■ China
Fake wall of China closed
Beijing authorities have closed down a controversial project that allowed couples to carve sweet nothings on a "great wall of love" next to the genuine Great Wall, state media said yesterday. The project charged couples 999 yuan (US$123) to inscribe a message on a stone of the marble wall, which was erected at the foot of a popular tourist section of the Great Wall near Beijing, the China Daily reported. But the fake wall, launched on Valentine's Day, attracted widespread criticism for being a cheap marketing ploy.
■ China
Charles' diary of no interest
China says it is "not interested" in newly published diary excerpts in which Prince Charles apparently shows distaste for the Beijing regime. Charles referred to Chinese leaders as "appalling old waxworks" in a personal journal entry about a 1997 visit to Hong Kong. Asked for comment on the unflattering journal entries, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Liu Jinchao (劉建超), said on Thursday, "We are not interested in the diary you talk about." The heir to the British throne is seeking a British High Court judge's ruling that the Mail on Sunday newspaper violated his rights by publishing the diary extracts, which Charles says an ex-employee leaked.
■ Tajikistan
Synagogue demolition starts
Authorities in Tajikistan have started demolishing the country's only synagogue in order to make way for a new presidential residence, an official said on Friday. The century-old synagogue on government land in the ex-Soviet republic's capital Dushanbe will be completely torn down by June "as part of the plans to build a new presidential palace," said a city administration spokesman. Tajikistan's Jewish community is mostly elderly and poor and cannot afford to build a new synagogue.
■ New Zealand
Cocaine stashed in gnomes
A 52-year-old South African grandmother caught carrying more than 3kg of cocaine hidden inside garden gnomes claimed Nigerian drug smugglers put it there, a newspaper reported on Friday. Linda Martin, who is on trial on drug running charges, was arrested as she flew into Auckland airport in March 2004 with the drug-filled gnomes inside a suitcase, the New Zealand Herald reported. She claimed she was trying to find a Nigerian drug lord who she wanted to challenge about the fate of her daughter who was arrested in London carrying drugs early in 2004. Martin's lawyer Barry Hart told the Auckland High Court that Martin was not a sophisticated woman, had never been on a plane before, never knew what was in the suitcase and had no previous convictions.
■ Brazil
Church calls for restraint
The Roman Catholic Church urged revelers on Thursday to abstain from reckless sex, too much alcohol and violence during the country's Carnival celebrations. Carnival begins across Brazil this weekend and crowds of people indulge in a frenzy of drinking, dancing and often licentious behavior. The government will hand out 25 million free condoms to promote safe sex during the several days of parties, revelry and parades. In northeastern Salvador, health officials will provide "next-day pills," the Correio da Bahia newspaper reported. The Rio de Janeiro archdiocese this week barred Mocidade Carnival samba troupe from taking a float with a statue of the Virgin Mary to the Sambadrome parade strip, saying that the use of sacred images in a profane festival may offend Catholics.
■ United States
Director placed on probation
New Zealand-born filmmaker Lee Tamahori, arrested last month on a sex charge while wearing a woman's dress and wig, was placed on probation after pleading no contest on Thursday to a lesser offense of criminal trespass. Tamahori, 55, best known for directing the James Bond hit Die Another Day, was also ordered to attend an AIDS education course, according to a spokesman for the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office. Tamahori was arrested on Jan. 8 in a police sting operation and charged with prostitution and loitering in a public place. He was accused of offering to perform oral sex on an undercover police officer in exchange for money. The no-contest plea, equivalent in California to pleading guilty, was entered on the trespassing charge by Tamahori's lawyer in exchange for prosecutors dropping the charge of prostitution. The loitering count also was dismissed.
■ United States
Siege ends peacefully
A hostage situation in a downtown Phoenix high-rise office building ended peacefully on Thursday night when the gunman surrendered and his captives were released, a police spokesman said. Sergeant. Andy Hill said negotiations between police and the gunman resolved the situation. Police said George Curran, 42, pulled a gun during a legal proceeding and took as many as nine people hostage. Commander Kim Humphrey said police do not know a motive yet. Police said the hostages were taken inside a hearing room in a National Labor Relations Board office on the building's 18th floor. Hill said authorities had successfully negotiated several things with the gunman, but did not elaborate.
■ United States
Mafia family indicted
Federal prosecutors announced on Thursday the indictment of 32 members and associates of the Genovese organized crime family on charges ranging from murder to money laundering. Among those named in the indictment was an alleged acting Genovese boss, Liborio Bellomo. Other charges listed in the 42-count indictment included extortion, labor racketeering, narcotics and firearms trafficking. The indictment alleged that Bellomo served as acting Genovese boss throughout much of the 1990s and remained a powerful member of the family even after he was jailed in 1996 on extortion charges. Specifically, he is accused of authorizing from prison the 1998 murder of Ralph Coppola, a former acting family capo. US Attorney Michael Garcia unveiled a guilty plea by a lawyer who admitted carrying the message from Bellomo sanctioning Coppola's slaying.
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