UNITED STATES
Biden has polyp snipped
A polyp removed from President Joe Biden’s colon last week was a benign, slow-growing but potentially precancerous lesion that required no further action, his doctor said in a follow-up memo. The specimen, a tubular adenoma, was similar to one removed from Biden in 2008, Kevin O’Connor, physician to the president, wrote in a memo released on Wednesday by the White House. Routine surveillance was recommended, which normally calls for another colonoscopy in seven to 10 years, he wrote. The Mayo Clinic defines a colon polyp as a small clump of cells that forms on the lining of the colon. Most colon polyps are harmless, according to Mayo’s Web site, but some colon polyps can develop into colon cancer. “The best prevention for colon cancer is regular screening for and removal of polyps,” the clinic advises. Biden, who turned 79 last week and is the nation’s oldest president, remains “healthy” and “vigorous” and fit for duty, O’Connor said in his initial report after Biden’s first routine physical in office.
UNITED STATES
Mother, son shot days apart
A Chicago woman was shot to death on Wednesday, just steps away from a memorial to her 14-year-old son, who was fatally shot over the weekend. Delisa Tucker was shot in the chest on the same street where Kevin Tinker was killed on Sunday, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. Chicago police have not said if they believe the two shootings are connected and nobody has been arrested in either shooting. However, the death of the 31-year-old Tucker, who lost her son over the weekend and her brother to gun violence two years ago, left her community on the city’s South Side distraught about the shootings just days apart. “It’s just sad that this whole family, basically, to be killed over time,” said Pastor Donovan Price, who said he consoled Tucker at a vigil for her son on Sunday night. “I’m devastated,” he added. Police have not made any arrests. They said that when they responded to a ShotSpotter alert on Wednesday morning, they found Tucker lying on the sidewalk, but could not locate anyone on the block who said they saw the shooting. On Sunday, her son, an eighth grader, was on the same sidewalk when he was shot several times.
UNITED STATES
Prof ousted over pedophiles
A university professor in Virginia on Wednesday announced that they would resign after they published a book that includes interviews with more than 40 adults who are sexually attracted to minors. The book says that destigmatizing the attraction would allow more people to seek help, and ultimately prevent child sexual abuse. “That research was mischaracterized by some in the media and online, partly on the basis of my trans identity,” Old Dominion University professor Allyn Walker said in a statement. “As a result, multiple threats were made against me and the campus community generally,” added Walker, who uses the pronoun “they.” Walker is an assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice. Earlier this month, their research caught the attention of some media outlets — and the professor received threats that law enforcement told administrators to take seriously, university officials said. An online petition calling for Walker’s removal received nearly 15,000 signatures. It referenced Walker’s use of the term, “minor attracted persons.” “Ideally, we would be able to debate even the most challenging issues without disruption or threats of violence, but that is not the world we live in today,” university president Brian Hemphill wrote.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not