China yesterday sentenced two members of a banned religious cult to death for the murder of a woman at a McDonald’s restaurant after she refused an apparent attempt by the group to recruit her, state media said.
The 37-year-old woman was attacked in May in the eastern province of Shandong by members of Quannengshen (全能神), the Church of Almighty God, which had preached that a global apocalypse would take place in 2012.
The case sparked a national outcry after it was reported the woman was beaten to death for allegedly refusing to give her telephone number to members of the group.
The Yantai (煙台) Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Zhang Fan (張帆) and Zhang Lidong (張立冬) to death for intentional homicide and gave another member of the group, Lu Yingchun (呂迎春), life in prison, Xinhua news agency said.
In addition, “Zhang Hang (張航) and Zhang Qiaolian (張巧聯), both cult members, were sentenced to 10 and seven years in jail respectively,” Xinhua said.
The Quannengshen group, which originated in central Henan Province, believes that Jesus was resurrected as Yang Xiangbin (楊向彬), wife of the sect’s founder, Zhao Weishan (趙維山), according to previous Xinhua reports.
Zhao is also known as Xu Wenshan (許文山), Xinhua said, adding that the couple fled to the US in September 2000.
In 2012, China launched a crackdown on the group after it called for a “decisive battle” to slay the “Red Dragon” Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and preached that the world would end that year.
The CCP brooks no challenge to its rule and is obsessed with social stability. It has cracked down on cults, which have multiplied in recent years.
In 1999, then-Chinese president Jiang Zemin (江澤民) launched a campaign to crush the Falun Gong religious group. It was banned as an “evil cult” after thousands of practitioners staged a surprise but peaceful sit-in outside the leadership compound in Beijing.
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
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