Author: Publisher

{A Chinese man has been sentenced to life in prison for poisoning dumplings that made 10 people ill in Japan, Japanese and Chinese media say.}

Hebei-based factory worker Lu Yueting admitted last year to injecting insecticide into frozen dumplings that were later exported to Japan.

A five-year-old girl was among those who became ill and required treatment.

The incident in 2008 led to a scare over Chinese food and strained diplomatic ties between the countries.

The Shijiazhuang Intermediate People’s Court, in northern China’s Hebei province, announced Lu’s sentence on Monday, news agencies Xinhua and Kyodo reported.

Lu Yueting worked in the Tianyang Food company from 1993 to 2009.

He was accused of using a syringe to put a highly toxic pesticide, methamidophos, into the frozen dumplings over frustration with his wages and colleagues.

In January 2008, at least 10 people in Japan fell ill after eating the dumplings.

Diplomatic relations between China and Japan were strained as both sides debated whether the contamination occurred in their territory.

Lu was arrested and charged in China in 2010. He was put on trial in July 2013.

The sentence comes amid renewed tensions in China and Japan.

China has been angered by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Yasukuni shrine, a shrine that honours war dead including convicted war criminals, in December.

Meanwhile, Japan has criticised China’s move in November to create a new “air defence identification zone” which covers a group of disputed islands.

The two sides are embroiled in a bitter territorial dispute in the East China Sea.

BBC

{Italy’s controversial ex-PM Silvio Berlusconi has returned to the centre of the political stage, striking a reform deal with a centre-left rival.}

Berlusconi was thrown out of parliament in 2013 after a tax fraud conviction.

But he still heads the opposition Forza Italia party and held lengthy talks with Democratic Party (PD) leader Matteo Renzi late on Saturday.

Under their agreement, he will back electoral and constitutional proposals aimed at making Italy more governable.

The current electoral system has left Italy with a series of shaky coalitions.

Last year’s general election left no party strong enough to govern alone, until a broad coalition emerged, headed by Enrico Letta of the PD.

Berlusconi, 77, was initially part of the government but later pulled out. Several key former allies abandoned him to form the New Centre Right party while he became a more marginalised figure.

But he remained head of Italy’s biggest opposition faction, Forza Italia.

Mr Renzi’s talks with the former centre-right prime minister have divided the coalition, and the PD in particular, whose supporters despise him, BBC Rome correspondent Alan Johnston reports.

BBC

{British people fighting in Syria are being trained as “jihadists” and then encouraged to return to the UK to launch attacks on home soil, an al-Qaeda defector and western security sources have told the Telegraph. }

In a rare interview on Turkey’s border with Syria, the defector from the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) said that recruits from Britain, Europe and the US were being indoctrinated in extremist anti-Western ideology, trained in how to make and detonate car bombs and suicide vests and sent home to start new terror cells.

He has provided the first confirmation from Syrian rebels that young British men are being indoctrinated in extremist anti-Western ideology.

Some of those intent on overthrowing the Syrian regime are being brainwashed by fanatics, the former member of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) warned.

His comments echo the concerns of the security services at a time when it is feared that up to 500 Britons are fighting in Syria and could return to emulate attacks such as the London bombings and 9/11.

Telegraph

{Two Palestinians have been injured when they were hit by an air strike on Gaza, amid reports that Tel Aviv has plans to escalate attacks on the strip.}

Israeli rockets targeted a motorcycle in Gaza’s northern neighbourhood of Saftawi on Sunday, leaving its rider, a 22-year-old man, in critical condition.

Israel confirmed the attack in a statement issued by the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). The motorcycle passenger was identified by the IDF as Ahmad Sa’ad, who it accuses of being a senior operative in the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PJI) and who it says is to blame for cross-border rocket attacks last week.

“The IDF (Israel Defence Forces) successfully targeted a terrorist operative involved in recent attacks against Israel and was planning further attacks in the coming days,” it said in a statement.

The Israeli military blames Sa’ad for firing five rockets towards southern Israel on January 16. The rockets were intercepted by the army’s Iron Dome anti-missile system. The rockets caused no injuries or damage.

“The IDF operated in order to eliminate an imminent threat to the lives of Israeli civilians,” the IDF statement said.

Another victim was a 12-year-old boy who happened to be nearby, Gaza emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said.

Threats of attacks

There was no confirmation from Gaza that the wounded man was Sa’ad or that he belonged to PJI, with sources in the movement also refusing to comment on the strike.

The morning strike followed two more overnight, and amid fears that the strip will witness an escalation in attacks in near future.

An Egyptian mediator delievered a threat message from Israel to Gaza’s leadership, sources have told Al Jazeera.

On January 8, an PJI fighter was killed near Gaza City in what medics and family said was an Israeli drone strike, but the army denied any involvement.

Since the start of the year, tensions have risen in and around Gaza after a year of relative calm, with five people killed since December 20. Four of the victims were Palestinian and one was Israeli.

Since January 1, eight rockets fired from Gaza have landed in Israel with another five intercepted by Iron Dome last Thursday.

Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies