■ NORTH KOREA
Talks stumble on
Pyongyang yesterday stood by its demand for aid in exchange for shutting down a plutonium-producing nuclear reactor, saying it won't act until Washington offers concessions. "As we have to follow the `action for action' principle, we will act if action is made," the North's envoy to the six-nation disarmament talks, Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye-gwan, said. "We will never move first." Kim didn't say what concessions the North wanted. The US envoy, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, urged the North on Friday to shut down the reactor at Yongbyon but said he had rejected Kim's demand for aid in exchange.
■ JAPAN
Tokyo to make `Patriot'
Japan's Defense Agency is planning to procure 124 Patriot surface-to-air missiles by 2010 and contract a domestic manufacturer to make the bulk of order, a news report said yesterday. The plan to deploy the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles is part of a ballistic missile defense system being jointly developed by Japan and the US at an estimated cost of US$3 billion. The first batch of 32 PAC-3 missiles will be US-built, but the remainder will be built at home under license by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, Kyodo News agency said citing unidentified sources at Japan's Air Self Defense Forces. Officials from the Defense Agency were unavailable for comment.
■ JAPAN
Princess begins nuptials
Emperor Akihito's youngest child, Princess Sayako, bade a formal farewell to the royal family yesterday in a traditional ceremony ahead of her wedding next week to a commoner. Dressed in a purple, 12-layered kimono with orange and green trim, the 36-year-old princess paid morning respects to the gods and spirits of former emperors enshrined on the palace grounds, before giving thanks to her parents in a traditional choken-no-gi ceremony, said the Imperial Household Agency. When Sayako marries city hall employee Yoshiki Kuroda, 40, on Tuesday at Tokyo's Imperial Hotel, she will give up her title of princess and her home at the palace.
■ INDONESIA
Police raid illegal factory
Police arrested 13 people including a Frenchman, a Dutch national and four Chinese in a raid on a massive illegal drugs factory near Jakarta, state media said yesterday. The factory in Serang, about 60km west of Jakarta, produced 100kg of crystal methamphetamine in the past week alone, Antara news agency quoted local police chief Badrotin Haiti as saying. The police seized the drugs, as well as more than 300 drums of raw ingredients during Friday's raid, he said. "This is the third largest factory in the world. The first one is in Fiji, and the second is in China," the police chief said.
■ AUSTRALIA
Detention center torched
Four detainees were being questioned over fires that gutted parts of the Baxter immigration detention center in South Australia yesterday. Authorities said the fires, which broke out at 4am, were most likely deliberately lit and those found responsible would face charges. "All Australians face frustration in their daily life," Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said. "Australians understand sometimes their aspirations don't come to fruition, but we don't expect people to turn to property damage as a way of handling that frustration." One man was taken to hospital, five were treated for smoke inhalation and 58 detainees were evacuated from the Port Agusta facility.
■ IRAN
Enrichment sought
Iran said on Friday it wants to conduct sensitive nuclear work in its territory but was willing to discuss its uranium being enriched abroad. "What is important for Iran is to enrich [uranium] on its soil," nuclear chief Ali Larijani said, a day after Washington denied backing a proposal to resolve the nuclear row by letting enrichment be done in Russia. Larijani said he had not received any formal proposal for enrichment abroad. Under a proposal reportedly being floated, Iran would be allowed to carry out an initial step in making nuclear fuel but enrichment would take place in Russia.
■ UkRAINE
Officials accused of fraud
Corrupt officials sent the Chinese government more than eight tonnes of low-quality nuclear materials and then lied about their actions, a senior officer in the Ukrainian spy agency SBU claimed on Friday. Colonel Valentin Kryzhanovsky accused members of the SBU of conspiring with members of the national weapons exporter Ukrspetsexport to send eight tonnes of low-quality hafnium to China, while claiming and accepting payment for industrial grade. If the material were to be used in Chinese nuclear reactors, "an accident as bad as our own Chernobyl disaster is possible," Kryzhanovsky said.
