JAPANESE MAN KILLED BY STREET CLEANING TRUCK
TOKYO: An elderly man in Tokyo was killed when a street cleaning truck hit him and swept his body to a public landfill site where it was found amongst rubbish, media reports said.

The body of what police believe was a 69-year-old male was discovered by a worker at the landfill site off Tokyo Bay in a pile of garbage brought in by a road sweeping vehicle, the Yomiuri Shimbun and Sankei Shimbun reported. It is thought the victim was lying down in the street in the early hours of Tuesday morning when he was hit, the Fuji News Network said, adding that his shoes had been found by the road and that his body was full of fractured bones. The driver of the truck told police that he did not notice anything unusual while operating the machine.

1800 BRAVE HONG KONG HARBOR SWIM
HONG KONG: Some 1800 swimmers braved Hong Kong’s choppy waters on Sunday to compete in the challenging annual harbor race across one of the world’s most famous and busiest waterways. Swimming enthusiasts from the ages of 12 to 78 took part in the 1.5 kilometer Victoria Harbor race which returned last year after a 33-year suspension. Swimmers dashed between the eastern points of the Kowloon peninsula and Hong Kong Island against a stunning backdrop of towering skyscrapers and sharp peaks, replacing the normal harbor traffic of ferries and cargo boats. The winner of last year’s event, 19-year-old Ling Tin-yu, repeated his success with a winning time of 16 minutes and 57 seconds.

CALIFORNIA TO VOTE ON GM FOOD LABELING
LOS ANGELES: California could become the first US state to enforce labeling of genetically modified (GM) foods, in a vote next month pitting agro-chemical giants against opponents of so-called “Frankenfoods.” The western state will vote on November 6—the day of the White House election—on Proposition 37, which backers claim would simply let consumers know what they are eating, but critics say will pander to unjustified fears. Like many states, California is holding a series of “ballot initiatives” on the same day as the presidential vote, but the so-called “Prop 37” fight has emerged as the most divisive. The prospect is not to the taste of agro-chemical and agro-food giants like Monsanto, Bayer, BASF, DuPont, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Kellogg and Heinz, who have spent millions of dollars on advertising to defeat the ballot initiative.

WWII BOMB SUCCESSFULLY DEFUSED IN TOKYO
TOKYO: An unexploded 220-kilogram World War II incendiary bomb was successfully defused and removed from Tokyo’s business district on Sunday after a delicate hour-long operation, officials said. Around 200 residents evacuated their homes within a 100-meter radius of the 500-pound bomb, which was found last month at a construction site in Motoakasaka area of Minato ward, as soldiers worked on removing the device. Japense Self Defense Force members defused the rusty ordnance, which was discovered 4.5-metres underground. The area was declared safe shortly afterwards, they added. AFP