■SOUTH KOREA
Man kills boy over license
A motorist who hit and slightly injured an 11-year-old boy has admitted later murdering the child in an attempt to cover up driving offenses, reports said yesterday. The 48-year-old hit the child while under the influence of alcohol and while he was disqualified from driving. He took the boy to a small hospital but was referred to a larger facility. Instead of visiting the larger hospital, the man drove to an isolated spot in Damyang Country 220km south of Seoul and shot the boy four times with a powerful air rifle, several newspapers reported. The interior decorator, arrested after a tip-off, reportedly told police he killed the boy to avoid a further driving ban. He was to get his license back in September.
■CHINA
Assaulted waitress freed
A waitress who killed a government official when he assaulted her was set free yesterday, ending a case that sparked online debate over widespread abuse of power. Deng Yujiao (鄧玉嬌) was originally detained on suspicion of murder but was found guilty of the lesser charge of causing injury with intent, Caijing.com said. Deng stabbed township official Deng Guida (鄧貴大) to death at a bathhouse on May 10 in Hubei Province when he assaulted her after she refused to provide “special services” — slang for sex. Deng Yujiao’s “mood disorder” limited her criminal responsibility, Caijing said, citing the court decision.
■PHILIPPINES
Manila to keep jewelry
The justice secretary yesterday said jewelry worth US$310 million confiscated from former first lady Imelda Marcos would remain under lock and key in the government’s control. Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera told reporters the collection was considered part of the Marcos family’s stolen wealth and remained the subject of a pending civil forfeiture case. Devanadera’s predecessor, Raul Gonzalez, issued a legal opinion in which he said that Imelda evidently “remains to be the legitimate owner of the prized jewelleries.” It was not clear why Gonzalez, who was earlier removed from the justice department after a five-year stint, issued the legal opinion.
■AUSTRALIA
Arrests made in gang death
Three people were arrested yesterday over the murder of Melbourne gangland figure Desmond “Tuppence” Moran, who was shot multiple times in a suburban cafe, police said. A 43-year-old man is expected to be charged with murder and two women, aged 64 and 45, will be charged as accessories, police said, after Monday’s execution-style killing. Media reports said one of the arrested women was Moran’s sister-in-law Judy.
■NETHERLANDS
ICC approves Bemba trial
The International Criminal Court (ICC) ruled on Monday that former Democratic Republic of Congo vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba will stand trial on five charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. A pre-trial panel of judges “found that there is sufficient evidence to establish substantial grounds to believe that Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo is criminally responsible” for murder, rape and pillaging, said a court statement. They “referred the case for trial” on three counts of war crimes and two of crimes against humanity for atrocities allegedly committed in the Central African Republic from October 2002 to March 2003 by militia commanded by Bemba.
■FRANCE
Scientology faces ban
The prosecutor in a trial involving the Church of Scientology has asked that the group be banned and handed a hefty fine if convicted on fraud and other charges. The prosecutor’s office has asked that fines of 2 million euros (US$2.77 million) be levied against the group and its French bookstore if the two entities are found guilty on charges of organized fraud and illegal pharmaceutical activity. Such fines are exceptionally high by French standards.
■ISRAEL
PM’s popularity grows
A new poll shows a spike in support for Israel’s prime minister in the wake of a policy about-face that saw Benjamin Netanyahu express support for a Palestinian state in a speech this week. Netanyahu’s approval rating has jumped to 44 percent, up from 28 percent a month ago. Seventy-one percent of respondents say they agree with the content of the speech, though 67 percent do not think it will move peace closer. The poll was conducted by the Dialog company and published yesterday in the daily Haaretz.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Puppy survives flushing
A puppy had a lucky escape after a four-year-old boy accidentally flushed it down the toilet when he was trying to wash it, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported on Monday. The week-old cocker spaniel’s young owner, Daniel Blair, thought the puppy needed a wash after it got muddy playing in the garden, so he put it in the toilet and flushed it. But his plan went disastrously wrong when the animal was swept away and became trapped in a waste pipe for nearly four hours. Firefighters and animal welfare officers could not reach it, so Daniel’s mother eventually called a plumber, who found the dog lying upside down in a pipe about 20m away from their house in London. Plumber Will Craig said he used a long rod to push the puppy to the nearest manhole cover, where it could be fished out to safety. Daniel has apologized, blaming his twin brother for getting the dog dirty and saying: “I had to give him a wash. I’m so, so sorry. I won’t do it again.”
