■SOUTH KOREA
‘Right to die’ ruling enforced
A hospital yesterday removed a life-support system from a comatose patient, officials said, upholding a court ruling that approved a euthanasia request for the first time in the country. A spokesman for Seoul’s Severance Hospital said it removed a respirator from a 76-year-old woman in mid-morning. It would take some time for the patient to be pronounced dead, he said. Last month the Supreme Court, upholding a lower court decision, supported a request by the woman’s family that she be allowed to die with dignity.
■PHILIPPINES
Ferry owner to face charges
Justice officials yesterday approved the filing of criminal charges against the owner and missing captain of a huge ferry that capsized last year during a typhoon, killing hundreds of people. The charges of negligence stem from a criminal complaint filed by victims’ families accusing the owner of the 23,800-tonne Princess of the Stars of ignoring storm warnings, said Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera. Of about 800 passengers and crew, only 33 survived after the ferry overturned in the storm-swollen waves and fierce winds near central Sibuyan Island on June 21 last year. If convicted, Sulpicio Lines Inc official Edgar Go, the respondent in the complaint, could face up to six years in prison.
■KYRGYZSTAN
US, Kyrgyzstan sign deal
The US and Kyrgyzstan have signed a deal to create a center for the transit of non-military goods to Afghanistan through the Central Asian country’s Manas airbase, an official said yesterday. “The US and Kyrgyzstan agreed on the opening of a center for the transit of goods to Afghanistan at the Manas airport,” a source in the Kyrgyz government said.
■FRANCE
Black boxes not found
French investigators looking into the June 1 crash of an Air France aircraft into the Atlantic on Tuesday denied a media report that the plane’s black boxes had been located. “There are always signals detected that must be analyzed. We can not confirm that the black boxes have been found,” said Martine del Bono, spokeswoman for the Office of Accident Investigation and Analysis. Earlier on Tuesday, the online edition of the daily Le Monde reported that signals from the plane’s black boxes had been detected. According to Le Monde, the weak signals emitted by the beacons of the two recorders were detected by French ships on Monday. Guided by the signals, the French mini-submarine Nautile was diving to try and recover them.
■ITALY
Aftershock hits quake zone
A powerful aftershock hit the quake-struck areas of central Italy on Monday, rattling buildings as far away as Rome. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The temblor had a preliminary magnitude of 4.6, according to the US Geological Survey, and was followed by two smaller aftershocks with magnitudes of 3.1 and 3.8. The epicenter was just north of L’Aquila, the Appennine city that was devastated by the April earthquake. Monday’s quake struck just before 11pm and was felt in Rome, some 120km away.
■ISRAEL
Outpost expansion planned
An Israeli group says the government plans to build 240 new housing units at an unauthorized outpost in the West Bank. The Bimkom group, an Israeli non-governmental organization, says the plan filed in April would also retroactively legalize 60 houses already built at the outpost, near the Palestinian city of Ramallah. Such a move would flout a US demand for a settlement freeze. It would also violate Israeli commitments to take down unauthorized outposts and not to built new settlements.
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