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Japan police fear head is missing woman

MATSUE, Japan, Nov. 7 (UPI) --

Police say the severed head found on a Japanese mountainside could be that of a missing college student.

Investigators in Hiroshima Prefecture told the Kyodo news service the head's facial features resemble those of 19-year-old Miyako Hiraoka, a freshman at the University of Shimane who vanished Oct. 26.

The grisly find was made by a mushroom collector Friday near the summit of Mount Garyu. No blood or personal effects were found, leading police to believe the body had been dismembered elsewhere.

Kyodo said Saturday police in Matsue would use DNA to determine if the remains are indeed those of the missing woman.

Mexico docs busted in baby theft scam

MEXICO CITY, Nov. 7 (UPI) --

Mexican prosecutors say three suspects, including three doctors, were arrested for allegedly abducting and selling newborn babies from a Mexico City hospital.

The attorney general's office said the alleged scheme operated out of a private hospital where the suspects allegedly told parents their infants had died and then turned the babies over to buyers who registered them as their own.

A married couple and a woman were also arrested for allegedly purchasing two baby girls, one of whom has been reunited with her real mom, CNN reported Saturday.

Victims told investigators they were told their newborns had died at birth at Hospital Central de Oriente and had been immediately cremated, CNN said. One mother said her physician refused to produce a death certificate or even the ashes of her supposedly dead child.

Russia grounds naval planes after crash

MOSCOW, Nov. 7 (UPI) --

The Russian navy grounded its Pacific fleet aircraft Saturday after a reconnaissance plane crashed off Sakhalin Island, leaving 11 people missing.

The wreckage of the Tu-142M3 Bear-F was discovered Saturday in 144 feet of water a few hours after the four-engine, turboprop aircraft went down during a training mission Friday night.

"A special commission is investigating the causes of the crash of the

plane, which had 11 people on board, a fleet spokesman said. Flights have been suspended until the investigation is complete. The search for the missing crew is still under way.

A preliminary investigation blamed the crash on a mechanical failure, RIA Novosti reported.

The next step will be recovering the plane's black box, which might require the use of an unmanned vehicle, the Russian news agency said.

Man gets life for stalking therapist

ABERDEEN, Scotland, Nov. 7 (UPI) --

An obsessed former patient who wrote a Scottish psychologist love letters in his own blood has been sentenced to life in prison.

Brian Johnstone, 33, apologized Friday for stalking Dawn Relton, The Scotsman reported. He said he had no intention of physically assaulting her, even though investigators found weapons, including a handgun and crossbow in his apartment.

I have no interest whatsoever in Dr. Relton's life. Now I realise what distress I caused her and I'm sorry for that -- my intention was never to cause fear, he said. I don't understand why I should get a life sentence when people who rape and hurt people don't get a life sentence. I don't get it -- I'm not a danger at all to society.

Johnstone saw Relton as a patient at the Maryhill Health Center in Glasgow. She dropped him because he had become infatuated and he retaliated by vandalizing her car and sending her letters written in blood.

The investigation began when a mental health nurse noticed a photograph of Relton on his computer.

Johnstone pleaded guilty in Sheriffs Court in Glasgow but the sentencing was transferred to the High Court in Aberdeen because officials said he posed a serious threat to Relton and others.

15 S. Waziristan militants slain in clash

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Nov. 7 (UPI) --

Overnight clashes in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal region resulted in 15 militants' deaths, military sources said Saturday.

Unnamed sources told DawnNews that the fighting happened in South Waziristan's Jandola area. The source added that security forces had also entered its Makeen area and were building bunkers in the area's main bazaar.

Pakistani troops were also active in South Wazirstan's Sararogha and Kaniguram areas, while two militants from the Ahmedi Shama area were arrested and a hideout captured.

African refugees seized off Yemen

SANA‘A, Yemen, Nov. 7 (UPI) --

A boat carrying refugees from Somalia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea was seized in the territorial waters of Yemen, authorities said Saturday.

