SINGAPORE
Fashion police strikes
Ten modeling agencies were fined for price-fixing on Wednesday and told their actions had hurt photographers, publishers and fashion labels in the city-state. The rate-fixing began in 2005 and continued until July 2009, the Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) said. The agencies that were fined included Ave Management and Phantom Management. An 11th agency, Mannequin Studio, one of Singapore’s largest with over 200 models on its books, escaped a fine although CCS said it had also engaged in price-fixing. Mannequin had immunity as it left the industry grouping within six months of Singapore’s Competition Act coming into force.
SOUTH KOREA
Teen killed mom: police
A teenager in education-obsessed South Korea allegedly killed his mother because she hounded him to come top in exams and then hid her body at their home for eight months, police said yesterday. Police have sought a formal warrant to arrest the 18-year-old, who is thought to have killed his mother in March by stabbing her in the neck, according to a detective at a police station in Seoul’s Gwangjin district. The crime came to light when the boy’s father, who lived apart from his wife, paid a rare visit home and found his son’s behavior suspicious. After he reported his suspicions to police, they went to the house and found the mother’s body hidden in her room. Police said the 51-year-old mother pressed her son to get better exam scores even though his academic performance was already good.
AUSTRALIA
Wildfire destroys homes
More than 20 homes have been destroyed or damaged by wildfire in the southwest after authorities lost control of a planned forest-burning operation. Emergency services officials say hundreds of people have been evacuated from townships in the Margaret River region of Western Australia state as more than 100 firefighters battled the blaze yesterday, assisted by aerial water bombers. The state government has confirmed that the blaze began Wednesday morning when a controlled burning operation in a nearby national park got out of control.
NEW ZEALAND
No jail for helping mom die
A New Zealand scientist was sentenced to home detention yesterday for helping his terminally ill mother to die in an act a judge said was motivated by “compassion and love,” rather than personal gain. Sean Davison, a South African-based forensic specialist, admitted helping his 85-year-old mother, Patricia, commit suicide in the South Island city of Dunedin in 2006 by giving her a drink laced with crushed morphine tablets. He originally faced up to 14 years in jail when he was put on trial for attempted murder in the High Court last month, but agreed to plead guilty after prosecutors downgraded the charge to “counseling and procuring suicide.”
CHINA
Materials caused damage
One of the architects behind the busiest airport in Asia says substandard materials or installation are likely to blame for roof sections being torn off Beijing Capital International Airport’s three-year-old Terminal 3. Shao Weiping (邵偉平) said yesterday design flaws were not responsible. State media say passengers reported seeing bits of white and yellow roofing blowing across runways and through parts of the US$2.8 billion terminal on Tuesday. It was the second time in a year that wind damaged the airport.
URUGUAY
Assault complaint probed
The defense minister said on Wednesday it was investigating an assault complaint brought by a female diplomat against one of their army officers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo). Defense ministry officials declined to provide details about the incident, but said the assault charge was brought by a US diplomat. Defense Minister Eleuterio Fernandez Huidobro said his ministry has launched an “exhaustive investigation” into the complaint in the DR Congo, where Uruguay is participating in a UN peacekeeping mission.
UNITED STATES
Jail for Murray: lawyers
Prosecutors on Wednesday asked a judge to sentence Michael Jackson’s former doctor to the maximum four years in prison for his involuntary manslaughter conviction in the star’s 2009 death. In a separate court filing, defense attorneys for Conrad Murray sought to convince Los Angeles trial judge Michael Pastor to sentence their client to probation. The dueling court filings come in advance of a hearing on Tuesday at which Pastor will issue his sentence for Murray, who is currently in jail awaiting that court date.
UNITED STATES
Victim targets charity
One of the alleged victims in the Penn State University child sex abuse scandal on Wednesday sought an injunction to stop the Second Mile charity from dissipating its assets. In a filing in Pennsylvania State court, the alleged victim said he and others intended to sue the Second Mile for negligence and failing to report known sexual abuse of children, and wanted to stop the charity’s assets from disappearing. The Second Mile is the children’s charity founded by former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, who has been charged with 40 counts of sexual abuse.
SAUDI ARABIA
Two dead in Shiite protests
Two men were shot dead during renewed Shiite protests as police exchanged fire with gunmen who “infiltrated” the funeral of another protester, the interior ministry said yesterday. It said the new deaths late on Wednesday brought to four the death toll of protests that began on Monday in the Eastern Province, while nine others were wounded, including two policemen and a woman, according to a statement carried by SPA news agency. “These casualties were sustained during exchange of fire with unknown criminals who infiltrated citizens and opened fire from residential areas,” it said. The ministry claimed that “a number of security checkpoints have since Monday been increasingly coming under gunfire attacks in the Qatif region by assailants motivated by foreign orders.” “Security forces have been exercising self restraint as much as possible,” it said, adding that two citizens were killed and six others, including two policemen “who received gun shots,” were wounded.
ROMANIA
Mayor stages hunger strike
A mayor has begun a hunger strike to protest against cuts in heating subsidies imposed under a government austerity drive, reawakening memories of the harsh final years of communism. Mayor Florin Cazacu said 10,000 residents in the central Romanian town of Brad were braving low temperatures at home because his town hall lacked 3 million lei (US$925,200) from the state budget to buy fuel oil for the winter season. “People are suffering from cold, this is why I began this protest,” Cazacu said.
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