World News Quick Take

■ Philippines
Tables turned on abductors
Kidnappers hastily freed two businessmen in southern Philippines after the family of one of the victims threatened to seize relatives of the abductors, a military official said yesterday. Brigadier General Benjamin Dolorfino said Gerard Tomawis and Vincent Jariol were released on Friday in Baloi town in Lanao del Norte province, 825km south of Manila, two days after they were seized by unidentified gunmen in the nearby city of Iligan. Dolorfino said the Tomawis family had apparently identified the kidnappers and threatened to seize their relatives if the two men were not released immediately. The Tomawises are very powerful political clan in Lanao del Norte, he said.

■ Philippines
Women `better' at peace
The majority of Filipinos believe women are better at peacemaking and want women more involved in the peace process with Muslim separatist rebels, according to a survey released yesterday. The survey by the Social Weather Stations research group found that 58 percent of Filipinos believe women have more talent than men in settling conflicts without using violence. The survey of 1,440 people of both sexes, conducted in October and November, also found that 66 percent believed that women should be more active in the peace process between the government and the Muslim separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

■ Indonesia
Military reports rebel deaths
The military yesterday said it killed 30 separatist rebels in tsunami-ravaged Aceh province in the space of a week, while a top commander reportedly accused the insurgents of lying during peace talks. A rebel spokesman denied the 30 were rebels, saying most were unarmed villagers caught up in army sweeps. The flurry of claims indicate an informal cease-fire declared after the tsunami is not sticking and underscore the obstacles to a lasting peace in the region, which has been wracked by fighting between government troops and a small separatist army since 1976. The military said in a statement it killed 30 rebels and confiscated 29 weapons in the final week of February.

■ China
Beijing pushes nuke talks
The government yesterday appeared to launch a low-intensity drive to have the US talk directly to North Korea on its nuclear program, with officials using media outlets to urge bilateral contacts. A senior Chinese nuclear official called on the US to hold direct bilateral talks with North Korea under the framework of stalled six-nation meetings aimed at solving the festering issue, the China Daily reported. Also yesterday, Australian media quoted He Yafei, the head of the foreign ministry's department of North American and Oceania Affairs, as calling for one-on-one talks.

■ South Korea
Military may train in Russia
The South Korean military could hold large-scale artillery training in the Russian Far East because of lack of space at home, a newspaper reported yesterday, a move which may upset North Korea and China. The commander of South Korea's First Army Corps raised the possibility of renting land for training during a recent visit to Russia's Khabarovsk region, the JoongAng Ilbo daily reported, citing an unnamed Defense Ministry official. Training facilities in South Korea are considered too small for large-scale troop exercises involving tanks and artillery.

■ France
EU constitutional vote looms
President Jacques Chirac Friday called a snap referendum on the EU Constitution amid increasing concern that France's voters will turn against the proposal and effectively kill the treaty. Setting May 29 as polling day, the earliest feasible date, the president's Elysee palace denied claims that his hand had been forced. But opinion polls have shown support for the treaty dwindling. A rejection in France, traditionally in the forefront of European integration, could deal a terminal blow to the Constitution. As the only large founding member state to be holding a referendum, whose former president Valerie Giscard d'Estaing drew up the Constitution, France wields an effective veto.

■ Germany
Jews to get compensation
A Berlin court yesterday Friday ruled that a Jewish family who had their property confiscated by the Nazis were entitled to be compensated by Germany's biggest retail chain. The Wertheim family's claim to a large chunk of land in Berlin's glitzy Potsdamer Platz was justified, the court said, rejecting an appeal by the department store Karstadt Quelle that bought the site after the Second World War. Though the store said the purchase was legitimate, and it might appeal, the ruling is likely to lead to the Wertheims receiving millions of euros, and has implications for thousands of other such claims.

■ United Kingdom
Punk rocker slams swearing
"Wanna be an anarchist?" At least one of the Sex Pistols, now middle-aged and a father of two, no longer does. Former Pistols bassist Glen Matlock has called for swearing on television to be curbed, nearly 30 years after the provocative punk rockers sent shockwaves through Britain by using derivations of the dreaded "f"-word on live TV. In 1976, the volley of abuse, chiefly from the punk band's Steve Jones, catapulted the group into a media firestorm that ended the career of TV interviewer Bill Grundy. "It's pathetic when people swear for the sake of it," Matlock told a television show to be broadcast Sunday.

