WEST BANK
Army kills two Palestinians
Israeli forces yesterday killed two Palestinians in a raid on a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian medical officials said. The Israeli military said its troops had opened fire after coming under attack. “During an IDF [Israel Defense Forces] operation in the Jenin refugee camp, Palestinian gunmen opened fire at the forces and assailants hurled explosive devices at the forces,” the military said in a statement. “In response to the immediate threat, forces shot towards the attackers.” The Palestinian health ministry said the two people killed by the troops were aged 21 and 16, and that a third person was shot and wounded in the leg. Camp residents made no mention of any Palestinian gunfire in their accounts of the raid in which they said rocks were thrown at the troops.
TURKEY
Five killed in IS cell raid
Police yesterday killed five Islamic State (IS) militants in a raid on a house in the city of Konya and four police officers were slightly wounded, the provincial governor’s office said. Special forces police launched the operation at the house in Meram District at 5:15am because they believed the militant cell was planning an attack, Dogan news agency said. It said there were suspicions that those killed might have been planning to target events being held this week to commemorate the anniversary of an attempted military coup on July 15 last year. A gunfight broke out after those in the house resisted the police and five Kalashnikov rifles, a pistol and ammunition were seized during the raid, the governor’s office said in a statement.
PHILIPPINES
Nine killed in rebel clash
Philippine troops yesterday clashed with communist rebels in the south, leaving eight rebels and a soldier dead, officials said. The fighting erupted after patrolling troops encountered about 40 New People’s Army rebels in Compostela Valley, army spokesman Captain Alexandre Cabales. The guerrillas later fled, leaving behind the bodies of eight rebels and six high-powered guns. A wounded soldier died on the way to a hospital, he said.
AUSTRALIA
Flyer checks-in beer
A beer-loving man has managed to check-in a can of lager as his only luggage on a domestic flight, with the brew arriving safely thanks to courteous baggage handlers. To the amusement of ground staff at Melbourne Airport, the can of Emu Export Lager was tagged and made its way along the conveyor belt to the plane as the only check-in item for passenger Dean Stinson on Saturday last week. Stinson said he concocted the plan with a friend who worked at the airport “just for a laugh,” adding he was pleasantly surprised that his precious cargo survived the four-hour journey.
CHINA
Dozens arrested over fraud
Authorities have detained 35 Japanese in Fujian Province for alleged fraud, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. “We were informed that local authorities notified the Japanese consulate-general in Guangzhou on July 3 that they had taken 35 Japanese nationals into criminal custody on suspicion of fraud,” a ministry official who asked not to be identified said. The Japanese were accused of being involved in scams targeting residents in Chiba Prefecture, the Nikkei Shimbun said, adding that it could be the largest Japanese telecom fraud group found operating in China, in terms of the number of people detained.
DR CONGO
Envoy reports new arrests
Ambassador to the UN Ignace Gata Mavita on Tuesday said investigations into the killing of two UN experts in March have led to 11 new arrests, including eight people who allegedly “played a direct role” in the murders. Mavita told the UN Security Council that “justice will be delivered” for the two experts as well as the four Congolese men accompanying them, whose bodies have never been found.
GERMANY
Arrests made after heist
Special police commandos yesterday arrested several people during raids in Berlin over the robbery of a 100kg gold coin, worth about US$4 million, from Berlin’s Bode Museum in March. Pictures showed armed police in balaclavas and paramedics outside a property in the Neukoelln area. “We are at the moment conducting searches and executing arrest warrants in several places in Berlin concerning the break in at the Bode museum in March,” police said. The robbery was at one of Berlin’s most prestigious museums in the center of the capital and from behind bullet-proof glass. The Canadian coin, named “Big Maple Leaf,” which bears the image of Queen Elizabeth II, is made out of pure gold with a material value of about US$4 million. Its face value is about US$1 million. The coin, 53cm in diameter and 3cm thick, even made it into the Guinness Book of Records for its unrivaled degree of purity. It was loaned to the Bode Museum in December 2010. Local media showed a picture of a man being led away by police with a white garment over his head.
