■ China
Shanghai sperm failing
The bright lights and fast living of Shanghai have taken a heavy toll on the local sperm count, a newspaper said yesterday. The city's sperm bank had managed to collect just 6,000 samples in two years and many of those were of "poor quality," the Shanghai Daily said. "More than 2,000 people came here for physical checks and only 400 were found to be qualified" to donate sperm, the paper quoted the sperm bank director as saying. Unhealthy lifestyles, stress and pollution were to blame for deteriorating quality, it added. Almost a 10th of married couples in Shanghai were believed to be infertile, and about 10 percent of those turned to a sperm bank for help, it added.
■ China
More coal mine deaths
An accident yesterday at a coal mine in the northern city of Datong trapped 11 miners, while the death toll in an explosion at another mine rose to 72 after grieving families forced authorities to reopen a search for missing miners, the government said. The official Xinhua News Agency said a 40m-long section of the Datong's mine's ceiling collapsed at 12:40am as workers were tunneling beneath it. Xinhua said the bodies of three more people killed in a March 19 blast at the Xishui Mine in Shuozhou were found during the weekend. Authorities had called off a search on March 22 after finding 69 bodies but relatives who complained that their family members were still missing lobbied them to keep looking, Xinhua said.
■ Hong Kong
Ten nabbed in triad raids
Ten people were arrested yesterday in the latest in a series of police raids on triad gangs in the heart of the tourist district, officials said. The midnight raids followed two nights of standoffs between triads and police as officers cracked down on gangs in nightclubs in the Tsim Sha Tsui district. Seven men and three women were arrested for assaulting and obstructing police, drug possession and claiming to be triads, a spokeswomen said. On Saturday night some 50 gang members were involved in a standoff with police during a routine search of a nightclub notorious for its links with the underworld. Six people were later arrested on Sunday.
■ Japan
Tsunami alerts to be given
The Meteorological Agency will give tsunami-warning data to Russia, South Korea, China, the Philippines, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea if an earthquake measuring magnitude 6.5 or greater occurs in a northwestern part of the Pacific Ocean near Japan and such countries. "This will provide a reference for strengthening measures against disasters and have the benefit of decreasing damage from tsunamis," said an agency official. The agency will assess the risk of tsunamis after such quakes and estimate when they may hit a number of set points. The agency hopes to be able to start offering separate provisional tsunami warning information as early as this month, along with the US, to Indian Ocean countries hit by the Dec. 26 tsunami.
■ Australia
Drummer found dead
Paul Hester, the drummer from popular 1980s rock band Crowded House, hanged himself in a Melbourne park over the weekend. Hester, 46, had failed to return home after taking his two dogs for a walk near his home on Friday night. His body was found in a park on Saturday, reportedly hanging from a tree.
■ United Kingdom
Treasure hunt is on
HMS Sussex has lain undisturbed on the seabed for more than 300 years, but since researchers discovered the ship was carrying more than US$3.7 billion worth of English gold and silver, it has become the focus of a bitter dispute as the Spanish authorities try to frustrate the attempts of a private company to locate it and start salvage work this month on behalf of Britain. International law gives UK authorities jurisdiction over the wrecks of British ships wherever they might lie, but the regional government of Andalucia says permission from Spain is required to carry out exploration in Spanish waters, and has sent out coastal patrols to disrupt the salvage operation. The Sussex was carrying a payment for the Duke of Savoy, a key ally in Britain's war against the French.
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