VIETNAM
Democracy activist jailed
A democracy activist has been sentenced to four years in prison for calling for an end to the communist monopoly on power — the eighth dissident to be jailed in less than a month. Lu Van Bay, 59, was convicted of “spreading propaganda against the state” at a half-day trial in Kien Giang Province, presiding judge Do Minh Hung said yesterday. He was also given three years of house arrest after serving out his sentence. Bay was accused of posting more than 10 articles on several overseas Vietnamese Web sites from 2007 until his arrest in March, the judge said. The writings called for a multiparty system and the end to one-party rule, he added.
MALAYSIA
Man charged with murder
A man was charged yesterday with the murder of a French tourist, a prosecutor said, while a report quoted police as saying the woman was killed after refusing his sexual advances. Stephanie Foray, a 30-year-old civil servant, went missing in Malaysia in May and her remains were found earlier this month buried in a cave on the resort island of Tioman. She and the suspect Asni Omar, a 36-year-old businessman, had been drinking together on the island and she was later killed after refusing to have sex with him, the New Straits Times quoted police sources as saying. Asni was charged with murder in a court in the town of Pekan, prosecutor Amalina Zainal Mokhtar said, adding that he faced death by hanging if convicted.
PHILIPPINES
Radio host shot dead
Gunmen shot dead the host of a political radio show in Negros Occidental, police said yesterday. Broadcaster Niel Jimena, 42, was riding his motorcycle on Monday when two men on another motorcycle shot him five times, local police chief Leonardo Cobing said. “He noticed he was being followed, he tried to make a U-turn [to escape], but the two men continued to follow him until ... one of them opened fire,” Cobing said. The killing may be linked to Jimena’s twice-weekly show Judge on DYRI-RMN in Iloilo, where he regularly criticized the city mayor and other local officials, Cobing said. Nestor Burgos, head of the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, said his staff were checking to see if Jimena’s killing was related to his work as a journalist.
CHINA
Taobao bans Web hacks
A major online commerce site has banned sales of tools used to bypass the country’s Internet filters. Taobao.com’s announcement gave no reason for the ban on sales of virtual private network and Internet protocol proxy software. The products cited by Taobao, part of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, are used by Chinese Web surfers to bypass government filters that are meant to block access to foreign Web sites deemed subversive or pornographic.
JAPAN
Doraemon museum to open
He’s a small, blue robot cat from the future who has been the inspiration for an animated TV series, served as the nation’s cartoon cultural ambassador and is beloved around the world. Now, the iconic Doraemon has his own museum on the outskirts of Tokyo — though he shares the space with his creator, Fujiko F. Fujio. The museum collection features 50,000 items, many of which are original drawings, as well as a desk and other things used by Fujio until his death in 1996. The museum building also includes a small theater and coffeeshop. It opens to the public on Sept. 3.
ITALY
Priests’ extortionists nabbed
Up to 100 priests in the country were blackmailed by two men who used Facebook and Messenger to snare them, a police investigation found. The men, who were arrested on suspicion of blackmail on July 26, demanded up to 10,000 euros (US$14,500) from priests in return for keeping quiet about erotic Web cam sessions and real sexual encounters, Italian weekly Panorama reported, citing judicial sources. After seizing contact lists and records of virtual sex sessions from the house shared by Diego Maria Caggiano, 35, and Giuseppe Trementino, 30, police believe the priests targeted were sharing details of potential sexual partners through a private Internet forum. Trementino has told investigators that he began having sexual relations with one priest after a chance meeting last year. The priest paid him regular sums of money and bought him a car, but eventually reported him to the police. A second priest contacted him through Facebook and invited him to spend three days in a hotel in Rome with him, offering him a train fare and 300 euros to buy cannabis, alcohol and condoms, he said. He claims he then began to receive requests for erotic Web cam sessions from “tens” of priests. Police suspect Caggiano of demanding up to 10,000 euros from the priests for their silence.
DENMARK
Activists convicted
The Copenhagen City Court on Monday handed down two-week suspended sentences to 11 Greenpeace activists who gatecrashed a climate summit banquet in Copenhagen two years ago. The activists from four countries unfurled a banner at a December 2009 banquet of world leaders after gaining access to the building in a limousine equipped with a false police light that joined a convoy of vehicles en route to the venue. The court found the protesters guilty of trespassing, falsifying a license plate and impersonating a police officer. The Greenpeace Nordic office in Copenhagen, which planned the stunt, was fined 75,000 kroner (US$14,500).
