Briefly: Artillery duels reported as toll mounts in north
International Herald Tribune
SEPTEMBER 12, 2006
Reuters

COLOMBO Sri Lankan government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels exchanged mortar and artillery fire across their northern front lines Monday as the military death toll rose to 33 in five days of heavy clashes, an official said.

Government soldiers have advanced up to a kilometer, or six tenths of a mile, into rebel territory in the village of Muhamalai on the Jaffna Peninsula and captured a forward defense line, said an official at the Media Center for National Security said. (AP)

TOKYO

New satellite launched to monitor North Korea

Japan launched its third intelligence-gathering satellite on Monday, enhancing its ability to monitor North Korea two months after Pyongyang shocked the region with a barrage of missile tests.

The Japanese space agency launched the optical satellite from the southern island of Tanegashima, adding to a pair of satellites that were put into orbit in March 2003. Two other satellites were lost when a rocket failed in November that year.

A radar satellite is to be launched later this year. (Reuters)

TOKYO

Japanese support a female monarch

The majority of Japanese want a law change that would let a female reign as empress despite the recent birth of a new prince, a poll said Monday.

Fifty-six percent of respondents to a poll published Monday by public broadcaster NHK said they support reforming Japan's imperial law to allow women to inherit the Chrysanthemum throne. The poll came after Princess Kiko, the wife of Emperor Akihito's second son, gave birth to a boy last week, ending a succession crisis.(AP)

KUALA LUMPUR

Mahathir claims bribery

Former Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad accused the government on Monday of bribing members of the governing party to defeat him in a party election, and warned that his "big mouth" would not stop criticizing the current leader and his family.

In some of his most combative comments since starting a one-man antigovernment campaign a year ago, Mahathir also challenged Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. "Either he changes or he steps down," Mahathir said. Otherwise, he said, "the only way they can stop me is to throw me in jail."(AP)

SHANGHAI:

Crowds angered by the alleged mishandling of a teacher's death in southern China attacked government offices, setting off arrests and beatings by the police, Hong Kong newspapers and a hospital in Tangxia township said Monday. Students and local residents asserted that the police had colluded with the husband of Dai Haijing, 30, a high school English teacher, to have her death called a suicide, according to the Ta Kung Pao newspaper and The South China Morning Post.(AP)

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