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World News Quick Take

■ China
Got squirrel?
A climber trapped for days after falling from a mountain in eastern China survived by catching and eating a squirrel, a news report said yesterday. The man fell from a cliff in Jiuhuashan, Anhui province, and was trapped for days with no food or water, the Hong Kong edition of the China Daily reported. He caught and ate the squirrel raw which gave him the strength to climb up part of the cliff before eventually being rescued by locals, the newspaper said.

■ Hong Kong
Trio nabbed over fake bill
Three Sri Lankan men have been arrested after trying to open a bank account with a bogus US$1,000,000 bank note, police said yesterday. The men were arrested after walking into a branch of the HSBC in Central district on Monday, a police spokesman said. They were charged with tendering a counterfeit bank note and made an initial appearance in court on Thursday, when their case was adjourned until March 25. The highest denomination bill the US prints is for US$100.

■ China
You want tyranny with that?
A restaurant in southern China has been ordered to stop dressing its waiters and waitresses as Red Guards from the Mao Zedong era, a news report said Friday. The restaurant in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, used the outfits from the notorious 10-year Cultural Revolution period to create a retrospective atmosphere for customers. Diners complained it reminded people of painful experiences and the local garrison command stepped in and told the restaurant to drop the outfits, the Hong Kong edition of the China Daily said. Mao's Red Guards were bands of students who victimized, tortured and imprisoned intellectuals and so-called counter-revolutionaries during China's Cultural Revolution.

■ Japan
Fancy feline claws a hit
Cat owners are snapping up colorful claw caps that can stop their pets scratching furniture or merely decorate the puss's nails. Japan in January became the first Asian nation to offer the US-produced Soft Claw caps, which come in four sizes and are available in purple, pink, blue, red and transparent. Since then around 4,000 cap kits have been sold, most of them this month after a major economic paper did a story on the product, Soft Claws Japan president Tamio Matsumura said. The vinyl caps can last for four to six weeks and come off as the claws grow. Cats can also draw in their claws with the caps on. A complete kit, including 40 caps and glue, is priced at US$33.

■ China
Refugees go to S Korea
Eight North Koreans left German diplomatic premises in Beijing en route to South Korea, more than two weeks after they took refuge in a German school compound, sources told reporters on Friday. The eight adult men left Beijing on Thursday on their way to South Korea, the sources said. They entered the German embassy school compound February 23 and took refuge in an apartment block used by embassy staff. The incident came two days before sensitive six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program began in the Chinese capital. China has previously allowed at least 200 North Koreans to leave China after they entered diplomatic premises, including the German school compound, in the last two years.

■ United States
Agency checks popcorn
The Environmental Protection Agency is studying the chemicals released into the air when a bag of microwave popcorn is popped or opened. Exposure to vapors from butter flavoring in microwave popcorn has been linked to a rare lung disease contracted by factory workers in Missouri, Illinois, Iowa and Nebraska. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has said it suspects the chemical diacetyl caused the illnesses. However, health officials insist people who microwave popcorn and eat it at home are not in danger.

■ Switzerland
MP accused of kidnapping
Medecins Sans Frontieres has accused Russian government officials of involvement in the kidnapping of one of their aid workers, who was abducted near Chechnya in August, 2002 and is thought to be still alive. The head of operations for MSF Switzerland, Thomas Nierle, said the aid worker, Arjan Erkel, had been abducted in the Russian republic of Dagestan by a group that has links to an MP in the local parliament. "A member of the Dagestani parliament is involved," he said.

■ Italy
Police arrest 25 Mafiosi
Italian police said they arrested 25 people in a series of dawn raids on Thursday against a Neapolitan Mafia clan suspected of drugs trafficking, illegal gambling and building industry scams. Some 300 Carabinieri para-military police carried out the raids in Salerno, Naples and in neighboring areas. Police said some gang members were suspected of involvement in a public works contracts scam during work to renovate the A3 highway between the southern cities of Salerno and Reggio Calabria. Prosecutors said that as part of the investigation, arrest warrants would be issued for four footballers from Italian third-division team Battipagliese suspected of colluding with the Mafia to fix the result of a match with neighboring team Salernitano.

■ United States
11-year-old drives dad
A Texas man did the drinking and decided to let his 11-year-old son, who was barely able to see over the steering wheel, do the driving, police said. Robert Lee Crider was arrested on charges of child endangerment, public intoxication and having an open container of alcohol outside the town of Big Spring in the predawn hours of Saturday. A spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety said Crider apparently was taking his son home for the weekend as a part of a custody arrangement when he and a friend stopped off at a bar with the boy. When the two adults became too drunk to drive, they handed the keys of the rental car over to the boy.

■ Mexico
Elderly cousins die in duel
Two peasant farmers, cousins age 70 and 85, argued for years over water rights and finally faced off in an old-fashioned pistol duel that killed both, a judicial official said Wednesday. Manuel Orozco, 70, and Candelario Orozco, who were also brothers-in-law, shot each other dead in the middle of a field Monday night in Jalisco state. Their bodies were found only a few meters apart with one fatal bullet wound each and two pistols lying nearby. Manuel fired a .45 caliber Colt pistol and his cousin was packing a .22 caliber pistol.

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