■ China
Corrupt banker repatriated
A former Bank of China manager convicted in the US of embezzling US$485 million has been deported to face legal charges in China, in the latest scandal to hit the top bank. Yu Zhendong, 41, was handed over to Chinese authorities in Beijing on Friday on the condition that he not be tortured or put to death, the US Embassy in Beijing said in a statement. "The defendant and his alleged co-conspirators, all employees of the Bank of China, embezzled approximately US$485 million from the Kaiping branch of the bank during the 1990s," it said late on Friday. The embassy said Yu was deported after he pleaded guilty in February to racketeering charges in a US court in Las Vegas, Nevada. As part of the plea, it said, China agreed not to sentence Yu to more than 12 years in jail or to death.
■ China
`Dear Leader' may visit
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il will visit China soon, possibly as early as next week, for talks that may cover issues such as a crisis over North Korea's nuclear program, a Japanese newspaper said yesterday. Diplomatic efforts aimed at convincing communist North Korea to give up its nuclear arms ambitions have made little headway despite two rounds of six-party talks hosted by China. Arrangements are being made for Kim to visit China by the early half of next month and there is information indicating he could visit Beijing as early as next week, the Asahi Shimbun said, quoting Chinese sources.
■ Australia
Gambler loses US$3.7m
A Hong Kong gambler Saturday lost a A$5-million (US$3.7 million) wager on a horse, one month after winning the single biggest bet ever placed in modern Australian history. The punter's wager had increased the stake fivefold for Lonhro's farewell gallop in the seven-horse Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Sydney's Royal Randwick racecourse. However, to the gambler's surprise the runaway favorite came an unexpected second only. The punter had been emboldened by two consecutive big wins on Lonhro. He won with bets of A$1 million (US$750,000) and A$2 million (US$1.5 million).
■ China
Christian concert canned
Authorities forced a leading Chinese chorus to cancel a concert yesterday of Christian-themed music in Beijing, its conductor said, amid official unease about the growing appeal of Christianity in China. The Ministry of Culture ordered the chorus of the China National Orchestra to withdraw from the concert, conductor Su Wenxing said Friday. Su said orchestra managers refused to tell him the reason given by the ministry. China's Communist government, although officially atheist, allows worship in government-monitored churches. Public religious and cultural activities require government permits.
■ China
Fake formula claims lives
Several dozen babies died of malnutrition in rural central China after being fed fake baby milk powder which contained little nutritional value, state media said yesterday. Several companies making fake and low-quality baby formula started selling their products to village markets in Fuyang city in Anhui Province last year, the Beijing News said. Some 100 to 200 babies who had the formula came down with what doctors then called "big head disease."
■ United States
China denounced
The US on Friday denounced China and Zimbabwe for using procedural technicalities to thwart debate on resolutions condemning their records at the annual meeting of the UN Commission on Human Rights this week. The State Department said Washington would press ahead with efforts to prevent countries from employing "no action" motions to block criticism, and maintained that neither Beijing nor Harare could claim to have been exonerated of abuses simply because the resolutions were killed. "Silencing discussion through a no-action motion, we think, is inappropriate," spokesman Richard Boucher said.
■ Spain
Swearing-in for Zapatero
Spanish Socialist Party leader Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was due to be sworn in as prime minister yesterday, one day after winning a confidence vote in parliament. Zapatero was to head to the royal Zarzuela palace to receive the seals of office from King Juan Carlos, and the composition of his cabinet to be formally unveiled. The surprise winner of the March 14 general election three days after Madrid train bombings which killed 191 people, Zapatero vowed to "fight mercilessly against all forms of terrorism" in his speech to lawmakers on Thursday. The 43-year-old career lawyer, who joined the PSOE at age 18, ousted the conservative Popular Party in the election.
■ Slovakia
Run-off held for presidency
Voters picked their new president yesterday in a runoff election, choosing between a former authoritarian prime minister and his ally-turned-rival. The balloting came less than two weeks before Slovakia's long-awaited membership in the EU. Vladimir Meciar, who won the most votes in the first round, was prime minister when he led Slovakia to nationhood as it split from Czechoslovakia in 1993. Later, his authoritarian style resulted in international isolation when the West criticized Slovak leaders for abusing minority and media rights, cold-shouldering the opposition and cronyism.
