PHILIPPINES
China conditions ‘inimical’
Officials say China demanded that President Benigno Aquino III withdraw a legal complaint over disputed territories for Beijing to welcome him at an annual Chinese trade fair this week, prompting him to cancel his visit. Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez yesterday said that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (王毅) and two other Chinese diplomats relayed conditions for Aquino to attend the China-ASEAN Expo. Hernandez declined to detail the conditions in a news conference, but said these were “absolutely inimical to our national interest.” Two Philippine officials said China wanted the Philippines to withdraw a UN arbitration case over disputed islands.
JAPAN
Sorum protests dolphin hunt
Former Guns N’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum is visiting a remote Japanese fishing village to protest against its annual dolphin hunt. The campaign has spread after the tradition in the village of Taiji was depicted in the Oscar-winning 2009 film, The Cove. The movie depicts how dolphins are herded into a cove and speared by fishermen for their meat. Sorum yesterday said that he has always loved the ocean, and he is also concerned about dolphins in captivity at aquariums and marine shows. He arrived in Taiji on Sunday with Japanese and Western activists on the day the annual dolphin hunt began.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
‘Black Jesus’ castrated
An infamous cult leader known as “Black Jesus” was castrated by an angry mob after being hacked to death for killing young girls as sacrifices, reports said yesterday. Steven Tari, a convicted rapist who was suspected of cannibalism, was killed in a remote village last week, with gory details of his death emerging. The National newspaper said Tari, who had been on the run since escaping from a prison in Madang in the Pacific nation’s east during a mass breakout with 48 others in March, was hunted down by 80 men. It said he was killed, castrated and then dragged with a cane tied around his neck to a shallow pit where his body was dumped. Tari, a failed Lutheran pastor who was widely known as Black Jesus, was found guilty in 2010 of raping girls who belonged to his Christian-based sect and sentenced to up to 10 years. At the time, he had thousands of followers. The National said villagers where he was hiding became fed up with cult beliefs and practices, which included “the killing of young girls as sacrifices.” Local police official Ray Ban said Tari and his followers offered Rose Wagum, 15, last week as a “sacrifice.” The group also tried to offer another 14-year-old girl, but were stopped by the mob that eventually killed Tari.
DUBAI
‘Bomber’ standoff ended
An Uzbek woman who caused 13 hours of panic at the public prosecutor’s office when she threatened to blow herself up was wearing a fake explosive belt, authorities said yesterday. The woman entered the office with her child on Sunday and said she would detonate explosives strapped to her body unless the authorities forced an Emirati man to admit he is her son’s legal father. “The matter was successfully resolved and it turned out that the Uzbek woman was wearing a fake explosive belt,” police tweeted. A government statement said negotiations with the woman lasted from midday on Sunday until about 1:30am yesterday. “The woman was arrested at the public prosecutor’s office after negotiations without the use of weapons,” the statement said. Authorities evacuated the building.
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