BEIJING - At least eight people have died in southern China after drinking a formaldehyde-and-water mix passed off as liquor. Police have detained 12 people and launched a massive search of bars and markets for bottles of the toxic brew.

The deaths in Guangzhou, China's southern business capital, came amid a string of fatalities in China blamed on fake foods and medicines, including dozens of babies who died from malnutrition last month after drinking counterfeit infant formula.

Eight more people who drank the contaminated liquor in Guangzhou have been hospitalised, newspapers reported yesterday.

Formaldehyde is frequently used as a disinfectant and preservative. It was not immediately clear under what brand name the liquor was sold or how many bottles were on the market. \-- AP

BUILDING WORKERS RIOT IN SHENZHEN

BEIJING - Hundreds of construction workers in southern China's Shenzhen city, enraged over a housing dispute, pelted local officials with bricks, injuring 12 and sending several to hospital, the city government said yesterday.

The riot on Thursday morning in Shenzhen's Nanshan district highlights the plight of Chinese workers who are banned from organising independently but assured incessantly by the government that their rights and private property will be protected.

Between 400 and 500 migrant workers threw bricks and other objects at officials after a request to allow them five more days to move out of a makeshift shanty-town was rejected, said a policeman at the Zhaoshan Road precinct. \-- AP

MYANMAR OPPOSITION SPURNS TALKS

YANGON - Myanmar's main opposition party will not join constitutional talks next week because the military government has refused to free its leader Aung San Suu Kyi and another official from house arrest, party leaders said yesterday.

'The government refused to agree to our demands to release Aung San Suu Kyi and (vice-chairman) Tin Oo,' National League for Democracy (NLD) chairman Aung Shwe told reporters.

'The NLD will not participate in the National Convention under these conditions,' he said, referring to the junta-organised talks due to begin on Monday.

Diplomats have said the convention will have no legitimacy if the 58-year-old Nobel peace laureate remains confined and the NLD takes no part in the talks. \-- Reuters

COURT UPHOLDS DEATH FOR CULT MEMBER

TOKYO - A Japanese court yesterday upheld the death sentence for a former Aum Supreme Truth cult member over the murder of an anti-sect lawyer and his family.

The Tokyo High Court rejected an appeal by Kiyohide Hayakawa, 54, who was one of the founding members of the doomsday cult and built a plant to produce the Nazi-invented Sarin nerve gas at the foot of Mount Fuji.

The Aum cult earned worldwide notoriety in March 1995 for spreading Sarin on the Tokyo subway, killing 12 people and injuring thousands. \-- AFP

ACEH UNMOVED BY END OF MILITARY RULE

BANDA ACEH - There were few signs of joy in Indonesia's rebellious Aceh province yesterday, a day after Jakarta decided to end military rule there although operations continued against separatist rebels.

Residents of Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, had mixed feelings about the move, saying security should remain the top priority while expressing concern about the continued heavy military presence.

'What Acehnese need right now is security. What's the use of an operation if people don't feel secure?' said Mr Ramadhan, who sells cooking pots in the city's central market. \-- Reuters