BEIJING: Former senior Chinese politician Bo Xilai has said he will appeal against his conviction and life sentence for corruption, a lawyer said yesterday, adding further drama to the high-profile case. Bo, the key figure in China’s biggest political scandal for decades, had proved defiant during court proceedings. “He informed the court yesterday of his request for an appeal following the verdict,” said the lawyer who asked not to be named.
Typhoon Usagi kills 25 in China
BEIJING: Typhoon Usagi has left 25 people dead in southern China’s Guangdong province, state media said yesterday. National television broadcaster CCTV did not say how the victims died but said multiple roads had been damaged and trees knocked down. Guangdong is in the densely populated Pearl River Delta which includes Hong Kong, also hit by the storm, the most powerful on Earth this year. Usagi packed winds of 165km per hour as it hit land on Sunday.
Bangla workers protest for pay
DHAKA: More than 100 Bangladeshi garment factories were forced to shut yesterday as thousands of workers protested for a $100 a month minimum wage and about 50 people were injured in clashes, police and witnesses said. Workers took to the streets for a third day, blocking major roads and attacking vehicles in the Gazipur and Savar industrial zones on the outskirts of the capital Dhaka. Police fired teargas and rubber bullets and workers responded by throwing broken bricks. Some workers vandalised factories, witnesses said.
Reservoir filling angers tribes
KUALA LUMPUR: A state-linked Malaysian energy firm said yesterday it had begun filling the reservoir behind a controversial dam as a group of angry tribespeople protested. Some 100 Penan from seven villages set up a blockade on the only road to the remote, $1.3bn Murum dam on Borneo island in the state of Sarawak, activists said. They demanded 500,000 ringgit ($156,225) for the loss of their land, property and livelihood,” said Mark Bujang, Secretary of the Save Sarawak Rivers Network. The dam is expected to flood 245sqkm and cause 1,500 Penan and 80 Kenyah natives to lose their homes.
Family reunions plea to N Korea
SEOUL: South Korea yesterday urged North Korea to review its decision to postpone a reunion for families separated by the Korean War, saying it had “deeply wounded” those chosen to participate. Hundreds of divided family members from Koreas were scheduled to meet at the North’s Mount Kumgang resort from Wednesday in the first such reunion for three years. But the North said on Saturday that it was putting the event on indefinite hold, blaming the “hostile” attitude of the South Korean government. “It’s inevitable that the decision should be criticised by South Koreans and the international community,” said a spokesman for Seoul’s Unification Ministry. About 72,000 South Koreans from divided families are still wait-listed for a chance to join reunion events.
Agencies