GERMANY
Library returns stolen books
Berlin’s Central and Regional Library says it will return books the Nazis stole from the Social Democratic Party, including an English-language copy of the Communist Manifesto. The copy dates from 1883 and is believed to have belonged to Friedrich Engels, who penned the original German work with Karl Marx in 1848. The library said on Monday the work is one of about 70 to be returned to the party on Aug. 31. The Social Democratic Party was banned in 1933 after Hitler came to power.
ITALY
Russians stiff nightclub
A Sardinian nightclub famous for its high-spending customers has called in the police after eight young Russians racked up an 86,000 euro champagne bill before vanishing. The Russians ordered 90 bottles of champagne, as well as bottles of spirits, during a long night at the Billionaire nightclub. “Their reservation was made through their charter yacht, which also guaranteed payment of the bill,” said Patrizia Spinelli, the club’s spokeswoman. “The club was full of big spenders and the Russians seemed no different … The following morning, August 5, we contacted the yacht to settle the bill, only to be told that no payment would be made, possibly because the Russians had said they would not pay up. Witnesses said the would-be oligarchs were spraying each other with champagne at the club. Spinelli said Billionaire had sought to keep the case under wraps, but details had been leaked to a local paper.
UNITED STATES
Obama in dead heat
President Barack Obama is in a dead heat with Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul among registered voters, according to a Gallup poll issued on Monday. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney leads Obama by 2 percentage points — 48 percent to 46 percent, when respondents were asked whom they would vote for if next year’s presidential election were held today. Texas Governor Rick Perry and Obama are tied at 47 percent. Obama edges out Texas congressman Ron Paul 47 percent to 45 percent and leads Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachmann by 4 percentage points.
UNITED STATES
Motown legend dies
Nick Ashford, one-half of the legendary Motown songwriting duo Ashford & Simpson, which penned elegant, soulful classics for the likes of Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye and funk hits for Chaka Khan and others, died in New York on Monday at the age of 70, his former publicist said. Ashford, who along with wife Valerie Simpson wrote some of Motown’s biggest hits, died in a New York City hospital, said Liz Rosenberg, who was also Ashford’s longtime friend. He had been suffering from throat cancer and had undergone radiation treatment, she said. Though they had some of their greatest successes at Motown with classics like Ain’t No Mountain High Enough by Ross and You’re All I Need To Get By by Gaye and Tammi Terrell, Ashford & Simpson also created classics for others, like the anthem I’m Every Woman by Khan.
UNITED STATES
Rock songwriter dies
Rock ’n’ roll songwriter Jerry Leiber, who wrote lyrics for such hits as Hound Dog and Jailhouse Rock, died in Los Angeles on Monday. He was 78. The death was confirmed by his longtime publicist, Bobbi Marcus. With Leiber as lyricist and partner Mike Stoller as composer, the team channeled their blues and jazz backgrounds into pop songs performed by such artists as Elvis Presley, the Coasters and Ben E. King. Their breakout hit was blues great Big Mama Thornton’s 1953 rendition of Hound Dog.
MEXICO
Boat sinks, marijuana floats
Three suspected drug smugglers have found out the hard way that unlike their boat, marijuana floats. Marines say they rescued three suspected smugglers whose boat was sinking on the Pacific Ocean and then arrested them after finding bales of marijuana floating around the vessel. The navy said in a statement on Monday that the men had been stranded off the port of Ensenada for more than a day before they radioed for help on Saturday. Authorities suspect the men threw the bales into the water before calling for help.
BRAZIL
Google to streetview jungle
Google says it will soon make available images of the Amazon rain forest on its Street View mapping service. Spokesman Fabio Sabba says Google began taking photographs of Amazon rivers and trails in a partnership with a local environmental group called Fundacao Amazonia Sustentavel. Sabba said on Monday Google was expected to conclude the image-taking process in about three weeks. It will then continue to expand the service’s reach in the area with the help of Fundacao Amazonia Sustentavel and local residents. There is no timetable for the Amazon images to become available to the public.
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