■ Italy
Lost boat found
The Italian coast guard on Friday spotted a boat with about 100 people aboard, possibly illegal migrants, which had been feared lost off the coast of Malta. Maltese rescue teams and NATO warships earlier called off a search for the vessel because of very rough weather in the central Mediterranean. "The boat was spotted to the south of Lampedusa and we are diverting a merchant ship and a motorboat towards it," a coast guard official said. The alarm was initially raised on Thursday night after someone on the 13m boat with 96 people on board contacted a third party in Italy using a satellite phone.
■ United Kingdom
Prince pegs kitty?
A devastated cat owner is threatening to take Britain's Prince William to court after he allegedly scared off her cat while on a night-time rabbit shoot, a British newspaper said yesterday. Jeshiera Art, 34, told the Daily Mirror tabloid that her tomcat Dream vanished after a powerful lamp was shone on it from where William was sitting in a Land Rover and then shots were fired. The incident was alleged to have taken place while William -- the son of the late Princess Diana and Prince Charles, heir to the British throne -- was out with the royal gamekeeper near the Scottish royal residences of Birkhall and Balmoral.
■ Mexico
Aero-limo hits the road
A Guadalajara-based company has redesigned a large airplane in which the only turbulence passengers will experience might come from potholes. Limousines de Guadalajara Vaca Meters bought an old Boeing 727-100, jettisoned its wings and gave it a facelift to turn the aircraft into the ultimate limousine with the capacity to transport up to 50 passengers. A three-hour ride with speeds of up to 200kph costs US$1,000. Sixty people worked on the plane's transformation for three months. The interior is decked with neon strobe lights and audio and video systems. Passengers can boogie on a dance floor, make a pit stop at a bar or retire to a "romantic" space in the back.
■ United Kingdom
Fear gout? Drink more wine
Researchers have cheering news for grumpy old port drinkers. Beer drinkers are far more likely to develop gout than those who quaff wine. But the age-old hypothesis linking men's alcohol consumption generally to the common form of arthritis appears to have been verified. A study of the lifestyle habits of 47,000 US male medical staff, including dentists, osteopaths and vets, suggests that two or more beers a day increases by two-and-a-half times the risk of developing gout by comparison with non-beer drinkers. A couple of shots from a bottle of spirits daily increases the risk by 1.6 times, while two glasses of wine has no effect on the chances of big toes or joints being inflamed by the painful but treatable condition.
■ United Kingdom
Artist tosses cookie job
It looks like an ordinary old-fashioned cookie tin, but a hidden drawing of two dogs having sex in the grass makes it an instant collectors' item. Biscuit makers Huntley and Palmers sold thousands of tins of treats featuring a copy of an early 20th-century illustration of a genteel picnic -- without realizing that a disgruntled employee had hidden sexually explicit drawings in the scene. Lawrences Auctioneers is hoping collectors will bid £250 (US$446) when one of the tins goes on sale this Friday. The artist had lost his job at the cookie company and decided to take revenge by including a small picture of two dogs having sex and another of a pair of naked lovers. A label written on a jam jar suggested it contained something other than jam.
■ United States
Shoot Mom, not the TV
A Florida teen charged with hiring an undercover policeman to shoot and kill his mother instructed the purported hitman not to damage the family TV during the attack, police said on Thursday. Police in the Florida city of Fort Myers arrested the boy, 17-year-old Carlos Chereza, on Tuesday on a charge of soliciting to commit first-degree murder. Chereza offered the detective US$2,000 which he expected to inherit from his mother's bank account, and gave him the keys to the family apartment, a map of the apartment and a picture of his mother, the police report said.
■ United States
Aqua-robber caught in time
A bank robber wearing a wetsuit under his clothes tried to make a scuba-diving getaway but was tackled by police before he reached the water, authorities say. Police subdued the man Thursday on the shore of Budd Inlet in Washington state after a car chase, a crash and a sweaty half-kilometer dash through the woods, during which he tried to sprint to the water while lugging diving gear and a backpack filled with the stolen cash, Sergeant Ray Holmes said. Charles Coma, 35, was jailed on suspicion of robbery.
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