■ Germany
Thief tows motorist's car
An apparently friendly motorist in Germany stopped to tow a broken-down car, stranded the owners as he sped away, crashed their car into a gas station and then drove off, police said Thursday. "After attaching [the car], the man sped off so fast that the two hadn't even got into the car -- and were left gesticulating wildly," said police in Aachen. The man then drove toward the gas station, swerving his own car at the last minute. "But the trailing vehicle went straight on and smashed into an air pump," police said. "The station attendant was roused by the noise and saw a man uncoupling his car from the battered vehicle before departing without further ado."

■ United Kingdom
No love child for Blunkett
Former home secretary David Blunkett, who resigned last year amid a scandal linked to his former lover, is not the father of her second son, the Sun tabloid said yesterday, indicating he may lose his legal bid to gain access to the newborn. "This is a bombshell that Mr. Blunkett is not Lorcan's father," it quoted a source as saying. Lorcan, born on Feb. 2 to Kimberly Quinn, may also not be the son of Quinn's husband, the source said.

■ United States
Videos made of abuse
Videos from Iraq compiled by a Florida National Guardsman and called "Ramadi Madness" appeared to show one soldier kicking a wounded, cuffed prisoner and another striking a detainee with a rifle butt, yet Army investigators found no cause to charge anyone with abuse. The videos were described in 1,200 pages of documents released by the Army in response to a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union, which is seeking information on prisoner abuse in Iraq. Jameel Jaffer, an ACLU attorney, called the Army documents "further evidence that abuse of detainees was widespread in Iraq and Afghanistan...it's increasingly difficult to understand why no senior official, civilian or military, has been held accountable."

■ United States
`Antichrist' slain by father
A father who said he murdered his son because he believed the 4-year-old was the Antichrist was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Ivan Henk pleaded guilty last month to first-degree murder, a crime he acknowledged during a 2003 court hearing when he shouted to the boy's mother that he killed Brendan Gonzalez "because he was the Antichrist. He had 666 on his forehead." Henk killed the child in his mother's garage, but the body has not been found. Asked by the judge if he had anything to say before he was sentenced, Henk replied, "No, thanks," and said he was ready to go to prison.

■ United States
Gibson stalker found guilty
A religious fanatic who hounded Mel Gibson after the release of the movie The Passion of the Christ was found guilty of stalking and could face up to three years in jail. Gibson testified that Zack Sinclair, 34, had made him fear for the safety of his family. Prosecutors said the religious movie, which Gibson directed, convinced Sinclair that he was on a mission from God to pray with the Hollywood movie star. Gibson testified that Sinclair started stalking him in September 2004 when he sat in Gibson's seat in church and said "Hi, I'm here to pray with you." Gibson said, "This young man doesn't appear to know his boundaries. I think he needs some help."

■ United States
Gabor wins settlement
Former movie star Zsa Zsa Gabor will receive US$2 million in a settlement of a lawsuit over a car crash that left her partially paralyzed.. Gabor, 88, sued her former hair stylist, Jaren Millard, who was driving the car she was riding in when it crashed on Sunset Strip in 2002. "The accident was a devastating blow to a vital and beautiful woman," said Gabor's lawyer Ronald Palmieri. He said no amount of money would fully compensate Gabor. Gabor's husband, Prince Frederic von Anhalt sought damages for the loss of his wife's companionship due to her injuries, and would receive US$250,000 dollars of the US$2 million settlement.

■ United States
Woman impaled in tub
A 92-year-old Harlem woman who fell in her bathtub became impaled on the cold water tap and screamed for help for more than six hours before she was rescued, the fire department said. After falling, Thelma Riley banged on walls and shouted for help for hours. The neighbors at first thought it was a plumber. Neighbors finally used a key to get into the apartment, finding Riley with the four-pronged knob stuck in her lower back. Firefighters cut the metal tap with bolt cutters and took her to Harlem Hospital where it was removed. "It was in there pretty good," McCluskey said. Riley was resting at the Harlem Hospital on Thursday.