SEOUL - NORTH Korea is getting a state-of-the art mobile phone network courtesy of an Egyptian telecoms giant, raising questions about who will be making calls and sending text messages in a country where the vast majority of people are believed banned from using cell phones.

Orascom Telecom Chief Executive Naguib Sawiris arrived in the capital Pyongyang on Monday, the North's state news agency reported, providing no other details.

SHANGHAI - BATTERY maker turned car company BYD Co has launched China's first hybrid electric vehicle for the retail market.

BYD presented the vehicle, known as the F3DM, in a ceremony in the southern city of Shenzhen, where local officials have pledged to buy some of the cars in support of the project, reports said on Monday.

ARDINGLY (England) - THE underground bunker can block nuclear fallout, withstand a direct hit by a jetliner, and is cooled to a deathly chill.