UNITED STATES
Request prompts standoff
Police said that a man with an axe showed up outside a Massachusetts radio station demanding that the song My Axe be played and held off responding officers for three hours. Witnesses and station employees said the man arrived at Kiss 108 in Medford on Monday and unsuccessfully requested the station play the song by Insane Clown Posse. Officers found the 38-year-old man in his car in the station parking lot. The man surrendered at about 4:30pm. WBZ-TV reported that he had minor, self-inflicted cuts on his arms.
UNITED STATES
Thoreau stamp issued
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. The rest are observing the 200th birthday of Henry David Thoreau, the author who penned that line. The Postal Service yesterday marked the occasion with a new postage stamp honoring the “Walden” and “Civil Disobedience” writer, philosopher and naturalist. Thoreau was born in Concord, Massachusetts, on July 12, 1817. Concord postmaster Ray White and officials from the Thoreau Farm and Birthplace were to be on hand to dedicate the stamp. They said it was in tribute to Thoreau’s “personal example of simple living, his criticism of materialism and the timeless questions he raises about the place of the individual in society.”
UNITED STATES
MSNBC host quits party
MSNBC host and former Republican congressman Joe Scarborough said he is leaving the Republican Party. The Morning Joe cohost has become a sharp critic of President Donald Trump. Scarborough on Tuesday said during an interview with CBS Late Show host Stephen Colbert that “I’ve got to become an independent.” He appeared as a guest with his cohost and fiance, Mika Brzezinski, who has faced criticism from the president.
Incumbent Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa on Sunday claimed a runaway victory in the nation’s presidential election, after voters endorsed the young leader’s “iron fist” approach to rampant cartel violence. With more than 90 percent of the votes counted, the National Election Council said Noboa had an unassailable 12-point lead over his leftist rival Luisa Gonzalez. Official results showed Noboa with 56 percent of the vote, against Gonzalez’s 44 percent — a far bigger winning margin than expected after a virtual tie in the first round. Speaking to jubilant supporters in his hometown of Olon, the 37-year-old president claimed a “historic victory.” “A huge hug
Two Belgian teenagers on Tuesday were charged with wildlife piracy after they were found with thousands of ants packed in test tubes in what Kenyan authorities said was part of a trend in trafficking smaller and lesser-known species. Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, two 19-year-olds who were arrested on April 5 with 5,000 ants at a guest house, appeared distraught during their appearance before a magistrate in Nairobi and were comforted in the courtroom by relatives. They told the magistrate that they were collecting the ants for fun and did not know that it was illegal. In a separate criminal case, Kenyan Dennis
A judge in Bangladesh issued an arrest warrant for the British member of parliament and former British economic secretary to the treasury Tulip Siddiq, who is a niece of former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted in August last year in a mass uprising that ended her 15-year rule. The Bangladeshi Anti-Corruption Commission has been investigating allegations against Siddiq that she and her family members, including Hasina, illegally received land in a state-owned township project near Dhaka, the capital. Senior Special Judge of Dhaka Metropolitan Zakir Hossain passed the order on Sunday, after considering charges in three separate cases filed
APPORTIONING BLAME: The US president said that there were ‘millions of people dead because of three people’ — Vladimir Putin, Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskiy US President Donald Trump on Monday resumed his attempts to blame Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for Russia’s invasion, falsely accusing him of responsibility for “millions” of deaths. Trump — who had a blazing public row in the Oval Office with Zelenskiy six weeks ago — said the Ukranian shared the blame with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the February 2022 invasion, and then-US president Joe Biden. Trump told reporters that there were “millions of people dead because of three people.” “Let’s say Putin No. 1, but let’s say Biden, who had no idea what the hell he was doing, No. 2, and
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