■ JAPAN
Fire in Tokyo kills two
Two women were killed yesterday in a fire that burned down an 80-year-old dormitory for foreign residents in Tokyo, police said. “Two women who appear to be in their 70s and 40s died,” a police spokesman said, adding they were yet to be identified. Several other people were injured, he added. News reports said the fire was set off early in the morning by a resident’s cigarette. Police declined comment. The three-story dormitory was built in 1927 for students from Taiwan, which was then under Japanese colonial rule. Some 40 Taiwanese, Chinese and Japanese of various ages now live there, the reports said.
■ CHINA
Eight die in fungus feud
A feud between two southwest townships over access to valuable wild fungus erupted into a gun battle that left eight people dead and 44 wounded, Xinhua news agency said yesterday, citing the local government. The violence occurred in the Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of mountainous Sichuan Province last Friday. “A county government official said around 200 residents from Danba and Sumdo townships clashed in a dispute over access to wild fungus and firewood,” Xinhua news agency said. Some of those involved drew rifles and the gun battle lasted around 10 minutes, the official said.
■ CHINA
Most widely read blogger
Actress-turned-director Xu Jinglei (徐靜蕾) became the world’s most widely read blogger this month when her blog logged 100 million page views within about 600 days, the Beijing News said yesterday. And Xu, who has a reputation for a high intellect and integrity, has done it without writing about sex or providing a catalogue of kiss-and-tell stories — but focusing on her work and day-to-day life. The 100 millionth hit occurred on July 12, according to www.sina.com.cn, a popular Web site which provides blog services to many entertainers, including Xu who started hers in October 2005 and published a book of her blogged articles in March last year.
■ NEW ZEALAND
Firefighter counts his luck
A firefighter is counting his luck after a red-hot steel rod was fired into his helmet from an exploding vehicle, local media reported yesterday. The steel rod was traveling at such speed it punched a hole through a steel door before hitting 41-year-old Gary Wright’s Kevlar fire helmet, the New Zealand Herald said. Wright was getting ready to fight a blaze earlier this month that had engulfed a garage full of vehicles in a suburb of Auckland when the steel rod fired out of an exploding van 19m away. “I had only just put my BA [breathing apparatus] set on and put my helmet back on,” he said.
■ CHINA
Protest organizer arrested
Beijing has arrested at least one activist for organizing protests in a southeastern port city last month in which thousands of residents opposed construction of a chemical plant, two friends said yesterday. Liaising via cellphone text massages and the Internet, the protesters marched through downtown areas of Xiamen on June 1 and 2 to demand the government scrap plans to build the Taiwan-funded plant to make paraxylene, a compound used in polyester and fabrics. Citing critics including government experts and advisers, they said the factory, next to a residential area, was a “timebomb” for public health and a grave threat to the environment.
■ ITALY
Murderer gets 20 years
A judge handed a 20-year sentence on Wednesday to one of the men behind last year’s murder of an epileptic toddler, who was snatched from his highchair at home and then killed with a shovel. The murder of 18-month-old Tommaso Onofri horrified people who had waged a month-long campaign for the toddler’s release — complete with appeals from the pope — without knowing the boy was already dead. Tommaso’s kidnappers, who planned to demand a ransom, hit him in the face with a shovel to stop him crying shortly after the abduction, the force of the blow killing the toddler.
■ SPAIN
Argentine officer to be tried
A former Argentine naval officer accused of murdering thousands during the country’s “Dirty War” will stay in Spain to be tried, the Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday, instead of being extradited to Argentina. Ricardo Cavallo has been held in a Spanish prison since 2003, when he was extradited from Mexico and charged by authorities in Spain with genocide and terrorism. Spanish prosecutors requested multiple life sentences in prison for Cavallo for the death and torture of Spanish citizens during Argentina’s 1976-1983 military dictatorship. When Cavallo was handed over to Spain, it was the first time a country had extradited a suspect to another to stand trial for alleged rights abuses committed in a third.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Extra cash didn’t cut crime
Billions of extra pounds spent on the police since Labour came to power has made no clear impact on crime, a powerful group of members of parliament (MPs) said yesterday before the release of annual crime figures. In a critical report, the Home Affairs Select Committee said it was “puzzling” that falls in crime since 1997 took place before the government significantly boosted police budgets. The MPs said they would have expected the extra investment in the police service to have had a measurable impact.
■ RUSSIA
Funeral rocked by bomb
An explosion ripped through a crowd of mourners at a cemetery in the violence-plagued south on Wednesday, wounding at least 10 people, including four police officers, officials said. The funeral was being held for a Russian woman fatally shot along with her two grown children Monday in Ingushetia, a mostly Muslim republic, in what authorities said may have been an ethnically motivated attack. The funeral at the cemetery in the settlement of Ordzhonikidze was halted and the site was cordoned off by police after the explosion, believed to have been caused by a homemade bomb, the district police said.
