■Hong Kong
Worms panic diners
A bag of worms caused panic in a Hong Kong restaurant when a mystery customer walked in and emptied them onto a table, police said yesterday. The man walked into the restaurant in the Sha Tin district on Monday and, when told the manager he wanted to see was not in, emptied the bag onto one of the tables and walked out. Diners and staff panicked as the worms slithered out, down chairs and across the floor. Police were called but failed to trace the man who had left the worms, a police spokesman said. The incident is believed to be linked to a debt which the restaurant manager has not repaid.
■ Hong Kong
Women bemoan sex lives
Married Hong Kong women -- famed for their obsession with shopping and high fashion -- by and large have dull and unexciting sex lives, according to a survey revealed yesterdays. Only 28 per cent of women interviewed said they liked sex and had a satisfying sex life. Despite what their wives said, however, more than half of Hong Kong men said they were quite happy with their sex lives. More than 1,600 women and 1,100 men were interviewed for the survey by Hong Kong's Family Planning Association.
■ Hong Kong
Jealous husband jailed
A Hong Kong husband who flew into a jealous rage after he was replaced in his wife's affections by her pet Pekinese has been jailed, a news report said yesterday. Ma Cheung-chit, 66, beat his wife after an argument about how she preferred to sleep with the miniature dog rather than him, the South China Morning Post reported. The husband, who complained he could not stand the smell, barking and dog hairs, was made to sleep on a makeshift bed in the living room, Hong Kong's High Court heard on Monday. Ma, who beat his wife with a wooden stick, admitted wounding and was jailed for three years and four months. His lawyer told the court Ma's rage was triggered by his belief his wife loved the dog more than him.
■ The Philippines
Drunk boyfriend stabbed
A 28-year-old man was killed in the Philippine capital for escorting his girlfriend home while he was drunk, a police officer said yesterday. Police officer Rommel Merino said Augusto Suquera died from multiple stab wounds shortly after he was attacked late on Sunday by an uncle of his girlfriend in Manila's suburban city of Quezon. "The suspect, identified as Francisco Caid, got angry when he saw the drunken victim escorting his 15-year-old niece home," he said. Merino said Caid confronted Suguera and a heated argument ensued between them, during which the suspect pulled out a knife and stabbed the victim several times. Police have launched a manhunt for the suspect who fled after the incident.
■ India
Vajpayee to visit China
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is scheduled to visit China in June as part of efforts to improve relations between the two countries, Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes said. Fernandes said the implementation of confidence building measures by the armies of both countries indicated the desire to live in peace. "For the last three years not a single shot was fired across the Himalayan frontiers between the two countries," The Hindu newspaper Tuesday quoted Fernandes as saying. Vajpayee will be the first Indian prime minister to visit China in over a decade, and the third to visit after the 1962 war between the two countries.
■Germany
Man craned to safety
Firemen in Germany had to use a 38.5-tonne crane to hoist a German man weighing 300kg out of his apartment and take him to hospital, the fire brigade in the northern city of Hamburg said on Monday. "Because the man was so heavy, we couldn't carry him on one of the normal stretchers, so we had to use the crane," said Hamburg fire brigade spokesman John Ralfs. Ten firemen were needed to lift the 63-year-old man onto a hospital bed placed inside a large industrial container, which the crane had hoisted level with his first-floor balcony.
■ Israel
Labor goes on strike
Israel's public sector went on a general strike yesterday morning crippling government offices and municipalities, public transport, education and health care. The Histadrut, Israel's federation of labor unions, announced the strike after talks between its negotiation team and that of the finance ministry, which continued throughout the night, reached a deadlock at dawn. Government hospitals will operate on Shabbath schedules. Only doctors will come to work at the public health care centers, while nurses and other staff are staying at home.
■ Colombia
Presidential thief pardoned
A man who apparently picked up Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's wallet from the ground and withdrew more than US$4,000 from his credit cards was pardoned, media reports said Monday. The man, who found the wallet on Friday, returned the money on Monday. Uribe lost his wallet Friday during a visit to the northeastern city of Bucaramanga. Uribe gave his jacket to his security chief, who handed it to a bodyguard. It was then that the president's wallet apparently fell and a man who had approached the president to welcome him found it on the ground, the reports said. But the man, who has not been identified, Monday returned the 12 million pesos, about US$4,200 dollars, he took from Uribe's credit card accounts using 17 different automatic tellers. Security services had already identified the suspect, but he beat them by returning the stolen funds. The man had no criminal record.
■ United States
Texas killer arrested
A Texas mother who police say admitted bashing her children's heads in with rocks is being held on capital murder and aggravated assault charges, media reports said Monday. Sheriff deputies in Smith County Texas arrested Deanna Laney, 38, of New Chapel Hill, Texas, early Saturday after she called authorities to report the crime. A deputy sent to the home found Laney wandering in bloody pajamas in the back yard of the home, and the bodies of her two eldest sons, Joshua Keith Laney, 8, and Luke Allen Laney, 6, in the front yard. Laney's youngest son, 14-month-old Aaron, was discovered in his crib with a massive open skull fracture.
■ United Kingdom
Copper wins suit
An English court has awarded compensation for "mental anguish" to a police constable after a drunken youth made derogatory comments about his girth, the Daily Telegraph reported yesterday. The court in Ulverston near Barrow-in-Furness in northwestern England awarded Constable Jack Montague, 39, Japanese Yen 100 (US$160) in compensation.
Agencies
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia