HONG KONG
Law Society head resigns
The president of the Law Society of Hong Kong resigned yesterday after a no-confidence vote exposed a growing determination by traditionally conservative lawyers to challenge perceived threats by Beijing to the territory’s judicial independence. Society president Ambrose Lam (林新強) angered many of the society’s 8,000 members by voicing support for controversial statements from Beijing that judges needed to be patriotic, and for praise for the Chinese Communist Party. The vote of no confidence in Lam on Thursday last week was a surprise to some who said lawyers had faced intense pressure from mainland-linked firms to back him. Lam came under fire for repeatedly defending a policy document published by China’s State Council that said “loving the country” was a basic requirement for the territory’s administrators, including judges.
THAILAND
‘Baby factory’ DNA tested
Authorities yesterday said that they were testing the DNA of a Japanese man at the center of a “baby factory” scandal to determine if he is the biological father of the nine infants. Police are seeking to question the man — who has since left the country, but voluntarily sent the DNA sample — about the mysterious discovery earlier this month of the nine babies in a Bangkok apartment. Five other babies previously cared for at the same property are thought to have already been taken out of the country. Police Major General Naiyawat Phadermchit said officials were awaiting the result of the DNA test. According to the Japanese weekly magazine Shukan Post, the man is the son of a Japanese IT millionaire. Police Colonel Witawat Chinkham said that the Japanese man claimed to be the father of all the babies.
MALAYSIA
Alleged bomb plot foiled
Police have foiled plans for a wave of bombings drawn up by militants inspired by Iraq’s Islamic State (IS) group, a top counter-terrorism official said yesterday. The 19 suspects, who were arrested between April and June, were formulating plans to bomb pubs, discos and a Malaysian brewery of Danish beer producer Carlsberg, said Ayob Khan Mydin, deputy head of the police counter-terrorism division. He said the group, all Malaysians, had visions of establishing a Southeast Asian Islamic caliphate spanning Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore, and planned to travel to Syria to learn from the IS, previously known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The plotters included professionals and two housewives. They were only in the early stages of discussing their plans and did not have heavy weapons or bomb-making knowledge, he said.
IRAN
Book review proves costly
Two photographers have been sentenced to a total of 75 lashes after criticizing an illustrated book published by a local official. The two men from Qazvin Province were put on trial when Mohammad-Ali Hazrati, the head of the local cultural heritage organization, felt insulted by the negative reviews the pair had written in separate posts online about his photography book, Qazvin, the Land of Times Past. Khalil Imami and Abbas Alipour had criticized Hazrati for using public money in publishing a book they felt lacked artistic merit. The book was sponsored by Qazvin’s municipality and reportedly distributed for free. A Qazvin court found the pair guilty of insulting Hazrait and sentenced them to be lashed, local media reported.
CHINA
Two die in Ganzi
Two people have died in the Tibetan region of Ganzi Prefecture after they were injured by police gunfire while protesting the detention of a local leader, overseas Tibetan rights groups said. One protester committed suicide on Sunday in police custody in the town of Louxu, while another died that same day from untreated wounds, the British-based group Free Tibet and the US-based International Campaign for Tibet said Monday. Police in Ganzi did not answer phone calls yesterday. The International Campaign for Tibet identified the protester who committed suicide as Lo Palsang and said he was denouncing a crackdown on local Tibetans. The group said police opened fire Tuesday last week on about 100 protesters who were upset about police treatment of people in the region.
CHINA
Miners trapped by blast
An explosion yesterday in a coal mine in Anhui Province trapped 29 workers underground, state media reported. About 30 rescuers were trying to reach those trapped in the private mine in Huainan city, but were awaiting the arrival of heavy rescue equipment, China Central Television said. Ten other miners managed to escape, one of whom was injured. TV reports said the government had ordered the mine shut down twice in June, but it had continued operating.
INDIA
Train hits rickshaw, 21 dead
A passenger train struck a crowded rickshaw, killing 21 people at a railway crossing in Bihar state, a railway official said yesterday. All the passengers and the driver of the motorized rickshaw died in Monday’s accident near Semra, railway police superintendent Vinod Kumar said. The crossing gate was open and the rickshaw was crossing the track when the train hit it and dragged it 500m.
UNITED STATES
A group of Alabama hunters are celebrating the catch of a lifetime: a 4.5m alligator weighing more than 450kg. Al.com reports the monster gator was pulled from the water in south Alabama early on Saturday during the state’s alligator hunting season. Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries biologists were able to measure the alligator, but weighing it posed a challenge. The first attempt completely destroyed a winch assembly used to hoist most average gators, so they had to use a backhoe to lift the animal. The alligator was caught by Mandy and John Stokes, Kevin Jenkins and his children — Savannah, 16, and Parker, 14.
UNITED STATES
Man, 101, a fixture at work
Herman “Hy” Goldman turned 101 this weekend and will not quit after 73 years working at the same New Jersey job. Goldman still shows up four days a week at light fixtures company Capitol Lighting in East Hanover. His coworkers celebrated his birthday with him on Monday. Aside from a brief absence to serve in the US Army in World War II, Goldman has worked at Capitol Lighting since 1941.
UNITED STATES
Students held in alleged plot
Two students in the Los Angeles area have been arrested under suspicion of plotting a mass shooting at a South Pasadena High School, police said on Monday. The two adolescents had planned to kill three staff members and as many students as possible, the police alleged in a statement. The statement said school officials became aware of “suspicious behavior” and reached out to police. One student was arrested without incident, while the other tried to flee as police tried to arrest him at his home, police said.
COLOMBIA
Paper uploader faces jail
In what open rights activists are calling an absurd application of copyright law, a 26-year-old student could face up to eight years in jail for posting a scholarly article on the Internet. Diego Gomez, a biologist working on amphibian conservation, is accused of violating “economic and other rights” after he uploaded a master’s thesis by a fellow scholar to the text-sharing Web site Scribd four years ago. A year later, the paper’s author filed a criminal complaint against Gomez, who is to go to trial on Sept. 2. The penal code states that “reproducing, distributing supplying or offering a work without the permission of the author” is punishable by prison sentences of between four and eight years and fines of up to US$327,000.
UNITED STATES
Father ‘sorry’ for kidnappers
The father of two Amish girls abducted last week in New York state said he feels sorry for the man and the woman authorities say kidnapped and sexually abused them before letting them go. The parents of the sisters, aged 7 and 12, spoke to reporters at their home in Oswegatchie on Sunday, two days after Stephen Howells Jr and Nicole Vaisey were charged with kidnapping with the intent to physically or sexually abuse the girls. “It is sad,” the 44-year-old father said. “They must have ruined their whole life.”
ICELAND
Eruption warning raised
The government has raised its alert level for the risk of a possible volcanic eruption to orange — the second-most severe level. The warning comes amid swarms of earthquakes that have taken place since Saturday in Bardabunga.
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
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‘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
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
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