8 œ theSun | THRUSDAY SEPTEMBER 3 2009

news without borders

briefs Michael Jackson to lie among the stars

LOS ANGELES: Two months after his trance to the cemetery in Glendale will David,La Pieta and Moses. The cemetery
death, Michael Jackson is to buried today be closed in an effort to keep fans at bay, also boasts a stunning recreation of Le-
Boy buys sex from girl aged 13 in a private sunset ceremony that will see police said. onardo da Vinci’s Last Supper in stained
TOKYO: A 14-year-old Japanese schoolboy is suspected of having the “King of Pop” laid to rest alongside a Jackson is to be interred at a ceremony glass. Other entertainment icons buried
paid for sex with a schoolgirl aged 13 after meeting her through galaxy of Hollywood stars. inside the cemetery’s massive Great at Forest Lawn include Humphrey Bogart,
an online dating service, a police spokesman said yesterday. The The tragic pop music icon, whose Mausoleum, an elaborate neo-classical Lon Chaney, Nat King Cole, Walt Disney,
Kanagawa Police Department sent the boy’s case to prosecutors mysterious death on June 25 was ruled a building inspired by Genoa’s famous Errol Flynn and Jimmy Stewart.
on Tuesday on charges of violating the child prostitution law, the homicide by city officials last week, will be Campo Santo. One of Jackson’s brothers, Marlon,
spokesman said, adding that it may be turned over to a family court interred in an elaborate mausoleum at the Jackson’s gold-plated casket is to be meanwhile revealed in an interview with a
handling juvenile crimes. Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the suburb placed in a private section of the mauso- British newspaper that the singer’s children
The junior high school boy met the girl in March after he sent a of Glendale. leum that is also home to the final resting – Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11 and Prince
message to a dating service website, saying: “I’m a man of 18 with Only close family and friends of Jackson places of famous names from Hollywood’s Michael II, 7 – would leave notes in their
a lot of money,” according to the police spokesman. The boy then will be in attendance for the event, in stark golden age such as Clark Gable, Jean Har- father’s coffin. Marlon said messages
had sex with the girl at a public bathroom near a railway station contrast to the star-studded public memo- low and Carole Lombard. reading “Daddy we love you, we miss you,”
in Kagamihara, Kanagawa prefecture, west of Tokyo, and paid her rial held at Los Angeles’s Staples Centre in Forest Lawn, which opened in 1906, is would be placed in the casket alongside
¥60,000 (RM2,261), the spokesman said. – AFP July attended by 20,000 mourners. also home to exact replicas of some of the singer’s trademark single white glove.
Several streets surrounding the en- Michelangelo’s greatest works, including – AFP
US pair admit crossing into N. Korea
SEOUL: Two US journalists
held by North Korea for il-

Indonesia quake kills 32,

legal entry admitted they
crossed into the reclusive
state, but said North Ko-
rean guards arrested them
on the Chinese side of the
border and dragged them
back into the country.

damages 1,300 homes

In their first public ac-
count on Tuesday, Laura
Ling and Euna Lee said
when they set out onto the
frozen river marking the
border between the two
countries they had no inten-
tion of leaving China. JAKARTA: A powerful earthquake A Social Ministry official said at as Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-
“But when our guide killed at least 32 people and forced least 32 people had died, more than largest city, about 500km northeast
beckoned for us to follow thousands to evacuate on Indo- 700 houses were badly damaged of Tasikmalaya, and on the resort
him beyond the middle of nesia’s main island, where more and about 600 others had suffered island of Bali, 700km to the east.
the river, we did, eventually than 1,300 homes were damaged, moderate damage in the quake. At least 27 people were injured
arriving at the riverbank on government agencies said. However, Priyadi Kardono, an in Jakarta, an official said.
the North Korean side.” The 7.0 magnitude quake, as official at the National Disaster Miti- Hundreds of people sheltered
They quickly turned back to- recorded by the US Geological Sur- gation Agency, warned the death in a military base in Tasikmalaya,
wards the Chinese side of the vey, shook buildings in the capital toll could be much higher, as scores fearing the initial temblor would be
border and saw North Korean Jakarta and flattened homes in of houses and office buildings had followed by aftershocks, a disaster
guards chasing them, the pair villages closer to the epicentre in collapsed or suffered severe dam- management agency official said.
said, adding: “We were firmly West Java. age, and it was proving difficult to Local tsunami warnings were is-
back inside China when the soldiers apprehended us.” – Reuters contact some of the affected areas. sued for coastal areas within several
REUTERS

