China sentences 12 people over anti-Japanese violence
BEIJING: Courts in the western Chinese city of Xi’an have sentenced 12 people to up to 10 years in prison for attacks on Japanese-brand vehicles and a driver during a wave of anti-Japanese violencein September. The attacks came amid public anger over the Japanese government’s purchase of a tiny uninhabited East China Sea island group north of Taiwan that China claims as its territory. Angry demonstrations broke out in numerous Chinese cities, although those in Xi’an were by far the most violent. In the most serious case, Cai Yang was sentenced on Friday to 10 years and fined $42,000 for bashing the driver of a Toyota Corolla on the head when he attempted to prevent Cai from smashing the vehicle. Others were sentenced to less than two years for smashing cars.
Travel ban imposed on Morsi
Cairo: Egypt’s General-Prosecutor Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud has ordered a travel ban on ousted president Mohamed Morsi and 35 other leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood for investigations on killing protesters, state-run Al-Ahram news website reported. The ban was also slapped on Mohamed Saad al-Katatni, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party, Rashad al-Bayoumi, deputy general guide of the group, and some staff members of Islamic TV channels, Xinhua said. The report said that investigations revealed the accused’s involvement in inciting violence against anti-Morsi protesters in Cairo, Giza, Alexandria and Marsa Matrouh, which reportedly led to the death of at least 11 people and injured hundreds more. The decision came a day after the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated president by the military Wednesday night, after he failed to respond to millions of protesters who took to the streets to demand his removal and an early presidential election. Earlier, the Egyptian Supreme Judiciary Council approved the return of Mahmoud, a Hosni Mubarak-era prosecutor-general, who was dismissed by a controversial constitutional declaration issued by Morsi in November last year.
Suicide attack kills 12 policemen in south Afghanistan: Officials
KANDAHAR: A suicide bomber killed 12 policemen in southern Afghanistan on Friday when he blew himself up inside a police station, officials said. The bomber targeted a base used to patrol the main road from Uruzgan province to neighbouring Kandahar, through one of Afghanistan’s most volatile regions where Taliban militants have a strong presence. ‘A suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a battalion station in Tirin Kot, the provincial capital of Uruzgan,’ Abdullah Hemat, the Uruzgan governor’s spokesman, told AFP. The bomber, who was on foot and wearing a suicide vest, blew himself up while the policemen were having lunch.