IRAN
Headscarf bill advances
The parliament on Wednesday approved a bill to impose heavier penalties on women who refuse to wear Islamic headscarves in public and those who support them. The bill also extends punishments to business owners who serve women not wearing the mandatory headscarf, known as hijab, and people who organize against it. Those convicted face up to 10 years in prison if the offense occurs in an organized way. The bill requires ratification by the Guardian Council, a clerical body.
UNITED STATES
Officer probed over comment
A Columbus police officer summoned to a home on Friday last week by a father concerned that his 11-year-old daughter was being solicited by a man said that the girl could face charges for sending explicit images of herself. Body camera footage showed the father closing the door on two officers after one of the officers told him his daughter could face charges for producing or recording child sexual abuse images. The parent posted to TikTok a security video of the conversation. The officers’ conduct is being investigated, as well as any crime that may have been committed against the girl, Columbus Police Chief Elaine Bryant said in a statement on Tuesday.
UNITED STATES
Moose attacks woman
A woman walking her dog on a wooded trail in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains on Wednesday spooked a cow moose and it charged, headbutting the hiker and stomping on her before she escaped back down the trail, Colorado Parks and Wildlife said. Authorities said the woman was taken to a hospital, but they declined to provide information on her condition. They said the moose had stomped on her “several times” and that the dog had minor injuries. The attack was the third in Boulder County this year, said Kara van Hoose, a spokeswoman for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The animals are often aggressive with dogs, which they perceive as a threat, she said.
UNITED STATES
Woman rescued from toilet
A woman was rescued on Tuesday from an outhouse toilet in northern Michigan after she climbed in to retrieve her Apple Watch and became trapped. The woman, whose name was not released, lowered herself inside the toilet after dropping the watch at the Department of Natural Resources boat launch at Dixon Lake in Otsego County’s Bagley Township, state police said on Wednesday. First responders were called when the woman was heard yelling for help. The toilet was removed and a strap was used to haul the woman out. “If you lose an item in an outhouse toilet, do not attempt to venture inside the containment area. Serious injury may occur,” state police said in the release.
ISRAEL
Tank theft probed
Authorities are investigating how an unarmed tank was stolen from a military training zone after finding it discarded in a junkyard. The Merkava 2 tank disappeared from a training zone near Haifa, the Israeli army said on Wednesday. The training zone is closed to the public when in use, but is otherwise accessible. Police said that the 65-tonne tank was found abandoned in a scrapyard near a military base. In a video from the scene, the tank towers alongside industrial castoffs. The army said that the tank was decommissioned years ago and was unarmed. It said it had been used most recently as a “stationary vehicle for soldiers’ exercises.” Police said they had arrested two suspects in connection with the theft.
Seven people sustained mostly minor injuries in an airplane fire in South Korea, authorities said yesterday, with local media suggesting the blaze might have been caused by a portable battery stored in the overhead bin. The Air Busan plane, an Airbus A321, was set to fly to Hong Kong from Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, but caught fire in the rear section on Tuesday night, the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said. A total of 169 passengers and seven flight attendants and staff were evacuated down inflatable slides, it said. Authorities initially reported three injuries, but revised the number
‘BALD-FACED LIE’: The woman is accused of administering non-prescribed drugs to the one-year-old and filmed the toddler’s distress to solicit donations online A social media influencer accused of filming the torture of her baby to gain money allegedly manufactured symptoms causing the toddler to have brain surgery, a magistrate has heard. The 34-year-old Queensland woman is charged with torturing an infant and posting videos of the little girl online to build a social media following and solicit donations. A decision on her bail application in a Brisbane court was yesterday postponed after the magistrate opted to take more time before making a decision in an effort “not to be overwhelmed” by the nature of allegations “so offensive to right-thinking people.” The Sunshine Coast woman —
BORDER SERVICES: With the US-funded International Rescue Committee telling clinics to shut by tomorrow, Burmese refugees face sudden discharge from Thai hospitals Healthcare centers serving tens of thousands of refugees on the Thai-Myanmar border have been ordered shut after US President Donald Trump froze most foreign aid last week, forcing Thai officials to transport the sickest patients to other facilities. The International Rescue Committee (IRC), which funds the clinics with US support, told the facilities to shut by tomorrow, a local official and two camp committee members said. The IRC did not respond to a request for comment. Trump last week paused development assistance from the US Agency for International Development for 90 days to assess compatibility with his “America First” policy. The freeze has thrown
TESTING BAN: Satellite photos show a facility in the Chinese city of Mianyang that could aid nuclear weapons design and power generation, a US researcher said China appears to be building a large laser-ignited fusion research center in the southwestern city of Mianyang, experts at two analytical organizations said, a development that could aid nuclear weapons design and work exploring power generation. Satellite photos show four outlying “arms” that would house laser bays, and a central experiment bay that would hold a target chamber containing hydrogen isotopes the powerful lasers would fuse together, producing energy, said Decker Eveleth, a researcher at US-based independent research organization CNA Corp. It is a similar layout to the US$3.5 billion US National Ignition Facility (NIF) in northern California, which in 2022 generated
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