UNITED STATES
Death row inmate executed
The administration of President Donald Trump on Friday carried out its 13th federal execution since July last year, an unprecedented run that concluded just five days before the inauguration of president-elect Joe Biden — an opponent of the federal death penalty. Dustin Higgs, convicted in the killings of three women in a Maryland wildlife refuge in 1996, was the third to receive a lethal injection this week at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. Trump’s Department of Justice resumed federal executions last year following a 17-year hiatus. No president in more than 120 years had overseen as many federal executions. Higgs, 48, was pronounced dead at 1:23am.
BELGIUM
Owner sleeps inside cafe
A fed-up cafe owner is sleeping in her premises with little food, in protest of the months-long shutdown of her sector to curb the spread of COVID-19. “To remain like this, without working, losing everything — every day to see you’re losing a little bit more — it’s hard,” Christelle Carion told reporters as she sat on the edge of her bed, set up beside the bar. The 48-year-old has been holed up in the closed Amon Nos Autes cafe in the eastern village of Pepinster since Tuesday, to draw attention to the ordeal that she and other owners in the bar and restaurant sector are going through. They have been ordered shut since Oct. 19 last year to counter the second coronavirus wave sweeping Europe, after having been closed for three months for the first wave early last year.
GUATEMALA
Migrants cross border
At least 4,500 Honduran migrants on Friday night pushed past police and crossed into Guatemala, passing the first hurdle of a journey north they hope will take them to a better life in the US. The crowd of men, women and children — many wearing masks due to the COVID-19 pandemic — pushed their way past police and border gates dividing the two countries at the town of El Florido. A Guatemalan police official said the police force had let the migrants cross, as there were many families with children in the crowd and that using tear gas at night could have resulted in casualties.
AUSTRALIA
Pigeon spared from death
A pigeon due to be put down after apparently flying across the Pacific was spared the death sentence on Friday, after a leg tag identifying it as belonging to a US bird organization was declared a fake. The tag suggested it had lost its way during a race in Alabama and flown more than 13,000km to Melbourne — thereby falling foul of strict quarantine regulations forbidding the importation of live animals or birds.
AFGHANISTAN
Insider attack kills 12
Two Taliban fighters who had infiltrated a base of pro-government militiamen killed 12 of them, officials and the insurgent group said yesterday. The nighttime attack at a post manned by the militiamen occurred in Ghorian District of the western Herat Province late on Friday, district Governor Farhad Khademi told reporters. “Twelve pro-government militiamen were killed in the Taliban attack in Ghorian District last night,” he said. Herat provincial council member Mohammad Sardar Bahaduri confirmed the attack and said it was carried out by two Taliban fighters who had infiltrated the base. “The militiamen were dining when the attack happened,” he said.
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
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
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