■ ChinaUS poll a duckwalk?
Bony Kerry? Spicy Bush? Customers at a restaurant in Foshan, Guangdong Pro-vince, are expressing their opinions about the US election by choosing duck dishes named after the candidates. The restaurant has put up a banner urging customers to "come in, participate and select the candidate of your choice," according to the Yangcheng Evening News. The Bush duck is a spicy concoction to match his "war-mongering personality," the newspaper said, and Kerry duck is a bonier version with sauce in line with his "keen-witted and capable nature." So far, Kerry duck is ahead with 53 percent, while Bush duck trails with 47 percent.
■ China
Boys walk 150km to flee dad
Two young brothers walked 150km to escape their father's beatings and live with their grandfather, the Hong Kong edition of the China Daily said yesterday. Li Chao, 10, and Li Lei, seven, walked for nine days from their home in Guiyang, Guizhou Province along the railway line to Zunyi, Gui-yang Province, then sneaked aboard a train bound for Chongqing near where their grandfather lives. The boys were found on the train by police and taken off to be returned to their father. They told the police they wanted to live with their grandfather who "never beats us."
■ Hong Kong
Illegals on `two bullets' tours
Illegal immigrants from Vietnam are being given bullets and knives to ensure they get a prison stay if they are caught, the South China Morning Post said yester-day. Carrying the bullets and knives guarantees they will not be deported but will instead go to jail where they can earn US$50 a month for doing prison labor. That is way above average salary in Vietnam and ensures migrants can repay the smugglers for the cost of their passage. Judge Fergal Sweeney said at a court case on Tuesday that smugglers were arranging what he called "two bullet tours" to Hong Kong via China, the paper reported. Sweeney jailed Nguyen Van Hien, 21, for 21 months for illegal entry and possessing weapons. Hien told the court he had been promised a jail term if he was caught after paying US$190 to be smug-gled into the territory. Sweeney said he was tempted to send Hien straight back to Vietnam to discourage others but that it would be unfair to people already sent to jail.
■ China
Mine death toll mounts
The death toll from the worst coal mine accident in four years rose to 129 yesterday, the government said, as rescuers searched for 19 missing miners. Rescuers looking for the missing workers have had to dig through rubble and drain water from a 1,200m-long at the Daping Mine near Zhangzhou. Officials still have not said what caused the Oct. 20 blast.
■ The Philippines
Top fugitive under arrest
Police said yesterday they have arrested an alleged kidnapper and hired gun who is considered the country's most wanted criminal suspect. Ricardo Peralta, leader of the Red Vigilante gang, was arrested outside a shopping mall in the northern city of San Fernando late on Tuesday, national police chief Edgar Aglipay said. Peralta will face trial for several cases of murder and kidnapping, Aglipay said. Peralta's gang is suspected to be behind the gangland-style killing of several suspected drug traffickers in 2000 as well as a string of kidnapping cases.
■ AistraliaMissing tourist found dead
A middle-aged British woman was found dead in outback Australia yesterday after disappearing from a resort near Uluru, the iconic desert monolith once known Ayers Rock. The body of 52-year-old Ethel Hetherington was discovered by a group of Aboriginal people by the side of a track around 50km southeast of Yulara, where she had been on holiday with a cousin since Oct. 6. Hetherington was last seen late on Monday in Yulara and police mounted a ground and air search on Tuesday after she was reported missing. A police spokeswoman said forensic police were at the scene and investigations into the cause of death were under way.
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