News

Crime author Patricia Cornwell has taken out full-page ads in two national newspapers to deny she is obsessed with Jack the Ripper. Cornwell claimed artist Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper in a book in 2002. Ripper experts rejected that theory.

In Saturday's Guardian and Independent, Cornwell stands by her claim and calls on others to disprove it.

The ads are thought to have cost more than £10,000 each. An updated edition of her book will appear next year.

Cornwell wrote in the advert: "My ongoing investigation is far from an obsession but an excellent opportunity to provide a platform for applying modern science to a very old, highly visible case."

Cornwell has spent as much as $6m (£3.3m) financing her investigation into the Ripper case, including employing forensic scientists to work with her.

Her book Portrait of a Killer, Jack the Ripper: Case Closed named Sickert, a British Impressionist artist, as the infamous killer who terrorised London's East End between 1888.

Sickert, a pupil of Whistler, lived in London at the time. He died in 1942, aged 82.

Cornwell's main evidence was the discovery of the same watermarks on the artist's personal letters as on letters sent by Jack the Ripper, taunting the police.

But experts point out that many supposed "Ripper" letters were fakes and that Scotland Yard received such correspondence well into the 20th century.

They said Cornwell's evidence only showed a link between Sickert and these letters, not the murders themselves.

The author also put forward DNA evidence connecting Sickert to the crimes, but this was viewed as inconclusive.

While she has acknowledged she cannot prove Sickert was in London at the times of all the murders, she says it cannot be proved that he was elsewhere.

In Saturday's adverts, Cornwell called the case "far from closed" and challenged her critics to come up with concrete evidence of another suspect's guilt.

"I welcome everyone to investigate this case and perhaps find new evidence that factually argues for or against anything I have discovered," she wrote.

"If it turns out that something indisputably proved that this notorious killer was someone other than Walter Richard Sickert, I would be the first to offer congratulations and retract my accusations."

She adds that a revised edition of Portrait of a Killer, with her "latest" evidence, will be released early in 2006.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4190572.stm

Pupils are being allowed to swear at one Northamptonshire secondary school -as long as they limit their use of bad language to five times a lesson. A tally of how many times the f-word is used will be kept on the board.

Parents of children at the Weavers School in Wellingborough were told of the new policy in a letter, according to a report in the Daily Mail.

The policy, which comes into effect when term starts next week, has been condemned by parents' groups and MPs.

"In these sorts of situations teachers should be setting clear principles of 'do and don't'," said Nick Seaton, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education.

'Everyday language'

But headmaster Alan Large said he had received no complaints about the policy.

"The reality is that the f-word is part of these young adults' everyday language," he told the Daily Mail.

Assistant headmaster Richard White said the policy was aimed at two classes of 15 and 16-year-olds that were particularly unruly.

"Within each lesson the teacher will initially tolerate (although not condone) the use of the f-word (or derivatives) five times and these will be tallied on the board so all students can see the running score," he wrote in the letter.

"Over this number the class will be spoken to by the teacher at the end of the lesson."

The school, which has 1,130 pupils, also plans to send "praise postcards" to the parents of children who do not swear in class.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/n...re/4194098.stm

ha ha ha look at this car

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4176126.stm

Brits driving Austrians bonkers over rude village name

LONDON, (AFP) - British tourists have left the residents of one charming Austrian village effing and blinding by constantly stealing the signs for their oddly-named village.

While British visitors are finding it hilarious, the residents of F---ing are failing to see the funny side, The Sunday Telegraph newspaper reported.

Only one kind of crimimal ever stalks the sleepy 32-house village near Salzburg on the German border -- cheeky British tourists armed with a sense of humour and a screwdriver.

But the local authorities are hitting back and with the signs now set in concrete, police chief Kommandant Schmidtberger is on the lookout.

"We will not stand for the F---ing signs being removed," the officer told the broadsheet.

"It may be very amusing for you British, but F---ing is simply F---ing to us. What is this big F---ing joke? It is puerile."

Local guide Andreas Behmueller said it was only the British that had a fixation with F---ing.

"The Germans all want to see the Mozart house in Salzburg," he explained.

"Every American seems to care only about 'The Sound of Music' (the 1965 film shot around Salzburg). The occasional Japanese wants to see Hitler's birthplace in Braunau.

"But for the British, it's all about F---ing."

Guesthouse boss Augustina Lindlbauer described the village's breathtaking lakes, forests and vistas.

"Yet still there is this obsession with F---ing," she said.

"Just this morning I had to tell an English lady who stopped by that there were no F---ing postcards."

(http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050828...austriaoffbeat)

Spanish paint town red in tomato fight

BUNOL, Spain (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people armed with 100 tonnes of plum tomatoes took part in the "Tomatina" on Wednesday, joyously splattering each other in the Spanish town of Bunol.

The town hall of Bunol, which lies just inland from Valencia on Spain's Mediterranean coast, spent 24,960 euros on the fruit and dumped it the streets for the chanting masses.

Five truckloads of vitamin C and fiber were soon pureed on El Cid Street, the ripe redness smeared over walls and people.

"I feel like I connected with a lot of people today," said Karina Evans, 21, of Australia.

Frenzy erupted around the dump trucks and competition for the edible missiles was fierce. Whole tomatoes on the ground were treasured like ruby Easter eggs.

Kate Monroe, 28, and Ryan Altman, 31, both of San Diego, California, reflected the general lack of inhibition by rubbing their barely clad, pulp-slathered bodies against each other.

Some gave a moment's thought for the less fortunate.

"We were just talking about (famine in Africa). We thought we should get some garlic, make pizza and send it off," Altman said.

The origin of the tomato fight is disputed -- everyone in Bunol seems to have a favorite story -- but most agree it started around 1940, in the early years of the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco.

"There are several versions, but the most important thing is that it was started by the people," said Eusebio Carrascosa, 66, a member of the Tomatina commission.

Like the weeklong celebrations held throughout Spain in the summer, the Tomatina encourages all-night public revelry and behavior that's frowned on for the rest of the year.

"This is even better than the running of the bulls in Pamplona," said Australian Sandy Koch, 25, referring to another one of Spain's famous events.

Not everyone in Bunol joins the party.

"These are human degenerates. This isn't culture," said Pilar Masmano, 81, peeking out on the messy aftermath from her front door. "I'm going back inside."

source

Men are tired of their portrayal in advertising, according to a new book by Michael Buerk. But images of men behaving stupidly is not the only cliche which irritates writer John Camm.

Dad in muddy boots walking blithely across a kitchen floor just cleaned by an exasperated mum who just gives a frustrated but loving smile to her giggly children, who cry out: "Da-a-ad!".

Just one advertising cliche, and just one where no-one behaves like people really do.

It's the kind of thing which irritates John Camm. "It's tiresome to see male characters in adverts who don't resemble anyone you know," he says. "But what's perhaps worse is the absolute reliance of advertising on its own regurgitated cliches."

He has drawn up a list of seemingly unwritten rules which, he concludes, might as well be the Advertising Bible. Add your views to his list at the foot of the page.

1. Men are obsessed with sex but will forego sex in order to watch football or drink beer.

2. Women are locked in a constant battle with their weight/body shape/hairstyle.

3. Career success is entirely based on your ability to impress your boss.

4. Mums are often harassed but NEVER depressed/unable to cope.

5. Any act of male stupidity (e.g. walking across a clean floor in muddy boots, putting the dog in the dishwasher, etc.) will be met with a wry smile, not genuine annoyance/anger.

6. Married men will flirt with other, younger women but NEVER act upon it.

7. Anyone with a scientific career will have a bad haircut and dreadful clothes.

8. If you work for the emergency services, you are a better person than the general population.

9. Elderly relatives NEVER suffer from senile dementia.

10. Scandinavians are, without exception, blonde and beautiful.

11. Women have jobs they never do in real life, e.g. dockworker (who looks like a model).

12. Children will not eat fruit or vegetables. Ever.

13. Both men and women find driving deeply pleasurable, never boring or stressful.

14. Men are inherently lazy/slobbish; women are the reverse.

15. Chocolate, however, will cause women to immediately fall into the languor of the opium eater.

16. High Street bank staff are (A) friends of the customers, and (B) of slightly above-average attractiveness (only if female).

17. Modern men own a cat.

18. Hot beverages have miraculous rejuvenating effects.

19. Professional people have strangely trivial preoccupations, e.g. a female barrister who is morbidly obsessed with finding a healthy snack bar.

20. All women (except stay-at-home housewives) have interesting and enjoyable careers.

21. Any over-the-counter medical product will work instantly and 100% effectively.

22. Children know more than adults.

23. Women never merely hop in and out of the shower, instead preferring to act out some sort of soapy Dance of the Seven Veils.

24. School is a happy experience for all children.

25. Tortilla chips are the most exciting experience any group of young people can experience.

26. Playing bingo is THE number one pastime among 18-25 year old British women.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4204412.stm

A production of Love's Labour's Lost, set in Afghanistan and translated into the Dari language, has played to packed audiences in the capital city, Kabul. The William Shakespeare play is one of the first to be staged in the country since the fall of the Taleban in 2001.

"Theatre is much more popular than television," said Afghan playwright Aziz Elyas. "But during the Taleban's time it wasn't allowed."

The show, which ran for five nights, was sponsored by the British Council.

"It's a story about the survival of romantic love in difficult circumstances, like in Muslim countries and especially Afghanistan," said its representative, Malcolm Jardine.

Theatre is making a comeback in the land-locked country according to Aziz, whose latest work History is Witness won first prize at this week's Kabul Theatre Summer Festival.

"There's starting to be more and more shows being put on now," he said. "It's wonderful."

Strict taboo

The US Agency for International Development has even started using roving troupes of actors to stage plays in rural areas to educate people about forthcoming elections.

The actresses in Love's Labour's Lost did not hide behind veils or burqas and were allowed to flirt with their co-stars - a strict taboo in the world beyond the playhouse.

The plot has been recast so it features Afghan characters and locations, instead of the French ones used in the Bard's original.

"Shakespeare is so adaptable because he writes universal truths of human experience," said co-adaptor Steven Landrigan.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertain...ts/4226652.stm

Apparent Hunter S. Thompson suicide note published

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Renegade author Hunter S. Thompson lamented the onset of old age and his physical limits, then concluded, "Relax -- This won't hurt," in an apparent suicide note published on Thursday by Rolling Stone magazine, his literary springboard.

The scrawled words -- perhaps the last he ever committed to paper -- were written on February 16, four days before the self-described "gonzo" journalist shot himself to death at his secluded home near Aspen, Colorado, the magazine said.

Thompson was 67, and at the time friends and family said he had been in pain from hip replacement surgery, back surgery and a recently broken leg. Those close to him said Thompson had contemplated suicide for years.

The content of the note was first revealed by Thompson's biographer and literary executor, Douglas Brinkley, in a Rolling Stone article recounting the August 20 memorial service in which Thompson's cremated remains were blasted out of a cannon.

Brinkley said Thompson had left the farewell note for his wife, Anita, but "Hunter was really talking to himself" as he sank into the despair of what was for him gloomiest time of year -- the month of February.

The brief message, scrawled in black marker and titled "Football Season Is Over" (an apparent reference to the end of the NFL season he avidly followed as fan), reads as follows:

"No More Games. No More bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Swimming. 67. That is 17 years past 50. 17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am always *****y. No Fun -- for anybody. 67. You are getting Greedy. Act your old age. Relax -- This won't hurt."

At the bottom of the page, Brinkley said, Thompson drew a "happy heart," the kind found on Valentine's Day cards.

The article did not say how or when the note was discovered.

It was through his work for Rolling Stone that Thompson developed his presence as a counterculture literary figure who turned his drug- and alcohol-fueled clashes with authority into a central theme of his writing.

The most famous of his books, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," was adapted from a two-part article written for the magazine in 1971.

source

Well, if you can't even trust a hitman..

TOKYO (Reuters) - A Japanese woman called in the police after a hitman she paid to kill her lover's wife failed to carry out the job.

The 32-year-old Tokyo woman was arrested Wednesday for incitement to murder, the Daily Yomiuri newspaper said Friday.

The woman contacted a private detective through a Web site last November and paid him 1 million yen in cash to murder her love rival, the paper said.

The 40-year-old detective accepted the money and suggested he could carry out the job by chasing the victim on a motorcycle and spraying her with a biological agent in a tunnel.

Police also arrested the private detective and found the alleged target safe and well, the paper said.

source

(What a breath of fresh air! A politician ready to keep his promise! :D)

A New Zealand politician who pledged to run naked through the street if a rival candidate won Saturday's election has promised to keep his word. Green Party MP Keith Locke had pledged to strip off in his Epsom constituency if Act Party leader Rodney Hide won the Auckland seat.

Seen as a long-shot, Mr Hide surprised pundits by winning a big majority.

Mr Locke said the Greens were a party of their word, and he did not want to break an election promise.

"We haven't set a date, we've got preparations to do in terms of choreography," Mr Locke told the Associated Press on Monday.

When asked about his nude run, he said: "It will be artistic and it will involve body paint."

A local business group, the Newmarket Business Association, has taken pity on the politician.

"We don't want our electorate to be the home of the first broken campaign promise," general manager Cameron Brewer told local media.

"When Mr Locke is ready, the Newmarket Business Association will warn the faint-hearted, clear the footpath...[and] ensure there are the necessary officials," said Mr Brewer.

