Stamp dropped

TAIWAN'S postal service said Thursday it would stop using the "Taiwan for U.N." postmark.

On Wednesday, a mainland spokeswoman said all letters and parcels postmarked "Taiwan's entry into the United Nations" have been returned to Taiwan.

Oil spill

THE Cosco Busan which struck a tower of the Bay Bridge on Wednesday morning in dense fog and created a serious oil spill is not owned by a Chinese company.

The ship is owned by Greek firm Synergy Maritime and chartered by South Korea's Hanjin Group.

3 suspects killed

THREE rebel Abu Sayyaf members suspected to be involved in Tuesday's blast at the Philippine Congress complex were killed and three others captured during a joint raid Thursday afternoon in a depressed community in the country's capital region, said the police.

The explosion took place Tuesday night while congressmen were going out of the House after the session adjournment, claiming four lives including a lawmaker from the southern Philippines.

Dangerous hole

U.S. Government investigators smuggled liquid explosives and detonators past airport security, exposing a dangerous hole in the nation's ability to keep these forbidden items off of airplanes, according to a report made public Wednesday.

Investigators were able to purchase the components for improvised explosive device and an improvised incendiary device on the Internet for under US$150, and they studied the published guidelines for screening to determine how to conceal the prohibited items as they went through checkpoint security.

Death toll rises

THE death toll from an accident on a construction site in eastern China rose to 11, work safety officials said Thursday.

Eleven workers were killed and six others injured by a falling elevator that was carrying them at a construction site in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province. The elevator lost control at the 11th floor of a 32-story residence building and plunged to the ground.

Emergency to be lifted

GEORGIAN parliament speaker Nino Burdzhanadze said Wednesday that the state of emergency will be lifted Friday.

Georgia's state of emergency, which bans public demonstrations and independent newscasts, was imposed after a police crackdown on anti-government protesters last Wednesday.

Demolishment

THE last county seat to be flooded in the Three Gorges Reservoir, which is set to rise to 175meters, was demolished at 3 p.m. on Thursday.

Thirteen buildings in the old seat of Kaixian County, under thejurisdiction of Chongqing Municipality, were reduced to rubble within four seconds by a blast of 400 kilograms of dynamite, said Qi Meiwen, director of the Kaixian County Migration Bureau. In total, 457 households living in the buildings were relocatedas of the end of October.