SOUTH KOREA
Hotel rapped over ‘hanbok’
Culture Minister Choung Byoung-Gug yesterday rapped Seoul’s Hotel Shilla for turning away a woman in a traditional hanbok. Choung called the incident “unacceptable” and vowed to take “stern measures” against the hotel, which is owned by Samsung. Lee Hye-soon, a celebrated hanbok designer, said she was refused admission to the hotel’s buffet restaurant on Tuesday night after a manager said the outfit could inconvenience other guests. “How could I not enter a hotel wearing the traditional dress of my own country?” Chosun Ilbo newspaper quoted Lee as saying. “I felt like our own culture has been insulted.” The hotel said employees were only advised to warn customers in hanbok to take care when moving about.
MALAYSIA
Warden charged in death
Prosecutors have charged a school warden with the murder of a seven-year-old boy accused of stealing 7 ringgit (US$2.30) from a classmate. Deputy public prosecutor Azman Abu Hassan says 26-year-old Hanif Mohamad Ali faces the death penalty if convicted of murdering Saiful Syazani Saiful Sopfidee at a private Islamic school in Perlis state. He says Saiful lapsed into a coma on March 31 after allegedly being tied to a window for two hours, caned and beaten. Saiful died three days later.
AUSTRALIA
Laser targets planes
Three passenger planes headed for Sydney Airport were targeted by a high-powered laser, with one pilot hit in the eye, police said yesterday. The first strike happened on Wednesday evening on the plane’s approach, while a laser beam flashed at a second aircraft soon after. In the third incident a pilot was hit in the eye. All three planes landed safely.
MALAYSIA
Piracy at all-time high: IMB
Piracy hit an all-time high worldwide in the first three months of this year, led by a surge in incidents off the coast of Somalia, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said yesterday. The bureau’s reporting center in Kuala Lumpur recorded 142 piracy incidents from January to last year, compared to 67 in the same period last year. Of the 142 attacks on ships, hijacking or boardings, 97 took place off the coast of Somalia.
HONG KONG
First 3D porn film opens
Moviegoers flocked to see what is billed as the world’s first 3D porn film as it opened to packed cinemas across the territory yesterday, with some shows selling out. Based on a classical Chinese erotic story, the US$3.2 million movie 3-D Sex and Zen: Extreme Ecstasy features orgies, swinging and very graphic sex scenes. Many in the lines outside the theaters were women and were not shy about watching the movie. “I’m not normally much of a moviegoer, but this one is just too good to miss,” 32-year-old Justin Lai said as she waited in line. “I’d like to see what 3D porn is like on the big screen.” The movie opens in Taiwan today.
UAE
Penis cut for alleged abuse
An Ethiopian maid struck back at her allegedly abusive employer in Dubai, slicing off the man’s penis, the 7DAYS daily on Wednesday quoted police as saying. “She claimed the man used to abuse and harass her. On the day of the incident, she claims he asked her to give him a massage. She got angry, went to the kitchen to get a knife and attacked him,” the daily said. The maid has been charged with assault.
UNITED STATES
Couple kept kids in cage
A couple accused of keeping two young children caged in a room have been arrested.
Clark County jail records show that 30-year-old John Eckhart and 26-year-old Alayna Higdon are accused of unlawful imprisonment and second-degree criminal mistreatment. The couple made an initial court appearance on Wednesday, and a judge set bail at US$25,000 each. Vancouver police spokeswoman Kim Kapp said an officer found two boys, ages five and seven, locked in a bedroom with a cage-like door at the couple’s apartment on Tuesday. Police say Higdon told them she didn’t want the two boys running wild.
FRANCE
Jet forced to land
An Air France jet made an emergency landing in Venezuela. A government official said no one was hurt. The flight carrying 207 passengers took off from Caracas’ international airport on Wednesday night bound for Paris. Venezuelan Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami said there was a problem with the Airbus A330’s landing gear. The plane returned and landed at Simon Bolivar International Airport nearly three hours after it took off. El Aissami said on Twitter afterward: “All the passengers fine. Thanks to God.” The Venezuelan rescue organization Rescate Humboldt said in a statement that the problem was detected 29 minutes after takeoff.
PERU
Ex-minister surrenders
Juan Carlos Hurtado, a Cabinet chief under former president Alberto Fujimori — who is in prison for corruption and rights abuses — surrendered to authorities after a decade in hiding, police said on Wednesday. Police have been looking for Hurtado since 2001 on charges of embezzlement, collusion and conspiracy to commit a crime by accepting US$250,000 from an illegal source to finance his 1998 campaign for mayor of Lima. His decision to surrender comes as Fujimori’s daughter Keiko enters a presidential run-off campaign against nationalist Ollanta Humala. Hurtado, who was also Alberto Fujimori’s finance minister, decided to surrender because the statute of limitations on some of the charges has expired, according to Peruvian media.
UNITED STATES
Two arrested for war crimes
Two naturalized US citizens of Bosnian origin, a man and a woman, were arrested on Wednesday at the request of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to face accusations that they committed war crimes there 18 years ago. Edin Dzeko, 39, and Rasema Handanovic, 38, were members of the Bosnian army’s special unit “Zulfikar,” according to papers filed in a US court. On April 16, 1993, the unit attacked Trusina village and killed more than a dozen Croat civilians and prisoners of war, and wounded four civilians including two infants, according to the extradition request.
UNITED STATES
Actress checks into clinic
Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones has checked into a mental health clinic to treat her bipolar disorder after helping her husband, Michael Douglas’ fight against cancer, a publicist said on Wednesday. “After dealing with the stress of the past year, Catherine made the decision to check into a mental health facility for a brief stay to treat her bipolar II disorder,” her representative Cece Yorke said in a statement. Zeta-Jones, 41, stood by her Oscar-winning husband’s side during his successful struggle against throat cancer. “She’s feeling great and looking forward to starting work this week on her two upcoming films,” Yorke said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
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
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in