Kyodo news summary -5-

---------- 2 killed, 3 hurt in Tokyo spa annex explosion

TOKYO - Two women were killed and at least three people were injured Tuesday in an explosion at an annex of a women-only spa facility near a busy street in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward, while another person was rescued from rubble, firefighters said.

The injured are believed to be two employees of the Shiespa facility and a male passer-by, according to the firefighters and a group company of the spa's operator. The conditions of the rescued person is still unknown.

---------- Ex-student's death sentence for murdering couple upheld

TOKYO - The Supreme Court upheld Tuesday a lower court decision sentencing a former Chinese graduate student to death for killing a compatriot student and her Chinese husband in 2000 after his overtures to her were rejected.

The death sentence against Xue Song, 33, a former graduate student at the state-run University of Tsukuba in Ibaraki Prefecture, will now be finalized.

---------- DPJ lawmaker Uchiyama suspended for disturbing order in Diet

TOKYO - Democratic Party of Japan lawmaker Akira Uchiyama has been suspended from the House of Representatives through July 18 for disrupting order there during deliberation on a contentious pension bill.

Uchiyama was one of the lawmakers who surrounded Chairman Yoshitaka Sakurada of the Health, Labor and Welfare Committee on May 30. The panel was about to vote on a ruling bloc-proposed bill to remove the five-year statute of limitations on people's right to claim pension benefits.