■ Hong Kong
More millionaires now
Another 14,000 people became Hong Kong millionaires last year as the booming economy generated more wealth, according to a Citibank survey. The number of people with 1 million Hong Kong dollars (US$128,000) in liquid assets climbed from 260,000 in 2003 to 274,000 in 2004, the survey found. It also calculated that the average Hong Kong millionaire is male, married and 45 years old. More than a third of the territory's millionaires are either retired or have no intention of returning to the workplace;. however, a growing number of them are setting up new businesses now that the economy in Hong Kong is picking up.
■ Singapore
More husbands battered
Battered husbands scratched and punched by their violent wives are increasingly seeking personal protection orders from Singapore's courts, a study showed. The number of men seeking such orders reached 450 last year, compared to 161 in 1997, according to the data. Other men suffered verbal abuse, threats or actions bordering on violence, said Annie Lee, director of the Family and Juvenile Justice Center. Referring to abusive women, Lee said, "They scratch, they scream, they shout, they threaten." She cited heightened awareness as a reason for the hike in male applications. "They are more aware that they can complain," she said.
■ Hong Kong
Clinton goes shopping
Former US president Bill Clinton kept tailors stitching until 4am when he ordered a new wardrobe of suits during a 24-hour stopover in Hong Kong. Clinton visited celebrity outfitter Sam's Tailor when he stopped in Hong Kong Tuesday, arranged to see tailor Manu Melwani as soon as he arrived and had the suits delivered to his hotel the following morning. Melwani, who runs the 50-year-old business in Hong Kong's Tsim Sha Tsui, said: "We had to arrange an early fitting for him at 8.30am, right after he got off the plane. I had to work until 4am on Wednesday morning to get it all done before he left." Melwani, whose clients include British Prime Minister Tony Blair, said the suits ordered by Clinton were all "new styles" but declined to say how many he ordered.
■ UAE
Bollywood actor released
Indian actor Vijay Raaz, detained last week in the United Arab Emirates on suspicion of possessing drugs, was released. "He was innocent and was released on Tuesday. He flew back to Mumbai on Wednesday," Sujit Kumar, consular first secretary at the Indian embassy, said. Police arrested Raaz at Abu Dhabi airport with 6g of marijuana in his hand luggage, the actor said. Raaz, who was due to start filming a new movie in the UAE, said, "My initial reaction was that of shock ... It was very confusing as I have never used drugs in my life and knew that I was innocent."
■ Malaysia
Escapee comes back
Sim Sii Kiak, 24, was brought to court to face charges of armed robbery when he managed to free himself from handcuffs and overpower several police officers before scaling a 2m-high fence to freedom. "The prisoner ran away because he wanted to see his newborn baby, who was born two weeks ago," said deputy police chief Abang Abdillah Abang Othman. "His wife was pregnant when he was sent to jail. He was apparently desperate to see his baby." Sim's parents had then urged their son to surrender. Sim now faces additional charges of attempting to escape.
■ Germany
Hotel-dwellers increase
More and more people are calling a hotel room their home, either out of personal choice or because of job circumstances, where they need not bother themselves with household chores. "We are seeing a clear trend in this direction," says Stefanie Heckel, press spokeswoman of the German hotel and guestroom association in Berlin. In the mid 1990s there were only about 50 boarding houses in Germany where accommodation was offered in fully furnished apartments including all services such as washing and cleaning. Today the number has risen to about 200, according to Heckel.
■ New Zealand
Cat curfew called for
An animal protection organization yesterday called for a nighttime curfew for pet cats in one of New Zealand's biggest cities to save native birds and animals. The local branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said it wanted the 110,000 pets cats in the North Island city of Hamilton locked up from 9pm to 7am. Manager Chris Wood told the <
■ United Nations
Anti-tobacco treaty pushed
The World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday urged more countries to ratify the first global anti-tobacco treaty, which was to become a binding international law on the weekend. A total of 57 countries have ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control since it was adopted in May 2003 following almost three years of negotiations. The treaty sets international standards on tobacco price and tax increases, tobacco advertising and sponsorship, labeling, illicit trade and second-hand smoke.