■ GERMANY
Hu meets Merkel
Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) has met with Germany's current and designated future leaders, winning pledges that Berlin will continue to build relations with his country despite concern about its human rights record. Hu on Friday met first with Angela Merkel, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's designated successor, and then with the incumbent as part of a four-day visit to encourage expanded political and business links with Europe's largest economy. Neither Merkel nor Hu spoke to reporters at the end of their talks, which came after German politicians and campaign groups had urged her to address concern about China's human rights record.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Prisoners were tortured
The British government operated a secret torture center during World War II to extract information and confessions from German prisoners, according to official papers which have been unearthed by the Guardian. More than 3,000 prisoners passed through the center, where many were systematically beaten, deprived of sleep, forced to stand still for more than 24 hours at a time and threatened with execution or unnecessary surgery. Some complained that they had been threatened with electric shock torture or menaced by interrogators brandishing red-hot pokers.
■ ITALY
CIA agents may be tried
A prosecutor on Friday formally requested the extradition of 22 alleged CIA operatives to face trial in Italy for the abduction of a Muslim cleric. Assistant prosecutor Donatella Grieco formally lodged the extradition documents with the Italian justice ministry, which will study them before deciding whether to make a formal request to the US authorities. Castelli visited Washington on Wednesday where he had talks with the US Attorney General. The 22 alleged CIA operatives are wanted in connection with what Italy says was a clandestine operation to kidnap Egyptian national Abu Omar in 2003, and hand him over to Egyptian authorities for interrogation.
■ BRAZIL
Chopper lands on busy street
A helicopter on Friday made an emergency landing on a busy Sao Paulo street where it was hit by two cars. The pilot and an accompanying reporter were slightly injured in the accident on Marginal Pinheiros Avenue. The helicopter lost power and made the emergency landing. Once on the street, the chopper was slammed from behind by a car and its rotor hit another. The avenue was closed for four hours after the accident. Claudia Nishi, a driver in one of the cars involved in the accident, said she heard "a loud noise and a bump on my car." "I fled far out of fear that everything would blow up," she said.
■ MEXICO
Lovesick giraffe needs mate
Keepers of a small menagerie at a Mexican park are looking for a mate for a lovesick giraffe after the 4.6m-tall beast tried to make love to a tree and a garden shed. The director of Central Park in Ciudad Juarez, said on Friday they have been looking since last month for a mate for the five-year-old giraffe, named Modesto. "He's driving us crazy," Juan Aragones said. "He's mounted a tree, a fence and even a shed." Central Park has begun contacting animal dealers to find a mate for Modesto, who was born in captivity and has lived alone at the park for three years. He has never had a sexual partner. The park is home only to Modesto and a few ducks.
■ UNITED STATES
Bandit uses phone as cover
In northern Virginia, police say they're looking for a woman who's been holding up banks while chatting on her phone. "This is the first time that I can recall where we've had a crime committed while the person was using a cellphone," a Loudoun County sheriff's spokesman said. "The question would be whether anyone is on the other end of the line or not." Investigators believe the woman has hit four Wachovia bank branches in recent weeks. In three of those bank jobs, she was talking on a cellphone, while showing the teller a box with a holdup note attached to it. In the most recent holdup, on Nov. 4, in Ashburn, the robber showed the teller a gun. The woman is described as well-spoken, with a slight Hispanic accent.
■ UNITED STATES
Spooked guard wins case
A judge ruled that a former security guard who was fired for seeing ghosts cannot be denied unemployment benefits. According to a court ruling released this week, the former guard's allegation of apparitions does not constitute misconduct. The issue started on Sept. 11, when Wade Gallegos alerted his supervisor at Neighborhood Patrol of Urbandale that ghosts were haunting a neighborhood he was guarding. The supervisor arrived at the scene, where Gallegos showed him where the ghosts were still apparently standing. The supervisor saw nothing and fired Gallegos. However, the judge ruled, seeing ghosts is not the type of misconduct that can disqualify Gallegos from receiving benefits.
■ UNITED STATES
630kg meteorite found
A rare 630kg meteorite was discovered 2m underground by a collector in an area long known for producing prized space rocks. Using a metal detector mounted on a three-wheel vehicle, Steve Arnold found the huge meteorite two weeks ago in Brenham Township, Kansas. The meteorite is an oriented pallasite, a type noted for a conical shape with crystals embedded in iron-nickel alloy. "It is aesthetically the type of meteorite that makes collectors drool," said Arnold, estimating his find is worth "seven figures."
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