■UNITED KINGDOM
‘Meat-free Mondays’
Beatles legend and famed vegetarian Paul McCartney was joined by John Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono on Monday to launch an appeal in Britain for “meat-free Mondays.” McCartney said going vegetarian, even for just one day a week, was good for the environment because of research suggesting it cuts greenhouse gas emissions from the world’s livestock population. “I thought this was a great idea. To just reduce your meat intake maybe by one day a week and this would seriously benefit the planet,” he told reporters, alongside Ono and a bevy of other stars including Kelly Osbourne and Moby.
■VENEZUELA
Alleged killer identified
Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami on Monday said that authorities have identified the person they say is responsible for the weekend murder of opposition politician Jhonathan Rivas. Rivas, 31, of the opposition First Justice (PJ) party, was shot in the chest and killed on Saturday in the town of El Tigre, 320km southeast of Caracas. The alleged killer “has been fully identified,” said El Aissami, who suggested in remarks to reporters that the individual has not yet been detained, but that an arrest is pending.
■MEXICO
Migrant abductions growing
Criminal gangs, but also the authorities, kidnapped almost 10,000 undocumented migrants in six months in an alarming, growing trend, the national human rights commission said on Monday. Most of the 9,758 people abducted between September and February were from Central America, including almost 70 percent from Honduras, and the average ransom demand was US$2,500 per person, the report said. Most abductions were carried out by criminal groups, but Mexican authorities participated in the abductions of at least 91 migrants, the report said.
■UNITED STATES
Alleged fetus cutter indicted
A woman accused of cutting a fetus out of another woman after they met during a search for baby clothes on the Internet has been indicted on aggravated murder charges in Hillsboro, Oregon. Korena Roberts, 27, had been facing a lesser murder charge before a grand jury indicted her on Monday on four counts of the more serious charges. Hermann said the aggravated murder charges allege that Roberts attempted to kidnap the baby of 21-year-old Heather Snively and rob her, and tried to conceal the crimes. Snively was eight months pregnant when she was killed.
■UNITED STATES
Ambulance stopper no ‘ogre’
An Oklahoma state trooper who pulled over an ambulance with a patient inside and then scuffled with a paramedic had every right to make the stop since the vehicle did not have its emergency lights and sirens on, an attorney said on Monday. Gary James, an attorney for trooper Daniel Martin, also said at a news conference that the trooper is not the “ogre” he has been made out to be. Interest in the May 24 incident has soared since authorities released video over the weekend that was taken by the dashboard camera in Martin’s patrol car. The video shows paramedic Maurice White Jr repeatedly telling Martin he has a patient in the back and wants to go to the hospital. James said Martin had a legal right to pull over the ambulance for failing to yield the right of way when the patrol unit tried to pass it moments earlier.
■UNITED STATES
Moms sue over sex tests
Six New York City mothers are suing the maker of a baby sex test that touted its product as “infallibly accurate,” saying the test results they received were wrong. In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, the women claim they received incorrect results from the US$275 Baby Gender Mentor test by Acu-Gen Biolab Inc, of Lowell, Massachusetts. Lawyer Barry Gainey said the lawsuit charges the product’s makers and marketers with negligence and fraud, and seeks unspecified damages. The suit says the test maker advertised its product as the “gold standard for prenatal gender detection,” the New York Post reported.
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