News in brief

Japan typhoon death toll rises to 29

Afp, Tokyo

 
The death toll from a typhoon that triggered massive landslides on a Japanese island rose to 29 yesterday, as officials advised residents to take shelter in anticipation of more heavy rain.
Around 1,200 troops, firefighters and police searched for 22 island residents who remained missing after typhoon Wipha struck Oshima island, 120 kilometres south of Tokyo, on Tuesday.

Titanic violin bags record price

Bbc Online

 
The violin that was apparently played to calm passengers on the Titanic as the giant liner sank has sold for £900,000 at auction in Wiltshire.
It was played by band leader Wallace Hartley, who died along with 1,517 others as the ship went down. It had a guide price of £300,000.
Hartley has become part of the ship's legend after leading his fellow musicians in playing as the vessel sank, most famously the hymn Nearer My God To Thee.

Afghan tribal meeting next month

Afp, Kabul

About 3,000 Afghan tribal elders and civil leaders will gather in Kabul next month to decide whether to support a deal allowing some US troops to stay in the country after 2014, officials said yesterday.
President Hamid Karzai has said that only a loya jirga could decide an issue of Afghan national sovereignty, with legal immunity for US troops remaining a potential sticking point in discussions.

14 Laos plane crash victims identified

Afp, Pakse

Lao Airlines yesterday said it had identified almost half of the 32 bodies so far recovered after a plane carrying 49 people, many of them foreign travellers, plunged into the Mekong River.
In the country's deadliest known air disaster, all those on board died when the Lao Airlines turboprop ATR-72 plunged into the swollen waters in stormy weather on Wednesday near Pakse airport in Champasak province.