■CHINA
Lu Zhengcao dies at 106
The last of the country’s first group of generals under the Communist Party has died at the age of 106, state media said yesterday. Lu Zhengcao (呂正操), one of 55 senior officers promoted in 1955, when the People’s Republic of China first adopted ranks after the Communists came to power in 1949, died in Beijing on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency said. Born in Haicheng, Liaoning Province, Lu quit the rival Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to join the Communists in 1937 after the war against Japan broke out and led a force to fight the Japanese army in the north, Xinhua said. He had previously been an assistant to KMT General Chang Hsueh-liang (張學良), known as the “Young Marshal.”
■CHINA
Hot-air balloon crashes
Four Dutch tourists died yesterday when a hot-air balloon caught fire and crashed near the tourist city of Guilin, Guangxi Province, state media said. Five Dutch tourists and two local pilots were on board when they lost control of the balloon shortly after it took off near the popular backpacker town of Yangshuo, Xinhua news agency said. The balloon drifted over Maling Township, where it exploded and caught fire 150m above the ground, the agency said. Three men and one woman died in the crash while the fifth Dutch tourist and the pilots were taken to hospital for emergency treatment for unspecified injuries, local officials told the agency.
■AUSTRALIA
Bid to plug oil leak fails
A second attempt to plug a massive oil spill leaking from a rig off the northwest failed on Tuesday, but the operator said it hoped to try again within days. Up to 400 barrels of oil have been pumped into the Timor Sea each day since the West Atlas drilling rig began leaking on Aug. 21, forcing the evacuation of 69 workers, according to Bangkok-headed PTTEP Australasia. The company failed in its first attempt last week to fix the leak at the Montara well-head platform, some 250km off the coast. PTTEP Australasia director Jose Martins said the second failure was disappointing but that each attempt improved the chances of success.
■PHILIPPINES
Estrada to run for president
Former leader Joseph Estrada, ousted in a popular uprising in 2001 and later convicted of graft, said yesterday he would run again for president in next year’s elections. “Yes, I will run,” Estrada, 72, said, when asked to confirm local press reports of his decision. The former movie action star said he had chosen Jejomar Binay, the popular mayor of Manila’s Makati financial district and a leader of the political opposition, as his vice presidential candidate.
■NETHERLANDS
‘Greed alert’ developed
It’s said that greed pushes investors to buy stocks when they’re overpriced, while fear drives sales when stocks are bottoming out. Philips Electronics has teamed up with ABN Amro bank to develop a system to warn home traders when they’re about to make a decision to buy or sell stocks while feeling overly emotional. It’s called “The Rationalizer,” and a test model is on display at an innovation summit in Brussels this week. It consists of an “EmoBracelet” and an light-emitting “EmoBowl” that can be placed near the user’s computer. The bracelet supposedly feels emotional states and sends radio signals to the bowl. As the user’s feelings intensify, the bowl glows yellow, orange and finally red. Paul Iske, who works for ABN Amro bank proved especially useful for men. The device is not expected to be in stores anytime soon.
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