World in brief: Tsunami victims mourned at rites
Survivors prayed at mass graves and mosques today to mark the third anniversary of the Asian tsunami, while warning sirens sent hundreds fleeing beaches during a drill to test an alert network established since the disaster.
The waves on the morning of Dec. 26, 2004, spawned by the mightiest earthquake in 40 years, killed some 230,000 people in 12 Indian Ocean nations, just under half of them in the Indonesian province of Aceh on Sumatra island.
Coastal communities in Sri Lanka and India lost some 45,000 people between them. The waves also crashed into tourist resorts in southern Thailand, killing more than 5,000, half of them foreign vacationers.
In Thailand, survivors and families of victims were invited to Phuket’s Patong beach, a popular strip of hotels and restaurants, to lay flowers in the sand. Chanting Buddhist monks were to light incense and lead an ecumenical prayer service.
The disaster overwhelmed authorities in Aceh, where bodies littered devastated neighborhoods for weeks. Most victims were never formally identified and tens of thousands were buried in mass graves.
MOSCOW
Russia test-fires long-range missile
Russia’s military on Tuesday successfully test-fired a new intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads – a weapon intended to replace aging Soviet-era missiles.
The RS-24 missile was launched from the Plesetsk launch facility in northern Russia, and its test warheads successfully hit designated targets on the Kura testing range on the Kamchatka Peninsula some 4,340 miles east, Strategic Missile Forces spokesman Alexander Vovk said.
Vovk said the missile carried multiple test warheads, but refused to say how many. The Interfax news agency said the RS-24 is capable of carrying at least three warheads.
NAGOYA, Japan
Toyota sets goal that outpaces GM
Toyota plans to sell 9.85 million vehicles worldwide in 2008, the company said Tuesday, setting an ambitious target despite worries about a slowing U.S. car market, as it tries to become the world’s top automaker.
Toyota also said it plans to produce 9.95 million vehicles worldwide next year, up 5 percent from this year – the same as the projected annual percentage jump for Toyota’s global sales.
Its recent growth has put Toyota Motor Corp. on track to beat U.S.-based General Motors to become the world’s largest automaker by sales. GM has said it estimates this year’s sales to total 9.3 million vehicles, against Toyota’s estimate of 9.36 million sales.
General Motors has been fiercely fighting back, boosting its overseas business, and could still keep the top industry spot, which it has held for 76 years.
GM has not given a forecast for the number of vehicles it expects to produce or sell in 2008. The Detroit automaker has the industry record for annual global vehicle sales, with the 9.55 million vehicles sold by GM in 1978.