The smuggling boat was carrying 64 African refuge-seekers, including eight Somalis and 56 Ethiopians and Eritreans, the coast guard said in a statement.

An estimated 36,000 refugees from African countries reached Yemen between January and August, a 33 percent increase over the same period last year, SABA reported Saturday.

An estimated 50,091 refugees reached Yemen last year aboard smugglers' boats, authorities said, noting nearly 590 drowned and another 359 were missing and presumed dead.

Yemeni officials estimate more than 800,000 Somali refugees are living in Yemen, while United Nations officials put the number at 160,000.

5 dead, thousands homeless in China fire

SANJIANG, China, Nov. 7 (UPI) --

Five people have died and thousands left homeless by a village fire in China's south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, officials say.

Authorities in Sanjiang village said the fire, which started because of a malfunctioning electric switch in a rice mill, has burned 3,276 villagers out of their homes, the state-run Chinese news agency Xinhua reported Saturday.

The news agency said the 70-year-old owner of the mill, Wei Xianting, and his 4-year-old granddaughter were among those killed in the blaze.

Local authorities told Xinhua that fires are common in Sanjiang, which is densely populated by people of Dong ethnic group, many of whom live in wooden houses.

Woman allegedly linked to five deaths

TOTTORI, Japan, Nov. 7 (UPI) --

A 35-year-old female bar worker is being investigated in the deaths of five men in Tottori, Japan, police said.

Three of the men had sleep-inducing drugs in their systems and knew the woman, who was not publicly identified, through the bar or as a neighbor, police told Kyodo news in a story published Saturday.

Hideki Maruyama, 57, was found dead in a river in Tottori Oct. 7. Kazumi Yabe, 47, was found dead in the ocean off Tottori April 11 and a third man, in his 50s, was found dead in his condominium late last month after giving the woman his spare key, police said. The third man was not publicly identified.

The two other suspicious deaths involved a man who was run over by a train several years ago and a man who drowned two years ago off the Tottori coast. The two men were acquaintances of the woman, police said.

The woman under investigation was heavily in debt and police were trying to determine if she owed any of the five men money, Kyodo reported.

Kim Jong Il visits new power plant

PYONGYANG, North Korea, Nov. 7 (UPI) --

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has visited a new power plant and a farm in the south of the country, official media reported Saturday.

The official Korean Central News Agency said Kim went to North Korea's South Hamgyeong Province where he congratulated workers who took part in the building of a new power station, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

On the same visit -- the date of which wasn't specified -- Kim was also shown urging farmers to use new technologies to help tackle the North's continuing food shortages, Yonhap reported.

KCNA said Kim was accompanied by his only brother-in-law Jang Song Thaek, a department director of the Communist Party, and party secretary Kim Ki Nam.

Death toll in bus crash rises to seven

LESHAN CITY, China, Nov. 7 (UPI) --

Seven people now are confirmed dead in a bus crash in southwest China's Sichuan Province, authorities said Saturday.

Two people died in the crash Friday and another five overnight after being hospitalized, China's state-run news agency Xinhua reported.

Seventeen people remained hospitalized Saturday, the provincial work safety bureau said.

The bus was carrying 24 people when it left the road and fell nearly 100 feet in Fulong Township in Leshan City, authorities said.

The cause of the accident had yet to be determined.

Iran politician says nuke deal 'off'

TEHRAN, Nov. 7 (UPI) --

A proposal for Iran to send semi-enriched uranium out of the country to be processed into nuclear fuel rods has been called off, an Iranian politician says.

The semiofficial Iranian Student's News Agency Saturday quoted Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the chief of Iran's Parliament National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, as saying the proposed deal backed the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency is dead, CNN reported.

Under the proposed deal, Iran would ship its low-enriched uranium abroad, possibly to Russia, where it would be further enriched and sent back for use in medical treatments.

Iran is not to give any of its 1,200 kilograms (of) fuel to the other party to receive 20 percent (enriched) fuel and whether gradually or at once, this will not be done and is called off, Boroujerdi reportedly told ISNA.

