Riot in Hong Kong prison: a io hour riot Involving about 40(Hnmates at a Hong Kong drug prison left 33 people injured including a Vietnamese inmate who was trapped in a blazing cell and seriously burned, officials said Monday. AFP reports from Hong Kong.

"One Vietnamese, who was among the 13 Vietnamese inmates injured, is In a critical condition." said a spokesman for the Correctional Services Department (CSD). The spokesman said a total 22 inmates and 13 wardens and police were injured in the rioting, which broke out at a drug treatment centre on Hei Ling Chau island at about 7:00 p.m. Sunday.

Factory fire kills 8 in China: Eight women workers died on suffocation when a large fire broke out at a Japanese-owned electronics factory in southern China's Fujian province early Sunday, state-run media reported Monday, AP reports from Beijing.

Authorities were investigating the cause of (he lire morning at the Xiamen Fuji Electrochemical Co in an industrial park in Xiamen, a port city in Fujian, the Workers Daily and other newspapers reported The reports said 24 1 factory workers managed toescape but that heavy smoke hampered lire fighting and rescue work and asphyxiated the eight who died It took 15 fire engines and 120 firefighters more than an hour to extinguish the blaze.

Hunt for Chechen fighters: Rushan forces launched a major hunt today for Chechen lighters who have carried out a string of attacks on checkpoints in the rebel Chechen capital Grozny, officials said, AFP reports from Grozny.

'There have been numerous attacks on our positions in Grozny." an interior ministry officer told an AFP correspon* dent. "Access to the city has been almost completely blocked so we can better control the situation." he said.