He also said paramedics would be on hand, to look after Mr Locke as well as witnesses.

He added that he was happy to supply the lawmaker with a loin cloth if required.

"Newmarket is home to the country's best shopping. We don't want Mr Locke's organics to frighten away any of our customers so we will provide some cover, albeit skimpy," he said.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asi...ic/4260016.stm

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Scheherazade

New Zealand MP to make naked dash

---

This reminds me much of a popular quote from Henry David Thoreau: "It is an interesting question how far men would retain their relative rank if they were divested of their clothes."
:lol:

An Israeli couple being married in India have found that you may not kiss the bride - the pair were fined $22 for indecency for their wedding embrace. A court in Rajasthan imposed the fine after Alon Orpaz and Tehila Salev had decided to get married in a traditional Hindu ceremony in Pushkar.

Priests were offended when the couple kissed and hugged during the chanting of religious verses.

The apologetic couple said they were unaware public kissing was banned. The couple, who had met in India while travelling separately, paid the 1,000-rupee fine for "committing an act of indecency" to avoid a 10-day jail sentence.

Some of the priests were upset by their actions at the wedding and filed a case claiming Hindu sentiments had been hurt.

SN Garg, president of the Priests and Pilgrimage Society, said: "It is a matter of concern for the priest community. We want the government to ensure that tourists visiting Pushkar must respect Indian culture."

Mr Garg said the couple had now been forgiven after they apologised for their behaviour.

The couple said their public embrace was done according to their own culture and was not intended to be hurtful.

Pushkar, on the banks of Pushkar Lake, is a popular pilgrimage spot for both tourists and Hindus.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4268058.stm

King Mswati of Swaziland has chosen a teenager to be his 13th wife. Phindile Nkambule, 17, was revealed to the public when she took part in a traditional Reed Dance ceremony, in which girls perform before the king.

The announcement comes just weeks after Mswati III ended an official ban on sex for women under 18. The ban was aimed at curbing the spread of HIV/Aids.

According to custom, King Mswati, 37, will marry Phindile Nkambule once she becomes pregnant.

She is reported to have caught the king's eye during the main annual Reed Dance in late August, when tens of thousands of bare-breasted girls took part in a traditional rite of Spring.

Ms Nkambule is younger than the king's first daughter, Princess Sikhanyiso, who turned 18 this month.

She will now wear royal loin cloths when she appears in public and has dropped out of school in order to be groomed as the monarch's wife.

Unpopular ban

Days earlier, the king had rescinded a ban on sexual relations for girls younger than 18.

The ban was started by the king in 2001 to fight Aids in a country where some 40% of the population is HIV positive.

But the move had been unpopular with Swazi youths and its implementation had sparked controversy.

Just two months after imposing the ban, the king fined himself a cow for breaking it by taking a 17-year-old girl as his ninth wife.

The Swazi monarch married his 12th wife, aged 18, in June.

He has one other fiancee and 27 children.

Some Swazis are critical of King Mswati - an absolute monarch whose lavish lifestyle and many wives contrast with the poverty of many of his subjects.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4283932.stm

Austria's national anthem is sexist and must be revised, the country's right wing women's minister has declared. Maria Rauch-Kallat objects to the anthem's description of Austria as a "fatherland" which is home to "great sons". She proposes several changes.

But while she has found support, one colleague called her moves "senseless".

A women's minister should work to improve the lives of women and girls, declared Uwe Scheuch, and not concern herself with such "side issues".

New identity

Mrs Rauch Kallat defended her objectives in an interview with the country's Kurier newspaper. THE FIRST VERSE

Land of mountains, land on the river
Land of fields, land of spires
Land of hammers, with a rich future
You are the home of great sons
A nation blessed by its sense of beauty
Highly-praised Austria, highly-praised Austria

"Women's politics are also the politics of language and of shaping consciousness," she said.

Her suggestions include losing a reference to a "brotherly chorus" and replacing it with a "joyful chorus" instead.

"The federal hymn should be part of every Austrian's identity," Mrs Rauch-Kallat said.

The national anthem, sung to the tune of a Mozart cantata dates from 1947 when the words were composed by female poet Paula von Preradovic.

Mrs Rauch-Kallat's proposals have met support from the opposition Social Democrats and Greens and are expected to be approved over the coming months.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4283434.stm

Mexico Indians fete disputed bones of Aztec emperor

IXCATEOPAN, Mexico (Reuters) - Decked in glittering Aztec costumes with towering feather headdresses, Mexican Indians paid tribute on Monday to what they said were the bones of the last Aztec emperor, buried in a hilltop town nearly 500 years ago.

Nahua Indian men in gold, red and green warrior dress and women in "huipil" tunics danced with bells on their ankles and wafted incense over the disputed tomb of the emperor Cuauhtemoc to mark the anniversary of the day in 1949 when his remains were exhumed in the mountains of central Mexico.

A refusal by Mexican authorities to accept the bones as authentic, and local squabbling over who should guard them, marred the annual festivities around the blackened skeleton many indigenous Mexicans consider a sacred treasure.

"Cuauhtemoc was a martyr. He was tortured and killed defending his homeland from the invaders. For us he's more important than Jesus. He's our hero," said an Indian known as Metztli, as he adjusted his shimmering pheasant-feather headdress.

"For us these remains are very symbolic, but the authorities are crushing our culture and making a dispute out of our traditions," said Juan Ceron, one of a group of Indian activists who walked for eight days from Mexico City to Ixcateopan, to protest a local government move to seize the rights to the bones.

Cuauhtemoc led the desperate resistance to Spanish invaders who conquered the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan, today's Mexico City.

According to local legend, when the Spaniards hung him in 1525, Aztec warriors slipped away with the body and partially cremated it.

They wrapped the charred skeleton in a bundle and carried it to Cuauhtemoc's birthplace, Ixcateopan, in a secret journey that took four years, traveling by night and hiding out for weeks at a time. The remains were buried in 1529 in a ceremony kept secret from the Spanish, locals say.

BODY EXHUMED

The secret was passed down from generation to generation for centuries, until in 1949 it leaked out and the federal government ordered the tomb exhumed.

Indigenous groups have marked the anniversary of the exhumation ever since with a ritual ceremony in the 16th century church that is now a shrine to Cuauhtemoc, the skeleton displayed behind glass at the altar.

After carbon-dating tests, archeologist Eulalia Guzman declared the remains were authentic, but over the years, other experts refuted the claim.

"It's very controversial, but the authorities eventually ruled that they are not Cuauhtemoc's remains," said German anthropologist Mechthild Rutsch at the National Institute of Anthropology and History.

