CHINA
Paper iPads popular
Paper replicas of Apple’s iPad and iPhone are selling like hotcakes this year as millions prepare to honor their ancestors in an age-old annual festival that has taken on a modern twist. The Qingming Festival (Tomb Sweeping Day), which falls on Wednesday, sees families remember their ancestors by laying out food at their grave sites and burning paper replicas of daily necessities such as clothes, money, cars and houses. Replicas of iPhones and iPads — which are hugely popular nationwide — have become all the rage. Retailers say a paper iPad sells for 538 yuan (US$85) including delivery while an iPhone version costs about 22 yuan.
PHILIPPINES
Guard killed in mall robbery
Police say two robbers opened fire and threw a grenade inside a mall in downtown Manila yesterday, killing a security guard and injuring at least six people. Chief superintendent Mario dela Vega said two bank tellers with two security escorts were delivering money to a foreign exchange shop at Robinsons Galleria mall when the robbers attacked. One of the guards died of wounds and three bank personnel and three other people were hurt. The robbers fled on a motorcycle. It wasn’t immediately clear if they took the money.
PHILIPPINES
Girl punished over picture
A teenager is suing her exclusive Catholic girls’ school after it punished her for posting a Facebook picture of herself reportedly in a bikini, a court said on Wednesday. Saint Theresa’s College in the city of Cebu said the 16-year-old had broken a rule which bans posting Internet pictures that show “ample body exposure,” and barred the student from her graduation ceremony. The family’s suit said the photo of the girl, in which newspaper reports said she was wearing a bikini at a party, was not lewd and her Facebook account was private with access limited only to friends.
PAKISTAN
Gunmen kill six
Gunmen killed six people in a pair of attacks in the southwest of the country yesterday, one of which targeted local employees of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, officials said. The gunmen opened fire on the UN staff as they were riding in a car through Baluchistan Province’s Mastung District, killing two, police officer Rustam Khan said. No group claimed responsibility for the attack. Earlier yesterday, gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on a passenger van in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan Province, killing four Shiite Muslims in an apparent sectarian attack, police officer Shaukat Khan said.
AFGHANISTAN
Soldier depressed: lawyer
An attorney for the US soldier accused of killing 17 Afghan civilians said his client suffered a traumatic incident in Iraq that triggered tremendous depression and anxiety. Lawyer John Henry Browne said on Wednesday that he could not discuss details of the matter because it remained classified, but he expected the issue to become a focal point in the case against staff sergeant Robert Bales. Browne previously said Bales experienced other major dangers in his deployments, including a serious foot injury and head trauma. He also said a fellow soldier’s leg had been blown off days before the massacre. Bales has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder and other crimes, and is being held at a US military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
UNITED KINGDOM
Groups worry over gas leak
Environmental groups say they fear an oil spill could be triggered at a North Sea offshore platform that has been leaking gas since Sunday. A flame is still burning in a stack above the Elgin platform, located about 240km off the coast of Aberdeen, Scotland, after a leak of flammable gas was discovered over the weekend, prompting all 238 staff to be evacuated on Monday. WWF Scotland director Richard Dixon yesterday said that platform operator Total SA must act “before an oil spill becomes part of this leak,” with potential “catastrophic consequences for the environment.”
SWEDEN
Official quits over arms row
Defense Minister Sten Tolgfors quit yesterday after weeks of pressure over reports the government planned to help Saudi Arabia build a weapons plant. Arms sales to Saudi Arabia have caused criticism in a nation that prides itself on standing up for human rights, and the reports about aid for the weapons plant sparked an outcry. Tolgfors survived initial reports early this month by public radio about plans for a state-run defense research agency, FOI, to help Saudi Arabia build the plant by saying he had not known of them and that FOI had overstepped its authority. However, reports of the details of the affair have continued to surface, steadily increasing pressure on him. “[Tolgfors] has resigned at his own request,” said Roberta Alenius, spokeswoman for the prime minister.
