■ China
Chlorine leak affects 130
A chlorine leak in northeastern China sent 130 people to the hospital for treatment, the government said yesterday. No deaths or life-threatening injuries were reported. The leak in Qiqihar, in Heilongjiang province, happened at 6pm on Thursday, the official Xinhua News Agency said. It said the chlorine leaked from a leftover tank that hadn't been sealed off completely, the agency said. Most of those hospitalized had inhaled fumes. More than 100 of those hospitalized were recovering and expected to be released from the hospital yesterday, Xinhua said.
■ Indonesia
War criminal wants to lead
The former chief of the Indonesian military, who has been charged by the UN with crimes against humanity, presented himself here on Thursday as a candidate for his nation's first direct presidential elections, scheduled for July. General Wiranto, an accomplished crooner with matinee-idol good looks, told a luncheon of foreign correspondents and diplomats that he could provide leadership and security for Indonesia after what he called five years of "turbulence." Many political analysts believe that Wiranto would have the best chance of unseating the incumbent, Megawati Sukarnoputri, whose popularity has plummeted.
■ North Korea
Officials deny uranium bomb
North Korean officials told an American expert on Korea that they see no urgency in ending the impasse over its nuclear weapons programs because delays will give the country more time to expand its nuclear arsenal. Charles Pritchard, a former State Department official, met with the North Koreans last week as part of a private visit. He said North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan, during their nine-hour discussion, also denied that North Korea is pursuing a uranium bomb, contradicting US intelligence and Pyongyang's own admissions to US officials -- Pritchard included -- in October, 2002.
■ Japan
Stamps spark outrage
Japanese Cabinet ministers expressed regret yesterday after South Korea issued postage stamps depicting a group of disputed islets, despite calls from Tokyo to scrap them. South Korea's postal authorities are releasing 2.25 million stamps featuring the islands, known as Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese, starting yesterday. Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi summoned South Korean ambassador Cho Se-hyung to her ministry to lodge a protest, reiterating the islets are "our country's sovereign territory." Lying in the sea between South Korea and Japan, the islets have been occupied for decades by South Korean coast guards and patrolled by the South Korean navy. But Tokyo has also claimed the islets.
■ China
Official charged with spying
China has detained one of its top officials in Hong Kong for spying for Britain, sources said yesterday, in the biggest espionage scandal between the countries since the 1997 handover. Cai Xiaohong (蔡小洪), secretary general of the Liaison Office of the Central Government in Hong Kong, faces the death penalty if convicted, said two Chinese sources with knowledge of the case. Cai, who held a rank equivalent to an assistant minister, was detained in China last year when he returned home for official business, the sources said. "He sold state secrets to Britain," said a Chinese government source who asked not to be identified.
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