Mid Day International News |
- Dungeon rapist in China sentenced to death
- World's oldest woman dies at 115
- Prince William to wear military uniform for wedding
- Berlusconi sex scandal: Showgirls complain of losing jobs
- Former Russian spy Anna Chapman for MP?
- 'My neighbour shot my son'
- Assange 'smelled like bag lady,' claims new book
| Dungeon rapist in China sentenced to death Posted: A Chinese man known as 'dungeon devil' who was accused of kidnapping and caging two teenage girls in a dungeon for nearly two years as sex slaves was sentenced to death. The Intermediate People's Court of Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province, on Sunday convicted 40-year-old Zeng Qiangbao, a worker in a steep factory in Wuhan, on the charges of rape, illegally imprisoning, robbery and forcible seizure, official media here reported on Tuesday. The court heard that Zeng had caged two teenage girls in a dungeon for 590 days and 317 days as sex slaves until they were rescued by police on May 14 last year. He also raped another nine women from July 2007 to May 2010, the prosecutor said. According to the prosecutor, on September 16, 2008, Zeng captured 16-year-old Hu and took her to a dungeon under his house and raped her. On July 2, 2009, Zeng kidnapped another 19-year-old girl surnamed Zhou and sexually assaulted her. The girl was also kept in the dungeon. The girls were repeatedly beaten and raped by Zeng, the prosecutor said. The two were rescued on May 14, 2010, after a man surnamed Du visited his friend's electronics repair shop and found a note in a partially dismantled television. It read: "Help. I've been held prisoner underground for more than a year." Along with the words was a hand-drawn map that showed where the girls were being kept, as well as the telephone number and address of Zhou's family. Du called the number and informed Zhou's father, who lived just 200 meters from where his daughter was being held. The father immediately called police and arrived at the scene a few hours later. The police later rushed to the scene and found the two girls naked and on the verge of death. A week before the rescue, Zeng was detained by the local police for allegedly raping a woman who later reported him to the police. However, Zeng said nothing to the police about the girls in the dungeon when police interrogated him. The case shocked the media and the public, and Zeng was referred to as a 'dungeon devil'. "Zeng, who devastated the physical and psychological health of the girls and exerted an extremely negative influence on society, should be severely punished," said the verdict. After the verdict was announced, Zeng said he would appeal to a higher court, claiming the sentence is too severe as he didn't cause death or pregnancy. He also claimed he has a mental problem and will apply for psychiatric evaluation. Residents of Zeng's hometown, Xujiagang, a remote village in suburban Wuhan, were shocked as Zeng had been an "introvert, silent and honest person" in their minds. They said he had been divorced and once lived with his mother. A 60-year-old neighbour surnamed Xu told China Daily that "he was the last person in the village I would have expected to do a thing like this." Li Meijin, a professor of crime psychology at Chinese People's Public Security University, said Zeng's behaviour should be seen as sexual perversion and he should take full responsibility.
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| World's oldest woman dies at 115 Posted: The world's oldest woman has died in Texas aged 115, the US media reported. Eunice Sanborn, who held the title of world's oldest person for less than three months after the death of Eugenie Blanchard, a nun from the French West Indies in November 2010, died yesterday morning, the Daily Progress newspaper quoted a friend as saying. Sanborn celebrated her 115th birthday on July 20. She had been confined to her bed for several years, but was often helped to a chair outside her home in Jacksonville where she had lived for 75 years. She was married three times, her most recent husband passing away in 1979; she outlived her only daughter, the friend was quoted as saying. The title of the oldest living woman now goes to 114- year-old Besse Cooper of the US state of Georgia, according to the Gerontology Research Group. The oldest man is also an American -- 114-year-old Walter Breuning of the state of Montana, the group said.
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| Prince William to wear military uniform for wedding Posted: Prince William is expected to follow royal tradition and walk down the aisle in military dress - like his father Prince Charles and uncle Prince Andrew - with his RAF uniform likely to be the one selected. It is reported that the Savile Row tailors Gieves & Hawkes, which already supplies suits to the royal, has been chosen to make the outfit. "Prince William did have the option to wear a normal suit but has decided to wear a military uniform, the Daily Mail quoted a source, as telling Hello. "He will decide in due course which one he will choose," the source added. The starting price for a Gieves & Hawkes RAF uniform is 2,800 pounds, can take up to 10 weeks to make and will involve at least two sittings. Over the decades, many royal men have married in military uniform with the prince's father and grandfather, the Prince of Wales and Duke of Edinburgh respectively, both marrying in Royal Navy dress. William, however, is an RAF officer serving as a helicopter pilot with the Search and Rescue Force at RAF Valley in Anglesey, North Wales. It is expected that he will choose to wear the RAF uniform in recognition of his present role. William is a Knight of the Order of the Garter, and is likely to wear the Order's blue sash, with its attached badge and star, on his wedding day. He has received one military honour and will proudly wear his Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal.
