The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Japan urges China to help keep in check North Korea
- Seven people shot dead in Texas apartment
- 13 found dead in truck in eastern Mexico - local media
| Japan urges China to help keep in check North Korea Posted: 25 Dec 2011 08:39 PM PST BEIJING (Reuters) - Japan urged China on Monday to shoulder a big role in ensuring that North Korea avoids volatile moves despite uncertainties created by the death of Pyongyang's leader, Kim Jong-il.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda also nudged Chinese President Hu Jintao to share information about developments in North Korea, where the succession of Kim's youngest son, Kim Jong-un, has fanned speculation about who will really control the secretive one-party state and its nuclear weapons programme. "It is important that we will not let the death of the Chairman of the National Defence Commission Kim have a negative impact on the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula," Noda was quoted by a Japanese official as telling Hu in Beijing. Kim Jong-il's many titles included head of the military. "Under these circumstance, the role of China, which is the chair country of the six-party talks and has a big influence on North Korea, is extremely important," said Noda, according to the official who brief reporters on condition that he remained anonymous. The Japanese prime minister was the first regional leader to visit Beijing since Kim Jong-il's death was announced a week ago, putting Kim Jong-un in formal charge of North Korea, which has long relied on China for diplomatic and economic support. China has also sought to defuse confrontation by hosting six-party nuclear disarmament talks since August 2003. The now-stalled negotiations bring together North and South Korea, China, the United States, Japan and Russia. Noda also urged China to be forthcoming about what it learns about the North's transition -- something Beijing, with its intensively secretive relationship with Pyongyang, appears unlikely to do. "I would like vigorous information sharing between Japan and China, and intend to address the situation calmly and properly," Noda was quoted as telling Hu on the second and final day of his visit to the Chinese capital. Pyongyang has alarmed the region with two plutonium-based nuclear test blasts, a succession of military altercations, and declarations that it is developing uranium enrichment, which could open another path to assembling atomic weapons. Constraining North Korea is especially important for Japan, which lies within range of the North's long-range missiles and wants Pyongyang to resolve the visceral issue of the fate of Japanese citizens kidnapped to help train spies decades ago. In April 2009, North Korea said it was quitting the six-party talks and reversing nuclear "disablement" steps, unhappy with implementation of an initial disarmament deal. But Beijing is acutely wary of upsetting North Korea, especially during the current delicate transition, and has restricted its public comments about the implications of Kim's death to broad calls for stability and calm. "Both sides agreed that preserving the peace and stability of the Korean peninsula serves the interests of all sides," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in its account of talks on Sunday between Noda and Premier Wen Jiabao. The Chinese media did not immediately offer Beijing's account of Hu's meeting with Noda. (Additional reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Yoko Nishikawa) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. | ||
| Seven people shot dead in Texas apartment Posted: 25 Dec 2011 08:18 PM PST GRAPEVINE, Texas (Reuters) - Police in Texas found the bodies of seven people in a Dallas-area apartment on Sunday, all shot to death and surrounded by newly unwrapped Christmas presents, authorities said.
Police in the town of Grapevine said the dead included four women and three men, one of them the apparent gunman in what investigators believe was a murder-suicide, and that all appeared to be members of the same family. Two handguns were recovered from the apartment, said Sergeant Robert Eberling of the Grapevine police department, who called it a "gruesome crime scene" and the worst massacre in that town's history. A community of about 46,000 people some 20 miles northwest of central Dallas, Grapevine is known for its wine-tasting salons and was recently proclaimed by the state Senate as the "Christmas Capital of Texas" for its abundance of annual holiday-season events. "This is obviously a terrible tragedy," Mayor William Tate said in a statement given to Reuters. "The fact that it happened on Christmas makes it even more tragic. This appears to be a family situation and anyone who has a family will be incredibly saddened by that happened." Police responding to a 911 emergency call at around 11:30 a.m. local time found the bodies in the first-floor living room of a two-story unit in the Lincoln Vineyards apartments, police said. No one reported hearing any gunshots. The 911 caller never spoke to police, and officers did not see the telephone when they went into the home. Eberling said he believed police had to kick in the door to enter. The circumstances of the shooting remained unclear. However, the victims appeared to have been opening Christmas gifts when the shooting occurred, and there was no visible sign of forced entry or a struggle, police said. "By all appearances, they're all part of the same family," Eberling said, adding that the victims were believed to have been "celebrating Christmas" when the shooting unfolded. "It's a gruesome crime scene to say the least, with that many victims in that area suffering gunshot wounds," he said. Two of the dead were believed to be in their 50s or 60s, while the others appeared to be young adults, about 18 to 20, according to police. Authorities did not immediately identify the victims and did not speculate on a possible motive for the shooting. Police said there were no survivors at the apartment when they arrived. Eberling said none had been dead for very long. As of 7:30 p.m., about eight hours after they were found, all seven bodies remained in the apartment, and investigators were expected to continue processing the crime scene late into the night, Eberling said. Lincoln Vineyards is a middle-income complex near Colleyville Heritage High School, one of the area's most highly regarded schools. Several neighbors told Reuters that children frequently played in front of the apartment, and they regularly saw young adults leaving for work. They added that they did not know the residents personally. Several apartment residents stood outside, visibly shaken, and one of them crying, while investigators gathered evidence from the crime scene. Vanessa Barerra said the killings were especially disturbing in light of Grapevine's reputation as a place to live. "I did research and chose to live here because of the safety and the school district," she said. "I'm glad my kids weren't here. They're with their dad." (Additional reporting and writing by Steve Gorman and Karen Brooks; Editing by Tim Gaynor and Peter Bohan) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. | ||
| 13 found dead in truck in eastern Mexico - local media Posted: 25 Dec 2011 06:26 PM PST MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Thirteen bodies were found in an abandoned truck in eastern Mexico on Sunday, local media reported, as a turf war between drug cartels spreads far from the border with the United States. The truck was found during a routine security patrol near the border between the eastern states of Veracruz, a major oil-producing region, and Tamaulipas, local media said, citing state officials. Messages left at the site suggested the dead were killed in a rivalry between criminal gangs, local media said. Violent drug cartels that have long menaced Mexico's northern border with the United States have moved into states like Veracruz as they battle rivals for control of drug routes and other criminality. On Thursday, three American citizens were killed in Veracruz when gunmen attacked the bus in which they were travelling. On Friday, the tortured bodies of ten people were found in Veracruz as a turf war between the Zetas gang and Gulf drug cartels intensifies. In September, 35 bodies were dumped along a downtown highway in the Veracruz city of Boca del Rio. More than 45,000 people have been killed in drug violence since President Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006. (Reporting by Patrick Rucker; editing by Todd Eastham) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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