■VIETNAM
Flood death toll rises to 98
At least 98 people have been killed by flooding sparked by Tropical Storm Mirinae, which slammed into the country after pummeling the Philippines, an official report said yesterday. A further 20 people are missing after the storm struck on Monday, the latest report from the national flood and storm control committee said. It said 69 of the fatalities were from Phu Yen Province, with the rest coming from Binh Din, Khanh Hoa and Gai Lai provinces. Mirinae destroyed 900 homes and damaged more than 14,000 others, while 18,000 hectares of rice land was flooded, according to a UN report that cited Vietnamese authorities.
■PHILIPPINES
Bus attack leaves two dead
Two people were killed and eight injured when gunmen strafed a passenger bus in the south, a military spokesman said yesterday. The bus was traveling on Wednesday along the highway in Gutalac town in Zamboanga del Norte province when the gunmen opened fire at it. A regional military spokesman said authorities were investigating the possibility that the attackers mistook the bus for their intended target.
■AUSTRALIA
Two killed at psychiatric unit
Police have arrested a 49-year-old man over a stabbing rampage at a secure psychiatric hospital which left two patients dead, they said yesterday. The man is being held after reportedly attacking his roommate with a kitchen knife late on Wednesday, before turning on another patient who was lying in bed. Police said a 54-year-old victim was stabbed several times in the upper body while the body of the second man, 36, was found nearby at the low-security Thomas Embling Hospital in Melbourne. The motive for the attack was unknown. “It’s my understanding that both the victims and offender were in the facility after committing the offence of murder,” Detective Sergeant Wayne Cheesman told reporters. “I know the roommate and the offender were considered quite friendly,” he said. “They would often go out on day pass and leave and go fishing together, and what brought on the altercation, we don’t know.”
■MALAYSIA
Pythons saved from the pot
Wildlife authorities rescued 59 pythons from being skinned and sold to restaurants and leather dealers, an official said yesterday. Wildlife and National Parks Department enforcement head Saharudin Anan said the pythons were rescued in a raid last Monday from a warehouse south of the capital. Two people were arrested and were being investigated under the Wildlife Act.
■CHINA
Beating Web addicts banned
The government has issued rules banning the beating and confinement of youths being treated for Internet addiction after revelations of abuse at rehabilitation clinics, including the death of one teenager. The regulations posted on the health ministry’s Web site on Wednesday stressed that restraint must be used in dealing with such youngsters. “Parents and teachers must analyze the causes and not arbitrarily condemn, hit or scold youths ... intervention methods that restrict personal freedom are strictly forbidden and corporal punishment [is] strictly forbidden,” it said. Up to 60 percent of the nation’s estimated online population of 338 million users were not of adult age, the ministry said. In August, local press reports said China had up to 10 million teenage Web addicts and at least 400 private Internet rehabilitation clinics nationwide.
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