“Communications with the coast- hundred kilometres of the epicentre

al areas were completely cut, so we soon after it struck, but were with-
Two Koreas restore military hotline don’t know the conditions there. No drawn about half an hour later.
SEOUL: North and South Korea yesterday restored a military hotline reports have come from those areas, The seismology agency put the
in the west of the peninsula, officials said, in the latest sign of easing although we assume those were the magnitude at 7.3 with the epicentre
relations after months of tension. Seoul’s unification ministry said the most affected ones. It’s possible the 142km southwest of Tasikmalaya.
phone and fax lines were restored following a test run on Tuesday. death toll could grow higher.” Residents in Jakarta reported
The lines had been shut down since May. The move to reactivate The health ministry said it buildings shaking, and thousands
them came one day after the North lifted restrictions on border cross- was sending medical teams to the of people streamed onto the streets
ings by South Koreans visiting the Kaesong joint industrial estate. Mili- affected areas in West Java. State of the capital from office and apart-
tary officers from the two sides “have decided to operate working-level news agency Antara reported that ment blocks.
communications lines across the western border from today after a villagers were clearing away the “The chandelier started moving
test run yesterday,” said ministry spokesman Chun Hae-Sung. – AFP rubble from collapsed buildings to and it started shaking really strong,”
try to find survivors and bodies. said Jakarta resident Victor Chan,
Pilot suspended over turbulence “Many houses are flattened to the who lives in a 34th floor apartment.
ground,” said Edi Sapuan in Marga- “It lasted quite long. I was really
HONGKONG: A pilot has been removed from flying duties after mukti village, not far from Tasik- scared and rushed downstairs.”
the plane he was piloting hit severe turbulence on a flight to malaya. “Only the wooden houses A witness in Tasikmalaya said
Bangalore, India, his airline said yesterday. The Dragonair Airbus remain standing. Many villagers are several houses collapsed, including
A boy, with an injured
A330 carrying 231 passengers and 13 crew members was rocked injured, covered in blood.” the mayor’s office, and a mosque
finger, cries as he
violently for several seconds after hitting clear-air turbulence “We ran as soon as the quake was damaged. Other buildings
waits for treatment
Aug 2 over the Indian Ocean on its way from Hongkong. hit. Then five minutes later my were damaged in Bandung, West
at a hospital after
No one was injured and the “Fasten seat belt” sign was house collapsed,” Edi told Reuters. Java, a major city that is home to
the quake shook
switched on as soon as the turbulence began. However, a The quake was felt as far away several universities. – Reuters
Tasikmalaya.
spokeswoman for Hongkong Dragon Airlines Ltd said a number
of passengers suffered air sickness. A report on the incident has
been sent to the Hongkong Civil Aviation Department, and the
spokeswoman said in a statement, “As is standard procedure in
any such incident, the captain has stood down from duty while
the investigation is conducted.” - dpa
Defiant Dalai Lama heads for Taipei
The Dalai KAOHSIUNG (Taiwan): The Dalai the reaction from China. Tibet’s exiled newspaper yesterday. The official
Doctor convicted of swindle Lama greets Lama’s Taiwan tour entered its third spiritual leader met with Paul Shan, said a planned economic cooperation
HONG KONG: A personal physician to former Hongkong leader Shan during day yesterday as he prepared to move the Catholic cardinal of the southern framework agreement, widely seen
Tung Chee-hwa was facing a possible jail term for misusing almost their meeting closer to the island’s capital Taipei city of Kaohsiung, before a scheduled as the first step towards an actual
US$500,000 (RM1.7 million) of university medical donations. Profes- yesterday. where concerns were mounting about departure later for the north, where free trade pact with China, could be
sor Lam Shiu-kum, 66, who has treated Tung for 10 years and is a the government worried publicly delayed because of the Dalai Lama’s
world authority on gastroenterology, was convicted on Tuesday of about China ties. visit, “to the detriment of Taiwan”.
misconduct in public office from 2003 to 2007. “The coming few days will be ex- The Taiwan government said ear-
He is to be sentenced today after pleading guilty to diverting almost tremely crucial,” said Wu Poh-hsiung, lier that China had cancelled various
US$500,000 in donations to the University of Hongkong’s medical chairman of the ruling Kuomintang delegations to the island, including
faculty to his own company. A reference letter from Tung, Hongkong’s (KMT) party, according to the Taipei- one led by a Chinese deputy central
chief executive from 1997 to 2005, was handed to the court praising based China Times newspaper. bank governor.
Lam, who was dean of the university’s medical faculty at the time of The Dalai Lama’s five-day visit to The Dalai Lama was scheduled to
the offence. Lam, who claims he used the money partly to entertain Taiwan, which he says is meant to head north from Kaohsiung yesterday
faculty guests and potential donors, was released on bail. The offence comfort victims of Typhoon Morakot, afternoon, according to a statement
carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison. – dpa has triggered two strong reactions from the foundation that represents
from China, which vilifies him as a him in Taiwan.
champion of independence for Tibet. The foundation gave no details
Britain did not want bomber to die in jail China sees both Tibet and Taiwan about planned activities until his ex-
LONDON: Britain did not want the Lockerbie bomber to die in as inalienable parts of its territory, pected departure tomorrow, but said
prison, Foreign Secretary David Miliband said yesterday, while and the fact that he is now touring a mass appearance today at a stadium
insisting London did not pressure the Scottish government the island, which has governed itself with a capacity for thousands in Taoy-
over the issue. since 1949, is an extra source of ire uan, a city near Taipei, had been called
“We did not want him to die in prison... we weren’t seeking in Beijing. off. This followed other cancellations
his death in prison,” he told BBC radio, while again denying “We have a typhoon blowing from earlier in the week, including an av-
there was a deal with Libya to release Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet Beijing,” an unnamed KMT official idly anticipated press conference on
AFP

al-Megrahi. – AFP said, according to the China Post Monday. – AFP