Page 6 - aruba-today-20210106

A6 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 6 January 2021

Former head of China state

asset firm sentenced to death

tracts, help with promotions
and provide other favors.
He was also convicted of
embezzling more than 25
million yuan (almost $4 mil-
lion) in state assets and
starting a second family
while still married to his first
wife.
Although Lai provided use-
A grey heron stands between dumped plastic bottles and ful details about malfea-
barrels on the bank of the Potpecko Lake on the Lim river,
near city of Priboj, Serbia, Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021. sance by his subordinates,
Associated Press the seriousness of his bribet-
In this image taken from Jan. 5, 2021, video footage run by Chi- aking and "degree of harm
Islands of na's CCTV via AP Video, Lai Xiaomin, the former head of the caused to society" were
state-owned China Huarong Asset Management Co.Ltd., at-
not enough to win him le-
tends court at the Second Intermediate People's Court of Tianjin
floating waste clog in China. Associated Press niency, the court said in its
ruling.
"Lai Xiaomin is lawless and
rivers in Balkans BEIJING (AP) — The for- rare in recent years. Such greedy in the extreme," the

mer head of state-owned sentences are automati- ruling said. "His crimes are
VISEGRAD, Bosnia-Her- area. China Huarong Asset Man- cally appealed to China's extremely serious and must
zegovina (AP) — Huge The Balkan nations have agement Co. Ltd. was sen- highest court. be punished severely un-
islands of waste are float- poor waste management tenced to death Tuesday Lai was placed under in- der law."
ing on some rivers in the and tons of garbage rou- for bribe taking in one of vestigation by the ruling Huarong is one of four enti-
Balkans, causing an en- tinely end up in rivers. A the harshest punishments Communist Party's corrup- ties created in the 1990s to
vironmental emergency broken barrier this week for economic crimes in re- tion watchdog in 2018 and buy nonperforming loans
and threatening a re- caused a massive con- cent years. expelled from the party lat- from banks, helping to re-
gional hydropower plant. gestion of garbage on Lai Xiaomin, 58, was also er the same year. vive the state-owned fi-
Plastic bottles and bags, the Drina that has threat- found guilty by the Sec- In its ruling, the Tianjin court nance industry. Such asset
rusty barrels and other ened the Visegrad dam. ond Intermediate People's cited the "especially enor- management companies
garbage on Tuesday Officials say that be- Court of Tianjin of lesser mous" size of the bribes Lai expanded into banking,
could be seen clogging tween 6,000 and 8,000 charges including corrup- accepted, saying they ex- insurance, real estate fi-
the Drina river near the cubic meters of waste tion and bigamy. ceeded 600 million yuan nance and other fields.
eastern Bosnian town of are pulled out of the Dri- Life sentences and sus- ($93 million) in one instance. Lai was accused of squan-
Visegrad. Upstream, the na each year near Viseg- pended death sentences In total, it said Lai collected dering public money, ille-
Drina tributaries in Monte- rad. Although the prob- commuted to life after or sought to collect 1.79 gally organizing banquets,
negro, Serbia and Bosnia lem is not new, Serbia, two years are frequently billion yuan (US$260 mil- engaging in sexual deal-
are carrying even more Bosnia and Montenegro handed down in corrup- lion) over a decade in ex- ings with multiple women
waste after the swollen have done little to fix it tion cases, but death sen- change for abusing his po- and taking bribes, the anti-
winter waters surged over even as they seek to join tences without the chance sition to make investments, corruption agency said in
the the landfills in the the European Union.q of reprieve have become offer construction con- 2018.q

U.S. Air Force deploys airmen, drones to base in Romania

there are allied concerns also sending a message to two squadrons of modern-
that Russia is trying to dis- our adversaries, that we ized version MiG-21 aircraft
play its military strength. can quickly respond to any and two Puma helicopter
The Romanian Defense emergent threat," Gen. Jeff squadrons.
Ministry said Wednesday Harrigian, U.S. Air Forces in This deployment has been
that the U.S. deployment Europe and Air Forces Af- fully coordinated with the
in its Campia Turzii Air Base rica commander, said in a Romanian government, the
will be for "a few months" to statement. The statement statement said. The United
conduct information gath- said the Reapers will boost States and Romania enjoy
ering, surveillance and re- surveillance and reconnais- a close military-to-military
search missions in support sance capabilities in the relationship as NATO allies
of NATO operations. Black Sea region, where the and cooperate on numer-
NATO-member Romania U.S. has regularly accused ous regional security issues,
shares the Black Sea bor- Russia of dangerous inter- the U.S. statement said.
der with Russia, and Mos- cepts of its military aircraft The forward MQ-9 pres-
cow has lately been arm- and other incidents that ence enabled by this de-
In this Thursday, April 10, 2014 file picture, members of the US
air force prepare for a flag raising ceremony at a Romanian air ing its neighbor Serbia with have caused tensions to ployment demonstrates
base in Campia Turzii, Romania. military aircraft, tanks and flare between the two su- the United States' commit-
Associated Press other armored vehicles. perpowers. The Pentagon ment to the security and
"The forward and ready has spent millions of dollars stability of Europe and aims
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) ber of drone aircraft to a positioning of our MQ-9s in recent years to upgrade to strengthen relationships
— The U.S. Air Force has base in central Romania, (Reaper drones) at this key the Cold War communist- between NATO allies and
deployed about 90 airmen boosting its military pres- strategic location reassures era base in central Roma- other European partners, it
and an unspecified num- ence in the region where our allies and partners, while nia where its air force hosts added.q