World briefs

Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 9, 2000

2 more earthquakes rattle Japan

TOKYO -- Two fairly strong earthquakes rocked western Japan Sunday, two days after a more powerful temblor buckled streets, knocked down houses and paralyzed traffic for hours in a nearby region, officials said.

A magnitude 5.4 earthquake struck Sunday afternoon and was centered 6 miles beneath eastern Shimane prefecture, located 380 miles southwest of Tokyo, the Meteorological Agency said.

"There was one strong jolt. But the shaking only lasted a few seconds," Shimane police official Masayuki Murakami said.

About eight hours later, a 5.2-magnitude temblor hit at about the same location, the Meteorological Agency said. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

Report: GM makes formal bid for Daewoo Motor

DETROIT -- General Motors Corp. and Fiat SpA reportedly are in talks to buy at least some of the assets of South Korea's second-largest automaker, the ailing Daewoo Motor Co. A formal announcement was expected today.

GM, which had a 15-year alliance with Daewoo that ended in 1992, has long been interested in the automaker as a way to further expand into Asia's auto markets, which are starting to recover from their slump during the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis.

Last month, Ford Motor Co. pulled out of talks to purchase Daewoo.

Nobel Prize for medicine will be announced today

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- A person deemed to have made the most significant discovery in medicine will become a Nobel laureate today, kicking off a week of prize announcements culminating with the prestigious peace award.

The prizes, each worth $915,000 this year, are always surrounded by speculation -- and secrecy. The suspense for the literature award, usually the first announced, was heightened last week when the Swedish Academy failed to reach a decision, leaving the timing of that announcement uncertain and bumping medicine into the top slot.

The winners of the prizes for physics and chemistry will be announced Tuesday and for economics -- the only one not established in Nobel's will -- on Wednesday in Stockholm. The peace prize is to be announced Friday in Oslo, Norway.

ELSEWHERE . . .

SALVAGING MISSION: A team of 15 Russian divers left for Norway on Sunday for training in preparation for retrieving bodies from the sunken Kursk nuclear submarine. The divers flew from St. Petersburg's Pulkovo airport to the port of Bergen from where a special expedition will sail to the sunken submarine.

PARTY PREPARATIONS: North Korea will send a plane to fly South Korean guests to the birthday party of its ruling Communist Party on Oct. 10, the North's official media said Sunday.

The report came one day after South Korea said it would allow its citizens to attend the 55th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang. North Korea has sent invitations to South Korean civic and religious leaders for years, but such invitations have been scoffed at in the South as communist propaganda.

HONG KONG PROTESTS: Daring the police to arrest them, more than 1,000 people marched Sunday in Hong Kong to protest a law that prohibits public demonstrations by more than 30 people without police permission.

Protesters carried banners and placards that read, "The law is not a tool for political oppression," and "Uphold assembly freedom." One protester carried a picture of scenes from Beijing's crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in the mainland 11 years ago.

BOMBING IN GREECE: A small bomb exploded Sunday morning outside the Thessaloniki offices of the owners of a ferry that sank last month in one of Greece's deadliest maritime accidents, police said.

The homemade explosive, made using two small cooking gas canisters, caused some damage and started a fire at the offices of Minoan Flying Dolphins.

No one was hurt and the blaze was quickly put out. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

It was the third attack directed at the company since one of its ferries, the Express Samina, sank on Sept. 26, killing 79 people.

AID FOR BAGHDAD: A Syrian plane with senior government officials, doctors, nurses and humanitarian aid on board landed in Baghdad on Sunday, the first such flight in more than 18 years. The Airbus-320 carried 10 tons of medical and humanitarian supplies.

The visit is a sign that relations between Iraq and Syria are continuing to thaw. Last week, Syria called for an end to U.N. sanctions against Iraq and trade and transportation links between the two states have recently increased.

CHESS CHALLENGE: Challenger Vladimir Kramnik used a surprising strategy to gain a draw with Garry Kasparov on Sunday in the first game of the 16-game World Chess Championship.

Kramnik chose an old-fashioned defense called the Berlin Defense to the Ruy Lopez -- a strategy fashionable in the 19th century but little used today. The second game was set for Tuesday.

REBELS KILL 2: Chechen rebels crossed the border into the neighboring republic of Ingushetia and attacked a police patrol, killing two officers and wounding three others, a police official said Sunday.

The rebels were apparently in Ingushetia to replenish their reserves of weapons and food before returning to Chechnya to wage their guerrilla war against Russia.

VOLCANO ERUPTS: The Sakurajima volcano erupted Saturday in southern Japan, blowing ash 3 miles into the air and blanketing the nearby city of Kagoshima in dust. No injuries or damage were reported.

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