Select count(*) en VB.NET

Sub SelectTest()

         Dim dbPath As String = "..\Base\Syndication.mdb"
         Dim connstring As String="Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=" &dbPath
         Dim sql As String ="SELECT COUNT(*) FROM News WHERE News_id = 40"
         Dim conn As New OleDbConnection()
         conn.ConnectionString = connstring
         conn.Open()
         Dim cmd As New OleDbCommand(sql, conn)
         Dim nb as integer = cmd.ExecuteNonQuery()
         response.write(nb)
         conn.Close()
         End Sub