■ China
Refugees' fate undecided
The fate of 29 refugees who rushed a Japanese school in Beijing hung in the balance yesterday as Japanese consular officials interviewed them to find out who they were and what they wanted, diplomats said. "We are still trying to find out who they are," Japanese embassy spokesman Keiji Ide said. "They claimed they are North Koreans but we should be careful." The 11 men, 15 women and three children were "more relaxed" after sleeping in the Japanese embassy Wednesday night, he said. Ide said that as far he knew the refugees had not been in contact with South Korean or Chinese officials. A senior foreign ministry official in Seoul said the group would be accepted if they wanted to come to South Korea while Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi pledged that they would be treated "in a humanitarian way."
■ Japan
PM views disputed islands
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi boarded a coast guard patrol boat and viewed a group of Russian-held islands claimed by Japan yesterday, brushing off protests by Moscow that the trip could harm relations. Koizumi departed from the northern island of Hokkaido toward the Kuril islands ahead of 59th anniversary today of the Soviet occupation of them in the weeks following Japan's defeat in World War II in 1945. Former Japanese residents of the islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories, and other supporters of the trip waved rising sun flags as Koizumi boarded the ship. National broadcaster NHK later showed Koizumi viewing the islands with binoculars.
■ China
New ban on sexy clothes
Female civil servants in eastern China have been banned from wearing sexy clothes such as slinky tops and tight leggings and told to not use "dirty" or "strange" language in the office, state media said yesterday. The Zhejiang provincial archives bureau announced a set of regulations -- the first of their kind in the country -- that also require female workers to refrain from wearing excess jewelry at work, the China News Service said. Women workers must not be "avant-garde and ostentatious," the regulations reportedly say. They should neither be "too thin and tight or showing the under-garments."
■ China
Baby swapped for phones
A couple in China have traded in their newborn baby boy for two new mobile phones, a news report said yesterday. The couple, who live in Beijing, sold their five day-old boy for 13,000 yuan (US$1,569) and used the money to buy new mobile phones. Police arrested the 32-year-old man and his 22-year-old wife after the husband's enraged brother reported them after hearing about the sale. The mother, from China's Henan province, told police she did not know it was illegal to sell her son, according to the South China Morning Post.
■ China
Two arrested in killing spree
Two brothers have been arrested in central China accused of killing 12 people and cutting up their bodies, state media reported yesterday. Shen Changyin, 29, and Shen Changping, 21, were detained over the murder and dismemberment of 11 waitresses and one man across six provinces, the Yanzhao Metropolitan Daily said. The two farmers had fled Nanwu village in Huojia county, Henan province, in 2000 after the elder brother murdered a man, the report said.
■ United Kingdom
Criminal tracking tested
Britain will test a satellite system for tracking criminal offenders, government officials said yesterday. Prisons Minister Paul Goggins said the system could be used to track several thousand offenders. "We estimate there are 5,000 prolific offenders causing major problems and mayhem with their offending behavior, day in, day out. So they would be a clear target," he said in an interview with BBC Radio. Sex offenders released from prison could be requir-ed to wear the tags as a condition of their freedom, he added. In the pilot program, up to 120 offenders will be fitted with tags which have a wireless connection to a mobile phone.
■ France
Prison tunnel investigated
Anti-terrorist police opened a formal inquiry Wednesday into three tunnels discovered under La Sante, Paris' main high-security jail, whose inmates range from million-aire fraudsters and corrupt politicians to Islamic mili-tants and Basque separatists. The prison authorities said the tunnels, which ran beneath two of the prison's watchtowers and its main entrance, seemed to be part of the network of historic catacombs and quarries which underlies large areas of the city. Two of the tunnels, between 4m and 17m below the prison, had been re-sealed, and La Sante's most dangerous inmates transferred to other jails.
