World briefs

CHINA Shanghai raised a “yellow” warning for rains and strong winds, the third highest of four levels, as Tropical Storm Fung-Wong approached the city after leaving at least a dozen dead in the Philippines and Taiwan. The storm is expected to hit Shanghai from noon today, with wind speeds of 18 to 24 meters per second, the city’s weather service said.

CHINA An explosion at a firework plant in central China’s Hunan Province left six people dead and 33 others injured yesterday, local authorities said. The blast happened at around 3 p.m. at a firework factory in Baofeng Village of Liling City, the city government’s information office said. The cause of the explosion is under investigation.

TIBET A student died last week after setting himself on fire, in the first such protest in five months, a London-based activist group said yesterday. The Free Tibet group said Lhamo Tashi burned himself to death on Sept. 17 in the city of Hezuo in the Tibetan prefecture of Gannan in the northwestern province of Gansu.

FIJI’s military ruler is sworn in as the South Pacific nation’s elected leader after results confirm his big win in the first election since he led a coup eight years ago. Voreqe Bainimarama said he plans to travel Wednesday to the U.N. General Assembly in New York, where he will describe his nation’s move to democracy.

NEW ZEALAND Fresh off a big election win, New Zealand Prime Minster John Key says he wants the nation to vote next year on changing its flag. Key told television station TV3 that he wants to quickly initiate the process of holding a national referendum.

UKRAINE  Both government troops and pro-Russian rebels have begun withdrawing heavy artillery in the east of the country, Ukrainian officials said yesterday, a significant step toward implementing an effective cease-fire in the region.

AUSTRALIA The Australian government bends to public pressure by proposing a specific prohibition on secret service officers torturing suspected terrorists. The government had planned to indemnify Australian Security Intelligence Organization officers against all criminal offenses committed in the course of their undercover work except for homicide, causing serious injury, sexual assault and serious damage to property.

YEMEN Medical officials say 200 more bodies have been retrieved from the streets of the capital, Sanaa, bringing to 340 the death toll from a week of fierce clashes between Hawthi Shiite rebels on one side and Sunni militiamen and army troops on the other. The officials say many of the bodies were decomposed after being left for days in the streets and the heat as ambulances could not reach them amid intense fighting. Resident Ahmed al-Hamdani says he saw Red Crescent staff carrying away bodies from the street he lives on. He says some “were torn, with no limbs,” a testimony to the intensity of the fighting.

TURKEY The number of Syrian refugees who have reached Turkey in the past four days after fleeing the advance of Islamic State militants now totals 130,000, Turkey’s deputy prime minister says. Numan Kurtulmus warns that the number can rise further but insists that Turkey is ready to react to “the worst case scenario.” More on p14

SIERRA LEONE Life is returning to normal in the capital of Sierra Leone after an unprecedented three-day lockdown during which officials said more 1 million households were checked for Ebola patients and given information on the deadly disease. But questions remain about whether the nationwide shutdown will slow the spread of a disease that is blamed for the deaths of more than 2,600 people in West Africa. Authorities have not yet said how many new suspected cases were discovered over the three days, but at least 71 bodies were buried during the shutdown.