Locals are bitter that the story is disputed. And many are angry that bickering among local politicians recently led to the town mayor stripping 69-year-old Jairo Rodriguez -- the 13th "keeper of the secret" -- of his title as guardian of the tomb.

While few tourists make the two-hour bus ride up a potholed mountain road to Ixcateopan from the bustling town of Taxco, history fans from as far away as Canada and Spain come here in February to celebrate Cuauhtemoc's birth date.

Locals say they are not interested in tourism, they just want to be taken seriously.

"Why do they deny what is in our blood? His remains must be somewhere and why not here? Aztec tradition says a king must be buried where he was born," said Claudia Sotero, who runs the cobblestoned town's telephone service.

source

MILAN, Italy - Authorities have recovered works of art worth $1.8 million that had been stolen from churches, castles and private homes throughout northern Italy since 1990, the Carabinieri paramilitary police said Tuesday.

The 19 paintings and one 18th-century kneeling stool were discovered last month at the home of a farmer near the city of Cremona, about 62 miles southwest of Milan, officials said. The 59-year-old man is charged with receiving stolen goods and has been cooperating with authorities to identify accomplices, said Capt. Andrea Ilari of the Carabinieri's art theft squad.

The art work found at the farmer's home includes two paintings by 20th-century artist Carlo Fornara, which investigators said were stolen last year.

Officials said much of the art appeared to have been stolen from the Thun Castle in the Trentino-Alto Adige region, near the Austrian border. Among the most valuable works recovered were a 17th-century painting of Saint Jeremiah by Pietro Ligari, stolen in 1995 from a church; and "Ecce Homo," by 16th-century painter Denys Calvaert, which had been stolen from a home near the northern city of Varese, officials said.

Ilari said in a statement that the Lombardy region, which includes Milan, "has the most important market for high-level stolen art."



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050927/ap_en_ot/stolen_art

The Danish air force has admitted causing the death of Rudolph the reindeer and has paid compensation to Father Christmas. Olovi Nikkanoff, one of Denmark's professional Santa Clauses, says his reindeer died of shock as fighter planes flew low overhead.

The air force admitted liability and paid him 31,175 kroner (£2,850).

"We're more than happy to pay if it means children around the world will get their presents," a spokesman said.

Mr Nikkanoff said he was devastated in February when he discovered his reindeer's body.

The animal had been grazing happily, he said, when two Danish F-16s thundered overhead.

He complained to the air force, which ordered an investigation.

"We got a letter from Santa complaining about his reindeer's death and looked into it seriously," air force spokesman Captain Morten Jensen told Associated Press.

Flight data showed the jets had been in the area at the time, and a vet concluded that their deafening roar had caused Rudolph to have heart failure.

Mr Nikkanoff feared he would have only one reindeer to pull his sleigh this Christmas.

But after the air force's decision he declared himself happy with the payout and said he was looking forward to this year's festive season with a new animal on his team.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4295968.stm

Organisers have stoutly defended the Miss Tibet contest even though all the contestants bar one have pulled out, creating a walkover for the winner. Organiser Lobsang Wangyal said the name of the "lone brave contestant" would be kept secret until the 8 October gala.

The contest is set to take place in the Indian Himalayan resort of Dharamsala, which houses exiled Tibetan leaders.

The four-year-old contest has struggled to find its feet amid staunch opposition from conservative Buddhists.

Tiara

The BBC's Baldev Chauhan in Dharamsala says seven young women pulled out at the last moment.

This is the second time in the contest's brief history that a walkover has been awarded.

But Mr Wangyal told the BBC this was not the end of the road for the pageant.

"Absolutely not, a time will come soon when the conservative Tibetan society will break out of its traditional shackles and accept such shows with open arms," he said.

"The girls also have to give a lecture on Tibetan culture, history and current affairs. It is a Tibet beauty pageant, not aping Western culture."

The winner will get a tiara and a cheque for 100,000 rupees ($2,200).

Conservative Tibetan Buddhist society and the Tibetan government in exile are both opposed to the beauty contest.

A spokesman for the exiled leaders, Thupten Samphel, said: "Exhibiting of the female body in this manner is against Tibetan Buddhism and culture."

Our correspondent says commentators suspect the lone woman's name is not being disclosed by the organisers as pressure may be exerted on her to also opt out of the contest.

Tens of thousands of Tibetans, including spiritual leader the Dalai Lama have taken refuge in India since a failed uprising against China in 1959.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4299686.stm

A female chimpanzee in a Chinese zoo has managed to kick the habit after smoking for 16 years, Xinhua news agency reported. Ai Ai, 27, first took up smoking after her mate died in 1989.

After a second spouse died in 1997 and her daughter was moved to another zoo, the broken-hearted chimp's health reportedly started deteriorating.

Zoo keepers say they are giving her mouth-watering food and playing pop music to improve her mood.

"In the first few days, she squealed for cigarettes every now and then," Xinhua reported one zookeeper at the safari park in the Shaanxi province, north-west China, as saying.

"But as her life became more colourful, she gradually forgot about them altogether."

Her new, busy lifestyle includes walking after breakfast, exercising in the evening and being served "fried dishes and dumplings at every meal" on top of bananas, rice and milk, he said.

Now and then, she can also borrow her human friend's walkman to listen to music.

It is not clear how Ai Ai developed her addiction, and whether she was first given cigarettes from the same guardians who have helped her quit.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asi...ic/4305600.stm

An unusual clash between a 6-foot (1.8m) alligator and a 13-foot (3.9m) python has left two of the deadliest predators dead in Florida's swamps. The Burmese python tried to swallow its fearsome rival whole but then exploded.

The remains of the two giant reptiles were found by astonished rangers in the Everglades National Park.

The rangers say the find suggests that non-native Burmese pythons might even challenge alligators' leading position in the food chain in the swamps.

The python's remains with the victim's tail protruding from its burst midsection were found last week. The head of the python was missing.

"Encounters like that are almost never seen in the wild... And here we are," Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida wildlife professor, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.

"They were probably evenly matched in size. If the python got a good grip on the alligator before the alligator got a good grip on him, he could win," Professor Mazzotti said.

He said the alligator may have clawed at the python's stomach, leading it to burst.

"Clearly, if they can kill an alligator they can kill other species," Prof Mazzotti said.

He said that there had been four known encounters between the two species in the past. In the other cases, the alligator won or the battle was an apparent draw.

Burmese pythons - many of whom have been dumped by their owners - have thrived in the wet and hot climate of Florida's swamps over the past 20 years.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4313978.stm

By Jacqueline Blais, USA TODAY
Thu Oct 6, 6:52 AM ET



Kurt Vonnegut opens an interview at La Mediterranée, a pretty Manhattan restaurant, this way;
"What do you want to talk about? Politics? Our president is a complete twit. I'll talk about the death of the novel. I'll talk about anything you want."
And so it goes.

