Month: May 2010

Beijing, May 06: North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il has told President Hu Jintao on a rare trip to China he is ready to return to stalled nuclear disarmament negotiations, a media report said Thursday.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency, without citing sources, said Kim made the pledge during more than four hours of talks with the Chinese president on Wednesday, during which Hu asked that Pyongyang come back to the table.

London, May 06: Voters go to the polls on Thursday in what is forecast to be the closest election since 1992, with the Conservatives struggling to convert their opinion poll advantage into an outright majority.

The Conservatives, led by former public relations executive David Cameron, have seen their poll lead dwindle since the turn of the year, with voters seemingly reluctant to embrace their call for change after 13 years of rule by Labour.

New York, May 06: No bomb was found in a truck abandoned on New York City’s Triborough Bridge on Wednesday night and the busy roads connecting the boroughs of Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx will reopen shortly, police said.

New York police department spokesperson Paul Browne said the bridge was shut down after a worker on the bridge found the vehicle, a U-Haul rental truck with Arizona license plates, abandoned and smelling of gas.

Browne said the police bomb squad X-rayed the vehicle and found it to be empty.

Bangkok, May 06: Thailand’s prime minister said Thursday he would dissolve Parliament in September — meeting a key demand of anti-government protesters — but only if they end their crippling occupation of Bangkok’s commercial district.

Following the unveiling of a roadmap to reconciliation Monday, protest leaders demanded Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva specify a date for Parliament’s dissolution before they pulled out of their barricaded encampment in the heart of the Thai capital.

London, May 06: Britain is set to go to the polls on Thursday to elect its 55th parliament amid a sobering last-minute warning for the new govt to tackle the nation’s rising public debt level — highest in Europe — as its first priority.

With prospects of a hung Parliament looming large, leaders are exploring alliances hours before polling opens on Thursday.

Beijing, May 06: A tornado and strong winds in southwestern China killed 25 people and injured more than 150 early Thursday, state media reported.

Several homes collapsed in the city of Chongqing, but the number was still being tallied, said the disaster relief director at the Chongqing civil affairs bureau.

The director, who gave only his surname Ma, disputed a China News online report that 1,000 homes had collapsed. “It’s definitely not that many,” he said.

Canberra, May 06: Two workmen used a backhoe to dig up grass, topsoil and 10 palm trees from an Australian front yard before realizing they were at the wrong address and fleeing, a homeowner said Thursday.

Peter Collard, 56, said the culprits did an estimated 20,000 Australian ($18,000) in damage in front of a six-bedroom house he was trying to sell in the eastern city of Brisbane — and that his insurer told him none of the damage was covered by his policy.

Tokyo, May 06: Japan plans to restart today its controversial fast-breeder nuclear reactor after operations were suspended for more than 14 years following a sodium leak and a fire.

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency is scheduled to relaunch Monju, the nation’s only fast-breeder reactor, around 10:30 am (local time).

The facility was shut down in 1995, less than two years after Monju had started generating power, after a special thermometer broke, leaking high-temperature metallic sodium that reacted violently with oxygen.

The incident resulted in a fire, but caused no radiation leak.

Washington, May 06: With Pakistani-American Faisal Shahzad, who attempted to bomb the Times Square, almost giving authorities the slip despite being on the no-fly list, the US government has ordered airlines to check the list within two hours of receiving information that a high-priority name has been added.

Airlines are required to check the no-fly list for updates only every 24 hours. But a new rule announced Wednesday requires that airlines check within two hours of receiving notification that a high-priority name has been added to the list.

Geneva, May 06: Lawmakers in Switzerland’s northern canton (state) of Aargau have called for a nationwide ban on burqa-style Islamic garb in public spaces, Swiss newspapers reported on Wednesday.

Aargau’s Parliament voted to introduce a motion in Switzerland’s Council of States – representing the 26 cantons – that would forbid people from wearing the dress that covers women from head to toe with only a small mesh to see through.