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World News Quick Take

■ CHINA
No news on vice premier
A government spokesman said yesterday that he had no new information on the health of Vice Premier Huang Ju (黃菊) following an official denial of reports of his death. "I have no new information on this," Cabinet spokesman Guo Weimin told journalists. "What needed to be said has already been said." Guo was referring to a Cabinet statement on Wednesday night that said news reports that Huang, who ranks number six in the political hierarchy, had passed away "were groundless." Although the health of the country's leaders has long been a state secret, last year the government announced that Huang was ill and not attending official functions.

■ NEPAL
Fuel in short supply after cut
An Indian company has cut off oil supplies because it has not been paid millions of US dollars, causing widespread fuel shortages across the nation, a government spokesman said yesterday. Vehicles lined up outside several gas stations still distributing gasoline and diesel yesterday, as Ichcha Bikram Thapa, a spokesman for Nepal Oil Corp (NOC) warned it would soon run out of all reserves. Thapa said the NOC, the state-owned agency which has a monopoly on the import and distribution of oil products in the country, was supplying fuel only to a few designated stations.

■ PAKISTAN
Music, video shops bombed
Suspected Islamic hardliners blew up four music and video shops in a bombing in the northwest overnight which were linked to a wave of blasts last week, police said yesterday. The single powerful device badly damaged the outlets in the Amir Abad area of Charsada District, a security official said. There were no casualties as the market was closed. The official said the explosion was caused by a home-made bomb and appeared to be linked with similar blasts in the district in the past week.

■ JAPAN
`Baby hatch' opens
The first "baby hatch," where parents can drop off unwanted infants anonymously, opened yesterday despite opposition from the conservative national government. The baby hatch, modeled on a project in Germany, went into operation at a Roman Catholic hospital in the city of Kumamoto, some 900km southwest of Tokyo. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has urged Japan to return to "family values," opposed the idea but found no legal grounds to stop it. "A mother must not leave her child or abandon him or her anonymously," Abe told reporters. "I want mothers to seek help first if they have problems," said Abe, who is childless after unsuccessful attempts with his wife Akie.

■ MALAYSIA
Hip-hop hit hammered
A band behind Malaysia's biggest new hip-hop hit -- whose chorus features a woman warbling about a "bad papa" -- is facing criticism by lawmakers that the song threatens Islamic and family values. The Fabulous Cats, a four-member group has scaled radio charts and become a favorite mobile phone ring tone in recent weeks with its Malay-language first single, Papa Jahat, or "Bad Papa." The upbeat song has become so inescapable that it sparked debate in Parliament, where senators who were debating entertainment industry issues on Monday warned the lyrics of "Papa Jahat" might cause children to disrespect their parents. "Encouraging people to sing a song that criticizes a father completely contradicts Islam," Senator Jins Shamsudin said.

■ TURKEY
Constitutional vote held
Parliament yesterday was due to hold a final vote on a key constitutional amendment to let the public — rather than legislators — elect the president. The Islamic-rooted government pushed the amendment after opposition lawmakers boycotted the process to elect a new president from the ruling party over fears that, if elected, he might help the government to increase the influence of religion on politics and daily life in this secular country.

■ NETHERLANDS
Escaped vulture recovered
Five days after thermals and gusty winds swept Abu the white-back vulture away from the private bird of prey breeding center where he lives, a police officer found him on Wednesday and falconers coaxed him back into captivity. Abu is normally kept in an enclosure at the center in the south of the country, but disappeared into the clouds last Friday while being trained for a flying demonstration. The center was inundated with phone calls of sightings of Abu after they appealed to the public to help find him, but most turned out to be false alarms. He was finally discovered 129km northeast of the park standing in a field, said Cariene Muller, a staff member at the center.

■ SOMALIA
Pirates hijack cargo ship
Pirates have hijacked a cargo ship headed for Mogadishu, the third attack since January this year, a maritime official said yesterday. Piracy has resurfaced since an interim government drove out Islamists late last year and helped crack down on the attacks. "A general cargo ship has been taken captive by gunmen 12 miles [19km] north of Mogadishu," said Andrew Mwangura, director of the Seafarers Assistance Program. The vessel had cargo belonging to traders and had originated in Dubai. "Negotiations are going on between representatives of the Somali businessmen, the ship owners and the pirates," Mwangura said.