For all those who have lived with Vonnegut in their imaginations - with the listless soldier Billy Pilgrim in 1969's Slaughterhouse-Five, with the religious Bokononists whispering "busy, busy, busy" in 1963's Cat's Cradle- this is what he is like in person.

Polite, courtly even. He has thick, light brownish hair. He was born left-handed but taught, as they did back in the day, to write with his right. He says Law & Order on TV is "absolutely first-rate" - as long as the episode has Sam Waterston or Jerry Orbach in it. And at 82, this hero of the left is as unafraid as ever to speak out.

His new book is A Man Without a Country (Seven Stories Press, $23.95; edited by Daniel Simon). It is part commentary (some material was written for the left-leaning magazine In These Times), part memoir and all Vonnegut writing about our world today.

And what kind of planet do we have?
Well, he says, we are making "thermodynamic whoopee with atomic energy and fossil fuel." The part that makes him feel unfunny for the rest of his life: People don't "give a damn whether the planet goes on or not." We are, he writes, too cheap and lazy.

In short: "Human beings, past and present, have trashed the joint."
There is more where that came from.

The guessers (never filled with doubts) are in charge, wise people are despised, and the USA is now operating on the snake-oil standard, he writes.
Yes, and more.

From his perspective as a former World War II prisoner of war, Vonnegut writes that American soldiers in the Middle East are "being treated, as I never was, like toys a rich kid got for Christmas."

Then, beyond all the gloom and doom, there are things to cling to.

Music (especially the blues) cheers him, as do people who behave decently. Librarians, too - "not famous for their physical strength" - who resist having books removed from shelves and refuse to give names of people who have checked out certain books in the era of the Patriot Act.

"The America I loved," he writes, "still exists in the front desks of public libraries."

Within recent weeks, he has been on Real Time with Bill Maher and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Said Stewart, introducing him: "As an adolescent, (Vonnegut) made my life bearable."

No one can doubt Vonnegut's staying power. Seven Stories Press has gone back to print four times for 190,000 copies of A Man Without a Country. He has written 25 books, among them some of the best-loved in American literature. During the past three months, he was in the top 50 most-popular authors in North America searched on abebooks.com, an umbrella website for used books.

Vonnegut grew up in the Midwest during the Great Depression. He came from a family of three; his older brother, Bernard, was a highly respected physical chemist who worked on cloud seeding.

Vonnegut learned how jokes work, he writes, from top comedians on the radio. He went to Cornell for three years, studying chemistry, and did graduate work in anthropology at the University of Chicago.

He helped raise seven children: three from his first marriage; three adopted when his sister, Alice, and her husband died; and another adopted in his second marriage.

He joined the Army in World War II, was captured by the Germans and experienced the Allied bombing of Dresden, the inspiration for Slaughterhouse-Five.

His thoughts about gasoline dependency came early in life. He was born Nov. 11, 1922, in Indianapolis - home to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, established in 1911. "When I got here in 1922, this country was already roaring drunk on petroleum," he says. "We are still roaring drunk on petroleum."

At La Mediterranée, Vonnegut brings with him a November 1972 Harper's article he wrote about the Republican presidential nomination in Miami of Richard Nixon when the country was fighting the Vietnam War.

"Read the piece written 33 years ago," he says. Nothing has changed: The country is still "divided between winners and losers. The government is Democratic and Republican, but look, in this last election, they had to choose between two members of Skull and Bones ( John Kerry and George Bush's fraternity at Yale) out of 300 million people or however many people we are."

"I was lucky enough to live under one truly humane president: FDR," he says. "He gave the common people enough influence by strengthening the labor unions.

"Automation has made labor worthless, so the losers are in awful trouble, and have no power whatsoever. They used to be able to withhold labor."

But then again there is the humanistic Vonnegut, honorary president of the Humanist Association: In A Man Without a Country, he repeats something his Uncle Alex used to say when they were sitting under an apple tree, chatting and drinking lemonade.

"Uncle Alex would suddenly interrupt the agreeable blather to exclaim, 'If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.' "

It is a saying he now carries around with him, and he urges everyone to "please notice when you are happy."

Its not often one of my favorites gets in the news.

LONDON (Reuters) - Swedish-born philanthropist Sigrid Rausing has bought Granta, the century old literary journal renowned for discovering new writers like poet Sylvia Plath and A.A. Milne, the creator of Winnie the Pooh.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Rausing, whose UK-based trust has given more than 65 million pounds over the past decade for international human rights work, also started publishing firm Portobello Books earlier this year with her husband, film producer Eric Abraham.

Granta, which publishes books alongside its quarterly literary magazine, will be kept separate from Portobello.

"I am delighted that Granta will remain an independent publishing company and that it will be in the good and capable hands of Sigrid Rausing, who has a strong sense of appreciation for Granta," said Rea Hederman, the New York Review of Books owner who took a controlling share in Granta in 1994.

Granta was founded by Cambridge University students in 1889 to create a journal filled with political discourse and literary criticism. It has evolved into a favorite among literati in the United States and Britain for spotting up-and-coming writers.

Among the Granta contributors have been Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Michael Frayn, Salman Rushdie and Paul Theroux.

"As a showcase for new writing, the magazine is unrivalled, and as a publisher of innovative work, both it and Granta Books have few equals," Rausing said.

"I intend to ensure both have the human and financial resources to flourish," she added.

After years of financial woes, Granta last year swung to a profit of 168,000 pounds on about 3 million pounds of sales from a 129,000 pound loss in 2003 and 2.3 million pounds of sales.

Rausing's family, whose wealth came from the Tetra-Pak drinks carton manufacturing company, moved to Britain from Sweden in the early 1970s. The family was third on the Sunday Times list of richest people in Britain last year, with an estimated fortune of 5 billion pounds.

Sigrid set up the trust in 1995, originally naming it after her grandparents. It was changed to the Sigrid Rausing Trust in 2003 to more closely link it with her own aims and ideals.

source

Art exhibit a rough roe to hoe...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A top Moscow gallery bowed to religious sensibilities and pulled an exhibit that combined two potent symbols of Russia -- a gold icon and black caviar -- local media reported Thursday.

Churchgoers had appealed to the state Tretyakov gallery, objecting to "Icon-Caviar," which depicts hundreds of tiny fish eggs where the face should be on an icon, saying it was trivial and insulting.

The artist, Alexander Kosolapov, told Ekho Moskvy radio that his work was in no way religious: "The icon frame -- that's a metaphor for Russia. The caviar, that's also a metaphor."

The work was part of a major exhibition of Russian pop-art, which also includes a picture of the Kremlin under a computer-game-style alien attack.

source

A great white shark crossed the Indian Ocean from South Africa to Australia and back again within just nine months. It was one of several great whites tagged by researchers in an attempt to improve conservation strategies.

