■ MalaysiaTax crackdown stirs uproar
Malaysia's taxmen are going house-to-house in an effort to track down thousands of tax cheats despite an uproar over the "embarrassing" tactic, local media reported yesterday. Tax teams went knocking on the doors of more than a hundred homes in Kuala Lumpur suburbs Sunday, personally delivering demands to surprised householders on the first day of a nationwide sweep. Newspaper photographers were on hand to record the six-hour operation but were told not to take close-up pictures of the alleged tax-evaders. "We are not here to shame them," local Internal Revenue Board director Samsuri Jelani told The Star. But when the operation was first announced last week, the board's chief executive Zainol Abidin Abdul Rashid had a different interpretation of the tactic. "We will go door-to-door even on Sundays. This can be an embarrassment to them. Let their neighbors laugh at them," he was quoted as saying.
■ Myanmar
Quake damages temples
A strong earthquake rocked central Myanmar early yesterday, damaging temples and a bridge, but there were no immediate reports of injuries, officials said. The magnitude 6.7 quake struck about 350km north of the capital Yangon about 12:46am, said Tun Lwin, deputy director of the Yangon Kaba Aye Meteorological Center. He said no injuries had been reported. "It is still too early to give the human casualties," another government official said.
■ China
US ships make courtesy call
Two US guided-missile ships docked yesterday in the port of Zhanjiang, home of China's southern fleet, as part of growing Sino-US military exchanges. The visit, by cruiser USS Cowpens and frigate USS Vandegrift, was the first to the southern port by US Navy vessels, a US spokesman said. US ships have made port calls in other Chinese ports this year. "These exchanges are helping to prevent misunderstandings in the future," Lieutenant Commander Mike Brown said.
■ India
Nuclear bunkers to be built
The Indian government has decided to build two nuclear-proof bunkers to protect top leaders including Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in case of an atomic strike, a report said yesterday. The first shelter would be built in central New Delhi at South Block, a 1931 complex next to the presidential palace that houses the prime minister's office and the foreign and defense ministries, the Hindustan Times reported. It said the second bunker would be set up within a 400km radius of the capital.
■ China
Blasts kill 7, injure 31
At least seven people were killed and 31 injured after three separate bomb blasts rocked China over the weekend, including one at a Carrefour shopping center in central Wuhan city, state press reported yesterday. Four people were killed and 23 injured in central China's Hubei province when an explosion occurred as firemen and medical workers were trying to fight a blaze at a government institute early Sunday morning, the China Daily said. In a separate blast Sunday evening in the Hubei provincial capital of Wuhan, three people were slightly injured when a bomb went off in a Carrefour shopping center in the Hanyang district, the Wuhan Evening News said. Meanwhile, three people were killed and five injured when a bomb went off in Baoji city, Shaanxi province late Sunday, the Chinese Business View reported.
■ AntarcticaAiling man rescued
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