■ Japan
Shoe snatcher snared
Police in southern Japan arrested a man for stealing shoes at a local hospital, then later stumbled upon a collection in his home of 440 women's shoes -- all for the left foot, an official said on Sunday. The private hospital in Usu city began receiving complaints two years ago that shoes removed at the entrance hall were going missing. Police arrested Ichiro Irie, 45, on Saturday and found a box overflowing with women's shoes, including high heels, patent leather pumps, sandals and nurses' shoes. Irie told police he had "a penchant for women's feet." It wasn't clear why he seemed to prefer the left foot.
■ China
Man kills money-eating dog
A farmer in Honghu, Hubei Province killed his pet dog and cut it open after it swallowed his US$300 life savings, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported yesterday. The dog gobbled up 25 notes worth 100 yuan each when Sun Xiaoshan left his savings lying around the house. Sun managed to retrieve 14 of the notes, which were partially damaged but worth a total of around US$170 from the dog's stomach, the paper said.
■ China
Priests detained over retreat
Authorities have detained a dozen underground Roman Catholic priests and seminarians for attending a retreat that was not sponsored by the state, a US-based religious rights group said. They were being held at a detention center in Gaocheng County, Hebei Province, a week after authorities took them into custody, the Connecticut-based Cardinal Kung Foundation said. The group also said authorities demolished a church in nearby Liugou village in June, about two weeks after its completion. "It does not appear that the Chinese government respects the Pope with these consistent and harsh treatments of the Roman Catholic Church in China," foundation president Joseph Kung said.
■ India
Bachelors living in fear
Young men in the eastern state of Bihar are being closely watched by their families to prevent them from being abducted and unwillingly married, the Hindu Times newspaper said yesterday. The paper reported that with the onset of the traditional wedding season, fear has gripped families with unmarried men. The practice in the Begusarai area of abducting bachelors has risen to alarming proportions in recent years with a sharp rise in dowry demands. Families who want to marry off their daughters without paying a dowry often hire criminals to abduct eligible boys and force them into wedlock, the paper said, quoting social activists. So far 13 cases of such forced marriages have been registered with police this year.
■ South Korea
Key presidential aide quits
President Roh Moo-hyun yesterday accepted the resignation of a close aide accused by the political opposition of making the president's leadership look shaky. Lee Kwang-jae, who held the key post of briefing the president on state affairs, has been embroiled in allegations of corruption, though no criminal charge has been filed against him. Lee turned in his resignation on Oct. 18 but it wasn't accepted until yesterday as pressure mounted on Roh to reshuffle his staff to regain public confidence. Roh said earlier this month that he no longer felt confident as president and would step down if he failed to win a fresh mandate in the referendum.
■ United States
Gay bishop won't back down
Canon Gene Robinson, the Anglican communion of churches' first openly gay bishop, pledged at the weekend that he would defy the world leaders of the church and proceed with his consecration next week in the US. Speaking via a videolink to a conference of gay and lesbian Christians in Manchester, England, Robinson confirmed that he was determined that he would not stand aside next Sunday. Anglican church leaders have warned that his appointment could tear the worldwide church apart. Robinson, 56, a divorced grandfather, with two daughters, has lived with his partner, Mark Andrew. for 13 years.
■ Colombia
Leftist wins Bogota election
Colombians returned to the polls Sunday to elect state and local officials amid an atmosphere of violence, a day after 13 people were killed as a referendum was held. Leftist Luis Eduardo Garzon won the mayor's race in Bogota with 47 percent of the vote, the Election Commission said. It was the first time the Colombian left had been able to win such an important election, and it represented a blow to the conservative President Alvaro Uribe. The president hopes for Saturday's 15-question referendum also fell short as the minimum turnout required for the vote to be valid was not met.
■ United States
Egyptian twins doing well
The conditions of formerly conjoined Egyptian twins Ahmed and Mohamed Ibrahim were upgraded from serious to guarded as they continued to recover from surgery two weeks ago to separate them. Mohamed is off all intravenous medications, the hospital said Sunday night. Both children were tolerating full formula feedings. "Mohamed's therapy is going well and today he was able to throw toys with his left hand at various staff members," said Dr. James Thomas, chief of critical care services at Children's Medical Center Dallas. Ahmed is undergoing therapy workouts twice a day and is making good progress.
■ Germany
Pill for rampaging boars
Scientists are experimenting with contraceptives for wild boars, to try to stop the daily invasion of Berlin by herds looking for food. Although wild pigs have lived in the nearby forests for centuries, their numbers have grown rampantly in recent months. "A herd of wild pigs can do thousands of euros of damage in one night," said Katarina Jewgenow, of Berlin's Zoo and Wild Animal Institute. The institute hopes to remedy the problem by giving the animals a yearly dose of hormones that will leave them temporarily sterile. The pills will be delivered in in feeding troughs in the center of the forest or on "tasty snacks" hidden in the undergrowth.
■ Canada
Paper combo beats rocks
The competitors call themselves professional athletes. Some even bring along team doctors to supervise their nutrition and take them through intense warmups. This, it seems, is serious stuff to the 320 competitors who shook their fists early into Sunday morning at the World Rock, Paper, Scissors Champion-ships in downtown Toronto. The winner was Toronto's Rob Krueger, a member of the team "Legion of the Red Fist," who netted C$5,000 (US$3,825). To achieve the title of World RPS Champion, he threw a combination of rock-paper-paper, defeating his opponent's offering of three rocks.
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
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
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not