■Hong Kong
SARS lab to be set up
The Chinese University in Hong Kong said yesterday it will finance a top-grade laboratory to conduct research on the deadly SARS virus. Associate Dean of the Chinese University's medical school, Dennis Lo, told reporters after a meeting in Guangzhou the "level-three mobile laboratory to conduct research on diseases including SARS, will be finished within a few months." Laboratories are graded according to a three-tier international standard with level-three being the highest grade. The announcement came after the South China Morning Post newspaper reported that two laboratories at the Prince of Wales Hospital had stopped cultivating the SARS virus after it was revealed they fell short of international standards.
■ China
222 get food poisoning
Food poisoning among students during a training program at a Chinese military facility sent 222 people to the hospital, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. No deaths were reported in the incident in Tianjin, a port city east of Beijing, and most patients were discharged Thursday after one night in the hospital, the report said. The outbreak was blamed on spoiled chicken and sausage served Wednesday to students from four polytechnic schools who were on a 10-day training program at the facility, Xinhua said.
■ Myanmar
UN expert pessimistic
The attack this spring by pro-government protesters on Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her followers could end all hopes for political reconciliation in the military-ruled Asian nation, a UN human rights expert says. More than 100 people are alleged to be still missing or in detention as a result of the May 30 events, many reportedly injured and unable to contact relatives or lawyers, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro said in a report to the UN General Assembly circulated Thursday. According to witness testimonies, he said supporters of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy were attacked by people believed to be members of the pro-government Union Solidarity and Development Association with clubs and iron bars. "Unofficial reports suggest that at least eight persons are believed to be dead. Reportedly, a monk and two students were also killed on May 31 during clashes while protesting the previous day's incident," he said.
■ Australia
Aussies getting even fatter
Australia, runner-up to the US in the obesity stakes, is gaining on the world's fattest nation, a study released yesterday showed. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare estimates 9 million adults are overweight or obese. Sixteen per cent of men and 17 per cent of women are obese, or having a body weight one-fifth above the ideal. Forty-two per cent of men and 25 per cent of women are overweight.
■ India
No troops for Iraq
India said it could not send soldiers to Iraq even under a new UN Security Council resolution because they were too busy tackling domestic concerns. Since June, the US has been pressing India to send at least 17,000 soldiers to Iraq as part of an international stabilization force. India turned down the request in July saying it would consider troop deployment only under an explicit UN mandate.
■ Ghana
Enslaved children freed
Some 100 children in Ghana sold into slavery by their parents were freed on Thursday at Yeji, 500km from Accra, after joint efforts by relief agencies, Ghana's Minister for Children's Affairs Gladya Ashmah said. The children, between the ages of three and 16 years were freed, after the International Organisation of Migration and Ghana's Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs intervened. They will be reunited with their parents. Ashmah blamed poverty as the cause of the slavery.
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