CHINA
Dad tried to kill daughter
A court has sentenced a man to 10 years in prison for trying to kill his baby daughter by inserting sewing needles into her body, state media reported yesterday. A court in Heilongjiang Province found Yin Zhihe (殷志賀) guilty of attempting to murder his two-month-old daughter in August, Xinhua news agency said. The court found that Yin wanted to kill the child because he believed that she was not his daughter, Xinhua reported. Yin first inserted one needle into the baby’s ribcage on Aug. 4. The next day, the baby’s cries prompted her mother to take the child to hospital, where the needle was found and surgically removed. However, Yin later inserted three more needles in the child’s chest, navel and stomach. The needles were removed in an operation, but had already caused respiratory failure and injuries to the baby’s organs. A DNA test showed that Yin was the girl’s biological father, the report said.
CHINA
Woman, 60, had twins
A woman had twin girls at the age of 60 following in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment after her only child died, making her possibly the oldest person in the country to give birth, state media reported on Tuesday. Sheng Hailin (盛海琳), now 63, lost her first daughter, then in her late 20s, in an accidental gas poisoning case in 2009, the China Daily said. A military hospital in the eastern city of Hefei agreed to give her and her husband IVF therapy, the report said. She gave birth to Zhizhi, who weighed 1.85kg, and Huihui, 1.45kg, on May 25, 2010, at the No. 105 Hospital of the People’s Liberation Army, the paper said.
EGYPT
Former PM arrested
Security forces on Tuesday arrested the former prime minister of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi who was sentenced to one year in jail for failing to implement a court ruling to renationalize a textile firm. “Security forces managed to arrest Hisham Kandil, former prime minister, in carrying out a court order issued against him. He was caught in a mountain area with smugglers trying to flee to Sudan,” the Ministry of the Interior said in a statement.
NIGERIA
At least 50 Islamists killed
Troops killed at least 50 suspected Boko Haram Islamists retreating into neighboring Cameroon following a Dec. 20 attack on a military base in the northeastern town of Bama, the army said on Tuesday. Fifteen soldiers and five civilians were killed, and more than 20 vehicles transporting escaping Islamists were destroyed in the battle, Chris Olukolade, defense headquarters spokesman, said yesterday in an e-mailed statement from Abuja, the capital. “Although a good number of the insurgents escaped with bullet wounds while some have been arrested, over 50 of them died in the course of exchange of fire with ground troops in the ongoing operations to apprehend fleeing terrorists,” he said.
IRAQ
Bomb attacks kill 20
At least 20 people were killed in bomb attacks in Christian areas of Baghdad yesterday, including a car bomb that exploded near a church after a Christmas service, police and medics said. A bomb in a parked car went off while worshipers were leaving a church in the Doura district of southern Baghdad after finishing prayers, police sources said. Most of the victims were Christian, they said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks.
UNITED STATES
Santa shot with pellet gun
A man dressed as Santa Claus was recovering after being shot with a pellet gun on Tuesday at a toy giveaway in Washington. A local news crew was interviewing the unnamed man at the time of the Christmas Eve shooting in the capital’s Southeast district. The man was struck in the upper back and could be seen bending over, reaching for his back and screaming out in pain after loud popping sounds. “It’s a pellet gun,” he said. “Someone’s shooting. Someone just shot me,” the man added. Police said the man was transported to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. WJLA, whose cameraman was on the scene, said the giveaway carried on. The station reported that the man wanted to keep giving out toys, but he was ordered to hospital and a man dressed as the Grinch took over.
UNITED STATES
Newborns put in stockings
California hospitals are spreading holiday cheer for new parents by delivering newborns in giant Christmas stockings. The bright red stockings were provided this week for babies born at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center in Redlands, California. The Long Beach Press Telegram said it was a half-century-old tradition. The Redlands Community Hospital has been handing out stockings to parents of infants born this month. This year, 16 volunteers made 250 fleece stockings during a day-long sewing bee.
UNITED STATES
Decorations spark panic
An Atlanta, Georgia, homeowner says he hopes he did not offend anyone with his Christmas decoration of a mannequin with outstretched arms entangled in a string of Christmas lights and clinging to a ledge that prompted an emergency response to his house. Bubba Murphy Lake told WSB-TV that someone passing the house in Berkeley Lake with their children thought the display looked so realistic that they called the emergency fire dispatcher. He says fire officials told him to take the display down — at least temporarily. The display also had a ladder toppled over in the front yard.
BRAZIL
Lottery winners freed
Police say they have freed a kidnapped lottery winner of more than US$3 million whose captors were demanding a ransom of about US$200,000. Inspector Antonio de Olimin told the G1 news portal that a 43-year-old bricklayer who won the lottery about three months ago and his brother were kidnapped on Monday in the Sao Paulo suburb of Guarulhos. He said police on Tuesday discovered the house where the two brothers were being held hostage while investigating a gang of bank and cargo truck robbers. Olimin says one suspected kidnapper was killed in a shootout with police and another was arrested. The two brothers were freed unhurt.
BRAZIL
Torrential rain kills 14
President Dilma Rousseff on Tuesday flew over the flood-hit state of Espirito Santo, where at least 14 people have died in days of torrential rain. A Civil Defense statement raised the death toll to 14 and said nearly 50,000 people were forced to leave their homes. It said 47 cities in Espirito Santo, which borders Rio de Janeiro State, were affected by the flooding, including many left without communications, drinkable water and power. Rousseff said two helicopters and army trucks would be sent to the area to deliver food and medicine to those affected. “The tragedy in Espirito Santo destroyed homes, roads and dreams. We are going to try to rebuild them,” the president said.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was