China executes S African woman drug smuggler

            

JOHANNESBURG China executed a South African woman by lethal injection on Monday for drug smuggling after rejecting last-minute pleas for clemency from her government, the foreign ministry in Pretoria said.

Janice Linden, 35, was convicted of trying to sneak three kilograms (6.6 pounds) of methamphetamine into the country in her luggage through the southern city of Guangzhou in 2008.

"The execution took place around 10:00 am South African time (0800 GMT),” spokesman Clayson Monyela said.

 "Our embassy officials were there with her family. She had two sisters who were there. "We are disappointed since we would have preferred the death sentence to be commuted to a life sentence instead of the execution."

Convicted in 2009, Linden had exhausted all possible appeal processes.

South Africa had made several appeals to have Linden's sentence converted to life imprisonment, including on the sidelines of the United Nations COP17 climate talks in her eastern hometown, Durban, which ended on Sunday.

"Even on the COP17 sidelines the (foreign) minister summoned the Chinese ambassador," said Monyela. "We pleaded for clemency repeatedly."

Chinese foreign ministry representative Liu Weimin said in Beijing that the law had been followed.

"On handling drug criminals, the Chinese government's position has been consistent and clear," said Liu. "Whether they are foreign or Chinese, China will handle their cases according to the law."

Chinese authorities would hand over Linden's ashes to her family on Monday, said Monyela.

Linden steadfastly insisted on her innocence, an unnamed family member told The Mercury newspaper in Durban.

"She said she didn't know how the drugs got into her luggage. She thought she was framed."

According to the rights group Amnesty International, China executes more people every year than the rest of the world combined.

Executions in China have traditionally been carried out by shooting. However, increasingly lethal injections are being used.

         

China defeats 10-man Kuwait

China recorded its first win in a Group A match of the AFC Asian Cup to stay joint top with with a confidence-booster 2-0 win over 10 man-Kuwait at the Al Gharafa Stadium on Saturday.

Two second half goals was all the new generation Chinese players needed to stave off the challenge from a determined and enterprising Kuwaiti side.Both sides had a number of scoring opportunities and the scoreline could have been rich, had both sides not missed most of those chances

Speaking in a post match conference, Gao Hongbo coach of China said, "I am very happy to win this game, the first thirty minute of the tie was controlled by Kuwait but we recovered and took our chances well."

On the red card on Kuwait's Mesad Nada, Gao said, " Irrespective of the dismissal, my players were determined to win the game."

Kuwait's Serbian born coach Goran Tufegdzic said, "It was an important but the red card affected our plans."

Goran was critical of the referee and hopes necessary disciplinary actions be taken considering a goal scored by Kuwait and not seen by the referee and its officials.

Goran said, "The referee made so many mistakes and am sure he will be punished."

China went ahead in the 57th minute when highly rated central defender Zhang Linpeng scored a superb goal off a deflection. Zhang who captained China in the last Asian Games in Guanghzhou collected a pass outside the box and fired a right footer shot from 30 yards to register the first goal.
The second goal came of the foot of Deng Zhuoxiang in the 67th minute, when his 25 yards free-kick beat Nawaf al Khalid and capped it with a man of the match award. Deng is remembered for scoring a brilliant individual goal against Korea Republic in 2010 and a memorable goal against France prior to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

However, it was Kuwait who started off better than the Chinese side with Yousef Nasser and Walied Ali threatening in the opening minutes. China gradually got into its best and started creating opportunities through excellent display of passing and movement.The likes of Zhao Xuri, Qu Bo and Zhao Peng threaten Kuwait on a number of occasions.
A penalty appeal was turned down by the referee when China's Du Wei was hacked down inside the box as early as the 12th minute.
The Chinese closest goal effort came in the 21st minute when Qu Bo was cleared free in front of the Kuwait goal but his effort was parried for a corner kick.
With pressure mounting Kuwait's Mesa Nada unnecessarily kicked a Chinese player in the 35th minute to get the referee's marching order.
Kuwait's Bader al Mutwa's effort was the flash point of the first half as his opportunistic cross went over the goal line but was not counted for goal because referee Benjamin Williams from Australia and his assistants did not see it.

China looked more aggressive in the second half and came very close to scoring on a number of times. On the other hand, Jarah al Ateeqi, Fahad Enezi pressed for an early goal

Walied Ali's 25 yard free-kick beat the Chinese wall but goalkeeper Yang Zhi made a fantastic save to deny the 100 capped Kuwaiti play-maker.

With a man down the defence line of Kuwait was exposed and on the 60th minute a build-up from Zhao Xuri finds Yang Xu whose close shot was too high.

China pressed for more goals in the second half with left back Rong Hao coming close on two occasions.

His dazzling dribbles of the left wing was a persistent threat and in the 79th minute his low cross inside the box was missed by two Chinese attackers.
Bader al mutwa's 40 yards effort capped a poor display by the much talked about star attacker from Kuwait.
The next round of matches will be on Wednesday as China plays Qatar while Kuwait faces Uzbekistan.

Kia Motors posts 11.5% increase in May global sales

Kia Motors Corporation announced that its global sales figures for passenger cars (export sales, domestic sales, and sales from overseas plants), recreational vehicles (RVs), and commercial vehicles for May 2009 recorded a total of 141,949 units. This marks a year-on-year increase of 11.5%.

By region, Kia posted year-on-year sales increases in China (20,252 units, a 51.3% year-on-year increase), Korea (38,102 units, a 44.0% year-on-year increase) and general markets (23,430 units, a 13.0% year-on-year increase).

Cumulatively through the first five months of 2009, Kia’s global sales increased by 0.5% year-on-year and reached 590,934 units. General markets experienced the largest gain, selling 110,289 units through May and representing a 17.0% increase, while the Korean and Chinese markets showed cumulative year-on-year sales increases of 14.2% (146,518 units) and 13.5% (74,797 units), respectively.

So far in 2009, Kia’s best selling model in overseas markets has been the C-segment Cerato (known as ‘Spectra’ or ‘Forte’ in some markets) with 95,883 units sold. The B-segment Rio comes in second with 60,780 units sold, followed closely by the Sportage compact SUV with 58,091 units sold. Sales of the C-segment cee’d and the A-segment Picanto continue to perform well with 50,544 and 35,951 units sold, respectively.

In terms of vehicle category sold overseas, Kia’s recreational vehicles achieved an increase of 24.6% year-on-year, selling 36,187 units in May.

Hyoung-Keun Lee, Senior Executive Vice President and COO of the International Business Division, Kia Motors Corporation, said “We are five months into the year and have already surpassed the half million global sales mark, and have experienced consistently high and significant year-on-year gains in general markets and China. Considering the global climate, these results are even more impressive and our message to our dealers is to continue their great work.”