■ Netherlands
You wear XXL, right honey?
The delicate problem of how to dump a lover before moving on to the next one has been given a new twist by a Dutch Web site. The site suggests women tell their partner they want a baby and men buy their girlfriend underwear that's too big. But instead of just helping people give lovers the elbow, the site sells holidays -- working on the assumption that people want to go away for a fling without the shackles of a loved one at home, Dutch communications company Young Works said. Some 180,000 people have visited www.dumpjeschatje.nl since it was launched Monday, it said. The site also provides two downloadable documents with blanks left for names -- one a curt business-style letter, the other a scathing poem -- to end relationships in writing.
■ Germany
Size linked to success
Most people say that height, shape and hair color play little role in the actual abilities and character traits of someone else, but these outward aspects of a person nevertheless play a deciding role in judging people for the first time. They provide the first important impression, and this is based on "nothing more than prejudice," says psychologist Reinhold Bergler of Bonn University. The power of prejudice is so strong that mere body size can decide success or failure in a professional career, particularly in a man. According to a study he has completed, every additional cm in height brings home 0.6 percent more pay every month.
■ Iraq
Police targeted in bombing
A suspected suicide car bomber blew up his vehicle at a police station in Tikrit yesterday, killing at least 10 people and wounding 25, police and hospital officials said. Police captain Husam Musseyif said a car driven by a man wearing a police uniform tried to enter the police station compound and then detonated when the driver was challenged. Musseyif was wounded in the side and leg by shrapnel in the blast. He said the police were going through a shift rotation and a large part of the force was in the compound at the time.
■ United States
No charges for Iraqi shooting
US military investigators have decided there is not enough evidence to bring formal charges against a Marine who killed an unarmed Iraqi while his unit searched a Fallujah mosque last fall, CBS reported on Wednesday. The Marines entered the mosque during an offensive aimed at clearing insurgents from Fallujah. They were seeking the source of insurgent gunfire and found several men wrapped in blankets on the mosque floor. After what he reported as movement, a Marine fired at one of the men on the floor, killing him. "At the very least, Navy legal experts believe the situation is ambiguous enough that no prosecutor could get a conviction," the network reported.
■ Slovakia
Gloves cost Bush points
US President George W. Bush technically didn't press the flesh when he greeted top Slovak officials on Wednesday night because he never took his gloves off. The White House wardrobe malfunction -- an apparent violation of protocol in Slovakia caused a stir in that country, where Bush's arrival for yesterday's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin was shown live on TV. Deana Lutherova, an expert in Slovak manners and protocol, said Bush's failure to remove his black leather gloves when greeting the country's president, prime minister and others was unheard of in Slovakia. First lady Laura Bush also kept her gloves on during the round of handshakes at Bratislava's airport.
■ United States
Roaming tiger killed in LA
Wildlife authorities in California shot and killed an elusive tiger on Wednesday that had stalked homes and alarmed the residents of a Los Angeles suburb for more than a week, police said. The tiger, which weighed between 181kg and 272kg was hunted down near the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, after residents spotted the mysterious beast in their back yard. It had sparked a major alert last when its large paw prints were spotted on Feb. 8 around suburban neighborhoods of the second largest US city. The animal however was not sighted until Wednesday morning. Officials are trying to determine where the big cat had come from but said that no-one had reported losing a tiger in the area.
■ United States
Torso found at recycler
A badly decomposed partial human torso found on Wednesday in a Brooklyn recycling plant that handles trash from the New York City Transit system may be from the same man whose limbs were found last week in a subway tunnel, the police said. The lower torso, with an upper thigh, was found about 10am by a worker at the Rapid Processing plant. Detectives suspect that the torso and limbs came from the same man because both sets of remains were in similar recycling bags but are awaiting the results of DNA tests and an autopsy.
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