■ China
Blast toll rises by one
The death toll from a massive chemical explosion in Mile County, Yunnan Province, on Monday rose by one to 12. Forty-three people were injured in the blast, while two others are still listed as missing. Truck driver Li Hongwen parked his cargo truck, laden with 16.3 tonnes of nitramine, a highly volatile chemical used for detonators in explosives, near his home on Monday instead of delivering it to a chemical warehouse as he was expected to do. What caused Li's truck to explode is still under investigation.
■ Japan
Mistress complains of scam
A woman who hired a "hitman" over the Internet to murder her lover's pregnant wife has been arrested -- after she complained to police that he never carried out the killing despite being paid US$136,000. Police arrested Eriko Kawaguchi, a 32-year-old rescuer at Tokyo Fire Department, as well as 40-year-old Koji Tabe, a self-proclaimed detective who allegedly promised to kill the woman with a deadly chemical. Kawaguchi found Tabe's phone number on "contract murder" Web sites in January and asked him to kill her lover's wife after learning the woman was pregnant. She paid Tabe but then went to the police in July to complain about being scammed because Tabe had not yet carried out the killing.
■ Philippines
Police rescue grocer
A woman grocer held captive by a gang of kidnappers for more than a year has been rescued by security forces after a firefight in the southern Philippines. Police clashed with the gang of about 30 kidnappers near the town of Datu Odin Sinsuat in Mindanao island on Tuesday leading to the rescue of 53 year-old Zuela Kansi. Kansi was unhurt and there were no immediate reports of casualties on either side, a police report said, adding that the suspects escaped.
■ Hong Kong
Woman sues over Rolex rash
A woman has sued Rolex, alleging that a watch she bought caused her psychological trauma because she had to wear long sleeves to cover up an itchy, unsightly skin allergy triggered by a label on the underside of the luxury timepiece. Lee Ka-wai filed her claim in the Small Claims Tribunal, seeking HK$46,900 (US$6,044) in damages. She purchased the HK$30,000 Rolex Oyster Perpetual in August last year. Lee said the skin allergy -- scratchy red dots -- was caused by a removable label on the back of the watch. She didn't remove the label because she was afraid she would lose Rolex's worldwide guarantee or sacrifice proof of the watch's authenticity. "Rolex should have mentioned it in the manual or asked its agent to remind customers to remove the label," Lee said.
■ Hong Kong
Bruce Lee fans want help
Bruce Lee fans yesterday urged the Hong Kong government to help pay for a bronze statue to mark the martial arts movie legend's 65th birthday in November. The Bruce Lee Club has the government's approval to erect a 2.5m statue on the Avenue of Stars -- a tourist attraction that honors the territory's film stars -- along the city's harbor front, said a member of the club's committee, adding that the club has only raised half of the US$155,000 needed for the statue's construction, installation, insurance and publicity launch. The club appealed to the government to donate some money, but said officials had declined so far.
■ South Africa
Beached whale blown up
Marine biologists used explosives to kill an 11-ton whale helplessly beached on Mnandi Beach on Cape Town's False Bay coast, after several attempts to move it failed. Mike Meyer of Marine and Coastal Management told reporters that the two-year-old whale had become stranded in shallow water after an apparent "navigational error ... In this case the animal made a mistake ... it wasn't a sick animal, it went too close to shore and got caught out." It is whale breeding season along the Cape coast at the moment.
■ Portugal
Solar plant goes ahead
Work on the world's largest solar energy station, which will produce enough electricity to power 21,000 homes, is set to start near the southern town of Moura next year. The 62-megawatt plant, which will use 350,000 solar panels spread over an area the size of 150 football pitches, represents a leap forward for solar energy as it moves out of small-scale use into producing electricity in large quantities. The US$305 million Girassol plant will be 12 times the size of the biggest solar power plant now in operation near Leipzig, Germany.
