■ China
Gas leak follows fatal crash
An eight-car pileup in heavy fog ruptured a poison gas tank on an expressway in central China, leaving five dead and more than 50 sick, a state news agency reported yesterday. The chain of collisions ruptured a tanker carrying 27 tonnes of toxic dimethyl sulfate gas, the Xinhua News Agency reported. The gas leak irritated the eyes, throat and skin of police, firemen and nearby villagers as well as the motorists. Forty-one people are still recovering in the hospital after Thursday's accident near Zhijian, Hubei Province, with seven in poor condition, the report said. The cause of the accident was still under investigation, the report said.
■ China
Gay party organizer jailed
A Beijing man was sentenced to a year in prison for using the Internet to organize gay sex parties at his home, a newspaper reported yesterday. The 33-year-old man, identified only by his surname, Zou, had charged partygoers 30 yuan to 50 yuan (US$3.70 to US$6.20) for "prurient" services offered at his "Hot Dream Party for Cool Beijing Boys" events, the Beijing News said. Zou pleaded guilty to the charge of "gathering people for the purpose of sexual promiscuity," the newspaper said. Homosexuals were strongly persecuted after the 1949 communist revolution, condemned as products of decadent Western and feudal societies. Official attitudes have gradually changed since the late 1980s, and in 2001, the China Psychiatric Association stopped listing homosexuality as a mental illness.
■ Hong Kong
US star arranging musicfest
Quincy Jones is set to organize a music festival to mark 10 years since British colonial rule ended and Hong Kong returned to Chinese sovereignty, a media report said yesterday. The event could feature a concert for up to 500,000 people to celebrate the handover on July 1, the South China Morning Post reported. "The festival will become a global gumbo where Chinese pop, classics and Western music mix together," the US composer and music impresario was quoted as saying.
■ Japan
Saddam's novel hits shelves
Readers can now curl up with Get Out of Here, Curse You -- a novel by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. The book titled Devil's Dance in its Japanese translation, hit stores around the nation on Friday. The original manuscript was smuggled out of Iraq by one of Saddam's daughters and a copy given to Japanese journalist and translator Itsuko Hirata. "The novel is dated to the times of ancient tribal society but the tribal warfare depicted in the novel is strikingly similar to what happened and is happening in the Iraqi war -- totally," Hirata said.
■ North Korea
US voices missile concerns
The US warned on Friday that it would be a major international concern if North Korea launched a long-range missile amid reports Pyongyang may be preparing to test-fire the weapon. Japanese officials said on Friday that North Korea might be preparing to test-fire a long-range ballistic missile that could one day be developed to hit the US West Coast. US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack warned that any impending launch of such a missile could also violate an agreement reached in September during the now stalled six-nation nuclear talks.
■ Singapore
Killer sentenced to death
A court sentenced to death a man who murdered and dismembered his lover, local media reported yesterday. The court on Friday found Leong Siew Chor, 55, guilty of strangling to death Liu Hong Mei, 22, whom he had been having an affair with, the Straits Times newspaper said. Leong asphyxiated Liu in his apartment. He then chopped her body into several parts, packed them in plastic bags and cardboard boxes and dumped them in two rivers. Police found the body parts a day after the killing and arrested Leong the following day. Leong, who is married with three children, was the victim's supervisor at a factory. He killed Liu because he feared being found out for stealing more than S$2,000 (US$1,260) from the woman, the court heard.
■ Hong Kong
Mahjong robbers jailed
Two armed robbers were jailed after being found guilty of attempting to rob a group of mahjong players who carried on playing even after one of the group had been shot, a media report said yesterday. Chan To, 45, was jailed for 27 years and his accomplice, Shing Man-ping, was imprisoned for 14 years after being found guilty of robbery, attempted robbery and firearms offences, the South China Morning Post said. Prosecutors alleged the men broke tried to rob a group of six people playing mahjong last June. After one woman refused to hand over her handbag, Chan allegedly shot her. The robbers fled and the group continued playing, even though the woman saw a hole in her shirt and a red welt on her stomach. The following morning she called police after she opened her handbag and discovered a hole through a wad of notes totaling HK$12,500 (US1,600).
■ United States
`Boom' sparks bomb scare
The word "boom" found scrawled in the bathroom of a US Airways airplane during a flight from Washington to Boston caused a brief bomb scare on Thursday. Massachusetts state police with bomb-sniffing dogs swept flight 2024 after it landed in Boston's Logan International Airport but found no explosives, said Ann Davis, a spokeswoman at the federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA). "The pilot and command called ahead and notified TSA and the Massachusetts state police who met the aircraft and ultimately swept the aircraft using explosive detection canines," she said.
