10  theSun | TUESDAY JANUARY 20 2009

news without borders

Ex-Taiwan leader
says he is innocent
TAIPEI: Former Taiwan
president Chen Shui-bian
insisted yesterday he was
innocent, as he appeared in
court for a pre-trial hearing
on graft charges he says are
politically motivated.
The 58-year-old, out of
office for less than a year,
arrived in court in handcuffs
under tight security in a
case that has electrified this
island of 23 million people
since his arrest in Novem-
ber.
Chen and his family are
alleged to have taken more
than US$10 million (RM36
million) in bribes from an
industry tycoon.
“I’m not guilty,” he told
the court. “Saying that I
took bribes, I would rather
die.”
The former leader has
admitted that his wife trans-
China’s civil service
exam cheats go high-tech
BEIJING: Cheats in China’s
famous civil service exams
have gone so far as to put
micro-receivers in their
ears, in order to get answers
from audio broadcasts as
they sit in the testing room,
the Xinhua news agency
ferred US$20 million (RM72
million) abroad but said
the money was from past
campaign funds and that
she had done so without his
knowledge.
He has been charged
with embezzlement, taking
bribes and money launder-
ing, and faces life in prison.
Eastern Television, a local
network, reported prosecu-
tors also want to charge him
with influence peddling and
blackmail.
Chen was fiercely in fav-
our of independence from
China, which considers the
island part of its territory,
and says he is the victim of
a witch-hunt by the current
pro-China government that
took power after him last
year.
No date has yet been set
for the trial to begin. – AFP
cally inclined, are lured to
cheat,” Xinhua said.
More than 300 candidates
were caught cheating in
examination rooms on Nov
30, while another 700 were
busted after their papers
were found to have “shared
Hamas, Israel hold fire; Gazans
reel at war’s toll
“change the reality” for southern
border towns that since 2001 had
taken fire from Palestinian factions
armed with mostly improvised
short-range rockets.
Though there were sporadic
GAZA: Israeli forces were pulling out The crisis clouded the last days salvoes on Sunday, Israeli Prime
of the Gaza Strip yesterday following of the Bush administration. It Minister Ehud Olmert declared the
a tentative truce with Hamas that spelled Middle East challenges that mission accomplished – noting a
allowed Palestinians to take stock of US President-elect Barack Obama, flurry of diplomatic efforts by the
the devastating three-week war. who is to be sworn in today, may United States, Egypt and European
Military officials said troops and find no less insurmountable than countries to prevent Hamas rearming.
Palestinians tanks that had poured into Gaza those faced by his predecessors. That would mean as yet unspecified
return
on Jan 3 as part of an offensive to As Palestinians emerged from measures to stop Hamas smuggling
to their counter Palestinian rocket attacks hiding, agape at the killing of more weapons across the Egypt-Gaza fron-
destroyed
were gradually leaving, though they than 1,300 fellow Gazans and at the tier, a sensitive matter given Cairo’s
houses remained ready to tackle any flare- widespread destruction of homes and past efforts to play down its scope.
following the ups in fighting. government infrastructure, the head For now, Gaza’s situation looks
ceasefire in Israel and Hamas dec- of the Hamas administration claimed much as it did before the conflict
the Jabalia lared ceasefires on Sun- a “popular victory” against Israel. – armed standoff and a dim future
refugee day, to the relief of West- “The enemy has failed to achieve for the 1.5 million people fenced in-
camp, Gaza ern powers that, while its goals,” Ismail Haniyeh said. side the strip by a blockade aimed at
Strip on punishing Islamist Hamas for rocket
publicly sympathetic Hamas’ truce decision, condi-
Sunday. fire and ambitions to destroy Israel.
to the Jewish state’s tioned on Israel withdrawing within
According to the Palestinian Sta-
security concerns, a week, was “wise and responsible”,
tistics Bureau, some 4,000 residential
were alarmed by the he said.
buildings were reduced to rubble dur-
mounting humani- Israel launched its air, ground
tarian toll in the and sea assault on ing the conflict. Western diplomats
impoverished Dec 27 vowing to have said it could cost at least US$1.6
territory. billion (RM5.8 billion) to repair the
infrastructure damage in Gaza.
Hamas officials, during talks
with Egyptian mediators, said the
faction demanded the opening of all
Gaza’s border crossings for the entry
of materials, food and basic needs.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy
– joined on Sunday by leaders of
Germany, Britain, Spain, Italy and the
Czech Republic as current EU presi-
dent for talks with Olmert – called on
Israel to open Gaza’s borders to aid

said yesterday.
One thousand people, the
highest number in recent
years, were busted for trying
to cheat in the annual central
government civil servant
exam, a Confucian tradition
that opens the door to bur-
eaucratic advancement.
The civil service exams
are very competitive, with
775,000 people vying for
13,500 national civil service
posts.
“In China’s highly com-
petitive national exams,
where chances of success are
very slim, many applicants,
especially the less academi-
much conformity”, it said,
citing the State Administra-
tion of Civil Service.
The cheats were mainly
found in the northeastern
province of Liaoning and the
capital city, Beijing. Those
caught are disqualified from
the exam and can be barred
from the civil servant exams
for both central and local
governments for up to five
years.
In an extreme case, one
position with the China
Disabled Persons’ Fed-
eration had more than 4,700
applicants, Xinhua said.
– Reuters
Church roof collapse
kills at least seven
SAO PAULO: At least seven people were
killed and more than 50 injured on Sunday
after the ceiling of an evangelical church in
Sao Paulo, Brazil’s biggest city, collapsed, fire
officials said.
Television footage showed firemen and
emergency workers sifting through a vast
pile of rubble and broken rafters. Two rescue
workers pulled a corpse on a stretcher from
beneath a tangle of wooden beams.
“They are looking for bodies beneath the
structure that collapsed,” a fire official said.
He said the search could last for days.
The O Globo newspaper website quoted
fire officials as saying between 400 and 500
people had been worshiping at the Igreja
Renascer em Cristo (Reborn in Christ Church)
in Sao Paulo’s southern district when the
structure collapsed. – Reuters
China reports third bird flu
case in three days
BEIJING: Chinese health authorities said
yesterday a 16-year-old boy in central
Hunan province is badly ill after contract-
ing the H5N1 birdflu virus, the third case
reported in as many days as the Lunar
New Year holiday looms.
EPAPIX
as soon as possible. – Reuters
The Ministry of Health said on its
website the teenager entered a hospital
in Hunan on Jan 16 and the province
disease control centre confirmed he was
infected with the H5N1 virus.
“The patient’s condition is critical,” the
statement said. It added that he previ-
ously had “contact with dead poultry”.
China has warned of the risk of further
human cases of bird flu in the run-up to
the Lunar New Year holiday after report-
ing two new cases over the weekend.
Two have died, one a 27-year-old
woman who died in eastern China, and
the other a 19-year-old woman who died
in Beijing earlier this month. – Reuters