■ Italy
Medium solves mystery
In a country where plaster Madonnas weep blood, even miracle-hardened Italians have been taken aback by the affair of the medium and the body in the lake. The body of Chiara Beriffi, who disappeared three years ago, was found in her car in Lake Como in precisely the area indicated by a medium, Maria Rosa Busi, who had been approached for help in March. A police source said it was a "million to one chance" that the vehicle would be found in the area marked by Busi. Divers initially balked at the venture because the spot identified by Busi was 150m from shore. Detectives were trying to work out how the four-wheel drive came to be so far from the lakeside. Since Sunday, when volunteer divers found the car, the case has been debated on radio, TV and in magazines.
■ Russia
Protest over race killing
Dozens of students protested in St. Petersburg over rising racism on Wednesday after one of their classmates died following an attack they believe was racially motivated. Epassak Rolan Franz from Congo died on Wednesday in hospital after failing to recover from injuries he received when he was attacked on Friday last week. Prosecutors said there was no evidence yet that the attack on Franz had been racist, but the protesters saw it as the latest in a string of racist murders in the city.
■ Germany
Men can't cope
Nearly half of all German men feel overwhelmed by the twin burdens of succeeding in their career and bringing up their children, according to a survey by the Gewis institute conducted for a Munich-based magazine. The survey found that both men and women believed fathers should devote time to their children during the week as well as at the weekend. Good fathers had to play a role during the working week, 77 percent of women and 65 percent of men said. Around 22 percent of women said their men paid little attention to the children. Almost 60 percent of men said their wives paid more attention to the children and neglected them as a result.
Far from the violence ravaging Haiti, a market on the border with the Dominican Republic has maintained a welcome degree of normal everyday life. At the Dajabon border gate, a wave of Haitians press forward, eager to shop at the twice-weekly market about 200km from Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. They are drawn by the market’s offerings — food, clothing, toys and even used appliances — items not always readily available in Haiti. However, with gang violence bad and growing ever worse in Haiti, the Dominican government has reinforced the usual military presence at the border and placed soldiers on alert. While the market continues to
An image of a dancer balancing on the words “China Before Communism” looms over Parisian commuters catching the morning metro, signaling the annual return of Shen Yun, a controversial spectacle of traditional Chinese dance mixed with vehement criticism of Beijing and conservative rhetoric. The Shen Yun Performing Arts company has slipped the beliefs of a spiritual movement called Falun Gong in between its technicolored visuals and leaping dancers since 2006, with advertising for the show so ubiquitous that it has become an Internet meme. Founded in 1992, Falun Gong claims nearly 100 million followers and has been subject to “persistent persecution” in
ONLINE VITRIOL: While Mo Yan faces a lawsuit, bottled water company Nongfu Spring and Tsinghua University are being attacked amid a rise in nationalist fervor At first glance, a Nobel prize winning author, a bottle of green tea and Beijing’s Tsinghua University have little in common, but in recent weeks they have been dubbed by China’s nationalist netizens as the “three new evils” in the fight to defend the country’s valor in cyberspace. Last month, a patriotic blogger called Wu Wanzheng filed a lawsuit against China’s only Nobel prize-winning author, Mo Yan (莫言), accusing him of discrediting the Communist army and glorifying Japanese soldiers in his fictional works set during the Japanese invasion of China. Wu, who posts online under the pseudonym “Truth-Telling Mao Xinghuo,” is seeking
‘SURPRISES’: The militants claim to have successfully tested a missile capable of reaching Mach 8 and vowed to strike ships heading toward the Cape of Good Hope Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim to have a new, hypersonic missile in their arsenal, Russia’s state media reported on Thursday, potentially raising the stakes in their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and surrounding waterways against the backdrop of Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The report by the state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited an unidentified official, but provided no evidence for the claim. It comes as Moscow maintains an aggressively counter-Western foreign policy amid its grinding war on Ukraine. However, the Houthis have for weeks hinted about “surprises” they plan for the battles at sea to counter the