TOKYO • An environmental group in Japan said yesterday it is planning to hold what it hopes will be the world's largest clean-up, bringing 180,000 volunteers together to pick up trash. U-Project, a private group based in Chiba prefecture east of Tokyo, said they were calling on citizens to join in the clean-up around Tokyo Bay on November 24. "We are expecting at least 10 percent of the population of nine cities and towns in the prefecture in which we are calling for cooperation, which is about 180,000 people," said Ai Ueda, a staff member of U-Project. "Our group started picking up trash on Sundays with just about 20 people, but now there are about 400 people who join our regular clean-up rally on Sundays," she said. "We want to expand our movement to the whole prefecture," she added. Guinness World Records currently lists the largest clean-up as a gathering in August 2005 in which more than 140,000 people took part in the southern Japanese prefecture of Oita. "It's not about competition. It's about sharing goodwill, and it's about enjoying a nice feeling coming not only from picking up trash but also from working together and saying hello to passers-by," she said.

New graft case against Thai PM

BANGKOK • Thailand's Supreme Court agreed yesterday to hear new corruption charges against deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra, involving a controversial loan to military-ruled Myanmar. The case is the second against Thaksin accepted by the court this week, after judges on Monday agreed to consider charges against the billionaire and his aides stemming from a lottery scandal. In the latest case, military-backed investigators accused the fallen premier of conflict of interest in a loan granted by the Export-Import Bank of Thailand so that Myanmar could buy satellite services from Thaksin's Shin Satellite. In the Myanmar case, an army-appointed graft panel accused Thaksin of ordering a state bank in 2004 to increase the size of a loan to the military-ruled former Burma to buy telecoms equipment from a unit of Shin Corp, the telecoms conglomerate Thaksin built. The deal caused the bank to lose 670m baht ($20m), the panel alleged. Thaksin has denied any wrongdoing, as he has in several other investigations launched against him.

Man killed in Tokyo shooting

TOKYO • One man was killed in a gangster shoting near a junior high school in Sue, about 900km southwest of Tokyo, police said yesterday. The 66-year-old man died after he was shot in front of his home and a man with a gun was caught, police said. Domestic media reported that one person was still on the run. Shootings are rare in Japan and firearms are mostly in the hands of registered hunters or held illegally by "yakuza" gangsters.

US warns East Africa travellers

KAMPALA • The US Embassy in Uganda says Americans in East Africa may be at an increased risk of attack from terrorists as the 10th anniversary of a double bombing approaches. The embassy says a number of Al Qaeda operatives are believed to be in East Africa and could endanger US facilities and personnel as August 7 approaches. Ten years ago terrorists bombed American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania on that date. The embassy's message issued on Tuesday warned that increased security at official US facilities may cause terrorists to seek softer targets where tourists congregate.