INDIA
Suspected spy pigeon held
Police on Friday said they have detained a pigeon near the heavily militarized border with Pakistan on suspicion that it was being used for espionage. Police said they had X-rayed the bird to see whether it was carrying anything suspicious after a villager spotted a stamp under its feathers that bore Urdu script and the name of a Pakistani district. “We sent the bird to a polyclinic where X-ray scans were done to see if there is any spy camera, transmitter or hidden chip,” senior police superintendent Rakesh Kaushal told reporters by telephone. “Until now, there is no evidence to suggest that it is a spy bird, but as long as we are not able to decipher what is written in Urdu, we cannot be absolutely sure.” Kaushal said police alerted intelligence services about the pigeon found in Punjab.
UNITED STATES
Apple I worth US$200,000
A recycling center in the Silicon Valley is looking for a woman who dropped off an old Apple computer that turned out to be a collectible worth US$200,000. The computer was inside boxes of electronics that she had cleaned out from her garage after her husband died, Clean Bay Area vice president Victor Gichun said. She did not want a tax receipt or leave her contact information, and it was not until a few weeks later that workers opened the boxes to discover an Apple I computer. The San Jose Mercury News reports that it was one of about 200 first-generation desktop computers assembled by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ron Wayne in 1976. “We really could not believe our eyes. We thought it was fake,” Gichun told KNTV-TV. The recycling firm sold the Apple I for US$200,000 to a private collection, and because the company gives 50 percent of items sold back to the original owner, Gichun said he wants to split the proceeds with the mystery donor. He said he remembers what she looks like and is asking her to come back to claim her US$100,000 check.
ARGENTINA
Meteorite heist interrupted
Police detained four people suspected of trying to steal more than a tonne of protected meteorites, authorities said on Saturday. Three Argentine nationals and a Paraguayan were held over the unusual alleged heist near General Pinedo, in the northern province of Chaco, national police said. Police said they found 215 large chunks of meteorites stashed under the seats of a vehicle during a random truck stop. One area of Chaco, Campo del Cielo (“Heavenly Field”), was pelted by a major meteor shower about 4,000 years ago, scientists say.
BANGLADESH
Islamic State suspect held
Police arrested a suspected member of the Islamic State group in Dhaka, a senior officer said yesterday, following the detention days earlier of two other suspects, including an IT manager at a subsidiary of Coca-Cola Co. The suspect picked up on Saturday night was a coordinator for the extremist group in the nation, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Detective and Criminal Intelligence Division Deputy Commissioner Shaikh Nazmul Alam told Reuters. “We arrested him with hundreds of training related videos for extremists, and also a large number of books on al-Qaeda and the Islamic State translated into Bangla,” Alam said. Police said the detained man was Abdullah al-Galib, a former member of Hizbut Tahrir, and a follower of the Ansarullah Bangla Team, two militant Muslim groups in Bangladesh. “We have been following him for a long time and arrested him yesterday night from Banani, a posh area of the city,” Alam said.
FLYBY: The object, appears to be traveling more than 60 kilometers per second, meaning it is not bound by the sun’s orbit, astronomers studying 3I/Atlas said Astronomers on Wednesday confirmed the discovery of an interstellar object racing through the solar system — only the third-ever spotted, although scientists suspect many more might slip past unnoticed. The visitor from the stars, designated 3I/Atlas, is likely the largest yet detected, and has been classified as a comet, or cosmic snowball. “It looks kind of fuzzy,” said Peter Veres, an astronomer with the International Astronomical Union’s Minor Planet Center, which was responsible for the official confirmation. “It seems that there is some gas around it, and I think one or two telescopes reported a very short tail.” Originally known as A11pl3Z before
US President Donald Trump’s administration on Monday accused Harvard University of violating the civil rights of its Jewish and Israeli students, and threatened to cut off all federal funding if the university does not take urgent action. Harvard has been at the forefront of Trump’s campaign against top US universities after it defied his calls to submit to oversight of its curriculum, staffing, student recruitment and “viewpoint diversity.” Trump and his allies claim that Harvard and other prestigious universities are unaccountable bastions of liberal, anti-conservative bias and anti-Semitism. In a letter sent to the president of Harvard, a federal task
‘CONTINUE TO SERVE’: The 90-year-old Dalai Lama said he hoped to be able to continue serving ‘sentient beings and the Buddha Dharma’ for decades to come The Dalai Lama yesterday said he dreamed of living for decades more, as the Buddhist spiritual leader prayed with thousands of exiled Tibetans on the eve of his 90th birthday. Thumping drums and deep horns reverberated from the Indian hilltop temple, as a chanting chorus of red-robed monks and nuns offered long-life prayers for Tenzin Gyatso, who followers believe is the 14th reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. Looking in good health, dressed in traditional maroon monk robes and a flowing yellow wrap, he led prayers — days after confirming that the 600-year-old Tibetan Buddhist institution would continue after his death. Many exiled Tibetans
Hundreds of protesters marched through the Mexican capital on Friday denouncing gentrification caused by foreigners, with some vandalizing businesses and shouting “gringos out!” The demonstration in the capital’s central area turned violent when hooded individuals smashed windows, damaged restaurant furniture and looted a clothing store. Mexico City Government Secretary Cesar Cravioto said 15 businesses and public facilities were damaged in what he called “xenophobic expressions” similar to what Mexican migrants have suffered in other countries. “We are a city of open arms... there are always ways to negotiate, to sit at the table,” Cravioto told Milenio television. Neighborhoods like Roma-Condesa
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