■ China
Party chief sentenced to die
A former senior member of the Communist Party in Anhui Province received a suspended death sentence for taking bribes worth US$900,000, state media reported yesterday. Wang Zhaoyao (王昭耀), 62, who was No. 2 in the Communist Party in Anhui, was found guilty by a court of taking backhanders worth 7 million yuan (US$898,000) from 44 individuals, firms or administrations between 1991 and 2005, the state prosecutor's newspaper said. The court also found he owned properties worth US$1 million and had used his position to benefit his family. The sentence was suspended for two years; if Wang shows "exemplary behavior," the court may commute his sentence to life imprisonment.
■ China
No response over attack
The government has received "no official information" that a rocket used to attack the US embassy in Athens on Friday was Chinese-made, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday. Greek police said the weapon used for the attack, which they suspect was the work of a leftist guerrilla group, was a Chinese-made RPG 7. The blast caused minor damage but no one was hurt. "We have noticed the media reports," a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement on the ministry's Web site, responding to what it said was a reporter's inquiry. "As for the question, the detailed situation is still not clear, and the Chinese side has received no official information," spokesman Liu Jianchao (劉建超) added. The official Xinhua news agency referred to reports that a Chinese-made rocket had been used as a "rumor." Liu said that China was a responsible arms exporter.
■ Afghanistan
Suicide bomber flunks
A suicide bomber attacked a group of foreign construction workers and Afghan soldiers in the south yesterday, injuring one civilian, a police official said. The blast went off south of Qalat, the capital of Zabul Province, killing the bomber, said Muhammmad Asif, a police official. None of the foreigners or Afghan soldiers were wounded, but a passerby was hurt in the blast, he said. The foreigners were working on the construction of a building to be used by Afghan security forces, he said.
■ Vietnam
Bird flu outbreak confirmed
Officials yesterday confirmed a bird flu outbreak among poultry in a southern province, the sixth reported infection in the region since last month, as the virus shows no sign of abating. Some 350 ducklings died at a farm in Tra Vinh Province last week, and test results showed they were infected with the lethal H5N1 strain of bird flu, said Le Tuyet Hong, director of the provincial department of animal health. Authorities have slaughtered 850 other ducklings at the farm and have disinfected it and the surrounding areas, she said, adding the dead birds had not been vaccinated.
■ Thailand
Train crash kills three
Two passenger trains collided near a beach resort town south of Bangkok early yesterday, killing three people and injuring about 60 others, rail officials said. The accident occurred before dawn when a Bangkok-bound train took the wrong track and hit an oncoming train head-on just outside the resort town of Hua Hin, said Wichai Choochumporn, a rail official. The fatalities included two train employees and a third person whose identity was not immediately known, officials at Hua Hin hospital said. Among the injured passengers were an Italian man and a German woman, both of whom were treated for minor injuries, Wichai said.
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