HANOI: Vietnam yesterday accused a Chinese vessel of firing on one of its fishing boats in disputed waters, denouncing the incident as a “serious violation” of its territorial sovereignty. The Vietnamese boat was fishing near the contested Paracel Islands last Wednesday when it was “chased and shot at by a Chinese vessel, causing a fire in the cabin,” the Foreign Ministry said, compensation for fishermen for their loss.
$5 trillion made from land grabs
BEIJING: Chinese authorities have earned 30 trillion yuan ($5 trillion) in profit by selling land obtained from farmers to developers over the years, a top economist said according to state media. Wu Jinglian, an economist at the Development Research Centre of the State Council, China’s cabinet, said: “Some (government) agencies have earned around 30 trillion yuan, by conservative estimates, from land price spreads in the urbanisation campaign over the past decades.”
Immigration
taken for a ride
Philippines: A South Korean wanted in his country for a $25m investment scam secured a working visa in the Philippines even after being detained here, and left Manila despite a hold-departure order. Authorities at the Incheon International Airport arrested Park Sung Jung on his arrival from Manila. South Korean authorities said they were not alerted by Philippine officials about Park’s departure from Ninoy Aquino International Airport on a Philippine Airlines flight to Incheon.
Diving camera owner traced
TAIPEI: A Taiwanese airline said yesterday it had traced the American owner of a diving camera, lost in Hawaii in 2007 and found last month on a Taiwan beach more than 6,000 miles (9,600km) away. China Airlines said the owner of the Canon, identified as Lindsay Crumbley Scallan from Georgia, would be offered a free round-trip ticket to Taiwan to collect it. The memory card with photos of Scallan’s Hawaii visit are intact in the barnacle-encrusted camera. Scallan lost the waterproof camera in August 2007 during a diving trip in Maui.
Khmer leader fit to stand trial
PHNOM PENH: Pol Pot’s former deputy Nuon Chea is fit to continue standing trial for war crimes, medical experts told Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge court yesterday. Nuon Chea, the surviving leader of the communist regime which oversaw the “Killing Fields” era in the late 1970s, is on trial alongside former Rouge head of state Khieu Samphan, 81. The court will rule on Friday if Chea is fit for trial. On March 14, regime co-founder Ieng Sary, 87, died.
Two Tibetans burn selves
BEIJING: Two Tibetans, including a mother of four, set themselves on fire in China in two days, rights groups and media reports said yesterday. Kal Kyi, 33, burned herself to death in protest against Chinese authorities in southwestern China’s Sichuan province, in Aba. Lhamo Kyab, 43, set fire to himself yesterday in the western Chinese province of Gansu.
Agencies
