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World News Quick Take

PHOTO: AFP

■ Australia
Funds for Tasmanian Devil
An Australian state yesterday pledged A$1.8 million dollars (US$1.25 million) to fight a mystery disease threatening to wipe out the famed Tasmanian Devil. The feisty marsupial carnivores live wild only on the island state of Tasmania, off Australia's southeastern tip, but a cancer-like disease has halved their population to about 75,000 animals in less than a decade. Tasmania state Environment Minister Bryan Green said the government would fund a three-year research program drawing on national and international expertise to try to halt the illness, called devil facial tumor disease. He said the government did not want the devil to meet the same fate as the thylacine, or Tasmanian Tiger, a large carnivorous marsupial that was hunted to extinction early last century.

■ North Korea
Chinese envoy to visit
China will send an envoy to Pyongyang later this month to put the finishing touches to preparations for multilateral talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program, diplomatic sources said yesterday. Diplomatic sources in Tokyo, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo will visit Pyongyang for talks with North Korean leaders. Dai arrived in Japan on Wednesday for a four-day visit. He visited South Korea earlier this week. Another diplomatic source said Dai would discuss with North Korean leaders specific dates for a second round of six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.

■ Singapore
Minister warns journalists
Foreign journalists should not comment on the policies of the Singapore government, according to the city-state's information minister. The government has no plans to relax its censorship rules to appease a "vocal minority," Information Minister Lee Boon Yang said in a speech to the Singapore Press Club on Wednesday. Lee singled out as unacceptable a comment piece suggesting Singapore should abandon its restrictive press laws, written by London-based writer Michael Backman and published in the local Today newspaper last month. "He had clearly crossed the line and engaged in our domestic politics," Lee said. One rule "that remains firmly in place, is the requirement that foreign journalists stay out of Singapore's politics," he added.

■ Japan
Airline tries to lure women
In a bizarre twist on the traditional attractions of pretty air stewardesses, a Japanese airline is to test-market flights with all-male cabin attendants to attract female passengers, an official said yesterday. Skynet Asia Airways is offering all-male cabin service for up to 300 passengers on a "Men's Flight" round trip between Tokyo and the resort town of Miyazaki, 850km southwest of the capital, tomorrow. Four male cabin attendants, aged between 20 and 40, will be on board. Wearing bow ties, they will introduce themselves to customers and offer to take pictures with them in addition to providing normal drink services, marketing and planning official Hiroshi Yanagisawa said. "I know one of them personally ... and he, aged 28, is athletic and handsome even to men's eyes," he said.

■ South Africa
Anti-AIDS budget tripled
The government plans to spend more than US$1.73 billion over the next three years to battle AIDS, more than tripling the amount it spent during the preceding three years, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel said on Wednesday. Manuel said US$270 million would be set aside for anti-retroviral drugs. South Africa is one of seven African countries with HIV infection rates of more than 20 percent. President Thabo Mbeki for years resisted pressure at home and abroad to offer anti-retroviral treatment, which can prolong the lives of those with HIV infections. In August, he promised the government would begin to distribute the drugs.

■ United States
Military translator indicted
A former civilian translator at the Guantanamo Bay naval base was indicted by a US federal grand jury on Wednesday on charges of improperly gathering military information and lying to the FBI. The case against the Arabic-language translator, Ahmed Mehalba, has attracted wide attention since his arrest at Logan Airport in Boston on Sept. 29 because he was the third person linked to security breaches at Guantanamo prison. Mehalba's lawyer said his client would plead not guilty to the charges, which carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a US$250,000 fine.

■ United States
Ex-boxer sues Stallone
Chuck Wepner, the former heavyweight who rose from boxing obscurity to a 1975 title match against Muhammad Ali and inspired the movie Rocky, filed suit in Newark, New Jersey on Wednesday against Sylvester Stallone, over the actor's continuing use of his name in promoting the film and related enterprises. Wepner, 65, said that throughout his life, he never tired of the adulation he received for inspiring the film and its sequels. But lately, he said, he became concerned as he heard about yet another sequel, reports of a Broadway show based on the movie and other enterprises. The suit contends that Stallone, by his frequent references to Wepner as the real-life counterpart of the fictional Rocky Balboa, was usurping Wepner's "right of publicity."

■ Colombia
Military commander resigns
The commander of Colombia's US-backed armed forces, who insisted the country's guerrilla war could be won on the battlefield, resigned on Wednesday, the latest in a string of senior officials to leave or be forced out of President Alvaro Uribe's government. Blunt-speaking army General Jorge Enrique Mora said he had decided to retire a month ago and would formally give up his post on Nov. 20. Mora, who oversaw a large troop buildup, gave no reason for the move and wished Uribe well.

■ Chile
Sex offered as prize
A Chilean radio station has set off a scandal by offering its male listeners one hour of free sex with a prostitute as a prize in a raffle. Press reports said Wednesday that the Radio Paulina station in Iquique Province in northern Chile came up with the idea for its early talk show, broadcast from midnight to 3am. The host early Tuesday asked listeners to sign up for the competition for "an hour of pleasure" at a local motel. In less than 10 minutes, the station had received 70 phone calls, and a 23-year-old man was declared the winner.

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