■ Hungary
Police defuse device
Hungarian police neutralized a suspect package with a trigger device near one of the capital's biggest shopping malls yesterday, a police official said. Police were alerted to the presence of the package by some young people and closed a busy six-lane road next to the Duna Plaza shopping center, which has more than 200 shops, a nine-screen cinema multiplex, video arcade and bowling alley. Experts searched the package, which had a remote-control device which would have been capable of triggering explosives, a tube, and wires connecting them. "The device would have been able to trigger the contents of the tube," said national police spokesman Laszlo Garamvolgyi.
■ Germany
Nude jogger loses appeal
A sex therapist who likes to jog naked has lost a legal appeal to pursue his pastime. A regional court of appeals upheld a 600 euro (US$729) fine for indecent exposure against the 55-year-old man known as the "naked jogger of Freiburg" after his home city. The defendant was stopped by police in December after two female students spotted him running through a park in the southern city clad only in socks and sneakers in chilly weather. The judges agreed with the ruling of the lower court, which found that nude jogging was "grossly inappropriate behavior" that violated community norms and was inconsiderate to fellow citizens.
■ Germany
Cat put on diet
A Berlin animal shelter is trying to wean a 14-kg cat off its daily diet of oily tuna fish, hoping the obese animal's health will improve enough to find it a new home. Peter, the second grossly overweight cat the shelter has received in recent months, has trouble moving and cleaning himself because of his swollen body, spokeswoman Claudia Pfister said. "Peter doesn't like the taste of the diet food and will only eat tuna fish," she said, adding the cat was at least 10 kg overweight. She said his elderly owner, who died recently, spoiled him with large daily helpings of tuna.
■ Netherlands
Brothel seal of approval
The Dutch government backs plans for "seals of quality" for well-run brothels and standard contracts for prostitutes, as well as more support for those who want to leave the world's oldest profession, it said on Friday. The Dutch cabinet said it supported the initiative from the prostitution industry to further improve supervision four years after the Netherlands lifted a ban on brothels to improve regulation of the business and fight trafficking in women. "The sector has said it wants to develop a seal of quality to improve its image," the cabinet said in a statement.
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