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World News Quick Take

■ Australia
Soyinka objects to visa rule
Nobel Prize-winning writer Wole Soyinka has withdrawn from a literary event in Australia because he objects to a visa requirement that visitors aged over 70 provide a doctor's report on their health. The 71-year-old Soyinka, a Nigerian, was due to deliver the 2005 PEN lecture in Melbourne and Sydney this week, which has now been canceled. Soyinka cancelled his talk in an e-mail to Sydney PEN's executive director Sharon Connolly, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. "I would rather watch my fingers rot than complete such a discrim-inatory document," the white-haired literary lion was quoted as saying.

■ Indonesia
Terrorists change tactics
Terrorists in the world's most Muslim-populous nation have changed their tactics from recruiting Muslim radicals to other groups, local media reported yesterday. The state-run Antara news agency quoted Central Java police chief, Inspector General Chaerul Rasyid, as saying that the change was brought about by the roles of Muslim clerics in Central Java and other provinces for their support of the police's efforts in fighting terrorism.

■ Indonesia
Leaving soldiers searched
Military police searched the bags of some 2,500 soldiers yesterday ahead of their withdrawal from Aceh Province under the terms of a peace deal to end one of Asia's longest-running wars. The troops are scheduled to leave from the port city of Lhokseumawe today. Military police were searching the soldiers' bags for contraband, including marijuana, which is widely cultivated in the province, military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Ari Soetiko said.

■ Singapore
Youth selling sex online
Increasing numbers of young girls are offering sex for sale on Internet chatrooms, shrugging the transaction off without any remorse or fear of AIDS, according to the Sunday Times. Counselors and social workers cite cases of girls as young as 13 having no qualms over paid sex to obtain pocket money. They blame the nonchalant attitude on neglectful parents, the lack of stigma on losing one's virginity and the pervasive message of one-night stands on television and advertisements.

■ Malaysia
Hughes asks for help
US envoy Karen Hughes appealed yesterday for Malaysia to use its influence in the Islamic world to help bridge a gulf of misunderstanding about US policies abroad. "I do think that Malaysia can be a very important part of our outreach, the civilized world's outreach, in confronting terror," Hughes said in Kuala Lumpur, her last stop on an Asian tour. She described mainly Muslim Malaysia as an example to the rest of the world -- "like Iraq for example" -- of how different cultures and religions can live together in tolerance. US President George W. Bush hired Hughes at the end of July to polish the US' image overseas as undersecretary of state for public diplomacy.

■ Australia
Mother appeals for mercy
The mother of an Australian man awaiting execution for drug smuggling in Singapore made an impassioned plea for mercy yesterday, saying her heart would stop if her son is put to death. Nguyen Tuong Van, 25, a former salesman from Melbourne, is expected to go to the gallows soon, after the Singapore government rejected his final plea for clemency and appeals from Canberra to spare his life. Nguyen was caught in transit at Changi Airport in December 2002, flying from Cambodia to Melbourne with 396g of heroin strapped to his back and in hand luggage.

■ Japan
US holds talks in Tokyo
US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns is holding talks in Tokyo that are likely to focus on North Korea's nuclear weapons ambitions and the basing of US forces in Japan, an official and news reports said yesterday. Burns was to arrive in Tokyo yesterday to meet with Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Tsuneo Nishida for a "strategic dialogue" on a range of "mutual interests," ministry official Tomoyuki Nanami said. The dispute over North Korea's nuclear program, prospects for the lifting of a Japanese ban on US beef, and a realignment of US military personnel based in Japan will likely be discussed, media reports said.

■ Philippines
Arroyo `should resign'
President Gloria Arroyo should resign if necessary to avoid bloodshed, amid increasingly violent protests calling for her to step down over alleged vote fraud, her half sister was quoted as saying yesterday. "If she has to go to save her life, her family and the people, I would rather that she do that than cause deaths," Arroyo's elder sister Cielo Salgado told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in an exclusive interview. Arroyo survived an impeachment vote in parliament last month after admitting in June that she had improperly called an unnamed independent election official before the winner of last year's presidential election was announced. The failure to unseat Arroyo has sparked frequent and sometimes violent street protests. The government is also probing allegations of an assassination plot against her.

■ Zimbabwe
Official: `Just shut up'
A senior official in the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says the party will participate in next month's controversial senate elections and anyone who thinks otherwise should "just shut up." In what appeared to be a clear attack on party leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who Saturday claimed the MDC would boycott the Nov. 26 poll, Deputy Secretary General Gift Chimanikire said lists of party candidates for the senate were being compiled. "We are going ahead with the national executive council's resolution [to participate in the polls] and those who don't want to participate should stay out of it and just shut up," Chimanikire said.

■ United kingdom
Two charged in gay's death
Two men were charged on Saturday with the homophobic murder of 24-year old Jody Dobrowski who was so badly beaten around the head he was unrecognizable. Police named the men as Thomas Pickford, a 25-year-old man of no fixed address, and Scott Walker, a 33-year-old decorator. Bar manager Dobrowski was beaten to death on Clapham Common, a well-known London meeting place for homosexuals, around midnight on Oct. 14. Witnesses nearby reported hearing the attackers shout anti-gay insults at Dobrowski. The attack was so brutal the victim could not be identified visually by his next of kin; fingerprints had to be taken from his home for comparison.

■ Vatican city
Bishops urge China to relax
Roman Catholic bishops from around the world attending a synod at the Vatican on Saturday said they hoped Beijing would allow its Catholics to openly recognize the Pope and the Vatican. The appeal came in a letter of solidarity from Pope Benedict and synod participants sent to four Chinese bishops who had been invited to attend the three-week meeting but were not allowed to leave the country. "In the Lord Jesus, we hope that all the ecclesial communities in China may flourish," the letter said.

■ United Kingdom
Racial tensions spark riot
One man was stabbed to death and several other people hurt, including a police officer, when days of tension in Birmingham over the alleged rape of a black girl by south Asians erupted into riots on Saturday. Mobs pelted police with bricks, stones and bottles or smashed shop and car windows with bats and sticks, witnesses said. At least one car was torched. The riots erupted after members of the Afro-Caribbean and south Asian communities held what police and media said was a peaceful meeting designed to reassure the black community and encourage the girl to come forward. However, members of the black community claim she is reluctant to contact officers because she may be deported as an illegal immigrant.

■ United Kingdom
Man hands out his savings
A man stunned shoppers in Worcester by handing out his savings to "make people happy." Chris Aljaradat withdrew ?10,000 (US$17,670) from his bank before dishing out the cash to surprised passers-by. He lobbed £20-pound notes into the air before thinking of something better to do and wandering away -- £2,000 the worse off. "I am not really sure why I did it, but I just decided to help other people for a change and to try and make people happy," Aljaradat said.

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