China destroys illegal guns and explosives
SHENYANG • Chinese police destroyed more than 140,000 illegal guns and a large stash of explosives yesterday as part of a nationwide campaign.
The Ministry of Public Security launched the campaign in Shenyang, capital of the north-eastern province of Liaoning, where more than 2,600 guns, 63,000 rounds of ammunition and the explosives were destroyed.
The destruction of illegal guns and explosives, seized by police or handed in by the public, was conducted in 202 counties and cities across the country yesterday.
XINHUA
Foreign experts can treat Liu Xiaobo
BEIJING • China invited medical experts from the United States and Germany to help treat dissident Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo for cancer, a local government body announced yesterday.
The invitation signals a softening of Beijing's stance ahead of this week's Group of 20 summit in Germany.
Liu, 61, was jailed for 11 years in 2009 for "inciting subversion of state power" after he helped write a petition known as Charter 08, which called for sweeping political reforms.
He was recently moved from jail to a hospital to be treated for late-stage liver cancer.
REUTERS
One killed as storm batters Japan
TOKYO • One person died after being swept away by a river swollen by torrential rains from tropical storm Nanmadol, and thousands were ordered to evacuate as the storm battered the western coast of Japan yesterday.
According to media reports, the body of a man was recovered from a river in Hiroshima yesterday.
XINHUA
Plane suspected to have crashed in Papua
JAKARTA • A small plane carrying five people is believed to have crashed in Indonesia's eastern Papua province, an official said yesterday, with a search and rescue mission under way.
The authorities said the Pilatus Porter PC-6 aircraft lost contact at noon yesterday, after it took off on a short flight across the remote, mountainous region.
The plane was carrying three passengers and two crew members, a spokesman at the search and rescue agency said.
The plane belonged to Associated Mission Aviation - a private company operating flights in and around Papua.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
