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Asia Beat: Mar 13 2008
BANGKOK, Thailand
Suspected Canadian pedophile Mr. Swirl – so named because of the way he allegedly disguised his face in Internet photographs – has had his case adjourned until June 2. Christopher Neil, 32, denies charges of abusing a nine-year-old boy, and was arrested in Thailand after a global appeal by Interpol. The former teacher's case was adjourned after judges found he had yet to obtain a defence lawyer.
HANOI, Vietnam
Vietnamese rescue workers had recovered four bodies from a capsized oil tanker that dumped 30 tonnes of oil, blackening the coastline at the resort town of Vung Tau and raising fears the rest of the 1,700 tonnes of crude oil could leak from the ship's 10 tanks. Divers have recovered four of the 14 sailors missing since the Duc Tri capsized in rough seas off southern Vietnam. A sole survivor, a 50-year-old man, was plucked from the South China Sea by a passing fishing boat two days after the shipwreck.
BEIJING, China
China's Supreme Court rejected 15 per cent of all death sentences handed down by lower courts in 2007 due to a lack of evidence, injustices and illegal court procedures, according to state media. The total number of death sentences handed down by Chinese courts last year was not revealed, but the verdict reversals came after the high court was empowered to review all capital punishment cases. At least 1,010 people were executed in China in 2006 according to publicly reported executions, out of a global total of 1,591. But Amnesty International says credible sources suggest the figure is closer to 8,000 people executed in 2006.
CANBERRA, Australia
Hong Kong martial arts action star Jackie Chan returned to his Australian roots at the weekend to bury his father alongside his mother almost six years after she died in Australia's capital. Chan's father Charlie died in a Hong Kong hospital, aged 93, after battling prostate cancer. Chan and his son Jaycee brought his body back to Canberra to be laid to rest beside Lee Lee Chan, who died in 2002. Jackie Chan, star of Rush Hour and Rumble in the Bronx, was raised between Australia, where his father was a successful restaurateur, and Hong Kong, where Chan attended the China Drama Academy.
NEW DELHI, India
Two 12-hour-long power blackouts shut factories and businesses, disrupted trains and left millions of people without power in and around India's capital at the weekend. The outages – in Delhi and several neighbouring states – were blamed on heavy fog and pollution that settled on transmission lines, shorting them when their insulation proved insufficient to handle the load.
BANGKOK, Thailand
The law finally caught up with suspected Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout in a luxurious five-star hotel in Bangkok when armed police stormed a room, ending a global quest to pin down the alleged gun-runner. Branded the "Merchant of Death" for feeding weapons to conflict zones around the world, including Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda terror network in Afghanistan. Bout is being held in Thailand on charges of conspiring to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons to Colombian FARC rebels.
BEIJING, China
Chinese authorities say they have foiled two plots - one to crash an airliner, and another targeting the Beijing Olympic Games.Officials said a plane crew prevented an attempt to crash a flight from Xinjiang province to Beijing on Friday. Two passengers are being questioned. Another official said a raid that saw two people killed in Xinjiang in January foiled a plot by Uighur separatists on the Games. Critics say the startling incidents may be an orchestrated attempt to justify preventative strikes against suspected terrorists in Xinjiang.
HONG KONG
Lust, Caution star Tang Wei has been banned in the Chinese media because of the sexual nature of her performance in director Ang Lee's steamy drama. An internal memo from China's State Administration of Radio Film and Television (SARFT) was reportedly sent to all television stations and print media in China, stating that a new television commercial starring Tang for skin care brand Pond's was to cease broadcast immediately. Tang's deal with Pond's is worth a reported $1 million.
TOKYO, Japan
Five people have been found dead in a car with a charcoal burner inside in what is suspected to be yet another group suicide in Japan. The car was sealed with tape from inside, leading to suspicions it was a group suicide. Four of the five dead - three men aged 21-37 and a 19-year-old woman - were from different parts of Japan, suggesting they met on the Internet. More than 30,000 people kill themselves every year in Japan, the majority through carbon monoxide poisoning.
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