■ CHINA
Four panda cubs born
Four giant panda cubs have been born within just 14 hours, giving a rare boost to the population of the endangered species, Xinhua news agency said on Sunday. Nine-year-old Qiyuan gave birth to a pair of twin female cubs late on Saturday at the Chengdu Panda Breeding Research Center in Sichuan Province, Xinhua said. Little more than an hour later, eight-year-old Chenggong gave birth to another cub. Eight-year-old Zhuzhu gave birth on Sunday.
■ PHILIPPINES
Fragments found in probe
Investigators found fragments that appear to bolster the theory that an oxygen tank exploded on a Qantas jet, forcing it to make a dramatic emergency landing with a car-sized hole in its fuselage, an official said yesterday. Neville Blyth, a senior investigator from the Australian Transport and Safety Bureau, told a news conference that a valve and other small fragments would be tested to determine if they came from the tank. He said the fragments were found close to where the missing tank was stored beneath the passenger cabin. The jet had to make an emergency landing in Manila on Friday.
■ JAPAN
Porn peddlers busted
Tokyo police arrested 11 people yesterday on suspicion of selling pornography and confiscated a record of more than 130,000 videos, some depicting sex with children, officials and reports said. Police arrested 53-year-old Takahiro Oyama and 10 others for the attempted distribution of nearly 133,000 pornographic DVDs and videocassettes, a police official said. Oyama told police he made ¥1.56 billion (US$14.4 million) in five years of selling sex tapes through the Internet and via mail order, public broadcaster NHK said. Japan banned the production and sale of sexually arousing material involving children below 18 in 1999 after coming under international criticism for being a major producer of child pornography.
■ PHILIPPINES
Deal reached with MILF
Manila and Muslim rebels have agreed to sign a crucial accord on an expanded Muslim homeland next month after ironing out the kinks in Malaysian-brokered peace talks, officials said yesterday. Government negotiator Rodolfo Garcia reached the agreement with his Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) counterpart in Malaysia after working out differences in the process to set up a future Muslim homeland, presidential peace process adviser Hermogenes Esperon said. The two sides agreed to sign the accord early next month, he said.
■ JAPAN
Heavy rains cause problems
Heavy rain caused floods and mudslides in the center of the country yesterday, prompting the evacuation of more than 50,000 people, officials said. The downpour overflowed the banks of the Asano River, sending brown water gushing into Kanazawa city, flooding houses and leading officials to issue the evacuation order, a city spokesman said. “We haven’t had such heavy rain for years,” he said. Heavy rain also fell in nearby Toyama Prefecture, where a 53-year-old man was seriously injured after being covered by a mudslide while driving near a tunnel, a police official said. More than 100mm of rain fell in the region, the national weather agency said.
■ UKRAINE
Storms, floods kill 13
Severe storms and floods in the Carpathian Mountains killed 13 people in Ukraine and another five people in neighboring Romania, officials said on Sunday. Two other people were missing in Ukraine. Five days of heavy rain near the Prut and Dniestr rivers caused floods that damaged more than 21,000 houses, Ukraine’s Emergency Ministry said in a statement. Ukrainian officials evacuated more than 8,000 people and reported that over 300 towns and villages were left without electricity. The government said damage is estimated at more than US$300 million.
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