LUCKNOW (India) - AT LEAST five people were killed after an accidental blast at a city in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh when scrap collectors were sifting through a rubbish dump, police said on Saturday.

The blast could have been caused by an unexploded military shell in the city of Meerut. There is a large military base there.

BEIJING - CHINA has launched an inquiry into possible corruption by a middle-ranking Communist Party member who failed to return from a visit to France in Sept, the Beijing News reported on Saturday.

The investigation will look into whether Mr Yang Xianghong, a party official in Wenzhou city, 'transgressed the rules of the Party and the government,' the newspaper said, quoting the provincial disciplinary inspection body. That formulation is generally used in corruption cases.

TAIPEI - AROUND 8,000 people attended a memorial service in Taipei on Saturday for Taiwanese tycoon Wang Yung-ching, known here as the 'god of management'.

Political and business leaders were among those who turned out to pay tribute to Mr Wang, who built Taiwan's leading Formosa Plastics Group from scratch to become the island's second wealthiest man.