● BEIJING. China demands its pilots speak better English. Less than a tenth of China?s pilots meet international aviation English standards, the airline regulator said recently, encouraging them to rise to the challenge of bolstering their linguistic skills. But some pilots have the wrong attitude and are prevaricating, the civil aviation authority said in a statement on its Web site (www.caac.gov.cn). ?The requirement to raise pilot?s English abilities comes from a formal decision by the International Civil Aviation Organization,? it quoted deputy aviation minister Li Jian as saying.

?I hope those comrades who have the wrong thinking drop their illusions, don?t wait around and don?t rely on others, grasp the present good conditions for studying English and dare to fulfill their responsibilities,? Li said.

?This will be long, hard, comprehensive work,? he said.

● BERLIN. Mugger goes from robber to robbed. A would-be German thief went from predator to victim when he tried to mug a taxi driver but ended up having his own wallet snatched instead.

After the 20-year-old stole the driver?s wallet, a scuffle broke out between the two, in which the cabbie not only recovered his property but also took his attacker?s wallet, police in the western town of Aldenhoven said recently.

The driver then locked himself in his taxi and called the police, who were amazed to find the mugger waiting patiently for them on the curb next to the vehicle when they arrived.

?He wanted his wallet back,? a police spokesman said. After taking the man in for questioning, police released him and returned his wallet. He faces charges for attempted robbery.

● KUALA LUMPUR. Healer?s nude dance rite upsets some . A Malaysian traditional folk healer who dances in the nude while treating her patients has upset some people in the conservative, mainly Muslim country, a newspaper said Tuesday. Mokhtar Mohamad Noor, 53, a teacher who wanted his sick wife to be cured, said the healer gave his wife a drink and spoke an incantation before she and some male followers in their 20s and 30s started dancing in the nude, the Star newspaper reported.

?She kept muttering unintelligible incantations which sounded like the singing of Koranic verses,? Mokhtar said, adding that the woman sat under a yellow umbrella and the dance continued before he left with his wife, tired of the group?s antics.

The bomoh, or shaman, whom some superstitious Malaysians believe can call on spirits to assist in curative rituals, is based in the city of Kota Baru, Kelantan state.

?I want the state religious affairs department to take stern action against the bomoh whose healing practice is against Islamic teachings,? the Star quoted a neighbor, Fuzi Nor, as saying.