Dozens killed in Vietnam bridge collapse

Can Tho, Vietnam

A section of a bridge under construction in southern Vietnam collapsed Wednesday, killing at least 42 workers and injuring 80 others, officials said.

The bridge was being built across the Hau River, a branch of the Mekong River, in the southern city of Can Tho. The 1.7 mile Japanese-financed bridge, started in 2004, was to be the largest suspension bridge in Vietnam and would greatly speed the trip across the river, which thousands now make daily by ferry linking the Mekong Delta and Ho Chi Minh City.

Underdeveloped Vietnam is ramping up infrastructure projects to keep pace with an economy growing at more than 8 percent a year.

Cement had been poured into the collapsed section Tuesday.

Seoul

S. Korea to seek cuts in DMZ posts

South Korea will call for the removal of hundreds of guard posts in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that divides the two Koreas at a summit of their leaders next week, a leading newspaper reported today.

The 150-mile-long DMZ is one of the most heavily armed borders of the world with more that 1 million troops stationed on either side.

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, who meets Oct. 2-4 with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang, will propose removing 100 South Korean and 280 North Korean guard posts set up in the 2.5-mile-wide DMZ after the cease-fire that halted their 1950-1953 war, the JoongAng Ilbo quoted a senior administration official as saying.

Lima, Peru

Jailed ex-president to get conjugal visits

Jailed former President Alberto Fujimori will be allowed a guitar and twice-monthly conjugal visits as he awaits trial on corruption and murder charges, prison authorities said Wednesday.

The 69-year-old former president is credited with defeating the Shining Path rebel movement but fled Peru for Japan seven years ago as his 1990-2000 government collapsed in scandal. He was detained in November 2005 when he landed in a small plane in Chile and extradited to Peru.

Fujimori faces charges include sanctioning the death-squad killings of 25 people, alleged payoffs to lawmakers and to news media, illegal phone tapping and misuse of government funds.

Also

India: Police found six crude bombs near a train station in Mumbai, the city where 187 people were killed more than a year ago in bombings on a commuter rail network, officials said Wednesday.

Stowaway: A boy who survived a freezing flight to Moscow in the wheel well of a Boeing-737's wing Friday may lose his hands to amputation, Russian newspaper Tvoi Den reported Wednesday.

Quake: A 6.4-magnitude undersea earthquake rattled western Indonesia on Wednesday, officials said, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. The quake was centered 80 miles southwest of Padang, a town on Sumatra island still recovering from tremors earlier this month, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

China fire: A nightclub fire in southeastern China killed 12 people and left six others injured, the official Xinhua news agency reported Wednesday.

Seattle Times news services