■SOUTH KOREA
Man kills boy over license
A motorist who hit and slightly injured an 11-year-old boy has admitted later murdering the child in an attempt to cover up driving offenses, reports said yesterday. The 48-year-old hit the child while under the influence of alcohol and while he was disqualified from driving. He took the boy to a small hospital but was referred to a larger facility. Instead of visiting the larger hospital, the man drove to an isolated spot in Damyang Country 220km south of Seoul and shot the boy four times with a powerful air rifle, several newspapers reported. The interior decorator, arrested after a tip-off, reportedly told police he killed the boy to avoid a further driving ban. He was to get his license back in September.
■CHINA
Assaulted waitress freed
A waitress who killed a government official when he assaulted her was set free yesterday, ending a case that sparked online debate over widespread abuse of power. Deng Yujiao (鄧玉嬌) was originally detained on suspicion of murder but was found guilty of the lesser charge of causing injury with intent, Caijing.com said. Deng stabbed township official Deng Guida (鄧貴大) to death at a bathhouse on May 10 in Hubei Province when he assaulted her after she refused to provide “special services” — slang for sex. Deng Yujiao’s “mood disorder” limited her criminal responsibility, Caijing said, citing the court decision.
■PHILIPPINES
Manila to keep jewelry
The justice secretary yesterday said jewelry worth US$310 million confiscated from former first lady Imelda Marcos would remain under lock and key in the government’s control. Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera told reporters the collection was considered part of the Marcos family’s stolen wealth and remained the subject of a pending civil forfeiture case. Devanadera’s predecessor, Raul Gonzalez, issued a legal opinion in which he said that Imelda evidently “remains to be the legitimate owner of the prized jewelleries.” It was not clear why Gonzalez, who was earlier removed from the justice department after a five-year stint, issued the legal opinion.
■AUSTRALIA
Arrests made in gang death
Three people were arrested yesterday over the murder of Melbourne gangland figure Desmond “Tuppence” Moran, who was shot multiple times in a suburban cafe, police said. A 43-year-old man is expected to be charged with murder and two women, aged 64 and 45, will be charged as accessories, police said, after Monday’s execution-style killing. Media reports said one of the arrested women was Moran’s sister-in-law Judy.
■NETHERLANDS
ICC approves Bemba trial
The International Criminal Court (ICC) ruled on Monday that former Democratic Republic of Congo vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba will stand trial on five charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. A pre-trial panel of judges “found that there is sufficient evidence to establish substantial grounds to believe that Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo is criminally responsible” for murder, rape and pillaging, said a court statement. They “referred the case for trial” on three counts of war crimes and two of crimes against humanity for atrocities allegedly committed in the Central African Republic from October 2002 to March 2003 by militia commanded by Bemba.
■FRANCE
Scientology faces ban
The prosecutor in a trial involving the Church of Scientology has asked that the group be banned and handed a hefty fine if convicted on fraud and other charges. The prosecutor’s office has asked that fines of 2 million euros (US$2.77 million) be levied against the group and its French bookstore if the two entities are found guilty on charges of organized fraud and illegal pharmaceutical activity. Such fines are exceptionally high by French standards.
■ISRAEL
PM’s popularity grows
A new poll shows a spike in support for Israel’s prime minister in the wake of a policy about-face that saw Benjamin Netanyahu express support for a Palestinian state in a speech this week. Netanyahu’s approval rating has jumped to 44 percent, up from 28 percent a month ago. Seventy-one percent of respondents say they agree with the content of the speech, though 67 percent do not think it will move peace closer. The poll was conducted by the Dialog company and published yesterday in the daily Haaretz.
■UNITED KINGDOM
Puppy survives flushing
A puppy had a lucky escape after a four-year-old boy accidentally flushed it down the toilet when he was trying to wash it, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported on Monday. The week-old cocker spaniel’s young owner, Daniel Blair, thought the puppy needed a wash after it got muddy playing in the garden, so he put it in the toilet and flushed it. But his plan went disastrously wrong when the animal was swept away and became trapped in a waste pipe for nearly four hours. Firefighters and animal welfare officers could not reach it, so Daniel’s mother eventually called a plumber, who found the dog lying upside down in a pipe about 20m away from their house in London. Plumber Will Craig said he used a long rod to push the puppy to the nearest manhole cover, where it could be fished out to safety. Daniel has apologized, blaming his twin brother for getting the dog dirty and saying: “I had to give him a wash. I’m so, so sorry. I won’t do it again.”
■UNITED KINGDOM
‘Meat-free Mondays’
Beatles legend and famed vegetarian Paul McCartney was joined by John Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono on Monday to launch an appeal in Britain for “meat-free Mondays.” McCartney said going vegetarian, even for just one day a week, was good for the environment because of research suggesting it cuts greenhouse gas emissions from the world’s livestock population. “I thought this was a great idea. To just reduce your meat intake maybe by one day a week and this would seriously benefit the planet,” he told reporters, alongside Ono and a bevy of other stars including Kelly Osbourne and Moby.
