The Korea Herald

For some in H.K., home is a wooden ‘coffin’

Sept 10, 2012

Survey found that a third of households pay rents of up to 75 percent of their incomesJust a 20-minute train ride away from Hong Kong’s glitzy city centre is Sham Shui Po, the city’s poorest district.On the streets, hawkers sell their wares ― three potatoes go for HK$5 (U.S. 64 cents) and four cans of beer, HK$11, providing affordable bulk for the stomach and escape for the mind.Upstairs, H.W. Ng, 35, sits in his home, a wooden box measuring 0.9m by 1.5m ― one of Hong Kong’s “coffin homes” ― whi
Four-time burglar allowed to walk free

Sept 10, 2012

A British burglar was set free when a judge with 20-years’ experience let him go citing the desperation that had driven him to his crime, according to news reports. Richard Rochford, 26, burgled three houses and attempted to burgle another in a span of five days in February to feed the drug addiction he acquired when he was in prison earlier for arson. In total he stole a laptop, money, a car, jewelry, handbag, and electrical items. However, Judge Peter Bowers said, “It takes a huge amount of co
1 Alps shooting survivor sent home

Sept 10, 2012

The 4-year-old daughter of a British couple slain in the French Alps was flown home Sunday, while her sister, 7, came out of a coma, officials said.Four-year-old Zeena al-Hilli was the only member of her family not harmed in the Wednesday shootings that left her parents, a grandmother and an innocent bystander dead, The Guardian reported.Saad al-Hilli, an Iraqi-born engineer, along with his wife I
Brazil football player kills his mistress and feeds body to pet dog

Sept 10, 2012

A star football player for Brazilian club CR Flamengo allegedly killed his mistress and fed her remains to his dog after she told him about their love child, according to news reports. To preserve his honor, 27-year-old Bruno Fernandes de Souza planned the kidnap and murder of his mistress Eliza Samudio, 25, with eight others, including his wife, family members, and former detective Luiz Santos. The famous goalkeeper took action when the model told him she would take legal actions to prove the p
Man trying to sing patriot song 911 times

Sept 10, 2012

WASHINGTON CITY (UPI) -- A Utah man Sunday began an attempt to sing Lee Greenwood‘s “God Bless the USA” 911 times in 48 hours in remembrance of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.Alan Foote was singing at the September 11th Tribute & Patriotic Marathon at Staheli Farms in Washington City, The (St. George) Spectrum reported.The event began at 6:30 a.m. Sunday and Foote was aiming to finish the song for the 911th time by 6:46 a.m. Tuesday, coinciding with the 11th anniversary of the attacks in New
12-year-old boy steers car to safety

Sept 10, 2012

PEABODY (UPI) -- A 12-year-old Massachusetts boy steered a car to safety after his father suffered a seizure while driving on a highway, police said.The incident happened around 11:40 a.m. Saturday on Interstate 95 in Peabody, The Boston Herald reported.The boy, whose name was not reported, called 911 after his father had a seizure. While on the phone with a dispatcher, he managed to steer the car into the breakdown lane and then apply the breaks, police said.When police arrived, the father was
No sign of killings in isolated Amazon village

Sept 10, 2012

Venezuelan officials and journalists investigating reports of a possible massacre in a remote indigenous village in the Amazon have found people peacefully cooking plantains over a communal fire, and no sign of any killings.Yanomami Indians in the village of Irotatheri spoke with journalists through a guide, who translated their accounts that there had been no violence. The government flew in jour
Iraq’s fugitive VP convicted as attacks kill 92

Sept 10, 2012

Iraq’s fugitive Sunni vice president was sentenced Sunday to death by hanging on charges he masterminded death squads against rivals in a terror trial that has fueled sectarian tensions in the country. Underscoring the instability, insurgents unleashed an onslaught of bombings and shootings across Iraq, killing at least 92 people in one of the deadliest days this year.It’s unlikely that the attack
Fighting intensifies over Aleppo

Sept 9, 2012

DAMASCUS (AFP) ― Fighting for control of a key army base in Aleppo raged on Saturday, as Russia tried to revive a divisive accord on ending the bloodshed that calls for a government of unity in Syria.As Lakhdar Brahimi prepared for his first visit to Damascus as international envoy on Syria, EU foreign ministers meeting in Cyprus upped the pressure, saying they agreed on the need to beef up sanctions against the Syrian regime.On the ground, the army claimed a victory against rebels in the northe
12 Kenyans killed in revenge ethnic attack

Sept 9, 2012

NAIROBI (AFP) ― Kenyan gunmen killed at least 12 people in a revenge attack following a massacre last month in which 52 people were killed in the remote southeastern Tana region, Red Cross officials said Friday.“Eight men, two women and a child died in the attacks,” Kenya Red Cross spokesperson Nelly Muluka said, adding that one person later died “from gunshot injuries on his way to hospital.”“There is a lot of tension in the area following the attack by the gunmen,” she added. “These are reveng
Indonesia ‘bomb workshop’ blast injures three: police

Sept 9, 2012

JAKARTA (AFP) -- Indonesian police on Sunday said three people were injured after an explosion at a house near Jakarta suspected to be a bomb workshop.The blast took place late Saturday in a building listed as an orphanage in the town of Depok, in the outskirts of Jakarta, national police spokesman Anang Iskandar said in a text message.“Three people were injured, one seriously, in the explosion,” he said, adding that the severely-injured male victim had a broken arm and burns covering around 50
H.K. drops plans for Chinese patriotism classes

Sept 9, 2012

HONG KONG (AP) ― Hong Kong officials backed down Saturday on plans to make students take Chinese patriotism classes following a week of protests in the former British colony sparked by fears of pro-Beijing “brainwashing.”The semiautonomous Chinese city’s leader, Leung Chun-ying, said it would be up to schools to decide whether to hold the classes. They were to have become a mandatory subject in 2015 after a three-year voluntary period.Public anger over the classes has been growing for months. Ma
Dutch Labor party surges in polls

Sept 9, 2012

AMSTERDAM (AP) ― With less than a week to go before national elections, an abrupt rise in the popularity of the brainy new leader of the Netherlands’ Labor Party, Diederik Samsom, has conservative Prime Minister Mark Rutte suddenly fighting to hang on to his slim lead in the polls.Neither candidate is seeking to radically alter the Netherlands’ relationship with Europe, but Samsom, a former Greenpeace activist with an engineering degree in nuclear physics, has said he views Rutte’s emphasis on a
China steps up quake rescue efforts

Sept 9, 2012

BEIJING (AP) ― Rescue workers cleared roads Saturday so they could search for survivors and rush aid to a remote mountainous area of southwestern China after twin earthquakes killed at least 80 people. More than 200,000 villagers were evacuated after Friday’s quakes toppled thousands of homes and sent boulders cascading across roads in a region of small farms and mines near the border between Guizhou and Yunnan provinces, where some of China’s poorest people live. The official Xinhua News Agency
France’s richest man turns to Belgium as wealth tax looms

Sept 9, 2012

BRUSSELS (AFP) ― Bernard Arnault, the richest man in France and the world’s fourth-wealthiest, confirmed reports Saturday that he was seeking Belgian nationality as Paris moves to impose a 75-percent wealth tax.But the 63-year-old billionaire head of the LVMH luxury goods empire denied he planned to be a tax exile and said he would also keep his French citizenship.The Belgian daily La Libre Belgique earlier quoted Georges Dallemagne, the head of the Belgian parliament’s naturalization commission