COLOMBO: Floods and mudslides triggered by heavy rain have killed at least 14 people in Sri Lanka and driven 80,000 from homes, police and officials said yesterday as the country marked the 10th anniversary of the tsunami. Police said 10 were killed in mudslides in the central region where 38 people lost their lives in a similar disaster in October. Four drowned in flooding triggered when authorities opened the sluice gates at reservoirs to reduce pressure on their dams.
Japan, China to resume hotline
Tokyo: Japan and China will restart talks on creating a maritime hotline next month, for the first time in over two years, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK said yesterday. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed in November to advance talks to set up the mechanism, which would prevent unexpected military encounters in the waters and airspace of the East China Sea.
Gas leak kills 3 at Korea N-plant
SEOUL: Three people were killed in a gas leak yesterday at an under-construction atomic reactor in South Korea, but the national nuclear operator ruled out any connection to a cyber-attack that targeted the plant last week. Workers appeared to have inhaled nitrogen gas while performing safety checks in an underground cable room at the Gori plant near the southeastern port city of Busan, Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power said, adding no radioactive leaks had been reported.
China extends rail to Xinjiang
BEIJING: China tied the restive far-western region of Xinjiang closer to the rest of the country yesterday, opening a high-speed rail line between its remote capital and a city nearly 1,800km away. A bullet train with speeds of up to 250kmph departed the Western Chinese city of Lanzhou for Xinjiang’s capital Urumqi, with female attendants in ethnic costumes serving 622 passengers, state broadcaster China Central Television showed.
Kai-shek kin jailed in Taiwan
TAIPEI: A Taipei court yesterday sentenced a great-grandson of former Taiwanese leader Chiang Kai-shek to six months in prison for making threats against staff at his ex-school.
Andrew Chiang You-ching, 24, was convicted at the Shilin district court of intimidation charges for posting threats against the Taipei American School on Facebook as well as emailing them to its staff last year. He can appeal or pay a fine of Tw$180,000 ($5,800) in exchange for not serving the sentence, the court said.
Suu Kyi urges West to spur reform
LONDON: Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday called on the West to encourage her country’s government to enter meaningful reform talks but told it not to reintroduce punitive sanctions even though democratic reforms were foundering.
Suu Kyi criticised the West for being too optimistic about change but said it could help by pushing for talks.
“That’s a problem with the international community. They have not lost interest in Burma, they still want Burma to have a happy ending,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, using the country’s old name.
Agencies
