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World News Quick Take

■ China
Iraq detainees in debt
A group of Chinese workers briefly kidnapped in Iraq two weeks ago are hiding out in a hospital to avoid loan sharks who funded their ill-fated journey, state television reported yesterday. The seven, who were released on April 12 after a night in captivity, had all borrowed 30,000 yuan to 40,000 yuan (US$3,500 to US$5,000) from illegal lenders at high interest rates in their hometown of Pingtan in Fujian Province, China Central Television (CCTV) reported on its Web site. "When we think of how much money we owe people, we get so worried at the thought of going home to face all those coming to collect," it quoted one of the seven, Chen Xiaojin, as saying.

■ Hong Kong
Boy thief in luggage
A Hong Kong man was arrested after allegedly hiding his 12-year-old son in a suitcase stowed on a bus -- hoping the child could climb out in the luggage compartment to steal from other bags, a newspaper said yesterday. The Wen Wei Po newspaper reported that the man was caught Tuesday at a checkpoint in the Chinese border city of Shenzhen after police noticed he was acting strangely. Chinese authorities opened the suitcase and found the boy along with a flashlight, a screwdriver and a mobile phone. News reports did not identify the man or say what authorities did with the boy.

■ Australia
Terror warning issued
Australia's top counterterrorist body warned yesterday of the threat of an attack on ships or ports. The maritime threat assessment from the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation that was passed on to state governments and police forces said the threat was low or very low. Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson and Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said al-Qaeda and its regional offshoots had boasted of its ability to attack Australian ships or ports.

■ Cambodia
Child-sex madame busted
A Cambodian woman has been arrested on suspicion of trafficking Vietnamese girls into prostitution after a raid on her cafe uncovered 10 girls, police and government officials said yesterday. Sok Keo, 29, was arrested in Phnom Penh Thursday after police found eight Vietnamese girls aged eight to 10 and two 18-year-olds on her premises, said Ung Sokunthea, director of a government anti-child exploitation department. "Those girls were detained to provide sex for foreigners," she said.

■ United States
Hurricane killer confesses
As Hurricane Isabel bore down on the Washington area in September, a 40-year-old Maryland plumber with no previous criminal record went on a deadly spree and killed four people, The Washington Post reported yesterday. Evan Smyth, 40, pleaded guilty in Montgomery Circuit Court on Thursday to four charges of first-degree murder, the newspaper reported. The victims turned up one after another as the Montgomery County police force was already stretched thin coping with the hurricane, the newspaper said.

■ United Kingdom
Booze crackdown launched
Britain's government launched a crackdown Thursday against excessive drinking, as it blamed alcohol-fuelled thuggery for an increase in violent crime levels. There were 11 percent more violent crimes recorded in the final three months of last year compared with the same period in 2002, Britain's Home Office, or interior ministry said. This amounted to 271,500 incidents recorded by police in England and Wales -- Scotland is treated separately for crime data -- against 207,500. A lot of the increase came in the form of "less serious" violent crimes such as assaults, which increased by 21 percent, blamed on excessive drinking as well as a change to data recording methods.

■ Canada
`Poop fiction' wows kids
The content may seem off-color to some, but potty humor is big in the world of popular children's literature -- from the Captain Underpants series to such best-selling titles as Zombie Butts from Uranus! -- and some parents and authors believe the genre is attracting otherwise reluctant readers. "You gotta give kids something they want to read," says Glenn Murray, an educator-turned-children's author from Canada. Murray co-wrote two books featuring Walter the Farting Dog, a flatulent pooch whose problem saves the day time and time again. The author believes his smelly protagonist is an ambassador for literacy. "Now he's the people's dog," Murray says. "And I'm just his agent."

■ United States
Sikh police officer wins case
A Sikh who was forced from his job in the New York Police Department because he insisted on wearing a turban while writing tickets and directing traffic should be reinstated, a judge ruled. The traffic officer, Jasjit Singh Jaggi, filed a complaint last year with the city Commission on Human Rights, accusing NYPD officials of religious discrimination. He claimed that he was forced to resign because he refused to shave his beard and stop wearing a turban, considered an article of faith in the Sikh religion.

■ United States
Third porn star has HIV
A third adult movie performer tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS in the midst of an HIV outbreak that has halted most production, according to the director of an AIDS testing service. "This is not over," said Sharon Mitchell, executive director of the nonprofit Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation, which screens performers for sexually transmitted diseases. Mitchell declined to identify the woman diagnosed Thursday but said the performer had sex with five men before all were barred from adult movie sets under a voluntary quarantine in place since the first HIV case was announced April 12.

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