BEIJING: A six-year-old boy in China had his eyes gouged out, blinding him for life, reports said yesterday, in a gruesome attack that may have been carried out by a ruthless organ trafficker. Family members found the boy covered in blood some three to four hours after he went missing while playing outside, according to a television report posted online. The child’s eyes were found nearby but the corneas were missing, reports said, implying that an organ trafficker was behind the harrowing attack. Police offered a 100,000 yuan ($16,000) reward for information leading to the arrest of the sole suspect, who they said was a woman. The boy was drugged and “lost consciousness” before the attacker removed his eyes, state broadcaster China Central Television said on its account on Sina Weibo.
Taiwan issues storm warning
TAIPEI: Taiwan suspended ferry services in its southeast yesterday as weather forecasters issued a warning about Tropical Storm Kong-Rey, a week after the island was battered by strong winds and torrential rains. The Central Weather Bureau urged the public to take precaution against downpours even though the storm was not likely to make landfall. The warning prompted authorities to cancel ferries between Taitung and two offshore scenic spots — Green Island and Orchid Island.
Jakarta to host Miss World
JAKARTA: The Miss World beauty pageant will go ahead in Indonesia next month despite objections from the country’s leading Islamic federation, an organiser said yesterday. “We have obtained support from the government so there are no obstacles,” said Syafril Nasution, corporate affairs director for RCTI, the organiser and official broadcaster of the event. The pageant is scheduled for September 28 in Sentul, near here.
Largest ever attack
on Net in China
BEIJING: China has been hit by the “largest ever” attack on its Internet structure, crashing the country’s .cn servers, according to a government-linked agency. The national domain name resolution service came under a distributed denial of service attack for around two hours early on Sunday, the China Internet Network Information Centre said. Domain name resolution is a key part of how the Internet works, converting a website name into a set of digits — the IP address — that computers can recognise.
Agencies