■ United States
Cirque du Soleil to do Elvis
Elvis may have left the building, but in a couple of years fans of Cirque du Soleil may find the King of Rock n' Roll swiveling his hips and singing Jailhouse Rock from a trapeze. CKX Inc, which owns rights to Elvis Presley's name, likeness and music publishing, has teamed up with the famed troupe of acrobats and contortionists to produce Presley-themed shows around the world, the company said on Thursday. Dubbed the "Elvis Presley Projects," the joint venture will incorporate Cirque du Soleil touring shows and permanent productions at fixed venues.
■ United States
`Star Trek' auction planned
Trekkies will be setting their phasers to "bid" this fall when Christie's holds the first official studio auction of memorabilia from all five Star Trek TV series and 10 movie spinoffs. CBS Paramount Television Studios is cleaning out its vaults for the sale, comprising more than 1,000 lots totaling some 4,000 items, to be held from Oct. 5 to 7 in conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the original Star Trek series, Christie's announced on Thursday. Fans and collectors will have a chance to acquire artifacts ranging from models of the starship USS Enterprise to Captain James Kirk's uniform or Captain Jean-Luc Picard's jumpsuit.
■ Brazil
Mobiles used to direct crime
Family visits in Sao Paulo prisons only take place once a week, but jailed Brazilian gangsters chat on their contraband cellphones every day. Smuggled cellphones are used to keep in contact with families but also to direct criminal operations outside the penitentiary walls -- such as the gangster offensive unleashed in Sao Paulo in the past week. Godofredo Bittencourt, chief of the anti-organized crime police unit, said the mobile phone has become "deadlier than the gun" in prisons. The wives of two gang members said they had easy telephone contact with their husbands until a few days ago.
■ United States
Escapee back behind bars
A convicted robber who escaped from a California prison nearly 40 years ago was back behind bars on Friday. Michael Smith, 63, was found using his mother's maiden name, working as a painter and living in a trailer in Oklahoma, according to police. Smith was in the third year of a five-years-to-life sentence when he slipped away from Soledad Correctional Training Facility in June of 1968, according to Terry Thornton of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). A CDCR agent resurrected the hunt for Smith in December of 2003 and tracked him to Creek County in Oklahoma, where a surprised Smith was taken into custody by sheriff's deputies tipped off by the agent, Thornton said.
The military is to begin conscripting civilians next year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said yesterday, citing rising tensions with Thailand as the reason for activating a long-dormant mandatory enlistment law. The Cambodian parliament in 2006 approved a law that would require all Cambodians aged 18 to 30 to serve in the military for 18 months, although it has never been enforced. Relations with Thailand have been tense since May, when a long-standing territorial dispute boiled over into cross-border clashes, killing one Cambodian soldier. “This episode of confrontation is a lesson for us and is an opportunity for us to review, assess and
The Russian minister of foreign affairs warned the US, South Korea and Japan against forming a security partnership targeting North Korea as he visited the ally country for talks on further solidifying their booming military and other cooperation. Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov spoke on Saturday in Wonsan City, North Korea, where he met North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un and conveyed greetings from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kim during the meeting reaffirmed his government’s commitment to “unconditionally support and encourage all measures” taken by Russia in its conflict with Ukraine. Pyongyang and Moscow share identical views on “all strategic issues in
‘FALSE NARRATIVE’: China and the Solomon Islands inked a secretive security pact in 2022, which is believed to be a prelude to building a Chinese base, which Beijing denied The Australian government yesterday said it expects China to spy on major military drills it is conducting with the US and other allies. It also renewed a charge — denounced by Beijing as a “false narrative” — that China wants to establish a military base in the South Pacific. The comments by a government minister came as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a six-day visit to China to bolster recently repaired trade ties. More than 30,000 military personnel from 19 nations are set to join in the annual Talisman Sabre exercises from yesterday across Australia and Papua New Guinea. “The Chinese military have
The US Department of Education on Tuesday said it opened a foreign funding investigation into the University of Michigan (UM) while alleging it found “inaccurate and incomplete disclosures” in a review of the university’s foreign reports, after two Chinese scientists linked to the school were separately charged with smuggling biological materials into the US. As part of the investigation, the department asked the university to share, within 30 days, tax records related to foreign funding, a list of foreign gifts, grants and contracts with any foreign source, and other documents, the department said in a statement and in a letter to
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