theSun | THRUSDAY NOVEMBER 27 2008
news without borders
briefs
Daughter pleads
for dad’s life
BEIJING: China’s top court has
approved the death sentence
of a scientist accused of pass-
ing information to Taiwan, mak-
ing his execution imminent, his
daughter said yesterday as she
appealed for mercy.
“A court official told us that
the death sentence has been
confirmed by the Supreme
Court, so the execution could
be very soon,” Ran Chen,
daughter of Wo Weihan, who
was sentenced to death in
May last year, said.
“We think it could happen
tomorrow (today),” she said.
“Chen has been told by a
Beijing court that she can visit
her father on Thursday morn-
ing”. The Beijing court refused
to immediately comment on
the case when contacted.
– AFP.
Syrup suspected
of killing 24 kids
ABUJA: Two dozen children
have died and nine have
fallen ill in Nigeria during
the last three weeks after
being given teething syrup,
the health minister said on
Tuesday.
Dr Hassan Lawal ordered
a government investigation
into the deaths.
“All parents, especially
mothers, have been advised
to immediately stop the use
of teething mixture and syr-
ups for now pending the full
report of the investigation of
the outbreak, which is caus-
ing renal failure in children,”
Lawal told reporters here.
At least 33 cases of renal
failure in children have been
reported in Lagos, Zaria and
Ibadan since Nov 3.
Nigerian health officials,
working alongside the World
Health Organisation, specifi-
cally warned parents not to
use a teething syrup called
“My Pikin.”
The minister did not name
the manufacturers of “My
Pikin.” – Reuters
LA bids to be first
solar city in US
LOS ANGELES: Los Angeles
wants to become the United
States’ first solar city by gener-
ating about 10% of its electricity
through solar power, the Los
Angeles Times reported on
Tuesday.
The ambitious plan would
create the largest solar base of
any city in the world, according
to solar energy experts.
Under the plan proposed by
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa the
sprawling city would purchase
1,280 megawatts of solar power
– about 500 megawatts would
come from private generating
plants in the Mojave Desert, a
further 380 megawatts would
come from a programme to
encourage residents to put so-
lar panels on their roofs, while
another 400 megawatts would
come from panels on city-owned
buildings. – dpa
11
Germany to send 1,400 troops
to fight Somalia pirates
BERLIN: Germany may contribute up sonnel would crew a frigate patrolling off attacks by pirates in recent days af-
to 1,400 military personnel to a Euro- the Horn of Africa and the remainder ter responding to calls for assistance.
pean Union mission to combat piracy would be commandos providing se- Meanwhile in Kuala Lumpur
off the coast of Somalia, government curity on German-owned merchant yesterday, a maritime watchdog said
sources said on Tuesday. vessels in the region. the ship sunk by the Indian navy in the
The daily Frankfurter Allgemeine The EU mission which is expected Gulf of Aden was a Thai fishing trawler
said the defence ministry had given the to comprise five-to-seven ships and not a Somali pirate “mother ves-
green light for the troops and sailors to backed by surveillance aircraft will be sel” as was first announced.
take part in “Operation Atalanta”, to be under the command of British Rear- Noel Choong, head of the Interna-
launched around Dec 8. Government Admiral Philip Jones. tional Maritime Bureau piracy report-
sources confirmed the figure. Two German frigates patrolling off ing centre, said the vessel it attacked
The newspaper said 500 naval per- Somalia helped merchant ships fend was a Thai-operated fishing boat
which had been seized by pirates off
A picture
Yemen on Nov 18.
taken
from a TV
“One Thai crew member died dur-
footage on
ing the attack by the Indian navy, on
the same day the vessel was hijacked
Tuesday
by Somali pirates.”
shows
Choong said that one Cambodian
pirates on a
crewman was rescued by passing
speedboat
fishermen four days later, but 14 other
approaching
crew on the Kiribati-registered vessel
one of their
are still missing.
mother
India’s navy defended its actions,
boats
saying the vessel its stealth frigate
anchored
fired on had been hostile.
near Eyl in
“The Indian ship asked them to stop
Somalia.
for investigation on repeated calls. The
vessel responded by saying it would
blow up the Indian ship,” its spokesman,
Cmdr Nirad Sinha, said. – Agencies
REUTERSPIX
» Hindustania rules the waves
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