Briefs | Flight 736 – Chinese plane lands safely in Sydney with hole in engine casing

A plane heading to Shanghai returned safely to Sydney after an in-flight problem left a gaping hole in an engine casing. China Eastern Airlines said the crew on Flight 736 noticed damage to the air inlet on the left engine after takeoff Sunday evening and the captain decided to return. The airline said on its Sina Weibo microblog that the plane landed safely and the airline was taking care of passengers’ needs. The Airbus A330 plane has two engines. Passengers told Australian media they heard a massive noise and smelled something burning. Passenger Ashley Beck told Australia’s Channel Nine television that after the passengers heard the loud noise, the crew started moving everyone from the left side of the plane. Photos showed a jagged, vertical hole in the side of the casing.

Crime – Chinese prostitute among two killed in Germany

German police have arrested a suspect in the killing of two women who worked as prostitutes in the southern city of Nuremberg. A 44-year-old Chinese woman was killed in the city June 5. Both women had moved to Nuremberg recently. A 22-year-old Romanian woman was killed in Nuremberg on May 24. Public broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk reports that the 21-year-old German suspect was identified with the help of cellphone data and DNA from the crime scene. Nuremberg police declined to confirm details of the man’s arrest ahead of a news conference yesterday.

Panda diplomacy – Giant cub born in Tokyo zoo, survival uncertain

A giant panda cub was born in a Tokyo zoo, but its gender, weight and even whether it will survive are uncertain. The mother, ShinShin, whose previous cub survived only six days, was holding her newborn in her paw but whether the cub was nursing was not clear, Ueno Zoo said in a statement. The zoo released a blurry photo of the mother with the tiny head and limbs of her cub also visible. While ShinShin’s cub born in 2012 died, other pandas born at the zoo have survived. The father of the newborn is another panda in the Tokyo zoo called RiRi, whose name means “power.” ShinShin’s name means “truth.” About 420 giant pandas live in captivity, mostly in their native China, while about 1,860 live in the wild. China for decades gifted friendly nations with its unofficial national mascot in what was known as “panda diplomacy.” The country more recently has loaned pandas to zoos on commercial terms.