Story highlights
Dubai pardons Norwegian woman who was jailed after reporting being raped
5.9-magnitude earthquake leaves dozens dead in northwest China
Hezbollah's military wing designated a terrorist group by EU
While half of civilization busied itself trying to find out the name, weight, gender, hair color, taste in music and political disposition of the new heir to the British throne, it turns out there was a whole world of other news happening out there.
Here are five other stories you may have missed today:
1. Dubai pardons woman jailed after reporting rape
A 24-year-old Norwegian woman says she was raped by a colleague in a Dubai hotel following a work party – but after she went to police, she was convicted and sentenced to 16 months in jail on charges of having unlawful sex, making a false statement and illegal consumption of alcohol.
Now Dubai’s ruler has pardoned Marte Deborah Dalelv according to Norway’s foreign minister, who called Dalelv’s conviction “contrary to fundamental human rights.” Dalelv will be free to travel where she wants and can remain in Dubai if she chooses.
2. Dozens dead as earthquake hits northwest China
A shallow, powerful 5.9-magnitude earthquake tore through China’s Gansu Province, killing at least 89 people and injuring hundreds more, according to state media.
The original quake and powerful aftershocks caused roofs to collapse, cut telecommunications lines and damaged a major highway. Emergency services have converged on the area to try to rescue survivors.
3. Hezbollah’s military wing is a terrorist group, says EU
The European Union has joined the U.S. and Israel in designating the military wing of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, but stopped short of putting the entire group on its terror list.
The Bulgarians cited evidence that the military wing of the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shiite group was involved in a terror attack last year that killed five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian bus driver. In Cyprus earlier this year, a court found a Hezbollah member guilty of assisting in the planning of an attack on Israel. Lately, its fighters have sided with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in that country’s civil war.
The designation, which a spokeswoman for Israeli Justice Minister Tzipi Livni called “correct and just,” would freeze the assets of Hezbollah entities.
4. Man who bombed Beijing airport wanted to flag ‘unjust treatment’
The wheelchair-bound Ji Zhongxing, 34, set off a homemade explosive inside a Beijing airport on Saturday after he was stopped from handing out leaflets “to get attention to his complaints” outside the arrival hall, according to Xinhua news agency.
Ji said on his personal blog in 2006 that he had been beaten by security guards outside a police station in 2005 after carrying a passenger on his motorcycle – a charge the police denied. He was paralyzed after the incident and petitioned for official compensation.
Ji was hospitalized after he detonated his explosives. No other people were injured and flights at the airport were not affected.
5. CNN Exclusive: Glee star Charice on why she’ll miss Cory Monteith
In an exclusive opinion piece for CNN.com, “Glee” star Charice writes that her body went cold when she learned co-star Cory Monteith had been found dead from a drug overdose in his hotel room in Vancouver.
Charice says Monteith, who had been frank about his struggles with substance abuse in the past, was a “real talent” – and that she has no idea what will happen to the hit American musical now that the actor is gone.