■ 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.
SPEAKING OUT: After Siranudh Scott’s allegations surfaced, celebrities and public figures took to social media to share their own experiences of sexual misconduct and abuse A high-profile alleged sexual abuse case within a wealthy Thai beer brewing family has prompted a wave of painful accounts from survivors of unconnected abuse in the conservative nation. Siranudh Scott, a member of the billionaire Thai family that founded the ubiquitous Singha beer brand, posted an emotional video this month accusing his elder brother Sunit of repeatedly abusing him when he was a teenager. Sunit, who is in his 30s, later denied the allegations in a video posted online, but Singha parent Boonrawd dismissed him from his executive role with the company on Tuesday last week. “I felt I needed to speak
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
SEEKING ORDER: Rodrigo Paz said that ‘anyone who wants to destroy the nation will have to deal with this president and the full force of the constitution’ Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Wednesday said that the nation was at a “breaking point” after nearly a month of protests that have caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Paz, who took office six months ago amid the worst economic crisis there in four decades, is battling a groundswell of fury over his policies. The political capital, La Paz, has been besieged by low-income workers and members of the indigenous majority calling for his resignation. “The country needs order and is reaching breaking point,” the 58-year-old said at a public event in La Paz, renewing his appeal for dialogue. On Tuesday, the Bolivian
Forecasters in Europe yesterday warned of exceptional heat as record temperatures driven by a “heat dome” push temperatures well above seasonal norms across the continent. The surge follows a record-breaking Monday, with France logging its hottest day in the month of May on record, its weather agency said, and the UK also posting unprecedented highs. A so-called “heat dome” of warm air from northern Africa trapped under a high-pressure system over western Europe is behind the high temperatures not usually seen until high summer. Restrictions on outdoor work were imposed in parts of Italy, beaches in southwest France filled earlier than usual and
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