■ NAGORNO-KARABAKH
Voting gets under way
Voting for a new leader started in this breakaway region yesterday in an election intended to stress the Armenian-populated region’s self-proclaimed independence from Azerbaijan. The head of the region’s election commission, Sergey Nasibyan, hailed the election campaign as democratic and said local and foreign observers were monitoring the polls, Armenian television reported. Azerbaijan, which lost control of Nagorno-Karabakh after a war in the early 1990s, has already denounced the election as illegal under international law. At least 25 percent of the enclave’s 91,000 voters have to take part for the 8am to 8pm election to be considered valid by Karabakh authorities.
■ UNITED STATES
Mystery object stumps NASA
A hunk of metal that crashed through the roof of a Bayonne, New Jersey, home had NASA, Federal Aviation Administration and even US defense officials curious until the mystery was solved on Wednesday. A man was watching TV on Tuesday when he heard a crash. In the next room he found a hunk of gray metal, 9cm by 13cm. "It doesn't look very `spacey,'" said Henry Kline, a spokesman for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. Finally, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters said on Wednesday that a colleague had solved the mystery: The chunk was part of a commercial woodchipper. Peters said the grinder piece can apparently launch into the air if something goes wrong.
■ CANADA
Ruling sparks security fears
A recent provincial court ruling has poked a potentially massive hole in the country's border security by forcing guards to obtain warrants to search vehicles at checkpoints, officials said on Wednesday. "This ruling could be a concern," said Chris Williams, a spokesman for Canada Border Services Agency, after the agency reviewed the little-noticed decision. "It could affect our commitment to keep illegal drugs, firearms and contraband out of Canada, affecting the way we conduct searches," he explained. The government is appealing the decision, he added.
■ UNITED STATES
Elder Bush's gun returned
Former US president George H.W. Bush presented the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia with his World War II service revolver, returned to him 60 years after he gave it to a lieutenant on the submarine that rescued him after his plane was shot down. The son of the late Lieutenant-General Albert Brostrom on Wednesday returned the .38-caliber Smith & Wesson revolver and its leather shoulder holster to Bush, who presented it to the Constitution Center for permanent display in the museum. Brostrom was the sonar man on the USS Finback, the sub that rescued Bush on Sept. 2, 1944, after his plane was shot down by the Japanese in the Pacific. Brostrom took Bush to the infirmary, and later shared his bunk with the future president. As he left the sub, Bush gave Brostrom his revolver in gratitude.
■ UNITED STATES
Firefighters at wrong house
Firefighters in Braintree, Massachusetts, drove to a vacant house on Tuesday, cut holes in the roof and walls, and broke windows to test their tools and their proficiency -- only to discover it was the wrong house. They were supposed to be two blocks away at a house slated for demolition. The owners of the damaged home now want the town to pay for the mistake.
■ UNITED STATES
Spiders save arachnophobe
A woman who hates spiders is crediting them with helping save her from a house fire. Danielle Vigue, 18, says she awoke early on Tuesday to find spiders in her room, and started killing them. When more showed up, she went across the hall and got into bed with her 15-year-old sister, Lauren. "I hate spiders, they freak me out," Danielle Vigue told the Saginaw News. A fire was apparently smoldering in the attic of the home in Hemlock, Michigan. A few hours later, Vigue's mother and eight-year-old sister smelled smoke, and flames greeted the family when they opened the door to the room Danielle had earlier left. "I will never kill another spider again," Vigue told WNEM-TV.
The military is to begin conscripting civilians next year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said yesterday, citing rising tensions with Thailand as the reason for activating a long-dormant mandatory enlistment law. The Cambodian parliament in 2006 approved a law that would require all Cambodians aged 18 to 30 to serve in the military for 18 months, although it has never been enforced. Relations with Thailand have been tense since May, when a long-standing territorial dispute boiled over into cross-border clashes, killing one Cambodian soldier. “This episode of confrontation is a lesson for us and is an opportunity for us to review, assess and
The Russian minister of foreign affairs warned the US, South Korea and Japan against forming a security partnership targeting North Korea as he visited the ally country for talks on further solidifying their booming military and other cooperation. Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov spoke on Saturday in Wonsan City, North Korea, where he met North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un and conveyed greetings from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kim during the meeting reaffirmed his government’s commitment to “unconditionally support and encourage all measures” taken by Russia in its conflict with Ukraine. Pyongyang and Moscow share identical views on “all strategic issues in
‘FALSE NARRATIVE’: China and the Solomon Islands inked a secretive security pact in 2022, which is believed to be a prelude to building a Chinese base, which Beijing denied The Australian government yesterday said it expects China to spy on major military drills it is conducting with the US and other allies. It also renewed a charge — denounced by Beijing as a “false narrative” — that China wants to establish a military base in the South Pacific. The comments by a government minister came as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a six-day visit to China to bolster recently repaired trade ties. More than 30,000 military personnel from 19 nations are set to join in the annual Talisman Sabre exercises from yesterday across Australia and Papua New Guinea. “The Chinese military have
The US Department of Education on Tuesday said it opened a foreign funding investigation into the University of Michigan (UM) while alleging it found “inaccurate and incomplete disclosures” in a review of the university’s foreign reports, after two Chinese scientists linked to the school were separately charged with smuggling biological materials into the US. As part of the investigation, the department asked the university to share, within 30 days, tax records related to foreign funding, a list of foreign gifts, grants and contracts with any foreign source, and other documents, the department said in a statement and in a letter to
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