Writing in the journal Science, they say the journey is unparalleled among fish - only tuna come close.

The mere act of tagging a great white is something of a feat; several people need to hold the creature still while the satellite tracker is attached.

EPIC OCEAN JOURNEY

This device was fixed to the female shark's trademark dorsal fin. Thankfully no scientists - and no sharks - suffered during the tagging.

The conservationists were investigating how far great whites wander, to see what protection measures might be needed to save them from extinction.

Several of the sharks migrated from South African to Mozambiquan territorial waters - where they are not protected.

Mate search

But Ramon Bonfil of the Wildlife Conservation Society in New York, US, and colleagues were stunned by the epic journey of the shark they called Nicole - after the shark-loving Australian actress Nicole Kidman.

"We suspect that she went for reproductive reasons," Dr Bonfil said.

"There's plenty of food around South Africa and she would be using too much energy to just go to Australia to feed. Of course we can't prove this at this stage, it is just a hunch."

Great whites were once thought to keep to coastal regions, but this was a trek across a vast expanse of open ocean.

The journey was very direct, not some aimless wandering. And the stay near Australia was only brief.

The researchers say the fact that they saw a shark make the journey at all - after observing only about 20 animals - suggests it is common behaviour.

Their concern is that such migrations make the great whites vulnerable to long-line fishing.

It is already known that lesser sharks do get captured and killed this way.

Given that the great white's population is small anyway, the species can ill afford to lose numbers in this way.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4317536.stm

The winner of the prestigious Man Booker Prize, the UK's best known literature prize, is to be announced. Bookmakers have installed Julian Barnes as favourite to win with his novel Arthur and George.

Also on the shortlist are Zadie Smith and Kazuo Ishiguro, who won the prize in 1989 for Remains of the Day.

Ali Smith, Sebastian Barry and John Banville are also in contention for the £50,000 prize.

Bookmaker Ladbrokes has given Barnes odds of 6/5 to win the prize, followed by Ishiguro at 4/1 for Never Let Me Go.

A panel of judges whittled down a longlist of 17 books, which featured four previous winners. But of that quartet only Ishiguro made it to the final stages.

BOOKER SHORTLIST
Julian Barnes - Arthur and George
Kazuo Ishiguro - Never Let Me Go
Zadie Smith - On Beauty
Sebastian Barry - A Long Long Way
John Banville - The Sea
Ali Smith - The Accidental


Booker author profiles

Zadie Smith is nominated for On Beauty, a homage to EM Forster's Howards End.

Her first two works, White Teeth and The Autograph Man, made previous Booker longlists but this is her first appearance on a shortlist.

However, White Teeth did win a clutch of awards, including the Whitbread first novel award in 2000.

Novelist and playwright Sebastian Barry is nominated for A Long Long Way, about an Irish soldier fighting in the British Army during World War I.

John Banville, another Irish writer, is in the running for The Sea, about a man who confronts his past in a town where he spent a childhood holiday.

And The Accidental by Ali Smith tells the story of a mysterious girl who turns a family upside down when she arrives on their doorstep.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertain...ts/4319734.stm

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/image...baboonbody.jpg
Baby baboon bald and beautiful


A new baby at a Devon zoo has been attracting a lot of attention - for all the wrong reasons. The bald truth is that Reggie the hamadryas baboon has had his hair licked off with some excessive tender loving care by his mother.

Reggie was born at Paignton Zoo three weeks ago, weighing 18oz (510g) with a normal covering of hair.

A zoo spokesman said: "Mostly they're born hairy and stay hairy, but in this case the mother has been over-zealous."

Phil Knowling added: "It will grow back and he will be fine, but he is a baboon curiosity at the moment."

The idea of changing Reggie's name is being toyed with.

The youngster was initially named after the late Reggie Kray, but after a lot of head scratching and hair pulling, keepers think the baboon with the shiny pink head looks more like Gollum from Lord of the Rings.

The zoo has about 60 hamadryas baboons, which are native to north-east Africa and were considered sacred by the ancient Egyptians.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/4334440.stm

An 80-page handwritten manuscript by Beethoven which was missing for 115 years has been put up for auction. The score of Grosse Fuge, which has the composer's changes, was found by a librarian at a US religious school.

It is expected to fetch up to £1.5m when it goes on sale at Sotheby's auction house in London on 1 December.

Sotheby's says the score, which was last seen at an auction in Berlin in 1890, is "the most important Beethoven manuscript to appear in recent memory".

The buyer at the 1890 Berlin auction is now believed to have been an industrialist from Ohio who took the manuscript to the US.

The German composer wrote Grosse Fuge while contending with deafness.

The score dates from 1826, the year before he died.

Dr Stephen Roe, head of Sotheby's manuscript department, said the discovery was "an amazing find".

Chance find

"It has never before been seen or described by Beethoven scholars," he said.

"Its rediscovery will allow a complete reassessment of this extraordinary music."

The script, which contains multiple deletions and corrections, was found by librarian Heather Carbo at the Palmer Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.

Ms Carbo was conducting an inventory of the seminary's archives when she came across the manuscript in a basement cabinet.

Manuscripts by Mozart were discovered at the seminary in 1990.

President Dr Wallace Charles Smith said: "At the time, we called it 'the Mozart miracle'. It seems appropriate that this time we are thankful for the 'Beethoven blessing'."

The last missing Beethoven manuscript to be discovered was found in Cornwall in 1999 and sold by Sotheby's for £166,500.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertain...ic/4337858.stm

The head of a US Catholic school has cancelled prom night because of objections to a "bacchanalian" culture of "financial decadence". Kenneth Hoagland, of Kellenberg Memorial High in Long Island, took action via a letter to parents.

"[Kellenberg] is willing to sponsor a prom, but not an orgy," he wrote, after consultations that began last year.

Prom night is a rite of passage for US students and there have been passionate reactions for and against the move.

'Emotionally traumatic'

"It is not primarily the sex, booze, drugs that surround this event, as problematic as they might be," Brother Hoagland wrote.

"It is rather the flaunting of affluence, assuming exaggerated expenses, a pursuit of vanity for vanity's sake. In a word, financial decadence," he added.

"Each year it gets worse, becomes more exaggerated, more expensive, more emotionally traumatic.

"We are withdrawing from the battle and allowing the parents full responsibility."

The principal began looking into the future of the prom last Spring after it was discovered that 46 Kellenberg seniors made a $10,000 down payment on a $20,000 house rental in the Hamptons for a post-prom party.

When school officials found out, they forced the students to cancel the deal.

But Mr Hoagland said some parents went ahead and rented a Hamptons house anyway.

