TOKYO - FORMER Japanese porn actress Ai Iijima, who campaigned for Aids awareness in a nation where it is still widely seen as a foreign disease, was found dead at her home on Wednesday, police said.

The body of the 36-year-old, who retired in March last year from a lucrative career as a television personality, was found lying in the lounge of her condominium in downtown Shibuya by a friend.

BEIJING - AT LEAST 17 people were killed on Wednesday in a gas leak at a northern China steel plant near the nation's capital of Beijing, state press reported.

The leak occurred Wednesday morning at the Ganglu Iron and Steel Co Ltd about 150km east of Beijing in Hebei province, Xinhua news agency said.

KATHMANDU - AUTHORITIES in Nepal said on Wednesday they have stopped feeding tigers in the country's only zoo for one day a week to keep them from piling on the pounds.

One of three fat cats at Jawalakhel zoo in the Nepali capital now weighs in at about 220kg, having gained 40kg on a diet of buffalo meat in just eight months.