Vice president killed in helicopter crash
KHARTOUM -- A rebel official said Sudan's vice president, a former rebel leader and a key figure in the country's fledgling peace deal, was killed in a helicopter crash. Search crews reached the site early today and found a body they believe to be that of John Garang, a UN official said. An official in Garang's Sudan People's Liberation Army told the Associated Press that Garang's death had been confirmed. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was giving the information before the announcement. Garang, who waged a two-decade war against Khartoum from southern Sudan until a peace deal in January, left Uganda by helicopter late Saturday to return to Sudan after talks with President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. Uganda said that it had lost contact with the aircraft. (AP)
CHINA
Vaccine rushed to site of 34 swine flu deaths
BEIJING -- China rushed the first batch of swine flu vaccine yesterday to the southwestern province of Sichuan, where an outbreak of the disease has killed 34 people and left 28 in critical condition. Xinhua news agency reported that vaccines for a total of 10 million pigs were being produced to combat the disease, which is contracted from slaughtering, handling, or eating infected pigs. About 50,000 health workers and officials have been sent to the province to inspect every pig and to educate poor farmers not to slaughter sick pigs or eat their meat. (Reuters)
Harry Potter falls preyto the evils of piracyBEIJING -- It is missing some paragraphs and gets a couple of facts wrong, but the wizards of China's thriving piracy industry have worked their magic again and produced a rushed translation of the latest Harry Potter book. An unauthorized Chinese version of ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" was on sale yesterday in Beijing, just two weeks after the book appeared in English and almost three months ahead of the planned October launch of the official Chinese-language edition. (AP)
NORTH KOREA
China proposes draft at nuclear negotiations
BEIJING -- China has proposed a new draft of a statement by negotiators at talks on North Korea's nuclear program, the US envoy said today after weekend discussions were snarled by the North's demands for what it should receive in exchange for disarming. The new draft, submitted late yesterday, ''reflected all sides' modifications" to the first Chinese-written draft, said Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the US envoy to the talks. He would not give any details, but said, ''I think the process is going forward rather well." Hill said delegates would meet today to discuss the proposal. (AP)
JAPAN
Retaliatory tariffs slapped on US steel
TOKYO -- Japan will slap 15 percent levies on US steel starting Sept. 1 in retaliation for American duties imposed on Japanese products, a Trade Ministry official said today. The tariffs could run to a maximum of $51 million, said ministry official Etsuo Sato. Japan has demanded the repeal of duties imposed by the United States on Japanese steel products under the so-called Byrd amendment, an antidumping law ruled illegal by the World Trade Organization. (AP)
INDIA
New flood alerts issued as toll nears 1,000
MUMBAI -- Police urged millions of residents to stay off the streets as heavy rains brought more flooding yesterday to India's financial hub, also known as Bombay, and relief officials said the death toll in the region could reach 1,000. Dead bodies and carcasses of animals were still strewn across parts of Mumbai and its suburbs from last week's flooding, raising fears of disease, TV and officials said. (Reuters)
