SOUTH AFRICA
Pistorius trial postponed
A judge yesterday postponed the murder trial of athlete Oscar Pistorius, who has been charged with shooting dead his girlfriend on Valentine’s Day, until Aug. 19. Pistorius, 26, has admitted shooting Reeva Steenkamp, 29, four times through a locked bathroom door on Feb. 14 at his home in Pretoria. His lawyers have said Pistorius was acting in self-defense against what he thought was an intruder. The judge postponed the case after his lawyers asked for more time to prepare.
CHINA
Ex-Anhui official probed
Former Anhui Province vice governor Ni Fake (倪發科) is under investigation for alleged disciplinary violations, Xinhua news agency reported yesterday. Ni is being probed for “suspected serious disciplinary offenses,” Xinhua said. The phrase is a euphemism for corruption in the state media. The brief dispatch cited a statement released by the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. The report offered no other details about what the alleged wrongdoing entailed.
AUSTRALIA
Mystery man baffles police
Sydney police were yesterday trying to work out what happened to a mystery Asian man who hammered on the door of an elderly couple’s house naked and covered in blood, pleading for help. The man, who does not speak English, staggered to the home on Monday night with significant head injuries before collapsing on the doorstep. “I was shaking like a leaf,” an elderly woman who lives at the home and did not want to be identified, told the Sydney Morning Herald. “But we couldn’t just leave him there to die.” Reports said he told police through an interpreter that he was mugged, stripped, tied up and locked in a car trunk before being dumped. Police said the man had no identification. He is in stable condition in hospital and police are waiting to formally interview him.
INDIA
Actress found dead
Bollywood actress Jiah Khan has been found dead at her home in Mumbai, police said yesterday. A police official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the body of the 25-year-old actress was found in her apartment late on Monday. Khan, whose real name was Nafisa Khan, was born in New York and grew up in London before moving to Mumbai. Khan began her career in Mumbai’s film industry in the 2007 Hindi film Nishabd, in which she portrayed a teenager in love with her best friend’s father, played by Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan. The movie received average reviews because of its provocative storyline, but Khan was praised for her bold acting. In her brief career she performed with other top Bollywood stars, including Aamir Khan and Akshay Kumar. Khan last appeared in the 2010 comedy Housefull, in which she played a supporting role.
JAPAN
Old Tokyo bomb destroyed
A bomb squad has destroyed an unexploded bomb left over from World War II that was found in Tokyo. The work left crowds of commuters temporarily stranded yesterday as local lines and the long-range bullet trains were halted as a safety precaution. The bomb found at a construction site was reportedly Japanese and about 40cm long. It was destroyed on the site, which was sealed off. Most of the old bombs found in Tokyo and other cities were dropped by the US, but some were buried or lost by the Imperial Army as well.
MEXICO
Missing activists found slain
Three farming activists from among a group of eight people who went missing last week have been found brutally murdered, authorities said on Monday. Authorities found the three in Guerrero State, apparently beaten to death along a highway, friends said. Another four of the eight who were apparently abducted escaped earlier in the day, while the last man in their group remains missing, one of those who escaped told media. On Thursday last week, members of the Emiliano Zapata Farmers’ Union blocked a highway in Iguala demanding that the government give them fertilizer. Hours later, their families reported them missing.
UNITED STATES
Teacher wins pregnancy suit
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Ohio, violated anti-discrimination laws when it fired teacher Christa Dias after she became pregnant via artificial insemination, a federal jury said on Monday as it awarded her more than US$170,000. Dias’ attorney, Robert Klingler, said she was fired in October 2010 after informing two schools of her pregnancy because she was pregnant and unmarried. Dias, who is not Catholic, testified that she did not know artificial insemination violated church doctrine or her employment contract, adding that she though the clause about abiding by church teachings meant she should be a Christian. Steven Goodin, the attorney for the archdiocese and the schools, said Dias was fired for violating her contract and that Dias, who is gay, never intended to abide by it.
UNITED STATES
Dad dresses as Nazi in court
A man who gave his children Nazi-inspired names on Monday appeared dressed in a full Nazi uniform at a hearing in Flemington, New Jersey, to secure visitation rights to his youngest son. Heath Campbell — father of Adolf Hitler Campbell, 7; JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell, 6; Honzlynn Jeannie Campbell, 5; and Heinrich Hons Campbell, 18 months — appeared before the court in a bid to win the right to see Heinrich Hons, who was taken into care by social services shortly after his birth in November 2011. Heinrich’s elder siblings had already been taken into care in 2009. “I’m going to tell the judge: I love my children. I wanna be a father, let me be it,” Heath Campbell told NBC10 before the hearing. “Basically, what they’re saying is because of my beliefs and I’m a Nazi, that us people don’t have any constitutional rights to fight for our children.” Asked whether dressing up as a Nazi was likely to help his case, Heath Campbell was confident it would not be held against him, saying: “If they’re good judges and they’re good people, they’ll look within, not what’s on the outside.”
UNITED STATES
Man charged for ricin letters
A Mississippi man suspected of sending poison-laced letters to President Barack Obama and two other officials was charged in a five-count federal indictment made public on Monday that could send him to prison for life if he is convicted. The indictment, dated May 31, charges 41-year-old James Everett Dutschke with developing, producing and stockpiling the poison ricin; threatening the president and others; and attempting to impede the investigation. The indictment also alleges that Dutschke mailed the letter in part to retaliate against a rival. Arraignment is scheduled for tomorrow at the US District Court in Oxford. Dutschke has been jailed without bond since his arrest. George Lucas, Dutschke’s lawyer, told reporters in an e-mail that his client will plead not guilty to all the charges.
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
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