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World News Quick Take

■ Australia
Woman jumps crocodile
A 60-year-old woman jumped on the back of a crocodile as it dragged a man from his tent in northern Australia yesterday, but was then attacked by the crocodile, which dragged her towards the ocean until it was shot dead. The 60-year-old woman and 34-year-old man suffered broken limbs, cuts and bruises in the attack by the 4.2m-long crocodile, wildlife and rescue officials said. The attack occurred at around 4am as the man slept in a tent with his wife and child on the shore in far northern Queensland. After the woman jumped on the croc, it let go of the man and bit her, pulling her towards the water before another person shot it dead. The man suffered a broken leg and arm, while the woman also had an arm broken.

■ Singapore
Man breaks burger record
Spurred on by shouts of "shove it in, shove it in," 19-year-old Don Ezra Nicholas stuffed more than three McDonald's hamburgers into his mouth without swallowing and claimed a new global record at the close of Singapore's contest to be the world's wackiest. "I'm on top of the world right now, because everyone's going to know that I can shove more than three burgers in my mouth!" Nicholas said after his feat on Sunday. Twenty Singaporeans tried to smash 10 unusual records over the weekend in a bid to make Singapore stand out a bit more on the world map.

■ China
Pet dogs increase rabies
Rabies killed 237 people in China last month, remaining the biggest killer of all infectious diseases, Xinhua news agency said. It did not give a reason, but last year the China Daily blamed the new popularity of pet dogs for a huge increase in rabies cases. Rabies, tuberculosis, hepatitis B, AIDS and infant tetanus were the major causes of death last month, accounting for 81 percent of total reported deaths, Xinhua said late on Sunday. Tuberculosis had the highest incidence rate of serious diseases, followed by hepatitis B, dysentery, gonorrhea and syphilis. This is the sixth straight year that China has seen a big jump in rabies infections.

■ China
Chinese spur ivory trade
Booming demand in China is the biggest driver of the illegal ivory market and there is no clear link between allowing regulated legal trade and a rise in black-market supplies, a report to a UN conference said yesterday. It also said unregulated domestic markets in countries such as host nation Thailand were a significant factor in the trade, which conservationists say is soaked in the blood of slaughtered elephants. The report to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species weakens Kenyan assertions that legal trade in ivory will tempt poachers to launder their "dirty" ivory with legal supplies.

■ New Zealand
Acclaimed writer dies
Novelist Maurice Shadbolt, who wove local history, tradition and the country's breathtaking landscapes into his stories has died at age 72 after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease, friends said yesterday. Shadbolt, best known for his 11 novels and four collections of short stories, died on Sunday. Shadbolt began work as a journalist, later becoming a scriptwriter and director of documentary films for the National Film Unit. In 1959, after two years in Europe, Shadbolt published his first book to acclaim in Britain -- a collection of short stories titled The New Zealanders. He also wrote a volume of journalism, a war history and two autobiographies.

■ Brazil
Respected scholar killed
Apoena Meireles, one of Brazil's most respected scholars of indigenous peoples, was shot to death during an apparent armed robbery, Brazilian police said on Sunday. Meireles, 55, had served as president of Brazil's National Indian Foundation, and was currently head of a govern-ment program working to regulate extraction of gold and gems from indigenous lands. At age 17, Meireles and his father were the first outsiders to come into con-tact with the Cinta-Larga indians, one of the most feared tribes of the Amazon. Late Saturday, Meireles was shot three times after being robbed while withdrawing money from a bank machine in Porto Velho, capital of the Amazon state of Rondonia.

■ United States
Priciest NYC pad for sale
New York's most expensive apartment is about to go on the market for US$70 million. Wall Street financier Martin Zweig will invite offers for the 1,022m2 apartment this week, the New York Post reported. The glory of the three-story residence is its "grand salon," a cavernous former hotel ballroom 7m high, complete with ornate chandeliers. The penthouse is above the Pierre hotel on Fifth Avenue. However, there is also a monthly service fee of US$48,000. For that you get full hotel room-service, and twice daily maid service, clean bathrobes and linen and mints on the pillows.

