■CHINA
Storm death toll rises
The number of people killed as a result of massive downpours in the southwest — many buried in landslides — has risen to 43, and another 47 are missing, state media reported yesterday. Rains that have pounded Yunnan Province and the neighboring Guangxi region have caused a series of landslides, affecting nearly 1 million people, the official China Daily reported. At least 35 people were killed in Yunnan and eight died in Guangxi, according to the newspaper. More rain is expected to hit the southwest part of the country in the coming days.
■CHINA
Officials to resolve taxi strike
Authorities in the southwest have agreed to resolve some of the complaints behind a violent strike by taxi drivers angered by high fees and fuel shortages, state media reported yesterday. The local government in Chongqing, the nation’s fourth-largest city, will review how earnings are divided between taxi companies and drivers, who have complained they are being gouged, the official Xinhua news agency said. Municipal authorities will also boost the daily supply of natural gas on which most taxis run and crack down on fee-dodging unlicensed drivers, Xinhua said. Shortages of fuel have forced drivers to waste hours each day lining up to fill their tanks, further cutting into earnings.
■SOUTH KOREA
Fighter jets collide in midair
Two fighter jets collided in midair during a training exercise yesterday, causing one to crash and four missiles to fall to the ground, the air force said. The missiles did not explode. The pilot of the crashed jet ejected safely before it went down in a rice paddy in Pocheon, 46km north of Seoul, the air force said in a statement. The other jet returned safely to its base, although it was not clear how much damage it sustained in the collision. Four air-to-air missiles that were loaded on the two F-5E jets were dropped on the ground as a result of the collision but did not go off.
■MALAYSIA
Endangered eggs seized
Marine police say they have seized 10,000 endangered turtle eggs believed to be from the Philippines. Muhammad Sallam Spawi, an officer in Sabah state on Borneo island, says police surprised four smugglers as they were unloading bags of eggs on Sunday. Muhammad Sallam says the men, who were speaking Tagalog, managed to flee in their boat. He said yesterday the seizure was “the biggest ever” in Sabah. Abdul Karim Dakog, an officer with the state wildlife department, says the department hopes the eggs, from the endangered green and Hawksbill turtles, may still hatch in a conservation area.
■UNITED STATES
Earthquake relief offered
The government on Monday offered an extra US$1.5 million in relief for victims of the earthquake in southwest Pakistan, raising the total figure to US$2.5 million. The US Agency for International Development (USAID) “is providing an additional US$1.5 million in emergency assistance in the aftermath of last week’s earthquake in Baluchistan province,” a statement said. “This brings the total USAID emergency assistance package to US$2.5 million to date,” USAID said. US$1 million is being distributed via the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). “The ICRC is providing emergency assistance, including emergency health care, shelter, relief commodities, and water and sanitation interventions, for earthquake-affected populations,” it said.
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