Dozens of Thai men were ordered to stick out their tongues this week after an attempted rape in a remote village in northeast Thailand. Police said an unidentified man tried to rape a 17-year- old woman in Phong Kham Monday night but the victim managed to bite off part of his tongue in the struggle, scaring him away.

The girl wrapped the tongue in a plastic bag and handed it over to police to use as evidence. "About 50 men in the village turned up to prove that their tongues had not been bitten off," a police spokesman said. Only one man in the village failed to turn up. He is now a suspect.

((c) Reuters)