China Mountain Villa On Tower Block 'Must Go'

Officials are hunting a man who infuriated neighbours by building an elaborate residence on an apartment block.

About six years ago Zhang Biqing, said to be an ex-army medic, started his grand project to cover the rooftop of the 26-storey Beijing building with fake rocks, real greenery and even a swimming pool.

But residents have expressed their anger at the penthouse, which has no permission or licence to be there.

Mr Zhang, who became famous after inventing a system of Chinese acupuncture treatment, managed to carry out the building work despite years of constant complaints.

The project has allegedly caused water leaks and structural damage to the flats downstairs.

One family who lives at the opposite building told Sky News that the work was hugely intrusive.

They said it was loud and very bright and it meant they could not open their curtains at night.

"It was not only the construction work that carried on at night but also the camera at the top that seemed to be working and recording all the time - we don't have any privacy," the woman, who did not want to be named, told Sky News.

"I heard the swimming pool has caused floods to downstairs flats a few times; those poor families."

Local shopkeepers and security guards suggested bribes had possibly exchanged hands, claiming there were close connections between Mr Zhang and the compound's management, who turned a blind eye to the project.

Chinese officials have given Mr Zhang 15 days to vacate the residence in the city's west district of Haidian - but they face a major issue.

"The only thing now for us is that we can't find the owner," said the Beijing City Enforcement Bureau's Chen Yu told reporters.

"We have issued a lot of summonses, but he never came to us to be investigated."

But local media managed to find Mr Zhang, who told them he had to keep the villa to accommodate "famous people coming to stay and sing".

Asda Parking Space Killing: Man In Court

A man has appeared in court charged with manslaughter over the death of a 64-year-old in an alleged row over a disabled parking space.

Alan Watts, 65, appeared before magistrates and was remanded on bail following the death of Brian Holmes.

Mr Holmes, from Sandy, Bedfordshire, died from head injuries the day after the August 3 incident at the Asda supermarket in Biggleswade.

His family were at his bedside when he died.

In a statement released through police, they said: "The family are devastated by the loss of Brian in such shocking circumstances.

"A wife has lost her husband, best friend and carer all in one go.

"Brian was a family man who adored his grandchildren and family, and had only this week been given the all-clear following treatment for cancer.

"Brian and his wife were only just starting to make plans for the future that they only dared to dream of."

Alan Watts appeared at Bedford Magistrates' Court only to confirm his name and address and that he understood the charge.

He will next appear at Luton Crown Court on August 28 for a preliminary hearing.

Mr Watts has surrendered his passport as part of bail conditions and must also report daily to a local police station.

He is also barred from driving and must not visit the Asda store where the alleged row took place.

Peru Drugs Bust: Pair Appear In Police Video

A video has emerged of a British and an Irish woman speaking to police shortly after they were arrested on suspicion of cocaine-smuggling in Peru.

The footage shows the two women answering questions shortly after they were held at an airport near the capital, Lima, last week.

Melissa Reid, 19, and Michaella McCollum Connolly, 20, protested their innocence after police found 11kg (24.2lbs) of cocaine with an estimated street value of £1.5m in their luggage.

The police footage also shows an officer examining a row of food bags, in which the drug was allegedly hidden.

Police accused the two of acting as "drug mules" to carry the contraband back to Europe.

Reid, from Kirkintilloch in East Dunbartonshire, told officers: "I was forced to take these bags in my luggage."

Asked if she knew the bags contained drugs, Reid replied: "I did not know that."

The father of Reid told Sky News Scotland Correspondent Jane Chilton that his family is devastated by the arrest.

William Reid said she was a beautiful and intelligent young woman who would never do anything like this of her own free will.

Chilton tweeted: "He said he has spoken to her briefly. She's scared and the family are all distraught but at present don't know what is happening."

Archbishop of Lima Sean Walsh has visited the two women on remand and said "they were weepy and upset".

He told the Irish Independent: "They are embarrassed at how everything has affected their families back home. They are devastated by that but I assured them they need to stay strong.

"They believe they were set up and they will use that as a defence."

Ireland's former consul to Peru Michael Russell told Sky News: "There are various rumours or stories about what has happened.

