Britain returns $60m graft assets to Macau

MACAU • Britain has returned £28 million (S$60 million) worth of illegal foreign assets to Macau from a former minister jailed for bribery, authorities announced yesterday.

The assets belonged to Macau's ex-transport and public works minister Ao Man Long, who is serving 29 years in jail over a multimillion-dollar scandal.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Thatcher's iconic bags up for auction

LONDON • Handbags owned by late British leader Margaret Thatcher, whose apocryphal use of the accessory as a tactical weapon gave rise to the term "handbagging", are to be auctioned off after a museum rejected them.

They are among 350 "historic and personal lots" - including clothes and speeches - that auctioneer Christie's said yesterday would be offered at its London showroom on Dec 15 and later online.

REUTERS

9 Chilean 'miracle miners' sue lawyers

SANTIAGO • Nine Chileans trapped in a mine in 2010 sued their lawyers on Monday, accusing them of cheating them out of the rights to their story. The men, who were trapped for 69 days after a collapse at the San Jose mine, accused lawyers Remberto Rodrigo Valdes and Fernando Garcia of appropriating monies that rightfully belonged to all 33 miners, who gave up their rights for US$5,700 (S$8,000) each.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE