■CHINA
Lion kills worker at park
A worker at a wildlife park was attacked and killed by an African lion while he was cleaning out her cage, state media reported yesterday. The 56-year-old worker, identified only by his surname Ming, was attacked by the lion at the Nanhai Wildlife Park in Madian, Henan Province, on Thursday, the Beijing Youth Daily reported. Ming had only been at his job for four days when the attack occurred, it said. Yang Yang, the nine-year-old African lion, has been placed under quarantine while an investigation is conducted, the report said.
■SOUTH KOREA
Serial rapist sentenced
A court yesterday sentenced a wedding planner to life in jail for the rape of at least 32 women, most of whom he attacked after breaking into their apartments in the early hours. The court in the central city of Cheongju found the 45-year-old man, identified only by his surname Choi, guilty of carrying out the attacks over a six year period, court authorities said. Choi targeted single women living in studio apartments after climbing up gas pipes in the early morning.
■CHINA
Soldiers clear snow, ice
The government mobilized tens of thousands of civil servants and soldiers yesterday to clear record snowfalls as freezing temperatures left roads and highways icy in many areas. Snow stopped falling late on Monday in Seoul and nearby areas, but the southwest coast received up to 21cm of snow between late Monday and early yesterday. Almost 28cm of snow fell in Seoul on Monday, the heaviest in the country since records began in 1937, the Korea Meteorological Administration said. The defense ministry said 19,000 soldiers were deployed for snow clearing nationwide and military helicopters were carrying blankets and food to isolated villages.
■VIETNAM
Hanoi blasts Paracels plan
Hanoi has condemned what it says is a Chinese plan to develop tourism on the disputed Paracel archipelago. The Paracels would be included in China’s plan to develop nearby Hainan island into an international tourist site, Vietnamese foreign ministry spokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Nga said in a statement late on Monday. China announced its intention on Dec. 31, the ministry said. Nga demanded China immediately end the plan, which “causes tension and further complicates the East Sea situation.” In December, Vietnam and Russia signed a major arms deal that analysts said aims to bolster Hanoi’s claims against China over the potentially resource-rich islands.
■SPAIN
Market finds hidden drugs
A budget supermarket group called in the police to solve the mystery of how a dozen of its stores had each received hundreds of thousands of euros worth of neatly wrapped cocaine mixed in with their fresh bananas. The drugs were discovered at the bottom of banana boxes that went to Lidl stores in Madrid, Plasencia and the town of Caceres. The bananas were imported by sea from Ecuador. It was not until a Lidl employee at a Madrid supermarket was unpacking the bananas that the curious packages were discovered. Packages were found at a dozen Lidl stores, with more than 100kg of the drug discovered overall, at a street value of about 4.5 million euros (US$6.5 million). In some cases the bananas had been peeled, with only the skin left behind, presumably so that the cocaine would not increase the weight of each 15kg box.
■UAE
Crew cleans Burj windows
An Australian company has taken on the epic task of cleaning the windows of the world’s biggest skyscraper in Dubai, using squeegees, buckets — and US$7.3 million in high-tech equipment. Dale Harding, general manager of Cox Gomyl, said the firm designed and installed the Burj Khalifa’s window-cleaning carousels that were in action ahead of its official opening. Twelve machines weighing 13 tonnes carry up to 36 cleaners, who use ordinary soapy water to wash the Burj’s 24,830 windows — a process that takes three months.
■FRANCE
Star’s daughter hospitalized
French actress Laura Smet, daughter of rock legend Johnny Hallyday, was hospitalized in Paris on Monday after consuming a mixture of medications and alcohol, an emergency services source said. Smet, 26, allegedly attempted suicide in the church at Saint-German des Pres in central Paris and was rushed by firefighters to Val-de-Grace hospital, where she was in a “serious” condition. Hallyday — known as the French Elvis — had to undergo two surgeries in Los Angeles to treat complications from a Paris operation on a herniated disc. He has gone to court to determine whether he was the victim of a botched operation. Smet is the partner of Julien Delajoux, the brother of the Paris surgeon, Stephane Delajoux, who performed the controversial operation on Hallyday.