■VENEZUELA
Alleged killer identified
Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami on Monday said that authorities have identified the person they say is responsible for the weekend murder of opposition politician Jhonathan Rivas. Rivas, 31, of the opposition First Justice (PJ) party, was shot in the chest and killed on Saturday in the town of El Tigre, 320km southeast of Caracas. The alleged killer “has been fully identified,” said El Aissami, who suggested in remarks to reporters that the individual has not yet been detained, but that an arrest is pending.
■MEXICO
Migrant abductions growing
Criminal gangs, but also the authorities, kidnapped almost 10,000 undocumented migrants in six months in an alarming, growing trend, the national human rights commission said on Monday. Most of the 9,758 people abducted between September and February were from Central America, including almost 70 percent from Honduras, and the average ransom demand was US$2,500 per person, the report said. Most abductions were carried out by criminal groups, but Mexican authorities participated in the abductions of at least 91 migrants, the report said.
■UNITED STATES
Alleged fetus cutter indicted
A woman accused of cutting a fetus out of another woman after they met during a search for baby clothes on the Internet has been indicted on aggravated murder charges in Hillsboro, Oregon. Korena Roberts, 27, had been facing a lesser murder charge before a grand jury indicted her on Monday on four counts of the more serious charges. Hermann said the aggravated murder charges allege that Roberts attempted to kidnap the baby of 21-year-old Heather Snively and rob her, and tried to conceal the crimes. Snively was eight months pregnant when she was killed.
■UNITED STATES
Ambulance stopper no ‘ogre’
An Oklahoma state trooper who pulled over an ambulance with a patient inside and then scuffled with a paramedic had every right to make the stop since the vehicle did not have its emergency lights and sirens on, an attorney said on Monday. Gary James, an attorney for trooper Daniel Martin, also said at a news conference that the trooper is not the “ogre” he has been made out to be. Interest in the May 24 incident has soared since authorities released video over the weekend that was taken by the dashboard camera in Martin’s patrol car. The video shows paramedic Maurice White Jr repeatedly telling Martin he has a patient in the back and wants to go to the hospital. James said Martin had a legal right to pull over the ambulance for failing to yield the right of way when the patrol unit tried to pass it moments earlier.
■UNITED STATES
Moms sue over sex tests
Six New York City mothers are suing the maker of a baby sex test that touted its product as “infallibly accurate,” saying the test results they received were wrong. In papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, the women claim they received incorrect results from the US$275 Baby Gender Mentor test by Acu-Gen Biolab Inc, of Lowell, Massachusetts. Lawyer Barry Gainey said the lawsuit charges the product’s makers and marketers with negligence and fraud, and seeks unspecified damages. The suit says the test maker advertised its product as the “gold standard for prenatal gender detection,” the New York Post reported.
The US on Monday confirmed that it would resume sales of offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia, as concerns over human rights in the kingdom’s Yemen war give way to US hopes for it to play a role in resolving the conflict in Gaza. More than three years after imposing limits on human rights grounds over Saudi Arabian strikes in Yemen, the US Department of State said that it would return to weapons sales “in regular order, with appropriate congressional notification and consultation.” “Saudi Arabia has remained a close strategic partner of the United States, and we look forward to enhancing that partnership,”
Women’s accessories sold by some of the world’s most popular online shopping firms contained toxic substances sometimes hundreds of times above acceptable levels, authorities in Seoul said yesterday. Chinese giants including Shein, Temu and AliExpress have skyrocketed in popularity around the world in the past few years, offering a vast selection of trendy clothes and accessories at low prices. The explosive growth has led to increased scrutiny of their business practices and safety standards, including in the EU and South Korea, where Seoul officials have been conducting weekly inspections of items sold by online platforms. In the most recent inspection, 144 products from
Russia yesterday ordered more evacuations in a region bordering Ukraine as it battled to contain an unprecedented push onto its territory by Kyiv’s forces. Ukraine last week sent troops into Russia’s border region of Kursk, in the largest cross-border operation by Kyiv since Moscow launched its offensive more than two years ago. The assault, which has sent tens of thousands of people fleeing, marked the most significant attack by a foreign army on Russian territory since World War II. A top Ukrainian official said that the operation was aimed at stretching Moscow troops and destabilizing the nation after months of slow Russian advances
DEMOCRACY: The Brazilian president’s shifting attitude toward leftist authoritarians is because he does not want to be seen as supporting dictatorships, analysts said Brazil and Nicaragua have expelled each other’s ambassadors in a tit-for-tat diplomatic row, as Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva appears to recalibrate his approach to authoritarian leftist rulers who were once seen as allies. The dual expulsions this week came amid growing tensions between Lula and another supposedly progressive leader, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose claim of re-election the Brazilian president has yet to acknowledge. Lula and his counterparts in Colombia and Mexico have called on Maduro to release voting tallies from all polling stations to support his win. On Thursday, Brazil announced the expulsion of the Nicaraguan ambassador as