■ ChinaScores hurt as ships collide
More than 70 people were injured when a passenger ship and an oil tanker collided late Saturday on the Yangtze River near Chongqing, state media said yesterday. There were no dead or missing reported so far, the Xinhua news agency quoted a local official as saying. A doctor said 36 people remained hospitalized, with two seriously injured with fractures. "None of them have life-or-death injuries," said the doctor, surnamed Yi, at the Chuanwei Employee Hospital located in a chemical plant near the accident scene. The collision's cause was under investigation.
■ Singapore
Inner tubes fail migrants
Police said they arrested two Chinese women and two Indian men after they tried to enter Singapore illegally by swimming from neighboring Malaysia with the aid of inner tubes. The arrests early Saturday bring the number of illegal immigrants caught trying to enter Singapore by sea so far this year to 73. If convicted, the four face jail terms of up to six months and fines of up to S$6,000 (US$3,530). The men could also be punished with three strokes of a rattan cane. Women cannot be caned under Singapore law. The city-state maintains strict immigration controls, and has built barriers along its northern coast and increased patrols to crack down on illegal migrants. Last year, authorities arrested 11,850 people for attempting to enter the country illegally.
■ Nepal
Opposition plans strategy
Leaders from Nepal's opposition parties were to forge an agenda yesterday for proposed talks with the king aimed at settling the country's political crisis and restoring democracy. However, King Gyanendra has yet to extend an invitation to Nepal's five main political parties, two days after his pro-monarchy prime minister resigned amid huge street protests calling for a democratic government. A new premier has not been picked yet. Despite the royal silence, the opposition parties said Saturday that the talks would focus on the monarch relinquishing some of his powers and installing a government with representatives from all five parties. "We want to make sure that we are not going to be deceived by the king again," said Girija Prasad Koirala, president of Nepali Congress. Koirala said street protests would continue until the king meets the opposition's demands, and a two-day general strike tomorrow and Wednesday would be enforced.
■ China
Tibet easier than Taiwan
China is likely to find it easier to resolve the problem of Tibet than that of Taiwan, the Dalai Lama said on Saturday in France. "My middle-of-the-way approach, calling for real self-government within China, is something that is possible and provided for by the Chinese Constitution," he said in Niort, 400km south of Paris, where he inaugurated an exhibition pavilion dedicated to Tibet. "The essential thing is that they trust in the sincerity of my initiative," said the the Tibetan Buddhists' spiritual leader, who has lived in exile since 1959. The Dalai Lama, 69, said he was trying to establish "a relationship of confidence" with the Chinese leadership, which he said was "extremely distrustful" of him. "China is going through a period of transition ... and my suggestion of the middle way is in entirely in line with a stable transition," he said.
■ CanadaFishing spat heats up
Canada on Saturday cranked up the heat in its fishing showdown with Portugal, displaying an illegal net it says was ditched by a Portuguese trawler as it was boarded by Canadian inspectors. It said the net, recovered from the sea during an enforcement mission against illegal fishing off the Grand Banks, featured mesh smaller than legal limits, allowing it to snare protected juvenile fish. The net was brought back to St John's, Newfoundland Saturday and "provides clear and tangible evidence of serious fishing infractions," said Fisheries and Oceans minister Geoff Regan. "Fishery officers ... believe this trawl was cut loose from the Portuguese trawler Brites just before Canadian inspectors boarded the vessel on May 4."
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