CHINA
Principal guilty of poisoning
A kindergarten headmaster and another man were sentenced to death in a poisoning case that left two girls dead, state media reported yesterday. The head of the kindergarten was upset that a rival school had better enrollments and injected rat poison into a bottle of yogurt. He then asked his accomplice to place it on the road in late April last year, China Central Television (CCTV) said. Two sisters died after drinking the yogurt, which was placed with a notebook and a pencil in a plastic bag on the way to the other kindergarten in Pingshan County. Shijiazhuang Intermediate It was not clear if the two will appeal. The supreme court must review all death sentences. Kindergarten management has been problematic, with frequent reports of child abuse. Most recently, several kindergartens were found to be feeding unauthorized drugs to children in order to boost attendance rates.
CHINA
Men indicted for Iran exports
A Shanghai-based man, an Iranian and two Iranian firms were charged in the US with conspiring to export devices to Iran that can serve to enrich uranium, an indictment unsealed on Friday said. Sihai Cheng, 34, was arrested on Feb. 7 at London’s Heathrow Airport. London’s Metropolitan Police said Cheng had already appeared at a British court in the capital and was awaiting his next appearance. US prosecutors say Cheng conspired with Seyed Abolfazl Shahab Jamili of Tehran and the Iranian companies Nicaro Engineering Co and Eyvaz Technic Manufacturing Co to export US-made pressure transducers. The devices, which are a type of sensor, can be used in gas centrifuges to “convert natural uranium into a form that can be used for nuclear weapons,” the indictment said. Between April 2009 and January 2011, Cheng placed orders for more than 1,000 pressure transducers for a value of more than US$1.8 million.
CHINA
Quake jolts southwest
A shallow magnitude 5.3 quake struck the southwest yesterday, sending terrified residents running from their homes as dozens of houses collapsed and injured at least 10 people, state media reported. The tremor in Yunnan Province, near the border with Sichuan, hit at 6:40am at a depth of 13km, Xinhua news agency said. Residents ran out of their homes after they were woken up by the quake, which caused 20 houses to collapse, Xinhua reported, adding that two of the 10 people injured were in serious condition. The US Geological Survey put the depth of the quake at 26km with a magnitude of 5.4. Rumors began spreading that the quake was caused by the nearby Xiluodu hydropower station, 15km from the quake’s epicenter, the news agency said.
SOUTH KOREA
Drivers’ licenses lure Chinese
In China, would-be drivers can wait up to a year for a license and pay double the US$420 that one costs in South Korea. That has fueled a boom in the number of Chinese visiting to take driving tests and convert their licenses when they get home. Rules for licenses have been eased, cutting the hours of training to 13, including six hours of driving time. That has led nearly 70,000 Chinese nationals to become holders of South Korean driving licenses in the past three years. It takes only one week to get a license at state-appointed driving schools. Applicants can even do their driving tests on rooftop tracks, meaning they have little experience in dealing with actual traffic.
United States
Trick Daddy arrested
Police arrested rapper Trick Daddy and charged him with cocaine and gun possession after a stakeout at his south Florida home on suspicion he was running a an indoor marijuana farm, according to a police affidavit. A report by the Broward Sheriff’s Office said the rapper, whose real name is Maurice Young, was arrested on Thursday. He was also charged with driving with a suspended license. Young was released on a US$6,100 bond on Friday. If convicted, he faces at least three years in prison under Florida’s mandatory minimum sentencing law.
United States
Efforts to save rhinos hurt
Efforts to save critically endangered Sumatran rhinoceroses were dealt a double blow this week with the death of one animal at a US zoo and the discovery of reproductive tumors in another. There are just 100 Sumatran rhinos left in the wild in their native lands of Indonesia and Malaysia, and nine are held in captivity for breeding purposes. Suci, a nine-year-old female, died on Sunday last week at the Cincinnati Zoo from an inheritable disease called hemochromatosis. Her mother also died of the condition when she was 21, said Terri Roth, vice president of conservation at the Cincinnati Zoo. Last year, Roth stirred controversy by announcing the zoo would attempt to breed Suci with her younger brother, Harapan, since there were no other available mates. Female rhinos can develop tumors and cysts in their reproductive tract if they do not become pregnant when they come of age, making it impossible for them to bear offspring in later years. Efforts to breed the pair never took place, Roth said.
Poland
Toys have ‘dark side’: priest
A Roman Catholic priest has touched off a controversy after news media quoted him describing toys like LEGO’s Monster Fighters as tools of Satan that lead children to the “dark side.” The Super Express tabloid quoted the Reverend Slawomir Kostrzewa urging parents to dump the LEGO series as well as Mattel’s Monster High. At issue are the interlocking block toy’s fantasy figures, such as a vampire baring his teeth. The range includes characters like “The Swamp Creature” and “The Werewolf.” Kostrzewa says the faces of the monsters and zombies are scary and undermine a child’s right to live in harmony and security. It is not Kostrzewa’s first crusade. He has in the past campaigned against Sanrio’s Hello Kitty, arguing that it promoted the pornography industry and the sexualizing of young girls.
United States
Senator blames Moscow
Senator Dan Coats had a quick explanation for how he ended up speaking at the wrong hearing — the Russians made him do it. The Indiana Republican went to what he thought was an appropriations hearing on the defense budget on Wednesday and was posing an appropriate question on that subject when someone handed him a piece of paper. “I just got a note saying I’m at the wrong hearing,” Coats said. He had thought he was at meeting of the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Subcommittee, but instead was at a gathering of the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee. “I think the Russians have been messing with my schedule,” he tweeted on Thursday. Last month Moscow included Coats on a list of congressional leaders and White House officials banned from entering Russia in response to US efforts to sanction Russia for taking over Crimea from Ukraine.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not