TOKYO: Four Chinese government ships were yesterday sailing in waters around islands controlled by Tokyo and claimed by Beijing, the Japanese coastguard said. The maritime surveillance vessels entered the 12-nautical-mile zone regarded as the territorial waters of the Senkaku islands, which China calls the Diaoyus, in the East China Sea, at around 5am on Sunday, the coastguard said. In Brunei, US Secretary of State John Kerry nudged China to agree a code of conduct to prevent clashes in the South China Sea after the Philippines accused Beijing of a military build-up.
Four kids die as boat sinks
MANILA: Authorities have launched search and rescue operations for the three missing passengers of a motor banca that sank off Iloilo and claimed the lives of four children, the Philippine Coast Guard said yesterday. Investigation revealed that M/Bca Clien with 15 passengers aboard left Tambaliza village on Friday morning. The passengers were to attend a fiesta in Salvacion village on an island about 1.5 nautical miles away from their port of origin. While on their way home at around 2pm the following day, the motor boat was battered by tropical storm Rumbia, causing it to capsize. Eight passengers were rescued.
Boy gets lung part from mom
TOKYO: Part of a Japanese woman’s lung was transplanted to her three-year-old son yesterday in what was described as the world’s first successful graft of a middle lobe from a living donor, a hospital said. Lung transplants from living donors usually involve transferring the inferior lobe which has greater breathing capacity. But a middle lobe was transplanted as it is smaller than an inferior lobe and is of the right size for the boy, the Okayama University Hospital said. The boy and his mother were not identified.
Rainstorms kill 34 in China
Beijing: Rainstorms have ravaged nine Chinese provincial-level regions since June 29, leaving 34 dead and 12 missing, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said yesterday. The ministry reported 18 deaths and four missing in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, nine deaths and four missing in east China’s Anhui Province, five deaths and four missing in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, one death in central China’s Hubei Province and one death in southwest China’s Chongqing municipality.
Agencies
