■THAILAND
Death probe fails: group
The government has failed to properly investigate the shooting deaths of two journalists — Italian photographer Fabio Polenghi and Japanese cameraman Hiro Muramoto — who were killed while they covered recent political violence, and the perpetrators of those attacks should be brought to justice, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said yesterday. The committee alleged that initial government investigations and even the autopsies of the two men were “incomplete and opaque” and that investigations by embassies, victims’ relatives and news organizations had been obstructed or denied access to information.
■MALAYSIA
Stiffer law on trafficking
Parliament’s upper house is expected to approve changes to strengthen laws against human trafficking next week, an official said on condition of anonymity, but activists yesterday said that more measures were needed to stem the exploitation of migrant workers. The changes will triple the maximum prison sentence for offenders who help foreigners enter or leave Malaysia without valid travel documents to 15 years. If the migrants are exploited, treated cruelly or placed in danger, the penalty can be as high as 20 years in prison.
■NEPAL
Refugees deported: UN
Nepal has forcibly repatriated three Tibetan refugees, the UN said on Wednesday, adding that it was “extremely concerned” by the move. The UN refugee agency said it had written to the government about the incident early last month, details of which were published in a report by the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT). Two of the refugees are now in jail in Tibet, the ICT said.
■GERMANY
Former Nazi guard charged
Prosecutors said on Wednesday they had charged a former Nazi death camp guard with helping to murder 430,000 Jews in World War II. Samuel Kunz, who has confessed to having worked at the Belzec extermination camp in German-occupied Poland from 1942 to 1943, was informed of the charges last week, a spokesman for prosecutors in the western city of Dortmund said. He has also been charged over the deaths of another 10 Jews in two separate incidents which also allegedly occurred at Belzec, spokesman Christoph Goeke said. He has been called as a witness in another Nazi war crimes trial, that of alleged death camp guard John Demjanjuk, 90, a Ukrainian-born former US auto worker deported to Munich from the US in May.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Oldest tweeter dies at 104
The oldest person on Twitter died on Wednesday, after more than 1,000 tweets documenting numerous fish and chip dinners, several episodes of Deal or No Deal and a friendship with Peter Andre. Ivy Bean, 104, began tweeting last year from her residential home on the outskirts of Bradford, England, and amassed more than 56,000 followers. Ivy had fallen ill last month and her followers had been kept updated by Pat, the manager of Hillside Manor, over the last few weeks. It was Pat who broke the bad news. “Ivy passed away peacefully at 12:08 this morning,” she wrote just after 10am, adding: “I’m sorry it took me so long to tell you, but it was a very difficult thing to do.”
■LEBANON
Man charged with spying
A prosecutor on Wednesday charged an employee at state-owned mobile phone firm Alfa with spying for Israel and referred him to a military court, judicial sources said. They added that if Tareq Raba’a was convicted, he could face the death penalty. Raba’a was arrested on July 12, two weeks after security authorities arrested Charbel Qazzi, a senior employee at Alfa, on suspicion of spying for Israel in a case that shocked Lebanon, which is in a formal state of war with the Jewish state. Qazzi has also been charged with espionage and referred to a military court. If convicted, he could face a death sentence.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Pilgrims to pay to see Pope
Pilgrims will have to pay as much as £25 (US$39) to attend one of the two public events in England to be led by Pope Benedict XVI during his visit in September, church officials said on Wednesday. The charges — believed to be a first for a papal event — are for a prayer vigil in London’s Hyde Park on Sept. 18 and the beatification of Cardinal John Henry Newman in Birmingham on Sept. 19.
■SOUTH AFRICA
Tiger finally cornered
A tiger kept as a pet was finally cornered after two days on the run, thanks to a tracker, sniffer dogs, a piece of meat — and his master’s voice. Panjo, a 17-month-old 140kg Bengal tiger made a break for it on Monday while being taken to the vet, sparking a hunt involving thousands of people. They finally tracked him down near the town of Bronkhorstspruit, about 50km east of Pretoria, Radio 702 reported. A tracker came across his prints, tracker dogs were put on his trail and when they finally caught up with him, a piece of meat and the voice of his master helped bring him in unharmed, the radio station reported.
■BRAZIL
TV host tied to deaths dies
TV presenter Wallace Souza, who was accused of ordering murders to boost his crime show’s ratings, has died of an infection while hospitalized. Souza, 51, died on Tuesday after contracting the infection while being treated in Sao Paulo for serious abdominal problems, newspapers and news Web sites said. He had been under police detention in the hospital as an investigation was carried out into allegations he ordered at least five hits on drug traffickers to attract more viewers to his program Canal Livre. Suspicions were raised late last year by the fact that his TV crews managed to arrive at the murder scenes before the police.
■CANADA
Sex tourist sentenced
A man who videotaped himself having sex with girls as young as eight in Cambodia and Colombia victimized the children, a judge in Vancouver ruled on Wednesday in sentencing him to 11 years in prison. Justice Austin Cullen sentenced Kenneth Klassen, 59, to 10 years in prison for 14 counts of sex tourism with children and one year for one count of importing pornography. It was the longest sentence so far for charges under the nation’s sex tourism law, prosecutors said. “I find the offender’s conduct in this case to be very serious, and his moral-blameworthiness to be very high,” Cullen said in British Columbia Supreme Court.
■UNITED STATES
Militant leader pleads guilty
A founding member of a Muslim militant Abu Sayyaf group has pleaded guilty in Washington in the kidnapping of 16 people, including four Americans, at a Philippine resort 15 years ago. During an appearance in federal court on Wednesday, Madhatta Haipe admitted that he and several armed members of Abu Sayyaf kidnapped the vacationers for ransom. Haipe was extradited from the Philippines last year, and at his sentencing on Dec. 14 he will face up to life in prison on each of four counts of hostage taking.
■MEXICO
Cartel lieutenant nabbed
A suspected drug cartel lieutenant was captured in the border state of Chihuahua, police said on Wednesday. Rogelio Segovia Hernandez, who reputedly helped lead the La Linea gang that worked for the Juarez cartel, was detained on Tuesday in the state capital of Chihuahua. Federal police in a statement claimed that Segovia Hernandez was in charge of killings, drug distribution, extortion and kidnappings for the cartel in the areas around Ciudad Juarez. There was a 3 million peso (US$237,000) reward for his capture.
■UNITED STATES
Bear helps itself in kitchen
A black bear walked into a house in Laconia, New Hampshire, through an open door on Tuesday, ate two pears and a bunch of grapes, took a drink from the family fishbowl and grabbed a stuffed bear on its way out the door. Mary Beth Parkinson says she thinks the garage door going up scared the bear enough that it fled the house.
■UNITED STATES
EPA battles Michigan spill
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is battling a new oil spill — in Michigan — after a pipeline leak sent more 3.8 million liters of crude into Talmadge Creek, which feeds into the Kalamazoo River. The EPA said the spill began Monday when 76cm pipe in Marshall burst. The pipeline belongs to a Canadian firm, Enbridge. Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm criticized both EPA and Enbridge for being slow to respond to the spill so far.
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