12/5-
A panel of experts set up after the Tuen Mun
bus crash has urged the government to strengthen
barriers on 16 highways. Twenty-one people were
killed in July when a KMB doubledecker plunged
over an elevated section of the Tuen Mun Highway.
Twenty others were hurt. In its report, the
panel also urges officials to study the safety
of other roads.
12/8-
A mainland court has sentenced to death a rubbish
recycler who killed ten competitors in a three-month
murder spree. The China News Service said the
court in the southeastern city of Wenzhou convicted
Chen Yongfeng of the murders, which occurred
between February and May this year. It said
Mr Chen planned to appeal. In a separate civil
suit, the court also ordered him to pay compensation
of 90,000 yuan, but the news service did not
identify the plaintiffs.
12/9-
Taiwanese actor and stuntman Ke Shou-liang,
who jumped over the Yellow River in the 1990s
on a motorbike, has died in Shanghai. Xinhua
quoted a city police spokeswoman as saying that
the stuntman may have died after an all-night
drinking binge. Media outlets in Taiwan reported
the death, and rumours suggested he may have
died during a car stunt. Mr Ke, who was 50,
starred in several films before becoming a stuntman.
12/10-
A jury in the
corruption trial of a senior engineer with the
Housing Department has adjourned after nearly
nine hours of deliberations. Chan Kau-tai, who's
the father of canto-pop singer Eason Chan, has
been charged with accepting more than three
million dollars in bribes from building contractors
and material suppliers. The offences allegedly
took place between 1999 and 2001. Mr Chan has
pleaded not guilty to all 14 charges of accepting
an advantage as a public servant. The jury will
resume deliberations again tomorrow morning.
12/11-
China marked the second anniversary of its entry
to the World Trade Organisation by giving itself
top marks on market opening despite foreign
complaints that it is dragging its feet. Two
years after winning entry to the WTO with pledges
to knock down tariffs and sweep aside many barriers
to foreign firms, many observers say China's
record is mixed. But Long Yongtu, the former
trade negotiator who clinched China's membership
after years of talks, said it deserved an "A"
grade for its efforts.
12/12-
A pro-government
think tank said Hong Kong wouldn't be ready
for a directly-elected leader by 2007. The executive
director of the one country, two systems research
institute, Shiu Sin-por, has spoken out against
the idea in a seminar at City University this
afternoon. He said it had taken the United States
two centuries to develop its democratic process
and that Hong Kong was nowhere close to being
able to cope with a fully-elected government.
12/15-
A police officer
has been found dead outside the ICAC headquarters
in Queensway. He's thought to have fallen from
the Murray Building Carpark. The senior constable
was to have faced trial in the North Kowloon
Magistracy this morning for possessing ammunition
without a license, possession of drugs and possessing
another person's identity card.
12/16-
In South Korea,
officials have ordered the killing of three
thousand ducks, after the disovery of bird flu.
They're in addition to 5,000 chickens, slaughtered
at the farm where the virus has already killed
20,000 birds. Tests have shown that the virus
is H5N1, but the authorities are still unsure
whether it's the same strain as the one that
killed six people in Hong Kong in 1997.
Thursday, April 1, 2004 16:26
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Right Reserve of Chany's Time
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