Taiwan

Deadly typhoon heads for China

A powerful storm bore down on China today after lashing Taiwan’s northeast a day earlier winds and rains that forced schools, government offices and financial markets to close and killed at least three people, officials said.

The storm’s wind speed dropped to 73 mph today as it menaced China’s southeastern coast, prompting more than 800,000 people to flee their homes for temporary shelters.

Typhoon Haitang slammed into Taiwan on Monday with winds of 102 mph. It downed trees and power lines and knocked out power to more than 1.5 million homes. The Defense Ministry canceled a major military exercise.

Authorities said falling rocks killed one man in Taitung in the southeast, while two women drowned in the north. A man who had gone out fishing during the storm was missing. Dozens of people were injured, mostly by falling trees and signboards.

Rome

Archaeologists unveil Pompeiian treasure

Decorated cups and fine silver platters were once again polished and on display Monday as archaeologists unveiled an ancient Roman dining set that lay hidden for two millennia in the volcanic ash of Pompeii.

In 2000, archaeologists found a wicker basket containing the silverware in the ruins of a thermal bath near the remains of the Roman city, said Pietro Giovanni Guzzo, head of Pompeii’s archaeological office.

The basket was filled with the volcanic ash that buried the city when Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79. When experts X-rayed it, they saw the objects preserved in the ash, which killed thousands of people but kept the town almost intact, providing precious information on domestic life in the ancient world.

Experts have spent the last five years extracting and restoring the 20 pieces of silver that were left behind by their owners as they fled the eruption, Guzzo said as he presented the treasure to authorities and the media in Rome.

The pieces will then go on display in 2006 at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, 18 miles north of Pompeii, he said.

France

Closing arguments end in pedophilia trial

Defense attorneys on Monday concluded two weeks of closing arguments in the trial of 65 people accused of participating in a pedophilia network that raped and prostituted children in western France.

In a case that has horrified the nation, investigators say 45 children between the ages of 6 months and 14 years were raped and abused by their parents, grandparents or acquaintances in a working class neighborhood of Angers from 1999 to 2002 – at times in exchange for small amounts of money, food, alcohol or cigarettes.

At the end of Monday’s hearing, Judge Eric Marechal asked the defendants if they had anything to add before the jury began deliberation. Two asked their victims for forgiveness; two others proclaimed their innocence.

Closing arguments by some 50 defense lawyers began July 4. A verdict was expected as early as the end of the week. If convicted, the defendants face sentences ranging from three years to life.