World Briefs

A 79-year-old woman slashed two women with a fruit knife near a crowded Tokyo railway station because she wanted police help after running away from a shelter for homeless people, police said yesterday.

The victims, in their 20s, were only slightly injured in the attack on Friday night in a crowded shopping and entertainment district of the city. The elderly woman was arrested from the scene, a spokesman at the Shibuya police station said."I ran away from a shelter earlier this week and I don't have money. I thought if I caused an incident, the police would take care of me," the spokesman quoted the woman as telling investigators. She was carrying around 6,500 yen ($59).

Gwen Stefani gives birth to baby boy

Singer and songwriter Gwen Stefani gave birth to a boy named Zuma on Thursday in Los Angeles, her second child with husband Gavin Rossdale, her spokesman said. Stefani and her baby are "happy and healthy" following the birth at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, publicist Dave Tomberlin said in a statement. Zuma Nesta Rock Rossdale weighs 8.5 pounds, Tomberlin said.

Mexico's supreme court to rule in abortion fight

A fight over abortion between Mexico's federal government and the capital's leftist lawmakers goes to the Supreme Court next week, with the attorney general urging judges to reinstate a ban on women terminating pregnancies on demand.

The Catholic Church, a powerful force in the world's second-biggest Catholic country, backs the federal government's call to overturn a 2007 law allowing abortions in Mexico City.

But the capital's administration, headed by Mayor Marcelo Ebrard, says women have a right to safe abortions rather than risking their lives in unhygienic back-street clinics. One of the court's 11 judges, Salvador Aguirre, has already submitted a ruling which says the Mexico City law is unconstitutional.

Singapore on verge of hand,foot and mouth outbreak

Singapore is on the verge of a hand, foot and mouth disease outbreak, the Straits Times reported yesterday, quoting government health officials.

The paper said 553 people were afflicted with the virus last week, up from 415 the week before. Last week's figure was just 12 fewer than the Health Ministry's official 'epidemic level'.

Hand, foot and mouth disease, which is treatable, usually affects children and causes fever and rashes on the hands, feet and buttocks. A three-year child died earlier this month in the city-state.

South Korea seeks wider climate role with 2020 goals

South Korea hopes to be a bridge between rich and poor countries in fighting global warming by setting itself 2020 goals for greenhouse gas emissions, the nation's climate change ambassador said yesterday.

South Korea is one of very few countries outside the 37 industrialised nations in the UN's Kyoto Protocol talking of national goals for emissions under a new UN climate treaty due to be agreed by the end of 2009.

"We would like to play a bridging role between developing countries and developed countries," Rae-Kwon Chung told Reuters during a 160-nation UN climate conference in Accra. South Korea wanted to move to low-carbon growth in coming decades.

Hydrogen-powered cars meet in championship race

Six international university teams competed in the Dutch city of Rotterdam yesterday in what was billed as a motor racing championship for hydrogen-powered vehicles.

The 'Formula Zero' series aims to demonstrate the viability of zero-emission fuel cell technology, even if the average speeds of around 50 kph (32 mph) were more akin to those of a cycle race than of Formula One.

The karts ran individual timed laps rather than racing directly against each other on the 550-metre (600-yard) circuit, because of the risks to car and driver from collision damage to the fuel cells.

In a fuel cell, stored hydrogen reacts with oxygen from the air to produce electricity. There are no emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, and the only waste product is water.

Somali gunmen kidnap two Western journalists-residents

Unidentified gunmen kidnapped two Western journalists yesterday near Somalia's capital Mogadishu, residents and a security source said.

The pair, believed to be an Australian man and Canadian woman, were apparently seized during a visit to camps for displaced civilians at Elasha, south of the city.

"We heard that unknown gunmen abducted two foreign journalists, a white man and a white woman," Fatuma Ali, a primary school teacher in Elasha, told Reuters by telephone.

Mohamed Ajos, head of security at Mogadishu's Shamo Hotel, said the pair had been staying there.

"They left us this morning to visit internally displaced camps on the outskirts of Mogadishu," he told Reuters.

"Now they are nowhere to be found. They were accompanied by a Somali translator and were to visit parts of Lower Shabelle region. They are believed to have been kidnapped."

Ajos and another source at the hotel said the pair were freelance journalists and named them as Nigel, a 27-year-old Australian, and Amanda, 26, a Canadian. They had no other details.