HANOI - AT LEAST 39 people drowned and five were missing after a river boat accident in Vietnam on Sunday when a crowded vessel sank while taking people to a market, online news site VnExpress said.

The boat sank in strong currents 20 metres from shore on the Gianh river in central Quang Binh province, a survivor and a provincial official were quoted as telling the VnExpress online news portal.

PADANG PANJANG (Indonesia) - INDONESIA'S top Islamic body debated on Sunday whether to apply a blanket ban on smoking for Muslims or place a more limited restriction on tobacco use in South-east Asia's biggest economy.

Officially secular Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population and about 700 people, including Muslim clerics and theological experts, have gathered in West Sumatra for the National Edict Commission meeting, which could issue fatwas on a range of areas from polygamy to doing yoga.

KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA'S health minister says the doubling of dengue fever cases could hit the country's economy with 4,221 cases and 12 deaths in the first three weeks of the year, reports said on Sunday.

Mr Liow Tong Lai told the Star daily there were only 2,223 people infected by the mosquito-borne virus and five deaths for the same period last year.