News In Brief

Sea Spat: Philippines recalls envoy to China
Afp, Manila

The Philippines has recalled its ambassador to China for consultations, the foreign department said yesterday amid fresh tensions in a seething maritime territorial row.
Ambassador Erlinda Basilio flew back to Manila as the defence department this week accused China of laying 75 concrete blocks on disputed territory in the South China Sea, foreign department spokesman Raul Hernandez said.

Russia, UK agree nuke deal
Afp, Moscow

Russian state nuclear company Rosatom, Rolls-Royce and Finnish utility Fortum yesterday agreed to consider building nuclear power plants in Britain.
The agreement was signed after talks between Rosatom chief Sergei Kiriyenko and British Business and Energy Minister Michael Fallon in Moscow.
Kiriyenko and Fallon also signed an agreement for Russia and Britain to cooperate in the nuclear energy sphere.

China 'watch' official gets 14 years in prison
Afp, Beijing

A Chinese official who became known as "Brother Watch" because of his taste for luxury timepieces was convicted of corruption and sentenced to 14 years in prison yesterday, reports said.
Yang Dacai first came under scrutiny from Chinese Internet users after he was pictured grinning broadly as he assessed the twisted wreckage of a bus and a methanol tanker following an accident which left 36 people dead last year.
The former work safety boss in the northern province of Shaanxi was later derided online after images of him wearing various luxury brand watches were tracked down and circulated.

Blast hits Pak girls' school; 11 wounded
Afp, Peshawar

A bomb wounded 11 people, mostly children, when it exploded outside a Pakistani girls' school yesterday, a doctor said.
The bomb went off at the end of the school day as pupils walked into a street lined with fabric shops in the northwestern town of Bannu, which has been a flashpoint for Islamist militancy.
Doctor Omar Zeb told AFP that 11 people had been brought to the local hospital -- seven primary schoolgirls and four other people who had been in the street. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.