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WORLD NEWS: QUICK TAKE

■ CHINA

Pig disease cases fall

A widespread vaccination effort has brought the outbreak of a pig disease under control after it infected swine throughout the country and sent pork prices soaring, a news report said yesterday. The People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party, said the number of pigs infected and killed by blue ear pig disease had fallen because of the vaccine program. It quoted the Ministry of Agriculture as saying there were 3,608 infected pigs detected from Oct. 1 to Oct. 25, down 87 percent from the same period in September. The number of pig deaths was 710, a drop of 91 percent from the month previous. The newspaper said none of the farms where healthy pigs were vaccinated had reported infections.



■ INDONESIA

Volcano alert lowered

The alert status of the Mount Kelud volcano was lowered yesterday, meaning that thousands of people who have fled its slopes for government shelters may return home. Kelud, on the densely populated island of Java, has been on top alert for several weeks. "The volcano no longer has the energy needed for an explosive eruption that would threaten the lives of people living nearby," chief volcanologist Surono said in explaining the decision to downgrade Kelud's status. Surono uses a single name.



■ SINGAPORE

Greenpeace sounds alarm

All of the industry-driven deforestation in Indonesia could "detonate a climate bomb" if not brought under control, the environmental group Greenpeace said yesterday. A report by Greenpeace, launched in Singapore, said the burning of Indonesia's rainforests and peatlands to build palm oil plantations releases massive amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Every year 1.8 billion tonnes of emissions are released by the practice, accounting for 4 percent of global emissions. "Trade in palm oil by some of the world's food giants and commodity traders is helping to detonate a climate bomb in Indonesia's rainforests and peatlands," the report said.

■ SOUTH AFRICA

Zuma may be recharged

Prosecutors yesterday said they were "very pleased" with a court ruling that may clear the way for them to recharge former deputy president Jacob Zuma in a corruption case, a move that could sabotage his chances of leading the ruling African National Congress. The Supreme Court of Appeal yesterday upheld the state's appeal of a lower court ruling that had prevented prosecutors from using documents seized from properties belonging to Zuma and his lawyer. "We are very pleased and welcome the decision by the Supreme Court of Appeal," Tlali Tlali, spokesman for the country's National Prosecuting Authority, said.



■ MACEDONIA

Police hunt gang members

Special police units chased a Kosovo prison fugitive and his criminal gang on Wednesday, killing at least four gang members and catching six others in northwestern Macedonia, police said. Several of the men arrested had been disguised as women, police spokesman Ivo Kotevski said. They were found in Brodec village, near the town of Tetovo, some 45km west of Skopje. Police also seized a large amount of weapons, including cannons, rocket-propelled launchers and automatic weapons, during the search in Brodec, officials said.



■ SOUTH AFRICA

Engine falls from plane

A plane carrying more than 100 people made an emergency landing after an engine fell off during takeoff in Cape Town on Wednesday, officials said. No injuries were reported. The Boeing 737, belonging to domestic airline Nationwide and bound for Johannesburg, touched down safely after airport fire and rescue services hurriedly cleared the debris from the runway. The right engine "separated from the wing. The aircraft continued to climb out," the airline said in a statement. "The aircraft returned and landed at Cape Town International Airport without further incident."



■ UNITED KINGDOM

Vase sells for ?2.82m

Hidden away amid shoe boxes and dresses, a precious 18th-century Chinese vase sat in a closet virtually forgotten for about three decades before selling for more than ?2.82 million (US$5.87 million) on Wednesday, a British auction house said. The vase's Swiss owner put her piece up for auction after spotting a similar work at a London museum, Sotheby's said. Her blue-and-white "dragon" vase had been sitting at the bottom of her wardrobe since the 1970s, when an expert told her the piece was a copy. "They did her a huge favor," said Alastair Gibson, the head of Sotheby's Chinese department in London. "It would have been worth about ?10,000 then and now it's just made, as you know, ?2.5 million plus."



■ UNITED KINGDOM

Brown meets Abdullah

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown met with Jordan's King Abdullah II on Wednesday to discuss the Middle East peace process, Lebanon and other issues, officials said. Brown and Abdullah have both supported a US-sponsored Mideast conference, set for the end of this month. The US hopes Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia will attend the session in Annapolis, Maryland. Abdullah told Brown that "missing the opportunity presented by the peace meeting threatens the future of the entire peace process," according to a statement released by the Jordanian embassy.

■ UNITED STATES

Former governor in jail

Former Illinois governor George Ryan avoided the media but not the inevitable when he walked into prison to start serving a six-year corruption sentence in Oxford, Wisconsin. The 73-year-old Republican was convicted in April last year of steering contracts, tax fraud, misuse of tax dollars and state workers and killing a bribery investigation. He was elected governor in 1998 after serving as secretary of state. Ryan gained attention for his opposition to the death penalty, suspending executions in Illinois and commuting the sentences of everyone on the state's death row to life in prison.



■ UNITED STATES

Ship runs into Bay Bridge

A container ship traveling through dense fog on Wednesday bumped into a tower supporting the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge but appeared not to have structurally damaged the span, Coast Guard officials said. The ship, leaving from Oakland for South Korea, struck a tower about 8:30am. The vessel reported damage to its front left side and fuel was leaking, according to a statement from the Coast Guard, which responded to the incident. Traffic on the bridge was not affected and the span was intact and safe to cross, authorities said.



■ UNITED STATES

Stars entertain for charity

There was an unlikely combination of entertainers: Bruce Springsteen singing Thunder Road, a Marine Corps band playing taps and Amazing Grace, Robin Williams cracking off-color jokes. They all shared the stage on Wednesday night at a star-studded Manhattan benefit for wounded service members, organized by ABC's Bob Woodruff. The television reporter became a champion of the cause after he was nearly killed by a roadside bomb while working in Iraq last year. "Stand Up for Heroes," a benefit for the Bob Woodruff Family Fund, was expected to bring in US$2.5 million.



■ UNITED STATES

Boss had nooses in office

The FBI is investigating allegations that a public works department supervisor displayed in his office nooses, a bullwhip and a dart board with a black man as the bull's-eye, an agent said. A black worker went public with the complaints on Wednesday, saying he was fed up with the racist symbols in his white superintendent's office at a sewage lift station in Jefferson Parish, New Orleans. Terrence Lee's superiors dismissed his concerns when he went to them, he said at a news conference. "I know I'm going to get fired, but I have to stand up," Lee said. "We take these complaints very seriously," FBI agent Jim Bernazzani said. The investigation will be based in part on photographs Lee took in 2005 of the office.



■ UNITED STATES

Priest stalks Conan O'Brien

A priest has been arrested on charges of stalking late-night talk show host Conan O'Brien by writing him threatening notes on parish letterhead, contacting his parents and showing up at his studio, prosecutors said. The Reverend David Ajemian, a priest in the Archdiocese of Boston, was arrested last week while trying to enter a taping session of NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien in New York, a spokeswoman for the Manhattan prosecutor's office said. Ajemian referred to himself as "your priest stalker" in one note. "Is this the way you treat your most dangerous fans?" the note said, complaining of not being allowed to enter another taping session.


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