DHAKA - BANGLADESH'S expatriate workers sent home a record US$9.68 billion (S$14.09 billion) in the fiscal year that ended in June, 22.3 per cent higher than in 2007/08, in spite of the global economic downturn.

The impoverished South Asian country received US$911.62 million in remittances from more than 6 million migrant workers in June, a central bank official said on Sunday.

BEIJING - FLOODS blocked roads in southern China, leaving some 300 teenagers stranded at a school with limited supplies of food and water, an official said on Sunday, after days of heavy rain killed at least 16 people.

More than 320,000 people have fled their homes in southern and central China after heavy rains toppled houses, flooded roads and damaged a dam, news reports said.

TOKYO - TWO candidates vying for a governor's post were in close competition on Sunday in a race seen as a key factor for influencing when embattled Prime Minister Taro Aso will call a general election.

Mr Yukiko Sakamoto backed by Mr Aso's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Mr Heita Kawakatsu supported by the main opposition party were running neck and neck, according to exit polls by public broadcaster NHK.