■ China
Bus collision kills 13
A tour bus traveling in the wrong lane on a highway plowed into an oncoming bus, killing 13 passengers and injuring 75, state media said yesterday. The violent collision occurred early on Saturday in Hechi, a city in the impoverished Guangxi region, the official Xinhua news agency said. By yesterday, 50 people were still being treated in hospital, with four suffering serious injuries, the report said, without giving details. The bus traveling on the wrong side of the highway was carrying 41 people, while the other had 48 passengers. The accident was being investigated, Xinhua said. The country's roads are among the world's deadliest. Overloading of vehicles, reckless driving and poor road conditions are frequent causes of fatal accidents.
■ China
Workers perish in fire
At least 17 migrant workers died early yesterday as fire raged through their sleeping quarters in Zhejiang Province, media said. A number of others were injured as the blaze swept through 13 rooms housing laborers drawn to the booming eastern seaboard from other parts of the country in search of jobs, the semi-official China News Service (CNS) said. The Xinhua news agency put the death toll of the fire in Taizhou at 17. Authorities in the coastal city of Taizhou were still trying to establish what caused the blaze in the two-story structure, where the migrants lived above a store, reports said. CNS said it took 15 fire engines and 60 firefighters to douse the flames. The country has an estimated 120 million migrant workers, many of whom abandoned harsh livelihoods in the countryside in hopes of finding a job in the cities.
■ Thailand
Two shot dead in south
Suspected insurgents shot dead two rubber plantation workers in the south yesterday, the last day of a visit by Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont to the restive area. Surayud was making his fourth trip to the region since being appointed prime minister last year. He said soon after taking office that restoring peace in the south would be one of his government's priorities. Surayud, who arrived in the south on Thursday, met with teachers and high school students preparing for university entrance examinations in Yala and Narathiwat provinces to promote higher education.
■ Indonesia
Floods not abating
Flooding that has killed at least nine people and forced about 200,000 from their homes in Jakarta showed no sign of abating yesterday, as overflowing rivers sent muddy water gushing into homes and shops across the city. "Jakarta is now on the highest alert level," said Sihar Simanjuntak, an official monitoring the water levels of the many rivers that crisscross the densely packed city of 12 million people. Rustam Pakaya, from the health ministry's crisis center, said nine people in Jakarta and surrounding towns had died as of yesterday afternoon. He said about 200,000 had been made homeless.
■ Sri Lanka
National day celebrated
The insurgency-torn country celebrated 59 years of independence yesterday with displays of its military air and sea power, as President Mahinda Rajapakse said he would not give in to the separatist Tamil Tigers' "bloodthirsty" demands. The celebrations followed a successful military campaign to seize several strategic areas in the east from the Tigers' control. As he presided over festivities in Colombo, Rajapakse said his government was willing to discuss autonomy, but not separatism. Days ago, the government renewed calls for a return to peace talks to end fighting that has killed about 68,000 people since 1983.
RSS