HANOI - A CHINESE warship will next week make a port call in central Vietnam as part of efforts to boost military ties between the communist nations, a government spokesman in Hanoi said on Thursday.

MANILA (Philippines) - PHILIPPINE customs authorities have seized a container loaded with counterfeit cigarettes from China with a street value of 10 million pesos (S$308,361).

Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales said on Thursday the Marlboro-branded cigarettes arrived Nov 2 from China. The raid followed a tip from the intelligence liaison office of the World Customs Organisation.

JAKARTA - MILLIONS of migrants across Southeast Asia are vulnerable to HIV infection as they lack access to AIDS-related services and legal or social protection, an joint Asean-UN report said on Thursday.

In Thailand, which has more comprehensive data, migrant fishermen showed HIV infection rates of up to 9.0 per cent, according to the report published here by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and the United Nations.