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BERLIN (Reuters) - German police are investigating a couple after they offered their eight-month-old son for sale on internet auction site eBay.

Renee Beck, a police spokesman in the Bavarian town of Krumbach west of Munich, said on Saturday the 23-year-old woman told them it was only a joke.

But he said police were nevertheless continuing their investigation and the baby was put in state custody.

“She says it was a joke,” he said. “That's not yet clear. Detectives are investigating on suspicion of child trafficking.”

A number of people called authorities across Germany after seeing the offer on eBay that read: “Baby — collection only. Offer my nearly new baby for sale because it cries too much. Male, 70 cm long.”

The opening bid was 1 euro ($1.57). There were no bidders during the two hours before the offer was removed, police said.

The mother was quoted in Bild newspaper saying: “It was only a joke. I just wanted to see if someone would make an offer. They've taken my son to hospital and I've got to take psychiatric tests next week.”

(Reporting by Erik Kirschbaum; Editing by Alison Williams)

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China will issue three licenses for high-speed third-generation mobile phone services and encourage a restructuring of leading telecoms companies, including a merger of China Unicom (0762.HK) and Netcom (0906.HK), the government said on Saturday.

The government will also encourage fixed-line telecoms leader China Telecom (0728.HK) to buy China Unicom's CDMA wireless network, it said in a statement on its website (http://www.gov.cn).

The statement did not specify whether the restructuring would involve the state-owned companies or their listed units, but analysts have said mergers in the long-awaited move were likely to involve the parent firms.

A sector revamp could unleash billions of dollars in spending for gearmakers such as Motorola (MOT.N) and Nortel (NT.TO) as newly merged firms expand networks to compete.

(Reporting by Edwin Chan; Writing by Edmund Klamann; Editing by Lincoln Feast)

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