■ LaosSoldiers killed 5 kids: AI
Amnesty International yesterday accused the Laotian armed forces of torturing and killing five ethnic Hmong children in what the human rights group described as a "war crime." The group called for UN agencies and aid groups to be given immediate access to Hmong rebels inside Laos following the attack. Amnesty said it had gathered evidence "including video and witness testimony of an attack by Lao soldiers against a group of five children in the Xaisomboune military zone" on May 19, 2004. A foreign ministry spokesman in Vientiane dismissed the report as "false allegations aiming at creating disorder." The assault was carried out by approximately 35 soldiers. Several other people escaped the attack.
■ Japan
Two killers hanged
The government executed a man yesterday for killing eight children in a 2001 knifing rampage that forced tightened security at schools. Mamoru Takuma, who had a history of mental illness, barged through classrooms in Osaka wildly slashing at children and teachers. Kyodo News service and national broadcaster NHK reported Takuma's execution along with the hanging of a second inmate, convicted murderer Sueo Shimazaki. In the June 8, 2001 attack, Takuma killed seven girls and one boy, ages six to eight, at Ikeda elementary school in an Osaka suburb. Takuma showed little remorse for his act, telling the court he could have killed more children if he had chosen a kindergarten.
■ Thailand
Foreign teachers raped
Police have arrested four teenagers in the alleged gang raping two foreign women in southwestern Thailand, an official said yesterday. The youths were arrested late Monday after a 19-year-old Canadian woman and a 22-year-old British woman alleged they had been raped on a beach in Petchaburi province, said Panya Mamen, chief of the tourist police. The teens were believed to have been acquaintances of the women, who were working as volunteer teachers at a college. The rape took place early Monday after the women went to a nightclub with the teens. Police are seeking six other suspects.
■ Vietnam
Man seeks prison refuge
A young man confessed to 17 murders he did not commit in a effort to get sent to jail to escape from moneylenders, police said yesterday. Vu Van Thang, 18, was questioned on Friday and confessed to a recent murder and 16 others, in an attempt to get sent to jail and avoid a moneylender to whom he owed cash. Thang will be charged with making false statements to the police.
■ Japan
Silent drifter identified
A mystery man who refused to talk for more than a week after he was found floating near Japan's main space center on a remote southern island has been identified as a 27-year-old Chinese fisherman believed to have jumped ship after an argument, an official said yesterday. The man was found floating at sea with a duffel bag on Sept. 2. He was rescued by a fisherman. Police later identified him as a a crewman aboard a Chinese-registered fishing ship. "We believe he jumped from a boat of his own will," said Yoshio Nakagawa of the Immigration Bureau. "Apparently he had some kind of argument with his fellow crewmembers." The man says he wants to return to his country as soon as possible, and will be deported from Japan soon. "I guess he didn't really feel like talking about anything," Nakagawa said.
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