Ex-con charged with killing woman

MONTREAL, Nov. 7 (UPI) --

A carpenter with a criminal record that includes the attempted kidnapping of a 7-year-old girl has been charged with killing a Canadian government employee.

Claude Larouche, 48, made his first court appearance Friday in Montreal, the Toronto Globe and Mail reported. He was arrested late Thursday at his home.

Natasha Cournoyer, 37, who worked in communications for Corrections Canada, vanished Oct. 1. Investigators say she was abducted from a parking lot in Laval outside Montreal on Oct. 1.

Her body was discovered six days later on the bank of the St. Lawrence River in Montreal, about 15 miles from where she vanished.

Police say the crime was completely random. While Larouche had been in prison twice, Cournoyer had no contact with inmates and was not working for Corrections Canada when he was inside.

He had no links with the victim, and it's also important to note her work had nothing to do with it, Inspector Daniel Rousseau of the Montreal Police said.

Cournoyer was released last year after serving three years for the attempted kidnapping. He has also been convicted of sexual assault.

New South Wales coast hit by floods

COFFS HARBOR, Australia, Nov. 7 (UPI) --

Flooding on the northern coast of New South Wales in Australia left thousands of people stranded Saturday, officials said.

By Saturday morning, about 18 inches of rain had fallen in Coffs Harbor, and more than a foot in Bellingen in two days of downpours, The Coffs Coast Advocate reported.

Steve Whan, emergency services minister for New South Wales, declared a disaster Friday.

There were few evacuations with residents of about 40 houses forced to leave just after midnight Saturday. But more than 5,000 people were in areas that had become unreachable because of flooded roads and unsafe bridges.

Emergency Services was monitoring conditions in the isolated areas, prepared for medical evacuations and to supply essential items.

Aid contributions to Somalia down

MOGADISHU, Somalia, Nov. 7 (UPI) --

Donors have contributed less to Somalia because many areas are too dangerous for aid agencies to operate in, U.N. officials said Friday.

Contributions for humanitarian aid have been $571 million for 2009 so far, the Integrated Regional Information Network said. In 2008, donors gave $615 million.

Some of the largest donors in 2008 have given much less or almost no support so far this year, said Kiki Gbeho, head of U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs for Somalia.

About 3.6 million people in Somalia depend on humanitarian assistance, the United Nations says. Food planners say some areas controlled by Islamist rebels in the central and southern part of Somalia are just below famine level on a five-point scale of food security.

Many donors have told the U.N. aid agencies they fear rebel groups would tax contributions.

Chinese P.M. visits Egypt

CAIRO, Nov. 7 (UPI) --

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao began a two-day official visit to Egypt, arriving Friday in Cairo.

The trip is Wen's second to Egypt, Xinhua, the official Chinese government news agency, said. He will follow up the official part of the trip with the opening ceremony Sunday of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in the resort of Sharm-el-Sheik.

Wen's schedule includes a meeting with President Hosni Mubarak, talks with his Egyptian counterpart, Ahmed Nazef, and a speech to the Arab League.

Nazef met him at the Cairo airport.

Flu may delay Ukraine elections

KIEV, Ukraine, Nov. 7 (UPI) --

The presidential election in Ukraine might be delayed by the epidemic of H1N1 influenza, a government official said Friday.

Igor Popov, the deputy head of the presidential secretariat, said candidates from opposition parties would not have a level playing field trying to campaign if the flu outbreak is not brought under control, Itar-Tass reported.

The flu epidemic drastically changed the course of the presidential election campaign, and the equal possibilities of presidential candidates and voting rights of citizens were called into question, Popov said. The ban on public events affected opposition candidates, while candidates in office could still visit sites under quarantine and meet with their voters and the media. That is discrimination.

The first-round election is now scheduled for Jan. 17, 2010, but Popov said it could be delayed until May 30.

President Viktor Yushchenko, Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko and former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, leader of the Party of Regions, are three of the leading contenders in a field of at least six candidates.

