SOUTH KOREA
Sedition conviction upheld
The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a nine-year prison sentence for a former leftist lawmaker convicted of inciting an armed revolt in the event of war breaking out with North Korea. Lee Seok-ki, a key member of the now-disbanded United Progressive Party, was first convicted of plotting a rebellion in February last year after a rare sedition trial involving a sitting member of the National Assembly, but the 12-year sentence he received was reduced to nine on appeal after the High Court ruled that Lee had not actually plotted a rebellion, but only encouraged one. Yesterday’s ruling agreed there was no proof that an organization for rebellion actually existed and that Lee’s guilt was therefore confined to the charge of incitement. Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae also confirmed that Lee had violated the National Security Law by praising North Korea. Lee’s treason trial had been the first of a lawmaker since the nation’s transformation from a military-backed autocracy to a democracy in the 1980s.
MYANMAR
US calls for killings probe
The US has called for an investigation into the killings of two ethnic Kachin teachers, amid allegations by activists the women were raped and murdered by government forces. The bloodied corpses were discovered earlier this week in a village in Shan state. A medical report indicated the volunteer teachers from the Kachin Baptist Convention died from penetration wounds to their liver, lungs and head, Zau Ra, secretary of the organization, said by telephone yesterday. Their private parts had also been violated, he said, adding that he was “shocked and saddened’ by the news. The military — which has launched fresh attacks in Kachin state, trapping more than 1,000 civilians in several villages — has long been accused of serious abuses in fighting against ethnic rebels. Activists said the two teachers were raped and killed by government forces.
IRELAND
Cocaine granny escapes jail
Helen Heaphy’s number came up at the bingo hall. The prize was a trip to court. The 50-year-old grandmother pleaded guilty on Wednesday to two counts of possessing cocaine for sale or supply after police caught her with the narcotic outside a Cork bingo hall. Cork District Court Judge Leo Malone accepted her lawyer’s plea for clemency, citing her family obligations and her possession of a relatively small amount of the drug worth 350 euros (US$400). Heaphy insisted she was holding the cocaine for an unspecified friend. Malone fined Heaphy 750 euros, but gave her no jail time, despite having two prior convictions for drugs possession and obstructing a police narcotics unit. She was even allowed to go back to playing bingo at the hall after the owner relented on a ban.
SPAIN
Prostitution ring broken up
Police have broken up a prostitution ring offering the services of more than 400 women, some of them minors, and have arrested 29 people, the interior ministry said on Wednesday. The ring recruited adult women and girls between the ages of 14 and 17 in schools and nightclubs in the southern region of Murcia, as well as over the Internet, to work in brothels, a ministry statement said. Police arrested 29 people as part of the operation, including three women suspected of running the ring and several of their clients who would specifically ask for underage girls. “The ring had put together a photobook which offered ‘a la carte’ more than 400 women, including minors,” the statement said.
UNITED STATES
Baby born over Atlantic
A Jordanian woman gave birth to a premature but healthy baby girl mid-flight over the Atlantic Ocean while traveling to New York from Amman, officials said on Wednesday. The 33-year-old woman was assisted by a nurse and a doctor who happened to be on board Royal Jordanian Flight 261 when she went into labor, four hours before landing in New York. The little girl was born at around 5:30pm on Tuesday, while the twin-jet Boeing Dreamliner was cruising over the Atlantic, airport and airline officials said. Royal Jordanian said the captain had been about to conduct an emergency landing at an airport in Canada, but continued to New York when informed the birth was problem-free.
UNITED STATES
Head-in-trunk man sentenced
A man was sentenced on Wednesday to 40 years in prison in the fatal shooting and dismemberment of a Minnesota man. Kou Thao, 28, pleaded no contest in September last year to second-degree intentional homicide in the April 2013 death of 58-year-old Tong Pao Hang, of St Paul, Minnesota. Thao was sentenced in Marathon County Circuit Court. The Wausau Daily Herald reported that his sentence also includes 20 years of extended supervision after his release. Thao, who was also convicted of hiding a corpse and possession of a firearm by a felon, was accused of shooting and dismembering Hang, and taking Hang’s severed head to Milwaukee in the trunk of his car in the spring of 2013. Other body parts were found in the basement of a Milwaukee home. A motive in the killing was unclear. Prosecutors have said it appeared the two men met just days before the shooting.
MEXICO
Meth drone discovered
Police in a border city say a drone overloaded with methamphetamine has crashed into a supermarket parking lot. Tijuana Police spokesman Jorge Morrua on Wednesday said that police were alerted after the drone fell on Tuesday night near the border with California at the San Ysidro crossing. Six packets of the drug, weighing more than 2.7kg, were taped to the six-propeller remote-controlled aircraft. Morrua said authorities are investigating where the flight originated and who was controlling it. He said it was not the first time they had seen drones used for smuggling drugs across the border. Other innovative efforts have included catapults, ultralight aircraft and tunnels.
EL SALVADOR
Abortion convict pardoned
Lawmakers on Wednesday pardoned a woman accused of abortion and later sentenced to 30 years in prison for homicide in a landmark case that has put the country’s harsh laws under the spotlight. The vote might signal similar relief for other women who have been convicted and sentenced to jail for abortion, which was criminalized in the nation in 1997. Domestic worker Carmen Guadalupe Vasquez had already served seven years of her sentence prior to the pardon. In 2007, Vasquez suffered major complications during her pregnancy and her child died shortly after she gave birth. She was initially accused of the crime of abortion, which carries up to eight years in prison, but the charge was later dropped and replaced with aggravated murder charges. Left-wing members of congress voted for the pardon, led by lawmakers from the ruling Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front, while the conservative National Republican Alliance voted against it.
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
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
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
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number