World briefs 12/10/05

Chinese village sealed off after protesters shot

BEIJING -- Hundreds of riot police sealed off a southern Chinese village after fatally shooting as many as 10 demonstrators and were searching for the protest organizers, villagers said Friday. During the demonstration Tuesday in Dongzhou, thousands of people gathered to protest the amount of money offered by the government as compensation for land. Police started firing into the crowd, killing as many as 10 people, mostly men, and wounding up to 20, villagers reached by telephone said Friday. They said many remained missing.

Stock trade error costs Tokyo firm $225 million

TOKYO -- A simple typo can cause a disaster. An employee of Mizuho Securities meant to sell one share in a job recruiting firm called J-Com Co. for 610,000 yen, or $5,041. But the worker transposed two figures and entered an order to sell 610,000 shares at 1 yen apiece. By the end of the day, Mizuho Securities had lost at least $225 million. The Tokyo Stock Exchange suspended trading of J-Com on Friday and will have to sort out the mess created by the botched order.

Clinton says Bush is 'flat wrong' on climate

MONTREAL -- Former President Clinton told a global audience of diplomats, environmentalists and others Friday that the Bush administration is "flat wrong" in claiming that reducing greenhouse-gas emissions to fight global warming would damage the U.S. economy. With a "serious disciplined effort" to develop energy-saving technology, he said, "we could meet and surpass the Kyoto targets in a way that would strengthen and not weaken our economies." The Kyoto Protocol is an emissions-controls agreement opposed by the Bush administration. Clinton spoke in the final hours of a U.N. climate conference at which Washington has come under heavy criticism for its stand.

Man claims self-defense in killing of U.S. nun in Brazil

BELEM, Brazil -- The man accused of killing the American nun and rain forest defender Dorothy Stang told a jury Friday that he acted in self-defense after mistaking her Bible for a gun. Rayfran das Neves Sales is accused of killing Stang, 73, with six shots from a .38-caliber revolver on Feb. 12. Sales testified he and Stang had an argument over who owned the land he was working, and that Stang threatened to "finish him off" with the help of some 150 people living on a sustainable development reserve she was trying to establish. "She said, 'The weapon I have is this,' and reached into her bag," Sales said. "I didn't know what she was going to pull out of her bag, so I shot her." The prosecution contends that she was reading her Bible when she was shot at close range.

Iraqi election security forces try to stay invisible

SHARQA, Iraq -- Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division have spent weeks on dusty village streets ahead of next week's Iraqi election. Patrols have collected information on polling sites in case an emergency arises and ensured safekeeping of the nation's ballots. But when polls open Thursday, the Americans will be miles away. Soldiers of the 101st Airborne will maintain a distance of at least one mile from polls during voting. That will avoid creating the impression the Americans are controlling and influencing the process.

-- From wire reports