The school says it is open to prom alternatives and says most parents support the move.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4350764.stm

People could apparently be misidentified by hi-tech scanners developed for national ID cards because their fingerprints have been worn away. Could this really happen?

Manual work has never been good for the hands, but now it seems it could get a person in trouble with authorities.

Labourers and builders could find their fingerprints are not recognised by new high-tech equipment, an internal report for the government has reportedly warned.

They are not alone - typists, pianists, violinists and guitarists also face inaccurate readings.

The problem is that fingerprints can be severely worn down, particularly among people who work with abrasive materials.

Skin grafts

"The ridges that make up fingerprints are like a ploughed field," says fingerprint expert Raymond Broadstock.

"Work such as labouring and typing wears down those ridges and affects the smoothness of the skin. It can make fingerprints very hard to read. Certain vitamin deficiencies can also do the same."

The damage is not permanent as the skin rejuvenates within days. But for those who work in such professions there is little chance for their fingers to get a long enough rest for the ridges to rebuild - except on holiday.

"Prisoners have been known to rub their hands against the rough walls of prison cells to try and wear away the ridges," says Mr Broadstock. "They are just placed in cells with smooth walls for a few day until the skin rejuvenates itself."

Government's trials are said to have suggested that worn away fingerprints - along with problems with face and iris scans - could identify one in 1,000 people as someone else.

One possible way round the problem would be to develop machines that also scan palms, as they have the same unique ridges, says Mr Broadstock.

"One criminal in the US obliterated his fingerprints by taking skin from other parts of his body and grafting it onto his fingertips. It worked but he still got caught because he had forgotten about his palms. He was surprised to say the least."


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4349232.stm

Environmental group Greenpeace has been fined almost $7,000 (£4,000) for damaging a coral reef at a World Heritage site in the Philippines. Their flagship Rainbow Warrior II ran aground at Tubbataha Reef Marine Park, in the Sula Sea, 650km (400 miles) south-east of Manila.

Park officials said almost 100 sq m (1,076 sq ft) of reef had been damaged.

Greenpeace agreed to pay the fine, but blamed the accident on outdated maps provided by the Philippines government.

"The chart indicated we were a mile and a half" from the coral reef when the ship ran around, regional Greenpeace official Red Constantino told AFP news agency.

"This accident could have been avoided if the chart was accurate," he said, adding, however, that Greenpeace felt "responsible" for the damage.

'Immediate action'

The accident happened while the Rainbow Warrior was on a four-month tour of the Asia-Pacific region to promote environmentally-friendly energy sources.

Greenpeace divers were at the Tubbataha park, off the coast of Palawan island, to inspect the effect of global warming on the coral reef.

Mr Constantino said the reef appeared to be healthy, with no evidence of bleaching which is believed to be caused by warmer sea temperatures.

The Rainbow Warrior II escaped serious damage and was towed into deeper water by its own rubber boats.

Tubbataha park manager, Angelique Songco, praised the work Greenpeace was doing to protect the environment.

"We also appreciate the immediate action they took to get the full assessment of the damage," she said.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asi...ic/4395572.stm

Twin bluffs his way past guards

Police have launched a hunt for a young offender who escaped from behind bars by posing as his identical twin.

Teenager Gary O'Donnell, believed to be from the Glasgow area, had been serving four-and-a-half years for assault.

He has been on the run from the Polmont Young Offenders Institution in central Scotland since Thursday.

He stepped out as guards were releasing his twin brother John. He was freed after serving 60 days in the same block for traffic offences.

Gary O'Donnell was thought to have walked out of his cell when his brother's name was called.

Brother John was still freed because he had served his time.

A spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service confirmed Gary O'Donnell was being sought by police.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4409568.stm

Scientists say they have probably solved the mystery of where the father of modern astronomy was buried. Nicolaus Copernicus' 16th century theory that the Earth orbits the Sun was a key scientific development.

A skull and partial remains were discovered two months ago in Frombork Cathedral in north-eastern Poland.

A computer-generated reconstruction of the man's face bears a strong enough resemblance to portraits of Copernicus to convince the scientists.

Piercing eyes

The remains were examined by specialists at the central crime laboratory in the Polish capital, Warsaw.

They found it was the skull of a man who had died aged 60-70. Copernicus died in 1543 aged 70.

Their computer-generated reconstruction shows a white-haired man with a large nose and a small scar above one of his piercing eyes.

Copernicus lived and worked at Frombork cathedral. For many years he was canon there and only carried out his astronomical studies in his spare time.

But despite several archaeological searches, his grave was never located - until last summer's apparent breakthrough.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/image...ait_afp203.jpg


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4405958.stm

A US woman selling her house in Denver, Colorado over the internet has decided to throw in a little extra - herself. The house is 95 years old. The bride who comes with it is 48.

Deborah Hale, a jewellery designer who runs her own business, says she set up her House with Bride website because she "had not met that special someone to share this house with".

She is asking $600,000 (£343,000) for the house and furnishings.

She herself is "priceless", she says many of her girlfriends advised her.

"I hope to find that special man who wants to build a life with me and share this special home with me," her website says.

Her ideal candidate is between 40 and 60 years old, educated, well-spoken, professional and "spiritual".

Ms Hale's business is based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but because her life there "revolved solely around my work", she bought the house in Denver in order to "make some changes to improve my social life and hopefully meet my 'soul mate' ", she writes.

She says she was unsuccessful using dating agencies and going on blind dates.

Ms Hale invites bidders to send videos or DVDs of themselves, plus "information about why you are interested either in this house and/or Deborah" and "any additional information you would like to provide".

The auction - which is also listed on eBay - closes on Valentine's Day 2006.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4409364.stm

Israeli officials say they have discovered what may be the oldest Christian Church in the Holy Land - on the site of a maximum security prison. Israel's Antiquities Authority said the church at the Megiddo jail dated back to the third or fourth century AD and was "a once in a lifetime find".

It contained a mosaic bearing the name of Jesus Christ in ancient Greek, fish murals and an altar, officials said.

The dig took place near the biblical site of Armageddon in northern Israel.

'Great discovery'

"This is a once in a lifetime find and the inscriptions are very rare," excavation supervisor Jotham Tefer told Israel's Channel Two television.

"This is a very ancient structure, maybe the oldest in our area," he said.

Mr Tefer added that the discovery could help shed new light on an important period of Christianity, which was banned by the Romans until the fourth century.

"Normally we have from this period in our region historical evidence from literature, not archaeological evidence," he said.

"There is no structure you can compare it to, it is a very unique find."

The Vatican's ambassador to Israel, Pietro Sambi, described the find as a "great discovery".

Megiddo is Hebrew for Armageddon, the site which Christian teachings say will herald the final battle before the coming of the messiah.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/4411286.stm

An old people's home in Sweden found itself under siege from two drunks. But these were no ordinary drinkers - the tipsy pair were elks who had come upon some fermented apples outside the home in Sibbhult, southern Sweden.

