■ Hong Kong
Men cleared over gay sex
Two men allegedly caught having sex in a car have been acquitted after a court ruled that the offence discriminated against homosexuals. The men -- Yau Yuk-lung, 19, and Lee Kam-chuen, 30, -- were arrested after allegedly being caught in April 2004. They were charged with an offence of having gay sex in public, but a court Friday acquitted them on the grounds that the offence "singled out male homosexuals." Magistrate John Glass ruled that a charge of outraging public decency adequately covered all forms of sex in public, and that there was no need for a separate charge on gay sex.
■ China
Miners' bodies recovered
Rescuers have found the bodies of 39 coal miners in a flooded mine in central China and were searching for three others who were still missing the official Xinhua News Agency said yesterday. The privately owned mine in Xin'an County, Henan Province, flooded on Dec. 2 when a nearby river broke its banks and flowed into the mine. Ten mine managers have been detained and will face "stern punishment" for the accident. A total of 76 miners were working underground at the time of the disaster of whom 34 escaped. Divers went into the mine's flooded shafts in the hope of finding survivors in possible air pockets. But no one has been found alive since the day of the flood.
■ Singapore
Maid jailed for ear attack
An Indonesian maid was given two years and nine months' jail for pulling off the ear of an elderly woman in her care. The 21-year-old maid attacked 67-year-old diabetic Chua Ah Lek when she saw her snacking on mooncakes. The maid, named Sarmini, had been told to keep Chua away from sweet food. She panicked, throwing the severed ear into the waste bin and applying ointment to Chua. The ear could not be reattached as the crime was not discovered by the maid's employer until more than four hours later.
■ Thailand
Cobra suspect surrenders
A man suspected of killing his wife with a cobra to cash in on her eight million baht (US$200,000) life insurance policy has turned himself in to authorities. Accompanied by his lawyer, Nired Ngamdee, 49, denied police charges that he had arranged for a cobra to bite his wife, Monrey Feungfoo, 51, in November, and then given her painkillers instead of rushing her to hospital for treatment. Shortly after her death, Nirid tried to collect on an insurance policy he had taken out on his wife a month before her encounter with the snake. His insurance company refused to pay, finding the circumstances somewhat suspicious, and asked police to investigate.
■ Hong Kong
Unkind cutter in detention
A 16-year-old boy has been sent to a detention center after admitting to attempting to circumcise an 11- year-old boy with scissors in a public toilet. The teenager presented the boy with a St. John Ambulance Brigade badge and examined his genitals in a shopping center toilet in June. He persuaded the boy that he had a foreskin contraction, which if untreated would lead to urethritis and cancer. He then took him into a cubicle, gave him some tissue to chew on to ease the pain and tried to snip off the foreskin, using scissors taken from the victim's schoolbag. The 11-year-old has since made a full recovery and has suffered no permanent damage.
■ United States
`Sex attack' writer caught
A fugitive fashion writer wanted for questioning in relation to a bizarre Halloween sexual attack on a woman in her New York apartment by a man posing as a firefighter was captured at the University of Memphis, police said. Peter Braunstein, 42, stabbed himself repeatedly in the neck with a knife after he was confronted on Friday by campus officers, city police said. He was in critical condition in the prison ward of Regional Medical Center in Memphis, said Memphis police Sergeant Vincent Higgins. New York police had been hunting since early November for the journalist.
■ United States
School agent dies after fight
A school safety agent suffered a fatal heart attack after police said she was struck by a 12-year-old girl. Police said the girl was waiting in line at a middle school in New York on Friday when Vivian Samuels, 56, asked her to leave. The principal wanted the girl removed because of an incident earlier in the day. Police said a fight broke out and the girl hit Samuels. Moments later, police said, Samuels passed out and had a heart attack. She was taken to hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The girl was being questioned by investigators late on Friday, and charges were pending.
■ United states
Failing kid kills dad
A 15-year-old boy allegedly killed his father, then set their home on fire because he was afraid his father would find out he was failing some classes, prosecutors said. Ryan Watts was charged on Friday with murdering his father, John Bruner. Watts was arrested on Wednesday after an autopsy determined that Bruner died from multiple gunshot wounds and not from the fire, Santa Clara police said. Watts said he shot his father in the head on Monday, then burned the body because it was too heavy to carry to the backyard, where he had planned to bury it. Watts hid the gun and the called the emergency services to report the fire. If convicted, Watts faces life in prison.
■ United States
Home fined over pregnancy
State officials have fined a suburban Chicago nursing home US$10,000 for failing to conduct an investigation into how a severely disabled, brain-damaged woman became pregnant. Officials also said on Friday that staff at the Alden Village Health Facility in Bloomingdale, Illinois, categorized the woman's symptoms as constipation despite staff reports that said the woman had signs of being pregnant. Her mother is raising the baby girl, who was born healthy. A former nurse's aide was charged in November with four counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault after authorities found that his DNA matched the baby's.
■ United States
Joking passenger arrested
About 130 passengers were evacuated from a jet after flight attendants overheard a passenger joking about a bomb, authorities said. Flight 2074 to Las Vegas departed five hours late after sniffer dogs searched the plane at Bob Hope Airport and found nothing, spokeswoman Beth Harbin said. A passenger was arrested for investigation of making false bomb threats, Burbank Airport Police Sergeant Ernest Siy said. The man was held at city jail, Siy added. "It appears to not have been a serious threat," said Harbin. The Southwest flight was preparing to take off at 3pm when it halted on the taxiway. "Anything in this day and age, after 9/11, you just don't laugh it off anymore." Victor Gill, an airport spokesman said.
‘GREAT OPPRTUNITY’: The Paraguayan president made the remarks following Donald Trump’s tapping of several figures with deep Latin America expertise for his Cabinet Paraguay President Santiago Pena called US president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming foreign policy team a “dream come true” as his nation stands to become more relevant in the next US administration. “It’s a great opportunity for us to advance very, very fast in the bilateral agenda on trade, security, rule of law and make Paraguay a much closer ally” to the US, Pena said in an interview in Washington ahead of Trump’s inauguration today. “One of the biggest challenges for Paraguay was that image of an island surrounded by land, a country that was isolated and not many people know about it,”
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
‘FIGHT TO THE END’: Attacking a court is ‘unprecedented’ in South Korea and those involved would likely face jail time, a South Korean political pundit said Supporters of impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday stormed a Seoul court after a judge extended the impeached leader’s detention over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law. Tens of thousands of people had gathered outside the Seoul Western District Court on Saturday in a show of support for Yoon, who became South Korea’s first sitting head of state to be arrested in a dawn raid last week. After the court extended his detention on Saturday, the president’s supporters smashed windows and doors as they rushed inside the building. Hundreds of police officers charged into the court, arresting dozens and denouncing an
‘DISCRIMINATION’: The US Office of Personnel Management ordered that public DEI-focused Web pages be taken down, while training and contracts were canceled US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday moved to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off. The moves follow an executive order Trump signed on his first day ordering a sweeping dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs. Trump has called the programs “discrimination” and called to restore “merit-based” hiring. The executive order on affirmative action revokes an order issued by former US president Lyndon Johnson, and curtails DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients. It is using one of the
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