Lawyers for victims of China’s tainted milk scandal said yesterday the government had warned them not to sue, although three lawsuits had already been filed and more were expected.
The three suits filed separately seek damages over the contamination of dairy supplies with the industrial chemical melamine, which has been blamed for killing four babies and sickening 53,000 children.
However, the courts involved had yet to notify plaintiffs whether the cases would be accepted, while judicial authorities were warning lawyers to back off, Beijing attorney Li Fangping (李方平) said.
The first case was filed in late last month in central Henan Province, said the Shanghai-based attorney in that case, Ji Cheng (季成). He declined further comment.
State media reported last week that another case had been filed in Guangdong Province earlier this month, with the latest suit filed Monday in Gansu Province where the scandal first emerged.
Meanwhile, the Japanese importer of Chinese-made frozen beans containing thousands of times the legal level of pesticide said yesterday that the contamination likely occurred after harvest.
Japan on Wednesday ordered retailers to pull the green beans off shelves after a woman fell ill from eating a product which had 34,500 times the legal limit of pesticide.
Two more people also complained of illness, although test results released yesterday found no abnormal level of pesticides.
The beans’ manufacturer, Yantai Beihai Foodstuff in eastern China, said it did not believe the company was responsible.
School bullies in Singapore are to face caning under new guidelines, but the education minister on Tuesday said it would be meted out only as a last resort with strict safeguards. Human rights groups regularly criticize Singapore for the use of corporal punishment, which remains part of the school and criminal justice systems, but authorities have defended it as a deterrent to crime and serious misconduct. Caning was discussed in the parliament after legislators asked how it would be used in relation to bullying in schools. The debate followed stricter guidelines on serious student misconduct, including bullying, unveiled by the Singaporean Ministry of
‘GROSS NEGLIGENCE?’ Despite a spleen typically being significantly smaller than a liver, the surgeon said he believed Bryan’s spleen was ‘double the size of what is normal’ A Florida surgeon who is facing criminal charges after allegedly removing a patient’s liver instead of his spleen has said he is “forever traumatized” by that person’s death. In a deposition from November last year that was recently obtained by NBC, 44-year-old Thomas Shaknovsky described the death of 70-year-old William Bryan as an “incredibly unfortunate event that I regret deeply.” Bryan died after the botched surgery; and last month, a grand jury in Tallahassee indicted Shaknovsky on a charge of manslaughter. “I’m forever traumatized by it and hurt by it,” Shaknovsky added, also saying that wrong-site surgeries can happen “during
A MESSAGE: Japan’s participation in the Balikatan drills is a clear deterrence signal to China not to attack Taiwan while the US is busy in the Middle East, an analyst said The Japan Self-Defense Forces yesterday fired a Type 88 anti-ship missile during a joint maritime exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces, hitting a decommissioned Philippine Navy ship in waters facing the disputed South China Sea, in drills that underscore Tokyo’s rising willingness to project military power on China’s doorstep. The drill took place as Manila and Tokyo began talks on a potential defense equipment transfer, made possible by Japan’s decision to scrap restrictions on military exports. The discussions include the possible early transfer of Abukuma-class destroyers and TC-90 aircraft to the Philippines, Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. Philippine Secretary of
A South Korean judge who last week more than doubled former South Korean first lady Kim Keon-hee’s prison sentence was found dead yesterday, police said. Shin Jong-o was found unconscious at about 1am at the Seoul High Court building, an investigator at the Seocho District Police Station in Seoul said. Shin was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead, he said. “There is no sign of foul play in the death,” the investigator added. Local media reported that Shin had left a suicide note, but the investigator said there was none. On Tuesday last week, Shin presided over 53-year-old Kim’s appeal trial, finding her guilty
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