■CHINA
Quake rattles Sichuan
A 5.8-magnitude earthquake hit the southwest on Friday, the US Geological Survey said, close to the area devastated by a massive tremor in May that left nearly 70,000 dead. State media quoted local officials as saying that 231 people were hurt in the quake, which struck 65km north of Mianyang, an area that was severely hit by the 8.0-magnitude quake on May 12. The tremor, which hit at 4:32pm, struck not far from an area hit by three quakes one week ago that killed one person and injured 17.
■PHILIPPINES
Village chieftain killed
A village chieftain and his companion were killed by three suspected communist rebels in an eastern city, a police report said yesterday. Manolo Basilan and companion Jessie Briones were riding a motorcycle when the gunmen fired at them on Friday in Herrera village in Ligao City in Albay Province, 315km southeast of Manila. Basilan, president of the village chieftains association in Ligao City, and Briones died on the spot from gunshot wounds.
■CAMBODIA
Government seeks FBI help
The government will seek help from the FBI in trying to solve the murder of a journalist affiliated with the opposition party and his son, an official said yesterday. The government has contacted the FBI office in the capital, Phnom Penh, and plans to send a formal request for assistance tomorrow, Ministry of Interior Spokesman Lieutenant General Khieu Sopheak said. He said the FBI could help in arresting the culprits. Khem Sambo, 47, and his 21-year-old son were gunned down in a drive-by shooting on July 11. The reporter covered corruption and other social ills for the opposition newspaper Moneaseka Khmer.
■INDIA
Train fire kills 32 people
At least 32 people died when a fire believed to have been sparked by a short-circuit spread through a train early on Friday while many passengers were asleep, the government and police said. Five coaches of the Gautami Express, which was traveling from Hyderabad, capital of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, to Kakinada on the coast, were gutted in the massive pre-dawn fire, the country’s railway ministry said. Television pictures showed a carriage with its exterior paint scorched off from the heat with flames glowing through the windows in the pre-dawn darkness. Bars covered the glassless windows, as is common in standard coaches. Railway officials have ruled out sabotage and said the fire was apparently caused by a short-circuit.
■MYANMAR
Comedian faces prison
A famous comedian and three other activists who helped deliver relief supplies to cyclone victims could be imprisoned for two years on charges of causing public unrest, his lawyer said yesterday. Comedian Zarganar and the others appeared in court inside Insein prison on Wednesday, attorney Aung Thein said. They included a sports writer identified as Zaw Thet Htwe and Thant Zin Aung. Aung Thein said he has not met his clients and was unable to confirm the charges. But he believes they will be accused of breaking a law that makes it illegal for “anyone to circulate a statement or rumor with intent to cause alarm to the public.”
■SOUTH KOREA
Business uses patriotism
A furious dispute with Japan over who owns a desolate cluster of rocks has turned into a marketing opportunity for businesses tapping into patriotic fervor. One bank has set up a popular “cyber branch” in the tiny Dokdo islands — called Takeshima in Japanese — which lie about halfway across the sea to Japan. Mobile phone companies have joined in. Some have ringtones based on a song eulogizing local rule over the islands. And one is offering a “Dokdo is our territory” call plan that lets subscribers donate to a campaign to promote the islands internationally as South Korean territory.
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