TOKYO

Excavation to start at site of notorious WWII experiments

Japan is excavating the site of a former medical school that may reveal grisly secrets from World War II.

The investigation begins this afternoon at the former school linked to Unit 731, a germ and biological warfare outfit during the war. Shadowy experiments conducted by the unit on war prisoners have never been officially acknowledged by the government but have been documented by historians and participants.

It is the first government probe of the Tokyo site, and follows a former nurse’s revelation that she helped bury body parts there as American forces began occupying the capital at the end of the war.

Health Ministry official Kazuhiko Kawauchi said the excavation is aimed at finding out if anything is buried in the plot.

“We are not certain if the survey will find anything,” Kawauchi said. “If anything is dug up, it may not be related to Unit 731.”

Unit 731 and related units injected war prisoners with typhus, cholera and other diseases to research germ warfare, according to historians and ex-unit members. Unit 731 also is believed to have performed vivisections.

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico

Video game draws criticism in crime-riddled border town

A shoot-’em-up video game set in the border town of Ciudad Juarez has angered local officials who are busy fighting all-too-real violence.

Chihuahua state legislators said Sunday they have asked federal authorities to ban “Call of Juarez: The Cartel,” which is based on drug cartel shootouts in Ciudad Juarez.

About 6,000 people died in drug-related violence in Ciudad Juarez in 2009 and 2010, making the city, located across from El Paso, Texas, one of the deadliest in the world.

The website of game developer Ubisoft Entertainment SA says the title is due for release this summer. Screen shots from the game show three characters armed with a pistol, an assault rifle and a shotgun ready to open fire on a city street.

No one answered a message left at the company’s San Francisco office.

“There is a serious crime situation, which we are not trying to hide,” said Ricardo Boone Salmon, a congressman for Chihuahua state, where Ciudad Juarez is located. “But we also should not expose children to this kind of scenario so that they are going to grow up with this kind of image and lack of values.”

MOGADISHU, Somalia

Somali pirate says warship is following kidnapped yacht

A warship is shadowing a yacht with four Americans on board that was hijacked by Somali pirates, a pirate said Sunday, as the vessel was reported to be moving closer to the Somali coast.

The yacht Quest was hijacked on Friday off the coast of Oman, but is now between Yemen and northern Somalia, two pirates and a Somali government official said.

One pirate, who gave his name only as Hassan, said a warship with a helicopter on its deck is near the Quest.

The pirate’s claim could not be independently verified, and U.S. officials Sunday released no information about the yacht. A U.S. Embassy spokesman Saturday said officials were assessing “possible responses.”

NEW YORK

Firefighters injured as winds fuel apartment-house blaze

More than 20 firefighters were injured as they battled for seven hours to extinguish a wind-fueled blaze that killed a 64-year-old woman in a Brooklyn apartment house and forced other residents to flee into the winter chill, officials said Sunday.

The woman was found in the rubble of the six-floor apartment building Saturday, according to a Fire Department spokesman. The fire in the Flatbush neighborhood started just before 7 p.m. Saturday, fanned by wind gusts of more than 50 mph.

“We had to evacuate very quickly because basically the fire chased us right down the hall and down the stairs,” Fire Chief Edward Kilduff told the Daily News.

More than 20 firefighters suffered minor injuries.

COLUMBUS, Ohio

Missing couple may be with murder suspect, relative says

A relative of a missing elderly couple said Saturday he believes they’re with a man suspected of murdering a woman found dead last week in the town where the couple lives.

Richard Russell, 84, and his wife, Gladis, 85, haven’t been heard from since Wednesday, the day a woman was found dead in a home the Russells sold to Sam Littleton in 2009.

Littleton was charged in absentia with the murder of Tiffany Brown, 26.

Richard Russell’s great-nephew, Matthew Hall, said relatives don’t believe the couple would have ventured off on a long trip without informing someone in their tight-knit family. The Russells don’t drive at night, he said.

Their car was last seen Wednesday night at an Interstate 75 rest stop about 100 miles from their home. Littleton, 37, was last seen Wednesday morning. Police found his truck two miles from the Russells’ home.