Kyodo news summary -2-

---------- Musharraf spokesman hurt, 4 soldiers die in Pakistan copter crash

ISLAMABAD - Four soldiers were killed and presidential spokesman retired Maj. Gen. Rashid Qureshi was injured when a helicopter escorting Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf crashed near a village in Pakistan-administered Kashmir on Monday, reliable official sources said.

The sources said the helicopter caught fire at Garhi Dupta, about 18 kilometers south of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Azad Kashmir, on the way to a border post at Chakothi where Musharraf had flown in another helicopter.

---------- Funeral held for Japanese journalist shot dead in Myanmar

TOKYO - A funeral service was held Monday in Tokyo for Japanese video journalist Kenji Nagai, who was shot dead late last month while covering an antigovernment demonstration in Myanmar.

A portrait of Nagai, 50, taken on assignment in Jordan, was displayed on an altar covered with white flowers, as his parents and other mourners paid their last respects at Aoyama Sougisho funeral hall in Tokyo's Minato Ward.

---------- Malaysia's Mahathir recovering well, out of ICU

KUALA LUMPUR - Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who has been in intensive care following heart bypass surgery more than a month ago, is recovering well and has been moved to a normal ward, the hospital said Monday.

''Doctors are happy with his progress,'' the National Heart Institute said in a statement.

---------- 65 ex-education ministry officials working as nat'l univ. executives

TOKYO - A total of 65 former education ministry bureaucrats are serving as executives at 60 state-run universities, underscoring how the 2004 university reforms have created new opportunities for ''amakudari'' postretirement jobs for bureaucrats, according to the results of an opposition party survey Monday.

The 60 universities, including the University of Tokyo and Kyoto University, account for 70 percent of Japan's 87 state-run universities and the 65 former ministry officials include presidents at two universities, the survey by the Democratic Party of Japan showed.