THAILAND
Former PM had COVID-19
Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra tested positive for COVID-19 and was treated in hospital last month, but has since recovered, a source close to the exiled billionaire said yesterday. The 71-year-old lives in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and spent a fortnight in hospital before being discharged in the middle of September, they said. “It’s true he was infected several weeks ago, but now he has recovered. He joked that he was on trend,” a source within Pheu Thai, a political party linked to Thaksin, told reporters, asking not to be named. It is believed he contracted the virus after visiting a food court.
INDIA
Virus deaths top 100,000
As of yesterday, 100,842 people have now died in the country, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare figures showed, giving it the third-highest death toll in the world behind the US and Brazil. In terms of infections, India has recorded 6.47 million cases and is on course to overtake the US as the country with the most infections in the next few weeks. However, its population of 1.3 billion is about four times larger than that of the US, which has seen more than twice as many deaths, raising doubts about the Asian country’s official numbers.
SUDAN
Leaders meet for peace deal
The government and rebel leaders yesterday gathered to drumming, singing and dancing as they prepares to sign a landmark peace deal aimed at ending decades of war in which hundreds of thousands died. Ministers and leaders of government from neighboring countries, including Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, were expected to attend the ceremony in Juba, the capital of neighboring South Sudan. “This signing of this agreement today is a significant day today for Sudan and South Sudan... It means an end to suffering of many Sudanese people in different corners of Sudan and outside Sudan,” said Mini Arko Minawi, leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement, one of the parties to the deal.
UNITED STATES
Trump’s star vandalized
Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame has been severely vandalized again, the Los Angeles Police Department has confirmed. On Friday morning, officers responded to a call regarding the vandalism and took a report on the scene, a spokesman confirmed. The police department could not say how much estimated damage was caused, he said. The celebrity news outlet TMZ reported that a man dressed as the Incredible Hulk took a pickaxe to the star, “destroying it beyond recognition.” Images show the president’s name has been nearly completely removed from the sidewalk. Police could not confirm whether the star was destroyed by the Hulk.
UNITED STATES
New charges for Weinstein
Disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, who has already been convicted of sex crimes in New York, was on Friday charged in Los Angeles with six new counts over the alleged rapes of two women. The first incident took place sometime between “September 2004 and September 2005 where Weinstein allegedly raped a woman at a hotel in Beverly Hills,” the office of Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said. The 68-year-old Weinstein “also is accused of raping another woman on two separate occasions in November 2009 and November 2010 at a hotel in Beverly Hills,” Lacey’s office said. The statement does not name the victims or offer any other details.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number