DENMARK

DENMARK
Politiken, Copenhagen, June 24: Evidently malaria and AIDS kill many more people than SARS, the new feared lung infection.
But several months of warnings by the World Health Organization against traveling to China and Hong Kong -- both of which are now off that list -- is the story of a good reaction that hindered SARS from exploding across borders.
The classical and banal means was to isolate people infected by SARS and their closest relatives. The source of SARS isn't yet well known or documented, but the preparedness has been tested and it works.
SWEDEN
Aftonbladet, Stockholm, June 25: The European Union is ready to write a joint resolution with the United States about the need to fight weapons of mass destruction and proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Like the United States, the EU says using force against states that hold back on stopping WMDs should be possible.
Contrary to the United States, the EU wants any such decision should be made by the United Nations and supported by international law. It's a noble effort and for the sake of world peace -- indeed, maybe for the sake of democracy -- the EU must not disregard those principles.
The Europeans should remind U.S. President George W. Bush of Robert Jervis' comments in the magazine Foreign Policy: "To believe oneself to have a monopoly of wisdom changes, in the eyes of the people, a hegemonist power to a tyrant."
BRITAIN
The Daily Telegraph, London, June 24: Many people on both sides of the dispute over the nomination of Canon Jeffrey John as the first openly homosexual Anglican bishop may be disappointed by the ironic tone of the archbishop of Canterbury's long-awaited letter on the subject, published yesterday.
The nine bishops who protested against Dr. John and the eight who supported him in open letters may have hoped that the primate would endorse their views. What else, though, could Dr. Rowan Williams have decently done at this stage but to appeal, as he did, for calm and church unity?
Dr. John says that, while his 27-year-old relationship with the Rev. Grant Holmes has not ended, it "has not been sexually expressed for years."
He has also given assurances that, though he has long advocated the formal blessing of homosexual couples, as a bishop he would abide by existing church doctrine, which prohibits such rites. In other words, Dr. John has promised to stick to the rules, and Dr. Williams therefore felt unable to interfere.
JAPAN
Yomiuri Shimbun, Tokyo, June 24: The track record of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's administration over the past year clearly shows the difficulty in rebuilding a country that has been ravaged by war.
Although progress has been made in some areas, such as a return of refugees and the resumption of education for girls, overall the administration is still unable to function as a state government with regard to such core functions as military, finance and security matters.
Transitional government
The Karzai administration is a transitional government. According to the timetable agreed upon by various Afghan factions, a constitutional loya jirga, or grand council, is to be convened by the end of the year and a new constitution adopted. This is to be followed next year by a general election that will establish a new government.
Time is running out. If Afghanistan is to be reconstructed according to the agreed timetable, the Karzai administration will have to exhibit strong leadership and institute more self-help measures.
In this respect, assistance from the international community, including the International Security Assistance Force, will remain essential for the time being. If such assistance is not forthcoming, Afghanistan will remain a country on the verge of collapse.
BRITAIN
The Guardian, London, June 24: Saddam Hussein has now been killed three times by U.S. forces in Iraq -- unless they missed him and he is still alive. That seems to be the situation after the latest "strike" last week on a convoy of vehicles somewhere near the Syrian border. As always, it is a confused story. The Pentagon will not say whether the attack was the result of intelligence or was just launched on a hunch. It is not confirmed whether Syrian border guards were killed or wounded during the action. The convoy may or may not have included a party of smugglers. What is clear is that the U.S. feels entitled to launch a Hellfire missile whenever it sees some unidentified vehicles heading for Syria. The message is that Ba'athists, smugglers or ordinary travelers should all beware.
Policy of vengeance
What seems lost in Washington's post-strike inquiry is any scruple as to whether the U.S. is justified in behaving this way. It is not just that, once more, innocent Iraqis may lose their lives because they are in the wrong place at the wrong time, or that the desert is not a free-fire zone. The aim of the war, Mr. Bush reiterated time and again in the run-up, was to "bring to justice" the Iraqi leader and his associates. Many Iraqi civilians in recent weeks have also raised their own demand that their former rulers should be brought to account. Of course there may be reasons why the U.S. would find it inexpedient to put Saddam on trial - for a start he might say something about the support he enjoyed from Washington in the Iraq-Iran war. But to obliterate him with an anti-tank weapon is a policy of vengeance, not of justice.
Global context
Dr. Williams wisely places the dispute in the global context of the Anglican Communion, and shows himself well aware of the danger of schism if the Church of England were unilaterally to abandon the doctrine and discipline agreed in the 1991 document Issues in Human Sexuality.
Even more importantly, the primate reminds the factions that homosexuality is, in itself, very far from the Church's top priority. ...
This means that moderate Evangelicals and others who object to the notion of Jeffrey John as bishop of Reading must consider carefully what it is that they find so offensive about him. If he lives chastely and obeys the Church while arguing for same-sex blessings, then Dr. John will doubtless prove a controversial bishop but not necessarily a bad one.
Dr. John and his defenders, such as the bishop of Oxford, need to ask themselves whether their determination to alter the settled doctrine of the Church on homosexual relations is not impeding the more important task of bearing witness to Christ in a hostile, secular or pagan world.
ITALY
Corriere della Sera, Milan, June 25: Every time he makes a speech on something he cares about, knitting his brow, the eyes of President Bush, already close together, get even closer. He looks irritated, even childlike, but nevertheless determined.
Yesterday, for example, while basking in applause from both managers from Monsanto and American farmers at the Biotechnology Industry Organization, Bush became serious -- his small eyes fixed on the audience -- and explained: "For the sake of a continent threatened by famine, I urge the European governments to end their opposition to biotechnology." The president's improbable concern for hunger in Africa must be taken seriously. It is a sign that we have reached the point where the U.S., as with the war in Iraq, is not looking to compromise.
American farmers
Obviously, the interests of the multinationals who produce genetically modified organisms (GMO's) weigh heavily in Bush's words. But to look only at this is a mistake. Bush also cares about American farmers whose exports are obstructed by the EU moratorium. The moratorium has already affected a number of African states, who, although impoverished, refuse to cross breed their crops for fear of losing European consumers. To the practical mind of President Bush, European caution is simply another protective measure, designed to keep our markets as closed as possible.