Tokyo – An assassin with alleged links to the underworld shot and killed the Nagasaki mayor Tuesday.
Mayor Iccho Ito was shot just before 8 p.m. outside a busy Nagasaki train station as he was returning to his headquarters after a day of campaigning for re-election. Japan’s national broadcaster NHK reported that he died Wednesday morning local time.
Police said the gunman was Tetsuya Shiroo, 59, head of an underworld faction that is part of a national criminal syndicate called the Yamaguchi-gumi.
But there were reports that Shiroo had been engaged in disputes with Ito’s City Hall over bids for local public works projects.
Additional nation/world news briefs:
MANILA, Philippines
Body believed to be Peace Corps staffer’s
Philippine authorities today found a body they believe to be that of a missing American Peace Corps volunteer in a northern mountain town where she disappeared during a hike more than a week ago, an army general said.
Maj. Gen. Rodrigo Maclang told The Associated Press that a body matching the description of Julia Campbell, 40, from Fairfax, Va., was found buried with one foot protruding from the ground near the village of Batad. It was not clear whether she had been buried by someone or if she was covered by debris during a fall.
ABUJA, Nigeria
Opposition demands annulment of vote
The main opposition parties joined forces Wednesday to demand the annulment of the results from Nigerian state balloting they branded “sham elections” and called for a postponement of a weekend presidential vote. A communique signed by 18 parties, including those of the two main opposition groups, also called on Nigerians to “protest in a nonviolent manner” against election results so far. The parties also called for a new electoral commission.
The parties, including those of the main opposition candidates Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Atiku Abubakar, demanded a “level playing field” for all candidates.
WASHINGTON
Regulators approve U.S. bird-flu vaccine
U.S. regulators Tuesday approved the first vaccine against bird flu, which is aimed at protecting people from a pandemic. The government plans to buy enough doses of the Sanofi Aventis product to immunize 20 million people in the event of a global outbreak triggered By H5N1, the avian virus now causing a pandemic in birds.
The vaccine will not be available commercially but will be added to the government’s stockpile of emergency supplies.
BALTIMORE
Two teens arrested in acid burns of toddler
Two teenagers have been arrested in the chemical burning of a toddler last weekend at a Baltimore County playground, but the youngsters are not facing adult charges.
The boys, both 16, were charged as juveniles after police consulted with the county state’s attorney’s office, a police spokesman said.
The boys poured drain cleaner on a sliding board, experimenting to see whether the chemical would burn the plastic, but seeing that it did not, they left with the chemical still on the slide, police said.
The toddler, Payton Potachney, received second- and third- degree burns and underwent skin grafts Monday at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The boyfriend of the child’s mother said he was angry that the suspects are not facing more serious adult charges.
