■ Malaysia
Half of adults flabby: survey
More than half of Malaysian adults are overweight because they eat too much and exercise too little, a news report said yesterday, citing a national survey. Ethnic Indians, a minority among Malaysia's 26 million people, are the fattest of all, the New Straits Times reported. The newspaper said the Malaysian Shape of the Nation survey found that 54 percent of Malaysian adults -- 48 percent of men and 62 percent of women -- are overweight when tested for abdominal obesity. In comparison, the prevalence of abdominal obesity in Singapore is 24 percent in men and 48 percent in women, it said.
■ China
Needle swap units planned
The Chinese government plans to open 300 needle-exchange centers this year in an effort to curb the spread of the AIDS virus among intravenous drug users, a news report said yesterday. The country already has 91 centers where drug addicts can obtain clean needles, reducing the need to share dirty needles, the official Xinhua news agency said. It didn't say where the new needle-exchange centers would be located. "The move aims to stop HIV infection being transferred from high-risk drug users to the general population," Xinhua said.
■ China
Putrid porridge poisons kids
Nearly 100 children were treated in hospital in southwestern China in the latest of a spate of food poisoning outbreaks that have raised concerns about hygiene standards, state press said yesterday. The children fell sick after eating porridge and steamed bread at a primary school in Sichuan Province, the Chongqing Evening News, seen here yesterday, said.
■ New Zealand
Church votes to bar gays
Presbyterian Church leaders voted yesterday to bar gays and people having sex outside of marriage from taking leadership roles in the church. The church's general assembly voted 65 percent to 35 percent to forbid the church from training, licensing, ordaining or inducting as ministers gays and people living together outside of marriage. The rule does not apply to any church member licensed, ordained or inducted as a minister prior to 2004. Presbyterians make up nearly 11 percent of the nation's 4 million plus population, making the church grouping the third-largest.
■ Australia
First lady takes a beating
It is being dubbed the war of the first ladies -- an unseemly row sparked by comments about the prime minister's wife by one of her predecessors. According to a new biography, Margaret Whitlam described the current first lady as useless, humorless and mean spirited. Janette Howard even insisted on holding her husband John's hand, observed the 86-year-old wife of former Labor prime minister Gough Whitlam, who held office in the 1970s. "For God's sake, they've been married for over 30 years!" snapped Whitlam. She did not stop there. The first lady was weird, steely and did not do enough for charity, Whitlam stated.
■ Pakistan
Amnesty slams rights record
Amnesty International has accused the nation of widespread human rights violations in support of the US "war on terror" ahead of President Pervez Musharraf's visit to the UK yesterday. Hundreds of terrorism suspects have been arbitrarily detained since 2001, many of whom have been tortured or forcibly "disappeared," according to Amnesty.
■ United Kingdom
Bride marries after labor
A bride walked down the aisle only 11 hours after giving birth to her first child. Nicky Heys went into labor three months early on the night before her big day, but still managed to get to the church on time. The 35-year-old secretary gave birth to a son, Harry, who weighed just 800g, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported on Thursday. At first she thought her stomach pains were pre-wedding jitters, but she was rushed to hospital when they worsened. She said: "A few hours after the birth, the doctor asked if we had anything to do today. I said: `I've got a wedding to go to -- it's mine.'"
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