Parents decide if they're told of abuse

BRISTOL, England, Nov. 7 (UPI) --

Parents of children at a British nursery school where an admitted pedophile worked can decide whether to be told if she named them as victims, a judge said.

Vanessa George has provided some names of children she abused at Little Ted's in Plymouth, Judge John Royce confirmed. Royce is presiding over the case in Bristol Crown Court, The Guardian reported.

I take the view that if parents want to find out whether their child has been abused and if that information has been given then they should be in a position to do so, Royce said. If they do not want to know, and I fully understand why some parents should not want to know, then the information should not be thrust upon them. It should be a parental choice.

George, Colin Blanchard, 38, and Angela Allen, 39, are awaiting sentencing. George's lawyer says his client was manipulated by Blanchard, who was trying to get child pornography.

Royce postponed sentencing until Dec. 14.

4 get death sentences for killing albino

DODOMA, Tanzania, Nov. 6 (UPI) --

Four people have been sentenced to death in Tanzania for killing an albino because they believed is body parts could be used for magic, police said.

Lucca Haule, assistant commissioner of police, said the four killed a 50-year-old man in Shinyaga, CNN reported. Haule said seven people have been sentenced to hang this year for killing a total of 50 albinos, some of them children.

Franck Alphonse, head of the Tanzania Albino Center, said about 200,000 albinos live in Tanzania. He said the number of killings has risen recently.

People believe that albino body parts mixed with traditional medicine can make people rich, Alphonse said. It is a thriving business: Witch doctors are asking business people to bring the body parts of albinos, who are not considered human beings.

The center provides housing and other benefits for albinos, including medicine to prevent skin cancer. Alphonse said many albinos do not go to school because of harassment, leaving them ill-prepared to support themselves.

Mexican mayor vows war against drug lords

MEXICO CITY, Nov. 6 (UPI) --

The mayor of a town caught in the crosshairs of Mexico's drug turf wars says he is ready to do whatever is necessary to fight back, even break the law.

An estimated 14,000 people have died since President Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006. The violence continues despite his deployment of 45,000 army troops to Mexican states to combat the drug lords.

Mauricio Fernandez, the new mayor of San Pedro Garza Garcia, said this week he had created a special unit to rid his community of criminal elements, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

We're tired of sitting around on our hands and waiting for daddy or mommy Calderon to come to fix our fights, Fernandez said in a recent radio interview. We in San Pedro took the decision to grab the bull by the horns. Even acting outside the limits of my role as mayor, I will end the kidnappings, extortions and drug trafficking. We are going to do this by whatever means, fair or foul.

Asked if the new squad would operate outside the law, the mayor responded: In some ways, that's right. What the criminals want is that they can break every law, but that we have to respect every law. Well, I don't get that.

Interior Minister Fernando Gomez Mont Thursday criticized the mayor.

The Mexican state, in its different levels, can't act above or beyond the law, Mont said. 'Whoever does so is ... a lawbreaker, and we can't accept using criminals to resolve the problem of crime."

Leo Zuckerman, a political analyst in Mexico City, said Fernandez's line in the sand illustrates how bad things have gotten in Mexico.

A mayor justifies, brags, and celebrates that he has carried out justice by his own hands, outside the judicial institutions, Zuckerman said. This is bad news for those of us who believe that a civilized society is one where criminals get due process.

Three charged in theft of Viking treasures

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Nov. 6 (UPI) --

Three men are facing charges in the theft of Viking treasures from a Swedish archaeological dig site and will face trial, authorities said Friday.

They were arrested Tuesday on the Baltic Sea island of Gotland where about 500 silver artifacts were stolen from the dig site, The Local reported on its Web site.

Archaeologists discovered the theft when they arrived at the dig site Monday. About 250 holes had been dug by thieves. Authorities put the value of the stolen items at between $35,000 and $70,000, the Swedish news Web site said.

One of the accused works for an auction house that specializes in selling old coins, police said.

The maximum sentence for aggravated cultural heritage offenses is four years in prison.