BEIJING, China

Chinese health inspectors have found the chemical melamine in fresh and long-life milk sold by three leading companies, following a scandal over baby food tainted with the industrical chemical that has killed at least four infants. The administration said the tainted liquid milk would not pose any threat to a healthy adult, but more than 6,000 infants nationwide fell ill after consuming powdered milk containing melamine. Melamine is used as a binding agent and coating for particle, fibre and laminated board. It is also used to make fertilizer.

BANGKOK, Thailand

Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej has officially endorsed the premiership of Somchai Wongsawat, the brother-in-law of coup-ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Somchai, now Thailand's 26th prime ministerfaces a host of problems including a rapidly falling stock market, border disputes over ancient Hindu temples with its neighbour Cambodia and the lack of office space. Somchai, 61, is married to Yaowapa, the younger sister of Thaksin who was toppled by a military coup Sep 19, 2006, after holding the premiership since 2001.

JAKARTA, Indonesia

Indonesian police have charged a businessman with negligence after his free cash handouts caused a stampedethat left at least 21 people dead and dozens injured. Cash handouts to the poor are common in the world's largest Muslim country during the fasting month of Ramadan. Thousands of people - mostly women, children and the elderly - were lined up at the family residence to receive an equivalent of US$3.7 each from the wealthy family's patriarch, Haji Syaichon, Farouk's father.

NEW DELHI, India

A headmistress of an Indian primary school locked 350 pupils in a classroom for 10 hourswithout food or water because she found money was missing from her bag. The imprisoned pupils were eventually freed by their parents, who broke open the doors when they heard them screaming, the Hindustan Times reported. Nearly a dozen pupils fainted during the ordeal in the school, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.

HONG KONG

A wild boar was shot dead in Hong Kong after going on a five-hour rampage during which it injured three people and kept trapping teams at bay. The 120 kilogram boar, which was about 1.3 metres long, was fighting with two dogs in rural Yuen Long near Hong Kong's border with China when it burst into a village house. Wild boar populations are believed to have boomedin recent years in Hong Kong's countryside which covers more than 70 per cent of the territory's 1,078 square kilometres.

NEW DELHI, India

Army bureaucrats in India are insisting that farmers faced with crop failure and massive debt have to seek government permission before they can commit suicide, according to Bild.com As many as 23 farmers from various villages in the Yavatmal region have sought permission from President Pratibha Patil to kill themselves after poorly-organised coal mines and transportation have dealt another blow to the agricultural community. There are 43 clauses on the inquiry list a suicidal farmer must meet in order for their death wish to be given the go-ahead by government officials - and so to enable their families to receive compensation. At the end of August, at least nine farmers committed suicide in a span of two days.

TOKYO, Japan

A former Japanese serviceman who said he wanted to have fun was arrested for allegedly hurling explosive-laden fire extinguishers towards the Imperial Palace. "I blasted some fire extinguishers from the rear deck of the truck," he told police, as quoted by Jiji Press news agency. "I did it for my own delight. I was interested in how people would react," he said. The Imperial Palace, the residence of Emperor Akihito, is among the most tightly guarded spots in Tokyo, with limited access granted to the general public.

KATHMANDU, Nepal

Hundreds of disco workers protested in Kathmandu against a government crackdown on "nude dancing".Police have raided scores of discos, nightclubs and dance bars in the past two weeks and detained 1 500 people. They said many of those arrested were running bars here "nude dances" were performed. These are not allowed by law in the Hindu majority society. A Maoist-led government, which took power in August, has already ordered the bars should be closed an hour before midnight to halt worsening public security in the capital, home to more than two million people.

TAIPEI, Taiwan

Lawrence Ho, son of Macau casino tycoon Stanley Ho, has expressed interest in building casinos in Taiwan. When asked how much he wanted to invest in Taiwan, Ho said it should be about US$2.57 billion to 3.85 billion, the same amount he has invested in Macau and Singapore, respectively. Taiwan is drafting a law to legalize gambling,hoping to develop the Penghu Archipelago, a group of 64 islands in the Taiwan Strait, into a special zone for gambling to lure foreign tourists.

SINGAPORE

New checks on caning prisonerswill determine whether the number of strokes meted out to inmates is excessive. External committees will focus on the prison authority's power to cane those who wreak havoc within facility walls for such breaches as mutiny, assault and gang activities, The Straits Times said. Under the law, a superintendent can order up to 12 strokes after investigations by officers and hearing from the inmate. Jail authorities did not disclose the number of inmates who have been punished by prison-ordered canings, except to describe it as very small.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia

A Malaysian robber who broke into a grocery store took off with 35 packets of ground chillies after he failed to find any cash. The robber had broken the front door of the store, and upon discovering that the owner had stashed all cash and valuables at a different location, made off instead with the chilliesworth 52.50 ringgit (US16 dollars). Police later detained the suspect, and discovered the packets of chillies in his home. Grounded chilli flakes or paste is used to make a variety of local curry and spicy dishes.

HANOI, Vietnam

Field researchers have sighted the hairy-nosed otter, the world's rarest, in a national park in southern Vietnam. Nguyen Van Nhuan, a research officer, said he came face-to-face with two of the endangered animals while doing night observations in the Mekong Delta. The species was believed extinct in the 1990s, but has recently been seen in several south-east Asian countries. Nhuan's was the first sighting in Vietnam since 2000. Scientists know relatively little about hairy-nosed otters, which are notoriously shy and mostly nocturnal. They eat fish, frogs, reptiles, snakes, and insects.