■ Australia
Downer sticks by claim
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer reasserted his claim that North Korea has long-range missiles capable of striking Australia as he departed yesterday on a diplomatic mission to persuade Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear programs. On Friday, Downer said the reclusive Stalinist state had missiles that could fly the 10,000km from North Korea to Sydney -- although missile experts have rejected this claim as impossible. Yesterday he said North Korea developed a number of Taepo Dong 2 long-range missiles before freezing the program in 1999. "Nobody's suggesting North Korea is about to attack Sydney," Downer told Nine Network television before leaving for Pyongyang. "It's an illustration of the range of the missile systems."
■ Vietnam
Flu victims' relatives safe
Family members and contacts of two of the three people to have died from bird flu in Vietnam have tested negative for the disease, health officials said yesterday in state media. Nguyen Thanh Liem, director of the Paediatric Hospital in Hanoi, said relatives of two children who died in northern Ha Tay province were all safe. Vietnam is fighting to stop the spread of a new bird flu outbreak after the three people became the latest victims of the disease that has claimed 24 lives across the region earlier this year.
■ Australia
Kitty killers fighting back
Three soldiers kicked out of the Australian army for torturing kittens are fighting against their discharges, a defense spokesman said yesterday. The three pleaded guilty in May to animal cruelty charges stemming from the killing of four kittens during a drinking spree at Lavarack Barracks in Queensland state. One of the 3-week-old kittens was dragged behind a motorcycle then crushed under a sport utility vehicle. Another three of the same litter were doused with fuel and set alight. The Australian Defense Force decided the soldiers had behaved below an acceptable standard and discharged them.
■ China
Men arrested in milk scam
China has arrested four businessmen for allegedly manufacturing and selling substandard milk powder that has killed 13 babies and sickened at least 189, state media reported yesterday. Four senior members of staff at the Jinyi milk product company were arrested in Tangshan City in the northern province of Hebei recently. The arrests came just days after four others were jailed in some of the first convictions resulting from the widespread fake formula scandal. The inferior powder formulas caused grotesque swelling of the babies' heads or other medical complications stemming from malnutrition.
■ Indonesia
Twelve drown in boat fire
Twelve people drowned after a boat carrying 45 people caught fire at sea off the coast of northern Indonesia, police said yesterday. The vessel left Bitung port in North Sulawesi province on Friday bound for the coastal village of Posingon some 173km southwest when a blaze broke out mid way, police sergeant Master Muginte said. The accident happened after crew attempted to repair a broken engine while at sea. The fire sparked panic on board and all the passengers and crew jumped into the sea. Twenty-five passengers and eight crewmen were rescued by fishing boats while 12 others drowned. The captain of the boat, called the Farleno 01, and his crew have been detained for questioning.
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