would decide whether to accept the proposed indictment against Fazil Say, who has played piano with the New York Philharmonic, Berliner Symphoniker, Israel Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France and Tokyo Symphony. The prosecutor accuses 42-year-old Say of inciting hatred and public enmity, and insulting “religious values.” Say, who has served as a culture ambassador for the EU, allegedly mocked Islamic beliefs about paradise. The agency says Say could face a maximum one-and-a-half years in prison.
LEBANON
Hostages in Turkey: minister
Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said on Friday that freed hostages in Syria had crossed safely into Turkey. “The latest information that we have received is that they are in good health and now crossed into Turkey,” he told reporters at the airport who were waiting for the plane carrying the freed hostages. He said they would arrive in Beirut “within two or three hours.” The hostages, who are Shiites, were kidnapped by Syrian Sunni rebels, raising fears that sectarian tensions and violence in Syria’s uprising could spill over into the country.
UNITED STATES
Man who killed boy ‘bipolar’
A lawyer for a man accused of strangling a six-year-old New York City boy in 1979 says his client is mentally ill and has a history of hallucinations. Pedro Hernandez was arraigned on a murder charge on Friday, the 33rd anniversary of Etan Patz’s disappearance. He has been held without bail. The 51-year-old Hernandez appeared in court via video camera from a conference room at Bellevue Hospital, where he was admitted after making comments about wanting to kill himself. Court-appointed lawyer Harvey Fishbein told the judge Hernandez is bipolar and schizophrenic.
UNITED STATES
Tornado didn’t stop wedding
On the plains of Kansas, tornadoes are so unremarkable that wedding guests barely flinched as a couple exchanged their vows as a twister loomed in the distance. Video of the wedding for Caleb and Candra Pence has generated more than 20,000 views on YouTube. The footage was captured by the groom’s uncle and shows the couple and their guests seemingly unconcerned as a tornado swirls about 16km behind them. The National Weather Service says the twister packed winds of at least 222kph and ripped up a farm and wind turbines.
UNITED STATES
Hostage-taker shoots self
A gunman who held hostages at an Indiana real-estate office shot himself after releasing them unharmed and has died, police said on Friday. The gunman “was transported to the hospital and later died in the hospital” after suffering from “two self-inflicted gunshot wounds to the head” while holed up at the Prudential Executive Group Real Estate office, Valparaiso police Sergeant Michael Grennes said. The Post-Tribune cited the Porter County coroner in identifying the gunman as Roy Ferguson, 48, of Texas. It said the man entered the building with a gun, believing an employee owed him money.
UNITED STATES
Thief leaves calling card
A man whose camcorder was briefly stolen has found a way to get back at the suspected thief: He uploaded to YouTube a video that the suspect took with the camera, a clip in which the man reveals his name, shows his face and admits he stole the camera. Chris Rochester, 25, said his camera was stolen a few weeks ago from the car of his boss, state Senate candidate Bill Feehan. Police eventually arrested the suspect and returned the camera to Rochester, who set it aside. Then, when Governor Scott Walker made a recent visit to La Crosse, Rochester used the camera to film the event. When he went back to retrieve the video, he found 20 other segments the suspect apparently recorded.
UNITED STATES
Star’s ex-boyfriend freed
An Italian ex-boyfriend of actress Anne Hathaway has been released from a federal prison following a real-estate scam. Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesman Chris Burke says Raffaello Follieri was released on Friday morning from a prison in Loretto, 129km east of Pittsburgh. Follieri pleaded guilty to cheating investors by falsely claiming he had Vatican connections that enabled him to buy church property at a discount. He was sentenced in 2008 to four-and-a-half years in prison. Follieri agrees he owes more than US$3.6 million to those he ripped off. The proceeds supported a playboy lifestyle that included a US$37,000-a-month New York City apartment and lavish vacations with the star of The Princess Diaries. They dated for four years.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is constructing a new counter-stealth radar system on a disputed reef in the South China Sea that would significantly expand its surveillance capabilities in the region, satellite imagery suggests. Analysis by London-based think tank Chatham House suggests China is upgrading its outpost on Triton Island (Jhongjian Island, 中建島) on the southwest corner of the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), building what might be a launching point for an anti-ship missile battery and sophisticated radar system. “By constraining the US ability to operate stealth aircraft, and threaten stealth aircraft, these capabilities in the South China Sea send
HAVANA: Repeated blackouts have left residents of the Cuban capital concerned about food, water supply and the nation’s future, but so far, there have been few protests Maria Elena Cardenas, 76, lives in a municipal shelter on Amargura Street in Havana’s colonial old town. The building has an elegant past, but for the last few days Maria has been cooking with sticks she had found on the street. “You know, we Cubans manage the best we can,” she said. She lives in the shelter because her home collapsed, a regular occurrence in the poorest, oldest parts of the beautiful city. Cuba’s government has spent the last days attempting to get the island’s national grid functioning after repeated island-wide blackouts. Without power, sleep becomes difficult in the heat, food
Botswana is this week holding a presidential election energized by a campaign by one previous head-of-state to unseat his handpicked successor whose first term has seen rising discontent amid a downturn in the diamond-dependent economy. The charismatic Ian Khama dramatically returned from self-exile six weeks ago determined to undo what he has called a “mistake” in handing over in 2018 to Botswanan President Mokgweetsi Masisi, who seeks re-election tomorrow. While he cannot run as president again having served two terms, Khama has worked his influence and standing to support the opposition in the southern African country of 2.6 million people. “The return of
SOUTH CHINA SEA TENSIONS: Beijing’s ‘pronounced aggressiveness’ and ‘misbehavior’ forced countries to band together, the Philippine defense chief said The Philippines is confident in the continuity of US policies in the Asia-Pacific region after the US presidential election, Philippine Secretary of Defense Gilberto Teodoro said, underlining that bilateral relations would remain strong regardless of the outcome. The alliance between the two countries is anchored in shared security goals and a commitment to uphold international law, including in the contested waters of the South China Sea, Teodoro said. “Our support for initiatives, bilaterally and multilaterally ... is bipartisan, aside from the fact that we are operating together on institutional grounds, on foundational grounds,” Teodoro said in an interview. China’s “misbehavior” in the South