SOUTH KOREA
‘Death’ led to crime: thief
A man jailed six times since 1995 for theft has blamed his life of crime on the fact that he was legally declared dead that year, a court official said yesterday. The 44-year-old, identified only as Lee, received his latest sentence of three years’ imprisonment from the Seoul central district court on Tuesday, for trying to steal a wallet from a drunken man. Police who checked Lee’s fingerprints after arresting him had discovered he did not legally exist. Lee was recorded as dead on the national family registry in 1995, three years after his family had reported his apparent demise. He was actually in jail at the time and was released 10 days after the ruling. “Because I was recorded as dead on the register, I couldn’t get an identification card so I couldn’t apply for a job,” Lee told the judge.
NEPAL
Bodies found in wreckage
Rescue teams scouring the wreckage of a military plane that crashed in the remote Dhorpatan hunting reserve have recovered four bodies and presume the other two people on board are dead, police said yesterday. The Britten-Norman Islander plane was returning to Kathmandu from a rescue mission near the Indian border on Tuesday evening when it lost contact with air traffic control in bad weather.
VIETNAM
Minister bans staff from golf
Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang banned his senior staff from playing golf, saying it distracted them from their work too much. He recently issued a document saying some ministry leaders have had lackluster performance and that part of the problem was they spent too much time playing golf, according to a statement posted on the ministry’s Web site on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Wild seal becomes local hit
A wild spotted seal that swam up a river and has lived there since early this month is now a media star, with children and adults alike flocking to see it. On any given day, hundreds of spectators pack the banks of the Arakawa River in the city of Shiki, about 30km north of Tokyo, to catch a glimpse of the seal nicknamed “Ara-chan.” TV networks broadcast the seal’s antics live. “Shiki officials made Ara-chan a citizen of the city on Tuesday in recognition of the seal’s growing fame,” official Osamu Nakamura said.
SOUTH KOREA
Pilot ordered to stop flying
Police have ordered a Korean Air pilot who allegedly supports North Korea to stop flying, officials said yesterday. The 44-year-old pilot identified only as Kim was being questioned by police for allegedly posting articles praising the North and its leader Kim Jong-il on his personal Web site in violation of a security law, a Seoul detective said. “We were concerned that Kim may try to do something drastic under certain circumstances, like diverting a plane to the North,” the detective said on condition of anonymity.
TIBET
Dalai Lama leads service
The Dalai Lama yesterday led prayers in honor of nine people who set themselves on fire in apparent protest against China’s tight grip over Buddhist practices in the occupied region. He participated in a prayer service in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala in honor of the nine monks and former monks and a nun who have self-immolated since March. Also at the service, government-in-exile Prime Minister Lobsang Sangay urged Beijing to end repression in Tibet.
UNITED STATES
Truck for Obama stolen
A truck carrying podiums and sound equipment for President Barack Obama was stolen by thieves in Virginia and later recovered, Pentagon officials said on Tuesday. Local media speculated the truck likely contained the teleprompter the president often uses for public statements. It was unclear if the US$200,000 worth of podiums, presidential seals and other gear was also recovered along with the truck. The vehicle was stationed in the Richmond area ahead of a planned event with the president this week as part of a three-day bus tour by Obama through North Carolina and Virginia.
HAITI
PM, Cabinet sworn in
New Prime Minister Garry Conille and his 16 ministers were inaugurated on Tuesday with the task of rebuilding the quake-devastated country. Conille said Haitians have suffered for “too long” under the tents and tarps that have served as makeshift shelters since last year’s earthquake.
VENEZUELA
Station fined over riot story
Regulators on Tuesday fined a TV channel more than US$2 million for its coverage of a deadly prison riot in June that became a political headache for President Hugo Chavez. The hefty fine against Globovision sharply raises the stakes in an intermittent conflict between the government and the country’s only remaining channel that takes a staunch anti-Chavez stance. Globovision’s majority owner, Guillermo Zuloaga, called the fine “one more attack by a government that has only fear of freedom of expression.” In a phone call aired on Globovision, he said he would come up with the money to pay the fine if necessary.
UNITED KINGDOM
Men lose riot appeals
Two men who attempted to use social networking site Facebook to incite riots during August’s unprecedented civil disorder both lost appeals against their four-year jail terms on Tuesday. Jordan Blackshaw, 20, from Cheshire and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan, 22, from Warrington were imprisoned after setting up Facebook pages calling for unrest in their home towns. However, three men who were jailed after admitting handling stolen goods during the riots had their sentences halved by the court of appeal.
UNITED KINGDOM
Dog honored for courage
A police dog who sustained a fractured skull while on duty during riots in London in August was given an official honour on Tuesday for his exceptional bravery. Obi, a three-year-old German Shepherd, and his handler PC Phil Wells were bombarded with bottles, bricks and gasoline bombs while on the frontline in Tottenham, where the trouble first flared before spreading across London. Obi was hit by a missile, thought to be a brick, but showed no immediate signs of injury. He carried on working for several hours before blood was spotted trickling from his left nostril.
UNITED KINGDOM
Stone Roses reuniting
The Stone Roses, one of the seminal bands to emerge from the Manchester indie rock scene in the 1980s, said on Tuesday they were reuniting and announced concert dates for next year. Band members led by singer Ian Brown had long denied they intended to get back together after splitting in 1996 amid rows and legal wrangles. However, they have put aside their differences and said they would play at Heaton Park in Manchester on June 29 and 30 next year, plus further concerts around the world.
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