CHINA
Forced abortion settled
The family of a woman forced to undergo an abortion because she ran afoul of the state’s one child policy has accepted a cash settlement from the government. Feng Jianmei’s (馮建梅) husband, Deng Jiyuan (鄧吉元), yesterday said the family accepted the settlement of 70,600 yuan (US$11,200) because they wanted to return to a normal life. Feng was forced to abort her fetus seven months into her pregnancy because she did not have 40,000 yuan to pay the fine for having a second child. “We are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with the sum,” said Deng, from Shaanxi Province. “It has never been about the money. As ordinary people, we can no longer take the pressure from all sides of the society.”
SWITZERLAND
Migrants die of thirst
Fifty-four migrants trying to reach Italy died of thirst when their inflatable boat ruptured in the Mediterranean, according to testimony from the sole survivor, the UN refugee agency said. The rescued man, who drank sea water to survive, was spotted clinging to a jerry can and the remains of the stricken boat off the Tunisian coast on Monday night by fishermen who alerted the coast guard, the UNHCR said. In his account of the 15-day ordeal, the man from Eritrea said 55 people boarded the boat in Tripoli, late last month and reached the Italian coast a day later. However, high winds forced the vessel back out to sea and within a few days the boat had punctured and air started to leak out, he said. The man is being treated in a Tunisian hospital for exposure and dehydration.
JAPAN
Newborn panda dies
A giant panda born at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo last week died of pneumonia yesterday morning. A zookeeper said it found the six-day-old panda lying belly up, without breathing, on its seven-year-old mother’s chest. The male baby, which hadn’t been named yet, died an hour later despite heart massage. It was the first panda born at the zoo since 1988 and was conceived naturally.
JAPAN
Runaway penguin named
A penguin whose escape from an aquarium gained him a following around the world has been formally named after months of being known just by his number. Previously called Humboldt penguin No. 337, the feisty runaway would be named Sazanami, which means “small waves” in Japanese, Tokyo Sea Life Park said on its Web site. “The penguin came back to the aquarium just as waves ebb and flow, which was another reason for the name,” the aquarium said in a statement on Tuesday.
UNITED STATES
Court suicide theory aired
Investigators who believe a defendant killed himself in a Phoenix courtroom shortly after a jury found him guilty of arson say their theory is backed up by evidence that includes a canister labeled as cyanide found in his vehicle. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio said on Tuesday that the family of Michael Marin, 53, received a delayed e-mail from him the night after his June 28 death in court, which included information about his will in case things went poorly, Arpaio said. After being convicted of deliberately burning down his US$3.5 million Phoenix mansion, Marin collapsed in court and died. Video from inside the courtroom showed him putting his hands over his eyes after the guilty verdict was read and then covering his mouth with both hands.
UNITED STATES
Climber dies on mountain
The body of a Canadian climber has been recovered from a southwest Colorado mountain after he fell to his death in a rain and hail storm. The La Plata County Sheriff’s Department said a helicopter crew retrieved the body of 45-year-old Martin Pigeon of Quebec on Tuesday. Authorities say Pigeon fell about 70m on the 4,292m Windom Peak on Sunday. He and his climbing partner, Marcoux Yves, also from Quebec, were descending the mountain, but became separated in the storm at about 4pm. When Yves reached their camp, Pigeon was not there. Yves found Pigeon’s body at the base of a cliff at about 8:30pm.
SPAIN
Pig-sticking plan draws ire
Pig-sticking looks set for a comeback thanks to authorities in the Spanish region of Castilla La Mancha, south of Madrid, who are expected to make it legal in the region’s plentiful private hunting estates. The measure has provoked the ire of local environmentalists, who accuse the authorities of turning the clock back to the Middle Ages, when pig-sticking was common in several parts of Europe. The man pushing the new law is Enrique del Aguila, who runs a private hunting estate near Villtobas and describes himself as the Major Lancer of the Pigsticking International Club. He said British visitors to his estate had already taken part in pig-sticking hunts with lances.
UNITED STATES
Colorado wildfire contained
The most destructive wildfire in Colorado history has been fully contained less than three weeks after it broke out. According to a statement from the federal incident management team, the 75 square kilometer Waldo Canyon Fire was completely encircled by containment lines on Tuesday. Officials said residents might still see smoke over the next few days as areas inside the perimeter of the fire continue to burn. The fire killed two people and destroyed nearly 350 houses when it burned into northwest Colorado Springs. The cause is still under investigation.
GUATEMALA
Ogling lawmakers slammed
Demonstrators on Tuesday called for the resignation of two Guatemalan lawmakers photographed at their desks gawking at cellphone images of bikini-clad girls. Instead of sizing up the merits of a bill, Jose Gandara, 67, and Carlos Rafael Fion, 59, were snapped on Thursday ogling models in swimwear. By Tuesday, a few dozen masked and mostly young protesters were calling for them to step down. For the offenders, the issue was overblown. “If I have offended anyone, I publicly apologize, but I have not done anything wrong,” Gandara told reporters.
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
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