Tsinghua Unigroup ex-chairman gets suspended death sentence over corruption
BEIJING (Reuters) -- A Chinese court handed Zhao Weiguo, the former chairman of semiconductor firm Tsinghua Unigroup, a suspended death sentence on Wednesday after he was found guilty of corruption and embezzlement, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Wednesday.
The court in northeastern Jilin province sentenced Zhao to death with a two-year reprieve, the report said, meaning the sentence will only be carried out if he commits further crimes during the period. After the two years, he will face a life sentence.
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Japan Today
2 hours ago
- Japan Today
Russia launches one of war's largest air attacks on Kyiv
Firefighters work at the site of a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine June 10, 2025. REUTERS/Thomas Peter By Anastasiia Malenko and Pavel Polityuk Russia launched one of its largest air strikes on Kyiv in over three years of war and struck a maternity ward in the southern city of Odesa in attacks that killed at least three people, officials said on Tuesday. The overnight strikes followed Russia's biggest drone assault of the war on Ukraine on Monday and were part of intensified bombardments in what Moscow says is retaliation for attacks by Ukrainian forces on Russia. The Russian attack also damaged Saint Sophia Cathedral, a UNESCO world heritage site located in the historic centre of Kyiv, Ukrainian Culture Minister Mykola Tochytskyi said. "The enemy struck at the very heart of our identity again," Tochytskyi wrote on Facebook about the site he called "the soul of all Ukraine". Loud explosions shook Kyiv and blasts and fires lit up the sky in the early hours of Tuesday morning, leaving palls of heavy smoke over the city, Reuters witnesses said. Authorities deployed two firefighting helicopters to douse flames. One person died in the attack on Kyiv, city authorities said. At least four people were treated in hospital after seven of the capital's 10 districts were hit, city officials said. "Today was one of the largest attacks on Kyiv," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. "Russian missile and Shahed (drone) strikes drown out the efforts of the United States and others around the world to force Russia into peace." In Kyiv, Kateryna Zaitseva, 38, and her 14-year-old son looked at the rubble in their apartment, which received a direct hit by a drone. The explosion destroyed one room, damaged another and blew in the door of the bathroom in which they were hiding. "We started moving blindly to the entrance door. I heard the voice of the emergency worker ... I shouted that there were two of us, that we were unhurt and he helped us," said Zaitseva, a laboratory technician. In the southern port of Odesa, an overnight drone attack hit an emergency medical building, a maternity ward and residential buildings, regional governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram. Two men were killed in that attack but patients and staff were safely evacuated from the maternity hospital, he said. Iryna Britkaru, 23, who gave birth to a girl on June 6, said projectiles had started hitting the building in Odesa as soon as she and other patients had been whisked to the basement by hospital staff. "The third (impact) was already very loud, and shrapnel flew... (it) rained down in the corridor," she told Reuters. Natalia Kovalenko, 34, who five days ago also gave birth to a girl, said she was hoping for an end to the war. "If we don't have hope, then no one will be giving birth," she said. A State Department spokesperson said Washington was monitoring the situation closely, adding that it was time for an end to the war. "Russia's strikes against Ukraine's cities need to stop immediately," the spokesperson said. "We condemn these strikes and extend our deepest condolences to the victims and to the families of all those affected." Both sides deny targeting civilians but thousands of civilians have been killed in Europe's worst conflict since World War Two, the vast majority of them Ukrainian. Russia's defense ministry confirmed that its forces had attacked military targets in Kyiv with high-precision weapons and drones overnight, Russia's TASS state news agency reported. Air raid alerts in Kyiv and most Ukrainian regions lasted five hours until around 5 a.m., according to information released by the military. "A difficult night for all of us," Timur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv's city military administration, said on Telegram. Ukraine's air force said Russia had fired 315 drones across the country, of which 277 were downed. All seven missiles launched by Russia were also brought down, it said. Moscow has intensified its attacks on Ukraine following Kyiv's strikes on strategic bombers at air bases inside Russia on June 1. Moscow also blamed Kyiv for bridge explosions on the same day that killed seven and injured scores. Over the past week, Russia has launched 1,451 drones and 78 