■ 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.
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion