■ China
SARS drug sent to Beijing
An antibody-based SARS drug developed by the University of Massachusetts Medical School and a Princeton-based company is being shipped to China for preclinical testing. The drug is being sent to Beijing-based Sinovac Biotech, which will test its effectiveness in neutralizing strains of the SARS virus. University medical researchers worked with genetically engineered mice for their tests. "We think we are on track to have the material to put into patients next April," said Donna Ambrosino, director of the Massachusetts Biologic Laboratories in Boston. The researchers would be able to make the material quickly and then test it in patients, Ambrosino said.
■ Australia
PM targets gay marriage
Only marriages between men and women would be recognized in Australia under draft legislation that has the support of both the ruling Liberal-National coalition and the opposition Labor Party. "The proposal would simply be to insert a definition in the Marriage Act which gives formal expression to what most people regard to be the case -- which is that marriage, as we understand it in Australia, is between a man and a woman," Prime Minister John Howard said yesterday. "This is not directed at gay people; it's directed at reaffirming a bedrock understanding of our society." The draft legislation was immediately labelled reactionary and divisive by homosexual rights groups.
■ Thailand
PM defends daughter
Thailand's prime minister wants people to stop picking on his daughter following a rash of criticism over her expected admission to a prestigious university despite having an inadequate academic record. "Is she the child of a bandit?" Thaksin Shinawatra asked reporters after they inquired about his 17-year-old daughter, Paetongtarn. Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Communication Arts recently relaxed enrollment standards to short-list Paetongtarn for a list of 109 students to be accepted this year for an undergraduate degree.
■ Hong Kong
Movie stars honored
Action star Jackie Chan (成龍) and the late martial arts actor Bruce Lee (李小龍) are among Hong Kong's entertainment elite honored in a new harbor-front Avenue of Stars. The tourist attraction, which opened last night, pays tribute to Hong Kong's past and present stars by featuring their names and hand prints in a 440m-long strip. Others honored include director John Woo (吳宇森), actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) and The Matrix fight choreographer Yuen Wo-ping (袁和平). Among other stars honored are actor-singer Andy Lau (劉德華), and two stars who died last year: Leslie Cheung (張國榮), who committed suicide; and Anita Mui (梅艷芳), who died of cancer.
■ Bangladesh
Police hold 20,000 activists
Police halted a crackdown on political activists yesterday after detaining 20,000 people in the run-up to a Friday deadline set by the opposition for the government to resign. Police cells and prisons in the capital Dhaka have been filled with suspects picked up at railway stations, ferry and bus terminals, local media and officials said. Newspapers and opposition parties criticized the police action. Police had said they had intelligence reports that many people would try to enter Dhaka to carry out subversive acts ahead of the deadline.
■ Nigeria
Delta crackdown launched
Nigeria launched a new military offensive against ethnic militants and crim-inals in the oil-rich southern delta region on Monday after five people, including two US oil workers, were killed in violence. Leaders of the Ijaw ethnic group condemned last week's killings, but said a general clampdown on community leaders, bitter about poverty and neglect in the region, could backfire and spark even more violence. Hun-dreds of people have died in ethnic fighting in the region over the past two years, but the killings on Friday took the level of violence against foreigners to a new level.
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