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SEOUL: South Korea said Sunday it would drastically reduce the use of government vehicles from next week as part of its first major contingency plan aimed at saving energy amid soaring oil prices. Prime Minister Han Seung Soo said more than 15,000 vehicles at 819 government offices or state-run bodies would be forced to remain idle every other day from July 15. Vehicles with even-numbered license plates would be banned from running on even-numbered days, and those with odd-numbered plates restricted from operating on odd-numbered days, Han said.
PARIS: The May 12 earthquake in southwestern China has boosted seismic stress in parts of the Sichuan basin, increasing the risk of a dangerous aftershock on some faults that are close to inhabited areas, US geologists warned on Sunday. Their study, published in the British journal Nature, attempts to identify areas where a quake could erupt through "stress transfer," meaning the process by which a massive quake hikes pressure on adjacent or nearby faults. The 7.9-magnitude May 12 quake ripped open a fault running from the southwest to the northeast at the boundary between the Longmen Shan highlands and the Sichuan basin.
TAIPEI: The launch of regular direct flights between China and Taiwan has been hailed as a symbol of progress and a boon to tourism, but industry workers here are not all convinced. Taiwan has restricted trade and travel since its split from the mainland in 1949 but the election of Beijing-friendly Ma Ying Jeou in March opened the door to warmer ties. In a sign of rapprochement, the two sides last month held their first direct talks in a decade and signed agreements to launch the flights and treble the number of Chinese allowed to visit the island to 3,000 daily.
SEOUL: UN Secretary -General Ban Ki Moon promised Sunday to help improve inter-Korean ties after the North cut off official dialogue with Seoul's new conservative government in protest at its tougher line. The UN chief made the pledge during a meeting with South Korean Unification Minister Kim Ha Joong in Seoul on his first visit to his native country since taking office. Ban responded to Kim's request for help in improving relations by saying he would try to "act as a facilitator" between the two nations, the minister's office said after the pair met at a Seoul hotel.
BEIJING: More than 20 people were injured, one seriously, when an internal Chinese flight hit severe air turbulence, state press reported Sunday. Passengers and crew were slammed into the overhead luggage compartments when the Shanghai Air plane hit turbulence on the way to Beijing on Saturday, forcing the pilot to make an early landing, the Beijing News reported. The plane, carrying around 260 passengers, was forced to land at the airport in Tianjin City, about 110 kilometers east of Beijing, and the passengers continued their journey by bus.
KABUL: US-led forces unleashed air strikes on a large group of militants operating in a mountainous area of Afghanistan near the Pakistan border Sunday and killed "several" of them, the force said. The precision strikes in the eastern province of Nangarhar were conducted after "intelligence revealed a large group of militants operating in Deh Bala district," the force said in a statement. The statement did not give details and Afghan authorities did not immediately have information about the incident.
-- AFP
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