UNITED KINGDOM
Sunak-Xi meeting canceled
A planned G20 meeting between British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has been canceled due to “scheduling issues,” a Downing Street spokesperson said yesterday. The schedule at the summit on the Indonesian island of Bali has been disrupted by an emergency meeting called after a missile killed two people in Poland near its border with Ukraine. Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Mao Ning (毛寧) said she had no information to offer on the cancelation of the meeting.
UNITED STATES
Thousands of mink escape
Vandalism freed thousands of mink at a rural northwest Ohio farm, leaving an estimated 10,000 of the small carnivorous mammals unaccounted for on Tuesday evening, the local sheriff said. So many minks were killed crossing a nearby road that a plow was brought in to help clear the carcasses away, Van Wert County Sheriff Thomas Riggenbach said. A farm manager told WANE-TV that someone left a spray-painted message of the letters “ALF” and the phrase “We’ll be back.” A group known as the Animal Liberation Front had previously claimed credit for releasing a much smaller number of mink at the farm in a previous incident years ago.
FRANCE
Bullfighting ban mulled
Lawmakers were set to begin debating a ban on bullfighting yesterday, with a vote due later this month that has enraged lovers of the blood sport in the south of the country. The issue has split the ruling coalition of President Emmanuel Macron and the biggest opposition party, the far-right National Rally, which is led by animal-lover Marine Le Pen. Despite having widespread public support, most observers expect the bid to fail, as a majority of lawmakers fear a backlash in rural areas and bullfighting heartlands where the practice is a cherished cultural tradition. A full vote is scheduled for Thursday next week, which would be the first time the national assembly has pondered outlawing the tradition.
MEXICO
Beloved rescue dog dies
A rescue dog that gained international fame sniffing through earthquake rubble in her protective goggles and booties died on Tuesday of age-related illness, prompting an outpouring of tributes. Frida, a Labrador retriever, stole hearts searching for survivors in a school in Mexico City that collapsed after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake in 2017 that killed 370 people. A member of the marines’ canine unit, Frida also took part in emergency response efforts abroad, including earthquakes in Haiti and Ecuador.
ARGENTINA
Jaguar cubs to be released
Two jaguar cubs and their mother were set to be released into an Argentine national park on Tuesday after a successful effort at breeding them in captivity to help protect the feline species from the threat of extinction. Mother Mbarete was returning to Ibera National Park in Argentina’s northeastern Corrientes Province, this time with her cubs following eight months in the El Impenetrable National Park in Chaco, where she mated with their father. The new cubs bring important genetic diversity to the population of 12 jaguars living in the park near Argentina’s borders with Brazil and Paraguay. The continent’s largest cat, only 200 to 250 jaguars live in Argentina today, occupying just 5 percent of the territory they once roamed in.
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