■ CHINA
Landslide death toll rises
The confirmed death toll in a landslide has risen to at least 34 after one more body was pulled from the debris, Xinhua news agency said yesterday. Most of the dead in the landslide late last month in mountainous Badong County in Hubei Province were in a bus that was crushed by rocks and other debris, Xinhua said. The latest confirmed victim was believed to be a migrant worker, Li Qingzhong, who was clearing water from the road by the entrance to a tunnel with three co-workers when the landslide occurred. Only one survived.
■ CHINA
Bicycle theft targeted
Beijing, where 4 million bicycles are stolen a year, is clamping down on bike thieves and trying to end the vicious cycle of the second-hand market months before it hosts the Olympics, state media said yesterday. China is home to a world-record 470 million bicycles. Starting at the weekend, new bicycles must have identification numbers and buyers must register using their real names, the China Daily said. "The registration of names, ID and phone numbers will make it easier for police to trace stolen bicycles and return them to their rightful owners," the newspaper said. Around 4,000 people have been caught stealing bicycles this year in Beijing.
■ SOUTH KOREA
Teen jumps to his death
A teenager has jumped to his death after sneaking into a US base in Seoul, police said yesterday. US troops found the body on Sunday beneath a communications tower on the roof of a building inside the small US base on Mount Namsan near the city center, police and US officials said. "His family confirmed the body was their mentally ill son, a teenager who had been temporarily released from hospital for a family visit," a detective at Seoul's Jungbu police station said. "We have concluded that he committed suicide."
■ BANGLADESH
Extortion trial begins
Former prime minister Sheikh Hasina went on trial yesterday accused of extortion, her lawyer said. Hasina was brought to the court from a makeshift jail in the Parliament complex amid tight security, her lawyer Mahbube Alam said. After hours of debate, Dhaka Metropolitan Sessions Judge Azizul Hoque fixed Monday next week for the next hearing on the charge that she and two relatives received kickbacks to let a businessman build a power plant, Alam said. In June, businessman Azam Chowdhury, managing director of Eastcoast Trading, filed a case accusing Hasina, her sister and their cousin, of taking money in return for allowing his company to set up a power plant.
■ NEW ZEALAND
Minister pleads not guilty
A Cabinet minister who punched a political opponent in the face in the parliament building pleaded not guilty to assault charges yesterday. Environment Minister Trevor Mallard earlier apologized to parliament and to opposition National Party Legislator Tau Henare, whom he punched on the jaw on Oct. 24 after Henare made comments about Mallard's personal life. Henare called "Shut up, Sharon" while Mallard was speaking -- in a reference to a woman wrongly linked with the minister by gossip columns. Although Henare said he would not press charges, accountant Graham McCready launched a private prosecution. Judge Thomas Broadmore scheduled the hearing for Dec. 18.
■ UNITED STATES
Storm system hits northeast
A storm system slid across the northeastern US with snow, sleet and freezing rain, glazing roads and tying up air travel after blacking out thousands of customers in the Midwest. At least 11 deaths have been blamed on weather-related traffic accidents. Winter storm warnings were in effect into yesterday in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine and into today in parts of New York state. On the other side of the weather system, warnings were issued for parts of Michigan, where freezing rain and sleet were turning to snow on Sunday.
■ UNITED STATES
Wedding ring saves life
Police say a Mississippi man's wedding band deflected a bullet and probably saved his life. Two men walked into Donnie Register's shop in Jackson on Saturday and asked to see a coin collection, police Sergeant Jeffery Scott said. When Register retrieved the collection, one of the men pulled a gun and demanded money. A shot was fired as Register threw up his left hand, and his wedding ring deflected the bullet, police said. "The bullet managed to go through two of his fingers without severing the bone," said his wife, Darlene.
■ UNITED STATES
Weapons take center stage
The evidence included Buffalo Bill's Winchester rifle, a pair of Colt six-shooters owned by General George Custer and Geronimo's bow and arrows when three antique gun enthusiasts went on trial yesterday on charges of bilking millionaire collector Owsley Brown Frazier. The Kentucky, philanthropist spent millions acquiring the antique arms and displaying them in a museum that he opened in 2004. But federal authorities say Frazier grossly overpaid for the weapons, thanks to an alleged scam hatched by the man he entrusted to find the famous firearms and run the museum. Prosecutors estimate that Michael Salisbury and his wife, Karen Salisbury, turned a profit of at least US$1.75 million from 1997 to 2002 by giving Frazier false appraisals. The grand jury also named R.L. Wilson, an authority on antique firearms, who appraised the weapons at inflated prices, federal officials said.
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