'Sexy Kim Jong-Un' Spoof Fools Chinese Paper

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent

The Chinese Communist Party's official newspaper appears to have fallen for a spoof by a US satirical website.

An article in The Onion last month declared North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un to be the "Sexiest Man Alive For 2012".

"With his devastatingly handsome, round face, his boyish charm, and his strong, sturdy frame, this Pyongyang-bred heartthrob is every woman's dream come true," the spoof article read.

"Blessed with an air of power that masks an unmistakable cute, cuddly side, Kim made this newspaper's editorial board swoon with his impeccable fashion sense, chic short hairstyle, and, of course, that famous smile."

However, The People's Daily appears to have taken it all rather too seriously.

In their English and Chinese editions, the newspaper not only quoted The Onion and its editor but also ran a 55-page photo special - a dedicated slideshow of the North Korean leader.

The original story in The Onion

"He has that rare ability to somehow be completely adorable and completely macho at the same time," the paper quoted Marissa Blake-Zweiber, editor of The Onion Style and Entertainment as saying.

Responding to the People's Daily report, The Onion has now updated its own article: "For more coverage, please visit our friends at the People's Daily in China, a proud Communist subsidiary of The Onion, Inc. Exemplary reportage, comrades."

The Onion has a history of fooling unsuspecting overseas news outlets.

In September, Iran's Fars News Agency published a made-up poll from The Onion that claimed many Americans preferred Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to President Barack Obama.

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Alligators Found Guarding Washington Pot Crop

Detectives called to a Washington home after reports of a shooting discovered 15 marijuana plants being guarded by alligators.

The reptiles were kept in a room with the plants and hissed at detectives who opened the door, according to a Thurston County Sheriff spokesman.

"This was a fairly atypical event," Lieutenant Greg Elwin said.

Police said that standing among the plants and reptiles was an adult entertainer with a floor-to-ceiling brass stripper pole beside her.

"We see brass poles from time to time, but there were alligators," Lt Elwin said.

"They were there for protection for the marijuana grow area. They were just crawling around on the floor."

One detective compared the scene to a Hollywood movie, officers told the Seattle Times.

The 1.5-metre long alligators were placed in a bath and given pieces of raw chicken by police, before being removed from the Olympia property.

Darren Shore, 41, who lives at the house, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after telling detectives he had fired at a car in self-defence, fearing it would run him over.

A 30-year-old man suffering from gunshot wounds to the arm and back was treated at a nearby hospital for minor wounds.

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Syria: Deadly Car Bomb Blasts Rock Damascus

At least 50 people have been killed after two suspected car bombs exploded in the Syrian capital Damascus, according to UK-based opposition activists.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights added that more than 120 people were wounded in the blasts occurred early in the morning in the eastern district of Jaramana.

Addounia television broadcast footage of firefighters hosing down two vehicles. Debris from damaged buildings had crushed other cars in the area.

State TV blamed "terrorists" for the bombings - a phrase its uses to refer to the rebels battling to force the regime of President Bashar al Assad from power.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The bombs went off in a car park lot between two commercial buildings. They were detonated within five minutes of one another as groups of labourers and employees were arriving to work.

The Jaramana district is mostly home to Christians and Druze

After the first explosion, people rushed to the site to help the injured before the second bomb went off, said Ismail Zlaiaa.

"It is an area packed with rush-hour passengers," he said. "God will not forgive the criminal perpetrators."

The explosions happened as the opposition coalition was due to meet in Cairo to discuss forming a transitional government.

"The objective is to name the prime minister for a transitional government, or at least have a list of candidates ahead of the Friends of Syria meeting," said Suhair al Atassi, one of the coalition's two vice presidents.

Countries friendly to the rebels are also meeting in the Egyptian capital over the coming days.

Meanwhile, a UN committee condemned "gross violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms" by both the Syrian regime and government-controlled militias.

The resolution urges Syrian authorities to immediately release all detainees and calls for a prompt independent international investigation into abuses and violations of international law with a view to bringing to justice those responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity and other crimes.

It makes no mention of opposition forces but does express "grave concern at the escalation of violence" in the country.

The resolution is almost certain to be adopted by the 193-member General Assembly next month, however will not be legally binding.

More than 40,000 people are estimated to have died since the uprising against Assad's regime began 20 months ago.

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Drink Counsellor On Drink-Drive Murder Charge

A substance abuse counsellor has been charged with murder and drink-driving after witnesses said she struck a pedestrian and drove for more than two miles with the dying man embedded in the windscreen.

Sherri Wilkins, 51, also faces charges of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and leaving the scene of an accident, said prosecutors.

The victim, 31-year-old Phillip Moreno, was struck late on Saturday while crossing a street in Torrance, California. Witnesses surrounded the car about two miles later and detained Wilkins. Mr Moreno died in hospital.

Wilkins later told police she panicked after the accident and kept driving.

She is being held on $2.25m (£1.4m) bail and if convicted could face life in prison.