■EGYPT
Eight sentenced over crash
A court sentenced eight railway workers to prison terms ranging from three to seven years on Monday over a train crash in October that killed 18 people, the official news agency MENA reported. The crash happened when one train hurtled into the back of another stationary train, and the accident led to the resignation of then transport minister Mohammed Mansur.
■KENYA
Transport drivers strike
Thousands of Nairobi residents are being forced to walk long distances to work after the owners of privately owned buses that many laborers depend on began a three-day strike on Monday to protest police shakedowns. Dickson Mbugua, the chairman of an association representing the bus owners and workers, said drivers pay police US$20 million a year in bribes. Mbugua says the shakedowns are crippling their businesses and no action has been taken despite complaints. “A police officer goes home every day with no less than 5,000 shillings [US$65] in his pockets ... all gained through extortion,” Mbugua said. The monthly salary for a Nairobi police officer is about US$200.
■ARGENTINA
Singer Sandro dies at 64
Doctors say Argentine singer Sandro, famous across Latin America for his romantic ballads and rock and pop tunes, has died of complications from heart and lung transplant surgery. He was 64. Doctor Claudio Burgos says Sandro died on Monday at the Italian Hospital in Mendoza. Sandro, whose real name was Roberto Sanchez, suffered from chronic lung disease that led to the Nov. 20 surgery. He was the first Latin American to sing at Madison Square Garden, recorded 52 albums and acted in 16 movies.
■MEXICO
Attacks leave 29 dead
A total of 29 people were killed in 24 hours in the state of Chihuahua, local authorities said on Monday. A group of six attackers killed two state police in a hail of bullets on Monday as they left a car body shop, the deputy prosecutor’s office of Chihuahua State said. The killings, along with 13 others in separate attacks, occurred in Ciudad Juarez. The victims included a female activist who had led protests against alleged rights abuses perpetrated by police and military deployed to fight organized crime. Fourteen others were killed in other parts of the state.
■UNITED STATES
4-tonne statue stolen
Police say thieves must have used heavy equipment to make off with a 4-tonne statue mounted outside a Utah motorcycle shop. Lindon police chief Cody Cullimore said a back-hoe or a crane was likely required to move the US$100,000 sculpture of an old-time speed racer, the Salt Lake Tribune newspaper said.
■CANADA
Football GM pleads guilty
A football executive on Monday pleaded guilty to sexual assault for clutching a babysitter’s hips and pulling her toward him. Saskatchewan Roughriders general manager Eric Tillman pleaded guilty in Regina provincial court to sexually assaulting the then 16-year-old girl in August 2008. Tillman was to be sentenced yesterday. He led the British Columbia Lions, the Toronto Argonauts and the Saskatchewan Roughriders to Grey Cup Championships. The court heard Tillman came home from work in August 2008 having taken sleeping pills and muscle relaxants. Colleagues said he had been “acting loopy.” He reportedly approached the babysitter caring for his three and five-year-old children from behind, put his hands on her hips, gripped her belt loops with his fingers and pulled her toward him. Prosecutors said the action was sexual in nature.
■UNITED STATES
Secret Service admit lapse
A third uninvited guest made it into a White House state dinner in honor of the Indian prime minister, but there is no evidence the person had contact with the president or first lady, the Secret Service said on Monday. In a second security lapse at the Nov. 24 event, the person, who was not identified, traveled from a Washington hotel where the Indian delegation was staying and arrived at the dinner with the group, which was under the responsibility of the US Department of State. “This individual went through all required security measures along with the rest of the official delegation at the hotel, and boarded a bus/van with the delegation guests en route to the White House,” the Secret Service said. A government official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the man was a US citizen, was not seated at the dinner, did not appear to have mingled or approached any guests and left the event early.
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
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
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number