Two killed in GZ shootout

    Two people were killed in a gunfight* on the night of September 17 when police tried to capture a suspected drug dealer* in Guangzhou, about 150 km from Shenzhen.

    At 6:17 p.m. on September 17, police raided* a drug-cooking den* in Haizhu District after receiving a tip-off*, but the suspect resisted, brandishing* a gun.

    The suspect was shot dead at the scene after a six-hour standoff. A police officer and a bystander were injured. The bystander later died at the hospital.

    Boy denied HK residency

    A Hong Kong born and raised son of a Filipino maid* has lost his bid for permanent resident status.

    Joseph James Gutierrez, 17, was born to Josephine Gutierrez in Hong Kong in December 1996 and has lived with his mother in the city ever since, apart from a few short breaks in the Philippines.

    The Court of Final Appeal’s five judges found that the mother and son had failed to prove that Hong Kong is their place of “permanent residence.”

    4 jailed for terrorism

    A Yunan Province court has sentenced four people to up to 20 years in jail for “plotting terror attacks,” Xinhua reported on September 17.

    The four were found guilty of “participating in terrorist organizations, illegally making explosives, offering funds or harboring suspects,” Xinhua said.

    The defendants, three men and a woman, “came under the influence of extremist religious thoughts” and “accepted extremist religious thoughts and violent terrorism views,” Yunnan.cn cited the court as saying.

    More pandas to be released

    China will release another two giant pandas into the wild this year, Zhang Hemin, director of China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda of Wolong, said.

    China started sending pandas into the wild in 2006 when 5-year-old male panda Xiang Xiang was released. However, Xiang Xiang died after fighting with other pandas over food and territory roughly a year later.(SD-Agencies)