■JAPAN
Court rejects cult appeals
A court rejected on Friday the final appeals of two senior members of the doomsday cult behind the deadly 1995 sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, effectively putting them on death row. Yukio Takeuchi, the Supreme Court’s presiding judge, rejected pleas by Toru Toyoda, 41, and Kenichi Hirose, 45, upholding previous verdicts by two lower courts that handed both the death sentence, Jiji Press reported. The two men were accused of colluding with Aum Supreme Truth sect leader Shoko Asahara to orchestrate the nerve gas attack, which killed 12 people and injured thousands.
■AUSTRALIA
Floods cause disaster
Authorities declared a natural disaster along parts of the country’s east coast yesterday as heavy floods cut the main road linking major cities, stranding thousands of people. Torrential rain soaked the Coffs Harbour region north of Sydney overnight, swamping the arterial Pacific Highway with flash floodwaters that isolated almost 5,000 people, emergency officials said. About 40 people had to be evacuated and New South Wales emergency services minister Steve Whan declared a natural disaster, releasing state funds.
■VIETNAM
Dissident unable to walk
One of nine dissidents sentenced to prison early last month remains on hunger strike and may be near death, his wife said after visiting him on Friday. Vu Van Hung, a 43-year-old high school teacher, was sentenced to three years in prison and three years of probation on Oct. 7 for hanging a banner advocating multiparty democracy from a Hanoi overpass in August last year. Mai said Hung had not eaten and had drunk nothing but water since his conviction and had lost 30kg. Hung is demanding that an appeals court reverse its verdict.
■MYANMAR
Prisoner faces 17-year term
A Myanmar-born American jailed for allegedly plotting unrest but charged with fraud now faces a new offense that could bring his total prison sentence to 17 years, his lawyer said yesterday. Kyaw Zaw Lwin was charged on Friday during his trial at Insein Prison with violating the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, which carries a three-year prison sentence, lawyer Nyan Win said. Lawyers were not told why the new charge was added or given details of how their client allegedly violated the Act, which bars Myanmar nationals from holding foreign currency without a license.
■CHINA
Mushrooms returned
An academic persecuted during the Cultural Revolution for smuggling a rare collection of mushrooms out of China before World War II was honored yesterday when the collection was returned more than 70 years later. At a ceremony at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Cornell University President David Skorton handed over the collection that had been gathered by Shu Chun Teng (鄧叔群). Teng studied mycology at Cornell in the 1920s, then spent the next decade gathering samples in China. During the Japanese invasion in 1937, Teng arranged for his best specimens to be removed from a national botany institute. During World War II, they were smuggled to the US, and 2,278 of the specimen packets ended up at Teng’s alma mater. But that action meant Teng became a target during the devastating 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution. Discharged from his lab, he was subjected to daily beatings and mental prosecution and died in 1970 at age 67.
■SWITZERLAND
Baguette foils scientists
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