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World News Quick Take

■ PAKISTAN

Thousands mourn Bhutto

About 10,000 mourners gathered at the tomb of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto yesterday to mark the end of the mourning period for her death, as her party prepared to resume campaigning for crucial Feb. 18 elections. Supporters from across her native Sindh Province and other parts of Pakistan visited the Bhutto family's grand marble mausoleum to cap 40 days of mourning for the former prime minister, who died in a gun and bomb attack in the northern city of Rawalpindi on Dec. 27. Following yesterday's religious ceremonies, Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party, now led by her husband Asif Ali Zardari, is set to resume campaigning with a major rally tomorrow.

■ THAILAND

No change toward Myanmar

The new government will not change the country's policy of non-interference in Myanmar and working with Southeast Asia to push the junta towards democracy, Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama said yesterday. "Non-interference in others' internal affairs remains the thrust of our diplomacy," Noppadon said. An Oxford graduate, Noppadon said democracy and human rights were internal affairs of Myanmar. Thailand would rely on the ASEAN, one of the few international groups willing to have Myanmar as a member, to bring change about, Noppadon told a news conference.

■ JAPAN

Shootings up 25% last year

The National Police Agency said that shootings rose by nearly a quarter last year as a series of high-profile gang-related incidents stirred concern in a country that has long prided itself on crime-free streets. A total of 66 shooting incidents occurred last year, up 24.5 percent from 53 incidents the previous year, the agency said. Deaths by shooting rose sharply to 22 last year from two the previous year, while the number of wounded by gunfire was 18, down from 19 in 2006. Most cases of gun violence were gang-related, with gangsters involved in 42 of the incidents last year, six more than the year before, the report said.

■ NORTH KOREA

Centenarian feted

The nation's reclusive leader Kim Jong-il sent a feast to a woman who reached her 100th birthday, the Korean Central News Agency said yesterday, adding that the communist state's welfare system had ensured a comfortable retirement. Pyongyang resident Pak Hwak-sil this month "greeted the centenary of birth under the benevolent socialist system," the report said. Pak worked as a plasterer during the reconstruction of the capital after the 1950 to 1953 Korean War before retiring, it said. "As a pensioner, she has enjoyed a happy life for over 40 years, benefiting from the popular health care policy of the Workers' Party of Korea," it said.

■ JAPAN

Paper planes for space

A spacecraft made of folded paper zooming through the skies may sound far-fetched, but Japanese scientists plan to launch paper planes from the International Space Station to see if they make it back to Earth. University of Tokyo researchers on Wednesday tested small, origami planes made of special paper for 30 seconds in 250?C heat and wind at seven times the speed of sound. The planes survived the wind tunnel test intact. The theory is that paper craft, being much lighter than space shuttles, may escape the worst of the friction and heat that much heavier space shuttles face on re-entry to the atmosphere.