BELGIUM
Donkey barred from balcony
Police have demanded that Lola, a theater-starring donkey, be removed from the balcony of a cultural center in Brussels after neighbors complained about her braying. Lola is staying on the first-floor balcony while she performs in a play at the Arab Cultural Center, located in the same building in Brussels. Staff had laid out straw and a bucket of water so she could get some fresh air. However, police ordered Lola’s keeper to move her indoors after receiving complaints about the donkey making too much noise. Despite the police demands, Lola was still outside on Friday, and the director of the cultural center was angrily berating her neighbors for interfering.
AUSTRIA
Fire delivered to firehouse
Some Austrian firefighters did not have to leave their station to deal with a recent alarm. The blaze came to them instead. Fireman Roland Brandl says that colleagues were doing chores at the station in the town of Pregarten on Wednesday when a car sped in with flames shooting from beneath it. One man grabbed an extinguisher and doused the fire. No one was hurt. The blaze was apparently caused by a cleaning cloth that was left under the hood. State broadcaster ORF says the unidentified driver drove about 1km to the station after a passer-by alerted him to the fire.
BRITAIN
Transplant saves Lou Reed
US rock legend Lou Reed is recovering from a life-saving liver transplant, his wife, performance artist Laurie Anderson, revealed in an interview published yesterday. The 71-year-old singer, who was the driving force behind The Velvet Underground, was close to death before the operation in Cleveland, Ohio last month, Anderson told Britain’s Times newspaper. “It’s as serious as it gets. He was dying,” Anderson said. She described the operation as “a big surgery which went very well.” Asked how long it would take her husband to recover, the 65-year-old added: “I don’t think he’ll ever totally recover from this, but he’ll certainly be back to doing [things] in a few months.He’s already working and doing taichi.”
ITALY
Coronavirus case reported
The country reported its first case of the SARS-like coronavirus on Friday, a 45-year-old man who had been traveling in Jordan, the ministry of health said. The patient was in good condition and was being monitored in isolation, the ministry said in a statement. He was admitted to a hospital in Tuscany with a high fever, a cough and breathing difficulties. A resident of Italy with foreign nationality, the man recently spent 40 days in Jordan, where one of his sons was suffering from an unspecified flu.
FRANCE
Thief played it by ear: police
Police have identified a young man responsible for up to 80 robberies in student housing in the central city of Lyon through the ear prints he left behind while checking for residents. The 26-year-old Georgian was caught red-handed in February, a police source said on Friday, adding that subsequent investigations showed his ear prints on the front doors of the scene of some 80 similar robberies in Lyon. Ear prints, like fingerprints, are unique. The man left the incriminating traces while listening in on doors to check if there was anyone inside, the official said, adding that it was an “old technique” that could be very useful.
UNITED STATES
Crosswalk painter arrested
A California man is facing vandalism charges after authorities say he painted a crosswalk on a street, allegedly telling officials it was needed. Fifty-two-year-old Anthony Cardenas was arrested on Thursday morning in the northern California city of Vallejo and booked into jail on suspicion of felony vandalism. Solano County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Brad DeWall says workers spotted Cardenas committing the vandalism at a city intersection. The intersection already has three crosswalks. DeWall says Cardenas also painted lines through those.
UNITED STATES
Impostor pedophile charged
A 45-year-old man is accused of posing as a member of the popular boy band One Direction online to entice young girls into performing sex acts. The Waterbury Republican-American reports John Eastman was arraigned in Superior Court on Thursday on charges including employing a minor in an obscene performance. According to an arrest warrant, Eastman used the screen name Harry.Styles888 on Skype and had pictures of the One Direction singer on his computer, which he used to convince children he was the star. Authorities say Eastman would sometimes offer concert tickets in exchange for children posing naked or performing sex acts online.
GUYANA
Charges against teen axed
The government says it plans to drop charges against an Irish teenager who was accused earlier this year with threatening to shoot and kill the president of the South American country. Public prosecutions director Shalimar Ali Hack wrote a letter stating he was dropping criminal proceedings against 17-year-old Cillian James Crossan. Crossan’s lawyer said the teen was having an alcohol-fueled conversation with two bodyguards of President Donald Ramotar at an international rodeo event in April. The president was not there at the time.
PERU
Dutch killer to marry in jail
Dutch convicted killer Joran van der Sloot, serving a 28-year sentence for murdering a young Peruvian woman, will tie the knot in prison next month, his lawyer said on Thursday. Attorney Maximo Altez provided scant information about the bride-to-be, other than to say that she is Peruvian. “We just hope the National Penitentiary Institute will grant us permission,” the lawyer said, adding that he would be the best man and the only guest invited to the ceremony. Van der Sloot, 25, pleaded guilty and was handed down his sentence in January last year for the “cruel and savage” murder of 21-year-old Peruvian Stephany Flores on May 30, 2010.
UNITED STATES
Mother’s pot case dropped
A mother of seven suspected of drug smuggling after marijuana was allegedly found under her bus seat in Mexico was freed on Thursday after the case was dropped for lack of evidence. Yanira Maldonado told reporters she was delighted to be released. Maldonado, 42, had proclaimed her innocence since she was detained last week at a military checkpoint in Mexico’s Sonora State as she was returning home to Arizona with her husband. The soldiers detained her after saying they had found almost 6kg of marijuana under her seat. She was freed after officials reviewed security video showing her and her husband Gary boarding the bus carrying a purse, two bottles of water and blankets, but nothing bulky like a load of marijuana, Maldonado lawyer Jose Francisco Benitez Paz said.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
Myanmar’s junta chief met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for the first time since seizing power, state media reported yesterday, the highest-level meeting with a key ally for the internationally sanctioned military leader. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup in 2021, overthrowing Myanmar’s brief experiment with democracy and plunging the nation into civil war. In the four years since, his armed forces have battled dozens of ethnic armed groups and rebel militias — some with close links to China — opposed to its rule. The conflict has seen Min Aung Hlaing draw condemnation from rights groups and pursued by the
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