Fri, Oct 31, 2014 page7

• World News Quick Take

  • Agencies
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  SOUTH KOREA

  Soldier jailed for 45 years

  A soldier was sentenced to 45 years in military prison yesterday for beating a conscript to death in a highly publicized case of barrack-room bullying. At a court martial in Yongin, south of Seoul, the defendant, a sergeant surnamed Lee, was convicted of instigating repeated beatings of a young private named Yoon. Four other soldiers received jail terms of between 15 and 30 years, while a sixth soldier was given a suspended prison sentence. Private Yoon died on April 6 and investigators concluded his death was caused by “crush syndrome” — major trauma to the skeletal muscle — and secondary shock from prolonged violence. Prosecutors had sought the death sentence against Lee, who led the others in subjecting Yoon to regular bullying and assaults, including sessions of crude water-boarding. He was also humiliated by being forced to lick the spit of other soldiers from the ground.

  FRANCE

  Man dies after drinking shots

  Police opened an investigation on Wednesday following the death of a man in his 50s after he downed 56 shots during a drinking competition. The man, who was not named, was attempting to beat the previous record of 55 shots in a Clermont-Ferrand bar on Friday last week. “He swallowed about 30 glasses in the space of a minute,” a police source said. The man was driven home in a drunken stupor and emergency services took him in later that night. He died the next day in hospital after falling into a coma and suffering a heart attack, said his daughter, a 21-year-old student. The bar manager told La Montagne that the man was drinking “much too fast” and he advised him to stop after the first 30 or so shots, but the daughter disputed that version of events, saying it was only after the 56 shots had been consumed that he was told to go home. “My father died by his own hand, but it was the bar that served him the drinks,” she said. The daughter said she would sue the bar if it transpired there was negligence in the case.

  NORWAY

  Flight delayed by mouse

  Norwegian Air Shuttle, already plagued by costly flight delays on its long-haul routes, was forced to delay a flight to New York by five hours on Tuesday because of a hunt for a mouse in the cockpit. “The pilots discovered a mouse on the flight deck,” spokeswoman Charlotte Holmbergh said on Wednesday. “We had to make sure that no cables or wires had been chewed. This does not happen very often, but it does happen from time to time.” Norwegian became the only European budget carrier last year to fly long-haul routes, but a string of technical troubles with its new Boeing 787 Dreamliners delayed many of its flights, leaving passengers stranded at airports from Bangkok to Florida. “At least the mouse was caught,” Holmbergh added.

  CHINA

  Uighur mayor in graft probe

  The ethnic Uighur mayor of a major city in China’s unruly western region of Xinjiang is being investigated for corruption, state media said yesterday, one of the few minority officials to be caught up in the government’s war on graft. Hotan Mayor Adil Nurmemet is being investigated for “suspected serious discipline violations,” Xinhua news agency said, using the usual euphemism for graft. The 46-year-old official took up his current position in early 2009, the brief report said, without providing further details. Hundreds of people have been killed in the region in the past two years, most in violence between Muslim Uighurs and ethnic majority Han Chinese.

  SOUTH AFRICA

  Meyiwa suspects nabbed

  Police have arrested two people in connection with the murder of national soccer captain Senzo Meyiwa during a robbery at his pop-star girlfriend’s home, media reported on Wednesday. According to the public broadcaster SABC, two men were being held for questioning after they were arrested in Nongoma, KwaZulu Natal province. The SABC said the suspects were nabbed following a tip-off by members of the public. The 27-year-old goalkeeper was shot dead on Sunday when burglars broke into Kelly Khumalo’s house south of Johannesburg, making off with a cellphone. Police have offered a reward of 250,000 rand (US$23,000) for any information leading to the killer’s arrest. Meyiwa will be buried tomorrow in his home town of Durban.

  CANADA

  Canoe escape bid foiled

  Halifax police say a man attempted an ocean getaway after allegedly breaking into a home, using a red canoe to flee the scene. Police spokeswoman Theresa Rath said it is rare for pursuits to occur in the cool waters of the Northwest Arm in Halifax, especially with the suspect paddling away in an effort to evade arrest. The man ended up paddling ashore at a nearby park, where officers and a police dog were waiting and arrested him. Rath says the red canoe and other items taken in the break-in have been recovered.

  UNITED STATES

  Couple not betting on girl

  A couple in western Michigan with 12 sons is expecting baby No. 13, and even though they are sticking to their tradition of not finding out in advance whether they are having a boy or girl, they said they would be shocked if their streak is broken. Jay and Kateri Schwandt’s baby is due May 9, the Grand Rapids Press reported. The couple said they would welcome either a boy or a girl. “If we were to have a girl, I think we would go into shock,” Kateri Schwandt said. “It would probably be disbelief.” If he had a choice, Jay Schwandt said he would love to have a girl, but they are just “hoping for a healthy baby.” Still, he would like to see the effect of adding a girl to the mix in a household with 12 boys. “I’ve experienced all the boy stuff,” he said. “As long as we are having all these children, it would be really neat to experience the other side.”

  BRAZIL

  Murderers wed in prison

  Two women behind murders that rocked the nation have married in jail, national media reported on Wednesday. Suzanne Von Richthofen, 30, was 18 when she was jailed for 39 years in 2002 after arranging for her then-boyfriend and his brother to kill her parents. The killers beat the parents to death with iron bars. Von Richthofen turned down parole to stay in a couples’ wing at Tremembe prison in Sao Paulo state with partner Sandra Regina Sanchez, who is serving 27 years for her role in the death of a child kidnapped and killed in 2006 after a ransom went unpaid. Media reports said the two women began a relationship after meeting in a prison clothing factory. Sanchez had previously been involved with Elize Matsunaga, who gained notoriety for killing and dismembering her businessman husband, Kitano Matsunaga, in June 2012.

  UNITED KINGDOM

  National Sperm Bank opens

  The National Sperm Bank opened yesterday to help meet the rising demand for donors. Located at the Birmingham Women’s Hospital, 185km northwest of London, it is designed to help single women, men with fertility problems and same-sex couples to build families, officials said.
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