Four Chinese maritime surveillance ships were seen in territorial waters around disputed Tokyo-controlled islands yesterday, Japan's coastguard said. The ships entered Japan's 12-nautical-mile territorial waters around the East China Sea islands at 2am and sailed out after a few hours, the coastguard said. It said the Chinese ships were not the same as those that spent several hours on Thursday in waters around the islands claimed by both Tokyo, which calls them the Senkakus, and Beijing, which calls them the Diaoyus. That incursion provoked a strong protest by Japan. AFP

Two Tibetan cousins set themselves on fire to protest against Beijing's hardline rule, taking the total number of self-immolations last week to seven, a London-based rights group said. The two men, identified as Tsepo, 20 and Tenzin, 25, called for independence for Tibet as they set themselves ablaze in front of a government building in their village, north of the regional capital Lhasa on Thursday, Free Tibet said. One of the cousins died as he was being taken to hospital but the whereabouts and condition of the other was not immediately known. AFP