ZIMBABWE
Death not by foul play: daily
An inquest has ruled there was no foul play in the fiery death of a top power broker in President Robert Mugabe’s party, state media reported yesterday, quoting the attorney general as saying the case shrouded in suspicion is now closed. Former army commander General Solomon Mujuru, 66, husband of the nation’s vice president, was burned beyond recognition in a fire at his farmhouse south of Harare last year. The Herald yesterday reported that Attorney General Johannes Tomana had given the daily the findings of a monthlong inquest. It quoted Tomana as saying the findings were “well-reasoned and sound” and declaring the case closed.
RUSSIA
Prisoner escaped via Web
A prisoner who last week fled his penal colony in a helicopter had freely arranged his jailbreak over the Internet by using mobile phones, investigators said on Wednesday. Alexei Shestakov had been in prison in the northern Vologda region for murder when he was lifted from the colony by a Mi-2 helicopter hijacked by two accomplices on Thursday last week. Investigators found “flagrant violations in the work of the employees” at the penal colony, which allowed Shestakov freedom to live separately from other convicts and communicate unsupervised with the outside world. Shestakov was re-arrested on the day of his prison break, police said.
SWEDEN
Lunch-goers bust a move
Some workers have found a rather offbeat way to spend their lunch hour. Actually, on-beat is more like it. Dripping with sweat and awash in disco lights, they dance to pulsating club music at Lunch Beat, a monthly event that started in Stockholm and is rapidly spreading to other cities in Europe. The first event was held in an underground parking lot in 2010. Now Lunch Beats are held monthly in Stockholm to crowds of hundreds. Organizers say the party starts at noon and goes on for one hour. No alcohol is involved.
CANADA
Migrants to be screened
Skilled immigrants may soon have to certify their educational credentials with third parties before arriving in the country, according to a new proposal by the Immigration Ministry. Canada welcomes about 250,000 new arrivals every year, mostly skilled professionals, investors and entrepreneurs seen as filling key gaps in the local labor market. However, many of the immigrants discover after their arrival that their credentials are not recognized in the country, resulting in doctors and lawyers working as taxi drivers and waiters.
PERU
Vargas-Llosa donates books
Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa will donate more than 30,000 books from his personal library to his hometown of Arequipa, where he was celebrating his 76th birthday on Wednesday. “A first installment of the books, properly classified” will be donated next year, the writer said during a ceremony in his honor. The books are planned to be delivered to Arequipa’s Cultural Center, which administers the house where Vargas Llosa was born and will convert it into a museum next year.
PUERTO RICO
Police chief quits
The territory’s police chief quit late on Wednesday, less than a year after being appointed to lead a department that federal agents have accused of corruption, illegal killings and civil rights violations. The resignation of Emilio Diaz Colon, a retired National Guard general, came amid criticism that he did not do enough to combat violence that resulted in more than 1,100 homicides last year. Governor Luis Fortuno said in a statement that Diaz resigned because he did not want his continued leadership to hurt reforms being undertaken inside the US territory’s police department of 17,000 officers.
UNITED STATES
Couple charged in death
A mother and her boyfriend were charged with manslaughter on Wednesday in the death of her three-year-old son, who shot himself with a gun he found under a car seat while the group was stopped at a gas station. “Nothing is sadder than the death of a child, and when the death is the result of criminal negligence, there needs to be accountability,” Pierce County Prosecutor Mark Lindquist said. “Guns are inherently dangerous and the law, as well as common sense, requires that guns be handled responsibly, especially around children.” The mother, Jahnisha McIntosh, 23, and Eric Vita, 22, who owned the pistol, were scheduled to make their initial appearance on the second-degree manslaughter charge on Wednesday afternoon in Pierce County Superior Court.
UNITED STATES
US teen gets life for murder
A Florida teenager has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of two British tourists in April last year. Judge Rick De Furia sentenced 17-year-old Shawn Tyson about an hour after Tyson was convicted on Wednesday. Tyson was not eligible for a death sentence because he is under 18. Tyson was convicted of shooting 25-year-old James Cooper and 24-year-old James Kouzaris. They were vacationing in Sarasota and spent an evening drinking when they walked into a housing project where Tyson lived. Witnesses testified Tyson intended to rob them, but shot them instead. According to witnesses, Tyson recounted how the men pleaded for their lives. The men’s families released a statement from Britain calling Tyson “evil.”
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
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
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