22 Dec

1. The jailing of four men who slaughtered and two pet dog last month -Defence lawyers claimed it as a cruel case and jailed the men for 30 days -The jude described it as a cruel case and jailed the men for 30 days -It is the first time a prison term has been handed down for such an offence -Animal activists welcomed the sentence 2. A 52-year-old woman has been arrested after 100 animals were seized from her flat yesterday -The woman surnamed Lee has been released on $4,000 bail -She has been told to report back to police on 17thJanuary,2007 -The Agriciture and Fisheries Department says it is still investigating the condition of the animals 3. Five days of talks in Beijing about North Korea’s nuclear programme have amounted to nothing -Assistant Secretary of state Christopher Hill accused the North of not being serious about the negotiations -All week North Korea has been complaining about the US blacklisting of a Macau bank which Hill said had diverted attention away from the real issue of the North’s nuclear programme 4. Taiwan first lady, Wu shu-chen was a no-show at court today as her high profile corruption trial resumed in Taipei -Wu got a sick-note from her doctors -Critics accused of her of stailing the trial to help keep her husband in office 5. A US Marine Corps squad leader has been charged with murdering 12 Iraqi civilians and ordering soldiers under his command to murder six other people in the town of Haditha last year -It is one of several cases of allefed US misconduct to have emerged from Iraq and followed an investigation into claims that Marines went on a rampage after one of their squad was killed by a bomb