HONG KONG
Body found in suitcase
A University of Hong Kong professor has been arrested on suspicion of killing his wife after police found a body stuffed in a suitcase in his office, the latest grisly murder to transfix the territory. Officers discovered the body of a woman, clad only in underwear and with electric wire around her neck, in a suitcase inside the office of 53-year-old Cheung Kie-chung (張祺忠), who had reported his wife missing on Monday last week, saying that she had not returned home after an argument. Police on Tuesday afternoon searched Cheung’s office. “There was blood seeping out from the suitcase and it stank,” a police superintendent told reporters.
MYANMAR
UN Rohingya probe rejected
The government yesterday rejected the findings of a UN probe alleging genocide by its military against the Rohingya, after the US and other countries joined growing calls for the accused to face justice. The UN Security Council on Tuesday called for the military leaders to be held accountable for genocide toward the Rohingya Muslim minority. “We didn’t allow the FFM [the UN Fact-Finding Mission] to enter ... that’s why we don’t agree and accept any resolutions made by the Human Rights Council,” the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper quoted government spokesman Zaw Htay as saying.
UNITED KINGDOM
Half of LGBT teens self-harm
Almost one-half of teenagers who are LGBT or questioning their sexuality have self-harmed, according to a study released yesterday that found they have significantly lower life satisfaction than their peers. Homophobic bullying and “highly gendered” environments were adding to pressure on young people struggling with their sexuality, the report from The Children’s Society said. “There’s still an awful lot of stigma,” the charity’s policy and research manager Richard Crellin said. “There are still too many schools where being called gay is an insult.”
UNITED STATES
Trump blames China, Google
President Donald Trump early yesterday said China hacked the e-mails of 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, but did not offer any evidence or further information. “Hillary Clinton’s Emails, many of which are Classified Information, got hacked by China,” he tweeted a little after midnight. In a similar pre-dawn tweet on Tuesday, Trump accused Google and other US tech companies of rigging search results about him “so that almost all stories & news is BAD.” A top adviser said the White House was “taking a look” at whether Google should face federal regulation even though Trump is offering no evidence of such bias. Google pushed back sharply, saying: “We never rank search results to manipulate political sentiment.”
UNITED STATES
Korean drills could resume
US Secretary of Defense James Mattis on Tuesday said large-scale military exercises in South Korea might resume, as negotiations with North Korea over its nuclear weapons program stall. There has been little progress toward the US goal of North Korean denuclearization since President Donald Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in June. “We took the step to suspend several of the largest exercises as a good-faith measure coming out of the Singapore summit,” Mattis said at a news conference. “We have no plans at this time to suspend any more exercises.”
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
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