■ Hong KongPopper spoils Tung's toast
Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa (董建華) was reportedly bloodied when a party popper hit him on the forehead as he drank a toast to China, a newspaper reported yesterday. Tung, 67, was attending a ceremony on Monday hosted by a pro-China business association to mark China's National Day when the popper struck him as he raised his glass to toast the audience. Witnesses quoted by the South China Morning Post said Tung hid his face from photographers and wiped blood from his forehead with a tissue.
■ Philippines
Organ theft hoax fools media
Grisly newspaper reports about children being killed for their vital organs shot fear through several towns in the northern Philippines, but police said it was all a hoax. The <
■ Thailand
Fake braces fad takes hold
Thai health authorities are investigating Bangkok's latest teen fashion fad -- wearing fake braces -- to determine whether its bad for your teeth, media reports said yesterday. Responding to complaints from the National Institute of Dentistry, public health officials have been ordered to visit shopping malls to collect samples of the braces, sold for about 100 baht (US$2.50), to find out if they are made of metals that could cause poisoning or rusty teeth, the Bangkok Post reported. Fake braces, usually with colors and patterns added to make them more noticeable, have become increasing fashionable among Bangkok teenagers for whom dental wear is generally deemed a sign of affluence.
■ Nepal
Bomb rips through bank
A bomb ripped through a bank in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu and most shops were closed yesterday as Maoist rebels fighting to topple the monarchy called a two-day national strike. The blast shattered windows of the Nepal-Bangladesh Bank branch and of several houses at Lalitpur on the capital's outskirts, but caused no casualties, police said. "Two Maoists in a taxi stopped at an engineering college outside the bank and left a bag of explosives, which the driver threw out, causing the blast. We think the goal was to blow up the taxi," Lalitpur Chief District Officer Thaneswore Devkota said. The rebels in past strikes have destroyed cars whose drivers defied their orders.
■ China
Executions herald holiday
At least 36 people were executed in China a day before yesterday's Mid-Autumn Festival, state media said. China often executes a large number of convicted criminals before festivals or public holidays. National Day on Friday is a holiday. Most of the death sentences were carried out following public sentencing rallies in which prisoners were paraded before the public. In the town of Xingtai in Hebei Province, 17 people convicted of armed assault and murder were executed after their death sentences were read out at a rally, the local Zhaoyan Evening Post reported.
■ AfghanistanRights group faults poll
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