INDONESIA
Woman in sex ring case
A woman accused of running an online prostitution ring has denied profiting from a network of nearly 1,800 sex workers, her lawyer said on Monday. Yunita was standing trial at Surabaya district court in East Java on multiple charges, including human trafficking, punishable by up to 15 years in jail. According to a copy of the indictment, the 34-year-old, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, arranged for the prostitutes to meet their potential clients via text messages on a BlackBerry Messenger. In one case, a prostitute told police that Yunita had instructed her to entertain a male client for a fee of 1.5 million rupiah (US$156), one-third of which was wired into her bank account, it added. Yunita had about 30 prostitutes working directly under her, but her “friends who cooperated as her pimps” had a network of nearly 1,800 sex workers in various cities, it said. Her defense lawyer, Erry Meta, said the indictment had “fatal errors.” “She had never asked for money from them or profited from their work,” he told reporters. “The prostitutes had readily transferred [the money] to her. She never knew whether or not they had entertained the clients. Yunita never told them what to do, so those charges were totally untrue.”
SOUTH AFRICA
Whale lands on boat
A breaching whale leapt out of the sea off the coast and landed on a boat on Monday, injuring three men, one seriously, sea rescue officials said. “The men claim they were motoring slowly approximately a kilometer offshore when a whale breached in front of their boat and came onto their boat, causing the boat and all three men to go under water as the whale sunk back into the water,” National Sea Rescue Institute Port Elizabeth station commander Ian Gray said. A 41-year-old was taken to hospital in a serious condition with suspected rib fractures and injuries to his arm, leg and soft tissue. A 25-year-old was also taken to hospital with soft tissue injuries, while the skipper, 35, had minor injuries. “The boat has sustained extensive damage,” Gray said.
UNITED KINGDOM
Osborne tops nightmare list
British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne is the public figure who most often appears in Britons’ nightmares, a recent study has found. Ruling Conservative Party member Osborne was booed during a medal ceremony at the Paralympics this summer in London, and has been the focus of public criticism for austerity measures which have seen cuts to welfare budgets and a freeze in public sector pay. Former British prime minister Gordon Brown came second in the survey conducted by hotel group Travelodge, which asked 2,000 people about their nightmares. Former glamor model Katie Price, also known as Jordan, beat a number of other politicians to come third.
UNITED STATES
Nun accused of stealing
A nun with a gambling addiction has been accused of stealing US$128,000 from two rural parishes where she worked. Sister Mary Anne Rapp was treated for a gambling addiction and is in recovery, her order said on Monday, but she still faces a criminal charge of grand larceny following the thefts from the St Mary and St Mark congregations. She was expected to plead not guilty at an initial appearance in court on Monday evening. Rapp is accused of taking the money between 2006 and 2010. She was placed on leave from her position as a pastoral associate in February last year and fired in April last year.
‘TERRORIST ATTACK’: The convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri resulted in the ‘martyrdom of five of our armed forces,’ the Presidential Leadership Council said A blast targeting the convoy of a Saudi Arabian-backed armed group killed five in Yemen’s southern city of Aden and injured the commander of the government-allied unit, officials said on Wednesday. “The treacherous terrorist attack targeting the convoy of Brigadier General Hamdi Shukri, commander of the Second Giants Brigade, resulted in the martyrdom of five of our armed forces heroes and the injury of three others,” Yemen’s Saudi Arabia-backed Presidential Leadership Council said in a statement published by Yemeni news agency Saba. A security source told reporters that a car bomb on the side of the road in the Ja’awla area in
PRECARIOUS RELATIONS: Commentators in Saudi Arabia accuse the UAE of growing too bold, backing forces at odds with Saudi interests in various conflicts A Saudi Arabian media campaign targeting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has deepened the Gulf’s worst row in years, stoking fears of a damaging fall-out in the financial heart of the Middle East. Fiery accusations of rights abuses and betrayal have circulated for weeks in state-run and social media after a brief conflict in Yemen, where Saudi airstrikes quelled an offensive by UAE-backed separatists. The United Arab Emirates is “investing in chaos and supporting secessionists” from Libya to Yemen and the Horn of Africa, Saudi Arabia’s al-Ekhbariya TV charged in a report this week. Such invective has been unheard of
‘SHOCK TACTIC’: The dismissal of Yang mirrors past cases such as Jang Song-thaek, Kim’s uncle, who was executed after being accused of plotting to overthrow his nephew North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has fired his vice premier, compared him to a goat and railed against “incompetent” officials, state media reported yesterday, in a rare and very public broadside against apparatchiks at the opening of a critical factory. Vice Premier Yang Sung-ho was sacked “on the spot,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency said, in a speech in which Kim attacked “irresponsible, rude and incompetent leading officials.” “Please, comrade vice premier, resign by yourself when you can do it on your own before it is too late,” Kim reportedly said. “He is ineligible for an important duty. Put simply, it was
US President Donald Trump on Saturday warned Canada that if it concludes a trade deal with China, he would impose a 100 percent tariff on all goods coming over the border. Relations between the US and its northern neighbor have been rocky since Trump returned to the White House a year ago, with spats over trade and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney decrying a “rupture” in the US-led global order. During a visit to Beijing earlier this month, Carney hailed a “new strategic partnership” with China that resulted in a “preliminary, but landmark trade agreement” to reduce tariffs — but
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