Mt Merapi volcano spews ash columns

JAKARTA • Mount Merapi near Indonesia's cultural capital of Yogyakarta spewed ash columns up to 3,000m into the sky over the weekend, local media reported yesterday.

The head of Indonesia's Geological Disaster Research and Development Centre, Mr Hanik Humaida, said a 3km-radius exclusion zone from the crater remains in place.

The 2,968m volcano is a popular hiking spot on the border of Yogyakarta and Central Java provinces.

DPA

Driverless train goes wrong way, 14 injured

TOKYO • Police yesterday said 14 passengers were injured after an automated train in suburban Tokyo went in the wrong direction and crashed into a buffer stop.

The driverless five-car train crashed on Saturday evening, injuring 14 passengers, said a police spokesman in Kanagawa prefecture, south of Tokyo.

The train hit the buffer stop at Shin-Sugita station after travelling in the wrong direction for about 20m.

In safety-conscious Japan, the incident is the first to result in injuries since driverless trains were first rolled out 30 years ago.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Disgruntled US city engineer shot 12 dead

VIRGINIA BEACH (Virginia) • The gunman who killed 12 people at a Virginia Beach municipal building, before dying in a shootout with police, was identified on Saturday as a disgruntled city engineer and co-worker of most of the victims.

All but one of the victims from last Friday's mass shooting in the coastal resort community were employed by the city, officials said, while the other was a contractor seeking a permit. Four people were wounded.

The gunman, DeWayne Craddock, had worked for the city's public utilities department for about 15 years, Virginia Beach police chief James Cervera said.

REUTERS