China pays nuclear bomb test victims

China has begun to compensate military personnel and civilians who were affected by nuclear bomb tests in the country’s northwest Xinjiang region, AP reported. The payments were part of the country’s total US$2 billion in veteran’s compensation in 2007, according to Civil Affairs Minister Li Xueju. No details were given on the number of veterans paid or the amount of payment given out. Between 1964 and 1996, China carried out 45 nuclear weapons tests at Lop Nur, a desert region in the northwest.