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World News Quick Take

■ China
Death sentence for killers
A court in Liaoning Province has sentenced to death a couple who kidnapped a 15-year-old girl, chopped her up and ate some of her flesh, according to state media yesterday. Na Fenglin, the man, stopped the girl while she was bicycling to school in a village in Beining City in June, grabbed her by the throat and dragged her into a forest, the Business Times, a Liaoning daily, reported. He and his girlfriend held the girl hostage in a room they rented and called her parents to demand 30,000 yuan (US$3,615) in ransom. When the girl's parents failed to come up with the money after a few days, Na raped the girl twice, with his girlfriend's consent.

■ Australia
Police in 600km-long chase
Australian police believe they may have set a world record yesterday when they pursued a man and woman in a stolen BMW saloon for 600km across the Nullarbor Plain between Adelaide and Perth. The high-speed car chase ended only when the high-performance car ran out of fuel. The chase began when the driver failed to pay for gas at Wirrulla, about 100km east of Ceduna on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula. The pursuit ended when police alerted gas stations in their path to close shop so the pair could not refuel. The car rolled to a stop 170km west of Eucla, in Western Australia, where the occupants were arrested.

■ Vietnam
Five jailed for selling women
Five people have been jailed for selling women to prosti-tution networks in Malaysia, a court official said yester-day. The Ho Chi Minh City's People's Court sentenced ringleader Vu Duc Anh, 33, to 13 years in prison on Wed-nesday, while his 38-year-old female accomplice Ly Thi Huong Lan was handed an 11-year jail term. Three other men were also imprisoned for between 30 months and four years at the end of the one-day trial. Between the time Anh set up a network in 1999 until his arrest in September 2002, the ring sent 10 women to Malaysia with the promise of jobs. Once there, however, they were sold into prostitution. His network was discovered after two victims escaped and sought help at the Vietnamese embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

■ Nepal
Dogs get their day
Every dog has its day -- and yesterday was an annual holiday honoring dogs in the Himalayan kingdom, where many people believe the animals are messengers of the Hindu god of death, Yamaraj, and revere them for their famed fidelity as guards. Nepalese festooned pet dogs and strays alike with flower garlands and fed them meat and sweets yesterday, this year's day for worshipping dogs according to the Hindu calendar. The holiday falls on the second day of the five-day period of Diwali, or the festival of light, an important celebra-tion for Hindus.

■ Thailand
Barge license plate criticized
A royal art expert has criti-cized an "inappropriate" special edition car number plate sold at a government auction because it included an image of a barge belong-ing to the king. The plate -- with the number 9999 and showing the prow of a barge used for ceremonial occa-sions by the monarchy -- was bought for 4 million baht (US$98,000) by the transport minister. "The royal barge belongs to the King. The image should not be printed as a logo for anyone's transportation," said Ratree Buapradit, the head of National Museum's Royal Barges division.

■ United Kingdom
Scotland to be smoke-free
Scotland's semi-autonomous government has agreed to ban smoking in enclosed public places under legislation to be launched before Christmas, First Minister Jack McConnell said on Wednesday. "Too many people smoke, and too many people die or fall ill from cancer, stroke and heart disease," McConnell told Scotland's parliament after a unanimous vote of the country's ruling executive in Edinburgh. "The single largest cause of preventable premature death in Scotland is smoking," said McConnell pointing to a total of 13,000 smoking-related deaths a year. He told parliament that poor diet, excessive drinking, lack of exercise and drug abuse all made Scotland one of the unhealthiest nations in Europe.

■ Russia
Hostel fire kills 19
A fire in a Russian workers' hostel killed at least 19 people and may have injured many more, the Emergencies Ministry said on Wednesday. The fire ripped through the two-storey wooden building late on Tuesday. It was inhabited by workers from a power station in the town of Kyzyl, capital of the Tuva region near Russia's border with Mongolia. News agencies reported that barred windows prevented residents from escaping after the fire, apparently caused by a faulty electric connection, started near the only exit. Itar-Tass news agency quoted the deputy mayor of Kyzyl as saying the local power company had cut off the hostel for non-payment and residents had rigged up a connection to the electric grid to keep the house heated. Night-time temperatures are as low as minus 20 degrees Celsius in Kyzyl at this time of year.

■ Austria
`Grandpa gang' busted
Austrian authorities said Wednesday they busted a group of older men dubbed the "Grandpa Gang" who allegedly were involved in selling cocaine. An undisclosed number of suspects ranging in age from 55 to 70 were detained by police on suspicion of involvement in the ring, including the alleged leader, a 58-year-old man whose name was not released, Vienna police said in a statement. Police arrested the suspects in a raid on a penthouse apartment in downtown Vienna, where they also seized cocaine with an estimated street value of more than US$260,000. Authorities said the drugs were brought from Belgium and the Netherlands for sale in Austria and had been hidden in letters and envelopes in the apartment. Police used drug-sniffing dogs to find the cocaine cache.

■ Belgium
Fraudster jailed
A British fraudster who passed himself off as a top-flight football player and a Formula 1 racing driver was sentenced Wednesday to a five-year jail term in Belgium. Paul Jones, 38, who posed variously as a Manchester United or Liverpool football player, a driver for Formula 1 team MacLaren or as an airline pilot, was convicted of defrauding around 150 Belgians of at least 700,000 euros. Belga news agency said Jones, claiming urgent financial needs, tapped his victims for loans promising astounding rates of interest in return. The court of appeal in Brussels ordered the seizure of 700,000 euros held in accounts in Turkish Cyprus controlled by Jones to repay 56 people who sued him in a civil action. Jones had already been sentenced to 45 months' jail in the Netherlands for fraud, Belga said.

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