■ Australia
Texting driver jailed
A 23-year-old Australian who killed two children when he crashed his car while using a mobile phone was yesterday sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail. A jury in Melbourne found Marcus Johnstone guilty of two counts of culpable driving and one count of negligent driving causing injury. The court heard that Johnstone was reading a mobile text message moments before he crashed into a power pole. The two children who were traveling with him died in the crash. Johnstone was sentenced to a non-parole period of two years and three months.
■ China
Rocket man jailed for life
One of China's top rocket scientists was sentenced to life in prison for corruption and embezzling 160 million yuan (US$19.9 million dollars) in public funds, state press said yesterday. Li Jianzhong (李建中), former head of the prestigious China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, was sentenced in a Beijing court on Tuesday, the Beijing News reported. The academy's financial officer, Zhang Lingying, was also sentenced to 20 years for her part in helping Li misappropriate 120 million yuan of the funds, the paper said. Li was convicted of seven counts of corruption, including two counts of misappropriating public funds valued at 120 million yuan and 40 million yuan respectively, it said.
■ Indonesia
Diggers killed by landslide
A landslide in an unauthorized sand-digging location killed 12 workers and injured two others in Indonesia's West Java Province, a police spokesman said yesterday. The workers were collecting sand in a digging area in Cipatat district that had been shut down by local authorities when an avalanche of gravel came down on them on Tuesday. "Twelve dead victims have been identified from the incident. Officers are still finding out whether it was an accident or a crime of negligence," Bambang Kuncoko, a spokesman at the national police headquarters, told reporters. A local official in Cipatat said the diggers lived nearby.
■ North Korea
Women told to follow Kim
The government yesterday urged its women to rally around dictator Kim Jong-il while encouraging them to have more babies to build a stronger nation. Rodong Sinmun, the North's Communist Party newspaper and mouthpiece, issued the call in an editorial marking International Women's Day. "All the women should ardently follow and uphold Kim Jong-il's Songun [military-led] idea ... bearing deep in mind that the prosperity of the fatherland ... and the independent dignity and praiseworthy life of the Korean women are all guaranteed by Songun," it said. Rodong stressed women's leading efforts in the development of the state.
■ Philippines
Police halt rally
Police yesterday broke up a rally marking International Women's Day and detained a leftist lawmaker and a militant labor leader for leading the protest. Congresswoman Risa Hontiveros Baraquel, a representative of the leftist Akbayan party-list group, and Joshua Mata of the Alliance of Progressive Labor were taken into custody for illegal assembly, police said. The two were among more than 1,000 activists, mostly women, that marched to call attention to various women's issues including abuse. The protesters also demanded the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
■ United Kingdom
Singer charged over drugs
Troubled British rock star Pete Doherty has been charged with seven counts of drug possession, police said on Tuesday. The Babyshambles frontman will appear at Thames Magistrates Court today, police said. He is accused of having 0.406g of heroin, 0.776g of crack cocaine, 0.332g of cannabis resin and 5.94g of cannabis on Dec. 18 last year in Riverside Close in the east of London. And on Jan. 14 this year, police allege he had 3.103g of heroin, 3.664g of crack cocaine and 2.503g of cannabis in Dunlace Road, also in the east of London.
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