Wilkins is a former addict who seemingly had turned her life around and become a respected drug and alcohol counsellor.

Her boss David Lisonbee, CEO of Twin Tower Treatment, said that despite her background, including a previous hit-and-run arrest, Wilkins always earned high marks with her patients and did not show any signs of a relapse at work.

Describing the grandmother as "an incredibly sweet person," he said it was not unusual for drug and alcohol counsellors to have addiction in their own past, as well as trouble with the law.

Those circumstances help them connect with patients, he said.

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Pakistan: 17 Dead From Poisonous Cough Syrup

At least 17 people have died in Pakistan after drinking cough syrup suspected of being poisonous.

According to local reports, several people were taken to hospitals in the nearby eastern city of Lahore on Saturday after taking the mixture.

Dr Zahid Pervez, said most of the victims were young men between the ages of 20 and 35.

"A majority of the victims have a history of being drug addicts. They drank this syrup as a self-medication to get high," the head of the hospital said.

Police and health officials working on the case said they believed the victims had added something to the syrup to make it more intoxicating.

"Normally, if an addict drinks half a bottle, or even a full bottle, he is not in danger of being killed.

"A person not used to drugs could suffer, but not these addicts. So, our suspicions - and the lines on which we are investigating with the police- are that they added something to the syrup to turn it into a cocktail, because of which the potency of the drug increased," said district health officer Dr Inamul Haq.

Donkey cart owner Mohammad Goga, recovering in hospital, said he had taken the medicine because he had a bad cough.

"I bought it from a medical store," he said. "I told them to give me a good cough medicine so that I could recover quickly.

"They gave me this syrup and told me to take three or four spoons. They had meant teaspoons, whereas I took tablespoonfuls which was perhaps too much. I felt sick afterwards, so I thought maybe I should have some more. But when I did that, I fainted," he added.

While the authorities say the alleged addicts had added something to the mixture, families of the victims claim the syrup - Tyno - was toxic, and their relatives had died after taking normal prescribed doses of the medicine.

The owners of three chemists where the syrup was sold have been arrested and a sample of the medicine has been sent for analysis.

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P Diddy Urged To Act Over Bangladesh Fire

Rapper Sean Combs has been urged to use his influence to improve Bangladeshi factory conditions after it emerged his clothing range was made in a workshop where 112 died in a fire.

Workers who survived the deadliest factory fire in the country's clothing industry history say that as they tried to flee they found exits at the Dhaka building locked.

They say when they started to run managers told them to return to their work and few of them had been trained to use the fire extinguishers.

Bangladeshis prepare to bury the bodies of those who died in the fire

A fire official has said had there been just one emergency exit, far fewer lives would have been lost. Of the dead, 53 bodies were burned so badly they could not be identified.

Amid the wreckage in the Tazreen Fashions building there were blue and off-white shorts from Combs' ENYCE label on the floor.

Combs, better known as P Diddy, was not the only big name linked to the factory - Wal-Mart, Disney, Sears and Teddy Smith ranges were also found inside.

The blaze has shone the spotlight on the scale of dangerous workplaces in Bangladesh and Western fashion companies are being encouraged to make sure they use safe and ethically run factories.

Liz Parker, of the Amsterdam-based Clean Clothes Campaign, said: "We are sure that Mr Combs will be as shocked as we are to find that his company is implicated in such a horrific tragedy.

Inside the burnt-out factory

"We urge him to use his influence to make sure clothing factories are safe places for people to work."

Wal-Mart had received an audit deeming the factory "high risk" last year, and said it had decided to stop doing business with Tazreen, but that a supplier subcontracted work to the factory anyway.

Calls made to The Walt Disney Company and to Sears Holdings were not immediately returned.

One factory worker, Nasima, who uses only one name, said when they tried to flee, managers told them to go back to their work stations, but they were ignored.

She said: "Everyone was screaming for help. Total chaos, panic and screaming. Everyone was trying to escape and come out. I was pulling the shirt of a man. I fainted and when I woke up I found myself lying on the road outside the factory."

A firefighter tries to bring the blaze at the factory under control

Police have arrested three factory officials suspected of locking in the workers inside the factory. The owner of the factory is not among them.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Interior Minister Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir have said arson is suspected. Police say they have not ruled out sabotage.

Bangladesh is the world's biggest exporter of clothing after China but more than 300 workers there have died in fires since 2006.

On Monday there was another fire, in Dhaka, in which eight people were injured in a blaze at an 11-storey factory.

Since the fire some 3,000 factory workers have taken to the streets to protest against working conditions. Police used batons to disperse the protesters.

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Anti-Islam Film: Seven Face Death Sentence

A court in Egypt has sentenced to death seven Christians in absentia for taking part in an anti-Islam film released on the web.

The film, which depicted the Prophet Mohammed as a paedophile, was released in September and has prompted violent protests in many Muslim countries.

"The seven accused persons were convicted of insulting the Islamic religion through participating in producing and offering a movie that insults Islam and its prophet," Judge Saif al Nasr Soliman said.