The cow and her calf developed such a taste for the intoxicating fruit they refused to bow to police attempts to chase them away from the home.

Police officers were forced to take tougher measures to make them leave, bringing in a hunter with a dog.

The elks did not need telling twice, and left without protest.

The only thing police needed to do to ensure the pie-eyed pair did not return was remove the remaining apples, police chief Bengt Hallberg said.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4419876.stm

By Sandeep Sahu
BBC News, Bhubaneswar

Officials in India's eastern Orissa state fear a three-year-old who has become famous for running marathon distances is being exploited. Budhia Singh, who recently ran 60km (33 miles) in six and a half hours, has appeared in a spate of TV commercials.

The state government says it also fears the long distances may be damaging the boy's heart and lungs.

His mentor, Biranchi Das, dismissed the fears, saying Budhia had regular medical check-ups.

Orissa's sports minister, Debashis Nayak, said the government would not be a mute spectator to the exploitation and would intervene, if necessary, to "save his future".

Budhia recently ran non-stop from the holy town of Puri to Bhubaneswar, a distance of 60km (37 miles).

A few days before that, he ran non-stop from Bhubaneswar to Cuttack - 35km.

During a recent visit to Orissa, former top Indian runner, PT Usha, also said running for 50 to 60km so frequently could have disastrous long-term consequences for Budhia's health.

Scolded

But Budhia's mentor, Mr Das, is undeterred by the criticism.

"A team of three doctors conducts regular check-ups on Budhia to find out if anything is wrong with him.

"I don't know why these people are so concerned."

The state government has announced a monthly stipend of 500 rupees ($12) for Budhia but Mr Das said: "The amount would not be enough to meet the expenses for even two days."

Mr Das, a judo coach, noticed Budhia's talent when scolding him for being a bully.

"Once, after he had done some mischief, I asked him to keep running till I came back," Mr Das said.

"I got busy in some work. When I came back after five hours, I was stunned to find him still running."

Budhia had been sold by his poverty-stricken mother to a man for 800 rupees.

Mr Das summoned the man who had bought Budhia and paid him his money back.

He then started a strict diet and exercise regimen that saw Budhia adding a few kilometres to his running every few days.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4421446.stm

An 18-year-old American is about to combine high school with politics - by becoming mayor of his home town. Michael Sessions - who last year ran for his school council and lost - has been elected mayor of Hillsdale, a town of 8,200 in the US state of Michigan.

He ousted the 51-year-old incumbent in a campaign costing $700 (£400) paid for by a summer job selling toffee apples.

Mr Sessions says he intends to carry on studying through his four-year term and will go to town meetings after class.

He is due to take up the part-time position, which offers a $3,600 (£2,070) stipend, on 21 November.

Homework

Since beating incumbent Douglas Ingles, he has become an overnight celebrity, giving media interviews and appearing on the Late Show with David Letterman.

He seems to have won over voters with his enthusiasm, despite his obvious youth.

"They'd look at me and say 'How old are you again?'," he said, explaining he went on to tell them his ideas for attracting money and jobs to the town.

To make matters harder, the teenager had not turned 18 before the deadline for filing his name for the ballot paper had passed.

Undeterred, he went to the town hall to register as a voter on his birthday and a week later declared he would run a write-in campaign.

This meant spending the next month going door-to-door with business cards and a sample ballot to show people where to write in his name on polling day.

Although the day-to-day running of the town will continue to fall to the city manager, Mr Sessions will have to attend two meetings a month after school.

Peter Beck, principal of Hillsdale High, is quoted by the Los Angeles Times as saying: "I told him that if he wins, he'll still need to finish his homework... I'd hate to have to suspend a city official."


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4429192.stm

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/image...harriet203.jpg

A zoo in Australia has held a 175th birthday party for one of the world's oldest known living creatures, a Giant Galapagos tortoise. Australia Zoo, where the tortoise has lived for the last 17 years, marked the day with a pink hibiscus flower cake.

Although the animal's exact date of birth is not known, DNA testing has indicated its approximate age.

Some people believe the tortoise, known as Harriet, was studied by British naturalist Charles Darwin.

Darwin took several young Giant Galapagos tortoises back to London after his epic voyage on board HMS Beagle.

DNA testing has suggested the giant creature was born around 1830, a few years before Darwin visited the Galapagos archipelago in 1835.

However, Harriet belongs to a sub-species of tortoise only found on an island that Darwin never visited.

Plate to table

At the time of Darwin's visit, Harriet would have been about as big as a dinner plate. She now weighs 150kg (23 stone) and is roughly the size of a dinner table.

According to the BBC's Phil Mercer, in Sydney, Harriet has become somewhat of a celebrity at the Australia Zoo on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

She receives a thorough wash every morning and is fed a vegetarian diet that includes green beans and celery.

Her keepers believe she has survived for so long because she has enjoyed a stress-free life.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asi...ic/4438448.stm

The authorities in India's Uttar Pradesh state are trying to work out what to do with a senior police officer who likes dressing up in drag.

Things came to a head last week when inspector general Devendra Kumar Panda turned up in court in a yellow dress and dark red lipstick.

TV news channels flocked to his home to film him worshipping Hindu deity Lord Krishna in the form of a tree.

Mr Panda says he is the reincarnation of Goddess Radha, Lord Krishna's beloved.

His wife takes a different view - she has filed for separation because he is not behaving like a husband.

The court in Lucknow ordered Mr Panda to pay 7,000 rupees ($150) a month in maintenance allowance.

Wife's fears

Mr Panda's wife, Veena, fears he may lose his job - and she her maintenance allowance.

"Please keep my future in mind," she told reporters. "I am a 51-year-old lady and a graduate. I should not suffer due to any action against him."

The couple have been married for 33 years and have two sons, but Mr Panda now pays his family no attention.

He has been spending his time embracing a peepal, or holy fig, tree in his garden, chanting mantras to his beloved Lord Krishna.

One room in his house is kept sacred and secret.

"That is my private bed room. Only Krishna can enter there," he says.

'Strange behaviour'

There is nothing unusual in a Hindu ascetic getting up early and quoting from scriptures, as Mr Panda does.

Nor is it uncommon for Hindu sects to worship deities as lovers, or for men to live like women devotees.

But Mr Panda's position is a tricky one, seeing as he is a senior police officer.

Colleagues kept his penchant for ladies' clothes a secret for years, but must now decide what to do with a man who has become a figure of ridicule.

"The appearance and behaviour of Mr Panda is strange," admits director general of police, Yashpal Singh.

"But maybe he is suffering from some mental problem and any disciplinary action may precipitate things."



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4440504.stm