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World News Quick Take

■ Australia
Sheep not going to Iraq
A shipment of more than 50,000 sheep from Australia will remain stranded at sea after the government denied reports that it would be unloaded in Iraq on Saturday. ``Reports that a deal has been done and that the Cormo Express will dock in Iraq ... to unload its cargo of live sheep are incorrect,'' Agriculture Minister Warren Truss said in a statement. "The Australian government and industry continue to be involved in a number of sensitive negotiations with a number of countries and organizations in an endeavor to arrange a suitable destination for the sheep as soon as possible." Nearly 4,000 sheep on the vessel have already died.

■ Australia
Harry hides from media
Intense media scrutiny has forced police to remove Prince Harry from the central Australian cattle station he was visiting, according to a news report yesterday. The 19-year-old Harry, third in line to the British throne, was removed from the 16,000-hectare Tooloombilla Station in Queensland state by a police convoy, Australian Associated Press reported. It did not say where Harry was taken. Harry was planning to spend three months working as a jackaroo -- the Australian term for cowboy -- on the ranch as part of his "gap" year between high school and further studies.

■ South Korea
US to deal with North Korea
The US is working on a detailed plan to deal with the North Korean nuclear issue in advance of an expected second round of six-party talks, South Korean Foreign Minister Yoon Young-kwan said on Friday. "This greatly enhances the prospects of a diplomatic resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue," he told a lunch sponsored by the Asia Society and the Council on Foreign Relations. After months of accelerating weapons program activity, the North attended talks in Beijing last month with China, the US, South Korea, Japan and Russia. The talks, intended to address the crisis over Pyongyang's nuclear program, may resume in November although no date has been agreed.

■ Indonesia
Couple to be released
The Indonesian military will soon release an Australian couple after detaining them when their sail boat ran aground in a storm in war-ravaged Aceh province, officials said yesterday. Humphrey Jones, 57, and his wife Claire Susan Jones, 58, were detained Thursday on Nasi island, just north of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, after they sailed ashore to seek refuge from the storm. Authorities holding the pair at an immigration office said they would be released soon but wouldn't say when. "After we questioned them, we decided to let them go. They did not violate any laws because they had no idea that there was a military operation underway," said Lieutenant Colonel Ahmad Yani Basuki. "It was just bad luck that they were caught in bad weather."

■ China
Monks surf the Internet
The monks of China's Shaolin temple, famous for centuries for their martial-art skills, are also experienced users of the Internet, state media said yesterday. The temple, in central China's Henan province, has had its own Web site since 1997 -- long before the country's major portals started business, the Xinhua news agency reported. The agency, reporting from an IT conference at the temple, also said the Shaolin monks often go online to communicate with the outside world.

■ United States
Recall boosts porn sales
Porn actress Mary Carey's message may not be resonating with many voters but her bid to become California governor has her videos flying off shelves. The blond, buxom adult film actress is one of 132 candidates running to replace Democratic Governor Gray Davis in a recall election. The 23-year-old has certainly grabbed plenty of headlines and photo opportunities as she promotes legalizing gay marriage, a plan to tax breast implants and, of course, her own career, in a gubernatorial run that has created a growing number of fans at her appearances.

■ United kingdom
Bankers miss out on prayers
Even bankers and stockbrokers need moral support, a British Christian think tank has said, complaining that financial service workers were not getting their fair share of prayers in Sunday church services. The Industrial Christian Fellowship, a cross-church group founded in 1877, said those in the financial sector missed out to "caring" professions, such as teachers and nurses, when it came to prayers in church. The group said it had already prepared some prayers for those in the financial world and was distributing them on its website under the headline "When did you last pray for your stockbroker?"

■ United states
Hacker arrested over worm
Prosecutors in Seattle said on Friday that they had arrested a juvenile for releasing a variant of the Blaster worm that devastated computers worldwide and targeted Microsoft Corp's computers. The arrest of the juvenile, whose identity was sealed from the public, was for "intentionally causing damage and attempting to cause damage to protected computers," a federal offense, said John McKay, US Attorney for the Western District of Washington. Blaster and its variants are self-replicating Internet worms that bore through a Windows security hole. The attack targeted a Microsoft update page that would have fixed the flaw, but Microsoft had changed its Web address in order to thwart the attack.

■ United kingdom
Kylie gets disturbing mail
Australian singer Kylie Minogue has called in British police to investigate disturbing letters sent to her, police sources said. A Scotland Yard spokesman said police in west London were investigating an allegation of harassment made on September 18, adding that no arrests had been made. The complaint was made on Minogue's behalf by her management after 700 threatening letters were addressed to her, the Sun newspaper reported yesterday.

■ United states
Priest gets 10 more years
A Roman Catholic priest in Kentucky imprisoned for abusing children was sentenced on Friday to serve 10 more years for a second set of counts. The sentence will start after the Reverend Louis Miller, 72, completes the 20-year prison term he is already serving. The judge denied his attorney's request that the sentences run together. Miller pleaded guilty in June to abusing the victims while they were between the ages of 10 and 15 in the 1970s. He pleaded guilty in March to charges involving 21 children in Jefferson County. One of eight victims in neighboring Oldham County, Mike Turner, shook Miller's hand in court but was adamant that Miller should spend his life behind bars. "I forgive you, but I don't want you to get out," Turner said.

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