■ China
Refugees' fate undecided
The fate of 29 refugees who rushed a Japanese school in Beijing hung in the balance yesterday as Japanese consular officials interviewed them to find out who they were and what they wanted, diplomats said. "We are still trying to find out who they are," Japanese embassy spokesman Keiji Ide said. "They claimed they are North Koreans but we should be careful." The 11 men, 15 women and three children were "more relaxed" after sleeping in the Japanese embassy Wednesday night, he said. Ide said that as far he knew the refugees had not been in contact with South Korean or Chinese officials. A senior foreign ministry official in Seoul said the group would be accepted if they wanted to come to South Korea while Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi pledged that they would be treated "in a humanitarian way."
■ Japan
PM views disputed islands
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi boarded a coast guard patrol boat and viewed a group of Russian-held islands claimed by Japan yesterday, brushing off protests by Moscow that the trip could harm relations. Koizumi departed from the northern island of Hokkaido toward the Kuril islands ahead of 59th anniversary today of the Soviet occupation of them in the weeks following Japan's defeat in World War II in 1945. Former Japanese residents of the islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories, and other supporters of the trip waved rising sun flags as Koizumi boarded the ship. National broadcaster NHK later showed Koizumi viewing the islands with binoculars.
■ China
New ban on sexy clothes
Female civil servants in eastern China have been banned from wearing sexy clothes such as slinky tops and tight leggings and told to not use "dirty" or "strange" language in the office, state media said yesterday. The Zhejiang provincial archives bureau announced a set of regulations -- the first of their kind in the country -- that also require female workers to refrain from wearing excess jewelry at work, the China News Service said. Women workers must not be "avant-garde and ostentatious," the regulations reportedly say. They should neither be "too thin and tight or showing the under-garments."
■ China
Baby swapped for phones
A couple in China have traded in their newborn baby boy for two new mobile phones, a news report said yesterday. The couple, who live in Beijing, sold their five day-old boy for 13,000 yuan (US$1,569) and used the money to buy new mobile phones. Police arrested the 32-year-old man and his 22-year-old wife after the husband's enraged brother reported them after hearing about the sale. The mother, from China's Henan province, told police she did not know it was illegal to sell her son, according to the South China Morning Post.
■ China
Two arrested in killing spree
Two brothers have been arrested in central China accused of killing 12 people and cutting up their bodies, state media reported yesterday. Shen Changyin, 29, and Shen Changping, 21, were detained over the murder and dismemberment of 11 waitresses and one man across six provinces, the Yanzhao Metropolitan Daily said. The two farmers had fled Nanwu village in Huojia county, Henan province, in 2000 after the elder brother murdered a man, the report said.
■ United Kingdom
Criminal tracking tested
Britain will test a satellite system for tracking criminal offenders, government officials said yesterday. Prisons Minister Paul Goggins said the system could be used to track several thousand offenders. "We estimate there are 5,000 prolific offenders causing major problems and mayhem with their offending behavior, day in, day out. So they would be a clear target," he said in an interview with BBC Radio. Sex offenders released from prison could be requir-ed to wear the tags as a condition of their freedom, he added. In the pilot program, up to 120 offenders will be fitted with tags which have a wireless connection to a mobile phone.
■ France
Prison tunnel investigated
Anti-terrorist police opened a formal inquiry Wednesday into three tunnels discovered under La Sante, Paris' main high-security jail, whose inmates range from million-aire fraudsters and corrupt politicians to Islamic mili-tants and Basque separatists. The prison authorities said the tunnels, which ran beneath two of the prison's watchtowers and its main entrance, seemed to be part of the network of historic catacombs and quarries which underlies large areas of the city. Two of the tunnels, between 4m and 17m below the prison, had been re-sealed, and La Sante's most dangerous inmates transferred to other jails.
■ United States
Man kills dog with sword
A man has been accused of stabbing a dog to death with a sword in retaliation against its owner, a hotel owner who had evicted him. Daniel Painter, 30, was charged Tuesday with aggravated assault and cruelty to ani-mals. Police said Painter attacked a chow-Labrador mix named Kabu with a sword early Sunday. Kabu's owner, Garth Jones, said he was awakened early Sunday to the sound of a thud and a yelp. Jones said he saw his dog being repeatedly stabbed by Painter, whom he had recently evicted from the Kirk Hotel in Tooele, about 40 km southwest of Salt Lake City. Jones said the man then threatened him and chased after him, but Jones was able to run into his office and call police.
■ South Africa
Plant explosion kills six
Five people remained in critical condition Thursday, a day after a blast in a chemi-cal plant run by South Afri-can giant Sasol killed six and injured more than 100, amid a report that the company had flouted safety norms. A total of 44 people were hospitalized following Wed-nesday's explosion at the plant, the world's biggest coal-to-synthetic fuels facility which is spread over 14 km2 in the town of Secunda, Sasol spokesman Johann van Rheede said. "Five people are in intensive care and 15 people are still in hospital," Van Rheede told reporters.
■ United Kingdom
Famous chef `amateurish'
A restaurant founded by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver to teach skills to unemployed young people amid a blaze of publicity was panned by a top London guide yesterday. In its 2005 edition, Harden's London restaurants guide described the restaurant, Fifteen, as "amateurish." "Just because it's a charity doesn't give them the right to rip people off," one visitor to the restaurant in the newly trendy Hoxton area in London's East End told the guide. Patrons slammed the quality of the food, the service and the atmosphere of the restaurant, where a meal without wine costs around ?70 pounds (US$125 dollars) a head.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is constructing a new counter-stealth radar system on a disputed reef in the South China Sea that would significantly expand its surveillance capabilities in the region, satellite imagery suggests. Analysis by London-based think tank Chatham House suggests China is upgrading its outpost on Triton Island (Jhongjian Island, 中建島) on the southwest corner of the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), building what might be a launching point for an anti-ship missile battery and sophisticated radar system. “By constraining the US ability to operate stealth aircraft, and threaten stealth aircraft, these capabilities in the South China Sea send
HAVANA: Repeated blackouts have left residents of the Cuban capital concerned about food, water supply and the nation’s future, but so far, there have been few protests Maria Elena Cardenas, 76, lives in a municipal shelter on Amargura Street in Havana’s colonial old town. The building has an elegant past, but for the last few days Maria has been cooking with sticks she had found on the street. “You know, we Cubans manage the best we can,” she said. She lives in the shelter because her home collapsed, a regular occurrence in the poorest, oldest parts of the beautiful city. Cuba’s government has spent the last days attempting to get the island’s national grid functioning after repeated island-wide blackouts. Without power, sleep becomes difficult in the heat, food
Botswana is this week holding a presidential election energized by a campaign by one previous head-of-state to unseat his handpicked successor whose first term has seen rising discontent amid a downturn in the diamond-dependent economy. The charismatic Ian Khama dramatically returned from self-exile six weeks ago determined to undo what he has called a “mistake” in handing over in 2018 to Botswanan President Mokgweetsi Masisi, who seeks re-election tomorrow. While he cannot run as president again having served two terms, Khama has worked his influence and standing to support the opposition in the southern African country of 2.6 million people. “The return of
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has rejected a plan for the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to visit Kyiv due to Guterres’ attendance at this week’s BRICS summit in Russia, a Ukrainian official said on Friday. Kyiv was enraged by Guterres’ appearance at the event in the city of Kazan on Thursday and his handshake with its host, Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose forces invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022. Guterres, who called for a “just peace” in Ukraine at the BRICS event and has repeatedly condemned the invasion, discussed a visit to Ukraine with Zelenskiy when they met in New York
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