■PAKISTAN
Bombing kills 35
A suicide bomber killed 35 people outside a Rawalpindi bank yesterday. Officials said many of the victims were elderly people who were at the bank to withdraw their pensions. Yesterday’s blast came as the government announced rewards of up to US$5 million for information leading to the capture, dead or alive, of Pakistan Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud and more than a dozen other leaders. The announcement of the bounty was made in newspaper ads as security forces zeroed in on Hakimullah’s strongholds in South Waziristan. Meanwhile, the UN said it had raised a security alert for the Northwest Frontier Province and Federally Administered Tribal Areas, ordering all non-essential international staff to leave.
■CHINA
Education minister sacked
Education minister Zhou Ji (周濟) has been removed from his post, state media reported yesterday, ending a six-year term amid public dissatisfaction with the education system. Zhou has been transferred to the post of deputy Chinese Communist Party chief at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Xinhua news agency said. Rotations among posts do not always imply punishment, but Zhou’s was accompanied by scathing commentary. Zhou was criticized for not addressing problems of poor education offered at the college level, expensive tuition fees and low funding for basic education. “Though many of the issues predated his appointment in 2003,” the state-run China Daily said. “Zhou ... has come under fire for making little impact in solving them.” Zhou was replaced by deputy minister Yuan Guiren (袁貴仁).
■VIETNAM
Bird flu hits poultry farms
The government has announced the reemergence of bird flu among its poultry after six months with no reported outbreaks of the H5N1 virus, the animal health department said. The infected poultry were reported in nine farms in Dien Bien Province between Oct. 21 and Oct. 23, said the department in an online report late on Sunday. Health workers have slaughtered more than 2,200 poultry to contain the outbreak, it said.
■CHINA
Beijing works on hostages
The government said yesterday that efforts were continuing to rescue the 25 crew members aboard a cargo ship hijacked last month by Somali pirates, as Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) headed to Egypt for talks with African leaders this weekend. “Rest assured that the rescue work is under way,” Assistant Foreign Minister Zhai Jun (翟俊) told reporters at a briefing on Wen’s trip.
■SPAIN
Space hotel plans on target
A company behind plans to open the first hotel in space says it is on target to accept its first paying guests in 2012 despite critics questioning the investment and time frame for the multibillion dollar project. The Barcelona-based architects of The Galactic Suite Space Resort say it will cost 3 million euros (US$4.4 million) for a three-night stay at the hotel, with the price including an eight-week training course on a tropical island. During their stay, guests would see the sun rise 15 times a day and travel around the world every 80 minutes. They would wear velcro suits so they can crawl around their pod rooms by sticking themselves to the walls like Spiderman.
■RUSSIA
Putin warns of gas problems
President Vladimir Putin on Sunday warned of hindrances in delivery of natural gas to European consumers, citing once again payment problems with Ukraine. According to the Interfax news agency, Putin informed Sweden in its role as EU president of the difficulties with Ukraine, which is the most important land route for Russian gas into the West. In January, a week-long row between Kiev and Moscow over alleged non-payment of supplies to Ukraine led to dramatic shortages of gas in Eastern and Western Europe, with Russia shutting off deliveries.
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