■ Hong Kong
Funeral parlor finds niche
A funeral parlor reckons it has found a niche in the business -- by using only female undertakers. Kung Sau Funeral Services has hired two sisters as undertakers to conduct the city's first all-female burial preparations, the South China Morning Post reported. "Many women don't want men to clean their bodies and dress them after their death," company boss Lok Kar-keung was quoted as saying.
■ China
Film recalls invasion
China marked the 75th anniversary of Japan's invasion yesterday by providing half-price tickets to a movie about the trial of Japanese war criminals, state media reported. Cinemas across the country and around 100 universities were offering the half-price ticket deal for Tokyo Trial, a Chinese movie about court proceedings against 28 Japanese war criminals, Xinhua news agency said. "The movie evokes patriotism and a pursuit of peace, rather than stirring hatred between China and Japan," Xinhua quoted Mao Shi'an, a Shanghai movie critic, as saying.
■ China
Fire kills nine workers
A cigarette stub ignited cloth at an underwear factory in northeast China, sparking a fire that killed nine female employees, the official Xinhua news agency said. The blaze broke out before dawn on Saturday on the first floor of the Shuanglu factory on the outskirts of Shenyang, a major industrial city, Xinhua said in a report on Sunday. An improperly extinguished cigarette end had been left behind by an employee and nearby cloth caught fire, it said. Four of the 13 workers sleeping in the second-floor dormitory escaped, Xinhua said.
■ Cambodia
Ex-police chief sentenced
A fugitive former police chief was sentenced in absentia to 18 years in prison yesterday for masterminding the murder of a judge more than three years ago. Heng Pov, the former police chief for the capital Phnom Penh, was convicted of conspiring to commit the murder of municipal court Judge Sok Setha Mony in April 2003. Heng Pov fled Cambodia in late July, just days before an arrest warrant was issued for him. His current whereabouts are unclear. "The 18-year sentence for Heng Pov will go into force the day he is arrested," the Municipal Court Judge Kim Ravy said, adding that the ex-police chief had "planned the murder and ordered his henchmen to ambush the victim."
■ Japan
Realignment pains
Nearly half of affected local governments across Japan remain opposed to a plan to shift US troops in Japan, blocking hopes for a forces realignment. A tally by Japan's Defense Facilities Administration Agency found that 21 of the 55 affected local governments are still opposed to the realignment plan agreed on by the two countries in April. Kitao Iwahara, director general of the agency, has said that the plan -- which would move 8,000 US Marines out of the country -- cannot be implemented unless it is accepted by all the 55 local governments.
■ Nepal
Peace talks to resume
Nepal's government and communist rebels are set to restart stalled peace talks in the coming week in efforts to end a decade-long insurgency in the Himalayan nation, officials said yesterday. At a preliminary meeting on Sunday in Katmandu, Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala met Maoist rebel leader Prachanda and the two agreed to resume the negotiations. The leaders reportedly were able to clear up differences that threatened to prevent the talks from going ahead. A meeting has been proposed to discuss a number of key issues of contention -- including the disposition of the rebels' large weapons cache, the drafting of a new national constitution and how the Maoists might join an interim government.
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