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World news quick take

■Malaysia
Asia did well with SARS
Asian countries have responded well to the threat of SARS, but can be better prepared to fight possible future epidemics, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said yesterday ahead of an international conference on the respiratory disease. "We have to strengthen the capacity in Asian countries to respond to outbreaks like this," said Dr. Hitoshi Oshitani, WHO's adviser on communicable diseases for the western Pacific region. Surveillance for SARS and response to the disease could be improved, and the WHO needs to expand its global network to include more hospitals and community centers to learn quickly about disease outbreaks and form strategies to combat them, he said.

■ Thailand
Marine accused of rape
Japanese police yesterday obtained a warrant for the arrest of a US marine who allegedly raped a local woman in Okinawa, where relations between the US military and residents have been dogged by a series of crimes committed by US troops stationed there. The government planned to ask the US side to hand over to Japanese police 21-year-old Lance Corporal Jose Torres, who allegedly beat and raped a woman, said the foreign ministry. Torres has admitted to having consensual sex with the 19-year-old woman when he went out of a bar with her, news reports have said.

■ Thailand
First Miss Spinster crowned
A bevy of mature beauty contestants locked horns at the weekend to see who would be crowned Thailand's first-ever Miss Spinster. The pageant, aimed exclusively at single women aged 28 or above, named 37-year-old Saowapa Thephasadin, a private entrepreneur with a talent for sign language, as "Miss Khanthong" on Sunday. The two-week event saw an original 128 contestants, all university graduates aged up to 51 years, whittled down to 21 participants who engaged in sportswear, short dress and evening gown competitions.

■ Hong Kong
Man apologizes for shirt
An expatriate who walked into a restaurant in eastern China wearing a T-shirt listing 10 things Chinese people should not do to foreigners was ordered to issue a public apology, a news report said yesterday. The T-shirt, printed in Chinese, included tips not to stare at foreigners, not to shout "hello" to every foreigner, and not to try to convince them to stay in bad hotels, according to the South China Morning Post. The expatriate, whose nationality was not given, called police because he felt "threatened" by the hostile reaction his T-shirt generated in the restaurant in Nanjing. Police later made him issue a public apology for insulting Chinese people to calm the situation, the newspaper said.

■ China
Three Gorges locks tested
The ship locks on the massive Three Gorges Dam went through their first trial runs on yesterday to great fanfare, for the project touted as the world's biggest hydroelectric project. Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan (曾培炎) attended the nationally televised ceremony, which saw boats above the dam descend the giant five-tiered ship lock and ships below ascend into the newly filled reservoir above. The locks on the dam, which began storing water in its 435km-long reservoir on June 1, are also being promoted as the world's largest.

■Germany
No sounds of silence
German police in Essen said they were inundated with complaints about "noisy neighbors" when British rock band Rolling Stones played there on Friday. "My neighbor has been blasting out music since six o'clock," one resident complained of the concert taking place several miles away in Oberhausen, police said in a statement. Germany has strict rules on respecting "Ruhe", or silence, and dozens called after a 10pm noise deadline to complain. Not everyone was unhappy, the police statement said. When told about the concert, one angry caller said, "If that's the case, I'll sit on my balcony and listen."

■ United Kingdom
No EU foreign minister
A single European foreign policy is unfeasible, Britain's minister for the EU said in remarks published yesterday, countering calls by some European policy makers for more centralized EU decision-making. "The federalist vision of a single EU foreign policy, implemented by a central bureaucracy without the consent of all the governments, is neither realistic nor desirable," the Financial Times quoted the minister, Dennis MacShane, as saying. The EU, soon to span 25 countries, on Friday adopted the first draft constitution for an enlarged union. An EU foreign minister was among its proposals.

■ France
Anti-strike protesters march
More than 15,000 people fed up with strikes that have hobbled transport around France demonstrated on Sunday -- four days before a new strike to protest a government pension plan reform. Demonstrators marched from the square in front of Paris City Hall to the Place de la Concorde. Police said some 18,000 people took part in the march. The demonstration was organized by groups called "Liberty, I Write Your Name" and "The France That Works." Stickers reading "Stop the Strike" have recently shown up on walls around Paris. A new strike set for Thursday -- the eighth since the movement against the retirement reforms started last month -- was expected to cripple transport around France and air traffic.

■ Liberia
Taylor won't seek re-election
Liberian President Charles Taylor will not seek a further term in office when his current mandate runs out in January next year, the international mediator in the strife-torn country's civil war said Sunday. "What is sure is we have obtained from his government that Taylor will not represent himself at the end of his mandate and this has already been acknowledged," said the mediator, former Nigerian president Abdulsalami Abubakar. "We must do everything that is possible to find a compromise and find a lasting peace in Liberia," he said.

■ United Kingdom
Prison security questioned
British prison authorities said Sunday they had launched an investigation after a journalist reportedly used fake credentials to get a job guarding a prisoner accused of killing two 10-year-old girls. The tabloid News of the World said reporter David McGee used a false address and fake references to get the job at Woodhill high-security prison north of London. Within weeks, the newspaper said, he had been left alone to guard Ian Huntley, accused of killing schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman. The newspaper ran photographs of the 29-year-old in his cell which it said had been taken by McGee.

Agencies
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