8 theSun | MONDAY MARCH 30 2009

news without borders

N. Korea may launch

mid-range missile too
TOKYO: North Korea is preparing to launch a
close- to mid-range ballistic missile separately
from the long-range rocket that Pyongyang
has said it will launch next month, the Sankei
Japanese daily newspaper reported yesterday.
The report comes as Pyongyang is poised to
launch a communications satellite between
April 4-8 that regional powers believe will
actually be a test of a long-range missile, the
Taepodong-2, which is already believed to be
on its launch pad.
North Korea has given international agen-
cies notice that the rocket’s planned trajectory
should take it over Japan, dropping booster
stages to its east and west. Any attempt to
shoot the rocket itself down would be an act
of war, it has said.
The reclusive state may fire the short- to
mid-range missile shortly after the long-range
missile is launched, Sankei said, quoting uni-
dentified Japanese government sources.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported
yesterday that Japan’s Air Self-Defence Force
had started to deploy units capable of shoot-
ing down a rocket to the northern prefectures
of Akita and Iwate.
Units carrying Patriot Advanced Capabil-
ity-3 missiles left a base in central Japan early
yesterday and are expected to arrive at the
northern prefectures today, NHK said.
A spokesman for Japan’s Ministry of
Defenc said he was not immediately able
to comment on the reports. Japan deployed
two ballistic missile destroyers to the Sea of
Japan on Saturday to intercept any danger-
ous debris in the event that the controversial
missile launch planned by North Korea goes
wrong. – Reuters

Hongkong teens build ‘terror’ bomb

HONGKONG: Three teen-
agers have been arrested for
possessing explosives of the
type used in the 2005 suicide
attacks in London, police said
yesterday.
The three were arrested
after one of them almost had
his hand blown off when he
set off a homemade bomb in
his family’s wholesale food
store on Saturday.
“The three teenagers have
been released on bail while
we are investigating the
case,” said a police spokes-
man.
Police found that the
injured 13-year-old had
caused the explosion by ig-
niting a tissue fuse attached
to two plastic bottles contain-
ing triacetone triperoxide
(TATP), the Sunday Morning
Post reported.
The boy had two frac-
tured fingers and sustained
injuries to his face and eye
from the blast but was in sta-
ble condition, a government
spokesman said.
Police later seized a
computer and found six
more bottles of TATP in
the home of his 14-year-old
classmate. Officers from the
bomb disposal squad were
sent to detonate the explosive
materials.
Another 13-year-old class-
mate was also arrested.
Police suspected the trio
learned how to make TATP
bombs online and bought
the necessary chemicals
from local hardware stores
and pharmacies, the Post
said.
The explosive white
powder was favoured by Is-
lamist terrorists and used in
the 2005 London transport
bombings that killed more
than 50 people. – AFP

any previous year, despite the deepening economic

briefs
Indonesia dam death
toll rises to 97
JAKARTA: The death toll from a burst dam in a
Jakarta suburb rose to 97 yesterday as hundreds
of rescue workers continued to search for more
than 100 people still missing, an official said.
Hundreds of buildings collapsed when a wall
of water broke through the man-made earthen
dam early on Friday as residents slept in their
beds. About 700 rescue workers, police and
military personnel joined forces yesterday in a
third day searching for 102 people still listed as
missing. – AFP
Thai premier hits back
at Thaksin rallying call
BANGKOK: Thai Prime Minister Abhisit
Vejjajiva yesterday accused fugitive former
leader Thaksin Shinawatra of stoking unrest,
as protests that have plunged the kingdom
into fresh turmoil entered a fourth day.
Thousands of demonstrators loyal to the
exiled Thaksin have surrounded Abhisit’s
office in Bangkok since Thursday, listening
to their leader deliver fiery video addresses
against the government each night.
“He is trying to arouse people in an effort
to gain benefit for himself,” Abhisit said.
Some 1,500 so-called “Red Shirts” kept
up the vigil at Government House for the
fourth day yesterday. Numbers have swelled
in the evening to up to 30,000 as people
gather to listen to Thaksin. – AFP
South Korea spends
record sum on education
SEOUL: South Koreans spent nearly US$30 billion
(RM109 billion) on education in 2008, more than in
downturn, official figures showed yesterday.
The increase, due largely to a rise in spending
on private teaching including English-language
learning, indicated South Koreans were reluctant
to cut back on education despite a dramatic
economic slowdown. Household spending on
education reached an all-time high of 39.8 tril-
lion won (RM108 billion) in 2008, up 7.7% from a
year earlier, the Yonhap news agency said, citing
Bank of Korea figures. – AFP
Portuguese bishop
contradicts Pope on condoms
LISBON: A Portuguese bishop on Saturday
openly contradicted Pope Benedict XVI’s
controversial stance on condoms, saying
people with AIDS were “morally obliged” to
use them if they had sex.
A person with AIDS “who cannot avoid
having sexual relations is morally obliged
to avoid passing on the disease by using a
condom,” Monsignor Ilidio Leandro wrote in
a message published on the website of the
Viseu diocese in central Portugal. Benedict
drew criticism last week for saying that con-
dom use could be aggravating the AIDS crisis,
in comments he made to reporters while on
his way to Africa. Thousands of people are
infected with the HIV virus in Africa every
day, according to the United Nations. – AFP
Sudan’s Beshir in Doha for
summit, defying ICC warrant
DOHA: Sudan’s President Omar al-Beshir flew
in to Qatar yesterday for an Arab summit, in his
fourth foreign trip since an international arrest
warrant for alleged war crimes in Darfur.
State television showed Beshir being greeted
by Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-
Thani and Arab League chief Amr Mussa.
Speculation had been rife in Doha that Beshir
could stay away from the summit to avoid em-
barrassing Qatar, although the Gulf state is not
bound by the rules of the International Criminal
Court which indicted the president. – AFP