Daily News Roundup

 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 20

A Chinese man has been reunited with his family after being abducted as a toddler in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province 32 years ago, police have said.

Mao Yin was abducted when he was two-and-a-half years old at the entrance of a hotel in Xi’an in 1988 and sold to a childless couple who raised him as their own son, Xi’an’s public security bureau said in a statement reported by the ABC and Reuters newsagency.

On Monday, Mao Yin, now 34, and his parents embraced at the Xi’an municipal public security bureau in the provincial capital.

Li Jingzhi, Mr Mao’s mother said: “I would like to thank tens of thousands of people who have helped us.”

To find her son, Ms Li quit her job and sent out more than 100,000 flyers.

She also joined volunteers in collecting information about missing children and providing it to the police. With her help, 29 abducted children have reunited with their families.

In late April, Xi’an police received tips saying a man from Sichuan Province in southwest China adopted a child from Xi’an years ago at the price of 6,000 yuan.

After a series of investigations and comparisons, police found a man surnamed Gu from the Sichuan city of Mianyang who resembled the missing Mao.

His true identity was later confirmed by a DNA test.

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The lawyer for MasterChef contestant Ben Ungermann has “vehemently denied” the charges against him, labelling them a “complete fabrication”.

Mr Ungermann has been charged with two counts of sexual assault allegedly committed against a 16-year-old girl during a trip to Melbourne in February.

The Queensland cook disappeared from recent episodes of the hit Australian reality TV show leaving viewers searching for answers.

Sydney-based lawyer Adam Houda confirmed he was acting for Mr Ungermann on Tuesday.

“My client is very distressed by the charges levelled against him. I am instructed that the allegations are a complete fabrication and are strenuously denied,” he told news.com.au.

Earlier, he tweeted “allegations against my client are vehemently denied and will be defended.

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Qantas boss Alan Joyce has claimed there is a nearly negligible risk of getting COVID-19 on a plane.

Asked how people can fly while social distancing, he said: “Because the cabin’s pressurised, 99.9 per cent of all viruses, all bacteria, are filtered through medical-grade filters, they are usually in operating theatres and the air is extracted every five minutes from the cabin. The air circulates from top to bottom.

“Everybody in an aircraft is facing the same direction with a barrier of a seat in front of them. The medical advice and the medical evidence shows there is a very low risk of transmission of COVID-19.”