■ ZIMBABWE
Harare warns of outages
Beset by the world's highest inflation and chronic shortages of staple foods and fuel, weary Zimbabweans are preparing for yet more hardship — power cuts of up to 20 hours a day. The state-owned Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority announced on Wednesday that it would cut electricity to residential areas in order to keep irrigation schemes running at the few farms still growing wheat. Harare's residential areas should prepare for power cuts from 9pm until 5pm the next day, the statement in the state-owned Herald newspaper said. "We are going backwards. We used to have electricity, water, food and fuel, now we don't have regular supplies of any of those things," Harare worker Iddah Mandaza said.

■ GERMANY
Cops seek 'Militant Group'
Hundreds of police combed offices and apartments associated with left-wing activists across six northern cities on Wednesday, saying they had evidence that a terrorist organization was planning to disrupt next month's G8 summit. The biggest early-morning raid took place in the northern port city of Hamburg, at a popular left-wing cultural center known as Red Flora. In Berlin, two cultural centers were among the 40 buildings searched. Eighteen people arrested were being questioned on Wednesday night. Prosecutors in the capital said they had launched an investigation into the so-called Militant Group, a left-wing movement believed to be responsible for 25 attacks during the past six years.

■ UNITED STATES
Chicago plans mega-scraper
The Chicago City Council approved plans for a 610m skyscraper on the city's lakefront -- a building that would be the tallest in the country. Developer Shelbourne Development Group said plans call for construction to begin in weeks, with completion set for late 2010. The Chicago Spire would unseat the city's 442m Sears Tower as the tallest building in the US. A tower in Dubai currently under construction is expected to rise beyond 701m and more than 160 floors. The Chicago Spire, which would include 1,200 residences, was designed by Santiago Calatrava, the Spanish architect known for designing the Milwaukee Art Museum addition and the Athens Olympic sports complex.

■ BRAZIL
Investigators blame pilots
Federal investigators have concluded that two US pilots of an executive jet were responsible for a collision with an airliner that killed 154 people, Brazilian news media reported on Wednesday. The Gol airlines Boeing 737 and an Embraer Legacy 600 jet clipped each other on Sept. 29 over the Amazon jungle. The Gol airlines jet crashed, killing all aboard, while the Legacy jet owned by New York-based ExcelAire landed safely. The Web site for O Globo, one of Brazil's largest newspapers, reported that federal police found that the pilots failed to notice the plane's transponder was not working until after the crash. The transponder sends out a signal locating the plane for other aircraft and controllers.

■ COLOMBIA
Police officers killed
Nine police officers were killed in the deadliest rebel attack this year when a roadside bomb planted by leftist rebels destroyed their passing truck on Wednesday. The heavily armed police unit was supporting a counter-narcotics team eradicating coca bushes used to make cocaine, near Landazuri, 160km north of Bogota, Sergeant Alberto Cantillo, a police spokesman in Bogota, said. Police said the bomb was planted by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

■ UNITED STATES
Panel eases missile stance
A congressional panel eased its stance on a bill that would block funding for a key part of a US missile defense system planned for construction in Poland. In a reflection of unease in Congress over plans to expand the US program, the House of Representatives' Armed Services Committee voted to delete US$160 million requested by the administration of President George W. Bush for construction of 10 interceptor facilities in Poland. But the committee softened an earlier draft by its Strategic Forces subcommittee. The changes would allow the administration to resubmit its request for the blocked funds if the Polish government approves construction next year.

■ UNITED STATES
Wal-Mart rejects thieves
Wal-Mart does not want thieves on its property, including two convicted shoplifters ordered by a judge to stand outside with signs reading "I am a thief, I stole from Wal-Mart." Judge Kenneth Robertson in Attalla, Alabama, said on Wednesday that an attorney for Wal-Mart told him the shoplifters couldn't finish out their sentences in front of the store. The judge had ordered them to spend two Saturday afternoons holding the signs. Robertson said the attorney told him that Wal-Mart had safety concerns. The judge said the main concern was "that people might try to run them down or throw something at them."


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