World Briefs: Philippine man shoots one dead, injures five

MANILA • A former soldier went on a shooting spree in Cavite province, south of Manila, killing a woman and injuring five others before taking his own life yesterday morning, the police said.

The police said the 47-year-old suspect, armed with a .38 calibre handgun, went to a wet market in General Trias City at around 8am to look for certain people who he claimed were spreading rumours to malign his reputation as a contractor.

The suspect shot dead a 59-year-old woman and wounded a 57-year-old man at the market. He then shot a tricycle driver before shooting another woman victim at her house nearby.

Police said two policemen were also injured when the suspect shot at a responding police car.

The suspect then shot himself in the head, the police added.

XINHUA

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13 missing off Japan after vessels collide

TOKYO • More than a dozen Chinese and Vietnamese crew members of a cargo ship are missing after it collided with a fishing boat in waters off northern Japan, a coast guard official said yesterday.

The 1,989-tonne Belize-flagged cargo ship Guoxing 1 was carrying some 3,000 tonnes of iron scrap and rapidly took in water after the collision last Saturday, Japan Coast Guard spokesman Tomoyuki Hanzawa said.

He added that the cause of the collision, between the Guoxing 1 and a 138-tonne Japanese fishing boat, is unknown.

The Guoxing 1 had a crew of 14 Chinese and Vietnamese nationals, of which 13 are still missing and the coast guard is searching for them, Mr Hanzawa said.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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3 die in Moscow after dry-ice incident

MOSCOW • Three people have died at a Moscow birthday party after around 30kg of dry ice meant to create special effects was tipped into a pool, according to investigators and reports.

The party at the pool complex late last Friday was to mark the birthday of Ms Ekaterina Didenko, a popular Instagram influencer who focuses on pharmaceutical products and has more than a million followers.

Two people died at the scene while a third died in hospital, Russia's investigative committee said in a statement, announcing a criminal probe into the incident.

Ms Didenko's husband Valentin was the man who died later in hospital, Tass news agency reported.

The RIA Novosti news agency said the victims had jumped into the pool after the dry ice had been tipped into the water and suffered chemical reactions.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE