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Furious China protests mix old anger over Japanese occupation with modern dispute over islands
• BEIJING (AP) -- Old wounds amplified outrage over a burning territorial dispute Tuesday as thousands of Chinese protested Tokyo's purchase of islands claimed by Beijing and marked the 81st anniversary of a Japanese invasion that China has never forgotten.
• China marks every Sept. 18 by blowing sirens to remember a 1931 incident that Japan used as a pretext to invade Manchuria, setting off a brutal occupation of China that ended only at the close of World War II. Demonstrations are not routine, but this year, as Chinese fume over last week's Japanese purchase of long-contested islands in the East China Sea, they spread across the country.
• Outside the Japanese Embassy in Beijing, thousands of protesters shouted patriotic slogans and demanded boycotts of Japanese goods. Some burned Japanese flags and threw apples, water bottles and eggs at the embassy, which was heavily guarded by three layers of paramilitary police and metal barricades.
• "I came here so our islands will not be invaded by Japan," said Wang Guoming, a retired soldier and seller of construction materials who said he came to the embassy from Linfen in Shanxi province to vent his frustration.
• "We believe we need to declare war on them because the Japanese devils are too evil. Down with little Japan!" he said.
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Ohio inmate seeks delay in execution; at 480 pounds, says he's too heavy for lethal injection
• COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A condemned Ohio inmate who weighs 480 pounds and has a history of difficulty losing weight argues he would face a "torturous and lingering death" if executed in January.
• Ronald Post, who shot and killed a hotel clerk in northern Ohio almost 30 years ago, said his weight, vein access, scar tissue, depression and other medical problems raise the likelihood his executioners would encounter severe problems. He's also so big that the execution gurney might not hold him, lawyers for Post said in federal court papers filed Friday.
• "Indeed, given his unique physical and medical condition there is a substantial risk that any attempt to execute him will result in serious physical and psychological pain to him, as well as an execution involving a torturous and lingering death," the filing said.
• Post, 53, is scheduled to die Jan. 16 for the 1983 shooting death of Helen Vantz in Elyria.
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