■ NORTH KOREA
Army needs recreation
The government is to import solar power from the West so that its soldiers can watch TV and use computers for recreation, a Japanese press report said yesterday. The nation acted after leader Kim Jong-il toured a military unit last year and found that power shortages were stopping soldiers from watching programs, Japan's Mainichi Shimbun said. Pyongyang ordered the People's Army to "install recreational facilities at military units without fail," the daily said. The authorities decided to buy solar power systems from Western countries, it said.
■ PHILIPPINES
Radio airs abductee's plea
Eight Filipinos and three South Koreans seized by armed men in Nigeria's oil-rich southern region said in a telephone message aired yesterday that they were being beaten up and deprived of food. "We are in the forest, there is no tent, no shade, no food, no water," one of the Filipino hostages said in the message aired on radio DZBB in Manila. The South Korean executives and Filipino laborers with Daewoo Engineering and Construction were kidnapped on Thursday. "They asked us to call for help. Why? Because our management Daewoo is not doing anything good to release us," the hostage said.
■ CHINA
Fifteen die in mine
An explosion in a coal mine killed 15 miners and rescuers fought through thick smoke yesterday trying to reach 15 others trapped in the mine shaft, state media reported. About 95 miners escaped after the explosion tore through the Pudeng coal mine on Saturday afternoon, but 30 were trapped inside, Xinhua news agency reported. Rescuers confirmed that 15 had died and smoke from still-burning fires was slowing efforts to reach the remaining 15. Xinhua said the mine, outside of Linfen, Shanxi Province, had previously received an order to suspend production, but operators resumed mining without a permit.
■ MALAYSIA
Bloggers may be labeled
The information minister has suggested labeling some bloggers as amateurs to prevent them from misleading readers with lies and rumors, the national news agency reported. The proposal comes after the National Union of Journalists urged authorities last week to recognize blogging as a new medium of information, following calls by government officials to impose curbs on bloggers. Information Minister Zainuddin Maidin said the government "feared that [Web logs] will be misused by those who have an agenda to spread slander," Bernama news agency reported on Saturday. "By right, there should be a mechanism to control this phenomenon, including by classifying Web bloggers as professionals and nonprofessionals," Zainuddin was quoted as saying.
■ VIETNAM
Bird flu outbreak confirmed
Officials yesterday reported a bird flu outbreak on a farm in central Nghe An Province and said its entire flock had been culled as a precaution. Test results at a regional animal health laboratory showed that young ducks that started dying last Tuesday were positive for the broad H5 strain of the virus. Bird flu officials say they consider poultry to have been infected with the deadly H5N1 strain of the virus if test positive for H5 and also show bird flu symptoms. The farm's 610 ducks were culled on Friday and authorities applied measures to isolate the local environment, officials said.
■ AUSTRALIA
Longest table record broken
An Austrian group declared on Saturday that it had set a record for the world's longest restaurant table with place settings for 1,800 in Vienna. The table, set up along a shopping street, stretched 1.2km, organizers said. It actually included 600 tables, with 30 culture specialists setting up 1,800 place settings with decorations. The total weight was five tonnes. Organizers said their table was long enough to beat the previous Guinness world record of 1.036km set in the Austrian city of Scharding last year.
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