missiles to attack Ukraine, according to Ukrainian air force data. Russia temporarily halted flights overnight at four airports serving Moscow, at St Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport and at airports in nine other cities after the defence ministry said Ukraine had launched more drones at Russia, officials said. Most flights were restored later on Tuesday. No damage was reported. Zelenskiy urged Ukraine's allies to take steps to force Russia into peace, and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called for immediate new sanctions and air defence systems. Although Moscow and Kyiv have held two rounds of direct peace talks in recent weeks, the only tangible progress has been an agreement on exchanges of prisoners of war, and Russia has continued to advance along the front line in eastern Ukraine. Moscow and Kyiv blame each other for the lack of progress towards ending the war, which has raged since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed frustration with both sides. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
NHK
10 hours ago
- NHK
British author of thrillers Frederick Forsyth dies at 86
British novelist Frederick Forsyth, the author of "The Day of the Jackal" and other bestsellers, has died. He was 86. Forsyth served as a Royal Air Force pilot before he became a reporter. He worked in Paris, former East Berlin and Nigeria as a foreign correspondent for Reuters and BBC. He later began writing thrillers based on his experiences. "The Day of the Jackal," about an attempt to assassinate French President Charles de Gaulle, was made into a film. Forsyth wrote many novels themed on international affairs and geopolitical risks. "The Odessa File" depicts a reporter trying to track down a former Nazi officer, while "The Fourth Protocol" supposes that the former Soviets are plotting a communist revolution in Britain. His works sold more than 75 million copies in total. The New York Times reported that Forsyth spent six months on research before writing a book, and was particular about details. It noted that many of his characters are based on real people. Forsyth revealed in 2015 that he cooperated with the British secret intelligence agency MI6 for more than 20 years from 1968. Forsyth reportedly died on Monday.
Yomiuri Shimbun
11 hours ago
- Yomiuri Shimbun
Shooter Kills At Least Nine in Attack on Austrian School, Mayor Says
The Associated Press Rescue service personnel attend the scene of a shooting at a school in Graz, Austria on Tuesday. VIENNA, June 10 (Reuters) – A shooter killed at least nine people and wounded many others in an attack at a secondary school in the southern Austrian city of Graz on Tuesday, the city's mayor said. Graz Mayor Elke Kahr was quoted by Austrian news agency APA as saying the attacker was also dead, and that many of the injured had been taken to hospital following the shooting, which she called a 'terrible tragedy.' Police gave no initial toll but said 'several' people were dead and they were working in the assumption there was only one attacker. APA video showed emergency workers loading a stretcher into an ambulance. The reports did not specify how many of the dead were pupils. Ambulances were on the scene outside the school. A local police spokesman said the area had been secured, the school had been evacuated and relatives of the victims and pupils were being cared for. 'There is no further danger for the population, but there are several dead,' he told Austrian television. Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper cited unconfirmed reports as saying the suspect was a 22-year-old former student who carried two weapons – a pistol and a shotgun. Kronen Zeitung tabloid said a suspect had been found dead in a bathroom. Reuters could not immediately confirm this. 'It's incomprehensible and unbearable. My sympathy and grief go out to the victims and their families. No one can imagine the suffering; as a mother of three children, it breaks my heart,' Austria's Minister for European and International Affairs Beate Meinl-Reisinger wrote on X. European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on X: 'Every child should feel safe at school and be able to learn free from fear and violence. My thoughts are with the victims, their families and the Austrian people in this dark moment.' Austria has one of the most heavily armed civilian populations in Europe, with an estimated 30 firearms per 100 persons, according to the Small Arms Survey, an independent research project. Machine guns and pump action guns are banned, while revolvers, pistols and semi-automatic weapons are allowed only with official authorization. Rifles and shotguns are permitted with a firearms license or a valid hunting license, or for members of traditional shooting clubs. Four people were killed and 22 injured when a convicted jihadist went on a shooting spree in the center of Vienna in 2020. In November 1997, a 36-year-old mechanic shot dead six people in the town of Mauterndorf before killing himself.