■ Austria
Sculpture kills artist
A 28-year-old German sculptor was crushed to death by his own sculpture in the Austrian town of Lofer, police said on Sun-day. The unnamed artist was trying to remove the oak sculpture, measuring 2.5m and weighing 500kg, from its concrete plinth when it fell on him, causing fatal head injuries.

■ Lithuania
Opposition wins first round
The opposition Labor Party won the first round of its general election thanks to popular anger at political scandals which could see it head a new coalition if it takes a second round of votes in two weeks. A total count of the ballots cast showed Labor took 28.6 percent of the votes against 20.66 percent for the center left coalition government, forcing a second round run-off. "The first results are to our benefit," said Labor leader Viktor Uspaskich, who has pledged to clean up politics after former presi-dent Rolandas Paksas, was thrown out by parliament in April over accusations he had links to Russian mobsters.

■ Japan
Spaniard wins Monopoly
A lab technician from Madrid turned property tycoon at the weekend when he won the world Monopoly championships in Tokyo, amassing an empire of which Donald Trump would have been proud. Antonio Zafra Fernandez, 36, clenched his fists and leapt out of his seat when the only other player left, Bjorn Andenaes of Norway, landed on Tennessee Avenue and could not afford the Spaniard's demand for US$950 rent. "I'm extremely happy, and so proud," said Fernandez, who, like his challengers, wore a tuxedo for the final. He was awarded US$15,140 in prize money -- the amount of cash contained in Monopoly's original US version. "It's not about the money. I'm going home as a champion, which doesn't happen often in a person's life," he said. The two-day event was attended by the champions of 38 countries.

■ Saudi Atabia
Women barred from vote
Saudi women will not vote in next month's municipal elections, the first polls to be held in the autocratic kingdom for many years, Interior Minister Prince Nayef said in remarks published yesterday. "I do not believe it is an option that women participate in the elections," Prince Nayef told the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Watan during his weekend visit to the country. The prince did not elaborate. The elections begin next month and will be held in stages across the country. They will be the first polls in decades in Saudi Arabia, which is ruled by an absolute monarchy. The polls are seen as part of the government's measured response to calls for political and social change.

■ Somalia
Officer elected president
Members of Somalia's transitional parliament on Sunday elected former army officer Abdullahi Yusuf as interim president for the war-torn Horn of Africa nation, the parliament speaker said. The vote was the final stage in a peace plan to end 13 years of civil war and restore a government to Somalia, which has been divided into fiefs ruled by rival warlords since 1991 when dictator Siad Barre was ousted. Yusuf won with 189 votes in a third round of voting, Speaker Shariif Hassan Sheikh Aden told the 275-member transitional parliament and regional foreign affairs ministers who observed the vote. In total, five candidates withdrew from the race, held in Kenya because of insecurity in Somalia, where many of the country's militia are undisciplined.

■ Spain
Lost Goya painting found
A previously unknown work by the painter often considered the father of modern art, Francisco de Goya, has been discovered in Malaga by a local art restorer. Paulino Gimenez was cleaning a painting that he believed was by a little known contemporary of Goya's when he uncovered hidden features bearing the unmistakable mark of the Spanish master. After scientific tests confirmed Gimenez's theory, experts say the painting may now be worth as much as £2 million. At the beginning of this year, Gimenez was asked to arrange the sale of the 1.7m high oil painting, which shows an angelic virgin resting on a cloud with her arms open.

■ United Kingdom
Soldier faces court martial
A part-time British soldier was to face a court martial yesterday in connection with fake pictures published in the Daily Mirror newspaper which appeared to show UK troops abusing Iraqi prisoners. The photos made worldwide headlines in May when they were published just days after similar images appeared in the US showing American soldiers abusing prisoners at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib jail. The photos sparked outrage across the world. The soldier is identified by defense sources as Private Stuart Mackenzie.

■ Cameroon
Fair vote in doubt
The people of Cameroon were to vote yesterday in elections to decide whether President Paul Biya will serve another seven-year term, but critics doubted the longtime leader was willing to hold a fair vote that would give him anything other than victory. Opposition candidates accuse Biya's government of working to steal the vote -- by issuing Biya supporters multiple voting cards. "We're out for transparent, free and fair elections, but something tricky is certainly going on," said Charley Gabriel Mbock, a spokesman for Adamou Ndam Njoya, a leading candidate.

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