AUSTRALIAN DRUG TRAFFICKER EXECUTED IN SINGAPORE

SINGAPORE - Singapore executed a 25-year-old Australian on Friday for
drug trafficking, despite numerous appeals from the Australian
government and hours after the condemned man had a "beautiful last
visit" with his family.

Nguyen Tuong Van, was hanged before dawn as a dozen friends and
supporters, dressed in black, kept an overnight vigil outside the
maximum-security prison. His twin brother, Nguyen Khoa, was dressed in
white.

Vigils were also held in cities around Australia, with bells and gongs
sounding 25 times at the hour of his execution.

"The sentence was carried out this morning at Changi Prison," the Home
Affairs Ministry said in an e-mailed statement.

Nguyen received a mandatory death sentence after he was caught in 2002
at Singapore's airport on his way home to Melbourne carrying about 14
ounces of heroin.