7 kidnappers shot dead in India: Police shot dead seven members of Ualram Khangar Hang in Hamirpur district Wednesday and rescued two persons kidnapped by them, official report said, PT1 says from Lucknow.

Leader of the gang and two women members were among those shot dead during an encounter in forest area of Khadehi Lodhan village The gang had kidnapped Ualram Gupta and Anant Ram Gupta on October six and was also involved in a number of other kidnappings and murders, the sources said. Landslide kills 12 in China: Twelve people were confirmed dead and 13 left missing after a massive wall of mud unleashed by heavy rains tore off of a mountainside in southwestern Yunnan province, an official report said Thursday, AP reports from Beijing.

The 750-metre (2.500 foot) wide swathe ofhillside swept into a remote mountain village on Friday, damaging 182 houses. 11 of which were still buried several days later, the newspaper China Daily reported A much larger chunk of land was still slowly sliding downhill, threatening an even larger landslide, the report said Officials in the remote mountainous region, some 2.200 kilometres (1,375-miles) southwest of Belling, were not Immediately available to provide updated details on the disaster.

Solana to visit Japan next week: Javier Solana will make the first visit to Japan by a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Secretary-General since 1991 next week, a NATO official said. AFP reports from Brussels,

He will also go to the United States to defend and explain NATO’s expansion into eastern Europe, the official said. Solana leaves Tuesday for Tokyo, where he will meet Emperor Akihito and government leaders.

Quake shakes Japan: An earthquake measuring 5.6 on the open-ended Richeter Scale Jolted northern Japan yesterday, the Hong Kong Observatory said. Reuter reports from Hong Kong.

The epicentre, detected at 0527 Local Time (2127 Wednesday), was near Hokkaido. Japan. The observatory gave no further details.

Road mishap claims 2 in US: A driver who said her gas pedal got stuck plowed her car into pedestrians on a busy downtown street, killing two people and injuring 10 others, two critically. AP reports from Chicago.

"I just heard a thump, and then five or six people were flying 3, 4 feet in the air." said Terry Coxworth, who was standing at the intersection where the accident happened Wednesday. The driver. Eleanor Soltis. 76. was cited for operating an unsafe vehicle, failure to exercise due care and disobeying a red light, police spokeswoman Arlene Mays said. Soltis, who told police her gas pedal had stuck, was treated at a hospital and released.