During the trial, judges were shown clips of the low-budget film, the Innocence of Muslims, and footage of Muslim protesters outraged by its content.

Produced privately in California, it triggered anti-US attacks on Western embassies and consulates.

In Libya, Islamists killed the US ambassador Chris Stevens in an attack on the consulate in Benghazi.

The movie was made by Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, also known as Sam Bacile, who is believed to be a Coptic Christian from Egypt. He now lives in the US.

Egyptian courts usually hand out the maximum punishment and send the decision to the state's top Islamic scholar to get his approval, which is always granted.

If the defendants do return to Egypt, they could get a new trial.

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German Train Driver Killed 10 In Crash

A freight train driver has been convicted of manslaughter after he smashed into a passenger train, killing 10 in one of Germany's worst rail crashes.

The 41-year-old missed two stop signals and drove head-on into an express train travelling in the opposite direction.

The collision, which happened in heavy fog, was so loud it was heard in a village more than four miles away.

The driver, who has not been named because of Germany's privacy laws, told a regional court in Magdeburg that he did not know why he had passed though the red light.

He was given a year's suspended sentence for manslaughter and negligent bodily harm.

The youngest to die in the crash on January 29, 2011 was a 12-year-old girl. Three women and six men were also killed and 22 others were injured.

Investigators at the scene of the crash in 2011

The freight train nearly obliterated the first carriage of the Harz-Elbe-Express in the collision in Hordorf, near Magdeburg, the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt.

At the time Holger Hoevelmann, interior minister of Saxony-Anhalt, said: "We are still speechless and shocked by the images and the level of destruction."

Almost 200 police and rescue workers rushed to the crash site around 125 miles southwest of Berlin.

The crash was Germany's worst since 2006, when 23 people were killed in Emsland in the north of the country.

It is unclear whether the driver will appeal the sentence.

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Melrose Place Actress Guilty Over Death Crash

A former Melrose Place actress has been convicted over the death of a 60-year-old woman in a drink-drive crash.

Amy Locane-Bovenizer was acquitted of the more serious charge of aggravated manslaughter over the 2010 collision that left Helene Seeman dead and Mrs Seeman's husband with lung and rib injuries.

Prosecutors said the star's blood-alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit when the crash occurred on a dark lane in Montgomery Township in New Jersey.

The actress reportedly told ambulance workers she had downed several glasses of wine and a beer before getting behind the wheel.

The emergency call was made at 9.16pm and an officer who attended the scene found Locane-Bovenizer in a nearby ditch, with her "clothes messed up, eyes bloodshot and speech slurred".

Fred Seeman, who had been returning from dinner with his wife and friends, said it was like getting hit by a bomb when Locane-Bovenizer's 4x4 hit them.

Locane-Bovenizer's defence team said she was distracted by another driver who was chasing her after she rear-ended their vehicle and the Seemans' car then turned in front of her.

During the chase Locane-Bovenizer was driving nearly 20mph over the speed limit when she collided with the couple.

Somerset County assistant prosecutor Matthew Murphy said at the opening of the trial on October 4 that Locane-Bovenizer had had eight to 10 drinks before the accident, citing that "death was probable, not merely possible".

The actress appeared in 13 episodes of Melrose Place and in movies including Cry-Baby, School Ties and Secretary.

She faces five to 10 years in prison on a vehicular homicide charge and three to five years in prison for her conviction on a second count of assault by auto, which stemmed from the injuries to Mr Seeman.

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BP Banned From US Government Contracts

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the US has temporarily suspended BP from new US government contracts.

The ban stemmed from the British oil giant's conduct regarding the blowout at its Deepwater Horizon rig which killed 11 workers in April 2010.

It comes after the company agreed to plead guilty to charges over its part in the largest environmental disaster in US history, and to admit lying to Congress about the amount of oil that was spilling from the Macondo well.

"EPA is taking this action due to BP's lack of business integrity as demonstrated by the company's conduct with regard to the Deepwater Horizon blowout, explosion, oil spill, and response," the agency said. 

"Suspensions are a standard practice when a responsibility question is raised by action in a criminal case."

The move prevents BP from getting new government contracts or grants "until the company can provide sufficient evidence to EPA demonstrating that it meets Federal business standards," EPA added.

Existing agreements between the company and the government are not affected.

Professor Joe Lampel from Cass Business School said the decision would be a blow to BP.

"The ban comes at the end of a complex process during which BP has settled most of the claims against it," he said.

"Therefore this suspension should be seen as an additional penalty rather than a pressure tactic that the US government often uses when it wants to force firms to concede liability."  

He said the ban would most probably be lifted after a sufficient grace period has passed. 

"BP has been working hard to repair its reputation and I suspect that it will do whatever it takes to satisfy regulators that it now meets all the necessary standards," he added.

At the end of last month, BP revealed that the disaster had cost it more than $38bn (£23.7bn) to date.

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