SRI LANKA
Thai PM on state visit
Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra arrived in Colombo yesterday for a two-day official visit aimed at strengthening bilateral relations. A government statement says Yingluck will meet with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa for bilateral discussions and will also address parliament. During her visit, four bilateral agreements on tourism, science and technology are expected to be signed.
THAILAND
Jewel thief recaptured
A German jewel thief who managed to flee his Australian guards while transiting through Bangkok was arrested in the capital on Thursday after two weeks on the run, police said. Carlo Konstantin Kohl, 25, was being extradited to Germany via Thailand when bad weather forced an extended stopover at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport and his two Australian guards took him to a transit lounge. During the overnight layover Kohl — convicted in Australia of stealing opals and drug trafficking, and wanted for skipping parole in Germany — managed to give his escorts the slip and escape. He was arrested near the German embassy in Bangkok, according to an immigration police official who did not want to be named. A Thai court on Thursday handed Kohl a two-year suspended jail term for illegal entry and a 6,000 baht (US$200) fine. He is expected to be handed over to German authorities next week. Australian immigration chiefs have denied Thai media reports that the two guards, from a private firm that runs Australia’s immigration security, were asleep when he got away.
JAPAN
Mayor escapes censure
The mayor of the nation’s second-largest city survived a censure motion on Thursday over his comments about Japan’s wartime sex slavery, remarks that sparked an international uproar. The Osaka City Assembly voted down the motion, which said Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto’s comments earlier this month about so-called “comfort women” created confusion and tarnished the city’s image. Hashimoto said he would stay on as mayor. He said he took the motion seriously, but had no intention to retract his remarks or apologize over them. “I believe what I’m saying is right,” Hashimoto said, referring to his comments about the wartime practice that forced many Asian women into prostitution for Japanese soldiers. The outspoken mayor sparked controversy after he said on May 13 that the use of “comfort women” before and during World War II was necessary for military discipline and providing rest for troops. He sought later to clarify his comments, saying he meant that military authorities during that time must have deemed the practice necessary.
UNITED STATES
Complaint leads to charges
A woman has been charged with prostitution in Connecticut after calling police to complain about how she was being treated by a pimp. Police say they did not find the pimp when they arrived at a Super 8 Motel in West Haven on Sunday, but they did find 35-year-old Jennifer Lowery with a man they describe as a customer. Police charged Lowery with prostitution and 60-year-old Richard Burford of New Haven with patronizing a prostitute. Police said Lowery told them she thought it would take police longer to show up, so she decided to conduct some business while waiting.
UNITED STATES
Boy spells his way to glory
The US-born son of immigrants from India overcame his dread of German-derived words on Thursday to win the 86th Scripps National Spelling Bee. Confetti rained on a suddenly speechless Arvind Mahankali, 13, from New York City, after he correctly spelled knaidel, a type of dumpling perhaps better known as a matzah ball. He becomes the sixth youth of south Asian heritage to win the coveted title in the past six years, and also the first male champion since 2008. Mahankali, the eldest son of an IT consultant father and a physician mother, had placed ninth in 2010, then third in 2011 and last year. More often than not, it was obscure English words of Germanic origin that denied him victory. Earlier in the evening, Mahankali aced such words as tokonoma (an alcove in a Japanese living room), kaumographer (someone who prints a design onto cloth with a hot iron), and galere (a group of people who have something in common).
VENEZUELA
Police clean up after tip-off
It had all the makings of a routine bust: an anonymous tip-off to the cops, a raid on a hideout, a triumphant Ministry of the Interior tweet. The loot? Roll after roll of toilet paper. The government said police had found 2,450 bales of toilet paper in working-class neighborhood Antimano, west of Caracas, thanks to an anonymous phone call to a police tip-off line. The paper was stored “in a clandestine warehouse,” Venezuelan Minister of the Interior Miguel Rodriguez Torres said on Twitter. Also seized were 7,000 liters of fruit juice and 400 packages of diapers. Venezuela may be oil-rich, but its economy is struggling. Toilet rolls are one of the five most sought-after basics that are in severe shortage, the others being toothpaste, toilet soap, diapers and feminine hygiene napkins.
UNITED KINGDOM
Man jailed over murder
A former slaughterhouse worker has been jailed for life for abducting and murdering a five-year-old girl whose body was never found, despite a massive police search. April Jones was last seen getting into a van in the town of Machynlleth, Wales, in October last year. Mark Bridger was arrested the next day. He was convicted on Thursday of abduction, murder and unlawfully disposing of the girl’s body. Traces of the girl’s blood and bone fragments were found in Bridger’s cottage. Hundreds of volunteers combed woods and fields for April after her disappearance. The former slaughterhouse worker claimed he accidentally ran her over with his Land Rover and then could not remember what he had done with the body. However, a jury on Thursday convicted him of abducting and murdering April and of unlawfully disposing of and concealing her body with intent to pervert the course of justice.
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