■CHINA
Man jumps from gate
Beijing police and news reports say a man jumped from the city’s Tiananmen Gate and injured himself. The Xinhua news agency said the man jumped from a terrace on Sunday afternoon and landed on a stairway. He was taken to a hospital. Tiananmen Gate is where former Communist Party chief Mao Zedong (毛澤東) declared the formation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 and addressed mass rallies by Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution in the late 1960s.
■AUSTRALIA
World’s oldest blogger dies
An woman described as the world’s oldest Internet blogger died at the age of 108 after posting a final message about singing “a happy song” in her nursing home. Olive Riley had posted more than 70 entries on her blog from Woy Woy on the east coast since February last year, sharing her thoughts on modern life and her experiences living through the entire 20th century. Born in the outback town of Broken Hill on Oct. 20 1899, she lived through two world wars and raised three children while doing various jobs, including ranch cook and barmaid.
■CHINA
Beijing warns drivers
Beijing warned drivers that might consider violating Olympic traffic restrictions that they will be caught by a high-tech surveillance network, local media reported yesterday. In a bid to improve air quality and ease traffic on the capital’s congested roads for the Games that start next month, Beijing will ban cars on alternate days from July 20, depending on whether their license plates end in odd or even numbers. Authorities had installed more than 10,000 “smart” devices, at regular intervals on major roads, the Beijing News said.
■PHILIPPINES
Quake rocks northern islets
A strong earthquake rocked a group of islands between the northern Philippines and Taiwan, causing aftershocks but no reports of damage or casualties. The US Geological Survey said Sunday night’s undersea quake in the Luzon Strait, centered about 115km northwest of Basco town in Batanes islands, registered 6.1. It was followed by a 4.6-magnitude aftershock. The Philippine seismological agency put the magnitude of the first quake at 6.0 and said it struck at 10:58pm on Sunday. The sparsely populated rocky islands are frequently shaken by temblors.
■PHILIPPINES
Tropical depression looms
The weather bureau is warning residents in the country’s north to brace for possible flash floods and landslides as a tropical depression approaches. The low pressure area is packing winds of 55kph but is expected to strengthen into a tropical storm by the time it nears Basco town in the northernmost Batanes islands on Thursday. A typhoon last month killed more than 500 people across the country, not including more than 850 passengers and crew who died inside a ferry when it capsized off central Sibuyan island on June 21.
■INDONESIA
Men jailed in Myanmar
The foreign ministry said yesterday it was seeking more detailed information on the condition of 10 Sumatran fishermen reportedly detained in Myanmar in February for violating territorial waters. “We have a directorate of protection in the Indonesian embassy in Myanmar that will follow up any information on Indonesian citizens being detained in Myanmar,” ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said. The Aceh Fishermen’s Association called on the ministry to provide legal aid for its members who face two-year jail sentences, the Jakarta Post reported. The fishermen were among the 15 Acehnese on board two fishing vessels, KM Rahmad and KM Melois, who went missing in Indonesian waters bordering Myanmar in February. The whereabouts of the other five were still unknown, the report said.
RSS