■ United States
Man kills dog with sword
A man has been accused of stabbing a dog to death with a sword in retaliation against its owner, a hotel owner who had evicted him. Daniel Painter, 30, was charged Tuesday with aggravated assault and cruelty to ani-mals. Police said Painter attacked a chow-Labrador mix named Kabu with a sword early Sunday. Kabu's owner, Garth Jones, said he was awakened early Sunday to the sound of a thud and a yelp. Jones said he saw his dog being repeatedly stabbed by Painter, whom he had recently evicted from the Kirk Hotel in Tooele, about 40 km southwest of Salt Lake City. Jones said the man then threatened him and chased after him, but Jones was able to run into his office and call police.
■ South Africa
Plant explosion kills six
Five people remained in critical condition Thursday, a day after a blast in a chemi-cal plant run by South Afri-can giant Sasol killed six and injured more than 100, amid a report that the company had flouted safety norms. A total of 44 people were hospitalized following Wed-nesday's explosion at the plant, the world's biggest coal-to-synthetic fuels facility which is spread over 14 km2 in the town of Secunda, Sasol spokesman Johann van Rheede said. "Five people are in intensive care and 15 people are still in hospital," Van Rheede told reporters.
■ United Kingdom
Famous chef `amateurish'
A restaurant founded by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver to teach skills to unemployed young people amid a blaze of publicity was panned by a top London guide yesterday. In its 2005 edition, Harden's London restaurants guide described the restaurant, Fifteen, as "amateurish." "Just because it's a charity doesn't give them the right to rip people off," one visitor to the restaurant in the newly trendy Hoxton area in London's East End told the guide. Patrons slammed the quality of the food, the service and the atmosphere of the restaurant, where a meal without wine costs around ?70 pounds (US$125 dollars) a head.
PRECARIOUS RELATIONS: Commentators in Saudi Arabia accuse the UAE of growing too bold, backing forces at odds with Saudi interests in various conflicts A Saudi Arabian media campaign targeting the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has deepened the Gulf’s worst row in years, stoking fears of a damaging fall-out in the financial heart of the Middle East. Fiery accusations of rights abuses and betrayal have circulated for weeks in state-run and social media after a brief conflict in Yemen, where Saudi airstrikes quelled an offensive by UAE-backed separatists. The United Arab Emirates is “investing in chaos and supporting secessionists” from Libya to Yemen and the Horn of Africa, Saudi Arabia’s al-Ekhbariya TV charged in a report this week. Such invective has been unheard of
US President Donald Trump on Saturday warned Canada that if it concludes a trade deal with China, he would impose a 100 percent tariff on all goods coming over the border. Relations between the US and its northern neighbor have been rocky since Trump returned to the White House a year ago, with spats over trade and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney decrying a “rupture” in the US-led global order. During a visit to Beijing earlier this month, Carney hailed a “new strategic partnership” with China that resulted in a “preliminary, but landmark trade agreement” to reduce tariffs — but
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) purge of his most senior general is driven by his effort to both secure “total control” of his military and root out corruption, US Ambassador to China David Perdue said told Bloomberg Television yesterday. The probe into Zhang Youxia (張又俠), Xi’s second-in-command, announced over the weekend, is a “major development,” Perdue said, citing the family connections the vice chair of China’s apex military commission has with Xi. Chinese authorities said Zhang was being investigated for suspected serious discipline and law violations, without disclosing further details. “I take him at his word that there’s a corruption effort under
China executed 11 people linked to Myanmar criminal gangs, including “key members” of telecom scam operations, state media reported yesterday, as Beijing toughens its response to the sprawling, transnational industry. Fraud compounds where scammers lure Internet users into fake romantic relationships and cryptocurrency investments have flourished across Southeast Asia, including in Myanmar. Initially largely targeting Chinese speakers, the criminal groups behind the compounds have expanded operations into multiple languages to steal from victims around the world. Those conducting the scams are sometimes willing con artists, and other times trafficked foreign nationals forced to work. In the past few years, Beijing has stepped up cooperation
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