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| Berlusconi sex scandal: Showgirls complain of losing jobs Posted: Small-time actresses and showgirls, who are at the centre of the prostitution scandal involving Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, have complained of losing their works because of the notoriety of the case, a media report here said. Berlusconi, 74, is alleged to have paid 'several' women for sex during wild 'bunga bunga' parties at his palazzo outside Milan -- a charge that almost all of them have denied, the Daily Telegraph reported on Monday. Several of the women said they are no longer receiving offers to pose for fashion shoots, feature in promotional campaigns or work as 'image girls' at corporate events. One of the women, Barbara Guerra, 32, a men's magazine model and reality television contestant, said she recently received a call cancelling her appearance at a sporting event. "No one said outright that it was because of my involvement in the scandal, but I'm almost sure that was the reason," she said. Miriam Loddo, another of the women named in the investigation, said she had barely been out of her house in the last month and a half. "I've lost a heap of work," she said. Similar complaints were made by Barbara Fagioli, 24, a former Playboy model, who said she had received virtually no calls from agents since the scandal broke, the daily said. Prosecutors in Milan want Berlusconi to face trial on allegations that he slept with one, possibly two, under age prostitutes, and that in one case he abused his office by leaning on police to release the girl on theft charges. He has denied the allegations. Paying for sex with a prostitute who is under the age of 18 is a serious offence in Italy. Both the girls were 17 at the time of the alleged encounters.
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| Former Russian spy Anna Chapman for MP? Posted: Former Russian spy Anna Chapman appears to be lining herself up to become an MP for Vladimir Putin's ruling United Russia party, organising what looks suspiciously like an election campaign. Chapman (28), joined the youth wing or Young Guard of the party in December, becoming one of its most glamorous leaders.  Anna Chapman Revelling in her celebrity as one of the ten spies America deported last summer, her brief was to instill patriotism in young Russians. Now, she is going one step further, launching what looks like a campaign for parliamentary elections this December. Her first campaign event is expected to take place in Volgograd, a city in southern Russia, this week when she is due to take part in an official commemoration of the 68th anniversary of the Soviet defeat of the Nazis in the Battle of Stalingrad. "Chapman has started to make an energetic political career," said Vitaly Arkov, a local political analyst. Some analysts said she was likely to face opposition from rival politicians anxious to keep their cushy positions. Since her humiliating deportation from the United States last summer, Chapman has been busy turning disaster into triumph. She has her own weekly prime time TV programme, has been the subject of a sugary This is Your Life style show, and has also done a spot of erotic modelling.
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| Posted: As protests in Egypt enter its seventh day, Ida Sahaira says she has been a prisoner in her home, as she is afraid to step out and get caught in the crossfire
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| Assange 'smelled like bag lady,' claims new book Posted: WikiLeaks boss has been severly criticised in new book, which alleges that he wore women's clothing to evade American intelligence agents Here's one leak Julian Assange may really not appreciate. The WikiLeaks founder dressed as a woman to evade US intelligence officers whom he swore were following him, according to excerpts from a new book written by two journalists.  The book also reveals that Assange did not know his biological dad till the age of 25 The journalists, David Leigh and Luke Harding wrote the book Wikileaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy after spending months with the unpredictable figure who began the secret-spilling agency. The disguise, according to their sources, came despite no sign of obvious pursuit by anyone much less American agents. "You can't imagine how ridiculous it was," said WikiLeaks' data analyst James Ball. "He'd stayed dressed up as an old woman for more than two hours." Finding his roots He may not often be spotted dressing like a woman, but Assange has often spoken of his suspicion that Americans are trying to have him killed, or capture him. Despite his paranoia, according to the book excerpts, there was one person he wanted to find: his father, John Shipton, whom he didn't meet until he was 25. Shipton, according to one friend, was like a mirror shining back at Julian. Shipton met Assange's mother, Christine, at an anti-Vietnam war demonstration in 1970, according to the book. After they separated, Christine married Brett Assange, an actor who took the family on his travels across the country. After Brett left her, Christine reportedly became involved with an amateur musician, who according to Julian Assange, seemed like "a manipulative psychopath". Once he reunited with his father, the two seemed close early on. Despite having no contact with Shipton for the first quarter-of-a-century of his life, Assange only months later registered wikileaks.org under his father's name. However, that wasn't the only pseudonym he would use. In 2006, Assange used the name Harry Harrison for his online dating profile which when discovered last year was a hit among journalists who gawked at his awkwardness. "WARNING: Want a regular, down to earth guy? Keep moving," he wrote. "I am danger, Achtung!" Spirit of '76 Julian Assange boasted that his site would have been embraced by the Founding Fathers. "In fact, our founding values are those of the US revolution," he said during an interview.
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