■ China
Butcher's children appeal
The children of a Chinese butcher executed for murdering a waitress have appealed against his conviction after the "victim" turned up alive, the second such judicial blunder to be made public in recent weeks. Shi Xiaorong was 18 when she disappeared in 1987 at the same time as six pieces of a woman's body, sliced off "in a professional manner," were found in a river in southern Hunan province, a newspaper said Thursday. Police arrested Teng Xingshan because he was a butcher by trade and because of rumors he used to go to the hotel where Shi worked to find prostitutes, the Beijing News said. Hunan Provincial Court sentenced Teng to death for murder despite an appeal and a signature campaign by hundreds of local villagers and officials. He was executed by gunshot in 1989.
■ China
Gas leaks injure dozens
Dozen of people were hospitalized after a 20m-high chemical mushroom cloud rose over a district of Chengdu, Sichuan Province on Wednesday, state media said yesterday. The leak was caused by an animal-medicine manufacturer losing control over the chemical process, the China Daily said. The massive cloud eventually engulfed 60 homes, causing panicked residents to flee, some of them vomiting as they ran, according to the paper. It was not until Thursday that the district was declared safe and people were allowed to return to their homes, but 38 remained in hospital, the paper said. Another gas leak occurred in Shaanxi Province when a gas truck ignored the overpass height limit when passing under a railway, slamming into the bridge and releasing large amounts of gas, the paper said.
■ India
Child killed in religious ritual
Three people, one a tantric, have been charged with murder after pouring boiling oil over a four-and-a-half-year-old girl before beheading her as part of a religious sacrifice, Indian police said yesterday. The tantric, or person who practices black magic, and two accomplices were arrested Wednesday in the town of Muzaffarnagar in India's northern Uttar Pradesh state, the Press Trust of India said, quoting police. The body of the girl, named Surjo, was found in a field the previous day. She had been "beheaded, her fingers cut off and her hair burnt to a cinder," a police spokesman said. He said the three had apparently poured boiling oil on the girl before beheading and mutilating her.
■ Pakistan
Women beaten, humiliated
A widow and her two daughters were beaten and forced to parade naked through a market after her son had an alleged affair with another man's wife, police said Thursday. Seven men have been arrested over the incident which took place in a village called Qabula, 175km east of the central city of Multan on Wednesday. One of the arrested men, Muhammad Yousaf, accused Sakina Bibi's 22-year-old son Rehmat Ali of sleeping with his wife. He burst into Bibi's home with six armed men who beat the women and forced them to undress and walk naked through the local bazaar.
■ Malaysia
Free Suu Kyi: ex-premier
The former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad, who while in power was an important ally of Myanmar's junta, yesterday called on the ruling generals to release democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Mahathir, who engineered Myanmar's entrance into the ASEAN, said the junta should not be afraid of the ramifications of freeing Aung San Suu Kyi or making other reforms. "I fought hard for Myanmar to be admitted into ASEAN. I think the leaders of Myanmar should consider public opinion [in support of her release] and there is nothing they have to lose," he said.
■ Japan
No replacement shrine: PM
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi yesterday ruled out suggestions that another memorial to war dead could replace Yasukuni shrine, whose association with militarism outrages neighboring countries. "I think it is OK to consider building a new facility [to mourn war dead]. But Yasukuni shrine cannot be replaced by any other facility," Koizumi told reporters. China and the Koreas, which suffered bloody occupations by Japan up to 1945, have been infuriated by Koizumi's insistence on visiting the Yasukuni shrine, a Shinto sanctuary that honors 2.5 million Japanese war dead including 14 top war criminals.
■ Germany
Workers keep right to flirt
A court has upheld the right of Wal-Mart staff in Germany to flirt at work, a spokesman said, showing that Germany's restrictive labor laws also have their permissive aspects. The court rejected parts of Wal-Mart's code of conduct relating to employees' love lives, alcohol and drug use and a requirement for staff to report code violations to an "ethics hotline." The court found the clauses, including one banning "any kind of communication that could be interpreted as sexual," contradicted German labor law, in its ruling on the case brought by Wal-Mart.
■ Germany
Tower turned into penthouse
An anti-aircraft tower ordered by Adolf Hitler to guard Berlin during World War II is being transformed into an art gallery and luxury penthouse apartment with James Bond-style decor. German advertising executive Christian Boros, 40, said he fell in love with the seven-story building, with reinforced concrete walls up to 2.6m thick, after visiting a former disco inside the eyesore. "That was three years ago and I went out and bought it right away," he said. The fortress was ordered and partially designed by Hitler to defend Berlin from air attacks. Post-war attempts to demolish the shelter failed because the walls were thick.