"The main thing is not what happened but what the Peruvian courts believe. They are in very spartan conditions, not up to European standards.

"They are supposed to be up in front of a judge tomorrow and then they will be transferred to a prison."

He told the Irish Times that prosecutors may push for a charge of drug trafficking, which could carry a sentence of between 15 and 25 years in prison.

He said that if the women were convicted of carrying half of the cocaine each, they would likely be ordered to serve around seven years in jail.

But he added that any appeal would probably see the allegations reduced to the "lesser charge".

The pair confirmed to police at the Lima airport that they had travelled to the South American country from Spain, and then on a Peruvian domestic flight to Cuzco.

They reportedly stayed four days in Cuzco, which is 350-miles south east of Lima, before returning to the capital.

Both women were detained the following day at Lima's Jorge Chavez International Airport.

Peruvian police said the two had been held and their luggage examined after a sniffer dog detected drugs at the Air Europa check-in counter.

Reid was allegedly carrying 18 foil packets containing 5.78kg of cocaine while McCollum Connolly was accused of carrying 5.81kg of the drug in 16 bags hidden in food sachets.

They pair said they were planning to travel to Madrid and then to the Mediterranean island of Majorca.

They had apparently spent several weeks before the Peru trip living in Ibiza.

Reid had posted dozens of Facebook photos of her time on the island, although her profile had not been updated since late July.

Belfast-born McCollum Connolly, who refers to herself as just Michaella McCollum in the video, had reportedly been looking for work as a nightclub dancer and hostess in Ibiza.

The apparent disappearance from Ibiza of McCollum Connolly had sparked an online campaign back home, backed by a number of Irish sports stars, to establish her whereabouts.

McCollum Connolly, from Dungannon in County Tyrone, was travelling on an Irish passport.

A representative for the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin confirmed she was no longer considered missing and that consular assistance was being provided to her family.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is offering assistance to Reid while she is in custody.

The FCO said in a statement: "We can confirm the arrest of a British national in Peru on August 7. We are providing consular assistance."

Drug experts say Peru has almost certainly supplanted Colombia as the world's leading cocaine-producing country and the trade is used to fund a violent leftist insurgency.

China Crowns Asia's Tallest Tower In Shanghai

Work on the main structure of the world's second tallest skyscraper has been completed, as the final beam was placed on the Shanghai Tower.

A crane placed the steel beam 1,900ft above the ground in Shanghai, China's commercial hub, as the building formally overtook Taiwan's Taipei 101 building to become the highest tower in Asia.

Globally it is second only to the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which stands at 2,723ft.

The Shanghai Tower, which costs an estimated $14.8bn yuan (£1.56bn), will reach over 2,066ft when it is finally finished.

"It's a landmark and it will change the skyline of Shanghai," Xia Jun, of US design firm Gensler said.

His comments came at a media conference following the traditional "topping out" ceremony.

"I don't think the importance of an architecture lies entirely in its height," he added.

The structure stands alongside China's previous tallest building, the 1,614ft Shanghai World Financial Centre - and is due to open next year, by which time it may have been surpassed as the tallest building in China.

Chinese firm Broad Group have announced plans to construct an 2,749ft tower in the central Chinese city of Changsha, which they say will be completed in April.

But reports in state-run media late last month said construction on the tower had been called off, because the building had not gained full local government approval.

Work on the Shanghai tower began in 2008, and its construction was partially backed by Shanghai's city government.

Concerns were raised last year when long cracks began to appear in the ground close to the building, prompting fears that ground around the tower was subsiding.

But Ding Jiemin, an architect who collaborated on the tower's design, played down fears on Saturday.

"These problems were just during construction period, it will not affect the security of the architecture," he said.

China is home to three of the world's 10 tallest buildings, according to research group Emporis -- which did not count the Shanghai Tower.

The Shanghai Tower's final beam was decorated with red ribbons and flags, and carried a banner which read: "Team of hoisting heroes".

Bloodhound: Russia Bars US Band For Pants Antics

American rock group Bloodhound Gang has been barred from a music festival in Russia after a band member shoved the country's flag into his underpants during a gig.

