■ VIETNAM
War claims another life
A boy was killed when a war-era mortar shell he was playing with exploded, police said yesterday. Nguyen Ngoc Vinh, 11, was killed instantly in the incident on Monday in Vinh Thuan village in southern Long An Province, village police chief Ho Van Re said. Re said the boy's family had found the shell earlier this year and put it in their garden. Unexploded ordnance from the Vietnam War has killed about 38,000 people since the conflict ended in 1975.
■ VIETNAM
Officials stole bird flu money
Two former government officials were given three-year suspended jail terms after they were found guilty of embezzling state funds earmarked to fight bird flu, a court official said yesterday. Phan Bach Tuyet, a former head of the Agriculture Department of An Phu District in southern An Giang Province, was convicted of embezzling 39 million dong (US$2,440). Van Van Phet was found guilty of stealing 62 million dong after a one-day trial on Tuesday, presiding judge Lam Phuoc Nghia said. Nghia said the two inflated labor and equipment costs for efforts to contain the spread of bird flu in the district in 2004.
■ SOUTH KOREA
Drinking prize stopped
A local government has stopped awarding prizes to big-spending barflies in the second setback this month for the country's hard-drinking culture, a report said yesterday. The Goesan county government had faced criticism over its "Drinking Culture Prize," rewarding county employees who boosted the local economy the most by frequenting local bars, the Joong Ang Daily said. Three employees had won a three-day trip to the resort island of Jeju and a plaque for their elbow-bending efforts. But criticism intensified when it was learnt that one had lost his license in 2005 for drunk driving, the paper said.
■ INDIA
Military holds missile test
The military test-fired a medium-range nuclear-capable missile yesterday with a range of 150km, a defense ministry official said. The surface-to-surface "Prithvi" (Earth) missile was fired from the test range in Chandipur in the eastern state of Orissa as a trial by the army, the official said on condition of anonymity as he is not allowed to reveal his identity under ministry rules. The area is 70km north of Bhubaneshwar, the capital of Orissa State. India and longtime rival Pakistan routinely test-fire missiles, but usually notify each other ahead of the launches in keeping with an agreement between the two countries.
■ CHINA
Trial for ex-regulator to open
A disgraced former top drug regulator will go on trial this month for accusations of taking bribes to approve untested medicine, state media reported yesterday, in a case expected to further highlight safety problems in the country's drug and food chains. Xinhua news agency said the trial of Zheng Xiaoyu (鄭筱萸), former director of the State Food and Drug Administration, has been set for the middle of this month. The trial comes as the country's international image for food and drug safety has been tarnished with allegations that tainted ingredients from local companies ended up in products blamed for deaths in Panama and for killing pets in the US.
■ UNITED KINGDOM
Costly sub gets attention
The Royal Navy showed off its largest and most powerful attack submarine on Tuesday, a month before the over-budget, overdue vessel is due be launched. Military officials say the HMS Astute will be able to circumnavigate the planet without surfacing and its nuclear reactor is designed to last for the vessel's 25-year operational life, meaning it will never need to be refueled. The sub is to be followed by two more, the Ambush and the Artful. Together the navy estimates they will cost about £3.6 billion (US$7.2 billion), more than £1 billion over the original estimate.
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