World news from the BBC.
At least 30 people, many of them Hindu pilgrims, have been killed in a bus crash in southern Nepal. Jill McGivering reports.
Eyewitnesses say the bus was over crowded carrying as many as 100 people including some
perched
on the roof. Most were pilgrims from neighboring India, they were traveling to a temple in southwestern Nepal to take part in a religious festival there. The bus
swerved
off the road and
plunged into
a canal. It is not clear what caused the accident but the overcrowding and heavy
monsoon
rain may have played the part. Emergency workers reduced the water level in the canal while they searched for survivors. But so far only ten people have been brought out of life.
Japan's ambassador to Beijing has returned home for consultations on growing tensions over disputed Islands in the East China Sea. Last week, Chinese vessels entered what Japan considers as its territory of waters around the Islands. Here is Charles Scanlon.
The uninhabited Islands have long been a source of contention between Asia's two largest economies. Both sides covered the rich natural resources under the surrounding waters, and now nationalists in both countries seem to be
pushing for
outright confrontation. The Islands have been administered by Japan in the modern era. But the status quo has been upset by a bid by the Tokyo metropolitan government and nationalist governor Shintaro Ishihara to purchase them from their private owners. Japan's ambassador to Beijing who has now been