■ Israel
Letters addressed to God
Jerusalem's postal service this week delivered 1,000 letters addressed to God, his prophets and the messiah, to their presumed address: the Wailing Wall in Old Jerusalem, the holiest Jewish relic in the world. Mailed since the beginning of the year, the bundles of letters were delivered to the Wailing Wall by postal director Yossi Sheli where a rabbi placed the envelopes between the crevices of the ancient stones. In Dec. 2003, an Israeli rights group accused the post office of usurping people's privacy for publishing letters written to God on its Web site.
■ Croatia
Old woman burns nest egg
A 74-year-old woman accidentally burned her life savings of 4,000 euros (US$4,850) because she forgot that the money was hidden in an oven. The accident took place in the village of Brsadin. The woman, identified only by her surname Dusanka, started a fire to prepare a meal, but forgot that her money was in the oven. When she realized what had happened, the woman called the police to say that a stranger had broken into her house and robbed her, but detectives soon realized what had happened after finding the remains of the burned euros. Many old people in Croatia do not have faith in banks and keep their money at home, because some banks went bankrupt in the early 1990s, leaving customers empty-handed.
■ United Kingdom
Bikers lose thousands
Two unlucky motorcyclists lost ?10,500 (US$19,100) in cash when their backpack burst open on a motorway. Drivers on the busy stretch of the M3 motorway near Winchester in the south of England, could scarcely believe it when ?20 notes began blowing out of a backpack being carried by the bike's pillion passenger. Several motorists stopped to help gather them, but strong winds quickly blew the notes across both lanes. When a count was done only ?500 of the ?11,000 had been recovered. They have also attracted the suspicion of police for carrying so much money. Their explanation was that they were going to buy a car.
■ United States
Panel backs drug for Blacks
A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panel recommended the approval of a heart-failure drug specifically for African-Americans on Thursday, after a controversial discussion about race, genetics and medicine. The FDA usually heeds the advice of its advisory panels, meaning that the drug, BiDil, is likely to become the first treatment ever designed and marketed for a single racial group. A final decision from the agency approving the medication is likely as early as next week. The panel's unanimous decision came despite reservations from two members who were worried about moving toward racially specific medications without a sound scientific basis.
■ United States
More aid for Palestinians
The Bush administration is working with James Wolfensohn, the former World Bank president, and with Palestinian and other Arab and European leaders to assemble a large new international aid package for Palestinian areas after Israel's disengagement from Gaza, US and other officials said on Thursday. The package, which some officials said could approach US$3 billion over three years, would supplement roughly US$1 billion a year already given by the US and others for the Palestinian Authority. It would be for specific projects in Gaza, including a seaport, border crossings and other infrastructure.
■ United States
Bill threatens UN funds
Defying the Bush administration, the Republican-led House took up legislation that would drastically limit the US' financial commitment to the UN. The US would withhold half of its due if the organization failed to carry out specific changes, according to the proposal sponsored by Republican Representative Henry Hyde, chairman of the House International Relations Committee. The bill would withdraw US support for future peacekeeping missions unless the UN overhauled its operations. The House was to vote yesterday on whether to pass Hyde's bill or another from Representative Tom Lantos, the committee's top Democrat.
■ United States
Klansman taken from court
A former Ku Klux Klan member on trial for the murder of three civil rights activists in 1964 was taken from a Mississippi court on a stretcher on Thursday after the judge ruled that evidence from a previous case could be used against him. Edgar Ray Killen, 80, was taken to hospital to be treated for high blood pressure just before testimony was heard from relatives of the victims, Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman. The three men were killed when promoting black voting rights in the "freedom summer" of 1964, in a case that helped galvanize the civil rights movement, and inspired the 1988 film Mississippi Burning.
■ United States
Guardsman charged
The US military charged a New York Army National Guard member on Thursday with murdering his commanding officers last week at a base near Tikrit in Iraq. The officers were first believed to have died after indirect fire hit the window of a building they were in on June 7. A criminal investigation opened, however, soon after the attack found that the blast pattern was inconsistent with a mortar attack, the military said, announcing the charges against Staff Sergeant Alberto Martinez, 37.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was