Landmark gate collapses in flames
A 610-year-old gate regarded as South Korea’s top cultural landmark collapsed after catching fire Sunday night.
The fire burned the wooden structure on the top of Namdaemun – the gate of a wall that once encircled the capital and is known as South Korea’s national treasure.
Police have not determined what caused the fire, Sohn Young-jin, a police official, said Monday. He did not give further details.
The South Korean government opened the landmark gate, officially named Sungnyemun, to public in 2006 for first time in nearly a century.
DILI, East Timor
President has surgery after attack
East Timor President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos-Horta was shot in the stomach during an attack on his home today by renegade soldiers, an army spokesman said.
Ramos-Horta was being operated on at an Australian army hospital in the capital, presidential adviser Agusto Zunior said. It was unclear whether his injury was life threatening.
One of Ramos-Horta’s guards was killed in the attack, army spokesman Maj. Domingos da Camara said.
Two cars passed Ramos-Horta’s house on the outskirts of the capital, Dili, about 7 a.m. local time and began shooting, da Camara said. Alfredo Reinado, a rebel soldier wanted on murder charges for a flare up of violence in 2006, was killed in a shootout with guards, he said.
TOKYO
U.S. Marine accused of raping girl, 14
Japanese police have arrested a U.S. Marine accused of raping a 14-year-old girl in southern Japan, authorities said today.
Tyrone Luther Hadnott, 38, of Camp Courtney in Okinawa, allegedly raped the girl in a parked car Sunday evening, an Okinawa police official said on condition of anonymity.
Okinawa police took custody of the Marine for investigation, the official said. Hadnott’s hometown was not immediately available.
CARACAS, Venezuela
Chavez threatens to cut off oil sales
President Hugo Chavez on Sunday threatened to cut off oil sales to the United States in an “economic war” if Exxon Mobil Corp. wins court judgments to seize billions of dollars in Venezuelan assets.
Exxon Mobil has gone after the assets of state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA in U.S., British and Dutch courts as it challenges the nationalization of a multibillion dollar oil project by Chavez’s government.
A British court has issued an injunction “freezing” as much as $12 billion in assets.
“If you end up freezing (Venezuelan assets) and it harms us, we’re going to harm you,” Chavez said during his weekly radio and television program, “Hello, President.” “Do you know how? We aren’t going to send oil to the United States. Take note, Mr. Bush, Mr. Danger.”
Chavez has repeatedly threatened to cut off oil shipments to the United States, which is Venezuela’s No. 1 client, if Washington tries to oust him. .
“The outlaws of Exxon Mobil will never again rob us,” Chavez said, accusing the Irving, Texas-based oil company of acting in concert with Washington.