Bassist Jared Hasselhoff put the flag into the front of his pants and then pulled it out of the back during a concert in the Ukrainian city of Odessa on Wednesday.

"Don't tell Putin!" he said to the applause of the audience.

The antics were posted on YouTube.

Moscow reacted angrily by banning the band - which is famous for its sexually explicit songs - from performing at a festival in the Krasnodar Black Sea region, also known as Kuban.

The event, held on August 1-7, is expected to feature bands including The Prodigy, Guano Apes and Scooter.

Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky said on Twitter said: "I spoke to the Krasnodar region authorities. Bloodhound Gang is packing their suitcases. These idiots will not perform in Kuban."

The incident happened against the background of a deepening rift in relations between Russia and the US including the furore over the US fugitive spy agency contractor Edward Snowden who was granted asylum by Moscow this week.

Bloodhound Gang, famous for their provocative songs such as "You're Pretty When I'm Drunk", "I Wish I Was Queer So I Could Get Chicks" and "Kiss Me Where It Smells Funny?" apologised, according to local press.

Zimbabwe: Mugabe Wins Two-Thirds Majority

President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF party has won a two-thirds majority in Zimbabwe's parliamentary elections, official results show.

He won more than 150 of 210 seats, according to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission's results from Wednesday's vote.

Mr Mugabe's main rival, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, denounced the election as a "huge farce" and "sham", alleging massive vote rigging by Zanu-PF.

Zimbabwe's largest domestic observer group also called the elections "seriously compromised".

Earlier, a Zimbabwean election commissioner resigned over the way the presidential and parliamentary vote was managed.

Mkhululi Nyathi's departure from the nine-member Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is likely to add to the dispute both inside and outside the country.

"While throughout the whole process I retained some measure of hope that the integrity of the whole process could be salvaged along the way, this was not to be," he said in a resignation letter seen by Reuters.

The vote passed off peacefully and received broad approval from African observers.

Mr Mugabe, 89, has governed the former British colony, then known as Rhodesia, since independence in 1980.

Twitter Abuse: New Security Button As Claims Rise

 

Twitter has issued new rules to help clamp down on abusive behaviour as police investigate claims of abuse against eight people on the microblogging website.

The company's UK general manager Tony Wang has said he personally apologises to women who have experienced abuse on the site.

He added: "The abuse they've received is simply not acceptable. It's not acceptable in the real word and it's not acceptable on Twitter. There is more we can and will be doing to protect our users against abuse."

The firm said it was putting extra staff on the teams which handle abuse reports, and an "in-tweet" report button has been added so people can report abusive behaviour directly from a tweet.

Twitter is also working with the UK Safer Internet Centre, which promotes the safe and responsible use of technology.

The rules include "You may not publish or post direct, specific threats of violence against others" and "You may not engage in targeted abuse or harassment".

The social networking website added: "User abuse and technical abuse are not tolerated on Twitter.com, and may result in permanent suspension."

Scotland Yard has said its e-crime unit is looking into eight abuse claims, three of which involve incidents outside London.

Twitter found itself in the spotlight after three female journalists said they had been the subject of bomb threats on the site and two other women - an MP and a campaigner - received threats of rape.

The bomb threat tweet was sent to Guardian columnist Hadley Freeman, Independent columnist Grace Dent and Europe editor of Time magazine Catherine Mayer, which Ms Dent took a screen grab of and posted for her Twitter followers to see.

In separate incidents, Labour MP Stella Creasy and campaigner Caroline Criado-Perez, who successfully fought for a woman's face to appear on £10 banknotes, were threatened on Twitter with rape.

Two arrests have already been made in relation to those threats.

The revelations sparked a backlash online, with an online petition calling for Twitter to add a "report abuse" button to tweets attracting more than 120,000 signatures.

In a message posted on its blog, Twitter's senior director for trust and safety, Del Harvey, and Mr Wang said it has updated its rules in light of feedback from customers.

"It comes down to this: people deserve to feel safe on Twitter," they said.

"We want people to feel safe on Twitter, and we want the Twitter rules to send a clear message to anyone who thought that such behaviour was, or could ever be, acceptable," they wrote.

"We are committed to making Twitter a safe place for our users," they said, adding: "We're here, and we're listening to you.